Chronicles of Darkness

Part II: Against All Odds

Well after a while, I feel that I have gotten a bit of the writing bug back. I was planning to write this story at some point during the fall, but due to school, and a lack of interest (blame football) I never got started on this. I actually did have a bit written, only to watch it get deleted (D'oh!) but I am back now, and while I can't promise that I will update as often as I did in the summer, I do plan on putting out a few new chapters a month hopefully. I would like to be done with this by say May, but we shall see!

Anyways for those of you who are familiar with my work, I would like to thank you for all the positive comments for my first story, and I am happy to see you all back here for part 2! To all the newbies that are going to read this for the first time, I would like to say welcome! I would also advise that you read my first piece: Fugitive Hearts, so that you have an idea of what's going on in this one. I will try and

Now some of you remember the original ending to Fugitive Hearts, which is now no longer there. I decided to take it out, and change it. Of course it too got deleted, so now I have to make a new one, but rest assured it will be finished, and hopefully better than the first one.

This story begins where the other one leaves off. Sora has sacrificed himself to save the worlds, and is now stranded in the Realm of Darkness with Roxas. Meanwhile; Kairi and Riku are in the world of light trying to get a hold of their lives now with Sora no longer there. I have included a small recap of the final chapter of Fugitive Hearts, sort of a setup to this new story.

I hope you all enjoy this story!

Chapter 1: Into the Abyss

(Note for returning readers: You will see some parts from the last chapter of fugitive hearts in this first chapter, this is done merely to show an order of where these things are taken place, both in the light world and the dark realm. Everything that is in Italics will be parts from the first story.)

(Fugitive Hearts Flashback)

"You brought this all on yourself…Ankoku!" Sora stated as he continued to stalk the fleeing Ankoku.

"Yes, you've had a bad life and I sympathize, but destroying the rest of the worlds out of revenge is not the answer. What you are doing is sick and disgusting, and you will pay for it!" Sora said.

Ankoku continued to run from Sora, eventually making his way down to the main floor of the castle. He rushed through another door, and into a large room. Sora followed him in, but didn't see Ankoku. He looked around the dimly lit room, but didn't see his adversary. He floated into the room, and saw a few chairs lined up on the walls, and a large chandelier hanging from the center of the room. He walked towards the center of the room and noticed a large object on the opposing wall. It was a large marble statue, of the symbol that he had seen on the door of the castle, and on the back of Ankoku's cloak. Sora eyed the statue with curiosity. There was a weird marking in the middle of the statue. As he looked closer at the statue, he made out the symbol as a smaller version of a keyhole. One of his Keyblades began to react to the small hole, and Sora realized that this was the seal that King Mickey was talking about.

"Don't even think about it!"

Sora's snapped around and saw Ankoku rushing up towards him, with a new blade drawn. Sora sidestepped him and backhanded him in the back of his head with the hilt of the Keyblade. Ankoku stumbled forward, and Sora was quick to follow up the attack, allowing the Keyblades to do what they wanted. Ankoku tried to fend off the attack, but the combination of two Keyblades was too much for Ankoku and he quickly fell to the ground, wounded from the Keyblades. Sora called off the blades and looked down at the injured Ankoku. Ankoku looked up at Sora, through pained eyes.

"So now you're going to finish me off?" Ankoku asked, a pool of blood and black ooze forming around his body.

"No…I'm not going to kill you." Sora responded.

Ankoku looked up at him confused.

"Am…I free to leave then?" He asked.

"No…you still must atone for your actions." Sora said, and turned back towards the statue, and the small keyhole began to glow.

Ankoku watched with great fear as Sora walked towards the keyhole and grabbed one of the floating Keyblades.

"What are you doing?!" Ankoku cried out.

Sora did not take his eyes off the keyhole.

"I'm going to seal this place forever…this way…the worlds can return to normal!" Sora said.

Ankoku eyes grew wide.

"But…I'll be trapped forever! You will be too!" Ankoku said.

Sora stopped and turned towards him.

"I'm aware of this." He said, turning back around to the keyhole.

Ankoku looked around desperately, his mind racing to see what he could do or say to stop Sora from going through with this.

"What about your friends? What about the princess?" Ankoku said.

Sora stopped again, and pondered it. Ankoku seemed to have a glimmer of hope, that maybe he had been able to stop Sora from doing this. Sora turned to him, and smiled. With that smile Ankoku's hope was washed away.

"Those two things that you just mentioned is the sole reason why I am doing this…so that they will be safe." Sora said.

He then turned, and began to raise his Keyblade towards the keyhole. Ankoku quickly lurched to his feet and summoned another sword. He used all his remaining energy to rush towards Sora, with his blade raised.

"I will not go out this way!!!" He roared as he raced towards Sora.

Sora turned to see Ankoku barreling down upon him, and quickly turned and allowed his Keyblades to do what they could do. Ankoku raised the blade high above his head exposing his midsection to the Keyblades, which were quick to take full advantage of that fact, as in quick fashion they took 3 swipes at his stomach, cutting deep gashes into the midsection of Ankoku. Ankoku stopped and staggered around. He looked down at his stomach, and fell to his knees. His mouth hung open and his lower lip quivered as he saw his silver cloak turn blackish red in the stomach area. He opened his cloak and looked at the large gashes in his stomach. The blood was mixing with black ooze and draining out of his body at an alarming rate. He looked up at Sora, who seemed disappointed with the results. Ankoku looked back down at his stomach, and then up at Sora again. His skin turned very white and his eyes rolled up in the back of his head. His body then fell face first to the ground, and didn't move. Sora gazed down at the fallen Ankoku and shook his head. He hadn't intended to kill him, but in the act of self-defense it had happened. He quickly exited out of his new form, back into his normal clothes. Sora then turned his gaze away from the tragic figure and turned back towards the statue and the task at hand. The symbol continued to glow as he approached it.

"Well…I guess this is it…" Roxas sighed from inside Sora.

Sora smiled a bit.

"Don't worry Roxas…we'll find our way back to Kairi and Naminé…I promise." Sora stated.

"I trust ya Sora…go ahead and do what you gotta do." Roxas said.

Sora nodded, and held his Keyblade up. He looked at the Oblivion Keyblade…but then lowered it.

"What are you doing Sora?" Roxas asked from inside him.

"Just making a quick change." He said as he rummaged around in his pocket.

He pulled out the Oathkeeper Keychain, and quickly attached it to his Keyblade.

"This will always remind me of the promises that I make, and this one I intend to keep." He said, as he put the Oblivion Keyblade back into his pocket.

He raised the blade up back towards the Keyhole.

"I will return to you Kairi…I promise…" He said as he closed his eyes and felt the energy run through him and out his blade, towards the keyhole.

He saw the light hit the Keyhole, and then felt himself being pulled in by suction, and everything went dark. From the outside of the castle, it looked as if the castle was being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, until there was no trace of it left, and the world just seemed to be a barren wasteland, with no sign of life at all.

Sora awoke lying facedown on the ground. Using his hands to lift himself up he took in his surroundings. It was a dark and dreary place, not unlike the Forbidden World. There were no people, no trees, and no sign of life at all. The only thing that was there was the dark ground, illuminated by the pale, yellow, moon. He stood up and brushed off his clothes, and looked up at the moon. He turned his attention away from the full moon, and brushed some of the dust out of his spiky brown hair.

"Nice of you to ask if I'm okay!" A voice grumbled from behind.

Sora turned around to see the ghostly image of a young man around his age, with spiky blond hair. He smiled at the figure.

"Haha, sorry bout that Roxas…" Sora said with a hint of apology.

"Yeah whatever…so this is the place?" Sora's nobody asked.

"Guess so…" Sora responded.

Roxas looked around at the desolate place they now would call their home. He thought back to what they had left in Destiny Island, and realized that he was a far cry from his island home. He sighed and then turned back towards Sora.

"So how do we get home?" He asked.

"Well…I'm not really sure…I guess we can try and find out some way of getting back home…but probably not here so I suggest we start walking." Sora said as he started walking in the direction of the moon.

Roxas watched him walk off, sighed again, and then followed him. The duo continued to walk for what seemed like hours, but found nothing in the barren wasteland.

"Man this sucks!" Roxas stated as the duo continued to trudge along the landscape.

"I know…but we aren't going to find anything out by just sitting here…we have to keep moving!" Sora said with conviction.

"Sides you aren't even walking!" Sora pointed out.

"Yeah but I'm bored!" Roxas said.

Sora rolled his eyes and they continued to walk along for a couple more hours before they came across a small mountain range. They approached it, and despite protest from Roxas, Sora began to climb and slowly made his way up the mountain.

"This is taking way to long!" Roxas complained again.

Sora meanwhile kept trucking on, although he was beginning to labor a bit, and Roxas was also beginning to get on his nerves. He made it to the top of the small mountain, only to see to a barren valley, surrounded by even more hills. Roxas groaned at this sight, while Sora stopped for a quick breather.

"This is getting ridiculous!! Is there anything here?" Roxas asked again.

Sora turned back and glared at Roxas. Roxas was too busy looking around for any thing that was different and thus he didn't see the death stare of Sora. Sora turned back around and continued to walk. Roxas was looking around at the surroundings and didn't see that Sora was halfway to the valley. He realized this and raced to catch up to Sora.

"Wait up!" Roxas said as he chased after his friend.

They made their way into the valley, and proceeded to climb to the top of another small mountain. When they reached to the top Sora dropped to his knees, gasping for air. Roxas looked around, not expecting to find anything different than the previous hill, but was stunned when he looked down into this valley and saw a vast amount of trees that stretched far off into the horizon.

"Sora! Look!" Roxas cried out.

Sora glanced up after sucking in a gasp of air, and nearly choked when he saw the forest. He scrambled to his feet, and quickly sped down the mountain and into the valley where the forest awaited. As they drew closer they saw that the trees were quite different than anything that they had seen before. They possessed black bark, and silver leaves, that shimmered in the faint glow of the yellow moon. They continued deeper into the forest, and it got to the point that the trees got so thick that they could no longer see the moon. Despite the moon being gone, the illumination of the silver leaves provided a dazzling, but almost eerie glow to their surroundings. They continued to trek through the forest, delving further into the mysterious woods. A low fog began to roll in as well, which made both Roxas and Sora even more uneasy. Still they continued on pushing deeper and deeper into the woods. Roxas was starting to get bored again, and began looking around at his surroundings.

"With a little sunshine, and some added color this place wouldn't be that bad…" He thought to himself as he glanced up at one of the trees.

He was about to turn back towards Sora, when he thought he saw something in the tree. He looked back again, and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a pair of yellow eyes staring back at him.

"Uhhhhh….Sora….?" Roxas said trying to draw Sora's attention.

"Not now Roxas!" Sora said, ignoring his friend.

Roxas watched as more pairs of yellow eyes popped up in the various trees.

"Soooorrrraaaaa…." Roxas said to get his attention again.

"I said for you to leave me alone!" Sora snapped back, thinking that his friend was just going to start complaining again.

"Soooraaa I think you need to see this…" Roxas said again.

Sora finally stopped and whirled around.

"WHAT! WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT!?" Sora yelled at Roxas.

Roxas's response was to merely point up at the now fifty pairs of yellow eyes that had them surrounded. Sora looked around as numerous shadow heartless morphed down to the ground and took their true shape. Then they began to move in one slow circular mass towards to two.

"Well shit…" Sora said, drawing his Oathkeeper blade.

He immediately sprung into action slashing and cutting his way through the heartless army. He attacked his foes with such precision and quickness that he was able to cut through many of the heartless. However, while he was making tremendous gashes in their ranks, more and more heartless were being drawn to the area. They were appearing at a greater frequency then Sora could eliminate them. Sora fought valiantly but the combination of walking for so many hours, and the constant influx of new heartless became too much for him, and he soon was on the defensive. A constant barrage of slashes was difficult for him to defend against, and eventually they swarmed upon him. Sora was lost under a mass of heartless, and Roxas was powerless to do anything about it. Sora tried to fight out of it, but his blade was knocked away from his hand. He tried to bring it back to him, but he was unable to do so. Heartless swarmed over him, and clawed him into submission. Sora began to grow weak and his vision began to fade. Roxas's continued pleas for Sora to fight seemed to slowly fade away, until his vision completely faded and the darkness enveloped him.

Back in Disney Castle:

Everyone was sitting in the medical wing. Kairi had come out of the bath and felt incredibly refreshed. The mood in the room though, had taken a drastic turn for the worse since King Mickey had informed everyone what exactly Sora's mission had entailed. Riku was taking it pretty hard, as the last few days had not been very kind to him. Kairi was unhappy, but she at least had gotten to speak to Sora, before…

Suddenly, she felt something, something important leaving her. She lowered her head, and realized that Sora had successfully completed his mission. The other members of the room noticed that she had bowed her head, and they all turned to her, concerned. Kairi looked up at all the faces, and gave a sad smile. Without any words said, everyone was able to figure out what this meant. Daisy started to sob, and was comforted by an equally sad Donald. Mickey's eyes and ears both drooped, as Minnie hugged him. Olette buried her face into the shoulder of Hayner and Pence dropped down into a seated position. Riku looked to the ground and silently walked out of the room. It was a somber moment for all of them. The battle had been won and the worlds had been saved, but the cost of victory was far greater than anyone had been willing to pay.

Sora jolted awake with sweat down his face. Something was wrong as he couldn't see anything at all. He tried to get up but stumbled and fell on his face. He felt a pair of hands grab him, and he tried to fight the person off. He pulled away from the grip, but fell again. He called his Keyblade, and felt the blade appear in his hand. He tried swinging blindly, flailing away but hitting nothing. He heard a familiar voice sound out.

"Sora! Settle down!" Roxas called out to him.

Sora lowered his hands, and started to calm down. He felt another pair of hands grab him, and started to tense up again.

"Take a breather son, and wait for your vision to come back." A low gruff voice said.

Sora loosened up, returned the blade, and allowed the pair of hands to lead him. He sat back down, and waited as his vision slowly returned to him. When it did he looked up at the two figures who were watching him. One he recognized as Roxas, but the other was unfamiliar to him. It was an older man who looked to be in his 60's, but was in fantastic condition for his age. He had a long beard, and he had a chiseled face. He wore older style of clothes, ones that Sora had never seen before. He had a small scar that formed the letter X on his chin. His eyes were a dark green, and he smiled at Sora.

"I must say it's been awhile since someone other than myself has been to this horrible place." The man said.

Sora continued to look around at the small bare hut; He was sitting on a hard, wooden, bench, and looked at the old man.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"You're in my hut; outside of the forest…you're lucky that I found you two, or else those things would have finished you two off." The man said.

"Those things are called heartless; they represent the darkness in everyone's hearts." Roxas chimed in.

"Ah so they have a name… these heartless as you call them have only been here for a week or two; fortunately my blade has been able to turn the foul beasts back." The man responded.

"That was an amazing trick you did Sora! I thought you were a goner for sure!" Roxas added.

Sora looked puzzled at Roxas.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked.

"When I came and fought off most of those heartless that were on top of you, we saw that you had a white aura around you, and other than a few scratches on your chest and face that we bandaged up…" The man began.

Sora looked down and for the first time realized that he was shirtless. A bandage covered his torso.

"I don't know how to make an aura like that…I was knocked out…" Sora said in shock.

Roxas merely looked at him, and they both tried to figure out what had happened. The old man looked at them in concentration, and spoke again.

"We were attacked again, but I was able to fend them off long enough to get out of the forest and to safety, for some reason they like to stay in the forest, as very rarely have I seen one outside of it…" the man explained.

"Well…thanks for saving our butts…" Sora said.

"Don't mention it…it's nice to have some company finally...it's been a few centuries since I've seen another person." The man said.

Roxas and Sora both stared in awe.

"W…what did you say?" Roxas stuttered.

Sora stared at the old man, before noticing something behind the man's left shoulder. He saw what appeared to be a Keyblade, sitting in the corner of the room. The old man turned to see what he was looking at and then turned back to Sora. Sora turned and locked eyes with the old man.

"Who are you?" Sora asked calmly.

The old man looked back at Sora with calm eyes.

"My name is Yamato…and I'm the one who created the portal to this plane of existence." He stated.

End of Chapter 1