Chapter 52: Victory or Oblivion

A/N: We're almost at the end. Only two more chapters and then the epilogue. I hope you're all excited for it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own my oc's.

Enjoy!

/

The four keyblade masters stood proudly in front of Kingdom Hearts. Thanks to their friends, they were able to get this door. They trusted them enough that they wanted them to be the fate of their worlds. They wanted them to protect their light.

And so, when Sora, Hikari, Riku and the King raised their keyblades, they made sure that they would make that promise come true.

They all pointed their keyblades at Kingdom Hearts then raised them to the sky. Beams of light shot from each keyblade and aimed towards the door. Slowly, but surely, Kingdom Hearts opened to them.

The final battle was about to begin.

"Get ready, Xemnas" Sora said.

"It all ends here!"

Hikari gripped Riku's hand tightly. She saw him get sealed up on the other side of this door and she was not going to let that happen again.

Riku gave her hand a squeeze as well, thinking the same thing.

"We fight side by side" he said.

Hikari smiled.

"Yeah"

They all slowly made it up the ramp and headed deep within the heart of all worlds.

/

The other side looked almost like the town to the Castle that Never Was. With Xemnas being connected to it and all, it would make sense. He controlled over nothingness, so he had control over what his domain would look like.

But that didn't matter to everyone. They came here to stop him and they weren't going to stop until they won.

Taiyouko looked around the area for the empty shell of the man who ruined her life. When she got her hands on him, he was going to wish that he never messed with her.

"Where are you?" she growled.

Hikari looked off into the distance and nearly yelped when she saw Xemnas standing on what looked like a mechanical looking dragon.

The superior nobody gave them a solemn look.

"So…it seems your hearts have led you to obliteration" he said.

"Perhaps it doesn't pay to be loyal too one's heart. I will have to be sure and remember that"

He sent a building towards them in hopes of crushing them.

Everyone quickly ran out of the way and ducked just in time before it crashed to the ground.

Riku looked up and saw that Mickey, Kairi, Taiyouko and Tsukiko were on the other side of Kingdom Hearts.

He panicked when he saw the door closing.

"No!" he cried.

He didn't know if those doors were going to be closed for good. He didn't want Sora and Hikari to be stuck here in this realm.

Hikari gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and smiled softly.

"Don't worry. We'll get back to them" she said.

"As soon as we defeat Xemnas, we'll see them"

Riku smiled softly at her words and nodded. He knew that she was just as scared as he was, but he admired her for putting on a brave front. It seemed this journey of her changed her.

Sora glared up at Xemnas and summoned his keyblade.

"We can take him on our own!" he said.

Riku and Hikari nodded and pulled out their keyblades as well.

Hikari looked at Donald and Goofy.

"Are you guys ready for a major beat down?" she asked.

The two of them nodded. They made it this far and they weren't backing down.

"Yeah! Let's finish this!" Donald cried.

That was just the answer that they were looking for.

They quickly ran through the maze of buildings and headed for Xemnas.

However, the Superior Nobody had appeared to see them coming, so he summoned up buildings to block their path.

That didn't stop Sora as he sliced right through them.

"Show off" Donald said.

Hikari snorted.

"You complaining?" she asked.

The magician shook his head and just followed after Sora.

They ran further towards the tower that Xemnas was on. It didn't matter to them that it was floating up in the sky and that it was guarded by a dragon like being; they were going to get to it.

Xemnas summoned up a couple of buildings and hurtled them towards them.

Hikari smirked as she got an idea and looked at Riku.

"Riku, give me a lift"

Riku held his hands out as step for her and watched as she jumped off and flipped through the air.

The keyblade mistress was just a blur of red and black as she hacked through the buildings and created a set of steps for everyone to jump on.

"How who's the show off?" Sora teased.

Riku just rolled his eyes and quickly followed after Hikari. There was no way that he was letting her go off on her own when Xemnas was around.

The others followed quickly and caught up with them when they landed in front of the main core of the dragon like structure.

"How do we reach Xemnas?" Goofy asked.

"We break down this thing down" Riku said.

"If we want to reach him, we'll have to break everything apart bit by bit"

Sora rubbed his head.

"That's cool and all, but how are we going to break a main core?" he asked.

"Does anyone know anything about mechanics or something?"

Just then heartless appeared to prevent them from going any further.

"Not again" Donald whined.

Hikari smirked darkly as she got an idea.

"I know how we can break this thing" she said.

Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? How?"

Hikari summoned her keyblade.

"Like this!"

She ran up to a heartless and smacked it into the core where it reacted violently from it.

Hikari smirked.

"A couple more of these and this baby will go off like the Fourth of July" she said.

The guys just looked at her stunned. It amazed them how she could have such a violent mind.

But then again, it was helpful in these kind of situations.

They were grateful the Xemnas sent so many heartless to them because they were able to destroy the engines to the contraption. And just like Hikari said, they burst into flames.

They quickly climbed up to the top where they found the energy core to the dragon. Darkness seeped through it so badly that they could just sense Xemnas up ahead.

"I'm not going to let him get away with this!" Hikari hissed.

She used her most powerful spells on the core. If she wanted to end this, then she needed to pull out all of her aces. She knew that she wasn't nearly as strong as Xemnas but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She came this far with her strength alone and she was going to finish this.

She flipped out of the way when she landed a combo of physical attacks. She went to do it again, but Riku gripped her shoulder and stopped her.

"Let me take a stab at it" he joked.

Hikari smirked and stood next to him. It was nice to know that he was fighting alongside her this time and not against her. With Riku on their team, they were invincible.

The two of them got a little crafty with their attacks and performed the Eternal Session move on the core. They would cast magical and physical attacks on the core in such synchronized moves that it almost seemed as if they were dancing with each other. A beautiful yet deadly dance.

Hikari smiled when Riku caught her after she flipped through the air.

Even when they were fighting against the strongest nobody in the Organization, they still had time to be lovey-dovey with each other.

The main core broke down and opened up to them. Xemnas was just at their fingertips now.

They quickly ran through the core and made it to where Xemnas was.

The Nobody had ditched his Organization cloak and was now wearing a full set of armor that covered his entire body.

He sat on a massive thrown and looked as if he was expecting them.

"Cursed fools" he said.

Hikari summoned the Oblivion keyblade and pointed it at him.

"You're the one who's the fool" she said.

Xemnas just summoned up a mighty sword the resembled a keyblade greatly and held it in front of him.

"Is that all you got?" Sora asked as he charged at him.

Xemnas just scoffed and summoned up a shield. Sora slammed into it face first and slowly slid to the ground.

"Idiot" Donald said.

"That's why you don't antagonize the enemy" Goofy said.

Sora just shook it off and jumped to his feet.

"Don't worry, that was nothing!" he said.

"I bet that's the only thing he can do"

Xemnas snapped his fingers and summoned up all of the weapons that were used from the fallen nobodies in the Organization.

A tick mark appeared on Hikari's forehead while Riku glared at Sora.

"Sora" he hissed.

"When this is over, I'm going to kill you with my bare hands"

Sora laughed nervously and dodged 'Xaldin's' lances before striking Xemnas.

Hikari jumped over 'Demyx's' water clones and joined in on attacking Xemnas. Since he was the one who made her life a living hell, she wanted to be the one who landed the finishing blow.

She ducked when Xemnas swung his sword at her and jabbed her keyblade into his chest.

The Nobody let out a strangled cry as he lost control over this realm in Kingdom Hearts.

Hikari smiled when she knew that she had one this battle.

At long last, it was finally over.

/

Everyone was thrown back to the castle when the battle stopped. Since Xemnas controlled the realm inside Kingdom Hearts, that meant once he was defeated, so would his realm.

The Nobody fell to his knees as he grabbed his chest. He never thought that a bunch of children would defeat him. He never expected Hikari to defeat him.

He had been careless. He thought that by combining himself with Kingdom Hearts would make him invincible.

There was only one way to fix that.

"I need…more rage…" he rasped.

"I need…more…hearts…"

Hikari sighed and dismissed her keyblade. She knew that Xemnas wouldn't be able to do anything.

But the fact that he was still talking about his goals, despite on the verge of fading away was pretty pathetic. He spent his whole life, even sacrificing himself, for Kingdom Hearts. He thought that he would need the negative feelings of the heart.

But he was wrong.

"Xemnas…" she said.

"There's more to a heart than just anger and hate. It's full of all kinds of feelings"

She looked at him sadly.

"Don't you remember?"

Xemnas sighed before looking up at her. He didn't know why this was happening to him now, but when he looked at her, he felt his chest sting. Perhaps this was an echo to what he used to felt when he had a heart. Perhaps this was the regret he felt from dragging her into this.

"Unfortunately…" he said.

"I don't"

Hikari sighed sadly.

"Should have known" she said.

Taiyouko bit her lip when she looked at Xemnas. Mustering up all the courage she had, she walked over to him.

Riku and Hikari got into a defensive stance in case anything happened, but it wasn't needed.

Xemnas looked up at the woman that he caused so much pain. The woman he desired so much that it ruined him in the end. The woman who made his goals come true, but fire back at him in the end.

Taiyouko looked at him with an emotionless stare. She had waited for this moment for such a long time. The time when she would get her revenge on the man who took everything from her.

She had planned it all out in her head a thousand times. Had thought out every single bit of detail to the point that it scared her.

But when she looked at his torn, defeated face, she knew that her plans were thrown out the window.

Why waste all her energy on such a weak, empty shell like him?

It was pointless, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to do anything.

Raising her hand, she swung her arm and slapped his face so hard that it could be heard echoing.

Xemnas' head jerked violently from the impact and stayed that way when she lowered her hand.

Angry tears fell from her face as she looked at him.

"After everything that you've done to me, you don't even have the honor of being hit by me" she said.

"This is what you get for being the pathetic empty shell that you are"

Xemnas shook his head and smirked slightly.

"You're one to talk" he said.

He lift his head up so he could look at her properly.

"But then again…you still have the same spirit as you did before I ruined you" he said.

"Maybe that's why you were able to defeat me"

Taiyouko glared at him.

"Kingdom Hearts will never be yours" she said.

"It doesn't matter what you do to obtain it, you'll get the same results. Now go vanish to the void that you came crawling out of and never come back again"

Xemnas chuckled as he started to break apart.

"You still have a fire burning deep within your heart" he said.

He gave her a rare, weak smile.

"Maybe that's why he loved you so much"

With that, he faded away.

Taiyouko closed her eyes to prevent the tears from coming. Even though she was glad that Xemnas was gone, she wished that Xehanort was never caught up in this. She didn't love him, but she always thought of him as a dear friend.

Tsukiko went up to her and gripped her shoulder.

"He's in a better place now" she said.

"Just be glad that it's over"

Taiyouko smiled weakly when she looked at the others.

"Yeah. It's over" she said.

/

Everyone was cheering when Xemnas vanished.

The battle was finally over. Xemnas was gone and the worlds were safe again. All was good.

"Gosh, you all did great" Mickey said.

Everyone was in high spirits…well, almost everyone.

Riku walked away from the group and looked off into the distance. Now that the battle was over, they could all go back to the islands. They could all go home.

But could he go back? After everything that he did, after giving into the darkness, he felt like he didn't deserved it. He didn't deserved to be with his friends, and he didn't deserve to be happy. He had to pay for his sins.

Sora and Hikari went over to him. They could sense the depressed mood that he was in, and they had to get him out of it.

"You're coming back with us…right?" Sora asked hopefully.

Riku shook his head shamefully.

"I had given into the darkness" he said.

Hikari looked at him sadly and gripped his hand.

"Riku" she said.

Riku sighed and looked at them sadly.

"How am I going to face everyone?"

Sora smiled and made a funny face.

"Like this"

Riku chuckled a little before laughing full heartedly.

Hikari smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.

"No one knows what you did" she said.

"Besides, it's all in the past, so leave it that way. You learned your lesson"

She gave him a pouting look.

"And I worked so hard trying to find you" she said.

"I searched high and low. I had to fight very strong enemies and nearly got myself killed. Are you going to let my hard work go to waste? Because if you do, I'll just find you again"

Riku sweat dropped when he saw the look she was giving him. What she said hit the nail on the head. He didn't want her to risk her life trying to find him again. She almost died once and he didn't want to risk that again.

Sighing in defeat, he pulled her into a hug.

"You win" he said.

Hikari smirked when she realized she won. If there was one way to get what she wanted, it was to rub salt into an open wound.

Their happy moment was short lived when the castle started to shake. With Xemnas gone, then this world was starting to become unstable.

Mickey looked at the others in worry. He may have not fought most of the battles, but it was up to him to make sure everyone got out of here safely.

That was his duty as a King.

"Hurry!" he cried.

Riku nodded.

"I'll open a path" he said.

He went to open a dark portal, but was shocked when he couldn't.

"What?"

He looked at his hand in wonder. He was able to open up portals all the time, so why couldn't he now?

Taiyouko smiled softly and gripped his shoulder.

"You don't belong in the dark realm anymore, Riku" she said.

It made sense. When Riku regained his normal body, he lost all of the darkness that went with it. His sins were atoned for.

"But how do we get out of here?" Donald asked.

Taiyouko looked at Tsukiko.

"Can you open up a portal?" she asked.

Tsukiko shook her head sadly.

"I'm still drained from using my powers on Saix" she said.

"If I tried to open one up now, I would be dead"

Everyone hung their head in defeat.

They were done for.

Kairi looked up and gasped when she saw Namine. The Nobody was transparent, but she was still visible.

Hikari, Sora and Riku saw her as well and watched her in wonder. What was she up to?

Namine smiled softly and opened up a portal.

Donald and Mickey ran up to it; never seeing Namine.

"Who did this?" Donald asked.

Mickey shook his head.

"Welp. I'm not sure" he said.

"But we better hurry and get through"

Pluto barked as he ran around them and ran through the portal. (A/N: Where he was all this time is beyond me)

"Wait for me!" Goofy cried as he ran after the dog.

Mickey soon followed after, leaving Donald behind.

The magician looked at his human friends.

"C'mon!" he cried.

He quickly ran through the portal to join the others.

Namine appeared again when the rest of them went towards the portal.

Kairi smiled softly at her Nobody.

"Thank you, Namine" she said.

Namine smiled and nodded.

"Sure"

As Hikari looked at her closely, she realized that she knew her. She couldn't remember where she saw Namine, but she remembered that she met her. She remembered that they made a promise that they would see each other and that she would thank her for helping her out with something.

"Namine?" she asked.

She slowly approached the Nobody and studied her.

Namine bit her lip when Hikari looked at her. She didn't expect Hikari to remember her since she wiped herself out of her memories. It was the only for her to wake up. It tore her up inside, but she knew it had to be done.

But here Hikari was, looking at her as if she knew her. This was too good to be true.

Hikari smiled brightly when she realized that it really was her and laughed.

"It's really you!"

She grasped her hands; which she was surprised that she could do so and held them tightly.

"You're really here!" she cried.

"I'm so happy to see you!"

Sora raised an eyebrow when he saw Hikari acting this way. He never saw this girl, so he wondered why Hikari knew her.

"Hikari, do you know her?" he asked.

Hikari nodded without looking away at Namine.

"Yeah!" she said.

"She's a very dear friend of mine! She helped me out with something…although I can't really remember what it was."

She laughed nervously at that.

"I feel really bad about it, but I know I wanted to thank you for what you did"

She suddenly remembered the picture that she found when she woke up and pulled it out.

"Oh yeah! You were the one who drew this" she said.

Namine gasped when she saw that Hikari held onto the picture, despite forgetting where she got it.

Hikari laughed and held out her pinky; indicating their promise.

"I told you that we would see each other again." she said.

Namine felt tears pooling her eyes as she held up her pinky as well. She never thought in a million years that Hikari would remember her, and yet she did.

It made her feel so happy.

Hikari panicked when she saw her cry.

"H-hey, why are you crying?" she asked.

Namine smiled as she wiped her eyes.

"I'm just happy." she said.

She looked up at Taiyouko to see her mouthing 'I told you'.

The nobody smiled before she looked at Sora. She knew that he wouldn't remember her other their promise, but she was happy that he kept to it, despite forgetting. And because she knew that Roxas and Ankoku kept their promise to her as well.

"See? We meet again, like we promise" she said.

Sora raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Huh?"

Laughter could be heard around them as Roxas and Ankoku emerged from their somebodies. Sora and Hikari were shocked to see them in person like this.

"You said we'd meet again" Roxas.

"But when we did, we might not recognize each other" Ankoku finished.

Namine smiled softly.

"I did, didn't I?" she said.

The nobody twins nodded.

"But we knew you" Ankoku said.

Namine nodded.

"It's strange" she said.

Roxas smiled softly.

"I think we understand now" he said.

"We see ourselves the way you remember us"

"And you see yourself the way we remember you" Ankoku said.

Namine looked at the floor bashfully.

"I always thought Nobodies were doomed to fade back into darkness…" she said.

Ankoku laughed.

"Yeah, but we didn't" she said.

"We got to meet our original selves"

"So…we can be together again!" Namine cheered.

Roxas and Ankoku smiled.

"Yep. Anytime that Sora, Kairi and Hikari are together"

Kairi smiled.

"We'll be together everyday" she said.

"Right?"

Hikari smiled and nodded.

"Yep!"

"Uh, sure" Sora said bashfully.

Namine and Roxas smiled at their other halves before approaching them.

Kairi held her hand out to Namine and had her return to her.

Roxas chuckled when he saw the shocked look on his face.

"Look sharp!" he said.

He returned to Sora as well, finally returning the place where he was needed the most.

Sora looked at himself stunned, wondering what happened to him.

Riku chuckled a little.

"Don't worry, you're all still you" he said.

Sora smiled a little, then looked at Hikari, who was facing her nobody.

Hikari was stunned as she looked at Ankoku. She was looking at her other half; her other self. This was too good to be true. She always wanted to meet her nobody in the flesh and here she was doing so.

Ankoku smirked slightly, thinking the same thing. She didn't expect to see Hikari awake, but she was glad that she was. She finally got to meet her other self.

"A-are you Ankoku?" Hikari asked.

Ankoku laughed as she placed a hand on her hip.

"The one and only" she said.

"And let me say that I'm really happy to see you"

Hikari brought a hand over her mouth in shock. Her nobody was happy to see her.

She smiled as she got teary eyed.

"I'm so happy to see you too" she said.

Tsukiko cried when she saw Ankoku. She never thought that she would see her again. After she returned to Hikari, she thought she would be gone for good. And yet here she was. It seemed that maybe she didn't lose all of her loved ones.

"Ankoku!"

The young nobody smiled as she saw her best friend.

"Hey, Tsukiko" she said.

"I'm glad that you're still alive"

Tsukiko cried as she smiled at her.

"You're here!" she said.

"You're really here!"

Ankoku shrugged and looked at her transparent hand.

"Well, sort of" she said.

"I can't stay for long. I need to return to where I came from"

Tsukiko panicked when she heard that.

"No!" she cried.

"You can't go! You can't leave me!"

Ankoku shrugged as she looked at her sadly.

"This is the way it has to be" she said.

Hikari looked at her nobody sadly and started to panic as well.

She didn't want her to leave. She just met her. She didn't want to say goodbye to her other half.

"I don't want you to leave!" she insisted.

Ankoku looked surprised that she would say that, but sighed sadly.

"I don't have a choice" she said.

"If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be awake right now. If I stay out any longer, who knows what will happen to you. I've accepted my fate, so you should too."

Hikari gave her a determined look.

"No!" she said.

"If I say I don't want you to go, then you won't! I want you to stay and so does Tsukiko. It's not fair that you had to disappear because of me. You deserve to exist, just as much as I do. I'll find a way to make you stay. I don't care what happens to me in the end!"

Ankoku looked stunned, but quickly composed herself. She always wondered why she wanted to see Hikari so badly, but maybe this was why. Maybe it was because she wanted to see her nobody just as much as she wanted to see her somebody. They wanted to see each other badly.

Taiyouko looked at her daughter and her nobody, before looking at Tsukiko. She couldn't help but think back to when Tsukiko was made and how she wanted her nobody in her life, despite having to return to where she came from. She could see the same longing in her daughter's eyes. The longing of having a connection with someone.

She sighed, knowing that she was going to regret what she was about to do.

But as long as it made her daughter happy, it was worth it.

"Fine, have it your way" she said.

She walked up to Ankoku and gave her a gentle smile.

"I haven't done this in a long time, so you'll have to bear with me."

Ankoku raised an eyebrow at her.

"Huh?"

Taiyouko closed her eyes in concentration and clasped her hands in a prayer like motion. Her hands glowed as she poured her magic through her whole being. The sorceress opened her hands to reveal a heart floating in front of her.

Taiyouko opened her eyes and smiled softly to Ankoku.

"Consider this as my thanks for saving my daughter." she said.

The heart floated from her hands and submerged itself within Ankoku.

The nobody closed her eyes tightly as she felt the heart go inside her chest. Immediately, she felt her body start to change. She started to feel actual feelings and emotions. She was able to feel a heart beating within her chest. She was able to feel rush of excitement coursing through her veins. And most of all, she felt alive.

She opened her eyes to see that she wasn't transparent anymore and was actually standing front of them.

She gasped and looked at her hands in amazement.

"H-how?"

Taiyouko smiled weakly, feeling drained from using her sorceress powers in such a long time.

"Since you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save Hikari, I decided to thank you" she said.

"Like Tsukiko, you have a heart now. You are your own person now."

Ankoku placed a hand over her chest to feel a heartbeat. It was so strange and new to her. She was her own self now. She wasn't somebodies nobody anymore. She was a person.

Hikari smiled brightly and hugged Ankoku tightly.

"It's so nice to meet you…Ankoku." she said.

Ankoku felt tears of her own as she was being hugged. It was thanks to her Somebody that she was here. She was alive because Hikari wanted her here.

She cried and hugged Hikari when she realized that she was loved.

"It's so nice to meet you too, Hikari." she said.

She held her other half tightly as she basked in this moment.

"Thank you." she whispered to her.

Hikari smiled and let her go.

"I think there's someone else who is happy to see you too." she said.

She nudged towards Tsukiko, who had tears in her eyes.

Ankoku smiled and ran towards her best friend, hugging her tightly.

"Tsukiko!"

The nobodies cried as they hugged each other. After being through so much, they were finally together again. They may have not had Roxas and Axel with them, but at least they had each other.

Everyone smiled at the scene.

Taiyouko swayed a little and almost fell if Kairi didn't catch her.

Hikari and Riku panicked.

"Mom!" Hikari cried.

"Are you ok?" Riku asked.

Taiyouko smiled weakly.

"It's just been a long time since I used my powers" she said.

"I'll be fine."

Tsukiko and Ankoku let go of each other and faced them.

"Let's get out of here before this places collapses" Ankoku said.

Tsukiko grabbed her hand and pulled her through the portal where the others were.

Kairi led Taiyouko towards the portal and looked at her friends.

"Let's go home" she said.

The keyblade masters smiled at that.

It was time to go home.

Hikari held Riku's hand tightly and smiled at him.

"Let's go" she said.

Riku smiled and nodded.

"Right"

They started to head towards the portal where it would lead them home. However, the unexpected happened.

Just as they were about to go through it, the portal suddenly closed on them.

The last thing they saw was Kairi and Taiyouko's panicked faces.

"Sora! Riku! Hikari!"

The keyblade masters panicked when they were trapped into the nobody realm.

It seemed that the battle wasn't over just yet.

/

A/N: Ankoku's back! I'm sure you guys weren't expecting that! But then again, did you guys really think that I was going to let her disappear?

And for those of you who played Birth By Sleep; don't worry, this won't affect the story line. Ankoku plays a very pivotal role in the next story (not the Birth By Sleep one) so you'll be seeing her again soon.

I hope you guys don't hate me for this and please review.

If you do, I'll get the next chapter out!

Ja ne!