Disclaimer - None of these characters belong to me, they belong to,
well, thats not important, the only important thing is that they are
not mine, don't sue me, you'd waste your time and get nothing for it.

*Note - I know that Link is not a Disney character, but I think he is
really cool and I thought it would be cool and original to pair Kingdom
Hearts and Zelda. The story takes place a couple years after Kingdom
Hearts; Sora and Kairi are 18 and Riku and Link are 19.

This is my first fan fic., hope you enjoy, read and review please!

**Special Note- Thank you to all for your kind reviews. Thank you also
to my mum and my sister for reading my story and for her help with my
memory of Hyrule. Hyrule is as seen in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of
Time. Last, but not least, and extra special thanks to my best friend
William for all his encouragement and support.

************************************************************************

Chapter 4: Prophecy Revealed

"Kairi!" Sora shouted. Why was she ignoring him? He needed her to
understand that he had never meant for any of this to happen. He needed
her to know that he was sorry, sorry for everything. But most of all he
needed to know that she forgave him; forgave him for breaking his
promise. The promise that was sacred to them, especially after what it
took Sora to get back to Kairi.

"Kairi?" Sora repeated softly. She was kneeling down, with her back to
him, looking at the pictures that Sora and Kairi drew of each other.
Sora walked over to her and knelt down beside her; that was when he
noticed that Kairi was not the same Kairi but a younger Kairi. He tried
to speak to her again, "Kairi."

Is this a dream? Sora thought to himself when he got no answer. He moved
so that he could see Kairi's face and noticed that she looked the same
as she did about four years ago. Sora stood and just watched as she
picked up a rock and started to draw on the wall.

As Sora turned to watch Kairi draw he had the sudden realization that
this was not a dream, but a flashback: Sora saw Kairi draw a hand giving
Sora a piece of papuo fruit.

*********************************

"Sora!"

Sora awoke with a start. "Where am I?" he asked, looking about the room.

"You're in Zelda's guest room, well, one of them," Link said with a
smile. "You were out last night, but we got to get an early start if we
want to make it up to Death Mountain before dawn."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep last night. How could I, with
all that needs to be done. That was really stupid." Sora scolded himself.

"Listen Sora, it's not a big deal, don't beat yourself up over it. You
had had a long day, you were worried about Kairi, and you had a lot on
your shoulders."

Sora thought about this for a moment and then grinned. "I guess your
right. Thanks Link, it means a lot to me, but I still need to do this
alone."

"Sora, that's not a good idea. First of all, you don't know the way. We
can't just point in the direction and then send you off. You don't know
the land, the local villagers, or the danger that may present itself
along the way. And second, your going to need our help fighting the
heartless. When you were telling Zelda and me how you had sealed up the
barriers, you also said that you didn't do it alone. You said you had
help from Donald and Goofy, and so, this time, we will be your help."

Sora just stared at Link for a second, trying to think of some way to
combat this. "We?"

"Me and Zelda."

"What, Zelda can't go out with us. It's dangerous, and she's a
princess." Sora exclaimed. He could understand Link accompanying him to
Death Mountain, but Zelda? Absolutely not!

"She's coming Sora. She can fight, plus she has a great understanding
of magic."

"I know some magic," Sora muttered weakly.

"I'm sure you do Sora, but Zelda's knowledge is vast and her help is
needed. Come on, smile, no glum faces." Link said as he saw Sora
frowning.

Sora stopped and just stared at Link. This was like four years ago, all
over again. He thought back to the time when he was in Traverse Town
with Donald and Goofy, and the three were about to set off and Sora was
sad because he didn't know where Kairi was. Sora was looking glum when
Donald stopped and told Sora that there would be no sad faces on this
trip.

Sora burst out laughing, and after a while was on the bed breathing
heavily, his side hurting from laughing so hard.

"What," Link said, looking slightly embarassed. "What'd I say?"

"Thank you Link. You just brightened up my day." Sora said smiling.

Link just smiled sheepishly and said, "Get your equipment together,
because we are set to meet Zelda at the courtyard an hour before dawn,
or in about ten minutes."

As Sora got his stuff together he thought about the flashback he had. He
had heard Kairi's story of how she had waited, and how she had drawn her
giving the fruit to Sora. As Link and Sora walked in silence towards
the courtyard, he thought about the last time he had a flashback of
Kairis. The last time it had happened, Kairi had lost her heart and was
residing in him.

The thought that he was again sharing her flashbacks made him happy in
the fact that the two were joined together. Yet at the same time, Sora
was worried for Kairi: What if she had lost her heart again? The thought
made Sora all the more determined to get her back. He would get her back
if it was the last thing he did, but for now, he would have to seal up
Hyrule.

When Sora and Link reached the courtyard, Zelda was already waiting for
them; she was wearing her blue ninja uniform. "You all right?" she asked
Sora.

"Never better," Sora said optimistically.

"Good, from here on out, refer to me as Shiek, I don't want people
knowing who I am, understand?" Zelda asked.

"Fine with me Princess Zel- I mean, Shiek," Sora said grinning. With
that, the three of them set out towards Death Mountain.

*********************************

The trios journey to Death Mountain trail was uneventful until they
passed through Kakariko village and reached Death Mountain trail. At
this point Sora paused:

"Riku?" Sora whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

Both Link and Zelda turned and looked at him once they realized they had
left him behind. Sora just stood staring off at nothing.

"It's Riku, I can feel him, he's close." Sora said as he dashed up ahead
of them, running up the trail.

"Sora, wait!" Link and Zelda yelled as they ran after him.

Sora ran up the trail and made a u-turn up past Dodongo Cavern. At this
time Link and Zelda caught up to him and stopped him. Link walked up to
Sora and pulled him aside.

"What do you think you're doing Sora? You don't know what dangers may be
ahead, or have you forgotten about the warrior that attacked us. If you
just run blindly like that you are going to get yourself or us killed,
and right now, we can't afford to lose you."

"I'm sorry, I guess I lost it. It's just that the last time this
happened Riku...he...well, it's just that I don't want to lose Riku like
that last time ever again. He's my best friend, yet he also pushes me
harder than any other person, and if I lost that, it would be like
losing a part of myself."

"It's ok, Sora, I understand, but don't throw your life away needlessly
by making a stupid mistake, for then you can be of no help to Riku."

"All right," Sora said sheepishly, grinning in embarrasment as he
started to turn red. "That was rash, I wasn't thinking. So, how do you
think we should go about this Shiek?" Sora asked, turning toward Zelda.

"We need to get up to Death Mountain Crater, because that was where the
keyhole was said to be sighted."

By the time the three walked up the rest of the trail, passed through
the falling rocks, and scaled the wall to the top of Death Mountain,
the sun was beginning to rise and the three had seen nothing.

"I know Riku is around here, somewhere. I can feel him stronger than
ever."

"Is that so?" said an all too familiar voice. Sora looked above him as
the same mysterious warrior that attacked Link and him yesterday
floated from the sky and hovered above the ground a short ways in front
of him.

Sora called forth his keyblade and demanded to know, "Where's Riku?"

"First Kairi, now Riku, my we are needy," the warrior said, laughing
darkly.

"That's enough! Tell me where my friends are!" Sora shouted.

"All in good time, but have you forgotten something?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

"You are the one who will open the door, or have you forgotten. You
have yet to open the door."

"I opened the door when I found Riku."

"Ha! Pathetic! A wise man once said that one who knows nothing, can
understand nothing."

"Ansem? Are you Ansem?"

"I am far greater than Ansem, for as wise as Ansem was, he was weak, for
he turned from the darkness. He went back to the light, bah,
disgusting."

"What is this door that you speak of?" Sora asked as he turned and tried
communicating with Link and Zelda by looking at them. Link and Zelda got
the signal and started to move slowly to either side of Sora while the
warrior was talking.

"Inside the door is the Dark Heart. He is a warrior constructed by the
heartless in the darkness. He is as old as time and has never been
released, for his powers are inexplicable and his evil unparalleled. He,
unlike the rest of us, is made of pure darkness and has absolutely no
light in him. And you, Sora, shall release him!"

"Never!" Sora shouted as he charged at the warrior, but this time, Link
pulled out his hookshot and fired it around the warriors legs while
Zelda raised her hands and called forth fire to come streaming towards
the warrior.

The warrior was momentarily taken aback, for he had not expected this
assault. As the warrior raised his hands to cast magic on Sora, he felt
a tug at his legs and was almost jerked out of the air. Then he felt
searing hot flames engulf his entire being as he screamed, more out of
rage than pain, and tried to get up.

The warrior staggered and fell to the ground as Sora brought his
keyblade down and slashed his chest. Pain like he had never felt
emanated from his chest. The warrior brought forth a black sword and
slashed the chain of the hookshot off and then hovered back in the air.

"That is quite enough! If you ever want to see Riku alive." As he said
this, Sora noticed a figure coming down from the sky. Once the figure
was level with the warrior, Sora recognized the figure as Riku. He had
his eyes closed was his arms crossed over his chest.

"Is he alive?" Sora asked.

"For now, but if you ever want to see Riku, or Kairi, alive again, be
at the Hollow Bastion chapel the night of the full moon. Show up alone
and we'll see what can be done to get your friends back."

With that, both the warrior and Riku disappeared.

"NO! Wait, I...how am I going to get Hollow Bastion? I have no idea
how to get out of Hyrule."



Authors note: Sorry for the long time it took me to update. First, I
took a lot more time on this chapter and second, just last night
(12-9-02) all my data was erased from my disk. Luckily for me (and
hopefully you feel the same), I saved it on two disks. But I only
had one page of my original and had to rewrite the rest. Despite
all the setbacks, I'd say it turned out for the best and it's my
favorite chapter so far.