heyy thanks for reading! this is my first fanfic, so i would LOOOVEEE some reviews but try not to be too too mean. i uploaded the first five chapters together, so the sixth will be here soon.

-DISCLAIMER-

I dont own any of the worlds, characters, or weapons in this fanfic. I dont own Kingdom Hearts

Sora ran down the board walk to Riku's little island. He made sure Riku had been on it before he ran to check it out. Sure enough, Riku was sitting on his tree. The tree's truck bent over so far you could sit on it and not fall off. Long gray hair flew over the 17- year- old's shoulders. Riku seemed to be lost in thought, because he just stared into the water, not saying anything.
"Riku!" Sora called to his friend. Riku seemed to be snapped out of the day-dream and he almost fell off the tree into the sand. At the last second he leaned the other way and steadied himself. Riku turned to face Sora, who was a year younger than him.
"What's the deal?"
Sora stood, bent over, panting. Then he straightened up and said, "I've been running around this island non-stop looking... Huff huff... For Kairi. Have you seen her?"
Riku had not seen the 16-year-old red head. In fact, he was surprised she was not with Sora. Riku used to like Kairi, but things had happened to let him know Sora was meant for her. Riku had almost let the darkness take his heart and when Ansem took control of his body, he had tried to take Sora's and Kairi's hearts as well. He conquered the darkness inside of him, but sometimes it still bothered him to know it was there.
"She isn't with you?" Riku asked and hopped off his tree. Sora's face showed his surprise to hear that reply. He didn't think they were love-birds!
"Why would she be? I mean-" A embarrassed Sora was cut off by a scream. It was Kairi's scream.
"Well I just heard her now," Riku said. Sora nodded and both boys started to run to where they thought the scream was coming from.

~AFTER RUNNING AROUND, THE BOYS FINALLY FOUND KAIRI~

Kairi was lying down on the sand beside the mini-waterfall. The boys didn't notice that the waterfall's water was turning a darker shade of blue than usual. They just ran over to Kairi.
"Kairi!" Sora turned her over so she wasn't laying face-down. Kairi was not conscious. Sora shook her shoulders, but Riku hung back. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that if he got any closer to Kairi, something bad would happen. He didn't want that.
"Kairi!" Sora shouted and shook her violently, as she was not waking up. The mini waterfall's water was black now. Riku stepped back, scared for Kairi, and thinking his darkness as the cause of it. He looked at the water and drew his key blade. Sora laid Kairi's head down and looked at the key blade in surprise. All of a sudden the boys heard a voice shout.
"Hurry! It will close on us!" The voice sounded a lot like Sora's. Then tons of creatures spilled out of a portal hidden in the black water. Riku or Sora couldn't quite tell who these creatures were, as they looked like a mixture of a Heartless and a Nobody. The creatures ignored the three like they weren't even important. That made Sora angry. It was their island. Whoever was invading it would have to go through him first. Kairi... Riku... He had to protect them. Sora thought Riku could take care of himself fine, but a little help never hurt.
"Why? What? No!" The Sora-sounding voice got louder. Sora turned to Riku.
"Take Kairi and get out of here. If you want to, you can come back and fight," Sora commanded. Riku smirked a little, and then thought over what Sora was actually trying to hold back. An army of what-cha-ma-call-its and an unknown guy who sounded like Sora were dangerous sounding. But Riku figured Sora could do it. He would take Kairi and then race back.
"Okay, but..." What advice could Riku give him? "Be careful."
And he grabbed Kairi and ran off.

~THE ARMY OF WHAT-CHA-MA-CALL-IT'S AND THEIR LEADER GOT CLOSER AND CLOSER TO WHERE SORA WAS STANDING~

'Can I do this?' Sora asked himself many times as he summoned and un-summoned his key blade, The Ultima. 'Ummmmmm...' He was undecided, but then he heard the voice. It scared him, to think of himself leading an army to destroy a world. The voice was so strange sounding like him, so scary sounding like him, that he decided he must stop its owner.
"HE'S HERE?"
Suddenly Sora saw him. The creatures surrounded him. 'Guess they notice me now,' he thought to himself, cursing because he had not hidden to wait for Riku and create an ambush.
"Who are you?" Sora asked, trying to put a tone of bravery in his voice. But he was losing. He himself wasn't scared; it just seemed the enemy had a power to suck the will to fight out of you.
"Me? How does he not know me? Have you already forgotten?" The swarm of new enemies parted so Sora could see their leader.
"Hello then. I'm Vanitas. I would've guessed that you would still remember me, but it doesn't really matter. I destroyed you once as a different person, but you now have his heart. Only you have the power to bring him back and restore him, so I have to... I won't say kill... Either way, you won't exist after this fight."
Sora stared. How would he know this boy? And more importantly, how does this boy know him? Vanitas had jet black spiky hair identical to Sora's, but his pale skin was more muscular. There was a smirk on his lips but confusion and worry in his golden-brown eyes.
Vanitas summoned his key blade and got in a fighting stance that was all too similar for Sora. That's because it was Riku's stance. Sora, however did not summon his key blade. It was all just too much to absorb in the quick time he had learned everything.
Vanitas leaped forward, and Sora blinked before the blade came down on him. His weapon appeared the moment he wished, and he blocked himself from Vanitas' blow. Sora jumped back and panted. He hadn't expected a fight with a key blade wielder. Vanitas grinned a sly grin.
"Don't act so surprised. It hurts my feelings," he said sarcastically. Sora decided to forget everything this guy had told him.
'Just focus on defeating him,' he thought. 'But maybe I should speak to this Vanitas guy.'
Sora swallowed his confusion and doubts that this would do any good, and started to speak.
"Listen," Sora was surprised at how weak his voice sounded. Then he remembered when he first saw Vanitas, he felt the same way. But Sora had a creeping suspicion that it wasn't him who was actually scared. He had risen up to fight many evil creatures, and all of them, he defeated. Sora thought Vanitas had a way to force your mind to be scared of him. That thought alone worried him. If he could make anyone in any world tremble of frightment in his presence, who knows what he could do! Sora decided to push against his power. He looked up right into his golden-brown eyes, and started to talk.
"I don't know you. Nobody knows you. You should leave before me and friends make you."
But instead of being more frightened, the strange light of worry in Vanitas' eyes disappeared.
"Sorry kid, but anyone who tries to drive me out gets it."
Sora frowned. He didn't like the way Vanitas called him kid, like he was too pathetic to matter or care about.
Vanitas smiled. Not a just-kidding-I-won't-kill-you sort of smile, a you-don't-see-how-stupid-you-look-right-now sort of smile. Sora hated the way it formed on his lips, but he got a strange feeling from it. Like that smile had been there before, and what he said was true. It was like Vanitas knows what he's doing. A frightening thought came to Sora's mind: What if he did?

Sora flew back, into a young palm tree. Sora winced as it moaned and fell over to the ground. The sweat had long before started forming at the top of his forehead, and it still ran down his face. His magical key blade disappeared from his hands.
"Why do you even try? I mean, I haven't told you EVERYTHING. So, I could strike a deal with you. I don't let you know everything, give you a day to practice your fighting, and you come back as a decent match."
Sora blinked. "What?"
Vanitas held his chin high in the air and laughed. It wasn't the laugh that Sora had expected to come out of those lips. It was evil, all right, but strangely kind. It was like the laugh's evil shell was crumbling and you could peek into the light of it. Vanitas' eyes widened for not even a split second, as he took note of it too. He quickly replaced the evil outer shell of the sound. But Sora was still confused. Vanitas had seemed completely evil to him, but was it possible there was some light in him? And, if there was, could Sora get to it?
"Sora? That's your name, right?" Vanitas frowned disapprovingly upon Sora. "By the way people talked about you, I thought you'd be more of a threat. But I guess not."
Sora looked down at the silver chain hanging on his neck. Then he peered at the crown charm hanging from it. He didn't know where it came from, but to him, it symbolized his need to right wrongs and triumph over the darkness. And Sora knew, without a doubt, Vanitas was pure darkness.
"No, I am a threat. A real one. I can't let you get away with this, or anything."
Vanitas seemed surprised at Sora's sudden serious tone of voice.
"And, to save my friends," Sora's voice cracked, but he forced it to steady. "You're going down, no matter the cost!"
Vanitas was still not amused. "What a great show. But what about your existence? What will become of that?"
To be honest, Sora didn't know himself. But he couldn't let Vanitas know that. Instead he summoned his key blade, as the power to fight rose inside him. Vanitas' face remained emotionless. He raised his hand up over his head, and threw his key blade up in the air all in one smooth motion. The key blade circled in the warm island air, then exploded in a flash of dark light. The darkness rained down on both boys, Sora confused, but Vanitas had seen this all before. It was HIS key blade after all. A new key blade landed in the palm of Vanitas' hand. This one was a darker shade of black, it was bigger and more elaborate, but most of all, the way it looked... with Vanitas was right.
"Alright, of you want to fight, let's get this over with. I've got better things to do than waste time with you," Vanitas sighed, and pointed his key blade so it was just a couple of inches from Sora's chest.
Sora just stared at it. His mind suddenly went blank, and he didn't know what to do. His hands relaxed and Vanitas smiled. The key blade was getting closer and closer to Sora. The black pointed end suddenly was drawn back by Vanitas, and Sora blinked in confusion. He couldn't move, but why? Why would he need to?
"Sora!" A voice panicked.
Vanitas thrust the key blade forward, and Sora stared. What was that sword thing? Why was it going toward him? Would it hurt him?
Right as the key blade touched Sora's chest, before it could hurt him, Riku rushed forward. He barreled over to where they were standing. Sora's friend used his dark key blade to knock Vanitas' weapon to the floor. Sora's spiky brown hair flew in the breeze as Vanitas' spell wore off. He remembered everything. He was the key blade's chosen one. Vanitas was the enemy and Sora had to stop him.
The black haired boy stared at his key blade lying in the grass. Sora's muscles screamed as he reached down to steal it, but a surprising force blew him back. Vanitas smirked as the darkness that was used cleared the air.
"Idiot. Unlike you, I have more weapons than just the key blade," Vanitas laughed. And Riku's jaw hit the floor.
"But I'm the only one who had used the darkness like that!" Riku protested against Vanitas' power. He peered down at his hands, and saw himself using the darkness against his friends replay in his head for the hundredth time. Sora winced at the memory. Battling Riku as the darkness consumed him was not an easy battle. But saving his friend had been worth it. Riku had said a million times he was sincerely sorry, and every time Sora and Kairi said not to worry. Riku's friends had known he'd been told lies and they shouldn't hold that against him. Still, Riku always has a empty feeling when the darkness is mentioned.
Vanitas laughed mockingly.
"Stupid. I am darkness. Have you always thought you were the only one to use it?"
When Riku didn't answer, Vanitas just frowned. He closed his eyes, lost in his mind, thinking of what to do next. A look of disconcert crept over the features of his face as he came upon a decision. Vanitas willed his key blade to disappear in a cloud of black smoke, and waved his hand dismissively.
"I have better things to do than play fight with you. I came here for other... things," Vanitas smiled as a doorway of darkness opened behind him. Sora didn't try to even follow his evil look-a-like as Vanitas slowly backed into his corridor. Riku rushed forward, ready to throw himself into the darkness. Right as he passed his younger friend, Riku was stopped. Sora's hand lay firmly on Riku's shoulder, and Riku spun around to demand why he was stopped. Sora peered up at the 17 year old with sad eyes and shook his head. Riku's eyes widened as he understood what Sora meant. Riku was saved from the darkness. Sora and Kairi's light had leaded him out of it. But now, as he wasn't darkness anymore, Riku can't use it or pass through it.
Riku smiled at his friend, and then thought about what Vanitas might be after.
When a sudden realization came to him, Riku barreled past Sora and through the tropical bushes Destiny Islands contained.