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dzthenerd490 · 7 months

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Kingdom Hearts: The Brightest of Hearts - Chapter 11: The Darkest of Hearts part 1

Back in Traverse Town, after the Gummi ship landed Sora, Donald, and Goofy quickly got off. They were expecting everyone to be in the town square, but there was only Cloud.

"Cloud? Where's Yuffie and Leon?"

"They all went to help the people of Traverse Town, a lot more people have been showing up due to you liberating their hearts from the darkness. Though we did notice one thing, after your mission at Deep Jungle, Sid asked Chip and Dale to make him a device that shows the location of the Gummi ship, so we'll know you guys are on mission and alright. However, I noticed that right after liberating Neverland and London you immediately went to a place called New York City. Why did you do that?"

"We uh... Well..."

"It was me." Sora stepped forward from Donald and Goofy toward Cloud.

"I was excited to know there was only one world left so I rushed into it and liberated as much as I could but... Things didn't go exactly as planned."

"You didn't liberate the world?"

"I did... but I... saw someone else die, and in my frustration and rage the darkness nearly got me."

"... Yeah, that will do it."

"I... I wanted to kill him, I wanted to go down to his level and make him suffer." Sora started crying again, Donald and Goofy were about to comfort him but Cloud reached out first. Cloud got on one knee and extended his hand gently onto Sora's shoulder.

"Sephiroth destroyed my world and killed almost everyone I loved. He destroyed my hometown and killed Tifa's father. There was also Shinra, they killed Zack who was Aerith's old boyfriend. They basically helped Sephiroth destroy our world and drain it of its resources, killing hundreds, enslaving thousands, and ruining millions of lives. Then there was Maleficent who resurrected Sephiroth after we tried so hard to stop him and RIGHT after we saved the world from the DoomsDay Black Materia, she just opened the skies to the Darkness in-between Worlds. Shinra is gone but Sephiroth and Maleficent are still out there. I can't tell you how much I want them to be right in front of me right this moment so I can slice them to pieces." Sora looked at Cloud as his expression darkened, Sora even noticed Cloud's fists were clenching as if to contain his overwhelming rage.

"But you can't, because it's not, right?"

"... I wouldn't say that Sora."

"What? But my mom and dad always said that violence and revenge never solve anything."

"Well, doing things for revenge can be pretty stupid, yeah. I mean if you just focus on the revenge aspect then it will practically consume your life and leave no room for friendship and love. Me and the rest of the group can attest to that, one way or another we let our fears, our sadness, or our anger control us and make us do some pretty stupid things. But these emotions we feel aren't unjustified, they're just a part of who we are. They're only a weakness if you make them a weakness. And you only make them a weakness by letting them dictate everything you do and ignore everything and everyone that tells you to stop."

"... But if our emotions can control us like that then wouldn't it be better to suppress them?"

"Ah! No Sora, don't do that. Trust me, I tried that once and it never ends well. In fact, suppressing your emotions will actually just lead to a brand new emotion that's even easier to get consumed by and leads to even worse results."

"What emotion is that?"

"... Depression. I'm still dealing with that one and it really got worse when I was separated from the group but I'm slowly recovering and doing better."

"How?"

"The same way you deal with any emotion that's taking over your life. You open your heart to those you care about, and the best source is from your friends." Sora then turned back to look at Donald and Goofy, both of which started smiling at him to show how they agreed with Cloud.

"Our emotions are a part of who we are, both the good ones and bad ones. The only time we really lose to the darkness is when we let them control who we are. Don't ever forget it Sora, you're justified in hating the monster who filled your life with misery. But the moment you focus on nothing but them and how you want them to suffer... that's when you become a monster." Sora felt like he mostly understood, emotions are both a gift and a curse but whether they become one or the other is based on how Sora used them. Sora then wiped his tears away and smiled with determination at Cloud.

"Yeah, I think I got it. I won't ever forgive the Dark Army but I'm not going to let my anger for them change who I am."

"Well, said Sora. really glad you figured that out at a younger age than I did."

"Hey, it would have taken me longer if I didn't learn it from you!"

"... ha, you really are a bright and hopeful kid. Alright, I'll stop holding you back. Merlin's back in his old shack, he probably has something else to tell you so you should go ahead and see him."

"Got it. Thanks, Cloud!" Sora then joyfully ran for Merlin's place with Donald and Goofy following him.

"Yeah... don't end up like me. Okay, Sora?"

***

Sora, Donald, and Goofy made it to Merlin's place and entered to find him sipping some tea while looking through another Ansem report. Upon looking at the report Sora realized he didn't get any from either Neverland, London, or New York City. Sora groaned as he facepalmed in defeat.

"Oh? What's wrong my boy? From what I've heard you got back from liberating the last world and are on your way to face off against Maleficent herself!"

"It's not that, Merlin. I didn't get any Ansem Reports. Dang it."

"Oh, don't let such things worry you, my boy. We have more than enough Ansem Reports."

"But what about keeping them out of the hands of the Dark Army?"

"I uh... You don't need to worry about that anymore, my boy. Now then please come in and have some tea." Sora, Donald, and Goofy did as Merlin asked and sat in large and comfortable seats at the round table. Magic tea cups then flew in front of them, and a tea kettle flew over and poured tea for all of them.

"Now then, is there anything else that troubles you, my boy?" Sora thought about this but thankfully it didn't take long for him to remember the voice.

"Uh, Master Merlin, do you know anything about dark voices in people's heads?" Merlin was in the middle of drinking his tea; however, upon hearing this he quickly spat it all out and onto Goofy's face.

"Ugh! So sorry, Sir Goofy! Ahem! now you said... voices in your head?"

"Uh, yeah, it was just an annoying jerk at first but back when we were in the skies of London it attacked us by turning the Heartless into shadow versions of me."

"... I see, hm... When did this start, my boy?"

"When I first showed up in Traverse Town, there was a Shadow Heartless that scratched my back."

"A Heartless scratched your back... hm... "

"What do you think it is, Master Merlin?" Merlin then got up from his chair and started walking.

"That is an excellent question, Sir Donald. Unfortunately, I think I know the answer."

"Don't you mean, fortunately?"

"No Sir Goofy. You see this might be the worst-case scenario. Sora, my boy. Do you remember what I said about what happens when we die?"

"Uh you said your hearts return to Kingdom Hearts to be fragmented and turn into new hearts."

"Yes, but your memories become the inspiration for Kingdom Hearts to create new worlds and new life. This is all part of the great cycle of creation and life itself. But there are those that don't want to die at all and would instead keep their memories forever. Of course, you know that the Dark Army achieves immortality by using the darkness. However, there are those that have taken it a step further, the ancient Masters of Darkness, my old foes who found ways to keep themselves alive even after death. They even know how to resurrect their fallen comrades back from the dead."

"Resurrect the dead?"

"Yes, my boy, they had everything they needed to keep both themselves and others from ever returning to Kingdom Hearts even after death. However, this power was not full proof, some needed vessels, sacrifices, and very complex rituals that took centuries in order to get the spell to work."

"So wait, is that the voice in my head? An old Master of Darkness?!"

"I'm afraid so my boy. He has chosen you to be a piece in the puzzle that will complete his resurrection. But he has made one fatal mistake."

"What's that?" Merlin then smiled, walked up to Sora, then gently poked his nose.

"He chose a kindhearted, brave, and determined boy to be his tool of evil and destruction. Now, his plan might have worked if he chose a foolish boy who wants power and authority. Now tell me, is that what you want, my boy?"

"Ha, no."

"Oh? Then what is it you wish for, my boy?"

"I want to stop the Dark Army and save everyone with the power of light! Including my home and my friends!"

"Hahaha! Then this Dark Master truly made the wrong choice! Hahaha, I'm quite sure you have nothing to worry about my boy."

"But Master Merlin, isn't there a way to remove it?" Merlin's smile then turned into a frown as he sat back on his chair.

"Ah... unfortunately Sir Donald, I am afraid that's impossible. After poking Sir Sora's nose, I was able to find the darkness that infiltrated him, it has united with his heart. Like any magic, there is no removing the darkness from his heart without bringing harm to Sora."

"So, I can't remove it?"

"Not with surgery and not with magic my boy, if you wish for the Darkness to leave your heart you must expel it with an act of great joy, or one of true love. Either one will give your heart the magical energy it needs to expel any magical toxins within it. But again, so long as you have no desire to listen to the Dark Master then you will not have to worry about his influence."

That's what you think! Sora grunted as he heard that voice shouting in his head, but he quickly calmed down and smiled at Merlin.

"Thank you, Master Merlin."

"Merlin is fine my boy."

"I know but besides Donald and Goofy you helped me a lot, so I think it's only fair to call you Master." Merlin chuckled again and offered more tea to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

***

After they were done with their tea, they went to a place to sleep, surprisingly a hotel owner allowed them to sleep in a luxury room and even gave it to them for free. Apparently, the owner was one of the people cursed as an Emblem Heartless and as such he gave them the room as a "thank you". Though the service still wasn't free, so they didn't order anything. Instead, the three of them just took the room and let themselves fall onto the extremely large bed.

"No offense to the other beds we slept on, but this is the best bed I have ever laid on."

"Ahhh... so tomorrow we're going out to fight Maleficent and the remainder of the Dark Army, you ready Sora?"

"Yeah, I think I... No, I AM ready to fight the Dark Army head on."

"That's the spirit Sora, though there really wasn't any doubt. Every time something pushes you down you always find a way to get back up."

"Haha, thanks Goofy, am I a lot like your son Max?"

"Oh... uh... Gosh, Max is uh... Max prefers to see life, with a little less imagination."

"Huh? What's wrong with imagination?"

"There's nothing wrong with it Sora, Max used to love using his imagination. A-hyuk! We used to have all sorts of fun together, but as he grew up, he started... wanting to take things more seriously and as such he wanted to live life on his own. Me and him still talk... he just prefers we don't talk as often as we used to." Sora could see the growing sadness in Goofy's eyes, and it made him worry about his own future.

"... Am I gonna be like that when I get older?"

"That really depends on what you want to be when you grow up, Sora."

"Oh yeah! Gosh. Don't let us boring adults take all the spotlight, tell us what you want to do after you defeat the Dark Army."

"I... I guess I want to keep being a keyblade wielder of light."

"Really? You won't get paid Sora."

"I don't really want to be paid for it, instead my payment will be the adventures I take Riku and Kairi on! We'll go to new worlds, we can take odd jobs for the cool aliens we meet, and we can find all the bad guys of the multiverse and beat them up, like we did with the Dark Army!"

"Ha! Spoken like a little kid!" Donald continued to snicker at his own joke until he noticed Goofy and Sora glaring at him with disappointment.

"Ahem! I meant that in a good way..."

"Okay, so what do you want to do after we defeat the Dark Army, Donald?"

"hm... I guess I'll take Daisy on a date and maybe finally ask her to marry me."

"Oh?! You're finally committing to her?"

"I've always been committed to her Goofy! I just... haven't been the best at showing it. I was comfortable where we were in our relationship, and I didn't think it was affecting her badly in any way. But after we get home, I'll have a proper talk with her and see what she wants."

"Wow, that's actually really cool of you Donald, hope it all works out for you!"

"Thanks Sora, now what about you Goofy?"

"Yeah Goofy, what are you going to do? Are you perhaps going to go on a relaxing vacation with your wife?" Donald lost all his colors in shock while Goofy just looked at Sora, surprised, leaving Sora confused. Goofy then showed a gentle smile though Sora could see hurt in his eyes.

"My wife died a long time ago."

"Oh... Goofy, I'm sorry."

"Don't be Sora, I don't cry about it anymore. Besides the last thing she ever did was give me Max. It's probably why I love him so much. But I haven't always been the best dad, I guess I smother him too much and don't give him enough space. I was even against his decision to join the Royal Guard. I guess when I get back, I'll give him my blessing to join as both his father and his future captain! A-hyuk!"

"Haha! Well said Goofy!" Sora then yawned and so did Donald and Goofy.

"Alright, then it's a deal. Let's sleep for now but tomorrow we're going to stop Maleficent, save the Multiverse, and spend our lives with our friends and family back home!" Sora raised his fist to show his determination, Donald and Goofy did the same while giving a cheer of triumph.

"But hey, even after we defeat the Dark Army... Let's still be friends, ok? Even if we end up on different worlds, even if we do different things, even if we see different people and make new friends. Let's never forget one another, ok?"

"... Sure Sora."

"We'll always be your friend Sora." Sora then smiled, rested his head on the pillow and slept on the middle of the bed, then Donald scooted to the right to sleep there while Goofy went to the left side of the bed.

***

The next morning the three of them felt well rested but also extremely hungry so they went down to the lunch hall for breakfast. However, after chowing down on a lot of food, they realized they still had to pay for it and didn't have a lot of money. Then ended up having to call Sid for help who was furious despite it not actually costing a lot of money. After eating, they went back to the town square where Aerith, Yuffie, Cloud, Leon, Sid, Merlin, Fairy Godmother, Chip, and Dale were already there.

"You guys ready for your final mission?"

"We'll be cheering you on the entire time!"

"You knuckleheads got this! Give that Maleficent Witch what's coming!" Donald stood proudly at all the praise, Goofy scratched the back of his head while chuckling in embarrassment, and Sora smiled because of all the excitement.

"Thanks, you guys. Today the Dark Army will learn to never mess with ANYONE in the Multiverse!"

"Hahaha! You, my boy, are truly the Champion of Light! The light of Kingdom Hearts shines with hope and victory on you all."

"Thank you, Master Merlin." Sora then looked at everyone with joy but as he did an idea popped into his head.

"Uh hey, this might be too much to ask but, can you guys come with us?" Everyone was then silent as they looked at Sora with surprised expressions. Chip and Dale then went forward to answer.

"Sorry Sora the Gummi Ship can only transport so many people, if too many people ride the Gummi ship and in too little time it could cause disastrous effects to the world." Merlin then stepped forward to continue.

"Unfortunately, my boy, this is correct. unnatural disasters, disease, destruction, and other such chaos. Of course, there's also a chance that the chaos won't happen but it's better to be safe and respect the rules of the multiverse."

"Well, that sucks but no use in complaining! I understand that you all can't come, so just know that I'll be fighting in your guy's honor!" Once again everyone cheered on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. After saying their goodbyes and promises Sora, Donald, and Goofy went off to the Gummi ship.

***

After Chip and Dale started up the Gummi ship and launched them into the light tunnel through the darkness in-between worlds; Sora, Donald, and Goofy were expecting it to be a quick and painless travel from A to B. However, it ended up being anything but, Large Heartless ships were shooting down the Gummi ship. Sora tried using a combo of the laser guns and the Gummi ship missiles but no matter how many Heartless ships he took down, more kept coming. It was getting to the point that Sora didn't take his hand off the fire button for the laser cannons. He couldn't since the entire time the front of the Gummi ship was surrounded by Large Heartless Ships.

Then just like a bad nightmare it was finally over when they reached the end of the light tunnel. As the Gummi ship entered the new world it was practically blackened with all the blast marks and smoking because of all the damage. It landed at the very beginning of the stone steps leading to the entrance of Hollow Bastion. Once it landed the Gummi ship almost fell apart and so did Sora, Donald, Goofy, Chip, and Dale. They all fell to the ground and didn't even move because of how mentally exhausted they all were.

"Ugh... that sucked..."

"Oooh... If it makes you fellas feel better... the chances of us doing that again... are zero..."

"Yeah... sorry by the way... I don't think the ship has ever been this wrecked before..." Chip and Dale then got up and groaned as they walked over to the control pad. Dale pulled out a button connected to the hardware of the ship and Chip pressed it. Suddenly the Gummi ship unleashed a wave of magic outward and back into itself. The magic surrounding the Gummi ship started repairing every large and small bit of damage on the ship. As the magic was done fixing the Gummi ship it then flowed onto Sora, Donald, Goofy, Chip, and Dale; giving them all the energy they needed to physically and mentally recover.

"Ah! That's better!"

"You alright fellas? If that spell worked, it should have fixed you all up too."

"Uh, yeah! That was great! What was that?"

"Just a little pet project we and Sid have been working on!"

"We knew the Dark Army was going to keep hitting harder so rather than increasing our firepower we decided to prepare for what to do when the worst ended up happening."

"And just like you saw, even if they wreck us to the point of near destruction, just like you Sora, we will always get back up!" Chip and Dale jumped and danced around to show their excitement over their achievement. Sora smiled and raised his fist up to them. At first Chip and Dale were confused but once they figured it out, they fist bumped Sora with enthusiasm.

"You guys really are the best Gummi ship engineers in the Multiverse!"

"Aw shucks, thanks Sorry."

"Now don't let us hold you back! Go on and defeat that rotten witch!"

"Yeah, let's go! Wish us luck Chip and Dale!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy then ran out of the Gummi ship. Chip was about to get to operating on the Gummi ship just in case something in the magic spell didn't work but then he noticed Dale looking at the shop console while deep in thought.

"Dale?"

"Hey, Chip. I think I got an idea."

***

Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked up the steps towards the entrance to Hollow Bastion. However, as they finally reached the same floor level hundreds of Shadow Heartless surrounded them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy manifested their weapons ready to fight but ended up standing there confused as the Heartless refused to advance.

"What are they all waiting for?"

"Me." Sora's heart sank when he heard that voice. He felt so conflicted, he couldn't fully feel happy or sad to hear Riku's voice. Yet there he was, slowly advancing while the Shadow Heartless were backing away to clear a path for him. Sora didn't smile when he saw Riku and Riku didn't smile back, how could either of them smile? They both knew how this was going down. Riku stopped when he and Sora were face to face, Sora had Donald and Goofy behind him while Riku had an army of Shadow Heartless behind him. Riku then manifested his Keyblade of Darkness and raised it up toward his head like a knight holding a sword in prayer.

"Sora, I'm gonna ask you one more time, give up your keyblade of Light and join me. Join the Dark Army. Help me take Kingdom Heart's right from under Maleficent's nose and we'll use the power of infinity to fix everything! We'll get our home back! We'll fix Kairi's heart! We'll get our families back! We'll even become Gods! We'll get to go wherever we want, do whatever we want, and never have to worry about anything ever again! We just have to bear with Maleficent for now but when the time is right you and I will take her down! We were a team once Sora, we can do it again. Just drop the Keyblade and take my hand." Riku then extended his hand while giving Sora a gentle smile. A single tear fell out of Sora's eye, he desperately wanted to take Riku's hand, though not for the reason Riku wanted. Sora wanted to take Riku's hand and pull him forward and hug him while he used his own Keyblade to destroy Riku's. But Riku was too fast and too smart for something like that. So instead, Sora just raised his Keyblade and got into a fighting stance.

"You're right about one thing, Riku. I will take Maleficent down! You can either get rid of your Keyblade and join me, step out of the way and don't stop me, or watch me as I kick your butt again. But either way I'm not giving up the Keyblade!" Riku closed his eyes and grunted in frustration, he then glared at Sora full of determination and silent rage.

"Yeah, I was afraid you were going to say that." Suddenly about five Shadow Heartless latched onto Goofy and wrapped around him like restraints, three other Heartless did the same for Donald. Before Sora could react the large group of remaining Heartless were all absorbed into Riku. After Riku absorbed them all, his body was covered in a large dark aura making him stronger than he had ever been before. Sora raised his keyblade to defend but in an instant Riku slashed Sora's Keyblade, breaking it instantly. The fragments fell to the ground, turned to light and disappeared instantly. Sora couldn't believe what just happened, his keyblade was gone and with it, any chance he had of freeing Riku and Kairi from the Dark Army. Sora just fell to his knees, he didn't cry, he didn't scream, he didn't do anything else. He just sat there with the shock still on his face.

Riku saw his friend in despair and tried to reach out to help but suddenly it felt like every atom in his body was being crushed by the weight of the earth. Soon all the Shadow Heartless Riku absorbed were destroyed in an instant and thus Riku could finally breathe again. Doxcrum then showed up and slapped Riku on the back of the head.

"Ye wee eejit, I tell ye that ye weren't duin to handle a spell that powerful. Noo c'moan, we're done here." Doxcrum then picked up Riku and turned back to the castle, but not before giving one final glance to Sora.

"Don't ya be to stonner on yourself, lad. Ye were never aff to beat us in the foremaist steid." Doxcrum then entered the castle of Hollow Bastion while snapping his fingers making the Heartless binding Donald and Goofy disappear. Goofy and Donald quickly went to Sora to check on him and only then did they realize what happened.

"... Sora, the keyblade..."

"It's gone..."

"... guys, what do we do?" Sora looked at them both with hopelessness in his eyes, Goofy and Donald looked at one another not sure what to do. However, Donald stood up while looking at castle of Hollow Bastion with determination.

"Donald?"

"We have to keep going."

"But Sora doesn't have the Keyblade anymore."

"Then we'll go without him."

"A-hyuk! Wha- wha?! But Donald, we need him!"

"No Goofy we needed his Keyblade and now he doesn't have it and without it he's..." Donald then looked at Sora and how hurt he looked while looking back at Donald. Donald then grunted and looked back at Hollow Bastion.

"... We have a mission, assigned to us by the king, protect the Champion of Light and defeat the Dark Army. We already failed one part; I don't intend to fail the other. Now are you coming or not?!" Sora looked at Goofy as tears fell out form his eyes, Goofy then looked back at Donald.

"No, sorry Donald, I can't. Not until I know Sora is safe." Goofy then looked back to Sora, patting his back to try and comfort him. Donald didn't want to leave Sora either, but he felt that the mission was more important. Thus, he simply grunted as he turned back to the castle to walk inside.

"Don't take too long then." Goofy sighed as he tried to continue to comfort Sora but really, he didn't even know what to do. With the keyblade gone there was no way Sora could fight off the Dark Army anymore.

"You should go with him."

"I'm not going to leave you, Sora."

"But I don't have the Keyblade anymore! I'm not the Champion of light anymore I'm just..." Sora then hugged Goofy tightly as he started crying harder, Goofy then hugged Sora back as gently as he could.

"I can't save them anymore; I can't save anyone! I'm just a dumb kid now... Riku was right, I can never beat them." Goofy then sighed, let go of Sora, and got up; leaving Sora still sitting down but now looking up to Goofy with confusion and tears still in his eyes.

"Sora, your so much more than that! Do you have any idea how much you achieved despite where you started! A-hyuk! You were a kid on an island wanting adventure, but you ended up beating the Champion of Light! But even when that isn't what you wanted you still went with it and defeated the Dark Army every chance you got!"

"But I don't have the Keyblade anymore, I can't change that Goofy!"

"No, you can't, but you can keep trying. What about your magic?"

"I..." Sora was about to say he didn't have magic anymore but after thinking about it he wasn't so sure. Sora raised his hand and tried to manifest some fire and sure enough he was able to create a fireball. It was nowhere large as the fireballs he could make with his Keyblade but still it was magic. Sora was still crying but now he stood up while maintaining the fireball in his hand.

"This... this is great! But, it's not enough... without the Keyblade I won't be able to defeat Maleficent and the rest of the Dark Army." Goofy then placed his hand on Sora's shoulder and smiled at him with determination.

"That's why you're not doing it alone."

"Your dang right you're not!" Sora and Goofy were confused when they heard that voice, the two of them then turned to the stone steps in front of Hollow Bastion to see an unbelievable surprise. Sid, Cloud, Yuffie, Leon, Aerith, Merlin, and Fairy Godmother were all there.

"You- You guys? Why are you here?" Chip and Dale then ran forward to talk to Sora and Goofy directly.

"We brought them all Sora; we figured you needed all the help you could get!"

"And for the record we didn't stop at Traverse Town!" Then a web was shot out and Spiderman swung in and stood alongside everyone else. Then Tarzan entered the group as well, and so did Aladdin while holding a sword, Jack Skellington jumped into the crowd, and finally Ariel showed up being carried by Peter Pan who gently flew down. Almost everyone Sora has ever met in all the worlds he has visited was now here. Sora should have felt happy at the sight of all his friends from other worlds but instead he was confused as he turned to Merlin for answers.

"But I thought you said that you guys couldn't come, that if too many people arrive on a world in too little time, it could cause disastrous effects to the world."

"Haha yes I do recall saying that. However, I also recall saying, not all rules are meant to be followed. Rather than following a rule that does not benefit you, try bending it until it does. Is that cheating? Perhaps, but cheating is only bad once you get caught, though you didn't hear that from me." Merlin then winked playfully at Sora, causing Sora to chuckle despite the tears still being in his eyes.

"That's when Dale had the brilliant idea of reengineering the spell, which we made with Sid to give the Gummi ship more magical power."

"Chip then helped me do just that, and with the modifications the Gummi ship is now able to keep the world stable regardless of how many off worlders there are." Sora was still crying but he was now smiling out of genuine joy, he even started laughing because of it. Sora then got up and wiped away his tears, now he was smiling out of determination while facing everyone.

"Thank you everyone for coming. Now this was supposed to be my mission and mine alone. Those are the rules at least, but I'm tired of following them. Still thought I'm not going to force this on anyone, so I'll ask instead. Will you guys help me save my friends, my home, and the multiverse from Maleficent and the Dark Army? There's no shame if you want to say no, but I will be honored to fight beside you if you say yes." No one was hesitant at all, but Peter ended up being the first to step forward.

"You helped save my home, might as well return the favor."

"Ape family safe because of you. Can count on me, always."

"I was a jerk to you in our world so consider this my overdue apology."

"The Pumpkin King will always have your back, Sora!"

"I know we promised to meet again under different circumstances, but you helped me, so let me help you!"

"Come on Sora, I barely got to know you and I could already tell being around you is a ton of fun. What kinda guy would I be to not help a pal like you out?"

"And you helped me find my friends again even after we fought. I think I owe you more than this but for now let's just stick with this for now, ok?" Sora smiled at Cloud then everyone else, now that his friends were here to help, he couldn't help but feel stronger than ever. Sora didn't even notice that his heart was starting to give off a golden glow, but it was so faint that no one else saw it.

"Alright you knuckle heads by the rat's calculations, we have only 5 hours before our presence here starts messing things up so let's move it and show the Dark Army bastards what we're made of!" Everyone raised their fists, weapons, and voices to show that they were ready to fight alongside Sora. Sora then faced the castle gates as the magical platform manifested for them to enter safely.

"Let's go!"

***

In the magical hall of Hollow Bastion, there were several Keyblade Wielders of Darkness operating on magical and evil looking machines. They were all extremely busy, however, they all stopped as soon as Maleficent entered the room. Maleficent was walking casually to the staircase as all the Keyblade Wielders of Darkness bowed to her while she walked past them. She didn't really focus on them, instead she was smiling at all six Princesses of Heart, who were trapped in large crystals of darkness keeping them all in an eternal slumber. Once she reached the staircase there on the top floor stood Riku and Doxcrum. They both bowed to her the moment she reached their level though not once did Riku take his eyes off of Maleficent.

"My loyal servants! The time to obtain Kingdom Hearts is upon us! Bring forth the final Princess!" One of the Keyblade Wielders of Darkness nodded, got up, and walked over to a magical control panel where he pressed a few buttons and like that a seventh dark crystal rose up from a hidden door from the ground. Within the crystal was Kairi.

"Is the draining truly finished?"

"Yes Master Maleficent!"

"Then begin! Reveal to us the Fragments of Light!" The Keyblade Wielder of Darkness pressed some more buttons in the correct order and instantly the process started. Suddenly the hearts of all seven princesses started glowing a pure white and blinding light. After a moment of shining small but powerful white diamonds formed and floated out of the Princesses hearts and toward Maleficent. She smiled and held out her hands as the seven Fragments of Light floated toward her, allowing her to hold them all.

"Good Work Maleficent." Maleficent shuttered for the first time in her life and so did Doxcrum which made Riku confused. Riku didn't recognize that voice, when he looked up out of curiosity, he didn't recognize that man, but he didn't need to feel the same fear as Maleficent and Doxcrum as well as everyone else in the room. That was the true Master of the Dark Army, that was Master Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Riku didn't even need to use his enhanced magical vision to see that Ansem had an overwhelming amount of energy and was more than powerful enough to crush even Maleficent.

Maleficent knew this as well, hence why she bowed the moment she heard his voice; pride, status, power none of it mattered to her anymore. When in the presence of Master Ansem Maleficent knew she was just another pawn, her hour of glory was over and she was back to being a slave. The other Keyblade Wielders of Darkness knew this as well since they were already pawns from the start. They fixed themselves to bow toward him instead, only now their heads were lower than before. Some of them even smashed their heads onto the ground, not caring how much it hurt so long as Master Ansem knew they were loyal. Ansem then teleported in front of Maleficent, but he was so fast that not even she could see him move. Ansem then held out his hands and the seven Fragments of Light floating over Maleficent, flew into his palms.

"Hundreds of years of planning and hiding are finally over. Kingdom Hearts is finally within our grasp. Doxcrum, you know the ritual, begin now." Doxcrum stood up and held out his hands, Ansem then seemingly tossed the Fragments of Light without actually touching them. The Fragments of Light slowly floated over into Doxcrum's hands and he lowered his head one last time before turning to the gateway.

However, before Doxcrum could even take a step, the intruder alarms started going off. They Keyblade Wielders of Darkness stopped bowing and went to their respective stations. One of the system managers used his magic to make several holo-screens appear around the room so that everyone could see. It showed Sora leading a group of off worlder's against the Hundreds of Heartless surrounding them. However, no matter how many Heartless kept coming, the group always managed to take them all out. Everyone in the room was speechless because of what they were seeing, Riku was especially shocked.

"Sora?"

"The Champion of Light? He truly lives up to his title. Everyone! This is our only chance to obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts, are you willing to die for the power of infinity? Are you willing to lay your lives for the chance at Godhood? Then prove it! Show these unworthy vermin of Light why the darkness will always be superior!" Half of the Keyblade Wielders of Darkness then ran out of the room to join in on the battle as Ansem ordered. Ansem then turned to Maleficent.

"This area must be guarded."

"Understood, I will get that coward Hades and we will protect this room with our lives." a Void opened behind Maleficent, she then turned to walk inside it. After the Void disappeared Ansem walked up to Riku and Doxcrum.

"Finish it as fast as you can." Doxcrum nodded and quickly ran upstairs to the gateway with the Fragments of Light, Ansem then turned to Riku.

"Finish what you started. Even without a Keyblade the battle is not over until there is a victor." Riku couldn't protest, not like he did with Maleficent, instead Riku just bowed while shaking in fear. Riku then opened a Void behind him and walked in to face Sora.

***

As everyone ran down the hall, Sora cast another ice spell at a Shadow Heartless, freezing it in a ball of ice. Tarzan then ran past Sora, toward the ice ball, quickly grabbed it and threw it at a large group of Soldier Heartless, knocking them down like bowling pins. A Darkball Heartless charged forward but Spiderman shot its mouth with webs and used other webs to catch it like a cowboy catching a horse. Spiderman then spun around while holding onto the Darkball and only letting go once he got enough momentum to throw it at another Darkball Heartless destroying them both. Sora fired another fireball at a Soldier Heartless, when suddenly a Large Body Heartless came in from the ceiling and landed right in front of him. Sora could only use his arms to defend as the Large Body Heartless raised its large fists. But nothing happened instead Sora opened his eyes to see Cloud in front of him having destroyed the Heartless with a single slash of his large sword. However now Cloud was surrounded by a group of Soldier Heartless or at least he would have been if Yuffie hadn't thrown her large Shuriken, slicing and destroying them all.

Sora saw several Soldier Heartless charging toward them, so he quickly cast a fire and ice spell then mixed them together to create a large water bubble. Sora then threw the bubble at Ariel confusing her at first, but she suddenly turned into a mermaid again. Now not only did she have a sword but with the water bubble she could swim in the air easily and quickly as well. It didn't take long for her to swim toward the Soldier Heartless and take most of them out. However, several Shadow Heartless surrounded Sora but thankfully Aladdin slipped by Sora and used his sword to help Sora defeat them all. Ariel was about to get caught by another Large Body Heartless, but Peter Pan flew in to help her slash the Heartless until it was destroyed.

Just as they were about to reach the end of the hall, another Large Body Heartless jumped forward, trying to crush them all, but Sid with his spear and Aerith with her staff quickly swung their weapons toward the Large Body Heartless. Like a baseball the Large Body Heartless flew back towards the direction it was thrown, destroying the Large Body Heartless on impact and every Heartless it landed on. Sora and some of the others laughed at the sight, he was about to keep going afterwards but was zapped by a lighting spell. It was the Wizard Heartless, three to be exact, and they were all charging up fire spells. Thankfully this time Goofy got in front of Sora, using his shield to block the attack. Goofy then overcharged his shield with magic and threw it at the Wizard Heartless in the middle, destroying it instantly. The last two Wizard Heartless tried to retaliate with ice spells but they were suddenly destroyed by Leon whose slash was too strong and too fast for them to survive or even dodge. More Soldier and Shadow Heartless started flooding the Hall, but Jack Skellington jumped forward, unleashed an aura of fire, and roared as he marched forward burning all the Heartless down and forcing the remaining ones out of the Hallway finally clearing the path.

Sora and friends finally made it out however, as they entered the Entrance Hall there were hundreds of Air Soldier Heartless, Large Body Heartless, Darkball Heartless, and even a Crimson Jazz Heartless. There was no way they were going to be able to win this fight without suffering some major damage. However, before Sora could even think of a plan Fairy Godmother and Merlin stepped forward, in front of Sora with their wands out.

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!"

"Higitus Figitus Zumbabazing!" From both their wands orbs of light manifested and quickly expanded until everything in the room was covered by their light. All the Heartless roared in anger as their bodies were slowly being destroyed by the light. Once all the Heartless were gone the light faded too, then everyone just looked in awe as the liberated hearts flew into the ceiling so that they could return to their rightful places in the Multiverse. They were all silent for a short while but then Sid started cheering first and soon the rest started joining in.

"That was awesome!"

"We are unstoppable!"

"I'm gonna be honest, this whole thing is the weirdest thing to happen to me. But I would gladly fight alongside you guys any day!"

"Never thought I would go to an alien world to beat up shadow monsters, but I don't regret a bit of it!"

"Haha! The Dark Army's probably shaking in their boots right about now!" Sora was just as pumped and excited as everyone else; how could he not be? Sure, he lost the Keyblade but with everyone here they might actually be able to defeat the Dark Army. However, the cheering stopped when an explosion was heard at the top of the staircase. Donald was then thrown down and landed right in front of the group.

"Wah- Donald! Are you ok?" Sora and Goofy ran to Goofy, trying to help him back up.

"Ugh... Sora? Why are you still here?"

"Because he still has to fight me." Everyone then turned to Riku who was walking down the staircase while keeping his focus entirely on Sora. He was staring at Sora with a mixture of anger and disappointment, Sora looked back with a similar expression.

"You're not the Champion of Light anymore Sora. give it up."

"No way! I'm not leaving without you or Kairi and even then, I still won't leave till I've defeated Maleficent!"

"You really think your friends can help you? Even if you had an army, it still wouldn't be enough. Face its Sora, without your Keyblade you don't stand a chance." Sora looked down in fear, but Goofy placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. Sora looked at Goofy as he looked back with a smile of determination, Sora then looked back at everyone else who were all smiling and cheering Sora on. Sora then faced Riku again this time with confidence.

"I don't need a Keyblade! My friends are my real power! It's just like Merlin said, when the going gets tough then don't forget who you're fighting for, and everyone in this room is worth fighting for! Whether they are trying to find their place in the world, wanting to unite with friends and family, trying out new things and experiences in life, or just searching for love! They all had unique lives and I got to be there with them to experience it with them all. And every experience only made me stronger! Every friend I gained only made me stronger! Sure, sometimes I wanted to give up and just run away but no matter how hard every battle got, it always ended up being worth it! These guys are worth it, their worlds are worth it, Kairi and the other princesses are worth it, even you are worth it Riku! That's why I'm going to defeat you, because you're my friend and if defeating you is what it takes to get you back then so be it! Because just like with these guys, I'm not giving up on you!" That honestly stabbed daggers into Riku's heart, Riku wanted nothing more than to hug Sora and Kairi right now. But after coming face to face with Ansem he knew that death only awaited them if he failed here and now. As such, Riku cried a single tear from his right eye as he raised his keyblade at Sora.

"You've always been so naive Sora, thankfully I'll always be there to show you just how wrong you are." Sora grunted in frustration but in a way, he knew he couldn't reach Riku's heart with words alone. So, he faced Riku with determination, he wasn't going to hesitate anymore, Riku needed to be defeated right here and now. Sora smiled at first, as he felt energized, but Sora quickly stopped smiling when he was getting too much. Sora then looked down and saw that his heart was glowing with golden light. Suddenly everyone else's hearts started glowing with golden light as well as of them except Riku. The light in their hearts then floated out and toward the light in Sora's heart. Once all the lights were absorbed it flew in front Sora, he was confused but grabbed the light out of a strange necessity too. Once he grabbed it, it slowly transformed back into the Kingdom Keyblade. Sora looked at the Keyblade in awe, besides the golden glow, it looked exactly the same, but Sora felt like he was stronger with it now than he was when he had it before. Goofy, Donald, Fairy Godmother, Merlin, and Riku were particularly shocked at the sight.

"What?"

"A-hyuk! Whaaaa?!"

"He created a brand new Keyblade!"

"But how? The art has been lost."

"WHAT?! HOW?! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Sora wasn't really sure how he did it either, however he was filled with so much positive and magical energy that he couldn't do anything but smile as he raised his keyblade with great pride.

"I guess this goes to show Riku, the power of friendship through light will always be stronger than the power of destruction through darkness." Riku growled in anger as he raised his keyblade toward Sora.

"This ends now! I'm going to prove to you Sora that I'm the ONLY one that can save everyone! Maybe when I take Kingdom Hearts, you'll finally listen to me!"

"Riku, you always thought it was your way or the highway, not this time though. I'll show you the right path. After I kick your butt!" Sora charged at Riku, who managed to block the strike but still felt its full force. Meanwhile everyone was still near the hall watching the fight.

"Uh shouldn't we help him?"

"No, Sir Spiderman. This is a battle between the Champions of Light and Darkness. Only they can decide the fate of the Multiverse therefore it is their battle alone." Riku then manifested large bat wings of darkness from his back as he forced Sora back from him. Riku then flew into the air as his clothes transformed into his Heartless suit. However, as he flew up higher, a beam of light blasted him with the shoulder forcing him back down. Everyone then turned to Merlin with his wand still smoking from the blast.

"But then again what good does it do you youngsters to listen to this old man? Now come on! Let us fight this confused child till he sees the Light!" Everyone cheered in enthusiasm as they all ran forward to stand beside Sora readying their weapons and/or magical powers. Riku then got up, looked at everyone, and growled with growing rage.

"Grrr, annoying old man! Fine then, I'll take you all on!" Sora backed up and shot a lightning bolt at Riku but even on impact Riku, just bit down the pain and charged at Sora. Cloud jumped in front of Sora and slashed down on Riku, but Riku's dark wings covered him like a shield canceling the attack. Riku then threw Cloud out of the way and continued running forward. Goofy charged his shield and Yuffie her shuriken with magic and threw them at Riku. This time Riku was unable to dodge or block and ended up getting pushed back by the combined force. Before Riku went flying back Spiderman caught him with a web and pulled him back but at the same time Spiderman was swinging toward him. Once close enough Spiderman punched him in the chest, making Riku fall hard onto the ground.

Riku coughed in pain but quickly got up only to see Tarzan run up to him. Tarzan punched Riku several times, the first seven punches ended up landing on Riku's face, but Riku caught the eight one and punched Tarzan back. As Tarzan flew back Peter Pan caught him and after gently letting him land on the ground, he flew toward Riku with his sword and alongside him was Ariel who was still in her water bubble and still had her sword. However, Riku shot an ice spell at Ariel, so Peter Pan flew in front of her taking the hit, thus both freezing him and making Ariel crash into his frozen body. Thankfully Donald cast a fire spell to free Peter Pan and managed to quickly cast a lighting spell, aiming at Riku. However, Riku managed to throw his Keyblade at Donald, knocking the staff out of Donald's hand. Like a boomerang the Keyblade came back to Riku and right in time for Aladdin and Sora tried to slash him at the same time. With great speed Riku deflected both their attacks and even knocked Aladdin back.

Once again Sora and Riku were at each other's neck, with their Keyblade's clashing after every slash towards one another. Sid and Leon tried to help by ambushing Riku but once again he used his dark wings as shields to completely block out their attacks. All he had to do was extend his wings to push them both away. He then slashed at Sora's keyblade with all his might, finally pushing Sora away. Jack Skellington roared as he charged at Riku with an aura of fire, Riku slashed Jack Skellington making him fly away while injured. However, Riku was still caught by the flames, they did burn but after unleashing his dark aura they were quickly extinguished.

Finally, Merlin stepped forward and cast a beam of pure light, blasting it right at Riku who only barely managed to block it with his keyblade. Riku then stomped on the ground and a barrage of pillars started going towards Merlin. Thankfully Fairy Godmother got in front of Merlin and blasted a barrage of pure light, vaporizing the earth pillars and burning off Riku's wings of darkness. Riku tried to recover but before he could Donald got his staff back and started shooting fireballs, then Sora got back up and started doing the same. Riku was getting tired and slow, thus he couldn't block all the fireballs. Now Riku was burnt, injured, and exhausted; so too were most of Sora's friends but thankfully Aerith cast a spell allowing her to heal them all thus leaving Riku the only one injured. Riku tried getting back up, but Sora stopped him by pointing his Keyblade right at Riku's face.

"It's over Riku! You lost, please just give up. You can't beat us, but together we can beat the Dark Army!" Riku just glared at Sora while he stared back in disappointment. Sora then sighed as to everyone's shock, he threw his keyblade away and just held out his hand.

"Please Riku, I know you think the Dark Army is unstoppable. Yes, they are powerful. Yes, they have hundreds of members. Yes, they have millions of Heartless. But look at what we have! Everyone in this room was originally a stranger to one another but now they are all here willing to fight the Darkness! And we're winning! If we can beat you we can definitely beat Maleficent. But! We'll have an even better chance if you fight with us, so please Riku. Let's stop fighting, help me save Kairi and our home. I don't want to do this without you." Riku thought that maybe it was true, maybe Sora COULD beat the Dark Army. Maybe now Riku could finally be with Sora and Kairi again, and he wouldn't have to wait to get Kingdom Hearts to fix anything. Riku then took Sora's hand but as he did everything suddenly went cold as he heard a voice behind his head.

You cannot escape your destiny; the Multiverse will never be at peace until one Champion has defeated the other. If you can't do that then the Dark Army will never stop, and your friends will never be safe. We will always find you. We. Are. EVERYWHERE!

Riku then got away from Sora with terror on his face, leaving Sora confused.

"Riku? What's wrong?"

"We... We can't escape! We have to keep fighting! No! I don't want to keep fighting!" Riku then quickly jumped up toward the second floor and ran out of the room.

"Riku! Come back! No!" Sora then slammed his fists on the ground with frustration, causing the floor to crack. Goofy and Merlin then walked up to Sora, and each placed a hand on one of his shoulders.

"Sora?"

"Are you alright my boy?" Sora wanted to cry but he managed to fight back the tears. Instead, Sora just got up, looked at everyone and smiled with determination.

"I will be once we stop Maleficent, if Riku won't help us now, then maybe he will once we stop her and the rest of the Dark Army! What do you say guys? One final push?!" Everyone cheered with excitement and determination, all except Donald who walked up to Sora with guilt on his face.

"Sora... I'm sorry."

"hm... Hey Donald, what's that?" Sora pointed at something behind Donald making him turn around, however Donald saw nothing. Instead, his butt started getting warmer and he looked back to see Sora using a fire spell to heat his keyblade as he was pressing it onto Donald's butt making his tail set on fire. Donald then started quacking around while his tail was on fire leaving most concerned at the sight but others like Sora laughing at the sight. Once Donald finally put the fire out, he fell to the ground and looked up at Sora with a hurt expression.

"I told you if you left me behind again, I would set your butt on fire." Donald then looked at Goofy, annoyed to which Goofy just smirked and shrugged.

"Ugh... Alright! Alright! I was being a jerk and really shouldn't have abandoned you guys. I'm sorry." Goofy then gave Donald a healing potion to help him back up.

"Apology accepted Donald, now come on! Let's go!"

***

Riku ran down the halls and didn't stop until he was sure that he was alone. Riku then finally caught his breath, or at least he would have if he didn't feel a presence around him. It was like something made of shadows was quickly shifting between the walls and corners. Riku tried looking around but could never see it clearly, but then, despite having his wall to the back, he felt a presence behind him. Riku then turned around to see a shadow with four goat horns on its head with evil looking crimson red eyes.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before!"

Oh, my adorable little Knight, as much as I'd love to answer your questions, I'm afraid your main issue is with the King.

"What?" Riku then turned around to see Ansem standing there looking at him with disappointment.

"You failed your task."

"Wait please, just give me another chance! I can do better!"

"I know you can, but not without my help. So as your Master, it seems only fitting that I give you my power!"

***

Sora and friends made it to the Castle Chapel where Maleficent, Hades and several Keyblade Wielders of Darkness were. Everyone on both sides quickly got ready to fight, Cloud and Sora were especially fixated on Hades.

"Oh, great you two again. All we need is the Wonder Boy and we'll have the whole parade of pathetic."

"You won't even need to worry about him if you ever bothered to handle things yourself."

"Ugh, there it is the annoying tough guy persona you got going Storm boy. You know you're not so much of a good guy yourself you-"

"Enough of the useless dialogue you fools! Besides, in a few moments it won't matter anyways. Soon we will have Kingdom Hearts and you all will be nothing but horrible memories as we conquer your worlds as well as the infinite other worlds of the multiverse."

"Yeah, so you see kids, even without baby boy Riku we can still crush you like the... uh... I'm trying to think of a word that's not offensive... Bugs, you are. literal vermin. tiny pathetic worms that squirm under our feet as we crush you slowly! Yeah, I'd say that was pretty child friendly." Just then the room shook as a magical pulse of energy flew through the room making both Maleficent and Hades smile.

"Doxcrum is almost finished with the spell! The time is now! Destroy the fools who dare stand against the Dark Army!" The Keyblade Wielders of Darkness yelled in unison as they charged towards Sora and his friends. Sora then raised his keyblade and charged first while everyone followed, eventually causing a clash between the two forces. None of the Keyblade Wielders of Darkness ended up clashing with Sora, Donald, or Goofy, which was perfect, now Sora could focus only on Maleficent and Hades.

Sora jumped at Maleficent with his Keyblade ready to strike her, but she used her staff to not only block his attack but to also push him back. Hades then unleashed a barrage of fire, to burn the three of them. Donald quickly cast an ice spell on Goofy's shield, then Goofy enhanced his shield with magic making it larger. Goofy's large shield, combined with the ice, was able to nullify the Hades attack. Hades growled in anger, unleashed his dark aura, and manifested six large arms of darkness. The dark arms stretched towards Donald and Goofy, but Sora jumped in front of them, manifested his Three Wishes Keyblade, and slashed at the arms, making Hades get punched in the face six times.

As Hades flew away from the force of his own punches, leaving Maleficent alone and grunting at Sora with anger. However, rather than attacking head on Maleficent made Sora's shadow into a large circle surrounding him. Out of the shadow manifested several chains of pure darkness, they latched onto Sora binding him while slowly crushing him. Thankfully Donald expected a heavy attack, so he powered up a triple core spell of ice, fire, and lightning. While Maleficent was distracted with her assumed victory Donald shot Maleficent with the spell. It did hit, however Maleficent simply looked annoyed as flames, ice, and electricity covered her. Instead, Maleficent simply shook the elements off of her and proceeded to cast dark lighting on all three of them, making them all yell in pain.

"Sora! Hang on!" Spiderman managed to shake off the Keyblade Wielder of Darkness he was fighting, swung by Maleficent, and punched her in the face as he passed her by. Tarzan saw what Spiderman did, he ended up grabbing his web and using it to wing like a vine toward Maleficent. Once he swung by her, he kicked her in the stomach making her grunt in anger and annoyance. Now the dark lighting stopped, and Sora was free. Donald then walked up to Sora and charged up an ice spell; Sora smiled since he understood, he then started casting an ice spell as well. They combined their spells to create an even stronger ice spell and shot it right at Maleficent. Maleficent was now covered in ice now, but she could still move only very slowly as the ice was both hindering and slowly damaging her.

"Come on! Now is our chance!" Sora charged at Maleficent and slashed her with his Olympia Keyblade. Goofy then charged his magical aura and it shot out as a light construct clone of him and ran toward Maleficent bashing her with the light construct shield. Donald then put more magic in his staff than normal to cast a lightning spell stronger than before, unleashing it on Maleficent.

"Hey! Let us help!" Cloud and Leon jumped up toward Maleficent and slashed her as they slowly fell to the ground. Maleficent screamed in anger as she broke all the ice off her body, falling to the ground due to the overwhelming pain and damage she received. However, she wasn't done, instead her eyes ignited in green flames as black smoke started spreading everywhere around her. Soon growling could be heard from within the smoke and not long after, Maleficent rose from it as a large dragon. Hades was only seconds from rejoining the battle but once he saw Maleficent he made a disappointed expression, opened a void behind him, and simply walked in to be transported back to his own world while holding two peace signs in the air.

"Lady Maleficent has lost her mind!"

"Everybody run!" The Keyblade Wielders of Darkness all quickly ran from the room leaving Sora and the others to deal with Maleficent. Maleficent herself rose up tall and roared at everyone, fully displaying just how powerful she was.

"Uh, ok this is going to be hard." Maleficent lowered her head toward Sora so that she could blast him with fire, but thankfully Donald countered with an extremely powerful and long-lasting ice blast. Donald ended up yelling with all his might while casting the ice spell as Maleficent was blasting him back with her fire breath. It was an amazing sight at first but after a while Sora, Goofy, and the others started looking at Donald in confusion, they all wondered how he was still able to yell for so long.

"Uh, Goofy? Is Donald going to be, ok?"

"Well, he's not called the Head Wizard of Disney Castle for nothing." Eventually Donald became the one victorious when Maleficent couldn't breathe fire anymore. Donald, however, could keep going and his ice blast ended up going all the way toward Maleficent, filling her dragon mouth with ice.

"Now!" Cloud, Leon, Ariel, Aladdin, and Peter Pan charged toward Maleficent's front legs causing her to rise up and stand on her hind legs.

"Sora!" Sora saw Spiderman swinging across the ceiling while holding out his left hand for him. Sora smiled, manifested his Fairy Harp Keyblade, and flew up to Spiderman to take his hand. Once Sora grabbed his hands, Spiderman let go of the web he was swinging with, used Sora's weight to spin around and once they were going fast enough, he let go of Sora. Sora was now flying toward Maleficent and once he was close enough, he slashed her with the Olympia Keyblade. With the combination of force and damage, Maleficent was pushed to the ground and landed hard on her back. This did stun her for a while, but it also broke all the ice in her mouth, though thankfully even that did some extra damage.

Once Sora landed on the ground, he tried to charge at Maleficent again in hopes of slashing her until she was defeated. However, Maleficent proved to be faster and used her wings to blow Sora and everyone else away. Maleficent used the chance to get back up and destroy them, but thankfully Merlin and Fairy Godmother stepped forward to stop her.

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!"

"Higitus Figitus Zumbabazing!" from both their wands concentrated beams of pure light shot right towards Maleficent. The dragon tried to use her wings to defend herself, but the blasts of pure light were two strong and Maleficent's wings ended up getting blasted clean off. Maleficent roars with a mixture of pain and anger. However, Maleficent unleashed her Dark Aura and used it to manifest dark tentacles from her back with sharp blade ends. Sora just smirked at the sight of them all aiming for him as he manifested his Three Wishes Keyblade to deflect the attack. However, to Sora's shock Maleficent anticipated this and redirected the tentacles toward everyone else.

Yuffie, Sid, Aerith, managed to use their weapons to block the attack but Peter Pan had to get Tarzan out of the way and Spiderman did the same for Ariel. However, despite dodging the tentacles, they kept chasing everyone to slice them into pieces. Sora kept trying to slice off the tentacles, but they were moving too fast for him to slice them properly. However, suddenly his keyblade started glowing and transformed into a red and blue keyblade with silver spider web details around it. The ring guard was silver and shaped like the outline of a spiderweb and the bit of the key was a silver spider. Sora had no time to figure out what this keyblade did, so he just pointed it at the tentacles and hoped for the best. Thankfully, on command, it tied them all together with spiderwebs keeping them all still and together. However, before Sora could cut them all, Maleficent wrapped all her tentacles together and used them all to crush him into the ground.

Despite being a dragon Maleficent started laughing thinking that she was victorious, all while everyone was silent at the sight of Sora being crushed. However, Sora suddenly started growing while holding his Lady Luck Keyblade. He then used his Keyblade to slice the tentacles off and with his big size he punched Maleficent in the back with all his might, crushing her to the ground.

"Ha... I really gotta stop forgetting I have this Keyblade." Sora then manifested his Crabclaw Keyblade and shot Maleficent with gallons of water while he fell to the ground. Once Sora was getting dangerously close to the ground, he manifested his Fairy Harp Keyblade to slow down and charged up a lighting spell. With Maleficent covered in water and after being hit by the lighting spell, she was instantly electrocuted with five times as many volts due to the water. Sora wasn't done and manifested his Pumpkinhead Keyblade and shot as many Jack-o-lantern missiles at Maleficent as he could before running out of magical energy. Sora then fell to his knees out of exhaustion while the jack-o-lantern missiles blew up Maleficent. Forcing her back into her normal form. Maleficent slowly got up and weakly tried to leave but before she could Aladdin ran up to her and pointed his sword right at her neck.

"Where is Jasmin? What did you do to her?!" When Sora heard Aladdin's question he got up and walked over to him with confusion.

"Wait, Jasmin? But I thought she was safe." Maleficent started laughing at the two of them despite having no energy to defend herself.

"You fool, no number of worlds we destroyed would have gotten us the power needed to obtain Kingdom Hearts. That's why we were really after the Princesses of Heart. Just like your useless friend Kairi, we have imprisoned them and drained their hearts of its disgusting light! With the Fragments of Light, we created as a result, Kingdom Hearts will be within our grasp! And you're already too late! Soon the gate will be opened, and your Princesses will be lost forever!" Aladdin yelled in anger and slashed Maleficent's head off, as Maleficent just smiled sinisterly and continued laughing as her head and body slowly faded into darkness.

"Aladdin! Calm down!"

"I'm sorry it's just... I thought we were safe, and those monsters just took her, they probably took others too."

"We'll get them back, all of them! No matter what!" Aladdin looked back at Sora and smiled but then his body started glitching out and a small earthquake went off. Sora then looked back and saw everyone else in pain as they're bodies started glitching out as well. Chip and Dale quickly ran toward Sora with distress on their faces.

"Sora! We have to hurry!"

"The magic of the Gummi ship is going to wear off and when it does the results are more unstable than we thought! If we don't get these guys home within an hour then not only will this world start suffering unnatural disasters, but these guys will get weaker and weaker until... they won't be strong enough to take a single breath." Sora was afraid to hear the stakes were now even higher, but he shook his head and looked to the staircase with determination.

"Then we better get moving! Come on everyone! This is the final push!"

***

Following Sora, everyone charged into the main ritual room where all seven princesses were being held.

"What the heck?"

"Oh wow, this is messed up."

"Who are all these girls?"

"Hey! There's Jasmin!" Aladdin then ran over to the dark crystal where Jasmin was being held, Sora watched him only to see that Alice was being held in one as well.

"Alice!" Sora ran to her but as soon as he touched the crystal it felt like touching hot coal, so he backed away.

"Augh! I don't understand, we saved Wonderland."

"Actually lad, ye saved ONLY Wonderland." Sora looked around in confusion to see where that voice was coming from. He ended up finding the room right next to the chamber where there was a wide space with a small staircase leading up to the floor where the gateway was. And right in front of the gateway Doxcrum was using the seven Fragments of Light to create the portal to Kingdom Hearts.

"Alice, however, belongs to a different world so getting her was easy. Meanwhile sure ye did snib up Agrabah bit that only keeps th' heartless 'n' wee rank Keyblade Wielders o' Darkness out. Someone lik' me, however, getting in is as easy as crushing a caber."

"... Don't you mean as easy as crushing a grape?"

"I ken what I said, lad." Doxcrum then split in two with one of his copy continuing the spell while the other walked down the staircase and towards Sora.

"Now then, I ken how come you're 'ere 'n' let me tell ye, yer ain't getting it. So, give up, right 'ere 'n' now. Do that 'n' I'll ensure that ye git a piece o' th' infinity bridie that is Kingdom Hearts." Sora looked at Doxcrum with disappointment, he refused the offer of joining the Dark Army so many times, why would he want to accept now. Instead, Sora just shook his head as he manifested his Keyblade to fight. Doxcrum ended up laughing at the sight.

"Hahaha. Yer funeral, lad." Doxcrum kicked Sora in the stomach, making him fly back, forcing Jack Skellington to catch him to break the impact. Jack Skellington then glared at Doxcrum and yelled like a war cry. This time Goofy led the charge and everyone followed him toward Doxcrum.

"Well, isn't this dowie, I bet I could beat ye all wi' one hand." Doxcrum then raised his left arm while holding his right behind his back. Cloud ended up being the fastest and jumped up toward Doxcrum as he descended, he swung his sword downwards at Doxcrum. Doxcrum ended up holding the sword with just his bare hand, but Cloud wasn't done, he held out his hand at Doxcrum's face and used his magic to unleash a lethal amount of electricity. However, Doxcrum was unphased and even managed to flick Cloud's sword away and punch him in the face with both ease and incredible speed.

Leon tried to ambush him with a stabbing strike but not only did Doxcrum use his speed to catch it he also forced the sword back, making the handle of the sword hit Leon in the stomach with incredible force and speed. Yuffie threw her Shuriken at Doxcrum only for him to slap it away, Yuffie grunted in anger as she kept running toward Doxcrum. She started punching him at high speed, or at least that was the plan, but Doxcrum proved to be faster and dodged every single punch with ease. Once Yuffie was done Doxcrum turned around and did a back kick at her stomach making her fly away like the others.

Aerith ran toward Doxcrum and hit him hard with her staff, she managed to hit him several times and it was clear from the impact it was heavy damage. However, Doxcrum didn't move an inch from any of the hits, instead he took them all and once she was done, he flicked her forehead making her fly away as well. Sid tried to back her up with his spear but once again Doxcrum caught the spear, lifted it up and used it to hit Sid in the face three times with the butt end. Doxcrum then forcefully took the spear and used it to hit Sid like a baseball making him fly toward the wall of the room. Doxcrum then threw the spear at Sid just barely missing his head, scaring Sid but also making him grow with anger.

"Is that all ye got, bairns?" Sora was shocked at the sight, he thought that after Maleficent there shouldn't be anyone stronger other than the mysterious Master of the Dark Army. But here they are with someone entirely different who was so strong and fast he literally beat everyone from Traverse Town with one hand. However, Sora still had his other friends, and they weren't out of the battle yet.

"Not even close!" Sora manifested a fire spell but didn't fire, instead he also manifested a lighting spell and just barely did an ice spell. The triple core spell didn't do anything to Maleficent, but he had to try. He shot the spell at Doxcrum who just stood there as it flew toward him. But once the spell was close enough, he raised his left hand but strangely it morphed into three arms with each hand blocking off each of the cores of the spell.

"What?!"

"Haha! all right, looks lik' I was wrong lad!" Doxcrum then opened his arms wide and from his back several other arms started sprouting out.

"I do need more than one hand to beat ye!" More hands sprouted out until Doxcrum he had thousands of arms grown out of his back, each one of different sizes and lengths. Spiderman then swung forward and tried to web up as many of the arms as he could, but Doxcrum combined several arms into a single large one allowing him to grab Spiderman. The large hand then crushed Spiderman and flicked him toward a wall leaving him incapacitated. Jack Skellington unleashed his fire aura and charged at Doxcrum only to be crushed by another large arm. The arms then started stretching and swarming around, Aladdin, Ariel, Tarzan, and Peter Pan tried to fight off the arms or at least get away from them, but the arms were everywhere and grabbed them quickly. Doxcrum then retracted all of his arms except for the ones holding those four, instead he raised them all in the air and slammed them all into the ground. Both Merlin and Fairy Godmother tried to cast more spells to stop him, but his arm split in two and both copies stretched out to punch both their stomachs, leaving them both stunned on the ground.

Suddenly, just in time Donald and Goofy got in front of Sora to help him out, Donald made sure to drink lots of mana potions filling him with lots and lots of magical energy. Donald then started firing consecutive and powerful fireballs at Doxcrum. However, Doxcrum ended up slapping away, each and every fireball away from him with ease. Donald kept firing but Doxcrum wasn't stopping and still getting closer. Donald was no longer yelling but instead getting increasingly scared as Doxcrum just kept getting closer while slapping away all the fireballs with incredible speed. Eventually Doxcrum reached Donald, grabbed him by the face and slammed him hard on the ground. Goofy tried to shield bash Doxcrum but within a second, Doxcrum punched the shield with such incredible force. The recoil forced Goofy to go flying and hit the wall of the room hard, knocking him out.

Now Sora was alone but not out of the fight, Sora charged at Doxcrum while yelling in anger. At first, he tried slashing at Doxcrum, aiming for the waist, head, and legs but once again Doxcrum dodged with great speed. Eventually Sora was getting frustrated and started swinging mindlessly. Doxcrum then slipped past Sora and hit him in the back of the neck making him fall to the ground in pain.

Sora grunted in frustration, got up, and manifested his Spider Web Keyblade to shoot webs at Doxcrum's legs, keeping him still. However, after Sora tried to charge at him Doxcrum kicked Sora in the face after freeing himself with his strength alone. Fairy Harp Keyblade bit down on the pain and used his Fairy Harp Keyblade to fly away from Doxcrum aiming for his copy that was finishing the spell. But the real Doxcrum grabbed Sora by the leg with one of his stretching arms and used it to pull Sora back and slam him hard onto the ground. Sora, still on the ground, manifested his Crabclaw Keyblade and aimed at Doxcrum while charging up both an ice and lighting spell. The combo as well as the Keyblade's power to make water both froze and heavily electrocuted Doxcrum. Or at least it should have, but Doxcrum seemingly took no damage and kicked Sora away from him.

Sora was getting in more and more pain, but he refused to give up, he manifested his Pumpkinhead Keyblade and shot six jack-o-lantern missiles at Doxcrum. Doxcrum took all the missiles head on and just waved away the smoke as if it was more of an annoyance than actual damage. Before Doxcrum could do anything else, Sora manifested his Jungle King Keyblade and shot out a vine at Doxcrum quickly commanding the jungle vine to crush Doxcrum. Instead Doxcrum simply grabbed the vine and ripped it off of him. Sora grunted in frustration, manifested his Olympia Keyblade, and charged at Doxcrum. Again, Doxcrum did nothing to dodge the attack but once he was hit, the intense force didn't seem to damage him at all. Doxcrum then punched Sora in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Sora couldn't help but whimper in pain but rather than start crying he just looked up at Doxcrum with anger. Sora then manifested his Lady Luck Keyblade, grew very large and stomped on Doxcrum. Sora didn't stop at just one stomp; he kept stomping and didn't stop until he was sure that Doxcrum was down. When Sora finally stopped, he lifted his leg to see a small puddle of darkness left there. Sora felt guilt consuming his heart as he thought about the horrific crime he just committed. However, the battle wasn't over, Doxcrum's arm stretched out of the puddle, grew larger, and grabbed Sora by the neck. Soon Doxcrum's whole body grew out of the puddle and when he was done regenerating, he ended up being larger than Sora, to the point he could barely fit in the room. Sora couldn't help but look in defeat, he tried everything and so did his friends and it still wasn't enough. Doxcrum was unbeatable.

"Had enough Lad?" Sora dropped his keyblade making him shrink to normal size, Doxcrum made sure to shrink himself as well so he could keep his grip on Sora. Once they were back to normal size, Sora started crying.

"Och don't cha start greetin' lad. Soon it will all be over, now that yer done fightin' ye can instead help us get Kingdom Hearts." Sora was still crying but then wiped his tears and looked at Sora with a smirk. Doxcrum was genuinely shocked and confused by this, even more so when Sora's heart started glowing.

"Sorry old man, but I'm too stubborn to give up." Sora then punched Doxcrum and for once not only did it land but it actually made Doxcrum grunt in pain. Sora wanted to cheer knowing he finally found something that hurt Doxcrum but right now he needed to run. Sora ran over to the other room where the other princesses were being kept.

"Augh! Ye wee besom! I'll rip ye to pieces!" Doxcrum stretched his arm out to grab Sora but suddenly stopped and started acting like something was talking to him.

"What? I'm kinda in th' middle o' something! Hauld yer horses- what?! ye serious? but we... Ugh! braw! hope ye ken what yer doing." Doxcrum then widened his arms and several keyblades manifested around him. Doxcrum then held out his hand and Wayward Wind Keyblade came forward and placed itself in his hand. Once Docrum had it all the other Keyblade disappeared, he then raised the keyblade like it was a throwing spear and aimed it right at Sora who was so close to Kairi's dark Crystal.

Thankfully, Sora managed to reach Kairi's dark crystal but now that he was here, he wasn't even sure of what he should do. He just knew that without her the Dark Army's plans wouldn't work and he would get her back after freeing her, so it was a win-win. Sora had this in mind because he forgot about Maleficent telling him that they already harvested the Fragments of Light. Regardless, that didn't deny the fact that Sora still didn't know how to get her out. Though, Sora's heart was still glowing with the golden aura so he thought he could somehow use the power to wake Kairi and the other princesses up so he could get all his friends and get out of here. However, before Sora could do anything suddenly the Wayward Wind keyblade stabbed Sora in the chest. The force from the Keyblade ended up pushing Sora closer to Kairi and unfortunately made her stabbed by the keyblade as well.

"Whoops! that wasn't supposed to happen. This is definitely comin' back to bite us." Sora grunted in pain as his body started to glitch out of existence and so did Kairi's. Though the good news was that her dark crystal started breaking because of it. Once her crystal shattered Sora caught her and held her in his arms as he collapsed to the ground with his body and Kairi's both glitching.

"Ugh! Kairi get up! Augh! Please we have to get out of here!" Kairi remained unresponsive while she continued to glitch out of existence. Sora was barely holding on, but then he noticed his body was starting to stabilize as the light in his heart glowed brighter.

That annoying power does have its perks.

"Wha- what do you mean?"

That power of heart those old geezers gave you. It works especially well since you're such an annoyingly sweet brat.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

Shut up and listen, the power is protecting your heart and body, but your friend will continue to fade until she becomes an extremely dangerous Heartless.

"... How do I save her?"

Use your power on her instead, it will drain your chances of recovering but it will save her.

"What about the others?"

Forget about them, nothing can save them all now. Sora looked at the other Princesses of Heart, he only knew Jasmin and Alice; he had no idea about the others. But just because they were strangers didn't mean he was just going to keep them here to rot. And the same went for everyone else who came here with him, they all risked their lives to save him. He didn't know how or if he even could, but Sora did know that he wanted to save everyone here with all his heart. Suddenly his Heart started glowing brighter than ever before and from it several tendrils of light sprouted out. One touched Kairi and her body started stabilizing and six others touched the hearts of the other princess, slowly destroying the dark crystals they were trapped in. Then even more tendrils of pure golden light manifested and reached out to all of Sora's friends. Donald, Goofy, Merlin, Fairy Godmother, Sid, Yuffie, Aerith, Cloud, Leon, Tarzan, Aladdin, Jack Skellington, Ariel, Peter Pan, and Spiderman soon started recovering from their injuries and were getting massive boosts in power.

... Well, I'll be damned, you're so full of surprises little rook, but remember what I said. Everything has a price. Sora could feel himself weakening and everything around him fading from vision. Sora then looked at his hands and saw them turning into light particles that slowly faded away as his body slowly disappeared. Sora should have been scared at the idea of him dying but instead he smiled that he got to use his power to save everyone just like he wanted to. To make it all even better, Kairi started waking up and so did the other princesses as they were breaking out of their dark crystal prisons.

"Welp, jobby juist skelp th' fan!" However, the gateway was finally finished and transformed into a portal of magical light. Doxcrum's copy then quickly returned to him and so did the Seven Fragments of Light.

"Well, I got what I wanted so I'm out. See ye losers!" Doxcrum then opened a void as everyone around him slowly got up thanks to Sora's magic. Kairi was now fully awake and saw Sora holding her in his arms. She wasn't aware he was slowly disappearing, so she just smiled warmly at him.

"My knight in shining armor, you did it. You saved us all."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I made you wait so long."

"Don't be, I knew you'd show up eventually. That's what I love about you Sora, no matter how long it takes you always keep running toward your goal." As the other princesses started waking up Merlin, Fairy Godmother, Donald, and Goofy quickly started helping them. Soon everyone else started trying to help. Aladdin ran up to Jasmin, hugging and kissing her out of joy now knowing she was safe. The other princesses were confused but not Cinderella once she saw Fairy Godmother. Fairy Godmother then told the other princesses that they were here to get them all home, allowing the confused princesses to calm down from all the confusion. With their time running out and the princesses finally free everyone was slowly getting ready to leave Hollow Bastion. Kairi noticed this and got up with a smile on her face knowing not only was she and everyone else free, but she was with Sora again. Kairi then grabbed Sora's hand to help him up.

"Come on Sora, thanks to you we can get out of here!" However, Sora's hand fell out of Kairi's grip making her look back at him in confusion. Kairi then covered her mouth in shock as she saw bits of Sora turning into sparks of light and flying away until they faded into nothing. Slowly but surely Sora was falling apart but despite that he kept smiling at Kairi.

"Sorry Kairi, I think you'll need to go back on your own, I... I won't be able to go with you." Once all the other princesses were free, everyone gathered around Sora as they all started to see the bad news.

"What's happening to him?"

"Is he dying?"

"No! Not Sora, no!"

"Someone help him! Master Merlin, can't you do something?"

"I cannot Lady Yuffie, he used the light directly from his heart to save us all, I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done to reverse the effects." Kairi, like many others, started crying as Sora continued to fade away. She then hugged him tightly and Sora weakly hugged her back with all the remaining strength he could muster.

"Sora! Please don't leave me!"

"I'm sorry Kairi... I guess you'll have to go on adventures without me."

"Sora you don't deserve this!"

"Neither did you, I'm glad I had a hand in helping you all. I don't regret a bit of it."

"Sora... I'll find a way to bring you back! I promise! Just like how you brought me back! I don't care how long it takes! I will bring you back!" Sora then smiled as a single tear left his right eye.

"I'll be waiting." Kairi then started crying harder as she hugged Sora even tighter than before, not wanting to let him go. Sora and Kairi continued hugging until Sora was completely gone, all that was left was his heart which slowly floated into the air and faded away as well.

"Well, isn't that unfortunate, but I suppose a win is a win." Everyone then turned to see Riku in his dark suit walking toward them with an entourage of at least twenty Keyblade Wielders of Darkness.

"Riku?"

"Not quite my dear, but I guess you could say he's in safe hands. So frankly I would be more worried about yourself. I find it quite interesting that you're awake despite the fact that we drained your hearts to get the Fragments of Light. But it seems a new form of light has made you all whole again, interesting. Perhaps there's some value in keeping you here." Riku then snapped his fingers and all the Keyblade Wielders of Darkness started running forward. Cloud, Peter Pan, Tarzan, Spiderman, Leon, and Sid all ran to the front of the group to fight them off. The plan was to keep them back while the others got the princesses out but soon their bodies started glitching as a result of the Gummi Ship's magic dwindling.

"Ugh! We can't fight! We have to retreat!"

"Come on everyone! Follow us to the Gummi ship!" Merlin, Fairy Godmother and the Traverse Town group were escorting the Princesses out of the room and everyone else followed. Donald and Goofy were about to follow but they stopped when they saw Kairi. She was still sitting there looking at where Sora once was, wishing he would come back. Then Donald and Goofy helped her up and tried leading her out.

"Please... I want to be with him a little longer."

"I'm sorry Kairi, but he did it so that you could wake up again."

"It's not fair, we just got back together. Why does he have to lose everything just so I could come back?"

"Sora would do it again if he could, he never stopped talking about you and Riku. You were both worth it to him."

"I never got to even share the paopu fruit with him, like I always wanted too." Kairi then stood up and looked back at Riku who was smirking at her as his Keyblade Wielders of Darkness were getting closer.

"... I'll come back and save you." Kairi then looked back to where Sora was before he disappeared. Her eyes shed one more tear before she wiped it away and deeply breathed in and out with determination.

"Both of you. I promise." Kairi then nodded to show she was ready to go. Goofy and Donald then escorted Kairi as they followed everyone else out of Hollow Bastion. All the While the Keyblade Wielders of Darkness followed them, slowly getting closer.

***

Once everyone was out of the room a dark tendril shot out from the ground and into the ceiling. Soon it started pulling down Sora's heart. Once Sora's heart was low enough a shadow with four goat horns and crimson red glowing eyes manifested on the ground. It looked at Sora's heart and started laughing with sinister joy.

Everything has a price, my adorable Rook. Everything. Soon Sora's heart was slowly being consumed by the most powerful and concentrated form of the darkness.

Part 12

Part 10

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