Chapter 11

"Three friends, three destinies.
Everything will link back to the beginning.
"

And so it shall be…

"A long time ago, there were three Keyblade wielders: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus that were close friends training to become Keyblade Masters under their trainer Master Eraqus. Once of age, Terra and Aqua took a Mark of Mastery Exam to achieve Keyblade Master Rank, but Terra did not pass because of the darkness that formed in his heart. A mysterious dark enemy erupted called Unversed, began reaching other worlds and Keyblade Master Xehanort…disappeared."

Roxas peered up at Sora and his other friends reactions, then continued

"Xehanort disappearance is a cause of him wanting to find the princesses with purest of hearts, like Kairi. Terra, Aqua, and Ventus later discover other worlds and meet, as you know right now, King Mickey to defeat the Unversed too. While traveling along these worlds, they end up going to Radiant Garden and Destiny Islands. When you were young, Sora…Riku…Kairi they all sensed something special about you three when they met you."

"They…they met us?" Sora scratched his head in wonderment and tried to revaluate his thoughts.

Roxas continued,

"Yes they did meet you when you were very young. In fact, Terra believed Riku was the first destined to become worthy of the Keyblade. When Aqua met Kairi, she helped strengthen her heart that had such a strong pure light. And Sora… Aqua told you to protect Riku always. Whenever he needs help, you should be always there to help him. She thought you too were to become worthy of the Keyblade."

"What happened to them?" Sora replied.

Roxas stared at the ground and paused briefly

"Ventus' darkness was extracted from his heart a long time ago, but later was turned into human form that ended up battling Ventus, trying to merge back with his heart. Ventus refused, but the darkness ended up taking him over anyway creating an X-Blade to attack and destroy Aqua, but failed. Aqua tried her best to save his heart to find its way back to Ventus but his heart merged with Sora's and was freed again when Sora attacked himself to free Kari's heart to save her. The heart was free again and helped form…me."

Roxas walked towards Sora and put a hand on his shoulder while staring directly into his eyes

"Aqua and Ansem the wise survived the explosion and now they are in the Realm of Darkness waiting for you to return so you can save them. Once you open that door, you can save them and those connected to your heart."

"I'm ready! Whatever it takes to help, I'm there."

Sora clenches a fist and smiles at Roxas.

"Agh…"

Roxas holds his chest and uses Sora's shoulder for balance as Kairi pats his back

"You ok?" Riku says running to his side.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I can't stay out for long; I have to return to Sora's heart immediately. Sora, I will give you a map and supplies you need on your journey. Riku you have to go with Sora as aide so both of you can protect each other's backs."

Sora and Riku both nodded to each other

"Can I go on the journey?" Kairi added.

Riku held Roxas up as Sora walked towards Kairi. Sora raised her chin to his and looked into her violet-blue eyes.

"Kai, I can't. It's too dangerous and I don't want to lose you again…" he replied.

This would be a great time to kiss her…but she's with Riku.

Sora leaned in a bit, but stopped as his racing thought pulled his emotions for her back in. Roxas stared at Sora in confusion of his held back actions and look up towards Riku for answers. Riku looked at Roxas and turned his head, pretending to further adjust Roxas' arm.

Roxas reached into his back pocket and pulled out a brown pouch containing a map of worlds, munny, and food for the long journey ahead of them.

"Thanks Riku, I feel a bit better."

Roxas unwinded his arm from Riku's shoulder and gave the pouch to Sora.

"Here are the supplies needed for you guys. The munny is on a debit containing 4,000 munny. That will definitely be enough to last you for a bit. Use it wisely for weapon upgrades on your Keyblades and anything else. I gotta return now to Sora before it's too late, but before I go…Sora!"

Roxas' Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblade appear. He begins to summon two friendly company for Sora and Riku's mission…

"WAHHHHHHHH!"

Donald Duck falls from the sky and lands on the cement, along with Goofy tumbling with him.

"Oh boy..." Goofy says, while stars circle around his head.

Sora's blue eyes widen as he runs to embrace his friends

"Donald! Goofy!"

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy say together as they embrace Sora back.

"Is that soup you're eating?" Sora said laughing.

"Chicken noodles to be exact!" Donald quacked as he slurped the last bite. "Mmmm!"

"Awww, I wanted some soup."

Goofy opened Donald's mouth to see if there was any soup left

"WAHHH!" Donald snapped his beak onto Goofy's fingers, making them sore and red.

"Woah! Be careful now." Riku laughed.

Suddenly Roxas began to fade into the air. He looked at his fingers and hands, disappearing bit by bit and smiled at Sora,

"It looks like it's time for me to go…"

Sora ran up to Roxas

"Wait!, now? How do I call onto the Keyblade when I need it?"

Roxas turned towards Sora and motioned his hand

"Do this."

Roxas placed a hand over his heart

Sora placed a hand over his heart

"Feel it in your heart. Whenever you need it, it will always find its way back to you."

"Roxas!"

Roxas waved goodbye and entered as a light back into Sora's heart. Sora touched his heart again as the room fell silent in the empty stadium.

"Roxas…"

"Hello? Everyone alright in here?"

Tifa Lockhart runs to the middle of the stadium, looking questioningly at each of them. She takes out a yellow notepad and licks her finger starting a new page and clicks her pen.

"Any unfamiliar activity? I just got a call stating that three mysterious looking creatures, notably "heartless" and "nobodies" appeared on stage and tried to attack Cambria and Lenne."

Sora pushed back his spiky hair and replied,

"Yeah, Me, Riku, and Rox…"

Sora pauses as Tifa looks up, cocking an eyebrow

"I mean, Me and Riku fought them off one by one. It's crazy that they're coming back."

Tifa nods as she jots down the information quickly into her notebook, shutting it with quick slap.

"Yes, I do agree. And more are coming for that matter. Cloud, Aiden, and I will research more thoroughly on this matter. I'm returning back to Hollow Bastion, we are going to set up the computers and look to see where the evil source is looming from. Care to come?"

Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy all nod at each other then at Tifa

"Great guys! Were back in for another adventure! Kairi, I would advise you to go back to Dawn Town where it's safe. A woman by the name of Diana will be accompanying you if there's any trouble."

Kairi nodded and rubbed the inner of her arm looking at Sora then back to Tifa

Everyone started to head outside of the concert stadium and waited on benches as Kairi retrieved most of her belongings from the hotel her and Selphie were gonna stay at.

"Ok! I got everything!"

Kairi walked back to where her friends were and started to follow.

"Great! Let's go."

Tifa Lockhart led everyone to an emergency shuttle station so Kairi could departure safely back home. There Diana was waiting by a telephone port nearby.

"Hey Diana!"

Tifa started waving to Diana and walked quickly towards her.

Diana's features resembled that of a lovely fox. Her eyes were cyan blue and her hair was the color of a fiery orange in a high ponytail. She wore a shiny Brazilian purple bikini and silver shorts and green sandals.

"Hey Tif!"

She gave Tifa a quick hug and shaked Kairi's hand

From a distance, the two boys looked at Kairi and smiled to themselves. Sora's smile was shortened, and turned his gaze at the beautiful Luca ocean waters instead.

Riku stopped smiling too

"Sora, I think it would be best if you and Kairi went out."

Sora looked quickly at Riku and widened his eyes

"I dunno, you guys already have this special connection made that me and her haven't even started on yet…I feel like I'm ruining something special by taking her away from you, and I don't wan't that."

Sora moved closer next to Riku on the bench and nodded

"And…with you two together, I'm ok with that. It's meant to be. I can feel it…I know it. Friends?"

Riku held out his hand as Sora shaked his hand too

"Friends, always."

The two boys smiled at each other and looked at Kairi.

"Well aren't you going to say goodbye sillies?"

Diana boarded the shuttle to make room for the friendly goodbyes as Tifa joined Donald and Goofy on the other bench.

Riku hugged Kairi first picking her up then setting her down gently,

"I love you, you know that?"

Kairi smiled but stopped touching her heart and he combed his fingers through her auburn hair

"But, we can't be together. He's the special one and he's looking right at you."

Sora gazed at Kairi, and messed with his hair and smiled.

Kairi stopped hugging Riku and looked into his eyes

"I know, I love him. And he loves me…were… supposed to be together. Thank you Riku."

She smiled bright and turned to Sora

"You bet."

Riku watched Kairi run to Sora as he swung her up in the air and hugged her, then gently set her down again and gazed at the waves ahead.

Sora looked into Kairi's violet-blue eyes and put her chin up to his once more

"I love you Kairi. From the moment I seen you when we were little, from that moment when I drew the picture on Destiny Islands Cave giving you the Paopou fruit, and the times I saved your life and protected you, I knew I needed you."

The wind started to pick up, blowing both of their hair in and out of their faces

"From the moment I seen how clumsy you were, the times you fought for me and treated me like a lady, protected me, and being able to draw the Paopou fruit back to you on Destiny Islands Cave, I knew I loved you and you loved me too."

Kairi replied as Sora pulled her closer to him

"Kairi, will you be my girlfriend?"

She looked deep into his eyes

"Yes, I will be your girlfriend!"

Sora embraced Kairi even closer to him and kissed her

Tifa, Riku, Donald, and Goofy all clapped and whistled from the benches with smiles from ear to ear. The shuttle engine began, and it was close to Kairi leaving Sora and company.

"Maybe, I could take semester off and wait for you?"

Kairi bit her lip and looked up at her new boyfriend.

"No don't do that."

Sora laughed and smiled warmly at her

"Why not?" she giggled.

Sora grasped her hand into his chest

"Because I don't want you to, I want you to stay."

Kairi nodded

"Ok, I'll stay. I have something for you."

Kairi reached into her back pocket and pulled out something familiar, and giggled

"It's my lucky charm, be sure to bring it back to me!"

She placed the Wayfinder into Sora's open palms. The Thelassa shells gleamed into the sunlight, hitting every perfect angle.

"I will."

Sora clasped the Wayfinder and put it into his pocket, watching Kairi aboard the shuttle

"And Sora!"

Sora turned around to Kairi

"Don't ever forget: wherever you go, I'm always with you."

Tears fell from Sora's face unto the soft sand. He wiped his tears with his jacket, and saw Kairi wipe hers. Sora smiled and waved to her as she blew a kiss goodbye and went inside the shuttle.

"Thinking of you, wherever you are.

We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend.

Now I will step forward to realize this wish.

And who knows:

starting a new journey may not be so hard,

or maybe it has already begun.

There are many worlds, but they share the same sky —

one sky, one destiny."

-Kairi