Ch.19

After Juliana and Kairi left Tsuki to fight off Ansem, most of what Juliana knew was supposed to happen, still went as it should have. Kairi was able to bring back Sora through his Heartless and they all made it back to Traverse Town. Once there Sora asked Juliana privately what happened after he opened his heart to restore Kairi. She did her best to explain what happened, but it still left Sora looking concerned.

"But are you sure you didn't see Riku anywhere? Or maybe Tsuki said something?"

Juliana shook her head before focusing on the ground. "I'm sorry… but I just don't know."

"You don't think… that the seekers… that they could have…" Sora trailed off, feeling hesitant on finishing his words.

"I wouldn't know. This was not apart of our plan. We knew the seekers were trying to change things, but this is not what I expected. For Kuri to take Riku's place being possessed by Ansem and such things."

"Speaking of the seekers… what is it with you and Yutaka?" Sora asked, remembering the reaction the two of them had when seeing each other.

Juliana shifted, looking more uncomfortable than before. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"But, you know something don't you? About him?"

"Yes… I do know something. But I don't want to talk about it now. Maybe after when we find Tsuki again. Just not know," Juliana said, still avoiding eye contact with Sora.

Sora pursed his lips seeing her hurt expression. He sighed before rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah… I'm sorry. I didn't realize how sensitive the subject must be."

"It's okay. You didn't know afterall. Let's just get a move on, Tsuki is probably waiting for us."

"Right."

After things were all done and set, the group had made their way back to Hollow Bastion. They fought and tore their way through the Heartless and eventually went to locking the keyhole there. When they got the castle, Juliana searched around for Tsuki, but she ended up not being able to find her anywhere.

Thankfully Belle and the other Princesses of Heart said they had been left with a message from the blue haired girl. The message was that she was all right, but she would meet them at a later time. They just needed to focus on Ansem for the time being.

With that all settled the group finally did go out to do the main thing Sora knew that they had to do, which was to travel to the place to find Ansem. Though Sora hoped once they did they, he could finally get his answers about Riku.

It was still as long of a journey as Sora remembered, either that or he was just getting too anxious over it. But within time they finally made it to the place where they would face off against Ansem. Sora stepped forward and looked around as the world came into view… his world… his home. Almost anyways… it was corrupted and broken up still by the darkness but it still made him miss it terribly.

"This world has been connected…" Ansem's voice echoed around the world. "Tied to the darkness… Soon to be completely eclipsed."

Sora watched as parts of his world started to vanish around him. He knew it was coming anyways, but it was still unsettling to see it happen.

"There is so very much to learn…. You understand so little. A meaningless effort. One who knows knowing can understand nothing."

When the world stopped shaking and breaking apart, Sora looked to the barren shoreline and saw the figure of Kuri standing there. Sora ran down first, with Juliana close behind him.

"Such a small world. That knight friend of yours sought to escape this prison surrounded by water." Kuri spoke with Ansem's voice, raising his gaze to the sky before continuing. "And this boy, lead into the darkness by his heart, was left in a downward spiral of emotional turmoil with darkness as his only comfort."

"Shut up!" Sora impulsively shouted. "Don't talk about Riku like that!"

Ansem chuckled. "Do not make assumptions fool."

"Well I am done asking questions. I know I am not going to get any answers," Sora replied as he summoned his keyblade.

Kuri's appearance faded as Ansem turned to face Sora. "You are already too late. Darkness has already claimed pieces of the Light off the board from within."

Sora nearly dropped his keyblade. His heart pounding against his chest harshly. "N-No… No! That can't be true! You… You're lying!"

"Darkness is the heart's true nature. Once it has a hold within, it grows, consuming all. Such is the nature of Darkness. In the end, everything returns to the darkness whence it came. Did you not think there was a price to pay for attempting to follow your so called script?"

"What… script? But what does…" Sora trailed off slightly, looking to Juliana.

She shook her head at Sora before looking at Ansem. "I don't know whether your Kuri talking or Ansem, but how would you know a thing like that? Why would you think we are attempting anything?"

"The one who gave himself up to me had memories of a time that has yet to pass. Knowledge of my failure in a different time, where the host I had taken rejected me, limiting my capabilities originally."

Juliana narrowed her eyes. "So? What are you going to do with that knowledge? We will stop you."

"Hmph. I know how those three fools fight child. You're the only unknown factor here, and I doubt that your presence will make much of a difference."

"Well either way, we will fight, and we aren't going to give up!" Sora said, speaking up. "You talk about the heart and darkness, but that isn't true. There is always light, and our hearts are strong because of it!"

"You have come this far, twice over, and still you understand nothing. It was the darkness that turned back time! Every light will fade, every heart return to the darkness!"

Ansem summoned the guardian Heartless and just like it happened the first time… the long and tedious battle began. Though this time it was far easier for Sora, now that he knew what was coming. Still there were times when it was hard and he had to help out the others as best as he could, but in the end he knew that he was still going to pull through.

Eventually the time came when the group defeated Ansem out in the void where they would soon see the doors to Kingdom Hearts. WIth the strange Heartless ship destroyed, all that was left was Ansem floating in the darkness before them.

The battle had been pretty much the same as before, though there were occasions times that Ansem started to used the weaponized yo-yos that Kuri had once used. Other than that, nearly everything felt like it flowed the same, though the man gave no indication that Kuri was still anywhere there.

"It's futile. Even if you have defeated me, the Keyblade alone can't seal the Door to Darkness."

Ansem turned to face the door behind him.

"Kingdom Hearts! Lend me more darkness…" The great door opens, darkness all but spilling out from beyond the cold, white stone. "Supreme darkness." Ansem's robes billowed from the wind that came out from the door.

"You aren't going to win this Ansem!" Sora shouted, pleading that everything was still going to go the same for this part.

"Fool. Even if I'm defeated here, this is not the end of the war."

"And we will still be there to stop you and everyone else! Besides," Sora said, trying to remember what he had to say. Honestly he had no idea if his words were what made the door shine with light or if it was just coincidental timing. Either way he had to go about it and hope for the best. "You're wrong about Kingdom Hearts, I know that Kingdom Hearts… is light!"

The doors, that had been slowly opening, suddenly burst with light. The light shined brightly right at Ansem, causing him to gasp in shock. "Light… But… Why…"

With the light destroying Ansem, Sora and gang fly over to the door, landing in the white sand around it. Once they were back on their feet, they ran over to the great white double doors. Sora was already pushing as hard as he could, but he kept glancing through the door, waiting. Juliana was on the same side as Sora, pushing along with him, trying her best not to look, but she could see that Sora had grown curious.

Soon enough Donald and Goofy were also looking through the door, but not for the same reason. They were caught off guard by the sheer number of Heartless… Sora was waiting to see someone… waiting to see how much his fears were real.

"Sora!"

Sora felt his heart sink slightly. He was happy that there was someone on the other side of the door, but who it was… that was what made him feel uneasy. It was Tsuki who stood there, now in her human form that Sora had nearly forgotten about.

"Tsuki…" Sora managed to whispered.

"Tsuki!" Juliana exclaimed, surprised to see her back in her human form.

"Sora…?" This time, the voice came from another on the side of the Realm of Darkness. A taller woman with chin length blue hair and blue eyes ran up from behind Tsuki, coming to a stop next to her.

"Huh?" Sora said, not expected another person on the other side besides Mickey. Though as soon as he saw her, an old memory tugged in the back of his mind. He had certain had seen this woman before, the memory was faint and fuzzy. But he knew for sure that he had seen her at some point in his life.

"We need to close the door," Tsuki commanded, grabbing ahold of one side of the door, giving her all to make it budge. The woman beside her hesitated, looking longingly out through the door before stepping to the side to pull the other half of the door closed.

"R-Right," Sora replied, trying to get his focus back on track. "But… what happened… where is…"

"Sora," Juliana interrupted. "Now is not the time for questions. We have to close the door now."

Larger and stronger heartless began to form a distance into the Realm of Darkness, steadily coming closer to the door.

The woman turned to face the growing hoard briefly before facing back to the door. "We can't let them into the Realm of Light."

"Come on… close faster…" Tsuki muttered out, struggling to move the door.

They kept trying, but it still barely budged. Eventually Donald let out a heavy sigh, crying that it was hopefully. But then they took notice of someone clearing out Heartless further into the Realm of Darkness. Soon a bright light shone from within the hoard, outlining the unmistakable appearance of their ally. Wielding Kingdom Key D, King Mickey raised it into the air and called out to Sora.

"Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!"

Sora hesitated slightly. He knew what he had to do knew, but his worries were rushing through his mind ten fold now. "But…"

"Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light."

"Sora, you can trust King Mickey," Goofy added.

"That's not what I'm worried about…" Sora thought to himself.

"Please hurry, Your Majesty! We don't have time to spare!" Tsuki called out to Mickey, turning to face him as she spoke.

"Thank you, all of you." Mickey spoke sincerely as everyone gave it their all to shut the doors.

Tsuki turned back to look at Sora, meeting his gaze.

"I'm sorry," she whispered out, a sad, disheartened expression on her face as the doors shut.

Sora breathed in heavily. The weight of what little Tsuki said make things even harder than they were before. He wanted to sit there and worry, and to ask the questions he so desperately wondered about. But he had to do the right thing first and close the door. He stepped back a small bit and raised his keyblade into the air. With the glow from the keyblade he completed what was needed to be done to close the door. It vanished in a flash of light and all that was left now was the long and winding pathway.

After that, he turned to see Kairi as he expected. He went to her and talked with her, promising to see her again, but he didn't have any string in his words. He tried his best to not let her know. He smiled as strongly as possible and held on to her hand until the two of them were pulled apart.

Sora sighed as he started down at the ground. A moment later he felt Juliana's hand on his shoulder. She offered him a sympathetic glance before looking back to the others. "We need to keep moving."

"But… But Riku…"

"I know… but there isn't anything we can do about it now."

"But what happened?! How could this have happened… what did they do…?"

"I don't have the answers Sora, but staying here and wondering isn't going to get us anywhere. Riku still is out there somewhere, I just know he has to be."

"But…" Sora started again. His words were hard to get out, everything felt like it was getting caught up in throat. "But where…?"

Juliana shook her head. "I still don't know. But I promise I will help you find out and get to the bottom of this okay?"

"Yeah… thanks," Sora said, trying his hardest to sound thankful. He really was thankful for her help, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about Riku. What had happened to him? Was he okay? Where was he?

All of these questions refused to stop circling in his head. He wished they would, but as soon as he saw Tsuki standing there instead, the thoughts began to plague him. He started to make his way back to where Donald and Goofy were, though he was already lost deep in his mind. As much as he wished for the answers, he knew that he wouldn't be getting them any time soon.

Ah ha! Another chapter is finished! And soon we get closer to a really interesting chapter... well another interesting chapter at least haha.