Chapter 38 Hope never dies
Everything was quiet after Sora sacrificed himself. For a single solitary moment the world was completely devoid of sound while Sora's friends stared up at the air where Sora had vanished. But like all moments, this one was brief. The moment of silence was broken when a dark portal opened and from came a man with Tanned skin, Yellow eyes, and silver hair that smoothed back and spiked at the sides and top of his head and reached down to his upper back. He wore a black high collared leather coat with a red interior and yellow lining, a white thigh length vest, two belts along his waist, wide brimmed white gloves with three buttons lining the fore arms and black pants that were tucked into his knee high black boots. The coat and vest were unbuttoned exposing his muscular chest and a brooch shaped like the heartless emblem. "So, you've awakened at last, princess. The keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it's over." He said. "That voice… are you Ansem?" Kirito asked. "Perceptive of you, young man." Ansem replied. "Ah, and I see that boy's final act was to bequeath his keyblade to you." Ansem remarked. "His name is Sora! And he's not gone, he's just… lost somewhere that's all!" Kairi said. "You poor fools."
Ansem mocked as he walked towards us. However, he only took two steps before his arm began shaking and his progress halted. "Impossible." Ansem gasped. "No. You won't use me for this!" Riku spoke as his body rematerialized in front of him. His ethereal body glowed with golden light and he had his arms spread wide to keep Ansem at bay. "Riku!" Kairi called. "You've got to run. The heartless are coming!" Riku warned. And just as he said, shadow heartless sprouted out of the ground surrounding us. Kirito and the other's readied their weapons for combat. "Do you think we can take them?" Asuna asked while standing at Kirito's back. "Loathe as I am to admit it, Riku's right. We can't fight the heartless and Ansem while protecting Kairi." Kirito responded. "You're right. We can't let Sora's sacrifice be in vain. Everyone retreat!" Asuna ordered. With Kairi in tow, Kirito and the others fled the machine room. "What about the keyhole?" Goofy asked. "Let's just get out of here!" Donald shouted. Little did they know, a single shadow heartless watched as they left. The heartless didn't disappear into the shadows like its brethren, nor did it follow Ansem into the newly completed portal. Instead the little imp like creature followed Kirito and friends on foot.
Kirito and company ran until they reached the castle foyer. Donald, Goofy, Strea, Yuuki, and Asuna waited in front of the fountain. We were about to return to the gummi ship, but Kairi insisted on not leaving without Sora and Riku. "I won't leave without them." Kairi said stubbornly. "Riku's doing what he can to hold back Ansem. And Sora is…" Kirito trailed off before shaking his head. "I know it's hard. But right now retreat is our only option. Sora made a difficult choice. And I know if he were here now, he'd want to protect you. So that's what I'll do. I'll use this keyblade he gave me to keep you safe. Because that's what he'd want." Kirito Said. "Okay… but only if you promise that we'll come back for them later." Kairi said while holding out her hand. "Deal." Kirito responded and shook her hand. The two of them walked down the stairs to rejoin the others when the shadow heartless tailing them leapt on top of the fountain. The heartless jumped down to the ground and walked towards us. Strangely enough, it didn't attack us. It acted more like a lost puppy than anything else. Of course that didn't stop Donald from whacking on the head with his staff. "Confounded heartless! Get lost will ya?" Donald ordered. The heartless tried walking towards Kairi, but its path was blocked by Kirito pointing the keyblade at it. "Sorry. You just picked the wrong time to come here." Kirito said. Kirito raised the keyblade to strike the heartless down, but he was stopped when Kairi grabbed his arm preventing its movement. "Wait." Kairi asked. "Why? It's just another heartless." Donald said. "But it is acting kinda weird don't'cha think?" Goofy asked. "Yeah. It hasn't attacked us or tried to run away yet." Asuna said. "It's like it wants to be here." Yuuki said. "Exactly. This shadow… I believe that Sora is this heartless." Kairi said.
"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed. "No way. Sora can't have become a heartless. It's just… it's just too cruel!" Asuna cried. "Well… an ordinary heartless would've attacked us by now. I think that's the only reasonable explanation here." Kirito said. Before any further debate could be had more shadow heartless appeared and surrounded us. The heartless believed to be Sora hid behind Kairi while the rest of us formed a perimeter around them. "This time I'll protect you." Kairi said to the diminutive heartless. Kirito and the others fought off the first wave of shadows, but while they did that, a second wave of heartless slipped passed them and surrounded Kairi. Kairi turned her back to them and Shielded Sora's Heartless from the oncoming assault. The shadows dogpiled the two of them and created a dark portal on the floor in an effort to drag them into the darkness. "Sora!" Kairi shouted. A bright light shot out from the darkness and the heartless were repelled from them. Kairi's eyes were closed when the heartless attacked, but then she felt two hands wrapped around her in a warm embrace. And her head was clearly resting against someone's chest. "Kairi. Thank you." Sora said. "Sora." Kairi said happily. "Sora!" Donald and goofy exclaimed. "Sora…" Kirito said vehemently while walking toward him. "*gulp* Umm, hey Kirito. What's umm what's shaking?" Sora said nervously. Kirito looked mad. Really mad. As he stepped closer and closer, Sora closed his eyes and prepared for the imminent pounding he was about to receive, but nothing happened. When Sora opened his eyes again he saw that Kirito was holding the keyblade so that Sora could grab it by the handle. "Just take it back before I clobber you with it." Kirito said. "You'd better do what he says Sora. I think he means it." Kairi said. "R-right." Sora said, while reclaiming the keyblade.
Our reunion with Sora was short-lived when more of the shadow heartless appeared to attack us. We were about to fight them off until the beast roared and scared them off. "Go, now!" the beast said. "Come with us." Spra pleaded. "I told you before, I'm not leaving without Belle. Now, go! The heartless are coming." The beast warned. "Alright. Let's get out of here." Sora said. And so we ran out of the castle and back to the gummi ships. "Yui, set the coordinates for Traverse Towne. We're leaving." Kirito ordered. "Aye-aye captain." Yui responded. The young girl did exactly as her father instructed. The wormhole opened in front of their ship, and they had warped to their destination instantly. When we returned to Traverse Towne, we went to the third district to speak with Leon and explain our current predicament. "So the heartless are pouring out of the keyhole." Leon said. "That explains the increase in heartless roaming around the districts. The only way to stop them is- -" Aerith said before being interrupted by Sora who held out the keyblade "Seal the keyhole right?" Sora finished. "Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed." Leon said. "Well we can't just stay here. We have to do something. I've got a friend back there." Sora said. "The beast and the princesses are there to. We still haven't returned them to their homes." Kirito said.
"That's right. More friends for you all to worry about. Riku's keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts. Just like that keyhole you saw. Of course without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should've been freed. Don't worry Sora. If anyone can save your friends heart, you can." Leon said. "Alright. Guess that means its back to hollow bastion." Asuna said. "Not just yet sweet pea." Cid said. "Sweet pea?" Asuna parroted. "Sexist! Sexist!" Yuffie berated. "Aw, shut your yap!" Cid retorted. "Anyway, with all the heartless comin' out you won't be able to get there the same way you did before. Lucky for you guys, I stowed away the nav gummi I used to escape hollow bastion ten years ago. Should get ya there no problem." Cid explained. "Where is it?" Sora asked "the mural in the waterway under Merlin's house. Get it for me and I'll install it right away." Cid said. "Alright. Sora, how about you take Kairi with you to get the gummi, and we'll head to the accessory shop to catch up with Agil and the girls." Asuna suggested. "Sounds good. Okay sora let's go –wak!" Donald said before being dragged away by Asuna, "Oh no. You and Goofy are coming with us." Asuna said "What for?!" Donald said irritated. "You really are dense if I have to explain it." Asuna said. "Have fun you two A-hyuck." Goofy chuckled. As they all left sans Sora and Kairi.
The night went on with Sora and Kairi heading towards Merlin's house. Alone. The two of them were wandering the third district while Sora was trying to figure out how to start a conversation with the young red head. Fortunately Kairi decided to make the first move by asking about his new friends. "Well there's Donald. He's a wizard, and a total hothead. And there's Also Goofy. He's a Knight, and kinda clumsy. The two of them work for this king who told them to find the key bearer. And that's me." Sora explained. "Wow, look at you Mr. important guy." Kairi giggled. "So what about Kirito and those girls. Do they work for this king to?" Kairi asked. Sora shook his head "Uh-uh. Their world disappeared just like ours did. They've been travelling with us looking for a way back. Kirito's the leader of the group. He's super smart and good with computers." Sora said. "So the opposite of you." Kairi joked. "Heeeey! Anyway… the girls are all really nice. Asuna cooks all our food. She's also in a relationship with Kirito. And they have kids." Sora said "Get out!" Kairi replied. "I'm serious. Yui is just the sweetest little girl. And Strea's bear hugs are tight enough to split a log!" Sora said. "And the other girl?" Kairi asked. "That's Yuuki. She's strong. In more ways than one." Sora said. "What makes you say that?" Kairi asked. "You should ask her yourself. Trust me, I think you would be good friends." Sora said. "Okay." Kairi replied.
The mural in the water way had changed. Where once was a moon and stars there was now the sun. Sora walked up to the mural and it began to glow. An orb of light sprouted from it and floated to Sora's outstretched hand. The light faded and a nav gummi rested firmly in Sora's palm. Then the sun faded and the moon and stars returned. "A light at the end of the tunnel…" Kairi said. "Oh, your grandma's story right?" Sora said. "That's right. We were together." Kairi responded. "You know what's funny. I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along. Finally, we're together Kairi. And now, it's time to get Riku back." Sora said. "Do you think it'll ever be the same between the three of us? Riku's lost his…" Kairi asked. "When I turned into a heartless, you saved me, remember? I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. I started forgetting things. My friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me. But then I heard a voice. Your voice. You brought me back." Sora said. "I didn't want to just forget about you Sora. I couldn't." she replied. Then Sora had an epiphany. "That's it!" Sora exclaimed. Then he place his hand on his chest. "Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale." Sora said. "Well, let's go." Kairi said. "You can't go." Sora replied. "Why not?" Kairi asked. "It's way too dangerous." Sora answered. "Come on Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone." Kairi responded. "Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?" Sora said. "I can't help?" Kairi asked. "You'd kind of be in my way." Sora said. "Okay. You win." Kairi relented. Then she took Sora's hand and placed something in it. The charm was made from five pink and yellow Thalassa shells held together in the shape of a star. And on the top shell Sora's face was painted on it. "It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me." Kairi said while placing her hands on her hips. "Don't worry, I will." Sora said. "Promise?" Kairi asked. "Promise." Sora responded. "Don't ever forget. Where ever you go, I'm always with you." Kairi said.