Chapter 7: Hollow Bastion
A few moments earlier:
Kairi entered the entrance hall of Hollow Bastion, along with Donald, Goofy, and the Beast. It was an ornate room, and at the front was a fountain in front of a staircase, which led to a slightly elevated walkway, with pillars on the edge holding up the balcony. In the center was Riku, who looked relieved to see Kairi.
Riku broke down. "Kairi, you're here! Thank the stars above! You can fix this, a-all of this! Maleficent has been forcing me to steal the princesses and use the heartless, b-b-but that was the only way I could search for Sora in the other worlds. A-a-and she said I'd be locked in a cage if I didn't! So, please don't be-"
Kairi slapped him. "Riku, I knew you were a coward. Instead of fighting back against Maleficent, you join her? Huh?"
"Kairi, it's not like that, I thought that I could find Sora!"
"If Sora were here, he'd be disappointed in you. You're just another of Maleficent's cronies. And you know what I did to all of Maleficent's cronies?"
"N-no, no one told me! I've-"
"I killed them. They're gone. Scourge who use the heartless deserves to be cast into the fieriest pit of hell. Just like you."
The duck spoke up. "Wack? But Riku's your friend!"
The Beast shook his head.
Kairi summoned her keyblade. "Shut up, Donald. Or do you want to share his fate? Remember what Maleficent did to you Beast! So, Riku put up a good fight. It'll be your last."
"It'll be just as if Sora and I sailed without you. It'd be what should have happened."
Then, she lunged at him.
Riku blocked with Soul Eater. Their blades clashed and Riku struggled to keep Kairi from striking his body.
Clink! Clink Clank, their swords went. Donald, the Beast, and Goofy stood by in shock. Never before had they seen her attack soeone with such vitriol.
But Riku was not able to parry all of her strikes. And blade tore skin. Riku now had a large slash across his abdomen, only skin deep, but hurt like hell.
So, Riku threw Kairi to the other side of the room using the power of darkness and fled. He quickly used cure on himself, and entered the Castle Chapel.
What, or who was there surprised him.
"Sora?"
"Huh?"
"It's me Riku!"
Sora ran to him and embraced him. "I can't believe it's you, Riku! I've been trapped in Hell for so long, and it's finally good to see a friendly face."
"A touching reunion."
Sora turned around. It was the man in the brown coat from the island. "You! Why are you here?"
"To offer him a chance to save Kairi."
Sora panicked. "N-n-nothing happened to Kairi, right? She's safe r-right? I-I- saved her, right?"
Riku looked unsure. "She's safe, but something must have happened to her. She's colder than she's ever been and-and-," he sighed, "she tried to kill me."
"What! Kairi would never."
"She had good reason to. I'm basically Maleficent's, the one who caused all of this, errand boy. I do all of the dirty jobs like retrieving the princess for her big plan."
"But Riku, that doesn't justify killing you! Either way, I forgive you! Something is definitely wrong with her…"
"I can help with that. Riku, you can save her if you just embrace the power of darkness."
Sora narrowed his eyes at the figure. "Who are you?"
"I am Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. And to save your friend Riku, you must embrace the darkness. It will you give the strength of heart to do what must be done. It can help you restore your home. It can help you save Kairi. Just embrace it."
Sora kept shaking his head no. "Darkness isn't usually a good sign, and he was there at the island when it fell!"
Riku hung his head in shame. "It was my fault. I sent the islands into chaos because I thought that I could go to another world that way. I can't stop her without it."
"It'll consume you! You'll be in that—hell!"
"Sorry, Sora. But I embrace the darkness."
A green mist began to surround Riku, and Ansem faded out of existence.
"Riku? You got rid of him?"
Riku stared back at Sora and spoke with two voices, "Not exactly. I got rid of Riku."
Sora gasped. "W-what do you mean Riku?"
"No. It is I, Ansem Seeker of Darkness. Riku's body is mine now. You were right, but alas, you were unable to save your friend. If it is any consolation, you shall share that fate."
A dark fragment shot straight at Sora and entered him. His eyes slowly turned gold, and he felt a presence in his mind telling him to succumb. "What did you do to me?"
"I simply shared my heart with you. You shall not be an obstacle anymore. Goodbye."
And Riku-Ansem disappeared, leaving Sora to struggle with himself.
"I gotta get it out. Get it out of me. Get it out, get it out, get it out! I can feel it consuming me! Help, anyone. Nevermind, who'd help me? I gotta help myself."
So he rushed around the castle, looking for a place to remove the malicious heart inside him.
But as he did that, he kept hearing louder and louder, "Succumb to me, and it will be easier. I shall protect you from the light."
As he entered the Grand Hall, he saw Kairi standing with two keyblades. Donald and Goofy stood dejected, but as they saw Sora they lightened up.
"Sora!" they both said.
Kairi turned around and looked straight into his eyes, and began approaching.
"W-what are you doing Kairi? Ansem's heart's inside me-"
"I know. He gave me this keyblade. He told me that you'd joined him to spread the darkness throughout the worlds. I guess that's why you were absent."
"What!?"
"You're better than that Sora. You know that you're just a pathetic little traitor. And you're the one who stole my heart. Isn't that what you were doing when you 'saved me'? Taking my heart, you lazy bum?"
Sora felt something resonating in him. "W-wha? You're heart's inside me?"
"You broke your promise never to change. So, I'm breaking the promise I made to myself to never break your heart." Kairi raised the keyblade of Princesses' hearts.
At that moment, Sora succumbed to Ansem, heartbroken over Kairi's words. Maybe he was right after all. He did need protection from the light, his light, Kairi. A cry of vitriol, so unlike Sora escaped him. "No, you cannot do this to me, no, no, NO!"
And she stabbed him.
She felt her heart entering her, and it felt like she woke from a deep slumber. She looks at the sword she's holding and see's it lodged in Sora's heart. Instinctively, she pulled it out.
She began to cry with guilt. "Wha-what have I done? Sora, please keep it together. I'm sorry I didn't mean to!"
Sora wheezed with his last dying breath, "I-I forgive you."
And he faded away.
Kairi fell to her knees and began sobbing. Donald and Goofy started to too, unsure of what happened, or if it was the right thing to do.
But, a roar coming from where the Keyhole was shocked them into battle. She rushed into the Keyhole to fight whatever monstrosity was in there— and to distract her from the fact that she killed Sora. Donald and Goofy followed suit.
The monster inside the key was a Behemoth, a mountainous 4-legged heartless with a horn at the top. She launched herself at the horn of the Beast and hacked and slashed at it until the monster was dead.
Her rage didn't end there though.
She exited the keyhole and sealed it. Donald and Goofy followed close behind.
She started killing every heartless in her sight. When she passed by Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie, no one tried to stop her.
Nor did any of the other six princesses of heart.
Rather, she just kept on slicing and dicing, hoping to flood out the guilt with mechanical slaying of the creatures of darkness.
She knew that she had to defeat Ansem, wherever he may be. But she didn't know where he would be, nor how she could face him after what she had done to Sora.
As she cleared one room for heartless, it seemed like one shadow heartless was helping her. After getting rid of every heartless except for that one. She saw the shadow for what it really was, Sora.
So, against all logic, she approached it and embraced him.
Sora was floating in the darkness. He felt his leg being dragged down by Ansem, but his struggles against it were feeble and futile at best.
Then, the light shone through and Sora got the strength to finally get Ansem to stop dragging him down and to swim up.
"Kairi!"
Where a shadow used to lie, Sora was now there. He was alive and back again.
"Sora!" Donald and Goofy shouted with joy. He was alive!
Kairi began to sob. "I'm so so sorry. I promise I won't do it again, please forgive me!"
Sora put a hand on her shoulder. "Like I said before. I forgive you. And Ansem's gone! He's gone! I should be thanking you!"
Kairi sniffled. "What? Don't you dare say that was a good thing I did!"
"But it was! I don't know how much longer I would have held on! I could have-"
"COULD HAVE! But I killed you! I was so Heartless! I felt empty for so long and I decided to take it out on you! It's not okay, Sora! I should get away from you! I could hurt you again!"
"No, you couldn't, not willingly. You were tricked by Ansem. Riku was tricked by Ansem. I was tricked by Ansem. He made us suffer. So I intend to make him suffer."
Author's note:
In Chapter 4, when Kairi awoke and met Donald and Goofy, Sora only gave back her will, not her heart. So right now, she's basically a nobody. That's why she's so heartless.
