Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I DO own the OCs. If you'd like to use them in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 23

Sora and Riku looked up, they were only a few dozen yards from facing down the old witch for what they hoped was the last time. That was until a familiar face landed in front of them from out of nowhere.

"Thought I wasn't comin' huh?" Pete bolstered proudly, his hands on his hips. "I ain't lettin' you pass no matter what."

Pete's response was met by a belt to the head thanks to the hard metal pommel of Riku's Way to the Dawn. A loud and comical 'bonk' could be heard by both Riku and Sora.

"Mommy? Is that you?" Pete twittered before falling to the ground and passing out with a goofy, broken tooth grin on his face.

Riku gave a momentary shake of his head. It was hard to believe that the old witch would entrust anything to this fat blubbering buffoon. The white haired boy looked over at Sora, communicated to Sora on an almost mental basis that he was ready to continue on. Sora replied with a nod, understanding what Riku had said and voicing his affirmative wordlessly.

Maleficent's scaly form soared over their heads as she circled around the town to prepare for her attack. Riku and Sora both could do little as she came closer, her large tooth filled maw seething with green flames. With one quick movement of her head she let loose a ball of emerald fire directed at the two young men. Sora and Riku both leapt down from the building they stood on to the roof of a shorter nearby building.

Maleficent's fireball exploded upon impact, sending cinders and wisps of green smoke from what remained of the roof above them. The two young Keybladers were a little stricken at the power the old witch commanded in this form. Sora was surprised that he had beaten her the first time, then again when he had fought Maleficent's dragon form she had not had the advantage of the free skies to launch attacks. Sora and Riku both had no long range attacks that

Maleficent had now turned and was about to give her two old enemies another volley of fire when she suddenly wrenched in pain, sending her fire upwards into the sky like fireworks. Sora and Riku could see a spear lodged in her neck as she thrashed and plummeted to the ground.

"Where'd that come from?" Sora wondered aloud.

"Quit wastin time you kids!" Cid yelled from down on the ground, successfully grabbing Sora and Riku's attention. "Hurry up and finish her off, mah spear ain't gonna keep her down for long!"

The two nodded and ran as fast as they could towards the downed black dragon thrashing about on her back causing more damage to the town. Sora and Riku leapt off the final roof and landed on the monster's armored belly. As soon as they landed Maleficent the beast began to thrash more wildly, trying to reach up to her serpent like neck with her claws to pry the blade out of her neck. Sora and Riku wasted no time and raced up as fast as they could, nearly tripping under the jerks, twists, and the heat of the fires Maleficent was breathing in her attempts to dislodge the weapon Cid had used to wound her. Riku noticed that as Maleficent was breathing fire there were flickers of green from the wound in her neck.

Riku turned to his friend with a serious look on his face. "Sora, follow my lead and try to hit as hard you can with your Keyblade."

---

Yuffie walked over to Orin, her knuckles white as she clenched onto her shuriken tightly for protection. Just in case Orin wasn't back to his old self yet. Yuffie wanted to help him up, or at least turn him over onto his back from his limp position on his side. But she knew if she did that his eyes might snap open and he might attack her again.

"Kairi?" Yuffie said, not taking her eyes off the unconscious Heartless boy just in case he would suddenly open his eyes and spring to his feet.

"Yes Yuffie?" Kairi asked, curious about the seriousness of her voice. She didn't know Yuffie as well as Sora but he had told her that Yuffie was normally hyperactive and mischievous to an uncomfortable extreme. But what Kairi was seeing was someone more well rounded than that.

"Do you think I'm foolish?" Yuffie said with an uncharacteristically downbeat tone. She sounded almost like she was about to loose it right then and there.

Kairi was more than a little confused by the ninja girl's words. "No of course not Yuffie. Why would you think something like that?"

"It's just, anyone else would think it's stupid to want to stay friends with someone who's nearly killed you twice..." Yuffie said, closing her eyes and touching her forehead to the flat side of her oversized shuriken. "Especially if that person's a Heartless."

Kairi placed a reassuring hand on Yuffie's shoulder. "Heartless or not, I don't think it's foolish to care about a friend. Did Sora ever tell you he was turned into a Heartless for a while?"

Yuffie blinked and looked back at the red head with an interested glance, Sora had never told her about that part of his adventures.

"He was nothing like Orin or Ansem..." Kairi said, remembering back to her first adventure with Sora. "Sora just looked like one of those Shadow Heartless."

Yuffie was surprised by this, first by Sora being a Heartless and second for being turned into such a weak Heartless considering how strong he was. "How'd he get turned into a Heartless?" Yuffie asked.

"At the time my Heart was trapped within his body by some... unusual circumstances." Kairi explained, "Sora used a Keyblade that unlocks hearts on himself, it took my heart out of his body but it also took his too."

The ninja girl stood and faced Kairi, showing full fascination with her story. "So that's how he was turned into a Heartless?"

"Yes," Kairi said, "I'm not sure how but I knew that Sora was the Heartless I saw and he changed back when I gave him a hug."

Yuffie nodded, letting her friend knew she understood, but still one thing bothered her. "But what does this have to do with me? If I were to give Orin a hug he'd turn back to what he was?"

Kairi smiled and shook her head. "I don't think so. I think that was a one time only thing."

"So I'm not foolish for liking Orin?" Yuffie inquired, sounding much more like her old self.

The ninja girl received another shake of Kairi's head.

"Well what about you and Sora?" Yuffie gave Kairi an evil smirk. "Or do you like Riku better?"

Kairi coughed, her face turning red from the ninja girl's very forward question. Kairi didn't want to think about THAT right now... Granted she liked both of them very much and they had both meant a lot to her. Kairi had known both of them all her life and what Yuffie had asked was very tough for her to answer right now.

---

Riku and Sora both ran as fast as they could towards the injury in the witch-dragon's neck. Dodging balls of fire and the creature's sharp claws both young men readied their weapons to strike. Maleficent began to thrash harder in an attempt to grasp the spear and pull it out so she could return to the safety of the skies, she needed that advantage in this fight.

Sora arrived first, driving his Keyblade deep into the wound and let loose with all the offensive magic he could force through his weapon. Riku went the other end of the spectrum, slashing and thrusting his Way to the Dawn into the wound to make it larger and deeper. The wound spurted dark fluids that resembled blood, staining their clothes with tiny speckles of black. Maleficent roared as she finally dug the spear out of the wound and thrashed around, trying to get back on her feet. Sora and Riku intensified their attacks on the wound as much as they could, the longer this fight dragged on the most damage she would cause. The dragon finally lifted herself off the ground, a slight dripping of her blood hitting the buildings she flew over like a light rain. Maleficent circled around to attack the children that had attacked her and inhaled to get ready for a big ball of fire. The fire that erupted from her mouth was almost nothing, most of the fire had sprung from the wound her neck opening up the wound even further than it was before. The pain was so great that the dragon fell from the skies like a stone into the town's center.

Maleficent's draconic form dissipated into mist, revealing the beaten form of the old witch standing holding one hand to her neck. She was battered and singed from her own flames but even then still held some semblance of nobility about her.

"It's over Maleficent. You're done." Riku spat, readying his Way ot the Dawn for a final strike. After all this Riku was secretly impressed that the old hag could even stand after so many blows. Then again magic was a force that was a difficult force to oppose and Maleficent was well versed in it.

"I may be defeated... but I swear you have not seen the last of me..." With that the witch collapsed, becoming nothing but an empty set of clothes and a few wisps of smoke as he collided with the ground.

Riku walked up to the empty robe and poked at it with the end of his Keyblade before lifting it with the teeth of the blade to make sure it was truly empty. Riku snorted and let the empty cloth drop to the ground before drawing upon the power of his Way to the Dawn and set the robe on fire. Riku hoped that the destruction of these rags would signify the end of the old witch's revivals.

To be continued...

A/N: YAY! Over 5000 hits!