(Just a hint- there's a good deal of vastly important points hinted at in here- try to find them if you want!)

Something was torn from him, something he refused to give up. Something he'd promised himself that he would never lose again. He only just got to really feel it, damn it.

Heh, swearing? Even mentally? That wasn't like him. And that fact should have bothered him, so why didn't it?

What's happening to me? Why am I falling?

He shouldn't be falling. Where were they? In his little remaining sanity, he knew they were supposed to be there.

Where are my wings?

Everything was missing. Everything hurt. But that didn't make sense either. How could limbs he couldn't find feel pain?

Everything was being torn away from that cold hollow where his heart should be.
There wasn't anyone to help him this time. No one to bring him back. She wasn't here.

"Hmph. Why waste time on this anomaly?"

"Ursula. You are not here to question me. This one shows promise; a heartless with this much power not rampaging off immediately shows the heart that fell was exceptionally strong—perhaps even fought off darkness before. There is no reason to turn away from power that lands gift-wrapped on our doorstep."

"I like him, such a creature turned into what he's not!Again! The mental chaos it would throw him in! It's a masterpiece!"

"Silence! The two of you are here to find a way to bind him. You can almost taste the darkness he was steeped in for so long. Normal methods will not service alone. He's all but immune to the darkness by now."

The single male voice sighed. "But that's so boring! I want to savor how he reacts!"

He caught a glare and sighed. "Oh, fine. But I want a world to have some fun with soon! You made mine so boring and dark; even I can only have so much fun messin' with that old brood mare. She doesn't even have the energy to fight me with holding what's left together. Things have gotten so terribly dull at home."

A snap sounded.

Something changed. Something was pulling on him. Glowing eyes blinked into existence. Shadow was everywhere, choking him, pulling him.

He didn't have the strength to fight it.

Even if he did, he didn't think it would make a difference.

Black legs bunched and straightened, unbidden.

~Riku~

Riku was choking on shadow, but he didn't care. It pulled him down. His head was shutting down. Something burned in his chest—his heart?

For a moment he felt a warmth in his hand, reassuring, metallic. Outside the blackened prison, the air by Sora's palm flickered, unnoticed. But as the darkness swallowed the white haired teen, he lost that warmth. Any trace of it was just…gone…

Sora reached forward, blindly grasping at Riku's outstretched hand. He was seconds too late as darkness surrounded them both. Choking, cold, heavy, blinding…

Sora was terrified. Not so much for himself, but for the islands. For Riku, for Kairi, for his parents. For the islands themselves.

A spark lit his hand, and then another. Glimmering golden light showered him in warmth. It swirled into a long shaft—solidifying into something hard and metallic.

Silver and gold, it looked a bit like an over-glorified house key. A silver shaft, silver crown-shaped teeth and a gold hilt—or more of a handle—formed the weapon. If it could be called a weapon.

Keyblade…

Was that the wind? It sounded so far away, yet still like it was whispering straight into his ear.

Keyblade…

He didn't have the time to wonder about the voice for long. Around him, the shadows writhed. Struggling to break free from their imprisonment on the ground, the black masses sprang forth.

Fortunately for Sora, years of practice with a wooden sword had not come and gone in vain.

Duck under one creature, whip back the keyblade. Roll forward.

When years of practice turned to reflex and his head all but shut down, it was almost easy.

Jump to the side, horizontal slash, spin, diagonal slash, dodge left.

He couldn't keep his up.

He started running, heart leading him to the one place in the world he thought he might be safe.

Ducking, he scrambled into the tunnel leading to The Secret Place. He could feel the wind that had a habit of spurring up a moaning through the tunnel. But it was harsher now, cooling sweat-soaked skin and sending cold tingles down his spine.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

His eyes widened when he saw the limp Kairi in Cynder's protective grasp. Her eyes stared into nothing as her hands trembled on cold stone.

"Kairi!"

"Sora…" Her voice was so small and so tired, almost broken.

And then the wind thundered into a tempest and a door that was never meant to be open trembled on its hinges.

The door slid open with a shrill screech that jabbed into everyone's eardrums hard enough to make them sting.

And once more Cynder broke her promise, though not intentionally. Once more a girl she'd sworn somewhere in her heart of hearts to protect went flying from her firm grasp.

Flung towards Sora, she looked like she was being bleached of color. Crimson locks behind her became transparent as Sora reached for her.

And then, like wind, she rushed straight through him and was simply gone. Ghostlike limbs faded quickly and completely into nothing at all.

And then the wind took a ruthless hold on the other two bodies, and Sora and Cynder were thrown away. Weaker than leaves in a hurricane, they were helplessly carried along before slamming into sun-bleached sand.

It wasn't getting any sunlight now though. It was impossible to tell if it was day or night—the sky was writhing with black clouds that gobbled up the sun, the moon, and the stars. The darkness even had eyes set upon the sandy earth, ravaging the edges of reality. The rim of the island was fading into night. The sand fell into the dark tempest, only to vanish, consumed by greedy shadow.

As Cynder and Sora stumbled to tired feet, a great twilight orb flickered into being. Great arms stretched from it, darkening as a feral growl split the hell-hot air.

The creature was massive. Vaguely humanoid, it looked like what any of the strange shadows futilely wanted to be when they grew up. Taller than the islands themselves, its eye alone was the size of Cynder's outstretched palm. Tendrils as thick as their forearms rippled around the great face, a dark mockery of hair.

"Great," Cynder grumbled, ignoring Sora's terrified shaking. "Not a freaking day's peace."

Praying to the ancestors, Cynder raised her hand.

A single spark of darkness curled around thin fingers, and then another. Stretching out, shadow took form into the key from her dream.

"Good to know I'm not quite that insane," Cynder announced as Sora stared, looking quickly between his own keyblade and hers.

"Do you know what's happening?" His voice was almost a plea for something to make sense in the fragmenting world.

Cyn shrugged, a slight grin bearing sharpened canines. "Not a freaking clue."

But at least I know how to handle this.

She was used to weird, it was her life. It's a bit sad... Only in my life does this feel normal. Only mine…

"Stay back." She sure as hell wasn't letting him get hurt if she could help it.

Taking a moment to gather her bearings, she sprang forward with what could only be a screech of defiance.

…

The first thing she felt was vertigo. It was like her body had been jerked a few thousand meters and left her stomach behind. A whimper escaped a small muzzle, and the creature forced her eyes open.

The world around her was a mosaic of jumbled, blurring color. A purple and pink blob rested a foot from her still form, and with a squeak of shock she jerked to her feet only to fall again.

What she certainly didn't expect was for the unknown blob to mirror the motion. With a flip. It reached two limbs up, grabbed the blob that seemed to be its head and threw it jauntily over its own shoulder.

It seemed to catch the head in its tail before plopping it down on one upraised back foot.

"What are you?" Her squeak was high-pitched and terrified.

"Really dear, most under the brillig' sky know who I am. Now, what troubles me is what or who are you? Don't you know?"

"I'm Myst."

The creature pivoted, shoving a back leg, plus head, into her face. "Now, now, I could just be mad—we all know that, now don't we?—but you look quite solid to me, not all a-wispy."

"No, not mist, Myst. It's spelled a bit different, at least in dragontongue," she explained tiredly, not sure what else to do. "It's just my name."

"A name, a swathe of fog on Wonderland, is there really such a difference?" The creature vanished, and Myst whipped around when she could smell it behind her.

"Okay, anyway, can you tell me where I am?"

"Anywhere, nowhere, everywhere. How am I to know? I'm sure you already do. If you don't, who's to say it'd make a difference to me?"

"Can you talk normal? You're giving me a headache," the little dragon said honestly.

"I may or may not. Who's to say what is normal? Am I normal? To myself, quite so—to you, perhaps not. After all, what is strange is dependent on the eyes that rest upon it."

"Please, I'm lost and I need to find my friends..."

"Friend or foe—can you tell the difference? I certainly can't. Few can be defined by eyes that only see the surface."

"Leave that to me, can you just point me to the Silver River at least? Do you know where that is?"

"If I already said I don't know where or what this place is, how am I to tell you as much? Or where the path leads that goes where you wish it? Here, there, or back again. It's all the same to me."

"Could you point me to someone who can help?"

"There is one like you, but not in skin. Maybe this can help or hurt? I wouldn't know myself, but perhaps the one in blue does. But then again perhaps she doesn't. But watch the shadows, they may not be wise but they can be clever."

With a jaunty wave, the thing vanished, leaving a smear of white for a moment where its smile once was.