Happy Valentine's Day!

Lilith here, and what an irony this is. I post another chapter on this day, and what happens is not a lovely thing in the slightest. Ain't I a stinker?

Anyway, shit's really hit the fan here, and I'm sure you know that we're almost wrapping up with Tainted Hearts. For those of you who gave suggestions on how best to approach Chain of Memories, thank you for your inputs. I'll do my best to make it enjoyable when I reach that stage.

Until then, enjoy!

I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.

Read along, leave me a review, but no flames.

Chapter 17: Hollow Bastion, part 2

The moment of truth has finally arrived for them; no sooner did they enter an eerie dark room lit by sickly green flames, they found themselves face-to-face with the witch Maleficent. Now that he finally got to meet her without any more interference, Sora was fired up for a fight, wanting the witch to pay for corrupting his friend into giving them trouble because of her lies. On Luna's part, her fury over the wrongs she had done to her brother in the past rekindled, and it only escalated because of what she learned from her long-lost friends in Traverse Town and what she did to turn Riku against them.

"I'm afraid you're too late. Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed," Maleficent gloated proudly. "This world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable."

Sora readied his keyblade. "We'll stop it! After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen."

"Where I stand…I'll make you wish you never lived to learn what you've learned," Luna added darkly, murder in her voice.

"You poor, simple fools," the witch growled, "Thinking you can defeat me? Me, the Mistress of all Evil?"

Right when the party began to make their charge towards the witch, she made it difficult for them when she raised her platform to higher ground and summoned Heartless to preoccupy them for a time. Thank goodness they had the Beast and Goofy to handle the brute force of the Defenders; however, they still needed a way to force Maleficent back on the ground.

"Calca, find a way to ground her!" Sora commanded.

With a jive of his arms, Calca used a Gravity spell and began forcing Maleficent's platform to lower back to their level. All the while, Brina and Donald made sure that the party was able to survive the Heartless onslaught as well as the potent spells the witch unleashed in an attempt to trip them up. However, Luna's Shadow Hands were able to block off the fireballs from reaching their spellcasting partners while they continued to do their share of the work.

"I'll admit, I was a bit surprised to find you're still around, child," Maleficent commented toward Luna, trying to size her up. "The last time we met, you were just an ignorant, naïve little girl who understood nothing. Where you've been all those years is beyond me, but I can see that you are still as ignorant as usual about what you're missing."

But Luna was having none of that. "Spare me of your arrogance, you monster. You think yourself powerful with the darkness on your side, but you are the one who understands nothing! I have seen what those cohorts have become from tampering with what they don't know about, and I am certain that you will be no different! The only future I see with you…is demise so horrible that not even your dark power will be able to save you!"

In her hatred of the witch who helped cause the misfortune she suffered years prior, Luna's Shadow Hands launched at her in full force with brutality and magic might, forcing the dark sorceress to fortify her defenses against the unanticipated assault.

However, for Sora, he found an opening on her as he hurried around the room and launched an attack at Maleficent from behind; interestingly, it worked to an extent. He was able to land several hits in the back, but then the witch changed her position and teleported herself as far from them as possible. Obviously she became desperate to survive, and wanted to regroup herself long enough to rain hell on her opponents – which would've worked if Calca and Brina hadn't given her even more trouble with their Time spells to hinder her ability to respond properly. Not wanting to waste any time, Sora moved on ahead of the party and would land the decisive blow against Maleficent, reducing her to a badly beaten down and exhausted combatant.

Realizing that the tides have turned against her, Maleficent formed a dark portal behind her and limped her way out of the chamber in an attempt to escape and recuperate from her brutal punishment.

"She's escaping!" Donald warned.

"C'mon! We gotta go after her!" Sora agreed, leading the charge.

As they followed her through the portal, Luna suddenly felt a negative vibe jolting through her; something worse was about to happen…but what?

The portal that formed led them to a ruined tower somewhere within the castle, but not only did they find Maleficent, still injured from the fight – but they also were alarmed to find that Riku was there, too. Sora could tell that there was something was not right about his friend, and Luna was quick to realize that Medea had not arrived to rendezvous with them just yet. Did something hold her up?

But then, all of their eyes were fixated on the keyblade clutched in his hands.

"That weapon…what is that?" Luna asked.

"Is that –" Donald started to question.

"Yes. A Keyblade," Riku answered as though he knew what was coming. "But unlike Sora's, this Keyblade has the power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate –" He turned to Maleficent, and abruptly stabbed the blade right into her chest. "Behold!"

Without no warning, the witch was pierced right where her heart would be, causing a flickering dark energy to emerge from her body and proceed to spread through her with sinister shades of blue, purple and red energy coursing around her.

If Sora was horrified at the sight of the atrocity occurring before his eyes, Luna was feeling a lot worse than that. She couldn't shrug the idea that she had seen something like this happen before, but…When did it happen, where, and who was involved in all of that?

But all the same, everyone was helpless as the horrors only escalated from there.

"Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness!" Riku said, anticipating the results, "Become darkness itself!"

In an instant, he pulled out the keyblade and disappeared into the shadows, leaving the rest of the crew at the mercy of Maleficent. But when a sickly green aura surrounded her, a dangerously powerful force began to change her from the inside out.

"This is…True power!" Maleficent cackled, drunk with the power flowing through her, "This is true darkness!"

Bursts of green flame surrounded Maleficent as her body changed from that of a devilish woman, growing in size until the only thing that stood in her place is a giant, fire-breathing black dragon with the colors the witch once bore so proudly. But the size wasn't intimidating enough, the soulless eyes and the fumes of green flame flaring from her nostrils were more reason to worry that defeating this monster will not be a pleasant stroll in the park.

"This is insane! How could she let it corrupt her like that?" Sora wanted to know.

"Never mind that!" Donald interrupted him, "We gotta stop her rampage!"

The Beast let out a roar as he made his charge towards the dragon, only for the monster to unleash a breath of fire against the party in retaliation and stomping the ground, causing shockwaves to stumble their footsteps. Calca and Brina put in their best efforts to protect their master and their compatriots from the intense heat of the flames, but had to watch their step as the dragon was powerful enough to withstand the brunt of Sora and the Beast's attacks with little issue and is tough enough to send someone knocking against the wall, which happened to Goofy on occasion.

Donald got the worst part of it because he was forced to stick with using Blizzard spells to even get a remote chance of landing any damage to her, but even then was often smacked around like a ragdoll. Luna, on the other hand, was also reduced to using ice and healing magic to keep herself steady through the otherwise brutal assault; truth be told, she had never fought against the witch like this, nor had she ever witnessed her turning into a dragon. If anything, fighting the dragon made the Unversed creatures look like harmless critters by comparison, and that's not even mentioning without Medea to help her through those fights.

Speaking of which…

"Dammit, you guys! I keep my eyes off you for even one minute, and something goes crazy, doesn't it?"

At the right opportunity, the dragon lurched from a sudden slashing strike from behind when Medea landed right in the middle of the fray, completely unharmed, if only really ticked off that something new had to hinder their progress.

"What kept you, Medea?" Donald demanded to know.

"We can worry about the details after we've turned that transmogrified witch into a reptilian carcass," Medea replied hastily.

With the Shadow Guardian back in the party, her quick slices with her claws made any chances of attacking the dragon a little easier to handle. Any openings she left for them allowed Sora, Goofy, and the Beast to go straight for the kill while Luna hung back with Calca and Brina as they provided the bombardment of spells to keep the fiend at bay long enough for the main offensive team to land the finishing touch on the monster for good.

After a long and exhausting battle against the corrupted witch's draconic form, all that was left of her was tattered rags that once resembled anything like Maleficent before her untimely transformation and demise.

But there was no chance to rest when Riku appeared again, unfazed by the fact that the witch had perished by their hands.

"How ironic. She was just another puppet after all," he mused as he stepped on her cloak.

"What?" Donald was baffled.

"Then that means…" Luna started to figure it out.

"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," he answered for her, "She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool."

Medea scoffed. "I guessed as much…That witch had one hell of a superiority complex."

However, Riku disappeared yet again before anyone could stop him, leaving them alone to swallow the bitter pill of knowledge they now acquired.

Sora shook his head in disbelief. "Riku's not making any sense…If Maleficent is not the real mastermind, then who is doing all of this?"

Luna shook her head sadly. "I wish I could tell you, Sora. But…I still don't have all of my memory intact."

"Did you find out what happened to Riku, Medea?" Goofy asked the guardian.

"I did find out something, alright. I tracked him down earlier, but what I found… Well, you guys aren't gonna like it, but something was just totally bonkers about him," Medea replied bitterly. "I heard him talking wacky crap about the keyhole to the darkness and about the princesses – and I'm not fooling around here, I saw the kidnapped ladies – in which there's suspicion that the ritual ain't complete. And that's the half of it: Riku…He sure as hell didn't' feel like that kid at all. There was something else ticking. The blue aura I saw spoke volumes."

Horror struck Luna's face when she heard all this. "Then Riku…has he really been…"

"I think it's best if…you two saw for yourselves," Medea answered quickly.

Sora nodded, reluctantly agreeing. "Okay. Lead the way, Medea. We have to see for ourselves."

.

.

.

.

What Medea had mentioned earlier was justified from the moment they opened the door to the chamber the guardian discovered during her recon. It gave Sora and Luna a lot of chills when they saw the six maidens kept imprisoned behind some kind of crystalline prison, seemingly asleep.

But Sora noticed right away that Luna stopped to look at two of the princesses kept prisoner by the witch's doing, guessing that she must've known a few of them from before her arrival on the islands. The sad look on her face only reinforced the feeling of unfortunate nostalgia.

However, he also noticed that the Beast stopped at one prison, where a young woman with brown hair was being held, and was gazing at her longingly. Calca and Brina were the same as well, trying to find a way to set their princess free from her cage and let her know that they came to help her. It hurt him to see them like this, considering what he knew from their interactions that they felt lost and alone without their beloved owners.

"So…that's your princess, am I right?" he asked sadly.

Brina turned to Sora, and nodded slowly 'yes' before she turned back to try and help Calca break her out to no avail.

"Boy, do I feel sorry for them. Those two tried so hard to find their owners," Medea admitted, "and look what they find."

Seeing the pain on Luna as well as the Beast only drove Sora to prepare himself for a battle in which they had to save the worlds form more wanton destruction. Luna could see this, too, but on her part, she dreaded what might happen once they step up towards the keyhole.

But just as the rest of the party went on ahead for their confrontation, something already went completely awry. Not long after they reached the top of the stairs, an unforeseen barrier suddenly blocked Goofy from proceeding any further, knocking him back down a few notches; this, in turn, caused Donald to turn back to find out what happened.

However, Sora and Luna stopped to find…

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed as he rushed over to her.

Luna hurried after him, hoping that her sister wasn't completely lost to them. But closer inspection let her know that Kairi was still only an empty shell, her heart still missing. How could that be?

"Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!" Sora pleaded, "Luna's here, too!"

"It's no use." Sora and Luna looked up to find Riku atop of the keyhole's archway. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

"What…?" That was when Sora realized what Medea had meant earlier. "You…You're not Riku."

"The Keyhole cannot be completed, so long as the last Princess of Heart still sleeps," 'Riku' continued as he jumped off and landed on the ground with ease.

Sora turned towards Kairi in confusion, and back. "The princess…? Kairi's a princess?"

"Princess…" Luna puzzled a moment, trying to think back where she heard that. That was when she remembered what she knew from her surrogate grandfather and what she noticed in her interaction with Kairi in the past… "No…So that's why it's as pure as the others."

"Yes, and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."

Medea was really angry at this point. "Oh, hell, no! You're not gonna screw another person up right now!"

"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!" Sora demanded angrily.

'Riku' didn't seem like he gave a damn. "But first, you must give the princess back her heart."

Suddenly, Sora jolted in a shock of pain, causing him to fall to his knees as he clutched his chest; this worried Luna and Donald as they turned to help him while Medea gave a death glare towards 'Riku' while he simply looked on at the turn of events.

"What's –" Sora had trouble spilling the words.

"Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding," 'Riku' pointed out as he walked down the steps. "It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi…Kairi's inside me?" Sora gasped.

That was when Luna remembered what had happened back on the islands before it was destroyed by the darkness overrunning the world: when she and Sora found Kairi by the strange door, their friend was thrown towards Sora by the force, and then she suddenly vanished without a trace. How could her heart have survived the devastation unless it… It finally hit her: the protection of Kairi, so to speak, was possible because of Aqua's magic! How else did Kairi's body not disappear despite it not holding her heart in the first place? How else could they have possibly been able to find Kairi, if she was guiding them to where she was being kept? How did she not realize this after so long!

"Sora…Kairi was protected by you all this time!" Luna figured it out.

"Then how come she didn't just let us know somehow?" Medea grilled for knowledge. "This is getting out of hand here!"

'Riku' smirked. "I know all that there is to know."

"Tell me. Who are you?" Sora demanded.

Nobody was prepared for the answer. "It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness."

Ansem?

Everyone in the area was shocked enough about the twist of fate; but Luna and Medea had the worst of it. In fact, the idea that a vile being had taken control over the body of someone important to her was horrifying for Luna because it reminded her badly of the corruption of her older brother ten years ago, making her falter from pure terror at having to confront yet another lost loved one. Medea, though, was thoroughly peeved off because despite her misgivings about Riku, she never really wanted him to suffer the same fate as Luna's brother, Terra, already did years prior.

When 'Ansem', as he so called himself, started to make his way to Sora, Donald charged at him in an attempt to protect him. But he was knocked away from the platform like it was no trouble for him, leaving only Sora, Luna, and Medea to worry about their lives on their own.

'Ansem' readied the keyblade towards Sora. "So, I shall release you now, Princess. Complete the keyhole with your power. Open the door, and lead me into everlasting darkness!"

Everything felt like it was moving so quickly yet also so slowly as 'Ansem' raised his keyblade like an executioner, ready to destroy Sora and get his way. Luna tried to move in so she could save Sora, but just when it seemed to spell doom, he actually regained his footing and blocked the attack with all his might like a guardian protecting what's most important.

"Forget it! There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!" Sora refused, standing his ground in defiance.

Reluctantly, Luna summoned her Shadow Hands into a circular formation while Medea readied her Black Claws for a brawl and Sora readied his keyblade for battle.

If Riku as he normally used to be was not a cakewalk, then the fight against 'Ansem' as he is using Riku's body became a nightmare to put up with. Not only was his striking power much stronger than before, but he also had plenty of dangerous tricks up his sleeves. Sora and Medea had to stay on their toes if they were to even so much as land a hit on him, especially since he wasn't shy about unleashing bursts of dark energy at their feet to trip them up.

"Really, now? Are you even trying to fight me?" 'Ansem' taunted.

"Of course I am! You're the one threatening to hurt my friends!" Sora retorted as he parried the strikes coming to him.

However, on Luna' part, she found that she was having some serious trouble keeping up with the assault like her friend and her guardian were. Was it because she didn't want to fight against Riku in the first place? She knows that somebody else is using his body, and she is aware that whoever is doing this bore an eerily familiar presence that she should remember about back a child, but…But then why was she starting to falter at the worst timing? She can't hesitate when someone's life is in danger…

'Ansem' obviously noticed this, and mocked her on it. "What's wrong, Luna? Are you not too eager to fight back? Or is it because you can't bring yourself to even scratch your own friend?"

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Luna cried, shaking in her boots. "Just…give him back! Just give my Riku back! Give him back!"

Just when it couldn't get any worse than it already has, Medea made to jump at him and pound him into the ground for harassing her master; but 'Ansem' saw her coming, and – to the horror of everyone watching this – used the keyblade to stab Medea right in the chest, like he did to Maleficent.

Sora and Luna were struck in horror at this. "Medea!"

"How absurd. You call yourself a guardian, and yet you're at my mercy," 'Ansem' remarked mockingly. "If you're that desperate to kill me, then you can disappear along with that fool of a witch!"

With a powerful swing, he tossed Medea far out of the arena, leaving Sora and Luna at his mercy – or not at all. Without the Shadow Guardian's brutality, the fight only got harder as it seemed like 'Ansem' really wanted to finish them off. Despite Sora's efforts to stop him and Luna's attempts to keep him away, they suffered a lot of punishment by his blade, leaving them with little room to maintain a form of defense.

It almost felt like they were done for after Sora took a serious beating, leaving Luna with nobody left to save her when she needed help most, more so as 'Ansem' opted to pursue her first while Sora is down for the count.

"You naïve child, always relying on others to handle the dirty work while you stayed back," he said to her as he closed in, "Have those nine years of hiding reduced you to such cowardice? And I thought a Shadow Mage was supposed to be a powerful force. Or…was it because you didn't want the scars on your mind to reopen after taking your time to 'recover' from recalling those skeletons in your closet of memories?" He readied his keyblade to strike her down. "Oh, well, perhaps you might be of use to me if I changed your tune a little bit."

"Hell, no, you're not!"

All of a sudden, 'Ansem' was knocked away from Luna and slammed into one of the control panels hard enough to break it. To her surprise, Luna realized that Medea came back into the fray – not only alive, but incorruptible, much to the shock of their enemy.

"Medea…! You're alive!" Luna cried, gasping in joy.

"What? Were you afraid you'd lose me?" Medea asked, "I don't go down that easy."

'Ansem' didn't take it too well, though. "How…! How are you not swallowed by the darkness? How can you still be here, after I pierced your heart?!"

"You obviously haven't learned a thing about me or Luna, have you? Then I'll make it simple for you: she's a Shadow Mage and I'm her Guardian," Medea answered, cracking her knuckles and reforming her claws. "We don't follow the same rules as any of your playthings. Our darkness is our shield, not our poison! In layman's terms, you can't corrupt us, no matter how hard you try!"

'Ansem', very displeased that his attempts to corrupt Medea failed, charged towards her to permanently kill her off, but then he was bashed into the ground by a fully recovered Sora as he stepped in to help the girls.

"Sora…! Are you okay?" Luna asked.

He gave her a confident grin. "I'm fine now. At least Donald was able to heal me just enough to let me handle the rest while Medea kept him distracted."

Thanks to Medea's return to the field and Sora's secret recovery, now they had the opportunity to finish him off once and for all; after all, they had to put an end to the reign of terror the Heartless caused, and there's no spare time to waste. In fact, their fight actually became much easier this time around as they beat him until he disappeared from the room…but there was no knowing what happened to Riku from that point on. There were still other problems to deal with…

"Sora! Luna! Guys, look!" Donald called out.

"The…The keyhole!" Goofy finished as he pointed toward the keyhole.

From afar, it looked like the keyhole of the bastion was about to burst to overflowing with dark energy. Sora, desperate to put a stop to it, hurried over and raised his keyblade to the altar to lock it…but nothing happened.

"Sora…it's not responding," Luna noticed.

"What the hell?" Medea questioned. "What kind of keyhole is this? Is it really not finished, like that jackass mentioned?"

"What're we gonna do?" Sora asked, not sure what to do now.

"Maybe we gotta go wake Kairi up," Goofy suggested.

Everyone turned to Kairi, her body still motionless. Did that mean what they think it meant…?

"I think you're right. If we can wake Kairi…" Sora thought about it, but then he sighed in frustration. "But…But how?"

But then, his attention shifted towards the sinister blade still resting on the ground after its owner had vanished. He recalled what he had seen happened when it was used, so… An idea started to form in his head, a particularly crazy one that he knew Luna would not approve of.

"A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts," he pondered to himself, "I wonder…"

Medea didn't like where this was going. "Kiddo, whatever the hell you're thinking, you'd better not do that…"

"Sora, what are you…" Luna was about to ask.

Unfortunately, against their dire warnings, Sora let his instincts dictate him, and he decided to do the unthinkable: use the keyblade to unlock his heart, and restore Kairi's heart back to where it belongs. Donald and Goofy tried to dissuade him from doing it, but were instead given a cheeky grin from Sora before he turned the point of the blade to his chest, and impaled himself with it. The dark keyblade used to perform the horrible task broke apart as six brightly glowing lights flew away and returned to their rightful owners – with Kairi's pure heart returning to her body, restoring her to life. But at what cost…?

"Sora! Sora!" Donald squawked frantically as he tried to run for Sora's collapsing body.

"NO! No, you can't do this!" Luna screamed hysterically as she stumbled behind.

Kairi, waking up in time to see Sora's body disappearing before her eyes and Luna trying to stop him, immediately got up on her feet to try and catch up, fearing that she might not get the chance to talk to him again.

…But it was too late. By the time she reached him, his body had already completely disappeared into specks of light scattering into oblivion. Sora, who had gone through so much danger, was no longer with them.

"Dammit, you stupid kid! Why the hell did you have to do that?!" Medea shouted furiously.

"Sora! Sora! Come back, Sora!" Donald implored in futility.

Luna was pretty much in tears as she realized that Sora was lost to them, and she could do nothing to stop him from recklessly giving up his life to restore the life of another.

Kairi felt it, too, but there was something else as well. "Sora, are you really –" But she wouldn't lose her faith. "No. He can't be! I won't let him go!"

Before anyone could ask her what she meant, the remaining group was greeted by someone different – but certainly with the best intentions, as Luna and Medea could easily sense the moment he appeared from the shadows.

"Luna…are you seeing this?" Medea asked, hardened for a fight.

Luna trembled with horror, déjà vu crossing her mind. "Medea…that man…"

If there is anything Luna can recognize from first glance, it's the uncannily familiar dark skin and the gold-yellow eyes like that of a demon, along with the silver hair reminding her of someone she once feared and loathed in her past. But not only was he fitted into the attire resembling that of the man who damaged her life – gray coat, white gloves and all of that – very closely, but she could spot the symbol of the Heartless kept close to his chest. That could only mean he is the true puppet master controlling the black creatures and using them to wreak havoc across the worlds with no conscience on him to hold him back.

"So, you have awakened at last, Princess. The Keyhole is now complete," Ansem spoke triumphantly. "You have served your purpose. But now it's over."

As he began to step towards Kairi, intending to dispose of her, Donald and Goofy got in front to defend her while Luna and Medea inched closer to her to prepare to take her at any moment.

"Don't make another move!" Donald warned.

"You wouldn't dare… You took Riku from me, and you tricked Sora into unlocking his heart," Luna hissed lowly, "You will not take my sister from me, not again!"

Goofy was not too certain about it. "Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?"

"If you guys won't, then I will!" Medea growled.

However, they didn't have to. Just when Ansem was coming closer, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, unable to make any movements; but what could've stopped him from killing them so easily? The answer became clear when a faint apparition of Riku appeared, struggling to block the parasitic villain from meeting his objective.

"No. You won't use me for this!" Riku protested.

Luna gasped in shock at the sight. Does it mean that he hasn't been completely lost yet? Is there still hope for him?

Kairi was surprised to see him struggling. "Riku!"

"You've got to run. The Heartless are coming!" Riku warned them.

True to his words, the Heartless began to appear in more numbers than ever, threatening to destroy them if they didn't get moving. This was their only chance to escape before they got caught into the mess the unlocked keyhole has unleashed.

"C'mon, we gotta get away from here!" Medea ordered as she started running.

"But Riku…" Luna tried to protest.

Kairi grabbed her hand, stopping her. "Luna, we have to go! He can't stop that man forever."

"But what about the Keyhole?" Goofy asked as he began to run.

"Never mind that! Let's just get outta here!" Donald insisted.

Not given any other choice, the party made a mad dash out of the chamber so as to not get caught in the growing swarm, their escape leading them all the way down to the entrance hall where they had previously encountered Riku before everything went into a downward spiral of hell. But just as they had arrived there, one Heartless appeared before them, but there was something rather…strange about it.

Donald, thinking it a nuisance, tried to bash its head in. "Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya?"

But Kairi quickly noticed something different about it. "Sora? Is that you?"

"Do you mean…?" Luna was about to ask what she was talking about.

But then, swarms of Heartless surrounded them, threatening to attack them. Donald, Goofy, and Medea rushed out in different directions to fend the creatures off while Luna and Kairi moved closer to the quirky Heartless to defend it.

"This time, I'll protect you," Kairi promised.

"We both will," Luna added, "As friends…and family would do."

The creatures came closer to them and began to make a pounce on the three of them, forcing Kairi and Luna to join together and keep their transformed friend safe. But on Luna's part, she tried to block their assault with her Shadow Hands to the best of her ability.

At that moment, a miracle happened: in a flash of light, the Heartless were knocked away from them, and in between both girls stood Sora, returned to his normal self and no longer as a Heartless. Kairi felt his embrace as he held both her and Luna gratefully close to him; maybe he was glad to know that someone helped him through whatever ordeal he had to deal with.

"Kairi, thank you," he said, glad to be back, "You and Luna both."

Now, it would've been nice to be able to spill the beans from him on what he had gone through…But that wasn't feasible when more Heartless showed up and started to surround them. It almost spelled trouble for them when a mighty roar echoed in the hall, and three saving graces – the Beast, Calca and Brina – arrived and forced the Heartless away from the others with their strength and magic.

"Go! Now!" the Beast ordered them.

"Come with us!" Sora insisted, not wanting to leave them behind.

But he wouldn't relent. "I told you before; I'm not leaving without Belle. Now, go! The Heartless are coming!"

Luna wanted to protest herself, but Calca put his hands out and shook his head 'no' while Brina made a gesture of shooing them out; their way of telling them that they should leave right now while they have the chance.

"Are you sure, you two?" Luna asked them.

Calca and Brina nodded together, still anxiously gesturing them to get out.

"Alright…Let's get out of here," Sora accepted that there's no dissuading them.

Left with no other alternatives, Sora, Luna and the others fled the castle, leaving the Beast and the two dolls behind to try and fight off the Heartless swarming out of the ruined castle. All they could do now is head back to Traverse Town and let their friends back there know what had transpired…but there is the chance that the news they'll give to them will not be a positive one, not after what they've encountered.