Greetings, fanfiction community!

I suggested it and you supported it, so here it is: the sequel to my first story, The Darkness Hunter. It's good to see that so many people were eager at my suggestion, so I hope you'll enjoy what I've got lined up for you!

This story, like The Darkness Hunter, is narrated in first-person, but, this time, from a few different viewpoints, which will alternate throughout the course of the story. (I will indicate who's speaking with their name in all caps as a header.) We'll see Sora's POV again, but a couple of others as well...

Well, here's Chapter One. It's pretty long, but I did have a lot to say. Enjoy!

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ROXAS

Red eyes. Everywhere, the red eyes. Boring into me, full of relentless cruelty. Freezing me in place. And then…nothing.

I sat up in bed and put my face in my hands. It didn't even need to be a dream to unsettle me; the memory was bad enough. It was why I had quit my job as a doorman. The night that that tall stranger had come…it had changed everything. Granted, it had less of an effect on me than it had several weeks ago, but, every so often, the memory would surge back in full force, terrifying me all over again.

I still didn't know what to make of it, over three months after it had happened. Though I did have my suspicions…

I scowled as my mind turned towards the person I had been trying not to think about for the past couple of months. Sora. One of the people who lived in the apartment building where I used to work. Sora and I had never gotten along like bread and butter, but we had been friendly towards each other—that is, until this whole whatever-it-was. A couple of weeks after the…incident, Sora had tracked me down, and offered to explain to me what had happened, professing to know all about it. I had been skeptical, but agreed to let him speak. Boy, was that a mistake. He had claimed that I had been hypnotized by a vampire—or some other term similar to vampire—that had terrorized him and his friends at the time. As if he was Professor Van Helsing or something. And if that weren't enough, he went on to claim that there were supernatural beings of all sorts all around us, and that he often dealt with them in his investigative services.

By then, I had had enough. I told him to get out and not try to trick me after I had been traumatized. He had insisted that he was telling the truth, but I managed to get him out. I didn't know what his deal was—if this was all part of some trick he had played on me, or if he was just plain crazy. I suspected the former at first; we had recently had a disagreement, and that might have been his way of getting back at me. I thought it was a bit much for a prank, but, then again, maybe Sora was the type of person who thought that was funny. I didn't know him all that well.

Then came the letters. And the phone calls. I don't know how Sora got my personal information, but he relentlessly abused it, constantly trying to contact me and convince me that he had been telling the truth. At first, I tried to ignore them, hanging up when he called or throwing out letters that had his return address. Then, he tried getting some of his friends to contact me. I did know his friends, though; I had seen them come and go at the apartment building, so when a guy introducing himself as James Gorsch called me, I knew who I was speaking to. Still, I had held on to the hope that he wasn't as crazy as Sora, and could perhaps provide an explanation for his friend's behavior.

I was sorely disappointed. Whatever problem Sora had, his friends had, too. I had hung up, and refused to take calls from any number I didn't recognize. But they persisted, leaving emails, voice messages, and even trying to catch me as I left my house in the morning. I nearly had a nervous breakdown. Finally, I told Sora to leave me alone (though in slightly more explicit terms), or I would report his harassment to the police. Thankfully, he seemed to get the message, and I got no more communications from people trying to convince me of the existence of vampires.

But it only left me more confused than ever. Now I had no idea who the strange man with the red eyes had been or what the hell was wrong with Sora. Was it just that he had completely lost his mind, and had managed to find companions with the same situation? It seemed unlikely; they had seemed pretty sound when I had seen them. Especially Riku Taiko. He was always calm and collected, and, given that he was one of the best investigators in the area, I doubted that he knew about Sora's predicament.

Still, the eyes continued to haunt me. I was afraid of mentioning them to anyone; they might think I was crazy, too. Even my roommate, a quiet guy named Ienzo, didn't know what was troubling me (though he was perceptive enough to see that I was unsettled). I had considered trying therapy a couple of times (I doubted therapists would be quick to throw me in an asylum or anything like that), but there was a problem—money. After the incident with the red-eyed stranger, I had been forced to leave my job—I had been simply unable to stand out in the dark. I was afraid, afraid that I would see the eyes again. I was ashamed of it, but it was true. On the one hand, this meant that I wouldn't have as many interactions with Sora anymore. On the other hand, it meant that I was out of a job. The economy still wasn't at its finest, so getting a new job was particularly difficult, especially with my limited background: I had gone to a good college, and was on my way to pursuing a degree when my friend got caught selling drugs on campus. Like an idiot, I had taken the blame, and gotten expelled. That really hurt my track record. Other schools were reluctant to accept me, and my friend didn't help; I hadn't heard from him since my last day at the college.

Eventually, I had managed to get a position as a doorman, but now, that was over. Now, I had to find a place that was willing to hire someone who had gotten expelled for drug dealing. As you might imagine, it wasn't easy.

So, I was three months unemployed, falling behind on the rent, in a position where it was very difficult to get a new job, and I was sleeping poorly, thanks to a resurgent memory of the red eyes that constantly haunted me, in, before, and after my sleep. And, I couldn't seem to get over my resentment of Sora. Somehow or other, I felt, he was responsible.

I turned over in my bed. I needed sleep, red eyes or not.

I woke to a hand shaking my shoulder. "Hey," said a voice. "You awake?"

I groaned. "You asked me to wake you up," the voice said.

I nodded, and managed to open my eyes. Standing over my bed was Ienzo, his blue-gray hair hanging in front of his face as usual. "Thanks," I mumbled.

"You getting up?" he asked.

Slowly, I nodded and swung myself out of bed, blinking to try and get the sleep out of my eyes. I needed to be alert; I had an interview that morning. Somehow, my resume had made it past the scrutinizing eyes of whoever hired people at a small local restaurant, and they were willing to consider me for the position of a waiter. It didn't seem like an exceptionally high-paying job, but I couldn't afford to be picky. Yawning broadly, I nodded at Ienzo. "Thanks."

"Sure. Just make sure you get moving. I have to leave in a few minutes for class."

I nodded sleepily. Ienzo was a graduate student at Columbia, studying to be a doctor. He had even gotten an internship at a nearby hospital, working under the tutelage of a doctor named Even Isaacson. "Right. I'll be fine; thanks for waking me up."

"No problem. Good luck with your interview."

I yawned again. "Thanks."

After getting dressed, splashing some cold water on my face (which, unfortunately, didn't do as much to wake me up as I had hoped), and failing to get my hair to lie flat, as usual, I went out to our kitchen area and ate breakfast, going over in my mind some of the information I had to prepare. The restaurant where I was applying was called Gullwing's. My contact had been someone named Rikku Goldstone, who had seemed quite bright and cheery over the phone. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too strict. I could really use a break.

Unfortunately, my body seemed to be conspiring against me; I could not shake my fatigue. Lack of sleep had really taken its toll…But, I was determined to show Rikku and whomever else would be there that I could do this job. And so, gathering my resolution, I left my apartment, thirty minutes before the interview was scheduled, and walked to the restaurant, hoping that the outside air would help to revitalize me. Unfortunately, it was August, and the warm and humid air did not make me feel more awake. On the contrary; it made me miss my sleep even more, and wish I was back in bed. Gritting my teeth, I steeled myself and practically ran the rest of the way, arriving at the restaurant almost fifteen minutes early.

Great, I thought after I checked my watch. Now what? I wait for a quarter of an hour?

Well, better to be too early than too late. With one final mental check to make sure I was all prepared, I opened the door and headed in.

The restaurant was a small place, with a front desk only a couple of feet from the entrance and a small group of tables and chairs behind it. Behind the front desk stood a gray-haired woman, though she didn't look older than thirty or so. She looked at me, and, with a shock, I realized that her eyes were red. No, not now, I thought, as my fear threatened to overtake me. My mind whirled. They're probably just contacts or something. She did look like the type to wear red contacts—dark clothing and a somewhat gloomy expression. It was probably her look, or whatever.

She looked at me, eyes half-open. "How many in your party?"

Oh. She thought I was here to eat. I cleared my throat. "I'm, uh, not here to eat," I said. "I have an interview scheduled for ten-thirty. My name's Roxas White."

She blinked. "White? Oh, yes." She stood up. "Follow me."

She walked towards the back of the restaurant, and I followed. Finding my mind still on her eyes, I found myself asking, "Those contacts?"

She turned around and raised an eyebrow, unsettling me even further. "Of course," she said, her tone suggesting my question was ridiculous. I felt pretty foolish. Of course they were contacts. She didn't actually have red eyes.

But then, did that mean that the tall stranger had had red contacts, too? But if that was the case, why was the memory so unsettling?

I shook my head. Not the time to think about it. I had an interview to attend to. I had already lost points with my contact question, and I couldn't afford to mess up again.

I followed the woman to the back and through a door before she came up to another door that hung open. On a small plaque outside it I read Rikku Goldstone, Assistant Manager. I blinked, nervous. I was going to be interviewed by the Assistant Manager? Well, then again, it was a small business. There probably weren't a whole lot of people who were available to interview me.

"Rikku," called the gray-haired woman, walking into the office.

Rikku looked up from her work. She was young, maybe even younger than I was—or maybe she just had a youthful look about her. Her face was cheerful, and long blonde hair hung down her shoulders. "What's up, Paine?"

Pain? She's named Pain? I thought. Geez, she must really be working on the emo image. I tried not to let my thoughts show.

"Roxas White here says he has an appointment with you," said Paine, her voice flat as a pancake compared to Rikku's bubbly tone.

Rikku turned to me and smiled. "Oh, yeah!" She stood up. "Well, Roxas, you're a little early, but I'm glad to see you!" She held out her hand, and I shook it, smiling back at her and fighting off a yawn. I could not show any signs of fatigue.

"You all set here, then?" asked Paine.

"Yep," said Rikku. "Thanks, Paine!"

Paine nodded and walked away, to return to her post at the front desk.

Rikku crossed to the door and closed it. "Well, it's nice to meet you in person," she said.

"You, too," I replied.

She walked back over to her desk. "Well, we might as well get down to business." She sat, and indicated a chair across from her desk. "Please, sit down."

I did, wiping my palms on my pants as I did so. Nervousness clawed its way through my insides, but I did my best to ignore it. I was being given a chance to prove my worth. I couldn't afford any slip-ups.

"So…" said Rikku, turning to her computer. "Let's just pull up your resume here."

I waited for a minute while she did so. Then, she said, "There we go," and began reading. "So, I've already looked through this, but I thought we could go over it together, maybe highlight some of the more important points?"

I nodded, heart pounding. I could guess what some of these "more important points" were.

"All right, here we go," she said with a smile. "A lot of this deals with your college experience, so let's talk about that." She glanced at her screen. "Says here you went to Amherst. You must've been pretty smart, huh?"

"I did do well in school, yes," I said.

"Yep. What were you gonna major in?"

"Math."

"Math?" She raised an eyebrow. "You must have really been an academic, then. What were you planning on doing with math?"

"Well, I wasn't exactly sure," I said. "But I knew that I liked math, and studying it would give me a lot of options."

"This is true," she said, nodding. "It's a broad field. What did you like about it?"

I thought for a second. "I liked its logic," I said, "and its firmness. There wasn't a whole lot of ambiguity in math. Numbers behaved in a specific way, dictated by rules and theorems."

"So you're a pretty logical, rule-driven person?"

"Yes, I would say that I am." No room for vampires in my mind, Sora, I thought satisfactorily.

"Okay. Would you consider that a good thing?"

I nodded. "I would. I believe that the world and our society is structured in a certain way for a good reason. We have ways of doing things that are in place, and people are most productive and useful when they go along with them."

"So you're more of a status quo type of person?"

I hesitated briefly. "Not necessarily. Rules can lead to change. It's part of how the world goes. I just think that it's good to let the change happen naturally, rather than trying to force it out of its turn."

"Out of its turn?"

"Yes. Before its time, if you will. For instance, I don't think that this country should make gay marriage a national legal thing right now, because so many people are still uncomfortable with the idea. But I think it's something that should be worked towards, and implemented when the time is right."

"Uh-huh. All right, that's good to know." She turned back to my resume. "Says here you were in an environmental rights group in college."

I nodded. "Yes. Environmental protection is another issue I believe needs to be worked towards. There is a lot of evidence of environmental degradation, and we should pay attention to it and work to make sure that we don't ruin the one Earth that we've got."

"Right," she said, smiling. "Good to know you've got an opinion on the future of our planet. You'd like Yuna, our Head Manager. She's a big environmentalist."

"Is she?" I asked.

"Yep. Always makes sure that we're as green as possible."

I grinned. "That's good. Every little bit helps."

"Precisely."

I felt my spirits rising; this was going quite well so far. Maybe I would be able to get past my difficulties and actually secure a job…

"Well," said Rikku, interrupting my thoughts, "we've dodged the elephant on the resume long enough." She tapped the screen. "It says you didn't finish your college education. Why was that?"

Uh-oh. Here's where it would go downhill… "I…I got into some trouble."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? What kind of trouble?"

Here it comes… "I was expelled for drug dealing."

She made a face. "Drug dealing?" She looked and sounded almost incredulous, like she couldn't believe that the agreeable young man in front of her had once done something so heinous.

I nodded. "It was a particularly dark time for me. I made some choices I'm not at all proud of, but I can't go back and change them. I've since sworn off any sort of that activity, and I promise you that I will not go back to it."

"Hm." She remained unsmiling. "Why did you do it?"

I hated lying, I really did. But there were times when it was necessary, and now was one of them. Sure, I had considered telling the truth and saying that my friend had been the one to do it, but with no proof to back up my claim, it would sound like I was just making up excuses. So, I sat there and lied through my teeth to the friendly, cheerful woman who sat across from me. "It was a time in my life when I didn't think about other people so much as I thought about what was best for me. I knew that it would be a good way to gain a lot of money, so…I just went ahead and did it."

"I see." She brightened up a bit. "But you've had no more experiences of that sort ever since?"

I shook my head. "No, none."

"Well, that's good."

Thankfully, she moved on after that. The fact that she was still interviewing me was a good sign; it meant that she wasn't so put off by my criminal record that she would refuse to consider hiring me. All I needed to do now was continue to act my best.

Unfortunately, I was still fighting my body's tiredness. I had to hold off multiple yawns, which became harder to do as time went on. But, finally, Rikku said, "Okay, I think that'll do it for the questioning bit." She got up. "Enough of that tedious stuff."

I rose, as well, wondering what she meant. Was there another part to this interview? Maybe I would be asked to demonstrate practical skills.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to keep you for a little longer," she said.

"That's fine," I replied. "Whatever you need."

"Excellent," she said. "I'd like to see how you'd do practically, then." She walked towards the door. "Follow me."

I did so, and she led me to another back room that turned out to be the kitchen. A number of people were at work, a few of which nodded hello to Rikku as she walked through. "This is our kitchen staff, as you can probably tell," she said.

I nodded as I looked around. They seemed like pleasant enough people, though there wasn't much to go by. "So," said Rikku, drawing my attention back to her, "if you're gonna wait here, you'll have to get used to working around them. But, before we deal with that, I'd just like to see how well you serve me, as if I were a customer."

I nodded. "Okay, sounds good." I tried to sound upbeat, even though I could often feel myself drifting off. I mentally shook myself. Come on, can't my adrenaline kick in? I thought. This is an important situation, here, and I need to be alert.

"You okay?" said Rikku, noticing my far-off look.

"Oh-oh, yeah," I said. "Sorr—"

Unfortunately, I was cut off by a large yawn, one I couldn't prevent. "Tired?" asked Rikku after I had finished.

Great. I might as well have said that I found this place boring. "I'm really sorry," I said. "I…I haven't been sleeping very well lately."

"Oh, that's too bad," said Rikku with a concerned expression. "Have you tried taking something for that?"

"A few times." But, for some reason, it had barely helped. Why was my mind so hung up on this memory?

"Well, hopefully you'll feel better soon," said Rikku. "Maybe you could go to a doctor if it persists?"

I nodded, eager to get off the topic. I didn't want Rikku to think that I was physically unfit for the job.

"Anyways, back to business," she said. "Here's what we'll do. I'll go sit down at one of the tables, and all you need to do is speak to me as if I were a customer. We'll pretend I've seen a menu, and have several options in mind. You don't have to actually bring me anything…at least, not yet. When I order, you can just go off and pretend to come back with what I've asked for." She grinned. "We'll mime it. Got all that?"

I nodded, already thinking about how I would go about this. It couldn't be too hard, surely. I had been to restaurants before; I knew what waiters usually said.

"Let's give it a try then," she said. And with that, she led me into the dining area, and sat down at a nearby table. "Whenever you're ready!" she said brightly.

I took a minute to collect myself, then approached the table. "Hi, and welcome to Gullwing's," I said in the most upbeat tone I could manage. "My name is Roxas. How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing great, Roxas!" said Rikku.

"That's good to hear," I replied. "Well, can I get you anything to drink?"

"Um…yeah," said Rikku. She appeared to be in thought, so I waited for her. "Uh…I'll have…a root beer. No, wait, a lemon iced tea. Or raspberry. Actually, could I have half lemon iced tea, half raspberry?"

I wasn't sure if she was testing my patience, or if she really was having trouble making up her mind. If it was the former, she was certainly a good actor. "All right," I said. "Iced tea, half lemon, half raspberry?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

"Okay, then. I'll be right back."

I walked back to the kitchen, then, thinking that there wasn't any point in lingering there if I wasn't actually going to get anything, went right back. "Here you go," I said, handing her an imaginary drink. I couldn't help but feel a little silly.

"Thank you," she said, pretending to accept it.

A second passed, and then I said, "Have you decided what you'd like to eat?"

"Yes," she said, seeming fairly confident with her choice this time. "I'll have your special, that specially-prepared chicken wing."

"Okay," I said, even though I had no idea what she was talking about. "All right, I'll be back with your food in a few minutes."

Again, I went back to the kitchen and returned with her pretend food, still feeling rather self-conscious that I was doing something tantamount to playing make-believe with my possibly future boss. But Rikku seemed perfectly happy to be doing it, so I kept going along. Finally, I gave her the "check," and told her to have a nice day. "Very good," she said, standing up and ending the simulation. "Now, just one more thing…"

How long was this interview going to take? No, I couldn't think like that. I had to be willing to do whatever I had to to get this job. (Within reason, of course.)

"Let's see how well you can actually carry the food," she said. "Come with me."

She led me back to the kitchen, and, upon getting in, yelled, rather loudly, "Hey, Wakka! I need a bit of food here!"

One of the chefs, a tall man with tan skin and orange hair, walked over to us. "What kinda food, Rikku?" he asked.

"Any kind," she said. "I just want to see how well Roxas here can carry a tray of food."

He looked over to me. "You're applying to be a waiter?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Well, good luck," he said with a grin. "Yeah, hang on a minute, Rikku." He walked over to a nearby counter, grabbed a handful of chicken breasts, and brought them over. "These good?" he asked.

"Fine," said Rikku, grabbing a clean plate from a nearby stack and placing the breasts on them. "Thanks, Wakka."

"No problem." With another grin at me, he went back to his duties.

"Now, let's see here," said Rikku. Taking a few more plates and a tray, she arranged them so that each plate had a chicken breast on it and they all lay on the tray. "Okay, I'm gonna head back out and sit down again," she said to me. "Just bring this out to me. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sure," I said. I felt myself begin to relax a little bit. I could do this. Sure, I was still tired, but not so much so that I couldn't carry a tray of plates.

"See you out there, then!" With a smile, Rikku went back out to the tables. I gave her a minute to get seated, then picked up the tray and went out myself. It only took me a second to locate her, and I began to head over.

But then, I noticed Paine approaching out of the corner of my eye, leading a couple of people to a table of their own. As I looked over, she glanced up at caught my eye. Her red eyes met mine, and I felt myself freeze. The eyes…

The memory hit me full force. The tall stranger, and his red eyes, boring into me and taking full control. I was powerless. I could do nothing. And there he was, ready to…

I felt myself stumble, and suddenly, the tray wasn't in my hands anymore. A second later, I heard a crash. Blinking several times, I gradually returned to reality, then almost wished I hadn't. On the floor in front of me was the tray, dropped from my hands. Also on the floor were the chicken breasts, which had slipped off of the plates, and shattered fragments of the plates themselves, which had broken upon impact with the floor.

"Roxas!" I looked up to see Rikku hurrying over to me. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Still shaken, I said, "Yeah, I…I don't know what happened…"

She looked concernedly at me for a moment, then turned her attention to the mess on the floor. "Well, this happens," she said, "and we have someone for it." She walked over to the kitchen and yelled, "Tidus! Get your butt out here!"

I remained standing, unable to believe my luck. The interview had been going so well. I had even managed to patch up my slip-ups…or so it had seemed. But this would lose me a lot of points. I seriously doubted Rikku would want to hire me after this.

She walked back up to me. "Don't worry, Roxas," she said. "We'll get this cleaned up." She looked at her watch. "Oh, shoot." She turned back to me. "Roxas, I'm really sorry, but I have to head off to a meeting in just a few minutes, so I'm gonna have to leave the interview here. But thank you so much for coming out, and I'll contact you once we've made a decision."

She held out her hand, and I took it. "Thank you for taking the time to interview me," I managed to say.

"It was my pleasure. Have a great day."

I didn't. I walked slowly back to my apartment, frustrated and disappointed. That memory had interfered with my life again. This time, it had probably cost me a job. I put my face in my hand. When would this torment end? I needed something to help me. I didn't know what. I didn't care what. Well…anything except Sora. He was the last person I wanted to see. He would only make things worse, like he had been for the past couple of months.

I clenched my fists. What was his problem? And what was his real connection with the red-eyed stranger?

I doubted I would ever know.

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So, there we go. Initial impressions? Suggestions? Things I should keep doing/stop doing?

Until next time!