Kairi swung her keyblade at Sora in an upward arc.  Sora responded by blocking with his own keyblade and both of the masters recoiled a bit because of the force of the blow.  Sora dashed in and swiped low with his keyblade, causing Kairi to jump and avoid the attack.  While in the air, she brought her keyblade down toward the brunet's head but he had already brought his keyblade up to defend against the attack.

"Come on," Sora taunted.  "I know you can do much better than that."  He brought his keyblade over Kairi's head and swung it down with cataclysmic force.  Instead of trying to repel the attack with the Promise Keeper, she jumped back.  The strength of the attack caused the ground where the keyblade had struck to rip apart.  Black electricity crackled as the keyblade struck the ground.

"Sora, you have to fight back," Kairi panted.  "You're too strong to be controlled."

Sora grinned.  "That's what I thought too, Kairi.  But here I am, about to kill you."

"Just face the darkness.  It's nothing to be afraid of!!"

"Haha, fighting the darkness has been the reason for all of my misery," he answered.  He began to slash at Kairi with quick swipes of his keyblade.

Kairi deflected the attacks with difficulty and shouted, "Where's your heart?! You said you would always be there for me!!"

"I…," Sora faltered.  "I don't have a heart!!" he shouted and thrusted his keyblade into Kairi's stomach.

Kairi doubled over and gasped.  She held her stomach to try and stop the intense pain she felt due to Sora's Kingdom Key, which had turned black as the night.  Sora walked up to her until he was standing over her.

"I…I don't want to remember," Sora's red eyes had lost them glare.  "All of my memories are painful."

Kairi stood up, "Even the ones of me?"

Sora's eyes turned blue as he looked at her with an expression of pure agony.  "Especially the ones of you."

"Please," Kairi grabbed his hand, "help us to win.  Come back to our side."  She looked over at Seryl, who had knocked out Fayne and was pressing a powerful attack on Yuyami.

"Kairi, I-" Sora looked at Seryl, who had used some kind of energy blast to temporarily subdue Yuyami.  He returned the gaze and smiled, raising his arm lazily toward them.  Dark spirits burst from his hand screaming and hit Kairi so fast, that Sora could only watch as they struck and threw her back onto the ground.

"Kairi!!"  Sora ran to her and crouched down.  "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just need you to use a Curaga spell…" Kairi whispered

Sora shook his head.  "I can't.  When I came out of Oblivion, I found that I couldn't use any of my spells."

"S-o-r-a…I…"

"Kairi?  Don't worry I'll handle the rest…" Sora got up and looked at Seryl, who was smirking.

"Nice show Sora.  A tad melodramatic for my likings but…" Seryl shouldered his scythe.  "Don't worry, she was nothing important to the vast priorities in store for the two of us."

"You…I…I'm going to kill you!!"  Sora felt the anger inside and let it envelope him.  "You bastard!!!  Who do you think you are?!"  Dark rage consumed his body and soul and he welcomed it with open arms.  His eyes turned red and his hair transformed to a white, pale color.  He ran toward Seryl with electric agility and attacked with his black Kingdom Key.

"Hahaha," Seryl dodged the blow and launched his own attack. 

"You're a little too slow," he said as their weapons clashed together.  The force of it sent dust from the ground rising into the air and sparks flew.  They began to swing their blades at each other, but neither could get the upper hand.  Whenever Seryl went for the overhead strike, Sora would bring his keyblade up instinctively to deflect the attack.  On the other hand, whenever Sora would try to surprise his opponent with a kick or punch, Seryl would just dodge it and swing back with the same strength.

"Haha, not bad," Seryl ducked as the keyblade master feinted as if he was going to swing his weapon but changed it into a devastating kick to the ribs.  Seryl wasted little time countering the blow and connected with a swift fist to Sora's chin.  He fell backward onto the ground as Seryl fell to one knee holding his side.

Sora responded by getting up and attacking Seryl once again.  Seryl repelled all of his attacks and proceeded to commence his own barrage of lightning fast strikes.  To his surprise, the keyblade master deflected everyone with the same amount of difficulty that Seryl had experienced.  He then decided to take things up a notch.  He cast a spell that caused a dark, powerful wind to blow and swathe Sora in its destructive force.  Buildings deteriorated and crumbled.  The ground itself began to black and Seryl laughed hysterically at the boy's audacity to attack him.

"You believed you were powerful enough to dispatch me!!"  He laughed again.  "I used to destroy children like you for amusement!!"  He slowly turned and walked away toward Cloud and the others.  I guess I will terminate his underlings as well.  They have no use anymore.  As he began to near them, he heard them calling the boy's name repeatedly.  Haha, he thought.  It's no use, he is gone for good.

Still, something itched at the back of his mind as he prepared to kill the fools outside of the barrier.  Something made him look back at the carnage he had wreaked.  The power of his spell was dissipating as well as the dust and energy that the black wind had caused.  The smoke cleared and Seryl clearly saw that the boy was still very much alive.  He was startled.  How could he have survived?  Sure, he didn't use one of his most powerful spells, but his magic strength alone should have compensated.  He smiled, this might be more fun than I previously thought. 

Suddenly he frowned.  The boy?  Where was he?  He looked around and saw no trace of him.  He looked harder and got his answer when he felt the keyblade smashing against his body with devastating might.  His keen eyes saw Sora moving faster than a normal person could see.  He must be using some kind of special skill that he acquired in his previous life, he thought as the blows struck him repeatedly.

"Hmmm," Seryl mused jumping back.  "It appears that we are evenly matched.  It's regretful that I have other matters to attend to."  He closed his eyes and shadows began to crawl across the ground rapidly, engulfing him.  "Don't fret, boy.  We'll… convene at a later time."

He dissolved into the shadows and the only thing he left behind was his cold, echoing laugh.  Sora felt the power that had controlled him slowly melting away and he saw Shadow, Cloud, and Vincent running toward him.  He was too tired to care though, and fainted into the dark.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kairi didn't know where she was, only that it was dark and cold.  Her footsteps echoed in the empty gloom as she walked.  She looked around and shivered.  What felt like snow fell onto her skin, but it wasn't any kind of snow she had ever seen.  It was black and shiny, like onyx. 

"Where am I?" she asked the nothingness around her. 

"This is Oblivion…"

Kairi started and looked for the source of the voice.  It sounded like it was behind her and she turned around.  There, sitting down in the black snow, was Sora.  He was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees and his head down. 

"Sora?"  She was surprised to see him and walked toward him with her hands behind her back.  "What is 'Oblivion'?  And why are you here?"

Sora got up and brushed the snow off his shoulders and hair.  He smiled at Kairi and grasped her hand.  "Kairi, Oblivion is where all of the hearts go when they have been taken by the Heartless.  I'm just…here on a visit, I guess."

"Sora…I…"  Kairi was at a lost for words.  It had been so long since she saw Sora and their first encounter after all that time had been anything but fun.  Now, this felt like the real Sora, her Sora and she didn't know what to say.

"Kairi, thanks for coming to get me."  He grinned and pulled her in for a hug.  "I've really missed you.  Thinking about you is the only thing that has kept me sane in here."  He pulled away and looked down shyly.

A tear slid down Kairi's cheek as she smiled at Sora.  "I'm glad you're back, Sora," she managed before she began to sob quietly.

"Hey, don't do that," Sora said softly and began gently wiping the tears from her face.  "Kairi, don't cry."  He smiled as he wiped away an opaque flake of frost that had descended from the black heavens.

Kairi smiled and looked up at him.  She looked into his searing, blue eyes and kissed him softly.  This is the first time we've kissed, she thought with surprise.  Instead of doing anything to disrupt the moment, she just savored their kiss which seemed to last a lifetime.