Standard Disclaimer: Boo! These characters are not mine!

Note: So like…wow…here it is. Chapter 2 already. Yays for me. It helps that it was 98 percent done to begin with. This is going out toRoxasTheOther, PirateCaptainBo, Bonanza, and Lokotei who all left reviews which encouraged me to update and…yeah…here you go.

Warnings: I’m still not totally sure. More language, more hints of slash, likely presence of blood…and still interesting Sora…yeah. It starts with a flashback. That is all.

-:-finem-:-

Tar Monsters from Mars

-:- II -:-

“Hey Roxas, don’t you think it’s weird how they just started acting like we don’t exist all of a sudden?”

“Yeah Sora, really weird.”

“So…what do you think could have happened?” Roxas looked at his brother with flat emotionless eyes and saw his brother respond to his thoughts, eyes widening slightly. Sora looked away quickly.

“Something must’ve happened. There has to be something wrong.” Roxas just sighed and continued walking towards their house.

“What if…what if it’s not really them?!” There was a spark in Sora’s eyes as he spoke, one that Roxas hadn’t seen since the day their parents had vanished. Despite the denial he knew Sora was building around himself, Roxas couldn’t find it in him to shatter his brother illusions.

“Yeah, that’s got to be it. Like pod people or something,” Sora continued. “Don’t you think that’s got to be what happened?” Roxas was tired…too tired to deal with this. Maybe Cloud could help Sora accept the truth.

“Yeah, Sora,” he sighed. “That must be what happened.”

-:- -:- -:-

They made it back to the Strife household without any further incidents, then after locking and sealing the doors windows and any other possible point of entry, they settled down in the small living room to figure out what to do next.

“So…” Riku started, fidgeting nervously on the couch where he found himself sitting between a somewhat grumpy Kairi and an entirely too up-beat for the situation Sora, who was now fully clothed—as they were sitting in his home and he had access to his bedroom—and holding an ice pack to a bruising cheek. “I guess we should call the cops now, right?”

“Maybe,” Roxas said, from his place perched on the arm of the chair where Axel was sitting. He looked like he was contemplating something really hard and the whole room stared at him.

“Wait weren’t you the one who said that’s what we should do in the first place?!” Riku snapped at him, glaring at Sora when the smaller boy gave him a whack on the head.

“Don’t yell at my brother,” he said with a small pout, “especially since he’s right. We can’t go to the cops. They could already be turned, and over the phone, there’s no way to tell.”

Through all of this, Kairi had been sitting patiently waiting for someone to explain what exactly the emergency was. Did someone put something in the water supply? Was there a movie being filmed on the island? Had she accidentally worn last season’s footwear? She glanced down at her pretty pink and white vans securely tied to her ankles with lavender ribbon. (No, that definitely wasn’t it.) So then why had her friends suddenly started chasing her when she got to school? There had to be a reason, but obviously this group didn’t have the answers.

“Look,” she said standing from her spot on the couch and looking primarily at Riku as she spoke. “Thank you for saving me back there, but I think I’m going to head home. Whatever their damage is, I’m sure it’ll blow over by tomorrow and things will be back to normal. In the mean time…I’ve got mags to read and plans to make for prom.”

“Proms not for another 6 months, Kairi,” Roxas deadpanned.

“And it pays to be prepared, Roxy-poo,” she winked at him preparing to shove a table aside to get to the front door when she suddenly found a glowering Sora blocking her path.

“You can’t go back out there, Kairi,” he said unusually serious. “If you do, you just might lose your soul.” She stared at him for all of five seconds before rolling her eyes and shoving at the table again. She had known the Strifes for a long time, and she better than anyone knew just how ridiculous Sora could get with his little land of make-believe.

“You should listen to him, Kairi,” Roxas stated simply and this did give the redhead a reason to pause. After all, she had known the Strifes for a long time, and she knew also that Roxas was not the kind of person to buy into his bothers bullshit.

“Roxas, please don’t tell me you’re falling into Sora’s delusions too. You were the normal twin.” She ignored the look of hurt that crossed Sora’s face at those words but couldn’t miss the rage from Roxas.

“God, I don’t even know why I bother with you!” he snarled angrily, and Axel’s lips stretched in a vaguely malicious smirk when he did. “You’re nothing but a selfish bitch! Sora’s the only reason any of us are here right now. It was at his word that we stopped to pick you up, but you’re not even willing to listen to what he has to say! Fine then. Get out! I hope those things out there rip out your still-beating heart.”

Kairi stared at him appalled. He really had gone nuts. She looked to Riku who she thought would confirm the fact that everyone else in the room was indeed deranged, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes. He just sat, staring at the small coffee table in the room, fidgeting with his hands.

“Riku,” she began, “Don’t tell me you—“

“I think we should listen to them, Kai,” he said in an agitated voice. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but it sure as hell ain’t normal.”

She glared at for a moment, hoping his traitorous head would melt under the flame of her rage. When she realize that there was nothin’ doin’, she just huffed and walked back across the room to return to her place on the couch, though she tried to sit as far from Riku as possible this time.

“Fine,” she huffed. “I’m listening. What cock and bullshit are you going to pull today, Sora?”

Sora pouted at her for a moment before bouncing back over to happily sit on the couch with her and Riku.

“No shittin’ you this time, Kai,” Sora said. “We’re dealing with a real life invasion here.”

Kairi blinked at him once before standing and heading to the door again.

“Kairi!” Riku called standing to stop her.

“No!” she shouted. “You’ve gotta be kidding, Riku! Clearly you’ve gone just as nuts as everyone else in this room. You cannot possibly be willing to listen to this nonsense!”

“Yeah, Riku. Let her go. Let those things turn her,” Axel said, speaking for the first time since Kairi had started. “I’d love to have an excuse to smack her dumbass around a bit.”

Kairi glared at him. Axel gave a vicious smile.

“I can’t believe you of all people falling into this, Axel,” she snapped. “You’re just as much a freak as Sora, but at least you have a somewhat solid grip on reality. Since when did you join the loony brigade?”

“Since my friends started oozing black tar shit from their hands and trying to give me a facial with it,” he told her plainly.

“And since I found out what it does to you,” Roxas added quietly. Kairi scoffed in disbelief, looking to Riku as if the two had just proven a point for her. To Kairi’s great consternation, Riku just gave her a level look, not budging at all.

“Look,” he began, “I know that Sora has gotten a little…weird over the years. Normally I’d be right out the door with you, but this time…I don’t know, Kai. There’s something up, and I can’t explain it with anything logical at this point.”

“So you honestly expect me to believe that there are some kid of…tar monsters running around out there trying to steal our souls?”

Riku flushed a little, scowling at how she was mocking him.

“No. I’m saying that you should get the full story before deciding to go back outside.” Kairi glared at him for a long moment, searching for something in his eyes to tell her that he was joking, or drunk, or crazy, or…something. She found nothing of the sort. Irritated and just wanting to get out of the house, she threw her hands up, then crossed her arms over her chest. If she just had to hear them out in order to go, she would listen to another one of Sora’s works of fiction. This should be entertaining.

“So, ‘Sorry’,” she shot at Sora, knowing that the nickname was a sore spot for him, “Where are these ‘tar monsters’ from this time? Mars maybe?”

“Don’t be silly Kairi,” the brunet laughed, ignoring Kairi’s mockery. “Everyone knows that there are no tar monsters on Mars. Just the spirit-wraiths that go around shaping the terrain and stuff. These things are totally different.”

Kairi stared at him for a second, deadpan, before turning to glare at Riku. This whole situation was his fault. If he hadn’t stopped her, she’d be happily almost home by now instead of listening to the ramblings of someone who was clearly mentally unstable.

“Sora,” Riku said, eying Kairi nervously, “maybe it would be better if you stuck to what’s happening here and leave your other theories for later?”

“Right,” Sora said instantly becoming more serious. “We do have a problem here and I’m not really sure how it happened or what we’re supposed to do about it. Heh…I’m not even really sure what all is going on.”

“Then remind me again why we’re listening to you,” Kairi interrupted but was immediately shushed by the rest of the group.

“Look,” Sora continued, “I’m not sure how and I’m not sure why, but it looks like darkness has invaded the school and taken over everyone there.”

The room was dead silent after this proclamation, broken only by the cheerful twittering of birds in the bright morning air outside.

“Darkness,” Axel said not even trying to hide the mockery in his voice, “you’re serious.”

Sora looked at him and nodded solemnly. Axel looked at him for another few second before standing to his feet and walking toward Kairi.

“Right, so you still wanna get out of here, cuz I think I just traded fealty.”

“Axel, I’m serious!” Sora cried as Kairi jumped to her feet with a grateful sigh and Riku followed suit looking troubled but not convinced. “You guuuuys! You can’t leave,” Sora launched himself at Riku’s ankles, latching on and refusing to let go. “They’ll get you and I don’t know if I’ll be able to fix you all in time. You have to listen to me!”

“Y’know, I don’t know why I actually though you’d have anything useful to say,” Axel said conversationally, shoving the table out of the way as he reached for the front door and Sora’s whining escalated. “I must’ve temporarily lost my mind, too. I honestly don’t know what the hell is going on out there or how you pulled off all that bullshit at school, but clearly, neither do you, and I’ll take my chances on my own without adding a nutcase to the equation.”

“And what about me?” Roxas’ quiet voice broke into the whirlwind of crazy forming at the door. Everyone stopped and stared at him. “Do I fall under the same category of nuts?” No one replied and Roxas’ eyes focused on Axel though he spoke for the room at large.

“Axel, you were there. You saw what they made me do. How I—” he stumbled getting the words out. “How I almost killed Sora right in front of you.” All attention was on Roxas now as he spoke, still sitting on the arm of the chair where he had first settled.

“When they touched me,” he spoke into the sudden hush, “It was like everything went cold, but the place where that…black stuff was on my face justburned. I remember feeling it sink past my skin, sink into my mind…and then it was like every bad feeling I’ve ever had was brought up again, and I was just filled with so much anger and hate and rage.

“Ansem said that he wanted me to kill Sora before they had changed me, but afterwards, I could still remember what he’d said. You all know I would hack off my own arm before ever hurting my brother, but when they gave me that bat, all I wanted to do was smash his skull in. What else would you call that? What name could it have other than darkness?” He turned his eyes down to his brother who was still clinging to Riku’s leg.

“And Sora saved me with his light.”

The moment was broken by the sound of keys jingling in the door. Axel, Kairi and Riku jumped back as the door swung open and the eldest Strife brother made his way in, freezing as he took in the scene in front of him. Sora had still been clutching to Riku’s leg when the silver-haired boy tried to step back. The result was Riku falling over pulling Kairi and Axel down with him forming a three-person dog pile on top of a whining Sora.

“Again, did I miss something?” Cloud asked, and he looked around their home frowning at the impromptu barricades everywhere. “Guys, what’s going on?”

“Cloud,” Roxas said getting to his feet. “Thank God. There is something really nuts going on around here.” Cloud smirked and raised an eyebrow.

“Is that why Sora is currently buried under, hey wait. Riku? Kairi?” He looked over to Roxas confused. “What are you two doing here in the middle of a school day no less?”

“Oh, you know us, Cloud!” Kairi said struggling to her feet and doing her best to smile cutely. “Just playing around.”

“Okay…” Cloud said watching as Riku got to his feet leaving a very disgruntled Sora on the floor, eyes squeezed shut as he whined piteously.

“Clooooud, Riku crushed me with his big butt!” He opened his eyes aiming for some sympathy points with his brother then suddenly screamed, scrambling back as quickly as he could and struggling to his feet.

“Get away from him, he’s one of them!” Sora screamed pointing frantically. Cloud just stared at him confused, looking over his shoulder to make sure there was no one else there.

“Sora, what are you talking about?” Cloud asked quizzically, and uncertainty suddenly filled the air.

“Guys, get behind us,” Roxas said stepping up beside Sora to face their brother. Axel began inching his way towards the twins but Riku and Kairi both paused staring between the two sides.

“Roxas, Sora, what’s going on?” Cloud asked, hurt and confusion showing on his face. He turned to Riku and Kairi. “Have they both lost it or something? Sora was acting really weird yesterday, but this is…”

“You can’t trick us, Cloud,” Sora said voice shaking a little as he struggled with the shock of realizing that their brother was against them now. “But I think I can fix you. You’re not too far gone yet. I can still fix you.”

Cloud looked at his brother as if he were really concerned for his sanity, turning to Riku and Kairi for help.

“What’s wrong with him,” he asked, and both had to admit, Sora was acting especially nuts at that moment. Maybe he really had just lost all grip on reality in the face of whatever had happened in the town. He looked like he was going to attack his own brother.

“Look, Sora,” Riku said stepping in to block the smaller boy’s path. “Are you sure you’re not just imagining things?” Kairi nodded her agreement facing Sora as well. He leveled a glare at them that could sear flesh from bone.

“Let me help my brother,” he told them, and both took a step back, unnerved. Sora had never spoken to them that way, or anyone else for that matter. Their moment of shock was short-lived however as Cloud, taking advantage of the distraction placed a hand on each of their faces leaving a black smear. It happened before anyone could react, and then Riku and Kairi were on the ground writhing and screaming as Cloud pulled a wicked looking knife from his boot and swung it at Sora’s neck.

Sora squeaked as Axel pulled him roughly from harms way by his hair falling as the redhead stepped forward throwing a lamp at Cloud. The hit was intercepted by an enraged Kairi, who stood and knocked the lamp away with an arm. She didn’t even flinch at the contact focusing instead on trying to reach Axel now. Roxas came at her from the side, swinging a chair, but she caught that too, yanking it from his grip with inhuman strength before grabbing him by the throat and lifting him several inches into the air as she squeezed. Axel tried the old fashioned approach and went for her eyes, but she smacked his hand away, scoffing, before catching his neck as well and holding him in place. She looked expectantly at Cloud, waiting for orders.

“Hold them,” he told her walking over to where Riku was squatting on a struggling Sora’s wrists, being careful not to make skin-to-skin contact possible. Cloud walked around to stare down at this little brother with sorrowful eyes.

“I’m sorry, Zo,” he said in a voice that was completing unrepentant. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but—”

Riku suddenly cried out leaping away and dancing around like his feet were on fire. Cloud tried to stab Sora as soon as it became clear that his prey was about to escape, but somehow, the smaller boy managed to roll away, crying out in pain as the blade swung again catching him in his side as he reached out to Kairi grabbing one of her wrists. The girl gave a small gasp and spasm a moment before releasing her captives then falling over, to convulse on the ground.

Sora turned to his brother next reaching out to grab him, only to be answered with a blade swinging at his hand. Axel and Roxas were both joining the effort, when Cloud, with a bitter glare, rushed past them and back out of the house. Riku tried to follow, but he was still on the ground hissing and spitting as he struggled to get his shoes off. Sora rushed over to straddle him and placed a hand on his forehead, concentrating. Riku made a gargled sound before he too went into small convulsions and black matter began flowing from him.

“Guys, we’ve got company!” Axel called from the front door, and both Sora and Roxas looked up to see that Cloud had not fled as they had hoped, but instead had just gone out to regroup with the hordes of other infected people who had gathered outside their house.

“We’ll go out the back,” Roxas called. “Axel, can you get Riku?” The redhead was already hefting the football player to his feet while Roxas hurried to help Kairi. Sora, mean while, had run to the closet where they kept sports supplies grabbing their parent’s old croquet set along with a couple of bats and a jump rope for good measure.

“Sora, what the fuck are you doing!?” Axel screamed at him as he helped a groggy Riku through the kitchen.

“We need weapons!” was all Sora said as he began putting things into the croquet bag at random. Rather than trying to figure out how Sora thought silverware and food supplies were going to be useful as weapons against the things that were attacking them, Axel simply pulled Sora bodily out of the kitchen and shoved him through the back door along with the rest of their group. They might as well have stayed where they were, however, because no sooner had they rushed into the back yard when…

“Axel, bro. What are you doing hanging out with those losers?” Axel’s older brother Reno asked, leading a crowd of formerly friendly faces from the town. The group huddled together backing away from the new threat. “Just hand over the kid, Axel, and no one has to get hurt.”

“Right, you’ll just take over our brains instead. That’ll be tons of fun,” Axel sarcasmed.

“It is, Ax. You’ll see soon enough.” As Reno began advancing, Sora suddenly jumped forward filling his hands with the salt he had pilfered.

“Close your eyes!” he warned before throwing the salt, scattering it across the crowd of people. Sora’s warning hadn’t been very advanced, so none of the group actually managed to close their eyes at all. Instead, they watched as the salt, which seemed to sparkle in the daylight, fell onto the gathered crowd and they all jumped back, hissing in pain and leaving a path for the group to run through.

Sora handed a bat to Axel and Roxas each then pulled mallets out handing them to Riku and Kairi. He kept the jump rope for himself.

“If they get near you, swing. These should hold them off for a while.” The other’s had no time to question the command as one of the bolder townies made a dive for Sora’s unguarded back. Riku swung without thinking and with a flash of light and a sickening squelching sound, the shoulder his mallet contacted exploded into a shower of rancid black gore. Everything froze for a moment, Riku looking down in horror as the sludge slid down the sleeve of his letterman. That was gonna stain…

“Works for me!” Axel called, breaking the silence, and with that he started laying into the people ahead of them with his bat. With every impact, the dark creatures around them seemed to realize they would not be getting to their prey so easily. The ones that weren’t too far gone only fell back, others lost limbs to the onslaught like the man Riku had hit. Unfortunately, rather than make their assailants wary, this only seemed to drive them into a frenzy.

The five teens blocked and defended themselves as best they could from the madness that was growing around them. More faces appeared, some of them so consumed by the strange darkness that it was visible to everyone in the group now. There were people who had only half of their natural features left, the other side gripped in crawling black matter that was slowly seizing the rest of their bodies. Some still looked like themselves, but their pupils had turned the color of lemon drops, and the yellow was spreading as the darkness continued to feed. It was like battling their way through a nightmare.

“We can’t keep this up forever!” Roxas called as a large woman leapt at them with a pair of garden sheers. Sora deftly knocked them away with one handle of his jump rope then smacked her across the face with the other sending her staggering away from the group. “We have to figure out where we’re going!” Roxas said this as he drove his bat into the gut of an elderly man in a postal worker’s uniform.

“This is hopeless!” Kairi cried trying to swing her mallet again. She screamed as hands grabbed her from behind smearing the black goo over her face again. The others panicked, Sora running for her to try and get to her before she changed, but to everyone’s shock and amazement, the black matter seemed to run off her skin and burn away.

“What the?” Riku murmured, and then hands were reaching for them from all sides. They swung their weapons madly, keeping the bodies at bay, but it was clear to see that they weren’t going to last for long.

A spark of insight filled Sora’s eyes for a moment as the people continued attacking. He ran to Axel quickly grabbing his arm and concentrating. The redhead looked down at him like he was nuts as a flash of something washed through him, and then Sora was turning to the crowd again, reaching into his bag of ammo. He pulled out the salt again, and not even bothering to warn them this time, threw another handful ahead of them to clear a path.

“Run!” he called to them, fighting off the strange fatigue that was starting to pull at his muscles making it difficult to move. He let the others rush past him as he grabbed a couple of croquet balls, charged them then launched them at the nearest threats. He threw another handful of salt over his shoulder as he ran to catch up with his friends, grinning madly as he did.

Then the yard tools started flying.

For a second there, they’d forgotten these things wanted Sora dead. With him and the others being away from the crowd now, they were open targets, and projectiles were the only logical means of attack. Thankfully, shovels, and rakes, and hoes made fairly cumbersome throwing weapons, so for the most part, they missed, and the things that did connect, were buckets and the like…not so dangerous. Still, it wouldn’t be long before housewives started pulling their knife collections, and that would be a problem.

“Cover!” Sora cried, strength flagging as he charged then threw a bag of beans over his shoulder. He knew that he couldn’t last much longer doing this, and then a stray mailbox slammed into his back sending him to the ground. Roxas was at his side immediately, helping him up as the others searched for cover somewhere. They had neared the end of the residential area and would be heading into town. It seemed only more danger awaited them there. Things were looking very grim.

“Over here!” Through the haze of fatigue and dizziness, Sora heard a familiar voice calling out. “Guys! This way! Hurry!!”

He looked up through clouding eyes to see Naminé franticly waving at them from a sewer grate.

“Rox,” Sora ground out pointing, and Roxas saw her immediately.

“Guys, this way!” Roxas called, staggering with Sora towards what he hoped would be some kind of safety. Riku was by his side, then, helping to carry Sora’s weight as Axel and Kairi rushed ahead to climb down and help get him in.

“This is stupid,” Axel growled. “They can see us, they’ll just follow us down here!”

“Don’t worry about that,” Naminé said a little panicked. “Just hurry before they get here!”

They managed to get Sora down the hole with only minor difficulty, and then closed the grate back over themselves just as the first of their pursuers caught up. They could hear the sounds of them working the metal back up again.

“This way!” Naminé snapped, and they hastened to follow, knowing they had seconds before they’d be trapped by their not-so-friendly townsfolk again. She led them to a large pipe with a sealable opening. Gesturing for them to get in, she waited, watching nervously for signs of pursuit, then climbed in after them, sealing the door behind her and securing it shut with a thick metal bar. They were left in pitch-blackness before she pulled a small flashlight from somewhere and shined it on the top of the pipe offering some light.

“We’re in the town’s old waterways,” she said with a small smile. “We can get anywhere form here, and they won’t know where we are. I think we’re safe for the time being.”

No one said anything. No one knew what to say, but the moment was broken then Roxas suddenly gasped out his brother’s name and in the dim light, they saw Sora give a small gasping shudder before passing out cold. Riku was the one to catch him before he hit the ground, and Roxas was checking him for serious injury.

“Give me some light over here, I can’t see,” he requested shakily.

“I know a better place,” Naminé said moving a bit ahead of them. “It’s lighter there and there’s more space. It’s not far. Come.” They had no choice but to follow as Naminé walked away with the light, and as darkness closed around them yet again, the small group shuddered in remembrance of what awaited them on the surface.

-:- -:- -:-

At the junction of several arms that branched out under the city, there was a space much larger than the confines of the smaller pipes and tunnels. It was a hub of sorts where the air smelled a little less stagnant and exits were plentiful; a perfect refuge. This is where Naminé brought the small group. There were a few odd supplies scattered about— batteries, a small radio, canned food...all the telltale signs of an emergency kit. There was also a larger battery powered lantern in the middle of the space, which Naminé quickly moved to and turned on.

There were several gleaming metal pipes in the area that reflected and augmented the light, filling the junction with a dim glow that was easy enough for them to see by. Naminé also pulled an emergency blanket from a small pack on the floor and spread it out.

“Lay him here,” she said, and Roxas went to help maneuver Sora off of Riku’s back and onto the cold concrete floor. He didn’t look very well at all. There were spatters of black on him from when all of them were attacking the townsfolk; the bruising on his cheek was a dark smear across his sallow skin. Upon further investigation, Roxas found a shallow cut on his side from when Cloud had attacked them, and a few small cuts from the mailbox that had hit him, but there was nothing there that would account for Sora’s current state of unconsciousness.

“Maybe it has something to do with all that stuff he was doing while we were trying to get away,” Riku offered nervously from Sora’s side also looking him over. Axel, Kairi and Naminé just stood back and watched. “The salt and the weapons and stuff, y’know? He must have been doing something to them.”

“You’re right,” Roxas said, not sure where the knowledge was coming from. “He was charging objects with the same energy he uses to purge the darkness from a person. It’ll only come out if he can get direct skin contact, but they can’t stand to touch anything charged by light…like your shoes back at the house Riku.”

Riku’s eyes widened in shock and sudden comprehension, and there were sounds from Axel and Kairi indicating that they hadn’t figure that out yet, either.

“Part of it is he’s exhausted,” Roxas said, looking down at his brother, whose eyes were moving rapidly behind his closed lids. “The other part is he’s learning.”

“Learning?” Naminé asked, speaking up despite her confusion. “What would he be learning in his sleep?” Roxas looked up at her, eyeing each individual in the group seriously before answering.

“How to end this,” he said, then settled on the ground to guard his brother’s slumber.

-:- -:- -:-

A/N:

Huzzah! Second chapter, and while I’m NaNoing it too. Forgot about that thing where I have no life, so writing a lot is not ever gonna be a problem really…at least for now. Ok, so the middle of the story is done now. Next chapter will be resolution…of a lot of things and of course…the showdown with the boss character! Oh noes!!! Right…that’s all. Click the button…tell me what you think :)

Review please