Ultima Part Seven

By Jive Maxwell

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

(The Legend of Zelda, The Temple of Time)

Sora and the others had returned to the Temple of Time,

triumphantly showing off the new Heartstone and their newfound

friend, Yugi Motou. Yugi and princess Zelda really hit it off.

"My, Yugi, what an amazing hair style: did you do it yourself?"

Zelda asked. Yugi admitted that he had and the two were friends right

away.

"How'd the others do?" Sora asked, sitting back on the pedestal

and staring at them in the corner.

"Actually," Zelda admitted, "they haven't left yet."

"Why not?" Link demanded.

"The teleport magic isn't working," Zelda explained. "Whenever

I try to send them to the next world, they end up back here again."

"But that's powerful magic," Ashitaka said in his quiet voice.

"There are really only two possibilities: either your magic isn't strong

enough to support them all, or it's been overruled."

"It must be that I'm just not strong enough to support you all,"

Zelda said sadly.

"That's not true!" Link yelled. "You have enough magic to

support all of us and more, and you know it! You're just being

modest!" he accused.

"If your magic was being overruled," Trowa put in. "Who do you

think would do such a thing? They would have to have the reason and

the power to do so."

"I don't know," Zelda sighed.

"I could name a few people," Yugi growled.

"Who?" Everyone peered down at little Yugi, who was no taller

than Link.

"Marik," Yugi spat the name out. "And Pegasus, too, but he's

been missing in action ever since I beat him back in Duelist Kingdom.

But I've learned lately, that, if there's trouble, Marik usually has a

hand- or a Millennium Item- in it."

"What's a Millennium Item?" Duo wondered. "Is it this funny box

thingy?" He reached down and poked at the Millennium Puzzle

curiously.

"Don't touch that!" Yugi scowled. "That's a very powerful magic

item!"

"And it's very special to Yugi," Sora agreed. "A friend of his lives

there."

"Man," Duo grumbled. "I go from saving the world to the

colonies and now the galaxy or the universe, and now people live in

funny yellow boxes and get stuck 'teleporting' from one world to

another. I'm in over my head here. Yup! My mother always told me I'd

lose my mind if I joined the army."

"You think too much," Wufei told him.

"Better than not thinking at all!" Duo retorted.

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, HUH?!" Wufei spat,

drawing his sword.

"Boys! Boys!" Zelda cried as the two of them went at it.

"Leave them be," Heero said gently, his arms crossed as he

leaned leisurely against a cold stone wall. "It's how they handle

stress. I've seen it before."

Cloud and Squall came in.

"Princess," Cloud said with a quick bow. "We think we have an

idea- Sora, Link, Ashitaka, good to see you back."

"Who's this?" Squall asked, staring hard at Yugi's hair.

Zelda introduced them, and Cloud explained their plan.

In order to determine the cause of the disturbance in the

teleport magic, the pair wanted her to try teleporting someplace else.

If she could do that, chances were that an overruling of her magic

caused the problem.

"Traveling between worlds is tricky," Squall explained. "Unless

you can teleport, it can be time-consuming, not to mention pricey.

Let's give this a try and see what happens."

"Alright," Zelda agreed. "Any volunteers?" Trowa decided to go.

"We'll just try to teleport you outside the temple," Zelda told him. "If

this goes wrong, I'll never forgive myself."

"Please don't be that way," Trowa said, as she opened a portal.

He stepped through it and vanished. Everyone tensed, waiting.

A moment later, Trowa walked in through the door. "It works,"

he said simply.

"What's it like?" Duo asked, sporting a black eye from Wufei.

"Like falling asleep and waking up in a different place, not

knowing how you got there," Trowa described. "At least now we know

what the problem is."

"If we can combine all our strength," Ashitaka said, "we may be

able to overpower the source of the problem. Who or whatever is

keeping you from teleporting to where you want to go will be

overruled themselves."

"But we need something or someone to channel it to," Zelda

agreed.

"Ah...Guys, you've lost me," Sora said blankly.

Ashitaka knelt and put his hands on Sora's shoulders.

"We're all going to focus our energy into one point. Together,

we should be strong enough to beat this. Okay?"

Sora thought about that for a moment. "Okay," he admitted. "But

what are we going to channel that energy into?"

"I know!" Yugi spoke up. "How about my Millennium Puzzle? It

can channel a lot of magic and besides, Yami's at his strongest there.

If he channels his energy, we'll have lots!"

"Yami's the guy in the box, right?" Duo asked.

"Is everybody ready?" Zelda asked. The group nodded. "Focus

on the Millennium Puzzle while thinking of what gives you strength.

Let's do this!"

Everyone thought of his or her closest friends.

'Kairi and Riku probably miss me a lot,' Sora thought. 'I hope

they're alright.'

'Where ever Quatre is, I hope he's okay.'

'Yami...and Joey and Tea...and Tristen. They'll probably miss

me a lot. I'll miss them, too, but I'll see them again soon, I know it!'

Ashitaka thought of San and the wolves, while Zelda and Link

thought of each other. The final power boost came from Yami.

'After all those centuries that I was asleep in the Millennium

Puzzle, it was you who saved me, Yugi.'

The teleportation portal opened, and the Gundam pilots went

through it. Then the portal vanished.

"Whew!" Zelda breathed. "It worked!"

(Hollow Bastion)

Hollow Bastion's name suited it. Once, it gave Riku a warm

feeling, now it was hollow, full only of creeping Heartless and bad

memories. What's more, it was completely demolished. Where once

a beautiful castle stood was now only a dump of rubble and ash.

"What happened?" Riku asked in surprise, looking around.

"We redecorated."

Riku turned. A tall man in robes similar to Ansem's, even longer

hair and bangs that were parted in the middle stared back at him with

eyes not unlike Riku's own.

"Who are you?!" Riku snarled, unwilling to trust any friends of

Ansem's.

"This is Sephiroth," Ansem said calmly. "Sephiroth, this is Riku.

You could call him an old friend of mine."

"You make friends with little boys now, Ansem?" Sephiroth

hissed. "Who's this other one?"

"This is chaos." Ansem shoved chaos over to Sephiroth for his

examination. "He's highly unusual. He has the power to destroy

Heartless with a touch."

"That could endanger the mission," Sephiroth growled.

"I know. That's why I brought him here for examination. How's

Zechs doing?"

"I don't know," Sephiroth said coldly, staring off into the sky.

"Just as I was about to finish him off, this damn red ship came along

and grabbed him. You said there were no ships in the area! Anyway,

the last time I checked, he was damn near dead anyway."

"It wasn't your fault, Sephiroth. We were certain there had been

no large ships in the area before you attacked. How's Marik?"

"You'll have to see for yourself," Sephiroth said with a smirk.

"He's amazing. He has the Heartless doing back flips."

"He can control them?" Ansem said in surprise.

Sephiroth shook his head. "But he can control Quatre. That

blond brat doesn't know who he is under Marik's control."

"Most interesting," Ansem mused. "Seymour?"

Seymour had strolled up behind Ansem.

"The Keyblade masters have made it to the newest world. It

would seem their powers are stronger than we imagined. Is that

alright with you?"

"Yes, that's fine," Ansem frowned, seeing Riku stiffen. "I have

finished with my business there. Take this boy chaos to the dungeon."

"And the other one?" Seymour shot a cool stare at Riku.

"Keep a close eye on him, but leave him alone. Inform him of

our plans, but do not yet let him leave this world. I must go see this

'Marik'. In the meantime, you can relax a bit. The Keyblade masters

have yet to retrieve the Heartstones, so there is plenty of time to

involve ourselves in our own affairs."

Ansem walked away, and Seymour, in his usual slow yet

somehow forceful way, took chaos by the wrist and led him away.

Chaos gasped and hesitated, but then followed Seymour down into

the sub basement, where the dungeon was.

Sephiroth drew his sword.

"Care for a match?" he challenged Riku. Riku looked down at

his hands. He had no sword.

"No weapon, huh?" Sephiroth smirked. "That's hardly any fun.

"Come on, kid, let's get you suited up." Riku strolled after Sephiroth.

(In the dungeon)

Chaos wasn't frightened, despite his position. He wasn't the

type to fear a bit of trouble, but he was worried about the boy in the

same cell with him. The boy had light blond hair and blue eyes, but

his eyes were dull, and he was staring blankly at the floor in what

chaos could only see as despair.

"Are you alright?" chaos asked. The boy didn't respond. Chaos

went over to him and sat beside him. "Don't worry- it'll be okay... Hey,

have you lost your heart?" Chaos examined the boy. "No, your mind.

But it's still there. You must be that boy Quatre they were talking

about earlier. They took control of you, didn't they?"

Chaos seemed to be listening to something.

"I'm sure your friends will come for you," he said after a

moment. "It just might take a while, since it's so hard to travel around

in space. Hopefully, they know how to gate jump." Silence, then:

"Gate jumping? It's kind of like teleporting, I guess. It's really

fun, too. Maybe you'll get to experience it for yourself soon...The

Woglinde? You were there when that happened, huh? Was it really

the Heartless that attacked her?...Yes, I can destroy the Heartless

easily somehow, so they locked me up here..."

(Kingdom Hearts, Destiny Island)

Destiny Island was a lonely place when you're best friends were

away, Kairi found. She could often be found in Riku and Sora's

favorite places, the small island and the river and the tree house.

Today, she was sitting on the tree where Riku liked to sit, facing

the island with a gaze of thoughtful disgust.

"This stinks," she complained out loud. "I'm so bored."

Suddenly there was a bright light nearby, and when it faded, the

Gundam pilots appeared, looking slightly amazed and pleased with

themselves.

Kairi yelped in surprise and fell backwards, off the tree.

"Who are you?!" she demanded. "Oh! You have a Keyblade!

You must be friends of Sora's!" She went over to examine Heero's

Angelblade.

"Do you know Sora?" Trowa asked.

"He's my best friend! Him and Riku! I'm Kairi!" Kairi smiled

pleasantly at them.

"Sora spoke of you," Heero admitted. "We're here to retrieve the

Heartstone that resides within the Keyhole of this world, which resides

within a person's heart. Do you know anything about it?"

Kairi shook her head. "Is Sora helping you as well?" She asked.

"Please tell me that he's okay!"

"We saw your friend just a minute ago," Wufei replied. "He's

working with some guys named Link, Ashitaka, and Yugi. Do you

know them?"

"Never heard of them," Kairi admitted. "You're looking for the

Keyhole, huh? Well, Sora was never able to find the Keyhole in this

world, but if you say it resides in a person's heart, that would explain

why. His Keyblade can't unlock people's hearts."

"Guys," Trowa said. "What if the Keyhole is Sora's heart? We

can't leave here until we find it, and Sora's busy elsewhere, so what'll

we do?"

"That can't be!" Heero said angrily. "It has to be here

somewhere. It might even be her."

They all stared at Kairi. She stared back at them. Then she

chuckled nervously.

"Uh, so, what are your names?"

They introduced themselves. Then Trowa explained:

"Look, Kairi, if we don't bring together all the Heartstones within

the Keyholes, all the worlds will be in big trouble. Please, if the

Keyhole resides in you- if there's even the smallest possibility, we

have to try."

"I understand," Kairi agreed. "Do whatever you have to, but

please, when you get back, can you tell Sora to hurry up? A guy

named chaos was here a while ago and then someone came, and

chaos and Riku left with whoever it was. I'm here all by myself."

Heero nodded and raised the Angelblade. It began to glow and

wrenched to the side. The Keyhole opened and, cautiously, one of

them went inside and was back a moment later.

"Got it," Duo said triumphantly. "But you'll never guess what:

there's, like, doors leading to other people's hearts and what not in

there."

"I'll bet one leads to Sora's," Wufei said, as Heero gently locked

the unconscious girl's heart and laid her on the ground.

"It would be wrong to just leave her here," he mused. "Maybe

we should take her with us?"

"I'm sure she would like that," Wufei agreed. "And I doubt if

Sora would mind."

"Dibs on carrying her!" Duo said quickly.

Heero shot him a glare and lifted Kairi over his shoulder.

"But Heero- I called dibs!"

The portal appeared and they all stepped into it.

(The Temple Of Time)

Back at the Temple of Time, Zelda was waiting by herself.

"Back so soon?" she asked in surprise. "Sora and the other just

left for the next world."

"It wasn't hard," Trowa told her over his shoulder as he helped

Heero lower Kairi to the ground.

"Who's this?" Zelda wondered.

"This is Sora's friend," Heero explained. "We found the Keyhole

inside her, but I'm afraid we might have hurt her."

Zelda checked the girl over.

"She's not hurt; only asleep. But Sora will be really glad to see

her." Zelda smiled. "Don't worry," she added, seeing their faces. "You

didn't harm the mission by bringing her here. When she wakes up, I

bet she'll like it here. I'll take good care of her."

The pilots nodded.

"Ready for the next world?" Zelda asked.

"Yup!" Duo replied. "Only, Quatre's on a world somewhere,

right, so we'll come across him sooner or later, huh?"

"I'm sure you will," Zelda agreed. "He may even be on the same

world where you last saw him, but I've been unable to reach that

world since you last returned from there."

"There was a lot of evil forces at work there when we left,"

Wufei said. "That could be what's stopping you."

"That's true," Zelda sighed. "Don't worry you guys, we can

always try to overpower it again, and if that doesn't work, we can still

try physical space travel."

"The sooner we get these worlds together, the sooner we can

save Quatre and revive the lost worlds," Heero pointed out. "Let's go."

Zelda opened another portal, and the boys left.

Just then, Kairi woke up.

"Where am I?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"Don't worry," Zelda told her, smiling kindly. "The guys dropped

you off here after they retrieved the Heartstone. If you stick around,

you'll see Sora soon."

"And Riku?!"

Zelda shook her head and shrugged.

Kairi looked crestfallen, but then she brightened. "I should make

a gift for Sora," she said cheerfully. "That'll really surprise him! And I'll

make one for Riku, too, when I see him again."

(Kingdom Hearts: Hollow Bastion)

Quatre and chaos were both exhausted. It was nice and sunny

out, which was strange for such a gloomy place as the ruins of a

castle, but they were both panting for breath and struggling just to

stay on their feet, having been forced to fight each other.

Marik stood in the background, his Millennium Item raised.

Quatre's eyes were dull and void of emotion, but chaos could hear

the voice in his head, and it was full of regret.

"Just a little more," Ansem told Marik. "We must know the extent

of both boy's stamina."

Unable to stop himself, Quatre raised his hands and summoned

more Heartless.

'I'm sorry!' he told chaos.

"That's alright," chaos admitted, though he was too exhausted

to dodge anymore as the Heartless advanced. There was only one

way out of this mess. On the last of his strength, chaos followed the

Heartless directly to their source. Wings sprouted from his back, and

he rose into the air, struggling with the effort.

"What's this?" Ansem gasped. "Marik!"

Marik gritted his teeth and his violet eyes gleamed with malice

as used Quatre to summon an army of flight capable Heartless at

chaos. Chaos ignored them.

"You're going down!" he declared. "Angel Blow!" The field was

cleared of Heartless in an instant, and chaos returned to the ground.

Before his legs could fail him, he went for his true target. He rushed

over to Marik and prepared an attack.

"Heaven's Wrath!" Marik was knocked back several meters and

completely out. Quatre came to with a jolt.

"Chaos, you did it!" he cried.

"I couldn't have done it without your help," chaos said happily,

rushing past Ansem and going to Quatre. "Are you alright?"

"Interesting," Ansem mused. "Both boys are powerful, yet they

share the same bond as Riku and I. They can communicate beyond

the physical, even the mental ability. They are like brothers."

"Having fun with your games, Ansem?" Riku asked bitterly,

kicking at Marik as he made his way through the rubble. He was

sporting a lengthy new sword, lightweight black chest armor and knee

high dark boots.

"You don't approve of them, Riku?" Ansem laughed, using

magic to separate Quatre and chaos once more.

"You used to have better things to do."

"But these boys, whether they like it or not, are vital to my plans,

Riku," Ansem said absently. "Before, I tried to control the Heartless

without having the real ability, just the knowledge. But now I know all

there is to know about the Heartless, plus I can summon, control, and

destroy them at will." Riku didn't reply.

"What are Sephiroth and Seymour doing?"

"They're toying with this old mask they've found. They've placed

it on a Heartless, and it's been driven mad."

"I see," Ansem mused. "Anyway, Riku, I have a mission for you

that will test your loyalty."

Riku caught his breath.

"Do you know what kind of creature lives in Destiny Island?"

Ansem asked. Riku shrugged.

"Gulls...fish..." he fingered the stone in his pocket he'd gotten

earlier.

"I will tell you, and I will tell you how you can catch it and make it

your slave. If you can do that, then I'm sure I can trust you with more

important affairs."

Riku turned his head at an angle, a bit confused.

(Cowboy Bebop, on board the Bebop)

Zechs woke up to the feeling of pain so bad it hurt to think. But

he was splayed out on a couch and the cramp in his neck was

unbearable, so he moved over a bit, groaning.

"You're up?" someone asked, peering down at him. The man

had spiky green hair, a kind smile but bored eyes. "You should still be

asleep."

"I would be," Zechs grumbled, sitting up a little, "only I've got

this huge problem."

"Oh yeah?" the guy sat down in an armchair near the couch.

"What's that?"

"It hurts to sleep."

The green haired guy laughed. "Hey! You're pretty beat up. Lie

back down. My name's Spike."

"Zechs Marquise. Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hall. Watch your step."

Zechs nodded and ignored the restrictive bandages wrapped

around his arms and chest, bracing himself against the wall as he

made his way to the bathroom. Spike heard sounds of intense

nausea for a moment and then the toilet flushed and Zechs returned.

"I feel like I died and went to hell," he groaned, settling down on

the couch and closing his eyes, a hand to his forehead.

"Close enough," a large man laughed, coming in.

"This is Jet," Spike introduced. "Jet, meet Zechs."

"Want a painkiller, Zechs?" Jet offered. "There's not a scratch of

food on board, but there's plenty of painkiller." He laughed.

"How effective is it?" Zechs asked.

"It should put you out for near a day or so," said a young-looking

woman behind Jet.

"Bring it on."

Zechs woke a while later, still in pain, but with a few hours sleep

behind him. A dog was licking his hand.

"I hate dogs," Zechs complained to it. The dog whined and

wagged its tail. 'Ein' its collar read.

"Ein, huh? Is that short for Einstein?"

The dog stared blankly at him, a little brown thing with stubby

legs.

"Ein! Ein!" someone was calling. A young girl with a mass of red

hair came in, cradling a laptop and a can of dog food. "Ein! Its time to

eat before Faye gobbles up your food again, yes it is!"

Ein barked and went to the girl, who stared at Zechs in

amazement, then took out a camera and started taking pictures of

him.

"What are you doing?" Zechs growled.

"Ed has always wanted to see a mummy!" the girl said excitedly.

"A live one, too!"

"How many people live on this ship?"

The girl sat down and opened her laptop and the can of dog

food.

"There's Spike, Ein, Jet, Faye, and Ed."

"And what about you?"

"I'm Ed."

Zechs groaned and shut his eyes.

"Enter. Open file. Tall Geese. Record data. Please wait."

Zechs opened his eyes and peered at Ed. She was wearing a

strange pair of goggles that were hooked up to the computer and her

hands were going in mid-air like she was insane.

"Obviously, the technology here is different than the stuff back

home," Zechs commented.

"Don't look at me," Spike said, coming in. "It's new to me, too.

Damn you, Ein, you woke him up, didn't you?"

Ein wagged his tail.

"That's alright," Zechs sighed. "I was having nightmares

anyway. Where am I?"

"You're on the spaceship Bebop. She's a beautiful hunk of crap,

if you know what I mean. You're lucky we came along when we did.

Jet reckons another few minutes and you would have died before we

could save you."

"Did you get the guy who did it?"

"Nah, he vanished. We picked up your ship though. She's in

rough shape."

"It's a he."

"Right."

"How can a ship be a he or a she?" Ed demanded.

"You've got a lot to learn about men," Faye retorted, entering.

"You poor baby," she crooned at Zechs, brushing back his hair. "You

must be so tired."

"Tired, not lonely," Zechs grumbled.

Faye snorted. "A woman can't get any respect around here,"

she complained.

"Not if they don't do any work," Spike agreed.

"What are you talking about? If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't

have caught that last bounty as easily as we did."

"That's true," Spike laughed. "Thank Faye for your bandages,

Zechs. We bought 'em with her money."

Zechs nodded solemnly.

"Hey, it's not like I'm the one who damn near killed him!" Faye

protested. "Who was that guy we saw attacking you, Zechs? How can

he survive without a spacesuit?"

"He's not human," Zechs explained. "His name's Sephiroth." He

told them all he knew.

"Heartless, huh?" Spike said when he'd finished. "I find that

hard to believe."

"So do I," Zechs admitted. "Let's not talk about it, okay? I don't

know much more beyond that."

"I believe you," Faye admitted.

"You're only saying that because you have the hots for him,"

Spike laughed.

"So?" Faye growled. "There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"There is when the guy's in a body cast," Jet spoke from the

doorway. "Hey, Spike. You interested in making an easy 54 million?"

"You bet!" Spike agreed.

"Then sell that ship we pulled in."

"The Tall Geese?"

Jet nodded. "Science would pay a lot of money for a crate like

that."

"Sell the Tall Geese?" Zechs jumped up, then fell back with a

groan.

"Why not?" Faye shrugged. "Its no good for shit in the shape its

in now."

Zechs sighed. "54 million, huh? That's my ship. I want 50.

You can have the other 27 million for saving my life, though, to be

truthful, I'm not worth that much."

"No arguments here," Spike said with a smile. "What're you

going to do with your half?"

"Me?" Zechs sighed. "I'm going to get another ship."

"You looking for revenge?"

Zechs nodded. "And there's someone I have to protect."

"Are you a body guard?" Faye asked.

"I guess you could say that. Try self-employed. And very under

paid." Zechs lay back, squashing Ein, who'd made a bed on the

couch, and went to sleep. Ein sobbed over the injustice.

"Then why are you still trying?" Faye asked.

"Call it..." Zechs hesitated, "Call it my sense of duty."

"Are you a cop?" Jet asked.

"N...No," Zechs smiled. "I'm a Preventer. Do you have

Preventers in this dimension?"

"Never heard of them," Spike admitted.

"Dimension! Dimension!" Ed cried. "Ed is coming to see you

someday!"

"Strange kid..." Zechs murmured.

Ed rolled over to him and peered at his bandages.

"Hmm..." she mused. "You like him, Faye?"

"Mmm, well," Faye smiled dryly. "A girl can dream, can't she?"

"What do you think, Ein?"

Ein barked, still struggling to rise under the weight of Zechs'

head.

"Ein says that Zechs likes you too!" Ed cheered. "Ein says

Zechs keeps glancing at your shirt!"

Zechs and Faye stared at each other for a tense moment. Then

they both blushed and looked away.

"I'd like to get some more sleep please," Zechs decided.

"Yeah, alright, we'll clear out of here for you," Spike agreed.

"Come on, guys."

Faye was the last to leave. She stopped at the door, her back

turned to Zechs.

"You know, cowboy," she mused. "I like your shirt, too." She left.

Zechs rolled over, smiling, and buried his face in the curve of

his arm, raising a hand to scratch at his collar before he realized he

wasn't wearing any shirt.

(Destiny Island)

Riku stared into the shallow depths of the twisting river that ran

through Destiny Island. It shone and chuckled pleasantly at him in the

moonlight. Riku took something out of his pocket and held it up to the

light of the moon. It was the stone he'd taken from the mouth of the

fish that'd jumped out of the river before.

"River spirit, huh?" he said softly. "Well, I guess I'll see if it's true

or not."

To be continued...

JM: And that's it. I'm all out of ideas. Any suggestions would be

helpful.

Sephiroth: I wanna kill Zechs.

JM: Besides that.

Zechs sighs in relief: Please review.