Moon Glow

The Devil Laughs

Summary: (multiple implied pairings) What would have happened if Kairi hadn't recognized Sora as a heartless? Would Riku have been able to break free from Ansem's grasp in time to save Sora's heart from being completely destroyed by The Darkness? Let's find out, shall we?

Disclaimer: man…haven't written one of these in a looooong time…. But yeah, as much as I love Kingdom Hearts and all the charries involved in the game, Alas, it's not mine. I wish I had enough money to change that though.

-Thanks for the memory
Of candlelight and wine, castles on the Rhine
The Parthenon and moments on the Hudson River Line
How lovely it was!

Thanks for the memory
Of rainy afternoons, swingy Harlem tunes
And motor trips and burning lips and burning toast and prunes
How lovely it was!

Many's the time that we feasted
And many's the time that we fasted
Oh, well, it was swell while it lasted
We did have fun and no harm done

And thanks for the memory
Of sunburns at the shore, nights in Singapore
You might have been a headache but you never were a bore
So thank you so much.

Thanks for the memory
Of sentimental verse, nothing in my purse
And chuckles when the preacher said "For better or for worse"
How lovely it was

Thanks for the memory
Of lingerie with lace, Pilsner by the case
And how I jumped the day you trumped my one-and-only ace
How lovely it was!
Taken from
We said goodbye with a highball
Then I got as "high" as a steeple
But we were intelligent people
No tears, no fuss, Hooray! For us

So, thanks for the memory
And strictly entre-nous, darling how are you?
And how are all the little dreams that never did come true?
Aw'flly glad I met you, cheerio, and toodle-oo

And thank you so much-

Rod Stewart, "Thanks for the Memory"


Aerith had been kind to her, providing her with food and the comfort she desperately needed after facing the brunt of Riku's cruel and desperate accusations. She had seen the rage and jealousy burning in his eyes when she expressed her concern. He had, after all, called her an unimportant player in this "game".

"Is that what he sees this as?" She murmured quietly as she sat alone in the room in the hotel that Aerith had provided for her. She wanted to be alone and this was a very nice retreat, that room of blue. She couldn't be angry with Riku, no matter how right she would have been in doing so. That much she knew.

She lay back on the plush bed and stared at the ceiling, humming a sad song to herself that she had never really heard before, her feet dangling off the side of the bed. "No, it's stupid of me to even think that Riku isn't taking this seriously." She said with a wry smile, blinking the tears forming at her eyes. Riku had always taken everything seriously…

The lights flickered out in her room and the shushing of the rain outside of her window was magnified a thousand times by the pervading darkness. She heard footsteps in the hallway, hurried but methodical as whomever it was crowded the hallway. She swore that she could hear hissing, but wrote it off as the water pouring down outside.

Still, something felt horribly wrong.

Cautious, and without a sound, the young girl sat up on her bed and walked to the door. She placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly, peering out into the hallway. She quickly closed the door and her hands flew to her mouth to stifle the scream about to escape from her frail body. She locked the door and dashed over to the window, but couldn't see past the balcony in her way. She did, however, see more of those glowing yellow eyes that she'd seen in the hallway.

"I'm trapped…" She whispered, her heart thudding against her chest as she staggered back.

"ANSEM! SHOW YOURSELF!"

It was muted coming through her window, but she could still hear it and still tell that it was Riku shouting into the Alleyway. "Riku!" She cried softly. She desperately wished that she could help, but knew that—at most—she would only get in his way.

The door thundered behind her, the creatures outside pounding, clawing and scraping at her door. They had seen her when she peeked out and now she was going to pay for it… "No…" She whispered softly. "No." She said more firmly.

She was not going to die at the claws of some monster. "I'm coming to help you Riku!" She shouted and rushed forward, unlocking and throwing open her door. She sidestepped the bumbling heartless that streamed into her room, darting past their lazy attacks as she escaped into the hallway and out into the second district.

If she strained, she could hear Riku's anguished shouting and it enflamed her with strength she never knew before. She leapt down off of the pathway and darted to the opening to the alleyway, able to hear the Heartless closing in behind her as she entered.

What she saw broke her heart into a thousand pieces. Riku was splayed before a man dressed in shadows, the heartless ripping into him as the person who watched shouted insult after insult at him, hurling hateful words to her tortured and bleeding friend as he started to become ever more pale.

There seemed to be a silent exchange going on between them, the shadowed man covering his ears and shouting the words "NO! You're lying!" at Riku. His tone was one of desperation and sorrowful anger and his voice…

His voice was so familiar.

Riku smiled meekly, his eyes closing. For a second, her heart thundered in her ears, her hands shaking at her side. She saw the man in front of Riku grab a sword that had not been there a moment prior and raise it with deadly intent. That's when she knew whom it was.

"Sora…" She said quietly, but not so silently that it didn't escape Sora's ears.

He turned to look at her, his eyes flickering between golden and blue as he raised the wicked-looking blade in the shape of a wing.

"RIKU! SORA! NO!" She screamed, rushing forward to restrain the boy she loved from killing her other best friend. "Please Sora!" She screamed, grabbing a hold of his poised hand and taking advantage of his surprise to pull him away. "What happened to you?" She sobbed hysterically as she beheld his pallid face, his fierce eyes and his malevolent demeanor.

But she already knew what had happened to him…. The very thing that Riku said would. "You can't do this…" She pleaded, searching his eyes for any trace of the sorrow he had expressed when denying whatever Riku had done.

"You were the last person in the entire universe that I wanted to see, Kairi." Sora said coldly, ripping his arm away and shoving her back onto the ground. "This entire tale from beginning to end happened because of you. Every twist, every turn, every event happened because you came to our islands…" He said bitterly and turned away from her, raising the blade again, slamming it down into Riku's chest. With indifference, he turned the Keyblade and said loudly.

"Show me your soul, Riku, so that I may decide whether you live or die." He twisted the blade…and screamed, his loud cry drowning out all sounds around him.

Kairi watched helplessly and shrieked when she saw the Heartless lose control, swarming around Riku and Sora to charge toward her. She prayed for someone to save her—no, someone to save Riku! Someone to save Sora!

A blast of ice obliterated the armored Heartless nearest to her and she heard the familiar voices of Donald and Goofy as they rushed to their aid. She quickly got to her feet; her joints aching from jolt she received when Sora shoved her back. She did her best to stay out of the way of both her saviors and their assailants.

The two odd characters slaughtered the Heartless left and right, having trouble with the larger ones. As time wore on though, their fatigue was becoming visible; Donald was now thrashing blindly with his staff and Goofy's attacks slowed greatly.

But the Heartless kept coming, appearing out of Shadow and hell bent on their destruction…

That was, of course, until a blinding light obliterated all of the shadow monsters and engulfed everything in its blaze. There was no sound; no feeling and it seemed that even time itself had stopped before the magic faded away.

Kairi opened her eyes, blinking away the spots that splotched her vision. The rain started falling again, soaking her already wet clothes as she looked on to see what the source of it was.

Sora knelt, his back and the tattered remnants of his cloak hiding what had become of Riku. The boy himself was in miserable shape, his dark clothes ripped and torn, patches of red protruding from the material in some places. Tanned skin showed through others, from what she could see.

Sora was still there, under all that hatred and darkness…. Her Sora was still alive!

His shoulders shook and she could tell his entire body trembled as he placed his burden down and stood. He turned to look at her and she gasped when she saw his face. Half of it was tan, the other half still white as ivory and one eye was deep blue while the other glowed a malicious golden. His lips twisted into a bitter smile and he cried softly as he looked at her and then down at the body lying on the concrete.

"Is he…?" She asked tentatively.

Sora shook his head and his hands clenched into fists. He pounded them against the sides of his head, cursing himself, cursing Riku, and cursing Ansem. "My memories!" He shouted. "Riku's memories! Your memories!" He shouted as he rounded upon her. "ANSEM'S MEMORIES!" He screamed. "They've all become one jumbled disaster in my head!" He reached back and ripped the sword from Riku's chest and pointed it at Kairi. "I should kill you where you stand." He ground out. "I should kill you for what you drove me to become! I SHOUTED YOUR NAME WHEN I WAS A HEARTLESS! I CALLED OUT FOR YOU!" The anger animating his voice vanished suddenly. "But only Riku answered my pleas." He said quietly before he groaned loudly. He staggered backward and then broke into a run past Kairi, Donald and Goofy.

He disappeared into a portal of Shadow.

The girl stared after him, tears pouring down her awed face.


Ansem watched with anger at Sora's failure. He had taken his time with that one! He had made sure that he destroyed all the memories Sora had within him of his past! He had severed the ties of friendship between them only to be greeted with the nasty surprise of how strong and deep Sora's heart was.

However, this failure wasn't an utter one… After all, Sora had managed to find the missing Princess again…and he summoned Riku's Keyblade, which meant he would surely be able to summon his own.

Kingdom Hearts was only a few instances away from being opened.

He heard Sora's clumsy footsteps as he neared and darted forward, grabbing Sora by the throat and slamming him hard onto the cold shadow floor. He pressed his boot to the pale side of Sora's face as he pushed it into the ground. "You failed me," He said cruelly, though he wasn't truly angry with the boy. "I gave you your chance to kill the one who lied to you and you failed me." He pressed harder for emphasis. "I gave you power and strength and you crumbled like a fool in front of him! He who convinced his soul of the very lies he tried to feed you in hopes for some final redemption…Redemption that you so stupidly bestowed upon him by letting him live!" He removed his boot from the boy's face.

"He will hunt you down now, confuse you and feed you more of these lies." Ansem said as he bent down near to the boy's tear streaked face. Such a delight, that entangling emotion of sorrow was. He reached out and pulled the boy up, taking him into his arms. He bent down and placed a tender kiss on the boy's cheek. "Hush. Stop crying, my beautiful Sora…I won't let him hurt you." He purred into the boy's ear, pulling him back to place a kiss on the boy's parted lips. "I alone can love you now, the monster that you are…Find solace in me, for I am just the same as you."

As he spoke, Sora's tears stopped and he saw the pallor of one half creep over into the tanned skin and engulf it. The shadow clothes repaired themselves slowly, covering up the patches of red clothing and skin that had been previously destroyed.

"Yes, that's it…. Fight the confusion he placed in your mind, ignore the blur of memories that flash so constantly before your eyes, my pet. They mean nothing…They cannot change what you have become." He said with a smile. Lies, of course, all of them.

"Ansem…." He said softly, reaching up with his gloved hands to place on either side of the silver-haired man's face. "Master…I love you…" he whispered before he pulled the man's face down and gave him a kiss of his own.

Ansem pulled away after the sweet moment had passed, pulling Sora closer to him. "I know, my beloved little slave…" He whispered, laughing malevolently "I know!"

TBC…

A/N: Well there's another quick update for you! YAY! There are still other people reading this fic! XD (dances happily) and out of all the reviews, I only got one flame! (more victory dancing) Woot! Time for Reviewer's Response time!

R/R:

OrochiGreel: Your comment was the most ironic of the bunch. You're the one that kindled the desire I had to continue this fic and you say the last chapter sucked. Why? I can't really know not to make the same mistake if I can't even recognize the first. Everyone else was enthralled that I updated and enjoyed what I had to give. I'm sorry it wasn't long, but that's because I didn't know what I wanted to happen. Now I have an idea of a plot and the chapters will get longer. But yeah. Why?

Elemental-Zero : Thankies! I'm glad you're still reading this xD (throws love at!)

Mizu Hikari: You wish has been granted! Though don't really expect another update like this soon. I have lots of stuffs to do with my birthday coming up this weekend! Thanks for your review!

Xeora: Hope that this chappie was more to your liking than the last. Thanks for reviewing!

Nikore Strife: Yeah I've only played the effing 3 HOUR LONG TUTORIAL! (it's my bf's game) My gods that was annoying! When I finally saw the KH2 logo I pitched a hissy fit! Anyway! It's been a year since I've updated this thing….longer still since I've updated any of my other fanfics. So yeah! Well I hope you like this chappie too! Thankies for the nice review 3

DieChan: Ha! No I didn't die. It'd take a helluva lot to kill a crazy chick like me! This update was a bit longer (scratches back of her head) but not much. Oh well, maybe the next update will be when I start it. (shrugs) who's to say? XD Thanks for still reading!

Well, I think that covers the lot of you. Thanks again! Until next update (bows)

DB