Kingdom Hearts III: The Revival (Working Title)

Soushirei · Mar 21, 2007

Thanks, Gharanth. Always nice to have you comment on my work. And thanks for appreciating my Riku.

Well, not really mine, but you know what I mean. I tried to picture what he might've been like two years later, and thankfully you agree.

Chapter Ten is on its way, I can almost guarantee it'll be out by Friday, unless something horrible tomorrow hapens--like I lose all ability to write.

Thanks everyone for the continued support! My hiatus begins right after Chapter Ten is posted so this fic will get rather silent on the forums for a while.

Shanny-Boo · Mar 21, 2007

â€œWell thatâ€™s a damn shame!â€ Olette pouted in disappointment.

Sora and Kairi both lifted their heads up at Olette, bewildered by her comment.

â€œOlette!â€ Hayner and Pence both yelled.
Click to expand...

XDDD Lmfao, I think that's hilarious. Olette's a bad girl. She needs to wash out her mouth.

Again, love this chappie, and can't wait for chapter ten! :3 Especially since it's LONG.

DarknessKingdom · Mar 22, 2007

Cloud and Riku's part of the journey seems quite interesting and particularly like the comic relief scene in Twilight Town.

'Over here,' ...does it have something to do with Namine.

Soushirei · Mar 28, 2007

This... is actually ridiculous. Take a break if you can't read this all in one sitting. I swear to god it was time-consuming enough to proof-read this, and I had to do it in sections.

And now with the new forum layout, this will just completely destroy the size of your scrollbar.

But as promised, this is the *final* chapter that I will be posting here on the forums. I will be going on my hiatus from here until I finish the fic, as both FM+ and creating the outline for the second half will be the next few tasks I have in mind for myself. Perhaps I shall revise my original ideas with some that may come up after I play through FM+.

Thank you all so much for continually supporting my fic so far. It's meant a lot to me and I'm glad many of you have enjoyed everything up until now. A particular mention goes out to draik88 for PM'ing me with concerns as to why Chapter 10 wasn't up when I said it will. Thank you so much for your concern! It made me feel all fuzzy inside. :3

And here is your answer, draik88! XD I hope you and everyone else enjoys this conclusion to 'Act One'/First Arc of Kingdom Hearts III: The Revival (A Working Title)!

And.... go!

-- Chapter Ten --

It was as if time had fast-forwarded as everything quickly came back to the pure-hearted Princess. The feel of the wind on her face, the rustling of the leaves, the chirping of the birds, the smell of warped tree bark, the breath of the soil, all of it came back to Kairi in the blink of an eye.

“Kairi? Are you okay?” Sora looked down at her worriedly.

Kairi tilted her head upward, glancing at Sora’s outstretched hand for a moment before accepting his gesture to help her up. She had a look of confusion on her face, as if she had forgotten who she was.

“What’s wrong?” Sora asked.

“I heard it,” Kairi answered. “A voice.”

“The voices?”

Kairi nodded. “I think so.”

“Do you know where the Orb is?” Sora asked again.

Kairi nodded as she turned her head to the north, eyeing a particular tree that stood significantly further away from any of the others within a certain radius. Kairi didn’t have to voice any confirmation about the tree she was specifying after Sora turned to face the north. It definitely stood out among the rest now that Sora thought about it. He couldn’t imagine how Kairi must’ve been feeling about the atmosphere that began to radiate around them, as he himself already started to feel his skin shiver with an eerie sensation—and he didn’t even possess this extra sense that only Kairi among the group seemed to possess.

“That one?” Sora asked timidly.

Kairi nodded slowly, seeming unwilling to speak.

It was a rather stupid question to ask, Sora thought.

The two Destiny Islands travelers assessed the particular tree of interest with suspicious glares and steady steps as they neared the base of the trunk. Sora didn’t know what to expect when Kairi showed such mystification in her eyes. In the past, such nuances caused her to blacken out—which of course would’ve been completely terrible if it had happened again now—but at the same time, Sora understood that whenever Kairi took on such a disposition, it was no mistake that she was on to something that was very real, and most likely important to the matters at hand. It was a disappointment for the Key Bearer to always have to constantly sit on the sidelines, watching Kairi delve deeper into a mental state he couldn’t even begin to fathom, and resist the urge to stop her; it was something only she could do, after all.

Kairi placed a hand on the bark of the tree, her eyes seeming to look through its exterior. The voices began to speak again, although far less coherent than the first time they spoke to her. At first it sounded like a group of children giggling, exchanging words which to Kairi held no personal significance, almost as if they were talking amongst themselves. Kairi growled inwardly at the idea of being ignored before turning her attention back to the tree. Well fine, she thought. If the trees would give her no assistance, she wasn’t going to ask for any.

Hehe, don’t be like that.

Kairi perked her head behind and above her, her head movements sharp and abrupt like a robin. “Sora, did you hear that?”

Sora angled his head away from her, feeling both embarrassed and jealous. “No.”

Kairi gave Sora’s reaction no thought as she turned her attention back to the branches of the trees around her where she first heard the voices.

“Well are you going to help me or not!” Kairi yelled.

Can you guess what’s special about that tree before you?

Great, it wanted her to guess, Kairi thought. It was bad enough that she found the entire random-voices phenomena completely spooky, but now those same voices wanted her to guess what was so important about the tree she was touching. It also didn’t help that Sora couldn’t hear them either; she had to bear the entire ordeal by herself.

I can connect two worlds but also separate them and while my appearance is limitless, my function is always the same. My body blocks some people while others pass through me with ease; finding the key that lies inside the secret is the answer. What am I?

Kairi grumbled. She had no time for this. Her lack of patience urged her to curse aimlessly about the forest in hopes of getting the unknown voices to just give her the answer she was looking for, but the young Princess knew better. Unless she tackled this hurdle, she would not find the satisfaction of braving her own ordeals—not to mention she was quite certain that those annoying childish voices would not comply with her demands even if she did try to force it out of them.

“Kairi?” Sora asked, feeling somewhat left out. He didn’t particularly enjoy being blind-sided from the entire situation, especially while being physically present in the middle of it.

“Mmm?” Kairi’s serious expression immediately faded as she turned her attention Sora, her face soft and pleasant. The sound of his voice had never been any more soothing to her ears given the amount of stress she was currently under. Of course, he wouldn’t have known that, she thought to herself.

“What’s going on? Have you figured out anything?”

Kairi nodded slowly. “Well… sort of.”

Sora crossed his arms, tapping his foot. “Sort of?” The young protagonist raised an eyebrow at the young girl.

“I’m not quite sure what this tree is supposed to be… yet,” Kairi trailed off. Stupid voices, she added.

Sora laughed. “Maybe it’s like Halloween Town! Have you tried opening it? Oh wait, you’re skeptical about those kinds of things, you know, creativity.”

Kairi snarled at the brunette. “That’s not funny, Sora.”

“It’s a joke, Kairi,” Sora chuckled, waving a hand.

Kairi pouted; Sora sure had ways of making things better, she thought as she rolled her eyes.

It only took a moment before Kairi quickly took back that comment.

“Wait, what did you say?” Kairi asked.

“I’m sorry! Okay?” Sora cowered as he took a step back.

“No really, what about Halloween Town?” Kairi repeated hastily. The connection was at the tip of her brain, but she couldn’t quite find the association to remind herself of it.

Sora scratched the back of his head, slightly unsure if complying was the best choice to make. “Well remember how that Christmas tree picture on the trunk turned out to be a door? I was just making a joke about—”

“That’s it!” Kairi interrupted.

“…Huh?” Sora blinked.

“It’s a door!” the young girl exclaimed.

“What is?”

“The tree! Sora, you’re brilliant!”

Sora’s brow furrowed as he pouted indignantly. “Now that’s not nice, Kairi. I already said I’m sorry.”

“No no, the tree is actually a door!” Kairi repeated.

Sora glared resentfully at the Princess of Heart. “How dare you!”

Pure-hearted my foot, Sora thought. Evidently there was some misunderstanding when they crowned Kairi one of the princesses.

“Okay! I’ll explain! I’ve been hearing those voices for a while now, and they wouldn’t tell me what was so important about this tree so instead gave me this riddle and…” Kairi trailed on. Her speech was rather rushed, afraid that Sora would do something spontaneous without her being able to fully explain herself.

“That’s it,” Sora uncrossed his arms, walking toward Kairi. “Come here, Kairi.”

“You think I’m making this up?!” Kairi flailed her arms, as if to repel Sora’s advance.

Kairi’s flustered reaction somehow pleased Sora’s amusement as he began to quicken his pace, this time however, stretching out his arms as if to denote some mischievous intention once he grabbed hold of her. But the young protagonist’s mind-game would be abruptly interrupted as the Kingdom Key had once again summoned itself in Sora’s grasp without his permission. The Key Bearer’s expression changed to one of confusion and wonder as he paused in his tracks, scanning the weapon in his hand as if he had never seen it before.

Kairi paused for a moment, quickly trying to evaluate whether or not Sora was pulling another prank on her. Eventually Kairi would find that that particular detail wasn’t important.

“Of course!” Kairi exclaimed.

“…Huh?” said Sora for the second time.

“Finding the key that lies inside the secret is the answer!” Kairi recited triumphantly.

“Kairi, you’re not making any sense,” Sora grumbled.

“The tree is a door, and your Keyblade is going to open it,” Kairi explained. “It’s so simple, you’ve done this millions of times before!”

Sora relaxed his expression. “That’s it?”

“Point your Keyblade at the tree,” Kairi nagged, ignoring Sora’s inquiries. She couldn’t wait to affirm her conclusions, something she had done completely on her own. Well, she did owe Sora some credit for accidentally supplying her some clues along the way, but she could proudly announce the majority of the solution as hers alone. Sure, it wasn’t the biggest accomplishment—it was only a mediocre puzzle that bore no significance on any important level, but she certainly felt she was starting somewhere. Besides, it was nice to do something productive instead of being helplessly captured for a change.

Sora sighed as he lifted his Keyblade, pointing the tip of the weapon out in front of him; he supposed there wasn’t anything wrong with trying, even if he was completely confused from being left out of the loop in terms of what exactly has been going on for the past several minutes, but he remembered that Kairi had respectfully requested of him to trust her judgments on certain things and this definitely was one that fell under her area of expertise. Sora decided he wouldn’t argue with the young Princess’ deductions on the matter any further.

A few moments passed with seemingly no reaction between the Keyblade and the tree in question, and Sora resisted the urge to make a comment on the matter. Kairi’s confidence in her ‘answer to the riddle’ started to dwindle as she wondered if it was useless to continue waiting or if the process simply took a while before starting.

Kairi repeated the last phrase of the riddle silently in her head after a few minutes passed without success, finally deciding that perhaps there was some minor detail she was missing. She was certain about two things: the tree was a door and that the Keyblade was going to open it. She knew the meaning behind the riddle but the answer to how it worked remained a mystery. It was obvious that Sora’s usual way of utilizing his Keyblade wasn’t working out this time.

“Finding the key that lies inside the secret…” Kairi muttered to herself.

“What now, Kairi?” Sora slowly dropped the Kingdom Key to his side, his arm starting to ache from holding it up.

Kairi’s eyes glimmered for a moment. “Sora, can you try putting it in the tree?”

“The tree? But there’s no…” Sora trailed off.

“Please?”

Sora didn’t argue back, nodding in agreement before stepping forward to close the distance between him and the tree. He tried to examine the tree for any unexpected slits that might’ve resembled what a key lock looked like, but the attempt was futile. The Key Bearer shrugged off the rest of the doubt he had about the idea and thrust his blade forward without hesitation.

Sora felt the Kingdom Key drive forward for a moment before feeling it fasten itself into some sort of device, hearing a click in response. Sora blinked for a moment before realizing that the Keyblade was completely submerged in the tree as half of the blade’s length disappeared into a seemingly invisible hole in the tree. Well, there’s something you don’t see every day, Sora thought.

Kairi breathed a sigh of relief. Things were looking up; they were on to something.

Sora wasn’t quite sure what to do next before he thought of the most natural thing to do after a key fastens itself in a lock; Sora twisted his arm in a clockwise matter, pulling the Keyblade along its trajectory.

A warped sound echoed from the tree as part of the bark started to change in appearance. A part of the wooden surface of the trunk slowly started to sink inward as it began to take on a new texture. It was like looking through a liquid mirror, although both Sora and Kairi could see the outlines of something that lay beyond the reflective portal that appeared before them. After a few silent moments spent in awe at the bewildering sight before them, Sora slowly withdrew his Keyblade from the tree, watching as the portal rippled in response from the retracting object.

Sora and Kairi tilted their heads in fascination.

“Well… that’s umm,” Sora mouthed.

Kairi breathed another sigh of relief. “Finally.”

Sora turned his head to glance at Kairi, pointing a finger at the portal. “So… do we walk through this?”

Kairi nodded. “I think so.”

And that they did, Sora’s hand clutching tightly with Kairi’s as they took their first step through the portal, slowly at first as neither of them had ever experienced the feeling of walking through an aquatic passageway before—or at least, for a moment it felt like walking through water. Both had closed their eyes as they timidly advanced, modestly stepping one foot in front of the other as they made their way through the portal. It was at least a good three to four steps before the sopping feeling on their skin subsided, leaving them with a familiar breeze of dry air as it ruffled through their hair.

Sora peeked one eye open to examine his surroundings to make sure his senses weren’t playing tricks on him. When nothing out of the ordinary seemed to catch the young Key Bearer’s eye, he relaxed his body and his eyes as he turned to check on Kairi who still had her hand tightly gripped to his.

“Well that was certainly something, huh?” Sora chuckled.

Kairi remained silent, seeming to ignore Sora’s comment as her eyes examined the environment around them.

“Kairi?”

“Sora, doesn’t this… seem little bit odd to you?” Kairi said as she pointed her finger around their surroundings.

Sora took a brief glance at the area around them. The scent was definitely reminiscent of the Woods they had just come from, but the smell of the bark lingered with age. The geography of the trees looked incredibly familiar as well, not to mention how the forest clearing that lay to the north immediately struck Sora with a wave of nostalgia.

There was something really strange going on.

“This…” Kairi started.

“… looks exactly like the Woods we just came from,” Sora finished.

After a few more observations of the landmarks that lay around the pair, it was an unmistakable fact that they were in the same Woods that they were in just moments before. However, the answer to the question as to how they got there remained a mystery, leaving the Key Bearer and the young Princess of Heart exchanging looks of puzzlement as they stood bemused at the sights before them.

Sora shook off the thought. “Can you sense the Orb?”

Kairi blinked. She had completely forgotten to keep track of it as they traveled through the portal. Initially, she was afraid she had lost the aura of the Orb and wouldn’t be able to track it down again, but to her surprise, it came back almost instantly and this time, the strength of the Orb’s aura had risen significantly.

“It’s coming from Town,” Kairi answered.

“Alright, let’s go,” Sora nodded before he and Kairi began a light sprint out of the Woods toward Town.

The streets of the Town of Twilight were usually filled with its bustling inhabitants, having dinner outings with their family, finishing up some last minute grocery shopping; many of the Town’s regular activities that Sora and Kairi expected to find were completely absent, right down to the presence of any of the Town’s population. It was also interesting to note that the architecture of the Town’s buildings was completely stripped of anything Sora and Kairi remembered of them. Instead of the finely molded brick and concrete that usually coloured the walls of the houses and shops, old, worn-out stone and rubble piled on top of each other in a deplorable fashion held up the walls of each building, causing some to slant and others to be on the brink of destruction when the next windstorm hit.

“This is… Twilight Town?” Sora asked aloud as mind drowned in confusion.

“I don’t know…” Kairi shook her head apprehensively.

There was a striking familiarity that lingered around the town that convinced Sora and Kairi that they were still in Twilight Town despite the visual phenomenon that beckoned their senses to think otherwise. The layout of the town was incredibly different as well: no sign of streetcars, no shops or distinguishing store signs or billboards. Only the feeling of dÃ©jÃ vu and the familiarity of the town’s infrastructure remained.

However, the truth behind what their eyes were showing them wasn’t the most important thing at the moment.

“Kairi, the Orb?” Sora asked again.

Kairi nodded. “It’s close,” she spoke as she closed her eyes, tracking the Orb’s aura. It seemed to be moving as its presence started to become stronger as time passed, as if it was nearing their location. Kairi pondered how such a thing was possible without any assisting intervention.

Kairi was about to mention the Orb’s strange movement to Sora until she felt Sora’s protective arm push her behind him, her nose nuzzling the inside of his shoulder blade briefly from the close contact.

“Sora?” Kairi spoke softly, perplexed at his sudden action.

“Don’t move,” Sora stated sternly.

Kairi peered over the taller boy’s shoulder momentarily to steal a glance at what had gotten Sora all worked up. The look of curiosity in Kairi’s eyes soon changed to anger and resentment after her eyes lay on the crimson-cloaked figure that stood several feet away from them. He held a bright coloured Orb in his hand, holding it up in front of him.

“General Meta,” Sora growled indelicately.

“Oh, you remembered my name!” the cloaked soldier exclaimed.

“I have very little difficulty remembering the names of scumbags,” Sora added.

“Now you see, that’s not very nice,” Meta shrugged. “And here I was taking the time to find the Orb for you.”

“I found the Orb, thank you very much,” Kairi scoffed as she walked out from behind Sora. Sora showed some degree of surprise to Kairi’s sudden movement out of his safe-zone.

“Right, my apologies,” Meta bowed slightly.

It was obvious now that the appearance of the mysterious General at the Ice Temple definitely wasn’t any coincidence. There was some plan being concocted against them, but Sora and Kairi weren’t quite sure what it was yet. Most of the confusion came from the idea that despite the diligence that General Meta seemed to show in making an effort to intervene in their journey, he made no large effort to follow through in accomplishing what he seemed to want to protect.

“Still want the Orb?” Meta questioned.

“And what makes you think we’ll believe you’ll just give us the Orb?” Sora glared at the taller warrior, crossing his arms defiantly.

Meta sighed, slouching his position. “Did you want to fight me for it? I can always knock you out again if you really need me to.”

Sora gritted his teeth angrily, resisting speaking out. While the Key Bearer tried to uphold his pride as a warrior, not to mention he felt he needed to be tough for Kairi—he was positively sure that he was no stronger than he was the first time he encountered Meta, and that was a problem. He also didn’t want to believe the evil General meant what he said when he said he’d hand over the Orb; he definitely seemed to fit the character of someone who had an ulterior motive up his sleeve.

“What do you want!” Sora yelled. He wasn’t in the mood for games.

“You’re really confused, aren’t you?” Meta sighed. “It’s simple. I have absolutely no need for this Orb, but you obviously do.”

Sora summoned his Kingdom Key in his right hand, unflinching.

“Think about it, Key Bearer. If I really wanted the Orbs, would I have let you get your hands on that first one back at the Ice Temple?” Meta questioned.

Sora looked down for a moment, losing himself in thought. It was a good question, actually. Riku and Sora both proved powerless to stop Meta’s advances toward them when they tried to protect their possession over the Orb. According to Kairi, Meta had let her go with the Orb when it was just the two of them left—something neither Riku nor Sora could understand when they found out.

“Because I know that rodent King of Disney likes to run his mouth, I’m sure you both are aware who my superior is,” Meta noted. “That being said, my presence here confirms that my Master knows exactly what you’re up to. These Orbs have only so many functions, you know.”

“So Nemas knows we’re coming for him,” Sora said.

“Precisely,” Meta held his arm out, Orb in hand. “And this is his reply.”
Sora blinked, confused.

“He’s issuing you a challenge; we all are,” Meta explained. “This also pertains to your friends in that Radiant Garden Restoration Committee group as well. You’re all welcome.”

Sora scoffed, feeling somewhat insulted. “Your superior sure sounds like a piece of work.”

“I’ll let you decide that for yourself when you arrive,” Meta lifted the Orb telekinetically with his fingers, gesturing it forward toward the Destiny Island pair.

The Orb floated idly a few inches away from Sora as the young protagonist continued to glare suspiciously at the powerful General.

“I’m under orders here,” Meta added. “If it’ll help ease your perspective, if it were up to me I would’ve killed you two by now.”

“No doubt,” Sora replied dryly. Kairi kept her stare on the glowing Orb before them.

The crimson-cloaked General turned his back to the pair before starting up a dark portal—a patented sight Sora often saw the late Organization XIII members do went making their departures. However, there was something more refined about Meta’s portal as he entered it, as if the look of it in itself demonstrated his superior power in comparison to the deceased Nobodies.

When the General left the scene, Kairi began to approach the Orb before feeling her arm being pulled back by a very frustrated Sora.

“Don’t touch it!” Sora exclaimed. “It could be tampered.”

Kairi shook her head, disappointed. “No, this is the one I’ve been sensing since we got to Twilight Town.”

“It’s not… fake?” Sora asked, hoping for some rebuttal.

Kairi shook her head again. “Let’s just take it, Sora.”

Sora paused for a moment before finally kicking the ground with his foot, infuriated. He knew there was something very wrong with the situation that had just transpired, but he had no means to determine what it was. The idea that he was being outsmarted somehow without having the ability to fight back proved to upset the Key Bearer beyond his limits. The most vexing part of the ordeal was that he also knew that they had no choice but to accept things as they were if Kairi was correct in saying the Orb was authentic.

It was like being punched repeatedly in the face while being tied to a chair without any way to retaliate. Sora felt his pride had been hurt.

“Sora?” Kairi inquired softly.

“Hmm?” the young protagonist didn’t turn his head.

“Thanks for your concern earlier,” Kairi said as she poked his back gently. “For trying to protect me from Meta.”

Sora felt his face flush, not from her words but from the gentle prodding he felt on his back. “D-Don’t mention it, Kairi.”

The truth was that Kairi was more bothered by it than thankful. While she felt she owed Sora a gesture of thanks for his actions, she also resented herself for not being able to do or say much in the presence of Meta. Unlike the first time when she felt an incredible amount of energy fill her when she had gathered her resolve, this time was completely different. She felt useless and weak, feeling like she didn’t belong in the conversation when Sora and Meta were butting heads. She came to realize that there was some instability in her desire to change, as she started to feel that a part of her was getting used to being the damsel in distress. That part of her showed today, despite her efforts to locate the Orb by herself. Such a realization caused much distress in the young Princess of Heart as she picked up her feet and brushed past Sora toward the Orb.

“Let’s just get this thing and get out of here,” Kairi’s tone seemed annoyed.

Sora nodded quietly as he de-summoned his Kingdom Key.

Kairi bent down to take the Orb into her hands, placing her palms on either side. Unlike the icy blue colour that shined brightly within the first Orb they found, this one was glowing with a particularly warm haze of red and orange; something that Kairi felt was a good representation of the skylights of Twilight Town.

And then it hit her again, stronger this time. The voices that had flooded her ears had returned, whispering words that meant absolutely nothing to her, although she felt she knew them so well. Events and memories seemed to flare out of the Orb and into her mind as she felt her eyes grow heavy from the images. They were unrecognizable yet, Kairi felt that she had seen them somewhere before. The intensity increased further before Kairi felt her legs turn to mush as she fell to one knee, losing her grip on the Orb.

“Kairi? Kairi!” Sora rushed down to her side as he heard her breathing grow hoarse.

“I-I’m… s-sorry…” Kairi panted as her fingers started to tremble, her chest heaving before her eyes rolled back into their sockets.

“Damn it,” Sora cursed aimlessly as he punched the ground. Kairi had told him about what happened the first time she came in contact with the Orb, but Sora had not prepared himself mentally for it. Seeing Kairi tremble the way she did before passing out had almost sent him over the edge, but thankfully the Key Bearer had managed to displace most of that anxiety aside as he turned toward the Orb.

The glow from the Orb’s interior seemed to beckon Sora closer as the Key Bearer’s hands inched toward the Orb’s glassy exterior.

Sora, wait!

He took it into his hands, and gazed obsessively into it. What seemed to be a lifetime of information soon found its place deep within the crevices of Sora’s conscience as the young protagonist slowly found himself sinking deeper and deeper into a rich imagery pool along with cascades of words flooding his ears until his body couldn’t take the overflow. The surge of visions kept coming, even after the young Key Bearer had already stopped seeing and listening to the images and words before him, succumbing to the weight that claimed his eyelids as they slowly caped over his eyes.

* * *

It would have came as no surprise to anyone if Sora and Kairi had once again found themselves unconscious for yet another month, leaving the mission on another standstill and forcing the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee into another prolonged hiatus. However, fortune smiled upon the situation as the expected duration was surprisingly short. Sora and Kairi’s slumbering period had lasted only an evening, which they spent under two pairs of warm bed covers under the roof of Merlin’s Study.

It was Hayner and Olette who were the first to find them, according to the explanation Sora and Kairi had received from Yuffie and Leon when the pair inquired about the series of events preceding their arrival at Merlin’s safe house. As it was, Hayner and Olette were completing errands around Twilight Town when they noticed a brief—but blinding—flash of light coming from the peak of Sunset Hill. Being the mystery enthusiasts that they were, their priority had immediately become discovering what lie in wait for them when they quickly made their way over to the Hill. The sight of Sora and Kairi sprawled sluggishly across the dirt floor, unconscious, wasn’t entirely the best image they pictured when they pondered what sort of wonder came from the bright flash of light, but the pair of Twilight Towners, along with Pence who had later joined to assist, carefully transported the fallen pair back to their Usual Spot, agreeing that it was probably best to keep them somewhere safe before nightfall.

It wasn’t long after that when Leon and Yuffie made their appearance to the Town of Twilight to pick up their two comrades. Of course, there was some confusion and paranoia that made the transfer somewhat difficult as Hayner and Olette remained very protective about their two friends and paranoid about the two mysterious strangers who were there to ‘pick them up’. One couldn’t blame either of the two teenagers for their concern—the last time someone came into their Usual Spot unannounced, Kairi ended up disappearing and Sora became really upset when he found out.

Unfortunately, because time was the greatest issue (finding Nemas became more and more important as days progressed), the two ambassadors of the Radiant Garden Committee had very little patience continuing diplomatically on the matter, and regretfully resulted in using force to collect their two comrades, much to the dismay of the Twilight Town protectors.

“You weren’t rough on them were you?” Sora’s tone sounded somewhat threatening.

“Well that depends on what you define as ‘rough’,” Yuffie winked teasingly.

“Why do I not feel inclined to ask,” Sora rolled his eyes.

Sora’s eye rolling in response to Yuffie’s taunting was one of the many reactions among the rest of the Radiant Garden Committee members present in the common room of Merlin’s Study as they watched Yuffie take off on another one of her ‘games’.

The morning sun had nearly made its way toward the top of the sky, signaling the midday’s approach as the Radiant Garden Committee’s members—except for Cloud and Tifa—gathered together for their final meeting.

This was it. After about a month of non-stop exploration, research and perseverance, the first crucial part of the mission had come to an end. Both orbs had been located, and the next part of the plan was about to be placed into action. Many thoughts ran through the minds of the group as they assembled around the center of the common room. Some like the irritable and impatient Cid Highwind were ecstatic at the quick pace at which they were completing their mission. The definition of ‘quick’ of course, if you excluded the one-month hiatus due to Sora and Kairi’s unexpected blackouts, really meant a grand total of only about a week of orb hunting; a world record, really, considering the stakes of their mission and the impact the outcome would have on the multiverse’s future. For others like Leon and Yuffie, this hasty accomplishment was utterly suspicious; success had come to easily. However, this wasn’t an opinion that could easily be discussed when one considered the stress and hardship that Sora, Riku and Kairi had endured. The fact that Leon and Yuffie didn’t even take part in either of the orb hunts made it even harder to justify.

The group recalled Glenn’s explanation of a certain artifact by the name of ‘Frozen Flame’, which was supposed to be the key to arriving at their final destination, the End of the World. Leon was the first to inquire about this matter as he handed the final orb to Glenn, who had finally made his appearance in the common room some few minutes after the rest of the congregation arrived.

“Sora, Kairi,” Glenn smiled warmly at the pair. “You both have done well.”

Sora and Kairi nodded appreciatively at Glenn in response.

“So what’s next?” Sora looked on as Glenn examined both orbs.

“Where is the closest cosmic gateway?” Glenn inquired, his tone cheery and resonant.

“Cosmic gateway?” Yuffie repeated.

“A place or an object that can used as a medium for world-travel,” Glenn explained. “In the past for Sora, these were usually doors, but they can be anything really.”

Leon and Yuffie exchanged suggestive glances at one another, remaining silent as they watched Glenn patiently look upon the group, his eyes showing expectation.

Kairi turned to face her colleagues, more particularly Leon and Yuffie. “Is there something like that here?”

Kairi was the first to notice the awkward silence, unsure if it was intentional or if someone among them was trying to hide some information.

Leon folded his arms, showing some signs of submission. “Just one.”

Sora slowly peered at Leon out of the corner of his eye, his expression hardening; there was something very strange about the last few exchanges between the group, but Sora wasn’t quite sure what it was. Glenn seemed more enthusiastic than his normal self—although that wasn’t something Sora would’ve liked to consider a ‘deviation from the norm’, and Leon on the other hand seemed more elusive and less receptive to Glenn’s input. Leon’s tone certainly didn’t seem like he was complying with the request at hand; in fact, it seemed more like a warning. Sora sure didn’t know what it was, but he certainly didn’t feel it was his place to start asking questions.

“Great, shall we head over there now then?” Glenn asked, motioning over toward the exit.

Leon simply nodded, albeit subtle and lacking enthusiasm as he watched Glenn take his leave, the two orb artifacts safely locked within his hands. Silence pervaded the room once more as the Radiant Garden Committee members starting becoming slightly on edge from the events that just transpired. Most would say it was contagious, something infectious that brewed after seeing Leon and Yuffie slowly getting worked up about the matter.

“Sora,” Leon called out.

Sora turned to face Leon; he had a feeling Leon would call upon him soon.

“What is it, Leon?” Sora inquired.

“Be careful,” Leon said, his eyes showing serious intent.

“What’s going on, Leon? You’ve been acting strange,” Sora crossed his arms.

“I’ve never trusted that Glenn character,” Leon explained.

Sora frowned slightly at Leon’s suspicion. To be perfectly honest, Sora thought Glenn was an incredible help with their mission, and very knowledgeable about many different things. He had provided them with a history of Nemas—something they were unable to uncover for themselves—and even went so far as to theorizing what Nemas’ next plans were. Of course there was some justification in doubting Glenn’s theory on Nemas’ intentions, as it was practically impossible for anyone to really know of the plans of a mad scientist. But after seeing that the Orbs that Glenn had described did actually exist—which one couldn’t know unless they tried looking for it—and knowing that Kairi would be the one to locate them, warranted a great deal of Sora’s trust in Glenn.

“But that’s why there is something wrong about all of this,” Leon insisted.

Glenn seemed to know too much about many things regarding what their group had to do and must do. While many could pass off Leon’s suspicion as insecurity for temporarily being bumped aside as team leader, Leon had enough respect as a levelheaded thinker to deter anyone from completely ignoring anything he had to say when it came to what bothered him.

It was not until Glenn inquired about the Radiant Garden cosmic gateway that he began to really question the integrity of the young Acadian’s character. There were many things about Radiant Garden that remained to be a secret even to some of the Restoration Committee’s members—including Cid and its newer members, Aerith, Cloud and Tifa. The world’s ‘cosmic gateway’ was one of them. In Sora’s day as the traveling Key Bearer, the main method of transportation to and from the world was by crossing through an inter-dimensional rift that existed a few kilometers north of the castle, near the base of the rocky terrain. However, Glenn had used the word ‘cosmic gateway’, a more specific form of world travel—that is, using a specific place or object as a medium instead of a rift. Radiant Garden was one of the few worlds left in existence that still possessed such a medium, and that knowledge was something only a few individuals throughout the world’s history would have known about. While the existence of object-oriented gateways in itself, was common knowledge, Glenn, an outsider—and definitely not a notable figure in the history of Radiant Garden—being aware of such a thing in Radiant Garden was highly unlikely.

“Well, he is a well-researched scientist, Leon,” Sora began. “And wasn’t Ansem a long-time resident of Radiant Garden? Surely Ansem might’ve exchanged information about this portal to Glenn during one of his visits.”

Sora didn’t wait for any response from Leon as he made his way toward the exit. Kairi followed close behind as she gave Leon and Yuffie a sympathetic smile, signaling the rest of the group to follow suit.

“Come on, Leon! We’re wasting time here! Let’s get this over with,” Sora chuckled as he called out to the Gunblade wielder who seemed more hesitant than usual.

Sora had decided that Leon might’ve gotten a little uptight about being a left in the shadows in terms of his contribution to the mission, as the older warrior admitted that during the time that Sora, Riku and Kairi were trying to find the Orbs, he and Yuffie were unsuccessful at finding any new information about the Reality Refraction Phenomenon or the ancient society that Glenn spoke about—or so Leon said with some hesitation when he was asked. Perhaps because of that, he was feeling a little inadequate and felt he needed to bring Glenn’s confidence into question to bring himself some reassurance.

Leon waited for Sora and Kairi to go out of hearing distance before speaking. “Yuffie.”

Yuffie hid a smug look behind her lips as she turned to face him. “Yes?”

“Escort Glenn and the others to the gateway,” Leon replied.

“What about you?” Yuffie asked.

“I’m going to see King Mickey.”

“You’re worried about Sora and Kairi?”

“There’s something I need to confirm,” Leon concluded before starting for the exit. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Roger that,” Yuffie playfully saluted to her partner before turning to leave.

“Oh, and Yuffie,” Leon called again.

“Mmm?”

“Take the long way to the gateway, if you don’t mind.”

“Not a problem.”

* * *

“Zack?” Riku inquired. “That’s the name of the Nobody who approached you at Halloween Town?”

Cloud nodded. “Zack was…” he paused. “Zack was a close friend.”

It was a warm afternoon on the outskirts of Midgar, and for many who came through the region, the Seventh Heaven bar became more and more like a sanctuary as travelers spotted it in the distance. Many came rushing into the establishment that morning, requesting drinks and small appetizers to appease their developing hunger as a result from the worsening weather outside.

“You’re going to have to tell me everything about what he told you,” Riku explained. “If your situation was anything like mine, you shouldn’t have a connection to any Nobody.”

Cloud nodded, although feeling slightly insecure about Riku’s discernment on Zack’s appearance.

“See for yourself,” said the cloaked stranger as he brought his hands to his head, pulling down the hood of his jacket.

And then, Cloud’s heart stopped.

No, it had to be impossible. Although it had been years since he had seen him last, it was a face that Cloud would never be able to forget. But even though he was sure that the man before him was none other than Zack, the SOLDIER who had met his untimely end those many years ago, Cloud could only stare on in disbelief. This couldn’t be him. It just wasn’t possible. Why was Zack affiliating himself with Organization XIII, or whoever it was now who was governing these black-cloaked Nobodies? Cloud had a difficult time seeing how this could have happened when he reflected on the type of individual he remembered the former SOLDIER to be.

“You seem to be doing well, Cloud,” Zack spoke. “It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken, hasn’t it?”

Cloud firmed his grip on his Buster Sword, digging his front foot deeper into the ground. “You can’t fool me, Nobody. Zack died a long time ago.”

“But not his memories, his thoughts, his ideas,” Zack tapped his temple. “It’s all still in here. Now tell me, does that make me real? Or do those not qualify me as a living person?”

Cloud narrowed his eyes. “You have no heart. That is how I know you’re not real.”

Zack sighed. “You’re right, Cloud.” The jet-black haired man took another step forward. “But between a person who doesn’t have a heart, and a person who doesn’t acknowledge what’s inside his heart, is there really a difference?”

“What’re you talking about?” Cloud snarled.

“A person whose heart isn’t true to who they really are, are the same as those who no longer have them,” Zack explained. “And that means, you, Cloud, aren’t any more real than I am. You are as dead to the world as I was the day I died.”

“Shut up! You monster!” Cloud yelled.

Zack’s expression was quaint and surreal. Although his words seemed to be those of persecution, his eyes glowed with a certain sympathy and regret for the man that stood before him. Zack looked on for a few moments before turning his back to Cloud, advancing away from the young swordsman with a look of disappointment.

“And where’re you going?” Cloud inquired, somewhat annoyed by the Nobody’s decision to suddenly flee the scene.

“Away, for now,” Zack replied. “The meeting I hoped we could have today turned out pointless.”

Not a moment longer after that final exchange, the mysterious Nobody, Zack, vanished into a dark oblivion, leaving a disturbed and now very frustrated Cloud Strife behind to ponder the event that had transpired.

Riku leaned against the wall in one of the rooms situated on the top floor of the Seventh Heaven bar, away from the bustling customers below them as he and Cloud carried on their conversation about the mystery behind this new appearance of Zack.

“There’s something that doesn’t quite fit with that encounter,” Riku noted. “Nobodies shouldn’t look exactly the same as their former selves. While their memories and their thoughts are the same as their original selves, physically they should look different. This Zack, on the other hand, seems to be exactly the same as the original.”

“So you’re saying he was the real thing?” Cloud asked.

“You tell me,” Riku answered.

Cloud looked down at the floor, feeling somewhat confused about the entire situation. No, it shouldn’t have been possible for Zack to be alive. Cloud was sure that he saw him die before his own eyes when they two of them were making their escape from Shinra on that tragic day.

“No,” Cloud spoke again. “He can’t be alive.”

“Then that means he’s something else,” Riku said. “Neither alive nor a true Nobody. I’d say he’s very similar to Aerith and Sephiroth in that respect.”

“What do you mean?”

“If Aerith was your light as Sephiroth is your darkness, what does that make Zack?”

“Wait,” Cloud interrupted. “You said I couldn’t have a Nobody.”

“A true Nobody,” Riku corrected. “That Zack is a part of you the very same way that Aerith is. You’ve managed to solve part of your problem since Sephiroth has no longer started appearing, but Aerith and now this Zack have entered the picture.” Riku crossed his arms, his eyes closed for a moment while speaking. “Until you understand what it is about Zack that has called him to you, you may not be able to progress any further.”

Cloud held his hands out in front of him, staring intently at them as if they were foreign to his senses. What is it about me, huh, Cloud thought to himself.

* * *

“Here we are,” Yuffie announced. “The interspatial resonance is the strongest here.”

Glenn glanced over at the two Orbs in each of his hands as they began to glow fervently in response, their brightness increasing and decreasing rhythmically like a heartbeat. Glenn nodded. “Yes, it seems this is the place.”

Sora, Kairi and Cid looked curiously about their surroundings as they tried to gain a better understanding of where they were after what seemed to be about an hour of walking. They were definitely on the far outskirts of Radiant Garden as the mystifying pastures that were once seen in abundance were nowhere to be seen. The sight before them was more reminiscent of the Radiant Garden that existed two years earlier—void of warmth and growth. Sora couldn’t help but feel a little agitated by the environment around him. There was a deep feeling from within him that made his inside churn, as if to warn him that they weren’t supposed to be there. At first, Sora justified his uneasiness with the notion that he would soon meet Nemas, the mastermind behind this entire ordeal. Hearing so much about him and his plans, but never having actually seen him in the flesh managed to stir quite a bit of anxiety within the young Key Bearer; somehow, he knew this wouldn’t be the same as it was when he had gone up against Xenahort’s Heartless and Xemnas. However, Sora would soon find out that he was not the only one feeling the same way as he his eyes caught a glance of Kairi’s hand, which she began to clench tightly at her side.

“Kairi, what’s wrong?” Sora asked.

“I don’t know,” Kairi replied. “I’m getting a headache…”

“Do you think—” Sora started.

“No, it’s not that,” Kairi smiled. “I’m not going to let it happen this time.”

Sora gave a weak smile back; he wanted to believe her, but her face was paling and her voice lacked resonance and strength. If she were to pass out again, it would’ve been a huge problem.

“Well, what’re we waiting for,” Cid crossed his arms impatiently. “We’ve been walking for ages now.”

Yuffie shook her head; Cid was so ignorant—well, not like he would’ve known anyway about why she had purposely taken the long way around.

“Your turn, Glenn,” Yuffie said. “You’re leading us from here.”

Glenn nodded. “Right, leave it to me.”

Yuffie nodded back before turning toward Sora, Kairi and Cid, instructing them to step back a few paces; it was common courtesy to give a person some space when they were about to perform something that required a period of total concentration.

Glenn slowly removed the two Orbs from his inner robe as he held them firmly in each of his palms. His breathing slowed as the sound of his breathing began to reverberate in a slow but deliberate crescendo around the area where the group stood. There was a certain eeriness about the ritual that Sora and the others witnessed before them as Glenn’s movements—which were once slow and precise—became quirky and unpredictable. It was like a tape that fast-forwarded then slowed interchangeably, along with the stifling short breaths that only seemed to grow louder and more intense as Glenn’s grip on the base of the Orbs tightened.

Then suddenly, Glenn’s arms launched upward as his two hands collided with one another, shattering the glass-like shells of the Orbs as the shards of glittering crystal faintly vanished while spiraling aimlessly toward the ground. This sudden action had taken the group off-guard as Kairi felt her heart skip a beat from the loud crashing sound of the Orbs as they collided. A fierce wind began to circle around the area as the four Radiant Garden Restoration Committee members shielded their eyes with their arms. Sora swallowed hard with apprehension as he continued to look on the ritual with declining interest. And while Cid seemed completely unfazed by the demonstration before him, looking more bored than anything else. Yuffie’s eyes were darting and alert, as if to keep track of Glenn’s every move.

After a few moments, the winds began to die down as Glenn’s posture relaxed itself slowly, his shoulders falling ever so gently at his sides before silence once again claimed the ground and sky around them. While faint at first, a gentle glow seemed to shimmer from the front of Glenn’s body, a sight that couldn’t be seen well from the vantage of Sora and the others. Although curious about what it was that was radiating such light, the spectacle they had witnessed earlier had paralyzed them from making any sudden movements despite their innate curiosity.

Luckily, it would be Glenn who would turn around to face his comrades as he held before him an artifact that none had ever seen; the artifact that they knew was the Frozen Flame. It was an irregular shape, not what anyone would’ve expected. Most of its structure glowed with a shade of icy blue, while the top seemed too hot to touch as it illuminated a fiery orange and red that resembled how blades look as they were being melded.

“So that’s…” Sora trailed off.

“Yes, this is the Frozen Flame,” Glenn smiled. “The key that’ll bring us to the End of the World.”

The group nodded agreeably as Glenn reinforced the suspicions they had.

Glenn wasted no more time to elaborate as he turned back to the stone wall he was facing earlier, gently extending his hands forward as he carefully pushed the Frozen Flame forward, pressing it against the stone wall before him. A moment went by without any noticeable changes until the wall started hissing like a geyser as the matter of the solid wall began to wiggle and writhe about, appearing to be alive like an unknown creature struggling to break free of its stony prison. Immense heat began to radiate from the bubbling wall as Glenn slowly took two paces back.

“Step back for a moment,” Glenn ordered.

The others did as they were told as they watched the wall slowly transform itself into a functional portal. The stone’s blue colour had almost completely faded as ethereal shades of light began to emanate from within the mysterious pathway, reminding Kairi and Sora of the colours and lights that they remembered from Betwixt and Between. It was this familiarity that gave the pair some consolation that perhaps they were on the right track, and eased some of their anxieties from before.

The group looked on, their voiced muted as they stood their ground, waiting for Glenn to give further directions. Besides Yuffie—who had her own reasons for keeping silent—the others had absolutely no knowledge of this type of world travel, and thus depended on Glenn for further directions.

“Well, are you all just going to stand around?” Glenn chuckled, turning to face his company. “It’s ready for use now. The End of the World lays beyond here.”

“Well, what’re we waiting for then,” Cid stepped forward, Partisan in hand as he approached the portal with doubtless confidence.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other for some sort of cue, then at Yuffie before returning their gazes back at Glenn. It seemed the three of them were playing a waiting game, seeing which of the three would step forward first.

Glenn turned his attention back to the portal, looking over his shoulder at the three Restoration Committee members. “The portal doesn’t last very long, so we should really hurry and go through. The portal remains open for a fixed period of time, and even I have no knowledge of its timer. So if we plan to take down Nemas and get out of here before the portal closes, we’d better hurry.”

“Right,” Sora nodded before turning to Kairi. “How are you feeling?”

Kairi smiled pleasantly. “I’m fine.”

Sora nodded before he and Kairi made their way to the portal, Yuffie following closely behind.

* * *

“Leon! What brings you here?” Goofy exclaimed as he spotted the Gunblade swordsman approaching the main hall.

“Goofy,” Leon smiled in response. “I’m here to see the King, is he available?”

Goofy scratched his chin as he pondered the thought. “Umm… I think he was in the throne room doing some paperwork, you may want to check that out.”

“Thanks, and give Donald and Daisy my regards,” Leon finished before taking off toward the throne room Goofy specified; he had to hurry. There was no time for idle talk.

Leon was thankful he remembered to tell Yuffie to take the long route to the portal, as just getting to Disney Castle was more troublesome than he expected. He had overshot his destination twice when he was flying through the interspace, something he very rarely ever did. It almost seemed like he was purposely being thrown off course. Leon shook his head vigorously; even he thought he was beginning to over think things as he sped down the Castle corridors. He needed to approach the situation calmly and concisely if he wanted to get his task done as effectively and as accurately as possible. Bias and suspicion would do him no good in revealing the truth behind what he needed to find; to hear what he wanted to hear was a dangerous mindset to have.

Finally, Leon spotted the tall, skyscraper-like entrance to the throne room in the distance as he neared the end of the hallway; he never really understood the flamboyancy of the Disney Kingdom. It was hard to not make a strange face when one noticed there was a smaller—more realistic—doorway patched at the bottom, which made the extravagant giant doors look absolutely pointless in comparison.

Leon quietly slipped through the small doorway as he scanned the premises for the King. The hall seemed far more spacious after all the pews that were present for Donald’s wedding were absent. The illusion of space and the blinding white from the floor and the pillars forced Leon to squint as he eyed the front end of the throne room, hoping to find the King working diligently on the said paperwork that Goofy was talking about.

“Leon!” a high-pitched greeting rang from the other end of the chamber.

Leon smiled. “Your Majesty, I was hoping to find you here.”

The King gestured the young warrior to approach his throne as he waved his arm, hoping Leon would understand his request. King Mickey waited until Leon was in speaking distance before pausing his work, placing down his feathered quill back into its ink holder.

“How is the Orb hunting coming along?” The King inquired.

“It’s going well,” Leon nodded slowly. “Well… a little too well, I think.”

King Mickey let out an amused chuckle. “A little too well? There’s something I thought I’d never hear.”

“The mission has been going far too smoothly,” Leon explained. “Despite the setbacks we’ve had, the total amount of time we’ve actually spent doing the mission has lasted no more than a week or so.”

The King blinked, confused. “A week or so you say?”

“I guess we have your friend, Glenn, to thank for that,” Leon shrugged. “He’s certainly made our mission very easy to accomplish.”

The King’s puzzled expression remained unchanged as Leon enlightened him about Glenn’s participation in their search.

“Who?” King Mickey asked.

“The young Acadian Dragoon, a fellow scientist and heart enthusiast,” Leon replied.

There was a slight pause between the two of them, as if the awkward silence wasn’t so much confusion as it was the anticipation that both King Mickey and Leon knew what was to come next. Leon’s tone was intent and his stare held expectation as the King readied his deduction.

“I’m sorry Leon, but I don’t know such a person,” the King responded. “Although my memory can be—”

“Your Majesty, I’m going to have to request your assistance,” Leon stated boldly.

“…What?”

“Sora and the others are in grave danger,” Leon explained.

Although Leon didn’t want to admit it, he was afraid that his deepest suspicions—that he had been suppressing since the day Sora and the others had arrived at Disney Castle—were finally becoming a reality. Leon supposed that for keeping such an important secret a mystery for such a long period of time, the worst case scenario of not warning anyone about the unprecedented danger that was now befalling Sora and the others—which Leon would now have to unveil—would have eventually led to this point. There was no turning back now.

“I believe Glenn is working for Nemas, and their goal is Kairi.”

The King was silent for a moment.

“I should’ve said something about it before, but I didn’t feel it was worth the risk of exposing Kairi to her past, something we have all tried so hard to keep a secret all of these years. It was easy at first, as I never thought we’d ever encounter Kairi as long as she stayed on Destiny Islands. But once Sora contracted with the Keyblade, the situation became a lot harder to handle,” Leon explained.

King Mickey looked away for a moment, getting out of his chair as he walked off to the side, thinking worriedly to himself.

“I know Ansem told you about Kairi, your Majesty, or else you would not have known so much about Nemas and his research,” Leon stated. “I’m tired of playing this charade. Nemas has been after Kairi’s power this entire time, and all we’ve done is just stand on the sidelines pretending we know nothing!”

“Leon, calm down,” King Mickey replied. “Where are Sora and the others now?”
“They’ve already located Nemas. Sora and the others are already pursuing him as we speak.”

King Mickey’s eyes widened as his expression suddenly changed. “They’ve already found Nemas? This quickly? Don’t tell me Kairi’s power has—”

“No, it hasn’t awakened yet. At least… I don’t think so,” Leon looked off to the side. “But despite that, I think Nemas has already started making his move and we need to hurry or else we may be too late.”

King Mickey nodded, agreeing with Leon’s plan of action. “Let’s go then, Leon. Lead the way.”

Leon nodded as he and the King fled the throne room, sprinting full speed toward the Gummi hungar. Time was definitely against them, and while Leon had full confidence in Yuffie’s ability to buy them time, there was only so much she could do as a spectator. They had to hurry.

* * *

The air was different, the landscapes were completely foreign, most of what Sora witnessed around him did not reflect what he had remembered about The End of the World. Was this even the same place? Sora’s initial memory about the desolated wasteland was walking out of a stony alcove and gazing out at a land of nothingness. A rock formation similar to what one would find in an asteroid belt should’ve been lying in the distance where a horizon of white and pink resembling a sunset shone in the background. However, these sights of familiarity would not be the first that Sora would come upon.

Instead, darkness and stagnant eye invaded his sense as he could barely make out his surroundings. He felt through the darkness with a free hand as he eventually made contact with a rough texture of stone, slowly sliding his fingers down its shape. There were organized grooves every so often, which Sora immediately discerned to be a wall as his vision began adjusting to the minimal lighting that was brightening the room. Having another look around with his newly adjusted vision, Sora was left once again in confusion, as he was the first time he had arrived here. They seemed to arrive at some sort of Castle, their current position seeming to be the foyer.

“Welcome to the End of the World,” Glenn finally spoke, signaling his presence. “It seems we all made it here fine.”

“This sure doesn’t look like the End of the World,” Sora commented as he glanced around at his surroundings.

“Yeah, it’s changed a bit, hasn’t it?” Glenn looked down. “Nemas seems to have been incredibly busy. We really need to hurry.”

Sora and Kairi nodded in response as they trailed after Glenn. Cid and Yuffie followed closely behind, the young kunoichi feeling her heart rate increasing as anxiety started to run through her mind. Where was Leon? She did her very best to stall time, but now that they had actually reached the End of the World, it was hard to determine how much longer it would be until Glenn would reveal his true intentions—if Leon’s suspicions were correct. An uncertainty like that made Yuffie very uneasy about whether or not she’d be able to deter Glenn’s plan when he decided to put it into action, and if Leon would make it back on time.

The five individuals had remained silent for most of the trip, as the scampering of feet became the only audible sounds that filled the acoustics of the dark Castle around him. It must’ve been the fact that they were about to encounter Nemas—and hopefully catch him by surprise with their visit—that the group remained quiet, as if they were afraid even a small whisper would spoil their pre-emptive strike and alert Nemas of their presence. The intensity around the group was slowly rising as they climbed each progressing set of stairs, the next one always longer than the last. Glenn remained at the front, sprinting swiftly some distance away as he continued leading the way for the rest of the group with Sora and Kairi pursuing quickly behind. Cid’s age was showing itself as he slowly found himself slowing down the latter half of the convoy, limiting Yuffie’s ability to keep Glenn within her sights; it was very important that she keep track of Glenn’s every movement. In her mind, he was like a dormant beast that could awaken at any moment, ready to pounce and ruthlessly attack its prey without any warning.

--

“My, I must say I like what you’ve done with the place,” Larxene said coyly as she twirled a finger through her blonde locks, having a good look around her surroundings.

“If crusted, dusty stone strikes your fancy, Larxene,” Marluxia added. “I didn’t know you had such low standards.”

“It’s impossible to bring you two anywhere,” Nemas let out a detached chuckle.

“Lord Nemas, the Ferrington chamber has been charged and is 100% operational,” a nameless scientist announced as he approached Nemas. He handed the older scientist a foreign-shaped object, no larger than a small television remote, before turning his attention back to the control desk he was tampering with earlier. “I’ve calibrated all of the main controls into that small remote. The bright red button on the top will activate it instantly whenever you desire.”

“Well done,” Nemas smiled, somewhat maniacally as he look a better look at the platform he was standing on.

It was a circular platform several meters in diameter that had hexagonal tiles filling in the insides, the edges of each adjacent tile glowing a bright blue as they brightened the floor. The entire platform was in itself, the Ferrington Chamber; its completion had excited Nemas almost to a point of insanity as he grew tempted to press the bright red button with his entire team on it—including himself—simply because he could. There was always something fascinating, beckoning about pulling the trigger to something that could cause something huge or catastrophic. And while his scientific madness probably would’ve allowed him to gather the nerve to do it, his desire to achieve his main objective remained to be his only deterrent.

“So this is what you revived us in?” Larxene tapped her foot on the floor below her.

“Not at all,” Nemas shook his head. “This chamber is my finest creation. It emits light of a specific wavelength that enters the body of the person inside and forcefully separates its components. Right now it’s calibrated for extraction of Nobodies, but I could really get anything I wanted,” Nemas added. “Isn’t it brilliant? A heart or Nobody extractor without any human intervention whatsoever.”

Yes, to Nemas it was an amazing achievement. With this device there was no more need to use a lab, no more need for a group of experienced scientists to carry out the procedure, and the process used by the Ferrington chamber would take no more than a few seconds, whereas the original lab procedure took hours to perform with several breaks in-between. It would forever change the face of science, the way he had changed it the day he performed his very first heart removal procedure. To Nemas, he felt there was nothing he couldn’t achieve as long as he had the time and the freedom to pursue it.

Larxene rolled her eyes; it seemed useless to try to make conversation with the mad scientist when he was in this state—completely overcome by his own thoughts. She knew somewhat how she and Marluxia were revived, but of course considering the type of scientist Nemas was, it was hard to understand the facts the first time when they were explained to you. But from what she could remember, he said he used some sort of capsule device to revive their soulless containers—although he coined them as ‘shells’ when he was explaining how he performed such a ritual. In itself, because even physical matter such as arms and legs are capable of producing and retaining memory, they were able to recover the majority of their experiences from before they were extinguished. Thus, it was possible for them to still function and remember the Castle Oblivion operation and their original pact with Nemas.

It wasn’t a plan that meant to be prolonged, and explained why Marluxia and Larxene were Organization’s former XI and XII, signifying their position in terms of seniority within the group. However, despite that, they easily gained the acceptance of Xemnas and were quickly assigned the task of sabotaging Sora’s journey as he trailed after Pluto across the plains. The real objective was simple. While many of the Organization’s more loyal members surmised that Marluxia and Larxene’s true goal was to overthrow the Organization, it was really wasn’t all that simple. Nemas had originally sent them to toil with Sora’s memories until a location for Roxas’ whereabouts could be found. Nemas—being the Nobody expert he was—had known about Roxas’ existence since the very beginning, and became the new focal point of his research ever since he went into hiding. The Castle Oblivion operation was nothing more but a small step toward a much bigger plan that Nemas had in mind for himself, and due to Marluxia’s failure at completing his mission, the scenario had drastically deterred Nemas’ progress in finding Roxas’ whereabouts. By the time Nemas had gained some new insight on where the Key of Destiny was hiding, it was already too late; Ansem had already beat him in the search for Roxas and allowed the Nobody to return to his original self. After this incident, Nemas concluded that pursuing Roxas wouldn’t be possible until he had developed a new plan to overcome the obstacle his former colleague had placed before him. And even to this day, long after Ansem’s untimely demise, Nemas was unsure if Ansem had known he was after Roxas, or if Ansem’s intervention was simply a coincidence. The former partner of Ansem the Wise would never know.

“Lord Nemas,” Ozma spoke.

Nemas momentarily shook out of his self-reflection as he turned to face his crimson-cloaked subordinate. “What is it?”

“I sense the Kingdom Key nearby,” Ozma explained. “About five hundred metres and closing.”

Nemas felt another maniacal grin plaster on his face as he barely managed to hold back his excitement. “Good, good. They’re right on schedule. Everyone get to your places. ”

Marluxia and Larxene rolled their eyes indelicately as they silently obeyed their Lord’s orders, fleeing the scene in a haze of black smoke. It was unwritten, but it was easy to tell that Nemas was going to take his time with what was to come next.

--

“Glenn, slow down, I think we’re losing Yuffie and Cid,” Sora requested as he periodically turned to keep an eye on his two other comrades. It seemed like each time he looked they were lagging further and further behind.

“There’s no time, we have to keep moving,” Glenn replied hastily. “I think Nemas has caught onto to us; we can’t idle any longer.”

Sora remained wordless, looking toward Kairi to see what her thoughts were on the matter. After seeing that she was just as confused as he was on what the course of action to take was, the young Key Bearer made the executive decision to continue his pace along with Glenn and Kairi.

After Yuffie realized that Sora and Kairi were not going to slow down to wait for them, she felt her heart begin to beat faster. “Cid! Can’t you pick up the pace! We’re losing them!”

“That’s the problem with you young people!” Cid gasped. “You’re all in such a hurry to die!”

“Put your back into it or I’ll leave you here!” Yuffie yelled.

“Go ahead goddamn it! I didn’t ask you to wait for me!” Cid hissed back in retaliation.

“Fine!” Yuffie responded before dashing ahead past Cid, utilizing her shinobi-like agility as she swiftly cleared the next set of stairs.

Somehow, Yuffie had a feeling that maybe Glenn was anticipating someone to lag behind in the group once they began their pursuit within the Castle. It became more and more apparent as they continued their sprint up each of the palace’s dark stairwells. As well, Glenn seemed to be less and less concerned about staying together as one cohesive unit as they made their way up—something he originally emphasized after stopping the first time to wait for Cid to catch his breath. The Acadian now seemed to throw that philosophy away as his pace only continued to increase as their pursuit progressed.

Yuffie hopped up the last few steps of the current staircase before taking a good look around the new floor she arrived at. Her eyes darted side to side, eyeing the several different corridors she could choose from to proceed. It was this inability to decide that suddenly struck a feeling of fear inside Yuffie’s mind. This wasn’t good. She had lost Sora and Kairi, and more importantly, Glenn. Consequently, her doubts about Glenn’s integrity had only escalated, as she then knew that this mishap had to be somehow part of Glenn’s objective to rid Sora and Kairi of anyone who would be able to intervene if something were to happen to them. It would explain why he didn’t slow down his pace even after the distance between the front and the rear of the convoy had increased exponentially.

This isn’t good, Yuffie cursed inwardly before she chose a corridor at random to proceed through. There wasn’t any use in idling; Glenn had taken the lead in this game of hidden agendas; she would just have to double her speed and backtrack if she felt she had gone too far. Cid would be able to fend for himself, she thought. There was no way that old geezer would lose to anything this castle could throw at him.

Not too far away, Sora and Kairi continued their trek up the dark palace, keeping Glenn always within their sight as they tried mimicking his motions to maximize their ability to keep up with the agile Acadian.

After a few moments, Sora began to notice that he couldn’t hear the footsteps of a certain Cid and Yuffie who were usually a few paces behind them. When he realized they were nowhere to be found, he voiced his concern to Glenn, requesting they stop again to wait for their two comrades like they had done the first time. However, Glenn’s patience seemed to be growing dangerously thin as he suddenly raised his voice at Sora, attacking his dedication to the task of overthrowing Nemas and restoring peace to the multiverse, something ‘the Key Bearer shouldn’t even have to think about’.

The bold insinuation Glenn was making about Sora’s integrity as the Kingdom Key’s Chosen One had irked the young brunette to the point of contention; such a rough exchange didn’t quite fit the type of person Glenn seemed to be up until then. However, Sora guessed that the stress and the pressure about Nemas possibly being aware of their movements might’ve been enough to place Glenn slightly on edge, and thus was the reason why he seemed to easily snap at anything that slowed down their pace. Kairi’s face showed her resentment for Glenn’s unreasonable attack on Sora, but the young Key Bearer easily coaxed the Princess of Heart to overlook the matter.

“Stay close,” Glenn ordered, almost in a whisper. “We’re here.”

Sora’s eyes hardened at Glenn’s statement as he took another look around the vicinity, his eyes darting across every detail of his environment.

It shared much resemblance with what many would’ve considered an ancient coliseum, similar to what Sora had witnessed when he first visited the world of Hercules, the Olympus coliseum, except the sight to be seen at the revisited End of the World was far more true to the name than one would think. Not only were the stones that made up the structure of the stadium dark and ghastly in appearance, but the atmosphere that radiated off the walls and thrived within the acoustics also left quite an unsettling feeling in the pits of Sora and Kairi’s stomachs. There was something unholy about the place before them, but the eerie sensations that the Destiny Island pair felt crawl up the base of their spines was beyond any feasible definition.

The seventeen-year-old protagonist held out his arm, preparing to summon his patented blade, the Kingdom Key.

“Wait, Sora,” Glenn held out his hand with warning. “Don’t. You’ll give away our position if you summon your blade here.”

Sora slowly balled his fist in response, feeling dissatisfied with the notion of keeping himself unarmed in midst of the sinister vibe that he was getting from the vicinity. He was sure that Kairi was feeling the same way he was after glancing over to steal a peek at her facial expression.

“Wait, this is odd,” Glenn blinked.

“What is it?”

“Nemas isn’t here,” Glenn replied apprehensively.

Sora and Kairi walked further out of the shadows of the room, gaining some of their confidence back after Glenn made note of Nemas’ unexpected absence. There was a circular platform situated at the center of the large room that caught Sora’s attention as he slowly made his way toward it, the gleaming blue rays that he saw seeping from the cracks of the platform urging him onward. Perhaps Sora had temporarily lost his sense of reason, or his fear of being discovered by Nemas and his henchmen, but the curiosity within him at that moment pondered the purpose of such a mystifying contraption and easily allowed the young Key Bearer to make his way onto the platform.

Kairi was the first to take notice of Sora’s seemingly strange behaviour, as she herself, was feeling somewhat intoxicated by the atmosphere that had been radiating around the room since they arrived. However, the young Princess of Heart seemed far more in touch with her thoughts and actions while Sora’s expression seemed to lack more and more emotion as time went on.

“Sora?” Kairi called out his name.

There wasn’t any response.

“Sora,” Kairi called again.

This time, the young Key Bearer glanced over at his crimson-haired princess, his face void of any recognizable expression as he gazed at her for only a moment, before turning his eyes back toward the mysterious blue lights glimmering below.

Now Kairi was getting nervous. This was completely uncharacteristic of Sora, and the more she watched him, the more she began to dislike the idea of him standing anywhere near the blue platform that seemed to engrossingly captivate his attention.
Kairi took a few steps forward. “Sora, let’s look somewhere else.” Kairi wanted him away from the platform.

Suddenly, Glenn swiftly took a step in front of the young girl as she made her motion toward Sora, blocking her view and path to the Key Bearer’s position.

“Glenn? What are you doing?” Kairi voiced as she found herself adamantly blocked by Glenn’s chest.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you past here, Princess,” Glenn’s tone was deeper and more reminiscent of another voice Kairi was intimately familiar with.

“What’re you talking about… let me—” Kairi started.

“Kairi!!” two voices called from the back of the coliseum, echoing from the dome of the stairwell.

Glenn scoffed softly as he turned around, running toward Sora.

“Leon! Yuffie! Is that you?” Kairi yelled back, her attention temporarily turning away from Sora.

“Get away from Glenn! Now!” Leon yelled as loud as he could.

Kairi’s eyes widened in shock; Get away from Glenn? So he was dangerous? Sora? Sora! Kairi thought to herself in a panic. The Princess of Heart turned back to retrieve Sora when her vision was blinded momentarily by a bright flash of light.

Kairi squinted her eyes in recoil to the powerful brightness that invaded her pupils as she heard Leon, Yuffie and Cid approaching her position from behind. The four Restoration Committee members stood with their hands and arms shielding their eyes as the bright light slowly subsided. Behind its clouded rays lay a blue-coloured force field that effectively separated Sora from the rest of the group, he on one side and Glenn and the other four on the other. Glenn stood firmly by the steps that led up the platform where Sora stood, the young Key Bearer’s face seeming to be back to normal as his eyes darted around him.

“Yuffie,” Leon growled. “Why weren’t you with the group like I expected you to be.”

“I’m sorry, Leon,” Yuffie looked down shamefully.

For the first time since the group had met Glenn, the Acadian’s face took on a new shape, one that appeared more sinister and evil than Leon and others ever imagined it could be. It was almost demonic as Glenn began to appear less and less human as their gazes remained locked onto one another.

The Acadian let out an amused chuckle. “Don’t be too hard on her, Leon. After all, it was only because of a certain sloth of a runner named Cid who was holding her back.”

“What the hell did you just say about me!?” Cid barked arrogantly.

“Cid, I must admit I’ve never really liked you,” Glenn shook his head. “I’ve been wanting to say something like that for a while.”

“Let Sora go!” Kairi yelled as she leapt forward to charge Glenn, the now established traitor. The young Princess’ assault would soon be foiled as the sturdy grips of Yuffie and Leon paired together to hold the enraged girl back.

“Umm,” Glenn thought to himself. “No, I don’t think I like that idea very much, Princess.”

“Hey!” a voice called from behind Glenn.

Glenn perked his head up. “Oh, right, I almost forgot about you,” the Dragoon turned to face the captive Key Bearer, who wore a look of disgust on his face. “Well now, there’s a very unpleasant look.”

“And to think I was the one who defended you the most!” Sora snarled indelicately. “What do you want!”

Sora forcefully summoned his patented Kingdom Key into one hand, before striking it as hard as he could against the force-fielded barrier that stood between him and his comrades. The collision was violent as sparks erupted on impact, launching the Keyblade out of Sora’s hand, causing the Key Bearer to tightly grip his wrist from the painful recoil.

“Careful, now,” Glenn swished a finger back and forth. “Any harder and that would’ve broken your wrist.”

“Bite me, Glenn,” Sora retorted. “I refuse to cooperate with a traitor like you.”

“That’s fine,” Glenn smiled. “You don’t have a choice on the matter.”

“What?” Sora stated.

“Lord Nemas, they’re ready for you,” Glenn announced as he called out aimlessly.

It was like watching the end of an intimidating game of hide and seek as several beings began appearing from seemingly illogical places around the room, revealing themselves to the unsuspecting eyes of Leon, Yuffie, Kairi and Cid. Two were dressed in the standard black cloak of the late Organization XIII, eventually revealing their identities as the once-thought-to-be-deceased Larxene and Marluxia. Two others appeared on either side of Glenn, dressed in the familiar crimson cloaks with the wing brooches pinned at their collars. Both of their faces were shrouded as they were when they had made their first appearance in King Mickey’s throne room, however this time the two warriors were brandishing their weapons. The one to Glenn’s left carried what seemed to be a double-sided halberd in one hand, the weapon pressing against the back of the man’s arm as the tips pointed to the north and south. To Glenn’s right was the slightly shorter female, and within her hands were two expertly crafted daggers that she idly twirled between her fingers.

Finally, from just behind Glenn, at the top of the platform steps nearest to Sora, a ghastly black fog seeped out of the floor as a dark figure steadily emerged from the base of its dark portal. The figure wasn’t like the rest that appeared before the group. While he was also shrouded completely in black, instead of the more familiar Oraganization-style cloak, he was dressed with a thick cape that draped down to the floor with the sides pinned at the collar, concealing his entire body from sight. Whatever lay under his garments—be it a sword or an axe, or any weapon at all—was completely a mystery.

Nemas was quick to answer this suspicion as he extended his right hand forward, in it gripping the cylindrical remote that his subordinate engineer handed to him earlier that day, his finger hovering very closely over the red button that glowed brightly at the top.

“Nemas,” Sora hissed from under this breath.

The mad scientist lifted his eyes, elated. “Oh my, the Key Bearer knows my name.”

“I don’t have to know what you look like to know you’re the one we’ve all come here to defeat,” Sora replied as he bent down to pick up the Kingdom Key. He placed it back in his right hand, wincing in pain as the weight of the blade placed pressure on his sprained wrist.

“Well, I’m glad at least your intuition is still at its best,” Nemas chuckled. “It makes you look good from behind your blue-rayed prison.”

“Glenn! Why did you do this!” Kairi called out again to the Acadian whom she felt had helped her so much.

It didn’t make any sense. Ever since Glenn had entered her life, she had looked up to him as a benevolent mentor, a knowledgeable confidant, and deep down; she began to think of him as a friend. He seemed to be the only one who placed complete trust in her and her ability to make a difference in their mission. Because of him, Kairi felt she was able to continue pushing forward and accomplish what she set out to do, to locate the Orbs as she promised she would. It was the first time in her life that she felt she was finally part of something much bigger than herself, a feeling that Sora and Riku already knew and experienced long before she did. And while even now she still required Sora and Riku’s help, just finally getting involved was enough for her. But now, as Glenn stood before her now, not as a friend but as an enemy, a traitor, Kairi could no longer feel the same. She once again felt useless in the eyes of those she wanted to be important for, and cursed herself unfairly for believing and trusting Glenn’s words too quickly. She should’ve been more careful, she should’ve known better; these were the words that ran through her mind as she continued looking on with distress, her eyes filled with anger and resentment.

“Why Glenn! Answer me!” Kairi repeated.

“Kairi,” Leon placed a hand on her shoulder. “Glenn’s not a scientist, nor was he ever friends with King Mickey. He lied about his connections.”

“And there you have it, Princess,” Glenn shrugged his shoulders. “Of course, Leon makes it sound so mediocre. You could’ve at least made it sound more dramatic.”

“You *******,” Cid scoffed, seemingly more annoyed than frightened at their situation. “All this time we spent traveling, we had a traitor flying around on the Sierra?”

“And who are you really, then, Glenn?” Yuffie eyed the baleful Acadian.

Glenn shot the group a small smirk before he outstretched his arms, summoning the two legendary Eilanzer short swords in each of his hands, a distinctively familiar black haze surrounding his body. After the smoke cleared, a crimson-coloured cloak covered Glenn’s exterior, a wing pendant pinned at his collar as he and the other crimson warriors were once again united to form the same trio Sora and the others encountered at Donald’s wedding.

“Well done, Meta,” Nemas praised. “I must say I’m quite impressed with how you handled this mission.”

“Thank you, my Lord,” Meta, who the group now knew was Glenn, replied. The Acadian turned to his two comrades, signaling them a gesture to remove their hoods.

“I suppose it’d only be fair if I introduced to you my teammates,” Glenn announced.
The other male member of the crimson trio was a young blue-haired warrior, who seemed to be slightly younger than Glenn in appearance; a teenager around the same age as Sora—if not a little older. At his side was his double-sided halberd, which he announced to be his Masamune as he turned his head slightly behind him, shooting Sora a death glare out of the corner of his eye.

“This is Serge, codenamed Ozma, a former Hero of Time from the same world I’m from,” Glenn announced. “That friend I told you about that could slip in and out of time, this would be him,” Glenn added. “Goes to show that I didn’t entirely lie about my identity. I am still indeed, an Acadian dragoon. And to the right of me is Kid, formally a rogue and quite an expert in thievery. She ran most of the reconnaissance for this mission.”

The female crimson warrior had medium-length blonde hair that she wrapped in a ponytail behind her head. She had a rough texture about her, almost pirate-esque when compared similarly to the vibes one got from a certain Jack Sparrow.

“It took ya guys long enough to get here,” Kid, also known as Terra, replied. “I’d say you took your time, Glenn.”

“No, you’re just impatient, my friend,” Glenn corrected.

Glenn turned his attention to the two black-cloaked warriors off to the side. “While the two over there may seem like strangers to you, Key Bearer, you have fought—and defeated them—once before. May I present Larxene and Marluxia of the former Organization XIII.”

“Organization XIII?!” Sora, Leon, Yuffie, Cid and Kairi all exclaimed.

“He just had to add that ‘defeated’ part, didn’t he,” Larxene rolled her eyes.

“Cut the introductions, Glenn,” Marluxia hung his scythe over his shoulder. “Let’s just get this underway and be done with these infidels.”

“You’re right,” Glenn nodded. “Lord Nemas, shall we begin?”

“Yes, let’s do that,” Nemas agreed.

All six of the cloaked beings began making their move as Glenn and his two crimson comrades stepped forward to barricade the group’s access to Sora, Marluxia and Larxene floundering by the steps leading up to the platform that held Sora its captive behind the blue force field. Nemas was situated at the very top of the steps, the remote gripped tightly in his hand as he gazed obsessively at the young Key Bearer who remained helpless behind the thermal prison.

Sora scowled. “So the Orb hunt was a complete lie! Wasn’t it, Glenn!”

Glenn laughed. “I was a little worried that the amount of ease that went into finding the Orbs would stir some suspicion, but evidently you had far too much faith in me.”

“So the Nobodies that attacked Kairi back at Merlin’s Study?” Leon inquired.

“I summoned them.”

“And the Orb in Halloween Town?”

“Planted.”

“And the document that you said you’d take back to your lab?” Kairi added.

“A lie,” Glenn shrugged. “I needed time to place the next Orb, so I used the document as an excuse to leave the scene. Of course, creating that illusionary Twilight Town did take some effort to make, but as they say: detail enforces belief.”

“When I get out of here—” Sora started.

“You will do no such—” Nemas started.

“—I swear to you, Glenn, I’m—”

“—Don’t interrupt me when I’m—”

“—going to make sure you’re the—”

“Silence!” Nemas quickly placed his finger on the red button.

Sora let out a painful cry as the force field momentarily emitted streaks of what seemed to resemble lightning attacking his body. The Key Bearer fell to his knees as he hugged his sides, wincing as he began coughing weakly.

“Now there’s a good boy,” Nemas’ voice returned to its normal volume.

“Sora!” Kairi yelled as she, Leon, Yuffie and Cid instinctively ran toward his position.

The three crimson warriors took a few steps forward as they brought their weapons forward, warning the Radiant Garden group and Kairi of their intentions if they were to pursue that particular course of action again.

“What did you do to him!” Kairi yelled.

“What actually happens when I do that? I have absolutely no idea,” Nemas started. “But! I do know that the longer I hold this button, the worse it’s going to get. But I do know what will happen at the end.”

“Nemas, I don’t understand,” Leon began. “Why Sora!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Nemas grinned he pressed the red button again, this time holding it for several seconds.

Sora let out another scream of pain as he once again fell to his knees, the intensity being far higher this time as the Key Bearer felt as if his skin was being torched. Along with the burning sensations that snaked their way around his entire body, high pitched sounds rang through his ears at a volume so great, Sora was certain his eardrums were going to burst if Nemas had held the button any longer. The Key Bearer let out another wail of torment as the subsequent assault forced him onto the floor, Sora being unable to summon the strength to stay standing.

“Stop it!” Kairi’s voice started becoming ragged. “For goodness sakes, please stop!”

It was faint at first, but an aura similar to what Glenn saw Kairi produce back at the Ice Temple slowly began to gleam off the Princess’ form, brightening and dimming like a heartbeat as the scarlet-haired girl felt herself become uneasy. Sora seemed to be in so much pain, she thought. She knew as much as she watched him crawl weakly across the platform, his arms and legs quivering as he desperately tried to reach for his Keyblade. And because of the room’s silence (as it was filled with individuals silenced by evil and shock), Kairi could hear Sora’s degenerating croaks and groans as he dragged his immobile legs, which seemed to have been paralyzed during the lightning-based assaults. Being witness to these images, the aura that started out faintly began to elusively gain magnitude as the Princess of Heart balled both her fists. Only one person in the room at present would’ve been able to sense the escalating power that was brewing within her. To the rest, this uprising would remain unseen and unfelt.

Sora, just hang on a little longer, Leon thought.

“Leon, what do we do?” Yuffie whispered to her superior.

“We need to get that remote out of Nemas’ hand,” Leon replied.

And doing so would require the assistance of Yuffie and Cid as well. As Leon didn’t feel comfortable ordering Kairi to do something overly elaborate, he tried to formulate a plan that would benefit what Kairi was already doing. She was doing very well in providing some sort of distraction as she continued hollering at Nemas and the rest of the cloaked enemies to stop their shameful attacks on Sora.

Four against six—not to mention it was definitely a fact that the crimson warriors were far more than capable of subduing the four of them with ease if they were forced to—was not the best odd for a plan. However, this would force Leon’s objective to emphasize time over endurance as they needed was enough time to release Sora from his prison and a bulletproof escape plan. This was easier said than done, of course.

First, they had to split them up. Yuffie’s intention was to throw her Conformer straight down the middle in hopes of splitting the enemy’s convoy into two halves. She would then have to detain any enemy that diverted west of her Conformer while Cid would need to detain the east. Leon—as quickly as he could—would then need to dash forward, a distance no further than two meters, and grab the remote from Nemas’ grasp. The key to the success of this plan was the element of surprise. They would need to catch Nemas during a moment where he would not be able to react to Leon’s approach. Nemas’ back would have to be turned for it to work.

“NEMAS!” a painful scream reverberated around the room.

“My Lord!” Glenn quickly dashed behind Nemas as he connected his blade with that of Sora’s Kingdom Key.

Sora, with the last great amount of strength that he had been preserving for the past while, managed to slash his blade through the force field’s repelling exterior, with the intention of striking at the unsuspecting Nemas. Sora attack would’ve found its success had it not been for Glenn’s lightning movement speed, which managed to intercept the deadly trajectory of Sora’s blade before it came down.

“Yuffie, now!” Leon yelled.

Yuffie wasted no time as she tossed her Conformer in front of her, the spinning blade on a collision path directly with Nemas. She prayed that the surprise attack would instinctively cause the group before them to scatter.

No such action came as Kid swiftly intercepted the large shuriken with one of her daggers, knocking Yuffie’s weapon off its flight path as both weapons eventually tumbled toward the ground.

Damn it! Leon cursed.

“You insolent fools!” Nemas’s voice boomed as he turned around, holding the remote out in front of him inches away from Sora’s face. “I’m done playing with you, boy! Now perish!” His finger came down on the button once more, this time for good.

“SORA! NO!” Kairi screamed.

What came next was like a nightmare that never wanted to end, and Kairi felt her blood freeze and her breathing quicken as she watched the boy she secretly loved toss and turn, every ounce of his breath devoted to screaming in agonizing pain until his voice gave out. Each bout of lightning that attacked his body made Sora fly across the platform as if a ten-ton sledgehammer were hitting him repeatedly back and forth. But crashing into the force field wall itself only added to the degree of torture as the walls themselves also had the high voltage electrical current running through them.

“Please… stop…” Kairi fell to her knees, her hands groping the sides of her face. “Stop it please! I’ll do whatever you want! Just please let Sora go!”

“Kairi! You need to get a hold of yourself!” Leon yelled.

“I’ll take his place! Please let him go! Stop it! I beg of you!” Kairi continued as she tried making a run for Nemas.

“Kairi! No!” Leon took a hold of the young girl.

“LET GO OF ME!” Kairi’s voice echoed violently around the room.

A sudden flash of light exploded from around Kairi’s body as Leon was launched several feet back from his position, tumbling across the floor.

“Leon!” Yuffie and Cid called out.

“Kairi…” Leon whispered to himself. It seemed Kairi’s development was still growing, but even Leon couldn’t picture her being so far along in such a little time.

The sudden apparition of light fiercely shook the entire coliseum at its base; bits of stone and rock rustling and crumbling from the ceilings as the outburst slowly began to settle. It was an eerie silence that crept around the room, the feeling one would experience if they were at the eye of the storm, a silence that would later reveal to produce a catastrophe that no one could begin to fathom.

The fierce aura that had caused that sudden explosion of light from within Kairi begun to steadily fade as if it were dying, just how she felt her heart was when her eyes came to see the young Key Bearer, silent and still as a rock, collapsed on the floor. The lightning shocks had ceased, the force field wall had come down, and Sora’s groans and quivers—the only things that Sora could do to show he was alive—had completely vanished.

Sora’s Kingdom Key was nowhere in sight, but there was something else that had appeared after the bright flash of light disappeared. A figure, shorter than any of the other cloaked warriors present, dressed in an Organization XIII robe stood firmly before its audience, the Kingdom Key latched in the grip of his right hand. His eyes glowed a fevering shade of blue as if an ocean storm brewed within them; his locks a darkened blonde that spiked out to the top and the side of his head. While many knew his name, less than half of those present could say they had ever seen him, and even less could claim to have crossed swords with his blade.

“Roxas,” Nemas smiled with absolute satisfaction. “At last, we meet.”

Roxas looked down at the blade within his hand, relishing the memory of what it felt like to grip the blade during a past that he once lived. His eyes then turned to Leon, Yuffie, Cid and the sorrow-stricken Kairi as he scanned their faces, taking in their features carefully with his own eyes. Finally, he turned his attention toward the similarly clothed individuals around him, a look of surprise filling his expression when his eyes met those of Larxene and Marluxia. The pink-haired former XIII member scoffed his head off to the side in displeasure in response, while the Savage Nymph waved coyly at the younger boy, winking flirtatiously.

“So this is Roxas,” Glenn and the other two crimson warriors turned their bodies to face the individual that Nemas had been searching for over the last few years.

All three of them had to admit the younger boy sure didn’t seem like any Nobody of any importance, but neither one would doubt Nemas’ insight on matters that dealt with the Nobody race. There was no other individual in existence that was so informed about Nobodies, their powers, their limits, and their potential. To Nemas, Nobodies were the true essence of human potential. Emotions and desires were nothing but fallacies that prohibited the human race from realizing their greatest potential. Fear made one weak, as did love. Hate bred confusion and in turn would produce deficiency. A Nobody, a being that possessed neither a heart nor knew true emotion would be the only beings in the world who could be free from these illusions, these pitiful nuisances that led people astray.

“First, I just wanted to thank you, Roxas, for keeping your silence on the Castle Oblivion operation those few years ago. I was able to collect some very nice information about your whereabouts because of it,” Nemas explained, his voice abnormally cheery.

Roxas turned to face Nemas. “Oh, that mission. So Larxene and Marluxia were actually working for you?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Nemas nodded. “I knew you’d be able to tell they had a separate agenda.”

Roxas let out a laugh. “Too bad they failed.”

“How does he know that!?” Marluxia barked.

Roxas tapped the side of his head. “Axel informed me when he returned to The World That Never Was.”

“Good.. very good,” Nemas laughed along with Roxas.

Leon and Yuffie stood in shock as they watched Roxas exchanges with Nemas and the others. This wasn’t good. Even though Roxas was Sora’s Nobody, the being didn’t seem very threatened by Nemas or the other five. Rather, it seemed Roxas was identifying and allying himself with them! Either the dreadful contraption that Nemas used to forcefully summon Roxas planted this effect, or Nemas knew all along that Roxas might’ve sided with those of his kind if he was ever extracted from Sora again.

Roxas walked toward Sora’s unconscious form, observing the boy before his ears brought his attention to the sounds of Kairi’s quiet sobbing. The young Princess sat weakly on her knees, not seeming to care at all about what was about to come next, not caring if Nemas’ next plan of action was to kill off every single person in the room.

Roxas looked back at Sora’s body. “So? What did you have in mind next, Nemas? Kill off Sora? Them?”

Kairi’s head perked up. “Sora’s alive?” Kairi quickly got to her feet and started hastily walking toward Sora’s position. “Sora’s alive isn’t he!”

“You will stay right where you are, Kairi,” Roxas commanded as he swiftly pointed the tip of the Kingdom Key at the young Princess of Heart.

“Roxas…” Kairi’s heart broke. “Why are you…”

Nemas chuckled. “I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”

“Let me have a talk with them first,” Roxas asked.

“Whatever you want,” Nemas gave Roxas a platonic bow.

Roxas walked past Nemas, not returning his gesture—stirring some negative thoughts within Glenn, Serge and Kid—as the Key of Destiny approached the group. Leon, Yuffie and Cid kept their guard as they held their weapons out in front of them to meet Roxas.

Roxas’ expression was stern. “Kairi. Over here, now.”

Kairi sheepishly complied with Roxas’ request as she picked herself up off the ground, hurrying over to Yuffie’s side.

Leon, Yuffie and Cid looked on cautiously as the Nobody known as the Key of Destiny stood before them, his form stoic and confident. It was a hard judgment to make as to what Roxas was planning when he had told Nemas he wanted to ‘have a talk with them’ before providing an answer. The unsettling feeling about Roxas’ intentions lay in the two opposing facts that: Roxas was Sora’s Nobody and therefore could never inherently be considered evil, and the fact that Roxas seemed very comfortable and attached to what Nemas had to say. In fact, Roxas seemed to have quite an affinity for the mad scientist, easily associating himself with him and the rest of his henchman. Was Nemas perhaps expecting this to happen? Or was this once again something that only happened because of the way Roxas was summoned? Was such a thing even possible to do?

“Leon, Yuffie, Cid, you three look petrified,” Roxas let out a laugh. His intention seemed harmless.

Leon and Yuffie’s eyes widened.

“What the hell? How do you know my name?” Cid almost spat out his question.

Roxas ignored Cid’s question as he lifted the Kingdom Key up in front of him, holding it vertically in his hand as he examined it. “Tell me, is this everyone?”

“What do you mean?” Leon asked.

“If I were to kill you all right here, would anyone notice your absence?” Roxas clarified.

Glenn, Serge and Kid let out an amused chuckle at Roxas’ comment. Nemas grinned in approval. Marluxia snorted in annoyance; the arrogant kid surely hadn’t changed since his days in the Organization, the Graceful Assassin thought to himself. Larxene giggled to herself silently. She rather liked Roxas’ rough personality quite a bit.

“Yes,” Leon answered. “I requested Riku’s assistance from back on Midgar. He and King Mickey are on standby at the bottom of this palace. I told them if we weren’t back by a certain time, they should come and look for us.”

“And how much longer do you have?” Roxas inquired again, still examining the Kingdom Key carefully.

Leon looked down at his watch briefly. “About thirty seconds.”

“Roxas,” Nemas called out. “Finish your business quickly.”

“Just one more question,” Roxas raised his free hand up, signaling his acknowledgement of Nemas’ request.

Roxas finally brought the Kingdom Key back to his side as his eyes intently locked with Leon’s. The Nobody’s eyes seem to pierce into Leon as the mysterious Key of Destiny let out a playful smirk, an expression that wasn’t like the rest.

“If I were to say to you that I am a warrior of light, while my strength is great, the sharpest blade I hold is with the one who completes me, what would you say?” Roxas asked.

Leon’s eyes grew wide with shock. He knew this phrase; he knew it very well. In fact, he knew it so well that although his mind had yet to finish comprehending why such a phrase had come up in a situation as unlikely as the one he was presently in, his lips began to move on its own accord as Leon’s gaze remained fixed on Roxas.

“I would answer that I am a lost Dreamweaver, the shield that never breaks as long as my mind lives with yours, it is I who completes you,” Leon’s words trailed off his lips.

“Bingo,” Roxas smirked.

With one swift motion, almost undetectable to the eye, Roxas pivoted on one foot, twisting his body around with one powerful thrust as he launched the Kingdom Key behind him. The blade spun violently as it whipped past the crimson warriors, then past Marluxia and Larxene, and finally past Nemas the blade made contact with the generator located at the very back of the room. A loud crash echoed throughout the coliseum as sparks flew from the generator. The lights around the room flickered wildly for a brief moment before the entire coliseum became shrouded in darkness.

“Yuffie! Now!” Leon commanded as the Radiant Garden Committee broke apart, each going in independent directions.

Cid immediately bent down to scoop Kairi in his arms as Yuffie sprinted straight ahead, her intention to retrieve Sora being her sole objective.

“What is the meaning of this!” Nemas yelled angrily. “Roxas!”

“Leon, how far are King Mickey and Riku from here?” Roxas inquired.

“Uhh… about a seven minute sprint.”

“Get Cid and Kairi to regroup with the two of them as soon as possible. You and Yuffie retrieve Sora and make a run for the stairs, I’ll cover you,” Roxas explained.

“But those crimson warr—”

“There’s no time! Move! Now!” Roxas yelled as he quickly summoned Oblivion, using the hilt to repel one of Kid’s incoming daggers.

Leon silently complied as he spotted Yuffie escaping toward the rear end of the chamber platform. “Yuffie, this way!”

Marluxia caught the kunoichi—who was carrying Sora on her back—in the corner of his eye as he turned to engage the retreating ninja. “Not so fast!”

The Graceful Assassin made his move as he darted forward toward Yuffie’s position, his scythe behind him as he wound up for a powerful swing.

Metal clashed with metal as Marluxia found his scythe attack repelled by an unsuspecting black Keyblade. The metal grinded a few more times before Marluxia found himself staring right into a pair of familiar icy blue eyes, along with an arrogant smile that he had remembered dreading from a distant past.

“Roxas, you *******…” Marluxia growled before pulling away from the former number XIII.

“I see you’ve become quite an ill-tempered Nobody,” Roxas chuckled as he repositioned the Oblivion in front of him.

“Silence! You insufferable weakling!” Marluxia roared as he pulled his scythe back, preparing another slash.

Some distance, Cid panted heavily as he continued his sprint down the palace stairs with Kairi held firmly in his arms. “There is NO way I’m going to run back down all these steps!”

“Cid, you can place me down, I’m fine,” Kairi said before the older man gently released her—very willingly—from his arms. The Princess continued her sprint beside the blonde engineer before turning her head behind her, spotting Leon and Yuffie several meters away. “Where’s Sora!”

“I got him, I got him!” Yuffie panted in-between words as she and Leon trailed behind.

“You incompetent fools!” Nemas’ mood turned foul. “Marluxia! Larxene! After the Key Bearer and his meddling idiots! Now!”

Marluxia and Roxas connected their blades once more before the pink-haired Nobody broke away to complete his new objective. Unhappy, but still compliant, Marluxia turned away from Roxas as he and Larxene dashed toward the stairway to pursue the escapees.

Roxas de-summoned the Oblivion soon after Marluxia’s departure before turning to face the trio of crimson warriors who stood obediently in front of Nemas, their faces firm with shock and disbelief at the occurrence that had just transpired before them.

“Roxas,” Nemas said somewhat coaxingly. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“Besides foiling a very important plan of yours, no, not really.”

“You arrogant little swine!” Nemas shouted as he threw the cylindrical remote across the room, barely able to contain his anger.

Roxas remained unfazed. “Unfortunately, Nemas, you’ve eluded yourself of the possibilities of the Keyblade.”

“Keyblade?” Nemas laughed, almost as if he were going insane. “Roxas, that Keyblade is no more yours than that pitiful container that you call your existence! You hear me, Roxas? You are nothing!”

“My existence may be meaningless, but it will be enough to be the vessel that will guide Sora to where he will need to be when this charade of yours reaches its final hour.” Roxas replied.

“You talk of things that you do not know, dear Roxas,” Nemas’ voice hissed like a possessed demon. “Do not begin to pretend that you know what Sora’s potential is.”

“I have no intention of enlightening you on my objective, Nemas, but to detain you from making it past this room, that will be enough,” Roxas concluded.

Nemas scoffed in utter disgust. “Remove this pathetic heretic from my sight.”

Like professional assassins receiving the order to execute their next mission, Glenn, Serge and Kid sprinted swiftly and simultaneously toward Roxas, their weapons ready at hand as Kid dove out in front. The young blonde tossed two loose daggers from inside her cloak toward Roxas’ lower torso before disappearing into the back of the line as the trio formed a straight line.

Roxas immediately summoned Oblivion, holding his arm out in front as the two daggers made contact with the Oblivion’s tip and hilt. The impact of the daggers had temporarily stunned Roxas’ arm movement as the vibrations from the blade collision numbed the nerves in his arm for a fraction of a second. Anticipating this drawback, Serge—who was positioned in the middle of the convoy—pulled out in front before disappearing from Roxas’ sight in the blink of an eye. It was the notorious disappearing technique that he had performed on Sora during their first meeting. No longer than a split second later, the blue-haired warrior reappeared behind Roxas, his Masamune ready as he thrust it forward toward Roxas’ back.

The numbing in his arm had still not worn off yet, showing just how quickly Serge transported himself to Roxas’ blindspot, but Roxas quickly countered Serge’s assault as he brought his other arm up and behind his head, summoning his other patented Keyblade, the Oathkeeper as he heard it clash with the head of Serge’s double-sided halberd.

It was then Glenn’s turn to vanish from sight.

Oh no you don’t, Roxas said to himself as he quickly began to spin his body, repelling both Kid and Serge out of their bladed deadlock. Roxas’ eyes remained peeled as he used his rotation to momentarily gain a temporary 360-degree vision of his surroundings. That moment was enough to locate Glenn’s reappearance as the crimson warrior dove with a full-bodied thrust with both his swords. Roxas quickly dodged Glenn’s two Eilanzers, falling backward before taking a cat springed leap off the ground to deliver a forceful scissor kick into the side of Glenn’s ribs.

The crimson warrior grunted from the impact as he rolled off to the side to regroup with his comrades.

Roxas quickly recovered his form as he went back into his stance, now holding both Oblivion and Oathkeeper firmly at his sides.

Both parties seemed unfazed as they took an idle moment to observe their opposition. Roxas smirked with some amusement as he made notice of one of Glenn’s hands pressed against his side, rubbing the spot where Roxas had made an impact.

“You’re a lot better than you look, Nobody,” Glenn commented, rather threateningly.

--

“Cid! Keep her off us!” Yuffie complained as she dodged another one of Larxene’s shock-filled needles. She had been doing so for the past few minutes.

“Stop complaining! I’m doing the best I can!”

“Well try harder!”

“Why don’t you do something about it!” Cid backfired.

“I would if I didn’t have the Sora on my back!” Yuffie argued.

Larxene’s movements were too fast for Cid to keep up with as he continually tried to tail her. However, as quickly as she would launch another barrage of needles, she would disappear, leaving her position virtually undeterminable.

Marluxia found himself in a heated exchange with Leon as the two fighters engaged in heavy combat, each not being able to successfully overpower the other. Leon had even gone so far as to duel Marluxia with his Gunblade revealed in its large blue form.

Yuffie’s difficulty lay in her ability to keep her balance with Sora on her back, while dodging Larxene’s needles and quickly descending down the stairs. Doing these tasks simultaneously was really testing her abilities. A needle which managed to slip by Yuffie’s radar came as a warning a little too late as the young shinobi caught it in her peripheral vision. It was far too close, Yuffie thought. She wasn’t going to be able to dodge it!

“Yuffie!” Kairi grunted as she leapt in front of needle’s trajectory, feeling it pierce her arm. “Ugh!”

“Kairi!” Yuffie called out.

“Argh! Damn you!” Cid yelled as he continued his attempt to chase the blonde haired Nobody, waving his Partisan wildly about.

“Keep moving!” Leon managed to command after knocking back Marluxia.

“Leon!” Riku called as they spotted the descending trio up ahead running frantically for their lives with the two Organization XIII members hot on their trail.

“Riku! Go assist Cid with Larxene!” King Mickey ordered as he summoned his Kingdom Key, dashing straight for Marluxia.

--

Roxas had to end this quickly. Taking on all three of Nemas’ crimson warriors at the same time turned out to be a far more difficult task than Roxas imagined it would be. While he managed to inflict quite a bit of damage on each of them, it consumed his stamina more quickly than he anticipated it to. If the battle continued any longer, Roxas would surely lose out in the endurance game. He had to somehow find a way to completely incapacitate the three of them before he lost all of his energy. There was only one solution.

Roxas’ stance suddenly changed as he bents his knees, one leg hanging forward while the other tucked in toward his body as he lifted his Keyblades into an L-position. Closing his eyes briefly, he began to focus all of his remaining energy into his blades and into his arms and legs. The process had eventually produced a shimmering white aura around the Key of Destiny as Roxas felt a fierce amount of power build up from inside him. He knew this power would only last a moment as his body was far too weak of a container to effectively harness its complete strength, but Roxas had very little time to start worrying about his safety. This entire situation was beyond anyone’s idea of safety and Sora’s survival depended on Roxas getting through the predicament at hand.

Roxas would not accept failure.

A bright streak of light ripped through the air as Roxas burst out on the offense, golden silhouettes of his body being left behind after each successful blow on the bodies of Glenn, Serge and Kid.

Roxas would survive.

Each new silhouette overlapped the others as Glenn, Serge and Kid felt each of Roxas’ attacks slowly bring them closer and closer to their limit.

The Key of Destiny ended his assault instantly after watching Glenn plummet harshly into the ground, blatantly defeated by Roxas’ combative superiority. The Key Bearer’s Nobody wasted no time to idle in the company of Nemas as he immediately sprinted toward the stairway. The cosmic gateway would not remain open any much longer; they had to hurry.

Nemas stood both surprised and excited at the sight he had just witnessed. “That was… the Mirage Flash Step,” the mad scientist said to himself. His face was filled with disbelief and elation. “The Mirage Flash Step! Haha! Yes, I understand now, Roxas! I completely understand now! Remarkable!”

And so, in the presence of his three incapacitated subordinates, and with the silence of the now abandoned Ferrington Chamber, Nemas amused himself with his own laughter, content and filled with enlightenment by the performance and the new found knowledge Roxas had left for him.

--

“There’s the exit!” Kairi announced as she pointed to the cosmic gateway up ahead. Its border began flickering uncontrollably.

“We don’t have much time! Hurry!” Yuffie explained as she readjusted her grip on Sora’s legs before summoning the last wave of strength within her. They were almost home free.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Larxene cackled as she began a speed dash toward Yuffie, concluding her to be the most vulnerable target of the group.

Her assault would be ended prematurely as a bright ray of light burst out from the top of the stairs, aimed directly at Larxene’s figure as she screamed in agony from the power of the blast.

The group looked up from where the source came from. In the distance, the group could see a familiar figure racing down the steps, two Keyblades in each of his hands, exhaustion evidently leaking out of every pore of his body.

“Roxas!” Kairi yelled.

“Go go go!” Roxas repeated as he briefly crossed blades with Marluxia before pushing him off to the side; Roxas’ priority of retreating the scene was of much greater importance than defeating the revived Marluxia.

After stalling the final efforts of Marluxia and Larxene with the remaining amount of energy that Roxas could muster, he finally took his turn as the last of the group to jump through the cosmic gateway before it completely sealed off and closed its doors on anyone left behind.

The group found themselves back at the barren blue-stoned canyon where they had originally traveled from in their search for Nemas. None of them had ever fathomed the day that they’d appreciate seeing the lifeless scenery again. But given the epidemic that they had just survived—with everyone intact—the familiar had never seemed so friendly. From first impressions, the group’s collective heavy panting in a seemingly uneventful place such as the one they were in would come off as a surreal juxtaposition to someone like Merlin if he were to come along and witness them as they were now.
“I’m getting too old for this,” Cid wheezed before sprawling out on the stone floor below him.

“Is everyone alright?” Leon inquired, making sure everyone was present and accounted for.

“How’s Sora?” Kairi asked, looking over the young brunette’s body. His hair was a complete mess and there were discoloured parts along his arms and legs—probably his chest and back as well—from the voltage attacks that were delivered all throughout his body.

“He’ll be out for a while,” Roxas answered, leaning wearily against the stonewall that used to be the portal entrance. “His body and mind has gone through a lot, but he’ll be fine.”

The group stared at Roxas perplexingly. In the midst of the action, the group never really got to finally express their complete and utter confusion about what Roxas did and how and why he managed to play an integral part of their successful escape. Initially seeming to be an enemy, then suddenly become the key element—no pun intended—to their escape, it was a situation where no speculation could ever suffice as a possible explanation. Only the solid truth could appease the bewildered minds of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, and that solid truth could only be spoken by the source of the confusion.

Roxas closed his eyes, sighing lethargically. “Right. I have some explaining to do, don’t I?”
Click to expand...

Now if you'll excuse me. I need an aspirin and a long nap.

DarknessKingdom · Mar 28, 2007

Bravo! Marvelous! Encore!

Bloody fantastic! I thought Roxas had turned against Sora and Co for a minute there...really awesome. You portrayed Roxas perfectly and I didn't expect you to bring in Zack as one of Nemas' henchmen. The description of the combat was superb and again, you displayed all of the characters perfectly.

Fine job, dude, fine job indeed.

draik88 · Mar 29, 2007

...FRIKIN AMAZING!!!!

It was perfect!...Better than perfect! I expected something really good, especially from how much time and effort you've put into this chapter...BUT NOTHING THIS MARVELOUS!

Just a few things I noticed though...

At one part I believe you wrote "Glenn" when I think you meant to write "Leon"...

“Yuffie,” Glenn growled. “Why weren’t you with the group like I expected you to be.”

“I’m sorry, Leon,” Yuffie looked down shamefully.
Click to expand...

and I noticed another part too...but I'm too over-whelmed to remember it...^^

...while the Savage Nymph waved coyly at the younger boy, winking flirtatiously.
Click to expand...

...I never expected THAT from Larxene... XD XD XD

Thank You SOOO mcuh for posting it so quickly after my question!

P.S. I'm glad my message made you feel all fuzzy X3

*sits back and waits a long time for the next chapter...*

Soushirei · Mar 29, 2007

LOL! Thanks for pointing that out. It was atrociously late when I was writing that entire scene (around 3am-4am) so I guess things just slipped my mind. I, myself, after reading it again after I posted it saw a lot of things I can correct, but to think I'd miss something that bad. XD

Thanks again, DarknessKingdom, draik88! It was great to get your comments and feedback about the fic so far! =D

I've thought of something a little neat, I was thinking about it when I was still around Chapter 5, and I think this is a nice place to try to get it going.

Sometime (hopefully in a few days) I'm gonna produce a little Pseudo-OST for this fic. Volume 1 will consist of some tracks for Chapters 1-10.

What is the Pseudo-OST? Basically, as I was writing this fic, I had my iTunes on and every now and then a song would come up that I felt really fit with the scene I was writing. And so, I thought perhaps I could make a fun little Pseudo-OST collection for the fic (Volume 1).

Most of them are all OSTs from anime, so many of you may recognize some of the tracks once I post them up. I'll probably archive them as a .rar and change their titles and file info for professionalism, but I'll be sure to add a little .txt file in the .rar containing the real titles and composers and the anime it's from.

Thanks again! <3 you all. XD

EDIT: Oh, this thread doesn't have to die if you don't want it to. I'm still open for comments and feedback from anything in the fic so far, and of course questions if you have any.

Near · Apr 2, 2007

WOW. AMAZING. AWESOME. EXTRAORDINARY.
THERE ARE SO MANY WORDS THAT I COULD USE TO SAY HOW INDREDIBLE THAT WAS.

I mean, the whole thing! WOW!
This is better than most books i've read, seriously. Keep writing!

DarknessKingdom · Apr 2, 2007

Let ロクサス take a break, CarbuncleGem. ロクサス needs to cool down after his masterpiece XD

Near · Apr 2, 2007

XD, ok. He does deserve a break. Sorry.

Wait... When are we going to see the next chapters?
I can't wait.

Soushirei · Apr 2, 2007

I can't really answer that right now. I haven't even solidifed the outline for the second half of the fic.

I'm really bad at staying within my expected timelines, but I'd *like* to have this entire thing done before summer hits. But I'll have to see how that goes, and I don't like making promises.

And don't worry about your last post, XD. I like the enthusiasm, and thanks for the support.

Misty · Apr 2, 2007

Very awesome. Too great for words.

Although reading this has taken about 4 hours. O_O.

JellyBeing · Apr 6, 2007

Wow... I'm pretty much speechless. I <3 your story. It was dramatic, fun, enjoyable, interesting, and had some comic relief between some serious parts. Bravo I say! Continue to write because you are truely are talented!

>Keyblader< · Apr 6, 2007

OMG!!!! This is AWESOME man!!!!! Words cannot describe the awsomeness of this fic. When is the next chapter coming out? I know you need a break, but please make it a brief one (not that i'm torturing you :)) so that you can continue writing.

Ratchet · Apr 6, 2007

Wow, yet again you have surpassed yourself. The story is awesome and so dramatic.
You really are a master writer.

Xegreny · Apr 6, 2007

Thats got to be one of the best fan fics ive ever read :D

Keep up the good work!

*waits for next chapter*

Soushirei · Apr 6, 2007

Thanks everyone! I'm glad that this fic is still being read even now. ^^

>Keyblader<: XD I know, I want to get this fic done as soon as possible, but I refuse to rush it and do a job of any less quality than I would hope it to be. I know you understand this, so I know you'll be patient. ;D

Like I mentioned before, I'm not really going to start the outline until I've gotten through Final Mix+ so I feel fully prepared to make use of any new details that have come up in the game. I still don't know when this fic will reach its completion, but I hope I have all of your loyalties on this fic and will continue to anticipate it.

Thanks again, everyone! You're the best. =)

Mr. Mime · Apr 10, 2007

A-Amazing...I just took a breath after that chapter...AND I CRIED RIGHT AFTER. IT'S OVER! I AM NEVER EVER GOING TO SEE ANOTHER CHAPTER AS LONG AS I LIVE! (Or unti the next chapter comes out...which ever comes first...'Kal ho Na ho') I am definately sending this in to Square Enix, and they are going to pay you for this! xP

ObiLaws · Apr 12, 2007

Hooked

I'm hooked too. I've only read to Chapter 4, but I'm really immersed in this story. Can't wait to read it all the way through! Good job, man! The only thing that seems out of place so far (how far I've read) is that, and this is mentioned a lot in the first KH game, the characters from all the worlds went to Disney Castle, yet in the first KH game Sora wants certain characters to come with him from their worlds but Donald always repremands him and says "But that would be medling!", so it doesn't seem true to the story that all the characters were at one spot.

Soushirei · Apr 13, 2007

ObiLaws said: ↑

I'm hooked too. I've only read to Chapter 4, but I'm really immersed in this story. Can't wait to read it all the way through! Good job, man! The only thing that seems out of place so far (how far I've read) is that, and this is mentioned a lot in the first KH game, the characters from all the worlds went to Disney Castle, yet in the first KH game Sora wants certain characters to come with him from their worlds but Donald always repremands him and says "But that would be medling!", so it doesn't seem true to the story that all the characters were at one spot.
Click to expand...

You know, you're right. It was a rule that people shouldn't meddle in the affairs of other worlds.

However, my only justification for this is that witnessing a wedding in another world isn't really 'interfering' with the affairs of other worlds, rather, they've become spectators. In KH1, Donald reprimands Sora when he wanted to help Alice, because by helping her, he'd be disrupting the world order. Basically he'd be interrupting the natural flow of an event that would've otherwise not happened had he cut in. Donald's wedding is slightly different from this manner as despite the Disney character's audience it would've happened anyway.

I also just think Donald deserved some special treatment and was 'somehow' granted a special circumstance for his wedding. The Disney characters all returned back to their home worlds the following day. Having the knowledge that there are other worlds shouldn't be an issue; King Triton knew about the Keyblade and the fact that there are other worlds, so I'm sure it's fine that others know that as well.

On the topic of meddling, Leon sure seemed happy to have Sora 'meddle' in the affairs of Hollow Bastion in both KH games. XD, so I think the idea of 'meddling' in other worlds probably isn't as severe was it was portrayed initially in the game series.

But thanks, I know it's something rather odd to open up a fic with, given all that's happened, but it's not a focal part of the fic, so I hope you can overlook that. XD

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