Awaken

Author's Notes: (twitching and muttering, clutching cup of cocoa. Has "Space For Rent" written on her forehead in permanent marker) Sugarsugarsugarsugar... PYAAA! SUGAR! Sugar makes me HAPPY! Sugar, you are my only joy other than writing and undoing bra snaps!

... (Cough)... Uhm... on with the show!

Disclaimer still applies!

Chapter 8: My Way Down

Valentine is done, Here but now they're gone

Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity (Romeo and Juliet)

Forty-thousand men and women every day (Like Romeo and Juliet)

Forty-thousand men and women every day (Really find happiness)

Another forty-thousand coming every day

We can be like they are!

So come on, baby- Don't fear the reaper

Baby take my hand- Don't fear the reaper

We'll be able to fly- Don't fear the reaper

Baby I'm your man

("Don't Fear The Reaper"- Blue Oyster Cult. I'd put the whole song, but that'd take up too much space. Just... go listen to it.)

"COME TO ME, SORA!" Eiya screeched again, lifting a hand form. Sora's eyes widened, as the remnant of his puppet-strings were pulled at. Riku felt the strings pull at his own body through the bond shared with Sora, but not as hard as Sora felt them- a small, blue ethereal form emerged from Sora's open mouth.

"Sora, NO!" Riku gasped, as the blue form wafted into the air towards Eiya. Sora's body dropped to the ground, limp. "Let him go, Eiya! Give him back his heart!" Riku shouted. It sounded oddly familiar...

"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

"My god..." Riku whispered to himself. "A perfect circle..." He turned and stared at Eiya, as it slowly took Sora's form. "If the circle goes as Eiya wants it to go, then I will trap Sora away in the depths of darkness... Fuck!" Riku gasped out loud. "No Keyblade master, nobody to stop the Heartless!"

"Very good, Riku." Sora's voice cackled over him. "You've finally figured me out. Of course," Eiya paused to giggle, "Your logic will mean nothing once your mind is mine."

"What do you want with me! You have Sora! You brought me here to torture me and to help Ansem, apparently, and you did it well! What more do you want!" Riku yelled, his voice breaking slightly, forcing down multitudes of tears gathering behind his eyes.

"It's simple... while Sora has the body strength, you have the mind, you both have the souls, and you both have the hearts. Both of you, in your own rights, are Keyblade wielders." Eiya let this sink in on Riku. "Now, the perfect Keyblade wielder would have body, mind, soul, and heart. Therefore, I take what makes you both worthy of the Keyblade, and put it upon the power Ansem wrought and lost in the darkness. The perfect Keyblade wielder... to destroy these worlds!"

"But why!" Riku begged weakly, his breaking at the knees.

"What do you mean why?" Eiya hissed nastily, taking Sora's form and voice. The wind picked up, blowing harder, whirling Heartless in midair like pieces of paper.

"Well, there are really two... why are you destroying the worlds...?" He paused to rub at his eyes. "And why do you have to tell me? Can't you just kill me and get it over with?"

"Why destroy? Because they're not worthy of existance. People running on their feelings, ignoring sensibility for those brief little bursts of emotions... Feh! Humans are ruining themselves every time a heartstring flutters towards an attractive memebr of the preferred sex. And why tell you...? Well, I don't know, really. I suppose that, since you've been so very cooperative in getting me what I want, you deserve a little explanation about what that ingenius warrior's mind will do for me."

"I won't do anything for you!" Riku yelled. "You said one word that cleared Sora and myself of everything you're doing!"

"Oh, hell..." Eiya moaned, rubbing a hand to its forehead.

"You don't have the heart to wield the Keyblade. And you can't take our hearts!" Riku asserted, pulling himself up, confident again.

"Look at you, spouting nonsense! I just took your little friend's form, body, and soul! I have his heart, and you're connected to me!" Eiya shouted.

"I have his soul, it's the hope that keeps me on my feet!" Riku cried, as he dug for the Hope keychain still in his pocket. He clutched it tight to his chest. In his mind, he found the puppet strings that bound Eiya to Sora- and to himself, in turn-, and tugged at them.

"STOP IT!" Eiya screeched, as Riku tore at Eiya with a mighty tug. The wind picked up, and the land began to rattle and rumble with the mighty forces of angry gods.

"I have his body, because it's in my mind! The mind you so desire from me, but you can't have!" He pulled again at the strings.

"I can have it! I will have it!" Eiya declared, pulling right back at the strings. Sora's true voice screamed from within Eiya, feeling the terrible pain chorus throughout his heart. "You're mine! Sora is mine!"

"I have his heart, because we share a heart! Maybe you fight to hold down emotions, but my emotion for Sora is what bound us in the first place!" Riku pulled as hard as he could. "I LOVE HIM!" With this mighty yarp, across the rooftops of the world, Sora burst out of Eiya, and the blue essence re-entered his mouth. Riku and Sora toppled over onto the rocks, as a great crack was heard from somewhere.

The circle had been broken.

Eiya screeched in what could have been pain to an emotionless remnant of pure darkness, and the Heartless shrank around them, sinking under the sand. Eiya was gone, and Riku and Sora were alone again.

Riku examined the Keychain he held to his chest, as the world around him cooled down, the wind settling, the sky clearing somewhat, the Heartless hiding, and Sora falling back into his own body. "It's the Kingdom keychain." Riku muttered. "Where'd Hope go...?" He looked around curiously, and knelt by Sora, feeling his chest. There was a faint heartbeat. Sora slowly became pale again, as pale as when Riku had first found him in the void, and, as Riku judged by his soft, even breathing, Sora was fast asleep. Riku felt eerily delirious,and put a hand to his head. He felt blood, and saw blood dripping off his head onto his shirt- he must have hit his head when he fell, he thought.Riku looked up, and saw the moon and stars out, high up in the sky- it was nearly midnight. Riku picked Sora up, resting him in his arms, and carried him towards the highest point on the island, at the top of the tallest tree. "Sora, this is my nightmare now... You have to go home." He could feel his own body trembling, as the beach faded around him. "Just remember what you've said, Sora... our hearts are one... and as long as we think of each other once in a while, we'll always have each other's strength. I think that you've already affected me... tonight was the closest I've ever come to crying." He grinned at Sora, who still slept. "Please, Sora, don't forget me now."

Destiny Island became a path in the void, and up ahead, Riku could see Hope floating in the air, drifting lazily. Blood continued to drip across his body, and he began to stumbleintermittently out of weakness and a pervading loss of balance.As he came closer, they formed a bed with a cage over it. Riku gently lay Sora down in it, and the Hope surrounded him, to keep him safe from the horrors of the void. Riku examined it. "I'll need to push you..." He muttered, looking under the cage. He could see that it was pure and empty void beneath the cage. "Well, Sora, your way up must be my way down." He stepped into the void, using his last bit of momentum to push the cage up towards the bright light shining above the void. "Wake up, Sora! Please wake up!" As the cage began to fly up, blood began to float around him, andthe Hopes suddenly gained a mind of their own. As Riku began to fall, they turned Sora around, and Riku grabbed onto the cage, pressing his hand against it, but it was as though glass separated him and Sora now. Riku pushed the cage up again, pushing himself down, and watching Sora go up. Blood clouded his vision, and Riku closed his eyes.

TO BE CONTINUED... (One more chapter!)

End Author's Notes: ... I spilled cocoa on myself... (sobble.)