A/N: Again spoilers for legend of the Dragoon. Also, if you think I have been playing with the plot before, that was just a lazy warm up. LoD fans, flames are accepted and will be used to keep my red eyed dragon warm. Also, this is not the final draft of this chapter, and will be edited sometime before the next one goes up.

Thanks to: My beta, for being the best person in the world, living through hell and still managing to shred my self confidence into appropriately sized ribbons. Thanks to Rablagon for provided his aid in artwork (pic of Riku's keyblade may appear), and thanks to Mr. Perendhil for his continuous support.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Legend of the Dragoon, or a small middle-eastern country. All characters and AK47's belong to their respective owners.

Moon and Love

As the beast Coolon raced in the direction of the impact, Albert filled Riku in on what had happened. They had arrived in Tiberoa and took a ship to Haschel's home island of Rouge. Upon arriving, a path opened along the sea floor. They took it; and arrived at the Magic City, Aglis. There, they met Savan, a Winglie who had been researching how to create another seal for the moon. When they got to the seal room, where Moot, the invention that would create a fourth seal was being created, the guardian was possessed by Zieg's magic; and even though they killed it, the resonance between the dragoon spirits, Moot, and the seal caused the destruction of the seal, Moot, and the death of Savan in the resulting explosion. From Aglis, they used the inter-city transportation device to go to Zenebatos. There they met Coolon, who had been a final gift from Savan to them. They also found that in addition to magic, Zieg had also learned how to fly. He used the moon dagger and destroyed the seal there. From there, they used the transportation system to get to Mayfil, the death city. Zieg ambushed them and stole Dart's dragoon stone; and the stone recognized Zieg. Zieg then destroyed the seal of Mayfil and Coolon came and got us. We headed here to pick you up and that was that.

"So why did the moon fall?" Riku asked.

"The seals were created to keep the body (the moon) and the soul (the moon child) of the Virage Embryo from reuniting. All the seals really did was put the moon very very far away in the sky, so that there was no way for the soul to reach it. It was a remarkable idea, but with all the seals broken, the moon returnes to its final resting place, atop the Divine Tree." Albert replied.

"Nothing important happened with me. So if Dart is not longer the dragoon of the Red Eyed Dragon, then.." Riku trailed off, unsure of where to take that thought.

"Now he is the dragoon of the Divine Dragon. You should see his dragoon form, it is extremely powerful." Albert said.

"There it is!" Dart said, pointing to a huge structure in the distance. The Moon rested on top of a humongous tree trunk. From that trunk, seven branches had grown and then sank into the ground about ten miles away from the trunk. When the moon had hit the trunk, the branches had severed from the trunk, creating large gaps.

When they had approached about fifty miles from the branches, the surface of the moon started acting strangely. By the time they had reached one of the branches, things started flying out of the moon.

"Virage!" Dart called to everyone. The things looked vaguely humanoid. They had two legs and two arms, each as thick as large tree trunks and were completely white. In addition, they were about eighteen feet tall and they had at least a dozen green eyes and white leathery wings. As they neared the moon, the Virage started attacking. Beams of light shot out of their eyes, aimed at Coolon. Their mount did an excellent job of dodging. However, soon the air was swarming with Virage and not even the great Coolon could dodge hundreds of bolts at once. He was hit and they spiraled down towards the base of the tree.

"We are going to crash!" Meru screamed.

"We are coming in too fast. Everyone dragoon now, Riku, do you need help?" Dart asked.

Teleporting was out of the question, he would come out the same velocity as he went in.

"Yeah!" Riku shouted, as the wind started blowing harder.

Dart nodded, then dove off of Coolon. Everyone else followed his lead. When Riku leaned over to see them, a huge dragoon came into view. It had seven wings and had an very light grey armor color. Its left arm was a cannon, a foot wide in diameter. It was difficult to tell, but it looked like Dart, if you added a few feet in height.

"Jump!" the dragoon ordered. Riku jumped off the falling Coolon and Dart grabbed him. Their ride spiraled into the ground, finally crashing. The dragoons flew down to the ground and, after paying their respects to Coolon, they headed into the trunk of the tree.

It took them all day to climb up the tree, as well as ride up through some of the sap lines, to reach the moon; the sap lines were feeding the moon, and so riding them would take them closer. They had encountered a strange bug on their way. Dart did not want to take any chances, so everyone transformed into their dragoon forms. Riku was very impressed with how much damage they were doing to the bug. He was also impressed at how much health the bug had. Then Dart slammed his sword into the ground and pointed his arm at the bug.

"Divine Dragon Cannon!" He shouted. A blast of pure magical energy flooded out of the cannon on Dart's arm and. The bug now had a gaping hole in it the twice the size of Riku's powered up forceball. It twitched a couple of times, then lay still.

"I should have used this thing sooner." He said aloud, admiring the gun.

"Not bad." Riku thought.

"We are almost there. Look! There it is, the moon!" Miranda shouted, pointing upward at the huge moon that settled on the top of the tree. They were very close now, not 200 feet under it.

"Hey!" Meru shouted to the group, "I found another sap line! This one looks like it goes all the way there!" She jumped in. When everyone else followed her, they found themselves inside the moon. The interior was a large empty space, with an incountable number of red veins streaking out from a light in the distance. The group was stadning on one of those veins.

"There! There is the core!" Albert called, pointing to the ball of light in the distance. As if in response, pulses of white light streamed from the core in all directions. The pulses washed over the group and Riku began to feel dizzy. The pulses got faster and faster, until everything was white.
When Riku could again see, the light had died and they appeared to be in a forest. The trees looked as real as could be and the path that the group was on was dirt. However, there were no sounds of animals, no buzzing of insects, just complete silence.
"The tree feels real." Haschel said, punching the tree with his fist.
"The moon must be trying to stall us. We have to move on ahead, quickly." Dart ordered, taking charge of the group.

"Should we follow the path?" Haschel asked, still uncertain in this "forest that is not a forest".

"It doesn't seem that we have a a choice in the matter, so we may as well." Albert calmly replied.
The group headed along the path and in a few minutes, the forest fell away, to reveal a plain and only a few minutes after that, they entered a snow covered forest. The path split, one way going into the forest, the other going down and underground.

"This is the evergreen forest. Near..." Miranda started talking to herself, "Guys, I'll be right back, I just have to check something. Don't follow me." She ran off along the split towards the forest. Ten minutes later, Miranda reappeared, with heavily bruised and clutching her arm.

"What happened?" Dart asked.

"I.. I met my mother. And she told me why she left me and my father. I never knew." She starting sobbing, then full out crying. Meru comforted her and a few minutes later, she had controlled herself enough for the group to keep moving.

When they went underground, after a few steps, they found themselves on the top floor of an inn, the wall behind them shimmering as each person walked through.

"What the...?" Albert asked. "This is Bale, my home city, 20 years ago!" He cried, astonished by his surroundings.

"The moon seems to be showing us memories of our past." Rose commented.

"Is that?" Haschel looked downstairs and there, a young woman walked through the back wall. "It can't be!" Haschel, suddenly emotional, took off towards the back wall. "Wait for me here!" He shouted as he ran through the wall.

15 minutes later, Haschel came back, a gash on his face, and slightly hobbling.

"It was my fault." He sighed, "I made her run away. I did nothing wrong, it was not preventable. I understand that now. Stuck between destiny and duty. Do you think we can rest here? I'm pretty badly banged up."

"Sure. I am positive I can get us a discount rate here." Albert said.

"Do we really have the time to sit here and wait?" Riku asked, "We are trying to stop the birth of a god. Do we have time to rest?"

"We have to face him at full strength and that means we will have to rest at least once." Dart commanded, "How about this. Miranda and Haschel will wait here and heal up. It seems that we each have to face some aspect of our past; so the rest of us will travel and figure out where we are to go. Those who face their challenges will come back here and heal, then finally, when we find out where my father has taken Shana, then we will go there in force and find out what the hell is going on and stop this Virage Embryo."

"Miranda, can I offer you a drink?" Haschel asked, offering her his good arm as they walked to the bar.

"Right, lets move out." Dart ordered, the group headed towards the wall that Haschel had just come through. They found themselves underground, crystals glittering in the light that filtered down from the holes in the roof of the cave.
"Oooh! Pretty!" Meru cooed, looking at the gems and crystals.

"Lets not get distracted, we have a job to do." Dart called to her.

After a few minutes of traveling, they entered one particularly dark passage and suddenly found themselves suddenly walking on air, miles above the ground.

"Whoa!" Albert grabbed a cloud for safety, while Meru activated her wings.

"Relax. Its all an illusion." Rose told them. Meru deactivated her wings and Albert slowly released his hold on the cloud. As they walked along the air, the saw in the distance a stone ramp leading up and away from them. The walked quickly towards it; however, once they got to it, a screech came from above them. Two bolts of darkness blasted into the air on the sides of the ramp, creating holes that led into darkness.
"Its Michael." Rose stated, awestruck.

"Its coming around again! Everyone jump!" Dart ordered. Rose and Riku jumped into the hole on the left, while Dart, Kongol, Albert and Meru jumped in the one on the right.

Riku found himself alone with Rose, on the side of a mountain. Above them, on the top of the mountain, came the cries of the same thing that had attacked them.
"What is that?" Riku asked.
"That is Michael. My dragon. He was the one who I took the dragoon stone from and who became the most powerful dragon of the Dragon Campaign. And that is who it seems that we have to face. I can't do this alone Riku. Please, help me." Rose gently pleaded.

Emotions swirled within Riku, pride, desire, pity, concern. Whatever it was that ruled supreme did not matter, Riku had already enthusiastically agreed to help Rose. Riku changed keychains to Betrayer. The dark magic that the creature had used against them meant that it was nigh immune to magic.

The climb up was easy and soon they stood on the summit, with Michael in front of them and behind him a cave. Riku charged forward and began his hard blade combo. The attacks just seemed to glance off the creature's armor and dealt no damage to it; Riku retreated to beside Rose.
"How can we beat that thing, I can't seem to hit it." Riku shouted, his sword arm stinging from the vibrations.
"It is the strongest dragon. Its scales are harder than that of the Divine Dragon. You can't beat it."

"Surely there is something we can do." Riku and Rose both dodged oppositely, the dragon's tail landing between them.

"After he does his dark beam attack, trust me, you'll know it when you see it, his heart is exposed for a few seconds. You can kill him then. It will take a lot of damage though, he has a strong heart."

Rose jumped and transformed up to dodge the sweep of the dragon's tail.

She landed next to Riku. Michael stared at them. Suddenly, he unfolded his wings.
"He comes!" Rose shouted. Michael bolted forward, his speed catching Riku by surprise. Michael grabbed both Riku and Rose and flew high up into the air. He let go with his claws and kept going higher. As Riku and Rose began to fall, the dragon flipped above them and began blasting them with thin bolts of darkness. Michael charged up and unleashed a huge beam of darkness; the beam, ten feet in diameter, slammed into the two fighters. Both screamed as the pulses of darkness crashed into them. Riku, noticing their imminent fall, cast both a reverse graviga and an aeroga spell to slow their fall. Despite the pain of the attack, they both managed to land upright, Michael soon followed.
Rose started, charging at Michael. She stabbed, slashed and danced her way around Michael, aiming at a one spot on Michael's underside. Just as she was finishing, Riku jumped in.

"Demon's Dance!" It wasn't nearly as pretty as when Rose did it, but he still managed to pull the combo off. The heart of Michael spasmed, then stopped. He fell down, dead.

Riku healed them and Rose started walking to the cave.

"Aren't you going to bury him?" Riku asked

"No. I buried him once. This illusion is not him." She turned and walked into the cave.

Riku followed and the sound of boot on stone slowly gave way to a crunch that was most familiar to Riku.

"Sand?" Riku though to himself. They emerged from the tunnel to appear on the beach of Destiny Islands. Riku looked behind him and the ledge wall shimmered.

"What is this place Riku?" Rose asked, "Its so peaceful here."

"This is where I grew up. Destiny Islands. This is the island where me and my friends hung out and played as children."

"Its so beautiful here, so natural." Rose whimsically walked the beach, spinning around to get a better view.

"After we beat Zieg, after we kill Shana, can you take me here?" She asked him.

Riku really wanted to bring her. To take her with him and to just forget everything Merlin had told him and to just...live.

"But what about what you have to do? To keep killing the moon child? Are you going to just let the whole world die?

"I want to, but the truth of it is, you'll die before the next moon child will be born. It would be such a great vacation."

"I want to Rose. I really do." Riku's emotions were flooding his mind, he couldn't think straight. "But I have a job to do and I can't go back until I finish the job. Unlike you, I don't have eternity to spend." Depression smashed into Riku. He couldn't, he wanted to, desperately, but he couldn't.

"Riku." Rose softly called.

Riku sighed, "Come on, I want to show you my island." Riku hoped on top of the shack, and Rose followed suit. They made their way to Riku's pillar-like island.

"Riku!" A voice called. Rose and Riku both stepped onto the island. There was another Riku, sitting on the tree, watching the sea.

"Riku." Riku's clone called to him. "You betrayed, you lied, you stole, you terrorized and you destroyed. Why?"

"I don't have to answer to you. Face me and let us be done with it."

"You would refuse enlightenment?" Riku hopped off the tree and walked towards them, appearing in the heartless armor.

"Fine then, you tell me why I did it." Riku said, summoning his keyblade. Dark Riku countered by summoning his own. They began slowly walking to each other. Rose followed behind Riku, Dragon Buster out and activated.

"Bringing your girlfriend?" Dark Riku asked, "I never would have thought of you having a woman. You were too strong to need one; and you are too corrupt to have one." He sneered.
"Shut up and die!" Riku shouted, charging the distance. He stabbed and his dark self jumped and landed on the blade, forcing it into the ground.
"Your open." Dark Riku laughed, swinging down with the dark keyblade. Rose blocked with her blade.

Everyone jumped away from each other. Riku switched his grip on Betrayal and teleported behind his dark self. He plunged Betrayal behind him, only to feel it clash against his counterpart's keyblade.
"That won't work on me Riku. You have become weak without Ansem." Dark Riku twisted the blade and swung, throwing Betrayal hard to the side, making it difficult for Riku to still hold on.

Dark Riku threw a forceball and Riku held up his left hand to block it. Riku clenched his teeth and kept his arm straight, feeling as the skin burn and split as the forceball wrecked havoc on his hand.

Rose took this opportunity to engage Dark Riku, slashing and stabbing, combos completely forgotten, just attack after attack. Dark Riku kept up; finally casting aeroga, blasting Rose away with a gust of air. Riku charged, intent on using Demon's Dance, only to watch in horror as Dark Riku raised the keyblade overhead.
"Hidden Door." Dark Riku smiled, then pointed his blade at Rose and the attack began. Riku quickly cast aeroga on Rose, trying to mitigate some of the massive damage that accompanied that attack. However, this opened him up to the full front of Dark Riku's attack. Focusing only a cursory amount of the damage on Rose, Riku was stabbed and burned over and over by his doppleganger. The magic concluded and Riku struggled to stand, using the keyblade to get up. His body bloody and burned. Rose was in better shape and she charged, using Demon's Dance. Dark Riku tried to get out of the way, but the recovery time of that attack made him too open. He fell back, mortally wounded.

He coughed, spitting blood, "You have won. I cannot stop you. Go on, go and complete your job. Remember not to screw up." His body faded.

With Rose in tow, they entered the secret place and found themselves back on the path where they had been attacked, at the base of the stone staircase.

"Lets go back to the inn and wait for everyone there." Rose suggested. She took the lead and Riku watched her as she walked.
"We make a good team together. I really wish I could take her with me. Hey, I still have a month left. After we kill this guy, maybe I can spend the remaining time with her." Riku thought. "Why do you want to spend that time with her Riku?" He asked himself.

"Riku." Rose said, brining Riku out of his mental reverie. He walked closer and waited for her to continue.

"Riku, what do you think of me?" She asked, Riku heard a bit of apprehension in her voice, right as he felt his heart drop to his feet.
"What do I think of her? I...I don't know. I think that...Yeah, I think I love her. I love Rose." Riku thought.

And thats when the shit hit the proverbial fan.

A cloud passed between Riku and Rose and when it had passed, Rose was gone.

"Rose. Rose!" Riku called, "Come on Rose, we have to get back. Its not funny." Riku crossed his arms and waited for ten seconds. Worry began to gnaw at him and just before he was about to move, he found himself suddenly on Destiny Islands.

What he saw stunned him. There were heartless crawling all over the beach and Rose was standing right in the middle of them.

A voice whispered to Riku "This is what happens when you love; this is the price that others have to pay." Shadows jumped on to Rose. Riku tried to move, tried to call out to her, but he couldn't do anything, as the shadows descended on her. She screamed, Riku had never heard her scream that way before, as the shadows ripped and tore at her. Riku saw her fall and then she was completely covered in darkness.

"You are to be the judge. You alone. You are not allowed to love another, to befriend another. For this is what will happen. Now and forever, until your task is complete. So it has been written, so it must be done." The voice whispered. It came from all directions and even stranger, from inside his own mind. Suddenly, a heart floated up from the mass of shadows, only to be snatched up by an errant shadow.

"She has passed, you may go." The voice stated, then Riku found himself back in the clouds, Rose's dragoon stone in his hand.

"Rose." He whimpered. "Rose." Riku began to cry, laying down.

"Riku?" He heard a voice from behind him. "Riku!" It was Meru. "Riku! Whats wrong? Where's Rose? Riku!"

Everyone was sitting in the inn's common room when Meru came through the door, helping a sobbing Riku along.

"Meru. What happened?" Dart ordered.

"I fought my own demon and when I was coming back, I ran across Riku, crying on the ground. Rose was nowhere to be seen."
"Riku. Riku stay with me here. Tell me what happened. Where is Rose." Dart ordered.

"The shadows, they got her. They got her heart! And I couldn't move as they...Rose!" Riku yelled incoherently.

"Haschel. Please." Albert asked the martial artist.

Riku looked up at Albert, slightly confused, just in time to feel something crash into his head.

"Riku." He heard a voice in the darkness.

"Who is there? Show yourself!" Riku shouted.

"My form is the wind, my face is the sky. You cannot see me. I am here to watch and protect you. I whispered to you; and you did not head me, thus I acted."
"You were the voice that yelled at me, stopping me from moving? And it was you that did that to Rose? I'll kill you!" Riku shouted, tears slowly trickling down his face.
"You cannot, accept your fate. I will always be here. You cannot avoid me. Accept."

Riku sprang up in bed, everyone crowded around him; and a huge headache at the back of his head.

"Riku. What happened. Where is Rose." Dart asked, his voice struggling to maintain its strength.

"The shadows..no, you wouldn't understand. She was killed by her trial. I could do nothing to stop it. She's gone and its all my fault. If only I hadn't..." Riku trailed off as he began to sob.

"Pull yourself together. There is time for mourning later. We have a mission and we must fulfill it. Has the darkness dragon accepted you?" Dart said calmly.

"I don't think so sniff. How can you tell?"

Everyone pulled out their dragoon stones and they all began to pulse with light in rhythm with each other. Riku's stone sat there, the darkness complete.

"Well, we have to do it with six then. Come on." Dart commanded calmly.

"There was a beam of light up from my trial. I think it leads into the center." Meru cheered, trying to get everyone out of the depressing mood. She failed.

"Lead the way." Albert offered to Meru.

They hoped through a portal and found themselves at one end of a large cavern with a very tall ceiling. At the other end was a wall with a large hole in it, with waves of energy flowing into the hole. In front of that wall stood Zieg, with Shana lying on the ground in front of him.

"Father!" Dart shouted, running towards the Red Eye dragoon. The group followed behind him, unsheathing weapons and notching arrows as they ran.
A wall of fire blocked their path momentarily and Zieg stood in front of them, transformed into dragoon form.

Dart and the others followed suit, during which time Zieg focused fire into himself. When the others had finished, he released it, his normal crystal wings turning into gouts of fire. He pointed his sword at Dart and rocketed forward.

"Final Burst!" He shouted as he blasted past.

Dart reeled from the attack, a large gash opening in his side.

"So this is my father's power." Dart said to no one in particular.

Riku hung back in this fight. Most of the fight was happening 10 feet above the ground and Riku could not attack with enough ferocity to do damage at that height. It was a matter of time, but Zieg was finally knocked down to the ground, bleeding and certainly on his way to death.

"We have stopped you Father. Give up, relinquish your weapon and stone and we will do our best to heal you."

"You think that you have the upper hand? HA! You have just given me victory! Behold, the Moon is ready to accept the Moon Child!" He pointed behind himself, where a bubble had encompassed Shana. The bubble started to float up towards the hole; and green tentacles reached out from the hole, searching.

Zieg stood up, a look of triumph on his face, then he fell face forward, leaving a gaseous form standing in his place.

"What? What are you?" Albert demanded, pointing his spear at the being.

"I am Melbu Frahma and I shall become the Virage Embryo and destroy this world!" The gaseous form floated up to Shana, the tentacles having grabbed her and started pulling her into the hole. Melbu shot a beam of some sort from his had at Shana and she floated back out of the hole. Melbu then floated into the hole himself. In a flash of light, they merged, Melbu becoming a huge man, 10 feet tall, sticking out of the wall at his waist.

"We are the Dragoons! And we will defeat you!" Dart shouted and the fight was on.

All of the dragoons activated their stones; and flew up to hover about ten feet above the ground, putting them at eye level with Melbu. Riku summoned his keyblade; while Melbu started making intricate movements with his large hands.

"Rose storm!" Albert shouted, completing a spell that shrouded them all in protective armor of air. The other dragoons all summoned their dragons, while Dart landed and started charging up the cannon. Melbu was not able to complete whatever he was casting, as 5 dragons descended upon him. He swatted them away from himself, however, he was missing a few fingers and part of the wall had some large claw marks on it.

"Divine Dragon Cannon!" Dart's arm glowed with a bright blueish white light, and then the beam rocketed towards Melbu. Melbu held out one of his hands and after a moment of straining, deflected the beam away, leaving himself open.

"Firaga!" Riku shot three blasts at Melbu's face, only to watch in horror as the god opened its mouth and swallowed all three. He then began moving his hands in a different pattern; and the pattern he had drawn in the air suddenly materialized and glowed with red light. From behind him, a giant meteor somehow appeared, glowing red hot from the heat of entry, as it raced towards the party.

"Split!" Dart shouted; and Riku ran towards Melbu, while the rest of the party scattered in all directions. Meru however, was busy casting a second spell and was not able to run in time.

"Kyaaa!" Meru screamed for a half second and then was completely silent. Riku didn't even turn, instead focusing on attacking Melbu. The god however, merely knocked Riku away with a swat of his hand. Riku blocked the swing, but the force behind it still sent him flying. Haschel flew forward and began the same combo that he had done on Riku and Lloyd. As Haschel charged up the electric blast, Melbu reached out with one hand towards him. Haschel fired and Melbu's left hand was forced to block the blow. The right hand flew out and grabbed at Haschel, missing as the nimble Dragoon flew out of the way. However, the first hand finally broke through the electric blast and went for Haschel's unprotected back. Haschel turned just in time to see the long fingers close on him, only to stop as Kongol interspersed himself between Haschel and Melbu. His ax was lodged all the way into the wrist of the god, splitting the index and middle finger apart. Kongol pulled on the ax, but to no effect, it was firmly lodged. Melbu's other hand finally made its appearance and started swinging towards Kongol. The giant tried again at the ax; and the weapon started to pull free, but the injured hand closed around Kongol's body, just in time for the right hand to take off the protruding head.

"Damnit! Come on people!" Dart shouted, charging up the cannon again. Miranda launched a quick volley of arrows as Albert summoned his dragon. One of the arrows caught Melbu right below his left shoulder joint and suddenly the left arm went slack. Albert summoned his dragon, which then buffeted Melbu with wind, slamming his head against the wall.

Riku attacked the base again with Demon's Dance. Melbu reeled under the assault.

The god took his good arm and swung it rapidly many times in a circle around himself. A flash of red and Riku noticed a near transparent shield surrounded Melbu.

Haschel attacked, but he was sent flying back by the shield.

"Damn!" Haschel shouted, righting himself midair.

Miranda took one of her "special" arrows, that she had gotten from Shana via the dark elf; and launched it. It too was stopped by the shield, but instead of clattering to the ground, it exploded. The shield's color changed to blue at the point of explosion, then slowly changed back.

Melbu used this time to cast a healing spell on himself, healing the wound from Kongol and fixing his arm, leaving only a few claw marks, and missing fingers.

"Divine Dragon Cannon!" Dart shouted. The beam of light was stopped by the shield, then broke through it, taking a small part out of Melbu's side.

Instead of crying out in pain however, Melbu instead began with another spell. The ground began to shake and Riku had difficulty maintaining his balance. Albert swooped down to pick Riku up off the unsteady ground; and then jinked right to avoid a pillar of rock that shot up where he had just been. Riku cast aeroga on himself and was about to do the same for Albert, when Albert suddenly flew up. He then began casting a spell, when another pillar of rock rocketed up, then stopped about halfway, sending a small spear of rock right into Albert. Albert didn't notice; and the spear went up through his left leg, up through the chest, finally going all the way through. Albert's wings spasmed a couple of times, then the spear, having lost all of its vertical velocity, began to fall. Albert's body and the spear hurtled toward the ground. With a thud, Albert hit the ground and bounced up; the spear slammed into his chest and send him into the ground, the tip of the bloody spear sticking out of his chest, the rest all the way in the ground. Dart flew at the god and began a furious combo with his sword, slicing and slashing and thrusting into Melbu's face. He cleared out of the way just as Miranda shot another explosive arrow right at Melbu's face. Melbu's arm lashed out and deflected the arrow away, the resulting explosion harmless. However, Melbu's face was bloody and damaged, his right cheek split open and one of his eyes shut and blood leaking out from behind the eyelid. Haschel performed his dragoon combination again; and while Melbu reeled under the assault, Haschel landed and returned to his human form. Melbu went on the offensive and cast a spell aimed at Haschel. The martial artist tried to run out of the way, but found his legs encased in ice. Three pillars of ice surrounded him; and began radiating cold. The ice crept up Haschel's sweating body, the sweat freezing on contact with the air, until he was completely encased in ice. The three pillars suddenly fell inward, crushing Haschel.

"Come on! Attack me!" The god laughed, as his skin began to regenerate itself.

Riku cast graviga on Melbu's arm, hoping to rip it off at the join. The arm sagged and the bones snapped, but the skin did not break.

"Now Miranda! Hit the arm!" Dart shouted. Miranda nodded, knocked and fired an arrow at the shoulder. A direct hit. Melbu's arm thumped as it hit the ground and blood began pouring out of the wound. Melbu grabbed at the stump to slow the blood and with a quick healing spell, the blood stopped.

"You have angered me! Feel my wrath! Breath of Oblivion!" Melbu opened his mouth and a ball of darkness as big as Riku's powered up firaga formed and then launched itself. It streaked towards Miranda, so fast that she didn't even think of dodging before she was obliterated.

"Divine Dragon Cannon!" Dart aimed the cannon right for Melbu's head and fired. The beam of light blasted towards Melbu, who turned his head at the last second, losing his ear.

"Now you die. Like father, like son." Melbu began moving his one hand in long lazy circles, going faster and faster. His hand stopped precisely pointed upwards and when Riku looked at Dart, he was a statue, the last bit of his hair turning to stone. Melbu took his arm and crushed Dart. Shards of stone scattered. Riku was all alone, facing the absolute power of the Virage Embryo, the god of Destruction.

"So, it is just you and I left. Well, transform Dragoon. I wonder why you held back against me. Were you too weak? Was the lose of Rose too much for you? Or were you too arrogant?"
"You bastard!" Riku formed every bit of darkness that he had and threw a huge forceball at Melbu. The god didn't even flinch.

"What a strange creature you are. You are steeped in darkness, but yet you do not use the dragoon stone and plunge into the madness. Why?"

Riku was breathing heavy, leaning on the keyblade. "I wasn't chosen."

"You weren't chosen? Amusing. If you tell me exactly how Rose died, I believe that you and I can come to an agreement." the awesome creature laughed.

Riku was confused, "Why do you want to know and what sort of agreement?"

"Its quite simple really. I am a god, but I am not omniscient. Thus, since I have ultimate power, I desire knowledge. You have knowledge that I do not. I would bargain for it."

"What do you have to offer me? You have already said that you will destroy the world. Thus there is nothing here that you can give me."

"Really? Are you sure? Because then I will not know; and you will die." The god shrugged his shoulders; and raised a hand overhead.

Riku racked his brain, trying to come up with something. Wait. He had it.

"I have a proposal for you. Wait one month from now to destroy the world. Then you can do what you want." Riku offered.

"Tying up loose ends, or... no matter. That is not too terrible. I accept. Tell me of Rose's demise."
"One thing though, I also wish to not be killed. Destroy the world, all you want, but you may not kill me."

"Damn, caught me. Done." Melbu laughed.

"She, I was punished by a higher being. I was not allowed to love. And I loved her. And so she was punished. She was taken to another world and killed there."

"Taken where, by who, and how?"

"To another world. I already told you. And I don't know by who, maybe a fallen. And I did not see how she was taken."

"Well, I feel cheated, but I see no reason to go back on my word. One month mortal. Enjoy the rest of your pitiful existance." Melbu closed his hands together and in a flash of light, Riku found himself at the base of the tree.

"I said nothing about giving you transportation." Melbu's voice echoed in Riku's head.

"Fuck you." Riku thought to himself. And teleported to himself to the portal entrance of Ulara.

"Best to be polite and enter through the front door." He thought to himself and activated the portal.

Nothing happened.

Riku tried again. Still nothing.
"Thats odd. Well, I guess the front door doesn't work, time for the window."
Riku warped into the city; and was appalled at what he saw. The entire city was on fire. There were dead Winglies all over the city.

"What the hell?" Riku asked aloud.

"Who is there?" A voice called from one of the bushes.

"Come out. I am Riku. Who are you? What has happened. What is going on?"

A small child crawled out of the bushes, "Hi Mr. Riku. I'm Cali."
"Cali, tell me what happened." Riku tried to act friendly, but the child was very perceptive and shied away from him.

"Don't know. Lots of boom booms and then cold and then dark. Very very dark. Scary. Like you."
"Ouch." Riku thought to himself. Cali wasn't helping him. So he headed further into the city. It was strangely quiet, save for the crackle of flame as the city burned around him. He walked towards Charle's residence, if anyone could have survived this mess, she had to be one of them. At the entrance to her house, Riku found a dozen bodies on the floor, all of their faces frozen in expressions excruciating pain. Stepping over them, he walked in to Charle's room, to find the old woman plastered to the wall, with a hole in her chest.

"What the hell happened here?" Riku shouted to the air.

"Hehe." a sick laugh came from the shadows and Dagon walked out. His normally grey robes had been morphed into a strange almagam of black, accented with a silvery blue.

"I happened. Riku, how could you turn your back on the darkness? This power is incredible! I can feel the strength coursing through me!"
"And what about the price? Do you feel your heart slipping away from you? Do you feel evil?"
"Yes! And I relish it!" Dagon shouted.

"Well, if things could get any worse, now is the time." Riku thought.

"Now Riku, it's time for you to return to darkness." Dagon held out his hand.

"I'll pass." Riku said and teleported behind Dagon, summoning the keyblade and stabbing into Dagon.

"Good try." Dagon laughed, as Riku's blade crashed into a block of ice.

"Ice armor. Shit this guy is good with the cold." Riku thought, jumping away from Dagon. The fighters faced each other.

"You could never have the darkness Riku. You were too weak. Too afraid."

"You are too arrogant. You can't really hope to defeat me." Riku took out the the Ethereal Edge keychain and slapped it on to the keyblade. The Betrayal keychain fell off and the blade faded into its translucence. Riku caught it with his off hand and pocketed it.

"Firaga!"Riku shouted, pointing the keyblade at Dagon as the fireball raced forward.

"Iceball!" The fireball disappeared in a cloud of steam.

"So you are inventing your own spells huh?" Riku asked, circling around.

"So you are not?" Dagon replied, circling as well.

Riku threw his left hand forward, just as Dagon threw his right hand forward. Balls of darkness streaked towards each other and collided. A vertical eruption of darkness pulled all light towards it.

The darkness subsided, leaving both fighters facing each other.

"Well, it looks like this is a tie." Dagon told Riku.

"You give up to early. Graviga"

Dagon struggled to stand, as the crushing force brought him to his knees.

"No! I refuse to die here!" Dagon grabbed the floor and sank through the ground, into the puddle of darkness.

"Damn him." Riku growled. He punched a wall, the thin wood breaking under the strain.

Riku looked at the wall and noticed a calendar. Time had apparently distorted itself again and Riku had only two weeks left here, instead of four.

Riku spent those two weeks warping across the continent, trying to find any trace of Dagon, but no one had seen the Winglie.

"I guess now is the time to decide. This world will be destroyed anyway, so I might as well break it open. Its not like it will hurt anything."

Riku walked up to the Crystal Palace gates and there above the doorway was the keyhole, still closed. Remembering how he had unlocked a world before, Riku jumped with the keyblade straight into the keyhole. With a twist, he heard the distinctive click and pulled the keyblade out, falling to the ground and lading on his feet.

"You! What are you doing?" One of the guards had noticed his acrobatics and had come to investigate.

Riku jumped up again and slashed at the keyhole. Shards of crystal fell as the keyhole become indistinct as it broke.

"You! Stop! You are under arrest!" The guard shouted, motioning for more to follow him as he rushed at Riku. Riku yawned and started running up the side of the palace, using a small gravity spell to alter the gravity so that he was able to accelerate up the wall. He perched up on the top, surveying the city and looked upon the world that he had just doomed to destruction. Riku just shook his head, looked up into the sky and sensed a bright light pulsating. He could see it even though it was day. Taking it as a sign, Riku reached out and dragged his finger down, ripping a hole to this new world.

"Gah! What are those things?" A soldier screamed and then was silent.

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A/N: This is the last chapter for a while. KH2 is sitting in a box on my desk, and I have promised not to open it until this is posted. Which it just was. Which means...

Insert Temporary Hiatus Here