Ebony Thunder

"You're late," a high pitched voice echoed. Riku had just exited the inn that he had been staying at, they had been staying at.
"Since when do you keep me on a schedule?" Riku asked. The small figure turned slightly, allowing his face and large round ears to show through his large black robe. It was identical to Riku's, except for its size.
"You had another nightmare, didn't you?" Mickey's voice was somewhat tinged with worry for his companion, but it still held its high sounding pitch that seemed to comical to be worried. Ever since he helped Riku escape from the world beyond the door, Riku had gotten used to that voice.
Riku looked away from the king. He couldn't doubt what Mickey was saying, but he didn't want to be reminded of this morning. Those memories hurt him whenever he thought about anything or tried to sleep. This morning was different, though. It's just the rain. Just the black rain.
He looked up. The Heartless were coming, there was no doubt. Riku was used to this kind of storm. When the door between worlds was broken, it always rained. Darkness filled the sky and it rained Heartless. There was no lighting, there was no light, only thunder. This thunder was the screams of innocents' hearts being drawn out from within their very breast. Heartless were heartless, and cared not for their pain.
It looked too familiar. Too familiar to that night. That night Destiny Islands, when the heartless attack destroyed his home, and changed the lives of his friends forever. It was his fault.
Always his fault.
His fault...
Riku held his head in pain.
"What is it?" Mickey asked. He had never seen Riku's memories hurt them as they had this morning. Something was seriously wrong. Riku had always recovered after one of his nightmares. Last night's dream, didn't seem like a normal dream.
"Nothing, we have to find the keyhole," Riku regained his concentration and ran out towards the eye of the storm.
Mickey called out his name but Riku didn't listen, just as always. It didn't matter that Mickey was royalty, Riku treated him as he treated everyone else. Sometimes Mickey really believed that because of passed experiences, Riku's heart was too far out of reach.
The short robed mouse ran after him, his golden keyblade was glowing, as it normally did when the Heartless were near. He knew very well his friend had a knack for getting himself into trouble.
When at last the king had caught up with his silver-haired partner, he found him surrounded by a group of very powerful Heartless. Mickey never remembered seeing so many of these more powerful Neo-Heartless in one place before.
Sure, while he and Riku traveled trough the many other worlds sealing them with the keyblade, a few of these Heartless were there accompanied by their smaller, weaker counterparts.
So many, here...
"A little help, here?" Riku called out to Mickey. That awoke the king from his thoughts.
Riku's golden eyes were glowing fiercely as he swung his bat-winged sword to and fro. Mickey noticed something as he ran to help him. Riku hadn't connected with any of those swings. Mickey couldn't understand, a Heartless, no matter its strength has ever out-matched Riku, in speed or skill. Ever.
"He's weakening," Mickey thought to himself holding back one of the heartless.
The king heard something clang, and hurried to finish off the Heartless barring his path. Mickey turned to see Riku's sword nearly at his feet. His head twisted to see Riku standing with a look of sheer dumbfounded awe written all over his face.
"That...Heartless, overpowered me?" Riku managed to say between gasping breathes.
Mickey couldn't believe it either.
The surrounding Heartless stopped, as if waiting, to see was their strange prey was going to do next. The prey that had brought them to this world in the first place. He had their eyes, glowing and leading into a dark pit of nothingness. Their strange silver- topped brother had called them here.
"Riku," Mickey called out to his friend. "Pick up your weapon!"
The small king knew this is the part where things get ugly. Once Riku felt even the slightest sense of loss, he resorted to his powers. Mickey remembered the countless battles that ended the same way...
Riku fought using a dark power that had remained even after Ansem was defeated.
Now, it was different somehow.
Riku felt the tingle in his hand, where his sword should have been. His wrist still ached, and so did his mind. A Heartless had defeated him. Something he was used to, but only by one person, only one person had ever truly defeated him.
Sora.
Something was welling up inside Riku, and he couldn't hold it back anymore. It was a strange feeling, and it hurt. His head was throbbing, and his body felt like it was burning.
He was only slightly aware of Mickey calling out his name, and the Heartless that were enveloping them both.
The only thing Riku could feel was the burning in his chest and the booming within his head. He only saw darkness, he could smell nothing, and the only sound was the faint familiar sound that he longed to be near. A heartbeat.
He missed that sound.
Something inside him popped. He felt it, an explosion of power, his own power. But this power wasn't anything like before it hurt him so much. It took all of Riku's strength and willpower to keep himself from screaming.
Whatever happened, he would never scream...
Mickey could barely see anything now, if it hadn't been for the keyblade's light, he would have been completely blind. The Heartless had all been vaporized by a blast of energy. It was a wave of very strong black power.
He knew something was very wrong. If that power didn't harm Mickey, while destroying everything else around him, the mouse would never had believed such an evil power had come from Riku at all.
Over the months, that later turned to years, he had come to know Riku, through his hard and somewhat annoying outside, Mickey saw a broken boy. Riku had told him everything. Even though he wasn't much of a story-teller, the days of being trapped allowed Riku to share his experiences with the king.
Mickey wasn't going to let him suffer anymore, besides, he had sort of grown attached to his heartless and very rude traveling companion.
The keyblade glowed with the hope of a battle, and Mickey began hacking at the dark envelope that was eating away at his friend.
Riku wasn't aware of anything anymore. The pain was gone, and it was as he was laying in snow. Everything felt numb, he didn't even know which way was up anymore. He vaguely remembered hands grab him from the darkness, he could only hope they were hands of a friend.
At the last second before all consciousness was lost, Riku could have swore he heard that distant heartbeat turn into the roll of thunder.

Darkness...
Pain...
There was only darkness and pain.
Riku's eyes fluttered open. He didn't have his blindfold, but the room was very dark, so the small lighted candle didn't bother his eyes much.
Riku needed to find out where his was, he tried to move, but a sharp pain struck his side. He pulled back his robe allowing himself to see his skin. It was very badly bruised. His whole side was one gigantic mass of bluish- purple. When he breathed it was as if his chest was filled with broken glass. Riku figured he had somehow broken a few of his ribs. Badly.
"Now, how did I manage that?"
He couldn't remember being hit.
Riku wanted to get out of the room, it smelled like blood. When he tried to get up, his legs were unresponsive. He slowly moved his hands down his legs, every time his body made the slightest movement his side pained him.
Then he realized that his ribs were not the only thing he had broken, both his leg bones were in pieces under the skin, which was just as bruised as his chest.
"Great..."
The smell of blood was getting to him. Riku tried to cover his nose, he felt a touch of a warm, thick liquid run down the length of his arm. That was the source of the smell, his nose was bleeding. He had not once before gotten a nose-bleed. "What the?" Riku didn't understand, how had he become so injured?
Riku doubled over when a knife-like pain shot up his back, the throbbing in his head began again. It was unlike before, Riku's breaths came in short compulsions, he had to gasp in order to keep conscious.
"Why..." he gasped, "why is this happening to me?"
"Riku.."
Riku picked his head up, he was the only one in the room. The wielder of that voice was nowhere to be found. That's when Riku thought he had lost his mind completely, he was hearing voices.
"Riku..." The voice called to him again, and again.
"Where are you? I..I can't see you?"
"I am here, Riku..."
"Who..." Riku couldn't fight it any longer. His head ranged, he could barely see anything anymore. Everything was too blurry.
"Come on Riku, I thought you were stronger than that." the voice said. Riku remembered those words, they were the same words he had told Sora. Whoever this voice was, he had a way of shoving his own words back at him.
He managed to say one last thing before his voice completely failed him, his was weak, as always. "Help me..."
"I know, I'm gonna save you, Riku."
Riku woke up again, but he wasn't in that damp room anymore. He was laying on his back, his arms were at his sides. He shielded his eyes, the sun was to bright.
"Sun?"
His left arm was still on the ground, his bare hands felt around. The soft warm substance was so familiar....sand. Riku still was far to feeble to sit up, but his legs were engulfed in another familiar substance, a wave hit the small beach. It almost took Riku out to sea with him.
"Riku? Are you awake already?"
It was the same voice that he had heard before. Riku seemed to know it. He was still blocking his eyes, so he couldn't see the person, but he heard footsteps coming closer to him.
"Hey, Riku! Come on, wake up!"
"Who?" Riku breathed, his head and his side began hurt again. He had forgotten that he was wounded until then.
"Oh, I forgot, you don't like the light, huh?" The voice began again. It sounded as though it was right next to him. He knew that voice...
Sora....
Riku couldn't stand it anymore, he didn't care about his stupid vision. He needed to see that face, the face of his friend, he needed to know if it was true. Riku carefully rolled to his side, completely ignoring the great deal of pain it was causing him. He kept his eyes shut until he faced away from the sun.
Then he slowly, in an almost frightened manner, Riku opened his eyes allowing their yellow glow to take in what he saw. His head was downcast, he stared at the ground.
"I knew it was sand."
"Duh, what else would be on an island." He heard the voice laugh, it sounded so much like Sora's laugh.
"You said we were on an island..." Riku still couldn't bring himself to look up at the source of the voice.
"Yeah, Riku, we're on Destiny Islands. Tell me, you surprised to be home?"
Riku barely seemed to have enough strength left to look up and around him. He had to squint because of the light, but he saw the little shack that had served as a hideout many times in his youth. He saw the swaying trees, and then he saw the small island he used to practice sword skills on, the paopu tree he had rested in was there as well.
He then meet the eyes, deep blue eyes that resembled the night sky, and a smile that was unmistakable.
"Sora..."
"Hey." Riku's friend beamed another smile. There was no doubt, it was Sora. The years had changed his face a little, but to Riku, he still looked like that little kid he could never forget. Sora's hair was just a bit longer, yet he wore darker clothing. He had changed....from a happy, bright teenager, to a darker, somewhat saddened young man.
Come to think of it, Riku had gone through an even greater change. He had lost a huge piece of himself, his heart.
"You know something, Riku?"
"What?" Riku panted, hiding his pain wasn't working anymore.
"I thought I lost my best friend, back behind the door."
Riku saw the worry in his friend's eyes. "Hey, you know me, I wouldn't let myself die that easy." He tried to smile, as he had done before, but pain struck him in a violent second and he fell over in pain. His face landing in the warm sand.
"Riku!"
He heard Sora call out his name in fear.
"You aren't leaving me again, you know how long I looked for you?" Sora was using that same pleading tone that he had called to Riku, a long time ago.
Riku felt his friend's hands shaking him, trying to keep him from falling into unconsciousness again. "Riku! Fight it, fight the darkness! It can't win if you fight back. Come on, you're home now, Kairi, Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus have been waiting for you!"
The silver-haired heartless boy couldn't hear the last words of his blue-eyed friend, pain was overtaking him again and he started to hear the thunder.
"I'm home..."

Riku felt hands shaking him awake, he didn't want to be awake, he just wanted to dream. He had been dreaming, not a nightmare, but a good dream. It was the pain that now was returning that truly woke him up. The shaking was only an addition to the discomfort.
His eyes slowly opened. He was back in that room, the one he had first woken up in. He now noticed though, he wasn't alone anymore. He also remembered the room, it was in the inn he had been staying in, he didn't realize that the first time he woke up. Riku felt around, he was in a bed, unlike before, when he had been on the floor.
"Riku?"
It wasn't the voice he wanted to hear, it wasn't Sora. Riku was still relieved to hear that squeaky voice, full of drowsy anxiety.
"Mickey...?" Riku stuttered, it was as if he had forgotten how to pronounce the king's name.
Riku heard the king speak with another in the room. His head was throbbing again, so he couldn't make out what they were speaking about, yet their body language explained a lot. Mickey was talking with a doctor, about him. The man left the room and the mouse strode over to where he lay.
"What happened to you, Riku?" Mickey asked, sounding much more scared than demanding.
"I..I don't know, I don't remember," Riku hissed. His head hurt.
"What was the last thing you remember, then?" the king asked. He looked at Riku, who seemed to be lost in thought.
"I only remember when that Heartless disarmed me, I felt something inside me," Riku sighed and tried to sit up, only to have the royal mouse push him back down again. He gave Mickey a glare with his yellow eyes and listened to the king's next words.
"Something inside?" Mickey questioned himself. "The doctor said that too."
"Huh?" Riku felt his sides. His cloak was removed, his entire chest was wrapped tightly in bandages, holding his ribs in place. He could tell even through his dark pants that his legs were in the same condition and splinted. Riku didn't like to show his weaknesses, this seemed too much, even for him. "So," he said, "what's wrong with me? I know that was a doctor."
"He didn't know," Mickey said.
"What do you mean he didn't know? He's a doctor! I don't understand, why do have I twice as many bones as I did when I woke up this morning, and why does my head throb?" Riku hurt himself when he yelled, he seemed to sink further into the pillow. He didn't understand, but he figured it was somehow his fault.
"He told me that the bone were shattered from a strong outward force, but what I didn't understand was how something that powerful came from inside you, until now that is." The king placed a hand on his chin, what he normally did when he was thinking.
"What do you mean, until now?" the silver haired boy sat up, this time Mickey didn't force him down.
"When you told me that something from inside hurt you, I think I figured it out. You lost control of your powers and it needed a way out of your body."
"No," Riku shook his head, "I don't lose control of my powers, I don't lose control of anything."
"But you do, and you did," Mickey pointed a finger at Riku.
"I don't understand," Riku looked at the floor. What was happening to him?
"Want to know something I don't understand?" Mickey asked his friend. He didn't like to see Riku floating in a pool of self-pity. Mickey could never get him back to normal when he was like this, besides his injuries were really bad. "I found the keyhole awhile ago, and sealed it. But, the Heartless are still here."
"What, they're still here?"
"They're heading toward the inn, towards you." the mouse said in a lower voice.
Riku was silent. He was somehow calling the Heartless to him, like he did in the past. He couldn't even look Mickey in the eyes, he knew the king was right. It was his fault. Then he remembered something and made a connection.
Riku stood up, grabbed his robe, and started toward the door. Mickey tried to stop him, but even though Riku was weakened, his size made up for it, the little mouse couldn't stop him. Even Riku's broken legs didn't stop him. He was being driven by an inner force.
"Where are you going? You are in no condition to walk, let alone fight."
"You know, I was dreaming," Riku stopped and looked back at the small king.
Mickey stared at his friend. "Another nightmare?"
"No, it wasn't a normal dream," Riku took his hand of the doorknob. He remembered that beach all to well. This was one dream he wasn't going to forget, because it wasn't just a dream. "He was in it..."
"Who?"
"...Sora."
Mickey's eyes widened, it had been a long time since his traveling companion had mentioned that name in a long time. He decided to kept silent, and see what Riku would say.
"He was there, it couldn't have been a dream. We were back on my island."
"You sure it wasn't a memory?" Mickey asked.
"How could it have been? That Sora that I saw, wasn't the same one I knew years ago, he had aged like me."
Mickey was silent again, waiting.
"He told me that if I fight, the darkness won't win. It was a warning, that he's back."
"Who's back?"
"Him. Who else has this kind of power? Ansem is back."
Mickey was shocked, "But I thought Sora killed him?"
"That's what I thought, but now I know. Sora wanted to warn me, warn me that Ansem is back." Riku paused to open the door. "He's near, and he wants my body again."