Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.27 Darkness
While Sora, Donald, Goofy and I were trying to find Riku, he was standing with Maleficent in the sixth chamber inside Monstro. "Why do you care about Dexal or that boy? They have all but deserted you for the Keyblade and those new companions," Maleficent said. Riku scoffed. "I don't care about them. I was just messing with them a little," he declared. "Oh really? Of course you were," Maleficent replied, which earned her another scoff. "Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it," she warned him. "Mind your own business," Riku replied. To this Maleficent said nothing. She merely opened a portal to darkness and went through, the portal disappearing behind her.
Just then we ran in, and Sora said "Riku! What's the matter with you?" "What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?" I asked sternly. "I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora, Dexal. The two of you only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you guys even want to save Kairi?" Riku asked. I was surprised at his rudeness; when did Riku become so hostile? As for Sora, he bowed his head and said "I do." Riku snorted and turned around, running ahead. "Come on, fellas! We gotta follow him!" Goofy said. That managed to snap Sora out of it, and we ran forward. Just in the next room we found that Riku had stopped, and in his hand was a sword shaped like a bat's wing.
I was about to ask why he had stopped when we heard Pinocchio call "Help!" and looked forward. He was trapped in the jaws of a Heartless, and I grimaced at precisely which one it was. A Parasite Cage. "You up for this?" Riku asked. I smiled and summoned my Stormfell, while Sora held his Three Wishes and moved into a battle stance. "Let's do it!" Sora said, and I nodded in agreement. Riku grunted and smiled, and as one we all charged. The Parasite Cage hissed and swung its long arm at us, and I had to drop to the ground to avoid the hit. Donald wasn't so lucky, and was hit in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him. "Donald!" I said, and I prepared to cast Cure when he waved my hand away.
"Don't worry about me! Just focus on that thing!" he said. I was prepared to argue that he needed help, but then he pulled out a Hi-Potion and I nodded, turning back to the Heartless. Sora and Riku were managing to keep the beast distracted, each of them attacking it from a different side. Riku jumped up and swung down, delivering a massive overhead blow. "Take that!" he called, and he scored a long cut down the Cage's left side. "Get me out of here!" Pinocchio yelled, and Sora said "Just hold on!" With that he cast Gravity, a spell he had gotten in the Phil Cup, and the Parasite Cage literally condensed in size a few inches before I returned to normal, issuing a groan of pain.
While it was distracted I ran forward, and I called "Brutal Blast!" before stopping and swinging my Keyblade around in a spinning attack with all my might. The end of it hit the teeth of the Cage's larger mouth, and there was a distinct crunch as a couple of the bones in it snapped. "That'll teach you!" I said, before I moved them aside and reached to Pinocchio. "Pinocchio! Grab my hand!" I said. He hesitated for just a moment before reaching out to me, and in that second the Parasite Cage roared. Apparently it wasn't willing to give up its captive just yet. It shook madly and knocked Sora and Riku away, before picking me up with its arms and tossing me into the air.
I shouted as I was sent flying, and I landed on my back hard enough to knock the wind out of me. "Gawrsh, Dexal. Are you alright?" Goofy asked. I nodded, but when an arm swung in at me I held my hands up, unable to do anything else. Fortunately, Sora could. He called "Fira!" and pointed his Keyblade at the Cage. A ball of fire shot out the the end, and when it hit the Cage it created a small explosion. The Heartless screeched and turned to look at him, but Riku was waiting for him and swung at its head, saying "Try this on for size!" The beast hissed and swung at him, but he rolled beneath it and kicked out with his feet. The blow hardly caused any damage, but it did get the Parasite cage annoyed.
It swung at him again and Donald came in from behind, cast Gravity before firing a Blizzara spell at its head. Being forcefully crushed and then being hit with a block of ice in the back of the head did a fair amount of damage, proven so when the beast turned around and glared at Donald. But just as it swung Goofy stepped in front and blocked it, the monster's claws striking sparks off of the metal. "Thanks, Goofy!" Donald said, and handed him a Hi-Potion. He took kit and gulped the liquid down, sighing as the various cuts on his body were healed. "That felt good," he commented. I chuckled and turned back to the Heartless, which was currently swinging its arms about to keep either Sora, Riku, or any of us from getting any closer.
I frowned; unless we got rid of those arms we had no chance of attacking. Then an idea occurred to me, and I said "Sora, Riku, move out of the way!" They did as I said, Riku with some reluctance, and I held my Keyblade in both hands before slowly relaxing, calming my body and releasing my power. Instantly the Cage's movements slowed, along with that of everyone else's. It was as if time itself had literally slowed down. I directed my energy into my arms and feet, and just as it was reaching breaking point my eyes snapped open, and time returned to normal. "This is the end! Zantetsuken!" I called. I shot forward at such a speed that the area blurred around me, and I sliced Stormfell straight through the Parasite Cage's right arm.
The Heartless let out a piercing screech as it severed limp fell to the ground, the nerves in it causing the arm to jerk around spasmodically. While it was still focused on its arm I moved for Pinocchio, but then the beast realized that if it stayed around it would certainly die. So it simply spat Pinocchio out and vanished in a burst of shadows, heading for somewhere else inside Monstro. I was about to go after it when Sora shouted "Pinocchio!" and we turned to see him fall through a pit after being spat. Without hesitation Riku jumped in after him, and after a moment we did the same.
To our surprise the pit led straight back to the mouth, and with a shout of surprise I landed on the deck of Geppetto's ship, knees bent to absorb the impact. But then Donald landed on me, followed by Sora, and then Goofy. The weight of all three of them successfully knocked me to the ground, and it took a few minutes before we could untangle ourselves. When we did we finally managed to hear Geppetto say "Pinocchio! Pinocchio! Please! Give me back my son!" We looked up to see Riku holding Pinocchio, who appeared to be unconscious. "Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet," he said. "He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!" Geppetto called. "He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts," Riku admitted.
"I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs," he continued. "Wait a minute. Are you talking about Kairi?" Sora asked in shock. "What do you care about her?" he replied harshly. The moment he said that my eyes widened; did he really just say that? Kairi was more important to Sora than anything. How could Riku say something so hurtful? But then an idea occurred to me, and while Sora was staring in shock I allowed my field of vision to go beyond the physical. I could see the hearts of Sora, Donald, Goofy, Geppetto, and Riku. Pinocchio's, true to Riku's word, was unconscious. And for good reason- he had lost his heart. But then I looked at Riku's heart and gasped.
Riku's heart, which was once full of such light that Terra had bequeathed him the Keyblade, was now shrouded with thick clouds of darkness. Darkness that seemed born of anger, betrayal, and... hatred. I didn't want to believe it, but as Riku ran off I caught a last look in his eyes and knew it to be true. Riku truly did hate us. My vision returned to normal and I looked at Sora, who seemed to have guessed that even without seeing it. I looked at him and him at me, and we both wondered the same thing. What on earth had happened to Riku? We didn't know and had no idea, but then we heard Geppetto moan in misery and were broken from our thoughts. "Oh, Pinocchio. What will do?" he muttered.
I looked at Sora and we both nodded. We could figure out what happened with Riku later; first we had to help Pinocchio. "We'll find him," Sora promised. "Yeah! You can count on us!" Donald said, trying to sound as encouraging as possible. Geppetto looked at us and nodded, his sadness fading somewhat. "I'll put my faith in you. Please, save my son," he said. We all nodded, and moved back through the chambers to look for Pinocchio and Riku. We found them in the stomach, and Pinocchio was lying against a wall while Riku stood in front of him. "Riku, let Pinocchio go!" I called. He ignored my order, and instead looked back at Pinocchio. "A puppet that's lost its heart to the Heartless... Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi," he said, before turning back to us.
"How about it Sora, Dexal? Let's join forces to save her. Let's do it," he proposed, holding out his hand. Honestly, I wanted to take it. Believe that someone with such light had fallen so far, and that we could work together to save Kairi. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't. The darkness doesn't just go away if you refuse to look at it. Rather, it spreads. And all it took for evil to succeed was for good people to do nothing. I looked at Sora, and we both nodded, drawing our Keyblades. Riku lowered his hand and looked at us, irritated but not surprised. "What? You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?" he asked. "Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience," Sora replied. "Conscience?" Riku repeated in disbelief.
"You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!" Sora exclaimed. Riku's eyebrows furrowed in anger, and his tone was filled with it when he said "Then you leave me no choice." He started towards us, but during the whole exchange Jiminy had ran up to the unconscious Pinocchio. "Pinocchio! Pinocchio!" he said sadly. "Jiminy... I'm not gonna make it," Pinocchio said weakly. Jiminy looked ready to cry, but the Pinocchio's nose flashed and grew longer. "Oh, I guess I'm okay!" he said, realizing that his previous statement had been a lie. Jiminy was literally jumped with joy, and I smiled at it while Riku frowned. But then the ground started rumbling, and from above the Parasite Cage dropped down.
"So that's where you were!" I said, moving into a battle stance. Riku "hmph"ed and disappeared through a portal. Sora knew it was pointless to go after him, but that didn't stop him from looking at where Riku had stood sadly. "We can worry about him later. For now, we have to finish this thing!" Donald said, pulling out his staff. Sora reluctantly nodded, and we all charged to once again fight the Parasite Cage.
Riku had gone even deeper into darkness, and it will only get worse from here. Can Sora and the others escape Monstro and find him? And can they save Kairi? Find all of this out as the story continues!
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