Kingdom Hearts: The Trials of Light and Dark
A Light in the Rain production
Neki © Light of Heaven and Kitty Fetish
Reni Concept © Kitty Fetish
Reni © Black Rainy
Kingdom Hearts Characters and Concept © Square Enix and Disney
Final Fantasy Characters © Square Enix
All rights reserved.
Rainy: Gah…
Light: What?
Rainy: I haveth no apple laptop…school took it back…I have to use a crappy desktop one. I've named it Vexen.
Light: Oo Why?
Rainy: cuz it's old.
Light: BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN!!!
Rainy: X33333
Light: How about you start writing now miss "I got out of school a month earlier than Light"?
MissIGotOutOfSchoolAMonthEarlierThanLight: Okay!
Today we go to NEVALAND!!! 8DDD
Note: This chapter is the second to last chapter. We wanted to keep this part of the story only 10 chapters long cuz we're weird like that, so we had to combine a few worlds together. I, Rainy, am doing Neverland and the first chunk of Hollow Bastion (just up to seconds before the Sora/Riku fight over Kairi). Light will do the rest next chapter, so expect a really long last chapter! Also, I don't have Sora and Co. fighting Dragon-Maleficent cuz I'm horrible at action sequences. So really, I'm sparing you all the experience of reading horrible literature.
- - -
Chapter 9
"So your plan is to give Riku a little bit of free will?" Maleficent asked Ansem as they carried an unconscious Neki down a dark hall.
"Just to see if I've completely tainted his heart and mind." Ansem replied smugly. "If I have, he won't care for Sora, Neki, or that other girl Neki keeps talking about. I'll still be there to steer him in the direction of finding the last Princess of Heart's heart. I shall need your assistance, though, just to watch over him in the beginning."
Maleficent smirked. "And my assistance I shall give. Captain Hook is allowing us to use his vessel."
"His ship will interfere with Sora's," Ansem began.
"Sora gets on ship," Maleficent continued for him.
"And we use the last princess as bait," Ansem finished, and right on time too, because they reached Neki's room. Maleficent opened the door, and Ansem walked in, carrying Neki. Upon placing the girl on her bed, he turned back around. "It's all coming together now."
Maleficent smiled and asked, "The other girl…Reni I believe her name is…has special ties to Neki. What if she interferes with our plans?"
Ansem smirked widely. "The most harm she could do is get rid of Neki. And even if she does," Ansem walked out of the room, and began down the hall. "Reni would merely put herself in a state where she'd be easy to destroy."
- - -
"Okay, now that we got Reni to come out of her room," Sora sighed as he steered the said girl to a chair in the Gummi Ship's cockpit. "Where should we go next?"
"How about to wherever Neki is so I can kill her?"
"No, Reni. We don't know where she is anyways." Sora rolled his eyes at Reni's angry suggestion. "Any other suggestions?"
"A place NEAR to where Neki is so I can kill her."
"Reni, don't make me smack you with a rubber chicken." Sora threatened. "Anywhere else?"
"A weapon store so I can buy weapons to kill Neki w—"
"No."
"Then I'm plum outta ideas," Reni snapped, folding her arms over her chest.
"Finally," Sora sighed. "Okay, how abou—"
"Uh…Sora?" Goofy interrupted.
"Hold on Goofy, I was saying something," Sora said patiently.
"But Sora—" Goofy stared nervously out the front windshield.
"Not now!" Sora said loudly with much impatience.
"Sora?" Reni said in a higher pitched tone than usual. She too was staring out the windshield.
"GRAH!!!" Sora yelled angrily, grabbing his hair. "What now?!"
"Would you believe me if I said a pirate ship was about to crash into us?" Reni said quickly, her tone still high. She stood up, her eyes never leaving the windshield.
"…no, of course I—"
CRASH!
"…there really is a pirate ship, isn't there?"
- - -
"Who are you?! LET GO OF ME!!" Sora yelled as pirate clothed heartless yanked him forcefully by the arms up to the deck of the pirate ship. "Goofy! Donald! Reni! Where did you take them?!"
"Goofy and Donald?" a sly, angry voice drawled. "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends?" Sora turned his gaze upward to a part of the ship higher than he was.
"Riku?!" Sora spat out, trying to yank his arms free. "It was you?!"
Riku sneered at Sora. "Instead of being worried about them, you should be worried about her." He stepped aside.
"Kairi!" Sora gasped, and for a second he stopped struggling. Indeed, there was Kairi who sat on the floor, her eyes empty. Snapping out of his stupor, Sora managed to wrench his arms free, and run forward…only to be stopped when a hook obscured his vision.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Sora's gaze traveled from the hook, up an arm, to a black haired pirate with a red hat and big nose. "No shenanigans on my vessel, boy!" the pirate laughed mockingly.
"Wha--?!" Sora turned and stared at Riku again. "Riku! Why are you siding with the heartless?!" In response Riku grinned.
"The heartless obey me now Sora…" Riku answered smugly. "I have nothing to fear."
Sora furrowed his eyebrows. "Huh? What're you talking about?" He took a deep breath and yelled, "You're crazy! Sooner or later it'll take over your heart!"
Riku rolled his eyes and glared at Sora. "Not a chance. My heart's too strong." He brought his arm up. "Just watch. I've picked up a few other tricks as well." Riku flashed his palm towards Sora. "Like this for instance."
Sora cringed and braced himself for some sort of attack or something. However, nothing happened. He looked around, and began to smile slowly.
"Ha! See? Nothing happ--!"
Suddenly, Sora's shadow rose up quickly from the ground and hovered in front of him.
Sora's eyes widened. "HOLY SHENANIGANS OF WAKKA AND TIDUS!!!"
Riku snorted in laughter at Sora's reaction. He stopped suddenly, all emotion gone. "Enough messing around. You can go see your friends now." He snapped his fingers and suddenly there was no floor beneath Sora's feet.
"AAACK!" Sora yelled as he fell.
After the last smidgen of Sora disappeared, Riku rolled his eyes. Taking a step away from the railing, he called out, "Let's get underway, already. And keep Sora away from Kairi until we're ready to land." He picked the blank faced girl up. "Make sure to keep an eye on Sora and his friends." He turned around and entered the captain's cabin.
The instant the door shut, the big-nosed pirate from before (who we can all just pretty much assume by now is Captain Hook), growled angrily.
"That scurvy brat thinks he can order me around!" Captain Hook shouted.
"What shall we do, Captain Hook?" an old, meek looking pirate asked.
"Nothing!" Captain Hook snarled. "The hold is crawling with heartless. They can keep an eye on the brats."
"But captain, you-know-who is also down—" The meek pirate began, but Hook slapped his hand over the pirate's mouth.
"SHUT UP!" Hook yelled. "Be quiet Smee…" he looked around nervously. "Did you hear that, Smee? That dreadful sound! IT'S COMING FOR ME!!!" Hook panicked, and ran straight into the mainmast.
Smee shook his head. "Come on, Captain, let's go back to your cabin…"
- - -
"Yeah, I definitely saw Kairi!" Sora said with a cheerful smile.
"Really?" Reni asked, with a little strain in her voice.
"Uh-huh! She's on the ship!" Sora laughed. "She's on this ship!"
"Mmmmmph hmmph…" Donald said, his voice muffled.
Sora blinked. "What was that Donald?"
Goofy managed to choke out. "I think he said, 'that's nice'."
"No," Reni corrected. "He said, 'get off'."
Sora blinked. "Oh." He stood up from his seat on Reni's back. Reni did a feeble push up to get off of Goofy's shoulders. Goofy stood up from his position on Donald's head. Donald just laid there for a few seconds.
Sora, Reni, and Goofy stared at Donald. "You okay?" they asked in unison.
"Give me a few minutes…" Donald groaned.
Sora walked to the door while Reni and Goofy shrugged at each other. Upon reaching the door, Sora looked out a thin, rectangle shaped window near the top.
"Ugh, there are heartless everywhere!" Sora groaned, backing away from the door. "What should we do?"
Reni walked forward and looked out the window too, whining, "We have to get out of here!"
"Hey there! I don't think I've seen you guys around here before!" an unfamiliar voice called out cheerfully. "Looking for a way out?"
Donald sprung up in surprise yelling, "WHO'S THERE?!"
A freckled boy in green flew into view…no seriously…he flew.
"I'm the answer to your prayers!" The boy leaned over to Reni and touched her shoulder. "Especially yours…" He leaned back into an upright position. "I'm Peter Pan!" He leaned back to Reni and put an arm around her shoulders. "But you can call me Peter! That or 'Answer To My Prayers' works too."
Reni blinked a few times. "Uhh…okay…I think I'll just go with Peter…"
Peter grinned and flew behind her quickly to her other side. "Fine choice! 'Answer To My Prayers' would take to long to say in time of trouble, wouldn't it?"
"Um…yeah…it would…" Reni inched away a little.
"Ahem," Sora coughed, getting their attention. "are you stuck in here too?"
Peter looked at Sora like he was a moron. "No…only dumb people let themselves get caught." He quickly turned to Reni and took her hands in his. "Although, I get a sense you were brutally kidnapped…" Behind them, Sora snorted in laughter.
((A/N: Do you have ANY idea how much fun I'm having making Peter Pan flirt with Reni? I'm having so much fun, I'm falling offa my chair!! XDDDDDDDD))
"Well, ahem, sorry to interrupt again," Sora snickered. "but if you're not caught, then why are you down here?"
Peter let both his feet land on the floor, and put an arm around Reni's waist. Reni just stared ahead with a look of, 'you've got to be kidding me…'
"I'm waiting for someone, my fairy, Tinkerbell." Peter replied. He pointed at somewhere above Sora's head. "And here she is!" And sure enough, a girl fairy swooped in and began whispering in Peter's ear. "Oh, you found Wendy? Good job, Tink!" Tinkerbell kept whispering. "Wait, there was another girl there too?"
Sora gasped. "That must be Kairi!"
Peter arched an eyebrow at Sora. "Well I ain't savin—"
"Kairi's my friend too," Reni said bluntly.
"We'll have to save this Kairi!" Peter said heroically. "Now, to get out of here…" Tinkerbell flew right in front of his face and began pointing up. Everyone looked up. There was a skylight that could easily be opened or broken. "Okay, that'll work!"
"Hey, we can't get up there!" Sora protested. "We can't fly!"
Peter once again looked at Sora like he was a moron. "Anyone can fly." He grabbed Tinkerbell by the wings and shook her around so sparkly gold dust fell on everyone in the room. "Fly." He ordered.
Donald was the first to try. He leapt up high in the air and flapped his arms (wings?) rapidly. It seemed to work for a second, but he went plummeting to the ground. "GAAAH!!"
Peter rolled his eyes. "Fine." He tossed them a rope and tied one end to the skylight's windowpane. "Here, use this." He picked Reni up bridal style (in which she rolled her eyes) and flew up and out of the room with Tinkerbell leading.
"…how come she gets to have a ride?"
- - -
About an hour later, Tinkerbell began flying around a spot on the ceiling where there was a chain link fence instead of wood. Peter flew up to check it out (amazingly leaving Reni on the floor). "Hey! I found them!" Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Reni ran forward to look up too.
"Peter!" a young curly haired girl in a blue nightdress exclaimed once she saw him. "You came to rescue me!"
"I'll be right up there!" Peter assured her. Sora could only guess the girl was Wendy.
"Kairi!" Sora heard Reni exclaim. He looked at Reni, and saw she was pointing at an angle across from Wendy. He followed it and saw Kairi.
"Kairi?" Sora quickly jumped up on a crate to get closer. "It's me! Can you hear me?!" Kairi didn't respond. She just looked at him with that same empty look as before. "Kairi!!"
"Peter hurry, the pirates are coming!" Wendy pleaded in the background. The plea was followed by a big bang of a door slamming open.
"Okay ladies," a pirate announced. "Captain Hook wants to see you in his cabin." Sora watched as some pirate heartless picked up Wendy, and switched over to see the same being done to Kairi.
"Oh no you don't!" Peter yelled, and flew up at such a speed that it broke the fencing, and he attacked the pirates carrying Wendy. Sora didn't wait to see if they dropped her or not. He leapt up and began to climb a giant pole going through the middle of the fencing.
By the time he broke through the fencing and was pulling himself up into the room, Kairi and the pirates were gone. "Kairi!!" Sora yelled desperately. He yanked the rest of his body through and ran to the open door. He poked his head out and saw nothing.
"Sora," Peter called from behind him. Sora turned around to see Peter carrying a knocked-out Wendy. "This is as far as I can go—I've gotta help Wendy." He leaned over to Reni who had just arrived, and said, "Sorry, but she needs my help. I'll see you soon!" And he flew through an open window.
"Oh, take your time…take your own sweet time…" Reni said with a relieved smile.
"Come on!" Donald interrupted. "If we run quickly we can still catch up!" Everyone nodded and ran out the door.
After a few hallways and stairs, they finally caught a glimpse of two heartless carrying the sleeping Kairi up a flight of stairs.
"Kairi!!" Sora yelled as some extra heartless began to attack.
"I'll go ahead!" Reni yelled as she jumped over them all. Only one pirate heartless followed her as she dashed up the stairs.
"Outta my way!" Sora shouted as he attacked and killed some heartless. After a few seconds that felt like hours, there were enough heartless for Sora to run through and ignore without getting hurt. He like Reni dashed up the stairs while Donald and Goofy finished the heartless off.
Sora rose into the captain's cabin the instant Reni skidded and rolled across the room. He glanced at her, and then looked up where Riku was picking up Kairi. Wisps of black began to surround them.
"RIKU!!!" Sora yelled and ran forward. Riku merely stared at Sora as the darkness began to envelope him and Kairi. "WAIT!!" Sora pleaded, but the shadow that Riku had created of Sora on the deck of the ship stood in the way, giving Riku enough time to escape.
Sora sliced at the creature, and it dissipated easily. He ran through the door in front of him out to the deck.
It was empty.
"Riku…" Sora dropped to his knees. "…why do you keep disappearing like that?"
Donald and Goofy finally caught up and stood next to Sora. Goofy, in an attempt to be comforting, put his hand on Sora's shoulder. Sora smacked it away and stood, glaring at the ground angrily.
"Quite rude of that brat, Riku…" Captain Hook suddenly appeared grinning in front of them. "Leaving with that girl without saying goodbye."
"Run off where?" Sora asked sharply. "Tell me where he went!"
Hook smiled even wider. "To the ruins of Hollow Bastion where Maleficent resides. But you won't be getting there any time soon." Suddenly the deck of the ship was full of pirate heartless. Sora readied himself for attack. Hook arched an eyebrow with his smile and reached behind his back. "Pretty brave of you to face your enemy like that…but does that mean you don't care what happens to your little pixie friend?" He took a little cage out from behind his back that held Tinkerbell.
"Tinkerbell!" Sora yelled in shock.
"Yes! We caught her while Pan was saving Wendy, and while you were chasing the other girl!"
"You coward!" Donald yelled.
"Call me what you will, but I am a pirate." Hook laughed. "Hand over the keyblade and I'll spare your lives unlike these heartless here."
"Are you crazy?!" Sora yelled. "There's no way you're getting this!"
Hook shrugged. "If you prefer, you can take a nice long walk off the plank into the freezing ocean instead." He grinned again. "So, which will it be?"
Suddenly, there was a loud ticking sound filling the silence, as if someone was holding their watch right next to your ear. Hook's eyes widened and he shrieked like a little girl. Once again, he panicked, ran, and bashed into the main mast. Some pirate heartless caught him as he fell and quickly took him inside the ship.
Mr. Smee sighed and turned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "Okay, Sora…time to walk the plank."
Some pirate heartless grabbed Sora roughly by the arms and pushed him onto the plank. "Hey!" Sora shouted as they began thrusting their swords at him to get him at the end of the plank.
"Fly, Sora!" a familiar voice yelled from below Sora. "Just believe, and you can do it!"
Sora looked down at the water below him and nearly jumped out of his clothes when he saw a huge crocodile grinning at him. The croc opened its jaws wide as if saying, "Jump in here!"
Sora took a deep breath and looked around. He paused and then yelled to Donald and Goofy, "Where's Reni?!"
"We saw her in the Captain's Cabin on the ground!" Goofy called back.
"We think she was knocked out or something!" Donald added.
Sora sighed. At least Reni wouldn't have to walk the plank. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
He jumped.
Donald and Goofy closed their eyes and waited for the splash, or for something to happen. Nothing. There was silence. They opened their eyes.
Sora was flying!
"I'm flying!" Sora laughed loudly. "Lookit! I'm FLYING!" He flew in a few little circles for fun.
"Yeah, yeah…we get it," Peter Pan said bluntly while flying up to Sora's level. "Wendy's fine, and Reni better be too!"
"She is!" Sora laughed. Then he cleared his throat. "Want to help me get rid of these suckers?"
"Why yes, that would be fun!" Peter replied politely (for once). The two Dive-bombed the heartless on deck.
"Come on guys!" Sora yelled to Donald and Goofy as he swooped by. "Fly!"
Goofy smiled, and looked like he was thinking for a minute. Slowly he rose into the air too, and began to fly around attacking heartless in the air.
Donald blinked a few times, leapt into the air, and fell down again. He stood and blinked. "But…I'm a DUCK!"
A door slammed open, and a disgruntled Hook came charging out. He froze when he saw Sora slice the last heartless to pieces.
"Wow…" Hook heard someone say to the right of him. He whipped around and saw Peter Pan floating near the edge of the ship looking around the deck. "You're kinda short on a crew there, Hook."
Hook's eye twitched. "BLAST YOU PETER PAN!" He yelled and charged. Peter smiled and took a side step out of the way. Hook couldn't stop in time, and went hurdling over the side of the ship.
"THIS IS NOT HAPPENIIIIING!" Hook shrieked like a little girl as he fell straight into the crocodile's mouth.
Peter nearly fell over laughing, but stopped suddenly.
"Where's Reni?"
- - -
"Ohhhhh…my heeeeeeeaad…" Reni groaned as she stumbled around in the Gummi Ship cockpit. "Where are we going now?"
"Hollow Bastion," Sora replied shortly. "That's where Riku, Maleficent, and most likely Neki will be."
Reni blinked a few times. "Can we go faster?"
"Do you want motion sickness?" Donald asked in return.
Reni thought for a moment and said, "Yes."
"We're not going faster," Donald stated sternly.
Reni stuck her tongue out and sat down. She looked at Sora.
"Hey, what's with the sad face?" She asked him, standing up and walking to him.
Sora leaned back. "Riku's keeping Kairi away from me…he's not acting like himself."
"Yeah, I noticed that when he sent me flying across the room," Reni mused, tapping her chin. "Just goes to show how much darkness sucks."
Sora shrugged. After a few moments he asked Donald, "Can we go faster?"
"No."
- - -
"Wow…so this is Hollow Bastion…" Donald breathed as the group stood in the area called "Rising Falls".
Sora stared around the area, and suddenly said, "I know this place!" Everyone stared at him. "I wonder why…" He thought out loud. "I feel this warmth inside," He pointed to his heart. "Right here."
"Aw you're just hungry," Donald rolled his eyes and Reni snorted in laughter.
"Hey, I'm serious!" Sora whined, but there was some loud shouting that interrupted him from going on.
"Hey! Up there!" Reni yelled, pointing up at an area that was only accessible by jumping and climbing up floating rocks. There were two figures over there, a massive one, and a skinny one.
"Let's check it out," Sora suggested, and when no one objected, he jumped up onto the first floating rock.
A few minutes later and they were where the two figures where currently fighting. One of them was none other than…
"Riku!" Sora yelled as the said boy charged at a giant hairy beast. "Stop!!" Too late, the beast fell, and Riku turned to stare at Sora smugly.
"About time, Sora." Riku greeted lazily.
"Where's Kairi?!" Sora demanded, glaring daggers at Riku.
"Actually, I'm not quite sure," Riku mused aloud. He smiled at Sora, "But here, I got something for you…" He threw a wooden sword at Sora's feet.
Sora stared at if for a second. "What's this?"
Reni arched an eyebrow, "A wooden sword."
"Your new sword." Riku corrected while holding out his hand.
The Keyblade suddenly began to tug itself from Sora's grip, and he grabbed on with both hands. "GAH! What are you doing?!" The Keyblade disappeared from Sora's hands, and appeared in Riku's. Sora fell backwards onto his bottom, and Reni ran forward.
"Riku!" Reni yelled angrily. "What are you doing?! Give Sora back the keyblade!"
"The Keyblade chooses its master," Riku drawled. "And it chose me."
"But…that's impossible!" Sora gasped from his spot on the ground. He stood quickly. "I'm the guy who fought all the way to get here with the keyblade!"
"Sorry, your part's over now," Riku announced. "You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. You were just the delivery boy." He turned around and began to walk away.
"…let's go Goofy," Donald said sadly as he began to follow Riku.
"What? Wait, where are you going?!" Reni cried out.
"We have to remember our mission," Goofy said softly, looking at Reni with a sad look.
"The King told us to follow the Key and…" Donald began motioning towards Riku. "…we're sorry…" The two turned around and began to follow Riku.
Sora fell to his knees with a pathetic thud, and stared wistfully at the ground. Reni turned and kneeled in front of him with a sympathetic look. "What now?" she asked.
Sora sighed deeply and said solemnly, "Just go home, I guess…"
Reni stared at him for a second, her face blank. "'Just go home'? Sora, we've gotten so far—we can't turn back now! Where would home even be anymore? It's been gone for months now—the only way to get back home is to finish what we came all this way for!"
Sora didn't respond, so Reni grabbed his shoulders and shook them. "Sora! Don't give up!"
"You only want to go on to fight Neki," Sora said softly, never raising his eyes to look Reni in the face. She kneeled there, shocked by his statement.
A minute of silence passed between them until Reni stood up.
"I came to fight the darkness," Reni corrected while looking down at Sora. She turned away and left in the direction Riku, Donald, and Goofy had headed in. Before leaving completely, she turned around and asked, "What'd you come to fight for?"
Sora looked up at her with surprise, but Reni wasn't there anymore. Feeling downright rotten, he reseated himself so he was hugging his knees and was resting his forehead on his arms.
I came to fight the darkness too, Sora thought desolately. But I can't do anything without the keyblade…I wanna go home… Recent words and phrases replayed in his head, as if reminding him of his sorrow.
"The Keyblade chooses its master, and it chose me."
"You don't have what it takes to save Kairi."
"You were just the delivery boy."
"We have to remember our mission."
"…we're sorry…"
"Sora! Don't give up!"
"What'd you come to fight for?"
Loud, thumping footsteps woke Sora from his misery, and he looked up at the giant hairy beast Riku had been fighting earlier. The monster limped slowly by, and collapsed a few feet in front of Sora.
"Hey, don't move!" Sora ordered while pulling himself forward to the fallen creature. "You're hurt!" He put a hand on the creature's shoulder.
The monster glanced at Sora, breathing deeply. "I came to fight for Belle." It said with its deep, rumbling voice.
Sora was taken aback at the statement. The monster continued with a slight glare. "And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her." It stood and so did Sora.
Sora stared at the giant beast with awe while mulling things over quickly in his head. "………me too." The beast looked at Sora's determined face. "I'm not gonna give up now! I came here to find someone very important to me—and I will find them!" He picked up the wooden sword. "I'm Sora."
The monster stared at Sora for a few seconds, as if trying to figure out whether to trust the determined boy or not. Finally, he said, "I'm Beast."
Sora smiled while tossing the wooden sword back and forth between his hands. "Shall we go?"
- - -
"Wait! I said wait!" Donald yelled in annoyance while he and Goofy tried to keep up with a fast-paced Riku.
Riku merely looked over his shoulder and yelled, "I didn't ask you to follow me. You're the ones who need the keybearer." He kept walking.
Donald and Goofy stopped and stared at Riku with disgusted looks.
"Who does he think he is?!" Donald yelled with extreme anger—hopping on one foot, shaking fist, all that jazz.
Goofy tilted his head to one side, and looked slightly worried. "Hey, is he alright?"
Donald turned his head and stared at Goofy like he was crazy. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"He doesn't look too well…" Goofy answered, pointing at Riku. He and Donald began walking again so they wouldn't be left behind.
Donald rolled his eyes as they walked. "Who cares how he looks?! He's the biggest, fattest, big-headed, fat-headed—"
"Riku!" Donald and Goofy were jerked aside as Reni bulleted between and past them. Riku paused in his fast stride and turned to look at her.
"What do you want?" Riku folded his arms and put most of his weight on his right leg. "I thought you, for sure, would still be with Sora. Or are you, like them, keeping to your mission to follow the keybearer?"
Reni rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I just want to know where Neki is. I could care less about my mission right now."
Riku looked her in the eyes. "Follow me, and you're bound to find Neki."
Follow the darkness…
"Alright," Reni agreed with a deep nod. Donald and Goofy finally caught up.
…To find the lost light.
"Reni's traveling with us."
- - -
Beast smashed through another wall to allow entrance with Sora following shortly. "There! There's a door!" Sora shouted to his new companion as he ran to the door. Beast quickly changed his course to the door, and they both slammed it open while heartless began to fill the hall.
Upon entering the new area, Sora gasped—Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Reni all stood in the middle of the room, all looking at Sora with surprise. From behind, Sora heard Beast cry, "BELLE!" followed by a door slamming. He whirled around to see no one beside him, and a closed door.
"Quit while you can," Riku warned darkly. Sora whipped around and glared at Riku.
"Oh shut up, Riku!" Sora threatened, tightening his fists.
"Sorry if I interrupted your little adventure game," Riku ignored Sora's threat with a smirk.
"I'm not joking!" Sora's glare intensified. "I'll seriously beat your brains in!"
Riku's smirk fell, and was replaced with a dark look. "This isn't a playground. Get lost." Goofy and Donald were looking at Sora apologetically, and Reni was staring shamefully at her shoes.
A few seconds of silence pursued until Sora said, "No. Not without Kairi." Reni finally looked up at Sora with a mixed look between shame and awe.
Riku glared and outstretched his arm, his palm showing. "The darkness will destroy you."
Sora took a deep breath, and said calmly, "Riku, I'm here to save Kairi, and you can't stop me."
Riku tilted his head with sarcasm. With a light, airy voice he asked, "Really?" suddenly, a red and black bolt of light was shot at Sora…
…but deflected by a shield.
"Sora ain't gonna go nowhere!" Goofy shouted determinedly from behind his shield. Sora beamed brightly at his friend who had just saved him.
Angry, Riku's glare burned at Goofy. "You'd dare betray your king? You should be obeying me!"
"But I'm not gonna betray Sora either!" Goofy argued back with a goofy grin, his shield never lowered. "He's become one of my best buddies, after all." He waved at Donald and Reni. "See ya, Donald! See ya, Reni! Could you tell the King I'm really sorry? I'm going to stick with Sora. You do what you feel you have to do, guys. A-hyuck!"
"Wait!" Donald shouted angrily while shaking his feathery fist. "That's not fair!" He left Reni and ran over to them and said, "All for one, and one for all, remember?" Donald slapped his forehead, "Ugh, such idiots…"
Sora smiled even wider at them both, and then turned back to Riku, the smile dropping. "What you've got is not true power." Riku growled in return. "I know now I don't need the keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart." Riku took a step back, and Reni smiled slightly. "If my friends think of me now and then…if they don't forget me…" Sora continued with a growing smile. "…then our hearts will be one."
The keyblade disappeared with a bright light from Riku's grasp. "What?!" Riku shouted as it appeared in Sora's hands.
"My friends are my power!" Sora yelled at an angry Riku.
Riku glared intensely at Sora. "Your heart?! What good will that weak little thing do for you?! I'll destroy you!" The creaking sound of wood bending stopped Riku from going further. He turned his head to the left, and saw an arrow being aimed straight at his face.
"You wanna rephrase that?" Reni asked with a dangerous smile.
Riku took a few steps back, and glared at everyone in the room. Quickly, he made a dark portal behind him. With another look around the room, he ducked through it.
They stood in silence for a while. Reni eased up on her bow, and put the arrow away. She walked over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy with a big, impish grin.
"Think I scared 'im?"
- - -
A few hours later, Sora and the gang stood, gasping for breath as blazing flames around them dissipated.
Reni panted heavily, "A…a…a dragon?! Oh…my gosh…I don't get…paid enough…for…for this…"
"Ugh…you don't…get paid…at…at all…Reni." Sora panted, falling on his butt with an audible thud. "Oi, let's…catch our breath…"
"Fine by me…" Donald groaned, flopping onto the ground. "And we go through that tunnel, right?"
"Yeah…" Sora answered, his breathing rate gradually turning back to normal. "…Don't you think it was funny when Maleficent said, 'the true darkness'?"
Reni laughed out loud. "Oh yeah! I didn't know whether to laugh, or to attack half the time!"
"A-hyuck!" Goofy giggled with Reni. "Well, I think I'm good to go on. How about you guys?"
"I'm good," Reni answered, with a smile. "But before we go, we should stock back up on healing stuffs. We kinda used our quick stuff up while fighting True Darkness Lady." Sora laughed in agreement.
A few moments later, everyone was stocked up and ready to go. They left through the tunnel, and ran along a pathway filled with shadow heartless to which they paid no attention. They entered another huge door into another big room. The walls were paved with pods, which held beautiful girls, which one could only assume to be princesses.
Reni suddenly stopped, and grabbed Sora's shoulder. "Hey, look up there," she whispered while pointing up at a figure on a ledge accessible by stairs surrounding it. "Bet that's Riku."
Sora saw the figure and took a deep, calming breath. "Okay, here goes…" The group began to advance forward, but when they got under a giant archway, there was a loud thwump from behind. They turned sharply to look, and saw a decked in black Neki staring blankly at them. Reni instantly growled.
"You guys go on ahead," Reni said darkly, pulling out an arrow. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all nodded, and ran up one set of stairs. Reni turned back to Neki. "Hello, darkness…"
Follow the darkness to find the lost light.
- - -
Rainy: X3333 I finished my chappie…
Light: X3333 I know….put it on so I can read it.
Rainy: Yes ma'am!
Next to write: Light of Heaven!
Read and review!
Bonus note: Did you guys know that this chapter is 20 pages long? ::dies::