A terrible and dark energy seemed to pulse, beating in rhythm with his heart. That only drove him on with further haste, the young man with silver locks now speeding down the lonely halls and corridors. He'd felt it surge, that rift of darkness tearing into their world. The experience was one he'd never forget… he'd been having such a nice nap in Chem. Class up until then. His jolted awakening had been quite the shocker to his classmates; one kid had even vaulted into the closet.

At the moment, Riku had little worry of the impending scolding he'd get from causing such a raucous and charging out of class. The fact that he'd broken straight through the door on leaving did register an annoyed sigh and head shake, but even that meant next to nothing now. Kairi was home sick today, she'd never miss first period English otherwise, which left only one reason for a being of the abyss to make its appearance.

Sora.

Consequently, that left only one person who could save him and Riku would have to do so quickly. There was something about this power that just wasn't… right. This wasn't the usual chaotic evil of the Heartless, nor was it the simple instinct of the Nobodies. There was intent behind this being, a purpose to its actions. That, in and of itself, was a nightmare come to life.

The wielder of the Twilight made haste through hallway after hallway. Time was short and Riku could waste not one second in his search. He knew of course where Sora was; even if he hadn't memorized his schedule Riku could taste the tension in the air. But damn if he could just find his way through these complex fricken corridors! I mean shit, how many flights of stairs had he gone up? Or was it that he'd gone down?

***Bizarro***

I braced against the initial joust, catching the pointed tip on the rounded edge of my blade. I gave back a good shove, meaning to push the Marionette away from me. But Mari kept steady and whipped in low towards my shins, an attack I hopped over at the last moment. I rolled on landing, hoping to get some distance between us to think a bit. That lasted all of a second before it was bounding towards me; thing was astoundingly light on its blade pointed tips.

I swung around into a rising slash, heavy on the power with just a side of grace. Some good it did me when he vaulted over the strike and myself, landing right behind me. I followed through the motion in a grand arc, turning my upper-slash into a downward strike. Our blades clashed, the sharpened tip of his arm dug a deep trench into my left cheek. I'd only just dodged having my head impaled.

We held that pose, the classic sword-lock you tend to see in old-style samurai movies. Mari had no eyes to speak of, but I could still feel its gaze burning into me, as though scanning for weakness. The idea was ridiculous, but it just stuck itself in my mind. This wasn't just some random monster, it didn't carry itself that way; this was an opponent, an enemy with every intention in its being to win…

We broke apart, sliding away, before again we vaulted straight on. Our weapons clashed in a storm of sparks and metal as we made several runs past each other. Each strike was a shout of thunder that shook the very foundation of stone, I thought the roof was gonna cave in just from the force of it all. Right then I changed gears and reeled about, Keyblade pointed forward, and cast my favorite spell.

"THUNDER!"

The ceiling would have its revenge as a bolt of lightning shot from its crumbled surface and plummeted towards my enemy, the effect was just awesome! But when it made contact, I was subjected to a truly unique sensation: complete and utter astonishment.

A spell's energy runs like water: without gravity, some kind of will to act upon it, it just kind of floats around without direction. My will could concentrate that lazy pool into a "flow", leading to the bolt of destruction from moments prior. Now, if we run with that metaphor, this guy's hide was like plastic: water runs right off. And that's exactly what my spell was doing, just sliding off his body.

I wouldn't have long to be dumb-founded before he was on me again, too fast for me to guard with my Keyblade. I invoked a Reflect spell; the clear dome of hexagons enveloping my form. Any attack that struck would be absorbed and re-directed right back where it came from, a nasty surprise for many a Heartless in my previous travels. Mari seemed poised for a particularly fierce stab; that kind of strike diverted would take him out in an instant.

Oh damn the look that must have crossed my face when that pointed ebon arm pierced right through my shield. I'd ducked aside, avoiding the blade to the face which then turned into "sharp-pointy-object-dragging-its-way-down-my-neck-and-sinking-into-my-shoulder". Hot knife through butter indeed, that thing fricken burned!

With his arm sunk in halfway to the elbow, I wasn't going much of anywhere without Mari's consent. I was plowed across the hallway, held up only by the thick crystal now sticking through my shoulder, and slammed up against a thin pillar. I could feel the warm stream of blood racing down my arm, soaking into my sleeve and collar. I hear that stuff's impossible to get out once it dries, hopefully it's just a crock; I rather like this indigo button-up of mine.

You'd think I'd have some more pressing thought in mind right now than my declining wardrobe. And you'd be right, there was one thing on my mind then. I'd figured out why my spells weren't working, a few Heartless were immune to magic like that and some even absorbed certain spells. But this son of a bitch was a little more, like he was intangible to the energy. I'd never seen anything just swim through a defense spell like that, I'd screwed myself the moment I relied on it. So what the hell was the source, where had the power come from; I just couldn't place it.

I could see it now, that smug smirk dashed across his non-existent features, happy to know he'd left me completely dumbfounded in my final moments. I thought about how stupid that sounded, how in reality the thought of collecting my head probably meant about as much to this thing as the impact of "Tuesday" meant to me. But I didn't care, so I kept on with my musings, happy to think of this spiteful enemy who fought with nothing but hatred in his defective heart. I didn't want to accept that I'd been bested by some kind of cold, empty machine.

I silently prayed that help would reach me in time. I'd felt Riku's growing frustration and even Kairi, despite the distance, seemed to sense my plight. As the Marionette pulled back its free arm, ready to disembowel my pathetic body, I still clung to that hope. I thought how wonderfully awesome it would be for my enemy to launch into grand monologue only for my comrades to jump in and slice the prick's arm off. Add in some heroic one-liner and the scene was just made of badass.

But in reality; Riku was hopelessly lost as he always was when left to his own devices, Kairi was plain beyond helping me right now, and any other chance I had of rescue was a world away at least. And the thought that a Heartless would actually gloat at a time like this, with its prey helpless beyond reason; I must be losing too much blood to even consider that.

… But I was scared, I didn't want to die…

'Don't worry Sora, I'm here to stand by you now!'