Sora was heading for the town outskirts by himself again. He had more energy left than the day before, and that would help him with his new plan.

If he couldn't suppress his Anti Form he would learn to control it.

He really hoped he could do it.

- . - . -

Standing still with his eyes closed, Sora tried his best to clear his mind of everything and concentrate only on his surrondings. After taking a few deep breaths he started sensing the Heartless around him, most of them wandering aimlessy outside the city. Only a few bothered approaching him now that his keyblade wasn't out.

He had no idea what to do, because until that point he had always triggered the transformation without actually wanting to. Was he supposed to do something specific? Think of something? His resolution started wavering already. After all he had seen what happened to the ones who tried to control Darkness - Riku, Maleficent - the results weren't pretty.

Anxiety escalating, he instinctively summoned his keyblade. He still had no idea where Two Become One came from, but no other keychain made him feel so at peace with himself, giving him a feeling of completeness.
With the familiar weight in his hand, he managed to calm down again in time to kill the Heartless that had now took notice of him.

The reason Riku and Maleficent had failed was because they weren't strong enough. He was strong, stronger than them. He had defeated them, he had defeated even Ansem himself. He knew he could do it.

Busy taking out Shadows, Sora didn't notice the Neoshadow that attacked him before behind until it hit him, making him fall to the ground. He blocked the second incoming hit and anger started rising in his chest. Quickly getting up, he attempted a counter-attack but had to stop and dodge an incoming new group of Heartless charging on him.

No, he needed to stay focused. He couldn't get too carried away in the fight or there was the risk he'd turn into his Anti Form instinctively again. But the non-stop attacks were frustrating him, and frustration was quick to become anger.

Maybe he could force the transformation if it was the only way to win the battle? Unwillingly, he made his keyblade disappear and crouched a bit, mimicking the stance of his Anti Form, keeping his eyes on the Heartless that were now staring at him and getting ready for the next round of attacks.

The Neoshadow started charging towards Sora and the boy did the same, knowing full well that he was risking his life, and his heart, by going up against a Heartless unharmed. But he had made his decision and he was going to follow through it.
He managed to dodge the first blow but when he tried to block the second one with his bare hands he got knocked back, losing his balance and falling to the ground, scraping his back. He groaned and tried to stand up, but the creature was on him in an instant, its claws now aiming for his chest, for his heart.
Fear, anger and adrenaline gave Sora the strenght to push the Heartless off him, but his back hurt too much and he couldn't get up from the ground.

He was mad. At the Heartless, at himself, even at Darkness itself. In his anger he almost didn't notice the dark energy gathering around him, but when he did he unconsciously smiled.

So this was how it worked. Sora kicked the Neoshadow who was now preparing to attack him again and with little effort gathered the growing darkness into his right hand; feeling power curse through his body he used a newfound strenght to finally push himself back on his feet.
He could feel the now familiar sensation calling out to him and without hesitation, he embraced it. A black pool of darkness formed at his feet and quickly started creeping up his body; in an instant all that was left of the boy was a shadow silhoutte.

Sora felt like smiling again (did he even have a mouth to do it with?). The power cursing through his body now was exhilarating.

Instinct was screaming at him to attack, kill, destroy everything in sight! But he couldn't give in now. This was the perfect chance to practice control, so instead of getting rid of the Heartless that were now staring at him without moving, he started slowly advancing in circles around them. Walking on two legs was proving to be a little difficult and as he kept his eyes trained on the creatures that were still observing him he tried going a little faster, then running, but that proved to be almost impossible without putting his hands on the ground.

After a few moments the Shadows seemed to have decided on what to do and started advancing towards Sora, who was more than happy about it. He didn't bother giving them the time to attack, and struck first, going down on all fours and then diving into the enemy group, scratching and kicking at full force.

Once he took care of every Heartless, he lazily stretched in a cat-like fashion and took the time to look around himself. The sun was starting to set, its half-faded light giving the sky a nice orange shade that reminded Sora of something... something happy, something sad... it felt as if memories were flooding into his mind, making him remember something he had forgotten. Were these really his memories? Did they belong to someone else? The confusion was making him dizzy.

- . - . -

"This place was created solely from another side of your memory. It is on the other side of your heart that the memory of this place exists. It is your heart that remembers."

A sudden strong static noise made him miss most of what was said after.

"...and end up becoming Marluxia's pawn!"

Flames. More static. It wasn't just noise, his vision was being overtaken by static, too, to the point where he couldn't see what was happening anymore.

"...Roxas..."

Darkness. And then the static overtook everything.

- . - . -

Sora woke up lying on the ground, back in his human form, his head hurting. Was that a weird dream? No, it felt more like a memory. But of what? He couldn't remember visiting that place before, and he had no idea who the blond man was. The black coat he was wearing did remind him of something, though, he just couldn't figure out what exactly.

Sighing, he got up and started walking back to Merlin's house. He was way too hungry to worry about anything else at the moment.

- . - . -

His chest was hurting again.

He didn't bother with it.

(He knew nothing was there.)

Everything was still mostly white, the only exception being the window overlooking a starless sky.

No, there was something out there.

But before he could take a better look at it, he noticed someone else in that white room. The same person as before, looking out at the sky.

(He felt like he knew him.)

He tried calling out to him, but no words came out.

(He had no mouth to speak with.)

His heart was hurting so much.

He tried yelling again and again, hoping to catch the other's attention, but to no avail.

Finally, the boy slowly started turning his way...

- . - . -

Sora woke up with a start, his heart beating like crazy and a bad taste in his mouth. He felt like he had been dreaming, but couldn't remember any of it. Letting out a frustrated breath, he got up trying to shove away the feeling that he was missing something important.

A/N: Hey, hey! I hope you enjoyed chapter 2. Did you notice something weird? The changes regarding Chain of Memories are going to be more evident next chapter, when everybody's favorite Organization makes its appearance!