The Road to Dawn
By Ariana Aislinn
Chapter 5: Portal of Darkness

I'd intended to upload chapter 5 last night or this morning, but due to dense fog I ended up crashing at a friend's house instead of driving home last night. :P So it's a few hours late, but I don't suppose anyone will mind too much, given the rate I'm cranking these out. The next chapter might take a bit longer while I work out where I'm going with it.

Also - to DarkRiku, thanks! You're right, Axel does have green eyes. I thought for sure they were blue, but I double-checked, and you're right. I'll fix that right away.

Standard disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix and Disney, not me.

With a blast of force, the gummi ship revved up and sped down the remainder of the runway, lifting off near the end of it. Riku felt himself pushed back in his seat as they angled upward, soaring through the clouds. The sky rapidly grew darker, until it was a deep blue through which Riku could see faint stars. Eventually they leveled out, the force of acceleration lessened, and Riku remembered to breathe again. He laughed. "Whoo! That was something else!"

Mickey grinned. "Like it, huh? Flyin's pretty great once ya get used to it. Heck, even before ya get used to it. Now, let's have a look at the navigational panel…"

Riku glanced over Mickey's shoulder at the readout, but he couldn't make much of it. He saw small icons with labels identifying them as different worlds, and a cursor allowing Mickey to select one, but when the mouse tried to select "Disney Castle," an error sound of some sort buzzed in their ears.

"What's that mean?" Riku asked, pointing to a little red line of text that had appeared in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

"Hmm?" Mickey peered at it. "'Unable to establish route…alternate route found. Continue?' I'm selectin' yes." He waited a moment as a new screen appeared.

As far as Riku could tell, it was all gibberish. There were all sorts of unfamiliar words and strange coordinates. "What's it say? I don't understand any of it."

"To be honest…neither do I!" Mickey laughed. "No, I do get some of it, but a lot of it is a foreign language t'me. I sorta wish I had Chip and Dale along with me - they're my chief engineers. But we'll just hafta make do without 'em. See, as near as I can tell from this -" he pointed to a line of text on the screen - "we can get to the same coordinates by going through this portal here that the navi-gummi found. It's a little like a wormhole - a small one - but not quite. Next time we come this way, it might not be here. But there's others like it, a little too small for us to get through - but they seem to be changing in size, fluctuating back and forth."

"So…we can get through, but there's no guarantee we can get back?"

"Right. There's a good chance, though, since it seems these cracks in the barrier are always changin' in size. At any rate, we're gonna have to pass through the darkness, no matter what. Axel was right about that. See here? These readings…almost like Heartless, but not quite. Nothin' so organized as all that."

"I…guess." Riku shook his head. "I'll just take your word for it - I understand even less of this than you do. But you can tell it you want to take the route it found?"

"Yup, just gotta enter the instructions in manually. Won't take more than a moment or two. So…we hafta make a decision. It's really up to you, Riku…you're the one who knows about the darkness. Do you feel up to this?"

Riku shrugged and grinned. "Guess it's now or never, huh? I'm still new to this not being scared of the darkness thing, but I can't back down now. Let's go, Mickey."

"You got it, pal!" There were a few beeps as he selected the coordinates and entered a manual confirmation. "Hold on tight. These jumps are sometimes a bit bumpy, but what with the darkness - well, I dunno what it'll be like." A moment passed, then the ship began to vibrate a little more strongly. A whooshing sound began to build. "…And here we go!" Mickey grabbed the arms of his seat and held on; Riku did likewise.

With a flash of light, the ship jumped into warp, traveling at indescribable speeds along the path that led toward the portal. All Riku could see were rushing lines of light beyond the viewport as he was again pushed back in his seat. A dark mass at the center of the rushing lines began to spread outward, coming closer. Riku gritted his teeth and braced himself, physically and mentally. They were about to enter the darkness.

When the shock hit, it wasn't anything like Riku might have expected. There was a sharp jerk as the ship shook violently, and then everything seemed to go into slow motion. The light faded around Riku, and he could feel darkness pressing on him in all directions. It was not unlike his dream - he could taste the darkness filling his mouth, and he coughed, choking. Every breath was filled with the heaviness of the dark, settling in Riku's lungs as he gasped. His heart pounded; he couldn't hear the ship anymore, nor could he sense Mickey's presence. He felt entirely alone, just as in his dream.

No! I can't let the darkness swallow me…have to get free… Riku struggled, feeling as if he were trying to swim up from the bottom of a deep abyss. It was an effort to breathe, to think, but he could overcome this trial - he had to. He fought off the darkness, pushing it steadily away from himself.

The ship had apparently not passed through the darkness of the portal yet, however; as fast as Riku fought it off, the denser it became. It solidified, becoming a wall encasing him. He pounded on it, and it rang like heavy, opaque glass, infinitely black and deep.

He stopped for a moment, gathering his strength. Maybe if he put all his force into it at once…it was worth a try. Riku centered himself, seeking out the darkness and light entwined in his heart, and gathered strength from both. Taking a deep breath, he slammed into the dark barrier before him.

Something shattered. Darkness and light exploded around him, and pain wracked Riku's body. He squeezed his eyes shut, crying out as he came back to himself. His body convulsed in its harness, the ship bucking and shaking at the same time. He heard something - Mickey shouting, as if from a distance. Riku's fingers clawed at the arms of his seat, seeking purchase, anything to anchor himself back into reality. He coughed, his breath rasping as he continued to shake uncontrollably.

There was a droning sound in the background, which gradually slowed and deepened as the ship went still. After a while there was silence, broken only by the low hum of the ship's engines. Riku's body continued to spasm erratically for a few moments, and a whimper escaped him - lights appeared to flash behind his closed eyelids, and needles of darkness seemed to stab at him. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut against the pain. It didn't help much. His eyelids fluttered open and blinked rapidly, too quickly to allow him to see anything. The convulsions began to ease off, and he coughed again, gasping for breath as his muscles went limp.

Riku became aware of hands on his shoulders and a voice calling his name. "…Riku! Riku, are you okay? Come on, talk to me, buddy." Mickey shook him a little, trying to get a response. "Look at me, will ya, pal?"

Riku held up a trembling hand, panting. "It's…okay. I hear you." His voice was harsh and raspy; it hardly sounded like his voice at all. He coughed yet again, hacking as if he could expel the darkness he'd felt in his lungs.

Mickey let go of his death-grip on Riku's shoulders, patting his back awkwardly. "You okay there? What happened?"

Riku continued to blink rapidly. The pain had faded, but his eyes were still reflexively trying to get rid of whatever had caused that pain. He willed them to stay shut for a moment, took a deep, shuddering breath, and opened his eyes again slowly, trying to look around and survey the damage.

All was darkness; he couldn't see anything. He sighed. "I…don't know. What's going on? Are we through?"

He heard Mickey flop down into the pilot's seat again. "I dunno. I think so, but…the controls went offline. I can't tell for sure until I get things up and running again. Give me a minute to get the lights on, at least…then maybe I can see what I'm doin'."

Riku concentrated on taking deep breaths and steadying himself, trying to ease the trembling that still plagued him. His whole body felt weak and shaky, like an overcooked noodle. Still…he'd beaten it back, hadn't he? He wasn't sure he ever wanted to go through that again, which could present a problem, but he was still here, and still himself. Didn't that mean a victory, however small?

"Just a moment…ahhh…got it!"

There was a click, and then a piercingly bright flash. Riku cried out, shutting his eyes. "Augh!!" He buried his face in his arms.

"Huh? You all right? The lights are pretty dim still, I can barely see what I'm doin', but let me look you over…" Mickey took a couple steps over to Riku and touched his arm.

"You call that dim?!" Eyes still tightly shut, Riku panted again. "I swear, that was so bright it physically hurt!"

"Uh…bright? Not hardly. You sure you're okay, there?"

Riku paused, face still concealed in his coat sleeves. "…No. I'm not sure. I…don't really know what happened to me back there." Carefully he raised his head, opening his eyes just a sliver. The light seemed painfully bright, but if he squinted, he could make out Mickey's concerned face looking into his. "…Damn, I'm sorry, Mickey. You look okay…I guess. Are you?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, pal. I'm fine. Took a little bump on the head, but nothin' major. But what's going on here? What happened to you?"

Riku laughed bitterly, the laugh turning into a cough. "The darkness happened. Did you feel it?"

Mickey nodded soberly. "Oh, I felt it all right. Just like in the realm of darkness - heavy, pounding down on you. Not pleasant."

"That's what I felt, too…but far stronger. I guess I'm…weaker to it. More vulnerable. Something like that, anyway. I'm not really sure what it did to me, but…" He took a deep breath. "All right, I think I'm adjusting a little…I can see better now." He blinked, opening his eyes a little wider. "Still hurts, though. You say this doesn't seem bright to you at all?"

"Nope. I'd say the lights are at about half strength." Mickey seemed uncertain. "What could be causing that? What did the darkness do to ya?"

Riku fumbled around, searching under the seat and all around him. "Have you got any sort of fabric I could tear up, maybe?"

Mickey nodded. "Yep, got a shirt I tore pretty badly in a fight with some Heartless, a few weeks back. I threw it on my bunk. Just a moment." He hurried off, returning shortly with the aforementioned article of clothing. He handed it to Riku, who ripped off a long strip of the black fabric, then tied it on as a sort of makeshift blindfold. He sighed with relief.

Mickey looked doubtful. "Does that really help? Can you see anything?"

"You'd be surprised. I can see pretty clearly. Not as much as I usually can, but…" Riku shrugged. "Hopefully this isn't permanent. Maybe it'll get better slowly, but until then, this will shield me from the worst of the light. Once the lights come back on full strength, I should be able to stand it…I hope." He tried to sound more sure of himself, more positive, but he couldn't quite manage it.

Mickey patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll get better. Do you hurt anywhere? Anything else damaged, broken, sore?"

Riku chuckled bitterly. "Oh, I'm sore all over. But I don't think there's any serious damage, aside from my eyes. Just…the scent of darkness, the taste of it, over everything. Ugh. Once we take care of more pressing matters, I'm gonna need something to drink to try to get the taste out of my mouth. So…what's up with the ship?"

"I dunno. Let me take a look at it. You just sit there and relax, okay? Rest for a moment while I try to see just what happened, and where we are, for that matter."

Riku did as the king suggested, leaning back in his seat with his head against the headrest. His head pounded, and he still felt limp and shaky all over, but the longer he sat there, the more he could feel some of the soreness and weakness begin to slip away. It was just a little, but it gave him some hope that whatever had happened to him wasn't permanent. He listened, eyes closed, as Mickey tinkered with the controls.

After a while, the mouse sighed. "Well, I've got good news and bad news."

"What's that?"

"Well, we made it through the portal all right. That's the good news. The bad news is…the ship's damaged, and we're stranded. According to the navi-gummi, we came through the right portal so we're not too far from Disney Castle, but it's far enough away that we're pretty much stuck. Once I get the monitors working, we might even be able to see it - but we can't get there. Looks like we ain't movin' for a while."

Riku nodded slowly. "…Can you fix it, do you think?"

Mickey shrugged. "Dunno, pal. Might be able to! Not like we've got anything else to do except try. But first…you said you needed something to drink, and I'm thinkin' food might not come amiss, either. Mind if I grab us some lunch?"

Riku nodded gratefully. "You do that. I'm just going to stay here for a bit…I think if I tried to stand up, I'd fall over."

"Heh." Mickey patted his shoulder again reassuringly. "Don't worry, you'll be okay, pal. Let's just work through this one step at a time and figure out what to do next. Besides, look on the bright side -"

"Right now, everything seems bright - too bright." Riku grinned wryly.

"Very funny. What I mean is, look at you - you're still you! You didn't let the darkness take you over, and that's definitely somethin'. You're growin' stronger, Riku."

Riku choked out a laugh. "Stronger? Me?" He gestured at the blindfold. "You call this stronger?"

"That I do, pal!" Mickey nodded emphatically. "So you're gonna be making a new fashion statement for a while. So what? I've still got my buddy Riku with me, and I'm real thankful for that. So you just hold on while I scrounge up some food, okay?"

Riku smiled. "All right then. And…thanks, Mickey."

The mouse gave him a thumbs up as he left the cockpit. "Hey, what're friends for?"