Awaken

Disclaimer: If you recognize it from the game, it is not mine. If you don't recognize it, it's probably mine. This will be reverting from a first person to third person, so don't flame me over it.

My mind is clearer now

At last, all too well, I can see

Where we all soon will be

If you strip away

The myth from the man, you will see

Where we all soon will be...

- Heaven On Their Minds (Jesus Christ Superstar)

Chapter 4: Heaven On Their Minds

Dark, the terrible, terrible dark. He was no better off than when he'd started. Sora had gone from unconcious to groggy. He was breathing audibly, and seemed to mumble sometimes. Riku was amusing himself by drawing on the walls, as somehow, there was just enough light, a light coming from nowhere, to allowed Riku to see. There was nothing else. His sketching fingers shook, scratching out a drawomg of himself on the wall, holding the Paopu fruit. The sound of the Heartless rushing past the door in a great hurricane wasn't dying down, only growing stronger. He couldn't sleep, not now, and the air seemed to be strangling him slowly. He'd already given Sora his shirt to use as a blanket, as Sora had been shivering heavily. Now, Riku was the one shivering, but he didn't have the heart to take his shirt back. He sighed as he finished his drawing; offering the fruit to Sora. Somber, he closed his eyes and forced himself to rest. His hand slid across the skin of Sora's wrist as he lay down, resting his head on a rock. It felt like silk, unblemished and untarnished, smooth and tender. As Riku forced himself to sleep, Sora was awakening.

POV SWITCH: SORA

And... it's cold. Not a pleasant way to wake up. Very cold. Yet I have two shirts. Who's shirt do I have? Whoever they are, I'll thank them when I- oh. Riku. Yup, time to give him his shirt back. "Here ya go, buddy." I tucked it into his hand, which is clasped against his chest. His bare naked chest. Wow. He's got nice abs, I never noticed. He was always tougher than me.

Now, to get my bearings. This cave is where the Final Door was. And judging from the sounds outside, the island is still in ruins.... but I thought that I fixed that! Damn it!

Chill, chill Sora... I'm already cold, not much more chilling I can do... Chiiiiiilllll.... Think.

Nope. Too cold to think. Alright, recklessly take action. What would Riku do? ... Well, since I can't get hurt, because I know my capabilities, it won't hurt to go through a.... let's look out the door here, a veritable tidal wave of Heartless, find a house or something, and get blankets. Then, I figure a way out of here.

"Riku, wanna come with me?" He's asleep. Poor Riku. He looks so sick. I don't want to leave, but he looks so cold, I have to do something! "I'll be back, I promise...." I whisper in his ear. He looks like a china doll, his skin so pale, his lips so pink, and the strange glow that came from something in my pants pocket.

Light! It's light! I quickly dug through my pocket, and found a small keychain with a white heart on the end. It glows with a strange, unearthly light. I grinned. This was a good omen. I hung the chain over Riku's head by a notch on the wall. He'll be happy to see some light when he's awake. Now, I whisper adieu to this, for now, I have to go back into the dark.

So, so dark.

Why is my head spinning? What is this smell? Why do I feel this tug on my hands?

POV SWITCH: RIKU

Riku jumped awake, to watch Sora fall from the threshold. He dove forward enough to catch him. He dragged down, laying Sora out carefully, with his head on Riku's shirt, which Riku had found pressed to his heart. He rubbed at his own head to get the eerie, fuzzy feeling out. He'd woken with a buzzing in the back of his head, and in the jolt of seeing Sora fall, he'd ignored it for a moment. Now, the buzz continued. Riku sighed, laying back. He noticed a tiny lantern hung above him, but disregarded it; he'd probably seen it before and never noted it. Now that it was so dark, he could note it.

"Talk to me, Sora," he sighed, "Tell me, what is the perfect circle? Step one... you pushed me into the Heartless. Step two... we ended up here... What's step three, Sora?" Suddenly, the keychain fell into Riku's lap. Riku stared at it, frowning. "Hm...?" He examined it carefully and closely. No odd smell, no obvious evil emanation, no sound emitted. The sounds in his head had faded the moment the trinket had fallen, which seemed a good omen to Riku. Just then, an idea burst into his mind.

Slowly, carefully, Riku rose and walked out of the cave, keychain in hand. The Heartless, which had been surging and thrashing at the cave's walls still, suddenly subdued to the bright glow. Strange sparklings began to float from the heart charm. "Hope..." Riku whispered, recognizing them as the tiny white lights which had suspended Sora. The Heartless backed away slowly. "They're nothingnesses of evil. This is nothingness of good," he muttered to himself, explaining to himself, "Good negates evil, and if one touches the other, they both vanish..." He watched as more of the tiny white lights emerged, and took form, scattering the Heartless. The creatures, great and small, vanished under the sand again, and the ground became a complete field of tiny white dots. Suddenly, Riku noticed Sora standing at the opposite end of the field.

POV SWITCH: SORA

Riku, what are you doing? Stop, stop! This isn't how it was meant! How can it be me when I'm still asleep? Stop it, Riku!

POV SWITCH: RIKU

Staggering, Riku began to move towards Sora, his legs quivering. Sora stood still, simply smiling. The white dots began to hover around his head, almost like a halo for Riku's image of an angel.

POV SWITCH: SORA

Stop! Stop! Stop! What wolf in lamb's skin you are! Deception, you're dragging Riku to his own insanity! Hehe, I sound cool, I should read more Dante... But as I was saying, you liar! Cast off your halo and show me your horns! Get off of me, I'm not a puppet! Let me help him!

POV SWITCH: RIKU

Riku collapsed at the feet of his Sora. His mind felt cloudy now, and the buzzing had returned, worse than ever. He stared up, his vision swimming, at his halo-ringed one. "S-Sora..." He whispered, wrapping his arms around Sora's knees. Sora unhesitantly rested a hand on Riku's head, patting it, ruffling his hair affectionately. Riku couldn't help but feel like a good puppy. Sora knelt to him, wrapping his arms around his neck in a tender embrace.

"What is a Sora?" Sora inquired delicately, causing Riku's heart to chill in fright. "What is a Sora, what does it look like? Can it be held, can it be touched, can it be cooked and eaten, and if so, what would it taste like? I am not a Sora. I think you lost your Sora."

"N-no! Sora! You're Sora! You look like Sora! You must be...!"

"I am not a Sora. I'm just step three." Sora's voice slowly morphed through the sentence, and the image stretched and contorted into that of a tall creature unfamiliar to Riku. It was cloaked entirely in black, with no visible determinable features. Riku felt a jolt through his heart, and the pain nearly tore him skin from bone, cutting through the heart. Riku fell to his hands, staring at this new creature.

"Who are you?"

"I am... Well, let's let you figure it out." This was neither male nor female by voice, cold and empty, devoid of determinable emotion. If it had to be named, the tone was of sarcasm and superiority. "To simplify, call me Eiya." Tiny black dots began to float around Eiya's head, and in front of it, converged and formed a smirking face. "Say goodnight." The black mass flew at Riku's head, and filled Riku's mind.

POV SWITCH: SORA

Riku! Riku! I can hear him scream through silence! RIKU! Why can't I move? Am I just.... a puppet?

TO BE CONTINUED...