So sorry for the LONG wait! I haven't been able to get on, but the good side is, is that you get all the way up to chapter seven! I'm not done with Chapter Eight yet so You'll have to wait-Oh I am so mean! You'll find out why when you finish Chapter Seven!

Chapter Three: The Darkness in Sora

"I already know who I am, and I don't care what you have to ask me!" Sora yelled.

"Oh but I think you do care, that is, once you hear it. And you have no idea who you really are, that I am sure of."

Sora made a rasping noise in his throat before replying coldly, "Fine then, ask me what you may."

"Tell me Sora, have you ever wondered why you never failed in your battles, no matter how tough?"

"No,"

"Then let me give you an answer; you have a strong heart, but do you really know the limit until you too, let darkness into your heart?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Darkness, as you have heard, is in every heart, but sometimes, one might wonder about you. You are the wielder of the Keyblade, the one with a pure heart, the heart of someone without darkness. But, I know for certain, your time will come."

"What do you mean my 'time will come'?"

The man removed his hood and looked at Sora with icy blue eyes, "You will understand. For now, I can not say. But there is one thing, if you do not destroy the darkness one last time, it will devour you and everything with the Keyblade gone."

"If you can not say, won't you at least tell me who you are?" Sora asked, his grip on the Keyblade tightening.

"Scalvatrx,"

"OK, but now I want to go home!"

"I can not take you there."

Sora gripped his Keyblade and growled, "Then we will fight, if I win, you take me home, if I loose, I stay here."

Scalvatrx drew out his sword and pointed in at Sora's chest. "Sora, there is no possible way to get you home without you completing this quest." With that said, Scalvatrx sheathed his sword and walked away into a portal of darkness.

Sora dropped to his knees, feeling helpless as the other man vanished into the trees. He had lost his friends again and now he had lost himself, from the way it seemed. It was apparent he did not know who he was, but Sora did know. He was the wielder of the Keyblade, he was Sora, right? And now Scalvatrx was telling him that he too had darkness in his heart, because there was darkness in every heart.

Sora stood up, calming himself; he slipped into the forest, the Keyblade vanishing from his hand. As he picked his way through the forest, he sensed another presence was somewhere nearby. Spinning around, he saw a black shape move through the trees. "Salvatrix…?" he questioned himself quietly.

"What did you just call me?" came a rough voice.

Sora stared at the person who was standing in front of him. He had really long red hair, cold eyes and wore a black robe with gloved hands. A sword was at his side, held by a piece of black cloth. There was also a long, silver chain wrapped around his waist. "Who are you?" Sora asked, very suspicious.

"I think you already know, and now it's your turn to die." The cloaked man drew his sword and tightened his hands around it.

"But I don't want to fight, I just want to know who you are, and why die?" Sora asked and explained at the same time. His Keyblade appeared in his hand as a way of defense.

"Ah the Keyblade, I figured you were going to use it."

"Why do you think you know me?" Sora yelled at him.

"Why, Sora, I would have expected you to remember your dear friend Axel." Axel grinned at Sora's surprise as his sword vanished. Instead, his spinning bladed disks replaced it.

"Axel! How did you get here?" Sora gasped, but his grip did not change and his Keyblade was drawn up to fighting position.

"By the darkness of course." Axel said calmly, and then, with the flick of a wrist, threw one of his bladed-disks at Sora.

Sora met the disk with a whack to the side of it, throwing it off course, but the force of the blow knocked him back a bit. "I see your skills have dulled down a little." Axel commented before yelling, "Fire!" A blast of fire came from his disk as he threw it at Sora. The magic caught Sora's side and he leapt away from it, a pain in his side where the flame had burned him.

"Light!" he yelled, raising his Keyblade. A circle of light surrounded him for a few seconds before bursting out and hitting Axel, throwing him off a few feet. With Sora reappeared from the light, he looked different. Stars and red electricity surrounded him and his clothes had turned red. Axel threw his second disk, ripping Sora's shoulder, but Sora didn't even flinch, instead his retaliated and attacked back. Within seconds, he was upon Axel, hitting him with the sword in vain, trying to defeat his long-time enemy.

"Fire!" Sora was once again, forced to leap away, but in that few seconds, Axel drew up a portal of darkness. Looking at Sora, he said, "We will meet again, Sora."

Riku looked at the spot where Sora had just been seconds before. "Do you think he'll be OK?" Kairi asked him, worry sounding in her voice.

"There's only one way to find out." Riku told her. He held up his right hand and darkness began to swirl around it. In that one second, the Keyblade Riku wielded appeared, the Dark Keyblade.

"You still have that?" Kairi said with confusion.

Instead of answering, he made of portal of darkness and turned to look at Kairi with an extended hand, "Are you coming Kairi?"

Kairi excepted Riku's hand with a moment's pause. Stepping into the darkness, it enveloped them and when light came, they found themselves on an island with no sign of life at the first glance. But when Riku took a second glance, he saw a spot where someone had been walking. "He's this way." he told Kairi.

They went through the forest, following their friend's trail until they happened upon him. They were out of sight, but they could see Sora with someone else. Kairi was about to step out to Sora and reveal herself when Riku laid a hand on her shoulder, "Not yet, Kairi."

"Why, Sora, I would have expected you to remember your dear friend Axel." Riku watched as Axel smiled at Sora's surprise. Riku himself hadn't recognized Axel; he had changed a lot.

"Axel! How did you get here? You died the last time we met!"

"By the darkness of course. It revived me, but I wouldn't say the same about you."" They watched the battle; Riku forcing Kairi to stay put when the fire scorched Sora and his shoulder was cut.

When Axel had vanished, Riku let go of Kairi and both came out of the trees to look Sora over. When Riku came up to Sora, he saw that he was hurt and that the slash to the shoulder was bleeding. The scorch marks on his clothes had done virtually nothing except burn the skin slightly. "Are you alright Sora?" Riku asked, bending down so he could see Sora's face.

"Yeah, Axel didn't do much." Sora replied, glancing at Riku and turning his eyes to Kairi, "How did you guys get here anyway?"

"With my own Keyblade." Riku responded, knowing Sora didn't exactly like him using the Dark Keyblade.

"Oh…but why come after me?" Sora asked. "You'll be in danger."

"No more danger than we've been in before." Kairi said determined to convince Sora to let them stay.

"But I was supposed to come alone." he objected.

"Are you trying to push us away, Sora?" Riku asked, a teasing smile on his face. He knew very well that Sora wouldn't do it, he cared too much about his friends to push them away, even through danger. Riku willed the Dark Keyblade away and helped his friend to his feet. Before Sora answered, he healed himself and willed his own Keyblade away.

"No, I'm not. You know I wouldn't do that, but I don't want you in danger." Sora responded.

"Danger? Do you think we can't fight any better than you can, or even better?" Kairi laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora laughed back, and Riku laughed as well. Put in a cheerful mood, Sora let them stay.

Riku knew that he wouldn't pull anything on Sora like he had a long time ago, he was on the good side now, and was there to stay. He may wield a dark Keyblade, but that didn't stop him from choosing sides. "So, if Axel and the Heartless are back, where are they?"

Sora looked around, also noticing the Heartless's absence. "I really don't know. Now that think of it, I haven't seen a single Heartless or Nobody even though Axel was here."

"Well there is one Nobody, but it doesn't count." Riku piped up.

"Who's that?" Sora asked, turning to look at Riku questioningly.

"Roxas of course. He's your Nobody, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

"Well, if you're supposed to be killing Heartless again, then let's go find some and get rid of them." Kairi said, her own Keyblade appearing. Riku had given it to her.

Sora looked at Kairi's Keyblade, surprised that she also still had hers. It seemed like a distant memory when Sora and his friends were going to leave the island in search of another world, instead they were all taken by darkness. Sora had gone to Traverse Town and Riku into Maleficent's realm. Kiari, he wasn't sure where she had gone.