Pete came in, walking normally and sat on the voluptous chair that rested in the center of the room. A huge spark stormed and he fell on the floor.
"Ansem must have left him." Mickey said, rushing to check on Pete.
"Pete? Pete!" Maran was calling.
They all got relieved when he opened his eyes.
"HA!" he said, stabbing Capitulyn with his Keyblade.
"Capitulyn!" the others yelled.
A black and white matter was coming out of her and fusing with the Keyblade. When it seemed to be full, Pete threw it away.
"I came to the point where I don't need any of this rubbish. Behold... the MERGING!" he said, raising his arms.
The castle began trembling again, but this time, thousand times harder. It seemed that the merging had indeed started.
"Sora... Maran... listen to me..." Capitulyn's voice echoed on Sora and Maran's minds. "Here are your Keys..." their Keyblades, then, came floating from the sky and crashed the window, landing on their owners' hands. "Use them... you know how... just like you did with the swords..." then, the voice faded, along with her body.
"Hahahahahahahahah... it'll soon be over!" Pete said.
Sora and Maran, with their Keys in hand, faced him.
"Ansem, get out. Fight like a man." Maran demanded.
"Leave Pete alone. Our business is with you, not with him." Sora completed.
"Do you think I'm stupid? If I came out of this body, I'd be swallowed by the merging, too. Bwhahahahaha! But if I stick with this body, it's it what is going to be swallowed."
"So where are you?" Maran yelled. "Where are you controlling Pete from?"
"Use your head!" Riku said. "He's in the only place that this merging would never affect!"
"Kingdom Hearts..." Sora said...
The trembling continued, in a lower rate, and the windows of the castle began to break.
"But how are we going to get to Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked Mickey.
"Through the way you got last year. Do you remember?" Mickey asked.
"...The End of the World... then... a destroyed Destiny Islands..." Sora was remembering. "So that destroyed Destiny Islands must have been the in-between, where we first met..." he said to Maran.
"We need to find a gate to the in-between! And fast!" Maran concluded.
In a great timing, a big airship crashed into the tower, destroyin the very few parts of it that remained. It was the Highwind.
"Hey, ya bunch o' smartasses, what the hell is going on?" Cid yelled.
"Come on!" Mickey said, jumping into the airship, then the others did the same.
On the cockpit, Sora explained everything to the group.
"I'd have concluded the very same thing." Donald said. "Although the gate disappeared when you entered."
"We must check it out. Come on!" Sora said. "MOVE!"
The airship moved away from the castle, in direction to the space, trying to avoid the merging turbulences.
"We don't have much time. Can this be fastened?" Maran asked Cid.
"Ya shut the hell up! I'm doin' my best..." Cid said, nervously piloting the airship, trying to not be hit by the world pieces which were floating in space.
"If I hadn't told Pete to stay taking care of Rina... he'd be okay, now, with us..." Maran said, sad.
"Well, if he was okay, Ansem would possess any other of us, maybe him, too. We can't blame ourselves for stuff that have no importance. Come on, focus." Sora said.
"I know... thanks..." Maran said, looking throughout the window, expecting to see something.
"There! There is that funky world we were at!" Cid said, preparing the arship to take off.
Then, the airship trembled, but it didn't have anything to do with the merging. It seemed that some kind of pressure was holding the airship away from the world.
"What the hell is goin' on?!" Cid yelled, smashing the lading lever. "What he hell????"
After forcing the entrace, the arship finally made its way into the world's atmostphere.
"This world must have some kind of barrier... it must be important, hold something important..." Maran said.
"Well, it holds the game to Kingdom Hearts." Sora said. "Maybe that's why our gummi ship couldn't land and we had to jump."
"I'm landing it but you guys better jump and rush for th'gate, okay?" Cid said.
"All right!" Sora and Maran said, rushing to the deck. So did Mickey and Riku.
Once on land, Sora approached Riku.
"Sorry, Riku, but I don't think you'll be able to get in."
"Oh... I see. Don't worry. I'll cover things up here. Just... don't... get hurt..." he said, pausing.
"Don't worry, pal." Sora said, hugging his friend.
"Look! It's there!" Mickey pointed at the floating door. "It must be there beacuse we had already left the in-between. Sora, how did you fly like that previously?"
"Huh? Oh, I remembered something I learned with a friend of mine... Peter Pan... when you want something, you have to believe... believe there's a way... a way to accomplish that."
"That's deep. So let's all believe we can... fly..." Maran said.
Then, the three began floating in direction of the door. Riku was watching them from afar.
"Sora... be... careful..." he said, trying to hold on a tree to not fall because of the trembling.
They came in.
...
...
"Sora?" a familiar voice was calling in his head.
"Sora?"...
"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here." it was Kairi who was speaking.
"Kairi?" Sora called. "Kairi, are you here?" it was all dark, nothing could be seen.
"No! This huge black thing swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't-!" it was Sora's voice but it wasn't him who was speaking.
"Are you still dreaming?" Kairi's voice said, again.
Sora, then, remembered this was what happened after he woke up from a very weird dream, where he fought a Darkside and everything.
"Maran!" it was Rina's voice, this time.
"Rina!" he tried to call her, but it was as futile as Sora's calls.
"What took you so long? I was almost leaving." Rina's voice was echoing.
"Sorry, but I..." it was Maran's voice, but it wasn't him who was speaking.
"You... what?" it was Rina again.
"Nothing. Here are the prisms..." Maran's voice echoed. Then, it faded.
"What's going on?" Maran asked Sora, although he couldn't see him.
"You must be reviewing your memories... the in-between is a unplanned environment, so don't expect common things to happen here." Mickey said.
Then a little light lit. The three could see each other, then.
"What are you doing here?" another familiar voice asked. It was Ansem.
"Ansem, we're here to stop you. We know you're being controlled by those cloaked guys. You have no fault of all this." Maran said.
"Yeah. So if you're attacking, so will we. But we won't be killing you." Sora said.
"I'm glad you understood that." Mickey said.
"Hahahahahahahah! How could I, the great ruler Ansem, be controlled by a bunch of..." then, three cloaked guys appeared in front of Sora, Maran and Mickey. "...What?"
"We came..." one of the cloaked guys must have said, the voice wasn't listened, was felt. "...To stop you."
"You're talking with us? You better leave Ansem alone, he's got too much power to be possessed." Sora said.
"Let it be." another must have said.
"Sora... Maran... get your Keys." Mickey said, getting his Keyblade was well.
Maran, Sora and Mickey ran towards the three cloaked figures, which dodged the attacks and began to charge the known black and white balls of energy.
Sora remembered, then, what Capitulyn said when she returned them the Keyblades. She said to use them like they did with the swords.
"Maran! Let's go the uniting we made when we defeated the Unknown!" Sora said.
"Yeah! Ok!" Maran and Sora joined their Keys and concentrated their energies on them, and the white and black energy began to shine.
"Yes." Mickey said.
He raised his Keyblade and all the energy came to it. He swang the Keyblade and threw the energy against the cloaked guys, who quickly faded and turned into nothing but cloaks.
"Hahahahahah, thanks!" Ansem's voice again. "I could, myself, take care of these morons, but thanks."
"What? Why is Ansem still like this?" Sora asked Mickey.
"Hmmm... I have no idea..." he said. "Sorry but I can't think of why."
"Maran?" Sora asked.
"Well, we were four, right? But we are three here, now. We fought three cloaked guys." he began.
"There must be one... Pete's equivalent... and may be the one who's controlling Ansem." Mickey completed.
"Great! So if we defeat this guy we'll get Ansem and Pete! Come on, let's look for this guy." Sora said.
The scenery began to take form...
Everything was "cracked", like Destiny Islands previously were, but it was a different place.
"That's... my... castle..." Mickey said. "It's Disney Castle!"
Sora, then, recognized the place.
"Why did we end up here?" Maran asked.
"Ansem's insane, did you forget?"
The floor trembled really hard and a cloaked figure appeared at the entrace of the castle.
"Adventure your way in finding me, clueless morons!!" it was the last cloaked guy, "Ansem's still on our side."
"'Our' side? You're the only one remaining!" Maran said.
"Have you ever wondered how did we spread like this? We were previously just shells. Ansem bred us. We can raise thousands more of us. They're being raised right on this moment, or you thought all this time Ansem's been sitting on his chair, laughing like a moron? The fighting part remained to me, though."
"Bring it on! We're getting tired of this but we could take you out!" Maran said. "It's you and me, I'm defending my friend Pete!"
"That's so lovely." he jumped and landed in front of Maran. "So be it."
As Unknown, he began charging a dark wave, whilst dodging Maran's attacks.
"Maran! The double Keyblade thing!" Sora advised.
"Uh-huh!" Maran tried to separated both keys. "What?" but he wasn't able to.
"It's useless. He only has Oblivion, while you, Sora, carries the Oathkeeper. Me and Pete shall carry our kingdom's Key."
Maran didn't have time to focus on what Mickey was saying, the cloaked guy quickly charged his dark wave and threw it against Maran.
"NO!" Sora got desperated and began throing fireballs from his Keyblade.
But Maran wasn't hurt.
"What?" Sora suspected why Maran wasn't hurt.
"He's darkness. Did you forget?" Mickey said to Sora. "It seems that our enemy had."
"How did you...?" the cloaked man began. "You're a smartass, that's what you are. Don't forget that it won't be a victory for you if you win. There are thousands of us being created right now... in there..." he sinisterly pointed at the cracked Disney Castle.
"I'm coming in." Mickey said.
"I'll come with you!" Sora completed.
"You're not trepassing this door. Not with me in here. You think I'm stupid?" he said.
"I'll finish you off first." Maran said, full of courage.
Maran began running towards the cloaked guy. He didn't prepare to dodge. He stopped the Keyblade with his left hand and holded it with the right one.
"These... are just toys..." he stole the Keyblade from Maran. "...As foolish as you!".
A big wave, now black and white, was thrown against Maran, Sora and Mickey.
"Aaahhhhh!!!" that was hurting, then.
...
Then, someone came flashing from above, followed by a dark wave of energy.
"Pete!" Maran recognized. "Are you... alright?"
"Yes, Maran... I'm finally free. Come on. Let's show this bastard how we deal with the likes of these." he, followed by Maran, began an intense fight against the lone enemy.
Mickey came near Sora.
"I don't understand, why would Ansem leave Pete's body?" he asked.
"Surely he's plotting a bigger plan. Let's get in, now, Mickey. The guy is distracted."
"Ok, let's go."
Maran and Pete saw Mickey and Sora entering the castle, as the door closed and almost broke down.
Meanwhile, at the Highwind...
"Hey, what the &#(# is that??" Cid screamed.
He'd spotted Hirosh messing around inside the command room.
"That's Hirosh. I believe you remember him with his red hair, threatning look. He battled Sora once." Riku explained. "You were with him."
Cid approached the little Hirosh. He couldn't believe it.
"That's not that guy! That guy was... the only guy that ever made me chill!"
"That's his heartless-human form, I believe. Just leave him be. The only one that seemed to understand him was that girl... Capi-something..."
"Capitulyn..." the little Hirosh said, with his funny voice.
"Yeah, that's right." Cid said. "That little freak does understand us. Uh, I gotta watch my mouth..."
"Baa..." Hirosh said, approaching Cid, pointing at him.
"Hey, get away from me!" Cid ran away.
Riku stopped Hirosh's movement with his feet on Hirosh's head.
"Pay attention." he said. "I know you're not as useless as you look. You're with Ansem, aren't you? You passing information, aren't you?"
Hirosh's little eyes barely focused Riku's head.
"Whoo..." he said, returning to the command room chair. That seemed to be infinitely fun.
Riku decided to leave the room, but before that he took a last look at Hirosh.
"I'm keeping my two eyes on you, little freak. I KNOW you're not just a... whatever you look like." he said, closing the door.
"Baa..." Hirosh said, as a conclusion.
Inside the cracked Disney Castle, everything was a huge mess. Mickey couldn't believe in his eyes.
"All the beauty this place had... was easily destroyed..." he was saying while walking.
"It's hard to make but easy to destroy." Sora said. "Let's look for the Queen!"
They rushed to the main corridor of the castle, which gave access to all rooms and stairs.
"Cough... cough... hey, who's there...?" a tiny voice was saying.
"Jimmy! Jimmy Cricket, are you alright?" Sora put him in his hand.
"Alright, yes, I may be. But I don't know about the others. Something really odd happened!" he said. "A man came in, a very creepy man. He was wanting the..."
"...And did he get it?" Mickey quickly asked.
"Get what?" Sora asked.
"It's not the right time for you to know, Sora... sorry..." Mickey said.
"Yes, he did. I believe he's still here. There are some really odd noises... I see weird shadows... I'm glad I made it till here... I was at the gummi ship dock, you know."
"Ok, let's look for everybody." Sora said. "Where to?"
"The throne room..." Mickey said.
The way to the throne room was as creepy as it has been till here. The whole castle seemed even more destroyed than Hollow Bastion previously was.
"The door..." Mickey pointed.
The door's shape had changed, it then had the symbol of the heartlesses.
"This is... crazy..." Sora said.
"These non-existants depend on the heartlesses to spread in here. This must be their tribute. C'mon, let get in. You afraid?" Mickey asked.
"No. I have seen a lot until now. I think nothing can scare me anymore."
"Think again!" a voice echoed in the castle. It was Ansem's. "Come inside."
"Ansem!" Sora yelled. "What are you planning?"
The voice seemed to have ceased.
"I'm getting tired of this. When are we going to finally meet him face-to-face?"
"Let's try getting in." Mickey said, trying to move the handler.
No sucess. Mickey, then, remembered there were two special doors in the own door, which Donald and Goofy used. With a touch, Donald's door opened and they got in.
The throne room was unrecognizable. Mickey seemed perplex, though. The throne was no longer there. On its place, it seemed to be a door, also shaped in the heartless symbol.
"You tired of this?" Ansem's voice again. "You think nothing can scare you?"
The wall got destroyed by a huge carriage that entered the room. It was all black with white dots all around it. It had some Halloween-like pumpinks, also in black and white. It opened by itself, and inside were Maran and Pete, asleep.
"I don't think it's scary but it's worrying, isn't it? Or you don't care about them?" the voice asked.
Sora wasn't listening. He and Mickey were already at the carriage, trying to get Maran and Pete out of it.
"Maran! Maran! Pete! Guys..." Sora was calling. "Mickey, what can we do?"
"I don't know. But I feel... I feel that... what we must know will be answered once we get through... that door..." he pointed at the door located at where the throne was.
"What about Maran and Pete?"
"Ok, you stay here, taking care of them. I'll go in." he said leaving Sora.
"Don't... DON'T!" he yelled, making Mickey stop.
A huge scythe fell and almost hit Mickey. A cloaked guy was holding it, he came down and uncovered his head.
He had deep blue eyes and white hair. His face was triangle-like, and had a scary look.
"Time to forget." he said, raising his hands, and a white flash surrounded the place. "Time to... change." he concluded.
Mickey, then, began trembling furiously.
"Mickey!" Sora called.
Mickey turned to him and his eyes were red and scary. He handed his Keyblade.
"You shall be eliminated, now." the man said, as Mickey approached Sora, ready to fight.
"No, Mickey!" Sora was saying, while dodging Mickey's Keyblade's swings.
"Do as I say..." Mickey was saying while fighting. "Don't be afraid... open the door...".
"What?" Sora couldn't focus. "What are you saying? Are you possessed or what?"
"Listen to me." Mickey began charging some kind of attack with his Keyblade. "Walk through the door, Sora..." the attack got charged and was thrown, hitting Sora.
"Come on, Sora!" Maran said. He had recovered.
"Maran! You all right?"
"I think we are. I just woke up." Pete said.
Mickey, then, furiously began running against them, with his Keyblade in hands, charging another attack.
"Your arm!" Maran pointed at Sora's hurt arm. "Let me take care of it..." but Maran couldn't do anything, Mickey threw his next attack on him, throwing him against the window.
"What is wrong with him?" Pete asked.
"I... I don't know... he keeps saying... I should open the door... I don't understand..." Sora said, in pain.
"Do it. You should. Maran also should. Maran!" Pete ran to help Maran.
Sora got up and dodged another attack of Mickey's.
"Walk... through the door... listen to me, Sora. You remember? The platform! The dream! The darkside!" Mickey said, then Sora remembered about a dream he had, when he first saw a darkside.
"Maran, you ok?" Sora asked.
"Yes. Come on. Pete said he'd handle Mickey."
"That's our job, anyway." he said.
"What? What job?" Sora asked.
"Me and Mickey. We are the sighters. You are the ones who will open the door. Since we're still in the in-between... you both will have to do this, since Capitulyn isn't with us anymore..." Pete said.
"So you and Mickey were here just to show us..." Maran began.
"...The door..." Sora said. "Come on, Maran!"
Pete quickly defended Sora and Maran against Mickey's attacks.
"Quick... there isn't much time..." Mickey said, slowly, while still fighting Pete.
Sora and Maran ran to the other side of the room.
"Where do you think you are going?" the white-haired man asked. "You do belong here but I do not want you here." he said, almost laughing.
Sora and Maran didn't hear. They were already in front of the huge door.
"Cross that. I challange you." the man said.
Sora looked at Maran.
"I remember I dreamed about something like this..." Maran said.
"Me too. But I... I wasn't able to open the door. I wonder..."
"You won't be able to open the door. Capitulyn is dead!" the man said, laughing.
Sora and Maran raised their Keyblades and a dark shining came out of Maran's and a white one from Sora's. The sparkies entered in both keyholes and a unlocking sound was heard.
"I wonder..." the man said. "If I should stop you."
"Just try!" Sora said.
"Don't! We don't have time! Come on, we're so close!" Maran said.
"I won't. I couldn't." the man was acting weird.
"You better." Sora entered, followed by Maran.
Before really entering, Sora gave a last look at Mickey, there, still brainlessly fighting Pete.
"Cross that." the man repeated. "You're in my world now. The... ONLY world...".
When Sora and Maran finally saw some light, they were at a place that couldn't be described. There were some fragments of Disney Castle, others from other worlds they had visited.
"Where... are we?" Sora asked.
"No clue..."
In front of them was Ansem.
"You came..." he said. "Why?"
"To save you." Sora said.
"Um, yeah. They are controlling you." Maran completed.
"Who?" he asked.
From nowhere, the white-haired man appeared.
"Don't try to make him learn anything. This... is his mind. Empty, really. Fragments mean nothing. Where are your thoughts, Ansem?"
"Thoughts..." Ansem repeated.
"Hah hah hah hah hah hah" the man laughed. "I ask you, where are your thoughts?"
"What thoughts?" Ansem asked.
"Stop that. We're taking you down."
"Don't you get it? The merging has concluded, everything is now one. That means... one of you shall fall."
"What?" they both yelled.
"One world. One key... one master for it." he said. "I'd choose Capitulyn but, oh, dear, she's not with us anymore."
Sora and Maran looked at each other in the eyes.
"It does make sense." Sora said. "But I don't want you to die..."
"Oh, no, it doesn't mean dying..." the man said, "By 'falling' I mean the person will find non-existance. Heh, like I once had. Your hope will be... taking advantage on someone just like I did with this moron." he pointed at Ansem, still clueless.
"Ansem!" Sora yelled, then. "Wake up!"
"What?" Maran asked Sora.
"Just do this. Ansem! The princesses! The Keys! Wake up! Ansem... reports! The shells... the non-existants..." Sora was saying to him.
"I... what are those things you're saying...?" Ansem asked.
"Don't even bother. He doesn't have a clue."
"Ansem... Capitulyn... your dauther... she... loved you...! She'd sacrifice herself for you again and again. You, too, loved her, didn't you?" Maran decided to say.
Ansem, then, had tears in his eyes.
"Capitulyn... I remember... someone... I..."
"He won't remember, morons. You'll be trying for eternety. Now, I shall randomly pick one of you two to survive, and another to... disappear." he raised his hands.
"HAAH!!" Ansem yelled. "Capitulyn!! Where is Capitulyn!?" he was yelling.
"She's dead, Ansem. They..." Sora pointed at the cloaked white-haired man, "...killed her."
"What?" the man seemed to be getting scared.
"You... non-existant bastards... I always thought that studying you would lead me to an abyss but I... I didn't know it would really happen!" Ansem said. "VANISH!"
"You do not give me orders anymore, Ansem." the man said. "I am the one who gives orders now." he raised his hands.
The scenery began to change.
"Ansem must have left him." Mickey said, rushing to check on Pete.
"Pete? Pete!" Maran was calling.
They all got relieved when he opened his eyes.
"HA!" he said, stabbing Capitulyn with his Keyblade.
"Capitulyn!" the others yelled.
A black and white matter was coming out of her and fusing with the Keyblade. When it seemed to be full, Pete threw it away.
"I came to the point where I don't need any of this rubbish. Behold... the MERGING!" he said, raising his arms.
The castle began trembling again, but this time, thousand times harder. It seemed that the merging had indeed started.
"Sora... Maran... listen to me..." Capitulyn's voice echoed on Sora and Maran's minds. "Here are your Keys..." their Keyblades, then, came floating from the sky and crashed the window, landing on their owners' hands. "Use them... you know how... just like you did with the swords..." then, the voice faded, along with her body.
"Hahahahahahahahah... it'll soon be over!" Pete said.
Sora and Maran, with their Keys in hand, faced him.
"Ansem, get out. Fight like a man." Maran demanded.
"Leave Pete alone. Our business is with you, not with him." Sora completed.
"Do you think I'm stupid? If I came out of this body, I'd be swallowed by the merging, too. Bwhahahahaha! But if I stick with this body, it's it what is going to be swallowed."
"So where are you?" Maran yelled. "Where are you controlling Pete from?"
"Use your head!" Riku said. "He's in the only place that this merging would never affect!"
"Kingdom Hearts..." Sora said...
The trembling continued, in a lower rate, and the windows of the castle began to break.
"But how are we going to get to Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked Mickey.
"Through the way you got last year. Do you remember?" Mickey asked.
"...The End of the World... then... a destroyed Destiny Islands..." Sora was remembering. "So that destroyed Destiny Islands must have been the in-between, where we first met..." he said to Maran.
"We need to find a gate to the in-between! And fast!" Maran concluded.
In a great timing, a big airship crashed into the tower, destroyin the very few parts of it that remained. It was the Highwind.
"Hey, ya bunch o' smartasses, what the hell is going on?" Cid yelled.
"Come on!" Mickey said, jumping into the airship, then the others did the same.
On the cockpit, Sora explained everything to the group.
"I'd have concluded the very same thing." Donald said. "Although the gate disappeared when you entered."
"We must check it out. Come on!" Sora said. "MOVE!"
The airship moved away from the castle, in direction to the space, trying to avoid the merging turbulences.
"We don't have much time. Can this be fastened?" Maran asked Cid.
"Ya shut the hell up! I'm doin' my best..." Cid said, nervously piloting the airship, trying to not be hit by the world pieces which were floating in space.
"If I hadn't told Pete to stay taking care of Rina... he'd be okay, now, with us..." Maran said, sad.
"Well, if he was okay, Ansem would possess any other of us, maybe him, too. We can't blame ourselves for stuff that have no importance. Come on, focus." Sora said.
"I know... thanks..." Maran said, looking throughout the window, expecting to see something.
"There! There is that funky world we were at!" Cid said, preparing the arship to take off.
Then, the airship trembled, but it didn't have anything to do with the merging. It seemed that some kind of pressure was holding the airship away from the world.
"What the hell is goin' on?!" Cid yelled, smashing the lading lever. "What he hell????"
After forcing the entrace, the arship finally made its way into the world's atmostphere.
"This world must have some kind of barrier... it must be important, hold something important..." Maran said.
"Well, it holds the game to Kingdom Hearts." Sora said. "Maybe that's why our gummi ship couldn't land and we had to jump."
"I'm landing it but you guys better jump and rush for th'gate, okay?" Cid said.
"All right!" Sora and Maran said, rushing to the deck. So did Mickey and Riku.
Once on land, Sora approached Riku.
"Sorry, Riku, but I don't think you'll be able to get in."
"Oh... I see. Don't worry. I'll cover things up here. Just... don't... get hurt..." he said, pausing.
"Don't worry, pal." Sora said, hugging his friend.
"Look! It's there!" Mickey pointed at the floating door. "It must be there beacuse we had already left the in-between. Sora, how did you fly like that previously?"
"Huh? Oh, I remembered something I learned with a friend of mine... Peter Pan... when you want something, you have to believe... believe there's a way... a way to accomplish that."
"That's deep. So let's all believe we can... fly..." Maran said.
Then, the three began floating in direction of the door. Riku was watching them from afar.
"Sora... be... careful..." he said, trying to hold on a tree to not fall because of the trembling.
They came in.
...
...
"Sora?" a familiar voice was calling in his head.
"Sora?"...
"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here." it was Kairi who was speaking.
"Kairi?" Sora called. "Kairi, are you here?" it was all dark, nothing could be seen.
"No! This huge black thing swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't-!" it was Sora's voice but it wasn't him who was speaking.
"Are you still dreaming?" Kairi's voice said, again.
Sora, then, remembered this was what happened after he woke up from a very weird dream, where he fought a Darkside and everything.
"Maran!" it was Rina's voice, this time.
"Rina!" he tried to call her, but it was as futile as Sora's calls.
"What took you so long? I was almost leaving." Rina's voice was echoing.
"Sorry, but I..." it was Maran's voice, but it wasn't him who was speaking.
"You... what?" it was Rina again.
"Nothing. Here are the prisms..." Maran's voice echoed. Then, it faded.
"What's going on?" Maran asked Sora, although he couldn't see him.
"You must be reviewing your memories... the in-between is a unplanned environment, so don't expect common things to happen here." Mickey said.
Then a little light lit. The three could see each other, then.
"What are you doing here?" another familiar voice asked. It was Ansem.
"Ansem, we're here to stop you. We know you're being controlled by those cloaked guys. You have no fault of all this." Maran said.
"Yeah. So if you're attacking, so will we. But we won't be killing you." Sora said.
"I'm glad you understood that." Mickey said.
"Hahahahahahahah! How could I, the great ruler Ansem, be controlled by a bunch of..." then, three cloaked guys appeared in front of Sora, Maran and Mickey. "...What?"
"We came..." one of the cloaked guys must have said, the voice wasn't listened, was felt. "...To stop you."
"You're talking with us? You better leave Ansem alone, he's got too much power to be possessed." Sora said.
"Let it be." another must have said.
"Sora... Maran... get your Keys." Mickey said, getting his Keyblade was well.
Maran, Sora and Mickey ran towards the three cloaked figures, which dodged the attacks and began to charge the known black and white balls of energy.
Sora remembered, then, what Capitulyn said when she returned them the Keyblades. She said to use them like they did with the swords.
"Maran! Let's go the uniting we made when we defeated the Unknown!" Sora said.
"Yeah! Ok!" Maran and Sora joined their Keys and concentrated their energies on them, and the white and black energy began to shine.
"Yes." Mickey said.
He raised his Keyblade and all the energy came to it. He swang the Keyblade and threw the energy against the cloaked guys, who quickly faded and turned into nothing but cloaks.
"Hahahahahah, thanks!" Ansem's voice again. "I could, myself, take care of these morons, but thanks."
"What? Why is Ansem still like this?" Sora asked Mickey.
"Hmmm... I have no idea..." he said. "Sorry but I can't think of why."
"Maran?" Sora asked.
"Well, we were four, right? But we are three here, now. We fought three cloaked guys." he began.
"There must be one... Pete's equivalent... and may be the one who's controlling Ansem." Mickey completed.
"Great! So if we defeat this guy we'll get Ansem and Pete! Come on, let's look for this guy." Sora said.
The scenery began to take form...
Everything was "cracked", like Destiny Islands previously were, but it was a different place.
"That's... my... castle..." Mickey said. "It's Disney Castle!"
Sora, then, recognized the place.
"Why did we end up here?" Maran asked.
"Ansem's insane, did you forget?"
The floor trembled really hard and a cloaked figure appeared at the entrace of the castle.
"Adventure your way in finding me, clueless morons!!" it was the last cloaked guy, "Ansem's still on our side."
"'Our' side? You're the only one remaining!" Maran said.
"Have you ever wondered how did we spread like this? We were previously just shells. Ansem bred us. We can raise thousands more of us. They're being raised right on this moment, or you thought all this time Ansem's been sitting on his chair, laughing like a moron? The fighting part remained to me, though."
"Bring it on! We're getting tired of this but we could take you out!" Maran said. "It's you and me, I'm defending my friend Pete!"
"That's so lovely." he jumped and landed in front of Maran. "So be it."
As Unknown, he began charging a dark wave, whilst dodging Maran's attacks.
"Maran! The double Keyblade thing!" Sora advised.
"Uh-huh!" Maran tried to separated both keys. "What?" but he wasn't able to.
"It's useless. He only has Oblivion, while you, Sora, carries the Oathkeeper. Me and Pete shall carry our kingdom's Key."
Maran didn't have time to focus on what Mickey was saying, the cloaked guy quickly charged his dark wave and threw it against Maran.
"NO!" Sora got desperated and began throing fireballs from his Keyblade.
But Maran wasn't hurt.
"What?" Sora suspected why Maran wasn't hurt.
"He's darkness. Did you forget?" Mickey said to Sora. "It seems that our enemy had."
"How did you...?" the cloaked man began. "You're a smartass, that's what you are. Don't forget that it won't be a victory for you if you win. There are thousands of us being created right now... in there..." he sinisterly pointed at the cracked Disney Castle.
"I'm coming in." Mickey said.
"I'll come with you!" Sora completed.
"You're not trepassing this door. Not with me in here. You think I'm stupid?" he said.
"I'll finish you off first." Maran said, full of courage.
Maran began running towards the cloaked guy. He didn't prepare to dodge. He stopped the Keyblade with his left hand and holded it with the right one.
"These... are just toys..." he stole the Keyblade from Maran. "...As foolish as you!".
A big wave, now black and white, was thrown against Maran, Sora and Mickey.
"Aaahhhhh!!!" that was hurting, then.
...
Then, someone came flashing from above, followed by a dark wave of energy.
"Pete!" Maran recognized. "Are you... alright?"
"Yes, Maran... I'm finally free. Come on. Let's show this bastard how we deal with the likes of these." he, followed by Maran, began an intense fight against the lone enemy.
Mickey came near Sora.
"I don't understand, why would Ansem leave Pete's body?" he asked.
"Surely he's plotting a bigger plan. Let's get in, now, Mickey. The guy is distracted."
"Ok, let's go."
Maran and Pete saw Mickey and Sora entering the castle, as the door closed and almost broke down.
Meanwhile, at the Highwind...
"Hey, what the &#(# is that??" Cid screamed.
He'd spotted Hirosh messing around inside the command room.
"That's Hirosh. I believe you remember him with his red hair, threatning look. He battled Sora once." Riku explained. "You were with him."
Cid approached the little Hirosh. He couldn't believe it.
"That's not that guy! That guy was... the only guy that ever made me chill!"
"That's his heartless-human form, I believe. Just leave him be. The only one that seemed to understand him was that girl... Capi-something..."
"Capitulyn..." the little Hirosh said, with his funny voice.
"Yeah, that's right." Cid said. "That little freak does understand us. Uh, I gotta watch my mouth..."
"Baa..." Hirosh said, approaching Cid, pointing at him.
"Hey, get away from me!" Cid ran away.
Riku stopped Hirosh's movement with his feet on Hirosh's head.
"Pay attention." he said. "I know you're not as useless as you look. You're with Ansem, aren't you? You passing information, aren't you?"
Hirosh's little eyes barely focused Riku's head.
"Whoo..." he said, returning to the command room chair. That seemed to be infinitely fun.
Riku decided to leave the room, but before that he took a last look at Hirosh.
"I'm keeping my two eyes on you, little freak. I KNOW you're not just a... whatever you look like." he said, closing the door.
"Baa..." Hirosh said, as a conclusion.
Inside the cracked Disney Castle, everything was a huge mess. Mickey couldn't believe in his eyes.
"All the beauty this place had... was easily destroyed..." he was saying while walking.
"It's hard to make but easy to destroy." Sora said. "Let's look for the Queen!"
They rushed to the main corridor of the castle, which gave access to all rooms and stairs.
"Cough... cough... hey, who's there...?" a tiny voice was saying.
"Jimmy! Jimmy Cricket, are you alright?" Sora put him in his hand.
"Alright, yes, I may be. But I don't know about the others. Something really odd happened!" he said. "A man came in, a very creepy man. He was wanting the..."
"...And did he get it?" Mickey quickly asked.
"Get what?" Sora asked.
"It's not the right time for you to know, Sora... sorry..." Mickey said.
"Yes, he did. I believe he's still here. There are some really odd noises... I see weird shadows... I'm glad I made it till here... I was at the gummi ship dock, you know."
"Ok, let's look for everybody." Sora said. "Where to?"
"The throne room..." Mickey said.
The way to the throne room was as creepy as it has been till here. The whole castle seemed even more destroyed than Hollow Bastion previously was.
"The door..." Mickey pointed.
The door's shape had changed, it then had the symbol of the heartlesses.
"This is... crazy..." Sora said.
"These non-existants depend on the heartlesses to spread in here. This must be their tribute. C'mon, let get in. You afraid?" Mickey asked.
"No. I have seen a lot until now. I think nothing can scare me anymore."
"Think again!" a voice echoed in the castle. It was Ansem's. "Come inside."
"Ansem!" Sora yelled. "What are you planning?"
The voice seemed to have ceased.
"I'm getting tired of this. When are we going to finally meet him face-to-face?"
"Let's try getting in." Mickey said, trying to move the handler.
No sucess. Mickey, then, remembered there were two special doors in the own door, which Donald and Goofy used. With a touch, Donald's door opened and they got in.
The throne room was unrecognizable. Mickey seemed perplex, though. The throne was no longer there. On its place, it seemed to be a door, also shaped in the heartless symbol.
"You tired of this?" Ansem's voice again. "You think nothing can scare you?"
The wall got destroyed by a huge carriage that entered the room. It was all black with white dots all around it. It had some Halloween-like pumpinks, also in black and white. It opened by itself, and inside were Maran and Pete, asleep.
"I don't think it's scary but it's worrying, isn't it? Or you don't care about them?" the voice asked.
Sora wasn't listening. He and Mickey were already at the carriage, trying to get Maran and Pete out of it.
"Maran! Maran! Pete! Guys..." Sora was calling. "Mickey, what can we do?"
"I don't know. But I feel... I feel that... what we must know will be answered once we get through... that door..." he pointed at the door located at where the throne was.
"What about Maran and Pete?"
"Ok, you stay here, taking care of them. I'll go in." he said leaving Sora.
"Don't... DON'T!" he yelled, making Mickey stop.
A huge scythe fell and almost hit Mickey. A cloaked guy was holding it, he came down and uncovered his head.
He had deep blue eyes and white hair. His face was triangle-like, and had a scary look.
"Time to forget." he said, raising his hands, and a white flash surrounded the place. "Time to... change." he concluded.
Mickey, then, began trembling furiously.
"Mickey!" Sora called.
Mickey turned to him and his eyes were red and scary. He handed his Keyblade.
"You shall be eliminated, now." the man said, as Mickey approached Sora, ready to fight.
"No, Mickey!" Sora was saying, while dodging Mickey's Keyblade's swings.
"Do as I say..." Mickey was saying while fighting. "Don't be afraid... open the door...".
"What?" Sora couldn't focus. "What are you saying? Are you possessed or what?"
"Listen to me." Mickey began charging some kind of attack with his Keyblade. "Walk through the door, Sora..." the attack got charged and was thrown, hitting Sora.
"Come on, Sora!" Maran said. He had recovered.
"Maran! You all right?"
"I think we are. I just woke up." Pete said.
Mickey, then, furiously began running against them, with his Keyblade in hands, charging another attack.
"Your arm!" Maran pointed at Sora's hurt arm. "Let me take care of it..." but Maran couldn't do anything, Mickey threw his next attack on him, throwing him against the window.
"What is wrong with him?" Pete asked.
"I... I don't know... he keeps saying... I should open the door... I don't understand..." Sora said, in pain.
"Do it. You should. Maran also should. Maran!" Pete ran to help Maran.
Sora got up and dodged another attack of Mickey's.
"Walk... through the door... listen to me, Sora. You remember? The platform! The dream! The darkside!" Mickey said, then Sora remembered about a dream he had, when he first saw a darkside.
"Maran, you ok?" Sora asked.
"Yes. Come on. Pete said he'd handle Mickey."
"That's our job, anyway." he said.
"What? What job?" Sora asked.
"Me and Mickey. We are the sighters. You are the ones who will open the door. Since we're still in the in-between... you both will have to do this, since Capitulyn isn't with us anymore..." Pete said.
"So you and Mickey were here just to show us..." Maran began.
"...The door..." Sora said. "Come on, Maran!"
Pete quickly defended Sora and Maran against Mickey's attacks.
"Quick... there isn't much time..." Mickey said, slowly, while still fighting Pete.
Sora and Maran ran to the other side of the room.
"Where do you think you are going?" the white-haired man asked. "You do belong here but I do not want you here." he said, almost laughing.
Sora and Maran didn't hear. They were already in front of the huge door.
"Cross that. I challange you." the man said.
Sora looked at Maran.
"I remember I dreamed about something like this..." Maran said.
"Me too. But I... I wasn't able to open the door. I wonder..."
"You won't be able to open the door. Capitulyn is dead!" the man said, laughing.
Sora and Maran raised their Keyblades and a dark shining came out of Maran's and a white one from Sora's. The sparkies entered in both keyholes and a unlocking sound was heard.
"I wonder..." the man said. "If I should stop you."
"Just try!" Sora said.
"Don't! We don't have time! Come on, we're so close!" Maran said.
"I won't. I couldn't." the man was acting weird.
"You better." Sora entered, followed by Maran.
Before really entering, Sora gave a last look at Mickey, there, still brainlessly fighting Pete.
"Cross that." the man repeated. "You're in my world now. The... ONLY world...".
When Sora and Maran finally saw some light, they were at a place that couldn't be described. There were some fragments of Disney Castle, others from other worlds they had visited.
"Where... are we?" Sora asked.
"No clue..."
In front of them was Ansem.
"You came..." he said. "Why?"
"To save you." Sora said.
"Um, yeah. They are controlling you." Maran completed.
"Who?" he asked.
From nowhere, the white-haired man appeared.
"Don't try to make him learn anything. This... is his mind. Empty, really. Fragments mean nothing. Where are your thoughts, Ansem?"
"Thoughts..." Ansem repeated.
"Hah hah hah hah hah hah" the man laughed. "I ask you, where are your thoughts?"
"What thoughts?" Ansem asked.
"Stop that. We're taking you down."
"Don't you get it? The merging has concluded, everything is now one. That means... one of you shall fall."
"What?" they both yelled.
"One world. One key... one master for it." he said. "I'd choose Capitulyn but, oh, dear, she's not with us anymore."
Sora and Maran looked at each other in the eyes.
"It does make sense." Sora said. "But I don't want you to die..."
"Oh, no, it doesn't mean dying..." the man said, "By 'falling' I mean the person will find non-existance. Heh, like I once had. Your hope will be... taking advantage on someone just like I did with this moron." he pointed at Ansem, still clueless.
"Ansem!" Sora yelled, then. "Wake up!"
"What?" Maran asked Sora.
"Just do this. Ansem! The princesses! The Keys! Wake up! Ansem... reports! The shells... the non-existants..." Sora was saying to him.
"I... what are those things you're saying...?" Ansem asked.
"Don't even bother. He doesn't have a clue."
"Ansem... Capitulyn... your dauther... she... loved you...! She'd sacrifice herself for you again and again. You, too, loved her, didn't you?" Maran decided to say.
Ansem, then, had tears in his eyes.
"Capitulyn... I remember... someone... I..."
"He won't remember, morons. You'll be trying for eternety. Now, I shall randomly pick one of you two to survive, and another to... disappear." he raised his hands.
"HAAH!!" Ansem yelled. "Capitulyn!! Where is Capitulyn!?" he was yelling.
"She's dead, Ansem. They..." Sora pointed at the cloaked white-haired man, "...killed her."
"What?" the man seemed to be getting scared.
"You... non-existant bastards... I always thought that studying you would lead me to an abyss but I... I didn't know it would really happen!" Ansem said. "VANISH!"
"You do not give me orders anymore, Ansem." the man said. "I am the one who gives orders now." he raised his hands.
The scenery began to change.