Happy Valentine's Day! Here is another chapter of Souls of the Heart! Woo!

Ch.17

As Sora walked along the walls of the cave, he looked around at all of the drawings. He smiled as he remembered all of the fun times he had in here, drawing on the walls. His eyes then fell on two particular drawings. There was the drawing he and Kairi had done of each other. It still made him smile each time he saw it. Since he knew he had some time to kill he sat down in front of the wall, picked up a rock and started to draw something else near their faces. A few minutes later he had drawn a nice looking hand from his face holding out a Paopu fruit to Kairi's

'You have gotten so good at drawing!' Ventus told him happily.

'Your skills at artwork has definitely improved.'

Sora smiled. "Thanks guys." He decided to comment a loud since he was the only one in the cave at the time being. He started to leaned back a bit and stared at the hand he had drawn. But just as he was about to relax, he heard a odd sound from somewhere in the cave.

Sora jumped to his feet as his body started to tense up. Was someone else here? He thought that everyone else was outside of the cave. He thought that he was the only one here… was he mistaken? Had… someone else heard him speaking aloud?

"R-Riku? Kairi? Are either of you here?" He called out, an uneasy feeling washing over him.

"I've come to see the door to this world," a deep and mysterious voice replied.

Sora completely froze. Someone else was here. There was someone else in the cave with him. He tried to looked around, but he could only see dark shadows at the edges of the cave. Part of him wanted to run, but he was too scared to move. Whomever this was may have heard him. They could have heard him talking and thought he was talking to himself.

"W-What?" Sora asked nervously.

"This world has been connected," the voice replied.

Sora shifted slightly and managed to take one step back. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"Tied to the darkness... Soon to be completely eclipsed," the voice said.

"Guys…" Sora thought to Ventus and Vanitas. "What should I do."

'I don't know… be careful.. This person…' Ventus trailed off.

'I don't like this person… he… makes me nervous.' Vanitas admitted hesitantly.

Sora thought he should just turn and run. If Ventus and Vanitas felt uneasy by the mysterious voice, then it probably was something bad. But… there also was a small bit of curiosity in him. He found a small part of him wanting to know more. Sora squinted to try and see if he could figure out where the person was coming from, and sure enough he did. Standing opposite of him seemed to be someone draped in a brown robe.

"Wh-Where did you come from? H-How did you get in here?" Sora asked, nervousness still in his voice.

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door," the voice ominously replied.

"What does he mean by that?" Sora questioned in his thoughts. "What door?"

'I am unsure,' Vanitas told him.

Ven was silent a moment longer before he said, 'I think… he's talking about the gateway to the other worlds?'

"What?! Seriously?" Sora thought before looked back at the robed person. He wasn't sure if he would get a good answer, but he thought to try. "You… You mean you're from another world?"

"There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."

Sora pouted slightly at that response. It was far from what he wanted. It didn't give him any clues or answers to who this guy was or what he was doing in the cave. "You're wrong! I understand a lot! But I can still learn more! I'll learn about everything out there."

There was a pause before the voice spoke again. "A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

A sudden chill flew through the cave and Sora's attention was drawn to the strange door that was in the cave. He had nearly forgotten about it. He stared at it for a bit longer, starting to wonder again what it's purpose was. When he looked back to where the robed person was, he saw they were no longer there.

"Ah! Where did he go?" Sora questioned aloud.

'I'm unsure…' Ventus answered.

There was a pause before Vanitas commented on the situation. 'I can sense some lingering darkness.'

"Darkness really? You think who ever that was used darkness?" Sora asked, this time in his thoughts, just in case anyone else showed up.

'I believe that it is very likely,' he admitted before falling silent.

"Oh… I see. Well I hope whomever it was doesn't come back," Sora thought as he started to make his way out of the cave.

'I don't think that we will get our wish.' Ventus said.

Sora sighed a little as he exited back out of the cave. He then spend the remainder of the day with Kairi and Riku. Soon enough though the sun was beginning to set. Riku headed home a bit earlier though as he had to help his family with something for that evening. It was just Sora and Kairi left on the island now. They both sat on the dock next to the boats as they watched the sunset.

"I still can't believe it," Kairi commented.

"Can't believe what?" Sora asked.

"We're almost there. We've almost done it. But…" Kairi trailed off as she continued to watch the sun's light dance across the water.

Sora turned to look at her. "But what? Is something wrong?"

"Well…" Kairi started to say as she looked back at Sora. A little look of uncertainty filled her eyes.

"You okay?" Sora asked.

"I don't know… I think I am just a little afraid. I'm still a little afraid of what we will find out there or what we will see. Though… I know I can always come back here," Kairi said as she turned around to look at the island. She then looked back at Sora. "Right?"

'Of course she can, once you brats figure out how to travel across worlds you will be free to come and go as you please.' Vanitas grumbled, finding Kairi's insecurities to be stupid.

'It's true that you will be able to come back,' Ventus agreed.

Sora reached out and placed a hand on top of Kairi's. He gave her the best smile he could. "Of course! Plus Ven and Vani confirmed we would be able to so you know it's true. Plus I would make sure we all could return here whenever we wanted."

Kairi smiled back. "Well that's good to hear. I feel more reassured now that I know that." She paused for a moment as she gazed back out at the sea. "Sora, don't ever change."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sora asked her as she stood up.

"You know what I mean," she replied sweetly.

Vanitas made a retching noise inside of his head.

Sora did his best to ignore Vantias's reaction and focus on what Kairi had to say next.

"I can't wait though. Once we set sail, it will be great."

A few hours had gone by and it was now early evening time and Sora laid on top of his bed. The events from that day still lingered in his head. Thankfully his parents were in the kitchen making dinner, so they wouldn't really hear him if he spoke aloud. He was to old for him to still have 'imaginary friends.' So since he had learned how to communicate silently with Ventus and Vanitas he made it seem as if he had 'outgrown' his need for imaginary friends.

"I still can't believe this is happening. Like… we are really going to go out and see other worlds."

'Yes we are,' Ventus said excitedly.

'I still don't believe it will work,' Vanitas muttered.

"Why do you keep being so pessimistic about this Vani?" Sora asked. "I don't get it."

'It's just logical. If all people who sailed on the ocean ended up finding another world, don't you think all of Destiny Islands would know by now? Obviously there has to be another way for us to travel across worlds,' Vanitas said flatly.

"But… maybe… I don't know…" Sora said as he sighed slightly. He glanced out his window.

'We… might be lucky to find new land…' Vanitas stated hesitantly, 'I'm just saying that it is highly unlikely we will find a new world by sailing the ocean.'

"Hmm yeah…" Sora said as he sighed again.

Suddenly a bright flash of light came from far out in the sky. Sora sat straight up and stared out his window. Another bright flash followed soon after and Sora could see that the sky was filled with dark storm clouds.

"I didn't know there would be a storm tonight... Ah! The raft! The storm could destroy it!"

'The storm looks like it's going to pretty vicious… it's not safe to go outside.' Ventus warned him.

"But the raft! I have to make sure it's okay!" Sora said as he jumped off his bed. He started to make his way to his door. He made sure to grab his wooden sword, just in case. He knew he would have to carefully sneak past his parents in order to get to the front door.

'It's not safe! You could get hurt!'

Vanitas huffed a bit before he said, 'If Sora is quick about it he can get the raft put away, and back to safety before the storm hits.'

'Fine… just be quick Sora.'

"I'll be safe," Sora said in his thoughts, now that he was sneaking through the house. "It won't take that long probably. I'll be back before supper is finished."

Sora finally had snuck out of the house and made his way down to the docks where his boat was. Thankfully it had not started raining yet, there was only a slight wind. Sora managed to make it across the waters though to the island. But when he got there he looked up to see something in the sky. It looked to be a large orb of energy that hung right above the island. WInd and darkness seemed to swirl around it.

Sora slowly got out of his boat as he continued to stare at it, gripping his wooden sword tightly. "What is… What is that?"

'I don't know, but I can feel the darkness on it,' Vanitas cautioned.

"Really? What could have caused that?" Sora wondered before looking at the dock more carefully. He let out a gasp. "Hey! Riku's boat is here! As well as Kairi's! They're here too!"

'I hope that they are all right,' Ventus commented.

"We gotta find them!" Sora said as he ran onto the island. "Maybe Riku and Kairi are somewhere safe together."

Sora only got a few steps onto the island when strange pools of darkness formed all over the shores. From those pools of darkness little strange creates started to emerge. They were completely black like darkness, but had two yellow glowing eyes. There was many of them appearing all around the island now.

'Heartless!' Ventus shouted, causing Sora to wince a bit.

"What is a Heartless?" Sora questioned eyeing the things cautiously. He held up his wooden sword as he tried to avoid the small creatures.

'Well.. it's hard to explain. But basically they are creatures of darkness. It would be best to avoid them.'

Sora nodded. "Got it."

Sora tried his best to run past all of the Heartless. As he did he saw something on the small island. "Riku!" Sora shouted as he started to head in that direction. He ran up to the bridge and started to cross it, still avoiding all the Heartless that kept appearing. When he got close enough he saw that Riku was staring up at the orb in the sky. He stood there unmoving, focused intently on it.

"Riku!" Sora shouted now that he was closer. "Are you okay? Where is Kairi? Did she come here at the same time as you?"

"The door has opened..." Riku muttered loudly, still not facing Sora.

"What? Door? What are you talking about?"

Riku slowly turned around to look at Sora. "The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world! We don't need to raft anymore!"

'He is saying the same thing that weirdo from earlier was saying.' Vanitas pointed out.

Sora let out a shaky breath. He knew Vanitas was right about that. Riku was talking about some door, just like the voice from before. He didn't like the look of the weird orb or the way Riku was talking.

"Riku… what are you even saying? That stuff isn't important right now. We have to find where Kairi is. Are you sure you haven't-"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku shouted abruptly causing Sora to flinch slightly.

"B-But…" Sora started to say, but he was too quiet to be heard.

Riku looked up at the orb once again. "Sora. This is our chance. It may be our only chance. If we don't take it now it may never happen again. We may never see our parents again, but there is no turning back. Come on, don't Ven and Vani have something to say about this?"

'While I want us to see the other worlds, I don't think that this is the way to do it,' Ventus said nervously.

'This will be our own chance to escape though, once we are out on the different worlds we can figure a better way to travel, but this is like a miracle. We have been wanting to escape and see the other worlds! And here it is! We have to take the risk,' Vanitas said excitedly.

'But.. this is obviously made of darkness! It will hurt us!' Ventus argued back.

Vanitas seemed confused, 'Why would the darkness hurt us? It has never hurt me before.'

Sora frowned, confused and worried and scared as the two continued to argue back and forth, he looked at Riku with a helpless expression.

"I-I… I don't know…" Sora replied hestianly, his head aching slightly from the duo's argument.

"You don't have to be afraid Sora," Riku replied. "I'll be there for you after all."

Sora tried to smile, feeling a little better upon hearing that from his friend. He slowly tried to take a step forward, though the wind was picking up even more than before.

"We don't have to be afraid of anything. We can't let fear stop us. I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Riku shouted to the skies above before holding out a hand towards Sora.

Sora could easily see there was a fierce determination in Riku's eyes. One that he had never quite seen before. It made him feel a little uneasy again. "Riku…" Sora started to say, but darkness appeared on the ground beneath Riku's feet.

The darkness started to swirl around RIku and slowly wrap around his body. Sora could feel his heart pounding against his chest. "Riku!" He tried to run towards his friend, but found himself to be stuck in the darkness that was spreading.

"Just take hold of my hand Sora!" Riku shouted rather casually, still holding out his hand.

Sora continued to struggle as he tried to reach forward to grab hold of Riku. Sora started to breathe faster and faster as he continuously tried to move in the darkness. But it proved to be worthless. Sora closed his eyes as he felt the darkness completely surround him. He started to feel dizzy, but then a dazzling light surround him. Sora closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, the darkness was gone. He looked around to see he was still on the smaller island, but Riku was no longer there. Not only that, but he was now holding something heavy in his left hand.

He stared down at the strange object before him. It was similar to that of a house key, but several times bigger. It did look like a key, but for some reason also reminded Sora of his sword. Sora held it up in front of his face as he examined it more.

'A Keyblade' Both Ventus and Vanitas muttered at the same time, astonishment and surprise in their voices.

Ta-da! And that is of course where we decided to end it. Heh.

Thank you all SO much for reading this story and everything! It means so much to us! See you next time!