"So basically you just did exactly what you were told not to." Midna sighed when Sora stumbled into the amber hues of the forest.

Sora tugged at his glove absently, "No, I didn't."

The Faron Woods felt cold without a sun, and shadows were suddenly a million times more threatening now that their sienna tint left contrasts that were ever shifting. Midna's ponytail hand relinquished its grip on Sora's hand, "Well, you did just do everything you were told not to. You ran right in without a moment's hesitation."

"Well I know I got kind of a time limit here so..." Sora folded his hands behind his head, "Not really. I know what I'm doing." He lowered them soon after, ignoring Midna's exasperated glare, "Now, this place prob'ly has a light spirit, so let's go heal it up!"

Midna fell into his hoodie, "Okay then, if you think it's that easy." Sora waggled his head to annoy her, then tromped off. It shouldn't've been too hard, right? Just had to find the spirit and heal them up-

He stopped when spikes impaled themselves in the ground. They were black with red lines, just like the beast he killed earlier, and the air wavered between them. He looked up, then jumped back as a trio of them fell into the arena. Sora cautiously backed up. One hand reached back, testing the area between spikes. He pulled his hand back quickly when he felt something solid accompanied by a shock. He drew his sword as the beasts ambled about, "Okay..." He twirled it, "Three at once shouldn't be too bad..."

He suddenly realized his hoodie was empty. Sora looked over to see Midna lazily hovering in the air, "Well? Get to it if it's so easy!"

Sora nodded, then charged at the monsters. He needed little coaching from Midna to find out how to kill one, then the other was defeated even easier. He was starting to get into the rythym of using a real sword, and adapting well to Hyrule's geography. He skirted around one discarded monster carcass (which was odd considering earlier foes had just poofed away) and made a move for the final one-

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Sora stumbled. His ears filled with the wailing noise to the point where he wondered if he was deaf. Something dribbled down his nose and out of the corner of his eyes while a too familiar metallic taste filled his mouth. He staggered, dripping his sword and shield, clutching his chest and gasping. His vision doubled, tripled, maybe even quadrupled. Whatever illness the twilight had given him was suddenly worse. Back tenfold and kicking more than ever. He was choking; his legs felt barely used, almost like they were floating on barrels in water. The ground swayed beneath him, drips of red on the ground seemed to smear and blur into streaks.

An extremely powerful hand- a twilight beast's hand, Sora realized with horror -had taken the opportunity to wrap itself around his neck. The ground was barely felt because his legs were dangling uselessly. Sora finally gained some control of what he was doing, he held up his hand and banged it pitifully against the monster's. He wasn't going to last long, he could tell that now. He then decided reluctantly to play dead, and blankly stared forward while letting his head loll around.

The thing let him go. Sora cautiously took a deep breath, glad to breathe again. He kept himself "dead" as the beast got right in his face. He felt what could be interpreted as breath, and wondered if it was the same scent of darkness Riku had told him about so much. When it backed up, Sora glanced around. The previously killed two were alive again. He felt the hilt of his sword next to one limp hand, but decided not to grab it yet. Something nudged his leg. Suddenly it was raised and then it fell back to the ground. Sora was straining everything to not move.

Sora suddenly felt whatever was dripping out of his nose dripping into his mouth, which he realized was blood. He couldn't stop himself from the involuntary reflex of coughing.

Shortly after the monsters realized their dead warrior wasn't dead at all, and Sora jumped to his feet, grabbed his sword, and fended off one of them. Once again he killed all but one. Once again he lost all sense of orientation and had his illness grow at the most hellish sound he had ever heard.

Sora almost fell over when Midna abruptly returned in his hoodie. Her hair grabbed his head and pulled him to his feet by it, "Stay sharp idiot!" Sora clumsily blocked another attack, colliding with the barrier behind him. Midna dragged him every which way to help him, but it seemed to hinder more than help since it left Sora getting dizzier and dizzier, leaving his fighting form to decay until the match was black lumbering things chasing a young man dragged by an impatient imp, "You should really take care of these guys!"

Sora made a wet coughing noise that sounded quite similar to some choice insults and curse words. Shortly after he made another swipe at the fiends and yelled, "Well I can't kill 'em if they KEEP COMING BACK!"

Midna dragged him off again. She then forced him down into one spot while setting up a barrier of crackling energy. Sora shuffled and swayed, still off kilter from the screams that made his disease roar out of its slumber, "What are you-"

"Just wait." Midna snapped, "Let them come." Sora tried backing away, but Midna stubbornly pushed against his head so that moving was slow, almost impossible. He shuffled while the beasts came in closer and closer- "NOW!"

Midna released him, and he lunged at all three monsters, killing each within milliseconds of each other. Sora was relieved to see all three of them vanish into darkness and ascend to make another odd portal. After a moment, Sora fell to his knees. His breaths heaved, and shortly after so did his stomach with a mixture of bile and blood.

Midna shook her head above him, "Tsk, that's so gross."

"I'M SICK. THIS STUFF MAKES ME SICK." Sora barked at her.

Midna flopped into his hoodie again, "Whatever you say, piggy." Sora yanked off his jacket, and while Midna began chewing him out for "getting rid of a good resting place", he quietly folded it up and placed it in one of his packs.

"Listen up, you half pint brat." Sora pointed at Midna and growled, "I am sick and tired- literally and figuratively. Sick of you behavior, sick of this twilight, and I'm not putting up with this anymore."

Midna turned from him and stuck out her tongue over her shoulder, "Fine, don't thank me for my help."

Sora grabbed her ponytail and yanked on it, "Thank you for your lack of consideration!" Midna shrieked, then slapped Sora with her ponytail. Sora made a move to slap her, but she phased through his hands. The squabble escalated then waned until Sora was once again curled up on the ground and vomiting. He sighed when he was done, and just curled up. He was tired. Lonely. Taking this journey was turning out to be a horrible decision.

"The spirit won't help itself." Midna said. She then yawned as she pointed out the odd cry that echoed throughout the trees, "That noise should be the spirit lamenting the loss of its light."

Sora fluttered his lips. She hit his weak spot. He sat up, but it was slow, stubborn, and clearly rebellious in the fact he was going to take his own sweet time. He was soon trudging towards the spring, intending to get himself cleaned up again. Sora stopped when he saw the fragments of light resting above the small waterfall feeding it.

"Come... to my aid... I... Am a spirit... Of light."

Sora walked forward into the water, and oddly as his shoes soaked he felt his pain easing away, "I'm assuming you're the light spirit of Faron?"

"... Yes." The light replied.

Sora nodded, "Okay, I'm Sora. At your service."

The spirit spent a good deal of time trying to find its words, apparently, as it took at least a minute for it to speak again, "Hero of a foreign land... Look... For my light... Retrieve the light stolen by the dark beasts... And keep it... In this vessel." Sora held out his hands to catch the small spark of light that floated to him. It flashed in his grasp and became what looked like a set of clear pearls or beads on a string.

"Do you have... A map?" The light spirit asked. Sora shook his head. The vessel in his hands flashed again, "Then use this... To find... The insects of darkness..."

"Is that a metaphor or somethin'?" Sora asked.

"The dark insects... They are the form taken by evil... Once it has latched onto... Our scattered light." The light spirit explained.

Sora waited for it to say more, but the light fell silent. Sora turned to the tunnel a short walk away, holding up the Vessel of Light. It wavered, as if a wind began blowing it down that way. Sora put it up, "Alright then."

He jogged over the way indicated, holding his sword at the ready. He skidded to a halt momentarily to deal with some kind of pitch black plant that sprung to life, but not before noticing sparks running along the ground. He tilted his head, "Is that normal- ack!"

Midna had pulled at his hair, "Do you think something like that is normal? Those are the insects! Go get it!"

Sora rubbed the back of his head, "Sheesh pardon me for being new to Hyrule..." He then ran after the sparks, and managed to catch up with one.

In fact, he accidentally ran through it, tripping on something in the meanwhile. When he looked back, there was nothing to trip on, "Uh, what- oh!" He scrambled up and caught a small sphere of light that reminded him of a heart, "Is this some of the light?"

"No, it's a piece of twilight." Midna quipped, "Of course it's light. It's a tear of light." She then remarked, "Whaddya know you squished it without even trying."

Sora only pulled out the vessel, and watched as it and the tear were drawn to each other like magnets. After a flash and the vessel warming in his hands, the tear was safely stored away in one of the beads. He smiled, "One down," he paused to count under his breath before happily announcing, "15 to go!"

He then noticed a second flash of sparks running ahead, and he ran after it, "Hey!" It ran under a gate, and Sora kicked it in frustration, "Dang it, locked." He held up the vessel again and turned around, "Any the other way?" It fluttered again. He nodded and backtracked, "Can't miss any."

"Do you like talking to yourself?" Midna asked. Sora felt his cheeks warm a little. He was so used to chatting away with Donald and Goofy, even if it meant stating the obvious at times, that it had become habit. It was a reassuring kind of tic. Go over what needed to be done, and hear some kind of confirmation or reply to know everyone was alright.

Sora went around the campfire in front of a rather downtrodden house, and found that the vessel was dangling and dancing in the air like crazy. He didn't see anything. He tied the vessel up on his necklace rather than completely putting it up, deciding he could still see where he was going for the insects without swapping it between hands and pocket, "That's weird... It says there's-"

"It's right in front of us!" Midna sighed, "Are you going blind, too?!"

The insect seemed to have heard them, because a set of sparks leapt at Sora's face. Sora yelled and held out his hand. Really with all that had been transpiring he really didn't want a sparky-little-bug-darkness-metaphor thing clawing his face off. He felt something brush up against his hand (it had a lot of legs, Sora realized with a shudder) and he threw it off to parts unknown.

"It's getting away, dummy!" Midna yelled, shoving Sora towards the sparks that madly danced around.

Sora shrugged, "I-I don't see anything besides sparks!"

Midna flew into his face, "It's as plain to see as me! The thing is bigger than your brain!"

Sora shook his head, "No, it's not!" He thought a moment, then asked, "Hey, do you got a blindfold?"

"What makes you think I have one of those lying around?" Midna flipped back into his hoodie, "You should just open your eyes and really pay attention."

Sora looked at the sparks again as he recalled something King Mickey had mentioned about Riku a long time ago, "That's the thing..." He found a tattered, but relatively thick piece of cloth on the shack and pulled it off, then tied it over his eyes, "Your eyes can lie."

To be honest, Riku made this technique seem so easy. He made a lot of things look easy, actually, but this had got to be the pinnacle of such a feat. Sora couldn't see anything, and he felt off balance without his sight. He actually never really got a straight answer from Riku how he was able to see everything without his eyes, but Sora figured if he was going to have a chance at finding the light without dying, he'd have to learn on his own as he went along.

Midna's voice seemed louder in Sora's ear, and he wasn't sure if that was heightened senses or her being annoying, "Congrats you can see diddly squat."

He rolled his eyes from behind the blindfold, "Shh!" He carefully held out his hands, wondering how on earth he was going to find the bug. The answer came soon after when he heard an odd noise- clicking, humming, whatever it was it made his skin crawl and was certainly unique. He drew his sword and stabbed at the ground. He felt his foot being grazed, but he also heard a small ping and a cry.

Midna sounded impressed, "Woah, how'd ya do that? I thought you weren't that smart."

Sora lifted the blindfold and smiled at the tear, "A friend showed me once." He held out his hand and brought the tear to the vessel, "Two down, 14 to go."

Sora absently looked at his shoe and realized it had been silced through, and pulling the shoe aside revealed a cut on his foot. He bent down to take care of both, "Oh darn. Gonna have to get better at this..." While he crouched, he pulled out a needle for patching up clothes, and hardly paused when the vessel still floated towards the shack. He tapped his shoe when it was all sewed up, and used a potion for his injuries.

He walked over to the shack and put his blindfold back on, "Hmmm..." He lifted it back up to enter it, "Guess we might have to do some extermination." The shack was just as ramshackle on the inside as out. It didn't really surprise Sora, though.

He merely put his blindfold back on, and listened. He heard whimpering about bugs, and it took a little longer to hear their skittering. He drew his sword and slowly edged around. He felt something on his legs and swung blindly at it. He sliced himself open, but a small explosion and a tear of light appearing signaled another insect defeated. He made a stab somewhere else and killed the other while collapsing.

Sora removed the blindfold, grabbing at his leg and groaning. He removed his hand after a moment and began bandaging it up, "I gotta be more careful..." He stood on it uncertainly. It hurt, but he'd gone through worse. He held up the vessel and let the tears drift to it, and walked out the door.

Sora found himself at the locked gate again. He folded his arms in annoyance, "Okay... How am I gonna get this done..." He looked at his sword, then took an experimental swing. It cut through the wood, but it would take a lot of time to cut down the gate. Time he didn't have. He sheathed it and looked at his hand. He sighed; this was gonna hurt.

Sora held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade. He bit into his cheek to keep himself from screaming like a little girl to the point of tasting blood, and it took every ounce of his strength to keep the Keyblade in his hands as he sank to his knees. It took what felt like forever to get the tip aimed properly at the lock, and seconds of eternity to unlock it. He fell over the moment his dismissed the Kingdom Key, limp and breathing heavily. Yeah. That hurt. A lot.

"Hey! Don't let the bug get away!" Midna yelled at him.

Sora couldn't move. He was drained too much. He felt betrayed by the Keyblade from being so hurt and empty from using it. Midna yelled something again and Sora slammed out his hands. By sheer luck he managed to smush the bug. He managed to sit up and collect the tear, but it was at this point where he really needed to rest. He scooted over to the gate, leaned against it, and closed his eyes.

"WAKE UP!" Sora jolted awake from Midna's shrill alarm. She was glaring at him, "For someone who is so aware of his limited time in the twilight you sure are taking your time!"

Sora sighed and covered his face, "Uuughhh..." He stood, albeit a little shakily, and turned to the tunnel that was behind the gate. He paused a moment to force back a bout of nausea, but still had to spit up some of it onto the a nearby patch of grass. He drew his sword and dragged it along as he headed deeper into the twilight, "I hope I can be done with this soon..."

Okay I was hoping to bundle Faron's bout of twilight into one chapter but it looks like it'll have to be 1.5 or 2 because damn this is like 3k. Also I dunno about you guys but I think the twilight is out to kill our buddy here .3.