One Stage Ends the other begins

Riku kept the tip of his Soul Eater close to the tip of Sora's neck, Donald and Goofy stayed close yet feared if they move Riku would strike.

Sora looked up at his friend's face, twisted and almost demented, his cyan eyes much duller than normal, a hint of blood yellow on the edges.

"I won Sora." He declared bodly with a malevolent grin. "I finally beat you."

Sora could only sigh and shake his head in disbelief. "Is this really what's all been about? Beating you?"

"You always have gotten everything Sora, finally I'm the one in control!"

Suddenly a green portal emerged showing a massive battle outside, Sora looked in horror as he saw his friends fighting the hordes of Heartless be outnumbered 10 to 1 as they tried to fight with all their might. Yet none of it would be of any use with a unlimited horde against them.

"See Sora!" Riku sneered. "This is the power of darkness, the power Maleficent talked about! You are on the losing side."

The images continued to show the Heartless spreading outside, his friends barely holding their own. Chaos was everywhere, the darkness spreading and no one could stop. Only he could, yet he was pinned down. It really did look like a hopeless situation.

As Sora looked at Riku and gazed into his friends yellowing eyes all he could feel was just sorrow and regret. Perhaps this was partially his fault that his friend had fallen so far. Perhaps if he had done something different, maybe been more encouraging, or maybe just done something different than he could have stopped all this. But if this was the path his friend had chosen, then it seemed now there was only one path to follow now. It was time for him to cast away all doubt and follow his heart.

"Okay, Riku." Sora closed his eyes. "If this is what you want."

It was all instinct now, Sora would follow his heart and channel the energies of the light from his Keyblade. Master and blade in unison with one another like partners, none trying to control the other. He would not question, he would not judge, he would just do. He would go the distance as Phil had always taught him and let his emotions do the talking.

Grasping his blade hard he aimed it so that it's tip pointed right at Riku, and before anyone could react it unleashed a beam of light striking straight and true, striking at Riku and knocking him back into the wall. Sora used the time to get up and regain his composure and quickly running over to Riku before he could get back up.

Donald and Goofy quickly got back by his side to join him.

Sora watched as Riku tried to get back up, only to slip back on the ground each time he attempted. The young boy looked paler than normal now, as if all the blood had left his body. Breathing heavily, all he could do was sit on his knees as his opponent held the tip of his key towards him, ready to unleash another bolt of energy if he needed too.

"Well," Riku muttered through heavy breaths looking at Sora with his sickly eyes, "end it!"

Sora remained silent his face stern and grip hard he didn't want to show any emotion, not yet. On the one hand, he looked at Riku and was reminded of all the bad things he did, not just to him to those around him. Many would say if there was any sense of justice he'd send this creature back to darkness. Most people say it would just what he deserved, that some punishment should be given for everything that happened. As Keyblade Master, he should dish out said punishment.

"Go on," Riku said, bitterly looking back at the ground. "You beat me, you always beat me! In life, now in wielding the Keyblade. Why shouldn't you ending it be any different?"

Again Sora remained silent and allowed Riku to just sit there for a few moments, his breathing heavy and angry. Yet underneath the rage he could see the fear, he was scared, a scared teenage boy who had gotten way in over his head and in a strange way, both of them were in the same boat. Though both had taken different paths, and right now it was Sora's path that seemed the brightest.

"Riku, you did a lot of bad things." Sora finally spoke his voice stern as he stood over him keeping his Key pointed right at him. "You kidnapped two people, helped Maleficent, and you betrayed me, Donald, Goofy...even Kairi. You sided with the darkness….and you tried to kill me."

Riku was the silent one know, though his breathing intensified a bit as he laid there, his knees shaking as they tried to stand. He was right of course, he did do all of these things and more. How far he would have gone he wouldn't say, but knowing how every day it seemed he was growing angier and angier at his home or Sora or something else, it wouldn't have taken much to get him to do even more horrible things. Thus Riku was ready for whatever punishment Sora was going to bestow on him, he was the victim now, and Sora the conqueror.

"And after all of that, even though you probably should be punished for everything you've done.…" Sora gave a long pause, Riku closed his eyes before causing his Keyblade to vanish and getting on his knees. "I forgive you."

All of a sudden Riku looked up, the yellow in his eyes vanishing replaced with normal cyan blue, and they were watering. "What?"

"I forgive you." Sora said again his sternness fading as he lowered his arms..

Riku looked stunned, Donald and Goofy as well. After everything that had happened, after everything Riku had tried to do. How could Sora just outright and forgive? Why was he showing mercy? If anything, most people would say he doesn't deserve it. Even Riku himself believed he did not deserve what Sora was doing right now.

"T-This is a trick." Riku said his voice shaking as he pointed a finger at Sora, it too shaking. "Y-your just trying to get my guard down."

"No trick." Sora smiled. "I forgive you Riku, I can't say about everyone else, but I do."

"W-Why?"

Sora chuckled. "Because we're friends, your my best friend Riku, I love you."

Riku blinked a few times as he kept trying to wrap his mind around everything that was happening. "Y-You are….." He couldn't even finish that sentence and instead thrusted himself onto Sora and wrapped his arms around him in a hug giving up any sense of defiance he had left. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Sora hugged him back tighter.

This was it, this was the Riku he remembered. He could just feel in his gut. Any anger and bitterness that his friend might have had was washing away now. The stench of the darkness dispatching now. Only love returning to the both of them. Many would have thought Sora foolish to forgive so easily, but honestly he didn't care at that moment, this his choice right now. If people disagree that was fine, but that was his choice and his faith had been rewarded.

"I-I'm really sorry….for everything." Riku sobbed

Sora held him a bit tighter now. "Hey it's okay, were still friend."

"We shouldn't be."

"Well, I say we are and you can't change my mind anytime soon."

Riku let out a soft chuckle the first real laugh he had in awhile. "Same old Sora."

Donald and Goofy both watched unsure what to make of what was happening, but whatever it was they were at least glad that there friend Sora was happy. It was definitely a sign of his character, to show mercy was never easy, even towards though who had wronged them. But none of that mattered right now. Sora had done what so many people would probably have never done, shown mercy. Probably one of the most heroic things a person in his position could do.

Perhaps the Keyblade choose a good one after all.

Sora gently moved back to look at Riku in the eye one more time and beamed. He could see Riku, his best friend, his brother, his best companion Riku was back. He'd did it, now to get Kairi, and then it was time to go home.

"Sora-," Riku opened his mouth but suddenly clenched his chest in pain. "Agh! It hurts!"

"Riku!" Sora held him tight. "What's going on?!"

"It's him-"

"Who?" Sora asked.

A dark laugh came from the darkness. "Shame, and here I thought you would understand, but just like the Keyblade Master, you too understand nothing."

Riku bit his lip. "Sora, g-go to my room in the castle...Find Jafar's lamp, it's the only way to stop Maleficent. The princesses...are in a machine room...center of the castle."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's too late for me, Sora. Find my room, in the upper levels, find the talking servants, they'll lead you. The lamp is my drawer...Go quick!"

"No, no I'm not losing you again!" Sora pleaded.

Too late, Riku was being consumed by a pool of darkness. Sora trying to pull him out but it was too strong. Donald and Goofy tried to help but it was too late, the darkness had engulfed the entire body now leaving the trio alone in the hall.

Once again Sora had lost Riku, and this time, it looked like it was for good.

Sora just looked at the area where his friend once stood, now replaced with just empty wall. His body shook as a few tears dripped down his cheeks, emotions riding high after coming so close and then once again losing it all.

"Riku, not again." Sora whispered getting to his knees, trying to keep it together.

Donald and Goofy stood behind him as he let Sora emotion run, both felt sorry for him. Despite their misgivings of Riku they still understood what his friendship meant to him and the mere hope of coming back to the light. Only the Beast remained stoic and instead put a pawed hand on Sora's shoulder causing him to flinch look up at the looming being standing before him now.

"Grieve later." Beast said looking down at him. "Right now, we have things to do."

Sora looked at the Beast and got up. "How do you know?"

"I watched, I saw you show mercy. Not many would do that, I certainly wouldn't. But right now you have a more important job to do."

Sora looked down on the ground one more time before nodding gaining a bit courage from Beast's words. He wasn't about to let Riku's final wish go ungranted. He needed to help the others, otherwise there would be no point to his journey here at all. He quickly got up and looked down the hallway, they all looked similar to one another, thankfully for him, Beast servants had still stuck with him.

"Do you know were Riku's room is?" He asked.

Cogsworth nodded. "Follow us."

Sora and the others rushed quickly through the castles massive halls as fast as they could. They could hear the battle raging outside, the sound of loud roars echoed in the distance and the castle grounds shook causing the dust from the walls to crumple down below them.

Heartless showed up en masse but they were quickly dealt with as Sora swung at them without any show of mercy or hesitation. Now was not the time for him to be trifled with at the moment. He was angier, upset, and not about to let the forces of darkness get in the way of him and his mission. This was going to be there end, and he was going to end it once and for all.

"Fire!" Sora aimed his Keyblade and fired a ball of fire energy at a swarm of Heartless blocking the door.

"Deep freeze!" Donald froze a few that tried to jump them from behind.

As they kept on running the earth quakes got bigger and bigger and the sounds of explosions got louder indicating the intensity of the battle outside. The chaos was growing so much that some of the Heartless were even passing them by as they headed off to the main field, not even realizing Sora was nearby.

"We better hurry!" Sora shouted as he picked up the pace. "Leon and the others must be in trouble with all those Heartless around."

Goofy grimace. "I hope our friends are okay."

"Here we are." Lumiere said pointing to a door on the right.

"Finally!" Sora groaned as he quickly opened the door.

Thankfully, Riku's room was small otherwise it would been a lot harder to find. It was so dark and small room and quite depressing. No wonder Riku looked so sickly, this and the dark powers could not have been good for his health. Yet he would think later as he looked for the lamp. He quickly rummaged through the various drawers and under the bed wondering where Riku would put the lamp.

"Come on, come on…" Sora muttered as he looked through the drawers. " Give me something…"

Finally, he opened the main drawer on the top near a light and found it.

"YES!"

Carefully, Sora pulled out a familiar look black lamp and held it steady, he could feel a dark power tingle over his arm.

"So what do we wish for?" Donald asked.

"We wish Maleficent to stopped." Sora replied scratching his head. "We just need to word it carefully."

Goofy held Sora's arm."Careful! Remember this is Jafar's lamp, we have to be careful so that he doesn't try and trick us."

Sora took a moment to think this over, this wish would be a crucial one and could stop so much of everything that was going on. Yet he couldn't let panic overcome him. In that moment, he closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could before realizing what he had to say.

Finally, he had the words he needed to make his wish.

"I wish-I wish Maleficent and her forces couldn't hurt anyone anymore!"

A flash of magic and then…..Nothing.

"Did we do it?" Donald asked.

Sora closed his eyes to listen carefully to see if he heard any noise or sound. Yet everything right now was completely quiet. No explosions, no roaring animals, no nothing, absolute and complete silence. That must have meant that at the very least the battle was over. One could only hope that it was a victory for them and not the forces of darkness.

"So now what do we do?" Goofy asked Sora as he looked down at the lamp.

Sora took the lamp and put it in his pocket so that no one could get there grubby hands on it later. "Now we look for Belle."

Beast nodded. "Good, it's about time."

Sora gathered the others but that was before the door to Riku's room burst open. Everyone readied themselves expecting the Heartless to attack but instead of the large swarm, a familiar shaped shadow emerged. Sora's Shadow form had arrived.

"What the-" Sora didn't have much time to talk as he found himself being flung forward into the shadow's tight grip. "Help!"

Donald and Goofy rushed to him but it was too late, the shadow opened up a vortex and flung Sora into it before closing it and vanishing it himself.

Sora felt the cold of the dark vortex around him as he was flung through the portal. The feeling was unnatural and harsh. Eternal almost, a never ending void of darkness. But as endless as it seemed, it ended all in the blink of an eye.

Falling onto the floor, Sora lifted his head to find himself standing in the middle of a large machine room. Several pipes of gold and metal surrounded the area, as electrical wires spread everywhere and at the very end, a large heart shaped device with multicolored vortek in the center, and a figure standing right in front of it.

Laying on the ground he saw Kairi unconscious but okay, quickly Sora rushed over to her. "Kairi! Kairi, wake up!"

From above a cold yet familiar voice echoed in the distance. "That girl has lost her heart, she cannot wake up." The figure, with silver white hair wearing a blue and red bodysuit with white skirt around his waist. Sora's eyes widened as he looked at him, shocked and horrified by what he saw.

"R-Riku?" Sora whispered as he got

He chuckled darkly and turned around and gazed at Sora with bright yellow eyes. "Greetings Sora, we formally meet a last."

"No." Sora looked at those eyes remembering the words Phil had spoken to him and gasped. "Y-You aren't Riku ...You...You're ...You're Xehanort!"