A/N: For this chapter you may want to be familiar with Kelly Clarkson's "Catch My Breath."
"SORA!" Riku shouted as he dug through the rubble.
The charred remains of the Radiant Garden power reactor were still smoldering as Riku dug. Riku's stomach churned when he noticed the corpses of the villains known as the Sinister Six. They'd deserved their gruesome fates, but that didn't stop Riku from pitying them. Sora, however, was nowhere to be found. Riku's heart ached when he considered the possibility that there was nothing left to find.
However, a shift amongst the rubble caught Riku's eye. He immediately ran over to the spot where he'd noticed the movement. He gasped in terror as something dark burst from the ground and tackled him. Riku struggled against it and tried to get a good look at the creature. It was all black, like a Heartless, with bright yellow eyes. Yet the silhouette was familiar, as was the spiky hair...
"Sora! Stop! It's me! Riku!" he cried. "You're safe now. Sora, you've gotta calm down! Don't give in to the darkness!"
Riku's words seemed to get through to him. Sora scrambled off of him and clutched his head as he struggled to repress his Anti-Form. Sora's color began to return as he once again resembled the man that Riku loved.
"Riku... I'm so sorry!" Sora said, panting. "I couldn't-"
Riku held up a hand to silence him. "Don't apologize. I understand. The darkness must've instinctively protected you from the blast."
Sora nodded, struggling to avert his eyes from the carnage surrounding him.
"How long has this been going on?" Riku asked. "This whole darkness thing?"
Sora couldn't meet Riku's eyes. "It started back when I was fighting Xemnas and Organization XIII."
"After you became a Heartless and turned back," Riku deduced. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because I thought I could control it," Sora said. "It only happened during battles when I tried to use too much power. And I never hurt anybody... I don't think..."
Riku shook his head. "We've gotta get you out of here to rest... Have Merlin or the good fairies look over you."
"No!" Sora said. "We have to stay here and help!"
"Sora, you were just in the middle of an explosion!" Riku argued. "You can't keep helping today."
"But you smell it!" Sora argued. "I know you do! Really intense darkness inside of the castle!"
Riku said nothing. Of course he'd smelled it. He could never forget that man's foul stench. Yet Sora had never had that power before. Only those who'd dwelled in darkness could detect scents like that. Sora picking up the scent was worrisome for more reasons than one.
"It's Ansem, isn't it?" Sora asked.
Riku nodded. "Yeah. It is."
"Well Ansem is our responsibility!" Sora declared. "Whatever he's up to, we have to stop him!"
"And what if he uses that darkness inside of you to turn you into his puppet?" Riku asked. "You don't know him the way I do! It's too dangerous!"
"Riku, I'm my own person, and I make my own decisions," Sora declared. "You can either come with me or get out of my way. But I'm going to stop him!"
Riku sighed and shook his head. "You're impossibly stubborn, you know that?"
Sora grinned. "But that's why you love me."
Ansem escorted Xigbar into the black and white round room known as the Chamber of Repose. A single throne sat in the middle of the chamber, but Ansem ignored it, studying the walls intently.
"You do know we can access Operation Repose remotely, right?" Xigbar asked. "We don't have to be here."
"You state the obvious," Ansem said as he ran his hands over the wall. "That is not why we're here."
"Wanna clue me in?" Xigbar asked.
Ansem, however, didn't acknowledge Xigbar's request. He charged up his dark energies and destroyed the panel covering the wall. Hidden beneath the white paneling was a black door without a handle. A large Keyhole shimmered on its surface.
Xigbar's eyes widened. "Wait a minute. That's the-"
"Keyhole, yes," Ansem nodded. "The one upstairs that Sora sealed was a special Keyhole connected to Kingdom Hearts. This, however, was the door I opened back when we were apprentices of Ansem the Wise."
"This is what destroyed Radiant Garden the first time," Xigbar remarked.
"Indeed, and now you are going to unseal it again," Ansem ordered. "Plunge this world into darkness!"
"Well, you're the boss," Xigbar shrugged as he raised his Keyblade.
The sound of a gunshot startled the two men, and they whirled around to see Fish Mooney standing at the entrance to the chamber holding the gun aloft.
"That was a warning shot," Fish said.
Steve Newlin and Ursula entered the chamber, standing to either side of Fish.
"Ah, the woman who permitted my infiltration into the Overtakers," Ansem remarked with a smile. "I owe you many thanks, my dear. A shame what happened to Demyx."
"You shut up about Demyx!" Fish said. "Otherwise I'll put a bullet right between those gaudy amber eyes of yours!"
"Whoa, now that's uncalled for, ma'am," Xigbar interrupted. "Tell her, Stevie. I know you agree."
"Back off, Xigbar," Steve said severely.
"You're not destroying this world!" Ursula declared. "This is our world to rule! And none of your ridiculous shenanigans are gonna change that!"
"You and your fellow bumbling fools are above your level once more," Ansem warned. "Do not interfere in my affairs!"
"Above our level?" Ursula asked. "HA! Oh, sweet-cheeks, your memory must be slipping, because we keep beating you on your level whether it's with Xehanort or Cronus."
"Get out of here, now, and we just might let y'all live," Steve threatened.
"Oh Stevie, Stevie, you really wanna go down this road?" Xigbar asked. "As if! And after I so generously gave you Operation Repose in the first place?"
Ursula and Fish turned to glare at Steve.
"He's trying to tear us apart!" Steve said defensively.
"But I'm not lying," Xigbar said. "He helped me kill Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord in exchange for me givin' him Operation Repose... which, y'know, was all according to our plan anyway."
"I did what I did for the good of the Overtakers!" Steve insisted.
"We can't afford to squabble amongst ourselves right now," Ursula said, "but we're not done talking about this, Steve!"
"Right, let's focus on taking down these fools," Fish nodded.
"Unseal the Keyhole," Ansem ordered Xigbar. "I'll handle the Overtakers."
However, when Xigbar went to do so, Steve charged into the dark Key bearer at vampiric speeds, knocking him out of the way. Xigbar teleported across the room, and Steve sped after him. The two continued to bounce around the chamber as if they were a bullet constantly ricocheting around.
Ansem was about to help Xigbar, but he quickly found himself having to contend with Ursula and Fish Mooney. Fish began to open fire on Ansem, but his ever-faithful Guardian manifested and shielded Ansem from the bullets. However, with the Guardian occupied out front, Ursula was able to slither around behind the Seeker of Darkness and hurl a bolt of purple magic into the small of Ansem's back. Ansem spun around and retaliated by hurling a blast of darkness at Ursula, knocking her back.
Fish summoned up an orb of her toxin and flung it towards Ansem. However, he simply telekinetically redirected the toxin to splatter harmlessly on the floor. Fish cursed under her breath and attempted to form another orb. Ansem prepared to attack Fish but was momentarily distracted by Steve running into him while chasing after Xigbar. Fish threw the toxin, and Ansem flew out of the way. The seeker of darkness turned his full attention on Fish.
"SUBMIT!" he called out.
His Guardian lashed out and punched Fish square in the chest, vanishing after making contact. Fish's torso began to glow purple, and she could feel the Guardian inside of her. Fish smirked as she got an idea. She willed her toxin to spread inside of her and to infect the Guardian. It exited her body and floated behind her, loyally following its new master.
"WHAT?" Ansem bellowed angrily.
"Die mad about it," Fish taunted.
Ursula wrapped her tentacle around Ansem, restraining him so that the Guardian could deliver a well placed punch to his chin.
"ENOUGH!" Ansem called out as he charged himself with dark energy and broke free of the sea-witch's hold.
Ursula summoned her trident to her hand and fired a stream of energy at Ansem. He held off the trident's powers by summoning up a shield of darkness, but Ansem knew it would only be a temporary solution. He saw Steve constantly chasing Xigbar around and got an idea. When Xigbar teleported next, Ansem immediately deflected the trident's blast to hit directly in front of where Xigbar appeared. The trident's energy struck Steve, blasting the vampire off course. Fish sent the Guardian over to catch Steve and gingerly set him on the ground.
"Xigbar! The human woman!" Ansem called out.
Xigbar reacted immediately, summoning one of his arrow guns to his hand. He fired a shining pink arrow right at Fish. She gasped in pain as the arrow wedged itself into her chest. Fish staggered and began to fall to the floor.
"NO!" Ursula shrieked as she dove over to catch Fish.
With Fish injured, the Guardian returned to Ansem's side. Steve rose to his feet and shook off the painful jolts as dread began to fill his heart.
"You'll pay for this!" Ursula swore as she whisked herself and her injured lover into a Corridor of Darkness.
Knowing that he was completely incapable of defeating both Ansem and Xigbar by himself. Steve dashed through the portal to escape before it closed.
"Pitiful fools!" Ansem scoffed. "Such weakness. Now, Xigbar, attend to the Keyhole!"
Xigbar saluted and teleported back to the strange door. However, he groaned when he saw two new figures enter the room.
"Ugh, c'mon already, this is a private party!" Xigbar complained.
"Well we're crashing!" Sora declared as he and Riku burst in.
"Ansem," Riku said, glaring at the man who once stole his body.
"Well, well, the boys who know nothing and thus can understand nothing," Ansem mused. "The more things change..."
"Tough talk from the guy we've both beaten by ourselves," Sora taunted. "And at least we can actually beat Maleficent."
"Perhaps, but I've come prepared for this encounter," Ansem said with a knowing smirk.
A Parasite Cage Heartless sporting a red and black color palette manifested next to Ansem. Through its grotesque maw, a prisoner was visible. Sora gasped in shock when he realized who it was.
"LEON!" Sora shouted.
"Do not take a step further," Ansem warned. "If you attempt to do battle with me, I will immolate this Heartless with your friend inside of it."
"Let him go, Ansem!" Riku called out. "He has nothing to do with this."
"On the contrary, he has everything to do with this," Ansem said. "You are going to stand down and allow Xigbar to complete his work, and once he is done, I will release your friend."
Riku immediately dismissed his Keyblade, but Sora kept his drawn, still ready for a fight.
"You're asking us to let you sacrifice an entire world?" Sora asked.
"Please... don't let them do it, Sora," Leon managed to say from inside the cage. "It's alright. I've lived a good life. Save Radiant Garden, not me."
"All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end," Ansem said. "You cannot prevent this inescapable reality, but you can save your friend. And I think we both know which choice you're going to make. You, with your unwavering loyalty to the path of light, could never sacrifice a friend for the greater good. It's simply not in your nature. You aren't dark enough."
Sora looked between the Keyhole and Leon, unsure of what to do. His heart hung open with uncertainty. He'd always followed his heart wherever it led, but now his heart was feeling pulled in two different directions. One towards light; one towards darkness. The only problem was that Sora didn't know which was which anymore.
"You weren't strong enough to stop me from destroying Destiny Islands," Ansem continued. "You weren't strong enough to stop me from ensnaring the heart of your best friend. You're not strong enough to stop me now either, so do yourself a favor and save who you can. After all, I seem to recall you bragging that your friends were your power."
"No, no, I will not let you win! Not again!" Sora swore.
Riku put his hand on Sora's shoulder. "If we save Leon, we can still get the townsfolk to safety in Traverse Town and find a way to restore Radiant Garden like last time. We can still win!"
"Let me go, Sora, it's alright," Leon pleaded.
The Parasite Cage secreted a cloud of poison onto Leon that caused him to groan in pain, punctuating Ansem's threat.
"What would dear Master Yen Sid say if he could see you now?" Ansem asked. "If he wasn't dead."
Choices flashed before Sora's eyes. On one hand, Leon was prepared to sacrifice himself to save the town. If it was what Leon wanted, could Sora truly force Leon to live with the knowledge that he'd been saved at the expense of the town he loved so much? But on the other hand, Riku had a good point. They'd always won by choosing to put faith in their friends and finding a third option. Was it truly light to selfishly save your friend by letting darkness win? And was it darkness to prioritize the greater good at the expense of the individual? Sora didn't know. He couldn't know. And so he just chose.
He dismissed his Keyblade and hung his head.
"Such a good boy," Ansem said with a grin.
Ansem flicked his wrist, instructing Xigbar to unseal the Keyhole. A beam of darkness shot out of Xigbar's Keyblade and a loud unlocking noise echoed throughout the chamber. The door swung open and darkness began to pour out.
"You have what you came for," Sora said. "Now let him go!"
Ansem nodded and dismissed the Parasite Cage. Leon hobbled over to Sora and Riku, unable to look either of them in the eye.
"Oh, but one final lesson," Ansem interrupted.
The Guardian descended upon Leon, grabbed the warrior's head from behind, and twisted. Sora cried out in despair as Leon's neck snapped right in front of him. Sora sank to his knees and held his hands over his mouth to muffle his cries. Riku wrapped his arms around Sora, trying in vain to comfort his boyfriend.
"I told you before," Ansem said. "Darkness is the heart's true essence."
Ansem and Xigbar vanished from the room, leaving Sora and Riku to mourn their friend as the darkness seeped through.
Back at Villain's Vale, Steve fed Fish some of his vampiric blood to heal her. She was a little worse for the wear, but she would recover. Just outside, the Overtakers could see the Heartless beginning to overrun this world. It wouldn't be long before Radiant Garden fell to darkness.
"We need to evacuate back to the Overtaken Kingdom," Ursula declared. "There's nothing we can do to salvage our plans on this world. We need to just cut our losses."
"What about Russell? He's still locked up inside of the castle!" Steve said.
"If you wanna go back into that castle and face off against all that impending darkness, be my guest," Ursula said. "But I've gotta get Fish to safety and make sure she stays stable, not to mention salvage what I can from Villain's Vale before it gets destroyed."
Steve nodded. "I understand. But I've gotta save him."
"Good luck," Ursula said.
Steve turned towards the exit. "See y'all soon... I hope."
"Twenty-three bottles of blood on the wall, twenty-three bottles of blood," Russell hummed to himself as he sat alone inside the damp cage. "Ya take one down, pass it around, twenty-two bottles of blood on the wall."
A flash of blue light on the other side of the cage drew Russell's attention away from his little song.
"Well, well, trapped like the rat you are," Hecate said as she admired the view of Russell caged. "Reminds me of your precious little Talbot!"
Russell leapt to his feet and bared his fangs angrily.
"You fucking cunt, I am going to kill you!" Russell shouted, his original Druid accent slipping through.
"Yeah, you just try that, big boy," Hecate said with a laugh. "But I do owe you a bit of revenge for killing my wolves and ripping off my hands last time we met."
"You deserve so much worse," Russell hissed.
"True," Hecate shrugged. "But if we got what we deserved, I'd have been the Ruler of the Underworld instead of Hades."
"Well I can send you to the Underworld now if you'd like," Russell offered.
"Ha! Keep dreaming, vampire," Hecate scoffed. "You're like a fish in a barrel, and I'm going to shoot you." Hecate's hands began to glow a bright shade of blue. "Say bye-bye!"
"Bye-bye!" Steve said as he activated Operation Repose.
At Steve's behest, Radiant Garden's automated defense system, the claymores, switched their primary target from Heartless to Hecate. A concentrated blast of bright light slammed into Hecate, repeatedly blasting her into the air. Steve inserted another command into Operation Repose, and Russell's cage opened, setting the vampire free. At blinding speed, Russell shot out of his cage, darting right for Hecate. Steve blinked, and when he next opened his eyes, he saw half of Hecate floating in the water on one side of the room and the other half of Hecate in Russell's arms, being drained of blood by the hungry vampire.
"Take your snack in a doggie-bag," Steve said. "We've gotta go. This whole world's about to blow up."
"And you came back for me," Russell said, still partially shocked. "You really do still care."
"Of course I did," Steve said. "Even if you've been a jackass lately, you're still the man I love."
Russell smiled at that. "For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry for ruinin' your big scheme."
"Thank you for saying that," Steve smiled and nodded. "And I'm sorry I haven't been a very good boyfriend lately."
Russell waved the apology off dismissively. "Eh, when you're over three thousand years old, you tend not to sweat the ephemeral moments and little spats."
"Little spats?" Steve asked with a laugh. "This one may have just resulted in an entire planetary apocalypse."
Russell shrugged. "Well then let's go enjoy it."
"Um, last I checked we needed to evacuate," Steve said.
"Oh, come on, we're immortal vampires and we've got the power to teleport away at any moment," Russell said. "Trust me, I was there in Pompeii when Vesuvius blew its load. You haven't lived until you've stopped to enjoy apocalyptic carnage! C'mon, let me show you a good time like I used to."
Steve laughed and shook his head. "Alright, please, take me with you."
Russell and Steve ran giddily into the town center. A dark blood-red cloud hung over the city and seemed to be sucking the entire world in with it. The citizens were running for their lives, trying to evade the Heartless and make it to the evacuation zones. Russell flipped through his music library on his phone and cranked the volume all the way up.
"Ha-HA! This one's perfect for you," Russell declared.
Steve couldn't help but laugh when Kelly Clarkson's "Catch My Breath" started to play. And strangely enough, it did fit, because, for the first time in a long time, Steve finally felt like he could breathe. Steve and Russell took each other in their arms, and they danced. They danced to the screams of innocents, they danced to catastrophic destruction, they danced to celebrate that they'd finally found their way back to each other, and, most importantly, they danced to Kelly Clarkson music.
Catching my breath, letting it go
Turning my cheek for the sake of this show
Now that you know, this is my life
I won't be told what's supposed to be right