Chapter 4

Another not too different story takes place a few hundred miles away. Across the wide ocean, through the enormous sky, to that of another world lies the same fear and confusion. The screams seem to travel through strange gateways.

Twilight Town

The two boys were choking whilst they ran, trying their best to keep their breaths steady and calm while sprinting for their very lives. One boy with blonde hair the spiked and curled in all directions. Another boy with sandy brown hair that slicked over, flicking its ends out at the back. Their expressions were worn out and tired. Only the greatest amount of fear could be shown in the one boy that couldn't keep up with the other.

"Hayner!" Roxas grabbed his friend's hand to try and pull him along faster, but the only thing it did was slow them both down. "Come on, we're not far from the sandlot," he rushed in-between breaths, pulling his friend as hard as he could.

"I'm sorry…" Hayner panted, gripping tight on Roxas's hand as they both ran.

A screech echoed through the air and Roxas felt his heart race. The sound was not too far behind them and he dreaded to think what would happen next.

Hayner turned his head as he felt Roxas's footing speed up, to see what was behind them. His eyes widened in terror at the black blur running toward them like a wild animal that'd found its food. "Oh god," he choked, "these things don't give up!"

Roxas didn't need to ask what Hayner was talking about, he knew. He'd witnessed it before, witnessed the horrors of what the creatures did to his other two friends. He was definitely not going to let the same happen to Hayner.

Roxas gripped Hayner's hand tighter once more and pulled him as hard as he could. But the worst happened. Roxas felt a gap in Hayner's footing and his heart almost pound straight out of his chest when he felt Hayner loose his footing completely and fall to the ground with a cry.

Roxas had to stop and try and lift his friend up as quickly as possible, no matter how ridiculously fast the creature was gaining on them. He wouldn't leave Hayner, never. "Hayner, get up, GET UP!"

Hayner lifted himself up quickly, cringing as he'd scraped his knees pretty hard on the stony ground. But he didn't care. As he got up he turned his head again and the fear rose higher as the creature was now clear enough to see the manic look across its face. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," Hayner panicked as he got up and started running again with Roxas.

The creature's screeches sounded like it was excited, and Roxas knew why. It was close enough now. The speed it had and the speed they had was enough to prove that. He had no choice now, he had to use force. He looked around in front of him and noticed a wooden plank by a wrecked shop. He turned, dragging Hayner with him, surprising his friend.

He let go of Hayner and picked up the plank, then turned back round to stand in front of Hayner, protecting him. Roxas had a great shock as he turned, seeing the creatures snarling face right in his own. His heart could have exploded with the shock. All the breathing, all the screeching, all the panicked voices in his head, everything came to a deadly halt. He stood there with his blue eyes wide, staring at the yellow beads of eyes only inches in front of him. The plank in his hands fell out of his fingers slowly as his mind had been driven mad with fear.

The creature stood still, breathing in and out loudly as it stared evilly at Roxas, trying to taunt his prey into even more fear. Hayner didn't know what to do, if he made any sudden moves at all the creature would kill Roxas, and it was far too close for Roxas to even do anything. Hayner couldn't just do nothing though, he couldn't stand there and watch the creature kill his best friend.

Hayner screwed his chances and grabbed the plank from the floor, lifting it above his head, ready to hit the creature, but something went wrong. The speed and reflexes of the creature were too much. In one foul move the creature had extended one arm to stop the plank from bashing on its head, and sight of where the other hand had gone made the entire colour drain from Roxas's face.

The dark arm of the death like creature had ripped through Hayner's chest, sending blood gushing out from the wound. Hayner stood there breathless, mouth open wide not knowing what to feel, the move was so sudden the pain took a few moments to respond, and when it did he cried out, feeling a tight grip around something inside of him. Hayner hated the sensation, he could feel every twitch the hand made inside of his chest, every twitch felt like a knife twisting.

Roxas couldn't move, he couldn't bare what he knew was going to happen next, and he knew he couldn't do anything about it. Tears leaked from his eyes freely and his face scrunched as he felt the pain in his own heart. Roxas choked a sob but still stood there unable to move, he breathed in, attempting to yell.

As if in slow motion, the creature pulled its arm out roughly as Roxas cried Hayner's name painfully. The blood gushed everywhere, splattering against Roxas's clothes, splattering against the creature's snarling face, splattering on the stony ground. And there that lay in the creature's hands was Hayner's golden heart. Its eyes shimmered in delight as the sight of its food.

Hayner's body, his shell, fell to its knees, to its hands, then to the ground with a horrible thud. The creature happily held the heart in its hands, and then took one last look at Roxas before it ran away.

Roxas's face was motionless and gaped, tears silently falling from his eyes as he watched Hayner's lifeless body lay face first on the ground in front of him. Roxas almost felt his own life slip away when he watched him, the strength of his body dying. He slowly fell to his knees, not knowing what else to do. Nothing mattered anymore. He'd lost everything now. He lost his friends, his family, his town and now his best friend. The dark monsters had stolen everything that mattered to Roxas. They'd even stolen his spirit.

Just when Roxas felt like giving up entirely and collapsing next to his best friend, he felt a presence behind him. He didn't know whether he should get up and run, or simply let whatever it was kill him right there. He had no idea. Whatever it was, it was simply staying still. Maybe it got a kick out of watching people's hearts completely break.

Roxas just sat there, watching Hayner, not wanting to leave his side. He watched the pale skin on his bare arms, the soft locks of his sandy hair. The presence behind him shuffled a little as if it was disturbed and Roxas was beginning to get pissed. His frowned eyes travelled along to the side toward whatever it was, even though he couldn't see the thing directly behind him, but he didn't want to turn his head entirely.

A soft sound erupted from Hayner's cold body and Roxas snapped his back toward him in surprise at the sound of a long lasting exhale of a breath. Roxas's eyes widened as Hayner's skin began to get dark, darker, darker still, black, no, pitch black? His arms started to slowly move, his hands moving along the floor to lift him up. He still exhaled, the breath being far too long for comfort.

"You have to kill him." Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned behind him to see the actual presence was not a monster, but a man dressed in black with a hood covering his head. His face was shrouded in shadow. "Kill or be killed, simple as that."

"What?!" Roxas shouted.

He turned back to Hayner who had now lifted his body a little more, but he was different. His fingers were no longer fingers, but long sharp claws. His hair being jet black. Ears that slightly pointed. His entire body as black as the night sky. Roxas then recognised what he saw instantly. "No…" Hayner was turning into one of… them. "Hayner! Snap out of it!" Roxas grabbed his friend, lifting him up examining the still lifeless face as Hayner breathed shakily and inhumanly.

The man behind Roxas grew weary and stood on his guard as he watched the boy shake the soon-to-be-monster. "Kid, there's nothing you can do, just…"

"Shut up!" Roxas cried, sobbing as the hazel eyes of the friend his knew blurred entirely to a shade of deep yellow. Its eyes moved to look at Roxas and it looked hard, almost reading Roxas. The now dark arm of Hayner held Roxas's arm tightly and Roxas didn't know how to react, just sat there sobbing for his friend. "HAYNER!"

The yellow beads snapped into evil slits and with a horrifying shock Hayner screeched at Roxas, pushing him away with strength not of his own. Roxas flew a few metres away, landing just next to the mysterious figure that appeared a few moments ago.

Hayner held his head, screeching in pain. He twisted and turned in agony, not wanting his new instincts to overcome him. He knew his heart would never allow him to do what his body was telling him. His heart would never allow him to kill anyone. His heart… he remembered the monster from before, stealing his heart away from his body. The monster had taken it. He wanted his heart. He wanted a heart. He wanted one badly. He craved it. He needed to find a heart. He desperately cried in agony.

The man frowned underneath his hood. "He's trying to reject his body. I've never seen this happen before."

Hayner completely stopped, standing on all fours in exhaustion, finally losing his mind. The man dressed in black suddenly stepped away from Roxas and in a flurry of spinning flames he summoned two red spiky chakrams in each hand.

Roxas looked on in amazement, but the two objects must have been weapons because of how deadly they looked. His eyes suddenly widened when Hayner ran towards him screeching. It was like a nightmare, watching his best friend turn into the very thing that murdered him. He still saw Hayner there though, and because of that he didn't want to move, didn't want to protect himself. He wanted to accept what Hayner wanted to do. It put his mind in a state of terrible confusion. When Hayner's dark form leapt to him, both arms and claws outstretched, he simply closed his eyes.

No impact at all. Instead sudden sounds of dying screeches and the sensation of fiery heat on his face. He opened his eyes to just see small flames flickering around a dissolving patch of black smoke. Hayner was gone. Roxas looked at the man who was standing next to the patch, the face of the hood staring down at it. His chakrams disappeared in his hands with a small burst of flames.

"What did you do to him?" Roxas asked.

The face of the hood turned toward him and Roxas heard a sigh. "He can rest now, I promise you that."

000000

Sora had experienced a lot of odd and confusing things in his lifetime that had left is mind in a total mass of unanswered questions, but he was sure that the events of today were the undeniable winners.

He walked slowly between the buildings of his home island, eyes carefully scanning the empty atmosphere around him. Before he left the hospital he'd grabbed the strained metal pole, and was now dragging it along the floor. The sound of the pole scrapping against the cold concrete was the only thing helping him to not freak out from the silence. The silence was chilling and awkward, running through the air as if it wasn't meant to be there. It wasn't at all.

Sora gulped and took deep breaths as he walked. He was now at his limit. If he couldn't find Riku and Kairi soon he thought he might collapse in the street, and that would be very foolish indeed.

He remembered how weak Kairi was and now understood how it felt. He then grew concerned for his friend, hoping she wouldn't collapse like he knew he would soon. He didn't want that. Even though Riku was there with her to help her, Sora still didn't want her in that state. Sora cared too much for her. "Kairi…" he whispered, finding the strength in his voice fading as well. "Where are you?"

000000

Kairi sat against the wall in the grocery store's backroom, wait for Riku to come back in with some food from the shelves. Her head slowly lulled to the side, her eyes going to the small window in the room. She didn't feel right at all. Something was wrong, something inside her was crying out that something was wrong. Her expression remained clueless, her eyes drooping in exhaustion. "Sora…" she whispered before drifting into an unwanted sleep.

Moments later Riku walked into the small room to find Kairi asleep on the floor in an uncomfortable looking position, slumped against the hard wall. He placed the food on the floor carefully then walked towards Kairi's resting figure, crouching down in front of her.

Her dreams were uncomfortable, Riku could tell by the way her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyelids were harshly twitching. He felt bad for everything that had happened, it was giving her nightmares and there wasn't much he could do. He ran a smooth hand down her soft cheeks to try and calm her subconscious down a little, but once he stopped, Kairi's eyes flickered open. Riku smiled at her, hoping he didn't startle her.

"Riku…" she said groggily.

"Here, I've got some food," he replied softly, passing her a packet of crisps and a tin of peaches. There was plenty more he'd brought in but he thought this might keep her strength up a little for the time being. "It was all I could find," he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"It's okay," she smiled gratefully, pulling herself forward and taking the crisps, "thanks Riku."

Riku smiled in return, happy he was doing something to help. "I'm gonna go outside and look for Sora, you stay put okay?"

"Just be careful," she said, opening the packet. Riku nodded and headed out of the room. Kairi looked out to the small window again and her eyes dimmed, sighing to herself. "Hang in there, Sora."

000000

Outside in the empty streets, Sora's vision was become unsteady and his head felt heavy. It felt like there was a monster inside his stomach eating away at the walls of his stomach, finding any spec of food it could but failing. He felt awful. His pace was only a few mini-steps at the time and the thought of food was the only thing he could think of, but it was making him ill. I don't think I'll make it back guys.

Giving up already?

Sora's eyes opened to the sound of Riku words in his head.

Come on Sora, you can do better than that.

His eyes were wide open but his vision was not, he turned his head around frantically, regretting it as he did, making him feel even more ill. He could feel a presence, and his mind fell into panic, but he couldn't concentrate on anything. He tried to remember Riku's voice in his head, wanting some more encouraging words, but nothing came. He needed to find his own strength, the strength deep down to keep him alive, but he couldn't find it. The whole world was spinning. His body was heavy now, he wanted to sleep, but he was too scared he'd never wake up.

Sora lost his footing and he fell backwards, feeling the air rush past his face as he fell. His eyes closed shut and his arms numbly swooped forward. He was falling, falling, falling into a sleep.

He lost consciousness and his mind fell into an endless pit of darkness. He'd fallen asleep too suddenly to feel his body fall into the arms of his silver haired best friend.