Heya! So, I know it's been three months, but I did say that I'd only update if I felt like it, right? Actually, I don't really think of this as a proper second chapter. It's more like a mini-chapter, something to tide you guys over until I get the real thing done. You see, I've been working on a nice little chapter about Riku's experiences during Chain of Memories, but then I rewatched an Utena AMV set to a certain song, and suddenly the idea for this mini-chapter popped into my brain and has been there ever since. It won't come out, so I figured I might as well put it in the fic.

I call it a "mini-chapter", but it wound up only being shorter than the first by about 400 words, so call it what you like.

This takes place near the end of KH1, and it involves singing (a Disney song, so it's at least slightly appropriate). I apologize in advance.

(Oh, and I've also been planning out a non-crack KH fanfic! I've sunk deep into this hell, and I might as well entertain myself and others, right? More details are coming soon. Also, tomorrow is my birthday, and now that I have a better PC, I'm going to get the 1.5+2.5 Mix and actually play the games instead of just watching Let's Plays! Hooray!)

…Honestly, this is probably the worst thing I've written in a long time. Sorry.

The first time Riku had heard the voice, it'd been back on that boring island where nothing ever changed. He'd been standing by the door in the secret place, the door with a keyhole that only he could see. The keyhole only appeared every once in a while, with varying levels of transparency, but that night, it was clearer than ever, though Riku still couldn't see what lay beyond the rather disproportionately-sized hole. That night, he'd heard the voice whisper straight into his mind, telling him how glory and adventure awaited beyond the door, in the darkness.

Besides, the voice had said, do you seriously think you're going to get to another world by sailing there on a shoddily-constructed raft? You barely even have enough food for one day, let alone enough water. You'll die of thirst — that is, if the "Highwind" doesn't capsize first.

Riku had wanted to snap at the voice for insulting his raft-building skills, but at the same time, he could recognize that the voice had a point. Besides, something about the voice just felt so…so right. Riku could feel his pride slipping away, followed by his rationality, but somehow, he didn't care — he'd been lulled half to sleep by the mesmerizing voice.

(It also helped that he'd just overheard Kairi conspiring to leave right then, with Sora — without him.)

And so Riku had unlocked the door and let himself be carried away by the darkness, and the rest was history.

The voice had whispered to him a few more times during his stay in Hollow Bastion, guiding him, telling him to embrace his darkness, to shove his so-called "friend" aside and cut him off once and for all, preferably by cutting him up. He'd mostly ignored everything, focusing on his mission to save Kairi, but now…

Now, when he was leaning against the wall of a dimly-lit hallway, completely beaten and out of ideas, he was a bit more susceptible.

And so, when the voice came again, this time appearing as a cloaked figure, Riku couldn't find the strength to resist. The cloaked man was telling him that he could be strong — stronger than Sora, stronger than Maleficent, stronger than anyone — if he only opened his heart and embraced the darkness. After, to put it mildly, getting the shit beaten out of him by Sora (and an anthropomorphic duck and dog), who was he to say no?

Still, though, Mr. Cloaky's phrasing was a little…vague.

"What should I do?" Riku asked, his voice little more than a whisper.

It's really quite simple, the voice-cloak-darkness guy explained. Clean, even. Plunge deeper into the darkness. Become darkness itself. That is all.

"Oh, that's all? How simple. For a moment I thought you were gonna tell me to do something hard, like, I dunno, become the fucking absence of light," Riku said bitterly, sarcasm etched into his tone.

I meant that metaphorically, Riku.

"Okay, fine. Just tell me what to do, and by that, I mean give me a set of actual instructions."

How about this? Simply stir up the darkness in your heart by imagining something, and let it resonate with mine.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Imagine what?"

Hmm… How about imagining Kairi and Sora making out? Or sharing a paopu fruit? Or making out while sharing a paopu fruit?

Oh.

Oh hell no.

Riku could see it clear as day. He could see the two of them sitting together on that paopu tree, lips interlocked, tongues —

Nope nope nope nope nope.

The worst thing, though, was that Riku actually had to convince himself that it was Sora he was jealous of. In this hypothetical situation, at least. A hypothetical situation that would not come to pass — Riku wouldn't let it happen. He wouldn't let the boy girl he'd been crushing on since sixth grade just leave him in the dust. He wouldn't be left behind, not if he had anything to say about it. And he did, didn't he? He had the darkness, the darkness that would never leave him, the darkness that made him powerful and useful, the darkness that was slowly entering him from all angles…

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he barely noticed the green glow forming around his body, the weird cloak guy coming closer and closer, too close, they were going to —

…

What?

As Riku laid on the ground, dazed, he could barely recall what had gotten him to this point. He'd been talking to Cloak Man, and then he imagined something he'd rather not picture again, and then there'd been an odd chilling sensation, like his limbs were slowly turning to ice, and then —

Not a thing. He had no idea when he'd passed out, or why he appeared to be in some sort of void in which the only surface was some kind of stained glass platform…

Wait a minute. He recognized this. Maleficent had taught him many things while he was under her care, and many of her lessons were about the heart and what it was like to be inside one. She'd even taken him on a "field trip" of sorts to see the inside of his own heart. It'd been a hell of an experience, to put it nicely, but Riku was thankful for it now, because now he knew he was in his own heart.

Though his limbs still felt like lead, he managed to get to his feet, only to see a strange man standing with his back to him just a few feet away. Inside of Riku's heart.

Okay, something was definitely wrong.

"Who…?" Riku could barely get one word out of his mouth. His body had gone cold again, yet he wasn't shivering — just standing felt like his whole body was being strained.

The man let out a small chuckle, then turned to face him. Speaking in the same voice as Mr. Cloaky, he said, "You woke up faster than most do. I expected you to be unconscious for at least a few hours, yet it's barely been five minutes. I suppose that says something about the strength of your heart."

Riku barely heard a thing the man said. Instead, he was looking at him, because he looked hella weird, to put it politely. His hair was silver-white and came down past his mid-back, with what looked like three ridiculous little shark fin-shaped spikes at the top. His hands were covered by weirdly wide-ended gloves, while his eyes were a bizarre — yet creepy — amber color. Strangest of all was the shirt he wore under his long coat — how it was wide open most of the way down, exposing a rather pronounced six-pack.

The man was monologuing now, as darkness users tended to do, but now Riku's eyes had latched on to the Heartless symbol on his chest, and the boy began to lose his shit (which is a nice way of saying he had lost his shit moments ago and was now freaking the fuck out — internally, of course).

There was a Heartless. Inside of his heart.

He began to think that maybe there was a small chance that he'd fucked up.

Riku didn't notice that the man/Heartless had stopped talking until he felt strong hands squeezing his shoulders.

"Calm down," the man said, gripping his shoulders so hard that Riku was unable to relax at all. "You've done well so far, and I really am grateful for your help. I'll take care of things from here."

"W-What do you mean?" Riku stammered, not liking where this was going.

"Oh, I'm going to be using your body from now on. Well, it'll be your body for a while, just until I can alter it to match my form, and then I suppose it'll be my body, and you'll just be a guest," the man said calmly, as if he was discussing what toppings he wanted on his pizza.

Riku could only stare back, horrified, as he realized this man-Heartless-thing meant to possess him, likely forever.

"Either way," the man continued, "I'll finish what you started and give you a Keyblade of your very own, then gather the remaining Princess's heart and open the final door. The darkness will rise and consume all wo—"

"Just who are you?"

At this point, that was all Riku could say. His mouth was dry, his blood cold, his mind reeling in horror as he realized he was in well over his head. This wasn't what he'd wanted. He'd just wanted…

What had he wanted? What was he even doing? Sora, Kairi, everyone — they were all in danger from the madman that he'd let into his heart. His friends… God, he'd just tried to kill Sora. What was wrong with him? Was a stupid oversized key really more important than his best friend's life?

Finally, the man spoke. "I am Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness."

Oh, the weirdo from those reports Riku had seen in the library. The whole "Seeker of Darkness" thing was rather grandiose, but he was too scared to mention it.

In fact, he was too scared to do much of anything. His body (well, his spiritual heart-body or whatever), seemingly having overcome its exhaustion, was trembling all over. He'd lost, he'd fucked up, he'd blown every chance he'd been given, refusing to come to his senses out of petty jealousy, and now he was paying the price.

"I — what — no, no — I —"

Words fell from his mouth, but he was unable to form a single sentence. What was the point? He was doomed.

Ansem, for his part, seemed to be amused by Riku's behavior. He let out another laugh, and then…

"Okay, okay, I see what's happening here…"

Wait. Was Ansem singing?

Smirking, Ansem reached out, grabbed Riku's chin, and tilted it up so they could lock eyes. "You're face to face with greatness, and it's strange."

…What?

Letting go of Riku, Ansem continued, "You don't even know how you feel. It's adorable!"

"No, I—"

"Well, it's nice to see that humans never change."

…Just how long had this guy been a Heartless?

Riku squeezed his eyes shut. This had to be a dream, some weird acid trip from using too much darkness. He was going to wake up any second now.

Unfortunately, Ansem had other ideas. "Open your eyes, let's begin."

As if compelled, Riku's eyes snapped open, and he was met with Ansem's smug-ass grin.

"Yes, it's really me, it's Ansem, breathe it in."

Half a second later, Ansem had struck a dramatic pose, showing off his abs. "I know it's a lot — the hair, the bod — when you're looking at a Heartless god!"

"Excuse me?" Riku snapped, finally done with this guy's shit.

Ansem shrugged. "What can I say except you're welcome? For the death of Sora and co.."

Riku froze. "You're going to kill him?"

"Hey, it's okay, okay, you're welcome! You can't do it yourself, you know," Ansem sang, giving Riku's head what was probably meant to be a pat, but wound up feeling more like a dope slap.

"So what can I say except you're welcome? For the Heartless I pulled from the—"

"SHUT UP!"
At Riku's outburst, Ansem abruptly stopped. For a moment, there was only silence, Riku's voice echoing in the void…somehow.

"Interesting," Ansem finally remarked. "You don't seem nearly as reluctant to speak as you were before." His eyes narrowed. "And you're not being nearly as respectful."

"I wasn't being respectful, I was afraid," Riku hissed. "But I'm not afraid anymore! You know, you really got rid of all the tension with that stupid song."
Ansem threw his hands up in a what-can-I-do gesture. "We're half-Disney. When we have to sing, we have to sing. We don't have a choice in the matter. You should be grateful that Maleficent never made you go to Atlantica."

"Oh, fuck off," Riku growled.

With inhuman speed, Ansem stepped forward and grabbed Riku by the wrist, then set about twisting it so hard that Riku was convinced his bones would break. "You're being so ungrateful, but I suppose I should've expected that from a child like you."

"A child?"

"Yes, you're just a boy. I mean, what are you, ten years old? Eleven?"

For a moment, Riku forgot the pain in his wrist, turning his head to stare at Ansem with a completely befuddled face. "I'm fifteen."

Ansem snorted. "I highly doubt that." He then clenched his fist around Riku's wrist, practically crushing it. Riku let out a wail of pain, collapsing to his knees, and Ansem let go of him and let him fall.

"There," Ansem said after a moment. "Are you ready to stop your little tantrum?"

Though Riku's face was still screwed up in pain, and there were deep purple bruises forming all around his wrist, he shook his head. "It's not a tantrum. Wanting control over my own body isn't unreasonable. And you're just a weirdo who can't even keep his shirt buttoned! Nobody cares about your stupid 'bod.'"

That last dig seemed to have hit a bit; now Ansem's left eye was twitching. He took a deep breath, then let it out, putting his mask of calm smugness on once again. "I'll have you know that Terra spent a long time working out just to get that six-pack. Why shouldn't I show it off?"

"Wait, who's Terra?"

Ansem stuck his nose in the air. "None of your business."

All of a sudden, Riku grinned. "Oh, I get it. You weren't supposed to talk about him, but you accidentally mentioned him anyway, and now you're trying to act like you don't care, but really you're cursing yourself for saying a spoiler."

There was a moment of silence, and Riku knew he was right.

Finally, Ansem turned around as if to leave. "See you, Riku. I'll be back when I'm done with a few things."

"Wait!" Riku yelled, stretching an arm out. "You can't just leave me like this!"

Ansem turned around, his brow furrowing. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Without a moment's notice, four tendrils of darkness formed, coming straight out of the stained glass platform, and wrapped themselves around Riku's arms and legs, forcing him into a kneeling position.

"There," Ansem said. "You won't get into trouble that way. Now I can leave."

Riku shouted a string of obscenities that were, to put it politely, about how much of a fucking asshole Ansem was, how his plans were shitty and would never work out, how Sora would kick his ass and chop his dick off with the Keyblade, that sort of thing.

Ansem crossed his arms in a mock pout. "I give you all sorts of power and this is the thanks I get?"

"Fuck off," Riku spat, putting as much hate as he could muster into each word.

Chuckling to himself, Ansem turned around, took a few steps away, and was soon out of sight, having faded into the darkness. His parting words were all that remained:

"You're welcome."

"...Fucker."

Wow, I can't believe I got all that done (2524 words!) in one evening… I guess that says a lot about its quality. Honestly, I'm still cringing a bit. I was going to continue a bit more, maybe show Riku breaking free of Ansem's control, but I couldn't think of a good punchline. Maybe I'll do that bit in a different chapter. I don't like ending this on such a downer, but we all know Riku will be okay (just traumatized).

Sorry, I know this wasn't as good as last chapter, but the next chapter will probably have more effort put into it…if it ever gets finished. This fic isn't exactly my highest priority right now.

(Oh, and the Utena AMV I mentioned earlier is by Lovely Goblin on YouTube, if you want to check it out. It struck me as cool how a song sung by a protagonist could be twisted to fit a villain, so I started imagining this chapter, and I admit I went a bit silly on it.)