AUTHOR'S NOTE #1:
I've changed my mind and decided that this story is going to get finished this week, because two of the upcoming chapters are pretty short and the final chapter is SUPER long. With only four chapters left (OMGOODNESS), posting will be everyday this week except Wednesday. These upcoming chapters are the final battle and the end! Are you excited?! BECAUSE I AM! Enjoy!
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO
We stepped through the door and walked through the Dark City that laid before us. We looked up and saw a colossal Nobody dragon attached to the top of Memory's Skyscraper.
"So... it seems your hearts have led you to obliteration. Perhaps it doesn't pay to be too loyal to one's heart." Xemnas said. "I will have to be sure to remember that."
Xemnas stretched his hand out and pointed his finger at us, and a large building fell down, threatening to crush us. We ran back to the door. As the building smashed to the ground, the impact shoved us down. The door began to close as Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy had fallen on the other side.
"No!" Riku cried, as if his voice could halt the door, but it closed. Riku, Sora, and I stood up and turned back around, facing the city.
"We can take him on our own!" Sora said.
We summoned our Keyblades and ran forward. Buildings popped up in front of us, but Sora and I zipped forward, slashing through the buildings with lightning motions. We landed as the buildings crumbled to pieces and continued on. The dragon Nobody lifted its arms and the ground beneath us rumbled. It was lifted up into the air. As we ran, more buildings appeared and fell down. We jumped into the air and sliced through them. Sora and I ran over the sides of falling buildings and leaped to the next ones, slashing and destroying them. As the scattered pieces fell, we jumped along the sides and jumped into one of the castle's craters. Heartless appeared and we shoved them into the core at the end of the crater, incinerating them.
"It's gonna blow!" Sora cried after sending enough Heartless into the crater.
We ran to the side and jumped up onto a beam as the core exploded and broke off into the darkness. We jumped and flew to the other crater, sending Heartless into that core. We jumped up onto another beam and rocketed to the top as that energy core exploded and broke off. We arrived in a white room with a large energy core branded with the Nobody symbol. We attacked the core. Nobodies appeared periodically and a barrier would come up around the energy core, so we had to defeat the Nobodies in order to unlock it.
The energy core stopped and we were taken to the top. Xemnas sat in a throne wearing white Keyblade Armor. He used weapons of other Organization members to attack us: Demyx's water forms, Xaldin's spears, and Saix's berserker axes being a few examples. Sora and I lunged and plunged our Keyblades into the armor's chest plate. Xemnas let out a cry and we were bathed in light.
We returned to Altar's Naught. Xemnas, clutching his chest, fell down on one knee.
"I need... more rage..." he said. "I need more... hearts..."
"Xemnas. There's more to a heart than just anger or hate. It's full of all kinds of feelings." Sora said. "Don't you remember?"
"Unfortunately... I don't."
Xemnas faded away. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi cheered.
"Gosh, you all did great!" Mickey said.
As the cheering continued, Riku walked away to the end of the railing.
"You're coming back with us, right?" Sora said.
"I had given into darkness." Riku said.
"Riku!"
"How am I going to face everyone?!"
"Like this!"
Sora made a silly face, smushing his face together and crossing his eyes. Riku let out a chuckle, which bubbled into a laugh.
Suddenly, the ground rumbled violently.
"Hurry!" Mickey cried.
"I'll open a path." Riku said.
He held out his hand, but nothing happened.
"You don't belong in the dark realm anymore, Riku." Mickey said.
"How do we get out of here, Your Majesty?" Donald said.
We turned around and I saw Naminé standing on the other side of the altar. She turned around and stretched out her hand, summoning a corridor of darkness. Mickey and Donald ran over to the corridor, and Naminé disappeared when they stood where she did.
"Who did this?" Donald said.
"Welp, I'm not sure." Mickey said. "But we'd better hurry and get through."
"Huh? You... didn't see her?" I said.
"Who?"
"Nami... um... never mind." I felt a gentle nudge, and I glanced at Sora and Kairi. They nodded, agreeing that they saw her as well.
Pluto, Mickey's dog, ran over and circled around Mickey and Donald, barking and panting excitedly. He ran into the corridor.
"Wait for me!" Goofy cried.
Goofy ran into the corridor. Mickey ran through after them.
"C'mon!" Donald squawked before following his friends.
Naminé reappeared in front of the corridor of darkness. Sora, Kairi, and I approached her.
"Thank you, Naminé." Kairi said.
"Sure." Naminé said. She turned to Sora. "See? We meet again, like we promised."
"Huh?" Sora said.
"You said we'd meet again, but when we did, we might not recognize each other." a voice said.
Sora looked around, confused. Roxas appeared and stepped out of him. Sora jumped back in surprise.
"I did, didn't I?" Naminé said.
"But I knew you." Roxas said.
"Mmm... it's strange."
"I think I understand. I see myself the way you remember me. And you see yourself the way I remember you."
"I always thought Nobodies were doomed to fade back into darkness..."
"Yeah, but you and I didn't. We got to meet our original selves."
"So, we can be together again!"
Roxas stepped back to Naminé's side.
"Right. Anytime Sora and Kairi are together." Roxas said.
"The same goes for me as well." a voice that send a shock of frisson through my body said.
Callum stepped out of me and stood next to Naminé and Roxas. Roxas patted his hand against Callum's shoulder and smiled.
"It's been a while." he said. "Did you have fun?"
Callum chuckled. "I've got a thousand stories to tell you."
"Callum..." I said.
"I told you that things would work out in the end." Naminé said. "Life has a funny way of happening in ways you didn't expect."
I nodded. Kairi took a step towards Naminé and held her hand out. Naminé took it and she began to shimmer gold. She disappeared and Kairi shimmered for a few seconds. Sora looked at her in shock.
"Look sharp!" Roxas said. Sora straightened.
Roxas glowed blue. He disappeared and Sora shimmered. He gasped and frantically patted his clothing to ensure he didn't go through some freakish metamorphosis. Callum stepped to me. He reached out and placed his hand on my cheek.
"Don't ever forget." Callum said. "Wherever you go, I'm always with you."
I nodded, reaching up to place my hand over his. Callum shimmered purple. He disappeared and I glowed for a few moments. His touch was gone, replaced with mine as I cupped my cheek.
"Hey, let's go!" Kairi said, standing at the portal.
"Riku, Hallie, c'mon." Sora said, looking to us when he said our names, then at the portal.
"Yeah." Riku and I said.
We walked towards the portal. Suddenly, it began to rumble. Kairi whirled around.
"Sora! Hallie! Riku!" she cried.
She reached out a hand to us, but the portal disappeared.
"Huh?!" we all said.
There was a flash of light. We ran to the railing and looked in the distance. A massive Dragon Ship zoomed towards us. It body slammed the altar, and we clung to the ground to avoid being thrown off. The dragon let out a roar. The Altar began to crumble. It tilted sideways and we began to slide off. As we slid, I saw a small Nobody ship with two platforms. Riku stood up, ran down, and jumped into the ship. He flew the ship around.
"Sora! Hallie!" Riku called.
We stood up, ran down the altar, and jumped onto the platforms. As we flew, the Dragon Ship soared past us. We summoned our Keyblades.
The Dragon Ship summoned Heartless after us. They shot lasers at us, but we absorbed them into our ship and shot them back at the Dragon. When there was enough energy, we shot a mega-laser at the Dragon. One of its rockets exploded and disappeared. We flew over to the side and repeated the process, destroying the other rocket as well. Riku flew the ship around to the front of the Dragon. It roared and shot blue lasers after us. After the lasers, it sent heat-seeking missiles at us, but Sora and I blocked them and sent them exploding in another direction. We flew to its wings and destroyed them one by one.
We watched the Dragon Ship plunge into darkness.
"Now... is it over?" I said.
I was very much wrong. The Dragon emerged once again, its upper body peeking through the darkness. It roared, and darkness spread in the air. When it dispersed, we were in a large, purple void, the Dragon's upper body sticking out of the end opposite from us. Riku drove the ship over to the head and we jumped off, where another Keyblade Armored Xemnas sat in his throne. As we stared him down, we heard the sound of revving engines. We turned to see our ship carried away in the swirling vortex of darkness churning above us.
"There goes our ride..." I said, turning back to Xemnas.
We summoned our Keyblades.
"Hey, Riku?" Sora said.
"Yeah?" Riku said.
"I wanted to thank Naminé, but... I couldn't bring myself to say it, not until everything was back to the way it was before."
"Don't worry. We'll make it right." I said. "When this is over, you'll be able to properly thank her."
"Yeah!"
We charged and attacked. As we attacked, we were suddenly knocked back by force all the way to the other end of the void. Sora grabbed my hand and we soared through the air back to the Dragon Ship. It used its arms to create an impenetrable shield. Portals of darkness opened and buildings hurtled towards us.
"Sora! Hallie!" Riku called for our attention.
He hopped onto a building. Sora and I took our Keyblades and slammed them into the building. Riku and the building shot forward and crashed into the Dragon. As the building bounced back, Riku slashed at it with his Keyblade and it broke into pieces. The pieces once again slammed into the Dragon. It writhed in the air, allowing us to return to the head. Xemnas let out a roar and lasers appeared. Sora and I spun through the air, dodging the lasers, and glided back to the Dragon's head, where we attacked Xemnas once again.
Xemnas let out an agonizing roar. The area was bathed in light. The light subsided and we now stood in a swirling corridor of white and gray. Xemnas's black coat was now white and covered with intricate black designs.
"Heroes from the realm of light... I will not allow it to end this way- not yet." Xemnas said. "If light and darkness are eternal, then surely we nothings must be the same... Eternal!"
"You're right, light and darkness are eternal. Nothing probably goes on forever, too." Riku said. "But guess what, Xemnas?"
"That doesn't mean YOU'RE eternal!" Sora said.
Xemnas laughed.
"No more eternal than that radiance of yours..."
"This ends now." I said. We summoned our Keyblades. "Your reign of tyranny is over... Xehanort."
Xemnas' hands sparked with electricity. He zipped forward, grabbed Sora and Riku by the throat, and threw them up into the air. He summoned his Ethereal Blades and flew up into the air. I jumped up and blocked his attack. Streams of darkness wove in and out around us, and we swirled through the air, dodging the darkness and Xemnas as he disappeared and reappeared in various places, trying to attack us. Sora cast Reflega, but Xemnas broke through. He knocked his Keyblade out of his hand and roundhouse kicked him away. As Sora fell through the air, Riku grabbed his Keyblade and threw it back to him. As Xemnas closed in on Sora, he grabbed his Keyblade and blocked the Blade. Riku blocked the other Blade. As Xemnas knocked the two boys away with a spinning slash, I shoved him to the ground, where we all attacked him. Xemnas disappeared and reappeared in various places, summoning Ethereal lasers. As they shot towards us, we deflected them with our Keyblades. Sora charged forward and attacked, but Xemnas shot his arms out and trapped Sora inside a ball of dark electricity that drained his energy away. Riku and I ran forward, but Xemnas shoved his feet into our chests and knocked us back. I landed on the ground in a backhand spring and looked up as Sora continued to be drained.
"Sora!" I cried.
I brought my fist up and slammed it into my pauldron's orb. There was a flash of light and I donned my Keyblade Armor. Riku ran forward, knocking away the Xemnas clone that approached him. Riku jumped up and caught Xemnas' fist with his. The dark energy disappeared around Sora and he fell to the ground. I sprinted to him and lunged. I caught Sora and we tumbled to the ground. We caught our breath as we laid side by side.
"You all right?" I said.
Sora gazed at me, his eyes refocusing. "Yeah. Thanks."
We jumped up and called our Keyblades back to our side. Riku knocked his Keyblade into Xemnas a few times before hurling him up into the air. He landed at our side. As Xemnas floated there in the air in a daze, we attacked. Xemnas recollected himself and disappeared momentarily. When he reappeared, his hands glowed with dark electric energy. He brought his hands together and lifted them up into the air. The room was shrouded in darkness. We were covered by a dome of Ethereal lasers. Xemnas sparked with electricity and thrust his arms towards us.
"Now!" I cried.
As Ethereal lasers rained down on us, Sora, Riku, and I deflected them in a blinding fury. Deflecting and flipping and slashing around, the lasers bounced away into the darkness, never to return. The area filled with light and we collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Xemnas lunged and swung his foot into Riku, knocking him back.
"Riku!" Sora cried.
Xemnas's eyes fell on Sora. I jumped up to attack, but he reached out and seized my throat in his hand. I wheezed, but no air entered my lungs as he squeezed my throat tightly.
"Hallie!" Sora's voice felt fuzzy in my ears. Xemnas whipped around and hurled me away. I grunted in pain each time my body hit the ground, a number of which I lost count quickly. In a flash, my Keyblade Armor vanished and I gasped for air in a struggling effort to fight off unconsciousness.
My friends... lend me strength.
The pain in my body dulled to nothing as inspired adrenaline pumped into my veins. I hoisted myself up to my feet and summoned Ultima Weapon back to my side. Suddenly, it began to glow brightly. My weapon's length grew at least a foot. The light faded in an ombre effect, starting from the handle to the tip, slowly revealing the finished product: two Kingdom Keys crossed together in an X with the teeth facing outward, a large, sharp, golden blade placed between them. The entirety of the weapon- the blade, filigree, and the blades of the Kingdom Keys- gleamed with power. The keychain was a black and red heart, similar to the Heartless symbol, with two Kingdom Keys crossed over it. I held the weapon up and I stared at it in intense awe.
What... is this thing?
Remembering the dire situation my friends and I were in, I snapped back and charged towards Xemnas. Sora turned to Xemnas, who pointed his Ethereal Blade at him. As he lifted his arm to swing, Riku lunged and blocked Xemnas' attack. Riku shoved Sora away as Xemnas came back around with another attack, this time slamming his Ethereal Blade into Riku's side.
"Riku!" I cried, stopping in my place from shock.
Sora reacted immediately. He snatched A Way to Dawn out of Riku's hand, and he launched towards Xemnas, dealing quick combos at him. As Xemnas fell in the air, Sora jumped up again and slammed the Keyblades into Xemnas. Riku, Sora, and I stood together, respectively. Sora offered Kingdom Key to us. I reached out and placed my hand over Sora's. Riku reached out and placed his hand over mine. Light collected at the tip, and a beam shot out and struck Xemnas.
"It's over!" I cried.
I lunged forward and plunged the mysterious weapon into Xemnas's chest. He let out an agonizing cry, one hand reaching out and the other clutching his chest, as he faded away. As the relieving silence settled in, light surrounded the mysterious weapon in my hand. It shrunk in size, and when the light subsided, Ultima Weapon reappeared. I reached up and touched my charm self-consciously.
"We did it!" Sora cried.
Sora quickly regretted his cheer. A sea of Dusks surrounded us.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Riku said.
The Dusks lunged. There was a bright flash of light. When it subsided, the Dusks disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Riku collapsed onto his hands and knees.
"Riku!" Sora and I cried, kneeling on either side of him.
"Sora... Hallie..." Riku said. "I can't..."
"Don't say another word!" Sora said. "It's not over. It's just not."
Sora slung Riku's arm around his shoulders and held his at Riku's waist. He helped him up.
"How can you say that?" Riku said. "Even if we could go on... look where we are."
"Aw, c'mon, Riku." Sora said. "You've been hanging out in darkness too long. You gotta try and think positive!"
"Yeah." I said. "Wherever there is hope, the light will always be able to find us."
The two boys nodded thoughtfully. We slowly walked together through the corridor.
"You know..." Riku said to Sora. "I always figured I was better at stuff than you."
"Really?" Sora chuckled.
"Are you mad?"
"No... I kinda always thought you were better at everything, too."
I laughed. The sound echoed through the corridor and it took a while for it to fade away.
"Riku, Hallie- look." Sora said. "What's that light?"
We followed his line of sight as a portal of light appeared in front of us. We walked into the light.
I stepped onto the sandy shore of a dark ocean.
"End of the road..." I said. "Wait..."
I looked around me. Sora and Riku were gone.
"Oh, no..." I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Riku! Sora!"
No answer. My voice was drowned out by the waves crashing against the sand. I clenched my fists and stared at the ground.
"Is this... the Realm of Darkness?" I said. I huffed and shook my head. "No, I won't give up. I have to keep going."
I took a deep breath and walked along the shores of the Dark Margin. I walked for what felt like hours. With each step I took, I grew more and more hopeless. I closed my eyes and bowed my head.
"Maybe Ahllixe was right... Maybe this is where I belong..." I said. "I should very well just... fade into darkness..."
I looked up and I gasped. There in the distance, someone sat at the shoreline, gazing out into the black sea.
A woman.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sora, Riku, and Hallie defeat Xemnas and return to the Altar of Naught. There, Naminé, seen only by Sora, Kairi, and Hallie, summons a corridor of darkness that leads to their home, Destiny Islands. Roxas and Callum appear as well, and the two friends are reunited. With a promise that they'd be able to be together as long as Hallie, Kairi, and Sora are together, the three Nobodies return to their Somebodies. After Kairi enters the corridor of darkness, it abruptly closes, leaving Riku, Hallie, and Sora on the Altar. Foolishly thinking they had defeated Xemnas, they learn that it was just the beginning as the final battle officially begins. After fighting against a Dragon Nobody and Armored Xemnas Part 2, the three are transported to the heart of the Organization's Kingdom Hearts, where they confront Xemnas for the final final battle. As the odds begin to go against them, Hallie calls upon the strength of her friends to finish this deed. Her Keyblade, Ultima Weapon, transforms into a mysterious weapon, which she uses to defeat Xemnas. The Organization and Nobodies are finished for good. Riku collapses after the battle, injured from taking a hit meant for Sora. Determined to keep going, the three stumble upon a portal of light. The light sweeps Hallie away to the Dark Margin, but she has been separated from Sora and Riku. As she begins to lose hope, she sees a woman in the distance, sitting on the shores of the Dark Margin.
What was the mysterious weapon that came to Hallie aid? Who is the woman that's with Hallie on the Dark Margin? Could it be who you think it is?
Stay tuned and thanks for reading! Remember to review!
