Kingdom Hearts: Consumed by Darkness

The night air felt unnaturally still.

Helios' eyes snapped open, aqua blue irises catching the faint glint of moonlight through the half-open window. His heart was pounding—not from fear, but from the lingering sense of unease that clung to him like cold water. The darkness that represented sleep felt like a swamp, and if one stayed too long, they'd sink into it.

A faint shift in the shadows caught his attention.

She was there.

Kurai stood silently in the corner of the room, her silver eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. The oppressive aura of her presence pressed against him like a weight.

"Kurai?" Helios murmured, his voice low and cautious.

She didn't answer.

Instead, she stepped forward. Her movements were precise, almost predatory, as she closed the distance to the bed. Helios instinctively tried to sit up, but the moment he moved, her hand was on his shoulder.

"Stay down." Her voice was quiet, flat, but her grip was iron.

"Kurai, what are you—"

Before he could finish, she climbed onto the bed in one fluid motion, her knees pressing into the mattress on either side of his hips. She straddled him with cold precision, her expression as unreadable as stone.

Helios' breath caught. "If this is about earlier, we can talk, but—"

Kurai raised her hand. Darkness coiled around her fingers like living smoke, the energy so dense it hummed faintly in the air.

"Wait—"

He didn't get the chance to finish.

Her hand plunged into his chest.

Pain exploded through Helios' body, sharp and searing. He gasped, arching slightly as his mind screamed, 'She's killing me!' But then—just as suddenly—the pain ebbed. He wasn't bleeding. He wasn't dying.

He blinked up at her in shock as her hand remained buried in his chest cavity, her silver eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Kurai, what the hell are you—"

"Quiet." Her voice was cold, even sharper than her gaze.

Helios clenched his jaw but obeyed, his fingers gripping the sheets beneath him as he felt her hand shift, felt her energy probing deep into his core. It wasn't invasive—it was precise, searching.

Then he felt it.

A flicker of heat, alien and wrong, buried beneath the surface of his soul.

Kurai's eyes glinted faintly.

She closed her fingers around something unseen and with a smooth motion, pulled her hand free.

Between her claws burned a tiny, writhing green flame.

Helios' eyes widened. "That's—"

"A spell." Kurai's tone was matter-of-fact as she examined the struggling flame. "Maleficent embedded it in your heart. Likely a tether, allowing her to listen, watch, or call you into sleep through darkness."

Helios' fingers hovered over his chest, expecting a wound, but there was none. Only the faint echo of pain where her hand had been.

"You didn't even realize it was there," Kurai said flatly.

Helios exhaled slowly. "That explains why she found me so easily."

Without hesitation, Kurai crushed the flame between her fingers. It let out a faint hiss like a dying ember before vanishing entirely.

For a moment, silence hung between them.

Helios let out a breath, his usual smirk creeping back onto his face. "You know, you could've warned me before stabbing your hand into my chest. It's not the kind of wake-up call I like."

Kurai didn't move. She remained straddling him, staring down with that same cold, unreadable expression.

"Are you going to get off me now?" Helios asked lightly, trying to diffuse the tension.

She didn't answer.

Instead, her hand hovered near his neck, her fingers twitching slightly as if debating whether to close around his throat.

Helios chuckled, his eyes meeting hers without fear. "What is it now? Going to try to strangle me again? I thought you gave this up."

She didn't blink.

Helios sighed dramatically. "Fine. But it'd be a waste to try."

In one swift motion, he grabbed her wrist. Before she could react, he rolled them both over, reversing their positions. Now he was on top, pinning her wrists above her head with one hand while his other braced him against the bed.

Kurai's eyes flared faintly, but her expression remained icy calm.

"Better," Helios said, his voice tinged with amusement. "You don't suit the role of executioner when I'm trying to sleep."

Still, she said nothing.

Helios held her gaze for a long moment before releasing her hands and pushing himself off the bed. He stood, running a hand through his hair.

"Alright, I'll bite," he said casually. "What's going on with you?"

Kurai sat up slowly, her movements deliberate, almost feline. Her eyes tracked him as he crossed the room.

"You let her get too close," she said at last, her tone clipped. "That won't happen again."

Helios turned back to her with a faint smirk. "So this is your way of protecting me? By scaring me half to death?"

"If you were scared, you're weaker than I thought. If you're weak, then I'll kill you," Kurai replied.

Helios laughed softly, shaking his head. "You're impossible, you know that, right?"

Kurai stood gracefully, her boots silent against the floorboards. "Get some rest, Helios. You'll need your strength for when we leave tomorrow."

"Sure, if I don't have a nightmare about a certain someone killing me in my sleep," he murmured, watching as she stepped past him, her clothes brushing against his arm.

For a moment, her hand brushed briefly against his shoulder—so light he wasn't sure it was intentional—before she vanished into the shadows of the hallway.

Helios stared at the door she left through, his chest still faintly warm from where her hand had been.

"Thanks, Kurai," he said quietly, though she wasn't there to hear it.