AN: Konnichiwa, minna-san! Hooray for an update after what...a week? Whoo! God, I'm so excited...I'mma be goin' back to Arizona for a month to see my family! Of course, Okaa is overjoyed...--;;; Well, if I was my kid (If that makes any sense at all) I'd be glad to see me gone too! Anyways, if you happened to review, thank you very much for the review. Don't worry, the original characters of this game will come in soon...you just need to be patient. Patience is a virtue. Well...I don't have it, but you should! D

Disclaimer: Anone! I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of it's affiliations! Wakarimasu ka?

Thanks: Not really anyone this time.

Everything was much different when I awoke.

I found myself in such a strange, bizarre place that I had to question the fact if I was awake in a dream. I pinched myself a couple times. Well...that was inflicted pain, therefore I must have been awake, or I was getting poked with something particularly sharp while I was sleeping. The place, as I have said before, was very strange...and I returned to the strong feeling of terror as soon as I found myself alone. It was dark, and eerily quiet. A heavy feeling of apprehension hung in the air...nearly taunting me. Jeering me from the shadows...the shadows that I was immersed in.

It did not take me long to figure out where I was. It seemed so logical back then...how I thought, how I knew what the darkness was, what it looked like, and how it felt. I wandered for days through the fog, hungry, crying, and searching for anything that I knew. I screamed myself hoarse looking for Mierie...she never answered, no, nothing ever answered me. Nothing but the darkness. The darkness that soon began to comfort me in it's own dark ways, curling around me in sleep like some sort of evil familiar...and it seemed I grew much more used to it than a child should. It became my constant companion, my pet - I had to fight to keep it from consuming my heart, I had to push it away from such boundaries, though it stayed.

The darkness could not come near my heart, though it stayed with me. Perhaps it felt sorry for me - but does the darkness really feel sorry for anything? Does it have emotions? Does it know the difference between good and evil? I don't think I thought of this when I was there, falling further into the darkness, going insane the more I stayed there. I almost thought that I had seen Sephiroth there - that he had reached for me? But no, no, just teasing, just lies, everything was completely immoral, debauched...

Something began to break through my darkness one day. I was crazed, hungry for attention as I truly opened my eyes, looking up at whomever had saved me, opening my mouth to finally gasp in a breath of air...focusing on breathing. I clawed desperately at her robes and clung to her, shaking as she crooned softly in my ear...

'Ah, you poor, poor child...' Her voice was icy, cold to my ears...but it felt so nice to talk to someone, to be held again. 'Yet you survived the darkness...you survived even it's darkest depths...it became your puppet...'

I only stared up at her, still clinging to her robes, fear written across my face, eyes wide with apprehension. The woman was tall and gaunt-looking, clad in all black robes, a staff crowned with a brilliant glowing yellow ball in hand. Her face was as pale as death, her lips formed into a small, cruel smile. A witch she was, I later found out, a dark witch who used the darkness to her own advantage. Her control over my darkness wasn't nearly as dominating as my own, but nonetheless, she had found a way to control my darkness.

I had found out where I was a day later. This place, as she so affectionately pinned it, was called the Obscure Caverns - and I could see why they called it so. It was shaped rather crudely into a throne room of some sort, and was rather large in proportions. The floor was smooth and black, as the walls and everything else was, though the torches were lit with green fire, giving it an eerie glow. There were no windows, only cold and emotionless black. I grew used to this place, almost as quickly as I had became used to being trapped in the darkness, while the witch, named Maleficent, only smiled upon me, whispering soft, gentle words that held malice behind them as I began to mature.

I was bent on conquering the darkness as it grew stronger, and as it did, I forced myself through bitter, unending training, learning to master the weapon that she gave me, getting back up, even when I fell, and destroying anything that happened to be in my way. The Heartless, as Maleficent had declared them to be called, were my targets of pent up frustration at the fact that I was losing my control. Surprisingly, by defeating new and stronger Heartless, I began to grow stronger, gaining experience at each and every new opponent that I faced. Whether or not I had come out scarred, bleeding, or half-dead, I had always managed to defeat the Heartless, no matter how many there were, how strong they were, or what strategy they tried to use against me.

My anger diminished to a small flame at the fact that I could not remember anything as I took it all out on the Heartless. Maleficent was soon telling me how 'proud' she was of me, how much I had grown, as if I was her own child. I remember how much I used to treasure these rare compliments, how I used to look up at her with a rare smile, blade still clutched in hand, face often dripping with my own blood. I had valued those smiles, perhaps even saved them so that I could dwell on them in curiosity later on, though was it really for that purpose? I wondered distantly if she only did it...to make me think that she was proud of me, to make me push myself harder...

Birthdays passed, and I went from the tender age of eight to the not-so-tender age of twelve, soon beginning to forget everything of my past as I threw myself into the darkness - I could only remember one name now, the only name I ever bothered to say...Haze. I spent four years with that witch, toning my rage, my body, and growing stronger under her encouragement. I learned to be as silent as a windless night - to move, blended in with my darkness as one incarnation. I learned to flex myself in unbelievable positions, twisting in midair as I attacked. I developed hearing one could possibly develop only if they were blind, and sight one could only possibly develop if they were deaf. My reflexes became instinct.

Did you think this 'happiness' was going to last?

HAH!

You expect too much.

It had all started on a simple note, a simple curiosity mission, journeying through the caverns that Maleficent had told me not to go down. I didn't listen. I never listened to what she said, other than the compliments she gave me, or the new missions she happened to assign to me, then I would listen to her. But not now. She was a lot like them - cruel and commanding. But I'd caught her lies when she had hastily tried to cover herself up, saying something that even I couldn't handle lay in those dark depths. I had faced the impossible before - how couldn't I face this?

And I journeyed further and further, hand lit with the newest Dark Fire spell I had learned. It was mostly used as a source of light when I went exploring further to the left of the 'throne room', though it was an absolute necessity here. I wouldn't be able to see my hand in front of my face if I lost that light. And so I walked further, further into what I already knew so well. I spotted a strange glowing blue light ahead...like the glowing fluorescent lights of a town. This intrigued me - there was no source of light, besides the torches, in the Obscure Caverns, therefore they should be none down there. Like all dark creatures, I was without more ado drawn to the light given off by anything - either to extinguish it or use it for my own purposes.

The room I had journeyed into wasn't very different from the usual throne room. The walls were a bit smoother, I suppose, and the ceiling was much lower than that of the original, yet it was just as decorative. My footsteps echoed as I walked, blade clutched in my left hand, eyes skimming the room, usually adjusted to the darkness - I lived in it. It seemed like a regular room, but when I turned to leave, I spotted the source of light. Something chained to the wall? I squinted as I drew closer to it. It seemed harmless, therefore there was no need for my blade at this point, hence the fact that it had already dissipated from my hand. It seemed...my footsteps failed to echo as I walked closer to this target of mine. No...it was my heartbeat that quickened as I neared, my heartbeat that seemed to echo.

A boy hung there, suspended by blackened chains. White hair fell over his eyes and obscured most of his face, but where the hair split into separate areas, I could see the flash of tanned skin through it. Hands hung limply, and his body seemed slumped - flaccid and unmoving. Otherwise than that, he had numerous bruises on his body - especially where the manacles held him firmly - ankles and wrists. He was still alive, I noted, otherwise Maleficent would have not been so callous as to leave such a body lying around the area. But then why would he be there? I took another step toward him, before he lifted his head slowly, his breath coming out in harsh gasps. I stopped abruptly in my tracks, watching him as he slowly raised his head to look up at me.

In a moment, my eyes widened, and I gasped.

'Haze!'

AN: Yes, the ending is evil, is it not? Mwahahaa. I got this idea after watching some anime where a guy was chained to the wall...plus the fact that I wanted to come up with some excuse for Raine to develop a hate for Maleficent...cause I just don't like her. I am, however, in love with Ansem...I adore his voice actor...the deep voice compels me to write more and more! Besides, he's so smart, too...

Raine: But I sound so evil!

Me: ;; Your SUPPOSED to sound evil.

Raine: Oh, forget it...I always sound evil anyways.

Me: Well, you ARE Ansem's daughter. (Note: The purpose of the following author's notes are merely because Shadow wanted to take up room to make it seem as if it wasn't shorter than the last chapter. )

Raine: What's that supposed to mean!

Me: Ansem IS one bad guy.

Raine: (Huffs) Well, shows what you know! My daddy's only the way he is because he had too much curiosity!

Me: Well, obviously since I'm WRITING this story, I know that, Raine. Annnnd, since you have a dark past in which I will reveal in the next two chapters, your obviously becoming one with the darkness, and it's inflicting harm upon your entire outlook on life! (Crosses arms)

Raine: ...Are you sure it's ME that's evil, here?

Me: What's THAT supposed to mean!

Raine: Oh, nothing, nothing... (Walks away)