Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I DO own the OCs. If you'd like to use them in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 17

"Did you hear that?" Yuffie asked, her short black hair standing on end.

The others were not pleased to admit it but they had heard the same sounds as Yuffie. The loud beating of hooves on stone and metal echoed from the walls of the construction site, making it hard to pin point where it was coming from. The group gathered in a circle, back to back to protect them from every side. Kairi, Sora, and Riku summoned their Keyblades and Yuffie readied her shuriken. The hoof beats became louder and louder, further increasing the level of tension as they waited for whatever it was to show itself. The sounds just continued to grow in volume and intensity until it felt to the group that he should be right in front of them. But all the sudden the hooves ceased their galloping, leaving the area with an eerie dead silence.

"Uh... Sora?" Kairi whimpered as she looked back at the brown haired boy. She had never faced something like this and her hands where shaking as she held her Summer Days Keyblade. If the others could've seen the Paopu fruit shaped key chain attached at the end of the handle was whipping back and forth as if it too was frightened by the silence.

"Yes Kairi?" Sora's eyes kept darting back and forth and up and down as he searched for any hint of movement or anything that would help end this unbearable amount of tension.

Riku was a little surprised by Kairi's tone. She had seen all this before and yet now she looked like she was scared out of her mind. Maybe it was a mistake to push Sora into letting her come along.

"Is it gone?" Kairi asked in a shaky voice, the young woman making it apparent to all that she was unnerved by the silence even more than the thunder of hoof beats.

"Good question... I have no idea." Sora smiled weakly, looking over his shoulder at Kairi.

Riku and Yuffie both facepalmed, Sora sure knew how to pick a time to be tackless.

Suddenly out of nowhere a deafening laugh. The gang looked up to see a man on horse back. The horse was completely black with red and when it snorted small plumes of smoke came from its nostrils. The rider was clothed in a black hooded cloak and bore in one hand a curved sword that glinted even though the sky overhead was shrouded in clouds. In the other hand he held a large flaming jack o lantern. Before the gang could react he horse stood on its hind legs and let out a loud whinny and the rider laughed again in a loud maniacal fashion and held aloft both his pumpkin and sword in each hand. As he did this the sky itself seemed to darken as if the sun itself was scared off by the sight of this rider. The horse leapt down from the wall of the chasm and landed in front of the group and once more the horse reared. Only now the hood of the rider fell back. The rider was missing his head. The gang was struck by such a terrifying opponent, but Yuffie seemed paled by the sight of this rider.

"Yuffie, what's the matter?" Riku asked as he kept both his gaze and weapon fixed on this... thing. There was no telling what it would do or when it would do it. Riku was used to being able to guess his opponent's next move by looking at their feet or their face. In this case neither was of much help.

Yuffie took a breath to steady herself. At any other time she would've turned tail and ran when facing such a foe. What made it worse was that her father had told her stories about this swordsman in the form of ghost stories. "It's the Headless Horseman..."

"Who?" Kari asked. Her current level of anxiety was not being improved upon hearing that this guy was called 'headless'.

Yuffie readied her shuriken and prepared to fight one of her childhood boogeymen. "He's a spectre that used to be the most feared warrior around. When he was beaten he was beheaded and now he won't stop until he gets his own head back."

Riku shook his head. 'Nice going Yuffie, Kairi looks like she's scared enough without all that talk about decapitation...'

"I thought that Sephiroth guy was the most feared swordsman around." Sora said, giving the ninja girl a confused look.

Yuffie shook her head. "This guy was before Sephiroth. He's no where near as bad as Sephiroth was but he's been causing mayhem even AFTER he was killed."

The rider spared no more time, with a kick he wordlessly ordered his steed to rush into battle. The Horseman held his sword above his head, ready to bring it down at any time.

"Scatter!" Riku cried, stepping in between the group and the Horseman with his own weapon raised to deflect the rider's sword.

Yuffie broke to one side and Sora the other, with Kairi right behind him. Kairi wanted to run, this enemy wasn't like the Heartless who just wanted to steal their hearts, this monster was after their heads. Both she and Sora had once lost their hearts and were lucky enough to recover, both of which were one in a million shots. If this guy was as horrible as Yuffie said then this was a real one shot only. If he got too close he'd kill them.

The Horseman swung his sword at Riku with the intent of making this a quick kill and moving on to the others. This wasn't going to be as easy as the vengeful spectre thought as Riku deflected the Headless Horseman's scimitar away. Although Riku had deflected the blow from the Horseman's weapon the sheer strength knocked the white haired lad to the ground.

Sora was next in the Horseman's line of fire. In no time the rider was about to try to cleave Sora's head off with a swing of his blade. Normally Sora would've leapt up to attack with his Kingdom Key but if he did there was a possibility the spectre would hurt Kairi. He could almost feel the red head's trebling behind him as she fought off the urge to flee from this fight. Sora swung his Keyblade, not at the Horseman but at his steed. The Kingdom Key's teeth brushed against the horse's eye, causing it to rear and flailed it's front hooves in attempt to strike at Sora itself. This inadvertently caused the Headless Horseman to topple of his steed and fall to the ground.

"Nice work Sora!" Yuffie shouted. She was staggered that Sora had actually knocked one of the most feared warriors of Hallow Bastion off his horse. In all the stories she had heard of the Headless Horseman none mentioned him being knocked off his horse. Of course no one had actually stood their ground against the ghost, they had all turned tail and tried to escape.

Kairi was very relieved to see that Sora had stopped the Horseman's charge. He didn't seem so scary now that he had landed on his back in the dirt. Her courage returning, she stepped out from behind Sora and held her Keyblade out in front of her.

The Horse man leapt to his feet with both sword and jack o' lantern still in hand. He twisted round this way and that, looking for his steed as if he still had a head. With a loud shrill whistle he called the horse over to him and leapt up into the saddle. With a quick kick he was off once more. The rider's steed took him around the group singling out their weakest link, Kairi. The Horseman barreled towards the girl, only to laugh as he ordered his horse to rear. Kairi stared in awestruck horror as the Horseman threw the flaming jack o' lantern at her. For Kairi it was if time seemed to slow down as she stared at the evil looking gourd coming straight at her. It was like she couldn't look away from its wicked mouth or move to avoid it at it closed in on her. In the final moments before it collided with her it looked like the pumpkin's mouth seemed to open up like it was going to devour her entirely. Thankful before it could Sora hit it with his Keyblade, effectively shattering the jack o' lantern and sending tiny flaming bits of pumpkin every which way.

Kairi shook her head and looked at Sora and smiled. Sora had saved her life once again, every time she seemed to be in danger he seemed to be there for her. Knowing that filled her with a newfound hope.

The Horseman reared once more and charged again, this time at Yuffie. His attack was halted as the ninja girl threw her shuriken at him. The oversized weapon was bated away by the spectre's sword and hit the nearby wall, falling to the stone floor with a clang. The Horseman swung around and made another pass at Riku only to catch the end of Riku's Keyblade in his chest. The Horseman seemed unaffected by the Way to the Dawn and swung his blade at the white haired Keyblader. Thankfully he missed taking off the young man's head but the razor sharp sword left a clean cut on his right cheek.

"This guy isn't affected by the Keyblades!" Riku cried in disbelief. "How do we fight a guy like this?"

Sora was at a loss for words, how do you fight a creature that you can't hurt and seems to have the skill of one of the most powerful warriors on this world? He had nearly felt despair come over him as he saw the end of his Kingdom Key sparkle with light. Curiously he lifted the Keyblade up into the air.

Riku's Way to the Dawn and Kairi's Summer Days likewise began to glow. Wordlessly they followed Sora's example and lifted their Keyblades into the air. A beam of light shot from each of the mysterious weapons and pierced the sky above the combatants.

The Horseman's steed reared and bucked at the sight of this and refused its master's repeated commands to attack. Whatever the Keyblades were doing neither the rider nor steed liked.

The beams of light continued up until they reached the clouds hanging overhead, which they pierced and let out a dim flash as the beams faded and no longer shone from the Keyblades. The light of the sun began to pour forth from the gaping hole in the clouds formed from the small piercings made by the beams. To the small group of teenagers it was as if the sun was just coming over the horizon. To the Headless Horseman and his black mount however it was as if they were nightmares caught in the rays of the morning sun. They both lashed about and attempted to ride back into the shadows but both disappeared into nothingness before they could make it. Leaving the group confused and bewildered at what had transpired.

Kairi was the first to ask the obvious question. "Where did the Horseman go?"

Yuffie shrugged, honestly having no clue. "The stories about him always take place at night. Maybe he can't exist in daylight. Maybe it's something else"

---

Maleficent had been experimenting with the power of the Realm of Darkness, using it to repair parts of the castle and create more Heartless. Orin was watching as she did this, each Heartless had the Heartless emblem on them just like Xehanort's artificially created ones. He sat down on the floor and watched as Hook Bats and Armored Knights patrolled the hallways. He didn't like being near other Heartless even if they were under the witch's control. Still it was better than doing her dirty work, but he wondered now that he had done what she wanted what should he do now? There was one thing that seemed to call from the back of his head. It was dull like a weak wind through the trees, only noticeable when you sat down and closed your eyes and really listened for it.

Orin stood and sneaked off towards the door that lead to the Realm of Darkness and cracked it open to peer inside. Orin felt a feeling that can only be described as magnetism come over him, he wanted to be in there, he HAD to cross over to that side. Orin's other side took control, the first time without the touch of a heartbeat and he lunged at the door with such a ferocity that his claws left scratches in the hard black stone. With a single pull Orin threw the doors open wide and gazed at the splendor that only his glowing eyes could see. He began to walk in total awe of the sight he could see within the shadows, only to be stopped as a more powerful force slammed the doors shut.

Maleficent smirked down at the young Heartless. "You shouldn't play with things you don't understand boy. But if you want to I can show the true meaning of Darkness."

To be continued...

A/N: Kind of a cop out of the fight I know but I have too much respect for the Headless Horseman to have him vanquished like some common boss. It's the old childhood favorite character respect thing, like how I was sad to have to kill Sark and the MCP in KH2. I loved seeing Tron and his Frisbee of doom again.