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Hence the nerdy.

Spoiler: Explanation

So there's atoms, and atoms are made of protons and neutrons and electrons. And the protons and neutrons are made of quarks. There's six types (or flavours) of quarks. Up and down (which make up pretty much all of normal matter), strange and charm, and truth and beauty (physicists are weird). And the mass-energy equivalence of a beauty quark is 4500 MeV/c², Mega-electron Volts per speed of light squared. Basically, how much energy you get if you convert all the mass to energy.

Truth and beauty quarks are also known as top and bottom quarks, which is the less weird name.

Oh hello violence. I didn't see you last chapter. So you're going to be in this one? Oh, and next chapter, you're going to do a big performance? Good to know violence. Good to know.

For seriousies, this chapter is violent. Next chapter is worse.

Spoiler: Chapter 27 - Flip Side

VIOLENCE ABOUNDS

“-ight?! Sora, wake up! Are you alright?!”

Blinking his eyes, he wasn’t entirely surprised to feel tears on his lashes. What was surprising was the slight ache on one side of his neck, kind of like when Bruce had stuck him with a needle back in the Batcave. He lay there for a moment before what happened on the Island came back to him.

“Riku! Kairi!” He bolted upright, wincing when his head protested. Loudly. A hand clamped down on his shoulder and he turned to face Dick. His eyes filled with tears at the sight of his friend. “I couldn’t save them. They were counting on me to protect them and…” His chest tightened beyond the point of words. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t breathe, he didn’t know how he could continue like this. Riku and Kairi, his best friends since always, were gone.

“Sora.” Dick’s voice was calm, too calm. Sora felt his anger flare up, rarely touched but always hot and ready to blaze. How could he be calm?! Riku and Kairi were gone and he just – “Riku and Kairi are fine. What you saw wasn’t real.” What?

He whipped his head around. Riku was sitting on the ground, holding his head. Jason knelt next to Kairi, helping her to sit up. Both of them were alive. Tears filled his eyes again, but different tears. Tears of relief. And joy. Absolute joy.

Standing, he wobbled and would have fallen if Dick hadn’t grabbed him. As quickly as he could, he stumbled over to his friends, needing to talk to them, to touch them, to know they were both real. He collapsed between them, wrapping one arm around each of their shoulders. They both seemed as surprised as he had been that they were all alive. That they were all ok.

“What happened?” Riku was the first to break the silence. Sora couldn’t fault him. He wanted to know too.

Jason’s face was invisible behind the mask, but his tone was grim. “Scarecrow. The same thing that happened to Croc happened to him. He released his fear toxin on the entire block. My air filters kept it out long enough to give Wing and myself the antitox. We would have given it to you three sooner but…” He shook his head, obviously upset.

Jason stopped talking, so Dick continued. “Scarecrow kept us busier than we would have liked. He’s normally fairly easy to beat once you have the right antitox – no muscles to speak of – but with a Heartless on his side, we didn’t have any openings to take without leaving the other to serious injury.” His mouth tightened. Clearly, both he and Jason felt like they had failed. Sora couldn’t help but draw parallels to his… fear vision? He smiled at them, forgiving them instantly.

Kairi’s eyes narrowed. “What’s your definition of serious injury? Because half of those look really serious.”

He gave them a quick up-and-down. Nightwing’s suit was ripped in three places, blood weeping out of the large wounds on his chest and thighs. There was a bruise forming on his forehead that extended into his hairline. Red Hood had a large cut running across his Batsymbol and left arm, and he winced every time he shifted either his right ankle or his chest. His mask was cracked above one eye.

Hood, having done his own survey, snorted. “We’ve had worse. A few cracked ribs won’t kill me.” He swore when Nightwing poked him in the chest.

“No, but they will slow you down.” The acrobat turned his gaze to the three Islanders. “How about it? Got enough juice for a quick fix? I’m not looking forward to facing another inmate with a concussion.”

Jason swore and grabbed his brother’s head, checking the injury. Dick winced at the motion and batted Jason’s hands away. Smiling at their antics, Sora summoned his Keyblade. “Heal!” Green light and the sound of bells filled the quiet Gotham air. The vigilantes’ injuries knitted themselves together, the bruise on Dick’s head fading to nothing. At the same time, the light rejuvenated the Keyblade Wielders. The shock and stress of seeing their greatest fears melted away. Not completely – it would always be there, hiding at the backs of their minds – but enough to bring the metaphorical sunshine back to their lives.

It wasn't long before their group started towards the city again. By now the buildings of Gotham were no longer part of the skyline, but towered above them, blending into the inky sky above. No one could help but feel tension build as they approached the city. The repercussions of what they had already faced would weigh on their shoulders for a long time to come. Nonetheless, they kept trudging forward, until finally they stopped where the grass was suffocated out by concrete. Jason turned around to face the others.

“Alright guys. I have no clue what's in there. But I know it's gonna be worse then what we've already had to deal with here. Whatever happens, we stick together. I don’t thinking we're going to last very long one on one.”

The others’ serious faces told him they understood and with that, they crept into the depths of the city.

The place was definitely different than the actual Gotham. The absence of flustered people bustling around the dirty streets, not to mention the loss of warm light glowing from street lamps, made the city feel dead. Even the rats were gone. Strangely enough though, garbage still littered the ground. To Jason and Dick especially, it just felt wrong. Nevertheless, they crept further and further into the maze of buildings, prepared to be ambushed at any second. They weren’t foolish enough to think they could just get to Wayne Enterprises without a fight. In fact, the more they walked, the more the building tension made them itch for something to happen. All that could be heard was their heavy breathing, and the crunch of their shoes on broken glass and forgotten flyers.

“Well, well,” a deep smooth voice sank out from an alleyway to their right. “What do we have here?”

Everyone stopped. It wasn't like they could run from anything they came across. Fighting was their best choice, and they sure as hell didn't want to turn their backs on the enemy.

The person spoke again, but this time the voice was laced with a higher pitched, and if possible more sinister tone. “You certainly don't belong here. Not now. It's just... doesn't feel right, ya know.”

Nightwing stiffened, now recognizing the voice. He locked eyes with Jason, who gave the minutest of nods, indicating he had come to the same conclusion.

A dark figure melted out of the shadows, but the lack of light made it impossible to see any defined features. He stopped just outside completely revealing himself in the moon light.

“Here's the question. Do I attack the Bats, or do I attack the little punks first?”

Instinctively Red Hood and Nightwing stepped forward and drew their weapons protectively, even as the distinctive metallic ring of a coin being flipped into the air echoed around the alley. The shadowy figure caught it, and for a second there was silence.

“... Bats it is! But don't worry. I have a few friends who would be more than happy to entertain the kiddies.”

And in a split second, the world exploded into complete chaos.

Kairi screamed as something grabbed her from behind. She fought and struggled to break its grip while summoning her Keyblade, as huge fingers tightened around her shoulders. Sora was already facing her, Keyblade in hand, and staring up at the huge form of a Dark Thorn. “Kairi!”

He leapt at it without a moment’s hesitation, but something hit him from behind as well and he went flying forward, right into Riku. The two crashed into the pavement, and struggled to scramble to their feet as four Invisibles surrounded them. Kairi managed to twist herself enough to strike at the huge Heartless's arm. Unfortunately, that only seemed to make it mad, and it tightened its grip. She coughed as air was forced out of her lungs, but remembering her training, willed the panic out of her mind and quickly studied her enemy. There had to be a weak spot. The chains! Lurching forward, Kairi reached down and caught the end of one of the links on a chain wrapped around the Dark Thorn’s ankle, and pulled up. To her relief, the creature automatically lost balance and began to stumble forward. She quickly pulled her blade free and jabbed it into the Heartless's wrist. Reluctantly it let her go and she dropped free and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid its huge feet. She jumped up, turning to face it as the Dark Thorn caught its balance. It turned to face her, an angry look in its eyes. Kairi braced herself and ran forward to meet it.

Jason and Dick were heaving problems of their own at the moment. One of the top villains in Gotham and a number one psychopath, Two Face was trying his very best to kill them. It was strange to fight him, because unlike the other villains, Harvey seemed to have at least slight control of his actions. He was very concise and aware of his surroundings. Or so it seemed. At the moment he had a gun in his hand, a big one, and was having a bit of a fire fight with Red Hood. Shots rang through the air as the two zigzagged across the alleyway, hiding behind dumpsters and building support beams. Nightwing was jumping from fire escapes to windowsills, gliding through the air and deflecting bullets with ease. His plan was to close in on Dent while he and Jason shot it out down below. But Harvey was smart. He wasn't letting his attention stray from one crime fighter for too long. As soon as Dick got close enough to attack, Two Face would send a hail of bullets his way, forcing Nightwing to retreat, all the while hiding from Red Hood's fire. All in all, the scene was extremely chaotic.

Frustrated at how ineffective his plan had been thus far, Dick pulled out a batarang and aimed it directly at Two Face's gun. The villain was used to this kind of tactic and ducked the projectile before sending a few bullets Nightwing’s way. Nightwing growled and deflected them, then flipped down to regroup with Hood. The firing had stopped for the time being.

“All this is doing is wasting your bullets Hood,” he whispered. “We need a new plan.”

Jason glared at Nightwing through the mask. “You think I don't know that, idiot?! But what are we supposed to do? It's not like we can just walk up to him. I don't know if you noticed, but those are armour piercing rounds ‘Wing.”

Dick bit his lip. He had noticed and Jason was right. Those bullets were extremely dangerous.

“I wanted to try and bait him out of all his ammo. I'm sure you've noticed he's a bit trigger happy tonight.” Jason breathed.

Dick nodded. It did in fact seem as if Harvey was simply attacking without a plan, which was quite unlike him.

“Whatever he's doing, it has to be a trap.” Nightwing said. “It's always a trap with Dent.”

Before Jason could respond, there was a yell and Sora came flying through the air and landed roughly on the pavement a few feet away from the two vigilantes, right in the line of fire.

“Shi-” Jason shouted but gunfire cut him off. Nightwing was already propelling himself forward with amazing agility and with a few expert strokes from his escrima sticks the bullets went flying in three different directions. But now he was wide open too, and Sora was stunned behind him. Hood knew Nightwing couldn't be that lucky for long, and in a split second decision, leapt over the wooden crate they had been using for cover and charged the villain, who had likewise crawled out of his hiding place. Harvey scowled as Red Hood charged him, but aimed what looked like an AK-47 straight at him. Instinctively, Jason reached into his belt and drew out a smoke pellet. It exploded, billowing smoke into the air as Jason dived to avoid a hail of gunfire. He only hoped the bullets would avoid his friends as well. He rolled a few times to the left and then crouched low, surveying the scene. He was used to fighting in low visibility but his helmet made things even easier. He spotted the silhouette of Two Face running forward, probably trying to escape the cloud of smoke. He was going to pass Jason in seconds. Holstering his gun, Red Hood pulled out his taser and counted down. Three, two, one, NOW! He charged forward, ready to knock Two Face out with 50,000 volts, but instead of feeling his taser connect, Red Hood was thrust backwards with such violence he hit the stone wall of a building hard enough to hear something crack. His very disoriented mind hoped it was the wall and not him. He slid to the ground gasping, trying to figure out what had hit him. It couldn't have been Dent. He hadn't been able to see in the smoke!

A rush of wind announced the presence of Nightwing landing next to him. Hood pushed himself into a slightly more dignified sitting position and coughed.

“What happened?” Nightwing asked, looking very much alarmed.

“Don't know. I was ready to take him out under cover of the smoke, and then... gah, something hit me.”

Nightwing glanced up at the huge dent in the bricks lining the building. “Definitely wasn't Dent. No way he has that kind of right hook.”

Jason groaned in agreement as Dick stood up and helped him to his feet. Pretty much everything hurt, but not enough to put him out of commission. Thank God for body armor.

“How's Sora?” He asked, still catching his breath.

“Fine. Just a bit winded.”

“Good.”

The smoke was clearing now. And the two were scanning the area for Two Face. He couldn’t have gone far in those few seconds. The sound of the Keyblade Wielder’s fighting echoed around the battlefield, but Dent was nowhere in sight.

Nightwing shifted anxiously. “Where-”

He was cut off by a sudden terrifying roar. Both he and Jason froze at the bone chilling sound coming from their right. They turned just in time to see a huge black dog oozing out of the shadows. And on its back, smiling menacingly, was Two Face, complete with glowing yellow eyes and black throbbing streams of darkness running down his skin.

The dog Heartless was streaking towards them through the air and it was only thanks to years of training that they could duck in time to just avoid its snapping jaws and six inch claws.

“I think I know what hit you Hood!” Nightwing shouted while rolling to hit feet.

“Ya think!?” Hood shouted jumping up and looking wildly around. “That thing was freaking huge though! Did it just melt into the shadows?”

In response, a growl had them both whirling to their right where the huge dog was forming once again from the shadows lining the alley walls. This time the two were ready, and ran to meet it. The dog gave a single bark that made the hairs on Jason's neck stand up, but as it streaked towards him through the air, he ducked down again and aimed three shots into the creature’s belly. It snarled and fell to the ground, making the earth shudder. But it wasn't defeated by a long shot. Darkness oozed from its wounds, but it circled around, quick as lightning and ran at Red Hood. This time Jason had to jump to the side to avoid its huge clawed feet. A blur was all he saw as he ducked away, but he knew Nightwing was going for Dent from behind. He heard an angry yell from Two Face, and a triumphant laugh from Dick. Scrambling to his feet, Jason turned around just in time to see Two Face on the ground with Nightwing standing next to him, one foot on the AK-47 while the other rested on Harvey himself. He was just about to knock Dent out with a quick jab from an escrima stick, when the huge shadow of the dog bounded towards him.

“'Wing! Watch out!” He screamed.

But it was too late. The dog already had its teeth around his shoulder.

~*~​

Sora was fighting hard, but it seemed like they were getting nowhere. As soon as he had caught his breath, he had bounded back to help Kairi and Riku with the Heartless, but he had found that there were even more then when he had left. Invisibles could take a lot of hits before they went down, and the entire street seemed to be full of them. On top of that, the Dark Thorn was still thrashing around, with Kairi weaving in and out of its attack patterns. As he reached Riku and swung at the sword of a nearby Invisible, Kairi ran up to his side, panting heavily. A cold shock wave of surprise ran down his back when she approached. This was the first time he had really seen her injured. She had bruises lining her shoulders from the Dark Thorn’s iron grip, and blood was slowly trickling down her left arm from a gash in her shoulder. On top of that, she looked exhausted – probably not any more than the rest of them did – but seeing Kairi look that way made Sora angry. Really... really angry. He plunged the Kingdom Key into his Heartless's chest, and turned before it had even started to disintegrate.

“Sora, Riku,” Kairi gasped. “More than one of us needs to fight that Dark Thorn. I can't land a solid attack when its focus is only on me. We need a distraction.”

Riku laughed while swinging his blade downward, succeeding in vaporizing his fifth Invisible. “That's funny. It's the exact strategy these guys are using. Send the Invisibles as distractions while the Dark Thorn takes us out one by one.”

The three then had to scatter as the Dark Thorn charged towards their party. Unfortunately, the Invisibles followed them, pressing in around each of them individually so that they had to separate from one another. But Sora knew that Riku and Kairi were right. They had to fight together. The Dark Thorn was going for Riku this time. Its huge, powerful, clawed hands swiping as Riku's Keyblade. He was off balance, and was stumbling backwards with each impact. Suddenly he vanished behind a wall of Invisibles surrounding Sora. He huffed in annoyance and swept them back with a single slash. But they merely blocked with their swords and advanced once again. Sora grit his teeth. Now that he understood what was happening, it was so much more frustrating. He had to back up further as three swords smashed into the ground where he had been standing moments ago. He parried the next blow, and tried his hardest to push forward through the crowed of Heartless, but he had to back up once again as they surrounded him. He could hear Riku and Kairi fighting, along with the roars of the Dark Thorn. He also heard gunfire in the background, and hoped that Dick and Jason were alright. Desperately, he leapt into the air and pulled off one of his more impressive aerial manoeuvres, knocking about seven Heartless off their feet. But it wasn't enough to defeat most of them, and with a sinking heart, Sora saw them get back up, even as the Heartless standing behind them closed in. Sora looked around thinking hard. He needed a way to get these guys off his back so he could go help his friends, and fast. Mercifully an idea came to him! All he needed to do was stop the Invisibles from attacking him so he could get to his friends.

“Deep freeze!”

A jet of icy wind shot out of his Keyblade and swirled around the Heartless closest to him, effectively rendering them frozen Invisibles while blocking the Heartless behind from advancing. Pushing off from the ground, Sora used one of the Invisible’s frozen swords as a step to push into the sky and flip over the heads of the remaining Heartless. He spotted the form of the Dark Thorn instantly and glided towards it. It seemed Kairi and Riku had managed to stick together for the most part, but Kairi was holding off the Invisibles from stabbing Riku in the back while he tried desperately to get a good hit in on the Dark Thorn. Sora saw his advantage and in a second, was dropping down, wind whipping his hair around, straight onto the creature’s unprotected head. He drove his Keyblade deep into its flesh. The Dark Thorn stiffened, freezing in mid attacked, then swung viciously to the left, throwing Sora off of its back and towards a building. He hit something hard. Very hard. And then everything went black.

Hello all! Good news! Just your standard fare Kingdom Hearts type violence in this one! No blood to speak of. Enjoy it, because next chapter is horrible. Just a warning.

Spoiler: Chapter 26 - Nothing to Fear

He dropped into an offensive crouch, Keyblade at the ready. He felt more than saw Riku and Kairi taking similar stances. Already, he was going through their attack patterns. They keep high in the air, diving really fast claws-first. Stay down a moment, get their bearings, then fly up again. Not a lot of time to attack, but it was an easy enough pattern to follow. Plus, if he needed to, he could just jump up and attack them when they weren’t expecting it.

He was preparing for the dive when the Heartless landed, far out of reach of any attacks. Surprised, he relaxed his stance a bit, standing slightly and releasing his Keyblade with one hand. He was pretty sure he was seeing things when Jason started walking towards the things, hand extended.

Holding his hand out, the Heartless bent its head to sniff at it. Jason’s eyes glowed brighter as he spoke. His voice layered, as if there was two of him speaking. “You will listen to me. You will fly myself and these others to the other side of the river. You will not attack us.” The bat Heartless’ eyes glowed briefly in unison. Jason gave off a satisfied smirk and turned back to the group’s surprised faces. “Alright. We can get going now.”

Sora took in the dark lines, the yellow eyes, the layered voice, the Heartless, and summed up his thoughts succinctly and eloquently. “Huh?”

“Um, Hood?” Kairi ventured, probably expanding on Sora’s thoughts. “What do you mean?” Definitely expanding.

His face twisted in pain briefly before answering. “Yeah, I can’t actually hold them for long. I’ll explain on the comm.s on the way over.” One of the Myotises twisted its shoulder closer to the ground so Jason could climb on. “Let’s go people, two per bat.”

Dick spent all of a second considering, then shrugged and climbed up behind his brother. Riku followed, claiming one bat for himself. Sora and Kairi climbed on the last one, settling between the head and the wings. Sora kept an eye on his Heartless. If it made a move towards attacking them, he could probably get a hit in first. As long as they were high enough and close enough, he could glide to the other shore. He might even be able to carry Kairi. Riku could take either Dick or Jason, but the other would be left to fall to the water. He really hoped Jason knew what he was doing.

The bats lifted their wings. Dropping their wings, they created a windstorm that made Aeroga seem like still air. The Heartless and their passengers shot high into the air, level with a few of the shorter skyscrapers in Gotham.

Once the Heartless had leveled out their flight, Jason’s voice came across the comms. “About the Heartless…”

Sora interrupted. “Yeah! How did you get them to listen to you? Why are your eyes yellow? Will they attack us while we’re in midair? If they loop upside down, will we get a warning? Will other Heartless attack us while we’re up here?” He could have kept going, but Kairi smacked his shoulder lightly. He glanced back at her peeved expression and gave a quick, embarrassed smile.

“As I was saying,” Jason’s voice was still doubled, so it seemed like he was twice as annoyed at Sora. “I was talking to my darkness and it said I could do this. These Heartless see me as a stronger Heartless right now. And since Heartless are mostly instinct, and it’s pretty suicidal to intentionally piss off a stronger being, they’re listening to me for now. But I can’t hold this for long. It takes a lot of concentration and kind of hurts a bit, so I would appreciate not being distracted.” That last comment was clearly directed at Sora. And probably Dick, who was trying to engage Jason in a game of Stella Ela Ola.

To everyone’s great relief, they made it across the river with no problems. The creatures soared further upwards, towards the city, stretching their great wings for lift as darkness trailed behind the group. They flew through the sky and then steadily began to dip down as the Heartless lowered slowly to the ground. Sora saw Jason stiffen suddenly. The wind was too loud for him to pick up the sudden gasp Red Hood made, but Dick heard it and poked his head around his brother’s shoulder.

“Uh, Hood, you oka-”

Suddenly their Heartless bucked in mid-air, causing Dick to grab onto his brother’s shoulders to avoid being thrown off. As suddenly as it started, it stopped. The creature was once again making a slow decent towards the ground, but Nightwing’s heart was hammering a thousand beats a second.

“Not... good.” Jason growled.

Dick decided it was best to stay quiet, just as Sora's and Kairi's Heartless gave a sudden sharp turn to the left. Kairi screamed as she slipped from the creature’s back as it turned its body sideways, but Sora quickly reached out a hand and caught her wrist at the last second. With some difficulty he pulled her back up as the Heartless settled down and adjusted into the former flight path.

“Hood!” Sora yelled over the howl of the wind. “What gives?!”

Riku also wanted to know what was going on. He had a suspicion that Jason was losing control of the creatures, and clutched the back of his steed tightly to avoid splatting on the hills below.

Jason's whole body was stiff, and his head was bowed in concentration. “We need...to jump.”

“What!?” Kairi gasped looking at the good 50 foot drop below. “Are you crazy Red Hood?! We would die!”

As she spoke, her and Sora's Heartless gave another wild buck that made their hearts rise to their throats.

Jason gasped, froze, and then looked back at his friends stiffly. “Gonna… make them dive... Jump off at the last second. Then... fight.”

Before anyone could ask for further explanation, the three Myotises lurched forward, and dived. Wind screamed around them and tore at their clothes. They clutched the Heartless as the ground surged forward to meet them. Sora braced himself, and at the last second grabbed Kairi's hand. He pushed off the Heartless's back as best he could, and the two of them went flying through the air, Sora letting go of Kairi’s wrist in the process. He had tried to hit the ground in a roll, letting the momentum bring him forward instead of harming him. But they had been moving at such a speed that as soon as he hit the ground he was slammed forward with so much force that he rolled along the grassy earth several times before he came to a stop, unable to breathe from the impact. He laid there for several seconds, blinking stupidly as he stared up into the sky. Then he saw the black shapes of the Heartless circling around above him, preparing to once again dive at their temporary riders. Taking in a small breath, Sora managed to push himself up into a sitting position before breathing in blessed gulps of air. He looked around for his friends, and saw a flash of white. Kairi was a few yards away from him, but sitting up groggily. Before he could spot anyone else, a terrible screech tore his eyes upwards once again to see the three bats diving down, furious.

Instantly he stumbled to hit feet, and summoned his blade in a rush of shimmering light. A gleam to his left told him Kairi was doing the same. Before they could do anything however, one of the bats was upon him. It fluttered down, razor claws bared and mouth snapping as Sora slashed his Keyblade warningly. In an instant Kairi was at his side, and they thought the creature was going to back off. But the next moment, it dropped forward once again, its claw lunging towards Sora's blade. He jumped aside to avoid its grasp, and immediately regretted it. Kairi was now open to attack. But she didn't seem to mind. With a fluid grace, she ducked the monster’s other razor claw and twirled forward, bringing her Keyblade up to make a sizable gash along the monster’s back. Apparently that wasn't enough to vaporize it, because with a rush of wings the Heartless had turned its back on Sora and was now snapping pointed teeth at Kairi. She jumped back, and Sora saw his opportunity. He ran forward, and thrust his Keyblade into the creature’s back. It jerked and turned around to face him, before vanishing into millions of fading beads of darkness.

Kairi laughed in a slight moment of victorious joy and smiled at Sora who returned it with a huge grin of his own. But the next second, Kairi's expression turned to fear as she raised a hand.

“Sora look out!” She cried.

Something hard crashed into him, and in a moment of complete shock, Sora was thrown high into the air before crashing back to earth in a daze. What had just happened? The world seemed far off and fuzzy as spots danced in front of his eyes. And for the second time in five minutes he couldn't breathe. But in moments his vision was clearing, and he was pushing himself shakily off the ground. A Heartless was flying straight towards him. Its yellow eyes were angry and its claws extended. Suddenly, Sora realized the Kingdom Key was no longer in his hand, and felt panic surge through his veins as he willed his weapon back to him. It wouldn't materialize fast enough! The creature was practically on him when something small streaked though the air and hit the creature's head hard, causing it to snap to the side. Whatever happened, it had worked. The Myotis stumbled slightly to the side, and Sora was able to roll out of its way in an act of pure instinct. The creature was not pleased. It swooped in a semi-circle, letting out a blood curdling kind of howl. Sora, still dazed, but now with his Keyblade, prepared to fight. But the next instant, someone streaked past him and plunged their weapon straight into the monsters exposed chin. With a roar of pain, it dissipated into thin air. Sora blinked. “Kairi?”

She turned around a bit shakily. “Y-you all right?”

He nodded a bit dazed. “...Yeah. And you?”

“Oh, you know, just fighting huge bat monsters who want to eat me. Nothing too crazy.”

The two were silent for a second, then burst out laughing in one of those weird moments right after something traumatic happens. They both felt giddy with their own success.

“Hey!” Nightwing called. “You guys all right?” He was jogging up to them, one hand clutching an escrima stick white the other held three batarangs.

“We're good Nightwing.” Sora said, stepping forward with Kairi to meet up with him.

“Sora took a pretty hard hit.” Kairi piped up.

“Yeah.” Nightwing said, nodding slowly. “I saw that. And you almost took another one. You sure you're okay?”

“Fine.” Sora assured. “How's everyone else?”

Nightwing looked behind his shoulder. “Hood was fine. He took care of the other Heartless. And Riku is passed out over there in the grass. I saw his Heartless twist while he was jumping off. I was gonna check on him, but I needed to make sure the Heartless bothering you guys were gone before anything else.”

Looking around for his friend, Sora saw him lying in the grass about 30 feet away, with Jason crouched down beside him. The three jogged over to the two, and leaned over Riku. Sora reached out a hand and shook his friend lightly. To his great relief, Riku snapped open his eyes and then bolted upright, causing those around him to jump back. He took one glance around before spotting Jason, and grabbing the hero's shirt.

“You tried to kill us!” he moaned, albeit jokingly, before releasing his grip and letting himself drop back onto the grassy soil. With a sigh, Sora did the same, and before long, everyone was collapsing down on their backs, looking up at that huge glowing moon and then over at the ominous city, which was very close now. It seemed to emanate evil.

“Guys.” Jason said at last. “We're crazy.”

“Yup.” They all said in unison.

It was good to enjoy the peace while it lasted.

It was briefly interrupted by a few Heartless popping up, but a few bullets, a batarang and a well-placed Fire spell – all without standing up – put them back down again. As signs go, this one pretty clearly said “Get moving, before something worse shows up.” So, after another moment of relaxing, the quintet stood up, stretching out their sore muscles.

Sora tilted his head to the side, working out a kink. “So Nightwing, Hood, where do you think the Keyhole is? It’s normally somewhere very important to the world.” He flexed his fingers, making a small contented noise when they all cracked into place at once.

“Hmmm…” Dick rotated his shoulder, then bent backwards further than any human should be able to. “Probably Wayne Tower. It’s the center of all the transit lines, plus most of the jobs in the city are connected to it somehow.”

Dropping his ankle from where he had been holding it to stretch his quads, Jason smirked. “Let’s get going then.” He pulled on his helmet and set off.

Riku, in the middle of realigning his spine, muttered something about impatience. Kairi laughed. “At least we don’t have to wait for them.” Turning back, she waved at Sora, who was trying to catch up after sitting to stretch his legs and back. “Hurry up slowpoke!”

Riku smiled as Sora ran towards them. Dick and Jason were still walking, but Riku and Kairi stuck around to wait. When he caught up, they all walked forward together.

Right into a cloud of gas.

Riku inhaled in surprise. The gas filled his lungs quickly and his vision blurred. Dimly, he felt Kairi fall to the ground, crying. Sora whipped out his Keyblade a moment later, attacking an unseen enemy. The two Gothamites in front of him gave out shouts of surprise. The last thing Riku heard before his vision went black was fighting.

~*~​

He opened his eyes to darkness. Carefully standing up, he whirled in circles, looking for a way out. The sound of metal on metal caught his attention. Behind him, a cloaked figure was fighting Sora and Kairi. And winning. Kairi was breathing hard and holding her shoulder. And based on the way Sora flinched when he landed after a combo, his left knee was injured. Riku tried to run towards them, trying to help, but he couldn’t move.

The figure danced its way around his friends. Kairi fell first, a sharp jab to her stomach sending her flying. Then Sora was kicked to the ground. The figure raised its blade, point aiming straight for his heart. Riku cried out in distress, trying to reach him in time –

– but his view shifted. His vision was obscured by a very familiar hood, his hands encased in gloves. He felt a smile stretch across his face as his Keyblade – not Way to Dawn, Soul Eater – plunged into Sora’s chest. Sora didn’t make a sound. His face contorted into an expression of extreme pain, absolute betrayal, before vanishing into darkness.

Unable to stop himself, Riku pulled off the cloak. A brief glance down out of his peripherals didn’t show him his usual jeans-and-a-shirt outfit. He was wearing a white waist coat under a longer black jacket. Something he hadn’t worn since he had looked like Ansem.

With a growing sense of dread, he stalked towards Kairi. She was shaking in fear and he felt a stirring of joy in him at the sight. Finally, these interfering Light Warriors would get their reward. His white-gloved hand raised Soul Eater one more time and slashed his friend across the chest. The look of betrayal in her eyes mirrored Sora’s as she slowly faded away.

And Riku laughed, even as he cried.

I’m sorry. I failed you. I fell to the darkness.

~*~​

Kairi opened her eyes, surprised to find herself in The World That Never Was again. Just ahead of her, she could hear the sound of fighting, one she was familiar with. Sora’s exuberant battle cries along with Riku’s more subdued exclamations. She smiled and summoned Destiny’s Embrace, determined to help.

She turned a corner and almost tripped on the Neo Shadow right in front of her. She grinned and slashed down on it. She jumped through the resulting cloud of darkness and fought towards her friends.

Once she reached them, she fought by their side, just as she’d dreamed. They fought in harmony, one attack leaving the perfect opening for another. Covering one so that the other could lash out. Heartless dropped faster than they had ever before.

Then something changed. The Heartless kept coming, and their pattern fell out of alignment. Suddenly, Kairi wasn’t keeping up. More and more, Sora and Riku had to cover her, sacrificing perfect openings to prevent a claw piercing her chest. She felt fine. She felt like she was at her prime. But it wasn’t enough.

A crashing sound would have drawn their attention, if they hadn’t been so focused on the fight. As it was, Kairi didn’t notice the two Organization members not-so-subtly creeping up behind them. She didn’t notice the weaponry pulling back. She didn’t notice them plunging towards her, intent on impaling her from behind. But her friends did.

There was a noise, like a rock splitting a coconut, and the world froze. Kairi turned, only to see Sora and Riku standing in front of her, Sora with an Ethereal Blade in his chest, Riku with purple arrows in his. The world shattered and she screamed.

I’m sorry. I was a burden to you. It’s my fault you’re gone.

~*~​

Sora sat up and stretched. A sleepy smile lit across his face as he gazed over the familiar water. Intent on going back to his nap, he lay back down.

And shot up not a moment later when he saw the sky. There were dark clouds stretching from horizon to horizon and the wind whipped the trees. He knew this. He had seen this. He had to find his friends.

He raced towards the bridge, going to the Paopu Tree. That had been where he had found Riku the first time, why wouldn’t he be in the same place now? Luckily, both of them were there. Unluckily, they were both unconscious, and there was a Darkside stretching its claws towards them. Suddenly furious, Sora raced forward and swatted the claw away with his Kingdom Key. He would protect his friends. This Darkside wouldn’t know what hit it.

He attacked with everything he had. Every Firaga, every Ragnarok, every combo he knew. The Darkside didn’t feel any of it. The claw continued creeping towards his friends. Desperately, he attacked, but the claw didn’t deviate from its course. With a horrible slowness, the Darkside impaled his friends, and their forms shuddered into darkness.

Sora was still for a moment, unbelieving. Then reality crashed down on him and he sank to his knees, screaming.

I’m sorry. I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t protect you.

Of course! It was adorable.