A/N: Here it is, just like I promised… a better chapter! Who could ask for more?? Who, I tell you: )
Never Again
It wasn't until Sora saw Kairi's unconscious body sprawled out on the floor that he understood just how powerful his darkness was. It flowed through his veins like blood, giving him life and supplying his muscles with energy and strength. The fire of hatred fueling in his eyes did not blur his vision of the sneering black grin that was fixated on him from across the room. Piercing yellow eyes targeted at unrelenting blue.
It wasn't until Riku saw the rage and mania burning in Sora's clouded eyes that he understood the amount of power Sora's shadow had over him. Funny… how one can easily sense a moment in time when life is about to dramatically change… As Riku watched Sora's crazed pupils follow the silhouette's every move, he realized that he could tangibly feel the surges of raw power emanating from Sora's body. It was a sensation that was not unfamiliar to him. The power of darkness…
Sora growled audibly as he glared at the smoky imprint of his own image, "Get away from her." His voice laced with hatred and rage, his icy words dripping with resentment as they hung in the silence that followed.
It was all Riku could do to keep the chills running down his spine from manifesting themselves on his pale skin. Sora's voice had changed. No longer was it squeaky with pubescent aging or unsure and wavering; as he spoke deliberately, his words deepened with authority and resounded with assertion. Riku associated his voice with that of power and rank.
Sora gripped his weapons at his side, his knuckles white with anticipation. His senses heightened to the point that he could feel the vibrations of Riku's heartbeat through the floor boards, he could hear the faint ragged breaths escaping Kairi's lips on the opposite side of the room, and he could smell the stench of the shadow's breath as it breathed in even slow exhalations. "I said, get away from her!"
Before Riku had a chance to react, Sora was on the opposite side of the room, digging his two keyblades into the shadow in rapid continuous blows. Unrelenting steel meeting smoky skin in merciless hits and successive combos. Each strike stronger than the last as they grew in accuracy and intensity. He's gotten stronger…
Sora easily dodged the shadow's long dark claws with a back flip, the cold black fingers narrowly missing the flesh of his abdomen. As he felt the solidness of the ground reconnect with his feet, he lunged back with the Oathkeeper, sending the figure several feet into the air. As the shadow crashed against the far wall, Sora turned to face Riku, his eyes still ablaze with rage, the inferno of hatred not yet extinguished.
Riku stared incredulously at the bloodlust craze still fueling in Sora's anguished face. Suddenly, he felt his heartbeat accelerate and fear flash in his aquamarine eyes. He's gotten a lot stronger…The fear soon dissipated as Sora stared back with something else hidden in his glazed over expression… concern.
"Riku!" Sora commanded as the shadow raced towards him on all fours, "Get Kairi out of here!"
Riku nodded assuredly, but before he could take a step, blackness engulfed him. Swarms of heartless crawled from the walls… the floorboards… the ceiling… pulling him down, sinking into the black claws of shadows… hundreds of yellow eyes the only break in the bleakness around him. He lashed out at the hoards of heartless, the Way to Dawn ripping through the sea of black swallowing him, only to have more repopulate from the smoky ashes of fallen shadows. He peered though the mass of enemies and could barely make out the pink outline of Kairi still collapsed several feet away from him. Sora was nowhere to been seen.
"Sora!" he yelled as his blade pierced through the heartless effortlessly, trekking through the waist-deep mass towards Kairi. "Sora! Where are you?!" Frustration began to set in as the nuisance of the shadows obstructed his view, he growled as he conjured a dark aura, repelling the heartless in all directions.
As Riku neared Kairi's lifeless body, the heartless became unrelenting, lashing out at him, desperately trying to deter him from her. He fought back against the magnitude of shadows, dispelling their numbers greater with each slice of his blade. He finally reached her side, and in one fluid motion he swooped her up over his shoulder, still blocking clumsy attacks from the surrounding heartless.
Sora finally managed to break from the mountain of shadows that had encased him. He swung both keyblades furiously, each hit colliding with black flesh and slaughtering it to smoke. His strength had easily doubled since his last encounter with shadows, and all it took was one strike with his mighty blades to send them to an ashy grave.
He heard the spell before he felt it… "Stop!" Encased in his own rigidity, Sora stood helplessly with the motionless heartless surrounding him, his eyes stared straight ahead in determination, his keyblades both stretching out skillfully in the act of vanquishing his foes. All he could do was breath slow even breaths and plan his next move.
Riku, too, stood static on the other side of the sea of heartless. In reality only several feet from Sora's still frozen form. Kairi still slung over his shoulder lifelessly, his grip on the back of her limp legs tight as he had been fighting his way to the door. His breaths came out in forced exhalations as he stood frozen in time, awaiting the next move of the spell-caster.
"Enough!" Riku cringed at the booming voice reverberating off his skull and deafening his ears. A voice, to his dismay, that sounded painfully like the one Sora had used earlier.
Sora stood, no emotion betraying him in his stationary eyes as his shadowed nemesis crept around the pillars of heartless, pushing some over in disdain leaving long vines of smoke as they crashed to the ground in pieces and disintegrated. "My my Sora… you've gotten stronger since our last midnight rendezvous… I'd say you've yielded to the darkness quite nicely."
Sora's inaudible hiss went unnoticed as a long smoky claw sliced along his neck, leaving no trace of injury as the blood in his veins temporarily ceased running. "Trying to save your little princess are we?" Suddenly the fingers resting on his shoulders snapped in his ear, sending the hoards of heartless to explode into a black fog that lay thick in room, shrouding Sora's vision of the dark figure still sing-songing in his head. "I expected her to be finished by now! But no matter… we can easily take care of that, can't we?" As the fog dissipated around him, Sora's eyes focused on the yellow stare only inches from his face, "Once she's out of the picture, there will be nothing hindering you from succumbing completely to darkness. My little hostile takeover the other night might have been a complete failure…" the shadow sneered at Kairi's frozen form, "But this time… that little bitch won't get the opportunity to use that confounded light spell."
The tingling sensation in Riku's fingertips foretold of inevitable return of mobility, but it was not enough to keep his tight grasp on Kairi as she was yanked from his statue-like hold. He winced internally as the shadow chuckled evilly while he drug Kairi's limp body over to Sora, "I see you brought another friend along… No matter, I can see he has already given in to darkness."
The warm blood trickling from Sora's neck went unseen as the shadow dumped Kairi at Sora's feet, "So… Sora…" He crossed his long smoky arms across his heartless chest and paced back and forth in front of the two, gesturing wildly. "Obviously my lackeys… those, infernal heartless… were of no use in capturing your little girlfriend. Yeah, sorry to ruin your little ice-cream date…" he smirked sarcastically.
Sora grit his teeth as he stood motionless, deciding his next move. What do I do? How do I get rid of him? Killing him only makes him stronger… or worse, makes me stronger… Suddenly, the images of Kairi and her light spell recaptured his thoughts. A twinkle reached Sora's eyes as he slowly moved his fingers to the edge of his pocket and felt the bulge of the light orb from the King. I know it probably won't permanently destroy it, but maybe it will at least dispel it for awhile…
The shadow continued its monologue, not noticing Sora's fingers creeping into his pocket and wrapping around its contents. "…but after tonight it will all be clear, my dear boy."
Riku watched helplessly as the dark shadowy figure grabbed Kairi under the arms and heaved her to her feet in front of Sora, its long black claws slicing superficially across Kairi's slender neck as it glared at Sora with merciless yellow eyes. As Riku fought against the hold of the spell, Sora broke free of his rigidity, pulling something from his pocket, the clatter of his keyblades crashing to the floor ringing throughout the room.
A white hot light flooded the room, its brilliance blinding any attempt from Riku to stare through it. He shut his eyes harshly as his muscles regained their function, and he collapsed against the floorboards. The shrill screams piercing his eardrums was evidence of the shadow's demise as the presence of sinister darkness disintegrated around him. With it, Riku could feel the darkness peeling from his own heart, falling in shreds through the floorboards as he kneeled in the light's warmth. The light was inviting and pure… Just like the Door to Light… he thought as the radiance receded to dim glow.
Sora peered through the haze the light had burned into his pupils as he searched for any sign of the shadow's retreat. Encouraged by the absence of the shadow he shoved the orb back in his pocket and stepped forward to Kairi's side, picking up her lithe frame in his arms. "Riku!" he called out as he hurriedly crossed the room to lay her on the sofa, "Get me a potion!" He gently cradled her head while he checked her pulse on her neck, warm sticky blood smearing across his fingers. Her pulse was weak and thready…
Riku snapped out of his trance and rushed to Sora's side, "I don't have any, Sora!" he frantically searched through his pockets eager to find any hint of content. "Use a spell!"
Sora nodded and summoned the Oathkeeper, holding it high over his head, "Heal!" An eerie green glow encased Kairi's lifeless body and soon dissolved into her ashen skin. Sora quickly kneeled at her side, checking her pulse again with his bloodstained hands. Palpable, but still weak… "Riku! My bag… get a potion out of my bag!"
"Right," Riku ran to retrieve Sora's bag, hastily pulling out its contents as he crossed the room. "Here!" he eagerly pulled out a small green bottle, "I think it's the last one…"
Sora nodded acknowledgment and carefully pulled Kairi into a sitting position. He sat down on the couch behind her and pulled her against his chest, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder. He gently pried open her lips and nodded to Riku to pour in the potion. The green liquid filled her mouth and Sora massaged her throat and jaw to get her to swallow it.
"Think that will be enough?" Sora asked as he checked her pulse a third time. Stronger…
"It will have to be, Sora…" Riku replied solemnly, holding the empty bottle upside down.
Sora inhaled deeply as he relaxed into the sofa, Kairi still cradled in his arms. "The shops open at 7… we can go get her some more potions then… I think she'll be okay until then." Sora could feel Kairi's shallow breaths deepen and he smiled as he softly kissed her forehead, "I'll never leave you again, Kai," he whispered in her ear. "I promise…"
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A/N: You have no idea how tempted I was to leave this one with a cliffhanger! Lol BUT! I was nice, so in return……REVIEW PLEASE!!! I need input! I crave it: )
BTW, "Fall Back" is still an awesome story! ; )