Chapter Two: Out of the Light, Into the Darkness

"Such a bond so easily shredded, before my very eyes."

Stirring, the first sense that Riku recovered was his hearing. The first thing he heard was a faint song. Strangely familiar, he gazed heavenward, as though it would give him his wanted answer, before lying back down, his eyelids fluttering shut to block his eyes from the world.

"We were never meant to be, now were we?"

He opened his eyes again, only to find someone blocking his line of sight, gazing down at him with a faint amusement. Riku shot up, soon sitting up on the sand as he turned to look at the person who had disturbed his rest.

"It was a-about time, Riku," came her amused voice, drifting to his ears. "I t-tried singing that s-song I made u-up, the one that you, Sora, a-and Kairi loved so m-much…" She paused. He could tell she was smiling. "It didn't w-work. I never k-knew you were such a lazy b-bum… s-snoozing down here…"

Riku stood up, turning around as he yawned and stretched. Gazing into the azure eyes of Kaiya, he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I had a rather insane dream… there was this huge THING seemed to swallow me up… I couldn't breath… I couldn't-" Her hand was placed on his shoulder, silencing him, as Kaiya seemed to grin slightly at him.

"T-truly? Are you t-truly still d-dreaming?" she asked, inclining her head. "You should w-wake up soon if you w-want to come with the r-rest of us to o-other worlds…" She retracted her hand, arm dropping loosely back to her side. Kaiya turned to gaze out into the ocean with the same serene smile as the one in Riku's dream.

"Kaiya," Riku called out, causing the brunette to turn and avert her gaze to focus on him. "You and Kairi's hometown… what was it like?"

Sighing, Kaiya combed her hand through her hair, an unsure look in her eyes. "I-I'm not so s-sure… M-maybe…" She shook her head. "I c-can't remember. Sorry…" At this she seemed to droop, her shoulders slumping. "I don't r-remember a thing…"

"Still…" murmured Riku, almost to himself. "Don't you ever want to go back? After all, it was your home, even if you can't remember anything about it…"

"W-well…" replied Kaiya, a small smile gracing her lips. "I'm happy h-here…" She paused again, as though thinking of the next thing she wanted to say, trying to put it in words. "I w-wouldn't mind though… if I were given the c-chance to s-see it… I would w-want to…"

"So would I," admitted Riku easily. "If there any worlds out there… I would want to go and see them all, along with your home world. It would be fun."

"So t-then," Kaiya continued, clasping her hands together behind her back in a Kairi-ish way, still smiling, "w-what are we waiting f-for?"

"Hey! You guys can't start forgetting about us!"

The two turned, amused, in the direction of the voice, to see Sora, looking as though he were going to pout, followed by a giggling Kairi. Sora wore a mock-annoyed expression, struggling to throw the log he was holding to Riku, though the silver-haired boy caught it with ease. He then marched up to Kaiya, who immediately began brushing imaginary sand off her clothes.

"Me and Kairi are the only ones working on the raft right now," started Sora, staring straight at Kaiya accusingly. The youngest girl grinned, standing up straight to stare back at him. "And, you're just as lazy as he is!" At this, Kaiya laughed, a blush crawling over her cheeks to coat them a light red color. Riku chuckled; knowing he was far from being lazy, though Sora accused him of being that.

"I g-guess I am," giggled Kaiya, brushing her brown hair out of her eyes and face. "Then we'll d-definitely finish it t-together." At this point, Kairi had walked over to her, and nudged the shorter girl, who nodded, an impish grin lighting up her face.

"We'll race you!" Kairi cried out, laughing and grinning as Kaiya smiled at them, as though silently urging them to agree.

"Wha?"

"What, are you kidding?" was Riku's immediate answer, staring at the two twins with disbelief etched across his face, incredulousness embedded in his voice's tone. Kaiya merely chuckled.

"R-ready…" she began, the two of the girls cupping their hands around their mouths, as though it would increase the volume of their voices.

"…GO!" finished Kairi, exchanging looks with Kaiya.

Riku and Sora both sprang to their feet, starting to sprint as quickly as possible to be the winner. Kaiya also had jumped to her feet, running after them like she too was part of the race, merely inches behind them. Kairi, who started last, barely trying, jogged after them, laughing cheerfully the entire time.

Riku felt himself grin. He loved his life, his friends, everything.

Yet, why did it feel like there was something missing?

"Here's the things we need: two logs, one cloth, and one rope. Bring everything back here. If you need any help, just ask me."

Riku nodded at the auburn-haired girl, who once again, clasped her hands together behind her back. It was a habit of hers. "Sure, Kairi."

"Oh, and could you find Kaiya for me? It's like she disappeared or something… But, I think she's just hanging out in the Secret Place."

"Sure, Kairi."

"And could you tell her to meet me here?"

"Sure, Kairi."

Kairi sighed; performing what she probably would have believed was a mock glare. "Stop being a broken record."

Riku smirked at the shorter girl. "Sure, Kairi."

"RIKU!"

"Okay, okay," he said jokingly, holding his hands up in defeat. "I'll get started now, if you please." Kairi merely nodded for him to start.

"Now where?" muttered Riku, staring about idly as he strolled down the shoreline, before stooping to collect a log from the ground. "That's one." The next few hours went by as a blur.

He had climbed up a ladder leading to a tree house, though it was completely unoccupied, and grabbed the cloth that was hanging up inside. The rope had been found at the platform Tidus, another boy living on the island, had been training. The last log had been found on the island with the paopu tree. After delivering the things to Kairi, she had given him a Hi-Potion, claiming it was his.

Since he had free time after collecting the items, Riku decided to spar. It would be fun, especially with Sora trying to beat him all the time. Selphie (another islander), Tidus, and Wakka (yet another) had caught up with him at the beach when he was about to swim to the Paopu Island to spar with Sora.

"Hey, Riku!" chirped Selphie animatedly, popping out in front of him out of nowhere.

"You wanna spar with us, ya?" asked Wakka, twirling a blitzball on a finger with one of his hands. Tidus, standing nearby, grinned, unsheathing his wooden sword, saying, "C'mon! One-on-three. It'll be fun. You'll get a challenge."

Riku smirked at them, unsheathing his own sword. "You're on."

It already began.

Deflecting Selphie's jump rope with merely a swish of the sword, causing it to fly back at the chirpy girl and hit her on the head, Riku ducked under Tidus' swing, spinning around once he was a good distance away to hit Wakka's blitzball right back at him. It hit dead on, causing the boy to groan.

"You're getting it now!" cried Tidus, dashing forward to Riku in a wild attempt to hit him. Though he had done a large onslaught of attacks, Riku parried every one, an amused grin on his face.

"You have enough? It's my turn." Riku dodged one last attack before hitting Tidus with his sword, causing the boy to stumble backwards and drop to the ground.

Wakka had recovered by now, aiming another blitzball at Riku. Selphie also recovered from being smacked around with her own jump rope, spinning it like a lasso as she hurried towards Riku to attack again. As Wakka tossed his blitzball, Riku used his wooden sword to redirect it at Selphie, knocking her off her feet and to the ground. When Wakka tossed another blitzball at him, Riku smacked it back at the boy, knocking him off his feet as well.

"Man, you're still strong as ever," groaned Wakka, slowly standing up to walk over to the others.

"I told you not to go and challenge Riku," moaned Selphie, attempting to get onto her feet.

"Well, thanks for the fight, Riku," grumbled Tidus, walking away from him to go to Selphie and Wakka, where they began to chat amongst themselves.

Riku arched an eyebrow before shrugging, diving into the water to swim towards the paopu island. Once he reached it, he grabbed hold of the ladder, hoisting himself out of the water to climb out. When he reached the top, he shook himself off.

"Hey, Riku! Wanna spar? I already gave my stuff to Kairi!"

Riku smiled in the direction of the voice. "Sure, Sora. Just don't cry when you lose."

"Cocky as ever."

Sora leapt off the tree, readying his wooden sword. Riku did the same.

The first move was made in unison. They both moved. Riku had shifted his sword for a better defense while Sora charged, thrusting his sword forward in a horizontal slash. The blow was unsuccessful, mainly since Riku parried it.

"Hey! Give me a better match! You're not the Sora I know!" taunted Riku in an attempt to upgrade Sora's temper. Maybe then he would get a greater challenge. It worked. Sora growled, eyes flashing, before he jumped, landing closer to Riku, ducking under the taller male's attack to hit him.

Riku stumbled from getting hit, but recovered quickly, leaping high over Sora's head to land behind him, knocking him forward. The boy yelped, before jumping onto the bark of a coconut tree and climbing to the very top, taking a seat.

"What are you doing?" Riku called out to his best friend, an amused glint in his eyes. Sora merely crossed his arms, grinning.

"I'm not coming down 'till you forfeit."

"Fine. Then I won't forfeit. I'll leave you up there to starve."

Sora sighed, mock glaring at him. "Fine." He climbed down. "Draw. I suddenly don't feel like sparring."

Riku nodded, understanding him, before running across the bridge leading to the seaside shack, entering and dashing down the stairs. He heard a rustle inside, and a flicker of a shadow, before he took a peek. Nothing there. Sighing with defeat, he walked outside, turning to eye the secret place.

"Riku!"

The silver-haired boy turned to Kairi, who was wearing a distraught expression on her usually cheerful face. "Kaiya… I still can't find her! Is she in there?"

"I don't know. I was about to check."

"What are you guys doing?"

Sora had joined up with them.

"Kairi said that Kaiya seemed to vanish. We're going in the secret place to look for her."

Silently, without speaking to one another, they entered, walking through the tunnel to end up in the small, enclosed space that was the secret place.

"She's not here…" whispered Kairi, rubbing at her eyes. "Where is she?" The girl turned around, stumbling out.

"I'm going after Kairi, okay, Riku?" asked Sora, gnawing at his lip. Seeing Riku nod, he hurried out after Kairi.

There was a strange noise.

"Whose there?" Riku cried out to the darkness, eyes narrowing suspiciously as he looked around.

"This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness…" something – someone – boomed in a deep voice. They wore a cloak, the hood pulled over their head, shrouding it in impenetrable shadow. "Soon to be completely eclipsed…"

"Where is Kaiya?" Riku asked.

As if ignoring what he said, the voice continued, "You do not yet know what lies beyond the door. There is so much to learn. You understand so little…"

"Shut up," hissed Riku. "If that's the case, I will go out there and learn."

"A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

As quick as they had come, they had gone. Riku cringed, despising this "person" before turning to look at the door. Eyes narrowing once more, he took one last look around before he turned his heel and left.

He later on discovered that Kairi and Sora had found Kaiya, sitting, dazed, on the paopu tree, muttering incomprehensible things, though they did catch some words like "light" and "dark". By the time he had gotten to the island, she had calmed down. Thus began their discussion of other worlds.

"So… Kairi and Kaiya's home is out there somewhere, right?" spoke up Sora, turning to face the others with a serene smile on his face. Kairi too smiled, though she still stared out into the sunset. For once, Kaiya did not blush, but like Kairi, stared out into the sunset with a smile.

"Could be. We'll never know by staying here," Riku chimed in seriously.

"Yeah, but… how far could a raft take us?" asked Sora curiously.

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."

"Still… suppose we do get to another world? What would you do there?"

"Well… I haven't really thought about it. It's just that…"

Kaiya leaned forward curiously to stare at Riku, listening intently to his words. Sora did something similar, while Kairi simply smiled and watched him from her position on the paopu tree.

"I've always wondered why we're here, on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And, suppose there are other worlds… Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So, we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

The last part had been mostly directed at Sora, who shifted backwards to sit on the tree more, shrugging, legs swinging. "I dunno."

"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change anything." Riku sighed, and took a breath. "It's the same old stuff. So, let's just go."

"Y-you've been thinking a lot, h-haven't you?" questioned Kaiya, speaking for the first time since they had found her again. She inclined her head, waiting for a response patiently.

"Yeah… thanks to you and Kairi. If you two hadn't come here, I probably would have never thought of any of this. Thanks."

"You're welcome," the two girls replied together, Kairi's words masking Kaiya's stuttered ones.

The two of them leapt off the tree, walking together towards the docks. Riku watched Sora follow them, before turning his gaze to the paopu tree, grinning lightly. He seized one, plucking it from the tree, and threw it at Sora, crying out the other boy's name.

"Sora!"

Sora whirled around when he heard his name, catching the fruit just in the nick of time. It was yellow, shaped like a star.

"You wanted one, didn't you?" Riku prompted, walking towards him.

"A paopu fruit, huh…?"

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives, no matter what." His grin widened as he looked at Sora expectantly. "I know you wanna try it!"

Sora swallowed, his cheeks slowly turning to a red color as he snuck a glimpse at the two girls walking down the beach. His gaze was mainly fixed on the taller of the two. Kairi. Riku laughed, and that seemed to snap the brunette out of his trance. Shaking his head, he threw the fruit into the water, breaking into a dash after Kairi and Kaiya, Riku still laughing as he ran after him.

"Ready, set, GO!"

Both boys broke into a run, laughing as they raced each other to get to the paopu symbol and back. In the meanwhile, Kairi and Kaiya decided to half-watch, half-talk.

"Did you hear what they mentioned in the deal as well? Besides getting the chance to name the raft?" asked Kaiya quietly, almost solemnly, staring at the ground in a distracted manner.

"No," said Kairi, turning to face her sister. "Why?"

"I heard that they mentioned a paopu fruit… and… they... you..."trailed off Kaiya, her tone almost… sad?

Kairi's blue eyes widened in realization, no longer focusing on the race now. "Who is it?" she asked urgently, staring into her sibling's azure eyes. "Who?"

Kaiya merely shook her head, turning to look at the race again, refusing to allow another word escape her lips, no matter how much urging Kairi tried.

Several minutes later, the boys had finished their trek around the other side of the island, panting. Riku grinned at Sora, breathing heavily. "I win. It's two-to-zero. The raft's name is Highwind."

"Heeeey…" protested Sora, about to speak up when he turned around. "Where's Kaiya going?"

"She said that collected the provisions we needed for the raft," explained Kairi, watching as the auburn-haired girl made her way towards the raft, slowly slipping away from view. "We can take the rest of the day off. At least, that's what she insisted. We all know how persistent Kaiya can be, so let's just do that…"

Kairi smiled softly, and turned to walk to the raft as well, a heavy feeling in her heart. Kaiya did mention the paopu fruit. Turning her gaze skywards, she sighed.

"Kaiya… who?"

Riku laid in bed, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. The room was quite a mess. Clothes were strewn all over the ground, papers littered the surfaces of desks. Sighing, he swung his legs over the edge, making his way to the balcony, where he pulled open the doors and stepped outside.

Something caught his eye.

Something was floating in the sky. What was worse was that there was a storm brewing. Realization hit him.

"The raft!"

He leapt over the edge, landing perfectly on his feet on the ground, sprinting towards the docks. His mother's calls for dinner were unheeded, falling upon deaf ears. After reaching the dock, he quickly untied his boat, paddled to the island, and got out, stepping onto the wood of the small dock that was there. Two other boats caught his eye.

"Sora's boat! And Kairi and Kaiya's!"

It was obvious to him that the three also came to the island in order to save the raft. Biting his lip, Riku froze in place when he saw a dark shadow rise from the ground. It was one of those creatures he had seen while he was dreaming. Worse, there were more of them. When he tried to hit them with his wooden sword, it merely slid through them, like they were made out of water. The monsters remained unharmed.

Riku clenched his other fist, before hurling the wooden sword out to the ocean, knowing it was useless to him and would only be extra weight. Dashing to make it towards the other side of the island, he saw a door standing at the entrance of the secret place. Curious, he reached out a hand and grasped the handle, pulling. It creaked, but did not open. Riku mentally noted to himself that he should find the others first.

Something in the back of his mind told him to go to the Paopu Island. Deciding to trust it, the platinum-haired boy leapt away from the door, jumping over the creatures as he hurried to the paopu tree island. Instead of swimming, he decided to go into the seaside shack and cross the bridge from there.

When he did reach the island, someone was already there.

"Sora!" he called to the other boy, who was staring out into the ocean, sprinting over. "Where are Kairi and Kaiya? I thought they were with you!"

"The door has opened…" Sora answered idly. Riku's eyes widened. That did not sound like Sora. Sora's voice was different. This one seemed like it was his voice fused with a deeper, crueler voice. Like a double voice.

"What are you talking about?" Riku hollered over the swishing of wind, eyes narrowing into slits now. This definitely wasn't Sora. Was he still dreaming? He pinched himself. Nope. It hurt.

"The door has opened, Riku!" shouted Sora, slowly turning around, a malicious smile on his usually optimistic face. "Now we can go to the outside world!"

The other thing Riku noticed about Sora was that his eyes, instead of being their beautiful blue shade, were now a fiery, malevolent blood red. His suspicions had been confirmed. Sora was possessed. Something – someone – was controlling him.

"Are you crazy?" Riku yelled back, positively incredulous and indignant. "Why are you thinking about that now? We have to find Kairi and Kaiya!"

"They're coming with us, Riku!" cried Sora in his double voice, before the brunette screamed out in pain and fell to his knees.

"Sora, what's wrong?" Riku ran over, bending to help his friend. "What happened?"

"Get out of my head! Leave me alone!" screamed Sora, his voice now completely normal now. But it trembled, fear and terror instilled within. "Go away! I don't care what you say, I won't give in to the darkness!" He opened his eyes. They were blue again.

However, tendrils of darkness, like what Riku had seen in his dream, began to appear, wrapping themselves around Sora, who jumped up, blinking. They were red now. Turning to Riku, he extended a hand.

Riku was hesitant to take it. This wasn't the real Sora, but what choice did he have? This reminded of his dream, when Sora had been standing in the ocean and reached his hand out. Brushing the thought out of his head, Riku struggled to grab Sora's hand, the darkness slowly pushing him away from Sora. Just as he was about to grab the hand, there was a great flash of light.

The cool touch of metal was felt against his hand. Raising the weapon to view it, Riku stared in shock. It was an oversized key. Whispers were heard as he looked around, the creatures he had seen before seeming to speak without lips, backing away in fright.

Keyblade… Keyblade… Keyblade…

Cautiously approaching Riku, eyes glinting with bloodlust, the creatures seemed to shrug the thought off, reaching their eager claws towards him. In alarm, Riku swung the Keyblade at some of them, surprised when they dispersed into wisps of black smoke. His thoughts flew back to the door. 'I have to find Kairi and Kaiya now! They might be in there!'

In his entire run towards the door, he killed the creatures, hoping in vain that it would perhaps save the island from being overpopulated with them. As he ran across the beach, he stumbled, seeing the creatures cluster around something. Out of instinct, he darted over and destroyed the shadows.

"Riku, Sora, Kaiya!" cried out Kairi's voice. Riku instantly reached out to help her when she suddenly gasped and fell backwards into the ground, darkness swallowing her form. Riku yelled in rage, knowing that the darkness had taken Kairi as well. Trembling, he continued towards the door. Sharply thrusting a hand out, he gave the door a hard push. It creaked, and slowly swung open to admit him.

A terrible scream rang out once the door shut behind him, maybe to never open again.

"Kaiya!" Riku shouted, running through the tunnel to stop in front of a figure. Their bloodstained shirt and jeans were torn. Kaiya.

"R-Riku!" Kaiya screamed, reaching out a bloodstained hand towards him, eyes filled with dread and terror, when she stumbled, the door behind her bursting open, wind rushing through the entire area. She was pushed forward.

Riku held out his arms in an attempt to catch her, but when she was shoved towards him, Kaiya passed through him as though he weren't even there, vanishing from view. Riku was pulled into the door by the force.

When he next opened his eyes, he was back outside of the secret place, on the island. What implanted the fear now bubbling inside of him was that he was standing on only a fragment of the island, all that was left. Rising from the center of the area, though, was what made him stagger backwards, his insides twisting.

"Darkside…" he whispered, recognizing the creature from his dream. The name had just flew into his head. Maybe it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Riku immediately tightened his grip around the Keyblade, before rushing forward at the monster's fist, slicing the Keyblade into the "flesh" of the creature. It howled out in rage, summoning some of its "minions" to help out. Ignoring them, Riku remembered his strategy from his dream, and jumped up onto the hand, running up the arm as he plunged the Keyblade into the monster's head.

The rest was a blur.

The monster had been pulled up into a red sphere that loomed above them, disappearing into its depths. Riku had shielded himself from all the wind with his arms, only to be pulled upwards as well.

Everything went numb.

Do you all like the twists (if there are any?)? Yes, this story is still mostly based on the games, but I did alter it with extra characters and my own twists. Review please, and tell me your favorite part :D