Thirty Minutes

30 minutes a blink of an eye

30 minutes to alter our lives

30 minutes to make up my mind

30 minutes to decide

Sora peered out the window of the gummi ship. It was almost amazing what everything had come down to. He wondered if things would have been different if they never wanted to leave the islands.

The war with the heartless was drawing to a head. There would be one final battle that would decide which side would win. And Sora had to fight his best friend, Riku.

"Riku." The name left his lips as no more than a whisper. The very thought of what he'd have to do broke his heart. It wasn't fair! Riku was his closest friend, always had been ever since they were little. And now… now he'd have to be ready for what would happen.

He knew it wasn't really Riku he'd be fighting. But Ansem was still using Riku's body, probably knowing that was Sora's one weakness.

Sora heard shuffling steps behind him, Leon. "You have thirty minutes to make your final decision Sora." The older man said sternly.

Leon and Cloud were much more experienced than Sora, yet it was still up to him what they were doing. All of this was starting to get to the young boy.

The future of the worlds rested on his shoulders.

Sora followed after Leon to the meeting hall. This was Cid's gummi and it was amazing how large it was.

A few rules had to be broken if they wanted to win this thing. One such was taking people from their respected worlds.

Around an oval table sat all Sora's friends. Tarzan, Hercules, Aladdin, Jack, Peter, Beast, Cloud, Leon, Yuffei, Aerith, and of course Donald and Goofy. The only one who wasn't there was Aerial, for more than obvious reasons.

Sora took his seat at the head of the table. Silence falling over the group. He studied each person closely. Everyone there had been through so much. And they were all willing to push themselves farther, to save the universe.

"We'll go." Sora said. "It's going to be a hard battle, but I'm sure you all realized that. They're going to throw everything they have at us and we can't back down at all. Show no mercy for those with no hearts."

Solemn nods signaled their agreements.

Sora left the room after that.

"Sora!" Kairi ran towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He didn't respond to the gesture.

"Kairi." He said, voice strained.

"Oh Sora. This has to be hard on you."

You have no idea

"I'm managing."

"He would forgive you Sora. You know that right?"

Forgive me? I might have to kill him! How could he forgive me?

"I know."

"It's going to be all right Sora, you'll see."

No Kairi. It will never be all right. Everything's going to change in thirty minutes.

"I know."

She flashed a reassuring smile before bounding off to somewhere else.

We could lose.

We could fail

In the moment it takes

To make plans

Or mistakes.

The battle would take place on a deserted planet. Hercules and Aladdin jokingly named it "End of the Cosmos" because that was the look it gave off. Nothing as far as the eye could see.

They decided that they should go into this battle prepared, armor and everything. Though Sora protested greatly to the metal suit they stuffed him in.

Heartless lined up maybe ten feet infront of them. Everything from Shadows to Defenders. All were waiting for something, some signal.

So they would wait too.

30 minutes to whisper your name.

30 minutes to shoulder the blame.

30 minutes to finally decide.

Sora searched the sea of black for a trace of the familiar silver haired boy that he knew would be there, somewhere. He couldn't help but feel guilty. If only he had been able to grab Riku's hand. If only they had stayed together.

"If only, if only, the moon speaks no reply; Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by. Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly. Fly high, my baby bird, my angel, my only." He recited quietly.

Hercules caught it though. The half god smiled, "that's pretty. Where's it from?"

Sora gave a quick smile. " A book Riku and me use to read."

Hercules nodded, eyes wandering to the enemies ahead.

Five minutes passed by slowly. The signal came and a battle to end all battles commenced.

Every once in a while Sora would attack a Shadow or Soldier. But he was saving his strength for someone else.

The familiar face finally broke through the sea of darkness. Riku's lips broke into a thing grin. Yet a pain deep in Sora's heart told him it wasn't Riku.

"So you've finally come to play." Riku/Ansem smirked. The pain Sora felt as Riku's voice came from that mouth. It was so hard to do this. And Ansem knew it.

But he did it anyway.

Sora summoned the Diving Rose keyblade, crouching into the familiar attack pose.

Ansem summoned his dark keyblade, adopting Riku's pose.

And they fought.

The heavy clash of metal against metal temporarily stopped the others from fighting, each turning in the direction of the two young boys. Then they returned to their fights, more vigorous than before.

Ansem's face twisted into an odd sort of twisted grin as he looked down at Sora. "You should give up boy. You'll never win against me." He taunted, still Riku's voice was being used.

Sora pushed the keyblade with everything he was worth. It was enough to cause Ansem to stumble, leaving him time to power up Ragnarok.

The fighting continued for hours on end, neither side letting up in the lest bit. It was hard, grueling, and long. Sora was beginning to feel his limitation show through.

He looked up into the face of his old friend. Empty aquamarine eyes stared back. Not Riku's eyes at all. His mind noticed numbly. It helps ease the pain a little, making all this a little easier.

The keyblade started humming suddenly, signaling a keyhole near by. The last key hole. This gave Sora an idea.

With a sudden renewed energy, Sora pushed Ansem backwards, harder than before.

Ansem fell all the way, foot stuck in a hole (which Sora was thankful for). Giving Sora enough time to run away from the battlefield, following the silent song of the keyblade.

It turned out to be next to a waterfall, or what was a waterfall long ago. Probably when something was still inhabiting the world. Now it was a dried up riverbed. The outline of a keyhole appeared in sky blue.

"Sora!" Riku's voice floated over to him. He had his head down, and was depending on the dark keyblade to support himself.

Sora decided to tread cautiously. "Riku?"

"When.. you hit Ansem… I was able to regain my body." He looked at Sora, eyes half closed, "help me Sora." He pleaded, voice weak.

And Sora broke. "Riku!" he called, running to his friend. He wrapped his arm around Riku's waist, helping him over to the keyhole. Sora still had to seal that after all.

Riku looked at it. "This is it isn't it?" he asked, referring to the keyhole, "Sora. I'll be fine for a few. Go and seal it."

Sora nodded, stepping away from Riku. He started raising his keyblade when he felt a pain in his left shoulder. The dark keyblade's tip was poking through his skin. Blood dripping off the very end of it. It was removed, Sora fell to his knees, turning bleary eyes to Riku he asked "Why?"

"You are gullible than I thought," Ansem sneered in his Riku disguise, "to think that weak boy you care so much about could over throw me. Beware Keyblade Master, here is where you met your end." And he raised his dark keyblade high over Sora's head.

Swift movements blocked the attack. Cloud looked over his shoulder at the younger boy. "Seal it now Sora!" he shouted, pushing Ansem back.

Sora twisted around, ignoring the pain, and pointed the keyblade at the silhouette. A thin thread of light connected the two and the undeniable sound of a door locking was heard. And everything around them was caught in a flurry of wind.

Ansem screamed, and as Sora watched horror stricken, Ansem's soul was ripped from Riku's body, flying away in the wind.

Riku fell lifelessly to the ground. Sora managed to get over to the boy, he hugged him with his good arm. "I'm not letting you go this time!" he shouted over the storm of sand and wind.

His left shoulder was stinging as sand whipped past him, still he held on to Riku. He couldn't see where Cloud had gone, or if he was still here. He couldn't see anything anymore.

After what seemed like an eternity the sandstorm subsided. Sora moved his hand from over his eyes, a bright sun burning down on him and Riku.

The distinct sound of water off to their right, seagulls to their left, and soft sand underneath them.

The unforgettable call of his friends in a chorus of "Sora!" followed closely by Riku groaning awake.

Sora looked outwards, and barely saw the girl in the yellow jumper running towards them. His heart soared upward. Selphie. Right behind her was two other familiar people, Tidus, Wakka. Sora didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Hey you lazy bum!" he looked up to see Kairi smiling down at him. "You did it Sora. You brought us home."

"Sora?" he looked down at Riku who was trying to pull himself into a siting position. Sora helped him. Blue eyes met aquamarine. "Thank you." Riku said, face splitting into an honest smile. "I would have been lost if you hadn't been there."

So there they all were, on their play island, discussing what had happen while they were all separated.

Selphie's eyes widened as Sora relayed his story. "So you saved us all?" she asked, still not believing him.

Sora nodded. "Wow. That must have been pretty intense. I really don't remember where I was, it was like I was asleep." Tidus and Wakka chimed in agreement.

"So everyone has returned to their own world?"

"Yes."

"Even Sora?"

"Yes."

"I'm kind of sad that I never got to meet him."

"We're all sad we never got to say good bye to him your majesty."

"Oh don't be Donald. Your adventures together may be over for now. But you will all be called upon once again, I can feel it."

"What about the others your highness? Like Leon, Yuffei, Aerith, and Cloud? Will we ever get to see them?"

"Of course Goofy! You'll all be needed for the next incident. And I'm sure you'll all come away from it grandly."

The three exchanged smiles.

"So where's this keyblade at anyway?" Tidus demanded. Sora had fully recovered and now he wanted to see this weapon.

Sora looked sheepishly over at Riku. He didn't even know if he could summon it again. Riku nodded to go ahead, so he tried.

And he did. The kingdom key lay familiar to him. Tidus's eyes went wide. "Wow!"

Wakka leaned against the tree. "Too bad you won't be needing it again ya?"

Riku and Sora exchanged looks. " I wouldn't bet on that." Riku said. "I have a feeling we'll all be needed next time though."

"And we'll make the decisions. Together."

~Owari~