Chapter 51: Fighting the Darkness

Everything in the room stopped. A sudden weight hung in the air, and the single word—the single name, Zack, because that was enough—seemed to reverberate through everyone's skulls. Or, the skulls of everyone who had heard it, anyway.

Aerith stopped where she stood, hands on the kitchen counter, going rigid. She shuddered a little.

Sora heard a chair scrape to his right, and turned to see Leon across the table. He hadn't gotten out of his seat, but he looked like maybe he wanted to, attention torn between Aerith and the wall behind Sora. The Shadow behind Sora.

"What did he say!?" Yuffie demanded, leaning across the table to get everyone's attention.

Leon opened his mouth, but didn't seem to have the words. Aerith ducked her head down. Yuffie turned to Cloud, but he was just as tense as everyone else, eyes fixed exactly where Sora's Shadow stood, if Sora had to wager.

He could feel how smug his Shadow was, feel how is Shadow seemed to be basking in this, and it burned. Sora's hands curled into tight fists.

"Zack…" Aerith whispered, reaching a hand up to hold it to her mouth. She trembled visibly.

"Aerith…" Leon began, moving again like he wanted to be at her side but not quite standing up to move there.

Yuffie gasped like she was starting to understand.

Sora'd had enough.

"Cut it out!" he warned, getting out of his chair so he could stand and face and glare at his Shadow.

His Shadow just laughed and rolled his eyes, and then went about ignoring him. His attention was still fixed on Aerith, eyes watching her like he was drinking in every second of her pain. He probably was.

"I'm almost surprised it still eats at you like it does," he said, conversationally. Sora did not like the glint in his eyes. "I mean, it's been forever. Nearly five years, huh? And yet it just kills you that he's gone, he's gone and it's all because you—"

Leon got to his feet.

"Don't you dare," he said. His voice was much colder, much scarier than Sora had ever heard it before.

"What's it matter to you?" Sora's Shadow laughed, turning his attention to Leon now. He was grinning. And then, in a mocking voice Sora did not recognize, but Leon must have. Leon must have, because his face darkened. "She's not even your real sister."

Another vision came to Sora's mind, this one just as vivid and as quick as the last. The sensation of his fist in someone's nose—that wasn't his fist—anger boiling in his gut. The sound of laughter, and it was cruel, but it was coming from a boy who can't have been older than Joseph. That, and a hand on his arm, tugging him away, a quiet, distorted, disappointed voice—

The vision passed.

Leon looked about ready to lunge at Sora's Shadow, over the table and everything, but Cloud beat him to it.

"That's enough."

He grabbed his sword from where it leaned against the nearby wall, and crossed the distance between him and Sora's Shadow, holding his sword to the Shadow's throat.

Sora's Shadow laughed, maybe a little nervous, eyebrows raised as he eyed Cloud, hands up in surrender.

"Hmm… I suppose maybe I should have thought this through a little more," he mused.

"You can see him?" Sora asked, slightly shocked.

"I can feel him," Cloud replied, voice rough.

Sora's Shadow laughed, sounding delighted.

"Oh my… Cloud's angry, isn't he? I can feel the anger rising up within him!" He grinned. "Under other circumstances, I would totally be enjoying this, however… my life's at stake."

In a flash of darkness, he disappeared from under Cloud's blade. He did, however, reappear across the room.

"There," he sighed, taking a few deep breaths and closing his eyes. "Now I can enjoy it." His eyes flew open and met with Cloud's. "Go on," he taunted. "I'd like to see you try and fight me. For all I know, this could be the most fun I'll ever have in my entire existence."

Cloud's eyes narrowed, and he started forward.

Only to be blocked by Sora. Their blades clashed for a brief second, before Cloud pulled back. He frowned, looking confused.

"Damn! This is good," the Shadow laughed. "You're protecting me now, are you?"

Sora shook his head. "Never," he whispered. His gaze remained on Cloud though. "But I wouldn't let one of my friends get hurt because of you." He swallowed. "Cloud, you know what he's doing. You said it yourself: the darkness can convince you to do things, things you normally wouldn't do." He glanced over his shoulder at his Shadow, and then turned back to Cloud. "That's all he is. Darkness. And he's trying to get you to do something you're going to regret later."

"Not true!" the Shadow called. "I was only intending to have some fun, considering fighting you, Sora, is… Well, a joke, considering how weak you are. And what's life if you don't squeeze a little fun out of it?"

Sora ignored him.

Cloud shook his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "You're right."

"He's right!" the Shadow scoffed, angrily. "Oh come on! Where's the fun in that? But- oh!" The nasty grin returned to his face. His eyes darted over to Leon. "I wonder what would happen if I mentioned L—"

Cloud took a step forward, blade bared again.

"I thought your entire purpose in life was to bother me!" Sora shouted, turning around to glare at his Shadow. "Since when do you need to go around and mess up other people's lives?"

"Can't I have a little fun?" the Shadow replied, trying to sound innocent.

"Get out," Sora said, voice cold. "Just get out of here."

The Shadow sighed. "I'm liking that anger…" he whispered.

"OUT!" Sora commanded, baring his blade.

"It's a fight you want, then?" the Shadow asked, sounding amused. He drew his blade, and his chains fell into his awaiting hand. "You asked for it! Don't blame me when you get killed."

In a flash of darkness, both Sora and his Shadow were gone.

xxx

"Blizzard!" Sora shouted, before they had even completely materialized in the new area. A large chunk of ice formed above the Shadow's head and dropped. Thankfully, the Shadow wasn't paying enough attention to move out of the way and it hit him. Sora couldn't help but grin slightly.

His happiness was short lived, however. His Shadow, realizing that now magic was allowed in the game, quickly retaliated with some Dark Blizzaga. Sora quickly rolled out of the way, but it still hit him. And what it hit, it froze. It started simply at his hand, freezing his fingers to his blade, and then the ice started working its way up his arm.

And then the pain set it.

The ice was cold. So cold, that it burned. The darkness wasn't helping things either. He could see it in the ice, burning his skin in its own way that might have been more painful. However, his arm was starting to go numb, so pain was another story at the moment.

"Fira!" he breathed frantically, eyeing the ice as it made its way to his shoulder. What might have been the start of a fire spell formed at his frozen fingertips, but the ice prevented it from ever forming. If anything, the ice started moving faster, starting to freeze his blade, too.

He glanced up at his Shadow, who was standing there, just watching with sick amusement. He glanced back down at his frozen arm, and then placed his unfrozen hand on the ice.

"Fira!" he said desperately, before the ice could freeze that hand, too. Thankfully, the spell took effect, melting the ice off his arm. The darkness stayed, however, and he grimaced, knowing that there was nothing he could do about that.

And to make things worse, he could feel the darkness sapping at his energy.

Must… keep fighting… he told himself, staggering to his feet again.

"You can't give up now!" his Shadow called. "We just got started here!"

"I wasn't planning- on giving up," Sora gasped, rushing forward, striking. He only managed to land a blow or two, before his Shadow blocked and knocked him back, sending some Dark Thundaga after him.

Sora managed to avoid the Dark Thundaga and turned. Using the technique Yuffie had taught him, he charged up his Keyblade with fire and then leaned back, tossing it. It spun through the air, hit his Shadow a time or two, and then came flying back to him. He caught it, the fire fizzling out.

"I guess that training really did pay off," the Shadow laughed. "Who'd have thought that little baby wimpy Sora could actually get stronger?"

"I am not a baby!" Sora screamed, running forward, bringing his blade crashing down. His Shadow blocked it with ease, and then kicked Sora in the gut, sending him flying. His blade spun out of his reach.

Sora lay there for a moment, gritting his teeth, regaining his strength. Finally, he pushed himself up. The Shadow seemed to be waiting for this, and sent out a few bolts of Dark Thundaga. Sora quickly rolled out of the way, in the process putting himself further away from his Keyblade. He turned to his Shadow, who struck with his chains, catching Sora by the wrist.

Sora cast a glare at the Shadow. The Shadow merely grinned, and tugged.

Sora stumbled forward, but then dug in his feet, making sure he wouldn't get dragged any further. He then grabbed onto the chains and slowly pulled, trying to catch the Shadow off balance.

"Oh no you don't!" the Shadow shouted, sending Dark Firaga down the length of his chains. The fire slowly began burning Sora's hands, but he refused to let go, despite the pain. He pulled harder.

The Shadow's eyes narrowed, no longer amused. He yanked his chains out of Sora's grasp. Sora winced, feeling the chains slice his fingers open. The darkness that was still clinging to his arm quickly made its way to the wounds, festering around them.

"Fira!" he shouted, aiming at his Shadow. At the moment, his Shadow was too busy dragging his chains back to him to block, and was hit. While he was distracted, Sora quickly summoned his Keyblade back to him. He winced slightly, but bit his lip to avoid screaming. The darkness, open wounds, and slight burns made holding his blade difficult.

"You're still so weak, Sora!" his Shadow called, grinning. He had his chains in their constant twirl again, and his blade hung loosely at his side. "There's no point fighting—you're going to push yourself to death before you even have a CHANCE at beating me!"

Sora rushed forward, doing his best to ignore the taunt. If he let it get to him, he'd only make his Shadow stronger.

And he couldn't have that.