Chapter 37 Sora vs Riku?
Upon returning to the chapel our heroes found that a section of the wall had disappeared, thus creating a new door for them. The passage led to a large room lined with numerous machines. The carpet on the entrance bore the heartless crest. And on either side of it were the princesses incased in glass. "There's Alice. And Jasmine." Asuna said. "Belle…" said the beast as he stood before Belle's casket. "She's the one you came here to find?" Kirito asked. The beast nodded in reply. "Gosh. She looks beautiful." Yuuki said. "Yes… yes she does." The beast said morosely. He then placed his clawed hand on the casket. Kirito watched the scene before him he tightened his fist. "Let's go Sora." Kirito said firmly. "Right." Sora replied.
Our heroes ran up the staircase that led to the large portal. Sora was the first to reach the top. Donald was about to catch up to him when he suddenly face planted against an invisible barrier. "Oooow what hit me?" Donald asked. "No. no, no, no, no, no, no!" Kirito repeated as he reached the barrier and pounded away at it with no effect. It was a trap. Now no one would be able to come to Sora's aide while he fought Riku and knows what else! "Kairi!" Sora called as he ran to her unconscious body. He grabbed her by her shoulders and held her in an upright position by her back. "Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes." Sora pleaded. "It's no use." Said Riku. Sora looked upward to see Riku siting on a platform above the portal device. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up." He said. 'That girl? Hold on a minute. Riku wouldn't talk about Kairi like that. Something's wrong here.' Sora gently laid Kairi back on the ground and stood up. "You're not Riku. Are you?" Sora asked. Riku smirked at the accusation. "The keyhole cannot be completed. So long as the last princess of heart still sleeps." He said as he jumped and slowly floated towards the ground. "The princess…? Kairi's a princess? Sora asked. "Yes. And without her power, the keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened." He said. "Is that why you kidnapped these girls? All for some keyhole?" Kirito asked. "That is correct." Riku responded.
"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!" Sora demanded. "But Sora, first you must give the princess back her heart!" Riku replied. While pointing his keyblade toward Sora. Suddenly sora felt an intense pain in his chest. The pain caused him to clutch at the left side of his chest and to kneel on the ground. "Sora!" Asuna gasped. "What did you do?!" Donald asked. "Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding. It's been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you." Riku said. "Kairi… Kairi's heart is inside of me?" Sora wondered aloud. "I know all that there is to know." Riku said. "Tell me. Who are you?" sora asked. "It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness." Ansem introduced as he walked towards Sora. Ansem pointed his keyblade directly at Sora's face. "So, I shall release you now princess. Complete the keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!" time seemed to slow down as Ansem raised his keyblade to strike Sora down. Kirito kept pounding at the barrier like a madman while everyone watched in horror as the blade moved closer and closer to their comrade. But Sora managed to call his keyblade to block the attack at the last second. "Forget it. There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!" Sora exclaimed.
The fight started with Ansem leaping into the air and stabbing down at Sora. While sora did dodge the blade, dark energy erupted in spikes that attacked him. Sora cast a wind spell around himself to mitigate damage from further attacks of that nature, but Ansem Swung his keyblade to send a disc of dark energy. Sora tried to dodge again, but the disc was a feint for Ansem's real attack. He lunged toward Sora and cut at his side. Sora quickly cast a healing spell to recover. Defense wasn't working he had to go all out against Ansem. Sora started his offensive by using the sonic blade technique to close the gap between them. After that, he was about to go into ars Arcanum when Ansem rise into the air and launched forward away from Sora and vanished. Then he reappeared and did this time going towards him. Ansem repeated this attack over and over again with each strike hitting Sora at lightning speed. Then Ansem stabbed his keyblade into the ground again and unleashed dark energy. Thankfully sora was able to dodge this time and quickly heal once again. Ansem fired the dark disc at sora again, but this time Sora threw his keyblade at the disc causing it to dissipate. The keyblade continued its whirling art towards Ansem and it struck home. But it didn't stop there. Sora called the keyblade back and threw it Ansem again and again. Ansem lunged at Sora again, only for Sora to block the attack. Momentarily stunned, Sora used his ars Arcanum attack to deal major damage against Ansem. Ansem dodged backwards when the last blow hit him. With his back to the portal, Ansem let loose a sphere of darkness towards Sora. But Sora charged energy into the keyblade and fired a bright blue beam at the projectile. The beam pierced it and the heartless emblem on Riku's chest. When the beam dissipated, Ansem dropped the keyblade and his body began to fade. "Sora…" Riku groaned as he fell to the ground. "Riku!" Sora called as he ran towards him. But it was too late. Riku's body had completely disappeared.
The portal device began crackling with energy. The door way appeared to be unstable. Sora tried using his keyblade to close it, but nothing was happening. "Why isn't it working?" Strea asked. "It's still incomplete. It won't open until Kairi gets her heart back." Kirito explained. "I think you're right. But how are we going to do that when it's inside Sora?" Asuna asked. Sora stared at the keyblade Ansem left behind. "A keyblade that can unlock people's hearts… I wonder." Sora thought aloud. "Sora?" Kirito questioned. "Kirito. I need you to hold on to this." Sora said while forcing his keyblade into Kirito's hand. Kirito grasped the handle in his right hand and the shaft in his left. Kirito was puzzled as to why he had given this to him after the hassle it took to get it back. Before he could ask why, Sora walked up to Ansem's keyblade and picked it up. Kirito's eyes widened when he realized what Sora was up to. 'Might as well give them something to remember me by.' Sora turned to them and flashed a big toothy grin on his face. Then he grabbed Ansem's keyblade by its shaft and plunged the blade into his chest. Light emenated from the self-inflicted wound and Ansem's keyblade floated away. It dissolved and released six hearts each returning to one of the captive princesses. Then Kairi's heart left his body and returned to her, causing her to awaken and the keyhole to stabilize. Sora's body glowed a golden light and he began to fade while falling backwards. Both Kirito and Kairi rushed to sora's side. Kairi reached him first, but his body burst into several lights that floated away right before her eyes. Kirito's fist tightened around the keyblade that was given to him and tears formed in his eyes and ran down his face. "Take it back… COME BACK HERE AND TAKE IT BACK!" Kirito shouted to the heavens.