Authors Note: Rather than just post up what I didn't type on Sunday, I've written up a proper chapter in its place. Hope you don't mind.

Chapter 7: The Anti

Destiny Islands – 2:00pm

Frank took the small black box out of the back of the briefcase and opened it. Inside were 2 pairs of black shiny gloves, exactly like the ones he wore.

"They're like yours." Riku said.

"Yeah. Light as plastic." He then smashed it hard with a small silver knife he had. "And harder than any metal existing on this world. "He brought up the knife. It was severely bent, in a sense of the word, crippled.

"Whoa. Can I try them on?" Riku asked. Frank nodded, and he put them on. At first, they looked way too small for him. But when he put them on, they seemed to fit perfectly. It didn't show any signs of stretchiness, and it felt very comfortable. He tried punching the broken knife, and it shattered into a few pieces. "It feels so comfy, and I barely felt that."

"Well, you can try those out an all, while I tend to an UNCONSCIOUS SORA!" Leon shouted the last part, angrily.

"Erm, I didn't know he was unconscious!" Riku said to defend himself, giving a dirty look at Frank.

"Self defence, man, self defence." Frank said. 'Yeah, right.' Riku thought.

"Leon, can you go and check on Kairi, I'm worried about her." Riku asked Leon.

"Yeah, sure." Leon said in monotone, and as he left, he shut the door behind him.

Riku went over to look at Sora. He was fine, but Riku still thought he was hurt.

"Why'd you hurt him?" Riku asked, angrily.

"I just knocked him out. When he wakes up, he'll be fine." Frank reassured him

"If you hit him with these gloves, he's probably dead!"

"No. He has regenerative powers now among other things."

"Like?"

"Well, you know how I mentioned his Anti?"

"Yes, why?"

"I suppose you know what it is?"

"Can't say I do…"

"Well, in your previous adventures, Sora got a set of special clothes from Yen Sid, right? Well, they allow him to 'drive' or delve deeper into his heart and connect with others, increasing his strength tenfold. However, one thing they didn't know is that it also allowed the darkness in his heart to grow, and at times, when it became too much, it would manifest itself when he tried to 'drive', taking him over and consuming him, temporarily turning him into a Heartless. During this time, he would lose control of the keyblade, forcing him to use his hands. Basically, he's like a human-sized Shadow Heartless."

"My god… why didn't Sora ever tell me?" Riku was nearly in tears, discovering that Sora was even worse off than he imagined.

"Because Sora didn't know."

"How wouldn't he know?"

"Because he wasn't in control. Though he understands the light of his heart, he doesn't understand the darkness of his heart, and now that he is a vampire, it will consume him if he doesn't take control of it."

Riku looked down on the ground, eyes wide open. Sora… is losing to the darkness? No, it's not possible. Sora was THE light in his opinion. He couldn't have a pure heart like Kairi, but he certainly would never allow the darkness to control him in any way. Frank had to be lying, he just had to!

"You're lying. You just have to be."

"I'm afraid not. But you can help him Riku. Help him stop the darkness."

"And I will. I'll do anything to help Sora and Kairi. And if anyone, even you, gets in my way, I'll destroy them."

Frank looked at him for a second, and then laughed.

"Hey! What's so funny?" Riku asked.

"It's you! You and your stupidness! Yes, you can help Sora fight the darkness, but you sure can't defeat the enemies that you are up against."

"Since when? The keyblade is all I need!"

"No, my friend, you need a lot more than that. Even Sora couldn't beat them, and he's got a head start!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do you want me to run down a list of things that Sora gets when he becomes a vampire?"

"Yes, actually, I would!"

"Well for one thing, his strength boosts by a massive amount, he could probably lift this house up if he tried. Another is his agility and reflexes. He could probably run around this island in a few minutes, whereas you would take about an hour or two, shall I go on?"

"Ungh…"

"Also, he can't be killed by provisional methods. Just watch."

With that, he pulled out a silenced pistol and fired at Sora. He hit him in between the eyes.

"WHAT THE-"

"Wait for it."

Within seconds, the wound healed up. And the bullet dropped out of his head. The wound sucked up the blood that had been spilled, and sealed up the wound as if he had never been shot.

"Hell?" Riku finished his sentence.

"Now do you see?"

"Yes…"

"That is why I am giving you these weapons. There will be other lowly vampires that might come after you, seeing you as a threat. Others may help you. Don't consider all vampires as an enemy. They have free will, and can choose to do good or evil."

"So they're basically like humans- well, overpowered humans."

"Not entirely. As you may already know, their main weaknesses are silver and the sun. They have no other weaknesses. Holy Water does nothing, hell; some can turn it into Unholy Water, the reverse of its counterpart. Stakes are bull too, unless you use silver stakes, but that still counts as silver."

"Wow." Riku was amazed at all this. He had known bits of information about vampires all his life (though not believing in their existence till now) but as it turned out, only some of it was true.

"Now do you understand?"

"Yes. Then I will work and train hard. If I can't kill them, I need to at least be able to protect him from them."

"Very true. Now you are more understanding of the task that lies ahead for you both."

"Yes."

"Anyway… here are your gauntlets. He presented to him a set of thick gloves, exactly like Franks, silver lining and all, but seemingly used.

"Hey… these have been used." Riku said, confused.

"So?"

"Well that means they might be weaker than yours."

"It's true. They are weaker."

Riku mumbled something rude under his breath.

"But you don't need ones as strong as mine. Yet. When you do, I'll get you some that are better than mine." Frank said.

While Riku put the gloves on, he noticed another box just like the box that had his gloves in. He picked it up and opened it, but before he got a look at what was inside, Frank yanked it away from him.

"What the hell? What did-"

"Didn't your father ever teach you manners?" He said in a noticeably annoyed voice. "Don't go snooping around for other peoples stuff."

"I just wondered what was in there…"

"Yeah, well your not gonna find out if I have anything to say about it!" He shouted.

"Sorry… I'm just curious. Sorry." Riku realised he was afraid of Frank. Not only did he tower over him and Sora, but he had a bad temper.

"No, I'm sorry. I just got a little pissed, that's all. No worries. Just… don't look in there ever again, okay?"

"Okay." Riku didn't want to look him in the eye. He didn't even know it himself until that moment, but he feared this man. He was annoying, and a bit rude, but he could definitely defend himself. But then Riku realised something else. This was the same fear he felt toward Sora now. He had never feared Sora before; he had always looked up to him in a way. Now it scared him to be near him. He looked at the gauntlets he was wearing. Was he trying to protect Sora… or was he trying to protect himself?

"Hey Frank…"

"Yeah?"

"How come… I feel… afraid' of you and Sora…"

"Unless you fully trust the vampire, you can quickly come to fear them.

"But I do trust Sora. I always have."

"But do you trust him fully?"

Riku stared at Frank for a few seconds. The question rang back and forth in his head.

"Don't let it worry you. You have much worse things to worry about."

Riku spent most of the day getting prepared for this new journey. Sora, after an hour, woke up and got equipped also. He didn't need as much protection, though, as he had regenerative abilities. Riku, on the other hand, needed something stronger.

Once they were outfitted, they changed their clothes.

Destiny islands – 5:30pm

Sora wore a pair of tight black jeans, but like Frank, he had a few strap-on pockets decorating his belt (Note: The pockets look like those 'compartments' the US army have on their body armour and trousers, how else can I describe it??), waist and legs, but not as many. He also had a holster for a gun, but it was empty (for now). On his upper body he wore a skin-tight t-shirt covered mostly by a long-sleeved black jacket, somewhat resembling the jacket he got from Yen Sid, only it was long-sleeved and had no other colour except crimson red at the edges of the coat, zipper, and sleeves. He also wore the glove-gauntlet combination that Riku and Frank wore. Sora was told he needed no protection as he could regenerate, but would just have to stand the pain.

Riku, on the other hand, wore his light blue jeans, but now they had knee pads wrapped around them. He also had the same strap-on pockets Sora had, but a few more than he had. On his upper body, he wore a black baggy t-shirt under a short-sleeved jacket, again black, but unlike Sora, it was plain, the only distinguishable feature was the attached titanium shoulder pads. He also wore elbow pads, made of the same material as his shoulder/knee pads. Under the t-shirt, he was wearing a sleeveless vest made of the same material as his gloves, the shiny black metal.

"Suits you both perfectly." Frank said as he looked at them.

"I have a question. Why are you relying on Sora regenerative abilities so much?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've given him far less protection. All he has is the gauntlets, and his clothes. I have knee pads, shoulder pads, elbow pads, and body armour, not to mention the gauntlets."

"Because if Sora can regenerate, we should use that ability, not treat him like he's only human."

"What, so just cause he's different now, we should treat him differently?"

"You know that's not what he meant, Riku, stop being stupid." Leon said, coming round the corner.

"And why are you backing him up, Leon? I refuse to trust him! He's a vampire!"

"Did you forget Sora is too?" Frank said, interrupting him. Riku was getting angry, but he realised his mistake. He was being hypocritical. Sora was a vampire too, but he wasn't meant to be a… he lowered his head in shame and turned his back to everyone.

"S…Sorry…" Riku wanted to cry, but Sora offered him comfort.

"Don't cry, Riku. It's not your fault. Besides, I don't really mind." Riku looked up to him, and saw Sora giving him a goofy smile again.

"Quit it, kids. Anyway…" Frank's interruption brought their attention back to him. "As I was going to say, you don't have much time to waste. I have a contact willing to help you in Traverse Town."

"You mean we go world travelling again?" Sora asked, despite it being obvious the answer was 'yes'.

"This is why you are leaving now while the sun is down."

"But the sun is always down in Traverse Town."

"Not always. You've just never been there when it's daytime."

"Oh, yeah, it's not like I go there often anymore, or ever did for that matter."

"So, are you two ready? Cause I'm not accompanying you to Traverse Town, I have business to attend to."

"What kind?"

"I've been asked to keep that a secret. But don't worry. Sora will soon realise that there is more than one way of staying in contact with me."

"What's that mean?" Riku said.

"Bye!" And with that, he opened the front door and began to walk away, but Riku called him.

"Wait, how are we gonna get there?"

"The way you got there before, doofus! Gummi ship! You still have one, use it!"

"Ok…" He continued his walk.

"So… are we ready for this?" Sora asked Riku, but he knew what the answer would be.

"I'm always ready." Riku answered

"Then let's-"

"Wait! You're going nowhere without me!" They turned round to see Kairi running toward them.

"Not this time, Kairi."Sora said

"But why? What if I lose you-"

"Don't think like that, Kairi. You won't lose us, and we won't lose you. Our hearts are connected." Sora added before she could say anything else.

They held their hands to their hearts and looked at each other.

"Even though mine isn't working now, I can still sense yours. And as long as all of our harts are strong, we will get through this. We've done it before, we'll do it again."

They removed their hands from their hearts and smiled at each other. Kairi hugged them both and kissed them, not goodbye, but good luck.

They went to the gummi ship and waved one last goodbye to everyone; Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and most importantly of all: Kairi.

Sora and Riku set off pretty quickly, and soon, they lost sight of Destiny Islands.

"We're not saying goodbye, Sora. We will be back. I promise." Riku said to his friend. They smiled at each other and looked onto their destination.

Traverse Town.

End Chapter

Authors Note: I made this one a bit longer because I didn't deliver anything on Tuesday, and I will resume my normal timetable. Read & Review PLEASE!