…Soooo…yeah it's been awhile…considering that I started working on this chapter in June…but I guess better late than never! I was really busy with work, taking care of a house and a new puppy that I never really got around to working on this. It's tough getting older. Hopefully my updates will be less sporadic now that things have settled down in my life.

When we last left off, Sora had split from Roxas and Yamato, and Ankoku had discovered a door that led home for Sora and Roxas. What is gonna happen? Gotta read to find out. Nearing the home stretch here with only 5 chapters more to go!

Yamato and Ankoku are mine, the rest are owned by Disney and Square-Enix.

Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Alone

The waves crashed down on Destiny Island's beach. There was a slight chill in the air as a lone couple made their way across the beach with their hands entwined. As a gust of wind ripped past them, the two lovers pulled closer to each other; their long hair waving in the breeze. The auburn-haired girl shivered as another gust roared past, and another foam filled wave smashed against the beach. The silver-haired male that she was attached at the hip to gave a smile and pulled her even closer. The two walked with the moon slowly beginning to peek out of several clouds, illuminating their path.

"It's been a rough year Riku…" The female addressed her beau.

Riku took his thumb and caressed the back of his partner's hand.

"I know Kai…" Riku said softly.

"Sora has been gone for so long…and that hurt for awhile." Kairi started.

"Then Naminé left…" Riku chimed in.

"The fact that we haven't seen any of our friends for a while…" Kairi tossed out.

"And then Sora's parents passed away in that house fire…" Riku said sadly.

"It's just been one thing after another…" Kairi said.

"Not the greatest year I must say…but there was one thing that helped me cope…you." Riku stated.

Kairi stopped and pulled him close. The two lovers kissed passionately against the backdrop of the moon. They pulled apart and gazed into each others eyes. Kairi smiled and played with Riku's hair.

"Our love is what kept me going too." She said softly.

"I was surprised…I thought you and Sora were destined to be a couple…" Riku stated.

Kairi thought about his statement as she continued to play with his hair.

"Don't get me wrong…I still love Sora…but he was always so unresponsive every time I brought us up as a couple…and then once he was gone…I just got sick of pining for him and started to realize that he was more of a brother than he was a lover." Kairi explained, gently fingering his hair.

"Then there was the fact that you were always there for me…and I slowly became drawn to you…" She said, pulling closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder.

"All of this seemed to culminate at my graduation party…" Kairi looked up into the eyes of Riku and smiled.

"For the longest time I never knew that I could ever feel anything but friendship with you…but when we danced at my graduation party…everything fell into place. She said, as she pulled him close.

"I love you Riku." She said with a smile.

"I love you too Kairi." Riku said, smiling back.

The two engaged in a passionate kiss. The waves crashed off in the distance as the two lovers pulled away gasping for air. The two looked at each other with loving grins as the wind picked up a little.

"You know…it sounds awful…but it's almost a good thing that Sora got sucked in…at least now we were able to find each other." Riku stated.

"I know…I felt that way too…" Kairi said with a smile.

The two pulled in for another kiss as the wind began to pick up even more. The air seemed to grow colder, and the two had to cling on to each other to support themselves. They still continued to kiss despite all this, and neither of them noticed the figure approaching them from the shadows. Riku heard the footsteps and pushed Kairi off and whirled around, Keyblade at the ready. He stared as the figure moved closer, but couldn't really make him out in the darkness. As the figure came closer into view Riku could see that the figure was wearing a robe similar to that of Organization XIII members.

"Who are you!?" Riku snarled at the intruder.

The figure said nothing, but drew a Keyblade which caused Riku to take a step back. As he analyzed the figure's hooded face, he could sort of make out a glimpse of brown hair. Riku's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"S…Sora?" Riku said with bewilderment.

Kairi peeked out from behind Riku's arm.

"Sora? Is that you?" She asked the figure.

The figure said nothing, but merely cast his gaze back from Kairi to Riku. He continued to do this, which caused Riku to worry a bit, especially since the figure kept clutching the Keyblade.

"Sora is that you? Why aren't you answering?" Riku said, clutching his Keyblade; ready for every sudden move.

"Sora" remained silent not saying anything, still glancing back and forth between the two lovers, with wild, shifting eyes. Kairi began to get an uneasy feeling as well at the way this person was acting.

"Sora? Are you all right?" Kairi asked.

The figure continued to look back and forth between the two, so much that Riku began to sweat a bit.

"Sora…I'm sorry…you were gone…and we love each other…" Riku stammered.

The figure stopped shifting his head and seemingly focused on Riku's words. For a second it seemed that his head drooped, and the Keyblade seemed to lower. Riku looked disheartened. He hadn't intended to hurt Sora, and his heart went out to his friend.

"I'm sorry buddy..." Riku stated as he recalled his blade and took a step towards his friend.

Riku placed a gentle hand on the figure's shoulder. The figure looked at Riku's hand, before gazing back down at the ground.

"I'm sorry…but she chose me Sora…I know it's hard…and I know that you love her…but she doesn't feel that way about you." Riku said gently.

The figure seemed to droop even more, and Riku's heart was almost about to burst.

"I'm really sorry Sora…but…you're just like a brother to her." He said.

The figure's head seemed to drop further towards the ground. Riku felt terrible, and went to comfort his friend with a hug. Just as he was about to; he was cut off by a quick thrust from the figure's Keyblade piercing through Riku's chest. Kairi let out a blood-curdling scream as Riku fell to his knees. Riku coughed up some blood and stared up at his assailant with wide eyes. The person said nothing, and ignored Kairi's cries of anguish. He pulled his blade out and Riku fell face first into the sand, motionless and not breathing.

"WHY!!!???" Kairi screamed as she raced up and slapped her lover's killer hard across the face.

The figure turned his attention to her as he began to stalk her methodically. Kairi continued to back up, as he came closer and closer. She drew her blade but he was quick to knock it out of her hands. He continued to stalk her as she backed up, before tripping over her feet. She looked up at her stalker as he towered over her.

"Why!!?? I loved him!!" She cried as tears streamed down her face.

The figure said nothing; merely gazed at Kairi with curiosity.

"You're not Sora! The Sora I knew and loved would never do something so heinous as this!" Kairi screamed.

The figure paused for a moment; seemingly contemplating what she had said. The figure recalled his Keyblade and slowly removed his hood. Kairi sat and stared with her mouth agape and her eyes as big as saucers. Sora stood before her, but hardly the Sora that she had remembered. His face was white and covered with scars. His eyes, once a cool ocean blue, were now a deep, blood red.

"Sora…your…face…" Kairi said, horrified.

"The Sora you knew…is dead…" Sora said, in a beast-like voice.

"I…loved…you….and…you love…HIM…" Sora sputtered out in an almost beastly voice.

"I could never love you! YOU'RE A MONSTER!!!" Kairi screamed at him.

With that statement he raised his Keyblade high above his head and a wild eyed look on his face. Kairi's face went from one of anger to one of pure fear.

"If I can't have you…then no one will!!!" Sora roared in a demonic sounding voice.

He brought the Keyblade down as Kairi screamed Riku's name. He caught her with piercing blow across her chest. Blood shot up and splattered across Sora's face. Sora gazed at his former love with a psychotic look on his face. He raised his Keyblade once more for a finishing blow. The Keyblade was brought down with tremendous force, and more blood splattered on to Sora's face.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Sora screamed as he jerked himself up into a sitting position.

He looked around at his surroundings; but saw nothing but tall grass and the moon perched in the sky. He rubbed his arms, trying to get some feeling back into them. He was panting very heavily, trying to forget the nightmare. He looked down and saw that his undershirt was now soaked with sweat, as well as the rest of his body. Sora slowly got to his feet and grabbed his vest. He quickly threw it on, shook himself out of his shock, and quickly started walking away; his goal to find the next access point.

It had been a few days since Sora had separated from Roxas and Yamato. He had continued to pursue every access point that he could find in his never-ending quest to get back home. He was determined, almost possessed, about finding his way back home to Kairi. He had been able to make his way across several different planes and was now working his way through the Pridelands. Occasionally he had a passing thought about his comrades that he had left behind, but his yearning desire to see Kairi again was able to override any passing thoughts about them. Every time that he had tried to sleep however, he was haunted by the vision of Riku and Kairi together and then his vicious murder of them. He tried to shake the idea that this was really happening or some glimpse of the future; but ever since Yamato informed him about the visions that he had…he just wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't anymore.

Sora continued to trek across the vast plains of the Pridelands in search of the elusive access point. He also noticed that unlike his previous visits to the Pridelands, he had not transformed into a lion cub. Sora didn't really concern himself with that, as he just took it as one of the few positives that he had experienced since coming to the dark realm. His sole goal remained finding the access point. He made his way over to the jungle area and searched high and low for the access point, but couldn't locate it. He started to walk over toward the one area that he hadn't checked yet; the Elephant Graveyard. On his way, his thoughts turned from access points to Roxas and Yamato and what they were doing now. Were they still trying to find access points? Or were they in some sort of trouble?

"No…I can't think like that…I need to press on…" Sora thought to himself, pushing the thoughts about them from his mind as he entered the Elephant Graveyard.

In another plane:

Yamato was sitting quietly on a rock as a small campfire softly glowed in front of him. The terrible downfall of his people and those he loved still rocked him to his very core. He had been unable to get a good night's sleep for the past few days, as visions of his dying people kept haunting his dreams. He had been able to find access points, but he really wasn't sure where he was at this point. Still it didn't matter he was too lost in his thoughts and depression to really care. Little did he know that someone was watching him from the bushes, and was inching closer to where Yamato was sitting.

"Yamato?" The figure called out.

Yamato broke his trance and whirled around. He called his Keyblade, but quickly called it back once he saw that it was only Roxas. He sat back down as Roxas floated over to where he was sitting. Yamato didn't look up at the blonde-haired teenager.

"What are you doing here?" Yamato said bluntly. "Shouldn't you be with Sora?"

Roxas shook his head.

"Almost immediately after you left he flipped out on me. I told him to calm down, and went away for a bit. However when I went back there he had left. I searched the entire area but he was gone. My best guess is that he took off to the next plane, so I followed him into the next access point." Roxas explained.

"Hmph…" Yamato grunted.

"So what's your story? Why are you following Sora?" Roxas asked.

"I'm trying to get home…" Yamato said turning away.

"…By going the same way that Sora did?" Roxas asked, slightly confused.

"I didn't know that I was…had I known I would have gone the other way." Yamato said.

Roxas sighed.

"Are you still mad about that?" He asked.

"About what?" Yamato said with sarcasm. "The fact that he completely lied to me about the entire fate of my people?"

"You know that he only did that so you didn't get hurt." Roxas said.

"And that makes it okay!?" Yamato roared causing Roxas to back up.

"You're talking about my people! My home! My…my wife!! Everything that I ever loved is now gone…and he LIED!!!" Yamato roared.

"I know…it wasn't right…" Roxas muttered as he looked at the anger in Yamato's eyes. The rage seemed to stall Roxas's statement, but he was able to muster up the courage to finish.

"…and I'm sure that Sora knows that as well." Roxas said. "But right now he's out there alone against a beefed up Ankoku and any army of darkness that he has at his disposal…and he may need help…" Roxas stated.

Yamato's face remained stoic and a mask of rage. He looked at Roxas, as if the words hadn't even registered in his mind. Yamato and Roxas gazed at each other, with Roxas looking for any sign that his words were getting through to Yamato. Yamato finally broke the silence by letting out a grunt, and took his place back down by the fire. He said nothing to Roxas, who didn't move an inch. His mouth was slightly agape stunned at Yamato's actions.

"Sora has made his bed…and now the Keyblade master will have to lie in it." Yamato said gruffly.

Roxas floated there, still in awe. Suddenly, a slow simmering anger began to build up in Roxas as he watched Yamato sit there with no care about Sora.

"So that's it huh? You're gonna just sit there and give Sora to the wolves!?" Roxas fired out in a voice that seemed to be turning almost primal. Yamato stopped tending to his fire, and sat in silence as Roxas continued with his rant.

"You know…Sora may have made a mistake in not telling you about Animus…but for you to just leave him to die is despicable!!" Roxas roared.

"After all wasn't it Sora who's been trying to battle his way back to our world…not just for him but for you as well?!" Roxas pointed out.

Yamato just sat there taking this abuse from Roxas, not saying anything to dispute these facts. Roxas looked at this, and realized that nothing he said was going to change Yamato's mind. Roxas turned and began to float back from whence he came. Just before he re-entered the forest he turned back towards Yamato.

"To think that we actually looked up to you is laughable…as far as I'm concerned…you don't deserve to wield that Keyblade…" Roxas said, and went through the trees.

Yamato stopped tending the fire, and simply gazed at the burning flame flickering against the night sky; pondering the many thoughts that he had going on in his head. He suddenly went from a pensive state to one of fury and rage as he took his Keyblade and flung it as hard as he could into a nearby tree. He stood up, kicked some dirt over the fire; then grabbed his blade and walked off in the opposite direction of Roxas.

Back in the Elephant Graveyard:

Sora continued to trek across the Elephant Graveyard looking for the access point. He couldn't find anything amidst the bones and rubble and was about to give up. He passed a giant elephant skull, and was stunned to see a green glow emitting from one of the empty eye sockets.

"There it is!" Sora said with glee.

He climbed up one of the giant tusks of the hollowed out skull, and climbed up to the eye socket. He peered inside, but something didn't seem quite right. There was still the green glow, but there was no sign of an access point. Something seemed to go off in Sora's brain.

"Wait a minute…this isn't…" Sora said before a green blast shot out of the eye, sending him sprawling backwards.

Sora slammed hard into a pile of bones and rubble. He groaned as he slowly got back to his feet.

"What the hell?" Sora groaned as he looked up at the now brightly glowing eye socket.

Sora then watched a salamander-like creature slither out of the eye. It was a dark-skinned creature with glowing green spots on its body. Its skin had almost a leathery appearance. Dangling from its head was an antenna with a glowing green orb on it, much like one would see on an angler fish. The creature stared at Sora with glowing green eyes. It raised its head and let out a roar. Sora was able to spot a heartless symbol on the beast's chest.

"One of Ankoku's no doubt…" Sora said as he drew his Keyblade.

The creature started firing off blasts from its antenna, but Sora was able to narrowly dodge them. He went in and slashed at the creature with his Keyblade. He caught the beast in the chest, causing the creature to scream in pain. Sora continued his assault on the creature, dodging the periodic blasts of energy that the beast fired at him. Sora was handling himself well until his vision suddenly went out, allowing the heartless to slash him with its claws and then attack him with its beam. Sora was hit with a blast, stunning him, and allowing the creature to score a few swipes with it's claws. One cut was really deep into Sora's gut. While this caused him pain, it also brought back his sight. Sora's sight came back right as the beast hit him with his tail; knocking Sora down to the ground. Sora was quick to scramble back to his feet, but his abdomen screamed in agony. He quickly cast a Curaga spell on himself, which closed his wounds.

The beast let out another roar and shot another beam at Sora. Sora quickly dodged that beam, and worked his way around the beast. The beast whirled around, attempting to take out Sora again with its tail. Sora leapt on to the tail and ran up the back of the beast. The beast roared and tried to shake him off but Sora brought his Keyblade down on the spine of the heartless. The heartless let out a primal scream and thrashed around, desperately trying to knock Sora off. Sora took his blade out of the beast's back and ran up the beast's back until he reached the head. He quickly shoved the blade into the skull of the beast. The beast let out one final roar, and then fell to the ground. It's carcass broke down into a black ooze.

Sora let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly began to feel very weird, as if something was churning around inside his stomach and moving around the rest of his body. Sora tried to shake it off, and after a bit he felt normal again. He called back his Keyblade and started searching for the access point. Sora didn't get very far as his symptoms started to flare up again. Sharp pains, like small needles, began to attack random points on his body. Sora's eyesight began to fade in and out and he screamed in pain as he fell to his knees. Slowly the pain subsided and Sora slowly staggered to his feet. He took heaving breaths as sweat poured down his face.

"Have I been infected?" Sora wondered to himself as his face contorted as another round of pain shot through his body.

Sora cast another Curaga spell on himself, which served to help relieve some of his symptoms, at least to the point that he could at least get back to his feet. He winced again at the pain that coursed through his body, but slowly continued his search. He made his way deeper into the graveyard, periodically using Curaga to temporarily heal his wounds. He pushed deeper and deeper into the Graveyard, until he finally found the access point, sitting in the center of an enormous ribcage. Sora was hesitant to approach the glowing green orb, checking to make sure there were no heartless that were going to attack him as soon as he approached it. Once he made sure that there was nothing to be worried about, he slowly made his way up to the orb. He reached out to touch the access point, but he pulled back at the last second. His mind, which to this point had been solely focused on finding the access point, suddenly drifted back to his comrades that were left behind. He started to regret his selfish decision to leave them in pursuit of his own desire to get back home. While he desperately wanted to see Kairi, he realized that Roxas wanted to see Naminé just as badly. He started to realize that he had not only been disgraceful to his friends, but he was disgracing the name of the Keyblade master, something that he had worked so hard to make mean something.

"I need to go back for them…" Sora said to himself, as he began to turn around.

Sora walked a few yards, before he began to feel something pulling him back. He turned back and saw that the access point was forming a vacuum and pulling him towards it! Sora began to run hard in the opposite direction, but the orb's suction power seemed to grow stronger. Sora began to feel himself being pulled back into the orb. He drew his Keyblade and drove it hard into the ground as added support. Sora dug in deep and held on with all his strength. Large pieces of bones were getting sucked into the access point, but Sora was still holding on for dear life. Suddenly the sharp pain flared up again in the bowels of his stomach. Sora fought for his life to hold on but the pain was becoming too excruciating for him to handle. Sora was so busy concentrating on the pain ripping his body up, that he failed to notice a large bone heading his way. The bone caught Sora in the chest, sending him sprawling into the access point, leaving the Keyblade stuck in the ground. Sora tried to fight the pull but it was no use, and the world went black around him. Sora felt like he was getting ripped in two from the combination of the pull from the orb as well as the pain in his body. He was violently ripped through the portal, until he came flying out the other end, hitting the ground with significant force. Sora's body skidded on the ground until it slammed awkwardly into a large tree.

"UGH!!!" Sora cried out as his pain-ridden body t-boned around the tree.

Sora lay on the ground in agony as he tried to raise his hand to cast Curaga on himself. After a few tries, he was finally able to get the spell off. As the pain slowly subsided, Sora was able to get to his feet. Sora felt his body, and was surprised to feel some pain and some cuts, as if the Curaga hadn't healed everything.

"Odd…" Sora thought to himself.

Sora turned away from that and tried to focus on his surroundings. He stared around, and as his senses slowly returned to him, his mouth gaped in horror as he realized where he was. The surroundings looked similar to other places, but it was the small hut off in the distance that caused Sora to slump to his knees. It was Yamato's.

"No…it can't be…" Sora moaned, realizing that his great journey had just sent them in one gigantic circle.

"But it is young Keyblade Master!" A voice called out from above him.

Sora tilted his head and looked around before his eyes settled on a figure that was perched high on one of the large tree branches. He recognized him instantly as the man that had been antagonizing him for the past six months. Ankoku smiled sickly back at Sora.

"I told you that you would never escape this prison of darkness!" Ankoku roared triumphantly. "And now you find yourself right back to where you started!"

Sora looked around dejected. All the work and hardships that he had endured over the last two months had been for nothing. All his hopes and dreams of seeing his friends…his family…Kairi…were all dashed away in a matter of seconds. Ankoku saw the sadness and hurt in Sora's face and he relished this.

"The sadness on your face is intoxicating Sora." Ankoku said with tremendous glee.

Ankoku raised his hands, focusing his energy towards the ground. Numerous heartless sprang out of the ground, and began to slowly stalk Sora. Sora was despondent, but stood up to fight off the heartless. As he rose to his feet however, some of the dull pain scattered around the insides of his body started to throb. Sora winced as the pain hit at different intervals in his body. Ankoku noticed this, and his smile grew wider. He quickly raised his hand and gave it a wave. Just like that all the heartless were instantly vaporized. Ankoku slowly floated down from his perch on the tree. He conjured up his blade made of the black ooze and stood at a ready stance.

"Rather than having my drones do it…I think I will take the perfect satisfaction…in bringing about your downfall!" Ankoku sneered.

Sora said nothing. He raised his hand and called forth his Keyblade…but nothing happened. Sora looked frantically at his hand, calling and calling for his blade, but still nothing. Sora slowly started to realize that his Keyblade hadn't followed him into this plane. Ankoku snickered at Sora's predicament.

"What's the matter boy? No weapon?" Ankoku asked, already knowing full well what the answer was.

Ankoku hovered over to a nearby tree. He took his blade and hacked off a large branch. The branch fell to the ground with a loud thud. Ankoku hovered down, and used his powers to conjure up three Arabian knight heartless. The heartless used their blades to mold the large branch into a smaller wooden Keyblade. Ankoku then took out the heartless with one single slash from his blade. He then kicked the worthless blade over to Sora.

"There! Now it's an even fight!" Ankoku sneered.

Sora looked at the blade glumly, and then back to the sneering Ankoku.

"Come on Sora! Put up your dukes!" Ankoku said mockingly.

Sora walked over to the blade, not taking his eyes off Ankoku, and slowly bent down to pick up his weapon. Sora took a defensive stance, preparing for Ankoku's onslaught. Ankoku laughed at this, waving his blade back and forth. Without warning he launched himself at Sora. Sora was barely able to dodge the swipe that Ankoku took, but Ankoku quickly was able to take the hilt of his blade and jam it into Sora's ribs. While it wasn't a really forceful blow, the pain that was still racing through Sora's body caused the pain to be so great that Sora dropped to one knee. Rather than take advantage of the situation, Ankoku merely walked away, and assumed a fighting stance; waiting for Sora to get back to his feet. Slowly but surely Sora got back to his feet; but it was obvious that he was in tremendous pain. Combined with him not having the Keyblade and his mental state, the match up clearly favored Ankoku, which was not lost on the combatants. Sora still adopted a defensive stance, which caused Ankoku to grin sadistically.

"Welcome to your worst nightmare Sora!" Ankoku said, oozing with confidence.

End of Chapter 11

There is chapter 11! Hope you enjoyed it and I will get Chapter 12 up to you as quickly as possible!

Peace!