Kingdom Hearts fic: Island Territory - Chapter 2

[mistressofmuses]

In chapter 2: Continuing to investigate the disappearances on the islands, Sora and Kairi meet up with Riku again (and then again.) Riku meets another cryptid.

---

“So, time to seek out a vampire?” Sora asked, stretching his arms up over his head.

Kairi locked the door behind them and nodded. “Time to try, anyway. At least we probably don’t need to prowl around a graveyard or anything to find him.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time they’d spent an evening in the cemetery. Some cryptids liked it there; it was certainly quiet, if nothing else. They tried not to judge.

Sora grinned. “That would be so last millennium.”

“The modern vampire is so much more sophisticated these days!” She laughed. “Riku did say he just inherited a house. If he was truthful about that, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to find out what house.”

“If he was being truthful. But something tells me the house didn’t pass through traditional inheritance channels.”

“True enough,” she acknowledged. “Though someone is bound to be gossiping about it, if it had been empty for a while. And it must have been, since there haven’t been any vampires on the Islands for as long as we’ve been here.”

The sun was already sinking down toward the horizon. The streetlamps would come on soon. The pair of them turned toward the center of town by unspoken agreement.

“So does that mean this is going to be a fun-filled evening spent looking up property records and obituaries in the hope of narrowing down a vampire’s home address?” Sora asked. “We clearly know how to spend a Friday night.”

“Actually, I was hoping for the slightly less invasive approach. Maybe we could just swing back by Highwind? We ran into him there once; maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll be there again.”

Sora nodded. “Wouldn’t want to creep out the creature of the night by looking up his address.”

“It does seem a little rude.”

They were joking about it, but it was a fair enough consideration. Just because he was a vampire didn’t mean he wasn’t entitled to a reasonable amount of privacy. Not having virtual strangers stalking his home address and following him there was reasonable.

Of course, possibly being allowed to kill denizens of the island was not reasonable.

Sora kicked at a small chunk of cobblestone that had come loose, sending it clattering off the road. “Are you still considering it could be him?”

Apparently his thoughts had taken the same darker turn that hers had.

“I still hope not. I liked him, you know?”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“I think we have a better idea of what is responsible. But until we can actually prove it, it seems like spending more time with him could be the best way to definitively rule him out.”

They hadn’t seen Riku since the night at the bar. Initially, that hadn’t seemed like a problem, even considering the disconcerting encounter with the shadow-creature they’d witnessed that night. They knew Riku had walked away from that in one piece.

Destiny Islands was small, but not so small you would expect to trip over every other person on the islands on a regular basis, particularly if you weren’t looking for them.

But they were up to seven presumed victims in just under two weeks. That was a problem. Ruling Riku out as a possible culprit, even if it didn’t solve the murders, would still be a relief.

“You mean be his alibi?” Sora asked.

She shrugged. “If it comes to that.”

It would be an effective way to prove he wasn’t responsible, though it would unfortunately mean at least one more victim.

The street heading up to Highwind was quieter than usual. Not utterly deserted, but there were noticeably fewer people on the sidewalks. Serial disappearances were enough to make anyone nervous.

The bar itself was about as full as usual, though. Kairi wondered how the trendier clubs closer to the beach were faring. Those were probably better hunting grounds for whatever was taking people. Then again, there hadn’t been any commonalities between the victims, so there wasn’t a known hunting ground at all.

Sora settled a hand at the small of her back, and the two walked up to the bar. No sign of Riku yet, but the sun was barely down.

They got their drinks and settled at one of the little tables to the side of what served as a pseudo-dancefloor. It gave them a good view of the door and the patrons trickling in.

“No guarantee he’ll be here tonight.” Sora spun the stir stick around the edge of the glass.

“No guarantee he won’t be,” Kairi replied. Might as well attempt to stay positive. She stabbed the lime in her drink.

They’d each finished about half of their respective drinks—enough to look normal and social, not enough to hit the point of tipsy—when Kairi spotted the glint of silvery hair in the dim light.

She tapped her foot against Sora’s ankle and subtly nodded toward the door. He didn’t do anything so obvious as crane to look, but as he took another sip of his drink, she saw his eyes cheat over to the door.

Riku spotted them the moment he stepped all the way into the bar. She watched him briefly freeze, taking on that sudden statue-stillness that had partially outed him as a vampire the first time they saw him. Then he realized they’d seen him, and the stillness relaxed to something much more natural looking.

Kairi smiled and raised her hand in a friendly wave. Sora did the same a beat later.

Riku quirked a brief smile and turned to walk toward their table instead of to the bar.

“Hey there, newcomer,” she said when he was within a few paces. “Nice to see you again.”

“You too. Am I supposed to ask if you two come here often?”

“Often enough. Are we supposed to feed you a line about how gee, me and my partner just noticed you across the bar…” She batted her eyelashes for good measure.

He laughed at the cliché. “Well, would it throw the script off too badly if I offered to buy your next round? Since you bought me a drink last time.”

Kairi drained her glass and accepted the offer.

Freshly supplied, the three settled back around one of the tables. It was a bit small for three, but not uncomfortably so.

“How’ve you been settling in on Destiny Islands?” Sora asked.

“Pretty well so far,” Riku answered. “Even bought myself a tacky tourist mug at one of the shops near the beach.”

“The true Island experience.” Kairi held up her drink in a toast. “To kitsch.”

Riku clinked his glass to hers.

They couldn’t exactly come out and directly say ‘by the way, we’re well aware you’re a vampire, and have you possibly been responsible for a string of recent murders?’ Seemed rude to ask at best, if not unfairly prejudiced. In a public bar wasn’t the place for the ‘we know you aren’t human’ conversation anyway. Really, even a gentle hint around the topic could spook him if he was guilty, and that wouldn’t get them the needed confirmation either way.

In lieu of that, the small talk came easily.

She was almost dismayed to discover how quickly the time had gone, when Riku pulled out his phone and announced it was already almost midnight.

He looked reluctant when he put the phone back in his pocket and said, “It’s getting pretty late.”

An almost imperceptible flick of Sora’s bright blue eyes to hers told him he was thinking the same thing she was. Is that him making an excuse to go hunting?

“I’m sorry we monopolized your evening if you had something else you needed to do,” she said. “We should have asked.”

“No, nothing like that. Just… late.” He hesitated, like he knew how ridiculous it was to claim midnight was ‘late.’ Even for the non-vampires of the world. “But really, I was glad to run into you. It was nice to have someone to talk to.”

“Oh hey,” Sora said, like he was just remembering something. “I meant to ask, would you want to swap phone numbers? No pressure or anything. Just, if you want.”

The half-smile that pulled at Riku’s lips was far too appealing, frankly.

“I’d like that,” he answered. “Though I’m not great about answering my phone. It’s probably best just to text. I keep… weird hours sometimes.”

“That’s fine. Sora and I are night owls anyway.” Kairi pulled out her phone, pulling up the contacts list.

She dutifully typed in Riku’s number as he read it off to her, then sent a quick text so he’d have hers too. Sora did the same.

Riku sent back a smiley face in reply.

Vampires who text.

Riku didn’t actually make any move to get up and leave, despite having been the one drawing attention to the time.

Sora drained his drink and then stood up. Kairi followed, and only then did Riku get up off his stool.

They all headed for the door. The air outside was still warm, a pleasant summer night.

Riku hesitated, like he wanted to say something, but just couldn’t quite get the words out.

“Do you want to meet up tomorrow night?” Kairi asked. “If you don’t mind us monopolizing your time two nights in a row.”

“I’d like that. Meet here?”

“How would you feel about a café?” Sora asked. “There’s one just a few blocks away from here that does live music on Saturdays. Would you be interested?”

“What time?” Riku sounded unsure.

Kairi would definitely be thanking Sora later for remembering music night at Materia. It was still too early for the ‘we know you’re a vampire’ talk, but taking Riku somewhere where he could meet another non-human could maybe start them working up to that conversation.

“Music starts late. 9:00 or so,” she offered.

He immediately looked relieved. “That sounds great, then.”

Sora pulled his phone out of his pocket and waved it. “The café is called ‘Materia’. I’ll text you the address. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Riku waved.

He didn’t turn to walk up the sidewalk until Sora and Kairi had started walking their own way.

Kairi looped her arm through Sora’s and had to force herself not to keep looking back toward Riku.

“Not following this time?” Sora asked, voice low.

Maybe they should have, but… “Nah,” she answered. “Maybe tomorrow. Tailing him on the same route twice in a row seems risky.”

Sora just nodded, and the two headed home.

---

Riku felt the presence in the shadows as soon as he left the bar.

It tugged at his awareness, even as he set plans to see Sora and Kairi again the following night. A date? his own mind needled at him. He did his best to ignore both the internal and the external pressure.

It was ironic that he’d drawn attention to the time, as if it were late. Only a bit after midnight now, not even halfway through his night. While Kairi and Sora had headed away, presumably to their home, he had hours left before sunrise, with plenty of choices for what to do. Yet nothing appealed. He turned his feet toward the mansion.

He glanced down every alley, just waiting for a repeat of the previous time he’d been walking home from Highwind after seeing Sora and Kairi. As much as he expected the shadow-thing to push more thoughts at him, maybe another offer of the ‘partnership’ it wanted, the presence stayed quiet.

Probably for the best, Riku thought, as the city buildings fell away behind him, and he started up the smaller road leading toward his home. It’s more likely to be looking for a chance to attack me back.

He felt a slight twinge. A confrontation was going to happen eventually. If this island was going to be his home, something he very much did intend for it to be for many years to come, he couldn’t have this thing conspicuously killing people off.

Even knowing it was inevitable, he wasn’t sure he was ready for a fight just yet. He didn’t have a plan for how to deal with whatever the creature was. Then again, it had been easy to force it to retreat before.

He was almost home, passing through an area of overgrown trees, when the first thought pressed into his head.

Blood-drinker. The thought was cold, but almost a greeting.

“Heart-eater,” he replied, recalling what it had called itself.

A feeling of satisfaction at that. Help each other yet? Showed we/I good hunter. Many prey, no body.

That confession wiped away any doubt he may have had about the shadow-thing’s role in the disappearances.

“Too many victims,” he said. “You’re attracting attention. I thought the point of ‘no body’ was to keep from getting caught.”

‘Victims,’ it repeated, the feel of loathing for the word coming in thick enough to coat his own throat. Are prey. No ‘victims.’

“Still attracting attention.”

More prey notice. No care. Just more prey.

Riku looked around for the gold shine of the creature’s eyes, but didn’t see them in the thick undergrowth. “You don’t care. Others do.”

The feel of the mental push took on a sly, mocking tone. Worry about pets?

“Pets?”

A mental image pushed through. It was hazy, indistinct, but Riku still recognized them: Kairi and Sora.

Riku felt his lip curl in the start of a snarl. He’d seen them twice in as many weeks, and yet the shadow-thing was able to tell he felt differently about them.

“I don’t have pets,” he said aloud.

No care if prey?

“You take too much prey.” He certainly couldn’t give the creature any indication that he did care. “You should be more careful.”

Help each other? It asked again. You chose prey? We/I/you leave pets alone?

There was the barest flicker of temptation at that possibility: a way to guarantee the safety of the friendly, kind people who certainly deserved protection. But no. He wasn’t here to hunt, or to be blackmailed into helping this thing to hunt. Sora and Kairi deserved better than to be hunted, but the same was likely true of the rest of the people on Destiny Islands.

“Not interested,” he repeated.

He braced for the shadow to attack in response, the way it had before. Instead, it hissed out a low, burbling sound. It took him a moment to realize it was a laugh. It was the kind of sound that would have made his blood run cold, if he’d had blood in the traditional sense.

The shadow ‘said’ nothing else, and then the pressure eased away, back to the usual low sense of background static.

---

The next night found Riku outside the Materia café, feeling nervous in a way that he absolutely shouldn’t have. The pair of humans was inspiring all sorts of feelings he needed to ignore.

The smart thing to do would be to leave. To stand them up, and put their mild socializing to an end.

He didn’t do that.

His phone buzzed.

Hey! We got here just a few mins ago. Grabbed a table, come on in when you get here!

Followed by a coffee cup and a music note emoji. Because of course Sora was the type to use emoji.

Riku thought about texting an emoji back. A bat, maybe. The thought made him laugh, though he wouldn’t do it. Just like not drinking anything red, there were certain associations he didn’t need to even jokingly encourage. Not that a pair of perfectly ordinary people would somehow jump from “bat emoji” to “vampires are real and this guy is one”, but still.

A minute later he’d geared himself up to go in and have a completely normal—by human standards—night in a café.

Sora and Kairi had in fact grabbed a small, low table, with a third chair pulled over to it. The chairs were soft, plush things, definitely intended for people to be comfortable lingering in.

Riku slid into the open chair. It was as comfortable as it looked.

“Glad you made it,” Kairi said.

“Of course,” he said, as if he hadn’t contemplated running away.

“We didn’t get drinks yet,” Sora said, pushing himself up out of the chair. “Do you know what you want? I’ll go order.”

“Are you sure?” Riku reached for his wallet, but Sora waved him off.

“I’m sure. What do you want?”

Riku ordered a mocha. Similar to the vodka tonic at Highwind, he didn’t want to risk having a memorable drink, yet ordering something as plain as black coffee seemed… performative.

Kairi ordered an iced white mocha with thick strawberry syrup drizzled on top. It looked amazingly sweet. And maybe the strawberry looked just ever-so-slightly like blood.

He wasn’t even certain what Sora brought back for himself, under the layers of whipped cream.

He took a sip of the hot coffee. It was good, the coffee not too bitter, and the mocha not too sweet. It was warmer than he preferred his ‘beverages’, but it would cool down to a perfect 98.6°F before long. Not that he was hungry; he’d eaten before he left his house for the night.

“Demyx should be playing soon,” Kairi said, taking a sip of her own drink.

“A local artist?” Riku guessed. That seemed likely. There hadn’t been any posters or advertisements, besides a flyer taped in the window with a generic ‘Live music, every Saturday and Sunday night!’ message.

“He is,” Kairi confirmed. “And he’s a friend, so be nice to him.”

“Of course I will be.” He took another sip of coffee.

The café had a very small semi-circular area set up as a makeshift stage. It wasn’t raised, but it was open except for a padded bench and a mic, plus had slightly brighter lights over it.

Over the next few minutes, the café tables and chairs started to fill up, small groups and single patrons finding seats and getting orders in. Riku wasn’t sure if that should be surprising; it was a Saturday night, but it seemed like more of a crowd than this sort of thing usually brought in.

A couple minutes before 9:00, a youngish man stepped up, carrying a nylon instrument case, which he started to unzip.

He glanced out over the café patrons. Sora caught his eye and gave a brief wave. Demyx—Riku assumed—returned the wave with a bright smile.

The instrument case the man was opening was oddly shaped; definitely not a guitar, which was what Riku had been expecting. When he pulled it out, Riku saw it was a stringed instrument, but not one he’d anticipated seeing. A sitar. Seemed like an unlikely choice for a local playing in an island café. Maybe it was a hipster thing.

That wasn’t the only thing that seemed strange about the whole thing, though Riku didn’t know what else was bothering him. He tried to unobtrusively scent, but the smells of the café—ordinary human patrons, coffee, baked goods—were too strong to find anything else. There was a scent of saltwater underneath everything else, but that certainly wasn’t strange on an island.

He took another sip of his mocha—close to his ideal temperature, now—to cover up any signs of his unease.

Demyx was clearly well-practiced: he tuned the instrument quickly, then sat with his legs folded under him on the bench, settling the sitar against his foot and leg.

“Thank you everyone for coming out to Materia tonight. My name is Demyx. Please let me know if there’s anything you want to hear.”

His voice carried even without the mic, and had an interesting, lilting quality to it. It wasn’t an accent, exactly, so much as something about how the words were said. Then he started to sing his first song, and Riku knew exactly what had seemed so odd about him.

“You’re giving me, too many things, lately…”

He’s a siren.

Riku looked quickly from Sora to Kairi and back, but neither of them gave any indication that they found the music strange in any way. Sora caught him looking, and gave him a quick smile. No one else in the room seemed to find it odd either. They were watching the stage, listening to Demyx sing, but they all seemed… normal.

“You’ll understand, what I meant, when I said ‘no’…”

Riku turned his attention back to the performance. Demyx’s gift had been obvious the instant he started to sing. Quickly it also became clear that he was keeping it dialed far down. There was no compulsion behind the words or the music. No one was being pulled closer to him, no one’s expressions were going blank as they were made to obey his will, no one was doing anything besides paying a perfectly reasonable amount of attention to him.

He deserved the attention. Both his sitar playing and his singing were extremely skilled, even as he moved on to a rather unlikely pop song cover.

He took a break after about a half hour of playing, heading over to the counter to order a drink.

“Not so bad after all, right?” Sora asked, leaning in.

“Not bad at all. He’s… a very good singer.” Riku wanted to say something more, to let them know their friend wasn’t human.

But why? There was no reason he needed to. Monsters—cryptids, as Axel had called them—tended to politely ignore each other, unless there was conflict over territory or food. There was no reason to out a fellow non-human, just because he happened to interact with the same humans Riku was making a habit of seeing. Particularly when he didn’t seem to present any danger to them.

Which he didn’t. That was almost the stranger part. Sirens were always musically skilled, but also usually bloodthirsty. They had a huge biological advantage when it came to hunting, because their songs were hypnotic, able to compel absolute obedience in a human listener. Supposedly, the songs could even control the weather.

There was a reason sirens were associated with luring sailors onto rocks; shipwrecked victims were easy pickings. In lieu of a convenient shipwreck, they could also convince a person to walk out into deep water from shore, and their prey wouldn’t even resist as they drowned themselves.

Even if a siren wasn’t looking for a meal, they could convince a person to do anything else the siren wanted of them.

But Demyx wasn’t hypnotizing his audience. No one had staggered their way to the stage just to be closer to him. He wasn’t even compelling people to tip him. Or anything else, as far as Riku could tell. While a siren’s song wouldn’t have the same effect on him as it did on humans, he would still have felt the attempted compulsion.

“He is a great singer,” Kairi said. “Always has been.”

She couldn’t know how right she was.

Demyx returned to the stage for another set. He took a few requests from some audience members, a couple of which he laughed at like they were expected regular requests.

And still, no compulsion, no pushing for anyone to do anything in particular.

Riku thought back to his conversation with Axel. The ifrit had told him there was what sounded like a fairly thriving cryptid community on the islands, there with the blessing of a pair of monster hunters who would get rid of any monsters who caused problems. In fact, Axel might have even mentioned a siren.

In that case, it seemed safe to assume Demyx was here the same as Riku: wanting somewhere to call home, with no desire for trouble or bloodshed.

Having talked himself out of his concern, it was easy to sit back and just enjoy the music. Getting to listen to a siren without worry about what the music and voice was trying to force was actually a very pleasant experience.

Demyx played a third, and then a fourth set. The café owners left the door propped open on the warm night, so the music carried out onto the street. A few extra people wandered in to listen. The café was certainly having a successful night, but the growing audience was all natural, simply drawn in by the music itself.

At the end, Riku was almost disappointed that it ended so soon. It was after 11:00, so Demyx had been playing for a bit over two hours, but the time had passed quickly.

Demyx lingered after, chatting with some of the audience over a final cup of coffee.

Sora and Kairi wandered over, and he enthusiastically threw his arms around the both of them, thanking them both for coming.

He didn’t try to hug Riku, but did give him an assessing look before breaking into another smile. “And thank you for bringing a guest along!”

“This is Riku,” Sora introduced him. Then he looped his arm around Riku’s, pulling him closer. Sora’s skin was hot against his.

“He’s new to Destiny Islands,” Kairi added.

“Ah, a newcomer, eh? Nice to meet you. I hope you like it here. Destiny Islands is nice. Good place to settle down with good people. Peaceful.”

Riku nodded. “It definitely seems that way.” He understood what Demyx was really saying: just like Riku knew he was a siren, Demyx had clocked Riku as a vampire. Apparently he’d also guessed correctly about Demyx having a pacifistic disposition toward the island. “I could use a peaceful place to be.”

And he hoped Demyx understood what he was really saying: Don’t worry. I’m not intending to make trouble.

“Well then, I hope you’ve found it.”

The small talk moved on from there, Sora asking him (apparently not for the first time) when Demyx would offer recordings of his music, Demyx insisting he wasn’t interested. Kairi tried to convince him to split the difference and at least create some merch to sell.

It was a good half hour later by the time they all started toward the doors.

Outside the café it was still a warm and pleasant night. Early again, by Riku’s standards, but creeping toward midnight.

“Will you guys be okay walking home?” Demyx asked Sora and Kairi. “There’s been some weird stuff going on.”

He didn’t look at Riku when he said it. Riku was suddenly very aware that the other patrons from the café were all trickling out in small groups, walking a bit more quickly than usual in whatever direction they were heading.

So people were nervous about the disappearances, even if they weren’t all staying home.

“We’ll be fine. Thank you though,” said Sora. “But I’ve got Kairi protecting me, so no worries.” He jerked his thumb toward her.

Kairi giggled.

She was standing so close to Riku that he could feel the warmth of her, even compared to the warm night.

“Sounds good. Thanks again for coming out. I’ll see you again soon, I’m sure. And Riku, nice to meet you. Welcome to the Islands.”

Demyx shouldered his sitar, and gave a half-wave, before heading downhill, toward the beach. Of course, a siren would want to live close to the water.

“Your friend is very talented,” Riku said, as the three of them started walking the opposite way, uphill.

“Glad you agree!” Kairi said. “He’s new-ish to the Islands. Not as new as you, but only been here a year or so. He’s doing pretty well, though.”

“Could do better if he sold CDs,” Sora said.

Kairi rolled her eyes. “No one buys CDs anymore.”

“Fine, he could offer it for download, then.”

Riku wondered how well any recording format translated for a siren. As far as he was aware, recordings didn’t retain any of the siren’s compulsion abilities. Though Demyx wasn’t using those anyway, evidently.

He was content to listen to Sora and Kairi gently argue back and forth.

It was almost habit that he was still glancing down each alley and side road, just in case there was something waiting in the shadows. Demyx’s concern for Kairi and Sora hadn’t been lost on him.

Even with the extra attention he was paying, he had almost no warning between the constant low-level presence and a sudden surge to activity.

The creature boiled up from a darkened doorway, where one of the gold-colored streetlights cast a deep shadow.

The thing took on more of a roughly humanoid shape than it had that first night in the alley. That night it had been formless, only the yellow eyes giving it any definition. This time it held itself upright, though the proportions were all wrong. It lurched forward, the jerky movement disconcertingly fast, forcing its way between Riku and the two humans.

Sora and Kairi spun, faster to react than Riku would have anticipated, but still slower than the shadow creature.

See pets again? it pushed into his head. He didn’t know if it pushed the words at Sora and Kairi as well; it didn’t matter.

He snarled in response, lips pulling back to show fangs, heedless of who else might see. “Leave,” he snapped. “Back to the shadows.”

Find other prey? Why your pets not prey? Not special.

It sounded… petulant. More uncomfortably, the shadow-thing was more coherent than it had been during the first encounter too, the words clearer, rather than a sense of vague impressions.

“Doesn’t matter to you,” he said. “Get back.”

The shadow’s gold eyes shifted, staring towards Riku. Sora and Kairi were on its other side, wide-eyed, but not running away. Why weren’t they running away?

“Go!” he yelled, not caring whether Kairi and Sora or the shadow creature decided to obey. It didn’t matter as long as one of them fucking listened.

None of them did.

The shadow creature tipped the mass serving as its head to the side, circular eyes narrowing just slightly as it projected a teasing, cruel, No.

Then it lunged, the jerky, too-fast movement devouring the distance between it and both the others in a split second.

Riku was still faster.

He was on top of the monster before it could land a blow, his claws already extended, fangs at the ready to rend. It didn’t matter that Sora and Kairi were looking right at him, it only mattered that this shadow was not going to reach them.

The shadow was cold. As warm as Kairi and Sora had felt when they touched him, as cold as he must have felt to them, the shadow was infinitely colder. I was like plunging himself into ice water just grabbing onto the thing. He raked his claws through the creature, tearing at its neck and shoulders.

He was rewarded by the shadow-thing stumbling back, ‘arms’ losing coherence as they tried to come up to grasp at Riku. The shadow itself felt strange, the texture wrong for anything living. It was gelatinous without having any give to it. His claws sliced through, the shadow parting to either side of the strike.

Each successful hit seemed to make the shadow shrink into itself.

Riku aimed again at its neck; the thing certainly wasn’t an ordinary living thing, but it did seem to be alive, and few living things stayed that way with their head removed.

A well-placed slash severed the vague head-shaped part from the body, but instead of falling or vanishing, it was simply reabsorbed into the larger central form, eyes opening in what had previously been the thing’s ‘back.’

Leave it to this thing to be one of the exceptions to the beheading rule.

Riku snarled again, bringing both clawed hands down to rake down the center of the shadow’s body.

This time, the shadow folded in on itself even more, collapsing inward until it pooled on the ground like a puddle of vile liquid. Before Riku could attempt to deliver a final hit, it slid, even faster than before, back to a natural shadow where it promptly vanished.

Riku drew in a shaky breath, still half-hunched over in a defensive position. He looked to Sora and Kairi, relieved to see that both of them had remained unharmed. They looked surprised, and had to be frightened, but they were okay.

The relief was quickly replaced by dismay as he realized what they were looking at. Him, with claws and fangs fully extended, having just torn into another monster. Now he was staring at them.

They hadn’t just seen one monster; they’d just encountered two.

He put every bit of his inhuman speed into it when he turned and fled.

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