Two chapters in one day. WOOT!

Disclaimers: Fools. I own not Kingdom Hearts. If I did, I would rule the universe…muwahahahaha…(cough)

Phase 7: Sunbeam Painted Black

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed, running over to him.

Sora didn't take too much note of Goofy, and instead focused his attention on Donald. "You're...glad to see me?"

"Of course!" Donald replied.

"Why wouldn't we, ayhuck," Goofy added.

Donald looked over to Goofy, then to Sora, and rubbed his head, laughing sheepishly. "Well...I was fooled by the trick for a while, too," he admitted. "But only for a little while!"

To prove his point, he began to cast healing spells on Sora rapidly.

"So...you don't..."

"NO I DON'T HATE YOU!" Donald finished for him. 'I PROMISED WE'D ALWAYS BE FRIENDS, AND I MEANT IT!"

Sora couldn't help but crack a smile.

Donald grinned back. "But could you give me a little warning next time?"

"Uh...okay,' Sora replied.

"But what happened?" Mickey asked, get quite tired of asking this one question over and over again.

Sora took a deep breath. "Well..."

Sora led the group into a small, deserted house, and made sure to shut the door tight. It was there that he told them everything. The discovery, the denial, the other villains that had hoped to follow him, the luring of Riku, the fight...and his fate.

"But…then it's not a trick?" Donald questioned.

Sora sadly shook his head. "Are you…"

"Of course not!" Donald barked.

The Keyblade Master looked surprised.

"But Sora," Goofy spoke after the lengthy tale was weaved, "You're not evil."

"We don't care if you're the Master of Darkness!" Donald barked. "You're our friend, and we know you're not evil. So no more of this 'Are we still friends?' stuff, got it!

Sora gave him a slightly startled look and grinned a little. "Gotcha."

"We need to tell the others about this," Mickey stated.

Sora winced at the idea. "I know...but, they're...not as forgiving as you guys are..."

"Did that Leon attack you!" Donald barked.

"No..." Sora began. "But I could tell by the look on his face..."

"Aw, phooey, don't worry about him," Donald reassured. "If he even thinks of laying a hand on you, I'm gonna roast him, and gonna freeze him, and then I'm gonna beat the-"

"Donald..." Mickey growled.

He calmed down. "Eheheheheheh, sorry Your Majesty...'

But lurking just outside in the deepest shadows of the house that were cast by the dim streetlights, was a figure in a cloak of blackened cherry...and he had heard every word that had been said.

Phase 8: Swirling Light

Vincent quickly leapt up to the roof of the building, gazing down to witness the figures leave soon after. The stench that cloaked Sora was appalling. He almost wanted to cover his nose, the darkness was so strong. He glared down at the gang from his perch.

He was disgusted with The King and his subjects, choosing darkness over light after all their preaching. They chose to follow Sora even though they now possessed the truth.

Sora...of all people it was Sora. That seemingly innocent Keyblade Master was in fact the one singled out by fate to command the blackness, the Master of Darkness himself. He had been lurking among all of them all this time, eavesdropping on their plans they had so carefully crafted. And none, not even himself, had suspected a thing.

Sure, he had caught of whiff of Darkness from him here and there, but nothing that seemed to be out of the ordinary. After all, there is no such thing as a pure heart.

But now...the darkness overflowed from his being. How he could've possibly have failed to notice this until now astonished him. How he wanted to bounce down upon this corrupted soul and end this here and now.

But he knew it would never be that easy. This was the Master of Darkness he was talking about here. The chance of him successfully landed his attack, or even of it being effective at all, was right next to the chance of Mickey becoming a human. To charge mindlessly into battle with the ruler of the dark and some of his accomplices was nothing short of foolish.

The others had to know about this. Now. And he couldn't tell them if he was dead.

He jumped away and took his usual route of rooftops to go find the others.

As Vincent leapt from building to building, he tried to think of who he should tell first. Aerith? That would take quite a lot of convincing. Yuffie? Like she would take him seriously. Cid? He could imagine all the foulness that would erupt from his mouth. Cloud? That wouldn't be so bad.

But first he had to seek out Riku. He was the key to distilling the darkness once and for all. In fact, why wasn't he already out here? No doubt that he could sense Sora's presence.

He searched the crisp air for his scent. It seemed to be coming from the hotel not far away. He altered his course to go meet with him.

He arrived on the balcony right outside the room, the cloak spreading out in all directions as he landed, almost like a midnight flower blooming. Inside the room was Riku, lying on the bed near the balcony window. He wasn't slumbering peacefully; instead, his restless eyes turned to Vincent's location.

"What are you doing here?' he growled in a somewhat irritated tone.

"You're well aware of who lurks in these streets,' Vincent replied, remaining in his landing position.

Riku averted his gaze back up to the ceiling. "Yeah."

"Why aren't you going after him?" he asked.

"Look, I doubt Sora's going to try anything," Riku explained. "I don't feel like fighting right now, and I doubt he does either."

"So you're going to just let him run around and do as he pleases?" Vincent questioned.

"If he does try to do something stupid, then I'll deal with him," Riku responded. "But right now we're having a temporary ceasefire."

"So you're going to wait until he's back at full strength?" Vincent growled.

"I'm going to need to be in top condition if I'm going to defeat him," he replied. "That's the main reason I'm not fighting him now."

"Is it?" Vincent replied.

Silence.

"You may have been friends with him," Vincent continued. "But that doesn't matter now. He's not the Sora you know anymore, and he never will be."

Riku turned over. 'That's what everyone else said about me back then."

"This is different,' Vincent stated. "You recovered because you were not destined for the darkness. He is."

We'll...we'll always be friends, right?

"He...he didn't act evil, though..." Riku said.

"That was most likely only on the surface," Vincent told him. "Either that or the darkness will soon consume what's left of his heart."

More silence.

"There is another thing you should know," Vincent added. "The King and his subjects have chosen to follow Sora into darkness."

Riku sat up. "What!"

"You will most likely have to fight them not far into the future, along with Sora," Vincent explained. "If you wait much longer, you won't have any allies left to fight with you."

Riku remained quiet once more.

"They will either pursue Sora into the dark..."

"...Or be slaughtered by his Keyblade."

Riku pushed himself out of the bed, and walked onto the balcony. With a swirl of light, absolutely white wings were reborn on his back.

"Let's go."

Well, hope you like. R+R

Cya!