Hello everyone, Here is the third chapter.

This chapter is the swallowing up of Destiny islands by the darkness, and my is it a 'fun' one. Riku creaps me out in this chapter, so it worries me that I could write him so easily. It was worst before I rewrote it, but he's still a little creapy.

And just a note but your not meant to get what Kairi says in this chapter, you just have to let the meaning of her words come out in the story's course, sorry if that annoys you any.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix does.

Into darkness

Kairi looked out across the landscape. No one had noticed her where she sat in the branches of a tree. Well perhaps Sora had, but if that was so he hadn't made a move to show it, but his eyes had wandered in her direction more than a couple times. The day had passed by quietly and without trouble, and yet there was this deep feeling of foreboding in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't explain. Frowning, she slipped off the branch and climbed down to the ground. Whatever it was it wasn't good, that she could tell no matter how vague it was.

Dusting herself off, she headed in the direction of her home. Sitting around and pondering about it here wasn't going to do anything. The most she could do was wait it out and see what would happen. She hated how useless that made her feel.

At the very least, though she didn't know yet, the end of the day would yield all answers.

...:...

Sora rolled over on his bed. The day had been uneventful. He'd hanged with Tidus, Selphie and Wakka for the day, but it'd still bored him. He grumbled to himself and turned over again. He closed his eyes, hoping that maybe tomorrow would be better.

He woke a little later to the sound of a storm, and realised he must have fallen asleep. He looked out his window to look at the sky. It confused him that there could be a storm now, because the weather had been fine the last time he looked outside. But what met his eyes wasn't what he had been expecting. It was clearly no normal storm. It was a black swirling cloud of god knows what that hung above the island where everyone played.

Snapping to full alertness, Sora lurched forward and grasped the window sill. His eyes glued on the form of the bizarre black cloud. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. He knew that. So why was he drawn to go towards it? He hadn't any idea. Staring at the storm his defences fell and he soon realised that fighting against its pull was useless.

From down the hall his mother yelled dinner was ready, but he was already gone.

Down to the shore he went, never taking his eyes away from the great black mass above the island, without an idea of what he was doing in the first place. He found a boat by the pier and used it to get across the waters. He docked it by the pier on the smaller island and got out.

Staring into the sky, he finally saw the greatness of the storm up close. The swirling mass was massive and encased the entire island in a dark purple-black glow. Tearing his eyes away from it, Sora surveyed the land around him. The force of the storm had torn many things up, but much of it remained intact. It felt eerie; he'd played here with his friends for as long as he could remember so it should have felt familiar despite everything that was happening. But it didn't, it felt alien, utterly alien, as if he'd never stepped foot in this place or even seen it before.

Gulping, he took a step forward, hoping he could find something that'd help explain what was happening. It didn't take too long of course, till his eyes drifted over to the small island that stood off from the mainland, connected by a little wooden bridge.

"No way." He murmured, unable to believe it. What could he be doing here? But there was no denying it. As clear as day, he was there.

"Riku."

What in the world could he be doing here? Sora thought. Had he been drawn here like he had been, or was it something else entirely. No matter, the only way to get any answers was to go there and ask. It was getting a reply that was the problem.

To the island Sora went, halting as he reached the start of the wooden bridge in hesitation, before starting forward once more. Slowing as he approach Riku, he soon came to a stop. The older boy had his back turned to him, but all the same, Sora had a strong feeling that he knew someone was there. Specifically him.

"Riku?"

There was no response like he expected. What was the use of questioning a mute he asked himself knowing the futileness of it all, and yet there was a voice in his mind that told him to keep on.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, listening to the latter of the two thoughts.

Silence reigned for a time afterwards; and Sora had a mind to give up on the venture, until words passed through Riku's lips, the first words he'd heard him speak in nearly a decade.

"For the same reason you are here, I was drawn here, but for a different reason."

A good minute passed before Sora got a hold of his words again. That was the first sentence he'd heard Riku speak since he went mute, but there was something about it, though he couldn't say what. It wasn't the content exactly, but the way it was spoken. Sora had a feeling that this memory wouldn't come out a good one.

"What?" he questioned, it being all he could muster.

"This world is falling to darkness; I came to see it fall. I am here to be a spectator."

"What the?" That just didn't seemed to make sense, what was he talking about. He'd heard plenty of darkness mumbo-jumbo from some of the old women on the island, but he'd never taken it for anything more than that, just words from old women with nothing else to do. Perhaps he should rethink that.

"What do you mean, why is this happening?" Why did he have a feeling that Riku was smiling?

"Because my master wishes it so."

"Who?" could this get any more confusing?

"You don't need to know, if you're going to fall with this island nothing matters." Riku paused for a moment, as if he was listening to something, but he resumed talking before Sora could take in the meaning of his words. "That is, of course, if you're not willing to join him, he sees potential in you, he thinks you might one day serve him well."

This time Sora didn't voice his confusion, he just let it show on his features as Riku turned around and held out a hand in offering. Who was he talking about? Why was this happening to his island just because one person wanted it to? And why in the world would he join them if this was what they were doing to his island? Then he recalled what Riku had just said 'if you're going to fall with this island-'. But if he fell with this island wouldn't the others as well? He couldn't see why they'd be excluded.

"Riku, what's going to happen to all the others, if this island goes what will happen to them?"

Horrifically, Riku smiled "They'll disappear with it of course, you too if you don't take this offer."

Sora stomach sank. He'd been afraid of that. Scared of the fate he was facing, he panicked, and despite how every bone in his body screamed at him he shouldn't, he reached out for Riku's hand. As he did, shadows erupted from the ground around them. They wrapped around him and Riku and dragged them down. Scared out of his mind, completely ignorant of what was happening other than what Riku's cryptic words told him, Sora had no idea what to do. He never did manage to grasp Riku's hand before the shadows engulfed them.

For a while all was black. But then a light appeared and brought him fourth, and before he knew it he was back on the island. Riku was gone. He looked around for him but couldn't see him anywhere.

Noticing a weight in his hand he looked over at his right hand and saw that he now carried, for lack of a better word, a giant key. It had a golden handle and was silver down the length of it. There was also a strangely shaped pendent hanging off a silver chain attached to the handle.

Lifting it to his face and inspected it closely. He had wondered if tonight could get any weirder, well it just did. And if giant keys weren't enough, at a chill down his spine Sora twisted around, only to be faced with a small army of little black monsters.

He froze at the sight of them. There were so many, how could he possibly fight them all. They were popping up all over the island; everywhere he looked they were there. Nevertheless, the old voice of common sense was there at the back of his mind telling him he wouldn't get anywhere by standing there, fighting was his only choice. So gathering his courage about him, Sora lifted the giant key and moved forwards, using it as a sword against all the monsters.

They fell left and right and he soon had gotten to the end of the wooden bridge, but from there he didn't know where to head. He wasn't sure he could make it back to his boat with all these monster about, and he didn't see the use either. Riku had talked like it was this island's apocalypse. So where was the use in it all? He was about to give up, when a voice floated down on the wind and said: 'go to the secret place'

Beyond questioning where it came from, Sora tried to figure out what it was talking about, before he remembered the place down by the waterfall where he had played in with Riku, and for the first few months she had been here, Kairi as well. He hadn't stepped foot in that place in years, but he remembered now that he and Riku had nicknamed it 'The secret place'.

With that place in mind, he cut through the black monsters and made his way through to the little hidden cave in the nook of a giant tree. It was gruelling work, but he eventually forced his way through to the entryway of the secret place. Only, when he got there he noticed something he hadn't been expecting. In place of the small gap between the roots that served as entry, was a large ethereal door. It reminded him of one he'd seen in his dreams not a day back.

'The weirdness just keeps piling up doesn't it.' he though with a shake of his head. Oh well, what was he to do about that now but go along with it?

Pushing the door forward a small earthen tunnel was revealed. Sora was glad of the familiarity of it as he crouched down and walked one foot at a time through its confining length. Straightening out when he reached the end of it, Sora looked around the small rock cavern. It was diminutive in size and had many roots criss-crossing the walls. But its most noticeable features were the drawings that adorned its walls. They were childish drawings that had been scratched onto the walls with stones many years before by him and Riku back when they were friends. Kairi had added to them too. Back when she got along with them before everything went bad, and both her and Riku withdrew from everyone. He guessed tonight gave him some answers for their actions, because just like Riku had been here in the epicentre of the danger, so stood Kairi right in front of him.

She had her hand pressed against this strange looking wooden object at the end of the cavern that Sora had always presumed was a door of some kind, not that it had ever opened. Hearing him approach, Kairi lifted her head. She twisted the top half of her body just enough so that she could see him in her peripheral. She didn't seem surprised to see him, and quickly turned back around to stare at the door once more. Sora took a step closer, wondering what exactly it was she was doing here. He was about to ask her before she beat him to the punch and said,

"I was wrong."

Her words didn't explain anything to him. But what drew his attention to them was how her voice had been steeped in tears as she spoke. While they didn't make any sense to him, he knew that whatever she was talking about meant a great deal to her. So he asked,

"About what?"

Kairi clenched her hand into a fist and blew out a painful sigh and turned around. There were no tears in her eyes, but she looked close to them, "Everything." She breathed.

Sora remained confused, and was fighting the temptation to question her further on her words, but she continued talking.

"I failed Sora, I failed. The only thing I was useful for and I failed. The only thing I could protect and I failed. This place fell to that vile person long ago, I just never saw it. There's nothing I can do anymore, this is the fate of this world, but…I don't want this to happen. I don't want to watch this place disappear into the darkness. I may not have been born here but this is my home, it has been since I first came here, I don't want that person to take this away from me. They've already taken so much."

Contrary to his hopes, her words only served to confuse him further. He wondered how they may be connected to what Riku had told him. All this talk of the world falling, what did it mean exactly? He didn't know. Though one thing he noticed that made him worry, was how Riku had spoken about what was happening like it was a good thing, when even someone as ignorant as him could see it wasn't, and how Kairi looked in the face of it despaired.

He looked back up to Kairi again, "kai-"

"Sora." She beat him to it, her eyes more anguished then he had seen them yet. They drifted over to the giant key he had in his hand in passing, but she didn't make note of it. Instead when she looked up to his eyes again, there was a look in them, one totally different from only seconds before, encouraging even. "I think they've bit off more than they can chew this time," she paused, "I know so." She took a deep breath and finished, "let us both fail." She said. "We must both fail; they cannot be allowed to succeed."

"Kairi?" He guessed that tonight wouldn't be one of explaining after all, that he might as well give up for now and go along with it, not that it made her words any less incomprehensible.

Kairi's eyes drifted to side airily. "I can't stay here any longer, I must go." With her head tilted off to the right, her eyes snapped back to him, and she lifted her hand to him like Riku had. "Understand, like it is this world's fate to be engulfed in darkness, this is ours-come with me."

Sora was severely tempted to take her hand and accept her offer but hesitation stalled him. And before he could get past it and take hold of Kairi's hand, the wooden door behind her burst open and a dark force surged force and consumed the room. He lost track of Kairi in the confusion, but as the power of the force blew him back and covered his world in darkness, he heard her scream and saw a flash of light.

When he next came to, he was on a little spit of land made of sand and debris. As he took a look over the edge, it was with horror he realised that this was all that was left of the islands. What's more as he came to stand a monstrous roar sounded off behind him, he twisted around only to come face to face with a huge black monster that resembled a twisted version of the smaller ones that had harassed him earlier. He also remembered that it was the same monster from his dream yesterday. He quailed to realise that such a monster was real.

He also despaired when he looked around and the reality crashed down on him that he would have to fight it. He backed off to the edge of the clump of land and gulped. He brought up the giant key as the monster stained the air with another one of its cruel roars. There was no getting out of this he conceded so gathering all the courage he possessed, he lifted the key high and fought.

The monster slammed its colossal hands down on the ground in attempts to squash him but he dodged every time, if only barely. He took the chances afforded to him to attack when its hands were lodged in the sandy ground. In its pain it lunched small crystalline lasers up into the air, much to Sora surprise, but they were evaded as well for the most part. It even brought up from pools of darkness some of the small black creatures that had attacked him before. These when spawned along with the crystalline lazars made for trouble, as it became hard to dodge one when the other existed and by the end of his fight Sora was exhausted and hurting from more places then he cared to count. But he was rewarded as with one final stroke of his blade, the monster rent the sky with last a piercing scream and collapsed, the darkness taking it back for its own.

Out of breath, Sora fell to his knees by a plank of wood that stuck up out of the ground. He took in deep gulps of air trying to get his breathing back to normal. Resting a hand of the adjacent wooden plank he looked up into the sky. The storm was right about him. Staring at it curiously, wondering what on earth it really was he felt a sudden pull. And he was sucked upwards. He tried to halt his passage by grabbing onto the plank of wood but his grip faulted at it slipped.

And it all went black.

Hope you liked it and as always please leave a review.

Sayonara.