Author's Note: It's been a while since I did a songfic, and they're by far my favorite thing. This is an old work of mine that I really like and realized I never uploaded. It's from about a year ago, actually, and it was interesting to see how my writing grew over the year :D I actually had to go back and edit it, since there were a few KHI secret ending things in here that I realized were wrong after playingthe second game.

Reviews are loved, appreciated, and encouraged. As is checking out my other stuff. /shamless plug> :D

The song is "Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel.

"Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left it's seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sounds of silence"

The dreams that I had were frightening, and they sent chills down my spine. The visions were vivid, their darkness and harsh coldness implanted within my soul. When I awoke that night to the sounds of a storm, my legs seemed to move on their own, walking the rest of my weak body towards the pier, where I let my boat go, watching it get smashed up inside the clashing waves of the water. Again, my legs carried my body across sandy shoes, past strange creatures that arose from pristine white sand and salt-less, blue-green pools. Their yellow eyes bulged and glowed at me, they watched me walk, bowing down before me. I didn't know why, I didn't even know what these odd animals were. All I did was watch and wonder as my legs guided me to "my" tree, my paopu tree. I watched the water as shadows flocked towards my feet. I could feel something swelling up inside me, something dark and powerful in the pit of my heart and soul. I felt something behind me, I turned and saw Sora. And the words I began to speak weren't my own.

"In restless dreams I walked alone
Down narrow streets of cobblestone
'neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by a flash of a neon light that split that night
And touched the sound of silence"

The town was brightly lit by neon signs, all advertisements for whatever stores were in the cheery town. I didn't care, I was still looking for Kairi and Sora. The shadows were still following me, and I was also trying to figure that out as I went. They had stormed the town, but had now mysteriously disappeared after a bright platinum flash of white lit set the starry night sky on fire. I pushed through a large set of wooden doors, finding another alleyway. Sighing, I paced around the brownish cobblestone path, just thinking. What had I gotten myself into? That was all I could think, but my thoughts were unexpectedly interrupted by the sound of an opening door and voices talking. And out of that door came Sora. And as we talked, I realized something: he had changed. I fled when his back was turned, because I couldn't bear to look upon the changes that were happening right before my eyes. Looking up into a streetlamp's glow of yellow light, I felt an ache within my heart, one that I've never felt before.

"And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared disturb the sound of silence"

The castle was giant, with open walkways, lifts, and halls the size of what Destiny Islands used to be. The library was filled with books of different sizes and colors, and once I decided to read the books I had so curiously looked at. That was a mistake. In the library, there were many papers shuffled together on a dark wooden desk, and I read them. What I read horrified me. The man who had been writing these reports, Ansem, was a madman. I knew of him, I'd heard his name before. But I didn't know of the things he had done. He had created these things, the Heartless that I could now control with a vocal command or a flick of my wrist. He was the man who had created the darkness that my heart now desperately thrived on. And even though my heart was filled with that very darkness, the things I read almost made me reconsider what I was doing. If I kept going, would I turn into a replica of the one I had just deemed a madman?

"'Fools,' said he, 'you do not know,
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms, that I might reach you'
But his words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence"

I hated to fight him, almost as much as I hated to lose. Hearing Sora scream at me was too much. To be told that everything I had done was wrong was something I loathed. Especially when it was my best friend that accused me of sacrificing my soul to the darkness. I didn't care whether his accusations were true or not, it just hurt me. My power was gone, I was weak and I was useless. I ran through the castle, out of breath, trying to find some place to hide my worthless self. I finally collapsed, breathless, in the middle of a red-carpeted hallway, stuttering my thoughts out loud. I knelt there, panting, my pale face flushed with red, sweat dampening my hair, when I heard a voice. A smooth, calming, baritone voice that assured me that my assumptions about my weakness and uselessness were wrong. The voice sounded so sure, I had to believe in it. I wanted to believe in it. So, armed with a sword and my newly re-darkened heart, I set out to stalk the castle halls in hopes to kill of Sora for good.

"And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the signs flashed out their warnings
In the words that they were forming
And the signs said the words of the prophets
Are written on the sides of walls and tenement halls
And whispered in the halls of silence"

In the end of it all, I guess that I got what I deserved for letting my heart be corrupted by the flames of darkness. But when I heard the horrors Ansem had carried out, I couldn't believe myself for letting him manipulate me and use me the way he did. While I was in the darkness, his horrors seemed more like achievements. But now, reading the Ansem Reports in the pits of despair that I am imprisoned in makes me feel sick to my stomach. To hear how people in Hollow Bastion worshiped him, and only a few people knew about his experimentations with the Heartless was awful. And those few that knew the truth even wrote down rumors of truth in the form of graffiti on the castle walls and the sides of the hidden houses in Hollow Bastion. But no on listened, they only whispered their thoughts and their doubts.

"And I remain
Locked in the halls of silence"