Update Feb 2014: This chapter has a companion chapter, which is ch39 of ASAS!

Chapter 141: Hopeful Darkness

Fear.

He sat down, rather abruptly.

It was like lightning had struck him, rendering him unable to move, tearing through his heart—that blasted heart of his!—and causing it to thud to a halt for a brief moment or two. Sora's Shadow took a few heavy breaths, trying to calm down his raging nerves.

Why was he suddenly so scared?

And it wasn't just a fleeting fear, it was a downright terror. Had it been tangible, it would be binding him, creeping around his body, crushing his neck. It would've crept into his mouth, through his windpipes, and back out his nose, incapacitating his breathing.

It was like he was drowning.

Growing up on an island, he knew how to swim almost before he knew how to walk. Drowning wasn't something he was used to.

He moaned, clutching his head.

It was funny, the things that came to him these days. Out of nowhere, it was like his connection with Sora amplified itself a million times, to make up for the fact it was usually stifled. In these moments, it was more like he was Sora than just hearing Sora. It was annoying. But if he embraced it… let himself feel it… maybe he could find where Sora was.

It wasn't like he had a better option.

He'd been through so many Worlds that he was beginning to doubt that there was one he hadn't checked. He needed to come up with other ways to locate Sora. And if he could just see something, during these moments—a World, even just a glimmer of one—then he might be able to track Sora from there, where the scent was fresh…

A sense of hopelessness washed through him. He couldn't tell if it was his own or Sora's. He decided to pretend it was Sora's, even though the thoughts that followed the hopelessness were most certainly his own.

What if I never find him?

I've done all this searching, and I can't seem to find him anywhere. It's like he's gone. Disappeared. Like he's dead… but I know he's not. I would have felt that. I should've felt that…

He clutched himself tightly, trying to push the thoughts away. Sora. He had to focus on Sora. What was Sora doing? What was making Sora feel so hopeless—so scared—that he felt it, too? There had to have been something…

Hollow Bastion—

He perked up at the thought, but was disappointed to find it was just a memory. He knew this memory. He'd been there. He'd forced Sora to attack Riku, he'd—

What was this?

It was an image, blurred and distorted through Sora's eyes. It was still Hollow Bastion. But there was a sense of movement to it. The sensation of being slung over someone's shoulder. Someone was there. Someone was…

Dragging Sora off?

But—

The wolf growled at him, trying to draw him back to reality. It wasn't hard to ignore it. The world around him had been reduced to a roar in his ears. He'd squeezed his eyes shut long ago.

More images flickered through his mind. They were all fleeting glimpses of some World, but he couldn't make out the scenery and peg it to a specific World. Rocks. Grass. There were plenty of Worlds with those.

But the images that followed…

The image was distorted, fuzzy, all of it screaming that it was a memory, and it certainly didn't feel like a memory of Sora's. It was the image of a boy. A boy whose presence was of light. He knew this boy.

Ventus.

But what was Ventus doing in Sora's head?

In the weird state of mind he was currently in, Sora's Shadow could do nothing to stop the images that came to him next. They were his own memories. He'd met Ventus a time or two before. Ventus and all his damn light—

"You!" Ventus had his Keyblade bared. Sora's Shadow—who'd only just begun forming at this point—stared, a bit confused. His connection to this kid through Sora was supplying him with information, but he'd never seen the boy before. Why did the boy recognize him?

"I killed you!"

"Mmm, no, I don't think you did."

But he knew that this Ventus had killed someone similar to him. Their image was present in his mind, and a laugh eerily like his own rang in his ears.

"No!"

Sora's Shadow pulled himself out of the depths of the memory. Sora. He needed to focus on Sora, while the connection was still intact. It wouldn't last much longer. It never lasted long enough.

Fear.

Sora had been feeling fear. So strong that it paralyzed him. But why had he been feeling fear?

He got images relevant to the most unimportant things, why could he get an image connected to Sora's fear? Or the hopelessness that followed it?

Dark walls surrounded him.

There!

His heart was pounding in his chest.

Why couldn't this be the nightmare he could wake up from?

Sora's Shadow grinded his teeth together, brow furrowed in his concentration, fists clenched tightly with his determination. Come on. He could feel it. He only needed a better look around whatever room Sora was in.

Come on, Sora. Look around.

"Good, you're awake."

A voice!

There was someone else with him.

The dread that filled Sora now was unmistakable. Sora's Shadow clutched it, tightly, refusing to let go. Let it strengthen the connection. Come on. Come on, Sora. Turn! Who was it? Even a memory—a spare thought—concerning this person who filled him with dread would be nice. Come on!

Sora turned, slowly.

The image that Sora's Shadow was presented with was not one he was expecting. Blurred and warped through Sora's eyes, but otherwise clear—

Maleficent.

But the witch was dead!

He could've sworn she was dead!

His surprise was sharp enough to distance himself from Sora's emotions, which made the connection fizzle and snap, slip away from his grasp. He cursed, but…

But finally, he had a lead.

Laughter escaped his lips, even though he desperately wanted to scream with anger and destroy the thing closest to him in his fury. He knew where Sora was! Maleficent, that- that stupid, awful, terrible witch—words were not enough to describe how much he hated her in this moment—She had Sora. Which meant if he found her…

He found Sora.

And Maleficent couldn't possibly be as hard to find.

xxx

Well, okay, maybe she could be hard to find.

Sora's Shadow realized this only a few hours later. He had no way of locating Maleficent—the Wolf didn't know her scent, and he knew of nowhere to find her scent. He'd had the vague notion in his mind that he'd ask around about her, but when he went to put that into action, he remembered why he hadn't done such things to locate Sora.

No one could hear him.

Or, no one who he could squeeze information out of.

Random locales of any World he visited very rarely could hear him in the first place, and the few who could refused to talk to him. They couldn't see him. They thought they were hearing things.

And it wasn't like he could sit very well in a corner of a town and probe every passerby's mind. For starters, it would be a pain. But, with the Wolf following him… Well, people tended to give the Wolf a very wide berth.

"This is pointless!" He groaned. He and the Wolf were now on the outskirts of one of the towns they'd visited today. Well out of sight and away from any people who could bother them. "We can't find Maleficent, and Sora's trail is long dead, so we can't find him either! Now what?"

'You are darkness,' the Wolf said. 'Isn't she darkness, too? Can you find her that way?'

He grimaced. He supposed he could (and cursed himself silently for not thinking it sooner). He closed his eyes, searching the depths of his knowledge for anything about Maleficent. Darkness knows its own, after all…

"She's…" he began, slowly. "She's plunged a world or two into darkness. Was looking for the Princess of Heart—whatever those are!—at one point…" He shook his head. Nothing about Sora. Nothing useful. Just— "And now she's apparently gathering an army of Heartless. For some reason." He let out an annoyed sigh and opened his eyes again. "Nothing on where she is, or where Sora might be!"

This was getting utterly ridiculous.

He turned to the Wolf to ask—sarcastically—if it had any other great ideas. But the look in the Wolf's eyes made him stop. It was a… curious expression. Thoughtful? Hopeful? What?

'She's… gathering Heartless?' the Wolf asked, after a long time.

"Yeah."

'I'm a Heartless.'

"Yes, you are." What was the Wolf getting at? "What does that have to do with anything?"

The Wolf narrowed its eyes. When it spoke again, it spoke slowly, as if laying down a point that was absolutely obvious.

'If I… traveled the Worlds. In my true form. Wouldn't you agree that I'm a strong enough Heartless to draw her attention?'

Sora's Shadow raised his eyebrows, considering this.

'If I find her, or she finds me, I can get her scent,' the Wolf continued. 'Then I can return to you, and take you to her. And then we can find out where she's keeping Sora.'

"That… isn't a bad idea!" he admitted, smiling. "Yeah. I like that!"

'And what if she has Sora with her?' the Wolf asked. 'Or if I end up finding him, instead?'

"Find a way to get him to me," he replied, simply. "Or, at the very least, get him away from her! Once he's away from her, it really doesn't matter, because the connection between us should be restored! She's gotta be the one blocking it, right?"

The Wolf did not respond. Instead, it came over and bit him on the hand—almost affectionately. He glared at it, but it let go of him before he could say or do anything. Then it bounded off, disappearing from the world through a pathway that only it seemed to know.

"Huh," Sora's Shadow mused, rubbing his chest slightly. For the first time since Sora'd been taken from him, he actually felt—

No.

No, that couldn't be right.