Author's Note: Even though I have no intentions of making this story a tragic ending as we still have a long way to go, as much as I hate being a sender of bad news, I strongly doubt the real KH3 will have a happy ending, especially with Nomura's comment on the ending being "Hard to Swallow" even if that's a mistranslation, but I'm still having doubts.

Well, we can only wait and brace ourselves until the real game comes out and hopefully we'll finally get a release date next month in June which the E3 event will also have the demo of the said game set up too.

Let's continue on, shall we?

I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy.

CH36: Sacrifice and Rescue.

Back in Olympus Coliseum, with Lea's group...

The moment the group landed in the middle of the streets via Noctis' wrapping ability, the streets were once again filled with chaos; the residents of Thebes were running and screaming as they all attempted to avoid the Heartless that ran around attempting to steal their hearts for themselves. To say that Riku, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Skuld, Terra, Noctis, Ignis, Prompto and Myde(who was complaining about the dizziness of Noct's ability) were shocked would be an understatement. Not only were the Heartless were around, but also familiar white monsters in different shapes and sizes were attacking as well; both the people and the Heartless.

"Nobodies!?" Roxas exclaimed.

"Where'd they come from?" Lea asked, shocked.

"Maybe Chaos is behind this?" Xion murmured worriedly, unable to take her eyes off the Nobodies that once obeyed the command of Organization XIII.

"Who else would it be?" Lea shrugged, hopelessly, before shaking his head and pointed, "Forget it! We have to take them out!"

The others nodded in quick agreement and summoned their weapons and raced into battle against the horde of Heartless and Nobodies in hopes of saving as many people as possible without casaulties.

Roxas tossed his Keyblade expertly at two Heartless and three Nobodies before hacking and slashing at another random horde who were attempting to attack and block him. One Bulky Heartless knocked him over before attemping to slam him flat, but he rolled out of the way to avoid in getting squashed and then used Cure on himself and chanted Fire at it's weakspot before finishing it off by using Ultimia Drive that made his body glow orange and struck at the Heartless so fast that no one saw him even move until it faded out of existance before moving onto more targets.

Xion leaped up into the air and struck a single blow at the Berserker Nobody who collasped and dropped to the ground and disappeared. She then rolled out of the way to avoid the Dog-shield Heartless who shot out a huge beam at her and her friends who also avoided this attack. The former Replica then glowed white and held up her Keyblade before dashing forward once she was behind it and slashed it repeatedly before it was destroyed by her own attack. She then spun and blocked the Spear-wielding Nobody's attempt to slice her before pushing it back and chanted Thunderaga and electrocuted it into oblivion.

Skuld hacked and slashed at the Nobodies and Heartless that came at her before chanting Firaga at an Ice-Element Heartless to melt it. She then leaped and tossed her Keyblade which glowed in light and it several Dusks in a single blow before retrieving it and, learning this skill from Aqua, she cartwheeled and then chanted the Dream Weaver spell, spinning around while using Gravita to absorb both Heartless and Nobodies into the air and eliminated them before any had a chance to attack. Once the combination was finished, she leaped out of the way to avoid a Berserker Nobody's weapon which crashed into the ground, creating cracks on the stone floor before clashing against it until she sliced at it's head and destroyed it.

Lea tossed his Chakrams at several Heartless and Nobodies before retrieving them and then crouched before charging forward in a strong fury attack at five Assassin Nobodies he once commanded when he was Axel in the Organziation, and then powered himself up ablaze before charging again, this time at the Berserker Nobodies. He then switched out of his usual weapons and summoned his Keyblade, charging it up with fire before sending out a huge blast of fire against a large horned Heartless with a club, knocking it's weapon out of it's grasp before it even had the chance to strike at him. The redhead then leaped out of the way when another horned Heartless almost crushed him with it's club, prompting him to strike at it's head before he snapped his fingers and set it alight on fire, toasting it.

Isa swung his Claymore at two horned Heartless, sending them flying backwards before he sped forward and slashed at them, instantly defeating them with ease. He then switched out for his Keyblade and clashed against several Soldier Heartless as well as the Toy-formed Heartless that somewhat appeared in this world as well before switching his attention at the Centipie Nobodies that teleportingly moved in and out of the ground which he swiped at before jumping to avoid the bulky Heartless which he took out easily due to it's weakness. Though he did wish that the Heartless and Nobodies would just hold still.

Terra swung his Keyblade expertly downward before slamming it into the Bulky Heartless as well as the Berserker Nobodies, blocking their attacks and jumped out of the way to avoid another Horn Heartless' attack. He then dispelled it's shield with a swing of his weapon and charged up his Drive Mode, connecting his link with Ven and tossed his Keyblade with the burrowed power. The Keyblade wielder then summoned a mini-meteor Spell which dispatched several Heartless and Nobodies whom most moved out of the way but were still hit and destroyed no matter where they went before he moved on to use Blizzaga to freeze the Fire-element Heartless. He then slammed his Keyblade downward again, creating shockwaves and causing damage to the Assassin Nobodies and then moved on to finish them off with a single strike.

Riku preformed his Motion-Flow and leaped from one building and piller to another and struck at the Heartless with each leap as he went, expertly hiding underground before emerging and slammed his Keyblade downward at several Heartless and Nobodies who didn't stand a chance. He then attacked the Berserker Nobodies by using Firaga Orbs and then striking them with a single slash. He was then caught off-guard when a Jelly-fish Heartless appeared out nowhere and knocked him to the side with a blast of water, disabling him of using Blizzard and Thunderaga. Instead he leaped up and used Curaga before dodging more of it's attacks and then struck it several times until it was defeated, which then enabled him to use his magic again once it was destroyed.

Myde created water pillers and clones of himself to strike at many enemies as possible, tugging cords of his Sitar which controlled his abilities and many Heartless and Nobodies ended up drowning in his power. Ignis used his ability of ice and daggers to freeze and stab his enemies before using a spear to strike at the horned Heartless underneath. Prompto fired shots with his gun at several Heartless before quickly pausing as he began to run out of ammo before moving to use his surprising martial arts skills and kicked one Spear-wielding Nobody's weapon out of it's grasp and while he wasn't prone in using this weapon, he used it against it's former wielder and finished it off before moving towards others.

Noctis clashed, slammed and whacked many Heartless and Nobodies with several of his weapons before noticing something wrong up ahead, and his eyes widened when saw a familiar man using a large sword clashing against many Heartless and Nobdodies while having a bit of trouble handling a surprisingly larger horned Heartless that was about to slam it's weapon down at him.

"Gladio!" Noctis cried out and without having second thoughts or the others asking what was doing on, he tossed his sword and wrapped towards the Heartless's head, landing on it's head and thrusted his weapon right into it's forehead, causing it roar in agony and pain, which allowed Gladio, who noticed this, to finish it off by a powerful swing of his Sword at it's chest, prompting Noctis to jump and land next to his friend while the Heartless collasped onto the ground and faded out of existance.

By the time Roxas and the others hurried over while fighting off Heartless and Nobodies that attempted to stop them, Gladio sighed as Noctis asked, "You okay?"

"Me? How'd you and the others get here? The hell you'd been, Noct? I've been looking for you!" Gladio replied, both annoyed and very relieved.

"Same here. Wouldn't have known you where here or met up with Specs and Prompto if I haven't met Sora and the others." The young Prince replied.

"Uh, hate to break the reunion, but we're kinda busy handling the Heartless and Nobodies problem!" Myde pointed out, as they all once again found themselves facing five Nobodies and three Heartless.

However, before either of them could even attack, the problem is quickly solved as an Orb of Light combined with an Arrow shot out at one Heartless and two Nobodies, before the sudden appearences of Strelitzia and Serah finished off the rest of the enemies in several single strikes, and what was more amazing was that Serah's bow turned into a sword which she used to cut down the Heartless and Strelitzia's Keyblade glowed in light before she swung it and a blade of light cut through the remaining Nobodies, eliminating them. This stunned the group who could only stare briefly in shock and soon the Heartless and Nobodies situation was dealt with for now.

Last time the worldly travellers saw Strelitzia and Serah were back in Twilight Town where they first met them, as the said duo approached them in a half run.

"Is everyone alright? Where are Sora and the others?" Strelitzia asked immediately.

"...Where'd you come from?" Riku muttered in disbelief.

"'Where'd you come from'?" Serah repeated in disbelief and annoyance, placing her hands on her hips, demanding, "Is that really all you can say?"

Riku blushed in embarrassment, looking away slightly as he said, "Sorry. That didn't come out right."

"You know them?" Noctis asked the group, gesturing at the two saviors.

"We met them in Twilight Town. This is Strelizia and Serah. Strelitzia is like me and Ven, only, well, it's a long story." Skuld answered, before turning to the said duo and introduced, "This is Noctis, and his friends; Gladio, Prompto and Ignis."

"Heya." Prompto waved.

"Hi." Gladio nodded.

"My pleasure." Ignis added.

"Hey there." Noctis greeted.

Hearing those names while acknowlaging the greeting, the two young women shared a stunned and somewhat realized glance before turning back to the quartet and Strelitzia responded, "Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, Ignis...we met someone who was looking for you and was helping Serah's sister."

"She couldn't tell us much where my sister was, other than she's helping in secret somewhere with two others. But, she mentioned that she sensed that you were needed to help Sora. She called herself 'The Oracle' of Light." Serah added.

While Riku, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Skuld and Myde shared a confused glance, apparently their four newer friends seemed to understand what Serah was talking about, because Noctis gasped and took a couple steps fowards, looking hopeful.

"You met Luna?" He asked.

"Luna?" Terra blinked, confused.

"Lady Lunafreya. The Oracle of Light from our world." Ignis explained, as the worldly travellers turned to him, while he continued, "She is also Noct's childhood friend. She went missing a year ago and we searched for her before Ardyn seperated us."

This made Riku's group, and even Strelitzia and Serah gasp in shock and realization, with Serah saying, "Around the same time my sister went missing!"

Lea folded his arms with a concerned frown. "Kinda sounds like around the same time Xemnas was defeated, after I got my heart back and even when Rox', Xi' and Namine came back too."

"Do you think Cosmos might have something to do with all this?" Roxas thought.

"...Maybe she knew that Chaos would wake up and wanted us to try and stop him." Riku said after thinking about it.

Before anyone else could continue the conversation, there was a sudden flash coming from on top of Mount Olympus which got everyone's attentions and as they looked up, the light faded though a scent of darkness filled almost everyone's senses. Their eyes widened in horror as they realized what was happening.

"Sora! Kairi! Mickey! Donald! Goofy! Ven! Aqua! Jack! Hercules!" The worldly travellers, Noctis, Prompto and Ignis cried out in horror, while Gladio, Serah and Strelitzia gasped in shock.

"Rather too late, I'm afraid." A familiar mocking voice spoke close by. The group all quickly turned to the same direction coming from the right and their eyes narrowed as Ardyn materalized, and held a sinister smirk on his face, continuing, "For one of them, at least."

"You!" Gladio and Prompto hissed.

"Ardyn!" Noctis and Ignis growled.

"You again!?" Isa growled, as he and his friends and the others all stood in fighting positions, holding tight grip on their weapons.

"What'd you do to our friends!?" Terra demanded angrily.

Ardyn found their reactions amusing, saying, "Calm yourselves. Your friends are perfectly fine...well, except for one. He has gone into the place of punishment where he was meant to go, and what a reward in sacrificing himself to save Sora."

"What're you talking about, crazy dude?" Myde asked, dumbfounded.

"You fell right into the trap, and now you lost the one who was, say we say...exiled to join you. You really didn't think he would return to his world alive, did you?" Ardyn responded cruely.

The stomachs of the group chilled and dropped all at once, and they all realised that there was only one person who could've been the person that was exiled.

"No..." Roxas whispered, horrified.

"Not Jack..." Riku pleaded in a whisper.

Xion, tears already filling up her eyes, yelled negatively at Ardyn, "You're lying!"

"If you don't believe me, why not go and look for yourselves. I'm certain Sora and the others will tell you." Ardyn suggested.

"Son of a Chocobo!" Lea cursed angrily as he summoned his Chakrams and tossed them at Ardyn who smirked held and out his hand, just as a barrier of darkness appeared and protected him, forcing Lea's weapons to fly backwards and while the others moved out of the way, the redhead caught them expertly.

The others made to attack Ardyn, only to stop as he held up a hand and soon they found themselves glued to the ground by dark mists trapped them by their legs, and they grunted and struggled to move, but couldn't.

"Ah, ah, ah. Don't attack the messenger." Arydn mocked a scolding. "I already told you; do you really have what it takes to bring peace to the Realm of Light? You're all fools to believe that. Have fun at the funeral." He smiled sinisterly before vanishing into the Corridor of Darkness he summoned which also disappeared.

His leave released his grip on the group who shared horrified and concerned glances.

"You think he's telling the truth? About Jack being dead and all?" Myde asked, worriedly.

"The only way to find out is head up to Mount Olympus and see for ourselves." Riku told them, and while he didn't want to believe it himself, it wasn't far fetched.

"We'll go with you. Arydn could be lying to trick us." Strelitzia requested, with Serah nodding to add that said request.

"Mind I tag along?" Gladio asked.

"Nah, 'course not. You're welcome to tag along." Lea replied.

"Let's go, and fast." Terra informed, and everyone else nodded.

'Sora, Kairi, Mickey, everyone. Please be okay. And Jack, if you're dead, I'm not forgiving you.' Riku prayed in his mind.

Back with Sora's group...at the same time...

As Sora's group made it to Mount Olympus, everything was in chaos here as it was in Thebes. The Titans were back and were fighting against the other Gods, including Zeus who was also busy fighting the Heartless only to be encasted in ice again by the Ice Titan and the entire place was becoming a mess despite continuously refixing itself.

All the while Hades stood by smiling sinisterly.

"Now that Wonderbreath is busy with the Heartless, I can easily handle things here without that Keyblade Brat and his friends to worry about." The Lord of Dead said to himself.

Too bad his hopes were dashed as, in a blink of an eye, Hercules and Sora both jumped off of Pegasus and while Sora used his Motion-Flow to knock out the Rock Titan's heads, Hercules punched the Ice Titan's arms off while everyone else landed on the ground, which Donald and Kairi took care of the Heartless problem with their Magic, and Mickey shot out Orbs of Light at the Ice Titan's face.

While Ven and Aqua's gliders turned back into their Keyblades, Jack wobbled dizzily, moaning in relief to be on semi-solid ground again. He really wasn't cut out for flying machines.

"Remind me to never mention about that kind of flying to anyone." The Pirate requested to Goofy who, confused, just nodded.

Hercules in the meantime picked up the Ice Titan by the leg and spun it around and around until it knocked it into the Rock Titan who was pushed back and the two crumbled into a pile, unconscious.

"...That was very impressive." Jack commented, staring blankly in surprise.

Hades at that point was boiling red in anger before teleporting himself to face the group as he snarled angrily, "YOU AGAIN!? How many times do you all have to foil my plans!?"

"Only until you stop attacking everyone!" Ven pointed as he and the others stood in fighting positions, lined up as they all glared at the evil god who glared right back.

"Yeah! You can't win against us!" Donald added.

"Care to demostrate THAT!?" Hades growled, deciding to fight the group himself. Hmph...That's it!"

He blasted a jet of fire at the worldly travellers who all dodged out of the way to avoid in getting hit, even though both Donald and Jack had a near close call in being burned. Sora tossed his Keyblade at Hades who grunted before the latter fired another best of Fire at him. Sora dodge-rolled out of the way and leaving an opening for Kairi and Aqua who both casted Blizzard and Blizzaga to cool down Hades' fire attacks. Then chanted Thunderaga and Goofy spun around and around using his shield, which tripled due to Mickey preforming air-somersaults and hit the God multiple times.

Though they had to soon quickly and repeatedly dodge Hades fire Pillers that flared up and moved around to try and hit the group. They were nearly hit and yelled out as Hades suddenly caught them off-guard when he disappeared and then reappeared, blasting a jet of fire right at them, sending them flying backwards and hit the ground hard. Sora, Aqua, Donald and Mickey all quickly casted Curaga on Kairi, Jack, Goofy, Ven, Hercules and themselves before running out of the way then the Rock Titan and the Ice Titan seemingly recovered, avoiding in being crushed or frozen by the two monsters.

Hercules then had an idea and glowed in golden light, conjouring up an Orb of Aura which Sora quickly responded by whacking it towards Hades who screamed in pain before slumping, briefly knocked out which allowed the two to attack full on at the God of the Underworld while Kairi fired the Pink Orbs of Light at the Ice Titan's face, causing it to reel back and Donald to flare up his Fire-Works spell right at it to send it back. Jack decided to take on the Heartless that came up towards them and sliced them with his Keyblade the instant they came up before running to the side to avoid the bigger Heartless which Ven took care of by channeling his Link in his heart, burrowing some of Aqua's powers and used the Ghost Drive to send the larger Heartless into oblivion.

The others in the meantime took on the Rock Titan, as they ran between it's legs to confuse it before it could grab them. Goofy threw his Shield up at one of it's heads while Mickey chanted another Orb of Light at the other, sending it tumbling forward a bit. Aqua then glowed while using another power of her own as she leaped up and flared out a rainbow of light in a Lock Command, hitting it repeatedly before she, Mickey and Goofy formed a group and leaped up before repeatedly attacking the Titan's heads until they stopped before landing on the ground once more, making it dazed and fall onto the ground unconscious once more, just as both Ven and Kairi attacked the Ice Titan by the legs with their Keyblades and Donald chanted an even bigger Fireworks that shot at the Titan's chest, sending it tumbling and collasping.

In the meantime, Sora and Hercules took on Hades who by then became so furious that he summoned a much larger piller of Fire, combined with the Comet Spell that rained down upon them and the two were left hit and shot back onto the floor again. Just as Hades was about to finish them off by roasting them alive, Jack, who'd seen this, picked up piece of debries fallen from the pillers of this place and tossed it at the God's head so hard that Hades lost concentration and his attack died down as did his red fire. While Hades turned to glare at Jack who shuddered at how scary the God looked when angry, Sora used this distraction to use a potion on Hercules and himself before they raced forward, using this distraction to attack the enemy head on.

Hercules slammed his fists together and glowed in bright light again, before he rammed straight into Hades; a golden blur as he ran into him from all directions. Finally, Hercules came to a screeching halt right in front of the god. The son of Zeus pulled back his fist as it began to glow. The glow kept intensifying until Hercules rammed his fist straight into Hades's gut, sending him flying acrossed the Olympus. Sora used this to toss his Keyblade at the evil God before glowing in blue light himself and used his Motion Flow to attack Hades from all sides, both hitting and confusing the God who screamed out in agony by the sudden attack from the young Keyblade Master who didn't stop until his limit reached it's end and landed on the ground safely once more.

Sora and Hercules then nodded as the two of them then rammed with into Hades who was knocked back again, this time sent flying straight towards the two Titans who were defeated by Aqua, Ven, Kairi, Mickey, Donald and Goofy who all moved out of the way when they saw the God of the Underworld crash right into the Ice Titan; his fire somewhat ended up melting the Ice Titan into a huge liquid of water, falling onto the Rock Titan who began soaking wet by it's fellow Titan's demise and also freed Zeus from his icy prison. This allowed Sora, Ven, Mickey, Donald and Aqua to use their Thunderaga Spells, Kairi to use the Thunder and Zeus to use his Thunder Bolts to zap the Rock Titan and Hades who both stumbled and crashed onto the ground.

This allowed Hercules to pick up the weakened and defeated Rock Titan by the legs and spun around and around before tossing it up right into the sky as it disappeared in the blink, most likely sent back into the Underworld while the other Gods and Jack finished up in defeating the rest of the invading Heartless, quickly soon aided by Sora and the rest of the travellers via Keyblades, Shield and Magic and Hercules' strength.

Eventually the group disposed of the invading Heartless and soon they and the other Gods turned their attention to Hades who groaned and weakly stood up before he noticed that not only the Titans were gone, so where the Heartless and he was stuck by himself. Pain and Panic, who'd been hiding out, were already captured and held into place by Pegasus who glared at them and they chuckled nervously back.

"Noo! NOT AGAIN!" Hades screamed, before yelling at the group, "You guys can't do this to me! You c-!" only to be cut off as Hercules approached him and punched him squarely in the face that it went literally deep into his head. The sight of it made Sora, Kairi, Ven, Aqua, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Jack laugh near hysterically, as did the other Gods, including Zeus.

"...Fine. I get it." Hades managed to muffle, before he managed to shift his face back to normal and grimced. 'Ow.' He thought in his head, before admitting sheepishly, "Ha...Well, okay, I deserved that. Uh, maybe we can just...like blow this whole thing off, and pretend it never happened?"

"Like we'd believe that?" Sora replied sarcastically.

"What do you know about all of the Realms of the Dead being in trouble?" Mickey demanded, glaring at the evil God who blinked in surprise.

"Wait a minute! How'd you all know that?" Hades asked, before quickly adding as the glares got harder, "Fine, fine! I caused heaps of trouble, I get the message. If you really want to know, even the Underworld has been getting unwelcoming deads drift in and out lately. Not that the Underworld is a welcoming place for anybody including you guys, but you get the idea. Which, by the way, pretty much all started when some armored guy with a stupid horned had and a huge sword that's just as ridiculous as that Moody Spiky haired guy you're so fond off. Though apparently that armored guy's also dead not only after he tried to get me to join a team which I have no interest in."

"That's surprising coming from you. Considering how you want to rule this world by overthrowing Zeus." Aqua said, glaring.

"Hey, I already told you, Blue-bird. After the distaster with Maleficent, I don't do the other major villian partnership anymore, as much as I'd like to have a date with her." Hades rolled his eyes, before flinching and mentally smacked himself for revealing that.

"A date with Maleficent?" Ven asked incrediously, before he, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Jack and even Hercules and the Gods all groaned in disgust while both Mickey and Aqua shuddered in having to hear that the second time.

Jack shuddered, grumbling, "That is absolutely disgusting, mate. It's just like Davy Jones havin' fallen in love with Calypso."

"So you heard that, huh?" Hades quirked an eyebrow, before groaning, "She's another one to watch out for. Heck, before Wonderbreath here was born, she had issues with the people and even went on Bhunivelze's side and even asked me to join which I refused after she nearly threw me out of the Underworld and into that boring never-ending desert."

"Calypso and Bhunivelze asked you to join them?" Goofy asked, puzzled.

"Like I said, they and Chaos are just as bad as me." Hades pointed out, "So if you want to go ahead and try and stop them, good luck with that."

"They will not be the ones to stop Chaos." A deep familiar voice declared, startling everyone who turned to see Caius who stood near the gates, glaring at them. "They do not have the power to accomplish this. The only reason they were able to defeat you is because they had the help of a God who is also mortal."

"Caius!? What are you doing here?" Sora demanded, as he and his friends stood in a fighting position.

Caius turned his attention fully on Sora, hissing, "...For you to learn a lesson, Sora." before launching himself towards him, catching Sora off guard to quickly block his attacks until Caius leaped back and thrusted his sword sideways and creating a powerful wind that knocked not only the worldly travellers back, but also Hercules and surprisingly the other Gods, including Hades who hit the piller and was knocked out for the hundredth time today, and causing a huge explosion that was seen in Thebes.

The guardian of the Unseen Realm wasn't finished there, as he thrusted his sword again, this time directly at Sora who layed on the ground, too weak to even move. However, just as the teenager shut his eyes to brace himself as he heard his friends scream out his name...

"No!"

Sora was then shoved out of the way by Jack who'd seen this coming and, despite not wanting to die, something in him screamed to save his friend, and he thus quickly recovered enough to run and push the Keybearer out of the way and was slammed by the sword so hard that it knocked out the wind out of him. Jack's vision darkened before he was even knocked back and slammed against the ground. Darkness began to form underneath him with some flares of light and by the time Sora recovered to see who saved him, he and all of his friends gasped in horror that the Pirate was sinking into the darkness.

"Jack!" Sora screamed out, getting up and rushed over to save his friend, but was too late as Jack had fallen into the darkness end fell down below so quickly that the Pirate Captain disappeared and the darkness closed up, trapping him. Sora fell to his knees, eyes widening in sheer horror and devastation, his breath shaking, his chest aching at the sudden loss of one of his friends.

Memories filled him in his time in the Realm of Sleep during the Mark of Mastery where Tron, having turned into Rinzler, falling and just missing Sora's grip as the latter attempted to save him.

Kairi, Ven, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Aqua all hurried over and their expressions matched the devastated Sora's, while Hercules, Zeus and the other gods stared on in horror and disbelief. Captain Jack Sparrow had just sacrificed himself to save Sora and was gone in an instant.

"Your lesson is learned." Caius announced, causing everyone(except Hades who was unconscious) to glare up at him. "He was meant to die. Now he is where he was supposed to be." Without another word, he opened up a Corridor of Darkness and vanished into it, with the portal closing behind him, despite Hercules yelling at him to wait.

Everyone was silent, even though Sora muttered his fallen friend's name in guilt and devastation. "Why?...You didn't have to save me..." Sora whispered, lowering his head and soon began to pound the ground angrily before breaking down into tears, crying.

Kairi, Ven, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Aqua began to cry as well, because that Jack was now gone. They failed to save him, and worse, they'd fallen right into Caius' trap. This was what he plotted, in order to drive Sora into guilt.

"It's all my fault...!" Sora sobbed. Why hadn't he moved? Why hadn't Jack just let him die? It wasn't fair!

"Sora..." Kairi whispered, despite crying herself. But what ached her heart more was that Sora was blaming himself for Jack's sacrifice and decision to save him. So the only thing she could do was kneel next to him and gently wrap her arms around his shoulders and head in hopes to comfort him.

"Guys!" Prompto's voice yelled out, causing most of them to turn to see that he along with the rest of the group that defended Thebes, including Gladio, Strelitzia, Serah and Mog had just arrived before they saw the devastated and sorrowed looks and Sora's crying form in Kairi's arms.

That was enough to tell them that Ardyn's words were true, yet they still didn't want to believe it.

"Is Jack...?" Skuld whispered, not wanting to believe that it was true, despite the absence of the Priate.

"...He pushed Sora out of the way when Caius attacked...and fell into the Darkness." Mickey answered, his voice all choaked up in tears as he sniffled. "Caius caught us off-guard and we didn't have time to stop him."

"So...this is what Ardyn said. It was his and Caius' plan all along..." Strelitzia whispered, guilt forming squarely into her heart as she began to form tears in her eyes, before hissing angrily at herself, "Why didn't I stop them when I had the chance!?"

"What the hell was Jack thinking!?" Lea grunted angrily in sorrow.

Myde, in disbelief, lowered his gaze as he asked in heart-break, "How could we've let this happen?"

"Sora?" Riku asked, hesitatedly as he slowly approached his guilt-ridden best friend, kneeling on one knee beside him and Kairi.

"So, what're you gonna do now, Sora? Your Pirate friend's dead. Maybe you should go up against Caius and get revenge on him while you're at it." Vanitas spoke in Sora's mind.

'That won't bring him back.' Sora thought miserably, much to Vanitas' surprise. 'If I go out for revenge...it'll cast my heart into darkness and I won't be able to live with myself if I can't at least...at least redeem myself for my mistake. Jack's gone. All I can do...well...maybe take punishment for it. After the Realm of Light is saved...But it'll always be myself that Jack sacrificed himself to save me.'

"Sora." Noctis' voice spoke somberly, causing the Destiny Island Trio to slowly look up with tear-streaked faces, and even their newer friend had approached and looked saddened and guilt-ridden over the loss. "...I'm sorry."

Sora didn't say anything, but he appreciated Noct's apology even though it wasn't the Prince's fault that Jack was now dead.

Seeing Sora blaming himself reminded Hercules of how Meg died before the Heartless attacked two years ago, and Jack's actions in sacrificing himself reminded him of Hercules having been willing to sacrifice himself to rescue Meg's soul, to bring her back.

He then remembered what he had intended on saying to Jack earlier and the Demi-God turned to Zeus, inquiring pleadingly, "Father. Isn't there a way to rescue him from the darkness?" which made everyone else gaze at the True Hero questionly.

"Jack Sparrow didn't fall into the Darkness." Zeus shook his head. "Caius has indeed killed him, but sent him to where he was originally supposed to go."

"You mean...Davy Jones' Locker?" Roxas asked, eyes widening. "But what was that portal that looked like Darkness?"

"Because Caius was a Guardian of the Unseen Realm, he has the power to send those who were meant to be killed to be sent into one of the Realms of the Dead." Zeus explained firmly. "As we Gods know about other worlds, we also know what has happened in Jack's world; including the loss of his ship, which is also sent there, waiting for him."

"Wait, what?" Terra asked, confused.

Lea shook his head in disbelief, saying, "Whoa, hold on there. Are you sayin' that the giant Squid dragged Jack's ship to the place where he was supposed to go do if he hadn't began wielding the Keyblade? How does that work?"

"Most realms of the Dead have began to merge with one another, yet only the dead can pass through, which is not good news. If they continue to do so, it would only cause souls to emerge into the Realm of the Living and Light." Zeus explained.

"...Is it because I was revived?" Strelitzia asked, uncertainly and wondering if her revival was the cause for this whole mess to begin with.

"So the Unseen Realm is merging with the living world again...just like when Caius tricked me and Noel into doing what he wanted." Serah realised in horror.

"Is there anything that can be done to fix it and bring Jack back?" Riku asked, hopefully.

"There is. Though we have figured a way for you to enter the Locker, I'm afraid you will have to figure out how to get back out, which will take you into Jack's world." Zeus replied.

Everyone sighed at that.

"Great. So we get there, but we can't get out. That means we'll have to figure it out before we can really go there." Myde groaned.

"Actually, a group may have already aqquired a map and are on their way to the Locker as we speak." Zeus admitted, causing everyone to gaze at him again as he shrugged sheepishly, "Well, he was meant to go into the Locker, but he's not meant to stay there, as he is one of the important links to save his world. Word has already spread that he was to be there, and while I don't know who they are yet, they are going to save him, but they would need your help."

"So...there's a chance that we can save Jack, give him back the Black Pearl and save his world?" Sora asked, hope beginning to fill his heart as he, Kairi and Riku stood up.

Zeus nodded, "Yes, and the one who would lead a team of their own to aid the other to rescue him and save his world, is you, Sora. You were the one who gave him the power of the Keyblade, and you are the important link to save the Realm of Light once more."

"But what about Chaos and Bhunivelze?" Donald asked, worriedly.

"We will do what we can stop them if needed. If history is to repeat itself, then we can only do what we can to prevent the Realm of Light from being destroyed. It all lies to all of you." Zeus explained, turning to Noctis and added, "We also need your help when needed, Noctis."

The Prince nodded with determination, saying, "Yeah. I got it."

"You sure you guys wanna risk in going to the place where dead people go?" Gladio asked to Sora's group who, finally making up their minds, nodded with determination.

"Yeah...I've been to the Underworld before, and even though Hades is a sore loser, if he's right about the Locker, a desert is nothing compared to that place." Sora replied. He made up his mind. "I'll go to the Locker and if it takes me years to figure out how to get back out with him, then fine, we'll be back and set things right!"

"I'm going with you." Kairi decided, and just before Sora, Riku and Aqua were about to protest, she quickly said, "Jack's my friend too, even if he was a little annoying. And I'm not gonna wait around for you forever like last time!"

"I'll go too. Can't have you guys go without me." Riku decided after everyone sighed in defeat that Kairi wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Me too." Mickey added with determination, and soon Donald, Goofy, Aqua, Ven, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Skuld and Terra said their desires to go with Sora to rescue Jack.

Strelitzia, Serah and Mog shared a glance beforen nodding and turned back to Sora's group, with the former saying, "We're going too. Even though neither of us remember what being dead really was like, we want to help."

"...Strelitzia...Serah...Mog." Sora muttered, unable to express his graditude.

"Uh...hate to ruin the moment, but how to we get into the Locker?" Myde asked.

"You're coming too?" Isa asked, quirking an eyebrow in disbelief.

The mullet-haired man shrugged, "Hey, I'm not gonna let you guys go without me. Besides, you're like the coolest friends I've ever had! Don't you think I'd like to at least help rescue Jack after you guys went through the trouble looking for me?" which made his friend smile proudly at him.

The Gods nodded before Zeus turned to Hermes who nodded and hovered over to Sora, handing him over a black stone, while Zeus explained, "Use that stone and your Keyblade to open a portal to the Locker. It will take you to the location where you will reunite with him and others. However, it will only work once. From there, you have to figure out how to return on your own."

He then added apologetically, "Though, I'm afraid Noctis and his friends cannot join you, because he's needed because of his power to summon aid from the Astral Gods." which made the group sigh, but accepted this decision none the less.

"Right. We'll hang around for a while then." Noctis shrugged, and Gladio, Ignis and Prompto nodded.

"Okay. We'll do our best, and thanks." Sora replied to Zeus.

"Be careful there, Sora." Hercules told him, "In the meantime, I'll make sure Hades doesn't cause problems again."

Sora thanked his friend before he and his friends, minus Noct's group and including Strelitzia, Serah and Mog, formed together and the Keyblade wielder summoned his Kingdom Key, holding a tight grip on the Black Stone while holding it out. Both glowed in light, and a beam of light shot out from the Keyblade, opening a portal that resembled to the one that took Jack into the Locker.

After Noctis and the others told Sora's group to be careful again, they nodded to each other before steeling themselves and bravely and nervously stepped into the portal which closed behind them as soon as all of them entered, leaving Sora's group trapped into where they would emerge in Davy Jones Locker to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow and reunite with those who would soon to join them soon enough.

{PORT ROYAL}

It felt like forever since the Hai Peng left Singapore, but eventually Cloud, Zack, Tifa, Vincent, the Turks, Will, Elizabeth and the pirates were sailing through the vast expanse of its endless night. But there are stars, countless stars. Some are no more than pin pricks of light, others bright, glowing balls that hang in the sky like giant lanterns as they neared to the World's End, one of the only two entrances to the Locker itself.

Cloud had been left to his thoughts after a conversation with Zack and Tifa, thinking about whether Jack really was in the Locker or if this was a complete waste of time and they were only falling to their unneccessary deaths. Worse still, Tifa, Vincent and the Turks were involved in this mess.

"Barbossa!" Will's voice called, alerting Cloud and pretty much everyone else onboard before they all raced to see what the problem was now. They all arrived at where Barbossa was steering the ship as Will continued, "Ahead!"

"Aye." The former cursed Pirate replied, surprisingly calm and looked as though he was enjoying what was coming up ahead. "We're good and lost now."

"Lost?" Elizabeth, Tifa and Elena demanded in shock.

"What do you mean by that?" Tseng demanded, glaring.

"For certain ye have to be lost to find a place as can't be found, else ways, everyone would know where it was." Barbossa responded, just as there was a deep rumbling sound that was growing louder and louder and they all felt the ship sailing fasteer and faster.

"We're gaining speed...!" Vincent realised.

Gibbs looked over to the side and exclaimed, repeating Vincent's words, "We're gainin' speed!"

"To stations! Move it!" Cloud quickly shouted orders and even though the Turks didn't like taking orders from anyone who wasn't their boss, they ultimately decided that this was more important and soon everyone except of the calm Barbossa all hurriedly rushed to their stations, any of them now knowing what was going on, but blindly following the orders.

"Hard to port! Gather way!" Will shouted this time.

"Nay, belay that!" Barbossa shouted this time, having left the wheel. "Let 'er run straight and true!"

The rumbling had grown by this time to a deafening roar. By this time, all aboard the ship had become aware of it. They all rushed to the prow and the sight which greeted them was nothing short of jaw-dropping. There, not far ahead of them and coming up swiftly was an immense, rushing waterfall, which thundered down into a void of darkness.

"Holy...!" Zack whispered in wide-eyed horror.

"Dear Ifrit...!" Reno mumured in equal horror. "No wonder they call it the World's End..."

Cloud, Tifa, Tseng, Elena and Elizabeth all turned angrily at Barbossa, with Elizabeth accussing him coldly, "You've doomed us all."

"Don't be so unkind, Miss Swann." Said Barbossa, "We may not survive to pass this way again. And these be the last friendly words ye'll hear."

Cloud wanted nothing more than to slice up the pirate that did this into a millions pieces with his Fusion Sword, but knew that there was no point now as the ship was almost on top of the waterfall and it was too late to turn back now. All everyone could do was preparing as best they could for the imminent fall. They held onto whatever they could, as Cloud held Tifa in one arm and a piece of rope in another. Tseng did the same with Elena, and Reno was held into Rude's arm as both of them held onto the ropes and railing.

"...Kinda an embarrassing way to die, huh, partner?" Reno commented.

"You rather die by yourself instead?" Rude grunted.

"Good point." The redhead nodded.

Will rushed to the stern, turning the rudder as far as it would go so that the ship would not fall nose first into the abyss. He called out, "Hold on!"

The ship moved swiftly to the waterfall's edge. It teetered uncertainly on the brink, and then it slowly began to fall. The hapless crew had a death grip on ropes, bulkheads and whatever else they could manage to find. But that couldn't stop their hearts plunging into their stomachs as they looked down to see the nauseatingly endless drop before them.

And then, the ship tumbled downward, ever downward into the abyss, the screams of Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Zack, the Turks, and the crew swallowed up the darkness.

Where they would soon arrive in the Locker itself and meet familiar faces, a group who had a much safer way to enter the Locker.

When Jack had regained consciousness, the last thing he remembered was risking his life to save Sora and was slashed by Caius before losing consciousness. As he did, a blue sky was what first greeted him, along with the familiar and welcoming masts and black sails.

Underneath him he felt the familiar wood of his ship. But he heard no sounds of the ocean. No winds blown. Not a soul spoken. Was he dreaming? Was he in the after life? Jack didn't now.

So, the first thing he did was stand up, and gaze around, his eyes in disbelief and while he felt growing happiness to see what he wanted to see for a long while after becoming exiled by Elizabeth to join Sora and the others, Jack shook his head, thinking he was hallucinating. When he looked again, it was indeed real. But there was one problem;

All around his ship, the Black Pearl he thought he lost, was just...well, sand. Nothing but sand that stretched on for miles and miles, surrounded by sand dunes that acted as mountains.

He thought back of his last memory and frowned.

"...Was seeing other worlds a dream?" Jack asked himself, thinking that he just dreamt the whole thing and that he really did die and got eaten by the Kracken, which he didn't remember. Deciding to make sure, snapped his wrist while holding out his hand, and true enough his Keyblade appeared.

Staring at his Keyblade, Jack sourly responded to his own question, "I thought not. If it were, there'd be rum." before gazing low and another good surprise welcomed him which he didn't notice had been next to him until now; his Hat sat there. Apparently even that, for some reason, had been waiting for him. Well, at least he got his Ship and his Hat back. So after dismissing his weapon, Jack bend down and put his beloved Hat back on his head like a king would to a crown, feeling almost complete again.

But he was in another problem; from what he understood and memories not lying to him, much to Jack's dismay...he was in Davy Jones' Locker.

"That Caius lad must've known I was to be here." Jack grumbled to himself. He already made his decision; there was no way he was staying here. If given the choice, he'd rather be on exile and go to other worlds than being stuck in this godforsaken place for eternity.

Striding to the railing, he jumped up and grabbed a trailing rope. He didn't have to take this. He was still Captain Jack Sparrow; he was going to take control of his own destiny. With that, he pushed off from the railing and swung down to the sandy ground beneath him. Not that it would help much as Jack had no idea how to get out of the Locker, but he didn't fancy on staying for long either.

And he was going to bring his Ship with him. How, he didn't know yet. It was easy to die, but hard to return to life.

The only other blessings were that at least he didn't end up turning into a Heartless and create his own Nobody, or end up in the Realm of Darkness like Aqua had for twelve years. Those were other tragic ends Jack did not need.

He could feel the heat rising off of the sand, the harsh glare of the sun blinding him. This was possibly the worst punishment he could ever think of, and apparently Davy Jones thought so; no ocean was Captain Jack Sparrow's punishment.

"No wind." He commented to himself after testing to see if he could feel any, before he walked a few steps into the desolate desert. "Of course, there's no bloody wind. My soul I do swear for a breeze. A gust, a whisper, a tiny miniature lick."

He stopped suddenly, and more or less on impulse, looked down on the ground. There he saw a perfectly round, oblong rock. He beat down and picked it up, studied it for a moment before tossing it a few dozen feet away from him. That done, he turned and headed back for the Pearl.

"One would have thought that, in my good deed in saving Sora, I would have gone to the place where all the goody goodies would go. Instead, that twit Caius was on the side of Davy Jones and give out my punishment despite having a Keyblade. Might as well never had one." Jack muttered to himself, only to suddenly became aware of the fact that he was not alone. Someone or something was watching him. He ran his gaze around in a slow full circle, but there was not a single living soul in the Locker with him. For some unexplainable reason, his eyes were drawn downward and there he saw, the exact same rock he'd tossed.

Jack blinked. Why did he get the feeling that the rock was staring at him? He must be going mad already and he hasn't been in the Locker for maybe at least three or four hours, unless Time didn't run here, same with the Realm of Darkness and that days, months or years had already passed. Waving his hands at the rock, he muttered, "Shoo."

The rock, of course, did not move or speak in any way to acknowledge him. Jack, after a few seconds turned and walked away. But the feeling of eyes upon him didn't fade. If anything, it seemed to increase. He stopped and looked down once more. Sure enough, there was the same rock, looking plain and innocent. But given that he was in the Locker and having heard so many stories of other worlds, Jack wasn't inclined to trust it. He then picked it up and tossed it once more where it bounced before landing.

Yet what Jack did not see, however, that a few seconds after it landed, the rock suddenly cracked into several thin lines, sprouting long spindly legs, claws, and googly eye stalks, revealing that it was actually a Crab.

"Now I'm being followed by rocks. At least it's not a Titan." Jack said to himself, before stopping as he noticed a rope that was dangling from the Black Pearl's bow. He yanked on it, and the rope dropped down. A few seconds later, Jack was pulling and tugging on the rope, straining with all his might to move the Black Pearl even a fraction of an inch. Of course, one man attempting to move a great bulk such as the Pearl, but Jack was desperate. He didn't want to be here.

He wanted to feel the ocean, and he certainly wanted to get out of this place straight away. Finally, after like about five minutes, seven tops, Jack had unfortunately reached the end of his strength and stopped, panting. He then noticed something to the side and saw the crab, looking at him innocently. Why did he get the feeling it was laughing at him?

That instantly crumbled his resolve. In complete and total despair, Jack collapsed, finally having given up.

Yet, help decided to give him a break, because no sooner Jack passed out in dispair, the small Crab scuttled out into the desert, to what looked like even more little, round rocks. The crab waved its claws, uttering a few squeaks. As if they had been commanded, the dozens of rocks began metamorphosing into countless small white crabs. Once they were all more or less all ready, they crawled towards the Black Pearl.

As Jack layed there, willing the sun to roast him and be done with it, a shadow crossed over him which made the Pirate open his eyes and he sat up, wondering what was going on now. He looked and saw, to his shock and confusion, the Black Pearl was somehow moving.

He could hardly believe his own eyes as he stood up and stared at the bizzare sight before him. Once again Captain Jack Sparrow had been amazed and confused by the unusualness of things he never thought he would see. Only this time this one was much closer to home. What he didn't see was that the Black Pearl was being moved by hundreds of Crabs crawling underneath it, moving it on their backs.

Jack stared at this sight for a long time. He was too stunned by this sight to say anything or even consider that he should follow or not. However, it at last occurred to him, that perhaps, just perhaps, there as a significant reason that his ship was moving. Perhaps someone had called these crabs. Maybe someone had come to the rescue already.

This thought, combined with the fact that the Pearl was passing and rapidly vanishing, caused Jack to come out of his stupor and dash madly after the Black Pearl, and soon he would reunite with his companions he travelled with for several weeks, and people he never thought he'd see again anytime soon.

Yet this was just the beginning in a quest to save his world from the Darkness that was slowly consuming it.

A/N: So we're finally back in Captain Jack Sparrow's world. Well, almost, but still in Port Royal none the less. Secrets will be revealed in the next chapter as well as our heroes and their allies, and an reunion with a former enemy attempting to escape the Locker and more troubles up ahead.

See you soon(assuming my Computer doesn't die first...probably will very soon, maybe not)!