Chapter 108: Unleashing the Beast

I hate this… Riku thought, plunging his blade through the "heart" of one of the Heartless. I hate feeling like this, I hate that I haven't managed to stop crying, and I hate—

His stomach turned. He swallowed, trying to push the feeling away.

He drove his blade through another Heartless, hoping maybe that it would help.

It didn't. Not really.

"Sora, you really shouldn't—"

"Aerith, he'll be fine!"

"But, Leon—"

"Aerith, why don't you go take a nap? You're looking tired."

Riku didn't hear much more after that, nor did he really care. It didn't involve him. He did notice Yuffie dragging Aerith back into the house, but nothing really after that.

"Riku! Look after Sora!"

Well. He did hear that.

He grunted. Sora ran up next to him and started taking out Heartless. His aim was terrible. But, Riku figured his would be, too, if he could only see out of one eye.

He angrily took out another Heartless. This one appeared to be some special brand of… something… soldier, maybe? Riku really didn't care. All he cared about was that it was there, it was in his way, and it needed a lot of pummeling to die.

Perfect way to vent some anger.

He brought his blade down hard on its head, smashing it to the ground. It died instantly.

He turned to the next closest Heartless and continued slaughtering.

He could feel tears forming in his eyes again, though he couldn't tell just why.

Hate it, hate it, hate it, he thought, slashing his blade to the rhythm. The Heartless he was attacking died, but another one came up behind him and attacked him. He gasped slightly, half in pain, but mainly in anger. He turned on it, prepared to strike, when Sora attacked it.

Sora nearly missed and hit him instead.

Riku felt like shouting at him, but he refrained from doing so.

Barely.

"C'mon," he grunted, instead. "Let's head to a different area. They've got this covered."

Sora voiced something that he figured was agreement, and took to be nothing more. Riku started heading off in a random direction, driving his blade through Heartless as he went. The smaller ones died. He didn't want to waste time trying to kill the larger ones. Most of them were Defenders, anyway, and they were a pain in the butt to get rid of. Someone else could take care of them.

"Riku." Sora said.

Riku ignored him.

"Riku!" Sora grabbed him by the arm. He glared.

"What?" he grunted, pushing Sora off.

"We- we've gathered quite a bit of Heartless," Sora said, slowly. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "They've been following is for a bit now… we should, y'know, take care of—"

"Got it," Riku interrupted, attacking a Heartless that had been bothering him for a while.

He really didn't want to stop moving, though.

He wanted to get far enough out that he could maybe sit and cry for a while.

Of course… that required losing Sora somewhere…

Stop with the crying already! he scolded himself, kicking one of the Heartless—a regular soldier—in the gut. It went flying. He didn't see it again, and assumed it had died. It really is pointless! You are OVER her!

It was hard to think it, but he had to. If he thought it again, maybe he could delude himself into believing it.

You don't care about her anymore, and you don't need to!

It really was torture.

He took out all his pain and frustration on the Heartless. It wasn't long before the area was cleared.

Well, except one Darkball. Sora killed it, though.

"Area's cleared," Riku grunted. "Let's keep moving."

They couldn't have gone much more than ten steps before another batch of Heartless showed up. Riku scowled, but started attacking. Sora tried to take a couple out with Fire, but his aim was terrible.

"Better get used to aiming with that one eye you have pretty soon," Riku called. His spirits lifted slightly as he said it, and the look on Sora's face certainly helped matters. "I'm not going to always be around to slaughter Heartless like this for you."

"Well, it's only the one eye for right now," Sora retorted, pouting slightly. "Aerith said that my left eye wasn't really damaged, so it'll be back to normal as soon as I can ditch these bandages."

Riku snorted. "You sound like Joseph! Whining at everything!"

"I'd like to think I don't whine as much as Joseph does," Sora muttered. He started attacking a Darkball that was bothering him.

"Like to think!" Riku laughed. "So you aren't sure about that?"

His spirits certainly were lifting, now that he could tease and taunt Sora and not have Sora freak out or get mad or anything. It made him feel almost… normal. He laughed at that thought, though. There was no way his life would ever be normal.

But…

Maybe this was as close as he was ever going to get.

Plus, to make things even better, the terrible feeling in his gut had finally gone away.

"Area's clear!" Sora declared. "You wanna keep moving?"

Riku nodded.

Even if he wasn't planning to go sit and cry somewhere anymore, he thought that it wouldn't be a bad idea to take care of some Heartless farther out. Plus, he didn't want to deter Sora's enthusiasm.

If he had been paying attention, he would've noticed the slight smirk on Sora's face, and the fact that the crack in Sora's Keyblade had grown three inches.

However, he wasn't paying attention. So he let Sora lead him farther away from Aerith's house as they continued slaughtering Heartless.

He did notice that Sora was killing Heartless a lot faster than usual, though. Sora's blade strokes were more confident, or something like that. He was using a lot more magic, now, too, and though he missed a few times, his aim had improved considerably. When Riku inquired what was with the magic, he merely said he was practicing.

Might as well practice now, Riku thought, attacking a Defender with as much ferocity as he possibly could before it turned around again. Besides, magic makes these things easier to kill.

"Hey, Sora," he said, throwing a look over his shoulder at him. Sora was concentrating on some Air Soldiers. "I never asked. How have you been doing lately?"

Sora laughed. Riku wasn't quite sure why, but he assumed it had to do with the slight randomness of the question. Especially since it was a bit weird to ask someone how they were doing while they were fighting.

"Alright," Sora replied. There was a certain… cockiness—was it?—to his voice. "I could be doing better, but, I could be doing worse." He finished off the Air Soldier and turned to Riku. "You?"

"Great as I possibly can be," he said, finishing off the Defender.

"Of course."

Riku frowned now, noting the slight… edge—or was that bitterness?—in Sora's tone. He swallowed, not liking it one bit. It sounded too much like…

When he turned, he was surprised to see Sora standing facing him, barely a few paces away. He didn't pay attention to the Heartless behind him, and strangely, they didn't pay him any mind either.

Sora took a step towards Riku. Riku nearly took a step back, but stopped himself. He wasn't a coward.

Sora screamed in anger, and then lunged forward.

There wasn't enough time to react.

"Sora!" Riku shouted, voice strangled. There was a sharp, sudden pain boiling in his chest, and no wonder—Sora had just stabbed him clean through.

He glanced down. He could feel blood starting to soak his shirt, and he could see darkness starting to fester in the wound.

It hurt like hell.

Riku swore very loudly.

Sora's Shadow, who happened to be watching from nearby, chuckled. This really was worth coming back for. He hadn't wanted to stick around, originally, but then he felt Sora's darkness rising up, and figured that it might be fun.

And was he ever right.

This was hilarious!

And, had Sora been in his right mind at the moment, he would probably be yelling at his Shadow for laughing as much as he was.

However, Sora was not in his right mind at the moment.

Sora's heart happened to be clouded by darkness.

"And I didn't even have to do anything…!" his Shadow said, grinning slyly. "Good job, Sora. Good job." He pulled at the tendrils of darkness that were festering in Riku's wound, twisted them slightly, and sent them on their way. Riku writhed in pain as the darkness worked its way through him, leaving a path of damaged data in its wake.

"Sora, what are you—" Riku gasped, but couldn't get the words out.

Sora only grinned at him.

There was a sharp cracking sound, and then a couple pieces of the guard of Sora's Keyblade clattered to the ground. Each piece vanished in, not flashes of light, but flashes of darkness.

Very slowly, Sora pulled his blade out of Riku's chest. Darkness was dancing around it, and it was shimmering; soaked with Riku's blood. Riku sunk to his knees, clutching his bleeding and darkness infested chest. He was swearing frantically, as the darkness was coursing through him, feeding him, strengthening him.

It hurt.

And yet…

It was exhilarating.

He could feel the power flooding through him, like a fire burning, waiting at his fingertips, daring to be used.

For a second, he forgot his pain.

Sure, he hurt, but this power was wonderful.

He flickered into dark mode, the change happening much quicker than it normally would have. Darkness was dancing around his hands, pulsing, burning—

He closed a hand into a fist and pounded it against the ground, sounding out a wave of sparking dark energy and a few dark pillars upon impact. The wave staggered Sora and destroyed what remaining Heartless were in the area.

Riku couldn't help it.

He grinned.

All this power—

It was…

It was thrilling.

"Funny," he laughed, pushing himself to his feet. "I'd forgotten just how thrilling the darkness could be."

He drew his blade, which came faster than usual, darkness pulsing across it. The very same darkness was pulsing at the fingertips of his other hand; ready to lash out.

And, for a moment, he was the very boy he hadn't been for eight months. A boy with unbelievable power at his fingertips, looking down on the world as if he owned it.

His eyes narrowed.

The power had not come without a cost.

The darkness, though it was feeding him, had clouded his mind, too. And when he looked at Sora, he didn't think of the fact that Sora wasn't in his right mind at the moment.

He didn't think of the fact that Sora had been struggling to keep his darkness in check not too long ago.

All he thought about was the fact that Sora had just shoved a blade through his chest.

And now he had the power to get back at him.

Sora, who had been staring at his blood soaked blade in confusion and slight horror, took one look up at Riku and stumbled back.

"What?" Riku taunted. "Scared?"

"Of…" Sora's confused face shifted back to cocky, a grin stretching across his face. "Of what?" Sora replied, haughtily. He readied his blade and rushed forward.

Riku brought up his blade to block.

The whole area exploded in darkness.