"Sora," Leon said, almost smiling. "You did it."
"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked, slightly stunned at seeing them so close to the front lines when Leon and the gang had mostly stuck in Traverse Town and concentrated on helping the victims.
"We came in Cid's ship," Yuffie said cheerfully.
"This is our childhood home," Aerith admitted, looking around at the place. "We wanted to see it again."
"It's in worse shape than I feared," Leon muttered absently. "It used to be so peaceful."
"Don't worry," Aerith assured him softly. "If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored." She turned to Sora and smiled at him, offering a boost of hope as well as incentive to win. "Even your island."
"Really?" Sora asked, not quite sure he believed her but daring to accept the hope she offered anyway.
"But," Yuffie pointed out with mock-cheeriness to cover her sorrow, "it also means goodbye."
"Once the worlds are restored," Aerith confirmed, "they'll be seperate again."
"Everyone will go back to where they came from."
"Then I'll visit you guys with the gummi ship," Sora promised. Leon shook his head, and even he displayed a hint of sorrow.
"It's not that simple," he said.
"Before all this," Yuffie pointed out, "you didn't know about the other worlds, right?"
"Because every worlds was isolated," Aerith explained. "Impassable walls seperated them."
"The Heartless destroyed those walls," Yuffie said, taking up the explanation where Aerith had left off. "But if the worlds return, so will the walls."
"Which means gummi ships will be useless," Leon added with finality.
"So you're saying we'll never...?" Sora said, the hope that Aerith's promise of the Destiny Islands being restored had awakened in him now dying like a snuffed candle flame.
"We may never meet again," Leon said, but there was a note of reassurance in his voice, as well as one that could only possibly be affection, "but we'll never forget each other."
"No matter where we are," Aerith said, sharing the note that was in Leon's voice, and adding a smile to her words, "our hearts will bring us together again."
"Besides," Yuffie said, pointedly looking away so Sora wouldn't see that she was teasing, "I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded, taking the bait willingly and doing his best to hold back a grin.
"Sora!" Donald called from up near the Keyhole.
"Hurry!" Goofy added. "Come and close the Keyhole!"
Sora immediatelly turned to join his companions and finally end everything, when an unexpected comment made him stop.
"Sora," Leon said, "good luck."
Sora grinned at him, then ran up to Donald and Goofy. He couldn't stop himself, though, from looking off to the side, to the patch of floor that was stained dark red with Mizu's blood. When they had come in, Cloud, Serenity, and Mizu were nowhere to be found, so Sora still didn't know if Cloud had managed to save her or not, and he desperatelly wanted the answer.
Sora's hand reached for the door's handle, but he paused and drew back, confused.
"What's wrong?" Donald asked.
"Don't you hear something?" Sora asked, then cocked his head to listen carefully for the voice that had guided him at the beginning of this adventure. "There!"
"Careful," the Voice warned. "This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light."
"I don't hear anything," Donald said testilly.
"Strange," Sora muttered. "That voice was so familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination."
"Maybe you'd better take a rest!" Donald suggested, only half joking.
Sora shook his head and opened the door, stepping out into bright light, the roar of the ocean, the smell of sea-salt, and soft, white sand that was achingly familiar. He stared in stunned amazement for a moment before his voice decided to start working again.
"Is this," he asked, hardly daring to believe it. "Is this my island?"
Sora couldn't help himself. He turned around, to see if the door was still there, and saw the secret spot he had shown Kairi so long ago. He ran towards it, wanting to see the familiar drawings, but a voice stopped him in his tracks. It was a voice he recognized...
"This world has been connected."
Sora turned around and watched in horror as the small island with the paopu trees and the bridge leading to it disappeared, then the pier, and as the ocean turned a dark purplish-black color.
"What was that?" Goofy exclaimed, echoing Sora's thoughts perfectly.
"Tied to the darkness," the voice continued, "soon to be completelly eclipsed. There is so very much to learn. You understand nothing. A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."
By the time the voice--which Sora recognized as that of the hooded man he had met the day the islands were destroyed--was done talking, the Destiny Islands were completelly transformed into a nightmarish version of what they once were. Down near the water's edge, Riku was staring out at the horizon, wearing the outfit he had while posessed by Ansem and the darkness. Sora let out a strangled cry and ran towards his best friend.
"Take a look at this tiny place," the voice said, sounding as though it were coming from Riku as he spread his arms to the purple-black ocean. "To the heart seaking freedom, this island is a prison, surrounded by water. And so this boy sought to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness."
Riku turned around, and melted away into the form of a man who could only be Ansem.
"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, worried for his friend.
"Don't bother," Ansem laughed. "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness. And all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is it's nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came."
Ansem vanished and reappeared behind Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and Sora leapt back, pulling out his Keyblade as he did so.
"You see," Ansem continued, raising his hand before him and clenching the fingers into claws as though he were trying to hold onto the words, "darkness is the heart's true essence."
"That's not true!" Sora protested sharply. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned that deap down, there's a light that never goes out!"
Ansem rose further into the air, sneering down at Sora and his group.
"So you have come this far and still you understand nothing," he scoffed. "Every light must fade. Every heart return to darkness!"
Ansem attacked, and Sora steeled himself for the fiercest battle he had ever faced.
"It is futile," Ansem laughed, seeing how Sora, Donald, and Goofy were out of breath and tiring quickly from their numerous fights. (A/N: Details, schmetails, I'm skippin' ahead to the last CG before the credits, dammit!) "The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." Ansem faced Kingdom Hearts, and spread his arms as though worshiping the cool, shining metal of the vast doors. "Kingdom Hearts!" he shouted. "Fill me with the power of darkness..."
Sora watched in horror as one of the elegant doors opened, spewing forth billowing black smoke towards Ansem. His brain seemed to stop in horror, all thoughts frozen at the sight of the realm of darkness. All thoughts but one.
This isn't right...
"Supreme darkness," Ansem breathed reverently.
"You're wrong!" Sora shouted. Ansem turned an angry glare on him, and Sora glared right back, not giving an inch just like he hadn't given in durring the fights. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts... is light!"
And with those words and the solid conviction of a strong, pure heart behind them, Kingdom Hearts emitted radiant beams of white-hot light, engulfing everything there was to be engulfed and piercing the darkness surrounding them, offering Sora a hope he hadn't dared to feel since he stepped foot on the end of the worlds.
"Lights?" Ansem gasped as he, too, was penetrated by the brilliant radiance. "But... But why?" He screamed in shock and pain as the light swallowed him, destroying his darkness forever. Sora, Donald, and Goofy found themselves standing on solid ground, facing the partially opened doors of Kingdom Hearts. And, seeing those doors opened, Sora felt his heart fill with dread the equal of the hope that the light had awakened in it, and ran to close them.
"Come on!" he called, pressing as hard as he could against the doors. Donald and Goofy joined him, pushing with all their might, but for some reason, Goofy stopped and stared through the doors in awed surprise.
"Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald shouted, not caring what Goofy was staring at so long as he stopped staring and helped shut the door! When Goofy didn't rejoin their efforts, Donald had a peek around the door, too.
"The Heartless?" both exclaimed at the same time, renewing their efforts on the door.
"Hurry!" Donald shouted, frantic now, but Sora was rapidly running out of energy. The doors wouldn't close!
"I can't," Sora panted, then nearly jumped out of his skin as a familiar, black gloved hand reached through and grabbed the edge of the door.
"Don't give up," Riku admonished, and the sight of his old friend, smiling once again with no trace of Ansem's darkness about him now, buoyed Sora's strength and resolve.
"Come on, Sora," Riku encouraged, using the same taunting grin he always had when he wanted Sora to do his best. "Together we can do it!"
"Okay," Sora said emphatically, now pushing against the door as though his life depended on it, which it did.
"It's hopeless!" Donald wailed as the Heartless crept closer and closer.
To everyone's surprise and delight, the Heartless began dying one by one, thanks to the efforts of someone Sora didn't recognize. He soon learned who this unexpected benefactor was.
"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy called, now as heartened as Sora was. King Mickey raised his own Keyblade, one with colorings almost exactly opposite of Sora's Kingdom Key, and faced the darkness.
"Now, Sora," Mickey said, his voice somehow lifting everyone's spirits higher, and encouraging Sora to trust him. "Let's close this door for good!"
"Close it, quick!" Donald shouted at Sora, who, strangely enough, hesitated.
"But," he said, staring forlornly at Riku, who grinned reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Sora," Mickey said in a tone that mimicked Riku's grin, "there will always be a door to the light."
"Sora," Goofy said calmly, "you can trust King Mickey."
"Now," Riku barked, his impatience mounting. "They're coming!"
Mickey looked over his shoulder and grinned at his two life-long friends.
"Donald, Goofy," he said, putting all of his feelings for them and their friendship to him into his voice, "thank you."
Everyone pushed harder, and the doors finally began to slide closed. Riku let go of the door he was pulling on, then caught Sora's eyes, prepared to make one final request.
"Take care of her," he said, knowing that Sora didn't need to be told to look after Kairi, but having to say it nonetheless. He smiled with distinct relief when Sora nodded.
"Riku!" someone shouted from behind Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Riku looked up, his face showing alarm, then splitting into a relieved grin. At the same time, Sora wheeled around and nearly laughed out loud when he saw a familiar, reed-thin figure running at full speed towards them, weapons belts jingling with each light step. Even with how fast she was running, though, she would never make it before the doors were completelly closed. She cocked her arm back, and threw something that glittered in Kingdom Hearts' light at Riku, calling out "Don't forget me!"
Riku caught the necklace that Mizu had thrown at him, tears springing to his eyes. He closed his fingers around the pendant, and brought his fist in to lie close to his chest, staring Mizu straight in the eyes.
"I won't forget," he promised. Mizu cleared the last few feet, reaching out a hand to him, and Riku did the same. Their fingers brushed briefly before Kindom Hearts closed for good.
"Mizu," Sora started, wanting to ask her how she had survived her wound, but she cut him off with a grin and an imperious comand.
"Lock the door, Sora," she said, calmly and evenly, but Sora still heard the command behind it. She, Donald, and Goofy stepped out of the way as Sora leapt back, aiming his Keyblade at the door, unknowingly shadowing Mickey's same movements, and locking Kingdom Hearts, hoping the whole time that he would get to see his friend again. Mizu stared at the door as it disappeared, and whispered under her breath.
"Goodbye, love."
She turned to Sora, a grin splitting her face as she draped an arm companionably around his shoulders, giving him a rough hug as she did so.
"Come on, little brother," she said warmly, grinning at him. "Let's go home." They turned from where the door had been, and Sora saw something that made him start running. Mizu held out a hand to stop Donald from following just as Goofy did the same. Donald looked up at both of them, slightly angered at this, but when he saw Mizu's smile and Goofy's grin, he knew that it wasn't any of his business.
"Kairi!" Sora called, running up to the girl he loved most.
"Sora!" Kairi shouted back. They caught each other's hands, sharing the gesture that Mizu and Riku hadn't had the time to complete, as the area began shaking ominously. The ground between them split, and it was all they could do to keep hold of each other.
"Kairi," Sora said desperatelly, wanting to get all of this out before they were separated. "Remember what you said before? I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise."
"I know you will," Kairi said, her voice thick with unshed tears. Sora was forced to let go of her, but they kept eye contact until Kairi disappeared, returning to their island home. Mizu clapped a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into her confident, too-mature face.
"You'll see her again," Mizu promised. "Your hearts are one, and no amount of magic in all the worlds will be able to keep you seperate from each other for long."
"Do you really think that?" Sora asked, not daring to let his heart fill with the hope her words had conjured. "I mean, do you think you'll ever see Riku again?" To his surprise, Mizu threw her head back and laughed out loud, the sound erupting from deep within her belly like it always had.
And, Sora thought, smiling in spite of himself, like it always will.
"That wasn't a mere trinket I gave him, you know," Mizu said, her laugh still evident in her voice. "It was a promise. A promise I made a long, long time ago."
"What promise?" Sora asked, knowing that was what she wanted him to do. She grinned at him, exactly like an older sister might.
"That no matter what, my heart will always shine bright." She laughed again, and Sora couldn't figure out why, but Mizu didn't leave him in the dark long. "But that's not the promise I gave him," she continued. "My promise to him was that we would always be together."