Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not owned by me, but by SquareEnix and some such…

Author Notes:

This one made me hurt. It made this little black heart of mine ache. Oh yes it did. It was going to be split into two chapters, but I decided against it. I hate it when chapters are 2-3 pages long and leave you at an EXTREME cliffhanger, so yeah. La la.

Don't hate me too much. Okay?

And hey, if I was possessed by some evil dead guy, I'd be having major mood swings too…

Sephy: (eating a Nutter Butter cookie) Erhrm… you are.

Well, that sure explains a lot.

Music that played during the entire writing of this chapter: "One Winged Angel" Nobuo Uematsu (Kingdom Hearts Version)

RARRRRG!!

Chapter 15

Sasha dashed through the thick mist, her feet sinking into the mud with each step. It took an extreme effort to pull them out of the muck, and more than once she glanced longingly up into the air. Flying was out of the question, though, since in the thick mist she doubted she'd be able to see well, and she didn't feel like risking falling on one of the sharp spikes that seemed to litter the chasm. Besides, she was having quite enough trouble listening for the sound of Riku's running as it was. Being in the air among the thickest of the mist would mean losing what little direction she had.

Her legs were beginning to ache from all the running she'd had done that day, and what she really wanted was to be able to sit down for a while and catch her breath. Even as she ran, though, Riku's footsteps sounded farther and farther away, and she didn't want to take the chance of losing them entirely. The mist was growing thicker, although it seemed to be clearing close to the ground, and the odd colored cloud seemed to hover a foot above the multi-colored mud. She struggled onward, noticing as she did that the mud was getting wetter and each step harder to pull out of the ooze. Her foot caught in an especially stubborn patch of mud, and pulling it out, she stumbled forward, nearly falling. She caught herself, but not before her feet splashed in what seemed to be water. She paused a moment, her breath coming quick, and squinted through the mist to try and see what it was she splashed into.

The gray green haze filtered slightly, some moonlight from above coming through, and she saw in front of her another river, though smaller than the first. She squinted, leaning with her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath. Something flickered in the water, coming closer to the shore. She gasped and took a surprised step back as a head splashed out of the water, followed by scaly shoulders and arms and clawed hands. The monster looked at her for a moment, yellow eyes glowing in its seaweed green face, its gill covers flapping slightly.

"What do you want?" It said, its voice somewhere between a hiss and a gurgle. It shifted slightly, its arms folded in front of it on the bank, the rest of its body still submerged.

"I… I'm looking for someone." Sasha panted slight, then took a deep breath, eyeing the creature warily.

"Hm? Someone? What kind of…someone?" The creature asked, leaning forward slightly, flicking its tail against the surface of the water.

"A boy. Taller than me, with silver hair." Sasha said, holding her hand up to Riku's height. "He was running this way."

"Hm…" The creature seemed to think for a moment, holding its chin with one scaly hand. "Nope. Don't believe I've seen anyone like that come through here."

"But…" Sasha shook her head. "No, he had to come by here. Where else could he have gone?"

"Of course," The monster continued, shrugging. "Of course, I only came up to the surface when you showed up. I could have missed him."

Sasha paused, and then glared at the creature. She turned around and stalked off, her wings twitching.

"Hey, where are you going?" The creature called after her, and she paused. "Won't you stay… for dinner?"

She turned around to see it half out onto the bank, clawed hands digging into the muddy ground, its mouth twisted into a malicious grin, sharp teeth glistening in the faded light. A shudder ran through her, and she started to back off.

"Er, no, that's alright." She said, then turned and walked off as quickly as she could.

She walked on for a while, then sighed. She'd lost him, and she was sure she'd lost herself too. The mist around her was as thick as ever, and now, everywhere she turned there was a mound of stone or some half-dead tree in her way. She turned to the right, and had to stop quickly to keep from running into a boulder. She turned the other way only to hit her head on a low-hanging branch.

"Ouch." She said, rubbing her head gingerly and looking around, grimacing. She took a deep breath and then started again, this time holding her hands out in front of her to keep her from running into things.

She didn't know quite how long she spent in the maze, but gradually she began to notice a change. The ground beneath her feet was becoming firmer and drier, and had started to be elevated, tilting up at a progressively sharper angle. She followed the slope, and soon the mist began to clear. Just as she thought she was getting somewhere, more and more trees began appearing, along with shrubs, most affectively barring her way. She was tired; her legs ached, and she was seriously considering just sitting down and giving up. Searching for a way past the low-lying branches, she noticed a broken branch. And past it, another broken one. Someone had been through here, she thought excitedly, and recently.

She followed the trail the broken branches opened, slowly moving up what seemed to be a side of a large hill. The going was hard, and numerous scratches appeared on her arms and face. She stopped a moment to rest, then continued, pushing aside branches and kicking at shrubs that were in her way. She imagined she must've sounded like an elephant walking through there, especially since there was no more mist to hide the sound.

She stumbled out of the last line of trees into wonderful, wonderful open air and took a deep breath. Her breath caught, however, when she saw the top of the hill. Giant, an ancient no doubt, the tree stood at the crown of the hill, large and unmoving. It leafless branches reached out in all directions, giant thick arms that seemed to branch beyond the hill itself. On its lowest two branches, four skeletons were hung, two to a branch, their bones stirring softly. The great tree, dark brown with age, was covered in cracks over its jagged bark. Three of the cracks seemed to form closed eyes and a twisted, frowning mouth. Sasha stood there for a moment, staring up at the mammoth tree, her breath finally catching up to her as she took in the sight.

Her eyes shifted downward, and she rushed closer to the edge of the crown of the hill. Riku stood there, looking up into the branches, looking thoroughly absorbed in the tree.

"Riku!" Sasha called out, surprised that she had actually found him again after losing him in the mist.

He turned, too quickly, as if frightened, his eyes wide, his breath coming quick.

"Riku, what…" Sasha started to take a few steps, but Riku called out.

"Don't!" He said, backing away slightly. He pulled his arms close to himself. "Don't… don't come closer…"

"What… Riku, what's wrong?" She asked. Her gaze is suddenly shifted to the tree. Was it just her, or did it seem to lean away as Riku drew closer to it? She shoved the thought away and focused back on Riku.

"Something's wrong… something…" Riku started, stopped. His eyes began to flicker slightly, darker to lighter to darker again. "I… there's… I can't remember…"

"What? What is it?" Sasha asked, taking a step forward.

"That's the thing. I know it's important," Riku said desperately, shaking his head. "But I don't know what it is… I don't remember…"

Sasha took another step closer, then another.

"And… and whenever I start thinking… whenever I start thinking about… about Sora… about everyone…" His hands gripped his head as if it pained him, his fingers twisting in his hair. "Whenever I do… all I can think… all… all I can think about is how he left me… how they all left me…"

Sasha paused, alarmed by the way his voice had suddenly grown quiet. He was trembling, she saw, his breath coming ragged as his hand clenched tighter.

"But Riku, Sora didn't-" She started, but he glanced up at her sharply, his hands dropping.

"You left me too!" His voice sounded near hysterical as he pointed at her, his hand shaking. "You did too… I thought you wouldn't, I thought, finally, I'd found someone different. Someone who wouldn't... I thought, I thought, maybe… just maybe, you wouldn't be like them. But you were, you were just like them. And you left too…"

Sasha tried to speak, to say something, but his eyes caught her. She froze as the cold look touched her, felt her breath catch at the sudden appearance of dark in them. Riku began to back towards the tree again, and the dysfunctional terror that seemed to have been affecting him dissipated.

"But that's all right. I'm used to it by now… I know better! I don't need you!" He sneered, his eyes narrowing. "I don't need Sora! I'll find Kairi! I'll get my world back, and I'll do it without help from any of you. "

The tree, so silent and unmoving a few moments earlier, was starting to shake, to twist. Groans came from the wood as the branches shifted and shook, twisted and untwisted. Sasha watched in horror as black stripes began running down it, covering it and twisting around it as its branches curled unnaturally, spasms rocking its great trunk.

"I'll get the power and I'll do it myself." Riku said, his voice low, dangerous, but triumphant, his sneer turning into a grin.

The tree was morphing more now, inky black, and the skeletons began shaking, their bones rattling like horrible chimes. The cracks on the tree's bark shifted, opened. Two parted to reveal glowing yellow hollows, bright and vigilant. The third crack opened, shifted into a jagged maw, the hollow behind it slightly glowing purple. The skeletons twisted and deformed, turning a blue-black and growing spines and horns. Their mouths opened to reveal fire, their eye-holes glowing eerily.

"Oh…no…" Sasha fumbled for her axe, her eyes fixed on the monstrous creature in front of her.

Riku smirked, a sinister grin, his eyes shining with quite a different light. He dodged around the tree's trunk and disappeared, heading down the other side of the hill. Sasha spared a glance after him, but then the tree let out a loud groan, and she focused back on it.

"This is… bad. Very very bad…" She said, jumping as a branch swung her way. She flapped quickly, and flew above it, her axe's blade cutting a sliver off of it. Another branch swung around and smacked her in the side, but she recovered and dodged a third branch, cutting off a few small branchlets off the main one.

"Grrrr…" She dodged a barrage of leafless branches that the tree shot out at her, and attempted to try to see where Riku had gotten to. A branch swung up beneath her, and the skeleton's on it opened their mouths, releasing a wave of fire at her. She twisted a wing and attempted to dive out of the way, but the trailing edge of the flames caught her leg, scorching her slightly, but thankfully not burning her pant leg. She readied her axe to swing at the closest branch, but was suddenly yanked out of the air and swung around wildly. She nearly freaked for a moment, almost dropping her axe, but regained her composure and swung the blade, cutting into and through the branchlets that held her.

The force of the swing was still with her, and she closed her wings as it tossed her out past the tree and towards the other side of the hill. Spreading her wings once she was out of the tree's range, she halted her sharp fall and began gliding down. Its then that she noticed Riku. Having reached the bottom of the hill, he glanced back towards the top and grinned maliciously. He stuck his hand out into the air in front of him.

"Oh no you don't…." Sasha hissed, and snapped her wings into diving position, narrow and angled to offer maximum speed.

Riku, noticing her, frowned, and the portal swirled open in front of him. Sasha narrowed her wings even more, not far away now, as he dashed through the portal. Wings flaring to keep her from crashing, Sasha hit the ground at a run and jumped through the portal a half second after Riku had disappeared into it.

The portal flickered for a moment, then closed with a soft hush, like the sigh of the wind through the evening fog, and all faded to darkness.

Sasha stirred, trying to feel if her limbs were all there. There was an ache in her head, growing somewhere from the back, and she winced as she sat up slowly, her eyes flickering.

"Why did you follow me?"

Riku's voice shocked her, and her eyes snapped wide. He was crouching in front of her, eyeing her coldly, and she was overcome by that fear again. Why did she ever think she could be a warrior, she wondered. She twitched, staring at him, her wings fluttering.

"Hm…" Riku tilted his head slightly. "What to do. I could just leave you here for Malificent. She doesn't take kindly to intruders…"

"You're not Riku." Sasha burst out, pulling away. For a second that didn't even make sense to her. Here he was, same hair, same eyes, same face. But it was all different. It hadn't changed, but it had. This wasn't him.

"What?" Riku frowned, his eyes flickering. "What are you talking about, Sasha?"

Sasha didn't reply, and instead slid away from him, eyes wide and fixed on him. She couldn't help it, every ounce of her body was screaming at her to run, run. Riku watched her, a curiously puzzled look on his face.

"Sasha?" He asked, still frowning slightly, almost thoughtfully.

"You're…" Sasha faltered slightly. Whatever force had been there so forcefully had receded, but she wasn't fooled. "You're not Riku."

Following him didn't seem like such a great idea anymore. She could think of dozens of reasons, now, why she shouldn't have been so eager to discover what was wrong. She stood up, backing away even more, and Riku continued to watch her.

"Of course I am." He said, a little frustrated, still puzzled. "Who else could I be?"

"I don't know…" Her eyes wide, she found herself struggling vainly against the flight effect. Her eyes flickered left and right as she stood there, shaking slightly.

"Sasha-" Riku started.

"I need to get out of here." She said, her voice quiet but filled with fear. She turned around to look, then realized with a shock that she'd just turned her back to Riku. Visions of what happened at the riverbank and the tree shoot back, and she whirled around to face him again, backing away.

"Sasha… Sasha, listen," Riku said, standing up slowly. "I'm sorry about what I did. I… I don't know why I do these things, Sasha. I don't know why I keep… why I do it. Sasha, don't leave."

His tone turned desperate, and Sasha saw that his eyes had changed, a tired look come into them that she hadn't seen before. But flight was attacking her senses now, and faced with an unknown horror in a place that had never boded well for her before, she was finding it difficult to think of anything other than running away. Her eyes flickered around the room, and she saw two doors. The only problem was that they both were situated in the walls behind RIku.

"I know you're scared, Sasha…" Riku said, desperately, his eyes showing he was definitely scared too. "But don't leave. Don't leave me…"

Sasha was torn; what was she supposed to do? Stay and risk that…that would come out again? Or leave and take her chances in this castle of horrors? She shook her head, her fear getting the best of her, and took off across the floor.

Riku was caught off guard, not really expecting her to bolt like she had. It took only a moment for him to recover, and he took off. It was a mad dash, but he caught her, tackling her down. They rolled a little, but Riku grabbed her shoulders and held her down, looking at her desperately, pleadingly.

"Sasha, Sasha, please!" His voice was tinged with sadness and frustration.

"I can't… I can't…" Sasha whimpered, clutching his arms tightly, squirming in his hold. "You're not Riku. I don't know who you are…"

"Don't leave me!" Riku cried desperately, clutching her shoulders tighter.

"I don't know you!" Sasha whimpered again, shaking her head. "I don't know you…"

"Something's wrong. Something's not right…" Riku was desperate, his hands shaking as he looked her in the eyes. He couldn't bear the thought of having her leave again. Leave him all alone here, all alone without anyone. "No matter how light it is, everything's dark. Everything's in shades of grey and getting darker… Sasha, help me!"

The girl trembled; no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get out of his grip. It was as if he'd gotten a strange sort of strength. Something wasn't right. She no longer recognized the person before her. Even before, when this started, she knew it was Riku. She could close her eyes and feel it was him. Now, now…she didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to do. All she wanted to do was get away.

"No, no…" She squirmed, looking around desperately. "I don't know what you did to Riku, but you're not him. I don't know what you did… I can't feel him anymore! I can't…

Her words trembled away with another whimper. She shook as she looked back at him, back into those eyes. Eyes that were now wide with surprise, staring at her as if she'd just told him the secrets of the universe. His hands stopped shaking, and he felt his breath catch. Something close to paralyzing fear ran through him, some sort of ice that came with the revelation.

"When I look at you, all I see is shadows." Sasha continued. "All I see is darkness. All I feel is ice and cold. You're not Riku… I don't know you."

He stared at her, his hands slowly releasing their hold. He knelt back, staring at her with some strange mix of surprise and sadness, some fear and some understanding that suddenly crossed through him. How could she feel all that? How could she know all that? Was that why she'd been so distant before, why she'd been so reluctant to be near him when they were alone together in the castle? Suddenly, a look of pain crossed his face, and he clutched his chest with a gasp. Whatever it was, it was racing through him, searing into him, and he fell forward, propping himself up with one arm as his forehead touched the ground.

Sasha sat up slowly, warily, watching him as he struggled against the pain, his breath coming fast and ragged. She pulled herself into a crouch, still watching him, then stood up and started backing away slowly.

He gasped again at the sound of her footsteps, and his voice was sad and desperate, twisted with pain.

"Don't… Don't leave, Sasha… Please, don't… don't leave me…" He didn't have the strength to move, to even lift up his head and look after her. The pain was growing, growing, and he clenched his teeth as tears began to drip to the ground. He didn't want to be alone. Not again. He was terrified, he knew what the darkness was, he knew it was coming. And, horrible realization, he knew he couldn't fight it. He knew he was going to lose.

Sasha paused for a moment. Her mind screamed at her, telling her to get out of there, but she watched him for a second, slightly grimacing at the thought of the pain he might be in. He could be fighting it, she thought for a moment, then frowned. No, she wasn't going to be here when that came again. Guilt flooded her, but survival was too big a prize to throw away, and she made her way quickly to the nearest door. Opening it, she gazed into the dark hallway before her, and without a look back dodged into the shadows.

The door closed with a groan, wood grinding on stone, and all turned to darkness.

Endnotes:

I figured out how to remedy the Kairi-not-found-yet problem. Obviously, this was all BEFORE that happened. laughs fakely Obviously. Anyways, now the problem starts. Joy.

IMPORTANT

Please, get me feedback about this:

I mentioned the sequels before, I will mention them again.

I'm playing on a major sequel. But between this story and the sequel there will be three mini-stories. One featuring Sora, one featuring Riku, and one featuring Sasha. They will be at most 5 chapters long, and will lead up to almost the beginning of the sequel. The sequel will have Kairi in it a lot more than any of these stories do. And Sephiroth will return. Sephy: ALL RIGHT! WHOO!> er yes…

Please tell me if you like the idea or not. Thanks

Thanks to:

Magic Blue Fire Kitsune: hands out more cookies>

Malignant-Paroxysm: Hope you enjoyed this one. Although I still hurt… hurt…

And everyone else! Thanks for reading, I hope the experience was somewhat enjoyable.

If you feel like it, check out this pic: http:www. deviantart. com/ deviation /12983261 / I actually drew people! The horror! And Sephy's in it. Cuz he's been beggin like a poor man to be featured in something and it was getting pathetic.

Laters, Zo