Descent

Jason groaned and stretched. Getting to his feet he asked, "Now can we go? Still not happy leaving Gotham in the darkness." Sora, Riku, and Dick began fastening their cloaks. Yen Sid nodded solemnly, then stood himself.

"Speaking to your darkness was necessary. You are correct however. Accomplishing your goal quickly is the most effective option at this point. Your connections to your world are still strong, but the longer we wait the quicker they will fade."

The man snapped, and a few bags appeared on the table between them. "These are provisions for your journey, which I have no doubt you will need. Once you have saved your world, I believe a doorway of light will swallow Gotham and return it to its proper place amongst the worlds, with you four in it. However, it will be extremely difficult to find another way out of the Realm of Darkness, so I suggest you be successful in your mission."

"Save Gotham, or die trying." Jason clarified as he swung his pack over his shoulder. It was heavier than he expected. "Got it."

"Master?" Sora asked, pausing once he had fastened his cloak. "Do you know what we will be facing once we actually find the fallen Gotham?"

The man sighed. "Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain what you will find. All I am sure of is that the evil that originally existed in that world will be drastically elevated."

"Good thing Gotham was such a wonderful place to live to begin with." Dick groaned.

"All right Master." Riku said, glancing at his companions. "We're ready whenever you are."

"Hold up!" A girl's voice preceded its owner through the door. A red-head in a pink dress and leggings walked through the door, followed by another red head in a black cloak. The first one, the girl, had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and was breathing hard, as if she had been exercising. The other one, male, had hair that defied gravity, sticking up in points that put Sora's to shame. He also seemed tired. The girl opened her mouth, her blue eyes fierce. "You are not going on another adventure without me! I'm coming with you!"

Sora sputtered. "What? Kairi, no, it's dangerous and you're not trained and- "

The girl, Kairi apparently, pointed her finger between Sora's eyes. "Yes Sora. You said I needed training, but sparring with Lea for days on end isn't getting me anywhere. What faster way for me to learn than to go into combat? That's how you and Riku learned!"

So this was the infamous Kairi. The one who had hugged Sora back to light. Jason liked her so far. She had spunk. He sidled up to Dick and whispered, "Ten bucks on the chick."

Dick snorted. "Yeah right. She's obviously going to win. Sora's a push over." Based on the way the conversation was going, Jason could only agree. Especially since Riku and Lea (?) were just leaning against the wall, matching amused smiles on their faces while they waited for the inevitable.

"We didn't start by jumping straight into the Realm of Darkness!" Sora started waving his hands around, trying to emphasize his point. "Well, Riku did, but that's beside the point."

"It is not. I'm coming, and that's final." Kairi crossed her arms.

Desperate, Sora looked over to Riku and Lea. Lea just raised his hands helplessly, smile still affixed to his features. Riku tried and failed to put a more serious expression on his face. "Sorry Sora, you're on your own on this one."

When Yen Sid didn't say anything about it, Kairi smiled triumphantly. "That's settled then! Lea, did you want to come?"

"No can do little red," the taller red head drawled, his smile turning down into a rueful expression. "Merlin was going to start me on Ice magic this week. It's my weakest element, so I need the practice."

While Kairi went to visit the Point for a refresher and Dick retreated to a side room to put on his Nightwing suit, Riku asked, "Does Kairi need a cloak too, or will the darkness not affect her?"

"She would be fine in the Realm of Darkness." Yen Sid waved his hand anyways, a fifth cloak and bag appearing in Sora's arms. "But she should have one anyways. I hear the Realm of Darkness can get quite chilly." There was a spark of amusement in his eyes.

Sora grudgingly held out the provisions to Kairi, still grumbling at the lost argument. Dick came out and Jason took his place, stripping off the civvies as fast as he could and throwing on his shirt, pants, belt and boots. The jacket wouldn't fit properly under the cloak-cape thing, but he refused to leave it behind. He left the room and with all five of them ready, Yen Sid nodded and again, raised both his hands. Jason could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He instinctively drew his cloak closer around him.

"Good luck." The old man growled.

The next moment, a huge twirling gate of black grey mist formed in front of them. All of Jason's instincts told him not to step forward, to back away, but he saw Riku stride towards the dark mass, and so reluctantly followed. In a few seconds, the portal had vanished, and the room was empty but for a red head leaning against the wall and a sad looking old man.

"Be safe young ones," he whispered.

Sora opened his eyes with a groan. He sucked in a breath and instantly regretted it. The air was heavy, oppressive. Shifting so that he was on his knees and elbows, he looked around. He was laying on a dirt path; just a path, floating in space. Kairi was still out, Dick was groaning himself awake and Jason and Riku were standing, peeking down over the edge of the path. Getting to his feet, Sora took a look of his own.

Everything was dark, which wasn't really surprising. There were other paths, both below and above them, and pillars of darkness, vast spiralling structures soaring out of sight. He gave a low whistle. This was his first time in the Realm of Darkness, not counting the time he and Riku had gotten stuck in the Dark Margin, and so far, it was pretty impressive. Scary, but impressive.

Ripping his eyes away from the abyss, he turned to his companions, specifically Kairi. He knew she could handle herself in a fight, but this probably wouldn't be like other fights. He had gone into Hollow Bastion's heart and ended up fighting a Behemoth. And that was with Hollow Bastion still in the Realm of Light. There was no telling how many impossibly strong Heartless they would encounter while they were here.

As Kairi shifted awake, Sora's mouth tightened in determination. He would keep her safe.

Dick and Jason were both stretching, Dick doing a one armed handstand and Jason doing some more simple leg stretches. The latter looked up, following the former into a hand stand. "You three might want to stretch too. We have time now and it might save your life in a fight."

Sora blinked. "I'm not sure I can do handstands…"

Dick bent his spine backwards, his feet pulling towards the ground until he could stand upright. "Don't worry. That's standard fare for Bats, but we can take you through some stretches better suited for your fighting styles."

They did so and Sora had to admit, it did help. He had wrenched his shoulder during that last fight in Gotham and while he had healed it up really fast, it had been stiff. The stretching loosened it up. Maybe he should start doing this more often.

Standing up from his last stretch, Riku asked, "So, Dick, Jason, where to?"

Dick crossed his arms under his cloak. "I'm still not entirely sure what we're supposed to do." Jason nodded in agreement.

"Hm." Sora thought about what Yen Sid had said. "You know Gotham, right? And I mean, know Gotham. You should be able to feel that and pick a direction from it. I think."

"Of course." Jason closed his eyes, remembering. "I've lived there for my entire life. The way the streets sound, the way the air feels, the smell of the docks in summertime, the way it seems like Crime Alley is watching you…" As Jason spoke, Dick closed his eyes as well. With both of their eyes shut, they didn't see, but Sora, Riku and Kairi did. A small spark of light flickered beneath their cloaks, right near the heart. Immediately, their eyes snapped open and they pointed in the same direction.

Following their hands, Sora frowned. Their path didn't go in that direction. At all. He looked at the other paths above and below them. "There." Far below them, one path went in the general direction of where they were pointing.

Looking down at the path, Jason followed it with his eyes. "Looks good enough to me." And with that he leapt off the edge, Dick following close behind.

Riku gave Sora a jaunty mock-salute before he fell off the path backwards. Turning to Kairi, Sora offered his arms. "Kairi? You haven't learned how to glide yet." She nodded and he stooped to grab her under the knees, the other arm curling protectively around her shoulders. He stepped off the path just in time to see the others land.

Riku landed perfectly in the center of the path. Dick was very off of his target, looking more likely to plunge into the darkness than land safely. This was probably on purpose as Dick laughed when he pulled his grapple, firing it onto a nearby path and swinging gracefully to the one he wanted. Jason sped past the path, firing his grapple onto it as he sped by. He swung in a circle and landed on the dirt with a thud. Sora landed gently next to him and set Kairi on her feet.

"So, that way?" Riku pointed and set off. Dick and Jason followed, discussing possible strategies when dealing with large groups of Heartless versus single strong enemies, frequently asking Riku for advice and weaknesses.

The silence at the back of the group was heavy. Not because of the participants. Sora and Kairi were perfectly comfortable with silence around each other, even with that argument still hanging in their minds. But the Realm of Darkness had a way of making every step a trial, every silence waiting to steal your next words away. Finally, Kairi broke it. "So Sora, tell me about your new friends."

Starting eagerly on the anecdote, Sora soon had Kairi nodding solemnly as he recounted Jason getting taken over by the darkness, laughing at chasing Jason around the manor, smiling at Dick's obvious care for his brother and gasping at the horrifying episode on the gummi ship when Dick had had to hug him. Gotham and the rest of the Bats filled the otherwise oppressive silence of the darkness, the laughter and smiles seeming so foreign to the space. But so incredibly necessary. With every bit of light they brought into the conversation, Sora could feel his steps get lighter.

By the time Kairi had been caught up and started on telling Sora how her training had been going, the other three joined in. Riku threw in a few stories of his time in the dream world, nothing new to Kairi and Sora but Dick and Jason were very keen to compare it to their own experiences in the darker half of the dream world. Eventually, Jason started sharing some of his adventures with Roy and Kori and Dick was recounting a particularly embarrassing scene from before Jason's death involving a pie, Alfred and seventeen paper clips.

They had had to stop their stories twelve times when Darksides and Neo Shadows attacked them. Yup, the stretching had definitely helped. Sora was really happy to see Kairi had gotten past the "flailing the Keyblade like a stick" thing she had had when she had first held her Keyblade. Now she moved through the Heartless like a dancer, landing quick devastating hits before twirling away.

After hours of walking, they came upon a slightly wider area of the path. Riku set down his pack, calling for a break.

As he cracked open a can of juice, Sora flicked his cloak over his shoulder. He had been having problems with it during the fighting. The hood portion hadn't really been getting in the way, but the cloak bit had been flying in weird directions. It only reached down to mid thigh, but that was still long enough to flap into his face. But Jason and Dick moved like they were used to it. "Hey guys, any tips with these?" He held up one corner of the cloak.

Dick looked over. "Depends. Does the cloak need to be in front of your shoulders for it to work, or is just wearing it enough?"

Sora turned to Riku, who though for a moment. "With the old cloaks, they had to be worn head to toe and closed at all times to prevent the darkness from leaking in. But Yen Sid said he had upgraded them. Since they're shorter now, I think just wearing them makes them work."

Jason nodded, shoved his apple between his teeth and started playing with Sora's cloak. Not even a moment later, it was pinned back over his shoulders, exposing his chest and arms but keeping the cloak very much out of his face. Scooting over to Kairi, he did the same for hers while Dick tended to Riku.

"That should hold you." Dick sat back with a smile. "Me and Jason spent most of our teen years wearing something like this. You learn to manage."

Snorting, Jason pulled the apple from his mouth. "We still ditched the capes as soon as we could though."

Suddenly, both of the Gothamites stiffened. Sora jumped as they leapt to their feet, grabbing up all the food and shoving it into their bags. "Dick, Jason, what is it?"

Jason turned his eyes to the other three. "You don't feel that?" Something in his tone seemed almost happy.

"Feel what?" Following their lead, Riku started packing up as well. Sora and Kairi looked at each other in confusion for a moment before doing the same.

Dick's grin was so wide and bright that they probably couldn't call this place the "Realm of Darkness" anymore. "Gotham! It feels like Gotham and it's close!" He was dancing from foot to foot, unable to keep still. Even Jason seemed like he was in a hurry, his eyes flicking back and forth between the Keyblade Wielders and the next turn in the path.

When everyone had their packs slung over their shoulders, they broke into a run. Half way to the turn, Riku called out "Sora, race you!" Sora laughed as he poured on the speed. Kairi, after all of her training, was keeping up with them really well. Dick couldn't resist putting a few flips into his run. Even Jason had a rare smile of true happiness on his face. Not a sarcastic one, or one put up because it's what he thought Dick needed to see. Actual happiness.

As Dick raced around the corner, his laughter died a bit. There was Gotham, not as he knew it, but how he had come to expect worlds to look during his travels in the gummi ship. The sphere, buildings jutting from the top, Wayne Tower, Ace Chemicals, Arkham, Gordon's precinct. Clouds hung low, touching the top Wayne Tower and the Batsignal was displayed on them. Connected to it was the docks and a path that lead down to Wayne Manor on the bottom of the sphere. It was dark. Sure, Gotham had always been dark, but never this dark. All of the buildings were black. The clouds were black. Even the Batsignal seemed to radiate darkness rather than light.

Sora strode up to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Dick. Let's save your city." With a smile that seemed to inspire hope, the teen led the way to Gotham.

AN: Introducing Kairi! Hooray! We finally have a girl character! That took a while. Honestly, the vast majority of characters from Kingdom Hearts and Batman are male, so it's not totally surprising.

Besides that, not much to say about this chapter. It's mostly a transition from the last massive fight to the next massive fight. The new cloak things, by the way, work the same as the old Organization cloaks in that they protect the wearer from darkness. But they look like Damian's Robin cape rather than a full head-to-toe cloak. Except more black. Yeah.

Read and enjoy!