"After so long, it's finally time. Time to wake Ven up." Hope said. "You've been waiting for this for years, Jexi."
"It only feels like years cause of that one time travel thing we did." Jexi said.
They walked the dark path before approaching Castle Oblivion. "Man I was really hoping we'd never come back here." Dan said. "You sure you wanna do this Aqua? We can come back tomorrow."
"No...Ven's been waiting long enough." Aqua said raising her keyblade. She pulled back as she thrusted forward as light surrounded the castle as its form started to shift and change as well as the landscape surrounding it as once was a castle lost in darkness now stood as a fortress for would be keyblade wielders...the return of the Land of Departure.
"Incredible." Ace said.
"Wow…" Hope said. "So Castle Oblivion was actually the Land of Departure."
"So Ven's inside right?" Aelita asked.
"Yes. Come on." Aqua said as she lead the group inside.
The group then walked through the hallways and up the stairs as they saw Ventus asleep in the middle chair.
"Ah… just the way we left him like last time." Hope said. "Time to wake up, buddy."
"One sec!" Eddy said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bugle. "Just in case."
"Such a neat trick you pulled." a voice said as Vanitas appeared in his dark suit. "No wonder no one could find him."
"Oh great…" Hope said.
"Why are you here?" Ace asked.
"Why do you think? I've come for my brother." Vanitas said.
"We're not gonna let that happen." Ace said summoning his Keyblade.
"Heh." Vanitas said as he faded for a moment before he reappeared past Ace as he continued towards Ven.
"Hold it right there!" Jesse said getting in front.
"Tch… You again." Vanitas said. "Shouldn't you be grieving...for that pathetic master of yours?"
"I'm done grieving. It's not going to change what happens now." Jesse said.
"Then I'll just get rid of you now, and then Ventus is mine." Vanitas said as Jesse and Aqua stood side by side.
"Aqua...what?" Jesse said as a barrier appeared keeping the three inside.
"There's no way I'm letting him anywhere near Ven." Aqua said.
"Fine...now I can finish what I started years ago with you." Vanitas said.
"Jesse!" Ross called out.
"Don't worry, we got this!" Jesse said.
"I'll crush you both!" Vanitas said. "Dark Firaga!" he called launching black fireballs.
"Blizzara!" Jesse called as he fired icicles to block the fireballs.
"So the little swordsman's gone and learned how to use magic, huh?" Vanitas said.
"Let's say I have a good teacher." Jesse said.
"Good...then you and her can die together." Vanitas said.
"I'm not talking just about Aqua." Jesse said. "Majestic winds, slice through my enemies...Wind Blade!"
"What the?!" Vanitas gawked blocking the slashes before Jesse appeared behind him.
"I learned from a great warrior too." Jesse said.
"Wait a minute… Jesse could only have learned that from…" Genis said.
"Kratos!" Lloyd said. "He mentioned that he was training under him, so it's no surprise he'd learn some of his techniques."
"And here's another. O din of this modest land...Stone Blast!" Jesse called as stones struck Vanitas from underneath.
"Argh!" Vanitas said.
"Time to finish this." Aqua said. "Ready, Jesse?"
"Heh...guess it's time to go underhanded. Dark Firaga!" he shouted firing at the barrier part that kept Ven away. Once it hit, part of it looked broken. "One more should do it. Dark Firaga!" he said firing.
"No!" Aqua said jumping in the way and taking the shot herself.
"Aqua!" Jesse called out.
"Don't worry...I'll make sure you join her soon enough." Vanitas said standing over her as he slowly rose his keyblade up.
"This is bad… we gotta do something!" Hope said.
"Ven! Wake up! Aqua is in danger! You need to wake up!" Sora shouted having little effect.
"It's no use… we need to use the Power of Waking." Hope said.
"Sora, unlock that power now or I'm getting the mallet!" Eddy said.
"But...but…" Sora said.
"Sora...you can do it." a voice echoed inside his heart.
"Ven…" Sora said as he envisioned himself in his heart. Holding his keyblade tight, he fired a light ray that hit a patch of darkness reconstituting Ven's heart completely.
"Sora...thank you for always keeping me safe." Ven said.
"Ven….I'm returning this to you!" Jesse shouted tossing Wayward Wind into the air before it vanished.
"Aqua!" a voice shouted as something broke through the barrier. The light subsided showing a fully awakened Ventus holding Wayward Wind tight as he forced Vanitas back.
As the barrier shattered, Vanitas found himself surrounded by the heroes.
"Want to continue, Vanitas? We're all for a couple more rounds." Hope said.
"Should we really settle it here though?" Hagakure asked.
"We don't pick a ballroom, we just dance." Noir said.
"Let's dogpile this sucker!" ZS yelled, slamming a fist into his palm.
As the heroes gathered, Vanitas jumped over and landed behind them. "Three guardians and several heroes is more than I care to face. But now that my brother is awake...I'm certain that he'll come to visit." Vanitas said fading.
"Nuts… He got away again." David said.
"We won't make that mistake again next time." Ace said.
"Hey are you okay, Aqua?" Sora asked.
"I'm fine, Sora." Aqua said.
"Wait. You're...Sora?" Ventus asked Sora as he saw a brief vision of Vanitas's true face for a moment.
"Yeah...nice to meet you...Ventus." Sora said as he extended a hand.
"I get it now. You were my second chance." Ven said before taking the hand. "Please...call me Ven."
"Yeah! He's back everybody! Now we just need to find Terra and we've got the whole gang back!" Moltar said.
"Uh… One problem with that, though." Omnimon said.
"Dare I ask?" Double D said. "...And that is?"
"We already told you what. Terra's body is still possessed by Xehanort." Jesse said.
"It's gonna be a real task getting him back." Hope said.
"You just leave that to me." Rainbow said. "I made a promise to bring him back...and I'm going to keep it."
"For now, we should head back to Master Yen Sid's. After all...with Ven awake...we have our seven guardians." Jexi said.
"Good idea." Naomi said.
"Besides...I have the feeling we need all the rest we can." Hope said.