-Me: Yes, I know this chappie is late, so please feel free to poke me whenever you want.
Audience: YAY! (pokes me)
Akyra: (ish playing) Heeheee!
Me: Akyra, what's that?
Akyra: My new toy! It's a Sora action figure, and whenever you press the little button, the Keyblade lights up and he says something! (presses button)
Sora Action Figure: Kingdom Hearts is light!
Me: O.o Can I play with it?
Akyra: No! It's MINE! (hiss)
Sora Action Figure: Kairi, I'm always be with you. I'll come back for you, I promise.
Akyra: KAIRI? (burns action figure)
Me: Hey! I didn't even get to play with it! (sob)-
Disclaimer: (pokes disclaimer) You're still here, aren'tcha? You're gonna still force me to say that I don't own Kingdom Hearts and that I only own Akyra, aren'tcha? You're pretty annoying, arent'cha? (pokes disclaimer)
"This time, I know where I'm going. I'm positive!" Sora scolded before anyone had the chance to object.
They were walking around in circles for the past half hour and started to grow tired of walking around the library and jumping on a few lift stops. Meanwhile, Akyra was chattering away to Kairi about how much Wonderland had freaked her out.
"…and there was this talking rabbit who was so paranoid about being late. And there also was this purple cat that kept popping his head off his body and he spoke in riddles too! Trust me, Kairi; it was weird…" she finished. Kairi chuckled gleefully, as if she was enjoying this rather skimpy explanation of the world she's never known. She quickly changed her regard to Sora, who was staring blankly at one of the lift stops.
Donald, who was standing by his side, grumbled annoyingly and said, "Sora! You got us lost again didn't you? I knew we shouldn't have trusted your sense of direction!"
"Now, Donald," Goofy said, "be nice."
"Be nice? BE NICE?" Donald blasted.
"Uh… Maybe we should go back to the Castle Chapel?" Sora suggested, trying to change the subject.
"Alright, I'm giving you one last chance!" Donald warned, pointing a menacing finger in Sora's direction. He ignored this warning, spun around and headed back to the Castle Chapel, Donald's scowling regard persisting the whole journey.
"Well, we're at the Castle Chapel! I see no improvement!" Donald quacked angrily.
"M-maybe we missed something…" Sora said, his voice trailing off as he inspected the area.
Suddenly, Goofy's voice rang through the chapel: "Hey, that corridor wasn't there before!" Everyone jerked in Goofy's direction. Sure enough, a new hallway had appeared since the last time they arrived.
"Well, Donald, it looks like you owe me an apology," Sora said. Donald merely frowned in disgust and pursued Goofy through the mysterious corridor.
After a few minutes of endless exploring, the group found themselves in a very large and circular hall. Everything in this room was a sad shade of violet. A round platform in the middle of the hall was glowing dimly and was the only source of light.
"I know…this place…" Akyra sighed.
"Did you say something?" Sora asked her. Ignoring him, she slowly proceeded towards the platform, scanning the room suspiciously.
"I know this place," she said louder so everyone can hear her, "This is where Riku brought me when he kidnapped me…"
"And this is where I remember waking up," Kairi added, approaching the dimly lit platform in her turn. Donald and Goofy stared at the two girls, fascinated by their story.
The soft whispers of suspense was suddenly shattered by Sora who suddenly gasped and, slowly pointing to the walls, said, "Alice… Jasmine?"
The rest of the group whirled around and stared fixedly at the wall. Alice and Jasmine were aligned against the wall, along with four other maidens.
"What is this place?" Sora whispered quietly, still looking around.
"Sora! Look!" Akyra yelled, pointing a gloved finger above one of the unknown maiden's head. A massive, brightly coloured Keyhole decorated the wall's rocky surface. Only this Keyhole was different. It was a lot bigger than any other Keyhole Sora had locked and little slits of electric static sometimes flashed around the metal contour. Sora bravely raised his Keyblade and waited for it to do its job. But nothing happened.
"I don't get it! Why isn't it locking?" Sora asked, a twinge of horror in his voice.
"It's no use," said a cold yet familiar voice. Sora shakily turned his head and caught a glimpse of Riku who was standing underneath the Keyhole.
"What? You... You're not Riku…" Sora stammered.
"You cannot lock this world until the Keyhole is completed. The Keyhole cannot be completed so as long as the last princess' heart still sleeps," Riku said in a shadowy voice.
"That's why you wanted Kairi…" Akyra said, her eyes going wide at this information.
Sora switched his glance from Akyra to Riku once again and muttered, "Kairi…Kairi's a princess?"
"Yes, a Princess of Heart…" Riku corrected, "And without her power the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened!" Sora shot an awkward glance at Akyra and then at Kairi, apparently not fully understanding what Riku meant.
"Kairi has awakened. She's right here, right before your eyes," Sora answered.
"The mere reason why the princess lives and breathes is because we revived her with a substitute heart."
"Then how am I here?" Akyra asked, determined to make this Riku fall.
"You ask the silliest questions. The Key bearer has kindly volunteered to share his heart with you, just so you can live again. But it is now time for your own heart to return to you, Staff wielder. And the princess' heart will finally return to its rightful owner and awaken the true power that lies within!"
"Whoever you are," Sora said bravely, "let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"
"But first, you must give the princess back her heart," he answered coolly. Just then, Sora felt a huge twinge of pain in his heart. He fell to his knees with one hand clutching his heart.
"Sora!" Donald yelled distraughtly.
"Don't you see it yet?" Riku said, his voice becoming more high-pitched, "The Princess's true heart is responding! It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"
"Kairi's inside me?" Sora asked, staring dumbfounded at the villain.
"I know all there is to know…" Riku said more softly this time.
"Tell me…" Sora stuttered, "Who are you?"
"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness!"
Riku whipped out his dark Keyblade and swiftly started to approach Sora. With a shout of anger, Donald darted towards Ansem but was sent flying off the platform, collecting Goofy on his flight and crashing into the other side of the wall. When he tried to get back on the platform, Donald was angrily surprised to find out that yet another barrier was preventing him to do anything. Kairi watched this in horror and scurried to hide behind Akyra, the only fighter who was still standing. With no time to lose, she pointed her Staffblade at Ansem.
"Thund-" was all she could say since Ansem had blown she and Kairi off their feet. They landed behind the invisible barrier where Donald and Goofy watched the scenery in horror. Now, only Ansem and Sora, who was still clutching his heart, were left on the platform. He lifted his Dark Keyblade over his head and gave Sora a menacing smile.
"So, I shall release you now, Princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!" Riku was about to bring his weapon down on Sora until suddenly…
"Sora!" Kairi cried.
The mere sound of her voice awakened something within Sora, gave him power. In a split second, he raised his Keyblade as well and the sound of metal hitting metal told the horrified audience in the sidelines that Sora had just deflected Riku's attack.
"Forget it!" Sora screeched, picking himself up and pushing Riku away, "There is no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"
Kairi whimpered and whirled around, shielding her eyes and ears from the terrifying battle. Goofy patted her on the back and comforted her. Who could blame her? Imagine watching your two best friends engaged in a raging battle between dark and light and the only thing you can do is watch. What's worse is that Riku/Ansem was a formidable opponent; probably one of the worst Sora has ever faced. He swung his Dark Keyblade frantically and hardly ever gave Sora a chance to fight. Finally, Sora hit Riku with a weak fire spell but at least it gave him a chance to take a few swings at him. The battle raged on for countless minutes and the spectators started to grow restless. Why, even Donald refused to watch the battle and went to take a seat beside Kairi. Soon, only Akyra was brave enough to watch. Riku took quite a few hits at Sora and retreated for his own safety. But before he could do so, Sora took two last slashes at him and Riku kneeled to the floor, defeated. He gave Sora one last menacing look before vanishing in a plume of black darkness.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Akyra applauded, running onto the platform once the barrier had dissolved before them. Donald, Goofy and Kairi, all who sported happy looks on their faces, soon joined her.
"I knew you could do it!" Goofy chuckled.
"Thanks, guys, but this is no time to celebrate! We have to lock this Keyhole!"
"How will we do that? The Keyhole's not finished yet!" Akyra yelled.
"Maybe we've got to give Kairi back her rightful heart," Goofy suggested. Sora muttered something inconspicuous and paced the floor, deep in thought until slowing down to a halt in front of Riku's dark Keyblade.
"A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts... I wonder," he whispered as he picked up the dark Keyblade.
"Sora, what are you doing?" Akyra said really quickly with a twinge of panic in her voice.
"Sora! Hold on!" Goofy said as well.
"No, wait!" Donald cried almost instantly. Sora turned to face his friends and with one last smile, he thrust the Keyblade into his heart.
"Sora!" Kairi shrieked, attempting to run towards her friend but was suddenly stopped by Goofy, who was holding her back. Sora glowed with a bright light so blinding that the finest gem couldn't emit such light. The dark Keyblade had dissolved into seven coloured orbs. Six of them floated towards the six maidens against the wall and returned to their rightful owners. The last orb flew towards Kairi and entered her body as well. Still stunned by the moment, Kairi ran towards Sora as fast as she can. But she was too late, and Sora had disappeared into thousands of small, bright orbs. Kairi watched in disarray as the tiny orbs slowly floated to the ceiling and vanished as soon as they touched the stone.
"Sora! Come back, Sora!" Donald yelled, jumping frantically as he tried to catch the rest of the floating orbs.
"What's... What's happening to me? Falling...falling...into darkness."
"Sora, are you really- No. It can't be! I won't let him go!" Kairi screeched, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Behind them, a dark portal had appeared and a tall man with orange eyes and long silver hair, just like Riku's, emerged from the darkness; it was Ansem in his true form.
"So, you have awakened at last, Princess," he said in an insolent tone of voice, "The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it's over." He was about to approach them, but Donald, Akyra and Goofy readied their weapons and pointed them at him menacingly.
"Don't make another move!" Donald threatened.
"Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?" Goofy asked weakly.
"Maybe not," Akyra answered, "But we can still try!" Ansem watched them cynically and stepped forward. Though he didn't make a move, as if something was stopping him from advancing.
"Impossible!" Ansem roared. An image of Riku stood before Ansem, stopping him from moving any more.
"No. You won't use me for this!" Riku cried.
"Riku!" Kairi yelled.
"You've got to run! The Heartless are coming!" he alerted them as an army of shadow Heartless came crawling towards them. Kairi looked at her friend in despair, nodded and followed the rest of them as they ran for their lives.
"What about the Keyhole?" Goofy panted.
"Let's just get out of here!" Donald bellowed as they ran.
Akyra took one last look at the hall before entering the corridor. Ansem and Riku had vanished along with all the other Heartless. She stopped running and slowed to a halt since there was no danger to run away from. All that was left in the room besides herself was a lonesome Shadow Heartless.
"Heartless!" she yelled, raising her weapon high. But the Heartless did something mighty peculiar that made her lower her weapon almost instantly. Instead of taking a chance and attacking her like a normal Heartless would do, this one backed up a few steps and cowered in fear.
"Hey there, little buddy," she murmured, bending down to see it better, "You're not a normal Heartless now are you?" The Shadow Heartless shivered a little and cautiously approached her.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt someone who won't hurt me…" she said, sticking her hand out to show she was harmless. Its bright yellow eyes stared at her for a moment before crawling even closer.
"Why are you like this?" she asked, "Did you change sides?" The idea of that happening sounded silly to her as she patted it on the head. She had never touched a Heartless before and its black, rubbery texture surprised her a bit. Suddenly, another idea occurred to her.
"Were you once alive but then had your heart stolen by Heartless?" she asked. Surprisingly, the Heartless nodded and shook its head at the same time.
Akyra looked at it with a confused expression on her face and replied, "So what you're trying to say is that you were once alive but you are a Heartless now for other reasons and not because the Heartless stole your heart?" It nodded frantically and twitched its antennae a little.
"I can't believe I'm talking to a Heartless," she said in her little, high-pitched sing-song voice.
"Concerning the way you're acting, aren't you afraid that the other Heartless will reject you? Or worse, hurt you?" she asked. The Heartless didn't move.
"I can't let that happen to you… Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you come with me? Of course, Donald wouldn't approve but I'll watch over you. Okay?" she suggested. It twitched one of its antennae and nodded in approval.
"Great!" she said happily as she picked herself up, "Follow me." With that, she strode off towards the corridor, her new little friend crawling and bouncing by her side…
-Me: (sniff) We are gathered here today to grieve the passing of the Sora action figure. The Sora action figure had a very short life. It started at a toy making factory and ended in Akyra's arms. It brought many hours of joy to us and even though its little phrases sometimes offended, we still loved it with all our hearts. It will be sorrowly missed but it will always live on in our memories forever. Unless we go to Castle Oblivion and forget everything, of course...
Akyra: (sniffle) (sob)
Audience: Give me a break...
Sora: Hey, I'm here! Did I miss anything?
Audience: Look, its the real Sora!
Akyra: HE'S MINE!
Me: MINE!
Me/Akyra: (tackle Sora)
Sora: Audience! HELP!
Audience: No way! This is the most action we get all day! (grabs popcorn)-