Chapter Eighteen: Ruins of Nothing

When the flash was gone, I opened my eyes to see a dark city, lit by a few neon signs. The sky was cloudy, but there was a faint crimson glow in them. It could only be… The World that Never Was. What was left of it, anyway…

"Oh, my head…" I muttered as I sat up. Our landing had been… a bit rough. Amy was next to me, sitting on the wet ground in the alleyway.

"What happened? Where are we?" she asked me as she got up.

"I don't know what happened, but it looks like we got teleported to The World that Never Was, somehow. I imagine the Keyhole had something to do with it." I replied.

"The World that Never Was? What could be here?" Amy asked again.

I thought for a moment before replying. "Kingdom Hearts. Xemnas' Kingdom Hearts… or what's left of it, anyway."

"So, that's how we're supposed to get to Amaterasu. Well, come on, let's get going!" she proclaimed, and we set out amongst the alleyways.

Soon, we came to am overturned truck. The lights were still on. I jumped up on the trailer, and then helped Amy up. We then jumped down. I turned to the right, and the Memory's Skyscraper towered above us. For some reason… I couldn't stop looking at it. It was mesmerizing, somehow…

"Roy! What's happening to you?" Amy asked. "Your arm… it's turning black!" she shouted. I looked down, and it was slowly turning jet black.

"Come on, let's get out of here before I lose control!" I yelled, finally able to take my eyes off of the Skyscraper. We ran to the Brink of Despair and then up to the Castle That Never Was. I felt the darkness slowly leaving me when we entered the castle, as well as an eerie silence.

"What was that? You lost control of your darkness?" Amy asked me.

"I guess. The Dark City and Memory's Skyscraper must have had something to do with it. They ARE some of the darkest places to ever exist." I said. "At least it's gone."

"You have a point. And the important thing is, you didn't give in to it." she said with a smile. We then proceeded up the castle, passing the same places as Sora. Eventually we came to the Hall of Empty Melodies, wherein we encountered Luce.

They were almost like people, but shining yellow, so you couldn't see any distinctive features. I could see Xemnas' corrupted Kingdom Hearts outside, the huge "wound" still there.

"So, these must be Luce. Charon's rolled out the welcoming mat already? Heheh… this'll be fun." I said, feeling a little aggressive. "You know what to do!" I said to Amy while pulling out my Masamune.

"Yeah. Let's get 'em!" she yelled back, pulling out her Sakaboto. We then charged at these eerie, silent lights.

There were about half a dozen of them. The Luce weren't too tough, and were rather passive. Some of them tried to punch or kick me, but I easily dodged the blows (especially easy after fighting Brenton), and Amy and I proceeded to hack our way through the rest of the castle up to the Altar of Naught.

The tower itself was broken, but by jumping up to the stairs and climbing with our swords, we were able to reach the steep railing of the tower, and stood on the arches of our feet as we stared into the abyss of the Dark City below and the vortex of Xemnas' corrupt Kingdom Hearts.

"So, that's where we have to go?" Amy asked me.

"I guess. What does your heart tell you?" I asked her with a slight snicker.

"You're terrible." she replied.

"Come on, let's go!" I shouted, and then jumped into the vortex. Everything went white again…

Guardian, murderer, pacifist, warrior…