Author's Notes: Maybe I should start posting two or three chapters at once...

This chapter brings the Memoria segment to a close, unless I decide to return here for some reason. The next world for our heroes to visit will be... Well, I shouldn't spoil it, but it'll be an interesting writing experience for me. It'll bring some of that classic Disney humor to the story, too. "Sometimes the oldest things are the tastiest," right?


Chapter XI: Immortality Denied

Tracy started immediately after Kuja, running past his friends as he called to them, "Guys! Let's— Whoa!"

Starlight skidded to an immediate stop when a young human male, definitely not Kuja, emerged from the black portal. Though weaponless, Tracy knew better than to consider him an ally, especially with the Heartless symbol hanging from his neck. He was dressed in normal, casual clothes that Tracy was used to seeing on him, and he stood taller than Tracy, quite slender. His features included short brown hair, eyeglasses over green pupils, and an expressionless face. For only a second, Tracy's eyes glinted in recognition of the handsome, if Heartless, teenager, but another second later, his weapon was prepared in defense.

"Xander!" Felicity cried happily, oblivious to the danger the memory of Tracy Starlight's friend and not-so-secret crush presented.

"Not Xander!" Tracy explained, "A Heartless created from our memory of Xander!"

"Tracy!" Sora yelled in warning, "Look out!"

The youth risked a brief glance behind him and spotted a small party of similar Heartless memories. He noted false images of Vivi, a friend of Felicity's that he didn't recognize, and two others that he didn't see long enough to recall before turning his attention back to the Heartless before him.

"These are Heartless?" Zidane risked to ask, having never before seen anything like these beings. "They're so—"

"They're just memories," Riku cut him off, "and they are Heartless."

The quintet was effectively surrounded by the Heartless memories, and Tracy knew that the battle was plainly inevitable. He gave the Xander-Heartless a once-over look. So real, he thought, and yet filled with the power of darkness. I never thought I'd have to actually fight against anything that remotely resembled Xander. Oh, well... You can't very well choose your opponents in this line of work. Still, he is kinda cute for a memory...

Shoving the thoughts of his miniature crush aside, Starlight centered himself on the moment, the only moment that mattered. Back from his brief trip into the realm of thought, Tracy said to his friends, getting as much enjoyment out of the moment as possible, "Let's do it!"

—————

Kuja stumbled through the darkness of the vastness that he had retreated into, the only part of Memoria that he knew of that wasn't created from any memory from anyone. Within that chamber, there was nothing, no features to give it any meaning or definition; only the blackness darker than a thousand nights pervaded the vicinity around the dying Kuja.

"Magus!" the man called out in desperation, seeking the aid of the only one who could help him now, "Magus! Show yourself! NOW!"

"What a pity," the evil wizard's deceivingly peaceful voice echoed through the black void.

"Magus!" Kuja yelled once more, "Come here!"

"If only you'd lasted longer," the sorcerer continued, ignoring the frantic pleas of Kuja. "You," Magus's voice grew darker, filling slowly with hatred and disappointment, "had them in the palm of your hand, as it were, and you still blew it! Kuja, you truly are a pathetic fool!"

Kuja began again, "Ma—" Before he could finish the word, however, a blast of energy penetrated the darkness from an unknown source, striking Kuja powerfully and knocking the miserable villain off of his feet, sending him skidding along an unseen floor uselessly until he hit a solid, invisible wall. The vile being coughed violently, scarlet blood expectorating from his mouth as he did so.

"I told you to kill them," Magus reminded the harmless Kuja.

"Magus!" he whispered as loudly as he could, losing energy by the second, "Give me... eternal life..."

"You still do not understand, Kuja," he taunted from his hidden place in the dark, following up with malevolent laughter that echoed sinisterly throughout the pitch-black abyss, growing louder with every passing moment like Kuja's immense physical pain.

"What!" the nearly-motionless man exhaled, his face twisting with a sudden realization at the meaning behind the magician's evil words. "You mean... you...?"

The laughter died down, but only long enough for Magus to tell Kuja the horrid irony of his situation, "I cannot make you immortal, even if you did kill them before you died!"

Kuja wished that he could be surprised, even angry at the wizard for the trick he had played, but in his final moments, he realized what he had done wrong. He placed his trust in Magus in a deal that was far too good to be true. Magus played on Kuja's greatest desire, the wish to live on, and he allowed himself to be manipulated to satisfy the twisted wishes of a man he barely knew and didn't even like. The images of Garland entered his mind, how Kuja had served as his hand in Gaia for so many years, nothing but a pawn for the ruler of Terra. Still, Garland had never tried to control Kuja with false rewards. The same hatred that had filled his heart towards his former master was now directed with even greater intensity at Magus. What made Kuja even more irate was the fact that, if he and Magus were in opposite situations, he would have done precisely the same thing if it had suited him.

The dark wizard finally appeared before Kuja, levitating a few centimeters above the ground with his powers as he floated closer to Kuja, whose life was fading just as severely as before. "My only problem at the moment is this," he said to Kuja sadistically, "How to kill you? Should I leave you here to rot away in the darkness while your own internal fail-safe destroys you?" Magus's fang-like teeth were made visible as he smiled at the idea and continued, "Should I throw you back to the memory of Terra, where the Keyblade master and his friends await? I'm sure they would make quick work out of you. Perhaps the Heartless could give you a quick end, too?" The final fourth option brought the greatest corrupt pleasure to the great wizard as he whispered down to Kuja, "Or should I kill you myself? Your decision, Kuja."

Kuja's thoughts considered the choices given, wondering if any of them could possibly be better than the others. With a flash of inspiration, Kuja made his grave decision and struggled to regain his standing position, letting grunts and small screams of pain to leave him as he fought. "I'll take... my chances... with the Keyblade," he grunted at Magus callously. "At least then... I won't have... to look... at your putrid... face!"

The other creature of evil responded swiftly, "As you wish."

—————

The final Heartless in the form of Captain Hook finally fell under the force of Riku's Lockheart, ending the massive brawl that had taken place in the observatory of Terra. The fighters, save Felicity, who remained as disconnected with the fighting as the Heartless would allow, quickly scanned the area, and when no further memories presented themselves, Riku sighed heavily and congratulated, "Nice warm-up, guys!"

"Now let's go for the real thing!" ordered Zidane, aiming a dagger at the black vortex that luckily hadn't closed while they were fighting.

Before any of the five could move a step towards the darkness, however, the powerless form of Kuja was forced from it violently as if the darkness had spit him out like a bad drink. He rolled a few times on the hard ground before stopping against Sora's feet. The Keyblade holder leapt backwards in surprise, his weapon aimed at their white-haired foe, but he hesitated when Kuja remained still, barely breathing. As this happened, the void of the darkness disappeared quickly.

"Kuja!" called Zidane with anger and concern.

"Zi... Zidane," he mumbled, "Don't..."

Ignoring him, Zidane ran at Kuja, his daggers stopping only when Kuja failed to defend himself. Seeming unwilling to kill a defenseless man, Zidane simply stared with disbelief at Kuja. "What happened to you?" Zidane questioned.

"Before... I die," the fading Kuja offered to his would-be conquerors, "there's something... you must see..."

Tracy walked towards their fallen nemesis curiously, pressing on, "What is it?"

"The... Keyhole... of Memoria," the answer came slowly through the agony of his internal failing. With his waning power, Kuja's hand lifted up, and another portal, this time one of light, was created. "Through there," he told Tracy and the others. "Go on... and seal it... if you... so choose."

"It's a trick," Zidane determined immediately, "Don't trust him, Sora! He's nothing but—"

"We'll take him with us," Tracy offered, "If it's not a trick, then Kuja shouldn't have a problem with that, should he?"

Zidane obviously disagreed with that assessment. "He's already dying, Tracy! If it's a trick to destroy us, too, then it doesn't matter to him if he dies along with us or not!"

Riku wordlessly disrupted the conversation by taking Kuja into his arms. Without any hesitation, the kid carried Kuja with him into the light, both disappearing instantly.

The remaining heroes were as confused as ever at the sudden act on Riku's part. Tracy was the first to shrug the problem off, and he said to the others, "Someone has to follow him." With that said, he, too, stepped into the light.

—————

Whatever realm Tracy stepped into, it was obviously something that could only exist in a place like Memoria. There didn't seem to be a visible floor, but Tracy and Riku walked just as well as if there was one. All around the two teens and Kuja, memories from all over their lives swirled in a chaotic sea of recollection. The different times flashed for two or three seconds before fading away and being replaced with more moments from their pasts. Tracy could make out many different events, such as Sora's final showdown with Ansem, Tracy walking along a road in winter, Riku racing against Sora on their island, and Bahamut's attack at the Iifa Tree on Gaia. These and other flashbacks surrounded the trio before Sora, Zidane, and Felicity entered the memory repository. When the other three came into the room, the swirls abruptly shifted, now displaying moments from the pasts of all six of the chamber's occupants.

"The Keyhole is here?" Felicity asked no one in particular, "Weird!"

Kuja strained to say, "This... is the true... Memoria. The Keyhole is... ahead."

Just as the words left Kuja, the swooshing recollections began to combine in front of them, just as Kuja had said. The five explorers of the worlds ran towards the new object, which seemed to be a condensed version of the memories around them. However, these flashes of remembrance all held one common theme.

"Wow!" Sora uttered in amazement, "It's every Keyhole I've ever sealed!" The analysis of the youth was truly correct. The Keyholes of every world that Tracy knew of, including Deep Jungle, Agrabah, Neverland, and Hollow Bastion, were before them, occupying the same spot, seeming to switch every half-second and be replaced with another Keyhole.

Kuja stirred in Riku's arms briefly. "Zidane... You're right... I do deserve... what I'm gonna get."

Zidane's eyes met with Kuja's, stricken speechless by the other's admission of guilt.

Kuja's eyes stared back at Zidane with a renewed purpose and meaning. The darkness that had once been there seemed to be overshadowed by whatever new force had possessed the heart of the expiring mortal. "Everything... I did... was to extend... my own life," he spoke, labored and guilt-filled, "and yet... I never knew what it meant... to truly live... until now... I guess I was too late."

At long last, Kuja's final breath left his body, his arms fell limp, and his eyes lost the slight sparkle of life that they had formerly possessed. The former villain's head fell backwards, hanging lifelessly over Riku's arm. The party noticed that the swirls once again shifted, and their enemy's memories were instantly removed from the vortex of the past. Kuja, the man that had single-handedly brought chaos and destruction unto Gaia, was truly and finally dead.

The archenemy of the deceased walked slowly over to his shell and looked upon his face morbidly. With mixed emotions fighting within him, Zidane moved his hand over Kuja's eyes, closing his eyelids. He then took the body from Riku's arms. That act done, Zidane turned away from the group and spoke quietly, "I'm done here. After we leave this place, Sora, can you take me back to Traverse Town?"

"S-sure, Zidane," Sora granted.

"Thank you."

Tracy looked at Kuja's broken, worn-out shell silently as Zidane walked away with it. So, he turned good in the end after all, the teenager thought, Some things never change.

"Sora," Riku told him, glad to be rid of Kuja's body, "seal the Keyhole, and let's get outta here."

"Right!" With a flick of his wrist, Sora called forth the magical Keyblade. With a quick swipe in the air before him, the master of the weapon aimed it at the keyhole-shaped opening skillfully. The tip of the Keyblade began to glow with spinning energy before a thin, needle-like beam of magic power ejected from the key, entering the Keyhole as it had done so many times before. The opening began to glow with power before the welcome sound of something locking echoed from the Keyhole. As the operation finished, though, something unexpected yet not completely uncommon occurred. Out from the sealed Keyhole, a small gummi piece fell and bounced a few times on the invisible ground.

Tracy saw the piece fall and took an educated guess. "A navi-gummi piece, right?"

"Right," Sora said as he took the piece and pocketed it, "The other piece'll be out there somewhere, too."

Felicity boomed with confidence, "Then we'll find it and see even more worlds!"

"Well, what're we waiting for, then?" Riku joined them with as much happiness as he could conjure.

—————

"It seems," Magus summarized for his guest in the main chamber of his castle, "that Kuja was not as attuned to the darkness as he made himself out to be."

The magician turned to face his visitor, clad in clothing that appeared to mask the true nature of the darkness in his heart. He wore light tan boots and slightly torn dark blue jeans complete with a belt, to which was attached a holster for the man's gun. His shirt was dark scarlet, and he had a light red bandanna around the lower part of his face like a makeshift mask. His messy black hair topped his head and went down the sides and back of his head, while a black headband kept the stray hair from interfering with his sight. His eyes were a dark shade of brown, and they observed Magus intently.

"By the way," added the dark man, "I like your rather interesting outfit."

The stranger shrugged absently, obviously concerned with other things. "It's the style where I've made my home these past few years."

"And what a style, Vincent," Magus complimented sincerely before returning to business. "I assume that you're ready for the Keyblade master?"

"If they're seeking to seal the Keyholes," Vincent replied, "they'll have to find me eventually, and when they arrive, I'll be ready for them." As if to show his prepared state, he drew his gun quickly, twirling it in his hand with the skill of an expert gunman before placing it back in its holster.

"It will take more than that little thing to destroy them," Magus warned him, "but you know that already."

"I never miss my mark," he shot back at Magus, "and I'll prove it soon enough."