The four heroes continued their trek through the dark city until they reached a great, wide canyon full of pale green light and floating just above the center of the canyon was a massive white castle with many towers. High above the castle, Sora could make out what appeared to be a moon, a golden heart-shaped moon.

"I don't see a way in, so I'll just have to make one." Krillin decided.

He waved his staff and a bridge of light materialized and stretched toward the castle. He, Sora, and Gohan began walking up the bridge, but when Gohan noticed that his dad wasn't with them, he turned around to look for him. There was no sign of Goku.

"He was right behind us a minute ago." said Sora.

"He must have used Instant Transmission." Krillin concluded. "C'mon, guys. We have our duty, we'll let Goku do his."

Goku's keen senses picked up the auras of two living beings in this castle. He locked onto one of them and traveled there in seconds via Instant Transmission. He found himself on a skyway leading to the castle's highest tower and he could see a group of Nobodies attacking someone. He dashed toward the Nobodies and beheaded them all in a single swipe. The Nobodies turned to dust and Goku looked down at the man who he recognized as DiZ. He let go of the strange device he'd been clutching and Goku helped him to his feet. He slowly began unwrapping the cloth he wore over his head to conceal his face. Finally the cloth fell to the floor to reveal the aging face of Ansem the Wise. Goku knew he had heard DiZ's voice before! A sort of melancholic smile formed on Ansem's face.

"It has been too long, old friend." he said softly.

Goku didn't return the smile.

"Why didn't you come to me before things got this bad?"

"Xemnas, the organization's leader is the Nobody of Xehanort…as I'm sure you are aware." DiZ said gravely. "The burden was mine to bear."

"Is that all?"

Ansem walked to the edge of the skyway and stared out into the endless blackness above.

"I won't deny there was more." He confessed. "I was…consumed with a desire for revenge. My once loyal subjects stole everything from me…my domain…my research…my pride. If only I hadn't dismissed your warning about Xehanort all those years ago."

"Where's Riku?"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon." said Ansem. "I take it you know what happened to him?"

"Yeah." said Goku. "He told me before he went to get Roxas that he might not make it back, and if he did, it might only be because he gave into the darkness. Is that really what happened?"

"I can only surmise that Roxas proved to be too strong for him, so he took on a more powerful form." said Ansem. "When he brought Roxas back to me, he began addressing himself as 'Ansem'. Oh…how my heart ached. I could only…laugh to hide my shame."

He turned to face Goku again, There was now a hint of determination in his features.

"My friend…the time has come for me to make amends to these young people."

He bent over his device and began trying to fix it.

"Please defend me for a little longer."

Kairi had been sitting in this dark dungeon for days without food or water. The bars looked wide enough for her to squeeze through, but some kind of unseen force kept her from doing so. Finally, she saw the blue-haired man who brought her here pass by. She got to her feet and ran over to the bars.

"How long are you going to keep me here?" she asked.

The man did not answer but kept walking. These cloaked men didn't care about Kairi one bit. They were going to leave her to die in here, but sooner or later Sora or Riku would come and save her. That's what she had to keep believing. Suddenly, she heard a gentle voice whisper her name. She whirled around to see a swirling black portal in the wall and a girl in a short white dress stepped out of it. She was almost identical to Kairi, except for her pale blond hair.

"Who…are you?" Kairi breathed, unnerved by this girl.

"I'm Namine." The girl said sweetly.

As the girl called Namine approached Kairi, she suddenly felt comforted, as though she were being reunited with a long lost friend…no…more like a long lost part of herself.

"Trust me." said Namine reaching out for Kairi.

Kairi cautiously took Namine's hand and her vision was engulfed in white light. When the light cleared, Namine was gone, but Kairi felt stronger and more complete than she'd felt in over a year. There was a flash of pink light and a Keyblade appeared before her. It was very different from Sora's; it had a long orange and gold shaft, flower-shaped teeth, a curved hand guard, and a keychain shaped like a paopu fruit. She reached out and grabbed the Keyblade out of the air. Holding it empowered her and she silently named it Destiny's Embrace. She rushed through the portal Namine made and began wandering the castle's corridors until she found her captor blocking her path, carrying a large sword.

"I'm afraid leaving is not an option." he rasped as he advanced on her.

Kairi had fenced with Sora and Selphie a couple times when she was little, but this man was clearly a warrior. Even with a Keyblade, she doubted she'd be able to hold her own against him. Suddenly another portal opened behind the man and another cloaked figure stepped out and hurled a ball of searing blue flame into the blue-haired man's back. The blue-haired man groaned and whirled around to see who dared attack him. Whoever it was carried a black and red bat wing-shaped blade with an angel wing-shaped hand guard.

"You…you're Riku, aren't you?" the blue-haired man inquired.

"R-Riku!" Kairi gasped.

The cloaked man she hoped was Riku began exchanging strikes and parries with the blue-haired man. Finally, he opened another portal and slipped inside. Riku was about to go in after him when Kairi ran for him and grabbed a hold of him. She slowly pulled of his hood and gazed at his face. It was dark and manly with a mane of white hair and yellow-orange eyes. It was not Riku's face, but somehow she knew it was him. A tear slid down Kairi's cheek.

"Riku…what happened to you?"

The organization's castle was just about as plain on the inside as on the outside, no decorations, no color at all, but it was still enormous. He found his way into a large arena above a deep chasm and on the upper level was a small private balcony and standing upon it was Saix.

"Sora, how did you get in here?" he asked in his usual icy tone.

"WHERE'S KAIRI?!" Sora demanded.

"She escaped from the dungeon not a minute ago."

Sora couldn't help but chuckle.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, but you're not going to see her again."

Saix pointed up through the skylight and Sora could see the heart-shaped moon shining brightly.

"Take a good look at Kingdom Hearts. Thanks to you and Roxas, we've collected thousands of hearts. You have served us well, Sora…but your usefulness had ended."

"Are you done yammering?" Sora spat.

"Yammering! As if!" another familiar voice barked.

Sora turned around to see Xigbar perched on a platform high above the arena.

"All we're tellin' you, traitor, is that your time is up!"

He connected his arrowguns to form a rifle-like weapon and took aim at Sora, who summoned the Sleeping Lion.

"Saix, stay out of this! He's mine!" Xigbar growled as he unleashed a volley of dark energy bolts at Sora.

"Very well." said Saix. "Indulge yourself."

Saix warped away and a group of the crossbow-wielding Nobodies appeared and started firing on Krillin and Gohan. Xigbar dashed off of the platform and began running around the arena…in midair! Sora flipped, rolled, and dashed from left to right to avoid his relentless barrages. Every once in a while he'd ineffectually launch a fire ball or lightning bolt, but he never scored a hit. Xigbar then split his rifle into two guns again, opened a series of small portals around the arena and began firing into them.

Dark bolts rained down on Sora from all sides and he used his Keyblade to shield himself from the ones he couldn't avoid. He had to stop moving to use Reflect, but that wasn't an option, because as soon as the barrier wore off, he'd be hit from all sides. Krillin cast Aeroga on Sora to reduce the damage he took and he leapt high into the air and landed several hits on Xigbar. Xigbar warped just before he hit the arena floor and reappeared on the platform, where he stepped on a switch that caused the section of the arena that Krillin was standing on to detach and fall into the chasm below.

Xigbar fired another volley of bolts at Sora, but Gohan threw himself in front of Sora and batted the bolts away from his shield, but that didn't stop Xigbar from making a cheap-shot with his other gun. He shot Gohan in the shoulder and he fell back. Sora bent down and took out the elixir that Aerith gave him. He blocked one shot from Xigbar with his Keyblade, but Xigbar shot the bottle out of his hand with his other gun and it shattered on the floor, much to Sora's fury.

"Heh! I never get tired of that look on yer face!" Xigbar jeered.

Xigbar took a few moments to reload his guns and warped to the other side of the arena.

"Let's see how ya dance!" he jeered.

He opened a portal above him and began firing into it. Portals opened on all sides of the arena and red-hot bolts poured out of them. Sora began leaping, rolling, and otherwise maneuvering around the arena to avoid them. Suddenly the red bolts stopped coming and searing blue bolts began pouring down. Sora did a back flip high into the air, but when he landed, the arena floor was covered in a thin sheet of ice.

He began slipping and sliding as Xigbar fired more red bolts. Sora couldn't dodge them all; any he didn't deflect ended up hitting him, and twice, he'd nearly slid off the edge. Finally, Xigbar warped in front of him with his guns connected and fired a super-charged bolt, which Sora reflected, but then Xigbar warped behind him and shot him in the back. Sora collapsed and Xigbar brought his foot down on the arm he held the Keyblade with.

"Nighty-night, kiddo." he jeered, pointing his rifle between Sora's eyes.

Suddenly, something flew toward Xigbar and knocked the rifle out of his hands. It was Gohan! Despite his injuries, he'd flung his shield and was now charging toward Xigbar, who cartwheeled to the right just in time to avoid being drop-kicked. Sora saw a blade spring out of the tip of Xigbar's boot and he drove it into Gohan's side before he could get up. Sora sprung to his feet and tried to run Xigbar through, but he caught Sora's arm, twisted it painfully and rammed his skull into Sora's forehead. He snatched up his rifle and prepared to fire again, but he seemed to be out of ammunition.

"Well, ain't that just a–"

Before Xigbar could even finish his sentence, Sora hurled his Keyblade so hard he pulled a muscle in his shoulder. The Keyblade hit Xigbar right in the center. He staggered back for a bit and fell to the floor.

"Hey…" Sora panted, "Why did you call me traitor?"

"Heh, wouldn't you like to know?" Xigbar taunted.

In a matter of seconds, Xigbar crumbled into dust and Sora went to heal Gohan. The door they entered through slid open and Krillin rushed through.

"What happened?" asked Sora

"There was…opening down there…took me below the castle…" Krillin panted, "…saved myself by grabbing a pipe…had to climb all the way back up to the entrance."

Without warning, dozens of Nobodies appeared. Most were the lithe, long-limbed ones they were used to, but there were also wakasashi wielders and two large hulking ones that wielded claymores. Krillin sent the big ones drifting away so Sora and Gohan could deal with the others. Suddenly, none other than Kairi dropped down in front of Sora, nearly giving him a heart-attack. She was even holding a Keyblade! Sora was so shocked he could barely move and when one of the Nobodies tried to strike him, Kairi beheaded it with her Keyblade. When the rest of the Nobodies were bested, Kairi flung her arms around Sora.

"It's really you." she said in little more than a whisper.

"How…how did you…escape?"

Kairi pointed to a walkway above them and upon it was someone Sora never thought he'd see again…Xehanort's Heartless…the Imposter Ansem!

"He helped me." said Kairi. "Come on, he needs us."

Kairi ran to the other side of the arena with Sora, Krillin, and Gohan not far behind. She led them up a skyway to the walkway overlooking the arena. It was indeed the Heartless of Xehanort; he was wearing an organization cloak and fighting some Nobodies with Riku's bat wing-sword... which now appeared to be a Keyblade! How was this all possible? When he bested the Nobodies, Xehanort's Heartless turned to acknowledge Sora for a moment. There was a hint of emotion on his face…shame…regret maybe.

"Riku, don't go!" cried Kairi.

Sora, Krillin, and Gohan all gasped as Kairi rushed over to the being they thought was Xehanort's Heartless.

"K-Kairi…what did you say?"

"It's Riku…" Kairi repeated. "Sora, come over here."

Sora reluctantly did so and Kairi took one of his hands and placed it in Xehanort's.

"Close your eyes, you'll see." Kairi assured him.

Sora shut his eyes and slowly, Riku appeared before him. His eyes flew open and he was staring into the face of Xehanort again. Sora fell to his knees and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Riku…I looked…everywhere for you." he breathed. "Why didn't you let me know you were okay?"

"I didn't want you to see me like this."

Both Riku's voice and Xehanort's came from the entity standing before Sora.

"I chose this form so I could use the power of darkness."

Sora got to his feet and wiped his eyes.

"It doesn't matter now. You're still Riku no matter what!"