Chapter 21 Guiding Light
Riku closes the door knowing this is stupid, but stupid is all he has left.
His excuse to leave the crowded confines of the safehouse had been to get some air, but the castle is his destination and, somewhere inside its crumbling walls, Ansem. Scowling, Riku rolls his shoulders and summons his keyblade. Ansem had taken his best friend with one stab of his keyblade and now Riku walks slowly through Hollow Bastion's empty streets alone with only revenge on his mind.
Stupid, but he couldn't care less.
"Riku!"
He is almost at the end of the street, almost out of sight of the safehouse, but he should never had expected to be able to get away that easily. Turning, he sees Kairi running up to him with Donald and Goofy behind her.
Before he'd left she had been at the center of the huddle of princesses all trying to comfort her as she cried. Now she stands with her skin pale and her eyes red with bags underneath that show she got just as little sleep last night as he did. He wonders if she also sees Ansem's yellow eyes each time she starts to drift off.
"Where are you going, Riku?" Kairi asks, crossing her arms.
"You should go back inside," Riku says. He puts a hand on her shoulder and tries to nudge her in the direction of the safehouse, but she refuses to budge. "I'll be in in a minute. I just need some air and with so many people in there it's too -"
"Bullshit," Kairi says, angrily. She throws Riku's hand off and he lets her, stunned. Kairi never swears. "Don't pretend you're fooling anyone. You're going back to the castle and we," she gestures to Donald and Goofy who ready their weapons, "are coming with you."
She tries to push past Riku, but he blocks her. "No! Wait Kairi."
"I'm coming with you."
"No," Riku grabs her arms. "You have to stay here because you're..." Because you're the only one I have left to protect, Riku thinks, but the lump in his throat won't let the words out.
"I'm not some damsel in distress," Kairi says, shoving him away and pulling her arm out of his grip. "I'm a keyblade wielder. And you can't take on Ansem by yourself."
"You'll be walking right into his trap," Riku says, making sure to keep in front of Kairi and block her from running off. "You're still one of the princesses he is after."
"Then I'll just have to kill him before he gets me," Kairi replies, trying to push past Riku again, but he's got at least thirty pounds on her.
"What about the other princesses?" He asks. "You're going to leave them here unprotected."
"Zack can look after them."
Riku frowns at her. "You know he'd in no condition to defend himself let alone six others."
Last night Zack had taken up a vigil in front of the computer with the chart labeling Sora as the one with Ven's heart on the screen. All he did was stare at it. In the morning, the plate of scraped together dinner Riku had brought him sat cold and untouched next to him, but an empty bottle lay at Zack's feet with him passed out in the chair.
A flicker of worry crosses Kairi's face, but she doesn't back down. "Then you stay and watch them," she says. "I'll go after Ansem without you."
"Kairi -"
"Riku."
Riku pinches the bridge of his nose. He's patience, frayed by stress and grief, is close to snapping. "Get back in the house," he says with a scowl, pointing back down the street.
Kairi matches his scowl and replies through gritted teeth, "I'm. Coming. With you."
"Maybe Riku is right," Goofy says in a quiet voice and Kairi rounds on him, her eyes burning in anger. Goofy doesn't flinch though and continues. "Ansem's sure to be looking for you, Kairi. It won't be safe for you."
"And Riku won't be alone," Donald says, a hard scowl on his face. Riku glances at him and sees the steel glint in Donald's eye. He nods. He might not know Donald and Goofy very well, but any friend of Sora's is a friend of his.
Kairi opens her mouth to argue, but her bottom lip quivers and she ducks her head quickly, her shoulders sagging. Moving to her side Riku wraps an arm around her and she curls against him, shaking with shuddering breaths.
"He would want you to be safe," Riku whispers and a moment later Kairi's shaking stops. If it had been him and Marlene in Kairi and Sora's places, he knows that would be what he would want.
Pulling away from Riku enough to look him in the eye, Kairi says, "You're probably right." Her eyes are bright, but she holds back her tears.
Riku manages a small half smile and tries to lead Kairi back towards the safehouse, but she won't budge. "But I have to do this," she says and he looks back to her in alarm. "For Sora," she whispers and before Riku can react she drives her elbow into the center of his chest.
Surprised and winded, he stumbles back away from her, catching himself on the wall of the street. "Kairi…" he tries to shout, but it comes out more of a weeze. He's too late though - Kairi is already running, rounding the corner at the end of the street and disappearing from sight.
Rubbing the sore spot on his chest, Riku lurches after her. "C'mon," he says to Donald and Goofy who spring into action as well and the three of them chase after Kairi, following her path through the city in the direction of the castle looming in the distance.
…
Kairi curses Riku and his longer legs as she takes the steps to the castle's front doors two at a time. He's close enough now for her to hear his labored breathing over the sound of her own and with a final burst of speed she reaches the doors. Yanking them open, she is able to take a few steps inside before a hand grabs her wrist and pulls her to a stop.
"Damn it, Kairi," Riku says, spinning her around to face him. "You can't just burst in here like that. Ansem could be waiting for you to show up."
"Then let him come," Kairi says, pulling out of Riku's grip. She turns her back on him, Donald, and Goofy who are hovering in the doorway. Walking to the center of the large atrium, she looks up at the grand staircase leading into the depths of the castle. "Come out you coward!" She shouts as loud as she can. "You want my heart? Try and take it!"
"Kairi!" Riku is back at her side, hands once more reaching out to her, but she takes a step away. "Stop it!" He hisses at her, eyes wide and darting around for danger.
Kairi ignores him. "Ansem!" She shouts. "Ansem, you bastard! Come out and -"
An inhuman roar echoes through the castle, drowning out Kairi's taunts. The floor shakes with the pounding of something huge running through the castle. There is only a moment for Kairi to summon her keyblade before that something crashes into the atrium at the top of the stairs and lands on the floor in front of her with a crash that knocks her off her feet.
It is the biggest heartless she has ever seen. It stands on four hooved feet and towers over her. Its yellow eyes glaring down at her above a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Its coat is purple and bristled. Tusks curve up out of the corners of its mouth and a black horn on the top of its head is wickedly sharp and glows with dark magic.
Kairi tries to scramble back to her feet, but freezes, the heartless' huge head leaning down with its awful yellow eyes locked on her. She tightens her grip on her keyblade, eyes flickering to the black horn dangerously close to her.
Out of the corner of her eye she sees Riku's keyblade spinning through the air and a moment later it strikes the heartless in the side of of it's head. It roars, lurching away in pain, and before it can recover, Kairi hears Donald shout, "Firaga!" and a fireball shoots over her head, striking the heartless in the shoulder.
Growling, it retreats to the other side of the atrium. Still, its eyes never leave Kairi.
Kairi stares back until Riku moves in front of her, blocking her view. "Are you okay?" He asks as he helps her to her feet.
Nodding, she steps around him to get another look at the huge heartless. "What kind of heartless is that?" She asks, looking back to Riku whose mouth in pressed in a tight line.
"Behemoth," he replies. "They're supposed to be really rare."
Kairi remembers back to books of heartless Leon had had them study. She vaguely recalls the passage about Behemoth heartless. Rare - like Riku had said - huge, and vicious.
"The horn is the weakest part," Riku says as Donald and Goofy come up beside them. "Concentrate attacks there and avoid those hooves." Not waiting for the others, Riku takes off, running at the heartless with his keyblade raised.
Kairi hesitates a moment before trying to follow him, but the Behemoth growls and stomps its foot making her jump back to avoid getting trampled. She finds herself once more locked in the gaze of the huge heartless and she swallows hard, assuming a battle stance.
"Over here you big palooka!" Donald shouts and gets the Behemoth's attention. Pointing his staff at the heartless' face he fires off a spell. "Blizzaga!" The Behemoth roars as the ice shards hit its face and stomps its foot at Donald making the duck jump back.
Looking up, Kairi sees Riku had climbed up on the heartless' back and making his way unnoticed to its head. Knowing she has to keep the Behemoth distracted, she fires off her own attack magic. With a sense of foreboding, she notices the black horn on the heatless' head is glowing a brighter blue.
Riku reaches the head and Kairi ceases her magic assult for fear of hitting him. Donald and Goofy who had been attacking in the same way also stop, and the heartless, seeing its opportunity, coiled its muscles briefly before springing over their heads and landing on the far side of the atrium.
Running after it, Kairi lets out a sigh of relief to see Riku had managed to stay on by grabbing the glowing horn, but as she, Donald, and Goofy get close to it again, she the horn glows so bright she can just barely make out Riku beside it, swinging his keyblade.
The heartless roars in pain and the magic building on the horn shoots up to the ceiling where orbs of blue energy form and start to rain down. "Look out!" Kairi shouts, grabbing Donald's wing and pulling him out of the path of one. It just misses him and lands at their feet instead, exploding. They are knocked down, but quickly scramble back up unharmed.
Goofy is waving at them from over by the heartless and shouting something, but he is drowned out the continuous growls and roars of the heartless as Riku attacks its horn. Even though she can't hear him, Kairi gets the gist of what he's trying to say. Taking cover underneath the Behemoth's wide shoulders would be their best protection against the falling orbs.
Dodging and weaving their way over, Kairi and Donald make it to the relative safety unscathed. "Gwarsh, what do we do now?" Goofy asks, peering out from the Behemoth's shadow at the orbs that are still raining down.
"We wait for it to run out of magic," Kairi replies. "And hope Riku can weaken it." She wracks her brain, trying to remember everything she'd read about Behemoth heartless back in Traverse Town. At the time it hadn't felt important with the worst heartless she'd ever seen being the occasional Guard Armor heartless that would pop up in the Third District. Now she wished she had studied harder.
"Can he kill it by attacking the horn?" Donald asks.
Kairi nods. It was a Behemoth's only weak spot, she knew. Enough attacks would render it unconscious and then - wait!
"Move," she says frantically, grabbing both Donald and Goofy and pulling them after her as she ducks out from underneath the heartless. There is a final painful roar and its legs give out as the huge heartless collapses.
"Are you guys alright?" Riku asks as he hops down from the Behemoth's head now resting on the ground with its eyes closed.
Glancing up to see the raining energy orbs have stopped, Kairi replies, "We're good." She moves with the others to the horn of the heartless now within reach from the ground. It's not glowing now and Kairi can see the chips and cracks left by Riku's keyblade. Glancing at him, she raises her keyblade and mimics him as he attacks the horn's base. Goofy and Donald work on attacking the tip and together the four of them fall into a furious rhythm of blows.
Just when Kairi thinks they are starting to do some serious damage on the heartless, it stirs, yellow eyes opening blearily and focusing instantly on her. Without warning she is struck with a lightning attack and the shouts from the others tells her they all got hit too.
The brief blast of electricity hurts like hell, but leaves no real damage. Once it passes, she moves closer to Riku who is shaking out the last of the tingling feeling out of his arms as he watches the Behemoth stand back up.
"Same game plan as before," he says, nodding towards towards the horn.
"Got it," Kairi says and decides to try what Riku had done before. Ducking under the heartless, she runs to its back legs and tries to climb up, but the heartless is more alert now and with a growl it spins around to face her.
She finds herself once more stuck in its gaze. Its head lowers and she tenses, watching the horn warily. It growls deep in its throat, but its different than before. More...pleading. It inches closer and Kairi stares back, her grip on her keyblade slacking.
"Hey!" Riku's angry shout makes Kairi jump and she watches as he runs in front of her, knocking the Behemoth back with a blow from his keyblade. It roars and stomps its feet, lifting its head once more out of reach. "What are doing, Kairi?" Riku demands and she tears her eyes of the heartless to look at him.
"I don't…" she starts to say, but at another roar they both turn to see Goofy and Donald attacking the Behemoth with magic.
"Pay attention and keep your guard up before you get yourself killed," Riku says angrily and Kairi nods, knowing he's only angry because he's worried. Glaring at her for a second more, Riku shifts his focus back to the heartless and throws his keyblade at the horn.
Trying to shake off the reluctant feelings, Kairi raises her keyblade to point at the heartless. "Fire," she says and watches the small fireball explode against the horn.
"Firaga!" She hears Donald shout.
"Thundaga!" Riku shouts once his keyblade is back in his hand and Goofy throws his shield at the horn.
The heartless roars, sounding pitiful to Kairi, and tries to move away, but another round of spells from the boys knocks it to the ground. Kairi follows Riku as he hurries over. It isn't knocked out like before, but it's unable to get back to its feet. Riku raises his keyblade for a final strike and it growls again, deep in the back of its throat.
Kairi finds herself staring into the bright yellow eyes, a confusing feeling of familiarity washing through her. For a moment, the eyes are blue, deep endless blue, and sudden understanding shoves her into action.
"Wait!" She shouts, jumping in front of Riku with her hands up.
He looks at her startled and lowers his keyblade. "Kairi, what are you doing?"
"Just, don't hurt him," she says, ignoring the confused expression on Riku's face and turning back to the Behemoth heartless. She swallows, her mouth suddenly dry. "Sora?" She asks, reaching out a hand cautiously.
Yellow eyes flash blue again for a moment. Behind her Kairi can hear the others gasp, but she doesn't look at them. Holding the Behemoth's gaze, she stretches out her fingers until they brush the coarse hair under its eye. There is a deep, grateful growl, and its all the proof Kairi needs.
"Please," she whispers, pressing closer to the heartless. "Come back."
The heartless' purple coat begins to shimmer with white light and as it grows brighter Kairi squeezes her eyes shut, a mantra of Sora running through her mind. The light is warm and envelops Kairi before solidifying into familiar arms wrapped around her in a gentle hug.
As the light fades, Kairi slowly opens her eyes, afraid of being wrong, but the arms around her shift and she is looking at Sora.
"Kairi," he says, a tired smile on his face. "Thank you."
She can feel tears welling up in her eyes and in a choked voice she manages to say, "You're alive."
"Sora?" Riku comes up beside them his jaw slack and his eyes wide with shock. He struggles to say something else, but before he can a deep voice speaks from behind them.
"How impressive. The boy is whole once more."
Pulling away from Sora, Kairi turns to face Ansem as he steps out of a dark corridor in the center of the room. Ansem has a sneer on his face and his eyes are on her. "Your powers are greater than I had thought, my Princess" he says.
"Hey," Sora says stumbling forward and Riku and Kairi both grab his arms to keep from falling. "Don't call her that." He tries to pull out of his friends' grip. "Let go. I'm fine," he says succeeding in getting away from Riku and Kairi. He only takes a step towards Ansem before collapsing to his hands and knees.
"Sora!" Kairi gasps, rushing to his side as Ansem laughs.
"I see the great keyblade wielder didn't have such an easy time being a heartless," Ansem says and Kairi throws a glare his way before dropping down to one knee beside Sora.
"Hey," she says softly and he looks at her. She can see in his eyes that he is on the verge of passing out. "We got you."
Riku helps her get Sora back on his feet and she loops Sora's arm over her shoulders as Riku lets go. "Get him out of here," he says to her and she nods, feeling Sora drop his head on her shoulder as he lets out a soft groan.
Riku steps in front of her, keyblade out and a glare leveled at Ansem. Donald glances worriedly at Sora and Goofy pats Sora's shoulder before they take up positions on either side of Riku.
Kairi can see swirling darkness manifest in Ansem's hands as he readies to attack and she tightens her grip on Sora. "Come on," she says softly and Sora makes a small noise of protest as she pulls him along with her. His breath on her neck is harsh and he stumbles with each step.
She leads him away from the others as Ansem makes his first attack, a barrage of dark energy that forces Riku, Donald, and Goofy to put up hasty blocks. One shot is deflected in their direction and Kairi ducks, pulling Sora down with her.
Sora's weight is heavy on her shoulders as she stands back up and she glances at him, afraid to he's passed out, but he's looking back at her with grin. "You were the only one I could see, you know," he says, missing every other step as she pulls him towards the side of the grand staircase where back against the wall he'd be shielded from the battle. "Just you," Sora continues, unbothered by the shouts of the battle behind them that have Kairi looking over her shoulder every few seconds. "You looked so sad and it was my fault."
"It wasn't your fault," Kairi says, dragging him into the shadows of the staircase. She helps him sit against the wall and crouches in front of him, more worried than before. His eyelids keep fluttering like he is fighting a losing battle against fainting. He doesn't have any apparent injuries, but she remembers how much they had battered the Behemoth heartless before realizing it was Sora.
"Curaga," she says, just in case. The green light falls on Sora and he blinks, surprised.
" 'm fine," he mumbles. "Just...tired."
"Okay," Kairi replies softly. She brushes a few unruly spikes of hair out of Sora's eyes. "You rest here. I'll be right back."
She turns, standing, but a hand grabs her wrist and pulls her back. "Kairi," Sora says. "You...saved me."
Kairi smiles. "You saved me first. I wanted to return the favor."
Sora smiles briefly before his eyes drift shut. Watching his head droop down so his chin rests against his chest, Kairi finds herself leaning down and placing a soft kiss on his forehead. As she pulls back, she catches sight of a small smile on Sora's lips before the peaceful look of sleep returns.
She doesn't want to leave him looking so vulnerable, but the battle against Ansem is still being waged and she knows the others need her. With one last glance back, she runs back to the middle of the atrium where Riku, Donald, and Goofy have Ansem surrounded, but judging by the smirk on his face, he has something up his sleeve.
Riku glances at her, seeing her come back to the fight, but he does a double take. Straightening out he shouts with his voice full of warning, "Kairi! Behind you!"
Kairi starts to turn, but a huge hand grabs her around her midsection and she gasps as she is lifted into the air. Struggling, she twists to face her captor and recognizes it instantly. Ansem's Guardian heartless.
It's yellow eyes narrow and she gasps again, black spots clouding her vision as the grip around her tightens. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Donald move to help her while Riku and Goofy keep Ansem occupied, but Ansem doesn't give them the chance.
Encasing himself in a dark shield, Ansem shoots across the room faster than Kairi can blink and Riku, Donald, and Goofy can't duck out of the way in time when he rushes them. All three are knocked to the ground and are slow to get back up due to some residual darkness Kairi can see the attack left on them.
Kairi struggles harder, kicking her feet and swinging her keyblade, but the Guardian doesn't even wince. Ansem smirks at her from across the room and in a flash of movement he is in front of her. The dark shield vanishes and he looks her over like a prize he had just found in his cereal box.
"Isn't this familiar, Princess," he says. "I keep trying to tell you - there is no use trying to escape from me."
"Go to hell," Kairi is able to force out, taking pride in the way Ansem's expression darkens.
His eyes flicker to his Guardian and Kairi groans as the hand holding her tightens. She can barely breathe now, each breath a fight for too little air, and she is sure if the Guardian squeezes any tighter all her ribs are going to snap.
"Make no mistake if you weren't one of the Princesses of Heart I would have snapped your pretty little neck a long time ago," Ansem says, stepping back to avoid Kairi's keyblade as she swings it desperately at him. "You can keep trying to run, Princess, but you will never get very far."
Over Ansem's shoulder, Kairi can see Riku throw off the remnants of Ansem's attack and make his way silently in her direction. He points to himself and then Ansem, and then to her and the Guardian.
Knowing what he is planning, Kairi struggles to take in another breath and keeps Ansem distracted saying, "No?...Then it's...a good... thing... I'm done running."
Riku raises his keyblade to strike Ansem and Kairi turns as best she can to the Guardian and stabs its wrist with all her strength. It roars in pain, reeling back and releasing her. She collapses to the ground coughing and taking deep wheezing breaths before a gentler arm wraps around her and pulls her back to her feet.
It's Riku and he pulls out of Ansem's reach as Donald and Goofy move in front of them both, facing Ansem with their weapons at the ready.
"Kairi?" Riku asks, watching her concerned and she takes a deep breath, feeling her heart still beating in double time.
"I'm fine," she says pulling out of his hold. She is sure her stomach will be black and blue tomorrow, but right now all that matters is stopping Ansem once and for all. The only thing standing in their way is the Guardian.
"We gotta take ugly over there down first," Kairi says to Riku jerking her head in the direction of leering black and blue heartless hovering in front of Ansem.
Riku nods and exchanges quick glances with Donald and Goofy. "We have the numbers," he says. "A straight attack is our best shot."
Kairi tightens her grip on her keyblade. "Let's do this," she says aloud and to herself she adds, for Sora.
As one, the four of them spring forward, weapons flashing and magic lighting up the dim room.
Kairi goes right for the head, aiming right between the eyes, but the Guardian throws up an arm to block her. She stumbles back, but immediately fires off a fireball that catches the heartless in the side. Riku's shoulder brushes against hers as he stabs his keyblade into the Guardian's hip. It roars in pain and swings its arms in an attempt to punch them all away, but Goofy grabs Kairi's wrist and pulls her down with him to duck under the attack.
Straightening back up, Kairi lands a swing on its stomach as Donald's lightning spell causes the Guardian to convulse in pain. Riku slashes at its head and manages to leave a gash on its face despite it turning away. Goofy is there beside him to block a blast of darkness Ansem shoots around his Guardian in an attempt to knock them away.
Knowing it won't belong before Ansem joins the fight instead of letting his Guardian do all the work, Kairi acts on instinct to end the ugly heartless now.
Leaping up, she takes her keyblade in both hands and stabs it down in the center of the Guardian's chest. It roars in pain and tries to punch her off, but her friends are their to block its fists. Drawing on all the magic she has left, Kairi shouts, "Light," and watches her keyblade begin to glow.
The tip buried in the heartless is the brightest and with a boom that makes her ears ring the light explodes out, vaporizing the heartless in an instant. Ansem shouts and covers his eyes, but he can't cower behind his Guardian anymore. Before he can ready himself, Kairi slashes at him, catching him in the side and knocking him back.
"Enough!" Ansem shouts as Riku lunges at him as well. At the wave of his hand a burst of darkness crashes into the four of them, and they are thrown into the air, landing unceremoniously near the center of the room.
The pain of the landing makes Kairi to curl up, but she forces herself to roll back up onto her feet and face Ansem who stands near the stairs. He tries to glare, but he grimaces instead as he presses a hand to his side.
"Worlds begin in darkness, and all too shall end," he says, summoning a dark portal beside him. "Don't think a bunch of children can do anything to stop this. The X-blade will be formed and there is nothing you pitiful lights can do abou-"
Ansem jerks and chokes, like his final words are stuck in his throat. Looking down, he stares, yellow eyes widening to see the silver blade of a keyblade sticking out his chest. There is no blood even when the keyblade is drawn away as quickly as it had appeared. For a moment Ansem sways on his feet, his mouth open in a silent scream of rage, before his eyes roll back in his head and his legs give out.
The dark portal he had summoned flickers and disappears as Ansem's dead body crumples to the ground to reveal Sora behind him, pale and shaky on his feet, but his keyblade is steady in his hands.
Kairi, mouth dropped open in surprise, takes a step forward, but pauses to watch as Ansem's body fades like all heartless do. Bits of darkness fade away in layers all that is left is the pink heart Ansem had been carrying. As the final remnants of Xehanort's heartless disappear, the heart shoots into the air and over Kairi's head as it flies from the freedom of the sky out the front door.
They all turn to watch it go, staring long after it disappears from sight.
Slow, shuffling footsteps, break Kairi's concentration and she turns to see Sora making his way towards them with a broad grin on his face. Kairi smiles back, and then stumbles as Goofy accidentally knocks into her as he and Donald rush past.
Sora's eyes widen. "Uh oh," he manages to say before Donald and Goofy tackle him in a smothering hug that he struggles to return. Laughing, Kairi runs over with Riku and looks down at Sora.
"Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up," Riku says. The teasing in his voice doesn't quite hide the relief thats there as well.
Sora pouts. "Hey!" He only manages to look offended for a moment before a grinning once more. Pushing himself to his feet as Donald and Goofy get off of him, Sora turns to Riku and Kairi and pulls them into a tight hug. "I missed you guys."
Kairi smiles into Sora's hair, tickling her cheek, and hugs him back. As they pull back, Riku brushes a hand impatiently over his eyes and clamps a hand on Sora's shoulder. "No more running off, alright?" Riku says, poking Sora hard in the chest.
"Yeah. Sorry, Riku," Sora says rubbing the back of his neck.
Riku nods, patting Sora's shoulder once before letting go. He almost immediately grabs his arm as Sora sways slightly and his pale cheeks grow paler.
"Sora? Are you okay?" Goofy asks concerned and Sora smiles sheepishly.
"Fine, but coming back from being a heartless wasn't easy."
"How'd you do it?" Donald asks.
"I just followed this bright light that was calling my name," Sora says, looking to Kairi. "It was you Kairi. Your light guided me back."
Kairi is sure she is blushing, but there is nothing she can do to change that as she stares back into Sora's eyes. She is smiling so wide it is hurting her cheeks, but she doesn't mind.
"We should head back to Zack," Riku says, reminding Kairi the others are still there and she quickly looks away from Sora. She can't help but peek back to see he is still watching her.
"Zack's gonna be mighty glad to see you, Sora," Goofy says as they head out of the castle with Riku keeping Sora on his feet. "He's been really upset."
"Yeah," Sora says softly. "I bet." He rests his hand over his heart, knowing there was more that just him turning into a heartless that had Zack worried. Closing his eyes for a moment, Sora calls out to the farthest corners of his mind,
Ven, are you still here?
I always thought that it was kind of lame that Sora, having such a strong heart, would be a Shadow when he turned into a heartless so I made him a big badass Behemoth heartless instead. Much cooler.
Thank you Dream For Tonight and CatLoverx33 for reviewing forever ago when I last updated this story. Writing this chapter was like pulling teeth. I don't know why, it just was hard to write. So it took a REALLY long time to get out. Sorry, sorry, sorry!
Also the Supernatural fics rattling around in my head were demanding to be written so I've been working on those. Both are done and posted now so full attention is back on this story. Check 'em out if you're a SPN fan and I promise next chapter won't take as long to come out.