When they reached the other side of the portal, they were in the dimension that Ansem created for this purpose alone. The End of the World is what he called it. And it truly was apocalyptic. Mashed together pieces of their worlds were strewn about. The beach rocks of Destiny Island. The raggedy buildings of Halloweentown. The central strip of Main Street from Sunnydale. Everything old and rotten, and lacking in color. Ansem had sucked the life out of them, literally.

Buffy gripped her blade tightly. She would kill him. For her sister. For Kairi. For making her day just a little harder. Sora didn't share the same violent sentiments, he just wished everything could be over. But as a thirteen year old boy, he still had yet to develop feelings like that. Years of superheroing hardened you to a point where it was kill or be killed. Buffy knew this, and she knew that she wasn't much older than Sora when her own journey began. Yet she still felt like the fates had a thing for perversion of innocence. The boy still seemed too young. Still, he had proved himself a worthy ally. Hell, he held his own against Glory, which was more than she could say for her first time battling that woman.

The two walked through hallowed halls of castles and empty meadows, all connected in the most surreal, dream-like fashions. They were close, she could feel it. The key trembled lightly in her hand. It was almost like that dagger in that book 'The Hobbit.' She read it freshman year of high school and remembered being bored to death of it, yet she could recall a weapon that shook when evil was near. Handy. Finally, they had reached the point of no return. A light engulfed them and they were on a strange amalgamation of a beach mixed with Sunnydale High. There were pits of fire on either side of them, and the ocean boiled behind them, the sky black without night. Ansem stood in the center, and his eyes literally glowed. That didn't happen before did it?

"The Slayer and the Keybearer come to play?" He said with crossed arms. Sora grimaced at him and drew a line in the sand with the tip of his blade.

"Yeah. Got any games? Because I warn you, I bore easily." Buffy said, holding her keyblade in front of her. Ansem quirked the corner of his lip and moved his finger back and forth.

"Silly girl, I'm not one to trifle with games. I like direct action." He said, holding out his hand as if he was choking something. And the body of a young boy appeared in his hand, struggling, grabbing at the hand, trying to break free.

"Riku!" Sora cried out. He ran forward, but Ansem hissed and moved the boy in front of him, drawing a knife out of his pocket.

"I'd stay there if I were you." He said cockily. "See this?"

He motioned for a circle of rune-covered rocks behind him. Obviously a ceremony was going to happen. A ceremony of evil. With a knife. And a kid. Suddenly Buffy felt sick. "You see, you may have your keys and your locks and your fancy superpowers, but I found another way to release the darkness." He chuckled. "When this boy's blood hits the first rune, the princesses' hearts will be harnessed, and the darkening process will begin. When it touches all five, your worlds, all of them, will be plunged into eternal darkness. Everywhere, from here to the edges of infinity."

Sora whimpered, helpless. He tried to calculate a plan in his head but nothing happened. The only thought that raced through his mind was that Riku would die. Buffy knew how he felt. It was just like her scenario with Dawn two years prior. She wasn't going to settle for this. This couldn't happen again. She jumped to her feet and ran after him, howling like a madwoman. She was intent on killing him. But with a flick of his wrist, Buffy flew backward, and was held to the ground by some unseen force. Sora went wide eyed, and tried to move as well, but he couldn't. Yes, the First's powers were working extremely well. Ansem gave them one more sick smile before plunging the dagger in the boys gut, and throwing him in the center of the pentagram surrounding the runes. Sora screamed.

Buffy cried. She didn't know the boy but she cried. And Sora looked back at her. They locked eyes. And in that moment they bonded.

Suddenly, both keyblades began to glow. They rose above the ground and floated in mid air, a loud whirring noise commenced. Buffy looked at Sora. Sora looked at Buffy. Then... their vision was the same. They looked down and saw a single body. The keyblades settled down in each hand, and Ansem went wide eyed.

"What the..." He said, looking at the singular figure standing before him. It was neither male nor female, it was pure concentrated power. Blonde hair, green eyes, short short frame. It was Buffy and Sora combined, and it was something else entirely. "Well, whatever just happened, I'm still going to kill you." He smirked as Riku's blood trickled down the small pathway of the pentagram and met with the first rune. And everything went black.

Ansem's eyes went fiery red. He clawed at his chest and ripped off chunks of flesh. His body grew massive. His head protruded horns, his arms grew into long, taloned claws. He was the physical embodiment of the First's true form. Still, the entity, the being that called itself 'SoraSlayer' stood unwavering.

"You may be a hero, but can your heart handle my darkness?" Ansem said in a gurgled, throaty voice. He drew his claws back and shot out a black stream of pure evil, piercing the SoraSlayer's chest. The pain was unbearable, and the SoraSlayer collapsed to its knees. Ansem had just filled it's heart with darkness.

But nothing happened. What Ansem had counted on was that they both would have the pure hearts of a hero. What he didn't know was the Slayer was born from darkness. Darkness was Buffy's nature. Dracula helped her prove it, and accept it. The SoraSlayer looked up and spoke with a smirk, it's voice an amalgamation of Buffy and Sora's.

"That... tickled." It smiled, clearly containing Buffy's love for battle puns. It lept into action, swinging both blades in rapid succession, a whirlwind of blades making deep wounds in Ansem's monstrous flesh. He howled in pain and confusion.

"That should have stopped you..." He said, puzzled. Still, he picked up the SoraSlayer and threw it back against a wall, the wall cracking down the middle. The SoraSlayer stood as if nothing happened and walked robotically back to Ansem. He swung his massive claw with enough force to smash the frail little boygirl, but to his surprise, it caught his arm and within a millisecond, cracked it in half. Ansem screamed in even more pain and lunged his other claw. Bad idea. The SoraSlayer brought both blades down and trisected his arm into three pieces. Black goo shot everywhere from the severed arm and he hissed.

"You... How can this be?" Ansem whimpered almost childishly, though he looked like a monster. The SoraSlayer offered no remorse, no sympathy. Just a blank look.

"Blame it on faith." It said, twirling around with it's blades and lopping off the giant horned head. Ansem's decapitated body quivered a few times, then collapsed. It was done.

The SoraSlayer paid no attention to his body. It just approached it's dying friend in the center of the pentagram.

"S...sora?" Riku managed to let escape through his small lips. The SoraSlayer nodded and knelt down, gripping his hand.

"It's me..." It said, trying to fight back tears. Riku gave him a weak smile.

"I always knew you were.. stronger... t-than me..." He laughed lightly and then winced in pain.

"Why is everything so cold?"

SoraSlayer shook his head and rubbed the back of Riku's hand. "I don't know, friend..." It said, choking a little on a sob. "You... you rest now, okay?"

Riku smiled. Then he closed his eyes. Then he did nothing at all.

Then everything went white.