A/N:

Sora woke up in a blank room. For reasons he could not explain, he was standing on his own. He was here, and last he remembered, he was without life. Which then sparked the complete chain of events. His defense of Kairi, his death, and now, waking up here.

Sora wandered about, wondering if he was in the step between life and death. He looked around, and kept walking in all directions, seeing the same thing over and over. Nothing was there. He could only see the blank room in every direction he went.

Finally giving up, he slumped on the ground, sitting to give himself a break. For reasons unknown to him, he was too tired to keep walking and as time wore on, the blank room he was in was getting cold. No matter how he adjusted himself, he just could not get warm. He chuckled to himself as he leaned back a bit. "I guess this is what it looks like when I'm dead…"

"Sora!"

That voice. Sora shot up, and looked around, trying to locate the owner. He looked left, and saw nothing. He looked right and saw nothing. He shot back up to his feet, warmth somewhat returned to his body, and energy shot into his system. "Kairi?" He replied, his voice echoing all around him. "Kairi?" He shouted, his voice echoing to triple its original volume. "Kairi! Where are you?" He ran for a short while in one direction, continually shouting, then picked another at random and shouted as he ran that way. He needed to find Kairi. She shouldn't be in this place.

"Sora!"

This voice was still hers, and he could pinpoint it. There was no echo like his voice, but he knew where it was. Turning to where he heard the voice he took off shouting her name. He ran and each stepped seemed to drain more than the last, and the blank room began to turn dark… almost black. Before he knew it he was completely surrounded by a glowing black, and the roof was a white color now. "Kairi! Please, say something!"

"Sora!"

The boy turned to his left, and saw the redhead, however, he completely ignored the fact that the voice sounded different… just a little bit darker than usual. Kairi was facing away from him, just standing there. He took off running towards her, and shouted at her, "Kairi! Am I glad to see-"

She turned around and Sora was silenced immediately as her eyes were a complete, and beady yellow color. The fake Kairi grinned evilly and looked over at him, her voice now completely hostile and dark in tone, spat at him, "You really do care too much for this stupid bitch."

The moment the fake Kairi finished, he took a hostile stance towards it. "Leave her out of this, and stop pretending to be her!"

It laughed and waved off Sora's words. "But why would I stop being your weakness? I've seen how you act around her. I've experienced your nervousness when you're around her. That feeling where your stomach becomes a bottomless pit. Your knees become week. Where the only reason you even fight is to protect her." The grinning smile it wore faded, as did the fake Kairi skin. "It sickens me."

It turned into an all too familiar object, the black outline of Sora as he saw countless times in mirrors. "You! Why are you here!"

"For one thing!" It shouted back. "I am not about to crawl in a hole and die like you originally planned. I brought you here to settle this once and for all!" It turned its forearms into black blades. "Startling what I can do, huh? This is my realm."

Sora braced himself for the fight, before remembering just what exactly the darkness was. "You can't harm me. You'll only end up killing yourself."

Sora could hear the smirk underneath the black of the creature. "You did do your homework." Sora's anti-form self put away his weapon, and began walking. "Then allow me to show you what's going to happen if we both fade out."

Sora raised a questioning eyebrow, but decided with nothing better to be done here except wander endlessly, he followed as the black soon turned into his home. At first, it was just the sound of sand. Then the image of it, followed by water and its sound, then trees, housing, and finally, Destiny Islands.

Sora walked on, his shadow no longer with him. He walked around until he saw Kairi. She was wearing black and walking into the cemetery. Kairi wasn't one to wear black… He shouted out to her. "Kairi!" But she completely ignored him. "Kairi! I'm right here!" He took off running after her, only to be caught by his shadow self.

"You're an imbecile. This is all just an image of what is to come. She can't here you. For it has not happened yet." The shadow released him and began commentating. "You see Sora, in this future, you're dead. Killed by that shadow as you protected Kairi. This is the future you're on track for."

Sora watched idly as Kairi went to his grave, where Riku was waiting for her. Sora stood quietly and listened in standing right in front of them, hearing their every word that exchanged between them.

He saw Kairi's lip quiver, she was obviously trying to act strong in front of Riku, but Riku put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kairi…" Riku began, his eyes watering. "It-It's okay." Riku sniffled lightly, holding back his own tears, seldom letting even a second escape. "It's okay to cry."

As soon as Riku finished, Kairi dropped and began crying her eyes out. "Sora, why?" She choked out between tears. "Why did you have to die?" She sobbed. "I didn't even get my chance with you…"

Sora smirked triumphantly, and turned towards the shadow next to him. "What's your point? They're mourning my loss. And I stopped you."

The monster beside him returned the smirk. "Of course they do. In the current time, you only died two days ago. Let's skip ahead when the shock and 'boohoo' waterworks are over. Let's say… five years."

Sora watched as the cemetery changed in the blink of an eye. Other graves were added, a monument for some wealthy man, and Sora's grave, somewhat chipped, and beginning to show some age.

Once again, their stood Riku and Kairi, both of them wearing more casual clothes, and Kairi putting a bouqet of flowers on his tombstone. "Hard to believe it's been five years already, Riku." She stated, getting back on her feet. Neither of them even showed the slightest hints of tears. "Five years…"

Riku nodded. "I can't say I don't miss him. I do. He was my best friend. Sure we had our arguments and disputes… but he was a younger brother to me." Riku looked down at Kairi. "At least we're still here, though."

Sora caught Kairi blush, "Y-yeah. At least we still have each other." Kairi looked back up at Riku who smiled down at her.

Sora watched in horror as his best friend linked hands with Kairi, and slowly they kissed. Riku would never do that! "You're wrong! Riku is my best friend! He knew my feelings for Kairi! He wouldn't dare do that!" Sora shouted at his heartless self.

His Other kept its cool. "You forget, my moronic clone, you've been dead five years. In five years, they've grown closer. You were their stepping stone to get closer to one another. You boosted them forward, and gave them a chance at what you always wanted."

Silent shock.

The heartless pressed on. "Oh, it gets better. Let's skip ahead five more years."

Sora blinked again and the setting changed once more. Once again, more graves were added, and Sora watched as Riku and Kairi stood side by side in silence. Sora thought for just a second, that maybe their relationship ended. That both Riku and Kairi remembered Sora's feelings, and that they were intruding on him.

He was horridly mistaken as a little boy ran up to Riku and Kairi. "Mommy, daddy! Can we go home now?" Sora looked closer at the small child and saw that it had long, silver hair like Riku, but the eyes… They were a violet-blue color. Identical to Kairi's. "What are you two doing?"

Riku and Kairi looked at the boy. "This… this is the grave of a close friend to us." Riku stated. "A very close friend who… passed away long before you were born."

"Oh… well can we go home?" He asked.

Kairi giggled, and Riku sighed. "Yes, we can go home, son."

As they walked off, Sora began to feel his heart crumbling. "That's… that's supposed to be me… and Kairi… and our son…" Sora looked over at his heartless self. "This… this isn't true! This is all a ruse! You're trying to get me to give in!"

The heartless shrugged. "That's part of the plan, yes. But look, you are dead. You have no say anymore, you sacrificed yourself for the greater good. You never gave yourself a chance to become successful, or even grow up past seventeen. Now, as I was going to show," The heartless chuckled. "Let's go just one last jump into the future. Say, five years again."

Sora blinked, and the setting shifted just slightly, but his grave was entirely different. It was chipped, old, and starting to fade. His name could barely be distinguished amongst the faded stone. The date of his birth and death was unreadable. It was just a rock now. But that wasn't what made his heart sink.

It was that Riku and Kairi were not there. His mother wasn't, his other friends weren't… no one. His grave was alone, and fading into nothing. "I…" He swallowed hard. "I've been forgotten."

"By the very ones you called best friends. And not just that, without you around, Kairi could confess to Riku, who she actually liked. That's been your biggest fear, and looks like it's reality come five years from your death."

Sora turned to his other self, feeling his heart beat slower and slower… or maybe he was just losing the will to live. Sure, as a younger kid his will to live was always that for adventure, or what he could find to eat in the dirt. But as he grew older, his order if priorities shifted, and as much as he hated to say it, she had become his primary focus. Kairi became a lot of what he did. To see that she became not his, but Riku's instead… what was the purpose? She didn't like him, and he knew it.

"You sacrificed yourself for a girl who did not want you to begin with." His heartless began taking steps towards him. "I know you still care for her, but it's not the end. If we work together, we can conquer her, and Riku. Become strong, and get revenge on the guy who stole everything from you, by finishing you."

Sora looked up, he could feel his body become heavy, and was ready to drop. He remained standing, however, and his mind began ticking. The darkness he thought was so hostile, so evil… it was offering him a way to get back at his killer. A last stand, a finest hour. A chance to get revenge on the man who took his chance away from Kairi.

"But… what if I don't want Riku to save me?"

Sora turned around, and saw that he was standing on the beach with Kairi's back facing him. That line... he remembered it. She had asked him that after he was nearly killed at the school. Sora's body kicked back into gear. He didn't save Kairi for his own selfish needs of wanting her to like him in return, he did it because he promised her, and it was a promise he wanted to keep. A promise he kept in death. Sora looked at her, and she turned to give him a smile. That smile… one that he wished she would always give to others. The one he refused to steal away from her. She kept smiling, and then broke into much smaller bits like grains of sands, and disappearing on the winds of Fate. "Thank you, Kairi…" He muttered, and turned back to his heartless, who was now wide eyed. "You and me, if I am to die here, damnit I'm taking you with me!"

Sora reached his hand out and punched it straight in the chest, feeling that that was the place to kill it. Sora felt the heartless screech as he himself felt his own punch hit him. "You are not me! And while you may be my darker side, you will not control me! Not anymore! I will not fall! Not to you! "

The monster began losing its black substance, and Sora could see a mirror reflection of his face… except the one he watched was horror stricken. "This… isn't possible… such strong will… such a powerful heart…" The monster paused as Sora could begin to see his own image looking at him. "Perhaps… a heart this strong is what will be the death of us all… I guess I can live serving such a powerful heart. But know this…" It warned. "The moment you falter, I will take you down, and consume your heart."

As the black substance was completely drained from the heartless, and all that remained was Sora's spitting image, the real Sora grinned. "You won't be taking me."

"Maybe not today. But you will falter one day. And I'll be there to destroy you."

Finally, Sora's second shattered like glass, vanishing into nothing, as a breeze swept it away, and Sora looked at his hand. He looked back at the water, and grinned. "Hang on, Kairi. Riku. I'm not dead yet." Sora dove into the water feeling heat radiating from his body his legs completely as he let the waters of life wash over him.

His body shot up, and he was quickly back on his feet, it was dark, the grass was navy, and he, breathing. Sora looked at where he was laying prior and saw that Kairi, tear stained cheeks and all, looked up at him in shock. "Kairi, I would love to explain everything… but not now." She nodded, still too far in shock to understand what he meant, let alone how his stomach had sealed up so quickly.

Turning back to Xehanort and his shadow, Sora summoned his own. The shadow emerged from the ground, standing beside him. "You're right. The power of my shadow is greater than mine alone. Now, imagine us both."

Xehanort smiled. "Excellent. I knew I wasn't just a fluke."