- Shades of Grey -

Chapter 20 - Hakuna Matata

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or any of the Disney or Square Enix characters or stories featured within. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to say that I did, but that would be a blatant lie. Any song, movie, and/or book reference used throughout the course of this story is also not owned by me. In fact, the only thing that is owned by me is this story.

You could be just what the kingdom needs. Maybe you can help us.

You mean Simba's alive! But where is he?

Sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing you can do about it.

I'm going back to face my past. I could use your help.

You may not know what it is, but it still IS. This world, it is full of many such things. And these things, a king must face.

You know, I'm really lucky to have friends who'll stand by me...and help me see clearly.

The king has returned! The Pride Lands will not forget King Simba's courage. Or the courage of those who fought beside him.

The struggle never ends. That is the great Circle of Life. The secret to victory...is a strong heart.

The hardest thing about beaming down to the Pride Lands, Sora could remember, was quickly having to adapt to now having four legs instead of two. Fortunately, it was also quite like riding a bike, in that once you'd gotten used to it, other than a moment of disorientation, you could pick it up quickly without making an idiot of yourself. Kairi and Namine, on the other hand, weren't quite so fortunate, because, unlike Sora, they'd never had to deal with their body changing to adapt the world they were on, meaning he was forced not to laugh at his ladies, because he well knew that, if he did, they would brutally murder him once they found their feet.

Sora, much to his annoyance, was still a lion cub. He still had the mess of brown hair that made up his mane, and his striking blue eyes, along with the chain medallion around his neck, but otherwise, he was a brown-furred lion cub; sure, he was a little bigger than last time he was here, and his fur was a shade darker, but... still a cub. His only consolation was that the girls were still only cubs too. Being female, neither had their human hairstyles as a mane, so their hair colour merely transferred into the colour of their fur, Kairi's being a deep red-brown, almost like the colour of rust, and Namine's being a pale yellow, similar to the colour of sand. Kairi also still has her teardrop necklace around her neck.

In short, none of their colourations actually looked like a natural lion.

As Sora explained to the girls just how to walk properly on four legs, his ears picked up a few voices behind him, one, female, remarking, "Well, looky what we have here. A trio of cubs from the Outlands pride maybe? Or some from the rock that are playing beyond daddy's reach?"

"Who cares?" The other, this one male, replied, "All that matters is we have ourselves a three-course meal!"

With a sigh, Sora realised that, once again, they'd teleported down into the Elephant's Graveyard, the home of the hyenas. "Man, you lot never learn do you." Turning around to face them, Sora remarked casually, "So, Banzai, what round are we up to?" Summoning his Keyblade into his teeth, he added, "And Shenzi, I don't normally hit girls, but for you, I'll make an exception."

"Whoa, back up, I remember that cat," the female hyena, Shenzi, remarked, "You have a nasty habit of wandering in where you're not welcome don't you?"

"What can I say? I'm special that way." Sora quipped. "Now scram. We'll be out of here shortly."

Scowling, the three hyenas stalked off, Banzai remarking, "Ah, I bet they tasted horrible anyways."

Banishing his Keyblade as he turned back to the girls, Sora asked, "So, you girls got the hang of it yet?" When he found them staring at him strangely, he asked, "What? What's wrong?"

Namine was the first to answer. "Sora, how did you manage to wield the Keyblade in your mouth, and still talk?"

There was a moment of silence as Sora reached a forepaw up to rub the back of his neck, much like he did in human form. "Huh... You know, I don't think it's ever come up before."

o-o-o

Riku could remember, what felt like a lifetime ago, how he and Sora used to duel with wooden swords oh this very island, ducking and weaving around the paopu and coconut trees. Every battle seemed so important then, one more notch, and one more thing to brag about. It all seemed so trivial now, but back then, every fight felt like life or death; poetic, then, that he should be fighting an actual life or death battle upon that very same island.

"Hyah!" Riku leapt to one side, dodging out of the way as Xurik swung around, bringing Way to the Dusk around in an over-the-shoulder arc, and striking the sandy islet with a flare of dark energy. He brought Way to the Dawn up to parry the next blow, the recoil of the two Keyblade meeting sending him off balance for a split second, but before Xurik could press the advantage, Riku retaliated with a Dark Firaga, striking the Nobody in the chest and knocking him backwards.

That only gave Xurik the advantage though as, before Riku could go on the offensive, the Nobody leapt back to his feet, kicking Riku in the chest with both legs and sending him sliding back onto the bridge. Using his left hand to form a Dark Shield, Riku managed to form the barrier just in time to block the slash of dark energy sent his way, but not fast enough to avoid it carving a gash through the bridge. Growling in anger, Riku dispelled his barrier to form another behind him, leaping off it at high speed as he concentrated dark energy into his Keyblade, the energy extending out of his weapon like an elongated blade.

Weaving between the strikes, Xurik leapt into the air, purple-black energy gathering at the tip of his weapon as he shouted, "Heal this!" and stabbed downwards, columns of shadow bursting out of the ground to strike at Riku, and one of them consumed one of the coconut trees completely; fortunately, though, the paopu tree wasn't hit. Leaping back, Xurik held his Keyblade at the ready, taunting his opponent by sneering, "Is that all you've got?"

'This islet's gonna get destroyed if we keep fighting here,' Riku thought quickly, 'But there's no way he'd agree to take it to a new arena. Guess I gotta get creative.' Launching another Dark Firaga at him, he used the purple flames as a distraction while he created a portal behind him, the other end of which was directly behind Xurik, and leaping through. Thus, while Xurik effortlessly batted the fireball aside, the magic sailing over the trees to extinguish in the water, Riku charged into him from behind, gathering magic into his hands and rocketing his Nobody face-first onto the beach, before leaping after him.

Springing to his feet, Xurik gathered dark energy around his Keyblade, shouting, "Welcome oblivion!" as he launched several circle-slashes of dark energy at the approaching Riku, each launched with a swing of Way to the Dusk. Riku, in response, simply shouted, "Dark Cannon!" and fired a wave of dark energy blasts, detonating the attacks before they could reach him, though the recoil of his own attack meant he lost the momentum to land nearer to Xurik.

"It seems you've learned some new tricks since we went our separate ways," Xurik remarked, as he began glowing, "It matters not! Behold the power of darkness!" A dome of darkness at least sixty feet in radius formed around the pair, as Xurik began rapid-teleporting, launching from one portal to another like a bullet out of a gun, each pair of portals aimed towards Riku no matter which direction he dodged. In response, Riku used his own darkness to form thirteen energy swords around him, keeping them vertical, and using them to parry Xurik's attacks, each sword flashing out of existence again as it was struck. Still, Riku was struck more times than he would've liked, and he remembered how this move ended.

"Come Guardian!" The black-and-blue, bandaged Heartless formed itself out of Riku's shadow, folding it's arms over the heart-shaped hole in its chest as it phased in front of Riku, appearing in just enough time to block the waves of violet energy the finishing move of Xurik's Dark Aura unleashed; the bridge, however, was not so lucky, several spikes of energy gouging out new holes. The Seaside Shack, too, was damaged by the energy wave, but it faded out before it could get anywhere near either the tree house, or the dock.

"Ha. Can't win without some help, can you Somebody?" Xurik taunted, casting off his own cloak, and revealing that the clothes beneath were Riku's 'Dark Form'. "Fortunately-" he snapped his fingers, summoning a dozen of his Dark Knight Nobodies "-I have some helpers of my own."

o-o-o

"Sora! How much further is it to Pride Rock?" Namine whined, "It feels like we've been walking for hours."

Sora turned his head to glance back at the blonde lioness, remarking through narrowed eyes, "It's been ten minutes Nam. Surely you're not that out of shape?"

"Well, some of us aren't as used to this whole 'paws' thing," Kairi retorted, defending her sister (and herself, but she didn't like to admit that she was tired too).

Pointing a paw, Sora stated, "See that slanted rock there? That's Pride Rock. We should be able to get there in about half an hour." Both of the girls groaned, but as Sora turned to check on them again, he spotted something on the other side of the savannah, closer to the wildebeest valley. "Wait here girls. There's trouble that way." Before either of them could respond, Sora took off like a shot, easily putting both girls to shame as he used the Dash ability he learnt here.

As he got closer, he could see that the three larger figures harassing the smaller one were Living Bone Heartless, and Sora growled to himself as he realised that this world was still under attack by the Heartless after all this time. He knew, though, that there was no way he could take down the three Heartless before they seriously injured, or worse, the smaller figure; not in this form, anyway. So, he did the only thing he could: lowered himself to the ground, triggered a burst of adrenaline, and tackled the small would-be victim out of the way.

Summoning his Keyblade as he slid across the harsh dirt, Sora sent a quick Cure spell at the one who almost got crushed, noticing now that it was a golden-furred lion cub. Turning his attention towards the Heartless again, Sora darted forward, lashing out with finesse one wouldn't expect of a quadrupedal form, Oblivion slicing clean through the Heartless such that, in a few quick strokes, all that remained was decaying darkness, and three freed hearts.

Turning around to the cub he'd rescued, Sora found himself staring into wide, striking yellow eyes, far too close to his own face for comfort, and the cub quickly revealed herself to be female when she exclaimed, "That was so cool! How did you do that? You were like 'swish', 'swish', 'smack', and they were gone! I've never even seen daddy move that fast before!" Sora backed up slowly, but the lioness cub walked forward at the same time, keeping her face the same distance from Sorafs as she grinned widely, and, Sora had to admit, cutely, as she added, "I'm Kiara. Who're you?"

"He's spoken for." Backpedalling and turning his head, Sora noticed Kairi and Namine had raced after him. Judging by the way Namine was limping slightly, and Kairi's lungs were pumping, no doubt the run didn't do either of them any favours.

Trying to be polite, Sora made the introductions. "Girls, this is Kiara. Kiara, this is Kairi," he nodded his head towards the russet lioness, "and Namine," he indicated the other way. "They're my... well, I guess you'd say mates." Shrugging slightly, he added, "My name's Sora."

Kiara gave him a confused look for a moment. "Sora?" She tilted her head to one side. "You can't be Sora. My daddy told me all about him, an' how he helped him defeat Scar an' save the whole Pride Lands! You're just a cub."

"Who is your father?" Sora asked tiredly, already knowing the answer before she said it.

Kiara tilted her head the other way. "Are you from the Outlands? Everybody knows who my daddy is!"

Sora glared at her half-heartedly with a raised eyebrow. "And does Simba know you're wandering the Savannah on your own?"

Kiara shrank back, doing her best to look innocent and bashful as she laughed nervously. "Uh... Actually, Unca Timon is 'sposed to be watchin' me, but I snuck away 'coz he and Unca Pig are BORING!"

Sighing, Sora remarked, "Well, it's a good thing we were headed that way anyways. The savannah is no place for a cub like you to be wandering alone."

Stamping her paw, and kicking up a tiny dust cloud, Kiara glowered at him. "NO! I'm not goin' back ! I'm havin' a 'venture!"

Kairi just glared back at her. "Listen Kiara, what do you think your father will say when we tell him your adventure almost got you killed?" Kiara yelped slightly at the thought.

Smiling softly at the girl, Namine opted to play the 'good cop'. "If you come back with us now, we'll just tell your father we found you out here. No mention of the scary monsters at all, okay?" Nodding sadly, and, if Sora had to venture a guess, more than a little afraid, Kiara fell into step beside Namine, though, much to both girls' ire, she still sent shy smiles and glances Sora's way. It didn't take much to guess that with Sora saving her life, the girl cub had developed a crush on her rescuer.

Sora just groaned to himself. He did not want to be the one who told Simba about this...

o-o-o

"Hey, fruitcake, quite nice digs you got here. Doing well for yourself I see." Appearing in a burst of blue flame, Hades leant against the nearby doorway. "I did hear though that your scheme went belly-up; but then, I guess we all have a share of that failure now don't we?"

Looking up from the latest document he was writing, Seymour turned his ever-serene gaze towards Hades. "Ah, Master Hades, to what do I owe the pleasure? Are you looking for the dark mistress? I'm afraid I am unaware as to where she and her pet buffoon went."

Hades smiled, replying, "No, I came here to see you. Does the witch know what you are?"

Seymour fought back an eyebrow twitch. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I know what you are, Seymour," Hades remarked simply, smirking. "See, I may not be too good with faces, but I never forget a soul."

"I see..." Seymour stated carefully, "And what, pray tell, do you plan on doing with this knowledge?"

"Me?" Hades just shrugged. "I don't plan on doing anything. However, I figure, that means you owe me. See, me, I'm in a position to do all manner of unkind things to you, and I would too, normally; it'd be worth a good laugh. But I've got bigger problems than a few escapees."

Glancing down at the paperwork scattered across the desk for a brief moment, Seymour asked, "So, what did you want from me?"

"Oh, it's quite simple," Hades commented. "You're going to be my Plan B."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"You don't have to," Hades retorted, "You see, I've got this big plan, and how to deal with that Keybrat, his lady friends, the dark one, even the mouse, but these pesky hero-types, well... They have a nasty habit of foiling plans, no matter how simple or complex, how hasty or well thought out, so, it always helps to have a backup, and you're it."

Seymour just nodded, as if he understood. "I ask again, what would you have me do?"

"Stay free." Hades' reply was quick. "See, this plan of mine fails, I get sent back to the cold Underworld again." Clenching his hand, the blue flames that made up his hair began bleeding red. "I'm not going back to the Underworld. Zeus and the rest of those fuddy-duddies locked me away eons ago because they were afraid of what I would do once I was free. And they were right to fear me. Now that I've tasted freedom, I will do anything to make sure I don't go back there."

"So, you plan to use the fact that a few souls slipped free to ensure that the chains do not tie themselves too tight around your own neck, correct?"

Hades just shrugged, as if bored with the subject, "Eh, something like that."

"So," Seymour prompted, hoping he could get the dark god to leave, "Was there anything else you needed from me right now?"

"Actually, yeah," Hades grinned, "I could use a little assistance on the Keybrat front."

o-o-o

"Kiara! Where have you been young lady?"

The lioness cub shrunk under her father's roar, doing her best to look innocent, her wide blue, pouty eyes almost crowing out the rest of her face, as she replied nervously, "Uh... h-hi daddy... I w-was just-"

"Timon has already told me about how you snuck away from them," Simba cut her off, "so don't try and act like you got lost, or were left behind. What were you thinking about? You know how dangerous it is out there!"

"It's okay Simba, she wasn't in any danger," Sora spoke out, hoping to calm down the lion king. "The girls and I just found her wandering the savannah, checking everything out. I'm sure she was just curious."

Simba turned his glare to the new speaker, mouth already opened to yell at whoever interrupted him, before he realised who it was, anger fading into confusion. "Sora? When did you get here? There's not some new trouble is there?"

"Just a little while ago," Sora shrugged, "And no, there's no trouble; at least, no trouble that concerns the Pride Lands. We're just on a bit of a journey, and we thought, while we were in the area, we'd say hi, make sure things are alright here."

Simba smiled, shaking his mane slightly as he replied, "No, no real problems here; at least, not of the type I can't handle my- Wait, we?" The golden furred lion suddenly realised that Sora had referred to a 'we' more than once, but he didn't see Donald or Goofy anywhere.

Sora smiled, turning to the two young lionesses behind him. "Simba, I'd like you to meet the lights of my life, Kairi and Namine. They're my... I guess you'd call them mates."

Simba smiled, sniffed the air slightly, then smiled wider. "Sisters?"

Before Sora or the girls could answer, a lioness Sora recognized approached, running out of the King's Den towards Simba as she asked, "Simba, what are you still doing here? Have you found her?"

"Don't worry Nala," Simba replied placatingly, turning to face her, "She's fine. Sora brought her back. He brought some new friends with him too." It didn't take too long for Nala to rush over to Kairi and Namine, introducing herself to the girls and taking them off to one side to talk; not before rounding up her daughter, though, as Kiara tried to slip away. Turning away from the girls and back to Sora, Simba asked softly, "So, why don't you tell me what you really came here for?"

Shrugging slightly, and smiling sheepishly, Sora asked quietly, "Is there some place we could talk in private?" With a nod, Simba lead Sora through the King's Den to the summit of Pride Rock. As they passed into the open again, Sora couldn't hold in a laugh. When Simba turned back to him questioningly, Sora just explained, "You know, I only just realised how few people commented on the fact I'm with both Kairi and Namine."

"True friends only care if you're all happy," Simba replied, barking a laugh as he added, "Besides, I'm possibly the least qualified to tell you off about that." This time, Sora was the one giving him the questioning look, so Simba explained, "You see all those lionesses down there?" Sora just nodded. "There's no other lion on Pride Rock." A brief moment of shock passed over Sora's face before he realised that this was the way of the animal kingdom. "Nala may be my alpha mate, if you will, and Kiara is hers, but... Now, why don't you tell me what you really asked me up here for?"

Sora wasted no more time in explaining his problem to Simba, and his fear about his no longer being himself. "I've already asked a few friends and got their opinions, but I haven't told the girls. I guess I'm just afraid of what it might mean."

Simba just smiled, shaking his head slowly. "Sora, you should know what I'm going to say without having to ask." At Sora's curious look, he added simply, "Hakuna Matata."

Sora just rolled his eyes. "I don't think that really helps."

"Doesn't it?" Simba shot back quickly. "Say you're right. Say you truly are a Heartless now. Ask yourself this: What would you do about it? Would you act differently? Would it truly change anything?" As Sora mulled over that, Simba continued. "Let me tell you what I've learnt about you, Sora. You're impulsive. You're not one to sit around pondering, thinking of what the best thing to do would be when you could be doing something right now. You use your heart first, leaving your head to sort out what you did after." Butting heads with Sora, a sign of affection, in this case brotherly, Simba concluded, "Sora, I honestly don't believe that becoming a Heartless would change you one bit. The only way you could ever NOT be you would be if you didn't have a heart."

o-o-o

Standing in the shadow of the twisted tower, Mickey could think of only a handful of things he wanted to do less than returning here, but he needed answers, and this was the one place in all the worlds he knew he could find the answers he sought. After all that had happened, he wasn't sure how much he could trust Yen Sid, but despite how his philosophical belief clashed with Mickey's own, Mickey knew the old Twilight wizard would give him the information he came here for; knowledge was, after all, everything to Yen Sid, and that knowledge be used to better the worlds. Taking a deep breath, the mouse king pushed open the doors to Yen Sid's Tower, striding up the only flight of stairs and through the first portal.

Knowing this tower as he did, he was surprised, once he passed through the archway, to find himself on the final incline of stairs, having skipped the rest of the tower in between. "Welp, I guess he's expecting me," Mickey groused to himself, debating with himself on whether to summon his Keyblade in case Yen Sid had prepared defences against him, but he shook that worry off as paranoia and opted to maintain his diplomatic tongue; walking in with a weapon may only rile the old wizard into the attack his paranoia warned him of.

Pushing open the door to his former Master's study, Mickey found Yen Sid seated behind his desk, hands interlocked before him, and it was the fact the book on the desk was closed that revealed to the mouse king that, yes, Yen Sid had seen this visit coming. "Ah, my wayward apprentice," Yen Sid's baritone voice announced, "It is good to see you again. I had feared you were lost?"

"Lost?" Mickey replied questioningly, "How could I be lost? I stay next to the Cornerstone of Light itself; I couldn't do that if I were lost to darkness."

"Ah, but that is not what I said," Yen Sid retorted with a mysterious smile, "Being lost does not only mean to the darkness, and truly, is the darkness so unique? Can one only be lost in darkness?" Pausing to stroke his beard in thought, he added, "Perhaps, then, I should have said 'blind'. Blinded by the light."

"Ridiculous," Mickey scoffed. "The light illuminates. Has the darkness you insist on surrounding yourself with finally cast its shadow across your light, Master Yen Sid?" Changed beliefs or not, Mickey would continue to give Yen Sid the honorifics he was due, as least so long as things stayed cordial, if only to prevent an incident.

"You still fail to understand," Yen Sid stated sadly, shaking his head slowly, "The key differences between darkness, and evil, perhaps is a distinction that we never made completely clear, my old friend. They find so many similarities, and indeed, they both may walk a path so similar that to tell one from the other can be seen as splitting hairs; but then, the same could be said for telling good from light."

"What are you playing at Master?" Mickey asked hotly, subconsciously reaching a hand back lest he need to summon his weapon.

Yen Sid simply stroked his beard, not even standing from his chair. "I am simply trying to open your eyes. When learning of young Sora's fate, you saw the worst that could come to be. You allowed that prophecy to become the be all and end all, becoming intolerant of any other possibility. You know, as well as I do, that being narrow minded in itself is hardly a quality of good, but to so willingly push a friend aside, without thought of redemption, is far from noble. Even Riku, who was thought to be truly lost, was brought back to the light under your care; yet Sora, one you should have trusted more, was cast aside so quickly..." Stroking his beard again, the aged wizard added, "Are you well, Mickey? Has the burden of your duty weighed so heavily upon you?"

"I didn't come here for a lecture," Mickey replied, ignoring the questions asked of him. As much as it galled him, the old man had a point, but it was something to reconcile later.

"Then why did you come?" Yen Sid asked. "I have naught to give but wisdom and knowledge."

"I came for the latter," Mickey stated, cutting him off before he could offer the former again. "Specifically, I came to find out what happened to Aqua, and you are the only one in all the worlds that I know of who could say."

Yen Sid was quiet for a moment, before asking, "Why have you come asking of her fate now? In the past decade, you have not once desired knowledge of her whereabouts."

"In the past decade, I assumed that she'd gone into hiding after the Unversed War, then I found this." Snapping his fingers, Mickey summoned, with a clatter, the armour and Keyblade he found beneath Radiant Garden. "These were found in a hidden chamber beneath Ansem's Study, and Tron has informed me that Xehanort frequented this room. Why?"

Yen Sid sighed, leaning back in his chair. "It seems it has come time for me to explain what I have discovered happened when you and Aqua parted ways. After taking Ventus' body to safety, Aqua went in search of Terra, but found only Xehanort..."

o-o-o

"Oh wow! Sora, this place is beautiful!"

Sora smiled, nudging Kairi with his head, and turning to reply to Namine, "Even more beautiful for having the two of you in it."

Namine looked down bashfully, shuffling her forepaws, while Kairi nudged Sora back, giving his cheek a quick lick. "You sweet talker you." Kairi did find it a little disconcerting how quickly she became used to acting in this body. Grinning slightly, she asked teasingly, "You sure you don't want Kiara here too?"

"Gah! No!" Sora replied quickly, almost tripping over his feet as he did. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she's a sweet kid - emphasis on 'kid' - but I'm not interested in her that way, and to be honest, I think the only reason she's interested in me at all, besides the fact I rescued her from those Heartless, is that I'm probably the first male lion besides her father that she's ever met."

Giggling slightly, Kairi commented, "You make a fair point." Glancing around the oasis, she asked, "So how did you find this place?"

"When we were looking for Simba. This used to be where he lived, before we convinced him to return home and face his uncle." Sora explained, striding over to the pool, and glancing at his reflection in it. "And as far as everyone on this world knows, so long as we're in the Pride Lands, this is where we live." Turning back to look at the girls, Sora explained, "Simba remembers travelling with me when the Heartless had destroyed this world, but the others here don't remember their world's destruction. They do know, however, that Simba knows me from before he came home, so, he and I agreed it would be better if everyone thought I was from around here."

"Makes sense," Kairi agreed, moving over to lie beside him as he crouched down to drink from the waterfall-fed spring.

Moving over to his other side, Namine asked, "So, are you going to tell us what's had you worried?" Pausing as Sora spluttered slightly, she added, "We saw you and Simba walk off, and we could feel the concern that's been gripping your heart slip away from whatever he told you."

Sora couldn't help but laugh, settling his body against the cool grass as the two girls leant against him. "I forgot you girls could do that. Gonna make surprising either of you with anything trickier." Sighing, he explained, "I was worried about losing myself to my own darkness, especially because of Roxas' return. Worried about how it'd affect the two of you, more so. I spoke to Aladdin and Alan about it too, and while Aladdin's belief that I was still me helped in some way, it was Alan and Simba that helped me see that, even if I did become a Heartless, assuming I'm not already, that I wouldn't stop being me, and thus, there wasn't anything to worry about, really."

"We could've told you that Sora," Namine stated softly, nuzzling his neck.

"I didn't abandon you the last time you became a Heartless," Kairi remarked resolutely, "If it happens again, or even if it's already happened, I'm not going to abandon you this time."

"We love you for you, so you're not getting rid of us that easily." Namine finished firmly.

"I love you both too," Sora stated. "I know I should've already known you'd feel that way, but... Well, I'm a guy. We're dumb like that." His self-depredation got a giggle from the two girls. "So, I'm promising both of you, right here, that, no matter what happens to me, if we ever get separated I will find my way back to the two of you."

"And we promise you Sora," Namine replied, "that wherever you go, we won't be far behind."

"After all," Kairi added, "You're gonna need a light or two to guide your way."

o-o-o

Riku swore to himself as he rolled under the triangular sword of one Dark Knight, only for the Guardian to swing around in an attempt to deflect a second blow that was mostly successful; the Guardian did manage to prevent the blade from striking Riku, but the force of the blow still carried over, knocking the silver-haired teen off balance. Poetically, it was that fact that allowed him to avoid the attack of a third Dark Knight, as he lost his footing and fell backwards onto the sand.

Rolling out of the way of a downward strike, Riku muttered to himself, "This isn't going so well..." The second phase of the fight had been going for what felt like half an hour, but in reality was probably only five minutes at worst, and Riku had only managed to kill two of the Dark Knight Nobodies. 'Light these things are tough. It's like he took a bunch of other Nobodies and mashed 'em together!' The Dark Knights had the power behind them of a Berserker, magical abilities similar to a Sorcerer, and the ability to teleport rapidly and defy gravity like a Sniper; and that was just the powers he'd seen so far and could place similarities with. And, to make matters worse, they seemed to be immune to darkness magic, including both Riku's Dark Firaga, and their own wave of darkness.

'There's no way I can beat them all, not on my own.' Riku had realised this fact earlier, but he was still kind of coming to terms with what that fact meant, that he was going to die if he didn't do something. 'There's no way I'm going to get enough of a break to open a Dark Corridor, and even if I did, I could never get inside and close it behind me before one or more of them followed me in. My magic does nothing to them, they pass right through my Dark Shield, and I'm running low on potions.' Riku couldn't help but sigh. 'I always knew I'd die alone.'

'You don't have to,' a voice announced, in a coldly arrogant tone. 'This need not be your end.'

'I'm going crazy,' Riku thought to himself, doing his best not to get killed while he carried on this mental conversation.

'You have called on my power in the past,' the voice continued, 'Merge with me, and I can grant you the strength you need to defeat your foes.'

Riku couldn't help but gape as he realised just whose voice it was, and he almost got his head cut off for it, were it not for a timely intervention of the speaker itself. 'GUARDIAN!' The eerie visage almost seemed to be smirking. 'What... How...'

'All that I am, all that is left of me, is the desire- no, the need, to protect. It is my purpose. You have friends you wish to protect. This gives me purpose. Kairi... Sora... They... remind me, of people in my heart.' Guardian explained. 'Merge with me, and all my power is yours, to protect the ones you hold dear. Help me... fulfil my purpose.'

'Do it,' Riku stated resolutely, 'I swore to myself that I would do whatever it took, even at the cost of my own life, to protect Sora and Kairi. If you can give me the power to do that, I will be the vessel of your purpose.'

Guardian unfolded its arms, adopting a pose identical to Riku, as it slid back and down, passing over Riku's body until the two overlapped completely, before the pair disappeared in a bright flash of light, temporarily stunning all ten remaining Dark Knights, and even forcing the observing Xurik to look away briefly. When the light faded, only Riku remained, though not the Riku that had been there before.

The white wrist guard on his left arm had changed to black, extended almost all the way up to his shoulder, and was covered on the outermost-side by what looked like tarnished bronze armour plating, highlighted, if such a term could be used, with black. His white vest and sneakers, too, were a tarnished bronze colour, while his baggy blue jeans had changed to look more beige. The only change Riku really noticed, however, was that in this form, one his mind would come to call 'Sentinel Form', he no longer held Way to the Dawn.

The guard was shaped similar to the Heartless symbol, the keychain extending from the flair at the bottom, but the top of the guard curved up, then sharply turned inwards before flairing out again into the crossguard from which the blade extended; actually, at a second glance the top half of the weapon looked much like the Nobody symbol. There, however, stopped all similarities with any symbol he recognized. The blade itself was almost as wide as the crossguard, and the inch-thick blade extended almost three feet from the hilt before reaching the teeth, which were shaped almost like a pair of claw hammer heads, one atop the other, set atop the tip of the blade. The keychain looked like a blocky, golden symbol that could have been a stylized representation of either the Heartless or Nobody symbol. A voice in his mind whispered the name of this weapon to him. 'Shadow of Earth.'

It didn't take the Dark Knights too long to recover from the flash of light, but fortunately, this time, Riku was ready for them. Instead of dodging their attacks, Riku chose instead to parry them, swinging his Keyblade in slow, powerful forward lunges and reverse-spinning strikes, and using his armoured left arm to block any attack he couldn't parry; Riku may not have noticed the yellow-orange energy gathering around him with each swing, but Xurik did. With his attacks now staggering the Nobodies, it didn't take long before careful manoeuvring allowed Riku to group the Dark Knights up, instead of them surrounding him, so, leaping into the air, and instinctively gathering all the gathered energy along Shadow of Earth, Riku slammed his Keyblade into the sand, the shockwave dazing all ten Nobodies.

Leaping backwards about two feet, Riku quickly scanned the stunned enemies, before tossing Shadow of Earth into the air. In a flash of light lasting half a heartbeat, the Keyblade tripled, if not quadrupled in side, the blade now almost as wide as Riku's arm was long. Leaping into the air slightly, Riku caught the blade with his right arm, handle pointed towards the gathered Nobodies. The teeth segments of the weapon began spinning in opposite directions, and the flair on the bottom of the guard broke open, before the guard began rotating around at high speed as well, pale yellow energy gathering at the new base of the hilt, before firing out and striking the amassed enemies in a tremendous explosion. Then, mere seconds later, Riku fired a second blast, finishing off the weakened Nobodies before, as his weapon returned to normal, turning his sights on Xurik.

The shocked Nobody couldn't help but gape, stammering, "How... How did you do that?"

"You know what?" Riku replied, "I don't know. Care to bet whether I've got another new trick especially for you?" Xurik, it turned out, did not, vanishing into a Dark Corridor without so much as a parting retort. Flashing back into his normal form, Riku sent a parting 'thank you' to the tired symbiote, before taking in the damage done to the island and remarking to himself, "Guess I better see what I can do to fix this..."

o-o-o

"So girls, we ready to leave?"

Kairi sent a longing look towards the cool water, asking, "We can come back another time right?"

Sora just nuzzled her cheek, assuring her, "Of course we can Kai. Once things settle down, I'd love to vacation here with my ladies for longer than one night."

Both girls looked pleased at that thought, though it was Namine who asked, "So, we have a destination in mind?"

Sora nodded solemnly. "Castle Oblivion. It's just... a feeling of mine. There's something important there." Shrugging slightly, he added, "We can't solve the Hades problem until we know where he is, so I figure we solve the Roxas problem first."

"Oh, but I'm right here hero," a disembodied voice announced, moments before there was a burst of blue flame, which died out quickly to reveal a skeletal lion, surrounded in blue flame, glaring balefully at Sora.

"Hades!" Sora hissed, summoning Oblivion to his teeth and grabbing Twilight Thorn with his tail. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Hades grinned, a decidedly creepy look on a skeletal form. "You see, I've gotten quite bored waiting for you, so I've decided it's time for you and me to square off again."

"Girls, get out of here," Sora barked roughly, the two lionesses cowering behind him.

"Oh cool your jets kitty cat," Hades sneered, "I don't want to fight you here. Oh, sure, you can't use half of your powers like this, while me, I can still kill you in an instant." As if to prove his point, cages of blue flame erupted into life around both Kairi and Namine. "But you know me, if nothing else, I like to give the hero a sporting chance; makes gloating at their eventual loss all the sweeter, you know. I've got a new arena all lined up, just waiting for the debut match between you and I."

"Name the time and place, Hades." Sora spat. "You're right, it's past time you were dealt with."

The cages of fire shrunk slightly, eliciting frightened yelps from both girls. "Watch the attitude, champ, or your lady friends there might be getting a nasty tan," Hades warned, narrowing his eye sockets. "Now, see, I could just tell you where I'll be waiting, but where's the fun in that, so we're gonna make a little game of it." As Sora opened his mouth to retort, Hades cut him off with, "And you will be playing my game, Keybrat, once you hear the stakes. You see, every day it takes you to find me and the battlefield I've chosen-" Hades paused for dramatic effect "-I destroy a world. That means, sport, that every day it takes you to find me, I get a thousand or so more soldiers, and you add a thousand or so new lives to your conscience."

"That's it? 'Come and find me or I kill tonnes of people'?" Sora hollered. "That's not sporting; that's sadistic."

"Can't it be both?" Hades chuckled darkly. "You're right, of course. If I want to make things sporting, I need to leave you a clue then don't I?" The fired around him building up, Hades' form started to fade as he recited his clue. "Hidden in your heart is the answer, a place itfs been before but you've never set foot on. The place it all began, and the place it all almost ended. Six entered, three left, two as one. The crossroads of life and death, light and dark, existence and nothing." His form faded entirely, the flames died out, Hades' disembodied voice leaving one last remark, "Tick tock tick tock. Don't keep me waiting now champ."

The flames of their cages burning out, Kairi and Namine padded up to Sora's side for reassurance and comfort, the strictly younger sister asking, "What are we going to do now Sora?"

"The only thing we can do," Sora snarled, banishing his Keyblades. "We find Hades, and we sent him back to Hell!"

Author's Notes

I was wondering for a while what to call this chapter, until I realized that, with half of it being centred around the Pride Lands, there was only one choice.