Chapter 25: In Utter Darkness

They landed outside a small cave, at the foot of lake of purple water. Out as far as they could see, were hundreds and thousands of small islands. The entirety of the lake was dotted with them, she could probably hopscotch her way to the vortex of purple energy at the far side of the lake. Was this... really all that was left of the worlds taken by the Heartless outside the Realm of Sleep? It was... a bitter sight, realizing just how much had been lost. It... almost hurt as much as gazing up into the starless sky.

She started forward, mostly walking to the islands, sometimes having to jump between them...

"Huh, we can walk on the water," said Sora all the sudden.

Kairi blinked a few times before taking a cautious step, and found her was right. "Strange. Well, whatever, we're cutting a straight line then."

They walked in silence. Despite the bleakness of this place and the darkness in the air, not a single heartless appeared. Terra had been right, Aqua's Heartless had sent EVERYTHING out. She ought to be pleased, but she wasn't. It made her worried, very worried. The remaining worlds had to be drowning in darkness by now.

"Let's book it, we have no time to waste," said Kairi.

She took off running, Sora following suite. They came to the vortex on the far side of the lake, and dove right in. They came out on a ravine on a ledge, many above and many below them. Colored spider-web like strands were everywhere.

She summoned her glider. "We ran the lake, we're not ledge hopping."

Sora grinned at that. "After you."

They flew around the ravine, searching for a way out. Oddly enough, it was at the bottom of it, through a hole with blue light swirling out of it. Where they came out was an off-putting place, platforms with jagged tooth like edges to them, nothing but a black abyss below them. She noticed a swirling light at the edge of the platform they were on, and off in the far distance on another platform, a different light. She hesitated before touching it, and then suddenly finding herself teleported.

"What...?" she exclaimed, looking around and then backwards, squinting, and seeing Sora off in the distance...

Until he teleported to and barreled into her, flattening her into the ground and landing on top of her. "Owww. Sora get off!"

They scrambled to their feet, Sora giving her a sheepish look. "Sorry."

She shrugged. "It's fine, let's go."

They continued teleporting through platforms. It was... almost off-putting, how there was nothing but silence and walking. She would have found some kind of comfort in a fight with the Heartless, but the deadness to the place nagged at her. Made her feel nervous and apprehensive...

The final platform they came to had a hole that seemed to be pulling light into it. Seeing no other option, they jumped into it. They come out into a swirling black abyss with a dormant volcano off in the distance. They summoned their gliders as they fell and flew towards it. Kairi had reservations about diving into the volcano... but, nowhere else to go.

Kairi frowned as they flew down into it. There was a heavy darkness in the air, something had been here not too long ago, probably before Aqua's Heartless had sent all of the Heartless under her command into the worlds. They flew to the bottom of the volcano, and into a shining portal, and several more rooms like it. They came out into an odd room with a green crystal floor... with no visible way out.

The only apparent thing was a large blue Heartless symbol on the far end of the room. Kairi approached it and touched the symbol...

You're afraid of being alone...

You want to make a difference...

You hold those you care for deep in your heart...

You seek the Recusant, even through utter darkness...

I asked you once if this is truly what described you...

I ask now, do you still hold true to your heart?

Kairi froze as the words echoed in her mind, they were the words from that dream before her Keyblade awakened. "Who...?

She spun around, and there, standing in the center of the room, was a transparent cloaked figure. The figure was translucent, ephemeral. She wasn't honestly sure it was real... she couldn't feel anything from it. No light, no darkness, no presence at all, nothing she could detect with her senses. Yet... she felt in her heart, it was no illusion, it was... an echo of sorts.

She registered the question. "Yes, I do."

Sora blinked a few times and glanced around. "Yes you do... what?"

She pointed at the cloaked figure, but Sora merely grew confused. "What?"

Could he not see it?

"You say you hold true to your heart, yet, I question that," said the figure, "Why did you come here?"

"I came to end this, I came to set Master Aqua free, and give her rest," said Kairi, ignoring Sora's confused look.

The figured slowly shook his head. "So, you've given up on the Recusant then? You're going to let her go after all this time?"

Kairi grew confused. "I don't... understand... she's... gone, sleeping in death..."

"So little you and the others understand, wrapped up in the darkness overwhelming the worlds. Sleeping is not necessarily death, and even if it is, what sleeps, may one day waken and be reborn," said the figure, "You were fortunate, your sleep was ended prematurely, and your birth by sleep, accelerated by your fellow princesses and the Recusant's sacrifice. Her second birth by sleep, won't be as fortunate. Perhaps had you encountered her on that day her Heartless was born, you might have pulled her out of sleep, may have given her a second birth by sleep and spared the worlds their agony, but, it wasn't meant to be."

Kairi stared at the figure silently for a moment. "What… exactly are you saying?"

"Never give up on the dreams etched in your heart, child," said the figure, aiming a hand at them.

Before Kairi could react, a gust of dark energy ripped from the figure's hands and blew her and Sora through the symbol, into another room, and slammed them into a pink door, smashing it open and pushing them through...

The figure's voice distantly filled her mind one last time as they tumbled into a bright light. "I told you that the day you find the Recusant you seek was both far off, and very near. The time has come for you to make that a reality. It all hinges on whether or not you believe, and whether or not you can still find the light in the deepest of darknesses..."

Kairi covered her eyes, shielding herself from the bright light, before slowly bringing her arm down and standing up. "Where..."

She gave a strangled gasp as she looked around. she... she KNEW this place! They found themselves in an open plaza, surrounded by trees, water fountains leaking down below the plaza, and olden wooden houses. A gate blocked access to a large and tall castle off in the distance. She distinctively remembered that there would be a flower garden along the way...

"Kairi? Do you know where we are?" he asked.

She chocked a bit. "I... it's... its home..."

"Huh? This doesn't look like Traverse Town," said Sora.

Kairi shook her head. "No... it's my real home... its Radiant Garden..."

Sora's eyes went wide. "Huh?!"

He looked around again. "It's... not a bad place, kind of beautiful actually..."

"Yeah... it is," she said softly, "It's... just like I remember it."

She began walking towards the castle gate, only to pause as a crack filled the air. She turned her head to see a building disappear off in the distance. The water pouring out of the fountains turns purple, as did some of the sky. She frowned at that and continued walking towards the castle. The world continued to deform around her, becoming a hellish, twisted, dark mockery of what her home had once been. Even the flowers along the way... turned twisted and deformed, tainted by darkness.

She walked silently, not giving voice to the pain she felt at the sight of the darkening of her world. She walked to the steps leading to the castle, and into the area before it.

"This... this is where I met her," said Kairi softly, "This is where my Master... this is where Aqua saved my life..."

Sora put a hand on her shoulder. "Kairi..."

"Take a look at this tiny place," came a soft, but familiar voice.

They both froze and glanced up, sighting... Aqua...? She was sitting ontop of the castle gate, in her old clothes as Kairi remembered her, looking out into the deformed world.

"Aqua?" questioned Kairi.

"This world, such a small, trifle thing, yet, a place where so much happened," said Aqua, "It's where she and you first met, right? A place where she sacrificed so much on two separate occasions, once for her friends, and once for a young girl she didn't even know. It's a place where she died, her heart collapsed, and was reborn, touched by your light. Its where, for the sake of her friends, she opened her heart fully to darkness."

Aqua leaped off the gates, and as she did, her form changed into the one held by Aqua's Heartless.

For some reason, it pained Kairi so much, she couldn't help but hold out a hand and cry out, "Aqua!"

The Heartless landed and studied her. "Perhaps I was premature in what I said. You, Kairi, I do not hate. The first time we met, you gave me a hug of all things. You, never gave up or abandoned her. It's truly a shame that your heart is of pure light. You cannot become a Heartless, cannot leave behind a friend when I take your heart into my depths."

Kairi stared at her silently.

Sora cursed under his breath. "She followed us here..."

The Heartless chuckled. "Actually, no. I thought it was the other way around when I first felt you here. I came here to wait out the end of the Realm of Light, I don't honestly need to lift a finger anymore."

She waved a hand slowly out before. "This, is where I was born, where I came into existence. It was the first world I consumed. I often returned here, as if seeking something, when I wasn't consuming worlds. I wonder, if I was born here for a reason. Even consumed by her darkness, I wonder, did she reach out for you, Kairi?"

Kairi bowed her head, remembering the figure's words. If... if she had ran towards the darkness, instead of letting Grandma lead her away from it, could she have saved Aqua from her fate on that day? She knew she didn't have the power to do that anymore, the power difference between her and the Heartless was too extreme for her to even think about pulling Aqua free.

But...

The figures words...

She raised her head and stared at the Heartless before summoning her Keyblade. "Maybe she did, and, if you can hear me in there Master Aqua, I'm sorry I didn't save you then. Here, and now, I'll make it up to you. I'm setting you free, and... I won't stop until I find a way to bring you back."

A softness entered the Heartless's face before she vanished and reappeared right in front of Kairi. She froze in surprise, and tensed as the Heartless reached up...

...but not for her heart, instead, she caressed Kairi's face. "You, Kairi, are a good friend. I'm jealous of Aqua, to have your loyalty. How I wish I could take it all for myself. I suppose, I'll have to settle for us being together, your heart sleeping in my depths."

The Heartless lowered her arm back to her side, turned, and walked back towards the castle door. "You know, I think... I'll let you do it instead of me."

Kairi frowned. "Do what?"

The Heartless walked to the gate and leaped back up, sitting on top of it. "I had originally intended for this anyway, but, after awakening more of her memories, I decided to torture him to death and be done with it, something to entertain me while I awaited the end of the light. But... I think you have more of a right to it, for him taking Aqua from you, and, I'll admit, I'm curious to see the full strength of your heart now. We have clashed so many times, my darkness against the purity of your heart, how powerful I wonder, have you become through our struggles?"

She snapped her fingers, and a Dark Corridor appeared below her. Out of it... stepped Xehanort. His eyes were blank and dead looking, the emblem heartless symbol on his chest a blue one instead of a red one. There was not an ounce of will left in him from what she could sense. The lesser Heartless had fallen before the greater one. If Kairi had it in her, she might pity Xehanort for his fate, but honestly, he had brought it on himself. What he wanted to do to Aqua... it was almost fitting to see him the one enslaved instead.

"I'll let you fight alongside Sora, after all, I've realized, what kept Aqua going for so long, was the desire for keep her friends safe. It gave her strength and motivation in her times of need," said Aqua's Heartless before growing cruel, "Keeping him safe and alive will be a good motivator for you to cut loose. I personally don't care if he lives or not to see the collapse of the Realm of Light, he's done a piss poor job keeping his promise to Aqua to keep you safe after all."

Sora flinched at that.

Aqua's Heartless smiled at Sora. "Don't fret boy, I remember the kindness you did for Ven. When you've been consumed, you'll be one of my more treasured little shadows."

Sora blinked. "Did for Ven...?"

The Heartless chuckled. "Ha, neither of you realize it yet, even after all this time. Yet all Aqua had to do was peer into the depths of your heart to see what you did, and see you for what you truly are."

"A light in the darkness," she whispered softly, before growing cold, "A light for broken hearts, yet, a light denied to her on both occasions, when Kairi had to step in, and when she stabbed herself. So selective, your light, and thus, you must be, snuffed out!"

An intense dark aura appeared around Xehanort. The man aimed a hand at them and unleashed a wave of darkness. Sora and Kairi rolled opposite directions and charged at him, Keyblades raised. The man gave a roar, and out of his back, exploded a dark, man like familiar. It was muscular to a heavy degree, and inky black in color. It had white stripes of cloth wrapped around its head, its mouth, and some around its chest. It had a heart like shape in the hole at its center. Its head had two long antenna like appendixes.

"Go Guardian," said Xehanort in a dull, lifeless voice.

The Guardian charged at Sora, while Xehanort aimed a hand and unleashed a bolt of black lightning at Kairi. She swung her Keyblade and batted the lightning aside, right into his Guardian, sending it reeling away from Sora. The two of them closed the distance and let into Xehanort with a barrage of slashes. The man staggered back before teleporting to the other end of the area near the stairs.

GRAB

Kairi yelped as the Guardian's hands wrapped around both her and Sora, lifting them into the air and pinning their arms to their body. Xehanort aimed his hands at the two of them, unleashing dark lightning at the defenseless pair. They both screamed as the lightning coursed over them. They struggled and struggled, trying to break the Guardian's titanic grip.

She ground her teeth and channeled her light, a glow surrounding her body. She aimed her restricted hand down and unleashed a pearl spell, guiding it to circle around and slam into the Guardian from behind. It staggered and dropped them, both of the Keybearers falling to the ground and staggering away.

"Curaga!" yelled Sora, green light washing over them.

She gave him a brief nod before pointing her Keyblade at Xehanort. "Shock!"

Light erupted at the old man, sending him reeling back, hissing in pain. He aimed a hand towards the castle walls, and a torrent of bricks broke off and rushed towards her and Sora. They scrambled to get out of the way of the barrage. Getting a concussion was not on her list of things to do mid-fight.

"Aeroga!" yelled Sora, throwing a gust of wind magic at the brickstorm, scattering the magic.

Only for Xehanort to teleport behind him, create a shard of ice, and stab it into his shoulder. Sora cried out in pain, staggering forward and falling to a knee. Xehanort blasted his back with a puff of darkness and sent him face-first into the ground.

"Sora!" cried out Kairi, blitzing forward...

SMASH!

The Guardian two-hand smash her from her side, sending her sprawling away. She hit the ground and rolled, springing to her feet. She saw Xehanort raise a blackened hand and aim it for the downed Sora. She gave a roar, and chucked her Keyblade, light shining intensely from it. The Keyblade slashed across Xehanort's get, sending him cringing back. Kairi aimed a hand at Sora and released a burst of light, melting the ice shard in his shoulder and healing him.

He rose to his feet and gave her a nod of strength before he went rigged and cried out, "Look out!"

WHAM!

The Guardian came from behind and smashed her into the ground, hard. She winced on impact, and tried to pick herself up, only for the Guardian to grab her head, pull it back, and slam it back down, grinding her face into the brick floor, bloodying it.

Kairi ground her teeth and spat blood before twisting her head to glare at the Guardian. She bathed herself in light before letting loose a cry of power, light erupting out of her body, blowing back the guardian in the process. She rose to her feet and put a hand to her face, healing the damage and wiping the blood off on her armor. She glanced at Sora, seeing him deflect Xehanort's magic attacks and try to close the distance. Let him deal with the old bastard, this Guardian thing had just really pissed her off.

She turned and charged at it, recalling and sweeping her Keyblade, slashing it over and over again, leaving streaks of light through its body with each stroke. It fell back before her onslaught, groaning with monstrous cries. Finally, she aimed a hand, gave a cry of fury, and send a blast of light into its heart shaped hole in its chest. The Guardian exploded in a flash of light, obliterated.

The turned to look at Sora, chasing Xehanort across the place as the man teleported around and kept trying to pick the boy off with magic. She narrowed her eyes at that. She really disliked teleporters, cowards if she was asked. If someone picked a fight, they ought to stand their ground. Well, not that Xehanort had a choice when picking this fight, but she didn't honestly care.

She raised a hand and funneled a heavy amount of light into her hand waited for the right... MOMENT!

"SHOCK!" she roared, releasing a heavy amount of energy into the spell.

The light erupted around Xehanort, throwing him against the wall of the castle. He collapsed to the ground briefly, before slowly rising to his feet, a pitch black and purple aura seeping out to taint the air around him. He raised a hand into the air, and slammed it into the ground. Wait a second, she recognized this from last time... she... NEEDED TO MOVE!

She threw herself forward as a jagged X shaped sigil appeared underneath her and exploded. She and Sora ran, trying to keep out of the way. They ran, and ran, until...

"As your flesh bears the sigil...," began Xehanort, his voice dead.

Two blue X's appeared infront of Sora and Kairi, surging forward and wrapping around them.

"Oh, not this crap again!" Kairi yelled in frustration, struggling.

Xehanort rose into the air and held a hand up, a huge red and black sphere of energy appearing overhead, and spoke with a dead voice. "So shall you forfeit your lives as Recusants."

Oh boy oh boy... she was pretty sure Aqua's Heartless wasn't going to step in this time. She focused her light intensely down to her Keyblade and began to cut through the X. The sphere of energy in Xehanort's grew more and more massive. Kairi gave a cry and severed through the X before rushing to Sora and cutting through the one binding him.

Xehanort put the rest of his black aura into the sphere and threw it down at them.

Sora tensed. "Kairi!"

She stared at the oncoming sphere of death grimly before slowly looking at Sora, holding her Keyblade out behind her in a particular motion, and offering her hand with the other. "Together."

Sora stared at her hand for a moment before grinning, mirroring her action. "Together."

The used eachother to spin, light wrapping around their bodies, before screaming together, "LIGHT!"

Pillars and circles of light bursting out of the ground and spinning around them. Their dual-Salvation technique burst into the air and collided with the sphere of darkness...

BOOM! SHOCKWAVE!

The collision of such powerful dark and light techniques caused a massive, blinding explosion. The air crackled with power, the world under them bucked and cracked before shattering. Sora and Kairi gave surprised screams as the world collapsed and they fell. They plummeted head over heels into a dark, endless abyss. They reached for eachother, connecting hands, before Kairi summoned her glider and pulled Sora to it. They clung to the mast and flew downward. There, far below them was a white marble like land...

And on that land...

Was a door.

It was a giant white double-door with small murals on each door, with giant gold handles. It was surrounded by a barrier of light. As they drew closer, Kairi could see the horrific damage done to the door. It was cracked, splintered, had places where it looked like someone had tried to pry the cracks open, and had what looked like giant punch marks in it. Kairi could feel it, lurking behind the door, an immense darkness.

This was it, this was the Door to Darkness...

They landed a ways away and exchanged glances before running to the door...

Only for Xehanort to teleport before them.

"Get out of our way!" roared Sora, "We don't have time for you!"

Xehanort aimed a blackening hand towards them and unleashed a heavy beam of darkness. They both raised their Keyblades and blocked the energy, darkness washing over and around them, trying to reach around their defenses. They both glowed with light, pushing back the dark energy.

Sora and Kari exchanged looks before nodding. She tapped fully into her light, and felt Sora do the same. It was time to put this bastard down for good.

"This is for my islands! For every life you stole and ruined, and for my mom!" cried out Sora.

"This is for my Master! For everything you did to her, for the life you denied her!" cried out Kairi.

Light erupted out of them and blew straight through the beam of darkness, surging at Xehanort and hitting him...

BOOM!

Light engulfed the man, making him scream in agony before it swallowed him whole. When the explosion cleared, Xehanort knelt weakly on the ground, charred and burnt by the light, trembling in agony. Sora and Kairi walked forward slowly, huffing and puffing with exhaustion. Maybe they had overdone it with that last burst of energy...

Kairi frowned at the downed man. This... wasn't as satisfying as she'd like it. The man was just a puppet now, not the enemy who had ruined so many lives. But, she'd deal with it. She learned from her Master's mistake, they had a chance to deal with him here and now, and she wasn't going to pass up on the chance. She and Sora exchanged one last glance, and drove their Keyblades into the man's chest before ripping them out.

The man's heart flew out of his Heartless as his body decayed into darkness and vanished. She watched the heart rise into the air...

...and straight into the hands of Aqua's Heartless as she levitated down towards them, a near maniacal grin on her face...

Author's Notes:

Part one of the finale.

For those who don't recognize the cloaked figure, its the one from chapter 23 of Aqua: Heart of Darkness. Same guy.