Sora ran through the doorway to the tower where Xion and Ventus were, just in time to see the bolt of dark magic shoot right through his only daughter.

He froze in horror as he saw her topple over to the ground.

"You…You!" Ventus said as he turned towards Xion who stood angrily with her arm still outstretched from firing the bolt.

She turned angrily towards Ventus.

"You knew they were here! That explains your optimism a moment ago!" Xion growled as she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up close.

"LET HIM GO!!!" Sora shouted as he stood angrily in front of his daughter's limp form.

Xion turned and glared at him curiously.

"What is this? A family reunion?!" She asked.

"Let him go Xion…I'm the one you want!" Sora said as he held his Keyblade out in front of him. Xion froze as she saw the kingdom key. Inside of her, a deep seated hatred started to emerge from within.

"You…you're the one who murdered my father!" She growled as she threw Ventus to the ground.

"If you want revenge on someone…take revenge on me. I'm the one you're after. Don't punish him for what I did against you." Sora said as Xion thought for a moment. Melody in the meantime rushed over to Marina in an effort to try and keep the latter alive.

"Hmm…the father in exchange for the son. An intriguing proposal. Predictably noble of you. But if you insist. We have a deal." Xion said as she snapped her fingers and the chains on Ventus disappeared and reappeared on Sora.

"Run Ventus…and don't look back." Sora said as Ventus glanced at Xion, then at the keyhole, and then at Sora.

"Better idea." He said as he summoned ultima-weapon, taking Sora by surprise. (Cue epic battle music)

"You do have a Keyblade!" Sora exclaimed as Xion started charging another green bolt in her hand behind Ventus. Ventus however predicted it and quickly swung and knocked the bolt from her hand.

"Now it's you and me Xion!" Ventus said as he held Ultima-weapon in his battle pose…which happened to be the same as Sora's.

"You're funeral…boy." Xion spat as she summoned her black and silver version of the Kingdom Key. Instantly she hurled a blast of the green lightning which Ventus promptly deflected towards Sora who held his cuffed right arm in the path of, knocking the cuff off his wrist.

Xion paid no attention to this and continued her assault. Melody in the meantime was frantically trying to get Marina to wake up.

"Come on Marina! You can fight this!" Melody pleaded as Marina's eyes fluttered slightly and cracked open slightly.

"Mel…" she said weakly as she summoned Diamond Dust into her hand opposite Melody, "…free…dad."

Marina then convulsed as Melody quickly grabbed the Keyblade. Sora turned mournfully as he saw Marina draw her last breath. His mind raced as he flashed back to every memory he had of her, everything since her birth.

"No parent should outlive their own child." He said absently as Melody held Diamond Dust in her hands and approached Sora.

"I thought you never gave up." Melody said as he looked at her confused, "I always heard that you were fearless and brave. A little naïve at times but you were always willing to stick up for your friends."

"I was…now I don't know anymore." Sora said as he glanced at his daughter's lifeless body.

"You said yourself just now that no parent should outlive their children…well you can prevent it from happening again." Melody said as she froze the chains and cuffs around Sora's arms, legs, and neck. The chains shattered and fell to the floor.

Sora realized she was right. He summoned his Keyblade and looked down to the balcony where Xion and Ventus had jumped to and were currently battling it out.

"You're right." He said as he held his Keyblade vertical in front of him, "This is for you Marina."

He then leapt off the edge and landed on the balcony just as Xion reared her Keyblade back to try and run the younger through. Sora fired a Firaga blast at her which caught her off guard.

"AUGH!" she groaned as she turned her attention towards the master Keybearer. He expertly parried her first few blows and knocked her away as Ventus leapt to his feet and stood next to his father in the exact same battle pose.

"Nice timing." Ventus said as Sora glared at Xion. Inside she knew she was outmatched. Sora was unrivaled in his Keyblade skills. Not even Riku, Roxas, the Knights, or even Xehanort could hold a candle to his skills. But she did have one ace in the hole.

"So it's come down to this…two against a poor defenseless girl, oh what am I to do?" she asked dramatically yet sarcastically as the two Keybearers knew what she was planning.

"Oh I know…" she said as she dismissed her Keyblade and held her hands at her sides as they started to glow a dark green and the Omega symbol arced between them over her head, "…I'll end this once and for ALL!!!"

In the skies overhead, the clouds started swirling over the castle with bolts of lightning arcing from them.

"From the deepest depths of the underworld, from the oceans of death and the seas of decay I summon you forth oh creature of darkness! Awaken and come to your master! OMEGA I SUMMON THEE!!!" Xion called out as a humongous blast of dark clouds ruptured forth from the pedestal where Melody guarded Marina's body.

All across the battlefield, everyone including the heartless paused. The Army of Light looked on in horror as they saw the massive cloud grow to twice the size of the castle. With large sweeping and glowing green wings, four long snake like legs, a torso with the symbol of Omega on its chest, and green fire glowing from its eyes, nostrils, and mouth, stood the massive superweapon of darkness. Omega had awakened.

Ventus quickly started shifting his gaze around on the massive beast's humongous hulk until he finally saw it sitting on the front of the creature's chest.

The Keyhole…the weapon's one weakness.

"Behold. Omega!" Xion said with glee as she leapt up and landed on the beast's shoulder.

"Any bright ideas?" Sora asked worriedly as Ventus smirked.

"I do have one actually…but I'm going to need a boost." Ventus said as Sora put his arm around him and together they leapt into the sky and towards the monstrous weapon.

They suddenly found themselves dodging large green fireballs being shot out from the creature's mouth at Xion's urging.

"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!!!" She shouted fanatically.

Suddenly Sora saw one he wouldn't be able to dodge.

"Hang on son!" He shouted as he quickly shoved Ventus away just in time for him to block the fireball, but the force from the blast knocked him away and towards the ground. Ventus was in a free fall and the ground was coming up fast.

"Oh this can't be good!" He shouted as he closed his eyes. He then felt something grab him and start carrying him back into the sky. He opened his eyes and saw a hideous black and red robed beast like thing.

"It's time to end it Ventus." A deep and gruff voice said to him. It was Vincent Valentine in Chaos form.

"Let's do it!!!" Ventus shouted as Vincent fired his enhanced gun at the fireballs, causing them to explode in midair before they could hit either of them. Sora in the meantime landed safely on the ledge with Melody.

"Time to get you down from here!" he said as he picked up Marina's body and Melody leapt onto his back.

"Hang on!" he shouted as he leapt off the ledge and used his powers to fly them towards the ground.

Vincent and Ventus both rocketed up towards Omega's chest. Xion saw them approaching.

"Apparently if you want something done right…you have to do it YOURSELF!!!" she screeched as she leapt down towards the keyhole and landed on a large round balcony where Vincent released Ventus where the younger landed safely on the same balcony. Xion stood between him and the Keyhole.

"Whatever you're planning…it's too late!" She growled as her Keyblade reappeared in her hand.

"I pity you. You don't understand what you've unleashed." Ventus said as Xion glared angrily at him.

"Oh I have a pretty good idea." She said as she raised her Keyblade and the two came together in one final dramatic battle.

Xion gave a fierce swing as Ventus ducked and blocked a second attack. Then he shoved her back slightly as she came charging angrily towards him and swung again where he blocked but got his Keyblade knocked to the ground. She quickly rammed her Keyblade through the ground between the hilt and the hand guard of the Ultima Weapon, pinning it.

She put her boot down atop the blade of the weapon as she pulled hers from the ground and aimed it at Ventus who backed up slightly.

"Say goodbye Venny!" she growled as she reared back her Keyblade but she suddenly felt someone pull her arm back from behind just as she was about to run him through. She turned to see a beautiful blond haired woman in ceremonial armor.

It was Minerva herself!

"I thought you weren't allowed to interfere!" Xion growled.

"I'm not interfering…just distracting." Minerva said with a smug smile as Xion turned back just in time for Ultima-weapon to return to Ventus's hand. He quickly aimed the Keyblade at the keyhole and the blue beam from before reconnected the two. Ultima Weapon turned so that the tooth was upwards to the right like before.

"Get away from there!!!" Xion growled as she lunged forward. But before she could strike, he quickly turned the Keyblade clockwise with the tooth now facing upwards to the left.

Suddenly Xion found herself yanked higher into the air and hit hard against Omega's large bulk.

"What is this?!" she shrieked as she found that she was unable to pull herself free from Omega's bulk. She then saw something she never expected. Across the battlefield the heartless and Unbirth cultists were suddenly pulled up in clouds of smoke and pulled up against the massive bulk of the weapon.

"I figured it out!" Ventus said with a huge smile. "Omega wasn't a mistake! It was the most brilliant plan the Cetra ever came up with!"

"WHAT?!" Xion asked in a confused rage as she started trying to pry herself free.

"Omega was intended to look like the weapon of ultimate darkness…instead of being pure darkness…it is instead only a shell of darkness over a core of one hundred percent pure…" Ventus said as massive beams of light burst forth from the machine.

"LIGHT!?!?" Xion screamed in horror as the beams of light started closing in on her.

"That's right! You've just fallen into the biggest trap of all time!!!" Ventus exclaimed as Xion started becoming cloudy and gritted her clinched her teeth together in rage as she slowly disappeared.

"You haven't seen the last of me Ventus! MARK MY WORDS!!! I WILL RETURN!!!" she screamed in rage as she vanished into the light.

"I think we have just seen the last of you Xion." Ventus said with an emotionless stair as he grabbed his now disconnected Keyblade.

On the ground the army of light stood in absolute dumbstruck awe of the massive superweapon of light.

"I don't believe it…the little guy actually did it!" Iago said in disbelief.

"That he did." Kairi said with a smile on her face. Suddenly Omega let out a loud roar and exploded in a blinding burst of light that could be seen for light-years around.

Kairi gazed in horror of the blast, she feared Ventus didn't escape in time.

"Ventus." She said breathlessly as the light faded and the skies cleared. The sun once again shined brightly overhead.

There was a long and silent pause as everyone took in what they had just seen. Finally one by one, the people started to realize what had just happened.

"We did it…" Mune said absently, "…we won…its over."

Then it finally sank in.

"WE'VE! WON!!!" he shouted as the people erupted into cheers and singing of celebration.

Everyone was celebrating except for the knights, Riku, Fuu, Roxas, Namine, their kids, and most of all Kairi.

"Where's Sora? Ventus? Marina? Where are they?!" she asked frantically as they looked around.

"Kairi." Vincent's gruff voice said from behind her as she whirled around to face him. He had a saddened look on his face.

"No…don't tell me…" Kairi said fearfully.

"Perhaps…you should follow me." Vincent said as she and the others followed him into the now ruined castle.


End Chapter 44.

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