AN: Yay! Sorry the last chappie was really short, but I'm making it up to you with this one! It's one of the longest, yay! For this story's sequel, I'm gonna try to make the chappies longer, kay? Toga! Toga! (I don't know where that came from)

Disclaimer: Points to Vern and Iqui. I own you! Points to Kingdom Hearts. I don't own you!

Chapter 16: Of All My Foes, A Friend Is The Worst!

Their lips touched. A spark flew into Sora's mind. This isn't right, he thought. My first kiss should come from Kairi. Sora pulled away before anything could happen. A flush of relief came over Donald and Goofy.

"W-what're you doing?!" Vern asked with much disappointment.

"I can't do it! I love Kairi!" Sora said. Whoops, shouldn't have said that.

"No!" Vern yelled. "It'll be your fault then if Kairi dies!"

Sora knew his reason for breaking away from Vern. "You may think I'm hurting Kairi by letting you hurt her, but I'd be hurting Kairi more by kissing you!"

Vern's eyes were now blood red with anger. "I could kill you right now. You know that? But you're time to die has not come. But when it does, I'm gonna have the honor of making it happen. But not before you see your little girlfriend die first!!!" Vern said through clenched teeth. She took one last look at Sora then flew away. Yes, flew. It seems as if Vern is learning a thing or to.

Sora was so relieved that the ordeal was over. Now but he was faced with a bigger problem, keeping Kairi alive. But first he has to find her. He hoped that he would make it to her in time. He didn't even know if she was in Hollow Bastion. And he especially didn't want to see Kairi die. He knew he made the right decision, but he still felt bad.

"Sora, don't make it so hard for yourself. We'll find Kairi, I know we will." Goofy said sympathetically.

Donald gave a Goofy a look of uncertainty. "Yah, but will we find her dead or alive?"

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Riku stepped out of the library, down some steps, and into Hollow Bastion's main corridor. Riku was having a very hard time swallowing his pride. He was just beaten by his best friend. He thought he was the Keyblade master. He used to be, at least. Because Sora gained the Keyblade by talking about the light and his heart, maybe darkness wasn't the way to go. Maybe stealing the princesses wasn't the best way to save Kairi, Riku thought. Actually, he hadn't saved Kairi yet. Riku was deep in thought. He decided to go find Sora and stick with him. Light was the way to go. He was almost out the door when he heard a voice.

"You're sure you want to leave?" said the dark voice.

"Huh?" Riku said, turning around. Standing there was a man. He was tall, but his facial features were hidden from the darkness, that is, all but his eyes.

"I don't think you know what you're doing. Are you really sure that you want your friend to die?" the man beckoned.

"Who, Kairi?!" Riku exclaimed.

"Precisely. I don't think you know this. But your friend who wields the Keyblade is defeating Maleficent right now."

"Maleficent? Sora?" Riku said, a little confused. "W-What do you want? What do you mean I don't know what I'm doing? Who are you?"

The man stepped forward and smiled. "You see, Maleficent was trying to bring Kairi back to life. Your other friend is fighting her. Maleficent is weak, I'm afraid there'll be no one left to help Kairi." the man said, ignoring the question of who he was.

"I thought Sora was trying to help save Kairi?"

"Don't you see? He has corrupted your mind. If you join forces with me, we can help bring Kairi back."

"I-I don't know." Riku said, unsure.

"Let me tell you a little more..."

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Sora was in fact fighting Maleficent at that very moment. The dark man was right, too. Maleficent was weak. It took little effort to destroy her. The details of the fight would be just plain...boring.

"Man, did you see what we did to that old witch?!" Donald said, jumping in the air.

"Yah, that was quick." Sora said. He had just defeated another evil boss, but his mind was elsewhere. I wonder where Vern is, he thought. Sora was getting paranoid. He was expecting her to jump from around a corner and pull a knife at his throat. He had no doubt in his mind that she wouldn't slice his neck off. The three walked a little while until they came to yet another pair of huge doors. Last time we had to fight Riku, Sora thought. I wonder who's behind these doors this time.

They walked through the doors and were not expecting to see many girls that he had seen along his journey. Yet they were all encased in glass, not moving. There was Alice, the girl whom he tried to save in Wonderland but mysteriously disappeared. And there was also Jasmine. He remembered her a bit from Agrabah. Then Sora saw some steps that led to a center...and Hollow Bastion's Keyhole. Everyone ran up there. A special force field blocked Goofy. And who should be up there but Kairi!

Sora ran up to her. He had finally found her, but she wasn't moving. "Kairi, Kairi, open your eyes!"

There at the top of a statue sat Riku. But he wasn't the same. He again let darkness swallow him up. This time he let Ansem control his body. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot awaken. "

Sora was startled by Riku's weird voice. "You-you're not Riku."

Riku/Ansem continued on. "The Keyhole will not be complete so long as the last princess of hearts still sleeps."

Okay, now things got even more confusing for Sora. "Princess? Kairi's a princess?"

"Yes," Riksem (Riku/Ansem) said.

"Well whoever you are, let Riku go, give him back his heart!"

"But first, you must give the princess back her heart!" Riksem pointed a Keyblade at Sora. It was born of the captive princesses' hearts. Suddenly, Sora's heart burned. He fell to the ground, stunned. "What's...happening?"

"Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi...Kairi's inside me?"

"I know all that there is to know."

Sora was still kneeling on the ground. "Tell me, who are you?"

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness." Suddenly Donald lunged at Riksem, but was too weak to do anything. He was knocked out and blocked by the force field like Goofy, so they couldn't help Sora. "I shall release you at last, princess. Unlock the Keyhole with your power, lead me into everlasting darkness!" Riksem lifted up his blade and was about to hit Sora when Sora heard a voice. It was Kairi. Sora!

Sora immediately got up and blocked Riksem's attack with his Keyblade. "Forget it!" Sora said with strength and confidence. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

The battle was on! Sora cast Aeroga on himself. He wouldn't have anyone to help him this time, and he knew Riksem would be a tough opponent. Magic attacks didn't work on Riksem, which was another downside. It was going to be a battle between the Keyblades. At first Sora was more offensive. He didn't want to tire himself out, but he wanted to weaken Riksem as soon as possible. Sora gave Riksem some mighty blows, but Riksem did as well. Soon Riksem had a new tactic. He rose up in the air and bolted around the small area, becoming nearly impossible to see. Now it was time for Sora to be on defense. He glided around and tried to be as far away from Riksem as possible.

Soon Riksem became tired and a bit disoriented from his attacks (which only hit Sora once). This was exactly what Sora expected. That was one of the reasons they defeated Riku the first time. Sora used Ars Arcanum on Riksem, then finished the job with Trinity. Since Sora hadn't used magic, he had more MP, which was useful in using the Trinity attack. As soon as Sora defeated Riksem, Riksem vanished, and the force field holding Donald and Goofy back were gone. Sora pointed the Keyblade at Hollow Bastion's Keyhole.

"It won't work!" Sora said.

"Maybe we gotta go wake Kairi up." Goofy suggested. Sora looked down to Kairi. Near her was Riksem's Keyblade. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts...I wonder." Sora walked towards the Keyblade.

"What're you doing?" Donald asked frantically.

"Sora, hold on!" Goofy exclaimed.

Sora picked up the Keyblade, turned to his friends. He gave them his famous trademark smile (pause for giddy laugh) then stuck the Keyblade into his heart. Immediately the Keyblade broke apart, revealing the six hearts of the princesses. Then, Kairi's heart, which was in Sora, came out, bringing Kairi back to life. She awoke and looked up to see Sora disappearing. She ran to him but then he vanished.

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