Wings of Avalon: Ahh thank you! That was one thing I've worried about throughout this series, that people would be bothered by so many things relying on Meli. But for this book in particular I decided to throw it all out the window and make it really about her and her power. I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

coolmegan123: Thank you! So much! I've been simultaneously nervous and super excited about this whole section (well, the whole book, but particularly excited about this part!) so it's sooo good to know that people are liking it. And yes. I love Meli's stubborness, too.

Heyyy bet you didn't think you'd see me this soon, huh? Surprise! Some definitely fun stuff starts here :) :)

Chapter 33

Perspective – Meli

"Alright, sweetheart, time for you and me to do what we do best – open a portal."

"A portal to where?" I ground out through my teeth. "How about the beach? The beach sounds nice right about now."

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere."

Incredulous, I turned to stare into the side of his black hood. "Did you just quote Star Wars at me?"

"Keep telling you, I've been around a while. Been to a lot of different universes, too." I could just hear the smirk he was wearing.

I rolled my eyes. Of course. Of course when I finally found someone else who would get my references, it was the freaking Master of Masters. "Yeah, well, kindly refrain from ruining my favorite series for me. You're no Anakin Skywalker."

He just laughed. "Anyhow, in answer to your question, we're making a portal to...there." Raising the hand that wasn't still gripping my arm, he pointed up at Kingdom Hearts.

I blinked up at the purple moon. "Wha-...how? That's not another universe, that's Kingdom Hearts! And I don't happen to be familiar with it in order to get there."

"I know, you're such a beginner with your abilities, it's adorable, really. So many things I could teach you. Anyway, you shouldn't worry so much, sweetheart. Don't you get by now that I know exactly what I'm doing?"

I'd never admit to him that I did get that. I was beginning to think he was unstoppable.

"Now, you don't have to know where we're going, because all I need you to do is lend me some power. That's your main purpose here today, to help me make this portal. It isn't something that just one Traveler can do on their own, that's why I made sure that you'd be here, too. So we'll make the portal, together, and we'll go through, together, because I have one more task for you on the other side."

"You'll kill her!" The sudden outburst from Aqua took me by surprise. She had turned her glare from Invi to the Master of Masters, and I could have sworn sparks were shooting from her eyes. "Humans aren't meant to have prolonged exposure to Kingdom Hearts, even from a distance! You take her straight to the core, and you'll kill her."

"Ooh, Miss Smarty Pants knows her stuff!" He actually did sound slightly impressed, despite the sarcasm, but it was impossible to tell if it was just an act. "You're right, the average human can't withstand very much exposure to Kingdom Hearts. But all of you are hardly average humans, are you? You guys play with light and darkness on a daily basis, right in the palms of your hands. Maybe you're not immune to its effects, but you're definitely not gonna keel over on me just from standing here beneath it.

"Now as far as the core goes..." He shrugged, tipping his head to the side. "Who knows? I've never been there before. Pretty sure no one has. Maybe it will kill her. Hopefully it won't. I mean, at least not right away, that would be inconvenient. But I'm betting that I've picked right, and she's unaverage enough of a human that she'll last long enough to do her job."

I couldn't help myself. Before I could stop and think about not wanting anyone to see how scared I was, I had turned my head straight to Riku, eyes blown wide, seeking comfort in his presence. Instead of comfort, though, I found twice as much fear as I was sure I was showing. He looked like he might actually be the one on the verge of a panic attack, for once. And I had probably just made it worse in my moment of weakness.

I swallowed hard past a desert-dry throat. "Grim..." It came out as a whisper, and had nothing to follow it. I didn't know whether I wanted to try to reassure him, or plead with him to somehow save me.

"Don't." His eyes flicked over to the man beside me. "Don't you dare, don't take her with you. You can't, don't you hurt her or I swear..." His voice grew as he spoke until he was near shouting.

"You swear what, hm? Neither of you have been able to stop me so far, so don't think that's going to change now." With a flash of light, he re-summoned the X-blade, then held it out to me. "Here, grab hold."

I dismissed my own Keyblade with a sinking feeling in my chest, and did as he said. The weapon hummed with life and power in my hand, even more so than a normal Keyblade, sending tingles out into the tips of my fingers.

The Master of Masters lifted the X-blade up above our heads, pulling my arm along with it, though I refused to support any of the weight myself. "Now, all you have to do is connect to my magic again, and connect to that Traveler part of you, and send it all out toward Kingdom Hearts. Leave the difficult part up to me."

I rolled my eyes, then shut them, but only stood there, not trying. His magic was there, next to me, and I could feel it waiting, poking. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter and pretended like if I ignored it, it would go away.

"Uh, sweetheart? Anytime now."

"Stop calling me that," I hissed, the only thing I could do to vent my anger and fear. Clearly ignoring him wasn't going to work, so I reluctantly let my magic unwind and bump up against his. He grabbed onto it like a lifeline and tugged.

"I'm gonna need a little more power than that, sweetheart."

I growled, but let him have what he wanted. Might as well. Nothing I could do was going to stop him, at that point I was just doing it to be a thorn in his side.

"Ah, thank you. Alright now, here comes the exciting part..."

There was a surge of power, and the familiar feeling of a portal opening. I didn't even want to see, but I looked anyway and sure enough, there was a pocket of swirling, distorted air up above us. The Master of Masters started to say something else – knowing him, probably something self-absorbed and annoying – but was cut off when a large shape emerged from the portal.

I had never seen anything come out of one of my portals before. It was always just me going into it. But this wasn't just something, this was a huge, Heartless-like creature, a lot like a griffin but with a purple peacock tail. It wasn't alone, either. More and more creatures poured out after it, all shapes and sizes, all some strange amalgamation of animals.

"Ah! These guys." The Master of Masters didn't sound the slightest bit surprised or concerned. "Guardians, of a sort. There's been a lot of conjecture that they existed...no more proven than Big Foot in your universe, though. Good to know they're real."

The good news about their arrival was that the apprentices finally turned their attention – and their weapons – away from my friends. Everyone began to back up in sync, suddenly forced to be on the same side in the face of something more threatening.

The Master of Masters shrugged. "That should keep them plenty busy while we're gone. Keep your boyfriend from worrying about you too much."

Bending his legs, he leapt suddenly up onto the top of the box, dragging me along with him, then up into the air and through the portal.

The last thing I heard before everything warped around me was Riku's voice screaming, "Meli!"

I didn't realize I had shut my eyes until I opened them again, when sudden quiet overtook my hearing. Everything around me was a swirl of colors, with no beginning, no end, no top or bottom or anything in the middle. It reminded me of the In Between, but with vivid hues and a power that thrummed in my chest like a heartbeat. My breaths were loud in the silent space.

The second thing I noticed was that I was alone. The tight grip on my arm was finally gone, and the Master of Masters was nowhere to be seen. Not that I missed him at all, but his absence made me feel just as much nervous as relieved. Like he might pop up and scare me at any time. Like he might be off fulfilling his plan while I was stuck here, unable to stop him.

"Hello?" I called out. My voice echoed as if I was in a tunnel that went on for miles. "Anyone?" That time, it seemed to circle around me, bouncing off of invisible walls, until it came right back to my own ears. I spun to face it with a gasp, heart sputtering, feeling like I was being snuck up on. But there was still no one there. Nothing to see. Nothing to do, which was the most frustrating of all, because I needed to stop him, somehow.

"Hey!" I screamed, louder than before, not stopping to listen to where it ricocheted this time. "I don't know where I am, or what's going on, but I need to get back to the Master of Masters! He's going to destroy everything; he has to be stopped!"

The last echo died away, and I let my shoulders slump forward. Why was I even screaming into the void, anyway? If this was really the core of Kingdom Hearts, then chances were there was no one here to hear me except the Master of Masters.

In the next instant, that scrutinizing, judging feeling that I had felt a twinge of before was back, but this time a hundred times stronger. I was locked in place as something, some force that was incredibly old and more powerful than I could ever imagine burrowed into my very being, searching my thoughts, my feelings, my past and my future. I had no idea what it was looking for. I had no idea what it was. But I had the distinct feeling that if it wanted to, it could burn me to a crisp in a few seconds flat, or just erase my entire existence from all of history in the blink of an eye.

Then it receded just as quickly as it had come, and when my body was released I was suddenly standing next to the Master of Masters again, with the portal we had created just behind us.

"Ah, there you are. Was beginning to worry I had lost you. I wouldn't wander off in this place if I were you, I might not ever see you again."

"That'd be a tragedy." My voice was reluctant to work after whatever the heck had just happened, coming out a bit croaky.

"So." He rubbed his hands together eagerly. "According to my plan, our next step is to create a portal from here to my universe. Then I'll be able to use the power of Kingdom Hearts to funnel light straight from there -" he pointed at the existing portal -"to there."

Then a voice came, and it was neither male nor female, not human at all, and it was either everywhere at once or all in my head.

H̵ơ͞w̶̷̡ d̶͌͡a̵̸͌ͣ͂rͧ͘͏̸e̷̷̡ͥ͝ ỹ̴͆͘͘͟͞͝o̸ͮ̊͌ͮ͛́́͡u͋̒̃̚͞҉̸̶̴̀͏!̴̡̡ͥ͛͠

Y̴̑̊̇̆̚͏̀͘͟o̡҉̴͘͏̶̡̀͏ù̴̸̵̕͟͟͞͝ w̴̡̨̨͑͆͘͘h̢͘͞ổ̴̡̢̅ͪ̀́͜͝͞ p̧̛͜͏̴̢̛r̶̨̨͗ͥ́͟͏ē͜s̵̈ͮ̓ͯ͠҉̷̀ư̂͐̀͜͡m̵̧͑͑͟͞e͑͆͝҉ t̴̶̅o͟͝ u͜s̶è̻ t̨̨̺͜h̬͓͜e̷̠͘ ṕ̷͟͏̝o̖͕͠w͘҉̹͢e̴̲̟̝͕̗͠͠ŕ̵̸̢̧̳͈̱̙̝̕͟͡ o̷̧̞̘f͚͈̜̟͔̲͢ K̶̵̨̡̛̘͝í̴̡̢̨̕͏̱̯̗͔͈n͠҉͏̨̀͞g̶̷̨̭̬̥̲̀d̵̨҉̝͈̹̤o̢̦͙̞̳̳̝̕̕͢m̸͏͇͉̕ Ḥ̛͢͠e̴̴̷̮͕͡ą͡r͘͜҉̰̳t́͏͞s̢̕.̛̛

Y̧o̴͝u͟͠ p̸r̓ͬ̀i̶̢̛ͧͧ͡͡d̈́̃̊҉̴̸͢͏e͛ͭ̀ y̶̵̢̛ͨ̅̓̈́̀ő̔ͪ͘ų̶̸̽͂̓ͨ͒̄r̷̨ͦ̋͘͟͟s̷̨͘͟͞͡e̶̸̵̢ͣ̂͋͜͝lͬͦ͂͘f͝͏͏̧̨͘̕ ờ̡́͢͢͜͞͠ņ̸̸̧ͪͤ̀͝ y̸o͂ͩ̂̋̂͏͏̷̷̧͘û̔̋̏̑͒͜͏́̀͏̷͘r̈͐͋͘͡͠ k̈́ͦ͂̐͋ͫ͟n̸̢̓͒̀̕͘͢͢͡ò̴̷̵͜͟͠w̨̧ͪ̎̈ͬ̔͢͠l̢͐͏e̶ͦ̏͞d̷͠ģ̽ͬ̊͟͝͞e̢̧͘,̽͘͢ b̛ư͢t̵ y̸҉o̸u̴͙ ḱ̴̛͖̬n̛̖o̡̢̺w̵̤̝̪ n҉͘͟҉̷̫̼o̡͔̝̯͔͢t̛̯̘͇̖͞h̵̴̗̠̼͔̥͢i҉̨͏̛͈̙̻͖̻̳͘n͢҉̵̥g̶͕̘͙̱̹͘͢͢͢ͅ.̴̶̡̡̢̢̱̟̝͟͝

Ỳ̶̳̪͍̪̜̠͝o͡͞͏̙̜̠̯̮̻̘͟͡ụ̢̩ h̸̛͡҉̡̬͙ą̷̶̖͍̝́͘͟͞v͏̷̵̴͜҉ȩ̨̛̪͉͍͖̳͘̕̕ b̵͚̼͎̰̠̕͜ę̢̧͓̕͡e̷̜͠n̵̪̭ j̶̷̨̧͉͡ư̵̸͖̻̦d̨̥̕͡ǵ̴̳́e̛͍͡ḏ̨.̀

I started breathing again once it had ceased, but the presence that came with it didn't leave, only retreated slightly as if to watch and see what we would do.

"So let's get to it." He gave no indication whatsoever that he had heard the voice, just summoned the X-blade and held it out to me. "Here, grab on."

My hand trembled as I reached out. I don't like this. I don't like this at all. Not that I had ever liked any of this, but now there was this presence looming over me, waiting to snap me in two as soon as I went along with this plan. Slowly, my fingers slipped over the handle. Does he not feel it? Or does he know, and it's just going to kill me and not him, so he doesn't care?

"I'd hurry up with the power-lending this time if I were you. Remember, I don't know for sure what this place'll do to you after a while."

Oh, I think I know. And I don't think it'll be pretty.

But I did it, cringing, expecting to die at any moment, and the portal opened. And nothing happened. The voice didn't come back and protest, the swirling colors didn't suddenly attack, the world didn't collapse around us. There was simply another portal hovering in front of us.

"Oh, by the way, I lied to your friends." He turned us around as he spoke, pointing the X-blade at the first portal. "I'm gonna have to channel all this light through a vessel, and, well...you're that vessel. And it's definitely going to kill you. Probably gonna hurt, too." He shrugged, as if he hadn't casually sentenced me to death, as if I wasn't on the verge of breaking down into tears. "Sorry, sweetheart. Nothing personal. You just happened to be the one that I needed to be here anyway. And, of course, I could be the vessel, myself, but...somehow I think I'll be more useful in the new universe than you."

"Of course." It came out as a cracked whisper. "They need you there to make sure they're perfectly obedient little drones who never question anything they're told. And I'm a wild card, or so I've been told. I might mess up your perfect world."

He laughed aloud. "Ah, yes, the 'wild card' nickname. Xehanort, was it not? It's a good one, honestly, I have to hand that to him. You've been a pain in the butt since the beginning."

"I take that as a compliment." I squeezed my eyes shut against the moisture that was building up in them. Crap, this is not how I wanted to spend my last moments. Cut off from everybody I love, being used by yet another madman.

"Of course you do." My arm was yanked forward, and I braced myself for the burning pain I knew was coming.

Something seized my chest. It was hot and cold and beautiful and terrible all at once.

My eyes flew open. Blinding white filled my vision.

I opened my mouth.

Y̥͐͠ǫ̰̋̕u̵̠ͪ͞ h͕̹ͦ̍̚͘͢ͅȁ̜͙͒͆͘͢͢͞v̖̫̖̤̈́ͯ͘e̢͕̲̟̝͓̍͘͘ b̡̠̱̝͚̎ͩẽ̢̲͔̞̺͇̞̅͘͘͜͡e̶̤̟̺̟͕̒̊̈́ͫ̐̀͘̕n̊̇̎̓̍ͤ́͝҉̯ j̢̫͓̃̏͢u̡̮̇͐̀̕͜d̡͖͙͕̮̲̬͆̏̉͜͠͞͡ͅǧͯͦ̀͟͠҉̶̷̡̡͍̩̻̭̞͈͖ͅe̴̢̡̞̟̖͕͔̲̗͈̿̊́͘͡͡d̶̛̛͂̓ͤͬ̋͜͟҉̡̼͕̻̮̱̱͇̟̞͢,͍͔͚̰̀̓̿́ͅ a̛̓̇̐ͨ̓͘͟͟͡͏̤̺͇̮͇̹̟̠͈͜n̨̜̅͆̄ḑ̵̴̢̪̳͍͈̪̫̮̐͐͋ͧͪ͞ ÿ̴̴̢̧̛̝̤̳̮̌͐͜͠ͅo̡̝͎̙͔ͬ̓͊͐̌͟ų̸̷̵̧͛̋͢҉͏̥̫̗̣̬͖ wͥͩ͗͏͓̤̠͈̀͟͡ȩ͋̽ͥ̀̅ͨͩ͞͏̴̘̲͞r̋͏̛̲͠͞ę̶̷̢̛ͨͤ͢҉̹̜̺̞̘̲̞̹ f̷̛̯̍ͧ͑̌́͘͢͠o̴̸̘̫̖̲̘̩̅͆͢͠u̶̢͇̪̠̰̲̥ͭͤ͌͋̊̀͢͡͞͠n̢̫ͮ̄̈́d̷̔ͧ͏͔͕̩͍ l̶̙͓̋͂͂͢a̵̴̧͂̏͛ͨ͏̞͉̠ͅc̛̱̲ͥ̃̏͞k̑ͯ̍͗҉̶̟̭͙͙̕i̪͚̘ͩ̎̏͞n̓̇͏͕g̵̸̭͑͌.̵͍̼̌

A/N: cliff hangerrrr! You know you love me :)