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Mists of darkness shrouded throughout the floors and walls of a deserted castle. Eerie winds cut through the cold stones. For a while, there was only the sound of ravens coldly raving out their calls. But now, along with quiet footsteps, there was gentle clacking of hooves upon the floor. Emerging from the mists, a Sagitraus Heartless calmly strutted forward with Kairi following right behind. Watching all about her, Kairi began to shiver violently, her breath visible right before her. She looked up at Sagitraus, who didn't seem to be affected by the freezing point of the room.
The Heartless stopped abruptly. Not paying attention, Kairi walked right into it, almost falling down. Trying to keep herself warm, she looked up at Sagitraus, who didn't even flinch one bit. Just as she was about to question the Heartless, it slowly rose its claws over to an empty space in the middle of the mist. For one minute, Kairi actually thought that the creature was obviously crazy, but soon afterwards, she gasped silently at the sudden change.
Particles of the dark mist slowly began to form into two figures: one in a black cloak, the other in a fanciful red garment with many assortments of accessories. A dim light shined down on the two as they engaged in conversation.
"Sire, it would seem our plan to release the Heartless was a success. They have all ready begun to wreck havoc just like before." The man in the dark cloak bowed lowly before the other figure. But all it did was heave a deep grunt beneath its clothing.
"…but you seem to be forgetting, my dear boy, about the Key Bearer. He defeated even our strongest forces last time, I'm positive he can do it yet again."
The hooded figure lifted its head in shock. "Sire! You can't think such thoughts! Surely, our forces are stronger than before."
Heaving silent sighs, the red figure cocked its head slightly. "Do you have any proof of this? Don't forget, the Key Bearer is not our only enemy."
"You mean…sire, do thou speak of…"
"Indeed. I speak of the one who gave the Key in the first place. It would appear that not only has he aided the Key Bearer throughout the battles, he is now a part of it. This places a heavy dent in our army."
There was a heavy silence between the two. Still aside, Sagitraus and Kairi stood silently, both keeping to themselves. Kairi, now confused more than ever, was about to ask the Heartless what was going on. But before she could, the Heartless's dark claw covered her mouth, signaling her to stay silent.
After the long silence, the black figure stood up. "…perhaps it may. I'm sorry for correcting you." Before the red figure could say anything, the black figure slowly raised its hands to its hood. "But before you dismiss me, I'd like to point out a major weakness in the Key Bearer." Now caught with interest, the red figure was now being closely attentive. Before talking again, the black figure removed its hood from its face.
The figure was no more but a man, with spiked red hair and marks under his eyes. His eyes were as cold as steel and emotion-less like a doll. He continued with his conversation. "It would seem that during the finale of the last battle, the Key Bearer was separated by his companions."
Still close in attention, the red figure began to jump in. "Does thou speak of his fighting companions?"
Slowly shaking his head, the man continued. "No, they are still with him. I speak of his two human friends. Remember? There was the boy who joined our side, and then there was that young lady, whose heart was a vital key to our project."
Nodding slightly, the other stroked its chin in agreement. The man still continued. "It would seem that while one was pulled to the other side, the other was separated from the Key Bearer, ending up back originally where she came from." A small chuckle escaped from the man's mouth. "I suspect that the Key Bearer suffers from the disconnection of his dear companions. Sooner or later, I'm sure he'll go crazy, killing everything in his path. A few Heartless, his companions…eventually, he'll even bring himself down."
Instead of keeping silently, the red figure chuckled maniacally. "Ha ha! Humans are so pathetic. That's why they are a main course for the Heartless! Ho ho! I'll trust you on this, you've never been wrong for me…" Striding ploddingly, the red figure placed a claw on the man's shoulder.
Silence struck again between the two. Kairi started to remember about the incident where Sora had left her. Tired of standing, Sagitraus began to walk past the two figures. After some time, Kairi noticed its disappearance so she quickly followed behind it. As Sagitraus went through yet another opened portal, Kairi could hear the last bit of their conversation.
"You are dismissed…Axel."
And once again, the room was covered in a dark mist with no light to guide it.
--
Through a thick layer of darkness, the Heartless and Kairi emerged again, only to appear in nothing but darkness. Not as cold as before, but the appearance of an eerie room made Kairi shiver slightly. The last conversation still had thoughts buzzing around Kairi's mind. There were many things she couldn't get out. But only one stood out beyond the rest.
"…Key Bearer…"
Thoughts of Sora ran through her mind as she thought of this. Clenching her hands to her head, she began to tell herself to forget. But before she could even do that, Sagitraus sensed something. Growling violently, the Heartless began to charge into the darkness.
"Wait, where are you…?" Kairi yelled out to it, trying to stop it. Right before her eyes, the centaur Heartless was slashed in half by a blazing red light. The Heartless soon after ward dissolved into nothing. A sudden chill ran through Kairi's body. Soon, thousands of yellow eyes ran towards Kairi, yelping in pain. She wanted to run away, but her legs stayed frozen in fear. A couple of yellow eyes jumped straight after her, but before they could even touch her face, all traces of them were destroyed with yet another red light.
Kairi now had the courage to turn around and run away. She didn't know what was causing this killing spree, but she knew that she wanted to run away from it all. Just as she was about to run, a familiar voice weakly rang through her ears.
"Kairi…? Kairi, is that you? Please say it is…!"
Her head slowly turned around. As soon as she caught a glimpse, she was facing a boy covered in blood and torn pieces of his black and blue clothing. His silver head slowly raised up to Kairi's eye-level, as a pair of turquoise eyes could be seen.
Kairi was now fully paralyzed with fear. Her mouth slowly formed one word as she put her hand towards the boy. "…R-Riku…?"
Riku smiled with satisfaction, then collapsed on the floor, coughing up blood as he did. Shocked, Kairi crawled over to Riku, lifting him up to her eye level. "Riku? Wh-what happened?"
"…Kairi…oh god, how I missed you…" Riku continued to hack up blood, holding his chest tightly within his hand.
"Riku, please tell me what happened!" Tears now streamed down her cheeks, even though she tried to fight them back. Riku instantly noticed this. Slowly placing his hand to her face, he signaled her to silence.
"Kairi…you can't cry for me…I forbid it…" smiling and coughing, Riku continued on without letting Kairi speak. "I'm not going to make it, so before I go…I just wanted to say…that I'm sorry." Kairi gasped slightly as she now saw tears gently rolling down his cheeks. "I'm…so sorry…not only did I not save you…I hurt you in so many ways. So please…don't forgive me…" His eyes grew duller by the minute and his hand slowly crawled away from her face. "…I'm so sorry…" with that, Riku's eyes closed and his hands were now lifeless. Kairi just sat there, shocked at the sight of her lifeless friend.
Before anything could happen, Riku's body was suddenly slashed and disintegrated by another red light. Crawling away from the spot, Kairi was now violently shaking. She could now here footsteps getting closer to her. Not only that, but she could now see the form of the footsteps. Her eyes were now wide in shock and her breaths were stopped abruptly.
The figure was yet another young boy in various amounts of dark clothing materials. To the side he carried a huge weapon in the shape of a key, black blood spilling off from the edges. Kairi cowered in the presence of the boy, as his dull, white eyes looked down at her. Managing to get a short breath in, Kairi slowly stuttered the words she didn't want to hear.
"…Sora?"
Sora did nothing but continue to stare down at Kairi through his cold eyes. Kairi steadily gathered her courage to face him. "Sora…please tell me you didn't just kill Riku…"
His lifeless eyes turned away from Kairi's as he raised his Keyblade over his head. Kairi was once again stuck in fear, afraid of what he was about to do next. "S-sora…? What are you going to do…?" After a long silence, Sora's eyes were visible again, only this time, a small grin as now on his face. Swinging his Keyblade towards Kairi, she guarded herself uselessly against the sudden blow of death…
--
"AH!"
A boy arose from his slumber, with eyes of fear struck on him. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he was breathing heavily. Two other figures woke up next to him.
"ACK! What? Is it another Heartless?"
"Gwarsh, I hope not. I was just havin' another nice dream…"
The two figures looked towards the boy's direction. One of them, losing their temper, began to spurt out. "Sora! Dang it! What'd you wake us up for?"
Sora whipped his head over to the hot-blooded duck. "Huh…? Oh, sorry guys, did I wake you up?"
The duck now totally lost it. "WHAT! You woke us up for nothing? Bwaa!" Throwing a fit, the other figure decided to calm him down.
"Now Donald, Sora must've had a bad dream, Hyuck." Sora's other companion turned to him. "Isn't that right…?"
Sora innocently grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Heh, yeah…nothing to get worked up about. Sorry for waking you up Goofy, Donald."
Donald gave off an angry 'humph' as he snuggled himself back to sleep. Goofy decided to do the same thing. "Well, good night…again." Within seconds, the two were fast asleep yet again. Smiling once at his companions, Sora decided to try and go back to sleep, too.
But after his dream, worry-ness struck his face. His hand slowly extended towards the starry sky as he carefully gazed the background around his hand.
"Kairi…I miss you so much. But…" Sora brought his hand closer to him as he reversed his hand so that he could stare at his palm. "…I'm afraid the next time we meet, you might not recognize me…" Sora heaved a deep sigh as he brought his hand back to him. Closing himself around his blankets, he quickly fell asleep.
…that is, after a few shedding of tears.
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Geesuz, THIS finally got done…sorry about the wait (although who's waiting?) but I've had no inspiration to write lately…and…yes .
Although I will try and write some more, I just need to find a new subject.
Until then, toodles!