The Path of Darkness

Daren and Andrew had been friends for as long as either of them could remember. The two of them grew up together and spent the past few years training under the same master. They both reflected on this as they stood a few yards apart in the barren wasteland of a dying world.

"Why are you doing this?" Daren asked. He had some idea, but he desperately didn't want to believe it to be true.

"It's the only way." Andrew retorted. "I have to do this."

"But why? You're not making any sense."

"Nevermind, you wouldn't understand it anyways." Andrew held out his hand. "Just come with me."

"You know I can't do that." Daren looked away.

"Can't what?" Andrew asked, "can't trust me?"

"The darkness has taken ahold of you"

"So that's what this is about. Look, you don't have to be afraid-"

"Master warned us about what the darkness was capable of. If you're not careful it will consume you."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Besides, Master's not here anymore. You don't have to follow his orders any longer."

Daren turned to face Andrew once again. "And what if I refuse to join you? What are you going to do if I refuse to offer myself up to the darkness."

Andrew sighed. "You know, I really hoped we could still be friends, but unfortunately you aren't really giving me much of a choice." A simple looking black blade with the teeth of a key appeared in Andrew's hands. "You will come with me, even if I have to use force."

Daren closed his eyes for a moment. As he opened them again a glistening blue blade appeared in his hands. The two former friends charged at each other and their blades clashed. Andrew managed to pushed Daren back and Daren stumbled, but regained his balance in time to block Andrew's next attack.

Daren swung at Andrew, who dodged by jumping back. Andrew threw his blade at Daren who knocked it back. Andrew caught the blade and threw it once again, but this time Daren sidestepped before knocking the weapon away. Daren ran at Andrew and swung, but Andrew quickly dodged. Andrew summoned his sword and managed to parry Daren's next hit, causing both of their weapons to go flying.

Daren clenched his fist and punched Andrew in the head hard enough to knock him backwards. Andrew felt the blood run down his forehead and felt rage building inside of him. "Why are you always so stubborn?" A faint black glow appeared around Andrew's hand and moved up his arm, taking the shape of a gauntlet. He swung at Daren as hard as he could. Daren recognized this as the power of darkness, though he didn't have much time to think about it. The blow sent his tumbling backwards a few feet.

He stood up, feeling slightly dizzy, in time to see Andrew forming a ball of darkness in his hand. It shot at Daren like a bullet, and he did his best to dodge, but it grazed his arm. Andrew began to summon more orbs, and Daren did his best to remember the barrier spell that his Master had taught him.

Daren managed to cast the spell in time to protect himself from the volley of dark orbs, but there were so many that the barrier began to crack. The darkness began to spread across Andrew's body as he began to charge a more powerful blast. The impact shattered the barrier and the shockwave nearly knocked Daren over. Both of them summoned their keyblades and clashed once again, with neither one managing to push the other back. But how? I need more power. Andrew let the darkness take over completely, his green eyes temporarily become a more yellow color. Suddenly, he vanished in a cloud of black smoke and reappeared behind Daren. He raised his blade and slammed it down near the base of Daren's neck.

Everything went black, and then white, and then Daren felt himself falling. In his head he heard a voice call out to him. Don't give up. Daren recognized it as the voice of another childhood friend, one who was very important to him and Andrew. "It's no use, he's just too strong." I know you can win, you just need a little more light. Daren felt something enveloped him and noticed a faint white glow. "Is this...?" Daren opened his eyes to see that he was colliding with the ground. He rose to his feet and turned to face Andrew. The light surrounded him and he tried to summon his keyblade, but instead a golden-bladed keyblade appeared in his hands. Andrew summoned a green, jagged looking keyblade that ended in a point. The two clashed again, and there was a bright light. Daren felt himself be flung backwards with great force and then he felt the impact of his body hitting a large rock.

When Daren finally came to, everything hurt and he found it difficult to stand. He saw that his golden keyblade had been broken clean in half, but Andrew was nowhere to be seen. Daren staggered around the wasteland for a while, wondering where Andrew had gone, but a sudden pain stopped him in his tracks. Looking down, he saw the green tip of Andrew's keyblade jutting out of his chest. Daren felt intense pain throughout his entire body as Andrew twisted the keyblade. Daren's body faded away into nothingness, leaving behind a single heart, which began floating away. Seeing the heart broke Andrew free of the darkness. He captured the heart in a barrier before it could get away and held it close. "What have I done?"

At the same time, a man in a labcoat was taking some sort of readings on a monitor. "Another one? That makes three this month. Oh well. Better send someone to retrieve this one as soon as possible."