Shadow Sora

Chapter: 2

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The soft dripping of water against stone was the first sound that met the boy's ears. Silver bangs hung loosely in front of what were normally bright sea-green eyes, now dull with pain and exhaustion. He grunted, trying to pry his arm free of binds that held him down, against a cold metal table, raised up in a vertical angle. He looked around, eyes slowly starting to come into focus.

He checked his surroundings first – a quick glance around and the word "castle" registered in his brain. He was turned, facing two open doors leading out to a massive balcony. On either side of the doors, two massive red curtains fluttered gently in the eerily quiet breeze.

He strained to look around more, wincing as he strained his neck to twist left, then right. To the left, he merely saw a cold, black stone wall, and to the right, he saw a massive, sealed door guarded by two large, muscled, round creatures...Heartless. Large Bodies to be exact. Normally very lazy, calm-mannered Heartless, these seemed trained to be far more aggressive. Their yellow eyes were narrowed behind steel helms, and they kept flexing their massive fingers in irritance.

Color was draining from his already pale skin. This wasn't Hollow Bastion – then where was he? What were Heartless doing here? Hadn't they been taken care of already...?

"Hey Riku," came a voice to his left. His head snapped around painfully and he found himself staring into bright yellow eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Riku hollared, trying to kick out harshly at the thing in front of him. It was then he remembered the binds – and the loud popping of protesting bones followed by pain reassured him that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Woah, woah, chill out, it's me..." the voice said, sounding somewhat alarmed, but in an amused sort of way. Twitching faintly from his stinging leg, Riku slowly shifted his gaze back to whatever was speaking, and let out a soft gasp.

"Sora!" he sputtered, eyes wide with disbelief. "What are...why are you...that color?"

"Oh, this?" Sora said, looking his black skinned-self over. He smirked, brushing his midnight black bangs out from in front of his yellow eyes. "A side-effect from spending so much time in the Darkness, I suppose..."

"The...Darkness..." Riku mumbled softly, then his eyes shot open again. "S-sora! There are Heartless...right there!" he tried to beckon towards the two Large Bodies, who were glaring distastfully at him.

"Ugh, how many times do I have to say chill out? It's fine, Riku...nothing to worry about," Sora said coolly, sweeping slowly over to Riku and smiling.

Riku felt a rush of anger towards Sora. Why wasn't he doing anything? He wasn't working for the Heartless, was he...?

He looked Sora over again slowly, staying silent for the moment. He was wearing a black robes and a massive black cloak around his shoulders. He looked almost like royalty.

"Hmm, like the new outfit?" Sora said with a small laugh as he stepped away from Riku. "Mine is in far better shape than your clothes, though, or..." he laughed, "any part of you for that matter."

"What?...Oh G-GOD!" Riku finally looked himself over. His yellow shirt and blue jeans were torn and blood-stained. But that didn't bother him, nor did the several small cuts and bruises covering his muscled-form – no, it was then he decided to look towards his wrists and ankles, which had been rather itchy for some time now. There were small spikes, more like large nails, sticking out of each wrist and ankle. They were covered with dry blood, and showed a few signs of being tended to so he wouldn't bleed to death. How long had he been here!

As he tried to straighten his thoughts out and force panic out of his mind, the full wave of pain finally hit him, and he let out a cry, as the little itch finally turned into agony.

"Wow, that was a doozy," Sora said, rubbing his ears and smiling playfully up at Riku.

"GET ME THE HELL DOWN FROM HERE, WHAT'S YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM SORA!" Riku roared, his eyes bugging out of his head and his throat becoming raw from all of this screaming.

"Hmph, you're not good at these games..." Sora sighed. "Oh fine, I'll let you down..."

"You...you will?" Riku paused, looking down at him. "Just like that?"

"Sure! We're pals, aren't we?" he said with a silly grin. He hummed, strolling merrily over to a switch on the wall nearby. He let his hand rest over it...smiling darkly. "If you tell me where Kairi is."

"If I...wait...I thought you were with her...you mean you lost her!" Riku stammered.

Sora sighed, looking annoyed as he looked over his shoulder at Riku. "Details details...I ask you again, where's Kairi?" His eyes narrowed, as if daring Riku to keep this information from him.

Riku took that dare. "I...I'm not going to tell you! Something's wrong with you, Sora, why don't you—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!"

Electricty coursed from the nails straight into his body. He gurgled, spasming violently against the cold metal that held him. His eyes rolled madly in pain, he smelled smoke. He wanted it to stop, why wouldn't it stop...

It stopped.

Riku hung limp, panting heavily, eyes wide as a few tiny jitters ran quickly through his body, making him twitch like a dying fish.

"I think we understand each other now," Sora's voice had changed from being happy and playful, to dark and cold. "Tell me where Kairi is, or I'll hurt you again. Do you want me to hurt you like that again, Riku? Hmm?"

"N...no..." Riku whimpered softly, blinking tears out of his eyes.

"Oh, good then!" Sora sounded cheerful again. "So, please, be a pal and tell me where Kairi is, and I'll let you be on your merry way."

Riku panted heavily, shaking as he raised his head to glare at him. "...B-but...I'm still not telling y-you anything...!"

Sora looked livid. His hands trembled and his lip curled into a snarl. He roared, launching himself at his friend and swung a fist into his gut. Riku gasped, letting out a hoarse cry and coughing up a spray of blood.

"That's right..." Sora snarled softly into his ear. His breath was so cold... "You aren't going to tell me...that's alright...I'll rip the answer out of you one way or another..."

He moved back slowly, and turned away coldly. "Guards!" he snapped. "Take him to the dungeons!"

The Large Bodies standing by the door grunted obediently, looking glad at having something to do, and waddled over quickly. Sora hit a switch on the wall, and the nails retracted sharply, letting Riku drop to the cold ground. As the massive Heartless grabbed hold of him and began to drag him away, he felt himself starting to slip into unconciousness...

Farther...farther...he opened his arms to embrace the cold comfort of nothingness...

No!

He snarled softly, the Large Bodies paid no mind. Riku trembled, feeling pain being overcome by sheer rage. Dark energy crackled around him and he let out a howl. His sword appeared in his hand and, barely noticing the pain in his wrist, swung it wildly at the two Heartless. They dropped him and he barely managed to land on his feet. None of his strikes hit them, but they did move back in alarm. Perfect!

Riku darted past them with surprising speed. He heard screeches of alarm, and knew instantly that there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of Heartless in this massive castle.

No time to look around. He darted through each open door he saw, past alarmed Heartless until, by a massive stroke of luck, he stumbled into the gummi docks.

He stood there for a moment, and heard the roars of an army right behind him.

"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY, YOU FOOLS!" came a voice. Who was that? Not Sora...

He glanced over his shoulder and saw a brief flash of a robed Heartless – the biggest Wizard he'd ever seen, twirl his staff and send a blast of flame at him. He leapt away at the last moment, feeling rage subsiding and pain and dizziness starting to return to him. He crawled into the nearest ship and shut the door.

A few screeching Shadows leapt onto the ship, beating their little fists against the ship, trying to claw their way in. Riku panted, and just swung his fist down on auto-pilot.

"Please select world," rang a mechanical voice. Riku groaned quietly, faintly hearing more Heartless crawling onto the ship. He shut his eyes, and just pushed a button. He had no idea where he was going, but anywhere was better than here...

The ship rumbled to life, and with alarming speed Riku was too tired to appreciate, dropped into interspace and shot off, far away from the horrible planet. He heard the soft screeching of claws against metal as the unfortunate Heartless still attatched to the ship were swept off into space.

Riku sank to the ground, eyes fluttering shut slowly. He was unconcious by the time the ship started to spin out of control towards Traverse Town...and when it hit the lake right outside of Merlin's Home.

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Hate me for leaving you wondering like that? GOOD! Muwahahahahaaaaa.

For those of you who are wondering, yes, I have played Kingdom Hearts 2 and beaten in. But, remember, if you are concerned about innacuracy, this is an original fanfic that doesn't have to be entirely accurate, and this story was made WAY before KH2 hit shelves. So, don't expect many/any elements from KH2 to be in this story at all.