Chapter 86

Sora experienced his first defeat at the Keyblade Graveyard again. He watched Riku fight off against the Shadows again until he and Sora were attacked by them.

Sora was flying in a dark void and he was asleep.

Sora… Sora!

Sora opened his and he saw Ultear above him.

"Thank goodness.", she said. "I see a light up ahead. Do you know what that is?"

Sora then faced forward and gasped when he saw the light.

"Riku!", he said.

Sora tried to reach it, but he was still far away.

"Riku! Answer me!"

The light then shone brightly, surprising Sora and he started to get closer to it.

"Ultear, grab my hand!"

Sora held out his hand and Ultear grabbed it. The two then entered the light.

There was a bright light underneath their eye lids and the two opened their eyes. They were standing on a long staircase that led to a large door surrounded by clouds.

"This is Herc's world.", said Sora.

"Herc?", asked Ultear.

"A friend of mine. He is a god and this place is the home of the gods known as Olympus."

"A god?!"

"Yup."

"Amazing. I wonder what other people you met during your travels." The two of them started to head up the stairs. "But why would your friend be here?"

"I don't know." Sora stopped and looked around. "There's nobody here."

"Gee, I'm here!"

Both Sora and Ultear were surprised to see Jiminy on Sora's shoulder. Sora held both his hands out and Jiminy landed on them.

"Jiminy! You're okay!"

"Well, 'okay' might be a stretch, but what are we waitin' for?", said Jiminy. "We need to find the others!"

Sora smiled. "Right!"

"Sora, who is this?", asked Ultear.

"Oh I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service."

"Jiminy is a friend of mine.", said Sora. "He records all of our adventures."

"Really.", she said. "My name is Ultear Milkovich. I am a mage of Crime Sorciere."

"Nice to meet you too.", said Jiminy. "I hate to interrupt this but we have some people to save."

"Of course. I joined Sora to assist him in bringing his friends back."

"Let's go.", said Sora.

The two of them nodded and they both passed through the door. They all examined the area, but there was still no one there.

"I wonder if this place is not the realm of the gods, but something else.", wondered Ultear.

"Maybe...", said Sora.

Sora then saw something on top of a golden platform at the center of the area.

"What is it?"

Sora looked closely to see what it was and gasped. It was Riku, but his body was completely clear and motionless.

"Riku!"

Sora then ran up towards the platform, but then a creature appeared from a dark portal above Riku.

It was a large black creature with the shape of a roughly humanoid torso. It wears a black robe which fades into white tendrils at its base, and has draping sleeves that end in pink points. Its tall, pointed headdress covers its head and long neck with a criss-crossing design ending in a flair at the shoulders that resembles white hair or feathers. Its glowing yellow eyes peer through a skull-shaped mask. A heart-shaped hole cuts through its chest, bordered by a bright pink design on its robe. Three chains dangle from under its robe, ending in pink spikes that hang at alternate heights. It bears a grey staff with a black headpiece, which also features a heart-shaped hole through it.

The creature held out its arm over Riku's chest. A pink crystallized heart came out of Riku's chest and was wrapped around in chains when it came close to the creature's hand. The heart then disappeared and Sora Gasped. The creature noticed Sora and Ultear and flew towards the archway leading to the next area and disappeared.

"Come on!", said Sora.

The two of them ran towards the archway to find the creature.

"What was that thing?", asked Ultear.

"I have no idea. But I think it's in charge of this area."

Once they entered the archway, Shadows appeared and Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"Flash Forward!"

Before Sora could attack, multiple blue balls came crashing down onto the Shadows, destroying them all.

"You alright?"

Sora then faced Ultear, who was carrying one of the blue balls in her arm. Sora nodded.

"Was that your magic?"

"Yes. This orb is also part of my magic."

More Shadows appeared in front of them.

"Damn!", said Sora.

"Forget the small fry!", said Jiminy. "We gotta go after the one in charge."

"Right!", they both said.

The two of them ran past the Heartlesses. As they continued, more Heartlesses continued to appear, but they ignored them. Eventually, they came up to an open area and saw a dark corridor in front of them.

"Ready?", asked Ultear.

Sora nodded and they both entered the corridor.

After passing through the corridor, Sora and Ultear arrived at the peak of Olympus, the Apex, where the creature was waiting in front of the gate.

The creature attacked them with a Blizzaga attack, but it immediately disappeared.

"What the…?", wondered Sora.

"That's just my magic.", said Ultear. "Attack!"

Listening to her, Sora charged towards the creature. But then the creature started to glow and it exploded in front of Sora. He yelled in pain as he landed on the ground.

"Sora!", shouted Ultear as she came up to him.

But then there was a powerful wind that blew Sora and Ultear into the sky. They both saw the creature still alive and on the ground.

"I had enough of this!"

"Infinite Sphere!"

Ultear's spheres hit the creature in its stomach and then tons of them started to hit it in all directions.

"Take my hand!", said Ultear.

Sora listened and grabbed Ultear's hand. Ultear then threw Sora as hard as she could towards the creature. When he got close, Sora slashed the creature's chest and landed on the ground. Ultear managed to land safely after the attack.

After that attack, the heart the creature had was released and the creature escaped through a dark corridor. The chains surrounding the heart broke and started to fly away.

"Hey! Wait!", shouted Sora as he ran after it. But it flew too far and disappeared, leaving Sora disappointed.

Ultear came up to him and said, "So when that creature is defeated, the heart is released. So it should return to its owner."

Jiminy then came up onto Sora's shoulder and said, "There's no need to worry, Sora. He'll return to the place he fell, like you did. We gotta focus on rescuing the others."

"Okay!", said Sora and the two of them entered the dark corridor.

The two of them were falling in a dark abyss. Beneath them were stained glass circles covered in dark aura, each one showing a picture of a world. There was the Kingdom of Corona, Toy Box, Monstropolis, Arendelle, The Caribbean, and San Fransokyo.

"That scoundrel musta fled into one of those pools of shadow that're down below us.", said Jiminy.

"Where do they lead?", asked Sora.

"Well, I think they might be portals to other worlds."

"Okay! Maybe that's where we'll find the others."

"If we hurry!"

"Ready Ultear?"

"Yes!", said Ultear.

They fell into the closet one, The Caribbean.

Sora and Ultear landed on a broken pirate ship. Sora was wearing his outfit when he visited the Carribean while Ultear had her own outfit.

She was wearing a blue coat but she wears it like a cape. She had a white puffy toppless shirt with a corset around the waste. She had black thigh high boots and a blue sleeveless vest.

"How come my outfit changed?", asked Ultear as she examined herself.

Sora explained. "To keep the world order, people who travel to different worlds will have to blend into the society they are entering in. They can be from changing their clothing to changing their entire body."

"I see…" Ultear looked up and became serious. "Look!"

Sora and Ultear saw the creature in front of another clear person with their heart above them. This time it was Aqua.

"That's Aqua!"

"Another guardian."

The creature wrapped the heart in chains and both the heart and Aqua disappeared.

The two of them battled the creature again. It wasn't that difficult since they knew the creature's attacks. But the creature summoned Heartlesses, taking them a while for them to defeat them all. Eventually, they managed to defeat the Heartlesses and the creature.

The heart was released from the creature and flew up into the sky. But the creature escaped through a dark corridor. Both Sora and Ultear ran into the corridor.

Sora and Ultear continued to pursue the creature by traveling to different worlds through the dark void. Each of the Guardians were in a different world: Goofy at Arendelle, Donald at Monstropolis, Ventus at the Toy Box, and Mickey at the Kingdom of Corona.

When visiting Monstropolis, Ultear notices that she has changed forms again just like Sora, but the form she was in was the disguise she took when she possessed Jellal at the Tower of Heaven. Though she was surprised and a little disturbed by it, Sora assured her that she has moved on from this, allowing her to accept the form.

While at the Toy Box, she wore a white and gold cropped shirt over a leather waist swath and a bright pink miniskirt secured by a thick light-blue belt. She wears metal thigh-high leg-guards and a pair of gold metal open-toed shoes with darker pink stockings.

Each time they entered a world, they battled the creature to get the Guardian's hearts back, which the creature escaped through a dark corridor while the captured hearts returned to the owner.

After traveling through several worlds, Sora, Jiminy, and Ultear noticed one last world that was covered in shadow: it was San Fransokyo.

"That's the last one!", said Jiminy. "He must be hiding in there!"

"After he's gone, everyone should return.", said Ultear.

"Yeah!", said Sora. "And it probably means you'll return to the Final World."

"Yes."

"Thank you. For helping me."

"It's fine. My friends are helping you."

"You do have a point there."

The three of them entered the portal to San Fransokyo.

When they arrived, they were in the middle of the road in the City. They saw the creature had taken a heart that belonged to Lea, whose body is also clear. After taking the heart, Lea's body disappeared.

The creature attacked them with fire magic, but Sora fired blizzard magic at it, causing both attacks to cancel out.

Just then, Neoshadows appeared and surrounded them.

"Flash Forward!"

Multiple Spheres came crashing down onto the Neoshadows, defeating them all. But then storm clouds appeared above them and lightning came down from the clouds, electrocuting them both.

More blizzard attacks were fired at them, but Ultear used her magic to make them disappear. When it was distracting, Sora quickly charged towards the creature and slashed it.

After that attack, the creature disappeared, leaving behind the chained heart. The chains broke apart and Lea's heart flew into the sky.

"Well, Sora, I'd say we've been to every world that we can visit.", said Jiminy.

"I guess we are finished.", said Ultear.

"No.", said Sora. "We're one short. Where's Kairi's heart?"

"Gee, I wish I knew.", said Jiminy.

"We'll find her.", said Ultear. "There must be another world we haven't looked at."

Suddenly, a dark corridor appeared in front of them, revealing to be Young Xehanort.

"Who are you?!", asked a cautious Ultear.

"That is a younger version of Xehanort.", answered Sora.

"Then I guess he's here to stop us."

Xehanort spoke. "All that gallivanting through the Sleeping Worlds, and yet you learned nothing."

"What?", said Sora.

"Dream by dream, you nearly buried yourself in the dark of sleep. And now you're at it again?"

All three of them were shocked and confused. Xehanort started to walk towards them. Jiminy fearfully hid inside Sora's hood.

As he was walking, Xehanort said, "The Lich you've been fighting-it's not like other Heartless. It exists to usher hearts down to the depths of darkness." When he came close, Xehanort stopped. "If you chase it, you will condemn your heart to that same abyss."

"Tch!", said an angry Sora. "You're wrong. My heart is strong."

"What do you think the power of waking is? It's for traversing hearts to reach worlds. Not for traversing worlds to reach hearts. There's a high price to pay for wielding such power foolishly."

"So what? You're worried about me now?"

"No. There's no saving you."

This surprised Ultear.

"What do you mean?", she asked.

"You've paid the price. And it lies at the bottom of the abyss."

Sora then heard his phone ringing. He grabbed it and answered the call. It was Chip.

"Hurry, Sora!", he said. "The way to the Keyblade Graveyard is open!"

Dale pushed Chip aside and said, "Chipper and I found a new path!"

"Of course!", said Sora. "That's the one place we haven't checked yet!"

Suddenly, something zoomed right past him. Sora then collapsed onto his knees and noticed some blood was coming from his side.

"What the…?"

Sora turned and saw Young Xehanort holding his Keyblade. There was blood dripping from the tip of his blade.

"How did he move so fast?!", wondered a surprised Ultear.

"Since you managed to revive the Guardians and the mages are still fighting. You must all die one by one again. You have all served your purpose when you all fell in battle."

"That's not going to happen!", said Sora as he slowly got up with his hand on his wound. "I will return to my friends!"

He then pointed his Keyblade behind him and created a portal leading to the graveyard.

Before he could move, he was surrounded by pillars of ice. But they all disappeared in a blink of an eye.

This surprised Xehanort.

"What happened?", he questioned.

Sora then noticed Ultear in front of him.

"Ultear?"

"You are such a wonderful man, Sora.", she said. "Despite what has happened to you and to your friends, you still manage to be happy. Now you did something that I could not do with my magic. Changing time. I did so many atrocities in my past because I knew that if I completed the Arc of Time I can undo the atrocities by changing my past. But it ended with failure. Even during the Grand Magic Games, I could only rewind time for only a minute. But you've managed to completely rewind time to save your friends. I don't want you to sacrifice your life anymore. You have so many people waiting for you." She then turned around to face him. "That is why you must leave. I will handle this!"

"What?"

Ultear then pushed Sora into the portal.

"Wait, Ultear!"

"Please win this war.", she said with a smile as the portal was slowly closing.

"Ultear!", Sora shouted while tears came running down from his cheek.

Ultear turned to face Young Xehanort.

"Flash Forward!"

"ULTEAR!"

The portal has completely closed. The last thing he heard was Ultear's attack.

Back on Earth Land, an old short woman was standing in front of her window in her house with a smile on her face. She was an elderly woman with gray hair in a bun and had several wrinkles on her face.

A tear then came running down from her cheek.

"I believe in you.", she said.

The old woman started to glow and faded away.