CHAPTER TEN

"Still no sign of Terra..." A voice echoed down the hallway. I heard footsteps get louder towards me until they stopped right in front of me. "Hallie?"

I lifted my head from in between my knees: an attempt to keep the nausea at bay. How could Terra so easily give into the darkness? Did it really have that strong of a hold over him? Is this why Xehanort saw him as such an easy target?

I looked up to see Ventus standing over me. He came down on one knee to equal out the height.

"What's wrong?" he said.

I gulped and shook my head. "Terra... I couldn't stop him..."

"What? Terra's here?" Ventus said.

I nodded and pointed to Aurora's room. "He's in there."

Ventus glanced at the door, then back at me. He reached out his hand to me. I took it and we both stood up. I took a deep breath as Ventus opened the door and I stepped inside. Terra was gone. I approached the dark opening in the chimney. He must have left through here.

I heard Ventus gasp quietly. I turned and saw him looking at Aurora. He started to tiptoe over to her.

"That's not necessary." I said. Ventus stopped and looked to me. "She won't wake up, no matter what you do."

"What... do you mean?" Ventus said.

I walked over to his side and we stared at Aurora. "Her heart was stolen."

Ventus gasped.

"Get away from there!" a voice cried. We cried out and turned around. I gasped quietly at the sight of Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather, the three fairies.

"Sorry..." Ventus said as we approached the fairies. Ventus scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Flora floated over to us and studied us from head to toe. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ventus. But you can call me Ven." Ventus said.

"I'm Hallie." I said.

"Oh... You two don't seem bad." Fauna said. "I'm certain you both have pure hearts, just like our precious Aurora."

"But... her heart has been stolen?" Ventus said. The three fairies nodded and bowed their heads. "Hm... Well then, why don't we go get it back for her?"

I couldn't help but scoff.

"That's impossible, dear." Fauna said. "Maleficent's home is at the Forbidden Mountain. It's not safe."

"I'm not afraid. We can't just leave Aurora like this." Ventus said. "We can help. You gotta believe me. C'mon, let's go get her heart!"

I looked between the three fairies. Flora smiled.

"You know, you're absolutely right." she said. "The Forbidden Mountain is through the forest. Come along- follow us. After all, we wouldn't want you to get lost."

Ventus nodded and followed the fairies out of the room. I paused to glance back at Aurora.

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop him." I whispered. I walked out of the room.

The three fairies lead Ventus and I out of the castle and through the Forest Clearing, up to the Waterside. We approached a giant barrier of dark, green fire that blocked the path to the Forbidden Mountain.

"Looks like we're stuck." Ventus said, crossing his arms.

"This must be Maleficent's doing." Flora said.

"She probably put this up to keep us from getting to her." I said.

"I know!" Fauna said. She floated up to the barrier and flicked her wand. The barrier vanished. "Shall we?"

We nodded and continued down the path. The lush greenery of the forest had vanished as we hiked up the Forbidden Mountain. We paused to look up the narrow pathway that climbed up to the giant, ominous castle. We climbed up the pathway and into Maleficent's castle. We fended off against the witch's three-feet tall servants that attacked us with spears, axes, and bow and arrows. As we climbed up a set of stairs, we saw two guards standing at an entrance.

"Careful, they're Maleficent's." Flora warned.

"Well, they ain't guardin' nothing." Ventus said.

"Also, we just faced off a hundred of them a few minutes ago." I mumbled. The retort was rude, but the warning would've been useful when we first entered the castle.

One of the guards let out a yawn from his beak.

"Ten-shun!" Ventus cried as he and I ran into the room with our Keyblades. "No sleeping on the job!"

The two guards jumped up and charged towards us. We effortlessly stepped out of the way and clonked our Keyblades on their heads. They slumped to the ground, unconscious. I heard cries slowly get louder and I looked to see more guards charging toward us. I guesstimated at least fourty. Ventus and I stood back-to-back as the guards surrounded us.

"I'll split them 50/50." Ventus said, twirling his Keyblade.

"Phew." I said, pretending to wipe sweat off my forehead. "Thank goodness. I don't think I could handle one more."

We charged in different directions. The guards surged at us. A quick swipe of my Keyblade destroyed axes and spears and caused arrows to ricochet back to the shooter. The guards started to run around in a panic. All I had to do was watch as they crashed into each other and rendered themselves unconscious.

"That was embarrassingly easy." Ventus said, dispelling his Keyblade.

"We've still got a ways to go." I said. "Maleficent is waiting for us."

We found a portal that took us to a giant room. We approached a giant blaze of dark, green fire. Aurora's heart floated inside. Ventus and I summoned our Keyblades and pointed them at the fire. Beams of light shot from our weapons and connected with the fire. The fire dispersed, and Aurora's heart flew up and out of the castle.

"That should do it." Ventus said.

We started walking back to the portal, when suddenly, there was a flash of light.

"Don't you remember? We've met before." the voice belonged to a handsome man with short brown hair, wearing a gray and black tunic.

"We... we have?" the Princess, Aurora, looked up at the man. Instead of her purple gown, she wore a gray skirt with a white petticoat, a black bodice over a long-sleeved light gray blouse, and she wore a black headband in her hair.

"Why, of course. You said so yourself- once upon a dream."

Aurora looked up at the man in surprise, but it faded into a smile. The two of them walked hand in hand through the forest.

"I never thought I would meet you- outside my dreams, that is." Aurora said as she and the man stood together looking over the view. She rested her head against her shoulder.

"Who are you? What's your name?" the man said.

"Hmm? Oh, my name... Why it's..." Aurora backed away. "Oh, oh no, I can't... Goodbye."

"I must see you!"

"I don't know, maybe someday."

"When? Tomorrow?"

"Oh, no. This evening! At the cottage, in the glen!"

Aurora gathered up her skirt and ran off into the forest.

Ventus and I opened our eyes and looked at each other.

"What was that?" Ventus said.

I looked up at the window Aurora's heart escaped through. "That must've been Aurora's memory: what's nearest and dearest to her heart."

"She must've gotten her heart back." Flora said.

"So her dream came true!" Ventus smiled.

"Yes, not long ago. Dreams are very strong beliefs. Aurora's led her to her true love."

"I see you two hold strong beliefs, too. Don't you?" Fauna said.

"Yes." I said, bowing my head and touching the crown pendant that rested over my heart.

"You also have strong lights." Flora said.

"All right. Hurry, we can't stay here!" Merriweather said.

As the fairies floated to the portal, I paused to stare at the ground. "Ventus?"

Ventus set his ocean blue eyes on me. "Yeah?"

"If you believe hard enough, dreams really can come true, right?"

Ventus smiled and nodded. "You just gotta have faith that everything will work out okay. And if you ever feel like it's not enough, you can lean on mine, too."

I gazed up at the blonde Keyblade wielder and smiled. "Thank you."

We walked together back to the portal.

We ran back into the room where we fought against the hoards of guards. This time, Maleficent herself stood before us with her back turned.

"Someone has released Aurora's heart." Maleficent said. She turned to us. "Was it you two?"

"Maleficent!" Flora said.

Ventus and I summoned our Keyblades and struck our battle stances.

"Only because you stole it in the first place!" Ventus said.

"We returned it to its rightful owner." I growled. "Looks like your plans will be put on hold!"

Ventus charged at Maleficent. He lunged at her, but she disappeared in a blaze of fire.

"A Keyblade... You must be Ventus." Maleficent's voice echoed in the room.

I ran to Ventus's side and looked up at Maleficent, who stood above us at the top of a staircase.

"How do you know about me and the Keyblade?!" Ventus said.

"My powers ensure I'd know of the key to bringing me hearts." Maleficent smiled. "Terra gave me a demonstration."

Ventus gasped. "Terra?"

"Yes, in fact, it was he who stole Princess Aurora's heart."

Ventus growled and shook his head vigorously. "That's a lie!" he cried, swinging his Keyblade for emphasis.

"I was asked to leave you unharmed..." Maleficent. "But it seems I have no choice!"

Maleficent thrust out her arms and giant balls of dark, green fire shot towards us. I thrust out my arms and a Barrier surrounded us. They bounced off and smacked back into Maleficent. She disappeared and reappeared around the room, casting more fire and lightning bolts at us, making us dodge more than attack. Maleficent appeared in the center of the room and her and her staff glowed green.

"Ventus! Hallie! We'll help!" Three small flickers of red, blue, and green light hovered around us. We nodded and Ventus and I lifted out Keyblades up into the air, collecting light at the tips. The light combined together and we shot it at Maleficent, causing her to fall asleep. We lunged at her and dealt several attacks to her while she slept, and went she awoke, she disappeared in a blaze of fire, reappearing around the room and repeating her same spell-casting routine.

Eventually, Maleficent slowly descended the stairs, grasping her chest and panting.

"There's no way Terra would hurt somebody like that!" Ventus said.

"You don't believe me?" Maleficent said. "That's unfortunate, for he agreed so easily."

"He... did?"

"Ven! Hallie! Don't be fooled!" a voice called. We turned to see Aqua running to us with Rainfell at her side. "Terra would never do that! You know that as well as I do."

Ventus smiled faintly. "Yeah."

"Ahh... The truth can be most cruel, even amongst the closest of friends. After all, one never knows the secrets of another's heart. I'm sure you'll agree..."

Aqua ignored Maleficent. "The Master sent me. Ven... let's go home."

She reached out her hand to Ventus. He turned his head away. "But Terra..."

"Terra's not ready to leave yet."

Ventus bowed his head. "Sorry, Aqua... but I can't. It's just... I have to find him before it's too late!" Ventus turned around and ran out of the room.

"Ven!" Aqua cried.

"Ventus!" I called.

But our pleas didn't reach his ears. He disappeared down the hallway.