Riku, then, saw the person who spoke to him earlier. It was a girl. A little hope grew inside him making him think it could be Kairi but she wasn't her. This one had a longer black hair and her eyes were hidden by the hair.
She was wearing a cloak, different from Hirosh and the others'. This cloak seemed a bit ripped and cut, it had no hood and seemed thicker. In her back, there was a Keyblade. A different Keyblade, though. While the ones seen up to now had only one "blade", this one had two, one in the opposite direction to the other. It could be used as a two-bladed sword.
Riku was, then, getting worried. Who would that girl be? The weapon she was carrying seemed dangerous. He'd already wielded a Keyblade and knew how powerful they can be. And a two-sided one would be twice as powerful.
"Welcome." the girl said.
"Wh-who are you?"
"You afraid?"
"..."
"There's nothing to fear. It's not you who the problem is. It's Ansem."
"Ansem? What did he do, now?"
"Ansem and his men unsealed the passage among the three dimensions."
"Three dimensions...?"
"Long ago... this man divided us... the three of us... We lived in only one world."
...
"Disagreements began... like in any other society. Then, people started using weapons, each time, stronger weapons were used. Then our ruler decided to divide us. First, the light. Then, darkness."
...
"However, there was a hidden space between these created dimensions. The in-between. The ruler didn't care about it. To sucessfully seal these dimensions he put big strong guardians on the gates and two keys at each dimension. Except for the in-between, where all got confused... my Key..." she pointed at the Keyblade in her back. "My Key was made like this."
"I... I see... but I don't..."
"Since you're here, help me. Help me opening all the two gates." she got nearer to him "Please."
"I... don't know. I don't know you, what if you do something bad? Huh?"
The girl turned back.
"Weren't you the one who said that wasn't afraid of darkness?"
Foooooshh!
Maran woke up.
"Hey, kid! This is the one!" the manager said.
"Y-you sure?" Maran said, waking up.
"Yes. Let's go." a voic said, behind him.
Maran turned quicky and saw how said that.
"Rina!" Maran got surprised.
"Maran, don't start. I'm going with you, no matter what, ok? Just get over it, come on." she said.
"Ok, Rina, I won't tell you to not go with me. Just... know that I'm not forcing you or something."
"No, I know you're not forcing me. I am forcing myself, heh heh, that's what. Come on, this is the train to Astral Canyon. The manager told me everything while you slept."
Maran approached the train station manager.
"Thanks. I wouldn't do any of this without you. If I could, I'd give you a tip but I don't have money not even for me."
"Don't worry, sonny. Just go and follow your destiny." the man said.
Already on board, Maran and Rina waved at the good manager who was then sitting on the bench. The train started to move and left the station. Some minutes later, left Twilight Town.
Rina was sitting in front of Maran. Now she was the one who was sleeping. Maran kept looking at ther calm, worryless face, thinking. What would he do when he found the cloaked guy? He didn't know if threatning him would give some answers out. Rina opened her left eye.
"What are you looking, Maran?"
"Nothing. I'm just... thinking..." he said, fastly.
"About...?"
"This... guy we're chasing. I don't know what we'll do when we finally reach him."
"Something tells me that the thing to do will be pretty obvious when we spot him."
The train finally arrived at the almost-ruined station at Astral Canyon. An old man showed them the way and filed their arrival.
Astral Canyon was formed of three areas. Two were the cliffs and the third was the bottom of the Canyon, almost unreachable without proper vehicle, as a paper in the train said. Maran and Rina walked around the cliff side the station.
"Look!" Rina pointed. There was a black dot at the bottom of the Canyon.
Maran squeezed his eyes, trying to focus on who was that person. His hopes were real. It was the cloaked guy. He was in the bottom of the Canyon.
"We need to get down there!" Maran said.
"How?" Rina asked him.
"I don't know..." Maran looked at a near depression on the field. "Maybe we can... slide?"
"What?"
"Look..." he pointed at the depression. It had a good form for sliding.
"You're crazy, right?"
"Well, I will go and you wait here, ok? But don't leave this spot." Maran approached the depression and then sat on the floor. "Uh.. Rina..."
"Yes?"
"Push me."
She did push him but she slided down along with him. The Canyon was pretty high and they haven't really realized this until they were there, sliding... screaming and trying to stop.
When they finally reached the base of the cliff, the bottom of Astral Canyon, Maran looked up.
"Heh, well, there's no turning back now."
He helped the troubled Rina with all the sand that was in her and then they began looking for the cloaked guy. He was spotted after a few seconds of search. Maran and Rina runned to meet him, he was starngely standing still.
"YOU!" Maran said, when finally got near him.
He turned. He was totally identical to Mickey, but Maran couldn't know it.
"I'm glad you came so quickly. I thought you'd take longer. Come on."
"Huh?"
The cloaked guy moved a rock and behind it a gate could be found. A gate...
"Raise your Key." he said.
Maran did so and a black ray came out of his Keyblade and the cloaked guy's. The ray entered in the gate's keyhole and it opened. The Canyon stated trembling, then.
"Get ready. It'll appear shortly."
"It...?"
It was huge, it resembled a dragon but had some human parts, that fit a golden armor. It also had a silver sword in hands, a very long and thick one. It was a guardian, surprise!
"Whaaaaaa!" Maran yelled.
"Come on, we can do this!" the cloaked guy said.
Maran tried to follow his 'ally' on the fighting but he wasn't able to. Then he remembered he didn't own a Key, he owned two of them. Maran, then, engaged with the guardian using his two Keyblades.
The guardian fell after a few minutes of slashing. It didn't stand a chance.
"What was that thing?" Rina asked to both of them.
"I don't know..." Maran replied.
"It was the guardian of the gate. The gate... to the in-between..." he looked at the gate. "Come on. Onyl the two of us shall pass the gate."
Maran looked at Rina.
"You stay right here, ok?"
"No, I won't let you go!"
"Come on, Rina, I have to figure this out. I promise I'll come back. You hear, I promise!" they looked at each other for a bit and then separated.
The cloaked guy was the first to pass through the gate. Maran followed him. After Maran passed trough it, the gate disappeared.
"Maran? Nooooooo!" Rina got desperated when saw the gate disappearing.
Everything turned black, then. Maran could only see his cloaked new companion.
"My name, by the way, is Pete. Yours?"
"I-I'm... Maran... but where are we?"
"I think we are already in the in-between. We have to be spotted by the Keyblade master of this place. He's the one who controls things around here."
"'He'?" a female voice asked. Then, Maran and Pete could see themselves back at Twilight Town. But it was all cracked and distorted, just like Destiny Islands before.
"Who are you?" Pete asked.
"I am the one who controls things around here, heh heh heh."
"So it's... a girl...?"
"Yes. Whahahahaha! So naive, you really thought it would be a guy? Well, it could have been a guy if our lord had so decided."
"HEY, YOU! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU??" a voice was calling. A purple-haired kid appeared in the middle of them. It was Riku.
"What did you do with me?" he asked her. "And who are you?" he asked Maran and Pete.
"We're the ones who have questions." Maran said.
"STOP!" the girl yelled, echoing in all directions. "This is a nice meeting, very nice, and I'd really love to talk to Ansem and figure out why did he do this."
"Ansem?" Riku said. "I knew he was behind all this."
"You do realize he's been behind all this since the division itself happened." Pete said.
"Ansem... was the ruler of your story?" Riku asked the girl.
"Oh, yes. He was the ruler who divided the worlds... and also... my father..." she said, surprising everyone.
Meanwhile...
"HAAACK!" Sora screamed while doing his finishing slash at the guardian. It was a tough fight, he was very hurt.
The guardian exploded and millions of sparks fell from the air. Sora fell from the air too, bleeding. Leon tried to treat his injuries and Donald was getting some healing items.
"Look!" Goofy said, pointing at the sky. Everyone looked, then.
There was a gate. A floating gate!
"Clever. Indeed, veeeery clever..." a voice said behind them. It was the Cheshire Cat.
"You... I remember you..." Sora said, trying to get up. "You're from Wonderland, right?"
"My hometown, indeed, Wonderland is. But special attention you King did ask me. Spotted you people and communicated the King. Now he's waiting for you. Up there." the cat pointed at the gate.
"What's that? A floating gate?" Donald asked.
"The gate... to the intermediate dimension, oh, so poetic land. It was once so mysterious, now it's a despair land. Pure dispair, not only that tasty feel of mysteriousness."
"Blah, blah, blah, so you're sayin' we must go up there?"
"A correction I must add. Only the poetic spiked hair must go. The others won't be able to pass trough the gates of dispair whereas they aren't Keyblade masters. Now go, puppet of destiny. Fly to your fate." the cat said, while his eyes, body and legs were gradually disappearing.
"Wait, what's in there?" Sora asked but the cat was no longer there.
"What to do now, Sora?" Leon asked.
"Riku, what shall I do?" Sora asked.
...
"Riku?" Sora noticed he wasn't there.
"Where the hell is that kiddo? I was keepin' an eye on him!" Cid said.
"RIKUUU!!" Sora called. "WHERE ARE YOUUUU?"
"Sora..." Donald said.
"Yes, Donald?"
"Go to the gate and meet up with the King. We'll look out for Riku, ok?"
"...Uh, you sure, guys?" Sora really didn't want to go alone.
"Good idea, stupid duck. Come on, folks!"
Leon approached Sora.
"You know how to reach that thing? It's high."
"I... yes, I do..." Sora said.
Sora closed his eyes and focused on what his good friend Peter Pan once said. Believe... believe... believe...
"Believe... believe..." Sora was saying.
"Sora!" Goofy said, he seemed in pretty lower level.
Sora opened his eyes and he was floating, like before, near the gate.
"You did it!" Goofy and the others comemorated.
"Now get out alive of this place, ok?" Cid said.
Sora felt cold while touching the doorknob.
"Sora."
"Huh? Who's there?" Sora realized the voice was coming from inside the gate.
"Use your Key, and I'll use mine. We'll open this up."
"Oh, ok!" Sora, then, raised his Keyblade. A white ray came out of it and reached the gate's keyhole. The gate opened.
"Mickey!" Sora hugged the friend. "We were all so worried."
"I know, I know. Come on, we got some important business to deal with, now."
"We're going inside?"
"Yes. Come..."
Sora entered the gate. It suddenly closed down and disappeared.
...
...
"Ansem is your father?" Riku asked the girl.
"Oh, yes. I would love to be proud of it, though, but he did nothing but foolishness. All this..." she waved her hands around "...could have been skipped if he had used his strenght."
"But he was still a good man. We would never use his strenght!" Mickey said, reaching the group along with Sora.
"Riku!" Sora and Riku then hug. "Where are we? Who are these?" he pointed at Maran and Pete.
"I don't like this. I don't know what is going on either." Maran was getting mad, though nervous.
A big white spark happened. Everybody was still there.
"What happened, what was that?" Mickey asked the girl.
"Finally..." Riku said, his voice sounded weird. "I thought I would never be able to possess this body again." it was Ansem in Riku's body.
"It's Ansem!" Sora said.
"Hah hah hah, how pathetic..." the girl giggled.
"Look who's talking." Ansem said.
The girl stood across the possessed Riku and placed her hand in his shoulder.
"What do you mean, daddy?"
"Daddy? Ansem is this girl's father?" Sora asked.
"It seemes so." Mickey replied. "What do you want, Ansem, just say."
"It is time to these worlds to merge... and the consequences won't be pleasant." Ansem started saying. "It is time for the Keys to become one. Only one. An all-binding Key. And it shall be held by me, the only ruler. The only who stood up and moved people."
"Pardon me." the girl interrupted. "You literally 'moved' people. The people you're saying were forced to bow to you. Or you think I don't know!"
"What do you know, tell us!" Sora said.
The girl looked at Sora and a tear formed in her left eye.
"Sora..." she said... her voice was changing.
"Sora! Help me!" her voice got completely different. Her shape was changing too.
Ansem quickly stole the two-bladed Key of her back and stabbed her, and a mix of black and white began to shine inside her. She fell down to her knees and then, not resisting, fell down. Dead.
"Sora... help... me..." she finished changing. She was Kairi.
Sora stared at the girl for some seconds. It was Kairi. It's been Kairi all along.
"She closed her heart to darkness." Mickey said, sadly. "Her shape changed."
The floor suddenly trembled, then.
"Now, we finally can merge all dimensions!" Ansem said, scarily happy. "We got an unstable number of Keyblade masters!" he swung the double-sided Keyblade.
"She... was your daughter?" Maran said.
"Indeed she was. I wouldn't have her in the middle of all this but I had no choice. She knew too much to stay there, outside."
"But she lived with us, not with you!" Sora yelled, mad at Ansem.
"I sent her over to your island so then I could have some peace. I thought she'd lose her memory or something. She really did, but not completely."
"I remember she never mentioned her home..." Sora said, remembering the days he spent with Kairi.
"She could be just one of the princesses of heart. But, no. She ruined my plans once! And then... twice!"
...
"First she stole the double-sided Key, what made her a Keyblade master. Then she, after I sent her to your stupid island, helped you. I've always felt safe because you would never figure out the power of a Keyblade."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because you lived only in the shadow of our fellow Riku!" Ansem said, pointing at the body he was controlling. "He was the one who was supposed to get the Key, and with an sucsetible body like his, I could easily take over him, like I'm doing now!" Ansem was saying, swinging his, or Riku's, arms around. "I took advantage on luck, just that."
"...And now we got one Keyblade master missing, so this will cause an combination..." Pete was summing up.
"I also took advantage on the fact of my petit didn't know about merging. Or the conditions to it."
"That's interesting... very... very interesting. But don't forget we're still four." Sora said, bravely.
"Uh, yeah, that's right. This... fusion thing won't happen to your glory, it won't!" Maran said, taking courage of nowhere.
"It's all futile you morons. You all will be sucked by the fusion! And once the world is one again, I'll be the only ruler around. No Keys, no Kingdom Hearts!"
"...Kingdom Hearts..." Sora said to himself. "...It's... where all hearts are born... and also where... darkness... and... light..." Sora was summing up too.
"Kid..." Pete said to Maran. "I think I know what to do."
"What, tell me!" Maran said in low voice to Pete.
...
Sora places his hand on his Keyblade.
"What are you gonna do?" MIckey asked him, in low voice.
"I... I don't know, but I'll do something."
"Wait..." Mickey put his hand in Sora's way. "Take this."
Mickey gave Sora a papou fruit. But it seemed like a keychain. Sora understood, then, it was Oathkeeper's keychain, the one Kairi gave him in the past year.
"Where did you find it?"
"It was with... her..."
"..."
"She also had the Oblivion, but I believe you won't need darkness in your heart, now."
"Yes."
"So, good luck."
...
"So what are you two babbling there? Well, it doesn't matter. Now focus on what I do..." Ansem raised his, or Riku's, hands. "The power..." light began to surround him, "Whaa--"
"What's that?" Maran asked, scared.
Pete lowered his eyes. "Light. Humph. It always shows up if it exists."
"You don't understand! I don't fear light anymore because now I control it!" Ansem swung his hands around the light which was surrounding him.
"That's not quite it..." Sora said.
"What, you moron?" Ansem was getting visibly nervous.
"You're not in control of light. Neither darkness. This division you created... gave these two sides autonomy." Sora was saying, and Ansem was getting even more scared. "Swing your hand around light more. Look at it."
Ansem looked at his hands and they were all like melting or something.
"What the hell!!" Ansem said. "How can you stupid..." he stopped, then.
...
"It must be the Key..." Ansem said to himself. "GIVE ME THE KEY!"
"Come get it!" Sora said, engaging battle position.
"I don't have time for this, you moron, I'm... mel...ting"
"So the great ruler is melting? Run for the fort, huh?" Maran let out a joke. Pete and Sora laughed.
"That's not funny you dumbasses!" although Ansem was in Rikku's body, if this body died, so would Ansem. And Riku... well, would be walking around non-existance.
Hmmm... non-existance...
"I know. I still... got a card on my hands..." Ansem said, stepping away. "Behold... The Nullside!"
"The... what?" Sora asked.
The cracked down Destiny Islands began to tremble. Everything seemed to be falling apart, then. When it stopped, there was a huge creature in front of them.
"Behold the Nullside. The best of none dimension!" Ansem was strangely laughing.
The creature, however, began to shorten, making Ansem even more nervous. The creature assumed a human form, then. It was... Rina!
"RINA??" Maran yelled, recognizing his friend.
"What the hell?" Ansem said, perplexed.
Rina was uncouncious. She fell on the floor and stood there. Maran tried to reach her to help her but Ansem didn't let him go, he contained him with a thrown spark.
Ansem approached Rina.
"You... you mustn't... be..."
...
A white haze surrounded Rina, then.
"RINA!" Maran was trying to get up but he couldn't. Pete couldn't get near, too, Ansem created some kind of barrier.
"What... what does it mean...?" Mickey seemed to be asking himself. "Why her...?"
"Mickey, who's that girl?" Sora asked.
"I don't know Sora. Not yet."
"Wake up!" Ansem demanded. She didn't answer.
"She'll only reply to me, you meanie!" Maran said, bravely.
Ansem turned to face Maran.
"Is that so? Ok, then, you big show-off, wake her up. But do only that." Ansem stepped back and let Maran approach.
Maran came closer to her and kneeled. He placed his right hand on her cheek. It was warm.
"Rina... what happened to you?" Maran asked her, in low voice.
She wasn't moving.
"I know!", "I understand, now!" both Mickey and Pete said, at the same instant.
"What? What do you stupid big-eared morons know?" Ansem turned, desperated, trying to get an answer.
"She's part of the in-between." Mickey said.
"Yes. Her other part died, so she's dying too." Pete completed.
"She's... dying?" Maran couldn't believe. "Why? Why her?"
"Hmmm..." Ansem looked up.
Ansem, in other words, Riku began to tremble a lot and fell on the floor. A dark haze came out of him, then. He got up afterwards, it seemed that he had just waken up from a very long sleep.
"...Sora? Mickey? What the hell?" it was Riku, Ansem was no longer in his body.
Sora ran to hug his recovered friend.
"Riku! I'm glad you're back! Ansem took over your body... again!" Sora said.
"I can't believe this! Why?"
"Your heart... is too susceptible to darkness, it seems." Pete said.
"Wrong..." Mickey said. "This division doesn't apply to Ansem. We are light and you two are darkness. Ansem has no side, neither the girls do."
"But where did Ansem go, anyway?" Pete asked.
"Don't know. Why did he leave the Riku's body?" Mickey replied with another question.
"People!" Maran called for attention. "Rina's pretty bad in here!"
Everyone came closer to her.
"What can we do? We can't get out!" Sora said.
After that, it seems that they begin to see someone else's memories...
...
...
A candle is lit.
"Father..." a female voice says.
"Yes, darling?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm doing some experiments, you better not touch anything."
"I see. You're so smart, daddy."
"Heh, I only do what I can, sweetheart. Now, go back to the garden, daddy is prety busy here."
"Ok..."
...
...
Experiments...
"What the hell, I'm tired of this. The only way of fusing these two elements... is finding their in-between..."
"Daddy..."
"...what are you doing here? I told you to leave!"
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Forget about it! Come here."
The girl approaches...
"Look trough this mirror... do you like what you see?"
"Yes, daddy. It's a very pretty island."
"Would you like to go there?"
"Um, yes, but... um... what about that place...?" she pointed to a picture of a town near the mirror. Shortly the image of the town was on the mirror.
"You prefer the town, sweetie?"
"I don't know. Can't I choose both?"
"Both... both... ...yes! Yes, you can! It will be even better! Hah hah hah! BOTH! CHOOSE BOTH! YES!"
"Daddy?"
"Come here, I'll show you the way."
...
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH---" the girl's scream. She's divided in the half and shortly both parts assume normal human parts.
A spark follows, then, and both girls, yes, both girls leave.
After that...
"You're proud of what you did?"
"Who the--"
The man is hit.
"Who the hell... are you..."
"I'm..."
She was wearing a cloak, different from Hirosh and the others'. This cloak seemed a bit ripped and cut, it had no hood and seemed thicker. In her back, there was a Keyblade. A different Keyblade, though. While the ones seen up to now had only one "blade", this one had two, one in the opposite direction to the other. It could be used as a two-bladed sword.
Riku was, then, getting worried. Who would that girl be? The weapon she was carrying seemed dangerous. He'd already wielded a Keyblade and knew how powerful they can be. And a two-sided one would be twice as powerful.
"Welcome." the girl said.
"Wh-who are you?"
"You afraid?"
"..."
"There's nothing to fear. It's not you who the problem is. It's Ansem."
"Ansem? What did he do, now?"
"Ansem and his men unsealed the passage among the three dimensions."
"Three dimensions...?"
"Long ago... this man divided us... the three of us... We lived in only one world."
...
"Disagreements began... like in any other society. Then, people started using weapons, each time, stronger weapons were used. Then our ruler decided to divide us. First, the light. Then, darkness."
...
"However, there was a hidden space between these created dimensions. The in-between. The ruler didn't care about it. To sucessfully seal these dimensions he put big strong guardians on the gates and two keys at each dimension. Except for the in-between, where all got confused... my Key..." she pointed at the Keyblade in her back. "My Key was made like this."
"I... I see... but I don't..."
"Since you're here, help me. Help me opening all the two gates." she got nearer to him "Please."
"I... don't know. I don't know you, what if you do something bad? Huh?"
The girl turned back.
"Weren't you the one who said that wasn't afraid of darkness?"
Foooooshh!
Maran woke up.
"Hey, kid! This is the one!" the manager said.
"Y-you sure?" Maran said, waking up.
"Yes. Let's go." a voic said, behind him.
Maran turned quicky and saw how said that.
"Rina!" Maran got surprised.
"Maran, don't start. I'm going with you, no matter what, ok? Just get over it, come on." she said.
"Ok, Rina, I won't tell you to not go with me. Just... know that I'm not forcing you or something."
"No, I know you're not forcing me. I am forcing myself, heh heh, that's what. Come on, this is the train to Astral Canyon. The manager told me everything while you slept."
Maran approached the train station manager.
"Thanks. I wouldn't do any of this without you. If I could, I'd give you a tip but I don't have money not even for me."
"Don't worry, sonny. Just go and follow your destiny." the man said.
Already on board, Maran and Rina waved at the good manager who was then sitting on the bench. The train started to move and left the station. Some minutes later, left Twilight Town.
Rina was sitting in front of Maran. Now she was the one who was sleeping. Maran kept looking at ther calm, worryless face, thinking. What would he do when he found the cloaked guy? He didn't know if threatning him would give some answers out. Rina opened her left eye.
"What are you looking, Maran?"
"Nothing. I'm just... thinking..." he said, fastly.
"About...?"
"This... guy we're chasing. I don't know what we'll do when we finally reach him."
"Something tells me that the thing to do will be pretty obvious when we spot him."
The train finally arrived at the almost-ruined station at Astral Canyon. An old man showed them the way and filed their arrival.
Astral Canyon was formed of three areas. Two were the cliffs and the third was the bottom of the Canyon, almost unreachable without proper vehicle, as a paper in the train said. Maran and Rina walked around the cliff side the station.
"Look!" Rina pointed. There was a black dot at the bottom of the Canyon.
Maran squeezed his eyes, trying to focus on who was that person. His hopes were real. It was the cloaked guy. He was in the bottom of the Canyon.
"We need to get down there!" Maran said.
"How?" Rina asked him.
"I don't know..." Maran looked at a near depression on the field. "Maybe we can... slide?"
"What?"
"Look..." he pointed at the depression. It had a good form for sliding.
"You're crazy, right?"
"Well, I will go and you wait here, ok? But don't leave this spot." Maran approached the depression and then sat on the floor. "Uh.. Rina..."
"Yes?"
"Push me."
She did push him but she slided down along with him. The Canyon was pretty high and they haven't really realized this until they were there, sliding... screaming and trying to stop.
When they finally reached the base of the cliff, the bottom of Astral Canyon, Maran looked up.
"Heh, well, there's no turning back now."
He helped the troubled Rina with all the sand that was in her and then they began looking for the cloaked guy. He was spotted after a few seconds of search. Maran and Rina runned to meet him, he was starngely standing still.
"YOU!" Maran said, when finally got near him.
He turned. He was totally identical to Mickey, but Maran couldn't know it.
"I'm glad you came so quickly. I thought you'd take longer. Come on."
"Huh?"
The cloaked guy moved a rock and behind it a gate could be found. A gate...
"Raise your Key." he said.
Maran did so and a black ray came out of his Keyblade and the cloaked guy's. The ray entered in the gate's keyhole and it opened. The Canyon stated trembling, then.
"Get ready. It'll appear shortly."
"It...?"
It was huge, it resembled a dragon but had some human parts, that fit a golden armor. It also had a silver sword in hands, a very long and thick one. It was a guardian, surprise!
"Whaaaaaa!" Maran yelled.
"Come on, we can do this!" the cloaked guy said.
Maran tried to follow his 'ally' on the fighting but he wasn't able to. Then he remembered he didn't own a Key, he owned two of them. Maran, then, engaged with the guardian using his two Keyblades.
The guardian fell after a few minutes of slashing. It didn't stand a chance.
"What was that thing?" Rina asked to both of them.
"I don't know..." Maran replied.
"It was the guardian of the gate. The gate... to the in-between..." he looked at the gate. "Come on. Onyl the two of us shall pass the gate."
Maran looked at Rina.
"You stay right here, ok?"
"No, I won't let you go!"
"Come on, Rina, I have to figure this out. I promise I'll come back. You hear, I promise!" they looked at each other for a bit and then separated.
The cloaked guy was the first to pass through the gate. Maran followed him. After Maran passed trough it, the gate disappeared.
"Maran? Nooooooo!" Rina got desperated when saw the gate disappearing.
Everything turned black, then. Maran could only see his cloaked new companion.
"My name, by the way, is Pete. Yours?"
"I-I'm... Maran... but where are we?"
"I think we are already in the in-between. We have to be spotted by the Keyblade master of this place. He's the one who controls things around here."
"'He'?" a female voice asked. Then, Maran and Pete could see themselves back at Twilight Town. But it was all cracked and distorted, just like Destiny Islands before.
"Who are you?" Pete asked.
"I am the one who controls things around here, heh heh heh."
"So it's... a girl...?"
"Yes. Whahahahaha! So naive, you really thought it would be a guy? Well, it could have been a guy if our lord had so decided."
"HEY, YOU! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU??" a voice was calling. A purple-haired kid appeared in the middle of them. It was Riku.
"What did you do with me?" he asked her. "And who are you?" he asked Maran and Pete.
"We're the ones who have questions." Maran said.
"STOP!" the girl yelled, echoing in all directions. "This is a nice meeting, very nice, and I'd really love to talk to Ansem and figure out why did he do this."
"Ansem?" Riku said. "I knew he was behind all this."
"You do realize he's been behind all this since the division itself happened." Pete said.
"Ansem... was the ruler of your story?" Riku asked the girl.
"Oh, yes. He was the ruler who divided the worlds... and also... my father..." she said, surprising everyone.
Meanwhile...
"HAAACK!" Sora screamed while doing his finishing slash at the guardian. It was a tough fight, he was very hurt.
The guardian exploded and millions of sparks fell from the air. Sora fell from the air too, bleeding. Leon tried to treat his injuries and Donald was getting some healing items.
"Look!" Goofy said, pointing at the sky. Everyone looked, then.
There was a gate. A floating gate!
"Clever. Indeed, veeeery clever..." a voice said behind them. It was the Cheshire Cat.
"You... I remember you..." Sora said, trying to get up. "You're from Wonderland, right?"
"My hometown, indeed, Wonderland is. But special attention you King did ask me. Spotted you people and communicated the King. Now he's waiting for you. Up there." the cat pointed at the gate.
"What's that? A floating gate?" Donald asked.
"The gate... to the intermediate dimension, oh, so poetic land. It was once so mysterious, now it's a despair land. Pure dispair, not only that tasty feel of mysteriousness."
"Blah, blah, blah, so you're sayin' we must go up there?"
"A correction I must add. Only the poetic spiked hair must go. The others won't be able to pass trough the gates of dispair whereas they aren't Keyblade masters. Now go, puppet of destiny. Fly to your fate." the cat said, while his eyes, body and legs were gradually disappearing.
"Wait, what's in there?" Sora asked but the cat was no longer there.
"What to do now, Sora?" Leon asked.
"Riku, what shall I do?" Sora asked.
...
"Riku?" Sora noticed he wasn't there.
"Where the hell is that kiddo? I was keepin' an eye on him!" Cid said.
"RIKUUU!!" Sora called. "WHERE ARE YOUUUU?"
"Sora..." Donald said.
"Yes, Donald?"
"Go to the gate and meet up with the King. We'll look out for Riku, ok?"
"...Uh, you sure, guys?" Sora really didn't want to go alone.
"Good idea, stupid duck. Come on, folks!"
Leon approached Sora.
"You know how to reach that thing? It's high."
"I... yes, I do..." Sora said.
Sora closed his eyes and focused on what his good friend Peter Pan once said. Believe... believe... believe...
"Believe... believe..." Sora was saying.
"Sora!" Goofy said, he seemed in pretty lower level.
Sora opened his eyes and he was floating, like before, near the gate.
"You did it!" Goofy and the others comemorated.
"Now get out alive of this place, ok?" Cid said.
Sora felt cold while touching the doorknob.
"Sora."
"Huh? Who's there?" Sora realized the voice was coming from inside the gate.
"Use your Key, and I'll use mine. We'll open this up."
"Oh, ok!" Sora, then, raised his Keyblade. A white ray came out of it and reached the gate's keyhole. The gate opened.
"Mickey!" Sora hugged the friend. "We were all so worried."
"I know, I know. Come on, we got some important business to deal with, now."
"We're going inside?"
"Yes. Come..."
Sora entered the gate. It suddenly closed down and disappeared.
...
...
"Ansem is your father?" Riku asked the girl.
"Oh, yes. I would love to be proud of it, though, but he did nothing but foolishness. All this..." she waved her hands around "...could have been skipped if he had used his strenght."
"But he was still a good man. We would never use his strenght!" Mickey said, reaching the group along with Sora.
"Riku!" Sora and Riku then hug. "Where are we? Who are these?" he pointed at Maran and Pete.
"I don't like this. I don't know what is going on either." Maran was getting mad, though nervous.
A big white spark happened. Everybody was still there.
"What happened, what was that?" Mickey asked the girl.
"Finally..." Riku said, his voice sounded weird. "I thought I would never be able to possess this body again." it was Ansem in Riku's body.
"It's Ansem!" Sora said.
"Hah hah hah, how pathetic..." the girl giggled.
"Look who's talking." Ansem said.
The girl stood across the possessed Riku and placed her hand in his shoulder.
"What do you mean, daddy?"
"Daddy? Ansem is this girl's father?" Sora asked.
"It seemes so." Mickey replied. "What do you want, Ansem, just say."
"It is time to these worlds to merge... and the consequences won't be pleasant." Ansem started saying. "It is time for the Keys to become one. Only one. An all-binding Key. And it shall be held by me, the only ruler. The only who stood up and moved people."
"Pardon me." the girl interrupted. "You literally 'moved' people. The people you're saying were forced to bow to you. Or you think I don't know!"
"What do you know, tell us!" Sora said.
The girl looked at Sora and a tear formed in her left eye.
"Sora..." she said... her voice was changing.
"Sora! Help me!" her voice got completely different. Her shape was changing too.
Ansem quickly stole the two-bladed Key of her back and stabbed her, and a mix of black and white began to shine inside her. She fell down to her knees and then, not resisting, fell down. Dead.
"Sora... help... me..." she finished changing. She was Kairi.
Sora stared at the girl for some seconds. It was Kairi. It's been Kairi all along.
"She closed her heart to darkness." Mickey said, sadly. "Her shape changed."
The floor suddenly trembled, then.
"Now, we finally can merge all dimensions!" Ansem said, scarily happy. "We got an unstable number of Keyblade masters!" he swung the double-sided Keyblade.
"She... was your daughter?" Maran said.
"Indeed she was. I wouldn't have her in the middle of all this but I had no choice. She knew too much to stay there, outside."
"But she lived with us, not with you!" Sora yelled, mad at Ansem.
"I sent her over to your island so then I could have some peace. I thought she'd lose her memory or something. She really did, but not completely."
"I remember she never mentioned her home..." Sora said, remembering the days he spent with Kairi.
"She could be just one of the princesses of heart. But, no. She ruined my plans once! And then... twice!"
...
"First she stole the double-sided Key, what made her a Keyblade master. Then she, after I sent her to your stupid island, helped you. I've always felt safe because you would never figure out the power of a Keyblade."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because you lived only in the shadow of our fellow Riku!" Ansem said, pointing at the body he was controlling. "He was the one who was supposed to get the Key, and with an sucsetible body like his, I could easily take over him, like I'm doing now!" Ansem was saying, swinging his, or Riku's, arms around. "I took advantage on luck, just that."
"...And now we got one Keyblade master missing, so this will cause an combination..." Pete was summing up.
"I also took advantage on the fact of my petit didn't know about merging. Or the conditions to it."
"That's interesting... very... very interesting. But don't forget we're still four." Sora said, bravely.
"Uh, yeah, that's right. This... fusion thing won't happen to your glory, it won't!" Maran said, taking courage of nowhere.
"It's all futile you morons. You all will be sucked by the fusion! And once the world is one again, I'll be the only ruler around. No Keys, no Kingdom Hearts!"
"...Kingdom Hearts..." Sora said to himself. "...It's... where all hearts are born... and also where... darkness... and... light..." Sora was summing up too.
"Kid..." Pete said to Maran. "I think I know what to do."
"What, tell me!" Maran said in low voice to Pete.
...
Sora places his hand on his Keyblade.
"What are you gonna do?" MIckey asked him, in low voice.
"I... I don't know, but I'll do something."
"Wait..." Mickey put his hand in Sora's way. "Take this."
Mickey gave Sora a papou fruit. But it seemed like a keychain. Sora understood, then, it was Oathkeeper's keychain, the one Kairi gave him in the past year.
"Where did you find it?"
"It was with... her..."
"..."
"She also had the Oblivion, but I believe you won't need darkness in your heart, now."
"Yes."
"So, good luck."
...
"So what are you two babbling there? Well, it doesn't matter. Now focus on what I do..." Ansem raised his, or Riku's, hands. "The power..." light began to surround him, "Whaa--"
"What's that?" Maran asked, scared.
Pete lowered his eyes. "Light. Humph. It always shows up if it exists."
"You don't understand! I don't fear light anymore because now I control it!" Ansem swung his hands around the light which was surrounding him.
"That's not quite it..." Sora said.
"What, you moron?" Ansem was getting visibly nervous.
"You're not in control of light. Neither darkness. This division you created... gave these two sides autonomy." Sora was saying, and Ansem was getting even more scared. "Swing your hand around light more. Look at it."
Ansem looked at his hands and they were all like melting or something.
"What the hell!!" Ansem said. "How can you stupid..." he stopped, then.
...
"It must be the Key..." Ansem said to himself. "GIVE ME THE KEY!"
"Come get it!" Sora said, engaging battle position.
"I don't have time for this, you moron, I'm... mel...ting"
"So the great ruler is melting? Run for the fort, huh?" Maran let out a joke. Pete and Sora laughed.
"That's not funny you dumbasses!" although Ansem was in Rikku's body, if this body died, so would Ansem. And Riku... well, would be walking around non-existance.
Hmmm... non-existance...
"I know. I still... got a card on my hands..." Ansem said, stepping away. "Behold... The Nullside!"
"The... what?" Sora asked.
The cracked down Destiny Islands began to tremble. Everything seemed to be falling apart, then. When it stopped, there was a huge creature in front of them.
"Behold the Nullside. The best of none dimension!" Ansem was strangely laughing.
The creature, however, began to shorten, making Ansem even more nervous. The creature assumed a human form, then. It was... Rina!
"RINA??" Maran yelled, recognizing his friend.
"What the hell?" Ansem said, perplexed.
Rina was uncouncious. She fell on the floor and stood there. Maran tried to reach her to help her but Ansem didn't let him go, he contained him with a thrown spark.
Ansem approached Rina.
"You... you mustn't... be..."
...
A white haze surrounded Rina, then.
"RINA!" Maran was trying to get up but he couldn't. Pete couldn't get near, too, Ansem created some kind of barrier.
"What... what does it mean...?" Mickey seemed to be asking himself. "Why her...?"
"Mickey, who's that girl?" Sora asked.
"I don't know Sora. Not yet."
"Wake up!" Ansem demanded. She didn't answer.
"She'll only reply to me, you meanie!" Maran said, bravely.
Ansem turned to face Maran.
"Is that so? Ok, then, you big show-off, wake her up. But do only that." Ansem stepped back and let Maran approach.
Maran came closer to her and kneeled. He placed his right hand on her cheek. It was warm.
"Rina... what happened to you?" Maran asked her, in low voice.
She wasn't moving.
"I know!", "I understand, now!" both Mickey and Pete said, at the same instant.
"What? What do you stupid big-eared morons know?" Ansem turned, desperated, trying to get an answer.
"She's part of the in-between." Mickey said.
"Yes. Her other part died, so she's dying too." Pete completed.
"She's... dying?" Maran couldn't believe. "Why? Why her?"
"Hmmm..." Ansem looked up.
Ansem, in other words, Riku began to tremble a lot and fell on the floor. A dark haze came out of him, then. He got up afterwards, it seemed that he had just waken up from a very long sleep.
"...Sora? Mickey? What the hell?" it was Riku, Ansem was no longer in his body.
Sora ran to hug his recovered friend.
"Riku! I'm glad you're back! Ansem took over your body... again!" Sora said.
"I can't believe this! Why?"
"Your heart... is too susceptible to darkness, it seems." Pete said.
"Wrong..." Mickey said. "This division doesn't apply to Ansem. We are light and you two are darkness. Ansem has no side, neither the girls do."
"But where did Ansem go, anyway?" Pete asked.
"Don't know. Why did he leave the Riku's body?" Mickey replied with another question.
"People!" Maran called for attention. "Rina's pretty bad in here!"
Everyone came closer to her.
"What can we do? We can't get out!" Sora said.
After that, it seems that they begin to see someone else's memories...
...
...
A candle is lit.
"Father..." a female voice says.
"Yes, darling?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm doing some experiments, you better not touch anything."
"I see. You're so smart, daddy."
"Heh, I only do what I can, sweetheart. Now, go back to the garden, daddy is prety busy here."
"Ok..."
...
...
Experiments...
"What the hell, I'm tired of this. The only way of fusing these two elements... is finding their in-between..."
"Daddy..."
"...what are you doing here? I told you to leave!"
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Forget about it! Come here."
The girl approaches...
"Look trough this mirror... do you like what you see?"
"Yes, daddy. It's a very pretty island."
"Would you like to go there?"
"Um, yes, but... um... what about that place...?" she pointed to a picture of a town near the mirror. Shortly the image of the town was on the mirror.
"You prefer the town, sweetie?"
"I don't know. Can't I choose both?"
"Both... both... ...yes! Yes, you can! It will be even better! Hah hah hah! BOTH! CHOOSE BOTH! YES!"
"Daddy?"
"Come here, I'll show you the way."
...
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH---" the girl's scream. She's divided in the half and shortly both parts assume normal human parts.
A spark follows, then, and both girls, yes, both girls leave.
After that...
"You're proud of what you did?"
"Who the--"
The man is hit.
"Who the hell... are you..."
"I'm..."