Chapter Fifty-three Someday

Mercutio's lips twitched into a smile and a single tear rolled down his cheek before his body and spirit faded. Sora pulled back the Keyblade from where Mercutio once stood and saw that the other Keyblade had disappeared. The glow from his body faded away, his clothes went back to normal and the pendant from around his neck vanished.

"Sora!" a voice cried out. The boy turned around to see the cavern of Darkness was fading away and from the door to the hall Kairi came running in with Marlene slumped on her back and Goofy and Donald close behind. The boy and the girl ran to give each other a relieved hug. Being so close to Kairi Sora could see that Marlene no longer was knocked out, but was having some well-deserved sleep.

"Is it over?" Riku mumbled as he got up off the floor. He rubbed his temples while Vincent clutched at his chest to make sure his heart was still there.

"Yep, 'fraid you missed all the action!" Sora said cheerfully. Sora's cheer momentarily disappeared when a glowing light where Mercutio met his defeat appeared. The six friends froze fearing a new attack. Instead, a teenage girl with black and white hair in a pink dress materialized before them.

"Matilda!" Goofy and Donald ran over to the strange looking girl and tried to support her but she gently held them back, showing she did not need their help. A happy whiny erupted deep from within Vincent's cape and Piff shot out and flew to Matilda. The girl caught the ecstatic little animal and hugged it close.

"Are you all right?" Sora called out. He, Kairi, Riku and Vincent walked over to her. Matilda looked over to her friends, and though the innocent naïveté was clearly gone forever her bright cheerful smile, the smile that seemed to take so much delight in everything, had returned.

"Sora, everyone. Thank you, for everything," Matilda choked, trying to hold her self back from crying, "Don't worry Vincent, no more tears,"

"I guess we kept each other's promise," Vincent said gruffly, he was trying to mask his relief that the girl he had grown attached to was okay, "You got back your memories, I got back my Heart. Just like we wanted,"

"I could never begin to express my gratitude to you Vincent. You risked your life time and time again and sacrificed so much of yourself just to help me," Matilda then turned her gaze away from the red-eyed gunner, "But I'm afraid it wasn't me who helped get your heart back. In fact, I might have even prevented you from getting it back sooner,"

"I don't understand," Vincent said bluntly.

"When you were still a Heartless, you were more affected by the power of Kingdom Hearts than anyone, just like all Heartless are. That's why I always felt so cold to you, you could feel and absorb my power more than anyone else could. And it's because of that power you became a monster those two times, Traverse Town and Prydain. When I was overwhelmed with emotion, my powers were let loose, as emotions are what power the Heart. That energy made you a stronger Heartless and you lost your form. I am so sorry Vincent, if I had any way of not allowing that to happen I would have done so. I just hope you can forgive me," Matilda bowed her head in shame.

Vincent's emotions were hard to read, "So how did I get my Heart back?"

"You did that on your own," Matilda finally dared to look Vincent in the eye again, "You had a strong heart, it was that strength that allowed you to keep your mostly human form as a Heartless. Unfortunately, though you held onto your true form because of the strength of your heart it was only possible because of your anger and hate, the only set of emotions you had left. That anger was your power, that anger gave you a shred of humanity. Then Lulu was destroyed.

"She sacrificed herself to keep us protected and when she faded away you could not express grief over her passing. The woman who had been your friend, your partner in battle, the woman who reminded you of what a normal life was like, who said she loved you even though it was impossible to love her in return. Of course you were angry over her death, and angry at the man who killed her, but primarily you were angry that you could not become upset over her loss. That shred of anger, as strange as it sounds, was your act of compassion. You always wanted your heart back because you wanted to feel, but you wanted your heart back at that moment to show that Lulu was cared for. Grief, as horrible as it feels, means that someone cares, and everyone wishes to be cared for," Matilda gave a small sad smile.

"But Vincent didn't turned human after that, he turned into his monster form," Riku pointed out.

"Yes, and as I said before, that was my fault. I was sad over losing Lulu too, she was so kind to me, like a mother. My sadness made Vincent a monster, but the process of getting his heart back had already begun. His indirect way of caring for Lulu opened the gates to becoming human. They were his own feelings of worrying and friendship, even in his form as a monster, that drove him to fight the other Heartless and try to save me, to try to protect you and Sora and the others. It wasn't hate anymore that was causing him to fight, it was love," Matilda cheered up again. Vincent was seemed almost embarrassed as the younger people gave the man a look of awe.

Just then the hall began to shudder again and blocks from the ceiling began to fall. Sora shoved Kairi out of the way of one of them, "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine, and I think Marlene is too," Kairi stuttered in surprise.

"This place is beginning to fall apart," Riku remarked as he used his blade to slice through a rock that nearly hit Donald and Goofy.

"Hurry! You have to seal me away!" Matilda announced fearfully.

"What?" Sora responded.

"This is a dead world, it will soon collapse in on itself and become a black hole. Once it does the other worlds will really be in danger. The only way to make sure the other worlds can't get hurt is to put the walls of light back up and seal Kingdom Hearts away!" Matilda urged.

Sora had almost forgotten that the being who stood before him, that looked like a teenage girl, was really The Heart of All Worlds and not a real person, "But what will happen to you?"

"I will become my real form again and go back behind the doors between Light and Darkness," Matilda explained. Just then the wall behind the old stone throne completely collapsed, showing the black Heartless blood that had flowed across the surface of the world was now compressing and disappearing, "Sora, you have to hurry!"

"Will we ever see you again?" Kairi asked, fearing the answer. Matilda looked away from her friends. The entire room suddenly fell silent waiting for the reality they did not want to hear.

"No. I only became human to stop Mercutio, this form will no longer be needed once I am sealed away. Even if you ever come back to Kingdom Hearts, you will never see me again," The girl let go of Piff and urged the small pegasus to flutter back over to Vincent. More of the castle collapsed around them. Matilda finally looked up and smiled, locking eyes with each other warriors she had grown to care about so much, "But while you'll never see me again I'll always be with you. As long as you are friends with each other and keep spreading the Light, I will always be there,"

Matilda pulled down part of her pink dress to expose the Keyhole Mark that existed in the center of her chest. She locked eyes with Sora, continuing to smile and waited for him. The Keyblade Master was reluctant, but as he looked to his friends he knew what he had to do. He closed his eyes and held the Keyblade in front of him. A burst of light sprang from the tip of his weapon and hit Matilda squarely in the chest. The beam of light spread into a bubble, encasing the six warriors within its protective shell as the pieces of the world around them crumbled and vanished. A pair of silver doors appeared behind the white and black haired girl and slowly swung open. Her pale body began to glow warmly and evaporate into shining gold glitter that gently flowed into the doors, as though they were being moved by a soft wind. Sora slowly opened his eyes to see what he had done, unable to stop the tears from falling from his eyes. But they soon stopped when he saw the joyful expression Matilda had on her face. As she slowly broke apart the Keyblade Master called out to her, "Matilda before you go, could you please answer me one question? Why do the worlds have to be separated by the walls of Light?"

"The walls of light keep away the Darkness and keep everyone protected. I wish more than anyone that they did not have to exist. The Heart of all Worlds is a reflection of the Heart of all living things. All the negative emotions that people feel: anger, jealously, hate come out of Kingdom Hearts as Heartless and those walls exist to stop them. Maybe someday people won't have those emotions anymore and the Heartless won't have any reason to exist. Then the walls can disappear forever," Matilda explained as her chest and arms vanished. As she was nearly completely gone she turned one last time to the man who rescued her the first time, "Vincent, I know you've done enough for me already but can I ask you one more thing?"

Vincent said nothing, but did not indicate he wouldn't.

"Please take care of Piff," Matilda asked as her neck and face began to disappear and flow into the silver doors of Kingdom Hearts.

"Of course," Vincent nodded bluntly and with his sardonic smile added, "Oh, and Matilda, I don't hate you,"

"Goodbye," Matilda smiled a final innocent grin and faded into the doors forever. As the doors shut as slowly as they opened they faded away and all the warriors' bodies began to glow.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sora blurted in surprise.

"After all the times we've done this you still don't remember how this works," Riku teased, "Matilda—I mean, Kingdom Hearts is sending us back to our own worlds,"

Donald and Goofy began waving ecstatically, "Goodbye Sora, goodbye Riku, goodbye Kairi. We'll see each other again! Mercutio's not going to be the last goofball we have to deal with,"

"Goodbye guys, say hello to the King and the others for me!" Sora waved as his two friends vanished in a flash.

"Good Luck Keyblade Master," Vincent said matter-of-factly, "I know we'll see each other again someday,"

"Yeah, someday," Sora stood and gave his newest hero a heartfelt salute that Kairi and Riku copied. Vincent saluted back, took a step and vanished in a blaze of light. As the Keyblade Master and his friends watched the last bits of Mercutio's dead world crumble away into nothingness, Sora turned to them and said, "It's time we go home,"