A/N: So...I guess I should say sorry for the unannounced month break that this story took. School sorta consumed all of my life and will to write. But that doesn't really matter because here it is, the next chapter! We are so close to the end that I'm betting you can all practically see it! Hopefully this chapter will build a few bridges to help you all understand what actually happened at the end of the last chapter too. Anyway, I'm gonna just let you get to reading it, so here you go! Please review! Thanks!

Part XXXV - Beginning of the End

"Tobi! Sora! Are you…" I…can't focus on…what they're saying. Breathe…come on…everything's so…blurry…I…can't even stand or focus. Everything hurts so bad. I can only make it up to my knees, and I still have to…put my hands on the ground. What happened? I felt so great…and…and we were…

"Tobi? Sora?" I think…that was Ven…but…wow, breathing really hurts. I want to respond, but I can't. What happened in that? Whoa, I feel like I can breathe all of a sudden. I still hurt, but I can sit up and not everything's blurry anymore. "Are you guys okay?" It was definitely Ven then. Sora's right across from me. His whole body's shaking, but I guess…yeah so is mine.

"How did you do that?" I tilt my head as I look at Sora.

"Aqua cast a cure spell on you." I don't turn to Ven at first.

"Oh, thanks, but no I meant, how did you speak so clearly during all of that?"

"Huh? Me? I didn't say anything. You were the ones issuing all the commands."

"What are you talking about? I didn't say anything…" We stare at each other. I really didn't say anything.

"Neither did I...but I heard you." Sora tilts his head, but he's still shaking like me.

"And I heard you…and that part at the end?" I turn my hands over and over searching for any clue.

"You guys completely destroyed that thing! It was really cool!" I look at Roxas with a really confused expression.

"But how did that all happen? I've never done anything like that before." I try to stand, but it still hurts way too much.

"I tried to go into one of my normal forms, but it just didn't work for some reason. Not that I'm complaining!" Agh, I bet that laugh hurt, yeah he just winced.

"Either way it was amazing!" Terra's voice comes from behind me.

"The result wasn't. I've never felt so awful." I place my hands on my knees still trying to build up the energy to stand again.

"I think that might be because of how powerful that form was. It took out a lot of your energy." C'mon stand, you can do it…whew I-I made it. I'm up. Now what did Aqua just say?

"What was that Aqua? Sorry, I was trying to focus." Thankfully she just smiles and repeats herself. "I guess that makes some sense, but wow that was awful."

"So we only use that when it gets really bad." Sora's standing now too.

"Right. Why do I get the feeling we're going to have to use it again soon?"

"It's only going to get worse."

"Thanks Van. You're a big help." I roll my eyes at him before smiling a bit.

"I don't sugar coat things. You should know that." He's right, he's never been that way before, so I don't know why I thought it'd be different.

"Anyway. Come on, let's get…" We all turn around at the sound. Whoa, a keyhole appeared up above us. Ven's got his Keyblade out and that bright beam shoots out toward it. A section of the wall in front of us gets covered in light before it disappears. It's now just a big empty hallway that's covered in darkness.

"Let's go." My brother doesn't even look at me or the others before heading down the new tunnel. I hope he's ready for this because I don't know that I am. Still, I follow with the others not far behind. Unlike before there are no torches here. Although, I bet I still have that flashlight in my bag somewhere…got it! Okay, this should help us out a bit. The walls are bare and the air is really cold. It really just seems like we're in a tunnel with nothing else. It's a bit creepy actually. Everything up to now has been really beautiful and ornate, but now, it's just bland and almost foreboding. Up ahead I can see that the tunnel opens. As soon as Sora steps in, these gemstones light up, and the darkness is thinned. They aren't very bright, but we can see everything in here. We all start walking in different directions.

"Look at this place…" I think what Ven's talking about is the ceiling. It's all stars. It looks like the sky when there aren't any other lights. The walls have intricate carvings between the pillars that hold up the domed roof. One of them looks like…that symbol on the Heartless. And that one was the one on the Nobodies that we fought…I've never seen those other five before though…they all look like hearts in one way or another, especially the one right in front of us…it looks like…the Heart on my Keyblade. Van's over by one of the ones I've never seen. It looks jagged and harsh. I wonder what these all mean.

"Dream eaters?" I spin around to look at Sora. He's standing between two of the symbols, the ones next to Van.

"What?" I step closer to him.

"This was on the DreamEaters that I fought. When I was in the Realm of Sleep with Riku." These two symbols do look a lot alike, except that one has bat wings across the middle and seems more menacing. That just leaves this last one. It looks like this heart with a big rip down the middle, it comes down to tip that looks almost like a pen.

"Then what are these other ones?" I look to Van's particularly.

"It's an Unversed symbol…" Van won't look at anything other than that one symbol, not even to us. His hand runs up and down the creases in the wall over and over again.

"What?" He turns to look at me.

"Unversed. Ask me later." He walks toward where the others are now, which is in front of the last one with the pen tip and the rip. I follow without another word.

"I've never seen this one before." Aqua sets her hand against it.

"Me neither." Ven.

"Nope" Van.

"I haven't either." Roxas.

"What is it?" Terra.

"Sora?" I look to my brother.

"Nope."

"Then what could it be?" I step closer. I spin around at several small "pings" behind me. Now there are six different pedestals lined in an arc pointing at the Heart directly in front of us, which is the one that I have on my Keyblade. They're made of white stone and have black veins – like marble. They're carved with vines that all come together to form a heart in the center. I walk closer. They each have this carving in the top. Each one is different. I don't know what they're supposed to…

"They're Keyblades." Sora's standing across from me now. I give him a confused look. "Look, here's the grip," he points to the base and then starts moving up the narrow part, "and then the teeth, here's where the keychain goes." I watch as he points to every part. They aren't like any Keyblade I've ever seen…or at least I don't think so.

"So we're out of luck. They don't look like any of ours." Roxas leans backs from us.

"Wait, Tobi, do you still have the Keychains from the other Wonders?"

"Uh…sure Aqua, I think I do…here's one of them," I hand the one from the Temple of Artemis to her, "Why?" She wraps her fingers around it the small little bow and arrow.

"Everything so far has been connected. Everything has needed to fit together. So, Keyblades from the Wonders would make the most sense."

"I guess." I'm still not sure where she's going with this. Wait…"So you're saying that these Keychains make the Keyblades that'll fit here?" She nods, and with a bright flash, takes out her Keyblade. She switches out the Keychains. Another light and her Key changes into a much shorter one with an arrow tip at the top and then three smaller arrowheads for the blade. The hilt is curved like a bow. It matches perfectly the one in two from the left. I watch as she sets her Key into the crevice. The whole pedestal glows now with a faint blue light. I look at the others before starting to pull the other Keychains one by one from my backpack. The one from Zeus' staute, which is just a lightning bolt. I hand it to Terra. Then the one from Lighthouse. It's a book that's just slightly open. I give it to Ven. The next one is the small pillar from the Mausoleum, and I give it to Van. The next is a ship from Rhodes and it's Roxas'. Now let's see that's…only five, but I don't have any others…We went to every Wonder. We sealed all of the Keyholes. I remember getting all of the Keychains! I look over to Sora. "We're missing one." I watch as his eyes widen.

"But, we went to all of them right?"

"Yeah…this was the last one, but look." I show him my backpack.

"Did you put it somewhere else?" I turn to Aqua. I don't think I would have, but maybe…I search through every pocket of the bag, but there's nothing. "What about your pockets?"

"Aqua, these are brand new. The one we're missing would be from the Pyra…"Something is in my pocket, I can feel it when I reach in. I don't remember it being there before. I pull it out…it's the small pyramid from Giza. "But how did that…get there?"

"Doesn't matter. Come on, we're running out of time." Sora sticks his hand out and I place the Keychain there. He sets his down in the last open pedestal. All of them are lit now. There's a huge crackling and rumbling sound before the entire room goes dark.