For starters, I have been listening to way too many songs by Coldplay, Train, and Queen lately, so this chapter will be… odd. Even for me. Coupled with a stress level of over 9000 and a personal life that is as fucked up as the OC was, you get… this.

Let me explain. Me and my girlfriend… we kind of broke up. Yet, things are not as bad as they might sound. Me and my friend agreed to start dating if things went south for both of us… which they basically are. This all happened over the past 24 hours, and my head is still spinning, so do not judge me,

This is very short, I know. But… there will be much more later on, once I get my life together. I swear. Its just such a confusing time for me…

I am probably going to repost the Captain Shade chapters as a separate story and add new ones to that from now on. Eventually, they will be connected, its just that the style is not consistent throughout Sanctuary and it has been bugging me.

I have gotten very little sleep for a couple of days prior to writing this chapter, mostly from me and my friends staying up till three in the morning playing Apples to Apples, which is the most fun game ever. Anyway, don't judge me.

So… here it is.

Chapter 18: Darkness Descending

It began with a gentle sound, a soft sound, a deadly sound. The gentle scraping of rock against rock, of sand against sand, of everything against everything. The crash of distant thunder that was not thunder could be heard in the distance. A single black cloud swooped across the sky like a hawk to blot out the sun, filling the air with a quality of inky blackness that was quite disturbing.

Kairi looked around, sensing that something was going horribly wrong from the expression of crap your pants fear that was appearing on the faces of some of the inhabitants of this world. Gabriel turned to her and mouthed one word. Just one word. Heartless.

Her mind became filled with fright. The only things she had ever fought before were her friends, her friends who would… lay down their lives for her. Well, that was a maybe with Riku and the sadists, but everybody else would not hesitate for a single breath. Especially Sora… the boy who just made her dreams come true, who just made her see the value in herself at a time when she was most vulnerable, most unsure, most delicate. He could have said no to her heartfelt attempt to admit her love, laughed in her face, and walked away. He could have said that he'd rather just be friends, which could quite possibly be worse than the alternative, as its denial mixed with acceptance, being able to be with him yet not be with him. There is nothing more torturous than seeing the person who stole your heart everyday, yet having to bury those feelings because you know he doesn't reciprocate them, that he probably never will, yet he still cares for you.

A silent scream filled the air with an ear piercing non sound that jarred the bones of her jaw like an electronic toothbrush gone haywire.

"Virgil! What the hell should we do!" screamed Chaucer over the loud silence, a worried expression making itself comfortable on his face as it was pretty sure it would be staying there for a while.

"… I have no idea. How the fuck did thehy even get here! Ok…Clair, you and your squad go and warm up the ships. Everybody else…. Well, you know how to fight?"Virgil asked, suddenly unsure.

"Sure… if you gave us some frickin training on these WEIRD AS HELL WEAPONS!" screamed Axel, frustrated as a sumo wrestler trying to tie his shoes.

"Crap…knew I forgot something. You're just going to have to learn as you go. This is only the first wave of the attack. They usually throw the weak guys at us first in order to get rid of them and tire us out before we get to the stuff that can actually kill us. You should be fine." Said Virgil, his voice not portraying confidence in a level that was satisfactory for Kairi, but by then it was too late. The first black dots of Heartless ships were appearing just above the horizon in the east against the backdrop of the sun. It was beautifully epic, like a flaming rose.

She began to feel nauseated, dread filling her stomach with a cold heat that burned with an icy sting. She had no idea how to fight. She had only sparred against Sora and Riku, and even then they had gone easy on her. She had no idea how she was going to fight now. She glanced beside her. There was Sora, holding his keyblade like a sword. He wore a grim expression on his face, yet looked ready to fight. He glanced at her and shot her a smile.

Suddenly, she didn't feel so bad. Empowered by the pure force of young teenage love, she hefted her key blade like a sword and prepared herself to fight. In the distance, the first wave of the descending darkness that was the Heartless landers landed and gave began to fill the area with thousands of what Kairi assumed to be Heartless.

She steadied herself, breathed in a deep breath, and exhaled. Then she took on a battle stance that she was in an old Japanese samurai movie and prepared to meet the storm.

Yah… this is short. I know. I am really sorry. Really. I will make it up to you guys. I swear. Please review this short chapter to find out what happens next. Oh, and i just finished one of my research papers and am considering posting it online. If I do, would you guys like to read it and get revenge for my inability to keep a schedule by tearing it to shreds?

Please review. And send caffeine. And sugar. My possibly new girlfriend loves caffeine. I call her my Sugar Demon… tee hee hee.