Behind the Darkness

By: Naela

Summary: A being tied to Sora is awakening and now more than ever the Keyblade Master is needed. Only, no one seems to know where he is. How are Riku and Kairi tied into all of this and who are the Non-Existent Ones?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters. They're all property of Squaresoft and Disney.

Chapter Nine: Deeper

Out of all the doors Riku had seen in the World in Between, he'd never come across one that was chained like the one before him. The bindings were truly a sign that the world behind it was forbidden. Its emblem, a skull engulfed in an inferno, was a foreshadowing to the hell he would enter--because it was hell. It was the underworld, Hades' domain. He'd be stepping into the world of the dead.

The Heartless that'd been his guide squeaked, catching his attention. Riku waved at it, gesturing for it to leave. The Shadow didn't get the message, and Riku let out a frustrated sigh. He brought his eyes to the darkened sky and waited. When he glanced down, he saw the Heartless was still there, as was the legion that had been following him.

"Go away," he said, shaking his keyblade at it. "Leave!"

It didn't respond. The creature's lack of reaction told Riku that it didn't quite grasp the meaning of his words. Their selective understanding was beginning to bother the boy. He slashed at the Heartless and watched it skitter away, joining its companions. They all backed a few meters away but made no further movement to leave.

"Get out of my sight!" he snarled. He watched with minute satisfaction as the Heartless screeched and scurried away, some melting into shadows and disappearing in the darkness while others ran away on foot.

He waited until they were all gone and turned to face the door. Bringing up one hand, he made the Oblivion disappear, and he hesitantly reached out a hand to touch one of the chains. A bolt of energy leapt towards his outstretched limb, lancing across the tips of fingers. Riku involuntarily winced. Pulling back his hand, he brought it to his face, examining it. He was thankful that he'd made it a habit to wear gloves every time he stepped out of a building. Not only did they give him a better grip on his weapons, but they had protected his fingers from harm.

Hades certainly didn't want any unwelcome visitors going into his world. Bringing the Oblivion back out of nothingness, Riku brought both keyblades up and then down, swinging at the chains. The links broke apart, shattering and becoming objects of light before fading away, leaving an unprotected door behind. Nudging it with his keyblade, Riku watched it swing open.

Unlike Hollow Bastion, this world wasn't complete darkness. He could see the faint glowing of an unknown source radiating from below, illuminating the top and allowing Riku to make out the shape of the stone steps that led up to the door. Taking a tentative step forward, Riku stepped into hell.

The door began to close, forcing Riku down a few more steps. He stopped and peered over the edge of the narrow staircase. It'd be a long drop if he accidentally tripped and fell over the side. Biting on his lip, he edged closer to other side, his back brushing up against the rock face.

Taking in a shuddering breath, Riku brushed away whatever doubts surfaced in his mind. Aerith, think of Aerith. Do this for her.

He descended a few more levels, frowning in concentration. Now with the door shut, he had to feel for the next step or inadvertently step over the side. Though there was light below, it didn't reach far enough to illuminate the steps. This was like being blind again--he only needed to sense his way to the ground. Just because he couldn't see didn't mean he'd lost his sense of touch or smell or… hearing.

Riku straightened, finally becoming aware of the footsteps--not his, but someone else's. He turned and staring at the monstrous figure of a half decayed woman. She grinned at him and reached forward with two bony hands, grasping onto his arm. Before Riku could even react, he was heaved over the side of stairs and was falling. Above him, he could hear the woman cackling gleefully at him.

Falling and falling and falling, yet somehow, Riku didn't feel any worry. Sora would come. He would save him. Riku's breath caught in his throat as his train of thought finally registered. It'd be like before at Hollow Bastion? How much luck could he run on? He couldn't just depend on some intangible sylph to pop up every time he was in trouble and perform some miracle to help him. Eventually his luck would run out, the illusion might not show up and he'd die.

Sora… the illusion…

"Well… actually you really don't look that well. I guess crashing into a planet without using a protection spell will do that to you, huh?"

Squeezing his eyes shut, Riku summoned the power within him. "Wind!" he shouted. Opening his eyes, he saw no change but could feel it. The Aeroga spell surrounded him, forming a protective bubble around him. If he focused hard enough, he could almost see the spell.

His eyes were directed away from the nearly invisible shield to the glowing ground beneath him--the source of light in the cavern. Riku realized quickly enough that it wasn't the glowing ground that was illuminating the room. It was a river--a flow of not water, but spirits. A chill ran down Riku's spine as he realized that the trajectory was sending him straight for the middle of this river. Bringing his arms up, he covered his face and felt himself splash into the cesspool of death.

Kicking and flailing, Riku broke the surface and screamed when he came face to face with the sunken head of a soul. It stared right at him, its thin arms clawing at his chest. The souls grabbed at him. Some grasped his ankles, others grasped his arms and all tried to tug him under, to suffocate him and force him to join their ranks.

Stay away from me. Stay away from me. Stay away from me! Stay away from me! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!

Riku swung with the Oblivion, cutting them apart. It had no real effect. They were already dead. They only needed to join together again, and they'd be whole enough to continue assaulting him. But he wouldn't die, not like this, not when Aerith was still back in Hollow Bastion, still crying.

Not when he still needed to see Kairi.

They pulled him under again, and Riku realized that having two keyblades only worsened the matter. They didn't harm the dead and were only weighing him down. Struggling, he broke free from the souls' grasps and had enough time to will his keyblades away again. He shot for the surface and felt his head smack against something hard. His hands felt along the hard object until he felt its edge and pulled himself up. He gasped, taking in wheezing breaths, and dragged himself out of the stream of souls. Pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around himself, he remained still for several minutes. His heart pounded against his chest. Too many thoughts, too many emotions crowded his mind. He nearly sobbed.

A cough beside him alerted Riku that he wasn't alone. He sat up, backing away and nearly falling over the edge, and surveyed his surroundings. He realized that he was on a raft, surrounded by half rotting creatures. They were almost like the souls in the pool, yet they almost seemed to be alive. Their stench, however, told otherwise.

"The living aren't allowed on this boat," a coarse voice grated at him.

Riku stared to his side and saw the owner of the voice, a living skeleton. Living wasn't the right word, Riku realized, nothing was living here. They were all dead, and he would be too if he stayed here any longer or, at the very least, he was going to lose his mind.

The skeleton leaned forward and, though it was impossible for it to do so, the being seemed to sneer. "I said--"

"I know!" Riku snapped. He stood up, making his keyblades appear. "But I don't care what you say. I'm here to see Hades."

"No one gets to see Hades," the skeleton retorted. "No one living, that is."

"Then I'll be the first," Riku snarled, pointing the Oblivion at the being.

The skeleton snorted and waved its hand. Hands with elongated arms came from the ceiling, snatching at Riku and pulling him up. The boy grunted, tired of being grappled and handled against his will. Swinging his keyblades, his weapons sliced through the hands neatly, and he tumbled back onto the raft. He growled, stomping towards the ferryman, each footstep tilting the boat from side to side, threatening to capsize the vessel. The passengers and its driver looked about in worry.

"You'll take me to Hades," Riku said, his voice low. He sliced at the edge of the boat with his keyblade. "Or I sink this ship."

Harrumphing, the skeleton turned its back on him. "Do what you want. You'll get eaten by the Guardian anyway."

Guardian. Riku knew fully well what the being was referring to. Still, he also knew that Sora had gone up against it and had been able to defeat it. Riku was fairly certain that his current skills were superior to what Sora's had been when the boy had gone up against the Guardian, meaning he'd have no trouble going up against it

"Let me worry about him," Riku said, shrugging. "You concentrate on… whatever it is you do."

He turned away from the animated skeleton, no longer able to stare at him and suppress the shivers that were threatening to run down his spine. Riku heard the ferryman snort and then snicker before the raft became moderately silent. The silver haired boy forced himself to ignore the anguished cries of the damned souls and to focus on watching for signs of the Guardian.

A snarl reverberated through the cavern. Riku's grip on his weapons tightened, and he turned, facing the front of the raft. The first thing he saw was the ferryman, seemingly sneering at him; the second was the giant three headed creature, canine in shape but demonic in nature. It snorted and stomped the ground with its paws, clearly agitated by the scent of a living being that had entered its domain.

"Here it comes, boy. Cerberus," the skeleton said. "And he's one hungry puppy. Afraid Hades doesn't take care of his pets too well."

Approaching the front of the raft, Riku brought the hilt of his keyblade up and smashed it into the ferryman's ribcage. The skeleton stumbled, thrashing its arms as it came dangerously close to the raft's edge. Ghostly hands shot forward from the river, grabbing its ankles. Riku watched placidly as the ferryman was pulled into the pool of souls, screeching for help. The boy contemplated pulling the being out but thought no further when Cerberus' powerful jaw snapped inches away from him. The creature's putrid breath flooded the air, causing bile to rise from Riku's stomach that he desperately fought back.

The demon roared as it snapped at Riku with all three jaws. The force of its attack swerved the raft. Riku stood firmly against the rocking vessel. The boy bent his knees and shot into the air, vaulting over the distance that separated him from the creature. He landed on the bank, the ground vibrating under the impact. Cerberus whirled about, and the head closest to Riku reared back, black flames gathering in its mouth. The boy knew that any magical attack that involved black flames was bad and made a dash down the side of the bank. Cerberus spat the black energy forward, narrowly missing the boy as he threw himself to the right. His shoulder slammed against the ground as he landed. There was a numbing pain in his arm, nearly making him drop his weapon. Gritting his teeth, Riku pushed all thoughts of pain away and got to his feet, running as the dog reared back its heads for another barrage of black energy.

"No you don't," Riku growled, pointing his keyblade at the beast. "Force!"

A sphere of black magic sprouted from within the creature, expanding and encompassing Cerberus. The magic bent and crushed the dog until it was nearly the size of Riku's hand. The spell wore off quickly, and the dog was released from its prison. As anticipated, Riku saw the dog swaying from side to side, disoriented from the effects of Graviga. Immediately he rushed forward. Bringing up his Keyblades, he jumped and swiped at the demon, his keyblades cleaving through the dog's chest. All three heads let out a deafening howl that shook the cavern. Loose rock fell from the ceiling as Cerberus stomped away, widening the distance between itself and Riku.

Ducking his head, Riku moved away as larger pieces of rock began to fall. He held his arm over his head and searched the area for the giant dog, spotting the creature in the distance. With his arm still held over his head, Riku charged, his keyblade raised. The three-headed dog spotted the boy's attack and snarled as it began rearing back onto its hind legs. Riku stopped, experience telling him to cease his attack, and without thought, he jumped. The demon dog's front paws collided with the ground, sending a shockwave across the cavern. A collective wail rose as the shockwaves shook the river of death. Twisting his body, Riku landed on the dog's back. Lifting up the keyblade, he brought it down.

"STOP!"

Riku halted, the tip of his weapon centimetres away from penetrating the demon's flesh. Gazing in the direction of the voice, the boy spotted a girl, or at least a being that looked like a girl. It was a glowing figure of soft green light adorned from head to toe with flowers. A goddess, he realized, and lowered his keyblade.

"Please, don't hurt Cerberus," she murmured. Her gaze, which had been focused on the ground, was now locked with his. Her eyes pleaded with him in the same manner Kairi would plead with him to spare the life of an insect he'd meant to flatten. Like with Kairi, he couldn't refuse that gaze and lowered his keyblades. The demon snarled and heaved him off its back with ease. Riku managed to land on his feet and scrambled to dash away as Cerberus snapped at him, saliva spraying in the air with each jaw that clamped shut. Riku ran for the girl, grabbed her arm in mid stride and pulled her along with him, the demon dog at his heels. The goddess let out a gasp and pulled her arm away.

"What are you--?" Riku began and stopped when the girl held up a hand. She shook her head and flung her hands out as Cerberus came to a halt. It lowered its middle head, pressing its nose against her stomach, and like every dog Riku had ever encountered, it sniffed. The goddess laughed, patted the dog's nose and leaned forward, whispering soft words that Riku could barely make out.

"Go on now," she told it. "Leave."

The dog let out multiple whimpers and shot a dark glare towards Riku before backing away and turning to leave. The goddess clasped her hands behind her back and faced him. There was a gentle smile on her face as she approached him.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" Riku asked, taking a step back.

She stared at him blankly, making Riku wonder if there were something on his face to be embarrassed about until the goddess suddenly laughed. White and pink petals fell from the flowers on her head, catching in the silver tangles of her hair. "Nothing," she replied. "Never mind… just um… you're here to see Hades right?"

Seeing him nod, the girl took his hand and gently tugged him forward. "Then follow me," she replied. "I can take you to him."

Hesitating, Riku glanced back towards the disappearing shape of the guardian beast before finally allowing himself to be led. "How did you know who I wanted to see?"

Ahead, the girl's lips twisted into a rueful smile though she kept her gaze in front of her. "There are many people like you… those who come here to bargain for the life of a loved one." She paused and stared at him, her eyes narrowed. "Except you haven't lost a loved one--well not recently--you don't have that 'look'. You're doing this for someone else."

Riku averted his eyes, his face turning pink as he thought of Aerith. "Yes…" he replied. "It's for someone else… she's a very beautiful woman."

"But she's not your lover."

"No."

The girl stopped and released her hold on his hand. "Then why do this for her?" she asked.

"I…" he stopped, trying to find the right words to express his reasoning. There was Aerith, smiling at him, beautiful and full of light--Aerith cradling the body of Cloud, her face rended with pain. "This woman, Aerith, she's beautiful. She's especially beautiful when she smiles, and… the man who took away that smile… I could have stopped that smile from fading away."

Plucking a flower off the top of her head, the girl twirled it in between her thumb and index finger. A smile adorned her face as she stared at him. "You're very gallant," she told him. Taking his hand, she placed the flower into his palm and closed his fingers around it. "Do you love her?"

No… but… she's just like Kairi… and I lo… Riku shook his head. "No," he replied, deadpan. "I don't love her."

The girl nodded, though her dancing eyes told Riku that she was far from believing his words. Turning on her heel, the goddess led him through the underworld, her light a beacon of joy that made every malicious creature shy away from her. She stopped occasionally to help those who were damned with eternal punishment. Her presence was comforting enough that it brought smiles to their faces.

"Here you go," she said softly, scooping up a handful of water and lifting it to the face of a haggard looking man. He smiled at her and gave his nod of thanks before drinking, his face looking as if he hadn't had water in ages.

"Thank you, Persephone," he whispered, his voice hoarse and dry.

"Not a problem," she told him and turned, waving goodbye. Riku followed her, glancing back at the cursed man before quickening his pace to catch up with her.

"Who's he?" Riku asked.

"Tantalus. He's there to be punished," the goddess replied. "He's one of the many people around here who are damned for the crimes they committed while living."

Riku glanced at the man one last time, watching him, immersed neck deep in water and trying to drink from it. The water would drain away. Above his head hung fruits, and when he tried reaching for them, a wind from nowhere appeared and blew them from his reach. Riku shook his head, wondering if this was the sort of punishment he'd be facing when he died.

"I'm really not supposed to help them," the girl said, softly. "But I can't stand it when people are suffering like that."

She stopped at the foot of a stairwell and pointed up. "You can find Hades in there," she said. "The front door's locked, but you can do one of your super jumps and get in through the window."

Riku stared at what the girl had been pointing at. A large demonic visage carved into rock stared back at him, its eyes, nostrils and mouth acting as windows for a large fortress. He pursed his lips and turned to face her, bowing his head. "Thank you," he said. "But why were you helping me?"

The girl smirked. "I told you before, I hate it when people suffer," she replied. She was about to turn but hesitated, staring him in the eye. "Please, be careful. You might think you have a chance against Hades… but you're a mortal and he's a god."

Staring back up at the fortress and then turning back to the goddess, Riku was surprised to find her gone. Smiling, he pocketed the flower she'd given him. Riku turned back to the demonic face and tensed. He jumped, shooting into the air. He was kilometres off the ground before he was level with the 'eyes' of the demon face, and he reached forward, grabbing onto the edge of the window. His body slammed against the wall at the halt of his ascent, knocking his breath away. Gasping for air, he struggled to climb into the room before his grip failed him, and he collapsed over the edge and to the floor. Coughing, the boy stood and stepped forward, tripping over his own feet. His arms flailed as he reached for something to grab onto, and he caught onto a table, promptly pulling it down with him.

"ARGH!! Do you know how many years it took me to set that thing up!?"

The hemming of a black robe entered his field of vision. Riku brought his gaze up to see the irate face of underworld's lord. The god brought both hands to his head, running them over his blue flame hair and abruptly pulling them away and clenching them into angry fists.

"That thing took me ten years to perfect!" the god raged.

"Uh… sorry?" Riku offered. The god froze, staring at him. Lowering his fists, Hades took in a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, nodding as he moved away from the boy. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm cool."

Riku watched as the god snapped his fingers and the mess in the room cleared away. Realizing that he was still on the floor, the boy stood up, brushing himself off as he cautiously stepped towards the god who was still mumbling to himself.

"Uh… Hades?" he called for the god's attention. "You remember right? Riku?"

"Of course I remember ya, kid!" Hades exclaimed, whirling around and facing him. There was a wide grin on his face as he grabbed Riku's hand and shook it. "Great seeing you again. How long has it been? What? Five years?"

"Er, yeah," Riku replied, pulling his hand away. "Sorry about…"

"My map of cosmos that was my secret to dominating the worlds?" Hades said, shrugging. "Nah don't worry about it, I'll just get one of the henchmen to fix it or something."

"Oh… okay…"

"So what brings you down to hell anyway?"

Riku began scratching the back of his neck as he shifted his gaze to the ground. "Um… yeah… about that… you have a soul of one of my friends down here, and I was wondering if you could…?"

"Release him?" Hades frowned, bringing his hand to his chin and stroking it. "Well that's a bit of a toughie, kid. I mean, I don't normally release souls from the underworld and all… well, for free anyway. Usually there's a trade off. Your soul for your friend's, you know, that sort of business."

Riku's shoulders slumped. "So there's no way to release him?" he asked.

"Well depends," Hades replied. "Who is this person?"

"I think his name was… Cloud?"

The god's pleasant visage shattered as he heard the name. A growl escaped from his throat as he scowled. "Cloud?" he snarled. "You want me to release him? Cloud, the tall depressant with the spiky blonde hair?"

"Yes," Riku replied. "Is there a problem?"

Hades snorted and shook his head. "Sorry, kiddo, no can do, not trading Cloud's soul for anyone's. That little chump broke our contract and ran off to be with his…" he clasped his hands together, his face looking disgustingly sweet as he spoke in an exaggerated imitation of a damsel's voice, "one true love!"

"So… you won't release Cloud?"

"Try your luck elsewhere, kid. When a soul comes down here, it stays down here. Well okay, there's been one or two exceptions, but Cloud ain't gonna be one of 'em!" Hades snapped, turning towards the exit. "I'm sick of dealing with noble brats like you who come down here every time someone dies on them."

"Wait…"

Hades nearly jumped as he realized that the boy had somehow crossed from the middle of the room to directly behind him. How the kid did that he couldn't figure out and snorted. People like him came to Hades hoping to restore their loved ones everyday, and nine times out of ten they walked away empty-handed. Riku wasn't going to be any different just because he'd been Maleficent's lap dog at one time.

"Listen kid," he began, turning to face Riku, and wheezed as the boy shoved a black keyblade into his chest. Back-pedalling, the god glanced into the eyes of his assailant, Riku, but it wasn't the same Riku he'd been conversing with before. The boy was grinning at him maliciously, his eyes glowing yellow as he pushed his weapon deeper into the god's chest.

"I don't know about gods… and whether or not they have hearts… but from the looks of it…" The boy jerked the keyblade, his smirk growing wider as he heard the god shriek in pain. "If I twist this keyblade just a little more, then I'm going to unlock your heart, and guess what… you're going to be a pitiful little Heartless!" He laughed, slowly turning the hilt of the keyblade, his glee growing with each second passed as the god trembling before him in fear.

There was a click, and the room's door slowly swung open. Riku growled at the interruption, summoning the other keyblade to his hand to take care of the intruder. He raised it, ready to perform Strike Raid, when he froze, seeing the fearful expression on Persephone's face. She held a hand to her mouth as she took in the scene before her and suddenly dashed for the god, her hand tugging at the keyblade in his chest.

"STOP IT!" she shrieked as she tugged harder. "Please! Let him go!"

Riku lowered the Kingdom Key, staring at her in shock. "Why!?" he exclaimed, suddenly feeling betrayed. "He's the reason why those men down there are suffering!"

"Please!" she begged. Tears trailed down her cheeks. "Hades is my husband!"

Riku took in a sharp breath, and incomprehensible hurt flooded his system. Pulling out the Oblivion, he stepped away. Something so pure and so full of life as Persephone… tied to a vile being like Hades. He saw the god collapse and turned away, unable to watch as the goddess tended to her husband.

"How…" he whispered, "how can you be married to him?"

"I… love him…" Persephone uttered the words. She took Hades into her arms, and he didn't struggle. "Try as I might, I can't hate him."

This isn't love! How can love be this disgusting? Riku wanted to scream. He kept his jaw clamped and slowly faced the married couple. Pointing his Oblivion at Hades, he glared at the god. "Release Cloud now… or I won't be as merciful as before."

The god muttered a curse and snapped his fingers. There was a flash of light outside, and Hades struggled to stand. "You have until sun up to take him back to his body," he said and pointed to the door. "Leave before I decide your soul's good enough to take Cloud's place."

Riku stared at Persephone one last time. She avoided his gaze and, toying with the tips of her hair. Her eyes were still red from crying. Snorting in disgust, Riku pulled the flower from his pocket and threw it at her before marching out of the room.



Wow, Riku going down to Tartarus to retrieve Cloud's soul... now who didn't see that one coming? Apologies for not having this up sooner. Normally I like to update once a week, on Friday of every week if possible... but you know the whole dealio, been busy with finals, blah blah blah!! To tell the truth, I was also having some difficulty with this fic, especially with certain parts that I'm certain are sticking out like a sore thumb. Well, not really complaining too much, I'm just happy that I got this chapter done!! ^_^

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Watergoddess: Awww, I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter, just had a lot to deal with a lot this week, but now you can look forward to more frequent updates… and thank you! I glad you like my fic!

Victorious Light: You couldn't figure out who Enigma is by now? Ah phooey, guess I haven't been dropping enough hints... or maybe I'm just plain evil and like confusing my readers? ::winks::

Meiko: Hmmm wow, another person who's enjoying Enigma/Kairi!! Sorry to disappoint about the lack of Kairi or Enigma in this chapter, but I'm promising that they're showing up in the next one. Thank you very much for your review, I try really hard to give accurate and proper descriptions and the fact that you've picked up on that makes me smile.

Dragonmaster Dyne: LOL!! It wasn't very necessary for you to have gone and reviewed every chapter that you missed, but thank you anyway. I'm very flattered by your praise ::blushes:: but come on! I'm not that great! There are plenty of authors out there who are better writers than I am... you for example. *G*

Cynthia Chen: Always one of the first to review! Thank you for sticking with me so far. Hmmm Riku going evil... what a novel idea!! Just teasing... or am I?

Koorino Megumi: Thanks for the beta reading, wow, under one day too and also for helping me out with some difficulties during some scenes. And it wasn't a problem pointing readers out to your fic considering Reverse Side of the Mirror deserves more reviews that it's getting and I definitely agree that reviews to happen to make a difference, it gives you extra motivation for writing and all that. And Enigma/Kairi? Well... we'll see what happens.

Special thanks also goes out to Refugee--best darn Final Fantasy writer I've ever come across in a while--for helping me out with difficulties as well. More thanks also goes out to ThouThouMr.Thou--best Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts gamer out there--for helping me out with Cerberus' moves.

And finally... been saving you for last, Shinji Ikari:
First of all... wow, I'm very honoured that you reviewed my fic. I've read some of the reviews you've given to other fics and I must say that I never thought you'd actually read anything of mine. My apologies if I offended you by calling Cloud and Aerith an "untouchable" couple, but an "untouchable" couple in my opinion are just couples I really enjoy... meaning they are couples with relationships that I will never alter or change. It was by no means bashing Tifa since she's a great character as well, but I'm in the Cloris ship and I've been that way for quite a while. Long before I ever played Final Fantasy VII, I was already a Cloud and Aeris fan, possibly because her death is so well known that I've always seen their relationship as being tragic. I appreciated the time they had together on the first disk more than I'd been able to appreciate Tifa and Cloud.
Yes, I'm very well aware of Mr. Nomura's interview and that he stated Cloud's 'light' was left ambiguous so we, the gamers, could interpret Cloud's search anyway we saw fit. It's just that I've interpreted Cloud's light as being Aeris, perhaps you saw his light as being something totally different, but hey, that was what Nomura wanted in the first place.
I'm glad to find a person who's rooting for Riku's victory rather than Sephiroth's. Annoying as it may be for Riku to lose, I find it pretty realistic for someone with Riku's skill to barely be able to hold his own against Sephiroth. On Riku being able to revive himself, keep in mind that I really haven't stated how Riku managed to rise from the dead, Riku thinks that he's still alive because he's an Unknown, but there's been a circumstance before in the past where Riku managed to escape death thanks to outside help. Cloud on the otherhand, he has "powers of darkness" and as we all know, dark powers usually aren't meant for healing.
Sephiroth's reasons for being a total bastard? I don't feel I really need to go into that as it's spoiling a little too much, but there's more to his behavoir than just rejected love.
Sora and his mother: You've said everything I wished to expressed about those two, even opened my eyes to some new light. ^_^
To tell the truth, I've never played Final Mix so I wasn't aware of the fact that the boss was actually called Unknown. Prior to writing this fic, I did my research, went to Gamefaqs, Ansemreport.com, read all I could on Final Mix, gathered interpretations of Deep Dive and ASAS and this fic is the result of that research. The boss, I believe is officially known as the Enigmatic Man and I remember reading off somewhere that Unknown really isn't an official term but I'll take your word for it.
Also, I do believe you're mixing up someone else's fic with mine as I don't recall ever writing down Kairi being an NEO.
The space in between worlds, the World In Between, was a concept that I pulled out of nowhere. I'm usually not the type to take the workings of a different author and apply it to my fanfic. I agree with you whole heartedly about the FF characters in Kingdom Hearts being completely different characters from the Final Fantasy games.
On a different tangent, you'd definitely have me as a reader if you ever post your fic. Also, I obviously noted your Albedo quote and I loved it. So you're a Xenosaga fan too? I've been a big fan of the Xeno series and my reverence of the games is so great that it's the one fandom I refuse to write fanfiction for.

And whew!! My fingers are hurting from all that typing!! Thank you again to all those who have reviewed and those who helped me out with this chapter. Drop by again for chapter ten as Riku, Kairi and Enigma are reunited!!