AN: Hey everybody! How are you guys enjoying your summer vacation? I'm going to school on Thursday to take my Spanish final and that's it! I'll be home free! Yay!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything really!

Chapter 17: Awaken the Behemoth

Donald yelled, "Sora! Come back Sora!"

"Sora, are you really...no! I won't let him go!" Sora had sacrificed his life to save Kairi. She didn't want it to be that way.

Out of nowhere, Ansem appears. "Ah, so you have awakened at last princess."

Goofy looked a little worried. "Garsh, do ya think we can take him all by ourselves?"

"I don't know." Donald whispered.

Ansem began to walk up to the group when he suddenly stopped with clenched fists. "Impossible." Riku had appeared, blocking Ansem from Kairi, Donald, and Goofy.

"No! I won't let you...use me for this!"

"Riku!" Kairi said with desperation and an uncanny arm movement.

"Go! The Heartless are coming!" Riku said. The three run away, while Ansem again disappears. Many Shadows come up from the ground, including Sora, who had become a Heartless. He was falling into darkness. He was still himself, but barely. He had to find Kairi. So he went around, searching Hollow Bastion, until he heard her voice, which was outside the library. He walked up to them, but Donald tried to hurt him.

"Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya!" Donald said, bonking the Sora Shadow on the head.

Kairi realized that this Heartless wasn't attacking them. "Sora, is that you?" Suddenly, numerous Shadows filled the room. Donald and Goofy ran off to attack them. Kairi stood in front of the Sora Shadow. "This time, I'll protect you." But many of the Shadows were creeping up to Kairi, and at a single moment, they leapt upon her. Kairi covered Sora, shouting "Sora!"

"Kairi!" Goofy yelled. But Kairi was okay. The Shadows were gone, and in their place stood Sora. He was holding Kairi.

"Kairi," Sora said in cute voice. "Thank-you." Since Kairi was a princess of hearts, her light was able to bring Sora back, even though he was in the darkness.

"Sora, you're okay!" Donald said cheerfully.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Goofy said, afraid of more Heartless coming.

"No!" Sora said, finally letting go of Kairi. "Remember, the Keyhole hasn't been sealed yet! I don't want to leave this place until I do."

"But what about Kairi?" Donald asked.

"I'm staying, too." Kairi said. She walked up to Sora and held his hand. "I'm not leaving without Sora."

Sora smiled at Kairi (trademark of course). "Well then, let's go seal that Keyhole! It can't be too hard. We'll run into a few Heartless on our way there but I'm sure it'll be nothing big. And don't worry Kairi, I'll protect you."

"Well, let me go check on Iqui," Goofy said. "She's been alone for a long time. I wanna make sure she's okay."

"Good idea." Sora said. The three walked back to Hollow Bastion's Keyhole. On the way there they ran into Beast. He had reunited with Belle. All of the princesses had gone back to their lands to try and restore the peace and guard others from the Heartless. The girls' hearts would be able to protect them. Finally they had reached the Keyhole. But when Sora tried to lock it, it still didn't work. Then Sora noticed some movement...behind the Keyhole. "I think we've got trouble. Kairi, stay here, Donald and I will go see what's beyond the Keyhole."

"Don't go in there Sora! I don't want you to get hurt!" Kairi said.

"I'll be alright. Don't worry," Sora said confidently. He leaned over and kissed Kairi softly on the cheek. "I'll come back," he whispered.

Kairi was in a daze. She knew both Sora and Riku had feelings for her, but they never really acted on it. She only liked Riku as a friend, but she didn't know if Sora had knew how she felt about him. So she mustered up all she had and allowed Sora to go inside. Donald and Sora went into the Keyhole cautiously. Inside, they found the legendary Behemoth! Immediately Sora and Donald sprang into action mode. Sora jumped on the Behemoth's back and began attacking his horn. Donald had a hard time getting on the Behemoth so he positioned himself behind the Behemoth and cast Graviga spells. It was harder because they didn't have Vern or Goofy to help them.

The Behemoth began thrashing around. He whipped Sora off his back, but luckily Sora landed on his feet. They were having a hard time defeating it. But soon Sora was able to get on the Behemoth's back again, and this time he pulled Donald up with him. Together, they attacked the horn, and finally defeated the giant beast. Donald stepped out of the Keyhole first. Sora heard Kairi asking Donald if he was okay frantically. Sora decided to hurry up and get out before Kairi had a heart attack.

"I'm okay." Sora said, stepping out of the Keyhole. Kairi nearly choked Sora to death by hugging him so hard.

"Alright, can we get out of this creepy place now!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Sure." Sora laughed. He finally sealed the Keyhole and they left for the gummi ship. When they boarded the gummi ship, they found Goofy there, kneeling on the floor, crying.

"Goofy, what happened?" Sora asked. Everyone ran to where Goofy was.

"I-Iqui...she's..." Goofy couldn't get the words out. So he handed Sora a small sheet of paper. It read:
To Sora,
What a shame to leave your poor little sister in the gummi ship all
alone. Since I couldn't get to Kairi in time, I found someone else to
have some fun with. If you ever want to see your sister again, you'll
have to pay a big price.

Sora looked up. There was something else that he was thinking about. It was the handwriting. It looked very familiar. "I know whose handwriting this is!" he said.

"Whose?" Donald asked intently.

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Sorry to leave you at yet another cliffie! Okay, four more chappies left! Oh, so sad!