Wings of Avalon: Unfortunately the whole "Meli can time travel" thing is, so far at least, just a hint of something I threw into that chapter for fun. If I can think of a way to play around with it in a oneshot or something after this is over, I might do that, though!

coolmegan123: Sorry to leave you hanging on that cliff for so long! And unfortunately I'm not gonna let you all the way down off of it anytime soon ha.

Oh yes, my first fanfic was so long ago, I really wouldn't expect you to remember it. And I don't know if I specified that it was a Silence spell being used, but Maleficent did make Riku unable to talk a couple of times.

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a merry Christmas! My whole family has had the flu all week so ours was...not the greatest, but still pretty good. I feel like a LOT happens in this chapter, so buckle up!

TRIGGER WARNING: BRIEF CONTEMPLATION OF SUICIDE

(Starts and stops where marked by a line. Summary at the end of the chapter)

Chapter 32

Perspective – Meli

"Alright, boys and girls, now that everyone is finally on the same page and ready to go, let's get this show on the road! Looks like everybody already has their partner...Meli, dear, you're here with Luxu and me. Riku and Ira all good? Okay, now everybody should have their own personal lock to deal with, if not, adjust your positions so that you do. Great! Looking good!"

Looking good, indeed. Sora, Kairi, Aqua, and Terra were all practically in a trance. Riku looked positively exhausted, and seemed to waver between trance-like anger and anger at the situation as he tried to fight off whatever they were doing to his head. I still had streaks from tears drying on my cheeks, couldn't speak, and was being practically shoved into position. Just because I was cooperating now didn't mean I was going to make it easy for them, as long as they left Riku out of it.

But of course, the Master of Masters was ignoring all of that, plus the vicious glares he was getting from Riku and me, and was as cheerful as ever. I mean, why not? His plan – even if it was Plan B or C or whatever letter we were on by now – was working, and he was getting what he wanted. He had every right to be cheerful.

I was going to stop him, though. Somehow. Even if I had to sacrifice myself again to do it, I would do my best to keep the multiverse safe.

"Now, I'm gonna need everybody to focus, and feel out your partner's magic." He had positioned himself at the front of the box, across from the main latch, with Xigbar and me just behind him, and was patiently instructing everyone like this was just a school experiment. "Close your eyes if you need to, whatever works for you. I don't even care if you guys want to hold hands. Just connect your magic, and when you're ready, focus it out through your Keyblade at your lock."

I watched closely as each of my friends did what he asked. Aqua got it first, because of course she did, she seemed like she was pretty much perfect other than, you know, letting herself get brainwashed by her evil doppelganger. Terra was next, which also made sense. The two of them were the ones who actually had training in all of this magical crap. Streams of light came from the four Keyblades of the duo and their partners, tinting shades of blue and red, respectively, before hitting the locks.

Sora had his face scrunched up in concentration, while Kairi's eyes were closed and she looked perfectly at ease. It made my heart hurt. I wasn't sure if it was for her, because she was being so thoroughly deceived, or for myself, because I couldn't have my sister's support when I so desperately needed it. Maybe it was both. My attention was brought back to Sora when his Keyblade lit up, followed quickly by Gula's. Their light streams glowed yellow. Kairi's and Ava's joined in soon after, an unsurprising pale pink.

That left my group, and Riku. At this point I couldn't tell whether he was going along just because I was, or if they had succeeded in getting into his head. Or maybe he knew that if he tried to say or do anything, they'd just zap him again. He hadn't been very successful at getting anything out so far. It was slightly encouraging that it took him so long to add his light in, making me hope that he was still fighting at least a little. Eventually his Keyblade did come to life, though, joining with Ira's to make a purple glow around their locks.

"You gonna join us, poppet?"

I shot Xigbar the nastiest glare I could manage. He just grinned and nodded toward the Keyblade that was in my hand but still pointing toward the floor. Gritting my teeth, I hefted the weapon and pointed it at the lock just to the left of the latch. The Master of Masters and Xigbar already had theirs trained on the latch and the lock to the right, but seemed to be waiting on me to perform their part.

Once my eyes were closed, it was easy for me to sense the magic of everyone in the room, probably because of my prior experience finding people in a similar way. There were two that stood out more than the others, though, that seemed to be reaching out to me. It was definitely the two I was looking for. But there was no need to let them know it had been so easy. Stalling probably wouldn't do me any good whatsoever, but I waited for a bit anyway, furrowing my eyebrows as if I was focusing, before finally, reluctantly, letting my magic reach out and connect to theirs. I opened my eyes in time to see three brilliant white streams of light come from our Keyblades and envelop the locks.

There was a burst of bright light from the entirety of the box, then a loud unlatching sound as every lock disengaged at once. The lid swung upwards of its own accord. My heart beat double-time in anticipation, mimicking the speed of my thoughts that had absolutely no clue what to expect to find inside.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too much longer to find out. Something was rising up out of the box, multiple somethings, in fact. Most were silver, some gold, a few an iridescent green which were more delicately shaped than the rest. All had jagged edges, like pieces of glass that had shattered on the floor.

"Master!" Ira exclaimed. "Is that...?"

"The actual, original X-blade? Yes, yes it is."

"What?" Sora and Aqua breathed, still themselves enough to be blown away.

"Yep." The Master of Masters nodded, though his gaze seemed to stay on the fragments. "See, your old pal Xehanort kept trying to recreate this blade to summon Kingdom Hearts. And he did succeed once...sorta. But that X-blade was just a copy of the original...kinda like you guys!" He cackled, clearly finding himself hilarious. "And no offense to all of you copies, but it wasn't nearly as powerful as the real thing. He probably would have been able to accomplish what he wanted with it, had you guys not gotten in his way, but he certainly wouldn't have been able to do what we're going to do today."

I hadn't gotten a good look at the weapon that Xehanort had created out of the clashes of our last big battle, but I remembered conversations from before we went into it, about its ability to summon Kingdom Hearts and give its wielder great power. And even if I knew nothing about it before this moment, the combination of Xehanort and the Master of Masters wanting it automatically made it a bad thing to be showing up right now.

"Luckily, all of you have just the right kind of power needed to put Humpty Dumpty together again. Thus why I made the locks the way I did, to make sure you'd all be here when it opened." He, of course, sounded quite pleased with himself as he said this. "So let's get to it!" Everybody focus again, and bring those pieces back together."

Again, I put off complying as long as I thought I could get away with, which meant that I saw when the Master of Masters backed away from the box, leaving this task to the rest of us, apparently. Meanwhile, my mind was still racing. What happens when it's back together? Could I possibly grab it before he can? Would I know what to even do with it? I guess the main goal would just be to keep it out of his hands.

The pieces were starting to glow, some with light magic, most with dark. It brought to mind a comment Yen Sid had made about the X-blade shattering into dark and light pieces, prompting the whole 'seven guardians of light' and 'thirteen seekers of darkness' crap. I figured that was my cue if I didn't want to get in trouble again, so I let my magic stretch out to theirs. I kept my eyes open this time, though. I wanted to be fully aware of every single twitch that the Master of Masters, or anyone else, made.

He was right about one thing. The raw power that I could feel emanating from all of the sets of partners in the room was something I had never experienced before. The only thing I could think to compare it to was the vibe I got in the presence of Kingdom Hearts, but that had been distant and this was right up in my face. There definitely was something about these pairs of doppelgangers working together that was both awesome and terrifying.

The X-blade pieces began to move, slowly. The dark ones were first, and I could feel their pull, tugging at the places in my heart that were still entrenched in darkness, reminding me of what it felt like to give in and have it rushing through my veins. I shuddered. The only way I would let that happen again was if it was needed to save everyone. Then there would be no question.

Before I could travel too far down that path, though, the last of the thirteen clicked into place, and the pull of the darkness was overtaken by pure light rushing in. It almost burned in its intensity as the seven pieces began to move closer together. Those darkest places of my heart shrieked at the unexpected exposure. Gritting my teeth, I focused past the discomfort to yank the pieces as hard as I could until they were all lined up where they should be.

A blinding glow erupted from the completed weapon. Most everyone looked away or threw an arm over their face, but I forced myself to only squint and keep my eyes straight on it, waiting. It was worth it, too, because before the glow had completely faded the X-blade was on the move, right toward the Master of Masters.

I took one step forward and leapt, body tilted forward, arm outstretched. My fingers were within an inch of the handle. It was almost mine.

Then my whole side burst with fiery, intense pain, and a force knocked me off my course and onto the floor. My head bounced off of the shiny surface, vision going completely black for an unknown amount of time. Even when it returned, I could still barely see through the pain. My mouth fell open and my throat tightened in a silent scream.

Green light swirled over me. Gasping in an audible breath, I dashed away the tears that had gathered with the back of my hand and shoved myself up to my elbow, glancing down at the formerly offending spot. A blackened hole had been left behind in my purple shirt, but all signs of the grisly burn had been erased. From the way Riku leaned toward me with his Keyblade, a look of combined relief and sorrow on his face, I could tell I had him to thank for that. In contrast, the smarmy, self-satisfied look on Xigbar's face gave me the feeling I had him to thank for the burn and the interruption of my world-saving.

Speaking of, the completed X-blade was nestled securely in the Master of Masters hand. His attention, and everyone else's, for that matter, was up, and I let my eyes drift that way, dreading what I might see. The sky was not what I had expected. Somehow, the stained glass ceiling had opened up, tilting until the bright blue sky could be clearly seen from inside the room.

The smile on the Master of Masters face was obvious when he spoke again. "This moment right here has been a long time coming. And ah, how glorious it is, now that it's finally here."

He lifted the blade and a bolt of light shot out from the tip, streaking like lightning far up into the sky, where it seemed to explode. Grey clouds began forming, gathering together, swirling around into a spiral just like they had over the cliff that Xehanort had stood on. There was a roaring sound, then a flare of purple light parted the clouds at their very center. They dissipated as quickly as they had come, uncovering the giant purple moon until its full heart shape was revealed.

Wait...purple?

"But why is it purple?" the Master of Masters asked in a mocking voice. I wasn't sure if it was my thoughts he was 'reading', but I still wanted to bash my head against a wall if it would make him shut up. "Because just like this in my hand is the true X-blade, that, my friends, is the true Kingdom Hearts. Not seen since the days of old. Not made up of the hearts of worlds, or men, or anything else that your crazy villains could come up with. No, this...this is the source of all light and all darkness."

As he spoke, I could feel its power bearing down on me. It was certainly more powerful than the other Kingdom Hearts I had been in the presence of. I could almost imagine that it was watching me, scrutinizing me, even, judging to see whether I passed its test.

"Now for the next step...Meli, dear, you're up."

His voice broke me out of my daze. I snapped to attention to see his hand held out to me, and automatically spat, "And what if I don't?" It wasn't until after the words came out of my mouth that I remembered to be surprised that they actually had.

The Master of Masters huffed. "Ah yes. That. No need for you to remain Silent anymore, there isn't anything you can say that will stop this. For that matter no need for any of this anymore." He flicked a hand in the direction of the others, and each of his apprentices shifted, seeming to relax a bit. Ava, in particular, slumped with what looked like relief.

At the same moment, Sora, Kairi, Aqua, and Terra blinked, shook their heads, and gazed around with wide eyes. Kairi was the first to speak. "Wait...what just happened?" She craned her neck back to look at Kingdom Hearts with growing alarm. "What did we just do?"

I wanted to respond, to reassure her that it wasn't their fault, but of course Mr. Talkative beat me to it.

"You did just as my apprentices prompted you to. It's a wonderful little power I've gifted them with, isn't it? Anyway, you've been most helpful, but now it's Meli's turn to shine." He turned to look down at me again. "And in answer to your question, if you don't, they die."

Immediately four Keyblades lifted, with Ava's fifth trailing just slightly behind, and their tips were planted on the chests of my friends. Sora, Kairi, and Terra put their hands up slightly, looking scared and confused, while Riku and Aqua just glared down their aggressors. I gripped my own weapon so tightly my knuckles hurt.

"You wouldn't," I whispered.

"Wanna test that theory, sweetheart? Their job is done. I don't need them anymore." He shrugged. "Sure, it might be helpful to keep them around a little bit longer, but it's not nearly as important as what I need you to do. So yeah, I would. Easily."

I scanned the faces of my friends, heart breaking at the fear I saw there. My eyes lingered on Riku for just a moment longer than the others. Just long enough for the heartbreak to boil into anger, then I jerked my gaze back up to the Master of Masters.

"So it's me you need." Swiftly, I spun the Keyblade around until the tip was pressing into my own sternum. More than one voice cried out my name, but I ignored them. I didn't know if I actually had the strength needed to thrust it into my own body, but I could certainly cast Firaga or something and do the trick. "I guess I know how to stop you."

My voice cracked slightly from all the emotions that were rushing through me. I didn't want to die. Again. I had just gotten back, and I still hadn't had a chance at a proper reunion with Grim, or anyone else. And Grim...I only had an inkling of how much my being gone had affected him, and I didn't want to put him through that again.

But neither of us were more important than everyone else who lived. Someone had to save them, and it looked like it had to be me.

That didn't mean that it was easy to take that next, final step, and while I was still trying to gather my courage, Riku cried out in pain and doubled over. It was enough to make me jolt, distracting me for long enough that the Master of Masters dove down and yanked to my feet by my arm.

"You're an idiot," he hissed, sounding exasperated for the first time. "You'd think that eventually, you'd realize that all your stupid little attempts to beat me weren't going to get you anywhere. I have the upper hand here. There's nothing you can do about it, and you're only causing more trouble for yourself and your friends. But you're just so blasted stubborn, you can't get it through your thick head."

The most stubborn person I know, Riku's voice echoed through my head, so patient with me while I didn't even know myself. I bared my teeth. "I'll gladly take the title of stubborn idiot if it means I'm causing problems for you."

"Only mild irritations, hon, don't be too proud." Dragging me back over to where he had been standing with a grip that would leave bruises, he faced Xigbar. "Luxu, I believe it's time that you take your leave. Places to go, people to see, eras to hop, bodies to steal...and all that jazz. Leave the remote with Ira, we might need it still."

Obligingly, Xigbar tossed the remote through the air, Ira catching it with one hand without taking his Keyblade off of Riku. Then he stretched his arms up over his head, his joints cracking. "Yep, this body's about had it, I'd say." He motioned toward the Master of Masters. "Where'd you say you found this one?"

"Right here in Daybreak Town," he replied, spreading his free arm out wide. "You'll know him when you see him. Tell all the baby Foretellers hi for me." He sniffed dramatically. "I miss them being all young and impressionable."

"Wait, what's going on? What are you two talking about?" I demanded.

"Oh, did we not mention?" the Master of Masters asked innocently, looking to me once again. "He's me. Or at least, he's about to be. Little Luxu is all grown up and ready to become the Master of Masters. He's gotta go back to the very beginning and get all of this –" he motioned to the entire room –"set up."

What the...? No wonder I thought their mannerisms were similar. While my mind was still reeling from this new information, Xigbar...Luxu...the Master of Masters...whoever the heck he was, sauntered up to me, catching me off guard enough that he was actually able to succeed in stroking my cheek with the back of his hand before I flinched away.

"Sorry, poppet. I know you'll miss me."

"In your dreams!" I spit as he backed away again. "Never seeing you again is the one good thing to come out of this!"

He chuckled, his yellow eye squinting in mirth. "Too bad I'll still be here, then."

As he opened a portal and walked through, the Master of Masters leaned over to speak softly in my ear. "You're just as feisty as I remember you, poppet."

Trigger section summary: Meli realizes she's the one that the Master of Masters needs and is prepared to eliminate herself in response.

A/N: So, I made up a bunch of crap for this chapter haha. This is one of those with all the lore that I had to fill in myself or twist it to make it work the way I wanted, one of the sections that was the reason that the story took me so long. I hope it all makes sense, and is acceptable despite probably being nowhere near correct!