A/N: And here we are in Prydain again. I sense a pattern emerging, don't you? This chapter's a bit shorter and on the explanatory side, but we need those once in a while just to catch up. Don't worry--I've tried to make it as painless as possible.

Chapter 26: Many Dreadful Truths

The shed of the Witches of Morva was in a wretched state of disrepair, the wind whistling through the many holes in the earthen walls and the dampness setting in about them like a thick blanket. Outside, the shed looked dreary and uninviting. Inside, it was dank and cold--and completely empty. There was not even a pile of straw for the companions to sleep on.

As Riku, Taran, Eilonwy, Fflewddur, and Gurgi entered the shed, the bard rubbed his arms for warmth. "Chilly spot to plan anything. Those enchantresses have a lovely view of the marshes, but it's a cold one."

"I wish we had something to keep us warm." Eilonwy remarked. "We'll freeze before we have a chance to think of anything at all."

Gurgi, who had remained mostly silent during the brief stay in the witches' cottage, now leaped up, happy to be of use to his master and his friends. "Gurgi will find straw!" he suggested, scurrying out of the shed and toward the chicken roost not far away.

Riku wandered off to the far corner of the shed and removed his cell phone from his pocket. Mickey Mouse was the first number on his speed dial, so it was only another second before he heard the familiar voice of the king. "Hello?"

"Your Majesty," Riku addressed his former master, "I have good news and bad news."

"Can it wait, Riku?" Mickey asked. "I'm in the middle of a very important meeting."

"No, it can't wait." Riku told him sadly. "It's kind of an emergency."

"All right, Riku." Mickey conceded. "What's goin' on?"

"The good news is that the Black Cauldron has been taken from Annuvin." Riku informed him. "The Horned King can't do a thing until he gets it back. The bad news is that three enchantresses have the Cauldron, and they won't let us have it. We can't engage them--their power levels are off the charts. They make Maleficent look like a cheap sideshow magician."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before Mickey suggested, "Have you tried bargaining for it?"

"Yes." Riku answered. "But they wouldn't hear of it. They claim to be old friends of Dallben--Taran's old master--but they wouldn't let us have the Cauldron for anything. We're staying the night in their shed, but we only have till morning to come up with a plan."

Mickey sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, Riku. Enchantresses who are that powerful can usually be persuaded... for the right price. Try searching the grounds--maybe you can find the Cauldron and sneak off with it while they're asleep. If that doesn't work, it looks like we're outta luck."

"Great." Riku muttered. "Thanks, Your Majesty."

"I trust you, Riku." Mickey assured him."We'll find a way to get the Cauldron. Keep me posted."

"Will do, Your Majesty." Riku promised. "Riku out."

When Riku tucked his phone into his pocket once again, he turned around to find a relatively large pile of straw on the floor. Gurgi had been working fast, and was now out fetching another armload. It would take a lot of straw to bed down the five companions.

Fflewddur spoke up first. "Well, what did the king say? From this end, I can't say it sounded very promising."

Riku shook his head. "We're on our own until we find the Cauldron."

"That's what I was afraid of." Fflewddur murmured.

Riku shot Fflewddur a look, but could not verbally respond before Gurgi scrambled into the shed, wide-eyed and trembling. He babbled incoherently and made great sweeping motions with his arms, but no one could make sense of him. Taran knelt down and placed his hand on Gurgi's shoulder. "What is it?" he asked.

Gurgi did not answer with words, but led Taran by the hand to the chicken roost, the other companions following suit. He led them inside, but cowered shamelessly behind Taran's leg, pointing into the darkest corner of the roost. There, amidst the disheveled mounds of straw, stood a great black cauldron.

It was enormous, as tall as Riku's waist and with a mouth wide enough to swallow even the largest of human bodies. Its sides were dented and scarred, and its rim was flecked with the dark stains of a thousand victims' blood. Had anyone dared come near the cauldron, they would have seen that the inside was lined with all manner of scratches and claw marks left behind by the unfortunate victims who had been cast into it alive. As the wind swept over the gaping mouth of the cauldron, a soft, deep moaning seemed to rise up from within, as though the victims of the cauldron's power were calling words of warning to those that still lived.

The companions all reacted differently to seeing the massive engine of black magic inside the chicken roost, but no reaction was a pleasant one. Taran could only stare in fear and awe while Gurgi cowered behind him. Fflewddur's face was deathly white, and Eilonwy put a hand to her mouth to keep a scream from welling out. But the worst reaction by far came from Riku.

Riku clutched his hands to his head and grunted in agony. The cauldron radiated such an intense aura of darkness that it overloaded Riku's sensitive perceptions. He felt as though his skull would fly apart, the soft moaning of the cauldron bringing the most indescribable burning to his ears. His heart thumped within his chest, as though if it beat hard enough it could burst forth from his breast and seek to get away from the wretched cauldron. The silver-haired Keyblade master, notorious among his friends for his amazing threshold for pain, dropped to his knees and put his head low to the ground, writhing in anguish. "Someone," he muttered weakly, "get me away from that thing."

Taran and Fflewddur looked to each other and nodded, seizing Riku by the arms and dragging him outside, with Eilonwy and Gurgi following. Only when the companions were safely back inside the shed did Riku's apparent torture cease.

"It was the Black Cauldron," Taran murmured, helping Riku to his feet, "of that I have no doubt."

"And you shouldn't." Riku panted, still trying to catch his breath. "That thing has more darkness in it than every heart in the worlds put together. How could anyone possibly make something that evil?"

"And then," Eilonwy added, "why would they hide it in a pile of straw in a chicken roost? One would think the witches would guard it better than that."

"Good question," Riku acknowledged, "but not important at the moment. We know where it is; now we just have to figure out a way to destroy it."

"We could take it to Caer Dallben." Taran suggested. "I'm sure there is some enchantment of Dallben's that could destroy it."

"Great Belin!" Fflewddur exclaimed. "We five, lugging the Cauldron all the way to Caer Dallben? Why couldn't it have been a nice little kettle instead of such a hulking brute? Must we move the Cauldron?"

Riku shook his head. "No. it has to be destroyed here--we can't risk moving it. Here, it's at least somewhere the Horned King can't get his hands on it. If his armies overtake us while we're trying to haul that thing around, we're dead for sure. Besides, it would take all of us to even get it off the ground, and I can't go anywhere near that thing without feeling like my head'll explode. It's too much darkness for any one thing to have."

"If you thought that was dark, my poor goslings," said a voice from the shed's doorway, "then the Horned King is a foe you cannot hope to face."

Fflewddur Fflam nearly leaped out of his skin, and Gurgi immediately scurried to safety behind Taran's legs. The other three companions could only gasp in shock.

Orddu was standing in the doorway, her two sisters just behind her.

Taran, the only one among the companions whose tongue was not held in check by either discretion or fear, instantly pointed an accusing finger at the witches. "You have laid this trap for us! You knew we would find the Cauldron."

"Why, of course we did, my chicken." Orddu replied, unperturbed by Taran's accusing finger. "We were only curious to know what you'd do when you did find it. And now you've found it, and now we know."

"Kill us if you choose, you evil hags!" Taran snapped, and despite Riku's gestures for him to hold his tongue, he went on, "Yes, we would have stolen the Cauldron and destroyed it! And so shall I try again, as long as I live!"

Riku finally strode over to where Taran stood and clapped his hand over his apprentice's mouth. "Taran," he whispered harshly, "shut up. Pick your fights more carefully than that. So help me, if we make it out of this marsh alive, you will learn that if I have to sit on you and pound it into your head."

Orwen giggled girlishly. "I love to see them get angry, don't you, Orddu?"

"Yes," Orddu nodded, "and it is clear who is the wisest among them. We forgive you for calling us hags." she added to Taran. "You're upset, poor gosling, and liable to say anything."

"Hold on a minute." Riku told the sisters. "What do you mean the Horned King is a foe we can't hope to face?"

"Ah, you are the wisest of your friends." Orddu said sweetly. "The little duckling wants answers."

"About time one of you stopped yelling his head off." Orgoch muttered.

"The Horned King," Orddu explained, "is the darkest being the worlds have ever known, and will ever know in the foreseeable future. It's not for nothing that they refer to him as the Dark Lord, you know. He is second only to my sisters and myself in magical power."

"Almost everyone who knows him fears him." Orwen added. "Only my sisters and I even dare to speak his true name."

"We won't tell you what it is." Orgoch said unpleasantly. "Or you might go off telling everybody."

"But he has so many other names to choose from." Orddu went on. "The Horned King, the Dark Lord, the Lord of Annuvin, the Death-Lord... most of them end in 'Lord,' you know, but feel free to call him whatever you choose."

"All the darkness in the worlds," Orwen chimed in, "no matter how powerful or how massive, is beneath him and susceptible to his power. He doesn't need the Black Cauldron to control the Heartless--he was just experimenting with its power to see if he could use the Cauldron for that. He can control the Heartless and most weak-minded people aligned with darkness on his own. The more powerful ones join with him out of necessity. Everything he can't control, he destroys."

"Or he tries to." Orgoch croaked. "He usually succeeds, but even the Dark Lord has limits."

"Then would you not also be in danger?" Taran questioned, his mouth finally free from Riku's hand. "Once he finds the Cauldron here, he'll destroy you too... won't he?"

"Of course not, my pullet." Orddu answered with a smile. "We have nothing to fear from the Horned King. Our powers are far beyond his. Though if he succeeded in opening the Door to Darkness, we might have a problem on our hands."

"That's why we took the Cauldron back from him now." Orwen explained. "He can't open the Door without it--the light would be too much for him. With the Black Cauldron, he could shield himself from the light of Kingdom Hearts long enough to reach into the darkness beyond... but he can't now."

Riku nodded, taking in all this information. "Then it's just what we thought. The Horned King can't do a thing without the Cauldron, but if he gets it... he'll practically be a god."

"But there's no more chance of that." Orddu assured them. "Don't trouble your thoughts over such matters. We've been talking and we have some pleasant news for you. We agree--even Orgoch agrees--that you shall have the Cauldron if you truly want it. It's useless to us now; the Horned King has spoiled it for anything we might want it for. We've decided the Cauldron is nothing but a bother to us--and since you are friends of Dallben..."

Riku raised a brow tentatively. "Just like that? We found it in your chicken coop and you're just letting us walk away with it?"

"That's not what I said. You weren't listening." Orddu replied, tugging at her ears for emphasis. "We never give anything away. Only what is worth earning is worth having. What we do is bargain... trade."

"But we have no treasures to bargain with." Taran told the witches. "Alas that we do not."

"We couldn't expect you to pay as much as the Horned King did," Orddu acknowledged, "but we're sure you can find something to offer in exchange. Oh, shall we say... the North Wind in a bag?"

"Are you kidding?" Riku demanded. "That's a little out of our reach."

"Very well, we shan't be difficult." Orddu sighed. "The South Wind, then. It's much gentler."

"You make sport of us!" Taran shouted. "The price you ask is beyond what any of us can pay."

"Possibly you're right." Orddu admitted. "Perhaps something a little more personal. Now let me see..."

Orddu scanned the companions, staring deeply into each of their eyes. Riku had a sick feeling that both his mind and his heart were open books to her. But there were some secrets in his heart that no one, not even Sora or King Mickey knew. One in particular he hoped that Orddu would pass by...

"Aha!" Orddu exclaimed, looking to Riku. "Why, you poor little duckling! To imagine that I had thought you to be the most wise among your companions."

"What is it, Orddu?" Orwen asked, looking into Riku's eyes herself. After a moment, her face brightened in understanding. "Oh! How very, very sad!"

"What is it?" Riku questioned. Despite all his warnings to Taran about choosing one's battles wisely, he was starting to get angry at the witches himself. "What did you find out?"

"Why, nothing less than your deepest secret, my chicken." Orddu answered. "There is a woman in your memories--a red-haired Princess of Heart named Kairi, is there not? Oh, my poor lamb. You spent half your childhood competing with your dearest friend for her love... but her heart did not choose you, did it? No... her heart eternally belongs to another--Sora, I believe his name is. Yes, I'm sure it is.

"Don't bother denying it, my gosling." Orddu added as she saw Riku tensing up. "We already know. We know how you've been keeping it a secret for all these years, how you've been using all your discipline as a Keybearer to try to control it. But for all this talk about dear Kairi being the sister you've never had--a good friend and nothing more--you've kept secrets, haven't you, my poor lamb? We know that in your most secret of hearts, you are still very much in love with her."

Riku gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists. That was the most vile thing the witches could ever have done. He had guarded that secret well for three years, hiding it from the worlds. If word ever reached Sora or Kairi... he could not imagine what they would do. But now Taran, Eilonwy, Fflewddur, and Gurgi all knew of his dreadful secret. "That was private." he scowled.

"But that's just the thing." Orwen offered. "If you want, we could just take your memories of Kairi. Of course, you wouldn't have any left for yourself, but they seem to be a burden to you anyway."

"Can you do that?" Fflewddur asked. "Pluck memories out of people's heads, I mean."

"Of course we can!" Orwen assured him. "We love to spread them out on quiet summer evenings and look at them. Riku's memories of Kairi should keep us entertained for a good while to come. So can we take them?"

"No." Riku snapped, a look entering his eyes that almost looked like pleading. "Not even you would be so heartless."

"It has nothing to do with being heartless." Orddu told him. "But no matter. We have far too many memories anyway. We've made our suggestions and are willing to listen to yours. But mind you, if it's to be a fair exchange, it must be something you prize as much as the Cauldron."

"May I ask you ladies to perhaps consider this magnificent harp?" Fflewddur asked hesitantly, presenting his instrument.

"A harp?" Orddu repeated. "When we want music, we send for the birds. What would we do with a simple harp?"

"Wait!" Gurgi exclaimed. With a dismayed face, he produced an apple core that he'd been carrying with him. "Gurgi will trade his crunchings and munchings."

Orddu eyed the apple core with a raised brow. "Who would want--"

"Hold it, sister!" Orgoch exclaimed. "Not so fast!" Orgoch quickly took the apple core from Gurgi and devoured it in one bite.

"I also have something I treasure." Eilonwy put in. She reached into a pocket of her dress and removed from it her shining golden bauble. It hovered beside her as she said, "Here. It's much better than just a light. You see things differently in it, clearer somehow. It's very useful."

"How sweet of you to offer it to us," Orddu replied, "but again, it's something we don't really need."

"Are you certain you have nothing else?" Orwen asked.

"That's all." Fflewddur sighed. "Absolutely everything--unless you want the cloaks off our backs."

"Bless you, no!" Orddu exclaimed. "It wouldn't be proper in the least for you ducklings to go without them. You'd perish with the cold--and what good would the Cauldron be to you then? I'm terribly sorry, my chickens. It does indeed seem you have nothing to interest us. Very well, we shall keep the Cauldron and you shall be on your way."

"Wait!" Taran shouted. Eilonwy must have known what he was going to do, for she instantly sprang forward and put her hand on his arm. Despite the peculiar warmth Taran felt at Eilonwy's touch, he had no choice but to gently brush her hand from his arm. "There is..." he said slowly and hesitantly, still wondering if it was really worth it all, "there is one thing more." Taran's finger twitched, and the Dyrnwyn keyblade appeared in his grasp. "My keyblade."

"A keyblade?" Orddu repeated, raising a brow with interest. "A keyblade indeed. Yes, that might be more interesting. Just the thing, perhaps. We have many swords--some of them the famous weapons of the finest warriors. But never have we been graced with the ownership of a keyblade."

"You have been toying with us, Orddu." Taran whispered. "You knew my keyblade for what it was."

"It is still your choice whether you will bargain with it." Orddu told him. "Yes, we know Dyrnwyn well--its last master was High King Rhitta, just before the time of the Horned King. A tragic tale, should you ever find time to hear it.

"Think carefully, duckling." Orddu went on. "Once given up, it just may not come to you again. Will you exchange it for an evil cauldron you intend only to destroy?"

Taran looked at his blade, more conscious than ever of the strength it lent him. He had been a warrior... a hero. He could remember Eilonwy's admiring eyes watching him as he wielded the blade. Would she so admire a lowly assistant pig-keeper? And what made Eilonwy's opinion of him so important, anyway? For whatever the reason, the fear that she would lose interest in him was like a great lead weight, burdening his heart and staying his hand. But in the end, he knew there was but one choice to be made.

"Yes." Taran nodded, his voice soft and dismayed. "This shall be my bargain." Thus, Taran slowly began to extend his arm, preparing to place the hilt of Dyrnwyn into Orddu's outstretched hand. As he began to loosen his grip on the object, he felt a flame in his heart suddenly flicker and die. He nearly shed a tear for the loss of it.

"Done, my chicken!" Orddu exclaimed, dismissing the blade as soon as it was in her hand. "The keyblade for the Cauldron."

Taran stared at the ground until Riku placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're still my apprentice," he said, "keyblade or no. And you can still fight."

Taran nodded with determination and looked at Orddu once again. "The Cauldron is ours?" he asked. "To do with as we please?"

"Of course, dear fledgling." Orddu nodded. "We always keep a bargain."

"In your stables," Taran told her, "I saw tools and iron bars. Will you grant us use of them, or must we pay another price?"

"Use them, by all means." Orddu answered. "Though you'll never destroy the Black Cauldron that way. Since it is yours, you are entitled to know: the Black Cauldron can never be destroyed. Only its evil power can be stopped."

"You mind telling us how?" Riku questioned.

"A living person must climb into it of his own free will, knowing full well what he does." Orddu explained.

"Gurgi is bold and brave!" Gurgi exclaimed, speaking up for the first time since offering up his apple core. "He will climb into the wicked Cauldron!"

"However," Orddu cautioned, "the poor duckling will never climb out of it alive."

Gurgi instantly changed his mind, resuming his hiding place behind Taran's legs.

"And now, my chickens," Orddu told the companions, "we must really say farewell. Orgoch is dreadfully sleepy--you had us up so early, you know. Farewell, farewell."

Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch all made their way back to the cottage. "Stop!" Taran called after them, dashing with all his might to the doorway. "Tell us, is there no other way?"

Orddu paused and shook her head. "None whatsoever, my gosling." For the first time, Taran could detect a distinct note of pity in her voice. Then she and her sisters went inside the cottage, slamming the door in Taran's face. Taran pounded at the door, but no answer came from within.

"When Orddu and her friends say farewell," Fflewddur Fflam remarked, "they mean it. I doubt we shall see them again, and that's the most cheerful piece of news I've heard this morning!"

"Morning?" Taran repeated, looking around. Sure enough, while the companions had been bargaining in the shed, the sun had peeked over the marshes (which didn't relieve the gloom in the slightest). Taran heaved a heavy sigh. "Then time is another on the long list of things we have lost here. I have lost my keyblade, and we must sacrifice a life in order to stop the Horned King."

"Though it may be no consolation to you," Eilonwy told Taran, placing her delicate hand upon his shoulder, "if you look at it one way, you didn't give up a thing to the enchantresses, really. You did exchange the keyblade and everything that went along with it. But all those things came from the blade itself--they weren't inside you. Orddu didn't take anything from you. You're still yourself and no one can deny that!"

"Yes." Taran said sadly, unable to meet Eilonwy's eyes. "I'm still only an assistant pig-keeper. I should have known that anything else was too good to last."

"That may be true," Eilonwy said, "but as far as that is concerned, I think you are a perfectly marvelous assistant pig-keeper. Why, there's no question in my mind that you're the best assistant pig-keeper in all Prydain; how many others there are, I'm sure I don't know, but that's beside the point. I doubt a single one of them would have done what you did."

"I could not have done otherwise." Taran shrugged. "Not if we were to get the Cauldron. But what difference does it make now? Without my keyblade, I'm nothing."

Eilonwy stepped in front of Taran, placing her hands on his cheeks and forcing him to look at her. "You are somebody. You must believe in yourself... I believe in you."

Fflewddur's and Gurgi's faces lit up as Taran took Eilonwy's hands in his. "Y-you do? And I think that you're--" Taran stopped himself, realizing that he'd taken hold of Eilonwy's hands, and quickly let go. Another clutch of Gwythaints had hatched in his stomach, this time fully-grown and thrashing about like mad. At least, that's what it felt like to Taran. His head and heart were lighter than air, but his stomach was hopelessly tangled and his tongue could not find the right words.

Eilonwy smiled, though whether because she found Taran's confusion amusing or for some other reason, Taran couldn't guess. "Yes, Taran?" she prompted, her voice softer, her beautiful blue eyes gazing deeply into his brown ones. Taran was sure she'd never looked at him that way before.

"I mean..." Taran stammered, still trying to put all his dizzy, maddening feelings into words. But it was difficult to think of anything practical when the princess was standing right in front of him, all of her vexing beauty and befuddling charms overloading Taran's poor senses. His stomach, by this time, was so twisted and knotted he wondered if it would ever be able to function properly again. His head swam, and the only words his mind could conceive were adjectives to describe how beautiful Eilonwy was, or how desperately he wished to reach out and just touch her... "That is..." he tried to say, "I..."

The tension was broken as Gurgi leaped onto Fflewddur Fflam's shoulders, wrapping his arms about the bard's neck and planting a wet, noisy smooch on his cheek. Obviously, even Gurgi had been affected by the atmosphere.

Nearly everyone shared a laugh, the tension but a memory now (Fflewddur Fflam did not laugh--he was trying to wipe away all traces of Gurgi's slimy kiss).

Once the laughter had died, Taran started again, this time able to address everyone, not just Eilonwy. "What I mean is," he said, "I'm grateful--to all of you. And I suppose I never really lost anything to Orddu after all. You've been true friends, and you have my gratitude."

"And," Fflewddur whispered to Tartan, "it would seem that you are not the only one to suffer loss, Taran."

Taran looked up, wondering what the bard could mean. Only a moment later did he notice that Riku was off to the side, arms crossed, staring off into the distance. Eilonwy shot Taran a worried look. "Do you suppose," she murmured, "what Orddu said... about Riku and Kairi... do you suppose it's all true?"

"There can be no doubt." Taran answered. "Riku himself affirmed it. Meet me at the chicken roost an a few moments. I must speak with him alone."

Eilonwy and Fflewddur nodded, heading for the chicken roost. Gurgi wanted to follow his master at first, but Taran demanded that he follow the others. It was with heavy, cautious steps that Taran approached his master--if master he still may be, though Taran was clearly no longer a Keybearer to be master to. "Riku," he murmured, "are you all right?"

Riku nodded, but did not face him. "Fine. Just thinking."

"Out of curiosity, Riku," Taran began nervously, doing his best to be tactful, "what Orddu said to you back in the shed... about Queen Kairi--"

"That can never leave this marsh, Taran." Riku answered, turning about and looking the assistant pig-keeper squarely in the eyes. "No one can ever know. Especially not Sora or Kairi."

"So it is true?" Taran murmured.

Riku nodded slowly. "Every word. Sora and I have both loved Kairi from the day we met her." To Taran's surprise, Riku smirked as he said, "When we were your age, everyone back home assumed she would end up with me. I was supposed to be the strongest one on the islands where we grew up, and everybody looked up to me. Even Sora. But even though me and Sora were best friends, we knew Kairi would have to pick one of us someday.

"When we were kids, Kairi never let on which one of us she thought was better." Riku went on. "She treated us both the same. Me and Sora would keep track of every little smile she gave us, and we would fight on the beach for hours with little wooden swords just to impress her. Kairi would cheer for both of us, and the winner was generally the one whose name she called out just one extra time."

Riku sighed heavily. "Then, when I was fifteen and Sora and Kairi were fourteen, I opened a door in our world that led straight to the dark realm. I didn't mean to--I was just anxious to get off my tiny island at the time, and my curiosity betrayed me. The Heartless attacked my home world and took Kairi's heart. I gave in to the darkness so I would be strong enough to get her back. Because I fell to darkness, the keyblade rejected me and went to Sora.

"Even after I got my own keyblade a year later," Riku continued, "I was hopelessly jealous of Sora. I saw that Kairi had fallen in love with him and not me. But when I saw how happy they were together, I stepped aside and left them alone. I even helped get them together, because I knew it would make Kairi happy. My training with King Mickey helped me learn how to control my jealousy toward Sora, but deep down, I don't think I'll ever really get over it. That's what fuels most of the darkness in my heart--that's what everyone uses against me to try to turn me to the dark side. And I have no doubt I'll be tempted with it again."

That much was true. Riku shuddered as he remembered facing Xemnas in the void three years ago, Sora at his side. "Riku," Xemnas would say to him, "are you sure you're not jealous of Sora?" And he had been--he still was. But he'd learned to crunch that jealousy down, harnessing it and using it to fuel his dark powers. He'd become powerful for it, but the price he paid for that power was a burden to his heart every waking moment.

"Riku..." Taran murmured, "I... I had no idea. I promise that no one shall ever learn this dark secret. We shall not speak of it again."

Riku smiled down at his young apprentice. "Thanks. Now go on. I'll call King Mickey and tell him we've got the Cauldron. He can send a team to pick it up, and we'll take it to Disney Castle."

"Why there, Riku?" Taran questioned.

"Disney Castle is the only place with enough light to counter the Black Cauldron's darkness." Riku answered. "If we're lucky, when we get there I'll be able to stay in the same room with it. We'll camp out near here until then. The Cauldron isn't going anywhere."

Taran nodded and went off to join his other companions, happy for this time of reprieve after so many days of struggling.

Things, it seemed, were finally looking up.

A/N: Okay, now you may be either angry, confused, or both. Three characters in particular had great potential for inciting these feelings, and I think I should touch on them before I close.

The Horned King--Yes, I have made the Horned King the most powerful dark sorcerer that Kingdom Hearts has ever seen, putting even Maleficent in her place. I have to laugh at myself for this, because so far I think I'm the only person to consider the Horned King more powerful than Maleficent. You see, in the movie, he was based on the character of Arawn from the books--who was, by all accounts, insanely powerful. And he doesn't even need a staff, unlike a certain dark sorceress I know.

Riku--Okay, where do I start with this one? Yes, Riku is still in love with Kairi. I've noticed that in adventure stories such as this one, Riku usually either ends up with an original character (which is all well and good) or with a female character from the franchise in a pairing that is only somewhat feasible (Shire Folk, if you're reading this, no offense to you). Riku is, in my opinion, a darker and more tragic character, and I really wanted to portray his love life as such. Kill me if you must.

Taran--You must think I'm crazy. I gave Taran his very own keyblade, made him an apprentice to Riku, made it look like he was all set up to be a Keybearer, and now he just traded it for the Cauldron. But before you write this off as the dumbest deus ex machina of all time, a word of caution: would I really have gone to all that trouble of inventing a keyblade for him--knowing, mind you, that he had a perfectly good sword in the movie--if it was all over right here? The answer is HECK NO. So be patient, and surprises will come your way.

A gentle reminder: PLEASE REVIEW. I hope you will anyway, because I'm sure you have opinions about everything I just talked about.

Until next time, Lord Moldybutt signing off.