AN: Here we have the penultimate chapter! Where I show you I was fuckin serious about nothing ever being the same. Like the characters here, we are meta tossing the script of KH in the trash! xD Where it goes from here? Nobody knows! Not even me...lol JK I do because I wrote it. :D I'm like the Master of Masters myself! :D :D And of course we got the customary epilogue after this chapter. Sooo consider this the actual finale. The epilogue won't be some life-changing reveal this time though...since that all kinda happened here already. xD But it will be a fun little scene to tack on...

End of AN!

"HOW?!" Xemnas yelled at him.

Good. Be afraid. Keep talking. Give me more time to keep healing Xikira, keep her from...

Luxu drew a breath, and let it go again. His whole body relaxed, and he gave his weapon a twirl as he took a step forward. "You really want to know? Well then, how's this for an answer: I'm a Lost Master...and my name is Luxu," he intoned.

Xemnas's eyes widened. With downright horror.

Luxu felt an insanely heavy weight lift from his shoulders.

To not have to hide anymore - to lie - to run. To play act as some scaredy cat of a fool. To just be...himself, out and open again, after so long...

Maybe the kid had a point. Of course she did! The kid who had lit this spark in his Heart - one he'd forgotten the feeling of. This burning warmth, this determination, this hope. This energy, vibrating in every fiber of his being. And the girl who'd sparked it again in him...she still had a chance. She was hanging on, she was still here, she could still...

Because she deserved to live a full life, damnit! A life that was hers, to do whatever she wanted - to be a chatterbox, chaos magnet, privacy-invading little gremlin! And Luxu...would see to it that she got to do that! With everything he had. He couldn't just stand back...and watch even one more kid die!

Luxu glanced back at her, a part of him fearing what he'd find. But she was still there - her disintegration of being had slowed, definitely. Her wound was closing, slowly, slowly...and her blue eyes were glued to him.

Luxu returned his gaze to Xemnas and slashed his Keyblade before him, sending out a massive wall of crisscrossing energy beams, a web of scarlet, burning power. He whirled and snatched up Xikira in his arms, and disappeared with her into a dark corridor immediately, the darkness wrapping around them both.

"Lu-xu...Aerith...Traverse...Town...she can...help to h-heal me..." the girl mumbled.

Aerith. Traverse Town. Right...he knew what the kid meant; he'd seen who the real Princess Kairi had been associating with on that world, when he'd been keeping an eye on her a while back. An extremely gifted mage of a woman - but one with a kind Heart.

He nodded, concentrating on reopening a portal to that world.

The darkness tore open into light, and he stepped out into a familiar plaza. Traverse Town's First District.

A crowded place, a loud place.

"HEY!" he shouted out, looking around desperately. "Does anyone have a clue where a woman named Aerith is?! I've got a- hurt kid who needs help!"

Luxu's eye was drawn to a door on his left bursting open - a woman running out into the plaza.

A woman of slender figure, with glistening green eyes and long brown hair, in a dress.

That was her, all right.

"Aerith here! What's the situation? Where is she...hurt?" The woman stammered as she laid eyes on Xikira. Questioning, shocked, at the resemblance to Kairi. No time for that!

"She took an energy blade through the Heart - can you help me save her or not?!" he roared at her. And dammit he didn't mean to, but this panic and anxiety in his Heart - like shit he hadn't felt since he was a little kid...

Aerith didn't flinch. She held out her hand, green light shrouding it. She nodded. "Set her down here!"

Luxu obeyed, laying the kid down gently, cradling her head. And all the while, he kept pushing more and more of his magic into her fading body.

Damnit, World, if there's ever been one thing I begged you for across the millennia, one thing at all that you give me...one thing that's fair and good and right...you let her live! Just let her live!

He'd give it his all, and he'd push and he'd hope until the very last moment - and maybe...it would pay off...

Some time later, Luxu stepped out of a dark portal, emerging into a dark and silent room of plain white inside the Castle That Never Was.

A bed, a desk and chair.

A sketchbook sitting open atop it, surrounded by old drawings on separate pages.

He strode over to the desk, stacking all the separate pages and carefully placing them into the sketchbook. He closed it, leaving it there for now. He bent down low to reach under the desk. He dragged out and gathered up several articles of clothing - a few different dresses. Including a thin little white one. He stowed them all in the big shopping bag Xikira still had under there with her clothes (she'd had the sense to keep one, at least). Then he put the sketchbook and all its drawings into the bag as well.

He straightened up again, glancing around the room one last time.

He turned as the door opened, and light spilled in on him.

"I never would have taken you for a sentimentalist, Xigbar - ah, Luxu, isn't it?" came a deep voice.

"I told you...not to let sentiment cloud your judgement." The voice of Luxu's Master came back to him then, suddenly...again...

Luxu stretched his free arm out before him, and in a crackle of purple lightning and a flash of orange light, his Keyblade appeared in his hand. He met Xemnas's gaze, and held it. "Get out. This was her room."

"Even after both of you committed heinous treason, you still risked everything in coming back here for...children's clothing?" Xemnas gave a small laugh. "You truly are a Keyblade wielder, aren't you? What a hearty fool you are."

Luxu remained frozen. Then, he lowered his Keyblade. "You used to be the same, Xehanort. You used to know...like I used to know. It took me way too damn long to see it - took her, to make me see it again. To realize it. What it is to hope, to have faith, to take risks and be bold and...to struggle until the very end and have it all pay off and mean something. Sure, sometimes it doesn't work out - but does that mean it's not worth trying? No. It's never not worth it to try, to keep hope alive, to fight on until you can't stand anymore. To not give up on life, on light. Because you do that, and you might make all the difference. Might change everything. And I wonder...what it would take to make you realize it again, too. To trade out the nihilism and pessimism for hope and optimism. For a better way. Another way. But...I won't give you the grace and mercy of living long enough to find out."

"What are you talking about?" Xemnas said, confused.

Luxu closed his eye, exhaling. Drawing up ancient memories...even if this one was only a few decades old...

"'So, why do you all want to become Keyblade Masters?'" he spoke lowly, imitating the tones of voices from so long ago. "'It was more of an obligation at first. Like a family tradition. But now, I know in my Heart that I need to become one, and put an end to darkness once and for all.'"

Xemnas's eyes went wide, his mouth falling open. "What...?"

Luxu continued to hold his gaze, as he shifted his posture, and his whole demeanor with it. He gave a wide grin, putting a hand in his pocket. "Serious much?" He raised his fist before himself, that grin broadening still. As he imitated himself, exactly as he was back then... "For me, it's easy. I want to do what's right." He let his arm fall, and his expression fade. HIs change of demeanor vanished entirely.

"You...how...could you...?" Xemnas quavered out, drawing a deep, gasping breath.

"Let me help you out here, Xehanort: Bragi, Braig..."

"Y-you - you - that...what?"

"I know, it was pretty lazy of me, wasn't it?" Luxu nodded, chuckling hollowly. "What can I say? I'm tired, Xehanort."

"You...were there...you were- you-" Xemnas stammered, taking quick breaths, his hands shaking at his sides. Then, his eyes narrowed, and his jaw set. "You could have prevented everything! You could have saved them, you could have- but you simply stood back and watched it all happen!"

Anger. Real, raw, loud as hell, in this tiny room.

Luxu gave another nod, his throat tight. "Yeah. I could have. I should have, even. Not just for our classmates back then...for those kids...but for every life I've had to watch die over all this time. Every accident, every murder, every fluke of unfairness and injustice, in the chaos of the worlds. And I had the power to step in and stop a whole lot of them. I could have easily done it, gone a little out of my way. But I never did. And I regret it, okay? And what happened back then, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't see every face of every person I've ever watched die! Including those kids we knew. But that's why...I realized I couldn't stand back and watch Xikira die, either. Because it's not fair, and she didn't deserve it, and...and maybe, in her, I saw every other kid I failed to save. But you know what, Xehanort? I succeeded. With her, I fucking succeeded! I stepped in, and I saved her! I saved that kid!"

"What a comfort that is to all the other children who lost their lives across the history of your life!"

"Don't play moral high ground with me!" Luxu snarled, thrusting his blade forward and stepping in. "At least all I fucking did was stand back and watch - which I'm not proud of, still - but at least it's not anyone's legal or even moral obligation to save every life they see drowning in a lake! So I have that going for me! But you? You're actively taking lives, you're actively killing millions! You're destroying entire worlds, by design and conscious action and thought! You also have a clear sadist streak; you enjoy what you do! So don't act like we're even remotely the same!"

"You could have saved them all..." Xemnas's voice came, shaking, and quiet. Broken...

"Yeah...I could've. But now I'm going to save every life I can going forward - from you. Turning it around, doing the right thing...at least I have that going for me now. At least I've regretted it, every single day. I think about it...every day. Every face, every person I've stood back and watched die. I can't not think about them. About my complete, fucking, disgusting apathy! But what about you? Do you have even a speck of regret for the lives you've taken, the worlds you've destroyed? Even a drop of remorse?"

"Preposterous. I would never abandon my goals. Not when they are so close at hand. Unlike you, I have the conviction to follow through. And I have regretted nothing."

"Then that's the difference between us."

Luxu's Keyblade erupted with a wave of energy, taking Xemnas back into the wall and carrying him on through it. The energy surrounded him, and exploded, blowing apart the side of the castle in smoke and fire.

By then, Luxu was already gone, back through a dark corridor.

But he didn't go back to Traverse Town - not immediately, anyways.

He went somewhere else - somewhere a little more close by.

He stepped out of the dark, onto the Altar of Naught, gazing up at Kingdom Hearts. The artificial one...but one made up of the collected Hearts of the slain innocents of the worlds.

Turned, killed, and gathered here together. Trapped here.

Luxu stepped forward, let his weapon vanish, and put hand to his Heart as he gazed up at that glowing, Heart-shaped moon. "Hey..." he spoke awkwardly. "Listen, all of you...I know you're stuck here. Trapped here. By Xemnas. And I know I played a part in it. In all of you being taken away from your worlds, from your families. Your Hearts were stolen away, to be used here for power. No care for your dreams, feelings, past and present lives. But I can free you, all of you! I can make you whole again, I can send you back to your families, to your worlds, if they're still there. I just need...for you to help me...help you. You know what I'm saying?"

The yellow moon continued to cast off its energy, to remain exactly as it was.

Luxu continued to stare at it, unblinking. He clenched his jaw. His hand on his Heart became a fist. "I just want to help you all get back where you belong - to set things right-!"

He broke off as Kingdom Hearts burned brighter, a blinding light. Energy cast off from its edges, billowing over Luxu, sweeping across the castle and the dark city below with pure warmth and intensity. Tendrils of energy reached out from its burning core, and found their way straight to Luxu.

He gasped as energy, sheer power poured into his being, filling him up - like he was going to explode from it all! It was like nothing he'd ever known, or imagined any one person could have.

Luxu clasped his hands to his chest and rose up into the air, watching that Kingdom Hearts begin to shrink and fade...and then vanish completely, leaving the sky empty.

He turned in the air, gazing down on the castle floating below him.

He summoned his Keyblade, raised it high...and slashed it out in one, great sweeping motion.

Several massive, bending beams of energy flew out from it, as thick and long as the skyscrapers of the dark city underneath, slicing through the castle and exploding outward as they burrowed within it, obliterating it.

The massive pieces of castle debris flew out in all directions, the energy clinging to them and eating away at them, making them smaller and smaller, until...

Nothing remained.

Luxu breathed relief, and let his weapon vanish once more.

He put his hand to his Heart, closing his eye.

"Thank you. Now...you've all got places to be," he spoke softly. "People to not keep waiting."

He opened his eye as he felt that insane, overwhelming power leaving his body. He watched as a small, swirling core of white energy drifted out from his chest, hovering in the sky before him. Then, it suddenly burst, and millions upon millions of spinning pink Hearts rose up into the sky as one, disappearing in flashes of light. A reversal of a meteor shower. Not falling: rising. Finding their way home again...in place...and in body.

Luxu eyed the spot in the air where the Castle That Never Was...once was.

He grinned.

"And you guys...you can thank me, as well, wherever you end up," he spoke to his former comrades.

He let himself relax, and vanished away into a dark corridor.

"Hey, princess...I brought you some things you might like..."

Xikira opened her eyes, turning her head as Luxu emerged from the dark portal, stepping into the Traverse Town hotel room.

Pure joy and excitement in those blue eyes, as they saw what he held.

"My things! My- but- you went back there?"

"Yep," he said simply, striding up to her bed and falling into the chair beside it.

"Wasn't that dangerous?"

"Not for me."

"You still shouldn't have..."

"Well, I did. Here you go..." He carefully set her bag down on the little nightstand, then he took out and put her sketchbook on her lap. He gazed at her as she struggled to sit up. He watched her flip the sketchbook open, and begin turning the pages. Relief on her face, as she saw all her old drawings crammed in there. "Listen, Xikira, I-" he began hesitantly.

She raised a hand, holding a finger up to him, shaking her head. "What are we going to do for Skuld? Can she stay where she is, or should you move her? I want to keep helping her. It's...right. And it's what my parents would do."

Luxu marveled at her, lost for words for the first time in a long time. "You really do deserve far better than me..."

"Maybe," she agreed softly. "But I'm picking you anyways, so...you just kind of have to deal with it..."

Luxu grinned. "Heh...fair enough. Still...I've got a lot to make up for with you. And I promise I will."

"You helped me get free - you saved my life again - so I think that's a good, big first step."

"No. I didn't do anything. You did it all on your own. You freed yourself. Like you said: you've got more courage in your little month old Heart than I've ever had in my...thousands of years old Heart."

"Luxu..."

"I've also got a lifetime to spend apologizing to you for what I did to you. And...I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to spend the rest of yours not forgiving me for it, Xikira. You more than have that right."

Xikira looked away now, saying nothing. But she clung to her sketchbook a little bit tighter.

Luxu stood. "I'll let you rest." He started for the door.

"I think..." her voice came, stopping him.

"Hm?"

"I think maybe...someday I could forgive you..." she went on softly. "But...not just yet."

"That's perfectly fine."

"I-"

Luxu turned back to look at her over a shoulder. "Yes?"

"I mean...I did stab you...and screwed with your head a lot..." Xikira whispered, a pink color coming to her pale cheeks. "So we're kind of even, right?"

"No. We're not even," Luxu said quietly. "What I did to you still far outweighs everything you did back to me. I'm an adult, you're a kid. And I never should have treated you that way...doesn't matter the reason or situation. And I'm sorry."

Xikira sat in silence as Luxu watched her a minute.

He sighed and exited the room, a tightness in his chest.

But he knew...he was finally doing what was right. Not just paying lip service, playing a role. No grandstanding, no proclamations to a Master, or in a classroom of good, strong kids joined by common cause...

It was just...the truth.

And now...it was time to burn the fucking script.

Alone, in a dark, isolated alleyway of Traverse Town, Luxu raised a hand of dark fires, burning it all bright and compacting it down into his palm. Enough power to destroy an entire world, if he'd wanted to unleash it.

But he was focusing it on a single thing.

Luxu roamed his palm over the keyblade's length, turning the weapon aside to gaze at the blue eye set into the end of it.

He brought it up before his face, grinning at it.

"Hey, Master...I've got no clue how all that time paradox shit you used to go on about works...or how you even see through this thing across the ages...but I hope this burns you like hell somehow."

Luxu slammed his palm against that eye, closing his fingers around the blade's edges.

It was downright transcendent.

And now, there was just one little thing left to do to start setting the World to order.

Luxu turned the blade around, and he carefully touched it to his own chest.

Xehanort's Heart was ripped free and cast out, disappearing into thin air.

Luxu's sole, visible eye reverted from gold to brown, and his ears changed back to normal as well.

"How's it going? Everything still good in here?" Luxu spoke, reentering the hotel, finding Xikira flipping through her sketchbook. Looking at her own, old drawings.

But on his arrival, she looked up at him. And she stared. "Luxu...you look different?"

He sighed and sat at her bedside, falling into the chair. "Yeah, funny story about that..."

"Can I hear it?"

"You going to go into my mind and find out anyways later?" he joked.

A look of pure hurt came to her face. She ducked her head, her long blonde hair falling over her face.

"I- shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way! I was- bad joke. Trying to joke. Sorry..." He took a breath. "I had a piece of...Xehanort's Heart inside of me. I look different because I removed it last night."

"Why did you...have a piece of someone else's Heart in you?"

"Because that's...what the Organization was really about," Luxu sighed. "Round up a bunch of empty husks, hook them up to Xemnas's big Kingdom Hearts, and fill them all with the exact same Heart and mind. Translation: Xemnas was going to turn all of us into Xehanort."

"Turn us...into...Xehanort?"

"That's right. But it never would have worked," Luxu went on quickly. "Too many of you were...independent, and self-aware, and feeling. You had Hearts growing inside you. New little Hearts. And that defeats the purpose, you see?"

"Wait, we have Hearts?! So whenever you said Heart you weren't just talking figuratively? It's not just that we can feel emotions...we- we really have Hearts of our own? All along, we did?"

"Yeah, well, logically: you need a Heart to feel, didn't you know?"

"And I was right that Xemnas had evil plans this whole time!"

"Yeah..." Luxu nodded. "But we won't have to worry about that anymore. As of a couple hours ago, I took care of it."

"Took care of it? How?"

Luxu looked away, rubbing at his neck. "I just sort of...made a detour when I was picking up your things for you - and I set all those Hearts that make up Kingdom Hearts free again. They should all go back to how they were, now. Back to their worlds, and back to human again. Whether they're just a Heartless who was slain, or if they're a Heartless and a Nobody who were...both slain. Soon enough now, we should...definitely see the return of a guy named Ienzo. Among others."

Xikira's face lit up completely. She sat up straighter, beaming at him. Her blue eyes just...sparkled. "So he's really going to come back? He'll be okay?! What do you mean 'others' too?"

"Well...while I was there, I also sort of might have...destroyed the castle," Luxu mumbled out, his face growing hotter by the second. "So, you know...whoever was lucky enough to be caught up in that will be experiencing the joys of recompletion as well."

She just kept looking at him, all starry-eyed like that, and he couldn't look back at her. That look faded, though, next minute - and he was sad to see it go. She sighed, falling back onto the mattress. "Luxu...I...have to tell you something...important..."

"What is it? I'm all ears."

She gazed at him, her lower lip quivering. Her eyes shimmered. Then- "I'm sorry!" she burst out.

"About what?"

"For going into your memories like that - for screwing with your head so badly - for-"

"Hey, you were defending yourself against me in any way you knew how. And it was an amazing application of your powers. A terrifying one, yeah, but...still...I won't hold a grudge for it."

"I mean before. What started the whole thing. Drawing your memories like that..."

Luxu met her eyes, keeping his expression soft as he could. His voice quiet and gentle. "Right. Well, that bit, yeah, you should probably never do that to anyone again, going forward. You keep doing that to people and there's going to be problems. Everybody's got a right to privacy, to keep their feelings and thoughts to themselves. And you should be...learning to respect that. You can't just push and dig your fingers in until you get your way. Hell, your mom would probably take you to task for that if she ever learned about it..."

Xikira's head dropped, her cheeks going pink. "I'm sorry...I promise I'll never do it again...going forward..."

"Then we're okay on that front," Luxu said lightly. "Nothing to worry about."

"But...still, there is...something else," Xikira whispered, still not looking at him. "I'm sorry for Xemnas. For calling him to us, for- outing you to him, for- I'm sorry! But- you should know that when you called my bluff, you were half right! I didn't send him all your memories: I just sent him a snippet of our conversation there at the time. Enough to get him interested, to bring him there...but I didn't actually show him anything else. Nothing really from your past. I just thought, you know...you and him would do the rest from there...and you did."

Luxu stared at her for a very, very long time.

She glanced up at him, and he saw fear. Valid fear, at this point, he thought. "A-are you- t-thinking about killing me again..."

"No!" he said firmly. "Never. I was wrong to- it was messed up, and- I have absolutely no excuses for it. But that aside, I can't possibly blame you for messing with my head or calling Xemnas to us like you did. Going to any extreme, insane length to...help a friend...to save them - even from themselves - that's...I should be thanking you. In fact, I will: thank you...for pushing me when I needed to be pushed. For confronting me like that, like no one ever has in my entire, long life so far. It was incredible, and...it was what I needed. Though, not what I deserved." He paused. "Besides, pulling off a move like that against me...I'm impressed, princess. I really am. That was clever as hell, and you got me."

She cautiously looked up at him, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. "Still...I think we both kind of...got out of control back there, didn't we?"

"I did, at any rate. And I never should have treated you that way. Not even to prove a point. To- no, I was just trying to convince myself. Validate my own..." He shook his head, glancing away again. "You shouldn't still want me around."

Xikira smiled at him, full on, forcing him to hold her gaze again. "Luxu...I didn't go through all that effort and time to make you see sense just to not keep you around."

"Then I'm sticking around," he nodded, smiling back at her. For her.

"Though, there is one thing I'll never forgive you for..." she went on slowly, her eyes narrowing.

"What's that?" he said gently.

She sat up and twisted around as best she could, showing off the back of her blue dress - the long, tattered split, from left shoulder blade to lower right. Her pale, bare backside exposed through it. She straightened out and threw herself back down on the bed, full on glaring at him now.

"I'm sorry," said Luxu firmly. "That was-"

"Shut up!"

Luxu closed his mouth, nodding.

They sat in silence together for a while. Neither one saying a thing.

Till Xikira did.

"Mmmm..." Xikira bit her lip, her eyes furrowing. An intense focus coming over her, suddenly.

"What?"

"If your real name is Luxu...and my mom's name is Kairi...and even- Lauriam and Elrena...have true names...well, Xikira is the name Xemnas gave me, and I don't really like the idea of that anymore - fuck him! So..."

"You want to pick out a brand new name for yourself?" Luxu guessed. "One more true to you?"

"Yes...but I wouldn't know where to start..."

"If you'd like...I could give you some suggestions, and you can choose which one you like most?"

"Thank you! You've lived a million years, so I bet you know lots of names." Xikira grinned. "I want one related to my mom's name. Like, something...similar, or- that means the same thing?"

Luxu laughed. "Well, you've got that right. Something that shares the same meaning as Kairi's name, huh? Let's see here..." He brought a hand to his chin, thinking hard and long. He began throwing out some names. Xikira rejected most of them, and he threw out more and more still. Then he listed a name that made her sit up and gasp. "What?" he said.

"That last name you said - you said...Namine?" That name! From the conversation that had never happened. The name that Roxas had called her... "What does it mean?" Xikira asked eagerly.

"Well, Kairi's name means ocean. Namine means wave. So, there's your ocean related naming theme right there - your connection. It's also a girl's name, if you're worried about that sort of thing..."

She found she didn't really have to think it over for too long before reaching her decision.

She smiled. "I think it's perfect."