Some time had passed with them walking through the trees, Sora began asking Riku about his life on the island. "...I admit that it gets kind of boring sometimes here and I always end up hoping that something more exciting happens or that I have the chance to leave and explore the world!" Riku said and Sora was open mouthed.
"Wow... Sounds like conversations that my friends and I back on the island have had..." Sora admitted and Riku sighed.
"Well this place wasn't so bad before the Heartless tore it apart as I had Kairi by my side... We did everything together and was there to cheer me on as I kept beating everyone at wooden sword fighting." RIku explained and Sora was now in awe.
"No way, my friends and I did that as well! I didn't win very much but still..." Sora explained and Riku shook his head judgementally which was caught by Jasmine and Ariel but then Riku smiled.
"Well that's something; looks like growing up was not so different for the both of us. I was the champion and won the tournament but still..." Riku said and they frowned as he sounded so mocking in saying that. "Here we are!" Riku said as they reach the bridge and the castle on the other side which made them nervous. "It was strictly forbidden to go anywhere near this part of the island; probably a good thing too since the Heartless was locked inside..."
"Looks like the Chaos Shine... This is a reminder that I could have been without... Was where my first ally got corrupted..." Sora admitted starting to have a bad feeling about this but Riku just went across the bridge and looked behind them impatiently as if expecting them to already be following by now.
They followed and went through the open gates and found pictures on the walls forming story with black line drawings plus black blobs on the walls along with a goblet with a floating ball of darkness floating above it along with a pedestal that they thought that the book must have been when Riku came across it. They were unnerved by the sight of faded bladed weapons that looked like Keyblades on the ground looking broken which was quite a shock. "Yeah; from what I gathered during the Keyblade War that I read about ancient Key Bearers fought a battle here which ended up with casualties. I could never get any of them to work for me when I tried to use them against the Heartless; apparently I wasn't chosen..." Riku explained sounding a bit bitter.
He then showed the door to a tunnel on the ground with a giant keyhole in the middle of it, "Unlock it and it can lead us to Kingdom Hearts!" Riku said motioning to Sora who looked unsure along with Ariel in his arms.
"I don't know Riku; if the Key Bearers locked it away then it must be for a good reason... Is that Chernabog?" Sora asked and jumped when he finally noticed a statue of Chernabog there and the others jumped when they noticed it as well. It looked like the one from the Chaos Shrine.
"It could very well be but can you please unlock the doorway now? I need to save Kairi!" Riku asked sounding more and more impatient.
"Sora is right about the risk of opening it; we can find another way to help Kairi..." Ariel said and Riku glared at her.
"We don't have time to find some other way! Now Sora drop your stupid mermaid and unlock it!" Riku snapped and Ariel was aghast and glared at him along with the others.
"Riku; I know that you are worried about Kairi but you don't have to act like a jerk! Can you please think about what could opening this door could mean! Plus do you know how we are going to deal with the Heartless when we restore her heart?" Sora asked and Riku was frustrated.
"I said already along the lines of it not being an issue..." Riku said as he got out the Soul Eater sword and pointed it to Sora threateningly making them glare at him as James stepped forward.
"You mean how you are controlling them with the Soul Eater?" James asked taking out the book as Riku's eyes widened and the others gasped.
"The Captain and I were suspicious of Riku but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt; we found the section of the sword in that book and the Captain took it with him." Jasmine explained to Sora and Ariel who didn't know what it meant.
"You went behind my back and did this?" Riku asked outraged and James grinned.
"Yep; good thing too as it has been interesting reading as we were walking. Seems that the blade is the bat of a winged demon that is used in service of Chernabog and can control darkness. Probably how he forcibly steered my ship!" James said as they were taken aback. "Plus this is a doozy; seems that a heart sacrificed is required to forge it. How honest were you when you told us about how Kairi lost her heart?" James asked as they were open mouthed and Riku shook his head.
"I... I didn't do it on purpose! I was in a hurry desperate to stop the Heartless!" Riku shouted...
"Riku, I think you should look at that book more carefully or we should go and warn the people in the village... This is playing with Darkness which we don't know much about..." Kairi told Riku worried as he had gathered bits of broken Keyblade hilts and put them in the floating ball of darkness while reading from the book.
"It's my fault that they got loose and I can stop them before they reach them! Everything will be fine Kairi!" Riku told Kairi flashing her an assuring smile before reading the incantation. He grinned as the Soul Eater was being formed but then a ball of light came out of Kairi and into the sword as it gained shape. "It's done Kairi... Kairi..." Riku said but noticed Kairi falling to the ground unconscious and began to worry and it led to panic.
"I tried in vain to restore her heart but to make sure that her condition was not in vain; I got back to the village and stopped the Heartless from attacking. Everything was destroyed and rather than be grateful; I was shunned as they left to rebuild somewhere else on the island. Kairi's father the Mayor told me that I would never be welcome unless I fixed what happened to Kairi." Riku said with tears in his eyes.
"Riku; sorry that happened to you but the power of the Darkness isn't the answer... Kairi wouldn't want you to..." Sora said trying to reach out sympathetically but Riku slapped his hand away.
"Don't talk about what Kairi would have wanted because you never knew her! I need to save her and that's making sure that you do your job!" Riku snapped with darkness in his eyes making Sora gulp. "I have to fix my mistake! It was my idea to come here in the first place; I broke the lock that unleashed the Heartless! I knew the place was forbidden but I thought it would have magic that would let us leave this stupid island!" Riku snapped as they were in shock.
"Riku! Darkness isn't the answer and it will only corrupt you; I have had an ally fall to the Darkness after being consumed by his negative emotions!" Sora shouted not really knowing if he could handle another ally falling to the darkness, even if this one was being deceitful from the start.
"Stupid kid not knowing what he is talking about! This power allowed me to stop the invasion and now I need the one that you have to save Kairi!"Riku retorted as he then charged forward with the Soul Eater and Sora ended up falling as he tried to get Ariel to saftey. He then summoned up his Keyblade to clash with it.
"Jasmine! James! Please get Ariel to saftey!" Sora shouted knowing that Ariel could take care of herself but as a mermaid; she had little mobility on dryland and especially in a dark castle. He then got up and started duelling blades with Riku but his superior sword fighting skills were giving him an edge.
Riku then went to snatch the Keyblade away from Sora as he tried to to keep it but then it disappeared and reappeared in Sora's hand. Seems that the Keyblade won't let itself be stolen from it's choosen wielder.
"A stupid kid who believes in stories and naive ideas of what's good! How were you chosen and not me? I am doing what it takes to save my friend and to make sure that we can escapes from the confines of this stupid island? Why wasn't I chosen?" Riku ranted and Sora could feel more and more darkness pouring off him.
Sora then felt RIku holding onto the blade of the Keyblade and tried to drag him to the Keyhole and thinking fast he set off magic spells to take RIku by surprise and send him back. Looking to the ball of darkness and thinking that it could be the source of the Heartless here he then ran to it.
"No!" Riku snapped realising what he was doing and then from the blobs of darkness out came Heartless who came after Sora and he had to pushed them back as he began stabbing the ball and RIku ran to it. The castle then began shaking and Sora tried to drag Riku with him but he just pushed him back with a look of murder on his face. Sora then forced himself to the entrance of the castle and seeing James and Jasmine holding onto Ariel on the bridge.
They heard and saw the castle glowing with darness and Heartless about to come out with them afraid, "Everyone run forward but first; Jasmine throw me over the bridge!" Ariel shouted thinking of something with them blinking at her in shock. "Please, just trust me!" Ariel said as Jasmine did as they ran across the bridge as a tidal wave from the broke the castle into rubble. There was Ariel riding on top of the wave cheerfully waving to them as it went down with them in awe.
"Maybe I should have thought to get the mermaids to help me back in Neverland?" James pondered as Sora took Ariel back to their arms as they left the area.
Riku to save himself was forced to open up a portal to a realm of darkness that he read about in his book; he was furious that his best hope at reaching Kingdom Hearts was ruined by that foolish brat Sora and his stupid friends. Still he found the darkness within him reacting to his outrage and the destruction of the darkness sphere but he was able to keep control and formed himself a dark purple armor of darkness with the Heartless symbol as seen in his book.
He then created a portal back to the vilage so he coul retrieve Kairi; after putting her onto a dark bed he said darkly "don't worry Kairi; there are other ways to reach Kingdom Hearts. Not only will I find them but I will get revenge on those who dared to stop me from restoring your heart... That foolish brat Sora and his friends..."
The three had gone back to the village hoping to find Kairi there in order to see if they can find a way to restore her heart themselves; or at least see about finding the rest of the villagers on the island and give her to them since her father was included in them. However they were shocked to get back and find her missing.
"I don't think Riku is gone just yet..." Jasmine spoke what they were all thinking with dread.
"Well the best thing we can do now is go back to the ship, return to finding the spot where the underwater kingdom is. What we were doing before getting sidetracked." James brought up and despite how blunt and dismissive he spoke; they knew that he had a point.
The ship was now back in the waters and returning on it's scheduled journey; Sora was sighing as he was speaking to Jasmine and Ariel. Sora had used a spell to dry himself and Jasmine off and Ariel was now back in the tub. "Second time an ally fell to the darkness and I couldn't do anything to stop Riku from falling into the darkness and I couldn't save Kairi... What kind of hero am I?" Sora muttered as he was sitting down dejected with his hands to his face.
"Sora; Riku had already chosen to fall into darkness before you even met him and there was nothing that you could do to save Kairi, it's a tragedy but we will just have to go forward." Jasmine said softly as Sora grumbled unable to refuse what she said. "Besides; do you think that a hero is someone who saves everyone all the time and never fails? Even storybooks has the hero fail at times but they always continue on and do the best; you did the best that you could and don't let that get you down!" Jasmine told him.
"Plus as you all told me; you helped stop Peter Pan who spent 500 years never losing and was keeping an innocent girl hostage while putting his followers in danger with his games! You are already a great hero and I won't let you think otherwise!" Ariel put in her two cents and Sora gave them a smile.
"You two know exactly how to spoil a perfectly bad mood; don't you?" Sora asked and they giggled. "Now if only I can decide if I love one or the other..." Sora thought in his head.
Riku's new look is off course the Ansem posessed Riku form and the look of Dark Riku from Kingdom Hearts III.
If you are up for lesser known Disney media then I highly reccomended checking out Wizards of Mickey which is now being collected in non out of print trades. The comic was first released as part of Topolino an Italian anthology comic which had Disney comic stories. The premise is of Mickey, Donald and Goofy as wizards in a fantasy setting but apart from covers and promotional art; don't expect to see Mickey in his famous Sorcerer's Apprentice garb. What's more jarring is seeing Goofy as more competent as are used to and more wise than his two comrades; more of an alchemist and herbalist because he sees people relying on magic too much to solve their problems.