L. True Darkness

"Moving on." said the short one as he removed his coat. The Lunarians stared at him for a moment then Ed noticed all of them were staring at him. "What?"

"You're as short as an ant." Riku said. The two men in black coats slapped their hands on their foreheads as Ed went ballistic and overreacted.

"What!! Who are you calling a microscopic amoeba that it's so small that it's contagious!" Ed yelled angrily. Everyone sweatdropped knowing that he overeacted and no one said a word. Riku just frowned and summoned his keyblade: Way to the Dawn. He readied his fighting stance and waited. Ed on the other hand gave his fingers an exercise and stared at him.

"I'll show you that I'm not short!" Ed grinned nastily. "I'm Edward Elric, Head of Alchemia Continent and representative of the Solarian Continent."

"Riku, the Keyblade Elite of Kingheartia Continent, representative of the Lunarian Continent." Riku said, calmly.

- - -

Ed clapped his hands, placed it on the ground and stone slabs appeared on the ground. Riku jumped out of the way and finds an opening but apparently, Ed isn't giving him one so the silverete sliced the stone slabs and about to pierce his opponent but Ed used his right arm as a shield which surprised him then he kicked Riku on the stomach with his left leg. Kaiba was a bit suspicious of Ed's actions. Normally, he would have evaded it and kicked Riku on the other parts of the body but instead, he used his own arm as a shield but if he did that, shouldn't there be some blood coming out from it. Also, his kick was a bit too strong. Something's a bit off. Riku stood up, unmindful of the hit then stare at his opponent head on. He sidestepped then slash in circles. Ed on the other hand blocked it then summoned lightning from his hands sending the silverete flying. One thing for sure, he's much stronger than Yoh. While Riku struggles in his fight, Yami had suspicions of his own like how did Ed summoned lightning without any chant or any word coming out from his mouth.

"You saw it, too?" Kaiba asked.

"Yeah, I mean hoe can he do that. Judging from his body weight, he can't do that much damage except if he aims at the vital parts of the body." Yami replied. "Also I don't think he's a magician, is he?"

While the two of them were wondering about Ed'd fighting style, Riku was now on the defensive, trying to avoid his opponent's attacks. He jumped in a semi circle then pointed his keyblade at Ed then fired a dark energy at him. This time, Ed got hit but what surprised everyone was the hit that Riku made didn't sustain much damage at all. In other words, nothing. Riku closed his eyes and everything went black.

Two little boys were playing in a green field as their mother was smiling happily and it turned out to be a good morning. Time passed and in one mid afternoon, the two boys were going home when their mother suddenly collapsed. They immediately called the doctor. He tried everything but in the end, she died. A few days later, she was buried and the people gathered at the funeral. Time passed and everyone went home except for the two boys.

"Brother, I want to see mom again. It's too painful." the younger one cried. The older brother stared then his eyes were filled with determination.

"Don't worry, there's a way we can see her again." the older one said and the younger one stopped crying.

"With alchemy?" he asked. The other nodded.

And so from that day, both brothers trained with a very skilled alchemist. After months of training, they searched through their father's books and found what they're looking for. A book about human transmutation.

"Let's see, the ingredients are 35 l water, 20 kg carbohydrates, 4 L ammonia, 1.5 kg lime, 800g adenosine, 250g salt, 100g nitrous, 7.5g fluoridate, 5g metal and 3g of silicon and many other elements." the older one said. With the ingredients, both of them gathered it and the transmutation circle was formed.

"Brother, how are we gonna put the soul?" the younger one asked. The older one took a small knife.

"Al, give me your hand." the older boy said. The one called Al held out his hand and the older biy made a small cut on his brother's finger then he did the same thing.

"This is... the soul's information." the older one said as their blood dropped on the ingredients then both of them laid their hands in the transmutation circle. A whirl of light began to enveloped the circle and the ingredients at the center began to dissolved as it takes its form. Screams were followed. Blood began to pool down on the floor as the older one struggled to see if the transmutation had succeeded. Unfortunately, it came out bad because Al is not here and two: the transmutation turned out pretty bad that it wasn't even human. Because of this, the younger one lost his brother and his right arm was ripped. Tears began to pour down from his eyes then he saw a big armor.

"Give me back my little brother!" the older one said as he made a transmutation circle in blood but in exchange, he sacrificed his left leg. The armor moved a little and saw his brother was bleeding. Horrified, he carried him to their next door neighbor. It was raining outside but Al didn't care. He knocked the door quickly and an old woman opened it. To her surprise, she saw a talking armor and a boy who was wounded.

"Ed!" said a girl. Immediately, they treat his wounds. The next day, Ed woke up feeling a lot of pain. The old woman came to serve his breakfast and change the bandages.

"I have money," Ed said.

"You don't have to pay." she replied as she began to change his bandages.

"No, I want to place an automail in my lost arm and leg." Ed said and the old woman stared.

Few hours later, screams were followed at the operation room. Al tried to take a peek on what's going on but his childhood friend forbid him to do that.

"Eayaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" Ed screamed as the two women began to work.

"Is brother alright?" Al asked.

"He's alright." the young girl said despite the noise they were making. After a few hours, Ed;s right arm and left leg were placed with automail, a metallic body part. One evening, both brothers decided to leave their home so that they can look for the Philosopher's Stone. As a reminder, they burned their house and swore never to return for the sins they had to atone cannot be forgiven.

- - -

Riku opened his eyes and there was a melancholic expression on his face. None of them moved but everyone was surprised when he lowered his keyblade.

"I never thought someone has similar darkness as I am." Riku said.

"What are you talking about?" Ed asked.

"Your right arm has a metallic part called automail and also your left leg which you sacrificed to create a single being and bringing your brother back." Riku replied much to everyone's amazement. Ed was shocked and angry at this.

"How did you--?" Ed growled.

Riku let Ed show his keyblade. "My keyblade isn't only a weapon. It also sees the darkness in people's hearts. That last hit wasn't an attack but it's the keyblade's power of knowing what your darkness possess. Funny, we fought each other and yet we possess the same darkness although the situations we have are different."

"Damn you!" Ed growled at him then he clapped his hands. Lightning began to emit from his hands but Riku smirked.

"Dark Shield!" Riku yelled and in front of him was a tall shield. Ed's attacks did hit but was reduced to nothing. Ed's eyes twitched not only in anger but in a extreme intent to kill him. Kaiba sensed this but did not go further to interfere.

Ed kept attacking him like before and Riku kept defending all of his attacks. But this time, Ed's attacks are getting stronger and stronger each time. The silverete frowned but he kept his pace. Defending is a good thing but if his opponent's attacks hit him that would be a problem. Riku didn't know what to do from here but unless he attacks, he's a goner.

"How about this?!" Ed yelled as stone spikes appeared from the ground. Because of his anger, one of the spikes were about to hit Sora who was still unconscious. Yami and Kaiba were about to get Sora away but Riku was much faster and immediately grabbed the brunette even though the stone spike hit him. He didn't care as long as his best friend or possibly a crush? is safe. The silverete frowned deeply as he set aside Sora's body. Darkness began to gather slowly from the sky and shadows began to slither around Riku's keyblade. Yami felt a cold chill as Riku sets his fighting stance even Kaiba could feel it as well. Ed stopped his attack for a moment for he sensed something odd then all of a sudden icy cold darkness slithered around the silverete.

"You tried to hurt my best friend," Riku said, his voice is like ice. 'And for that you'll pay... Darkness, awaken!!"

Riku jumped and in an instant the darkness from the sky blasted through his body. Kaiba had to swallow his nervousness, the men in black coats didn't budge except the older man's hands were shaken and Yami just stood there with the glowing Millennium Puzzle. The darkness began to fade and to Ed's surprise, Riku's outfit has changed and his keyblade became short but sharper and more sword looking. His cold aquamarine eyes stare at the empty coldness of darkness. He positioned himself, this time ready to attack Ed.

"This power... is this really Riku?"Kaiba asked himself.

"So this is the darkness in Riku's heart, eh?" Yami said. "Interesting."

Ed snapped out of his surprised look on his face and began to attack by clapping his hands and placed it on the ground. Several stone spikes appeared, aiming at Riku.

"Dark Firaga!" Riku yelled as his left hand glowed with a combination of black and blue falme. Automatically, he launched it at the stone spikes which is easily destroyed and hit Ed a lot then with his quick speed, he slashed Ed twice at the back. If it weren't for the automail, he would have died this very instant. Ed was about to use his lightning alchemy but Riku was too quick and slashed his opponent once more. Blood trickled from his left arm and Ed growled.

While Riku is attacking his opponent mercilessly, Sora, who fainted after his fight with Yoh got up. Yami and Kaiba noticed his presence and rushed to his side. The brunette saw Riku in his Heartless form. He frowned deeply at this.

"When did Riku turned into...'that form'?" Sora asked.

"Ed's stone spikes were about to hit you. Of course, we tried to get you away from it but Riku quickly took you away and placed you near on our side. In exchange, he got hit." Kaiba replied.

"...Riku..." Sora whispered. "...I'm sorry..."

Seeing that Sora got up, he cast Dark Firaga to caged Ed at least for a while. "Don't be sorry, Sora."

"...You're not possessed?...Are you?" Sora asked, feeling cautious.

"If what you think is that bastard then no. This is my darkness and my darkness alone and also," Riku replied then he finished his sentence by whispering near the brunette's right ear. "my light."

This pops a question inside Sora's mind. What is he talking about? Anyway, Ed got out from the Dark Firaga cage and still trying to use the same tactic as before but Riku has other ideas. He raised his keyblade and at the same time, his body began to rise above.

"Dark Break!" the silverete yelled as he jumped really high and pierce his opponent at the top mainly at the head. Ed use his automail arm to shield himself but unfortunately, it cracked much to his shock then after the attack, Riku jumped back to his position and once again getting ready. Ed already had it so he decided to do something. As usual, he clapped his hands to perform his alchemy then laid his hands on the ground. Riku thought he would use the stone spikes again but this time, something was rising from the ground. The ground took shape and to everyone's amazement, Ed made a golem out of the field and more ironically, it looked just like Riku.

The golem attacked Riku by slashing it but Riku dodged the attack but all of a sudden, he got hit. Frowning suspiciously, he tries to attack it but that golem didn't have damage not one bit.

"Surprised? You think I'm stuck doing those alchemy well I'm already updated to new alchemy which you have seen here. Too bad that golem doesn't die and get damaged." Ed smirked.

Riku tried to slash the golem again and again but none of his attacks were able to penetrate it. While Riku is distracted, Ed immediately use his lightning alchemy to damage Riku then he use the stone spikes damaging him further. The silverete tries to get up but Ed used alchemy to trapped Riku's feet and now he can't move. Riku frowned at this and he knew what would happen next and it would suck, literally.

"Take this!" Ed yelled as he use his lightning alchemy. Since Riku can't move, he screamed in pain. Sora could only watch even though he knew that he can't interfere.

"How do you like that! Next time, mind your own business about anyone's past life." Ed said. The silverete struggled to his feet but to no avail. he use his keyblade to slice his way out but apparently, nothing's working. Still he has to do something before Ed delivers the final blow. At this point even the Heartless form wouldn't help that much. Unless...

Riku and King Mickey were training together as usual. At that time Sora was doing his world maintenance so the silverete has time to practice his fighting skills.

"Your majesty, can I ask you something?" Riku asked.

"Fire away!" the mouse king replied.

"Is there any way I can use something that is similar to Sora's Drive forms?" he asked.

"You mean aside from you Heartless form?" the mouse king replied, curious on why he would ask that question.

"Yeah..." the silverete said.

"Hmmmm, there is one but it requires something..." King Mickey said, fingering his chin.

"What?" Riku asked curiously.

"Well..." the mouse king said

"If I can use that form, I'll be able to defeat Ed but I'm not sure about this..." Riku said to himself. Before he could do something else, Ed was going to use another kind of alchemy which is a wind type. By combining the particles like carbon dioxide, he can amplify it and create a vacuum which he did. Riku tried to move but still he can't get himself out. He closed his eyes waiting for contact.

But to his surprise, nothing came and instead...

Sora took the attack which shocked everyone even the silverete himself. Even Ed was shocked although it reminds him of his younger brother. Yami and Kaiba were stunned at this.

"Sora, you idiot...why did you...?" Riku was about to scold him when the brunette stared at him eye to eye.

"... I'm not losing you all over again...in the darkness..." Sora whispered which surpised the silverete. Debating on what he will do, he decided to give it a try even though he owe the Keyblade Master a heavy explanation. To everyone's surpise, he extended his right hand. The brunette was a bit startled at this.

"Do you trust me?" Riku asked.

Now this is the hardest question of all. Sora knew he could trust Riku outside but what about the inside? Sure he already forgiven him for the sins he has done but in his heart has he? Well, duh, he did but the problem was Riku didn't forgive himself which is a problem between him, the king and Kairi as well. Also, he seen this kind of gesture before...in his dream at Destiny Islands. Riku extends his hand and he tries to take ti but all of sudden, the waves took him away. The same thing happen when he was sucked to the realm of darkness.

"That's a tough one..." Sora replied with seriousness then smiled widely.

"...I never though you as a serious one...but I can't blame you for that. I..." Riku said but the brunette cut him off.

"What about you, Riku? Haven't you forgiven yourself?" Sora asked.

"You know the answer to that..." Riku replied.

"Look, I-DON'T-CARE. Riku how many times do I have to tell you? Don't let it be a burden to you!" Sora said emphasizing his words. "And besides, I trust you with all my heart!" With that, he touched Riku's hand even though his cheeks went red a bit.

"Sora, thank you...," Riku said. "Will you lend me your strength?"

Sora smiled. "His majesty told me about that..." Riku was surprised at this. "But it's okay, I'll let you..."

"Twilight, rise!" the silverete yelled and the trap that Ed used began to break and Riku was finally free. His outfit changed once again. This time, a combination of white and black colors and his keyblade became the same shape before he used his Heartless form.

"Dark Blizzaga!" Riku yelled as he raised his keyblade high. Several icicles appeared from the dark cloudy sky and rained down on Ed. He jumped away immediately but all of a sudden, Riku was already behind him and slashed him at the back which send his opponent flying.

"Wow..." Yami said.

"Dark Thundaga!" Riku yelled, this time, dark lightning bolts struck Ed that his automail got fried. He struggles to get up at first but in the end, he fainted.

"I win," Riku said plainly. "Revert!"

In an instant, Sora appeared at his best friend grinning apparently. Since the silverete won, the border stregthen once again. Riku suddenly stumbled if it weren't for the prince.

"Just rest okay." Yami said and the silverete nodded.

"Looks like you beat Ed and I must apologize for his rude behavior. He can be an idiot sometimes." said the taller man who stepped forward and reeled the unconscious Ed.

"Who are you?" Kaiba asked, this time he knew he was the person who saved his brother and beaten the Behemoth monster.

"I'm Joey, previous representative of Cosmalia Continent." he said as he removed his coat.

"Seto Kaiba, representative of the continent of Altech and a SeeD soldier." the bue-eyed teen replied then the two of them prepared their fighting stance.

spiritfire: That's rough. I had the writer's block again sheesh..it's really rough these days how boring. Anyway, read and review as usual...