Chapter four: The Darkness Begins to Offer

"Ungh… Huh?" Riku opened his blue eyes. He saw waterfalls. Waterfalls falling… up? He pushed himself up to his knees, thinking that maybe he had hit his head really hard. He looked at the sky. Never had he seen that shade of purplish-red on the isla… wait. Was he even on the island? He ran his hands on the cold stone under him. Never had he felt such smooth stone, or such cold stone before. Was he on another world? Riku's thoughts were disrupted by footsteps.

A woman approached, with her pride and ugliness. She was dressed in all black and held a staff in a claw-like hand. Her steps were semi-graceful and when she stopped before Riku, he began to appreciate her extreme height.

"Well, well. A new dark comer." The woman chanted. Riku doubted if she could do anything but chant, the way she was speaking now. "Welcome to Hollow Bastion."

"Hollow Bastion? So I am in a new world!" Riku leapt up, his head almost hitting her jaw. Perhaps she wasn't that tall.

"You are." She said, her dark eyes glaring at Riku. Riku gave her an inquiring look. "I am Maleficent. Keeper of the castle here at Hollow Bastion." She gestured to the right. Riku traced the roof of the castle with awe, his sky blue eyes wide.

"Whoa… I-uh-I' Riku." I made it! I'm on another world! Why am I on this one? How many others are there? Where are Sora and Kairi? Riku looked around, searching for the two brown haired teens. "Sora? Kairi?" He returned his icy gaze on Maleficent. "Have you seen two others appear here too? They are about the same height, just a little … you haven't." Riku recognized that look in Maleficent's eyes. His father had gotten it every time Riku asked a question.

"Only those destined for great things come here." She chanted, raising a hand over Riku's head. Riku ducked away.

"Whatever…" Did Sora and Kairi get off? Maleficent ran a finger along Riku's jaw. Riku jerked his head away from her hand.

"Don't worry, Dark comer. If you really want, that darkness will help you find them." Her voice became almost loving, but not for Riku. "Darkness can do extraordinary things!" Riku looked darkly at the ground.

"Maybe."

"Come. I shall show you your room." Riku fought the urge to scowl. A castle had many rooms. She couldn't have known he was coming. He lost his train of thought when Maleficent conjured a large dark portal. She motioned for him to enter. Riku did so.

It felt like being sucked down a tight tube really fast. When Riku stumbled out of the portal, he nearly fell into the wall. He blinked as he caught sight of a bouncing shadow. It looked like a larger version of the one in his dream. Riku stumbled away from it, smacking into Maleficent again.

"What is that thing?"

"That is a heartless." Maleficent chanted softly. "That is a creature of the darkness, and one of the many minions I control." It bobbed slightly again, its lamp yellow eyes gazing up at Maleficent. She waved her hand and it disappeared.

"Here is the room you will be staying in. There are other guests here. Enjoy your stay. It may be longer then you think." Riku scowled at the green door that Maleficent had gestured at. He heard her footsteps fade and turned away from the door. His eyes focused on the nearest shadow. He cautiously poked it. Nothing happened. Satisfied, Riku went into the room.

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Dawn greeted Riku as he began to wander the castle's corridors. He met many more heartless creatures, their size ranging from a small blob, which were called shadows, to large blind heartless, named defenders. The castle was interesting enough, but Riku searched for any sign of either Sora or Kairi. He kept an eye on Maleficent and the strange meetings she attended. Thin as he was, he found a small passage that lead inside the chambers where the meetings were held. A convenient notch was right outside the passage. Word about Sora and Kairi came three days after Riku had first appeared in the Rising Falls.

"Your no prize yourself!" Riku yawned. Even Halloween Town's Oggie-Boogie's voice couldn't lighten the dullness of this meeting.

"Shut up!" Cried Hook, the Capitan of a pirate crew in Neverland. Riku was about to doze off again when Maleficent spoke.

"Enough." She chanted in a leaders voice. "Will he be the one to conquer the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful." Riku slipped his head around the corner to gaze at the witches back. She moved aside, exposing a hologram of three people. One was a duck, the second a dog. The one that caught Riku's eye was the hologram of Sora.

They know where I can find him! Riku realized.

After the meeting, Riku confronted Maleficent.

"I know you have a way to go to other worlds." Maleficent looked surprised, but quickly masked it with a smile.

"Of course I do. But why do you want to go to another world, dark follower?"

"I want to find my friends."

"You'll need a little bit of training with the darkness before you go anywhere though."

"Why?" Riku tried not to snap at the witch. He didn't really like her and couldn't seem to get used to her. Maleficent leaned over and tapped his chest. A green light flashed up around him, and Riku forced himself to look calm, though he could feel his eyes widen.

"When you need it, you will be able to conjure it."

"Conjure what?" Maleficent only smiled softly, which infuriated Riku. She griped his shoulder and propelled him into a dark room. The door behind him clipped shut dangerously. "What the-?" A glob of deeper darkness flashed over his sight and Riku leapt back from the blob. It was a Darkball. More Darkballs floated behind the one before Riku. The Darkball nearest Riku charged at him and he stumbled back, his hand razing before his face in an attempt to defend himself. A small flash of red signaled an increase in weight in Riku's hand. The Darkball flew over Riku as he fell away from it. He glanced briefly at the sword in his hand before attacking the Darkball with a quick swipe.

Riku took little time to defeat the rest of those in that room and went to the door. It creaked open loudly and Maleficent stood at the doorway.

"It is called the Soul Eater." Maleficent chanted. Riku held up the blade to really look at it. It had the appearance of a bat or dragon wing. Half of the blade was red and the other half was a deep purple. On the hilt was a teal gem that had the appearance of a cat eye. As he lowered his hand, it disappeared.

"Soon you'll be able to leave."

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A few more meetings past by quite uneventfully. Riku kept a sharp ear out for another hint of Sora. His trainings went by quickly. He learned quickly, exploiting the weakness of every heartless he met. Finally, after a week more past, the Visor from Agrabah started on a subject that caught Riku's interest.

"What drew the heartless to that world?" Jafar, the visor, asked. Riku stiffened in his notch.

"The hunter drew them there." Maleficent stated sternly. She seemed to have a hint of concern in her voice, maybe unmasked by the fact she wasn't chanting. "It was his lust for power that was the bait." Her chant was back. "Bit it seems that the bait was too tasty for his own good." Oggie-Boogie laughed.

"Yeah. He got chomped instead." Jafar scoffed from over the bag of bugs' laugh.

"A weak hearted fool like him stood no chance against the heartless. But the boy's a problem." Riku's ears sharpened. "He found one of the Keyholes."

"Fear not." Maleficent adopted the leader tone again. "It'll take him ages to find the rest. Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of our other plans."

Again Riku confronted Maleficent just after the meeting.

"You will tell me where Sora is. Now." Riku growled. How dare she keep that from him when he had been so straightforward with her? Her eyes flashed.

"Its true that I know where he is. But he cares for you no longer." She chanted softly. Riku didn't like the glint she had in her eyes.

"Whatever." Riku shook off her lie. "Just tell me where he is."

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AN: What do you think? hides fearfuly behind chair Its the first chapter that realllllly bridges off from what the KH game tells us. I have got some plans for Riku that I hope you'll like.Pleeeeeeease review?