Sora ignored the barrage of questions from his friends and took a moment to examine his body. His arm and leg were solid again, the injuries he suffered from Xemnas were gone.

"Where's Xemnas?" he asked.

"No idea," said Goku, "but we have another problem."

Sora could hear rumbling all around them.

"That's been going on for a while." said Goku. "This world's becoming unstable. We need to get out of here soon, but I don't know how to get out of this world with my Keyblade."

"I can't seem to open a portal, either." said Riku.

"Keep trying." Goku urged him.

Suddenly a portal slowly opened behind them.

"Did you make that?" Goku asked Riku.

"Not sure." said Riku. "But you all better go through, before it closes."

Goku nodded and entered the portal with Krillin and Gohan. As soon as they entered, a ghostly image of a girl in a white dress appeared. She looked just like Kairi, only with pale blond hair. Sora knew right away who she was.

"Thank you, Namine." said Kairi softly.

Namine smiled at Kairi and then turned to Sora.

"You see? We meet again…just like we promised."

"Huh?"

At that instant, she faded away. What could she have meant by that?

"Sora, Riku, let's go home." said Kairi.

"I'm not going." said Riku.

Sora's heart skipped a beat; he whirled around to face his troubled friend."

"WHY?!" he and Kairi asked in unison.

"Remember the night the darkness took our world?" Riku reminded them. "It was me…my burning desire brought the darkness there…I destroyed our world. I don't think I can go back after what I did."

"But, Riku…everything's fine there now." said Kairi, her tone almost imploring. "Everyone's alive…Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, our families…everyone."

Riku said nothing, but walked to the edge of the tower and stared into the dark horizon.

"I'm not going, if you're not." said Sora.

"Neither am I." said Kairi, much to Sora's shock.

Riku finally turned to face Kairi and said "Kairi…Sora and I'll be home soon, but you need to get home now."

Kairi looked from Riku to the shrinking portal.

"See you soon." she said, as she rushed in.

The portal dissipated, leaving Sora and Riku alone.


When Kairi emerged from the darkness, she was back on Sora's island. Goku, Krillin, and Gohan were there too.

"So this is your world." said Goku. "It's really nice."

"Sora and Riku stayed behind to settle things," said Kairi, "But I know they'll be here soon."

"Of course they will." said Goku. "The three of you have a bond that can't be broken. I wish two other friends of mine were here to see it."

"What happened to them?" Kairi inquired, unsure if the question was appropriate.

"Well, a tragedy happened years ago and they were torn apart." Goku replied, looking toward the sky. "I'm sure they're still out there though…and I keep hoping I'll see them again."


Sora and Riku had put Xemnas' castle behind them and had been trekking through the dark city for some time. They at last reached an enormous station that was composed of two massive cylinders and a tall tower in the middle. Something huge, white, and metal was perched on top of the tower.

"What's that?" Sora wondered.

"Whatever it is, it must be important to Xemnas." Riku concluded. "Let's destroy it."

As they ran toward the station, the thing on top of the tower shifted. Sora could tell what it was now; it was a giant mechanical dragon! The dragon fired a dark, rippling blue beam which hit a nearby building, causing chunks of debris to rain down on Sora and Riku. They swung their Keyblades and hacked apart whatever debris didn't miss them and kept running. Finally they reached the station and dozens of robotic drones, each bearing the Nobody symbol descended to confront them. They began knocking the robots into the station's power source and the cylinder began sparking. They leapt to the other catwalk as the first cylinder exploded and repeated the process until the other one began to malfunction. They began leaping up the station until they reached the tower, which they smashed their way through. The chamber was guarded by four robed phantom-like Nobodies that attacked by conjuring pale energy cubes. They sent the cubes speeding toward Sora and Riku, trying to push them back out, but Sora shattered the cubes with Reflect and Riku did the same with a dark shield. Together, they sliced their way through the Nobodies and took an elevator to the top of the tower. When they exited the elevator, three more of the robed Nobodies were waiting for them. They rolled right past the Nobodies, leapt off the edge and grabbed a hold of the dragon's tail just as it was taking off.

They began climbing toward the dragon's back as it flew over the city. Suddenly a pair of glowing glyphs appeared and from each of them came a silver beam of energy, which they blocked with their Keyblades. The glyphs disappeared and they reached the dragon's back. They each sliced off one of its wings, but the large thrusters at its sides kept it in the air. Sora began firing lightning bolts into one of the thrusters and followed up with a technique he hadn't used in a while…Thunder Raid! He cast his now electrified Keyblade into the thruster and it exploded. Riku kept launching dark fireballs from his Keyblade until it became shrouded in darkness. He then cast it into the other thruster and it too exploded.

The dragon began plummeting and the whole city…the entire land around them began imploding. Before the dragon could hit solid ground, a swirling portal of darkness bigger than any Sora had ever seen opened and they sank through. All around them, thousands of buildings and enormous chunks of the Nobody world were being sucked into the abyss. A huge chunk of debris was hurtling toward Sora so fast he didn't know he could avoid it. So, with a furious roar, he swung his keyblade… he swung it so hard that the energy he released cut through the debris like a giant invisible blade. Below them, the dragon turned to face them and began firing more dark beams at them. They rolled about and continued their descent until they reached a nearby floating building. Riku landed on it and began pushing on it.

"Sora…are you certain you can trust Riku?"

The voice was Xemnas', but whether it was echoing through the abyss or through Sora's mind, he neither knew nor cared. Xemnas wasn't going to turn them against each other, not if they ended him here and now. Sora landed on the building and helped Riku push. Their combined strength (and the lack of gravity) sent the building hurtling toward the dragon and crashed right into it. The dragon tumbled back and as they got closer to it, they could see a throne attached to its head and upon the throne was Xemnas. He was holding a silver scepter and clad in regal silver armor with the Nobody symbol on the chest plate and greaves, and a crown of gold spires on the helmet and left pauldron.

"Sora…Riku…there is falsehood within your hearts…do you dare…deny it?"

Riku fired a salvo of dark fire balls at Xemnas, but he shielded himself from them with a silver wall of energy. Sora hurled his Keyblade so hard, it crashed through the energy wall and hit Xemnas in the chest. They landed on the dragon's head and Xemnas rose from his throne and lifted his scepter. He swung it down and Sora and Riku rolled out of its way. Sora summoned his Keyblade back into his hand as Riku pushed Xemnas back with another salvo of dark fire balls. Sora threw himself at Xemnas and swung with all his might, cracking his armor open. The three of them began drifting away and Xemnas opened a hazy grey portal that they all drifted through.


Sora and Riku were floating in an endless, hazy grey void…and floating before them was Xemnas, stripped of his armor and clad in a shimmering silver robe.

"Heroes from the Realm of Light," he said, his voice echoing ghost-like through the void. "I will not allow this to end your way. For if light and darkness are eternal…then surely I…a creature of nothing must be the same…eternal."

"You're right about one thing, Xemnas." said Riku, apathetically. "Light and darkness are eternal. Nothingness probably goes on forever too."

"But guess what, that doesn't mean you're eternal!" spat Sora.

Xemnas allowed himself an empty laugh.

"No more eternal than that radiance of yours."

Without warning, Xemnas warped behind Sora and hurled him through the void. He then glided after him, swinging his pale energy blades. Sora twirled and tumbled to evade Xemnas' strikes. Riku tried to strike Xemnas from behind, but he parried with one blade and sent a web of silver tendrils at Sora, who twisted around them. He and Riku began slashing furiously at Xemnas, but he parried their strikes every time. Finally, he kicked them both away and rose above them. He conjured a huge silver sphere and cast it down on them. They struck the sphere and pushed it with all their might, sending it back at Xemnas, who broke it into hundreds of smaller spheres. As the spheres rained down, Sora and Riku twisted and rolled to avoid them.

Xemnas descended and seized Sora. His hand turned spectral and he thrust it into Sora's chest.

"And now…I claim…your heart."

In an instant, Riku knew what Xemnas was doing; he was trying to pull out Sora's heart! He rushed toward Xemnas and struck him hard, sending him tumbling away from Sora. The two of them stepped up their assault, slashing and thrusting at Xemnas with increasing desperation. They each managed to score a few hits on him and continued their assault, not relenting for an instant. Finally, Xemnas pushed them away with another web of silver tendrils and rose above them again. One by one, hundreds of energy blades began appearing around Sora and Riku, trapping them.

"If I am truly destined to perish, I shall at least take the two of you with me." Xemnas declared with a hint of grim acceptance in his voice. "Prepare yourselves…one way or another…it ends now!"

One by one, the energy blades began flying toward Sora and Riku. They grabbed each other's hand and began spinning around, deflecting the energy blades. They kept this up for an exhaustingly long time, not daring to let a single energy blade touch them. Finally, when the last blade was deflected, Xemnas was upon them again, he caught Riku off guard and swung one blade across his waist. Sora watched in horror as Riku's entire lower body turned transparent. That was the last straw; this fight had gone on for far too long! He grabbed Riku's Keyblade and began slashing relentlessly at Xemnas. Xemnas shifted away from each strike and unleashed a combo of lightning-swift thrusts, which Sora barely held his own against. Suddenly a flash of white light engulfed Sora's vision and when it cleared, he saw that his Keyblade wielder's garb was black and gold and he now held two Keyblades; in his right hand he held the Oathkeeper and in his left he held the Oblivion. He and Xemnas circled each other, exchanging horizontal and diagonal strikes until Xemnas' energy blades shattered.

Before Xemnas could make another attack or pull another trick, Sora swung the Oathkeeper and the Oblivion down in an X. He sliced into Xemnas, who fell to pieces and slowly crumbled into dust. Sora watched as the cloud of dust that was once Xemnas faded from existence. It was finally over; the last remnant of Xehanort was nothing more than a memory. The Oathkeeper and Oblivion faded away and Sora silently gave thanks to Roxas, without whom, he may not have prevailed. He glided over to Riku and grabbed a hold of him.

"Sora…I can't…"

"Don't say another word." said Sora. "We're getting out of here and that's that."

He lifted one hand and summoned the Kingdom Key. He pointed it above them, hoping that it would take them out of this realm. A white beam shot out of the tip and a white portal appeared above them. Still clutching Riku, Sora ascended through the keyhole. When they surfaced, they found themselves on a black-sanded beach under a dark, foggy sky.

"The Realm of Darkness?" Riku wondered.

"It's better than that other place." Sora decided.

He released Riku (who was whole again) and they walked toward the shore and sat in the sand.

"You know…I used to think I'd always be the stronger one." Riku admitted.

"Yeah…I always kinda thought that too." Sora replied.

"To tell you the truth, Sora. I've gotten jealous of you."

Sora turned to his friend, taken aback by this confession.

"Jealous of what, exactly?"

"Well…" said Riku, "I wish I could live my life the way you do. You just follow your heart and…everything seems to go your way."

"It's not as simple as that." Sora said honestly. "I'm only confident enough to succeed when I have friends at my side. When I'm on my own though…"

He let his words trail off, hoping Riku would get the message. The two of them sat quietly for some time until Sora noticed a small glass bottle wash ashore.

"Wonder what that is." said Riku.

Sora picked up the bottle and saw that there was a piece of parchment inside. He took it out and began to read.

Thinking of you, wherever you are.

We pray for our sorrows to end…and hope that our hearts will blend.

Now I will step forward to realize this dream. And who knows? Starting a new journey may not be so hard…or maybe it has already begun.

There are many worlds, but they share the same sky. One sky…One Destiny.

The instant Sora finished reading, a doorway appeared; a doorway composed of brilliant golden light.

"The door to light." Sora muttered.

"What?"

"C'mon!" said Sora, jumping to his feet. "We'll go together!"

Riku got to his feet and they raced to the door. For a few moments, they were surrounded by white and gold light, until they fell into a bright blue-green sea. They swam to the surface and were met by the sight of Sora's island, bathed in sunlight and looking more beautiful than he remembered. Kairi, Goku, Krillin, and Gohan were all racing toward them. Riku waded over to Goku and embraced him while Kairi, Krillin, and Gohan flung their arms around Sora. After saving the Realm of Light twice…Sora was where he belonged and now there was just one thing left to do. Finally, he could return Kairi's lucky charm.