It had been a long time since Riku had felt that calling, that pull at the center of his heart, like hooks tearing into his flesh, wiping his mind with an almost painful urge to go, now. The call was one of raw need, desperate and unconscious. Need for him; not the kind of need Riku longed for, but one he couldn't resist nonetheless.

Sora's heart was reaching out to him, his Dream Eater, demanding protection from darkness. Riku would always respond to it, no matter the threat. The first time had been unwilling, but since then, he'd come to recognize the call and use his every power to respond to it.

The pull of Sora's call took him across the ocean of stars that separated the worlds, crossing boundaries that would have taken a normal traveler much more effort to clear. Their bond was strong enough to bring those walls down, Sora and Riku, dreamer and Dream Eater.

Riku merged with his own partners as he crossed the stars, Komory Bat's wings, Aura Lion's claws, Meow Wow's energy forming a blade of light around his Keyblade. Ready for battle against whatever threat was aiming for Sora's heart now.

So it came as a surprise when Riku landed at his destination, and he was at Sora's home, the room empty and dimly lit. He stood still, on high alert, waiting for whatever threat had caused Sora's heart to call for him. His eyes glowed, red then sky blue as his mood shifted into careful attention, the magic infused in them allowing him to see the room better.

Finally, he spotted it: a dark creature, human-shaped, dark as a Heartless, hunched over in a corner. Riku took a step towards it, then another, readying his magically-enhanced Keyblade.

On the third step, the creature perked up, its glowing golden eyes finding Riku easily. It snarled and whipped around, elegantly leaping to its feet, floating in midair as if unaffected by gravity. A weapon appeared in its hands—a dark Keyblade, Riku realized, a twisted replica of Sora's Kingdom Key. He prepared to strike. "What are—"

The creature jumped first with superhuman speed. Had Riku not been imbued with powers of his own, he wouldn't have been able to follow the movement; as it was, he could barely block the hit. Sparks flew when the dark blade hit the blade of light, illuminating the scene long enough for Riku to see the creature's face—Sora's face, though his features were too indistinct in the dark to show any emotion. Another Anti-Sora? Riku didn't think anyone but him had the power to create those, so how could it be?

The creature struck again, and Riku blocked it again. It fought exactly like Sora did—or perhaps more accurately, it fought like an unbridled version of Sora, quick and violent. Riku swung his weapon, and the creature dodged in a blur of darkness, striking back in a quick, smooth motion, sending Riku staggering back.

His wings let him keep his balance, and he managed to block the next hit, then the next, though each forced him to take a step back under the violence of the assault. He didn't have the time to go on the offensive, hard-pressed just to keep up as he was. After a few more hits, Riku's Keyblade flew from his hands, and the creature kept attacking, forcing him to block with his claws. It didn't hurt as it would if he caught Keyblade hits with his bare hands, but he still felt his bones shake with each hit, and still the creature bore down on him.

He stepped back, again and again, and eventually, his feet caught on something. Sora's bed, he briefly realized as he toppled back and fell on the mattress.

The creature leapt on top of him, then, to Riku's surprise, stopped. Its Keyblade vanished, and it cocked its face—Sora's face—in something that looked almost like curiosity. There was a gleam in his eyes there, an intelligence Riku had never seen on the Heartless before.

Tentatively, Riku reached up to its chest. There, under his claws, he felt it: the beating of a heart. Not just any heart, he realized. Its rhythm was a song Riku was all too familiar with, echoing through his very bones in his current Dream Eater state. "Sora?" he said, his voice hoarse.

Sora cocked his head to the other side, as if in response. That was when Riku remembered what Sora had told him of his battle against Xehanort, how Xehanort had attempted to strip all light from him, leaving him only with pure rage for the man who had already taken Kairi from him and was attempting to take everything else. Rage that had warped Sora, turning him feral as he fought to reclaim his light.

That rage would have felt like darkness to his heart, and called to Riku. It must have done so too, back then, though the barrier of time was one their bond couldn't cross. It had only reached him like an echo, and in the midst of the Keyblade War, Riku hadn't noticed this additional layer of threat.

Riku stared, lips parted, in silent fascination. He'd never realized the change was so utterly total. "Sora," he said, "whatever happened, I can help—"

Sora moved then, his limbs trailing wisps of darkness in the air between them. His fingers went to Riku's collar, tugging at the fabric hard enough to rip it with little to no resistance. Riku stared, bewildered, as Sora's hands moved to tear the rest of his shirt in two clean halves, baring his chest.

He felt a shiver across his skin, though it wasn't cold in the apartment; rather, it was a sense of anticipation, one that made his blood rush, his breath quicken, his muscles tense. He didn't know where Sora was going with this, but it felt oddly in tune with things Riku had fantasized about for years on end. He felt his eyes' glow change, from blue to pink—an emotion Riku had never felt in this Dream Eater state before, but one he recognized all too well.

Sora raked his fingers across Riku's chest, each touch leaving a prickling stain of darkness behind it, making Riku's skin tingle with an electric feeling—close to pain, but bearable enough as to feel exciting instead. The darkness clung to Riku's skin wherever Sora touched it, as if drained from Sora into Riku. If that was what it took to get Sora out of this state, Riku would bear it. He'd already embraced the darkness to save him once—he would do it as many times as it took.

His fingers' exploration slowed when he reached the skin below Riku's navel, his face remained expressionless, his features indistinct save for his eyes, glowing and eerily steady as they looked into Riku's, almost insistent. Sora's body practically rumbled with his contained rage, yet he remained perfectly still, looking at Riku.

It took him a moment to realize there was a question there. Breathless, he nodded. "Go ahead," he said. "I think you need to ride this out. And like I said, I'll help you." He kept his voice neutral, afraid to sound too eager—that it might scare Sora away if he knew Riku had been dreaming of something like this for so long. Still Sora didn't move. "Do it," Riku repeated, almost in a desperate plea. His own dick twitched in response.

Sora moved then, unnaturally fast once more as his fingers, though blunt and humanlike, tore the rest of Riku's clothes to shreds effortlessly. Riku gasped at the sudden feeling of air against his heating skin, swallowed around the burning nugget of embarrassment at being laid bare like this, sprawled on the bed, his dick rock hard. The Dream Eater state had altered more of his body than even Riku knew: purple veins of raw magic ran across his chest, his calves, his thighs; his cock looked slicker and darker than normal, and bigger too, with fleshy barbs around the head. Had this always happened, and Riku had simply never known until now, or was his body changing because of the situation he was now in? There was no way to tell.

It was hard to tell if Sora was pleased with what was presented to him at first; he cocked his head again, as if curious—or so Riku thought. Then he leapt up from the floor, drawing a small, graceful arc in the air, trailing even more darkness around him as he had until now. When he landed, it was on top of Riku, pinning him down, and the silhouette of Sora's clothes had vanished.

Riku stared at Sora's bare chest in wonder. Even now, with his skin tinted black with the power of darkness, he looked beautiful, the smooth planes of his stomach, the slight curve of muscle in his chest, the slight poke of his nipples, hard under Riku's thumb when he brushed them. Sora arched his back under that touch, bringing his stomach flush against Riku's, and making Riku feel the press of Sora's cock against himself. His whole body felt like his fingers, the darkness trailing fiery pinpricks on Riku's skin, each sensation making Riku gasp anew, leaving him perpetually short on breath. Yet, he wouldn't have pushed Sora away for the world.

He tried to prop himself up to kiss Sora, even though he couldn't see the shape of lips on his face; but Sora stayed out of reach, drawing back and putting his hands to Riku's shoulders to push him back down. Riku huffed out a breath at the feeling of his wings being pressed beneath his own weight, but he didn't struggle. If that was how Sora wanted to do it, then it would be so. He fisted the bedding beneath him to keep himself still, feeling the cloth rend beneath his claws, but he held on.

Sora moved further down Riku's body, and Riku brought his legs up before Sora's hands were even on them. It was like an instinct—his own, or the Dream Eater bond? Riku couldn't say—telling him to offer himself up.

A rumbling noise came from Sora then, akin to a purr, or a growl, and he put his hands on Riku again. One went to his cock, squeezing as he stroked without grace or mercy; the other grazed his balls, making Riku hiss as the electric touch of darkness spread to more sensitive skin. Then further down, towards his hole.

Riku braced himself, but it still didn't prepare for the feeling when Sora's finger entered him. It wasn't just the pain that his dark touch caused; there was something more primal too, a sense of being breached, but a sense of reconnection too, like a loop that was finally closed after years of waiting. It wasn't just Riku's long-unrequited desire for Sora, but something more, as if their bond itself was trying to bring them closer together. The feeling left him overwhelmed, and his body went slack and pliant as Sora toyed with him, burning more and more darkness across his skin.

Moaning and gasping, Riku couldn't say the words asking Sora to get this over with and just fuck him at last. All he could do was stare at Sora, crouching between his legs, his cock now in full view from Riku's perspective, glossy black and tantalizingly perfect in Riku's eyes. He couldn't think of anything he wanted more in this moment.

So it was inevitable that Sora wouldn't do what he wanted. He had always had a knack for surprising Riku, after all. Instead, he let go of Riku's cock, making Riku whine at the loss of friction, and raised his hand. A dark Keyblade formed in his hand again, though it was different from its usual shape, shorter and sleeker and without any bits at the end. Riku realized what Sora intended with it before Sora had even moved, and his eyes grew wider with shock and anticipation.

As he'd expected, Sora pressed the tip of that Keyblade against Riku's hole. Then, slowly, as he pulled his fingers back, he pressed the Keyblade's fluted end in, stretching Riku and filling him. Part of his body tried to fight the intrusion, even as the rest of him willed himself to relax, the struggle excruciating when combined with the burn of his hole.

In the end, it was neither side that won out, but exhaustion. Riku's muscles gave out from the pain and forcibly relaxed, his head falling back. He stared blankly at the ceiling, barely conscious of Sora moving again, leaving the Keyblade inside of Riku as he straddled his stomach. He didn't realize Sora's hand was gripping his cock again, that he was aligning himself, until Sora lowered himself onto Riku's cock. Another rumble escaped Sora, which Riku hoped that was an encouraging sign, before his mind gave out from being consumed by Sora so thoroughly.

Sora descended slowly, and with every additional inch, another moan tore from Riku's throat at the burn of darkness against his cock, mixing together with the dizzying heat of Sora's own body into a strange, exquisite sensation.

When Sora was all the way down, his balls resting on Riku's stomach, Sora made a low, guttural sound, the first sure sign that he was enjoying this as much as Riku was. Then he drew back up, and Riku all but panicked, as he felt his barbed cock pulling roughly at Sora's insides. Yet it didn't stop Sora, who screamed all the louder in ecstasy. The sound was distorted, but it was also distinctly his voice then, and it urged Riku on, making him thrust his hips up unconsciously and burying himself deeper inside of Sora. Sora threw his head back, screaming again, his hands desperately clutching at the sheets pooled beneath his knees.

Sora's desperation, and the way his Keyblade moved inside of Riku's ass as he moved, was almost enough to send Riku over the edge, but he held on. Encouraged by his responses, Riku thrusted again, the pull of Sora's flesh against Riku's barbs turning into just another way in which their bodies linked together. His hands went to Sora's hips, guiding him through his own motions and syncing them up, his claws sinking in Sora's skin easily even through the layer of darkness. Sora yelped at that, but when Riku thought to pull his hands back, Sora put his own hands on top of them, keeping them firmly in place as he rocked to Riku's rhythm, his cock bouncing above Riku's stomach almost hypnotically, leaking profusely. Even his precome was tainted with wisps of darkness.

"Come on, Sora," Riku said encouragingly. "That's it. Use me. Get it all out. You can do it."

Sora's chest rumbled with sound again, as if in response, and his movements became erratic and frenetic, gaining in speed and intensity until Riku was no longer guiding him so much as trying to keep up. He was maddening and irresistible, and in spite of Riku's best efforts, he didn't hold on for long.

He cried out Sora's name as he came, then simply screamed as his orgasm kept going, longer and longer, pumping into Sora's body without cease—another effect of the transformation, he suspected. He could see the skin of Sora's belly swelling up from the sudden influx, the sight of it strangely erotic to Riku's addled brain as his orgasm continued, one minute, then another, then another, too long for a human brain to handle. Part of him wanted to close his eyes and black out, but another part of him wanted to keep looking at Sora, refusing to lose even a single moment of the vision in front of him, of Sora milking his cock dry far past anything Riku thought possible for either of them.

After what felt like an eternity, his orgasm subsided and his body went slack again, spent and exhausted. The only sensation he still felt was Sora's Keyblade, an almost familiar pressure inside of him by now. Yet his mind felt even more awake now, energized at the thought of what he'd just done, and needing to give Sora the same satisfaction.

It felt hard to move at all, but Sora moved for him, crawling up Riku's body until he straddled his neck. Riku could feel some of his own come dribbling down from Sora's hole onto his chest, unnaturally cool and soothing against Riku's skin, but before he could focus on that, Sora took his own cock in one hand and pressed the tip of it to Riku's lips.

Riku didn't even hesitate: his lips parted, and Sora plunged inside. It was a shock, feeling the sheer girth of him forcing his jaws apart, the length of him reaching to the back of his throat and past his gag reflex. He hadn't even looked particularly big to Riku—certainly not compared to his own shapeshifted cock—yet it still felt impossibly large inside of his own mouth. At the same time, it was as if his own body was changing to adapt to it, making sure to fit Sora perfectly.

When Sora pulled back and thrusted back in, it was almost natural to welcome him in this time, to taste every part of his cock on his tongue, to relish the burn of darkness against his palate, to breathe in the scent of Sora when his hair and skin brushed against Riku's nose, identifiable even under a layer of the sickeningly sweet smell of darkness.

Riku's hands found Sora's ass, cupping the soft flesh of his cheeks and digging his claws into the skin. Every time Sora pulled back, he wasn't even fully out that Riku eagerly pulled him back in, wanting nothing more than to have Sora inside of him again, filling him up, giving him some of his darkness with every thrust.

He saw it coming: with each of Sora's thrust, flash of bare skin appeared somewhere on his body through the darkness. He was running out, giving his darkness to Riku as Riku had hoped. Which could only mean one thing was next.

One final scream came from Sora, a terrifying screech that was nothing like a human would willingly make, yet at the same time was distinctly made in Sora's voice. That thrust was his last one, and he kept his cock at the back of Riku's mouth as he came, spilling down Riku's throat. Riku swallowed around him with instinctual enthusiasm, each new spurt feeling like a jolt of raw happiness to him. His vision was entirely taken by Sora's skin, his sense of smell overwhelmed by Sora's scent, his taste buds burning with the feeling of Sora's cock, his hands still clutching at Sora's flesh, his hearing filled with the echo of Sora's scream. He felt, in that moment, truly completed by Sora.

The moment Sora was finished and pulled out, he collapsed to one side, landing on the mattress with his eyes closed. Closed, Riku realized: his eyelids were visible again. Blinking slowly, Riku tried to focus his mind to thoughts other than sex, and he saw the way the darkness covering Sora's entire body was receding, leaving him naked on top of the covers, oddly peaceful in sleep in contrast to the unchained beast he'd just been.

Panting heavily, Riku felt his own exhaustion crashing down upon him. Sora's Keyblade had dematerialized at some point, and Riku hadn't even felt it, though he felt the lingering ache of it. He needed rest too, he realized. So he let go of the Dream Eater powers, and closed his eyes.

Sora was safe now, after all.

They woke up in the morning, having slept for a solid eighteen hours. Sora was the first to be up, but his shocked yelp brought Riku to full alertness almost immediately.

"What's going on?" Sora asked, panicked. "What—happened?"

Riku blinked and looked at him, still bleary with sleep. "You don't remember?"

Sora shook his head. "I—it's all a blur. I was—" He shook his head. "Why are we naked? What happened to my bed? Are these scars?"

Riku couldn't help but roam his eyes over Sora's body in spite of himself, now that sunlight poured into the room again. There were claw marks on his hips, and he could see another one peeking on the side of his ass, too. The bed, as Sora had said, was stained—not just with come, but a little blood, which Riku assumed was Sora's. Some of that blood was also on Riku's skin, though it was almost unnoticeable compared to the dark streaks that ran across his body everywhere Sora had touched him. They were faded already, looking almost like strange bruises, but they proved that it had happened.

Still, Riku couldn't feel triumphant or satisfied about it in the morning, not when hearing the tone of Sora's voice. He chose to remain diplomatic. "I sensed you calling," he said. "Through our bond. When I arrived, you were in that rage form you told me about. We—" He cleared his throat. "We fought. I think you just had to let it out. Kind of like venting. We passed out afterwards."

"Fought?" Sora's look immediately shifted. "Oh no," he said in an almost scandalized breath. "Did I—hurt you?"

Riku had to hold back a laugh. "No, Sora. You didn't hurt me." Very much the opposite. "I used my Dream Eater powers. I'd say we were quite a match."

Sora let out a relieved sigh. "Good. I was worried, because of—" He waved at Riku's body, shameless. It wasn't like they had never been naked around each other before; they were best friends since childhood, after all. As long as he didn't suspect what they'd really done the previous day, he had no reason to feel odd about it. Riku was fine with that.

"I think I drew your darkness out. It'll fade, I'm sure. Don't worry." Riku couldn't help but frown. "Are you okay, Sora? I hurt you more than I thought."

"I—" He glanced down at the claw marks on himself. "Yeah, it's nothing. It's already healing." He sighed, and looked further around the room. "I must have gotten pretty violent, if I tore your clothes that way."

Riku sat up, and saw the remnants of his outfit on the floor. "It's no big deal," he said, turning to see the guilt in Sora's eyes and hoping to ease it. "I'm just glad I was there to help."

"Yeah," Sora replied, distant.

"Do you remember how it started? What triggered it?"

Sora was briefly silent. Then, "I don't wanna talk about it."

The words hurt, but Riku didn't get to criticize Sora for keeping a secret right now. "When you do—"

"Yeah. I know. I'll tell you." He sighed, then pushed himself off the bed to fetch his clothes. He walked carefully, betraying the pain he was keeping hidden from Riku, but Riku didn't comment on it. As he was getting dressed, Sora said, "And hey, Riku—"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. And if it happens again, I hope you'll be around to help. I don't want to risk hurting someone who can't handle it."

Riku nodded, a genuine smile tugging at his lips. "It'll be my pleasure."