Kingdom Hearts: The Four Kings

by giuocob

Sora, Kairi, and Riku are seperated. Each individually learns about four evil kings, and each sets out to destroy this new threat while looking for their friends.

RIKU It was a gorgeous day on Destiny Islands. The green foliage shone brilliantly in the sun, and cast a beautiful reflection in the water. The ocean was a flawless blue, and crystal clear, and the sand on its shore glinted with sunlight.

Two months had passed since Sora and Riku had defeated Xemnas and saved the world. Now, Riku sat on a log overlooking the sea, engulfed in pure tranquility.

Suddenly, Sora ran out of the house. He hopped over the log with the agility of a young child, and rested his head on it.

After a short silence, Riku spoke. "Nothing's changed, huh?" he said pleasantly.

"Nope," said Sora. "Nothing will."

"What a small world," said Riku, half to himself.

"But part of one that's much bigger," Sora replied.

"Yeah," said Riku, and there was another silence.

The two friends had talked about their long adventures away from Destiny Islands many times, but a new question popped into his head. "Hey, Riku," he said. "What do you think it was…the door to the light?"

Riku laughed and hopped to his feet. "This," he said, pointing Sora's heart.

Sora placed his hand over his chest. "This?" he said, mystified.

"Yeah," said Riku with a smile. "It's always closer than you think." Sora thought for a moment, and broke into a wide grin.

"Sora! Riku!" cried an excited voice from behind them. Kairi came out of the house, holding something in her hand.

"Hey…what's up?" asked Sora nonchalantly.

"Look!" said Kairi. She brandished a bottle at them. It contained a letter, with King Mickey's seal on it."

"From the King?" said Sora eagerly. Riku sucked in his breath. He had not talked with his friend since they had defeated Xemnas, and he desperately wanted to know how things were going. Sora took the bottle, pulled out the cork, and unrolled the letter.

Sora and Kairi peered over his shoulder. "Read it aloud," said Kairi under her breath.

"First of all," Sora read, "I would like to give my greetings to all three of you – Sora, Riku, and Kairi. However, this letter is for Riku's ears only. I will be able to talk to all of you in time, but this is urgent. If Sora or Kairi finds this, make sure it falls into Riku's hands, and don't read it yourself."

"Well, I guess I'd better read it," said Riku. He was secretly elated at the personal attention Mickey was giving him, but he did not show it to his friends. They were obviously disappointed that they could not know what was happening, and Riku had no intention of sharpening the pain. He took the letter from Sora, and walked off a distance. Sora and Kairi remained behind, talking softly with each other.

The letter was short, but it shocked him. 'Ansem the Wise is alive,' it said. 'When he opened Kingdom Hearts and released the hearts, he was imprisoned inside it. It was he who showed us the door inside. He can escape, but he needs help. I will send Chip and Dale to you whenever I can, so be ready. And don't tell your friends that I'm coming.'

Riku remembered his lasts moments with Ansem well. The explosion and enormous flash of light shone clearly in his mind. But he had never once entertained the thought that his friend might be alive! Riku read the letter through twice more, his eyes rooted to the page with amazement. Ansem had imprisoned himself inside Kingdom Hearts? Had he been the one who opened the door of light to Sora and Riku?

Whatever the details were, Riku was very fond of the man he knew as Diz, and he was willing to go to great lengths to save him. At first, he could not fathom why Mickey had asked him to leave Sora and Kairi out of his intelligence, but he decided that Mickey didn't want to deal with them. 'It's not like they've ever done anything incredibly important,' he thought to himself. He was full of pride at his accomplishments, and did not know what hardships Sora had gone through as well.

From then on, Riku spent all his time sitting on the shore, gazing into the sky. He ate his meals there, he even slept there. He completely ignored Sora and Kairi, answering their repeated questions with an abrupt "I'm waiting for something." He spent three days in this solitude, until one day, just as the sun was rising, the Gummi Ship came.

SORA Sora had gotten very little sleep for the past four days, for his worrying about Riku. Ever since Riku had received the letter from King Mickey, he had been avoiding all contact with his Sora. He never left his seat by the ocean, even asking Sora to bring food out to him every morning. Sora had never seen Riku in this state, and thought something was horribly wrong. He had tried to ask him what he was waiting for, and what the letter had said, but for the most part he was completely ignored.

One morning, Sora got up before sunrise and went out to the beach. He was determined to do anything he could to find out what was wrong with his friend. He ran outside, expecting to find Riku still asleep on the sand. So, he was astonished when he saw the Gummi Ship floating above him.

Sora had not seen Chip and Dale since his final trip to Twilight Town. He could not fathom why they were here, but he ran to the ship to greet them. Then he stopped short. Riku was on the ship, looking at him through the window. "Riku!" he cried, aghast. "Where are you going?"

"Stay there, Sora!" he called. "The King has summoned me to perform a very important task. I'll be back soon, I promise you. Wait here and watch after Kairi until I get back."

"What are you doing? When will you be back?" Sora yelled, but the Gummi Ship was already out of earshot. He watched in awe as the ship he had known so well flew into the sky and disappeared from sight.

"Sora! What just happened?" called a voice from behind him. Kairi had come out of the house, awakened by the noise. "What were you screaming about? Wait…where's Riku?"

Sora did not answer. He could not believe that Riku had left the island without a word to anyone. "Sora, where's Riku?" cried Kairi, sounding panicked.

"I don't know!" Sora gasped. "He just…left! In the Gummi Ship!"

"What?" screamed Kairi. "Without a word to us? What is he doing?" Suddenly, the entire island and the sky around it were pitched into complete darkness.

"Sora! Sora! Where are you?" cried Kairi. Sora spun around, trying to find her voice, but he couldn't see anything. Then he remembered his keyblade and called it to him. The island was suddenly illuminated, and he saw Kairi, running around in panic. But more startling was the gigantic black figure that stood in front of him. It was a man, over eight feet tall, clad from head to toe in magnificent black armor, and wielding an enormous sword, the blade as black as night.

"Who are you?" said Sora. He brandished his keyblade at the man. "What are you doing here?"

The warrior said nothing. He lunged at Sora, swinging his gigantic sword over his head effortlessly, preparing to strike. Sora raised his keyblade to defend himself, but the force of the blow knocked him to the ground. Panting, he repeated, "Who are you?"

The strange warrior merely laughed. Not so strong without your friend, are you?" he said. He leapt to one side, swinging his sword out in front of him. Sora quickly leapt to his feet and hopped over the deadly blade. Then he attacked. He ran up to the figure, and jumped over his head, striking out at the head as he flew through the air. The man leapt backward, leaving Sora to crash to the ground in front of him.

"What do you want from me?" Sora pleaded. He tried to get up, but his leg was throbbing in pain. He had landed on it when he fell. "I never did anything to you!"

"I want you dead," said the mysterious warrior. He jumped forward, placed his foot squarely on Sora's chest and raised his sword, preparing to stab him through the head.

Sora weakly raised his keyblade, although he knew it would do no good. He heard Kairi screaming in the distance. "Help!" he cried, to no person in particular. Then there was a brilliant flash of light, and he saw nothing more.

RIKU The Gummi Ship sped through empty space, heading to Disney Castle. Chip and Dale had greeted Riku on their arrival, but they retreated to the cockpit, leaving Riku to himself.

Riku felt some remorse for what he had done to Sora. His panicked expression shone clearly in Riku's mind, and he wondered if he should have told Sora that he was in no danger. 'What if,' he thought, alarmed, 'Sora comes looking for me?' But he soon dismissed that thought as impossible. There was no way for Sora to leave Destiny Islands without help, and he had no way to contact anybody. Besides, he would be back very soon and explain everything.

Suddenly, Riku realized that he was incredibly tired. He had had almost no sleep the past three days, in his excitement to meet Mickey again. So he relaxed in his chair, and drifted off to sleep.

KAIRI Kairi stood rooted to the spot, her eyes fixed on the spot where Sora had been seconds earlier. She had seen Sora on the ground, heard his plea for help, and watched the armored man's sword cleave through him like butter. But his body had vanished!

The warrior looked at the empty patch of dirt, his face livid with rage. "Damn you, Merlin!" he screamed to the winds. "You cheap, dirty wizard! Why didn't Zemnark kill you when he had the chance?" Then he turned, and saw Kairi trembling on the sand. "You!" he said. "Who are you?"

Kairi opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She was completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the last five minutes. Riku was gone, Sora was gone, and she was about to be killed by a man that had come out of nowhere. She was incapable of speech and movement.

"Fine," said the warrior, disgusted. He raised his hand, and several Heartless appeared out of nowhere. "Have at her," he said smirking, and disappeared.

The shadows moved up toward Kairi. Suddenly, she found that she could move. She ran, faster than she ever had in her life, trying to find somewhere to hide from the Heartless. But then she remembered her last encounter with these beings. Riku had given her…a keyblade. And she had slain dozens of them.

But nobody was here to give it to her…then again, did Sora need someone to give him his keyblade? No, he summoned it whenever he needed it. Why couldn't she do the same thing?

Tentatively, Kairi raised her arm and outstretched her hand. Nothing happened. "Come on!" she whispered frantically. Still, nothing happened, and the Heartless were almost on top of her. "Sora!" she cried. "What do I do?" And then she thought of Sora – his clown-like appearance, his wide heart, and their long, long friendship.

Then there was a crackling of sparks, and the keyblade materialized in her hand. The hilt was adorned with flowers, but it was a keyblade, a deadly weapon.

Now the shadows flung themselves at her. Kairi raised the blade, eyed it for a moment, and lunged forward at the heartless. Her arm handled the weapon like an expert, necessity teaching her the practice. She immediately killed two of them that were already airborne, stabbed at one directly in front of her, and charged into the rest of them. She swung left and right, up and down, spinning in circles, jumping over shadows on the ground, killing everything that came near her.

And suddenly, there were no more left. She sat down, panting, contemplating what she had just done. The slaying of so many heartless, all by herself, gave her a great sense of pride. But soon she remembered what had just happened. Riku had left in Sora's ship, and Sora had been stabbed by that mysterious fighter. Was he dead? No, he couldn't be…if he was dead, why would the warrior have been so angry? And why had he mentioned Merlin? There were so many things that Kairi didn't know, but she knew one thing – she had to find Sora.

But what could she do? There was no way to get off the island except through the door – the door. Kairi got up and ran to the secret passage behind the waterfall. The door was still there, a foreboding portal to unknown darkness. Before, Kairi had been sucked in, and her heart had been taken by the dark. But now she had a keyblade. From what she had been told by Sora, that would protect her.

Kairi took a few deep breaths, and walked up to the edifice. There was no handle! She pushed with all her might, but the door would not move an inch. After minutes of shoving, she still could not budge it. At last she stopped, exhausted, and collected her thoughts. Then she stood up again, backed away from the door, and pointed her keyblade at the door. A beam of bright light emanated from the tip and splashed against the cool wood. The door trembled for a second, then burst wide open. A howling gale immediately burst forth, sucking Kairi into the blackness beyond. She brandished her keyblade in front of her face as her wind pulled her over the threshold, and into the darkness. Her last thought was of Sora as the door slammed shut behind her, and engulfed her in complete blackness.

SORA Sora awakened to find himself in a soft, feathery bed. He was in a small room littered with books, full of strange mechanical devices, with a computer at one end. He didn't know exactly where he was, but the room looked vaguely familiar.

"It's about time you woke up," said a voice from beside him.

Sora immediately recognized the voice. "Merlin!" he said. He tried to sit up, but a jolt of sharp pain shot through his leg, and he lay down again, gasping.

Merlin looked concerned. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Sora, grimacing. I just fought this gigantic warrior in black armor, and –"

"I know what you have just gone through," said Merlin. "Tell me, where are you hurt?"

"My leg," said Sora.

"Well, in that case, it's certainly fixable." said Merlin brightly, pointing his wand at Sora. He felt a brief warmth flow through, and his leg ceased throbbing. It was healed.

"Now," said Merlin, "I know you have questions. I'll assume, first of all, that you're wondering as to the identity of your assailant?"

"I asked him why he was attacking me," said Sora. "He wouldn't tell me anything."

Merlin paused for a minute, collecting his thoughts, and said, "That man is an ancient monarch. He was one of the four evil kings who threatened to destroy the world in the old Keyblade War. Afterwards, he –"

"Keyblade War?" said Sora, astonished. "What is that?"

"Even I know almost nothing about it," sighed Merlin. "But in ancient times, there were thousands of keyblade masters. These four kings, using the power of darkness, had the ability to take over the world. All that was in their way was the keyblade. The four of them amassed an enormous army and engaged the keyblade masters in war. Fortunately, they lost, but the kings were not killed. They were sealed inside Kingdom Hearts, and stayed there for thousands and thousands of years.

"But recently, they were set free. You witnessed Ansem releasing all the hearts from Kingdom Hearts? Well, the four ancient kings were released as well. But not all of them. Some of their power remains locked in Kingdom Hearts, where it will stay until Kingdom Hearts is destroyed. But, as you have seen, their power is still astonishing. You would have died back there on your island, had I not saved you.

"These four kings still want to take over the world. And once again, only the keyblade stands in their way. Only this time, there are only four of the keyblade masters, and they will do whatever they can to kill them."

"Wait a minute," said Sora, "Four keyblade masters? That's me, Riku, the King, and who else?"

"You don't know already?" said Merlin. "Well, of course you don't. She probably doesn't know herself. The fourth keyblade master is Kairi."

"Kairi?!" said Sora incredulously. "Since when has she had a keyblade?" But then he remembered. "Oh, yes," he said. "Riku gave it to her in the Nobodies' stronghold. Hey wait…" An alarming thought came into his head. "If Kairi is a keyblade master, and these kings are trying to kill them, does that mean they want to kill her, too?"

"Ah," said Merlin. "Unfortunately, yes."

Sora immediately panicked. "So she's dead already, then!" he cried. "She was right there when I disappeared! That guy couldn't have missed her!"

"Think clearly!" snapped Merlin. "How would the kings know that she was a keyblade master? She has never been able to summon the keyblade to herself. If she had been carrying her keyblade at the time, true, she would be dead. The king might have killed her anyway, out of spite. But it's much more likely that she was taken prisoner by him."

"Prisoner?" said Sora. "What will they do with her?"

"Try to get information out of her, probably. The same thing they're doing with Yuffie and Aeris, I'd imagine."

"Yuffie and Aeris?" cried Sora, alarmed. "You mean they've been taken prisoner too?!"

"Yes," said Merlin sorrowfully. "One of the kings came here. They somehow knew that you had been here and talked with us. Leon tried to fight back, so…they killed him. They captured Yuffie and Aeris. Then they tried to come after me, but I conjured a shield around myself, so they gave up and left with their prisoners."

"I'll find them," said Sora bravely. He was beginning to fall back into his adventuresome self. "I'll find Kairi, and Yuffie and Aeris. Do you have any idea where you can find them?"

"Yes," said Merlin. "In Yen Sid's tower, in Twilight Town. You've been there before, I presume? Well, the four kings took the tower by force. Yen Sid and his comrades fled, and that beautiful tower has become a pinnacle of darkness." He sighed again. "Unfortunately, the ancient kings have sealed off all the roads to Twilight Town that you opened in your quest to defeat Xemnas. You'll have to find another way to get there. What you're going to do, I cannot fathom, but I'm sure you'll discover a path.

"But I'm afraid I can't permit you to leave alone. You're going to have to find someone to fight with. You won't stand a chance alone if you run into one of those kings again, but you just might survive if you have help."

"Donald and Goofy," said Sora immediately. "They'll help me, I'm sure."

"I can send you to the Disney Castle, then," said Merlin. "Do you really want to go through another dangerous adventure?"

"Of course I do," said Sora. "Kairi's either dead or in the clutches of those kings, and I won't rest until I find her."

"Then lay back. You're about to go to sleep again." Sora obediently rested his head on the soft mattress. Merlin waved his hands over Sora's head, and he immediately felt himself become extremely drowsy. Within seconds, he was in deep pleasant sleep, full of dreams. Most of them were about Kairi.

KAIRI Kairi felt as though she were being sucked down a wind tunnel. She was moving extremely fast, yet there was no noise anymore, and still the inexorable darkness. The unpleasant memories came to her quickly. Two years before, she had blown along for only a few seconds, when a hand had been placed over her heart, and she had immediately blacked out.

But this time, there was no hand. Instead, a terrifying pair of gigantic yellow eyes stared at her, less than a foot from her face. She yelped in terror, and instinctively swung her Keyblade out. It struck soft flesh. The pair of eyes roared in pain, and immediately retreated.

Now, dozens of these eyes appeared all around her, moving along with her, glaring at her, but staying out of her reach. Kairi had never been this frightened in all her life, and there was nothing she could do about the creatures. She just flew along through the impeccable darkness.

Suddenly, there was a flash of brilliant light, of all colors. Kairi abruptly stopped moving, and her feet touched ground. Whipping around, she saw that the eyes belonged to enormous creatures. They looked like normal heartless, but each one was at least twenty feet tall, and each one held a black flame, as black as the darkness she had just passed through.

But she had no reason to be afraid. The creatures began to squirm in agony as soon as the light hit them, and they disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

"Hello, Kairi," said a commanding voice from behind her.

RIKU Riku awakened with a jolt, due to a loud thump which shook the entire ship. Highwind had landed in the hangar at Disney Castle.

He stood up, walked to the now open door, and disembarked. He hardly expected to be greeted by Mickey in person.

"Hello, my friend!" laughed Mickey. "It's been a while!" He jumped in the air at Riku, who energetically swung him around in the air.

"Mickey!" cried Riku. "It's great to see you again!" He surveyed the hangar. "So, this is your home, huh?"

"Nope, just my airport," Mickey chuckled. "My castle is much brighter than this. Come, let me show you!" Riku followed him up a short stairway, and through an open door.

He was now in the middle of a beautiful hedge garden. Sculptures made out of vegetation rose high above his head, and all around were the white walls of an enormous castle. "My courtyard," said Mickey. "Do you like it?"

"It's wonderful!" said Riku "Who made all of these?"

"Minnie is quite a gardener," laughed Mickey. Then he grew more serious. "Riku, I told you in my letter that Ansem is alive and inside Kingdom Hearts, right?"

Riku suddenly remembered his mission. "Yes. You also told me that we could free him. How can we do it?"

"We must destroy Kingdom Hearts," said Mickey softly.

It took a few seconds for that to sink into Riku's head, and then he dismissed it as a joke. "Very funny, Mickey," he laughed, somewhat uncertainly. "We can't destroy Kingdom Hearts. It's been here for millions of years!"

"But we can!" said Mickey. "Kingdom Hearts has been around since the beginning of time, but it's been severely weakened. Ansem the Wise was not the first one to release all the hearts. It's been done several times before.

"Kingdom Hearts is made of light. But, it has never been penetrated by darkness. Now that it has been weakened, just a little bit of dark may be enough to destroy it. So, we must bring some Heartless inside Kingdom Hearts, using the door that Ansem opened for us. It may take several thousand, but when we have enough, the conflict between light and dark will destroy Kingdom Hearts from the inside out. Only then will Ansem be free."

Riku was astounded at what Mickey was suggesting. "Bring Heartless into Kingdom Hearts?!" he said incredulously. "Why would we want to destroy it? Think of the consequences! What will happen to all the new hearts that go there?"

"They will disappear," said Mickey, beaming. "When a person dies, their heart is not released. It stays with the people that they love and care for. But when a person becomes a Heartless, his heart leaves his body and travels to Kingdom Hearts. Without Kingdom Hearts, the hearts will be destroyed. No person like Xemnas will ever harness that power again!" he smiled triumphantly.

Riku thought long and hard about what Mickey was suggesting. It was a truly insane idea, but it might work, and the benefits were enticing. "All right," he said eventually. "I will help you destroy Kingdom Hearts and free Ansem. Where will we go?"

"The Nobodies' stronghold, of course," said Mickey. "The door is still there, and we can easily open it again. We'll get there the same way that we did before – through Twilight Town. The portal to the darkness should still be open."

"Alright," said Riku determinedly. "When do we leave?"

"Now," said Mickey. "Let me show you my personal transportation ship."

Mickey walked through the hedge in the center of the garden and back into the airport. "I don't usually use the Gummi Ship," he said. "Too bulky for my tastes. We'll be traveling in this." He stopped at a small, sleek ship. "I call her the Falcon," he said. "Just enough room for two, and fast and strong enough to travel through some of the most Heartless-infested pathways in the universe."

The ship certainly was admirable. Small as it was, its silver color and streamlined shape gave it a foreboding appearance, and Riku felt he would rather ride in that than the large, clumsy Highwind that Sora was used to.

Mickey walked into the ship, and Riku followed. He was disappointed in the small size of the interior – three people could not fit in it under any circumstances. "Dale!" Mickey called. "Tell Minnie that we'll be back very soon!" and he closed the door to the ship.

The Falcon glided slowly into the air and out of the hangar. From here, Riku got a good view of the outside of the castle. It was a gorgeous building, painting a dazzling white, surrounded by lovely gardens. However, before he could get a good view, the ship sped into hyper drive, and that world quickly left his sight.

SORA "Sora, Sora, wake up! Are you alright?"

Sora unwillingly opened his eyes, still drowsy from the magically induced sleep. He found himself in a large, brightly lit room. There was an enormous sphere of radiant light in the middle of it. And in front of the sphere, Sora saw a familiar face.

"Queen Minnie!" he gasped. "How are you, my queen?" He immediately stood up and bowed to the ground.

"No, no, Sora, you mustn't bow to me!" said Minnie. "I have done nothing of importance. You have saved me, my husband, and my castle from the evil Maleficent. If anything, I should bow to you!"

'King Mickey,' thought Sora. "Queen Minnie," he asked, "where is King Mickey? Has he had any recent visitors?"

"Why yes, it's funny that you ask. He's in the courtyard right now, with someone he seems to have met before. I think they're about to leave the castle to do something important."

"What?!" cried Sora. "I have to talk with him and Riku!"

"Oh my, is it terribly important?" said Minnie. "Come, I'll show you the way there." But Sora had already dashed out of the Hall of the Cornerstone, through the audience chamber, speeding to the courtyard as fast as his legs would carry him.

He reached his destination, but there was nobody there. He ran through the door in the center, into the hangar. The Gummi Ship was still in its place. He sighed in relief.

"My, why do you run so fast?" gasped Minnie, who had tried her best to follow his agile body. "What do you need with him?"

"I must talk with Riku," said Sora. "I have to ask him where he is going, and tell him something very important."

"Oh dear," said Minnie, looking around. "It seems he's already gone."

"What do you mean?" asked Sora. "Highwind is still here. How could he have left?"

"Oh, Mickey rarely takes Highwind with him when he travels," explained Minnie. "He travels in the Falcon, a smaller, faster, more powerful ship. It usually docks over there." She pointed to an empty platform across from Highwind. "But, as you can see, it's not there."

Sora clenched his fists. "Damn it!" he exclaimed, pounding the wall next to him.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" said Minnie, shocked. "What did you need to tell him so quickly?"

"It's my friend, Kairi," said Sora. "I think I've told you about her. She's been kidnapped!"

"Oh my!" cried Minnie. "That's terrible! Is she still alive?"

"Yes," said Sora firmly, but he began to have doubts. Why would an evil, all-powerful king spare the life of a little girl? If Kairi was dead, where was he going, and why was he clinging to false hope? He felt tears welling up in his eyes, with the realization that his best friend could not be alive. But he then forced himself to believe that she was merely in prison, and felt nothing but anger for the evil kings who had taken her. He wiped his eyes with his arm, and said, "I have to find her."

"Oh dear, I don't know what you're going to do, but if I can be of any service, then I will gladly –"

"Sora!" shouted two people from the doorway.

"Donald! Goofy!" cried Sora. He rushed to his old companions eagerly. "It's been ages! How have you two been doing?"

"Gawrsh, we're doing great!" said Goofy. Then he saw the tear streaks on Sora's face. "What's wrong with you, Sora?"

"It's Kairi," said Sora, trying to sound nonchalant, but just thinking of Kairi made his voice shaky. "She's been…kidnapped by a group of evil kings!"

"What?!" yelled Donald. "Who would dare do that? We got rid of Ansem and Xemnas, and there are more troublemakers around?"

"I'll explain everything to you later," said Sora. "But I need to ask to borrow Highwind. I have to get back to Twilight Town as soon as possible!"

"What do you mean, borrow it?" asked Donald. "You mean you don't want us along?!"

"You would come with me?" said Sora.

"What, are you crazy?" exclaimed Donald. "After all you've been through, you think we'd leave you to find Kairi all by yourself? She's our friend too, you know! I'm astonished you'd even think about going alone!"

Sora sniffled. "Thanks, guys," he said.

Minnie stepped forward. "Well, I suppose you three should get going, then. I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope you find your friend. Good luck!"

"Let's go save Kairi!" said Goofy, and he ran clumsily into the Gummi Ship. Donald followed him. "Coming, Sora?" he said impatiently.

Sora turned to Minnie. "Thanks for all your help," he said. "I hope we won't be gone too long." With that, he turned and entered the waiting ship. With a lurch, the ship rose into the air and flew through the opening in the hangar, outside the castle and into the unknown spaces of the universe.

RIKU Neither Mickey nor Riku talked much on their trip. Mickey was busy handling the Falcon, and Riku had many things to think about. Aside from the knowledge that they were about to destroy an entity that had been present since the beginning of time, he was again thinking about his friends. He had imagined that he had heard Sora's voice in the distance while he was talking with Mickey, and wondered if he was somehow being contacted telepathically by this friend. But Sora had no knowledge of such arts, and Riku decided he had conjured the voice out of his troubled brain.

Suddenly, the ship screeched to a halt. "What?" said Mickey with a puzzled expression. "It's blocked!"

"What's blocked?" asked Riku.

"The warp hole to Twilight Town! We can't get through! It's been sealed with some kind of force field!"

KAIRI "Ansem, the Wise?" said Kairi, aghast. "Is that you?" It certainly looked like him. He had the same long, blond hair, piercing brown eyes, and weathered, yet commanding face. But he was now clothed in impeccable white.

"Yes, it is me," said Ansem.

"But you were dead!" cried Kairi. "We saw you die!"

"No!" said Ansem. "I did not die. That machine of mine was used as a cannon, and myself used as the ball. I launched myself at Kingdom Hearts. The impact blew a hole in it, and released all the hearts inside, but…the hole quickly healed itself, and now I am imprisoned here."

"Wait," said Kairi incredulously. "We are…inside of Kingdom Hearts?"

"Yes," said Ansem. "You, I presume, were taken here by that door on your island. You can leave, if you wish, but my heart is permanently integrated into this entity. I cannot leave unless Kingdom Hearts is destroyed." He shook his head sadly.

Kairi felt a surge of sympathy toward Ansem. "I'm sorry," she said. Then she had an idea. "Is there a way to destroy it? If we did, would you be free?"

Ansem immediately snapped up. "No!" he said urgently. "You must not take any measures to destroy it! It can be done, but with terrible consequences. There are things that have been locked up in here for thousands of years. If Kingdom Hearts was destroyed, they would be released, and the universe is certainly not ready to handle them."

"What sorts of things are locked up here?" asked Kairi, intrigued.

"Horrible powers. Four evil kings were imprisoned here long ago. When I breached Kingdom Hearts, I released them, but not all their power. That remains sealed in the innermost reaches of Kingdom Hearts. If that is released, they will smother all the worlds in darkness."

Kairi suddenly remembered her own problems. "Ansem," she asked, "can I ask you something?"

"If you wish," he replied.

"A huge warrior came to our island earlier today. He had on black armor and had a huge sword. He fought Sora, and Sora…just vanished into thin air! What do you think happened?"

Ansem immediately became alarmed. "That must have been one of the kings!" he exclaimed. "Sora could not possibly hope to take him on alone. They are already trying to destroy the worlds? This is bad news, very bad news…"

"Please, Ansem," pleaded Kairi. "What happened to Sora?"

"I don't know," said Ansem darkly, "but I'm sure that warrior you spoke of transported him somewhere."

"No!" cried Kairi. She could not bear the prospect of losing Sora again. "Where is he now? Please, tell me!"

"I told you that I don't know," said Ansem, "but if you value his life, you should find him quickly."

Kairi panicked. "Well, then let me out of here! I'll find him!"

"So, are you committed to finding him? You'll find it difficult, I'll assure you. I don't know where these kings have established their headquarters. But go to Disney Castle, if you can get there. My friend Mickey may have more information for you."

"Can you send me there?" asked Kairi.

Ansem sighed. "Unfortunately, no. I can only send you directly outside of Kingdom Hearts." And he put out his hand, and conjured a dark portal, exactly like the ones that Namine had used to create. "But are you sure you want to go? You have no weapon to fight with. You stand no chance out there by yourself."

"I'll be fine," said Kairi. She was worried to the point of total confusion about Sora, and in her confusion was eager to find him as soon as possible. "Thanks for all your help." And she ran directly into the portal.

SORA "Gawrsh, Sora, this is not good," said Goofy. Sora had just finished telling his two friends about his conversation with Merlin. "So, these kings have set up their stronghold in Yen Sid's tower?"

"Yeah, but we can't get there," said Sora sorrowfully. "The kings have sealed off all the passages into Twilight Town.

"All of them?" said Donald incredulously. "He can't have found all of them!"

"What do you mean?" asked Sora.

"Sora, there are hidden passages between the worlds everywhere. Some of them are known to just a few people, and some have yet to be discovered. I'm sure that these kings can't have blocked them all up!"

"Do you know of any?" said Sora eagerly.

Donald and Goofy simultaneously shook their heads sympathetically.

"Then we're going to have to find some," said Sora determinedly. "Goofy, let's scour out the area all around Twilight Town. We've got to find one of these paths!" And the Gummi ship sped off into the universe.

KAIRI Kairi felt a momentary chill as she passed through the dark portal, then found herself outside of an ornate door. The pathway she was on was transparent, so she could see that she was a good distance above the ground. Below her, there was an enormous castle, and Kingdom Hearts oscillated beautifully in the sky.

Kairi suddenly knew where she was. This was the Nobodies' stronghold, where Sora and Riku had defeated the Organization! She felt a momentary pang of fear, but calmed herself with the knowledge that the Nobodies were now no more. Sora and Riku had destroyed them all.

So, she took a deep breath, and walked down from the door to Kingdom Hearts. Sora had told her a lot about an alternate Twilight Town, and a portal in an alleyway connecting the two. She had to get away from the castle, and find that portal!

But, as soon as she stepped onto the smooth marble of the castle's roof, a dozen or so Heartless appeared and surrounded. She instinctively summoned her keyblade, and prepared to attack them.

"What've you found now, Hearties?" said a whiny, almost comical voice. A monstrously fat creature was hobbling up the stairs onto the roof. His face was piglike, just without the snout. He turned to face Kairi. "Aw, see, my Hearties, it's just a little girl! No need to be worried. I'll take her to my mistress and see what she wants with her."

He began to hobble clumsily toward Kairi with outstretched arms. Kairi, however, stood her ground. She could not imagine that anybody as fat as this ugly creature could apprehend anybody, and she poised her keyblade for attack. As soon as he was in striking distance, she swung it with all her strength into the creature's fat stomach.

"Ooh! Ow!" he said, leaping backward and almost falling over. "That hurt a lot, you know!" He rubbed his belly tenderly. "Is that a keyblade you've got there? Where on earth did you get that from?"

"What's this about a keyblade, Pete?" Now another, female person was ascending the stairs. She was extremely tall, with pale, grey skin, and clothed in velvety black robes. In her hand she held a staff with a glowing orb. Kairi recognized her.

"You!" she gasped, brandishing her keyblade. "Maleficent! You're the one that kept me asleep in a tube for a whole year!"

Maleficent stiffened, and looked at her. "Is that you, Kairi?" she said, her voice brimming with anger. "I remember you well. You were the princess that stopped the keyhole from being completed! If it weren't for you, I would be the master of the whole universe! Because of you, though, I'm only the mistress of this bleak and dark castle!" She summoned a dark orb of energy in her hand and flung it at Kairi.

The projectile struck her keyblade and shattered. "Look," said Kairi earnestly, "I don't want to fight. I've just got to get out of here. Now get out of my way, and we'll never have to see each other again."

"Leaving?" snarled Maleficent. "I think not!" Suddenly, scores of Heartless, of all different sizes, appeared between Kairi and the stairway. "You're going to pay for what you did!" And the Heartless began to advance toward her.

Kairi began to panic, but restrained herself. There could be no good in losing her wits in this situation. It wasn't a long distance to the stairway. Could she jump that far? She decided it was worth a try, as she could not hope to destroy all the Heartless that were coming for her. She backed up a bit, ran forward, bent her legs, and leapt. Her heart leapt as well, as she flew far above the heads of her assailants. This was exhilarating!

Unfortunately, she had underestimated her own jumping abilities, and given the leap all she had. Maleficent watched in amusement as Kairi sailed over her head, away from the castle, and fell out of sight. "That'll be the end of her, I should guess," she said with a cruel smile.

RIKU "The entrance to Twilight Town is blocked?" said Riku in disbelief. "Who could have done this?"

"It would have to be someone with an enormous amount of power," said Mickey darkly.

"Well," said Riku, "are there other ways in?"

"There are," said Mickey, "but I no idea where. There are always ways in, bust most of them are hidden or locked. We have no chance of finding them in any short amount of time."

"But do you know of any?" asked Riku impatiently.

Mickey began to shake his head, but then looked up and put his hand on his head, thinking. "I know of one. But it will be extremely difficult to get through. The Heartless have always used this path to travel back and forth from the darkness. This ship is one of the finest ever made, but I doubt that even it will make it through that dark tunnel."

"But is there a chance that it will?" asked Riku. "We shouldn't give up until there is no hope of getting there!"

"Would you be willing to die trying?" asked Mickey.

"Of course I am! You know I've never backed off from something because of the fear of death!"

"Well," said Mickey, "If you're willing, we can certainly give it a shot. If we can't make it, we might be able to escape, and we might just make it all the way through!" So, Mickey turned the Falcon around and flew toward their next destination.

KAIRI Now was the time to panic. In total free-fall, Kairi desperately grasped the air around her to find something to hold on to, but to no avail. The wall of the castle was twenty feet away, and the nearest buildings were hundreds of feet away. As the ground grew rapidly larger, Kairi stretched out her body in one last effort, and…she flew. She glided to a small skyway jutting out from the castle, and landed on the floor unharmed.

How had she done it? Kairi had seen Sora do something similar while fighting the Nobodies in this castle, but she had never dreamed that she could do something like that herself! Were there other things she could do, that she had not heard of before? Only time would tell.

But her attention was distracted by a heavy huffing and puffing coming toward her. Pete was hurrying down the stairs, mumbling incoherently to himself. He screeched to a halt when he saw Kairi standing on the skyway. "What…who are…how did you…" he said in disbelief. "Mistress!" he screamed. She's alive! She's right here!"

Kairi turned without a word and ran. She entered the main castle, ran down a long stairway, passed through a large room full of mysterious cylinders, raced down another stairwell, turned a corner, and nearly ran straight into Maleficent. Her face was hideously contorted with rage.

"Insolent little girl!" she screamed. "How in the world did you survive that fall? No, it does not matter. I will kill you now myself!" She raised her staff above her head. A radiant light now shone from the orb. Right before Kairi's eyes, Maleficent began to transform. She spurted wings and a tail, received an elongated neck, and grew to an inexorable size. After ten seconds, she was twenty feet tall and still growing. She was becoming a dragon.

"Foolish girl!" screamed Maleficent with delight. "What will you do now?"

For the first time since she had left Destiny Islands, Kairi was incapable of movement. She stood, rooted to the spot, as what had been Maleficent grew taller, and taller, and taller –

Suddenly, there was a loud crack, and the dragon screamed in pain. The room was not enormous, and her head had hit the ceiling. The force of the collision made a huge hole, and chunks of the ceiling came raining down on Maleficent. She swayed back and forth, dazed, for a while, and then came crashing to the ground. Kairi had to leap out of the way as her monstrous head hit the floor with a thud.

Kairi stood amazed at the spectacle before her. In one move, Maleficent had assumed her terrifying dragon form, and knocked herself out! Was she dead? No, she was still breathing heavily. Kairi decided that she should get out of the castle before Maleficent woke up.

So, she walked gingerly over the dragon's hide and continued her journey through the castle. After descending several more stairways and passing more rooms and hallways, she reached the base. A transparent silvery path, much like the one leading to the door to Kingdom Hearts, stretched from the castle to the city. She walked across this, past a tall skyscraper, and saw a curious gleam of light in an alleyway. She broke again into a run, and turned the corner.

In front of her was a gaping hole, shining with brilliant white light. 'This has to be the way back to Twilight Town,' she thought. After hesitating for just a moment, she walked through the portal.

SORA "Wait, what's that?" said Sora excitedly. He pointed through Highwind's window, to a small, brown sphere floating in space. It looked like a very small planet, but neither Sora nor his friends had ever heard of it before.

"Gawrsh, I don't know," said Goofy. "Donald, land the ship there and check it out."

Donald, who was now manning the Gummi Ship, slowly glided down to the celestial body and set the ship down gracefully.

Sora jumped out of the ship even before it stopped moving, and looked around him. It seemed to be just a gigantic rock, floating around the universe. There were holes all over the surface, some small, some large. But, to his utter disappointment, he could see nothing else of interest.

By now Donald and Goofy had left the ship and were also scouring the small lump of rock. After several minutes, Sora said wearily, "All right, let's go." He turned and headed to the Gummi Ship.

"Sora, Donald, look at this!" called Goofy from several hundred feet away.

"What is it?" said Sora, running over.

Goofy pointed to a patch of colorful light, about twenty feet above the surface of the rock. It was no more than thirty feet across, but it glimmered with every color of light imaginable.

"What is it?" said Sora, intrigued.

Donald gasped. "That's it!"

KAIRI Beyond the dark portal was an empty room. From what Kairi could tell, it was infinitely large, going off in every direction. But the walls, the ceiling, the floor, everything was impeccably white. This couldn't be right. Sora had told her about a room with thousands of colors. White was the only color in this room.

Suddenly, a loud, robotic voice spoke from nowhere. "Input," it said. Kairi looked around for the source. "Input," it said again. She took a few steps into the room, staring everywhere, yet she could see nothing. "Input. Please enter input," it said again.

"Um…hello?" said Kairi hesitantly.

There was a short whirring noise, and the voice spoke again. "Program error. File not accessible. Ejection is necessary."

Then a multicolored hole opened up before Kairi. "Who are you? Where are you?" she called. But she never got an answer. A strong gust of wind began to blow into the hole, and although she tried to stay away from the mysterious gap, the gale was too strong. She was sucked into the hole. For a few moments, she felt the pull of wind, and then she hit something hard.

"Kairi? Is that you?" said a voice.

RIKU "Here it is!" exclaimed Mickey. "See that little moon over there? The portal should be right above that. It's extremely small, but I think we should be able to get through."

Riku was jolted awake. He had been sleeping in his seat for the past few hours. "Finally!" said Riku. They had been in that cramped ship for nearly a full day, and he was eager to get out it.

Then something on the rock caught his eye. "Mickey," he said, pointing to a red object, "what is that?"

Mickey saw it as well. "Well, it looks like a ship," he said, peering forward. "I don't know who else would want to be out here, though. Wait a minute!" he said incredulously. "Is that Highwind? No, it can't be!"

SORA "That's the portal?" said Sora eagerly. At last, he was going to find Kairi!

"It certainly looks like that," said Donald. "I'm sure it's a portal of some kind, and Twilight Town is right around here, so I don't see where else it could lead to!"

"Gawrsh, Donald," said Goofy doubtfully, "do you think we can fit Highwind through there?"

"Of course we can!" said Sora impatiently. "It's not that small! I'd say it's about…" But then he looked again, and saw that Goofy was absolutely right. Even the tiniest of ships would have a hard time fitting through that small scintillating space, and Highwind was enormous as ships went. "No way," he said to himself. "I've got to get through there! I've got to find Kairi!"

"Gawrsh, I'm sorry, Sora," said Goofy sympathetically, "but we're going to have to find another…wait, what's that?"

Another, much smaller ship was coming out of the sky, preparing to land! "Who could that be?" said Sora incredulously.

The mysterious ship hovered above the surface of the rock for a second, and then landed softly next to Highwind. The door immediately opened, and its two occupants jumped out. "Sora, what are you doing here?" said one.

"King Mickey!" exclaimed Donald and Goofy. They bowed to the floor before their king.

"Riku!" cried Sora, astonished. "Riku, I tried to find you! I've got something to tell you!"

"Sora, what are you doing here?" said Riku again. He obviously couldn't believe what he was seeing either. "I told you not to come looking for me! I haven't been in any danger at all. Why can't you listen to me for once? Kairi must be worried sick!"

"That's just the thing! Kairi…"

"Well, well, well," said a voice from above them.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Mickey all looked up simultaneously. At the mouth of the portal was a man, standing on the threshold of the light. He had the same stature and foreboding black armor as the warrior who Sora had fought before. But he had on no helmet, revealing his face. He had dark-colored skin, flowing jet-black hair, heavy eyebrows, and a curt smile.

"You!" yelled Sora. "What have you done with Kairi?"

"Kairi?" said Riku. "What are you talking about? Do you mean that…"

"Kairi?" said the man with a smirk. "Sounds like a little girl, am I right? I don't know who you're talking about. I've never seen you before, either. My three friends look a lot like me, you know. But who knows…maybe I've seen Kairi and maybe I haven't. I've killed so many little girls lately, they all tend to run together."

"No!" screamed Sora, summoning his keyblade.

The man's smirk turned into an expression of sheer delight. "A keyblade?" he said happily. "This is going to be better than I thought!"

"Thinking about killing someone?" said Riku coolly. "He's not alone, you know."

"Oh, isn't he?" laughed the man. A long, deadly-looking spear materialized in his hand. "I suppose we should do things properly. I'm Xinck, a lord of darkness. And you are a keyblade master. And it follows that one of us is going to have to die right now. And I'd prefer to get your idiotic friends out of the way." With that, he pointed his spear at Donald and Goofy.

Both of them began to rise into the air! "Gah! Someone help us!"

"Oh, I'm sure someone will," laughed Xinck. He jerked his spear to the side, sending Donald and Goofy tumbling into space.

"No!" yelled Mickey. He turned to his remaining friends. "Sora, Riku, you take this guy. I've got to save them!" And with a running start, he performed a terrific leap, which took him into the sky and completely out of sight.

"Now it's just two of you," said Xinck to Riku. "How shall I get rid of you?"

Riku summoned his keyblade and poised it for attack. "I was hoping to stick around here," he said with a cool stare.

Xinck's laughter was cut short. "Two of you?" he said, with a slight tone of fear. A shadow of anxiety crossed his face. "Ah, it is of no consequence," he said, recovering. "The more, the merrier!" and he leapt off of his lofty perch, directly in front of Sora and Riku.

Sora's and Riku's eyes met for a moment. They smiled, and simultaneously nodded their heads. Then, they both charged at their adversary, keyblades held high in the air.

KAIRI Kairi got up slowly, looking for the source of the new voice. A small, thin girl, with dark brown hair and a yellow blouse, was smiling at her. "Kairi! It is you! We've all hoped you were okay!"

"Olette?" said Kairi. She had only seen her once before, for a very short time, but she recognized her. "I remember you! It's so good to see you again!"

"Come on!" said Olette brightly. "I'll take you back to the usual spot. Hayner and Pence are going to be ecstatic to see you!"

Kairi now looked around her. She was in the middle of what seemed to be a forest, in front of the gates of a huge, ancient mansion. "Is this…the mansion?" she asked. Sora had told her all about this place.

"It is," said Olette. "Come one, let's go!" and she ran lightly along a path.

Kairi followed her out of the woods and into Twilight Town. 'It's the same as it was before,' she thought to herself. But as she and Olette walked along the road, Kairi caught a glimpse over the rows of buildings, where a foreboding blanket of darkness hovered in the sky. It filled almost the entire horizon. "What's that?" she asked, pointing.

Olette looked disconcerted, and said, "I'll tell you some other time. It's not important right now. Let's keep going."

Soon, they left the main road and walked into an alley. The familiar red carpet still hung over the breach in the gate. Olette now ran ahead and poked her head through the curtain. "Guys, come out here!" she called. "It's Kairi!"

RIKU Xinck turned out to be extremely nimble, despite his heavy black armor. As Sora and Riku dashed at him, he leapt into the air and landed behind them. He instantly spun around, and flung his spear with all his might at Sora. Sora dodged the deadly projectile, and it stuck, quivering, in the rock behind him.

"Wise move," said Riku. "You've just lost your weapon."

"Have I really?" said Xinck, smirking. He outstretched his hand, and the same spear appeared. "You guys can do it with your keyblades," he laughed. "Why shouldn't I be able to do it as well?" And he swung the spear and Sora and Riku. Both easily jumped over.

Once again, Sora and Riku locked eyes. Then, Riku alone darted forward, keyblade poised to strike. Xinck once again took to the air and flew over his head, but Sora was waiting for him. As he came down, Sora jumped and swung his keyblade at him. The blade caught Xinck in the back, and might have been fatal, but Xinck's armor proved to be very formidable and greatly softened the blow.

Xinck fell to the ground with a small grunt of pain, but he quickly regained his composure and leapt out of the way, just before Sora came down on top of him. Then he pointed his spear at Sora. A short stream of dark light issued from the tip and struck him before he could move. Sora cried out as his legs went limp and he fell to the ground.

"Your friend isn't skilled at all," said Xinck to Riku. "It's your turn now. Maybe you can prove more of a challenge?"

Riku stared at his friend in dismay. Sora seemed to have full use of his arms and upper body, but his legs lay on the ground like stockings. "Let's see," said Riku. He poised his keyblade and dashed at Xinck with all the speed his legs could muster.

This speedy assault caught Xinck by surprise, so that he did not have time to jump out of the way. In fact, he barely had time to raise his spear in defense before Riku was on top of him. "You're quick," said Xinck. "But are you quick enough?" He jumped back a few paces, and changed his grip on the spear, now wielding it like a double-bladed sword. "I'll guess we're going to find out!" and he rushed at Riku.

"Riku!" cried Sora. Riku turned to his friend in time to catch the keyblade that had been tossed to him, then turned back in time to parry Xinck's first blow.

The two fought back and forth across the floating rock. At first, they seemed even, but eventually Xinck gained the upper hand, and utilized it aggressively. Riku found himself running backwards, trying to dodge and parry Xinck's deadly spear. He suddenly tripped on a rock, and fell over onto his back. Xinck nabbed his chance and swung his spear at Riku. He blocked with both of his keyblades, but his strength was waning, and his arms were trembling from the effort.

"Nope, you're no better than your friend," said Xinck with a smile, as he worked the spear down toward his hapless adversary. Soon Riku would be completely overcome. "Two down, two to go!" laughed Xinck.

KAIRI "Kairi! Kairi!" cried two familiar voices from behind the carpet. Hayner and Pence presently rushed out from their usual spot. "It's really you, Kairi!" said Hayner gleefully. "It's so good to see you again!"

"It's nice to see you too," said Kairi pleasantly.

"So you're okay!" said Pence. "We've been worried about you ever since that weird guy with red hair and the black coat sucked you into the wall."

"Yes, I'm fine now," said Kairi.

"Did Sora show that jerk who's boss?" laughed Hayner.

"Yeah," sighed Kairi. Her heart grew heavy at the mention of Sora's name.

"That's great!" exclaimed Hayner. "If that guy had tried to kidnap someone I knew, I would've…"

Several Heartless appeared all around them.

"No, not these things!" moaned Olette. "Where's Sora when you need him?"

"I'll handle them!" shouted Kairi, who was now fairly confident with her keyblade skills. She stretched out her hand to summon her keyblade.

It didn't come. She focused her mind, and tried again. Still, no keyblade, and the Heartless were forming a circle around her. "What's wrong?" she cried desperately.

SORA "Riku!" cried Sora. He could not bear sitting off to the side, unable to help, while his friend was killed. If he had his keyblade, he could throw it at Xinck and save Riku's life. But that was impossible – Riku had his keyblade, although it wasn't doing him any good.

Maybe he could summon it from Riku? Sora reached toward the battle, and tried to call his keyblade to him. But Riku was holding onto it with all his mind and heart, and it would not budge from his grasp. "Com on!" whispered Sora to himself. He pulled with everything he had.

Then, a keyblade came to him. Satisfied, he brought his hand over his head, preparing to throw it. But Riku still had two keyblades – Oblivion and his own! Sora looked at his keyblade, and saw that it was not his keyblade at all. It had a finer shape, and had a hilt decorated with colored flowers.

Sora stared in amazement at this new weapon, but there was no time to think just now. He prepared his arm, took careful aim, and threw as well as he could from a sitting position.

The aim was perfect. The flowery keyblade flew through the air toward the struggling couple. The blade struck the spear right in the middle, and snapped it in half. At that moment, Sora found he could move his legs again. He got up and ran to the battle.

Riku was lying on the ground, panting from exertion. Xinck stood over him, holding the two halves of the spear, his face a perfect mirror of amazement. Sora seized this opportunity and flew at him. He picked up the keyblade, as it lay quivering in the ground, and immediately began to attack his assailant.

Xinck defended as best as he could, but Sora moved with a fury, and his armor took many savage hits. At last, Sora got one, heavy, direct hit to his uncovered head. Xinck screamed, clutched his head, and fell to the ground.

"How…did this happen?" he gasped, staring at Sora's keyblade. "Three? How did you get three? That's impossible!..." and he faded away in a cloud of black smoke.

Riku stood up, with some effort. "Sora…" he said, staring at his new weapon, "where did you get that?"

Sora remained silent, full of thought himself.

"Sora," said Riku, "I gave that to Kairi back in the Nobodies' stronghold!"

"Kairi?" said Sora. "This is Kairi's keyblade?"

"Speaking of Kairi," said Riku nervously, "What were you saying about her? She isn't…dead, is she?"

Once again, Sora felt hot tears come to his eyes, but he forced them back to their source. "No!" he almost screamed. "She's been captured. By one of those men in black armor. There are three of them left!

"Kairi has been kidnapped?" said Riku, alarmed. "Is why you're out here? You're trying to find her?"

"Yes," said Sora, "and I will. She's in Yen Sid's tower. I'm going through this portal to Twilight Town, and I'm going to save her."

Riku looked at the portal, then looked at Highwind, and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sora," he said, "but you're not going to be able to fit your ship through there." There was a long, long silence. "Here's your keyblade," said Riku eventually, holding Oblivion out. Sora took it, and it immediately disappeared.

"What?!" cried Sora. He reached out his free hand, but Oblivion would not come back to him.

"I guess you're stuck with Kairi's," said Riku, half joking, half serious.

Suddenly, there was a soft thud behind them. Sora and Riku spun around, and saw Mickey, Donald and Goofy landing on the surface of the celestial rock. "Wow," said Donald, "that was one fantastic leap! Best I've ever seen!"

"Sora, you're okay!" cried Goofy happily, rushing toward him. Then he spotted the keyblade. "Gawrsh, Sora, that's a nice keyblade, but I kind of liked the other one better. What are you doing with that?"

Mickey looked at the new weapon with a more serious manner. "Sora," he said, "do you know whose keyblade that is?"

"Yeah," said Sora. "It's Kairi's. She's been…"

"Yes, Donald and Goofy have told me," said Mickey. "But, you were somehow able to someone her keyblade. That is far more interesting…"

"Do you know how it happened?" asked Sora.

Mickey thought for a moment. "Yes, I think I do. Sora, your heart is connected to Kairi's. I think you already know that. And…keyblades are directly connected to the heart. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yes," said Sora truthfully. "My heart is connected to Kairi's keyblade, and so I can use it when I need to." A thought came to his head, and he betrayed his inner worries by saying, "Does this mean Kairi is definitely still alive?"

Mickey paced back and forth, and finally said, "I'm sorry, Sora…I don't know. If Kairi was dead, her heart would be placed in yours. You would still have access to her keyblade."

Tears again came to Sora's eyes. He wiped them away with his arm and said, "I've got to get through that portal. But the Gummi Ship isn't going to fit. Can I fit in your ship?"

Riku stepped forward. "I really am sorry, Sora. You know I love Kairi, just like you do. But there's not a bit of room to spare in the Falcon."

"Sora," said Mickey gently, for he saw the tears again begin to flow from Sora's eyes, "We will find her. We'll destroy Kingdom Hearts, and then we'll go to the tower and save Kairi, if she's there."

"Wait a minute," said Donald, "You're destroying Kingdom Hearts?! What for?"

"It's all for the best," said Mickey. "Nothing bad will come of it, I assure you. But, I'm going to ask you three to go back to my castle. There's nothing else you can do to help us."

"Promise me, Riku," said Sora with a slightly shaky voice, "promise that you'll save Kairi."

"I promise, Sora, I will," said Riku softly.

"Come Riku, it's time we left," said Mickey. He climbed into the Falcon, and Riku followed. The door closed, the beautiful ship rose into the air, and disappeared into the multicolored portal.

Sora stared at the portal for a long time. Eventually, Goofy said, "Erm, Sora, the King said we should go back to the castle. Are you ready?"

"What? Oh…yes," he said. He wordlessly climbed into the Gummi Ship, along with his two friends. Donald now took the controls. Highwind left the rock, and sped through space, heading to Disney Castle.

"Are you all right, Sora?" said Goofy with concern, for Sora was listlessly staring out the window.

"I'm all right," he said. Then he turned to face the stars. "Please come back soon, Riku," he begged. "Come back soon, and bring Kairi with you. Remember, you promised!"

RIKU Riku had been through many of the portals between worlds, but never anything like this. As soon the ship reached the portals, dozens and dozens of Heartless ships surrounded them, firing away at the Falcon.

"Riku, take the guns!" cried Mickey. Riku leaned over toward a panel of buttons, which operated the turrets. He was pretty good at handling them, and expertly took out all of the Heartless that were assaulting them.

Presently, an even larger wave came at them. "I can't take them all," said Riku, desperately mashing the buttons and triggers. "We're going to have to make a run for it!"

"Hold on to something!" shouted Mickey. He shifted the ship into hyper, and they sped along the space way, everything outside the windows a blur.

Suddenly, there was an explosion, and the ship rocked violently back and forth. The Heartless were still coming at them! "Go! Go!" cried Riku, once again manning the guns. He destroyed as many of the Heartless as he could, but there were too many. If they didn't make it out soon, it would be too late.

KAIRI Hayner and Pence picked sticks up off the ground and held them out in front of them, hoping to fight off the oncoming Heartless. Olette stood behind Hayner with a terrified expression. And Kairi gritted her teeth, calling the keyblade to her. Still, nothing happened.

"Come on!" she grunted. She concentrated, and tried again.

Suddenly, there it was. The keyblade materialized in Kairi's hand, and she immediately ran to the incoming Heartless. She whipped the keyblade around her as she made the circuit around her three friends, killing every Heartless she encountered.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette stood back, watching the fight. "Holy crap!" said Hayner in awe. "That was amazing!"

"I see Sora lent you his keyblade," remarked Olette.

"What are you talking about?" said Kairi. "This is mine. See? It has…" Then she looked at the blade she was holding, and nearly lost her balance from the shock. This was not hers. Kairi was holding Oblivion, which belonged to Sora.

"But…how did this happen?" she said incredulously. "I've had my own keyblade for a while now. Why do I now have Sora's?"

"Perhaps," said Pence, "he somehow…gave it you? Maybe he knew you needed it."

"Yeah," said Kairi slowly. "I just don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Speaking of Sora," said Hayner, "where is he?"

Kairi suddenly remembered her goal. "I don't know," she said sorrowfully, "but he's been captured! A tall person in black armor came to our island and took him away! I barely escaped!"

"Oh, no!" said Olette. "Is there anything we can do to help you find him?"

"Well," said Kairi, thinking, "I've got to find a way to get out of Twilight Town. That means…I've got to find the keyhole." She turned to her three friends. "Do any of you know what I'm talking about?"

All three were silent, but Olette wrung her hands uncomfortably. Eventually, she spoke. "A month ago, we were in the station, buying some tickets to go to the beach. Then a weird purple train came out of nowhere, and a really old guy ran out. He looked like a wizard…he had the hat and everything! He said, 'Do you young people know a boy named Sora?' I told him we did. Then he said, 'If you see him again soon, tell him that the kings are in my tower, and if he needs to escape, there's a keyhole behind it.' Then he just ran away. I don't know what to make of it."

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" exclaimed Hayner.

Kairi sat down on a bench, put her head in her hands, and thought. Maybe it was just a crazy old man? No, he had mentioned Sora as well. It would be too much of a coincidence. So, could she find the keyhole and unlock it? Then she would just need a ship, and she could make it to Disney Castle and talk with Mickey. She desperately hoped, almost against hope, that this would lead her to Sora.

Eventually, she looked up and said, "Can you take me to the station? I've got to get on that train."

Olette looked doubtful. "Well, the train hasn't been there ever since that happened, but we can take you up there."

"I hope we can help you out, Kairi," said Pence. "Come on, guys, let's go!"

RIKU "Mickey, all we almost there?" shouted Riku above the explosions filling the air. The Heartless were now all around the once beautiful ship, and relentlessly attacking it.

"Hold on!" yelled Mickey. He tried to keep the ship moving forward, but he had a hard time doing it. The ship was in ruins. Soon he wouldn't have any control at all.

Riku tried as best he could to kill the assailing Heartless, but there were far too many. For every one he killed, three more took its place. It was hopeless.

Suddenly, there was one, vast explosion that briefly lit up the entire passage and resounded in Riku's ears for half a minute. "They've hit the engine!" cried Riku desperately.

"I can't control the ship!" screamed Mickey. It was true – the ship now had a mind of its own. It rocketed forward, creating a fireball in its wake. Riku and Mickey both knew that this was the end, and they prepared for the crash.

Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light, and there were no more Heartless. Riku looked out the window and saw a lush forest below them. Twilight Town lay in the distance. "We made it!" he cried happily.

"Not yet," said Mickey grimly. "We've still got to land this thing!"

And that was a problem. Mickey could not steer or slow down the ship. All he and Riku could do was hold their breaths as the ship rocketed to the ground like an arrow shot from a bow. Riku closed his eyes as the ship hit the ground in the forest and skidded along at an enormous speed, taking out trees as it went. Eventually, however, the Falcon began to slow down, and finally stopped as it crashed into a boulder.

Riku and Mickey slowly climbed out. "We made it!" said Mickey. From the appearance of the Falcon, it was obvious that it would never leave the ground again, but that was of secondary importance. They had made it to Twilight Town, and they were alive!

KAIRI The four friends entered the glass doors of the train station. "So, Kairi," said Hayner apologetically, "you can obviously tell that the weird train is not here. It hasn't been here for a month!"

Kairi frowned, and walked to the empty tracks. As she approached, the station doors burst open, and a purple train clattered along the tracks to the platform. Sora had described this to her as the ghost train.

"Wow!" exclaimed Pence. "How did that happen? It must be drawn to you somehow!"

"All right, guys, thanks for everyone you've done," said Kairi, "but I'm going to have to leave. If there's really a keyhole on the other side of these tracks, I'll unlock it and go." And she began to walk to the door of the train.

Olette grabbed her arm. "Wait!" she said urgently. "Remember that darkness you saw earlier? These tracks lead straight for it. Lately, tons of those little black things with the antennae have been flooding our town, coming from over there. All I can say is…be careful. You don't know what you'll find."

"Thanks," said Kairi. "I'll be on my guard." And with that, she walked onto the ghost train. The doors closed behind her, and the train began to move, as if it had a mind of its own.

She looked out the window, and saw Hayner, Pence, and Olette waving to her from the station. "I promise I'll come back to visit you again!" she called, before the train left the station, and took them out of her sight.

RIKU "All right," said Mickey, "we made it. Now we've got to get to the Nobodies' stronghold. I hope Maleficent has put that castle to good use."

"You told me that there was a portal in the alternate Twilight Town that Ansem created," said Riku.

Mickey nodded. "And that means we're heading to the mansion." He trotted off through the forest. Riku followed.

For a while, they traveled in silence. "Mickey," said Riku after a length, "realistically, what are the chances that Kairi is still alive?"

Mickey sighed heavily. "Not high. I really can't see why anyone would take the trouble to take a girl prisoner, when he could easily kill her."

These words fell heavily on Riku's heart, but he shed no tears. They continued to walk in silence.

Eventually, they reached the gate to the old mansion, which stood wide open. They went through the doors, up the antique stairway, and into the computer room.

"This is it, then?" said Riku. "How are we going to get into the alternate Twilight Town?"

"This is odd," Mickey frowned. "Who came in here to shut down the program? It was running last time I was here." He walked to the elaborate computer display, and typed a few letters on the keyboard. "This should get it started again," he said.

There was a short whirring noise. "Requested file not found," came a robotic voice from the computer.

"No!" cried Mickey. "The program! It's gone!"

SORA After an hour or so of travel, the Gummi Ship arrived at Disney Castle. Donald and Goofy quickly leapt out, glad to be home, but Sora took his time. He had been extremely melancholy throughout the entire trip, and it seemed this attitude would stay with him for a while. "I hope he gets back soon," he said as he walked past his concerned friends and into the courtyard.

Deep down, he was convinced that Kairi could not be alive. The odds were far too great. Yet, he would not accept this fact until every hope that she wasn't dead had faded away.

Minnie hailed him from the balcony. "Welcome back!" she called. "I do hope you found your friend?"

Sora looked at the floor and said nothing.

"Oh my, that's too bad," said Minnie sympathetically. "I hope you find her soon,"

"Mickey is looking for her right now," said Sora. "He'll find her."

"By the way," said Minnie, "a wizard arrived here, not half an hour ago. He looks like he's been traveling for some time. I told him that you, Sora, were coming here soon, and he said he had to speak with you. He's in the library right now."

"A wizard?" said Sora excitedly. "It could be Merlin," he said to his friends. "Maybe he's got some new information!" He ran up into the colonnade, followed by Donald and Goofy. They went down the long hallway, decorated with a lush red carpet, and into the stone doors of the library.

"Hello again, Sora," said a tall man from a chair in the corner of the room. He wore a blue robe and a wizard's cap on his head. He looked ragged and weary, but his appearance was unmistakable.

"Yen Sid?!" exclaimed Sora, Donald, and Goofy at once.

KAIRI It only took about five minutes for the train to arrive at its destination. As soon as Kairi stepped out the door she immediately knew the source of all the darkness. She was standing in a field of glass, saturated with black smoke that came to her knees. And in the middle of it all, there was an enormous tower, but it was barely discernible among the huge torrent of darkness that rose around and above it like a roaring flame. All around her, swarms of Heartless were popping out of the ground like Pikmin, and moving away in a uniform direction.

Kairi shivered at this horrendous spectacle, and ran to the side of the dark meadow that was relatively free of darkness. If the old man that Olette had described really owned this tower, she might be walking into some sort of trap laid for Sora. But she remembered her objective, took a deep breath, and walked to the tower enswathed in darkness.

Many Heartless appeared all around her as she crept along. She almost stepped on one. However, none of them seemed remotely interested in the intruder, and they all moved on without noticing her.

Eventually, she reached the tower. What was she supposed to look for? A quick scouring of the tower's exterior wall revealed nothing. She looked to the sky, but could see nothing shaped like a keyhole.

Suddenly, a single small Heartless came out of the blanket of darkness, directly under her left foot. It made a pitiful squeak of agony, jumped away from her, and stared at her with its beady yellow eyes. Then it advanced on her, and it was joined by several more of its kind. She instinctively summoned her keyblade, which was still Oblivion. She prepared to kill them, or run if she needed to.

Suddenly, there was a golden flash of light in the sky. A scintillating patch of light, in the shape of a keyhole had appeared between the clouds of darkness. 'The keyhole!' thought Kairi. But what was she supposed to do? She tentatively pointed the tip of her keyblade at the apparition in the sky. A beam of light shot forth, struck the keyhole, and it disappeared. In its place was a black hole, big enough for a large ship to pass through.

'A ship,' thought Kairi. She could have slapped herself in the face. Of course, she wasn't going anywhere without some sort of vessel! She would have to go back to Twilight Town, although she doubted she could any sort of space ship there.

Suddenly, she felt hundreds of yellow eyes staring at her. As soon as she had drawn Oblivion, all the Heartless in the entire had noticed her, and were menacingly drawing closer to her. There were hundreds and hundreds of them, and Kairi knew she could not possibly destroy them all.

So, Kairi looked around, located the ghost train on the other side of the tower, and ran toward it with every ounce of strength she had in her body. She madly swung her keyblade back and forth as she went, killing all the Heartless that she could. The shadows jumped at her from the side, bit her heels, and impeded her path in every way possible. Several of them grabbed onto her stomach or her back, and she had to stop to wrench them off, allowing still more to advance upon her.

Eventually, after several minutes of this torture, she finally reached the train. The doors flung open as she neared it, and she flung herself into it, tripping over her own feet and falling flat on her face. The doors closed with a bang before a single Heartless could follow her, and the train chugged off, away from the horrible tower.

Kairi lay panting on the floor. She had used all her energy, the flesh on her feet was torn to shreds, and what had she accomplished? Nothing! She angrily pounded the floor next to her, in spite of the throbbing pain in her ankles. Without a miraculous stroke of luck, she would never find a way out of Twilight Town.

SORA "Yes," said Yen Sid, "It's me."

"But…but…" stammered Sora. "How did you get here?"

Yen Sid's face filled with sorrow. "I was forced out of my tower, by four evil kings from Kingdom Hearts. You probably already know about them, am I correct?"

"Yeah," said Sora. "Merlin told me about them."

"Ah, so you've talked with Merlin?" said Yen Sid. "When I fled my home, I went directly to Radiant Garden, to the aid of my friend Merlin. He told me that they were interested in taking over all the worlds, and that the keyblade masters were the only ones who could stop them. Since then, I've traveled to many, many worlds, searching for you. I came here, and was told by the Queen that Mickey is, in fact, a keyblade master as well, and that he and you would come back shortly. And here I am, and here you are. And now that we've found each other, we must destroy the four kings!"

"You mean three kings!" said Donald proudly. "Sora already killed one of them!"

Yen Sid's eyes lit up. "You've already got one?" he said happily. "That's my boy! But that means there are still three left. And to kill them, we may have to find the rest of the keyblade masters."

"Yen Sid," said Sora, "I know who all three of them are. Two of them are trying to get to Twilight Town, to do…something. I can't remember. But the last one is my friend Kairi, and she's imprisoned in your tower right now!"

"Is she?!" cried Yen Sid, forcefully standing up. "That is not good news, Sora. All the passages to my tower have been blocked by the kings. I barely escaped from the last one myself before they sealed it behind me. And you won't be able to get through the one that they missed anyway. This is very, very bad news…"

Sora jumped forward. "They missed one?!" he cried hastily. "Where is it? How can I get through?"

"You can't," said Yen Sid sorrowfully. "It's been locked…from the inside. It was to be used as a passageway in the ancient keyblade wars, but it never became necessary. If you must know where it is, it's only an hour's travel from the castle, to the east, but…"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" cried Sora. "Let's go check it out!" He ran to the library door. "Donald, Goofy, are you coming?"

"Don't be foolish, Sora!" said Yen Sid sharply. "It can't be opened from the outside. You'll just be wasting your time!"

Donald came to Sora's defense. "What time is there to waste? We're not doing anything important by sitting there and hoping something happens. I don't know about you, Goofy, but I'm going with Sora!"

"Gawrsh, of course I'm coming!" said Goofy. "Maybe Sora will figure something out!"

"Very well," sighed Yen Sid. "I might as well wish you luck, although it will do you no good. It simply can't be done! Come back to me when you fail, so I may scold you."

"We'll see," said Sora. He, followed by his two friends, ran out of the library and to the Gummi Ship. They immediately took off and zoomed into space.

KAIRI When the doors of the train opened onto Twilight Town station, Kairi was shocked to see that Olette was still sitting on a bench with her head in her hands. Kairi called to her, and she looked up, astonished. "Kairi, is that you?" she asked. "You're back already? What happened?"

"I need to find something!" said Kairi. She started to run onto the platform, but she stumbled and collapsed on the floor.

"What, are you hurt?" cried Olette, alarmed.

"Yeah," grimaced Kairi. And she was. Blood from the wounds on her feet had soaked her socks.

Olette saw the blood, and shrieked. "I'll take you back to the usual spot. I'm sure Hayner will be able to help you!"

Olette grabbed Kairi's arm, pulled it around her shoulder, and hoisted her to her feet. "Can you walk at all?" she asked.

"I think I can make it that far," said Kairi. And she, leaning heavily on her friend, walked through the great glass doors of the station, heading down the road.

RIKU "Oh, god," shouted Riku angrily. "Does this mean we can't get there through the computer?

"It sure looks that way," sighed Mickey. "The program is nowhere to be found. Perhaps Ansem set the program to disappear after a certain amount of time. That would make sense – he was extremely paranoid, and probably wouldn't want to take the chance of having it exploited against him. However, now we can't use it. This is very unfortunate…"

"Well," said Riku, thinking, "Ansem always kept backups of everything he did on his computer in Radiant Garden. I wonder…if we can somehow get access to that computer, maybe we can find that program?"

"That's a brilliant idea!" exclaimed Mickey. He hurriedly typed on the keyboard for several minutes, amid a humming noise which grew louder over time. Then, the humming suddenly stopped, and Mickey cried, "We're in!"

"See if you can find that program," said Riku. Mickey continued to type, and a robotic voice presently filled the room. It said, "Password, please."

Mickey sighed. "So now, there is only one question…what's the password?"

KAIRI "What can I say?" said Kairi gratefully. "Thank you Hayner…thank you so much!"

Kairi was lying on the floor, in the room behind the back alley. Olette had half carried her there, where Hayner had used an old turban he found under the sofa to wrap up her badly injured foot. It still throbbed dully, but it was not nearly as bad as it had been, and she was now perfectly mobile.

"No problem," laughed Hayner. "So, why did you come back so quickly? You told us you were leaving to find Sora. Did something go wrong?"

"Yeah," said Kairi wryly. "I completely forgot that I need some sort of spacecraft to get out of here. I found the keyhole, I unlocked it, but I'm not going anywhere without a ship. Goes to show what kind of an idiot I am!" She laughed at herself.

"Hey, guys," said Pence, "did anyone see that strange ship landing in the woods?" Kairi suddenly stiffened and sat up. "What ship?" she said excitedly.

"Yeah, I saw that!" said Hayner. "It just came out of nowhere, and landed in the trees near the old mansion! Kairi, you might want to check it out. Maybe the guy who owns the ship will take you to where you need to go!"

"You really think so?" cried Kairi, her hopes renewed again. "I've got to find that ship! Where exactly did it hit the ground?"

"It's very close to the entrance of the woods," said Olette. "However, it's a pretty long walk to get there. Here, I'll take you to a shortcut! There's a hole in the town wall that will take you directly into the forest"
Kairi was extremely grateful for all the help that Olette had been giving her. "Thanks a lot, Olette," she said sincerely.

"Can you walk by yourself?" asked Olette. Kairi got to her feet on her own, and found she could walk around the room with very little pain in her foot. "That's great!" said Olette. "I'm ready to go, if you are."

"Let's get going, then!" urged Kairi. She followed Olette to the carpet-covered door.

"I'll be back soon!" called Olette to Hayner and Pence. They waved coolly back to her. Then Kairi and Olette left the usual spot and walked into the main square, toward the breach in the wall. It only took a couple of minutes to reach it.

"Well, good luck!" said Olette cheerfully. "There's a path that leads directly to the old mansion, and you should be able to see the ship from there. There's no way you're going to get lost…it's too straightforward."

"Thanks for everything you've done," said Kairi, and she hugged Olette briefly. Then she set off into the lush woods by herself. She immediately found the rugged path Olette had spoken of, and she followed it toward the mansion.

RIKU Riku in Mickey sat in silence for almost an hour, trying to think of what Ansem's password could be. Every once in a while, Mickey would brighten up, and type something onto the keyboard, but the password would be denied, and he would slink back into his stupor.

Eventually, Riku stood up angrily. "We're not getting anywhere!" he shouted. "Sora changed the password when he saved Radiant Garden, remember? We had better go and ask him, then!"

"But Sora's not here," sighed Mickey. "I really wish we had brought him, but it's not our fault that the portal was so small…"

"Well, are we going to go back to Disney Castle, find Sora, and asked him?" said Riku.

"How?" asked Mickey. "The Falcon is in ruins. We would have to find another ship, and buy it, and we don't have any money! And even if we could get a spacecraft, I don't know where the portals that lead out of here are. It might take days to find one!"

"What else are we supposed to do?" said Riku. "Would you have us sit here for the rest of our lives?"

Mickey sighed heavily. "You're right. We should go into town, and ask around."

Riku realized how rude he was acting, and immediately felt sorry for it. "No, I'll go by myself. No point in troubling you to go with me. You stay here, and see if you can think of another way to get that program. I'll come back as soon as I find something."

"Very well," said Mickey. "Good luck!"

Riku left the computer room, climbed up the stairway, and left the mansion, into the deep woods. He began to follow the short path into Twilight Town. As he turned the first bend, he bumped into a girl walking in the opposite direction. "Sorry," he mumbled as he walked on. Then he stopped. 'What is a lone girl doing walking around in the forest?' he thought. He turned around, and looked her in the face.

He almost fell over from the sheer incredulity that overtook him. The girl looked equally astonished at seeing him. "K-Kairi?!" he stammered. "I thought you were dead!"

SORA "Well, we're there," said Goofy, who was now flying the ship. "An hour's travel to the east of Disney Castle. Anybody see anything that looks like a portal?"

"I'm looking," said Sora, staring intently out the window.

"You know, Sora," said Donald gently, "you can't see any of these portals if they're still locked. They're all invisible. Maybe Yen Sid was right, and we should just go home…"

"No, no, I'll find it!" said Sora impatiently, continuing to scan the black skies.

"Gawrsh, Sora, Donald's right," said Goofy. "I don't think there's anything to see here."

"Just give me one more minute…wait, what's that?" Sora pointed to a shimmering patch of light, suspended in the dark sky. "Is that it?" he said excitedly.

Donald peered forward. "Wow," he said, astonished. "That certainly does look like it. It's a portal, it's close to Twilight Town, it's right where Yen Sid said it was…but it's unlocked!"

"Gawrsh, maybe Yen Sid was wrong!" said Goofy.

"Never mind that," said Sora hastily, "we've found an open portal to Twilight Town! Come on guys, we have to go save Kairi!"

"But the King said to…" began Donald.

Sora whipped around, with a fire in his eyes. "I know what King Mickey said!" he shouted. "But King Mickey has other things to do in Twilight Town, and I'll be damned if he doesn't put off rescuing Kairi until the last moment! We've got to go down there now!"

Donald and Goofy were taken aback by this new side of Sora's character. "Well, I'm sorry," said Goofy. "Of course we'll go down there!"

"I'm sorry, guys," said Sora, feeling horrible for how he had just assaulted them. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't for it to come out quite like that."

"Of course you didn't!" said Donald brightly. "We know how much you want to find Kairi. Goofy, let's go!"

Highwind sped through the portal, and toward Yen Sid's tower. As he went, Sora's heart grew heavy in his chest. He was either about to rescue Kairi, or discover that she was dead, and he couldn't bear the suspense. But he had to force himself to wait, as the Gummi Ship flew through the tunnel toward Twilight Town.

KAIRI "Riku?" said Kairi incredulously. "Is that you, Riku? What are you doing here? That day back home…you just…left! Without a word to anyone! Where did you go?"

"Mickey sent for me," said Riku, a shocked expression frozen on his face. "We've got some business to do here. But enough about me…what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Sora. Oh, Riku…he's been kidnapped by a group of evil kings!"

"They kidnapped him?" said Riku sharply. "When did this happen?"

"Right after you left the island! This guy in black armor came, fought Sora, and sent him away somewhere! I was trying to get out of here, to Disney Castle, to ask Mickey what do."

Riku's face of incredulity turned to confusion. "Are you sure?" he said. "Because he was just fine yesterday when I met him…"

"Wait…you saw Sora?!" said Kairi in awe. "Where was he?"

"It was in the middle of space, somewhere near Disney Castle. He told me that you were imprisoned or dead, and said he had to get to Yen Sid's tower to rescue you. I sent him back to the castle and told him that I would find you and bring you back. But Mickey and I just assumed you were dead!"

"Yen Sid's tower?" said Kairi, alarmed. A wave of panic suddenly overtook her. Could that be the horrible tower that she had seen and just barely escaped? If it was, hadn't she just opened up a path to that same spot? If Sora found it, he'd go inside the tower, trying to find her, and very likely be killed!

"Riku," said Kairi in a trembling voice, "I have to go. I think Sora might be in danger."

"What do you mean?" cried Riku. "He's back at Disney Castle, waiting for me. What harm could possibly befall him?"

"Do you know for sure that he went there?" said Kari angrily. "Are you sure he didn't continue looking for me? If he makes it to that tower and goes inside, he's dead. I've got to wait for him and stop him!"

"Wait, you can't go!" shouted Riku. "It's far too dangerous! How will you defend yourself?"

Kairi summoned Oblivion, and brandished in front of him. "I think I'll be fine," she said in a very Riku-like way.

Riku looked intrigued. "Ah, so that's what happened to Sora's keyblade!" he said. "All right, then. I can't really stop you from going, so go ahead, although I don't think you'll see Sora. I would come with you, but I've got to get back to Mickey as soon as possible. When you're bored of waiting, go into that mansion." He pointed to a dark, foreboding building behind him. "If I'm not there, wait for me."

"I will," said Kairi resolutely, "but now I have to go. Every moment I wait endangers Sora's life!" And she ran past Riku down the path.

When she was almost out of earshot, Riku called for her to stop. "Kairi," he yelled, "did Sora tell you the password to Ansem's computer?"

Kairi thought for a moment. Sora had told him all about that stage of his adventure. "Um…yes. He told me it was…Sora, Donald, Goofy. Does that sound right?"

Riku's delight was evident, even from that distance. "Thanks a lot!" he called, and he walked down the path, out of Kairi's sight.

SORA By the time Highwind came to the end of the portal, Sora's mental turmoil had morphed into a state of grim determination, that he must get into the tower, whether or not Kairi was there and alive.

The sight of Yen Sid's tower, shrouded in torrential darkness and surrounded by blankets of Heartless, filled all three of them with an even greater sense of foreboding. Sora could see that they could not possibly set the ship down with all the Heartless around. "Fly Highwind around the tower," he instructed Goofy, while he himself took control of the ship's guns. Goofy took the Gummi Ship in a wide arc around the horrible tower, while Sora, manning the lasers, took out every enemy in their path. But for all their efforts, they could not possibly destroy them all – they just kept popping out of the ground like weeds.

Finally, Sora gave up. "We're going to have to make a run for it," he shouted. Put the ship down as close as you can to that door! I'm sure we can make it."

"Sora, do you really think we can?" asked Donald with a worried expression. "There must be a million of them out there!"

"We don't have to kill them all," said Sora. "We've just got to make it inside the tower!"

So Goofy maneuvered the ship to a patch on the periphery of the clearing that was relatively free of Heartless, and set it down. Before the Heartless could come any closer, Sora flung himself out the door and into the midst of them, followed by his two loyal friends. The shadows came at him from every direction, jumping onto him from above, or coming out of the ground beneath his feet. But Kairi's keyblade seemed to move with a mind of its own, flying in its path all around him, cleaving through Heartless like butter, until the very air around Sora seemed all a blur. Not a single enemy came near him as he flew to the door of the tower. 'I could get used to this keyblade!' he thought wryly.

Soon, they reached the tower. Sora flung the heavy wooden doors open, allowed Donald and Goofy to run past him, and slammed it shut on the sea of Heartless attempting to follow them.

The inside of Yen Sid's tower was completely devoid of light, but Sora's flowery keyblade gave some illumination to the room. Just as Sora had remembered this place, there was only one way to go – up.

"Let's go save Kairi," said Sora softly to Donald and Goofy. And he charged past up the shining stairs.

Suddenly, there was a flash of pink light from behind him. He whipped around, and saw that a wall had been conjured between him and his friends, and they were trapped at the bottom of the stairs! "Donald! Goofy!" he cried.

"Hello again," said a voice from the top of the stairway.

Sora looked up to see another one of the kings. He was defended by the same black armor, and he carried a sword – the same sword that had almost destroyed Sora back in Destiny Islands. "I've seen you before, though I don't know your name. Mine happens to be Xeiven. What is yours?"

"It really is you!" he screamed at his foe. "What did you do with Kairi?"

Xeiven merely laughed wickedly. "Is Kairi the girl who was with you back on your puny island? Well, she's dead! I killed her!"

Sora stiffened in shock. "What?!" he screamed.

"I killed her," said Xeiven. "It was quite funny, too. She just stood there like a statue, too terrified and meek to do or say anything at all. I can't see why you would want to befriend such a scared little thing."

So, Kairi was really dead, and all of Sora's toil and worry on her behalf had been for nothing. Once again, tears of grief sprang to his eyes, and this time he did not attempt to hold them back. Instead, they cascaded down his face, landing on the ground at his feet as he sobbed quietly. 'I'm never going to see her again,' he thought to himself.

He stayed in this sad state for quite a while. But when he looked up at Xeiven, standing above him, all the grief was washed from his eyes, and all that remained was bitter anger and hatred. "No," he whispered softly.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" laughed the king.

"No!" screamed Sora. If Kairi was dead, he could at least avenge her death. He dashed up the stairs with a speed that was almost inhuman, with Kairi's keyblade, the last thing of hers he would ever get, poised for battle.

KAIRI Kairi zoomed out of the forest, onto an empty Twilight Town street. She dashed up the hill and into the train station, where the mysterious purple train was still waiting. She darted into its interior, and the doors slammed shut. Her confusion and haste seemed to transmute to the train, for it roared along the track at a remarkable rate.

Even with the added speed, it still took a good three minutes to get to the tower. Kairi took the time to catch her breath, and also to worry. How would she know if Sora was actually there? And, more importantly, what if huge amounts of Heartless were still there? She had been granted an extremely lucky escape the first time – she might not make it again.

Soon, the ghost train stopped, and the doors flew open, and Kairi immediately noted that the Heartless were still there, and staring directly at her. She was going to have a hell of a time getting to the door. But even more alarming was the sight of Sora's Gummi Ship, parked on the ground a short distance away. 'Oh God, he's already here!' she thought frantically.

But before she could pursue this line of thought to its panicked conclusion, the Heartless were on her. She picked off a few who were near her, and ran with all her might, to the doors of the tower. But she had not gotten very far when a large shadow latched onto her leg, causing her to lose her balance and fall over. Even before she hit the ground, she was smothered with Heartless from every direction. "Sora!" she screamed to the winds as the shadows covered every inch of her body. She knew she was going to die.

Suddenly, there was a crackle of thunder, and the Heartless on top of her dissipated into mist. She leapt to her feet, and saw Donald Duck standing by the door to the tower! "It really is her!" he yelled to someone behind him. "Kairi, Kairi! Come over here, and hurry!"

Kairi took a deep breath, and ran with renewed vigor. Donald still stood in the doorway, taking out as many of the Heartless in her path with his spells as he could. With their combined efforts, she soon made it to the tower and threw herself over Donald's shoulder into its interior. Goofy ran up from behind and slammed his body against the wooden door. It slammed shut, clipping the antenna of the Heartless pressing to get inside. For the moment, they were all safe.

"Kairi, how are you alive?" shouted Donald. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Gawrsh, maybe Xeiven was wrong," said Goofy. "Or maybe he was trying to trick us, to make Sora angry."

"In any case," said Donald, "Sora is up there, fighting to avenge the death of someone who is still alive!"

SORA The tears were still wet on Sora's cheeks as he rushed at Xeiven and smashed Kairi's keyblade down into the waiting fray. Xeiven was not prepared for the ferocity of his attacks, and he immediately found himself on the defensive. Soon, however, he leaped into the air, away from Sora, and fled up the long, long staircase. Sora ran after him with all the fervor of his first attack, and with undying stamina.

He followed his prey up stairways and past rooms until they arrived at the very top of the tower, where Yen Sid had once enlightened Sora with information about the Nobodies. Here, Xeiven turned around to face Sora, his great sword held at the ready. "You did care for your little friend, didn't you?" he snarled, all his humor gone. "Would you care to join her?" And he charged at Sora, howling a battle cry.

KAIRI "Donald, Goofy," said Kairi earnestly, "is Sora in this tower?"

Donald thrust his arm furiously at the force field blocking the stairs. "He's up there, fighting, and he's probably going to get killed because of you!"

"Gawrsh, Donald, it isn't her fault!" cried Goofy, taken aback at his friend's demeanor. "She's probably been spending a lot of time looking for Sora, too!"

"Guys, guys," said Kairi frantically, "that's not important right now. I've got to get to Sora!"

"Good luck with that," said Goofy sadly. "The passage upward is blocked, as you can see, and there doesn't appear to be any other way to get up there, except for the outside windows, of course…"

Kairi's eyes lit up. "These windows," she asked, "how far above the ground are they?"

"A good thirty feet," said Goofy. "Not to mention there's still Heartless crowding all around the tower. I doubt even Sora could make that jump!"

"I've still got to try it," said Kairi courageously, though her mind was filled with doubt. Hadn't she almost died attempting such a leap before? She remembered her unfortunate encounter with Maleficent very clearly. Yet, still…she had to give it a shot, or she might never see Sora again.

Goofy opened his mouth to protest, but relented as soon as he saw the fire burning in Kairi's eyes. "Well, good luck," he said. "I'll open the door for you and hold back the Heartless if they try to come in."

"Good luck, Kairi," said Donald half-heartedly. He still seemed to be angry at her for an inexplicable reason.

Goofy hobbled to the heavy door, paused for a moment, and flung it open. Thousands upon thousands of yellow eyes stared at them the darkness outside. "Go, now!" shouted Goofy, taking on a heroic stance quite unlikely his comical personality. Kairi ran through the door, into the waiting ocean of shadows.

She wielded Oblivion in her right hand, keeping the Heartless at bay as best as she could, while her eyes desperately scanned the surface of the tower for some kind of window. At last, she saw one – it was tiny, but she thought she could fit through it, if she could get up there. But it was much higher up than she had guessed, and she hesitated for a moment, wondering if she could make it back to the door before the Heartless overtook her.

But it was far too late for second thoughts now – her assailants were already beginning to bite at her heels. 'Either I jump, or I stay here and get eaten by these beasts," she thought to herself. So she quickly calculated the distance, bent her legs, and sprung into the sky with every ounce of strength and resolve in her body.

RIKU "Well, you came back quickly," said Mickey as Riku entered the computer chamber. "I've tried to get through in other ways, but it's hopeless – we're going to need to find the password. Did you find anything?"

'I didn't find a ship," said Riku with a slight smile, "but I found Kairi!"

Mickey started. "Kairi?!" he said incredulously. "You mean she's still alive?"

"Apparently so," said Riku wryly. "She seemed to be under the impression that Sora was the one who had been kidnapped! When I told her that he was alright, she seemed worried about something and said she had to go save him. She'll be back here soon."

"Well, I'm glad to hear she's okay," sighed Mickey, "but we still need to password to this computer."

"Oh, yeah," said Riku brightly, "she told me what the password was, too!"

KAIRI Kairi's heart leapt as she sailed into the air, directly toward the window. But her momentary exhilaration was abruptly cut short as she realized that she wasn't going to go far enough. She desperately grasped at the window with her hand, and her fingers caught the windowsill.

There she hung, a good ways above the writhing sea of Heartless. At first, she panicked and nearly fell off, but then she cleared her mind and collected her thoughts. She focused all her energy and weight into her outstretched hand, and kicked the wall of the tower. The idea worked perfectly. She aerially rotated around the window like a wheel, landing squarely on top of it.

With some effort, Kairi squeezed through the narrow opening and found herself on a shining, transparent set of stairs. Far below her, she could see Donald and Goofy waving at her from behind the magical wall. She raised her hand in acknowledgment, but then she stiffened suddenly. There had been a metallic clash in the distance, which Kairi knew all too well. It was the distinctive sound of a keyblade in battle.

"I'm coming, Sora!" she screamed to the air. Then she dashed up the stairs, prepared for the worst.

SORA Sora fought with an anger and fury that he had never felt before in his whole life. He madly, almost blindly, swung his keyblade at Xeiven time and time again, and Xeiven had his hands full just trying to block each of these attacks. But soon, Sora's rage was turned against him. He stumbled over his own feet in his haste once, and once was all it took. Now Sora was the one moving backwards, forced to parry each of his assailant's blows without any time to land one of his own. Xeiven remained grim and mute, silently forcing Sora into a corner.

KAIRI Several Heartless appeared beside Kairi as she flew up the stairs, but she ignored them in her haste. She had seen what had happened the last time Sora had fought this man. She knew that he didn't stand a chance at winning this battle by himself, and that he needed his help.

As she continued her ascent, the metallic bashes grew louder. Suddenly, there was a cry of pain that chilled Kairi to the bone. It was, unmistakably, Sora's voice. 'Oh God, I hope I'm not too late!' she thought frantically to herself as she dashed upward with even greater speed.

SORA Sora soon realized that Xeiven was slowly backing him into a corner, where he would be finished. He forced himself to momentarily let go of his burning rage, and think. He parried one last blow, then leapt into the air, attempting to go over Xeiven's head and attack from behind.

Unfortunately for him, Xeiven had anticipated something like this. As Sora sailed into the sky, he backed up, waiting for him to come down. As Sora came down on top of him, he jumped out of the way, still holding his gigantic sword out. The flat edge of the blade caught Sora directly across the forehead, and he cried out in agony before crashing to the ground. His keyblade involuntarily fell out of his hand and skidded across the room, and before he could summon it, Xeiven was on top of him. He placed his foot on Sora's groping hand, the cruel smile returning to his face once again. "Goodbye, keyblade master," he said wickedly as he raised his sword, ready to plunge it down into Sora's heart.

KAIRI The sounds of battle, coming from directly in front of her, suddenly stopped. Kairi turned one last bend in the stairway, and came to an open door, presumably at the top of the tower. A tall man in black armor, the very same one who had attacked her back on Destiny Islands, stood in the middle of the room. He held the enormous sword in his hand, with the blade pointing down at…Kairi gasped. Here was the boy that she had toiled endlessly to save, at the mercy of this evil warrior. He wasn't dead, or kidnapped, but he would be if she didn't do something right then!

She wordlessly rushed into the room, prepared to do anything to save his life.

SORA Sora knew that there was nothing he could do to stop the keen blade about to impale him. He futilely strained his free hand toward the keyblade lying on the ground, desperately trying to call it to him, but it wouldn't come.

Suddenly, a gasp issued from the door. Sora turned his head to see who this new person was, and froze. He silently stared as she rushed across the room with Oblivion held before her, picked up her own blossoming keyblade off the ground, and flung herself at Xeiven. Could it really be her? No, it couldn't be…she was dead, right? She attacked the king in a flurry of swinging keyblades, enough to force him to leap away in alarm.

Then she turned to Sora, and he saw her brilliant blue eyes shining in the light. There was now no mistaking who this was. "Kairi!" he cried. Once again, tears were brimming in his eyes, but these were tears of joy. "You…you're alive!"

Suddenly, the soft, warm smile turned to a frown of alarm, and she leapt backwards just in time to save herself from the deadly blade thrust between them. Xeiven stood behind them; his face reflected the burning rage that had belonged to Sora before. "So, you're a keyblade master too?" he snarled. "I should have just taken care of you myself. It doesn't matter now, though. I'm just going to have to kill you now – along with your friend!"

Kairi's and Sora's eyes met. "I believe this belongs to you!" said Kairi, tossing Oblivion to Sora.

He stared at his old weapon, and felt a strong confidence going inside him. His sheer elation at finding Kairi, alive and well, was bursting to come forth, but the happy reunion would have to wait. "Can you fight?" he asked.

"Well enough," came the reply.

"Then let's do this, together this time!" he shouted, and leapt at Xeiven, Kairi at his side.

RIKU "It works!" exclaimed Mickey as he typed the proposed password into the computer.

"Can you find a backup of the Twilight Town program?" asked Riku excitedly.

There was silence for several minutes, as Mickey searched through Ansem's Radiant Garden computer. Suddenly, he said, "Found it!"

"Run it," said Riku. After almost a week of searching and waiting, they were finally going to accomplish their mission!

Mickey tapped one key. A buzzing, humming noise filled the small room, slowly becoming louder. Suddenly, there was a loud 'bzerk', and a beam of light, connecting the floor and ceiling, shot out at one side of the room. "This is exactly how Sora and I got there last time," said Mickey happily. "This has to be right!"

Riku knew it was right. He had left the tangible world and gone to Ansem's alternate town many times. "You go first," he said to Mickey.

Mickey hopped off his stool, walked to the sparkling ray of light, touched it, and disappeared. Riku followed him without hesitation.

SORA Xeiven was a skilled and powerful fighter, but his enormous sword must have been very heavy, and taxed his agility harshly. Sora and Kairi fought him with lightning speed, and the king found himself nearly against a wall, attempting to evade the deadly accuracy of the keyblades.

Suddenly, in came the Heartless. Shadows swarmed through the door, popped out of the hard wooden floor, even crawled in through the narrow windows. Sora decided to take it upon himself to destroy these, and leapt backwards into the midst of the black bodies. As he fought, he kept an eye Kairi, ready to defend her if Xeiven should prove too strong for her alone. However, this never happened. She swung her blossoming keyblade ferociously yet gracefully, blocking or evading every counterattack thrown at her, and was actually able to keep backing Xeiven toward the wall. 'Where did she learn to fight like that?' thought Sora in wonder.

Not long after, Xeiven was in the corner, now fighting to save his life. Suddenly, he leapt high into the air and sailed toward the door, trying to escape his two deadly adversaries. Sora realized that if he did not do something quickly, the king would get away. So he carefully took aim, and flung his keyblade into the air.

Oblivion struck the king across the legs with a resound metallic clang. Xeiven grunted, but continued his airborne path to the doorway. Then Kairi jumped into the air after him. She caught Oblivion in her free hand, sailed up to the unprepared king, and brought both keyblades down onto his back. The force of the blow cracked through the heavy black armor, and sent Xeiven crashing to the ground.

He hit the wooden floor with a loud thud, dead. He immediately dissipated into a short lived wisp of dark smoke, which disappeared into the air.

Sora looked at Kairi, and Kairi looked at Sora. Then they wordlessly ran to each other and embraced. For both of them, this was a moment of pure bliss. They had each looked tirelessly and feverishly for each other, knowing what the odds were of succeeding. And now they had found each other, and were with each other once again.

"Kairi, you were amazing!" said Sora, letting go of her. "Who taught you to fight like that?"

"Everything I can do with this keyblade, I saw you do," laughed Kairi. "You taught me!"

They were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Donald and Goofy, puffing and panting up the stairs. "Wow, you got him, Sora!" cried Donald. "Nice job!"

"Donald, I think you owe Kairi an apology," said Goofy sternly.

Donald's smile was replaced by a look of comical guilt. He reluctantly walked up to Kairi and said, "Sorry, Kairi. Didn't mean to insult you or anything…"

Sora and Kairi both laughed, and she patted him on the head. "Don't worry," she said heartily. "I'm sure I'll find some way you can pay me back!"

They laughed again. Donald looked horrorstruck, but Goofy saved him from the humiliation. "Sora," he said urgently, "I have something I have to show you. Follow me." He ran clumsily down the winding stairs, followed by Sora, Kairi, and a red-faced Donald.

Soon, they came to one of the rooms that Sora had passed during his ascension. However, neither he nor Kairi had noticed the partially concealed door along one wall. Through this door Goofy walked, into a dark room dimly lit by torches. "Sora!" called a familiar voice.

"Aerith?" said Sora hesitantly. "Where are you?"

"Over here!" she called. At the far end of the room, there was a small prison cell with iron bars and a wooden door. Yuffie and Aerith were imprisoned there, peering through the bars at the group.

"I'll let you out!" cried Sora. He raised his keyblade, pointed it at the door, and let the beam of light shoot forth toward the lock. However, it ricocheted off another stream of light and completely missed its mark. He looked at Kairi, and saw that she had simultaneously done the same thing. "You can do it," she said, giggling.

Sora sighed, and once again aimed his keyblade at the door. The light struck it, and it sprang open. Yuffie and Aerith ran out delightedly. "Thank you so much for saving us!" said Yuffie. "We've been shut in there ever since Radiant Garden was attacked by that Zemnark guy!"

"Well, is there any reason to stay in this horrid tower any longer?" said Kairi. "Let's get out of here!"

So, all six of them left the dark, dank room, and set off once again down the stairs. Suddenly, they all stopped and stiffened. They had heard the distinct sound of a spacecraft being set down outside. Then came the sound of a heated battle. "Someone's in trouble!" cried Aerith. They broke into a run, heading to the door of the tower.

RIKU "What is this place?" said Riku, looking around him. Mickey and he were standing in the middle of an enormous turbine, the walls made of glistening, swirling light of many, many colors.

"I've been here," said Mickey. "This is how Sora and I got to the Nobodies' world before. We're definitely on the right track!" And he ran to the other end of the room, to a lone patch of darkness. Riku followed him through this new portal.

"Ah, here we are!" exclaimed Riku, gazing at the familiar buildings and skyscrapers, and, in the distance, the castle. "I've got some fond memories of this place."

"Oh, I know it," laughed Mickey. "But please keep your voice down. Don't forget who else is here."

"Surely you don't mean more Nobodies?!" cried Riku incredulously. "I thought we had gotten all of them!"

"Of course I don't mean Nobodies!" exclaimed Mickey. "Maleficent lives in that castle now, remember? And I don't think you two were on the best of terms when you last met. I certainly don't think she's strong enough to defeat you in a direct battle, but I don't want her bothering us while we're executing our mission."

Riku suddenly remembered why he was there. Kingdom Hearts hung in the sky above him, scintillating in the dark sky. "Right," he said. "How are we getting up there?"

"Same way as before," said Mickey. "We'll walk. I know you've been used to stepping into a portal and going wherever you wanted, but you could use a little exercise for a change!" He laughed.

"Oh, yes," chuckled Riku. "I don't think I ever walked all the way up there. I guess you're going to have to lead the way." So they both walked between the rows of buildings, into the perpetual night.

SORA Sora reached the door first, and flung it open. The Heartless still littered the ground, but there were much less of them, and no more came out of the black dirt. A ship, painted blood red, was parked on the ground beside Highwind, and in the midst of the Heartless, wielding a giant sword, was…

"Leon!" cried Yuffie and Aerith simultaneously. Leon looked up at them in delight, but he was too busy fending off the countless shadows to respond. "Come on, guys, we've got to help him!" said Yuffie frantically.

"Of course we do!" said Sora. He ran into the ocean of Heartless, swinging his keyblade, killing everything in his path, making his way toward Leon. A heavy breathing and clinking of metal from behind told him the Kairi had followed. Yuffie and Goofy jumped into the oncoming masses as well, while Aerith and Donald stayed in the doorway and cast spells to destroy them.

They fought like this for many minutes. Suddenly, before Sora realized that they were even making a dent in the shadows' numbers, the Heartless were all dead. He and Kairi had run a circuit around the tower, and killed every Heartless in the whole place!

"Sora…thank you," said Leon, approaching him. "I know I couldn't have taken all these on by myself."

Yuffie ran to him, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "Leon, what happened?" she cried. "We thought you were dead! We saw the warrior in black kill you!"

"That's what I thought, too," said Leon. "When Zemnark stabbed me, I was nearly killed, but I merely fainted. I awoke to find that he had thrust my body into the trunk of his ship. What he was planning on doing with my dead body, I can only guess. But while I waited for my fate to be determined, Cloud appeared beside me and let me out."

"Cloud?!" gasped Aerith. "He hasn't been around for over three months! He suddenly came to you?"

"I was quite surprised too," laughed Leon heartily. "But we apprehended Zemnark, and with his help, I killed him. Then Cloud disappeared again, and left me in control of Zemnark's ship. For the last three months, I've traveled around the worlds, trying to find you, Yuffie and Aerith. I was passing back this way when I saw a passage that had never been open before. I flew through it, and found you."

Small traces of tears were now in Aerith's eyes. "I'm just so glad you're alive!" she said happily.

Sora's mind, however, was on other matters. "Wait a minute," he said, "you said you killed Zemnark? That means there's only one king left!"

Leon's face lit up like a light bulb. "You mean, you've already killed two of them?"

"That's right!" said Sora proudly. "You just missed the death of one of them, actually."

"So, my comrades are dead?" said a deep voice from behind them.

All seven of them spun around, to see yet another man in black armor standing by the tower. "Yeah!" said Sora, summoning his keyblade. "You're the only one left! Are you ready to fight now?"

The king surveyed them and laughed. "No, not now. I'm not quite ready yet to take on all of you. However, I will be soon!"

"Gah! Who are you?" shouted Donald.

"You already know that, don't you?" laughed the king. "But it you want my name…you may call me Sirus. I'll be seeing all of you again, I'm sure." With that, he snapped his fingers and disappeared into a dark mist.

Leon sighed. "He's gone. I was looking forward to taking out the last one."

"He said he'd be ready to take us on soon," said Kairi inquisitively. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, Kairi, you shouldn't listen to him," said Sora cheerfully. "He's trying to psyche you out, that's all. We'll kill him next time he shows his face!"

"Sorry to break this up," interrupted Leon, "but I'd better get back to Radiant Garden as soon as possible. Yuffie, Aerith, you come with me." He turned to the rest of the party. "Will you four be alright?"

"Of course!" said Sora. "We're going to back to Disney Castle and wait for Riku. That okay with you guys?"

"Sure!" said Goofy. "I don't like it here, either. The darkness hasn't cleared yet, and it's kind of uncomfortable."

"Let's get going!" said Donald. He climbed into the Gummi Ship, followed by Sora, then Goofy, and finally Kairi, who looked slightly bewildered.

"Sora!" called Leon. "Thank you again, for saving Yuffie and Aerith."

"No problem!" said Sora cheerfully. And Highwind left the ground, leaving the dark tower behind.

RIKU Soon, they reached the castle. Riku had actually never seen the rooms near the bottom, having been used to warping wherever he needed to go. They went up many different flights of stairs, took several elevators, and walked along long hallways, until Riku felt his legs becoming sore. 'I never knew this castle was so big,' he thought.

Suddenly, Mickey jerked to a halt and summoned his keyblade. "Shh!" he said urgently. 'Something really big is coming this way!'

Riku stopped, and heard it too. A noise like an elephant stomping along was coming toward them. He summoned his keyblade as well, and prepared for battle.

Then Pete rounded the corner. He froze as soon as he saw them standing there. "Ah, me old shipmate!" he laughed nervously. "What are you doing here on so…fine a day?"

"Hello, Pete," said Mickey, "I don't have time to talk right now. Riku and I are going to the top of the tower, if you don't mind."

"Oh, he has a keyblade too?" whimpered Pete. He placed his hands protectively over his stomach. "You don't want to hurt me like that other girl did, do you?"

Riku turned to Mickey. "Other girl?" he said, astonished. "That must have been Kairi! I wonder what on earth she was doing here?"

"Beats me," said Mickey, "but we can ask her as soon as we get back. Pete, out of the way, we're going up!"

Pete hobbled away, whimpering quietly. "That was easy enough," chuckled Riku.

"Stay on your guard," warned Mickey. "He's probably going to get Maleficent now!"

So they continued their long ascension. After several minutes, Riku found himself in rooms that he had seen many times before. "This is where I met Sora. We must be getting close!"

"That's correct," said Mickey. "Not much further now."

After passing through several large rooms, ornately decorated with skylights, they reached the top of the building. "Here we are," said Riku. "Shall we get started?"

"What exactly are you trying to do, Riku?" asked a voice from behind them. Startled, he turned around and saw Maleficent standing by the door to Kingdom Hearts, Pete blubbering at her side. "Well, well, we meet again," she said with a smirk.

KAIRI At first, the trip back to Disney Castle was spent in cheerful camaraderie. For the most part, Sora zealously explained his adventure to Kairi, while she listened with genuine interest. However, a question had been nagging at her head ever since they left the tower, and now she asked it. "Sora, why are we going back to the castle?"

"Oh, I was just getting to that part," said Sora cheerfully. "After Riku and I defeated Xinck, he asked my why I was away from home, and I said I was looking for you. But the Gummi Ship was too small to fit through the portal! So he told me that he would find you himself, and that I should go wait back at Disney Castle for him. But Yen Sid was there, and…"

"But Riku told me to wait in Twilight Town for him," said Kairi doubtfully. "Don't you think he'll be worried?"

Sora seemed surprised. "You met Riku too?"

"Yeah," she said. "He had just landed in Twilight Town when he met me. He seemed to be under the impression that I was dead as well! But he told me he had to go do something important. I wonder what it was…"

"Oh, yes," said Sora. "He told me he was going to destroy Kingdom Hearts."

"What?!" said Kairi. "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know the details," said Sora, "but he said nothing bad would happen."

However, Kairi remembered her conversation with Ansem clearly. 'Horrible things are locked up in here,' he had said. 'Kingdom Hearts could be destroyed, but with terrible consequences…'

"Kairi, are you alright?" said Sora, alarmed. "You're shaking all over!"

She was. "Sora…" she said in a trembling voice, "turn the ship around. We've got to stop him!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "You don't think Riku was wrong, do you?"

"Yes, I do!" she almost screamed. "Something really bad will happen if he goes through with this. I'll tell you later, what we've got to turn around! Now!"

Sora was obviously shocked. "Alright," he said uncertainly. "Donald, we're going back to Twilight Town. Turn around."

"What?!" quacked Donald. "Did you leave something?"

"No," said Sora, "but Kairi seems awfully worried about something. Come on, let's go!"

"Okay," grumbled Donald. So Highwind made a sharp turn in the middle of space, heading back to the tower it had just left.

RIKU 'Damn it!' thought Riku. "Maleficent, I don't really want to hurt you, though I will if you don't listen to us. We're up here to get rid of Kingdom Hearts, okay? If you have a problem with that, too bad. You can get out of our way, or you can die. Choose."

Maleficent actually smiled. "You're going to destroy that heart up in the sky? I actually like that idea. I've never been happy with it shedding light all over my beautiful castle. It's an eyesore. I'll even help you with it, if you think it can be done."

Riku and Mickey simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. "Actually," said Mickey, "you might be able to help us out. Can you bring us some weak Heartless up here?"

"Heartless?" said Maleficent, puzzled. "Ah, I suppose I could." She raised her glinting staff into the air, and all around them appears dozens and dozens of shadows, peering at them with their beady yellow eyes. Riku instinctively summoned his keyblade, ready to do battle.

"No!" cried Mickey. "We can't kill them! We've got to lure them in through that door, remember?"

"Yeah," said Riku through gritted teeth. It was difficult to stand in the center of all those Heartless, not allowed to defend himself. "So…what's the plan?"

"Oh, just walk through it," said Maleficent airily. She was enjoying herself well enough. "They're sure to follow you."

Riku glared at his former mistress, and turned his sights on the door. "On three, then," he said hurriedly, as the Heartless drew their circle closer. "One…two…go!" They both leaped into the air, with dozens of Heartless below them.

SORA "Faster, faster!" yelled Sora urgently. Kairi had told him everything that Ansem had said, and he immediately believed it. He suddenly remembered that Merlin had once told him the same thing! 'Why can't I ever remember things like this?' he thought angrily.

"We're here!" gasped Goofy. Yen Sid's tower was below them, the darkness beginning to dissolve into the light. "Shall I land here?"

"No!" shouted Kairi. "We've got to get closer! Twilight Town is on the horizon there, and the mansion isn't far off. Come on, faster!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" said Goofy, exasperated. "Gawrsh, have some patience!"

"There isn't time for patience!" shouted Sora. "Let's go, faster, faster!"

Goofy sighed, and returned to the controls. Sora and Kairi stood, tense as bowstrings, hoping that they weren't too late to stop the inevitable. The ship was only in the air for another two minutes, but it seemed like hours to the two teenagers.

Eventually, Goofy brought the Gummi Ship to a graceful stop, right in front of the mansion. Sora remembered this place well, and jumped out of the ship even before it had touched the ground. Kairi sprinted after him, followed at a considerable distance by Donald and Goofy. "Wait up!" cried Donald, but Sora and Kairi did not heed him. If they didn't find Riku as soon as possible, it would be too late.

RIKU "What now, Mickey?" shouted Riku. They were inside the door, looking at the empty space where they had once destroyed Xemnas. The Heartless were obediently flooding through the door like sheep, but they weren't leaving any room at all to get back out again!

"Wait a minute," urged Mickey quietly. "There are not enough of them in here yet. We've got to wait!"

"Oh, so we're going to sit here until Kingdom Hearts explodes?" said Riku sarcastically. "I thought you said I was going home in a moment!"

"We will find a way to get out," said Mickey, but with uncertainty.

By now, the Heartless were climbing over each other's heads to get at the two friends standing inside. "Mickey, we've got to get out of here!" screamed Riku. "You're going to get us both killed!"

"Just a moment…" whispered Mickey, staring intently at the oncoming wave of Heartless.

Suddenly, a resounding blast shook the very ground around them. It was the sound of something exploding far in the distance, and the entire place collapsing on itself.

"Let's go!" shouted Mickey. He and Riku summoned their keyblades and charged with all the speed they could muster to the door.

SORA "Come on!" shouted Sora as he emerged from the portal, into the world of darkness. Kairi presently sprinted out behind him, followed by Donald and Goofy, panting heavily.

"Gawrsh, Sora," complained Goofy, "we can't run like you two can. Go a bit slower, will you?"

"There's no time!" shouted Kairi. "We've got to find Riku now!" And she ran off into the darkness, followed by Sora. Donald and Goofy remained in the alley, sitting on the ground and gasping for air. Alone, Sora and Kairi sprinted toward the looming castle.

They whipped around a corner, and found a company of Heartless waiting for them. "Oh, not now!" yelled Sora angrily. Without stopping or even slowing down, he summoned his keyblade and plowed through them like a boulder rolling down a hill. He made it through the group unscathed, and ran tirelessly up the glittering path to the castle. For several minutes, he flew down halls, up stairs, around corners, with a seemingly infinite amount of stamina.

Eventually, however, his exhausted limbs began to catch up with him. He slowed down to a jogging pace to catch his breath. Suddenly, he noticed that he was in the hall of empty melodies. He looked over his shoulder and remarked, "Remember this place, Kairi? This is where…" Then he stopped moving entirely, frozen with shock. He had been talking to thin air. Kairi was gone.

KAIRI Kairi was starting to get very tired. She had never had much athletic experience, and her stamina couldn't possibly match Sora's. She tried to ask Sora to slow down, but she was too out of breath to say anything, and Sora probably wouldn't have heard her anyway.

Suddenly, dozens of Heartless were in front of them. Before she could do anything, even summon her keyblade, two enormous hands grabbed her from behind. She tried to scream "Sora!" but a hand was clasped over her mouth. She watched him run through the oncoming Heartless and out of sight.

"Ah, it's you again!" said a pig-like voice in her ear. "That wasn't very nice of you to clunk my stomach, you know!"

It was Pete. Kairi struggled to free one of her hands and get her keyblade, but the creature's grasp was too strong. "Not so strong now, are you?" cackled Pete gleefully. "My mistress has been looking for you. Just come along like a good girl, and nobody will get hurt!"

With that, Pete began to pull his hapless prisoner toward the castle. Kairi continuously tried to wrest her hands from his grip, but to no avail. She did her best to dig her shoes into the rough ground, but Pete merely dragged her along behind him. She was powerless in his mighty grip. "Where are you taking me?" she asked meekly.

"Oh, I'll be taking you to the dungeon," he said. "My mistress can do what she wants with you when she finds you. Finally, I've got a chance to redeem myself!"

"Pete," she said desperately, "I've got to get up to the top of the castle, or something terrible is going to happen!"

"Oh, no you don't," he laughed. "I've fallen for that one before. Nope, you're coming with me!"

Suddenly, a deep rumble shook the entire area. Kairi glanced fervently at Kingdom Hearts, scintillating in the sky, and saw it quivering in its spot. She squirmed and writhed with renewed effort, but still she could not get free. "Oh, stop that," said Pete irritably. "You know it's hopeless!"

SORA "Kairi! Kairi!" screamed Sora desperately, as he frantically ran back down the passage. His heart pounded in his ears, out of exertion as well as fear. "Kairi, where are you?" He sprinted around a corner, tripped on a jagged piece of tile, and fell onto his back. He sat there on the ground, gasping for air, his back throbbing dully. "I've lost her again!" he cried softly to himself.

He stayed there for quite a while, feeling completely miserable. But he was not badly hurt, and he got up again. He had to make a crucial decision: should he go back down the stairs, or continue to the top of the castle?

He began to head back the way he had come, but he soon stopped and turned around. 'What am I worried about?' he thought. 'Kairi's probably fine. She probably just had to stop and catch her breath.' He still had to find Riku and stop him from destroying Kingdom Hearts! So, he took a couple of deep breaths, and continued to run upward.

RIKU It was like a cruel dance. Riku held his keyblade high above his head, forbidden to use it except as a last resort. He danced among the masses of Heartless, leaping over those on the ground, ducking under those in air, jumping backwards and forwards, left and right, painstakingly making his way to the door.

Soon, it was clear that he wasn't going to make it. He was already beginning to get tired, and the door was a long way away. So, thinking quickly, he grasped his keyblade by the blade, and swung the heavy hilt at his enemies.

It worked perfectly. The Heartless flew out of his way, creating a wide path, but not a single one was killed. In this way, he ran ahead, blindly swinging his keyblade, and reached the door, where Mickey was waiting for him. "Close the door!" yelled Mickey. Riku put both his hands on the cool marble, and pushed with every ounce of strength he had left. The door swung to with a boom, and Riku collapsed on the transparent pathway.

Maleficent smiled cruelly behind him. "Nice show, there, my old friend. But it didn't seem to work, did it?"

Riku ignored her and turned to Mickey. "What's wrong? We heard the explosion. Why isn't Kingdom Hearts gone?"

Mickey glanced at the giant heart in the sky. It was very faint, and quivering in its place. "There's not enough darkness!" he said, downcast. "We need to find a way to get just a bit more in there…"

"I can provide that," said a deep voice behind him.

Riku spun around. "Another one of you?" he said, staring at the man in black armor standing there. "Who are you?"

Maleficent's face turned bright red. "You again!" she shrieked. "I remember you. Get out of my castle now!"

The king summoned a ball of dark energy, and hurled it at Maleficent. She narrowly escaped through a dark portal. Then he turned to Riku and Mickey. "Destroying Kingdom Hearts, are you?" he laughed. "I applaud your efforts. I never would have thought of putting all those Heartless in there, or I would have done it a long time ago!"

"Who are you?" repeated Riku savagely.

"My name is Sirus," laughed the king. "Foremost of the ancient Four Kings of Darkness. And you, my friend, have just brought me to my full power! I thank you deeply." With that, he raised both of his hands above his head, creating an enormous ball of darkness.

"What are you doing?" cried Mickey. "Stop!" But the sphere was now truly enormous, bigger than Sirus himself. With a savage cry, he hurled it at the fading Kingdom Hearts.

The small explosion which Riku had heard earlier was nothing compared to this. The heart in the sky lurched, and split into hundreds of pieces. There was a momentary flash of light, brighter than anything Riku had seen before. He shielded his eyes with his hands, but it ended very quickly. When he looked up, the pieces of the heart had scattered, and the door had disappeared. Kingdom Hearts was gone.

"My friend, what have you done?" said a sorrowful, familiar voice from beside them. Ansem the Wise was back again.

"Ansem!" said Mickey. "You're free now? Why aren't you happy?"

Suddenly, a roaring laughter filled the air. Sirus was still standing by the stairway, but he was encased in a glowing dark aura. He held a burning ball of fire in his hand. "You fools!" he cackled. "My power has been locked in Kingdom Hearts for thousands of years. And, thanks to you, it has now been restored!"

Riku and Mickey summoned their keyblades. "You want to fight me?" laughed Sirus. "Last time, it took hundreds of keyblade masters to defeat me!"

"Friendship amplifies the power of the heart," said Ansem solemnly. "Riku and Mickey are friends. Because of that, you may find your match in them."

"Oh, we shall see," said Sirus. He raised his free hand into the air, and into it came a sword, gleaming black. "But it's more likely that they will find their match in me!" And he rushed at Riku and Mickey with inhuman speed.

KAIRI Eventually, Kairi resorted to begging. "Please, Pete," she said earnestly, "something really bad will happen! I've got to get up there!"

Pete's features softened, and something like sympathy came over his face. But he soon shook it off. "Nope, not falling for that one again!" he said.

By now, they were at the foot of the castle, and Kairi was beginning to tire of struggling. Suddenly, a huge explosion filled the air and nearly knocked Pete off his feet. Kairi glanced fearfully into the sky, and saw, to her horror, that Kingdom Hearts was gone! "Pete, it's too late!" she wailed. "Let me go!"

"I told you, I'm smarter than that!" he said proudly. "You're coming to the dungeon, whether you want to or not!"

Then there was a crackle of thunder, and Pete bounced away from her, clutching his behind. "Ooh! My butt!" he cried. "That hurt a lot!"

Donald and Goofy were standing behind her, Donald with his staff in the air. "I've got my breath back!" he quacked happily.

Kairi seized her chance. She leapt away from Pete before he could recover, summoning her keyblade in the same move. "Stay there!" she shouted.

"Oh, no, don't hurt me!" wailed Pete, cowering by a building. "I never meant you any harm! My mistress made me do it! I swear!"

"Come on, Kairi!" said Goofy urgently. "Kingdom Hearts is gone! We've got to warn Riku and the King!"

So with one last threatening glance at Pete, Kairi sped off into the castle. "Wait up, Kairi!" shouted Donald, but Kairi once again ignored them, and left in the dust in her haste.

SORA "Almost there…" thought Sora hurriedly as he rushed through the room where he had fought Luxord and Saix. There was no time for nostalgia now, however.

He rushed out onto the skyway, and was immediately knocked to the ground by an explosion which shook the very foundations of the castle. Kingdom Hearts shuddered, and vaporized. 'No!' he thought angrily. 'I'm too late!'

Then a horrible laughter from above filled the air. It was unmistakably the king who had met them at Yen Sid's tower! Sora felt all hope drain from him, but he felt he still had to get to the top, and try to defeat him. He got to his feet and headed for the top.

RIKU It was a hopeless battle. Riku well remembered his fight with Xinck, but this was far, far worse. His sword moved like a bolt of lightning, and Riku had to move his keyblade as fast as he could just to block the strikes. Mickey continually tried to leap on him from above or the side, but he never got even close. With his other hand, Sirus was wielding the burning flame, and Mickey could not hope to get past it. More than once, he was singed by the scalding blaze. Ansem cowered in a corner, hoping not to be seen.

"It's no use, Riku!" shouted Mickey while leaping in and out of Sirus's range. "You're going to have to make a run for it!"

"What about you?" said Riku. "I'm not going to run away and let you die!"

"I'll follow you as soon as you get down the stairs. Go!"

Riku jumped back from the deadly swinging sword, and sprinted to the stairs. Sirus gave a flick of his wrist conjuring a wall of flames, blocking his path. Riku whipped around just in time to dodge the flaming dagger coming at him. "Are you still trying?" laughed Sirus. "You obviously can't win!"

Then a keyblade, spinning out of nowhere, struck him in the side. He cried out in pain and jumped back. "Another one of you?" he cried, seeing the young boy standing behind Riku. The boy held out his hand, and called the keyblade back to him.

Riku's heart leapt. "Sora!" he cried joyfully. "You came back!"

"Of course!" said Sora, a newfound fire flashing in his eyes. "I had to warn you about this…but it looks like I'm too late." Then he jumped back to avoid the fireball thrown at him. "But you think we can take him together?" he said, grinning.

"We can try it," said Riku. "What else is there to do?"

Sirus merely laughed. "So there's three of you now. But I've taken on dozens of you at a time before! You still stand a chance."

"We're all friends," Riku reminded him. "That makes us a lot stronger, remember?" This time he initiated the attack, rushing forward with his keyblade gleaming in the dark.

KAIRI For many minutes, Kairi ran along the castle's passages. She didn't know where she was going, but there was only one way to go – up. She worried that her stamina would drain again, but necessity drove her to keep going, no matter how tired she grew.

She turned a corner, and found herself in an enormous empty room. Maleficent stood at the opposite end, smiling menacingly. "Kairi, my friend, I see you came back. But we didn't leave on the best of terms before, did we? I demand revenge!"

"No, Maleficent!" cried Kairi urgently. "There's no time for this! Riku and Sora are up there, Kingdom Hearts has been destroyed, and…"

"Yes, I have seen Sirus," laughed Maleficent. "And I can tell you, your friends are about to die. If you went up to help them, you would too. But I'd rather kill you myself. She raised her staff, and a company of Heartless came out of the ground. "Have at her!" she cackled.

Kairi summoned her keyblade and charged at her assailants. She raised her weapon, brought it down on the first shadow's head…

A brilliant flash of light filled the air, so bright that Kairi had to turn her head and shield her eyes. She turned back to see that all the Heartless had been killed, and Maleficent was alone, looking puzzled. "What just happened?" she said, alarmed.

Kairi seized her chance and sprinted past the startled Maleficent. The witch hurled a ball of energy at her, but she dodged it and continued on her way. She was almost there.

RIKU At last, with the help of Sora, they were evenly matched! Together, Sora, Riku, and Mickey attacked Sirus. He swung his sword and wielded his magic at a speed that seemed impossible, but the combined efforts of his adversaries slowly drove him to the edge of the castle.

And then he gave up the battle altogether. Sirus jumped into the air, and flung himself over the edge. He soon disappeared from sight.

Sora, Riku, and Mickey were all exhausted, and they simultaneously sat on the ground with one heavy thud. "What just happened?" asked Sora wearily. "Is it over?"

Ansem stepped out of his hiding spot, his face full of anxiety. "Don't assume that!" he warned. "The kings do not die from jumping off a building. Get up, all of you! Stay on your guard!"

"What do you mean?" said Riku. He was just as tired as the rest of them, and wasn't particularly eager about getting to his feet. "You think he's going to…" Then that laughter filled the air again.

Sirus's head slowly rose into their view from below, followed by the rest of his body. He was standing on a spinning disk of flames. Both of his hands were held high above his head, summoning a ball of pure darkness. It was far bigger than any Riku had seen. 'That thing is big enough to destroy this entire castle!' he thought fearfully.

"Your wise friend is correct," he laughed. "You let your guard down, and now your lives will pay the price!" The gigantic orb grew even larger.

Riku looked at Mickey. He knew that Mickey always kept a cool head, and was never excited or frightened by anything. But in this moment, for the first time, his eyes and face reflected pure, unadulterated fear. "Mickey, what are we going to do?" shouted Riku, his panic growing every second.

"I…I don't know!" said Mickey, standing rooted to the spot.

Suddenly, a patch of the sky began to glow with pink light. The small spark slowly grew brighter, and then exploded. Brilliant, white, blinding light flashed across the horizon, nearly knocking Riku off his feet with its sheer wonder. He heard Sirus cry in anguish somewhere in the distance, but he could not see anything but the incredible white radiance.

After what seemed like an eternity, the light faded. Riku looked up, and saw the door to Kingdom Hearts hovering in the air, open. And once again, Kingdom Hearts itself glittered in the sky.

SORA How could this be? Sora had himself seen the horrible destruction of Kingdom Hearts. And yet, it was back again. It hovered in the sky, scintillating as bright as it ever had.

Sirus had been knocked off of his flaming platform, and he now stood on the castle, staring incredulously at the beautiful heart in the sky. "How did this happen?" he spat incredulously. "It can't be! It's not possible!"

In this moment, the king had forgotten about the battle, and Sora seized the chance. He rushed forward, and swung at Sirus with all his might. Sirus's black sword left his grasp and spun through the air into the darkness.

The keyblade itself struck Sirus across the head, knocking off his feet, almost causing him to fall over. He grimaced in pain, but quickly regained his composure. "You know nothing, do you?" he laughed. "I have all of my powers back now. You have killed my comrades, but I cannot die!"

Sora looked at his undamaged armor in dismay. So, he was immortal! What was he supposed to do now?

Then he looked past Sirus, and to the open door to Kingdom Hearts. His harried mind immediately formed a plan. He raised his keyblade over his shoulder, inhaled sharply, and swung. He did not know where his strength was coming from, but he suddenly felt much, much stronger than he ever had in his life. The blow did more than just knock Sirus over. The startled king flew backwards through the door, landing in a heap.

Mickey realized what Sora was trying to do, and now he took the initiative. He raised both his hands at Sirus. An invisible, yet tangible, force flew through the air to the hapless king. He struggled to get up, but Mickey was using his magic to hold him at bay. He could not move. "Sora, Riku, shut the door and lock it!" yelled Mickey. Both of them flung themselves at the door.

"No, it's no use!" cried Ansem sadly. "That is not a normal door. Kingdom Hearts must be locked from both sides!"

KAIRI 'Not far now…' Kairi could hear the sounds of a struggle from above. She heard a steady crackling like thunder, and thought she could discern Mickey's voice.

Then she rounded the final bend and came to the top of the castle. The first thing she noticed was that Kingdom Hearts was once again in the sky. This astounded her, but there was not time to think about just now. She looked down, and saw Sora, Riku, and Mickey standing by the door to Kingdom Hearts, Mickey with his arms outstretched. And beyond the door, the last king sat, crumpled in a heap. 'They need my help!' she suddenly realized. She summoned her keyblade and prepared to jump into the fray.

SORA Sora looked at Riku in despair. Riku looked back at him with a similar expression. They both knew what had to happen – one of them had to jump through and lock the door. Sora knew that Riku had done this once before, and shouldn't be expected to do it again. But yet…Sora couldn't bring himself to go through the door and shut himself inside Kingdom Hearts. And all the while, Mickey was keeping Sirus at bay inside. Sora could see visible beads of sweat on his head. Something had to be soon.

Suddenly, he heard a voice. "Sora! Riku!" He turned around, and saw Kairi standing at the top of the stairway, keyblade in hand. He stared at her, and the wheels of his brain started turning faster than ever before. And then he made his decision.

He faced the door, took a deep breath, and leapt.

KAIRI "Sora, what are you doing?!" cried Kairi in alarm. She watched him fly through the door, land on his feet, turn around, and raise his keyblade. A beam of light shot forth from its tip and struck the door. Riku simultaneously did the same thing.

"Riku, stop!" cried Kairi. "Why are you doing this?"

The strain that the spell was putting on Mickey contorted his face into a grimace. "Kairi," he shouted, "go close the door!"

Kairi stared at him blankly, not quite comprehending. "Kairi, close the door!" yelled Riku.

"But…Sora…" said Kairi, a growing panic rising up inside her.

"Sora chose to do this!" snapped Riku. "If you really care for him, you'll help him. Close the door!"

Kairi slowly walked to the door and placed her hand on the cool marble. She looked at Sora, standing on the other side, ready to lock himself in. "Sora…" she whispered desperately.

Sora looked at her, and Kairi was shocked to see an odd playfulness in his eyes. "I'll be fine, Kairi!" he said. "Now do it!"

"Kairi, hurry!" screamed Riku. "It's going to be too late!"

Very, very slowly, Kairi placed both of her hands on the door, and pushed. It was big and extremely heavy, but it swung on its hinges with ease. She hated every moment of it, but she felt it was her duty to keep going. After what seemed like hours, the door fell into its place. One single scream of anguish escaped from the evil king before he was lost from sight. There was the sound of a latch clicking, and a lock turning, and then all was silent.

Mickey immediately collapsed to the ground. Riku lowered his keyblade. "You did a good job, Kairi," he said kindly.

Kairi didn't even hear him. She fell to her knees, completely overwhelmed by emotion. She put her head against the unforgiving door. "What have I done?" she cried, tears welling up in her eyes.

Ansem walked to her. "You've just saved the universe."

"No," said Kairi, her eyes closed in anguish. "I've just locked Sora behind that door forever! He didn't deserve that. He's never done anything wrong in his life. How could I have done that to him?"

"Don't blame yourself!" snapped Ansem. "You didn't throw Sora through the door. He went through himself. He is the one who shut himself behind that door. And he did it for the people that his heart is close to. You've done nothing wrong."

Kairi didn't move. She just sat with her head against the cool marble, the tears dripping down her face.

SORA Everywhere, all around Sora, was deep, impenetrable darkness. The ground below his feet had disappeared, and he was floating aimlessly through the endless black sky. But his keyblade was in front of him, and was deadlocked with Sirus's deadly sword.

The king's face was strangely illuminated. His face reflected the utmost rage, even more rage than Sora had felt upon learning about Kairi's death. He wore a contorted, hideous smile. "You…rats!" he shrieked. "Once again, you've locked me into Kingdom Hearts. And you hoped that it would be forever. But if I must spend an eternity in here…so will you. And your eternity is going to be hell!"

But Sora wasn't afraid. Deep inside, he was laughing at the king. Taken aback, Sirus asked sharply, "Why does your face reflect happiness?"

"You know nothing of hearts, do you?" laughed Sora. "If my heart was alone, then I would be trapped in here forever. But my heart is connected…to Kairi's. She has brought me back from the darkness before. What makes you think she won't do it again?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sirus, his voice hinting anxiety.

"I turned into a Heartless," said Sora. "And she brought me back."

"But…that's not possible!" shouted Sirus fearfully.

"But it is possible!" laughed Sora. "Just you wait!" And at that moment, as if by Sora's command, a gleam of light appeared in Sora's chest. The small spot grew until it engulfed Sora's entire body. And then he himself began to fade. He was leaving the darkness. "Goodbye!" he said cheerfully.

One last scream of fury and frustration escaped Sirus's mouth before Sora was gone.

KAIRI Eventually, Kairi stood up. She turned her tear-stained face to Mickey, Riku, and Ansem, all of whom looked extremely uncomfortable. She wasn't crying anymore, but she felt cold and empty inside. "What are we going to do now?" she asked, her voice full to the brim with sadness.

There was a short silence. "Let's go," said Mickey.

Mickey and Ansem began to descend the stairway, muttering quietly to each other. Kairi followed at a distance, taking each step very, very slowly.

Riku walked beside her. "About Sora," he said sympathetically, "I miss him too. I didn't want to lock him behind that door. It was just my duty." He stopped and looked at her in concern. "Do you understand?"

"Oh! I don't blame you for anything!" cried Kairi hurriedly. "It's not your fault at all. It's nobody's fault. I just miss him a lot, that's all."

"Me too," sighed Riku, and his face reflected it. They continued to walk down the stairs.

Suddenly, there was a crackle of burning air, and a brief flash of light from above. "What was that?" said Riku, alarmed.

Then Kairi heard his voice. "Kairi! Riku! Mickey! Where are you?"

"Sora?" gasped Kairi in amazement. Was it really possible, or was this a cruel trick of her imagination? "Sora!" she cried out to above.

The voice answered her. "Kairi! Where are you?"

Kairi didn't stop to think about how it had happened. She turned on her heels and raced up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry. Her tired limbs ached from the continuous exertion, but her face glowed with happiness. Riku dashed up as well, but he could not keep up with Kairi's mad pace. She took five or six steps at a time in her eagerness. She reached the roof, and there he was, his blue eyes beaming at her as brightly as ever. Without slowing, she rushed forward and threw herself into Sora's arms. They stood there for a long while, embracing each other, eyes closed in serenity.

Eventually, they let go of each other, but they continued staring deep into each other's eyes for a long time afterward. His eyes were soft and full of emotion. Kairi felt a strange new attachment to him. She couldn't put a word to it, but she knew that her life would collapse if he ever left her again.

Riku, Mickey, and Ansem stood at the top of the stairway, staring in astonishment. "But…" said Mickey, "how did he come back?"

"It's simple," said Ansem. "Their hearts are strongly connected. You know that already. She saved him from the darkness again."

"That's right!" exclaimed Sora, beaming at Kairi. "Remember when I turned into a Heartless, and you saved me? That's the same thing that happened now!"

Kairi stared back at him without answering. She was still being troubled by this strange new emotion.

Riku was staring into the sky, a puzzled expression on his face. "Ansem, we just destroyed Kingdom Hearts. Why is it back again?"

"It's simple," said Ansem. "Whenever a Heartless is destroyed, its heart must go up to Kingdom Hearts. If Kingdom Hearts does not exist, then the heart creates a new one. I wanted to tell you this, Kairi, but it escaped my mind. Kingdom Hearts can never be truly destroyed."

"But that doesn't matter, does it?" said Mickey. "You're free now, Ansem. Three of the four ancient kings are gone forever, and the last one is again locked inside Kingdom Hearts. I'd say we've accomplished a great deal."

"Yeah," said Riku, and there was a long, long silence.

Sora spoke up. "Let's go. Donald and Goofy are probably still down there, taking their time coming up. We should save them some of the trouble!" They all laughed.

"You're right," chuckled Riku. "Let's get going." He, Ansem, and Riku all went down the stairs.

Kairi was still staring strangely at Sora. He turned to her. "You okay, Kairi?"

"Oh? Yes…I'm fine," she said, blushing. "It's just…"

Sora gently clasped her hand in his. "I know," he said. "I feel it too." They shared a brief moment of complete tranquility. Eventually, Sora let go of her hand and laughed. "Let's go," he said brightly. "The others will be waiting."

Together, they walked down the stairway. At last, they were going home.