I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Solo

On the other side of the portal, Riku faced an enormous fortress of ominous grey décor. A dreary haze cloaked the world, rendering it practically invisible to travelers from the outside.

"Maleficent's castle," Riku murmured to himself, glancing in all directions for signs of guards or traps. But the area was lifeless; not a thing stirred but the wind. Cautiously, with Keyblade in hand, he approached the stone walls and began searching for a back way in.

Standing at the base of the castle, being so close, hurt and tormented him. While he was determined as ever, and much livelier than before, the guilt continued to eat him inside-out. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had arrived too late. A tightness formed in his chest every time he thought about how long she'd been waiting. She was only rooms away now, and while he felt he could easily tear his way through the building and ransack the place until he found her, his better senses kept him under control. Silent, collected. Despite trembling hands, he'd have to stay poised.

I need to sneak in. If they find out I'm here, it'll be that much harder to get to her, he reminded himself. His hand gripped the hilt of the Keyblade tightly. And she's waited long enough already.

~…~

The crew sat in a pensive silence after Riku's departure. Sora was on the edge of his seat, his gaze flitting back and forth between Leon and Cid. The former stood with his arms crossed as usual, while the latter watched the control panels half-heartedly. Sora could see Kairi and Aerith were visibly worried, but no one said anything. All were afraid of arguing with the stoic committee leader.

Until Cid suddenly slammed his fist on the dashboard and the machine made a loud beeping noise. The crowd looked up in alarm as red lights flashed in the cockpit and Cid became busy punching new coordinates into the system.

"Cid, what are you doing?" Leon demanded warily above the alarms and noise.

"Nobody tells me what to do. I just remembered that," he said smugly over his shoulder, straw tucked between his teeth.

As soon as he pressed the "depart" button, the ship returned to normal and swung around with full speed on a new route. They were momentarily thrown off balance by the force, then the ship went into warp speed.

"What happened? Where are we going?" Sora asked with wide eyes. Both he and Leon approached the controls, confusion scribbled on their faces.

"To help your friend. You want to find 'im, don't ya?"

"But how will we find him? He just…disappeared into the darkness…" the boy pointed out remorsefully.

"But not off my scanner. I placed a tracking device on 'im a while ago in case he ran off by himself, like he did. Looks like it came in handy after all."

Leon made a scrutinizing face, but Sora just did a fist pump into the air.

"Alright! Then let's go help Riku!" he cheered, looking back at a smiling Kairi.

Cid turned to Leon in the meanwhile, his eyes hard.

"I'm not gonna let that kid go to Maleficent's hideout all on his own. I know it's not what you wanted, Leon, but that's how it is," he explained with only a tinge of apology in his voice.

Leon stood with his head down in thought, then reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Fine," he said calmly. "But use caution. Don't put us in detectible range until we're sure something is happening inside."

Cid gave a victorious smirk and watched as their destination came into view on his radar.

"Got it."

~…~

Riku crept through halls like a shadow, smoothly and silently. He swung doors open and peeked inside rooms, avoided any areas harboring dim light, and kept on high alert for footsteps and voices. He didn't make a sound.

But when he finally found her, his stealth disappeared instantly. His blood seemed to stop flowing, and his eyes couldn't avert themselves from their target.

"Keiya!" he cried out.

He let his weapon clatter to the ground and rushed toward her. His heart was beating too fast. The odor of darkness was set deep in the room, as was the stench of fresh blood. Puffs of dirt, smears of crimson on the walls like cave paintings.

Keiya's body rested lifelessly on the ground, her cheek pressed against the cool stone floor, her lips chapped and slightly parted. He sprinted toward her with a sick burst of energy and dropped to his knees as soon as he reached her. With shaking hands, he hesitantly pulled her body into his arms. She was cold to the touch, and her skin, almost colorless.

Riku cupped the side of her face and watched with wide eyes for any flicker of movement.

"Keiya! Keiya, wake up! Are you alright?"

He frantically shook her by the shoulders and smoothed her hair out of her face. Goosebumps had found their way onto his own skin; his body shook anxiously the more he touched and looked at her. It was a combination of regret and longing, fear and relief. But seeing the scars on her body, the countless bloodstains and bruises, invited in the cruel, mind-numbing guilt. She was battered and broken. Fingers trembling, he let his thumb stroke the side of her face. The once soft flesh was marked by a long, thin scrape of red and a wealth of dried up tears.

"Open your eyes, Keiya! What happened to you?"

His own eyes darted around the room. Puddles of blood spotted the floor; a nearby wall was cracked and crumbling; her clothes were torn and stained sanguine.

And along her arm ran long lines of crimson, stemming from one brutal gash in her wrist. Darkness leaked from the wound in the shape of a heartless insignia.

Riku's face hardened at the sight—her injuries were fresh and preventable.

"…What did they do to you?" he murmured, distraught.

The girl in his arms began to stir, and his heart gave a hopeful lurch.

"Ri…ku?"

Her eyes blinked open, cloudy at first.

"I'm here—look at me," he pleaded, tilting her face toward him.

She stared up at him dazedly, with a terrible yearning. Inside, she felt something squeezing her heart. Tears pooled in her eyes to blind her to reality, but she was content with just the feel of his arms around her. Strong and warm, he kept her protected.

"A dream…" she whispered longingly. Her eyes started to slip shut as her tear drops escaped in a stream down her face.

Heat rushed to her cheeks and throughout her body as she felt him caress the side of her face and wipe the droplets away. She relished in the forgotten feeling, imaginary or not.

"You're not dreaming—I'm here, Keiya," he stressed urgently. "I'm going to get you out of here!"

It wasn't until he shifted her back to the floor and set his jacket around her shoulders that she blinked her eyes to full consciousness. The pain was what really brought her back. It was excruciating and everywhere; it spread to her fingertips, searing and agonizing, and bent her to its submission. But despite her suffering and dizziness, she found herself jolting at the sight of him next to her.

"Riku!" her voice cracked. "How did you…?"

His eyes met hers with a sternness that startled her.

"I'm bringing you home," he stated, his hands firm on her shoulders.

His touch rendered her momentarily speechless, and she wished, despite her horror at his presence, that he would hold her tightly. Tears welled up in her eyes all over again, and she had no energy to restrain them. Weeks of working so hard to try to recover from her loss became wasted as she broke down. She needed him, and now that he was with her, she felt complete again. She had given him a part of herself, and she had been missing that part.

He gently trailed his fingers down to her wrist, where the burning stemmed from. At a cringe and a whimper, he quickly withdrew and eyed her with a tenderness she had forgotten existed.

Breathless and strained, she whispered, "You're not supposed to be here… You should have—"

Clap. Clap.

Heavy footsteps brought her thoughts to a halt.

Keiya jerked her head around instantly, her face turning sheet white and the rest of her body going rigid. Sai stood in the shadows with a callous sneer on his face. Fists clenched, eyebrows knitted together, he wasn't looking at her. His eyes seemed to shoot spears of detestation right through her, toward the man behind her.

Riku got to his feet, summoned his Keyblade, and took a defensive stance in front of her immediately. His own face wore a hard glare; his bright eyes were filled to the brim with animosity.

"Are you Sai?" he outright demanded.

Sai glowered and conjured up his own blade, one sharp and of pure darkness. His body took on a greyer hue as a thin fog encircled him and fed him its power.

With a crack in his voice, he replied through clenched teeth, "Yeah, that's me."

His body was trembling with rage and shock; he couldn't control it, nor did he want to. He glanced at Keiya's pleading, horror-stricken face, and felt nothing but disgust and betrayal. Of all the people with whom she could have come into contact, it had to have been him—the traitor who had so presumptuously almost usurped his place, who had grown so powerful in an instant only to throw it all away, whose light had fascinated her those years ago. He was more than a competitor; he was an enemy. Sai felt a murderous instinct arise within him. He had torn apart the fabric of their plans, had stolen his chance at power and captured his comrade's attention, and now he'd taken her from him completely. He couldn't erase the thoughts from his mind: her lips passionately locked with his, their fingers entwined, orange and silver hair intermingled, her small body delicately trapped beneath his…

He swung his blade of darkness threateningly, eyeing Riku with uncontained contempt. But the Keyblade knight was not intimidated. He stood his ground before her, nearly blocking her from his view. Sai could barely stand the sight of him; the light he emitted fueled his resentment to the extreme.

When Keiya moved to stand, Riku placed a hand on her shoulder and gently forced her back down. Sai's fists tightened and his blood boiled out of control.

"Get away from her!" he growled, readying his weapon and slicing it through the air. "Don't touch her!"

With a cry of exertion, Sai lunged forward and slashed at Riku. Their blades connected, and in an instant, they were engaged in a vicious battle of equal strengths.

Riku used all his force to push Sai backwards and move the struggle away from Keiya, who was clutching her wrist and watching the scene wide-eyed. The room was filled with the sound of metal on metal, loud clashes and gasps and feet sliding along the ground. It pained her to watch, but she couldn't look away. The mess they were in was her fault—she reminded herself of it over and over. Just the sight of him brought her both hope and anguish. He had risked his life coming to find her, but she had failed to protect that of his child. She had ruined everything.

If he knew, she found herself worrying, would he still want me?

Her hands shook as she followed the battle. They were moving swiftly; Riku was constantly sidestepping and dodging Sai's uncoordinated attacks, hardly getting any in of his own. She had never seen Sai fight so brashly before; he was locked up inside his emotions, acting on raw instinct and adrenaline rather than with caution. Riku, though smooth in his movements, seemed to be struggling.

If you hadn't run away, she derided herself miserably, he wouldn't have to fight right now. Everyone could have lived their lives in peace.

Their fight came to a standstill when Riku blocked an attack by his opponent and the two struggled to knock each other off balance. Darkness swept off Sai's weapon as he slid it along Riku's Keyblade, trying to shove him backward.

But he wasn't strong enough.

Bastard… I can't let him beat me!

A venomous, grudging gleam set in his eyes, and he wholeheartedly sank further into the darkness until his entire body was covered in it. His pupils shrank, his eyes changed color. He would do anything to become stronger, to beat Riku and win her back. With his new power, he succeeded in thrusting Riku aside, and the darkness he harbored latched onto the silver-haired warrior relentlessly.

Riku responded with a sharp gasp and a stagger, and Keiya jolted to get up. As soon as she got on her feet, however, she found her legs shaking and stumbled back down. Never had she felt so useless; watching him fight and get hurt, unable to aid him or convince him to leave. All she could do was cry and pray and worry, and wonder how she would tell him what had happened, and how he would react, and how much he would hate her for breaking her promise.

He's so reckless, Riku thought, shaking off the parasitic remnants of the attack and catching his breath.

His attacker was livid before him, sweat clinging to his brow, his weapon clutched tight by black gloves. He caught Sai off guard by knocking the blade out of his hands when he lunged in for another attack. The apprentice let out a hoarse curse as he stumbled back a step. Riku seized his opportunity and cornered him, pressing the dull edge of his Keyblade against the boy's chest.

"What did you do to her?" he shouted, his hair falling into his eyes, poison in his stare.

His captive scowled and struggled to slip out of his arrest, but Riku grasped his wrists and wedged his blade deeper into Sai's torso. His eyes narrowed the more he thought of what had been done to her, how sickly she'd become. He crushed Sai's wrists together vengefully, trying to get the boy to answer.

"Why did you… hurt her?"

Now seething in frustration at being caught, Sai unleashed a massive force of darkness straight from his chest and knocked an unsuspecting Riku hard onto his back. His eyes were blackening, and his skin became blanketed by the all-too-willing parasitic magic. He had power. Over this lover of hers, he had power.

"Shut up!" he hissed, hovering over his opponent menacingly. "I can't stand hearing your voice!"

Sai hurled a handful of darkness at the fallen Riku, who was forced to roll out of the way, still clutching his head. He let out a groan of pain and hastily groped around for his weapon, but his Keyblade had sailed across the floor to the other side of the room upon impact.

Keiya's hands fidgeted as she looked on. Several times she tried to stand up, but the stench of the room made her sick. She couldn't take a breath without feeling faint.

When she saw Sai raise his blade in preparation to strike, she jumped forward and let out a horrified cry.

"Riku, move!"

Sai's blade came down fast. "Arghhh!"

Without thinking, Keiya threw a hand out in front of her and created a dark barrier around Riku's body. The boy's Keyblade materialized in his hands just in time, but its need was unfulfilled. Solid darkness momentarily surrounded him like a shell. Sai's weapon was thrown to the other side of the room, and the barrier disintegrated after the attack's impact.

All was silent for a moment, then she heard a dreaded, familiar voice speak up from behind her. It was vehement, and sucked the remaining composure right out of her body.

"You again, boy?"

A chilly noise of disapproval followed, along with an almost audible scowl. With a wave of her hand, Maleficent ordered a steaming, reluctant Sai to stand down.

She taunted the intruder icily, "It would seem as though you can't keep away from the darkness."

Riku jumped from the ground in an instant. All the rage he'd had stored away, all the regret and sorrow, broke free onto his face. Bright blue eyes looked a shade darker. Silver hair was just a dull grey, with no light to reflect.

"Maleficent! What did you do to her?" he demanded, prepared to strike.

The witch gave a smug hum of amusement and proceeded toward her first apprentice. With a cold hand, she covered the girl's shoulder in a mock display of motherly affection. Her fingers subtly squeezed the flesh out of indignation, a warning to the disobedient child trembling beneath her. Keiya could only shudder.

"Nothing of your concern," was her smooth reply.

Keiya saw Riku's eyes narrow when Maleficent placed a bony hand on the top of her head. She herself was cringing, waiting for the pain.

"Get your hands off her," he ordered through clenched teeth. "I'm taking her away from here. She's not your apprentice anymore!"

"Oh, is that so?" Her tone verged on nonchalance. She dug her nails into the girl's scalp to watch Riku burn with anger. He was lacking in composure—that was to her advantage—but his body seemed weak and thirsty for additional power. He was not, as he once was, intent on fighting the darkness. If he submitted to it, she recognized, the result could be disastrous to her string of plans. She was not fool enough to underestimate him.

When Maleficent saw him get into an offensive stance, she filled the room with her sickening, flat laughter.

"You would fight me? Why risk your life for something so worthless?"

Riku glowered. He was seeing it in action, the constant ridicule that had shattered her self-esteem. This was why she didn't think she could do anything. This was why she felt inferior to everyone around her. When he saw the sorceress tighten her grip around the roots of Keiya's hair, he lunged forward and targeted the witch head on, but Sai restrained him with eager fists.

"She's not a thing, and she's not worthless!" Riku yelled, struggling with the vicious and vengeful warrior holding him back.

Maleficent gave a crooked smirk and, without warning, threw her apprentice to the ground by the roots of her hair. Keiya yelped but didn't cry; repeated abuse had taught her to detach herself from her body. What really hurt her was the humiliation. Riku was watching, fighting, wondering. He could see how little strength and will she possessed. He could see that he was wrong about her.

Riku cried out her name and grappled to be let free, but Sai's hold on him was fortified by darkness too strong. "Keiya, what are you doing? Fight back!" he urged desperately. "You're strong enough to beat her!"

"…I can't…" she whispered in a broken voice.

"Don't feed her silly ideas," the mistress dismissed lightly. "You'll just confuse her."

The Keyblade wielder went rigid with vexation. "Shut up! You talk too much! You've corrupted her, and I'm not going to let you get away with it!"

With a "humph," she raised her head in a superior manner. "Sai, I'll leave you to take care of this."

Her apprentice gave a vigorous nod. Finally, he thought to himself, he could finish this his way. This guy thought he could just barge in here and whisk her away? Well then he'll have to go through me, he vowed. Revenge would be fulfilled.

Just as Riku slipped out of his enemy's hold, Maleficent sank into a pit of darkness in the floor, taking Keiya with her. He tried to jump in after them, an arm outstretched to pull her back with him, but he couldn't make it fast enough.

"Keiya…!"

His heart sank as he watched his lover's face blur out of his view. He didn't miss the terror and the shame she displayed, the way she bit her lip and bowed her head when he looked at her. Standing there, panting, he was sorrowfully fixated on the spot where she had disappeared.

I'll get to you, I promise.

Behind him, Sai unsheathed a new weapon of darkness. Riku turned around briskly to face his adversary, whose emotions seemed to be spinning far more wildly out of control than before.

"I'm not going to let you take her…" he murmured. He steadied the blade in his hands. "She's not yours!"

~…~

Keiya couldn't help but feel a tinge of relief when Maleficent swept her out of the room. She felt childish embarrassment kneeling there, crippled on the floor, while he showed her nothing but blind loyalty, not even bringing up the promise to him that she had broken. She had failed him, and yet he still persisted in coming after her. He was at his best while she was at her worst. Seeing the disappointment mirrored on his face brought every insecurity she had ever felt up to the surface.

"Traitor!" Maleficent condemned sharply, knocking her over so hard her face nearly hit the floor. "That boy Riku? Took my help for granted; now he's a warrior of light! You have humiliated me!"

Keiya choked for air, gasping just inches from the ground, her eyes creating blurry patterns on the cool concrete floor. To her, everything had been lost. She'd given up her freedom, failed to protect her baby as a mother should, and now Riku—the only person that truly mattered to her—was fighting for his life and hers, whether or not she deserved it. He had seen how pathetically weak she was, how little she was really capable of. Regret and anguish clogged her mind. She was reprehensible. Disgraceful. The vilest creature.

"Now I must find a way to fix this problem…" Maleficent continued menacingly, patting her hands as if they were dirty from touching her. "Sai won't be able to handle him for long—he's too consumed by hatred to notice his own weaknesses. I'll have to end it myself."

A nauseating, tingling sensation rushed throughout Keiya's body when she saw Maleficent open a portal and begin slow paces to enter it. The notion tripped her mind, which had been lodged somewhere between countless regrets and unrelenting self-hatred, and set off a string of instincts. Something buried deep inside her took control, and without her realizing, she found the means to stand. Just as the witch reached her swirling corridor of darkness, Keiya eyed the portal and clenched her fist tight, sealing it off before its creator could enter.

Maleficent whipped around to look at her, baffled and annoyed.

"What do you think you're doing?" she bellowed.

Keiya felt her throat go dry at her keeper's tone, but she swallowed, shaky hands, and managed to assert, "You won't hurt him!"

The sorceress let out a deep laugh of sheer amusement and approached her trembling apprentice deliberately, step by step, making the girl fight with herself to keep still.

"It really is such a pity. Had I known that Riku was the father of your child, I might have reconsidered my choices…" She watched Keiya eagerly for a collapse back into hopelessness. She knew her apprentice well, how to tangle her emotions into knots. "After all, he surely has enough darkness in him to produce the kind of child I'm looking for. You and him could have made a child of pure darkness."

Keiya's eyes narrowed. She tried to put defenses around her heart, but it was futile; Maleficent knew how to make her words sink past all the confidence and strength she tried to assume.

Her mistress let out a dramatic sigh. "If only you had told me just who you had met on the outside. Then you could have avoided this heavy situation…" When she saw her pupil strive to keep her face blank, she added slyly, "I wonder… what Riku would think, if he knew what you've done."

Keiya shook her head, her muscles tight. "I-I didn't do anything wrong," she said quietly, hoping to convince herself.

"He would certainly be disgusted."

"No… He just…"

She was striking all the right points. "In fact, I'm amazed you even have the nerve to look at him."

It's my fault… I know it is…

Maleficent strode away from her, confident the girl was far gone in her self-inflicted guilt.

"And to think he came all this way to find you, ignorant of your murder—"

Keiya snapped out of her entrancement with a hard scowl.

"That was all you!" she shouted.

"Don't worry, child. I won't tell him about your shortcomings," she taunted. "I'll keep his blissful delusions still intact until the very end."

While Maleficent was gracefully striding toward a newly opened portal, Keiya was overflowing with anger. It manifested itself as a dark haze around her body, tremulous breaths, violent convulsions as she threw her arm out again. This time, darkness shot forth from her hand. She felt it propel through her skin, from inside her bones and blood, and aimed it directly at the unsuspecting enchantress just yards away.

It twisted and churned around the witch's rigid, pale body, wringing from her a horrible gasp. Keiya stared in a wide-eyed stupor. Her power was still flowing, still breathing around her mistress's now weakened and cramped form. She had never seen her in pain or anything but collected; now here she was reduced to a choking, voiceless victim. It both terrified and enthralled her, but when a flash of fearful uncertainty hit her, Keiya compulsively released the magic and took a stumbling step backward.

Maleficent was bent over, panting, clutching her staff with her sharp, bony hands. Her expression was uncharacteristically flustered and grave. It took a dreadfully long moment before she summoned the composure to turn to her treacherous apprentice. Her face was no longer smug; it was furious. Hard, resentful eyes bore into the girl with daggers of repulsion and a thirst for vengeance. Keiya swallowed hard and again stumbled backward. Darkness began flowing faster through her body in higher torrents, as if waiting to be called upon; and her adrenaline-clouded subconscious seemed intent on using it.

"How dare you!"

Before Maleficent could even budge to approach her, Keiya attacked again with a burst of dark fire. This, the sorceress was able to block, and she gathered herself quickly to retaliate. Her staff had started glowing. Before Keiya could react, a stream of green magic hit her dead in the chest, crippling her against the wall.

"You're foolish if you think you can beat me—I gave you all your power. You owe everything to me!"

When the rebel looked up, Maleficent was only a mere six inches from her, her face and voice both twisted in rage. Keiya's fingertips went numb with terror when the full weight of her actions sank in—she had committed high treason, had absolutely defied her superior and used dark powers against her. Her punishment would be fatal; she couldn't take it back. But somewhere, deep beneath the apprehension and the second guessing, she felt liberated. Her mind was lighter, and her eyes, wide open. Maleficent's howl of fury as she prepared magic at the tip of her staff didn't alarm her; almost without her conscious command, Keiya's hands were filling with darkness. The feel was different, but she remembered it from the out-of-control occasions in the past. It was her own darkness.

Then she began fighting back.

With a wave of her hand, she could toss Maleficent's spells to the side. She could penetrate through barriers with her darkness. Her eyes were hawk-like in their aim. She bombarded the green-skinned woman with blast after blast of black, dense magic, until she had her mentor backed into a corner. Keiya's face glowed with an indestructible passion. The more she thought of the beatings and suffocations—thirteen years of abuse, the slow corruption of her mind and Sai's, the murder of her unborn child, and the endangerment of her lover just one floor below, the greater her need for vengeance grew, and even stronger grew her darkness. Caught in the moment, she could no longer remember how it felt to be tied to the ground. She was high in the air, floating on the newfound freedom of her power. Maybe Riku was right. Maybe she could end this.

Maleficent's frustration was evident, but her fear was buried deep. She refused to panic, but it didn't take long for her to realize the battle wasn't in her favor. Her ungrateful pupil's ability had grown to its full potential—the same potential she'd seen those years ago in the girl who chose fight over flight, whose spirit was strong enough to handle the darkness Maleficent needed her to harbor. But it was out of her control now. The girl's confidence had broken past the seal of insecurity the sorceress had spent years building and reinforcing. With a sneer, she tried once again to knock her off her feet. But it was useless; Keiya retaliated with a cry and a heavy burst of magic that hit her target dead center.

Maleficent refused to sink into enough darkness to defeat her apprentice. She could lose her heart, and she was not willing to take that risk. Instead, she would wait. The young heart in front of her was not all that much stronger, and wouldn't hold out either, she was sure.

I'll eliminate her once she's weak enough, thought the witch loathsomely. And until then…

Suddenly, with a smirk and a loud crack, Maleficent slammed her staff onto the stone floor, and the room began to shake. Heartless began pouring out of the walls, taking the structure of the room down with their claws. Rubble fell from the ceiling. The rock beneath their feet was splitting.

Keiya's attention was momentarily diverted.

"What's…?" Her voice was breathy, and her eyes, instantly not as sharp.

"You're not as powerful as you think," the menacing voice came. "Now you will bring everyone down with you—Sai, Riku, and his friends who have just arrived to help him."

Keiya was frozen in her spot for a moment, mid-attack, face drained. The consequences were building up just like she'd feared they would, and Riku was in even more danger now, with the castle falling apart around them, and his friends would be hurt too, and he still didn't know how much she cared about him, she wished she could tell him one more time, how much she cared about him…

When a large piece of stone fell near her face, she snapped out of her worries and met Maleficent's wicked frown with a glare of her own. Rearming herself with a blanket of darkness and icy determination, she stood her ground.

"You still wish to fight? How selfish…" the woman condemned cunningly.

"Stop it! Riku's right—you do talk too much!" Keiya asserted with a grimace.

Maleficent gave a confident laugh and continued her act of nonchalance. "Love has turned you into a fool. You're becoming weaker by the second. I have no further use for you," she admonished. After bringing her sleeves back, she whipped her staff around. Another quake overtook the castle, causing Keiya to fall over and cover her eyes to the dust.

Maleficent then seized her chance: she retreated in a black portal to wait. She would be patient until the opportune moment, and exterminate her dangerous apprentice while she was still down.

Amidst the slabs of concrete raining down, she failed to notice the fiery girl push herself off the ground and lunge into the portal after her. This isn't over, Keiya thought decidedly. I need to win!

~…~

The Keyblade knight was hesitant to admit to weakness, but it became clear very quickly that his enemy was too unstable, too unpredictable to fight empty-handed. He was becoming more ruthless by the minute, using darkness to his advantage, while Riku was concentrating on taking him out fair and clean.

After dodging another one of Sai's dirty attacks, Riku got to his feet and jumped away to the other side of the room. He watched the boy for a minute, eyed the way his chest heaved with lividness and his skin seemed to breathe darkness from its pores.

"Coward!" Sai accused haughtily. "Come over here and fight!"

Riku consciously withheld his comeback and stared in contemplation.

This will get me nowhere, he recognized mournfully. He thought of Keiya, how she was probably struggling with Maleficent's cruel words, absorbing them like a sponge. She was hurt already; he couldn't imagine what a wreck she would be when the witch was through with her. His eyes narrowed on the steaming figure in front of him. I don't have time to waste!

Then he let his Keyblade dissipate away and shot Sai one last glare.

I promised I'd save her no matter what. I'll do whatever it takes.

The impatient voice taunted, "I don't know what she sees in you—you're weak! There's nothing special about you!"

In truth, his words stemmed from his fear. He didn't know anything about her relationship with him, but he didn't feel like he was enough to compete. In the back of his mind, the thought haunted him: even if he destroyed her lover limb from limb, he won't have won. He would lose no matter what, and he rebelled against the fact that was eating him alive.

Discreetly, Riku summoned his old weapon—his Souleater—the one that thrived on darkness alone. Just the feel of it in his hands sent the dark sparks in his body racing. It was magnetic; the magic flowed excitedly as if it knew what to do on its own.

"You want a fight?" he murmured bitterly, feeling the darkness take up residence in his veins. His eyes subtly began to change. "Don't worry. I'll give you one."

All at once, Riku tore down the walls that had been encasing his heart, and it broke into his body: every last ounce of darkness he had been holding back, everything he had resolved not to allow to the surface. An explosion of black and purple momentarily surrounded him, and when it cleared, he was glowing with the darkness's strength. He would use it again—he didn't care. If it was the only way to get to her, it was worth it. To continue the fight blindly, in denial of the power at his disposal, would just be selfish and foolish.

In an instant, he was in front of Sai. The boy's eyes went wide and he had no time to recover before Riku slashed at him, landing a brutal hit. He staggered backward and desperately began waving his own weapon around, trying to catch Riku, who, with the darkness's help, was moving around him at light speed.

"Argh! Stop running!" he chastised, clutching his throbbing chest.

Riku continued bombarding him from all sides. Once he was through here, he thought, he could track down Keiya and Maleficent. His mind was like a clock, ticking down the seconds. How much longer did he have before things got out of hand? How badly was she hurt? Was she still kneeling on a floor, bleeding and listening to powerful insults that turned her shivering skin inside-out?

Darkness streamed off Riku's swiftly moving body, creating a blur around him that made it difficult for Sai to see past. It took the apprentice a minute before he could rise to meet this challenge head on. Without a second thought, Sai gave the darkness another inch of control, tempered its power with his hatred. At the next swing, he caught Riku's blade with his own and pushed the warrior back with a snarl.

They eyed each other for a moment. Both were out of breath and reeking of dark magic, but only Riku seemed to maintain his composure. Sai couldn't stop seething—equality wasn't enough for him. He had to be better. He had to be stronger.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get any words out, a low rumbling noise cut him off, and the castle began to tremble. Both boys halted in their battle to glance around the room. Then, in a surreal brigade, the heartless tore out of portals and up from the ground. They began to claw, slash, and rip the fortress apart. Crumbling rock rained down on them, small fires broke out across the room. The structure shook violently as if overtaken by a continuous earthquake, throwing the duo off balance.

"What's going on?" Riku demanded over the roar of the chaos. Heartless were attacking the very foundation of the castle, going after the walls and pillars that held it together. He darted to ward them off before they could bring down the building, but Sai, with eyes glistening with anger, leapt after him and struck him across the back.

"Ahh!"

Riku collapsed to the ground. White heat shot through his body, but within a moment, the darkness rose to numb the pain. His attacker wasn't fazed by the restless destruction or his cheap hit; he only wanted to fight. It was madness, Riku thought, and he hurried to get up before his enemy could strike again.

"Are you crazy? The whole place is falling apart!"

"Shut up and fight, unless you're afraid you'll lose!" Sai retorted, slicing his blade through the air.

Riku attempted to sneak through an opening, to make a run for the stairs, but Sai slid quickly across the floor to meet him and beat him back. He can't see her, was what ran through his mind. I can't let him get to her!

"Keiya is still up there—I need to get her out of here! I'll fight you later," he pleaded in disgust, a sharp glare on his face.

"You don't need to worry about her," Sai assured him smugly.

Before Riku could get his next word out, a loud crash came from above them, and part of the ceiling began falling in chunks. At the same time, through a side wall blasted the gummi ship in all its laser glory. It began terminating the heartless immediately, causing some damage, but killing the monsters. Riku eyed the scene, beyond shock, but also beyond grateful.

Sora hopped out of the ship first, followed by some of the others, all of them jumping into action.

"We've got your back!" the spiky-haired boy called out.

Riku nodded and turned his attention back to a now silent opponent, who was glancing at the others in livid repulsion and mild insecurity. But when his gaze fell back on Riku, he was glowing in more determination than ever.

"You still won't win," he asserted dryly, scoffing at the growing confidence in his enemy. Then the darkness in him began to move. It swirled around him, pulsing with his breaths, growing each passing second. Riku watched warily, his Souleater poised to attack. But before he could react, the darkness exploded into a leeching creature around the boy, exactly what had plagued Keiya night after night. It fed off his anger and supplied insurmountable power.

Then, in a roar of wind, the darkness gripped Riku around the torso, trying to pull him in. He let out a gasp and struggled with the beast, but was hardly able to combat it alone. It had him in a tight hold. Part of it slithered up to his throat, and all of a sudden, he couldn't breathe.

"You're nothing!" Sai cried. His eyes had turned completely black. "She doesn't belong to you!"

~…~

Author's Note: Ta-da! First update from the college dorm :D Apologies for the extremely long wait on this one. I'll try to do one update a month, as usual.

I'm a bit unsure about the dialogues between Sai and Riku, and Riku and Maleficent. In my head I didn't feel like there would be a whole lot of talking, but I did try to add some more so that the scenes weren't all fighting. I can't write fight scenes -.- Please let me know how those came out, too!
And for Keiya, I hope that whole thing was enjoyable (I'm glad for a change.)

Thank you for reading and please review! I'm extremely eager for feedback!