Sora ran out of the cavern, and stopped to bend over and catch his breath. He looked back, "Jeez what is up with those rodents?!"

"They're small beans compared to other monsters, you know." Midna said. She giggled a little as Sora shook his head and continued muttering in disbelief.

He then seemed to realize he was in a bigger expansion of Faron Woods, cloaked in a bright fuchsia fog. He was about to comment on the oddity, but then again really it could have just been normal fog under the influence of twilight. Still... Fuchsia was an odd color choice. Not quite natural, even if this was because of grayish blue lit with orange light. He walked up to it, but paused. He could smell something sweet. Almost sickeningly so. And yet it reminded him of home... The flowers on the breeze... The taste of Paopu...

"You gonna get a move on?" Midna said.

Sora held up his Vessel of Light and saw it drift to the side, specifically the left. He put on his blindfold and walked until he heard the hums of insects. The way it reverberated signaled two were sitting there. He drew his sword and swung. There was a clang of rock, but the humming was still there. He tilted his head around, then swore, "They can FLY?!"

"These ones, I guess." Midna shrugged, "Shouldn't be too har-"

Sora was smacked by one of the bugs, hard enough to throw him off balance and into the wall like rock the bugs had been resting on. Sora whirled around and swung blindly, yelling about stupid bugs and other complaints. It took a good several minutes to kill them both. Sora undid the blindfold again, sheathed his sword, and collected the light, "I swear if I have to face any more flying ones..." He huffed.

Sora looked at the vessel, and it began drifting into the heart of the fog. He once again went to the very edge. Enough to cover his shoes, actually. That smell was awfully enticing...

"It's just fog." Midna pushed him along, "Nothing too bad."

Sora tugged at his glove, "I dunno... It seems a little more than that." He shook his head, "Nah, you're probably right. I don't think this would be that bad." He waded in.

The smell went from noticeable to extremely pungent and unavoidable. The air seemed to thicken. Sora didn't notice, because very quickly- almost instantly -his mind started going into a stupor. It smelled so much like home... So sweet and warm... He could hear Kairi calling him over for a Paopu to share... Riku was hugging him so tight and close...

Sora giggled dazedly, "Ri..." He coughed a little, "that's... too tight..." He failed to notice that the air was getting harder and harder to breathe with every breath, that his footsteps were becoming sluggish and clinging to the ground. Something dribbled from his nose. He wiped at his nose, looked at the blood on his hand, then smiled listlessly, giggling and muttering again as his drugged dream continued on uninterrupted. He opened his mouth a little wider to suck in more air, but he stumbled and slowly sank to his knees while inhaling more of the fog.

Midna floated above him, "Kiddo?"

Sora laughed, his words slurred, "I'm not a... kiddo Kairi..." His eyes drooped. His smile was hollow, almost like there was a degree of horror underneath it. He made a sucking, choking noise, but still remained unnervingly serene and torpid as he continued suffocating in the fog. He fell over, laying down on the ground with his smile twitching. The air was so thick, so sweet, so warm. It was a big, thick blanket and it was enticing him to sleep. Yes... Sleep would work great... He felt Kairi wrapping him up and whispering, "Sleep. You need your rest." He felt the warmth get closer, smothering him, "Me and Riku will be right here. By your side while you sleep."

He tried whispering, but it came out even softer, and was forced and full of coughing strain, "Riku... Kairi... Yeah..."

As he fell unconscious, it hardly bothered him that the hallucination added sinisterly, "Forever."

...

Sora's next conscious thought was that he was suddenly drowning. He shot up sputtering and coughing and wiping at his wet face as he realized that what was actually happening was that Midna had splashed his face with water. Midna shook out her wet ponytail hand, "Jeez, don't be so stupid! If somethin' fishy is going on get outta there!"

Sora stopped coughing and took deep breaths. It had never, EVER, felt so good to breathe again. He looked around, seeing he was now out of the fog, "Wha...?" He looked at Midna, "What happened?"

"You tell me!" She snapped, "One second you're trudging through that fog like nobody's business and the next you've got a creepy smile on your face, you're giggling madly about some people named Kairi and Riku, and then you just fall flat on your face and almost choke to death!"

Sora stared at the fog. "How long was I out?" He asked.

Midna, ever helpful, shrugged, "I dunno, a few minutes to realize I needed to get you outta there, then another couple moving you here and trying to shake you awake, and then as long as it took me to get water from the spring."

Sora figured maybe that would be a half hour. Maybe three quarters of one. He stood, but fell to his knees and threw up. Sora wiped at his mouth, "Kingdom Hearts is everything out here to make me WORSE?"

"Kingdom Hearts? What's that?" Midna asked, turning her nose up at the acrid smell of vomit.

Sora stood- for real this time -and shook his head, "Never mind." He walked to the edge of the fog again, but the smell- with a new connotation -had gone from enticing to repulsive. He backed up, "How are we gonna get past this?" Midna only shrugged, until Sora walked out to a outcropping above the fog. He looked at a branch, followed by stones, and all were above the fog, "Midna?"

Midna flew over to it and held out her hand, "We can probably get across here." She helped Sora jump across. One, two, three, touch down. Sora walked up to a higher vantage point when he touched down on solid ground, and found another place to jump. The vessel blew towards a hollowed tree across the fog, but there were bats in the way. Midna waved him over again, "Come on, if you move fast enough and time it right they shouldn't be a problem."

Sora took a few steps back, then jumped. One, two, done.

The vessel clicked as it floated towards the empty space among what was once upon a time a tree's trunk. Sora put on his blindfold and readied his sword again. There were multiple hums, but how many, Sora didn't exactly know. He figured it was two again. He smashed one bug on the ground and stabbed at another, two soft pings signaling the light being freed. But there was still humming. He looked around, "Wh-"

He was smacked to the ground by a flying, angry hum. Sora sat up and swung blindly, "Gosh darn it! I said no more flying ones!"

"No," Midna flippantly added her own comment, "you just said you'd do something."

Sora cleaved the bug in two. He undid the blindfold and quickly collected the light. He counted the number of tears left to collect. "So I have one, two... Okay four left."

He walked on, and then found another spot to leap across the fog. Midna lead him higher into the treetops, and he whistled by some kind of creature. He paused to catch his breath and look down, "What was that?" A plant angrily hissed at him. And then some more hissed at him from behind. He turned around, seeing Midna hovering in a safe spot and waving him over with a grin that clearly said she'd enjoy this. Sora sighed, "Oh come on..."

Midna waved at him, "Well? You can't get back down without me!" Sora backed up, then leapt after Midna, getting scratched up by monsters along the way. Thankfully he landed on the ground in one piece. He bent over to catch his breath, then ended up sitting down. Midna sighed above him, "You are such a lazy child."

Sora glared at her, "I'll have you know you wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me." After a moment he realized that Midna really didn't know that if it wasn't for his efforts the the worlds- including hers -would have sunk into darkness.

Midna scooped him to his feet, "Sure, sure." Sora brushed her off. He then noticed small dust clouds moving along the ground. Experimentally, he stabbed his sword at one. Sparks flew up, and Sora quickly realized the bugs could burrow too.

"These things just won't take dying easy, will they?" Sora sighed and put his blindfold back on. He moved around to try and catch the bug, but it had burrowed under again. He began pacing slowly, trying to find at least one of the pair.

"You're gonna have to dig some more." Midna said, "I don't think you can just listen for them."

Sora fluttered his lips and undid the blindfold, "Fine, if they wanna do it that way." He then madly stabbed at the ground and stomped his feet. This went on for several exerting minutes, and Sora didn't even hesitate when blood began flowing from his mouth again. He coughed and held out his vessel as he collected the tears of light, "We really gotta get a move on..."

He looked at his hand when he was done, and found himself staring at it for a good minute after. It was turning a bruised, blackish color that was deepest at his now slightly longer and pointed fingertips. The taint to his veins went all the way up his arm now. He looked at Midna, "Uh... Is that..." He shook his head and ran for the open gate to the the tunnel that lead to the next segment of the woods, "Never mind that's definitely not good!"

...

Sora halted. There were shadow beasts waiting for him on the other side of the tunnel. He backed up a bit, "Okay, no, we're not playing that game again..."

"Well I can help you like I did last time." Midna sighed, "Or did you forget?"

Sora shook his head, "No, no I don't want to fight those things agai-"

"They'll only scream if you aren't careful." Midna pushed him into the fray, "Now buckle down and focus."

Sora's first thought was to summon his Keyblade, but he was lucky enough to catch the impulse and force it down. He cautiously eyed the beasts, noting one off to the right on its own and two to the left. He went for the duo, deciding to get the more unfair fight over with. He killed one, then the other, and was just about to move on to the third before it shrieked again. Sora stumbled to the ground, convulsing anew as his illness ravaged his body.

"Gods condemn you you're stupid!" Midna shrieked. She dragged him off and out of danger again, and once he recovered enough to swear and yell at her she shoved him into battle with the lone shadow beast. He killed it in an exemplary display fight or flight instinct.

Sora stumbled against a wooden structure that vaguely reminded him of a bridge, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Oh... I'm gonna be sick again...!"

Midna let him barf for a moment before guiding him back to the other two, "You still gotta kill the others!"

Sora swayed, trying to collect himself. The beasts lumbered towards him at a frightening speed, and Midna extended her energy field. One of the beasts knocked Sora to the ground and disrupted the field.

"Stay still!" Midna yelled as she brought Sora to his feet again, "I can't help you if I can't have something to focus my magic on!" Sora nodded shakily and grabbed at his shield to keep himself in one place. Except his shield wasn't there.

Sora turned around, "What-"

"HEY!" Midna yelled, and Sora turned back just in time to launch himself at the shadow beasts.

Sora swayed on his feet again, but managed to ram his sword into the ground deep enough to provide support. He glared at Midna, "Where's my shield?!"

"It fell off in the fog. You're lucky I could get the sword back." She yawned, "Not like you used it much anyways."

Sora pulled his sword back out and went on, "Well, we got two left..." He spat out some blood, and noticed a stall. He walked up to it, noting the liquids up for grabs. Sora looked left. He looked right. No one was manning the stall. He dipped his finger in the clearish liquid, and found it was oil. The second felt and looked eerily like blood, but a sweet taste met Sora's tongue when he licked it. "Huh, what is this?" He asked.

"Red potion. Heals you up." Midna explained, "Those bottles of yours might come in handy."

"Oh yeah!" Sora pulled put the bottles he'd been saving from potions, "They would."

After filling them up he set out again, following his vessel up a winding path, and eventually Sora found two sparks surrounding a flickering spirit. He smiled, "Good. I can get them both." He put on his blindfold, and found himself easily striking the insects down. He was getting used to this method of insect hunting.

He held out his hands to collect the tears, "These should be the last." The moment he finished saying so, the vessel glowed uncontrollably. Sora felt himself floating away, but not before he caught the glimpse of the black that covered his arms up to his elbows.

AND FINALLY FARON'S DONE. I gotta say fave highlight of the chapter would be the fog; I don't know where it came from, but I gotta say I think it's better than just the "oh no you touched the fog floop" way the game handles it.

Also what the frick frack is up with the black arms/hands hmm? Can't be dangerous can it?