Kingdom Hearts 2006 Halloween Special Chapter 2: Part 2, a kingdom hearts fanfic

KINGDOM HEARTS: KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR

PART TWO: START

Sora dreamed.

Do it.

An explosion ripping through the train car.

What would have happened if that hostage did get injured?

-Kept his ground at the approaching… threat? Mystery? Woman? Clue?

Because… we all used to be able to fly.

…But in reality, it's actually made up of thousands of tiny machines.

So there's a big fuss about it… hmm… virus… weapon… hmm…huh?

As one fist passed his eyes, he noticed a peculiar tattoo one the top of her right wrist-

"You know what, Sora? That was a close call. He died… no, he was already dead. Just like you."

The world blurred and rippled

Sora's eye grimaced just the slightest, before he picked up the heat of warmth and the sound of cracking wood. He woke up looking at the night sky, lying on his back on stone flooring. He couldn't feel his shirt. Instead was a lot of dull pain in his abdomen and what felt like very tight bandaging. Covering his partly naked chest and soggy pants was a large blanket. Turning his head with much soreness and slowness, he looked towards the fire burning in its stone pit, while an aged man sat across it. Sora knew him, as his voice croaked with weariness.

"…Yensid?"

The oracle of sorts poked at the flames, producing smoke that moved out the hole in the top of the Tower, that existed in a place Kingdom Hearts always knew to find, but never could point out.

"The man who sank his body in the river, I found you."

"Thanks…"

"What did you see? Your eyes are still half closed."

"I was… remembering a dream. Funny, I never remembered what a dream was, and it was the first time I really felt afraid. Something was off, I was dead."

"Today wasn't a good day for you to try dying. A swimming bird, those blue dreams see through all, the past, the future… the present. Everything always flows, and everything is always connected. Your eyes weren't looking at reality: it was feeling for truth. See with truth, and fear nothing."

Sora used the last of his energy to painfully chuckle, "Yeah, I know…"

When Sora woke again, he found himself seated by the harbor side, wrapped in blankets, and watching the Twilight of the town slowly begin to grow with increasing redness.

"Looks like you're still alive." Riku noted with solemn seriousness. As the two stood and sat to watch the light play along the towers of the city, Riku asked, "What about him?"

"Sephiroth, he disappeared-"

"-As though he were never there."

There was a silence before Riku spoke again, "We've put ourselves in great danger, Sora."

"I know."

"When I still had a father, he used to say, 'A ship that goes to sea either goes on sailing or sinks.' We're only bounty hunters. We're way in over our head this time. There's still time to get out of this. Our involvement with this bounty is over okay, Sora? Sora?"

The other boy was hunched over and snoring. Riku could only give a half-hearted groan.

"You sure sleep a lot…"

The director stared down the silent woman. "Why did you act alone?"

She kept a straight face.

"Don't you want to answer? Because of your selfish actions, doesn't it feel like the failure of this incident is your responsibility?"

"I'm sorry, sir." Was her crisp autonomous answer.

"I'll be asking you to do nothing for the meanwhile. We'll give you information on a need-to-know basis at a later period. You are dismissed."

The director watched as she saluted and marched off stiffly, before the scientist revealed himself from behind a hidden panel in the room. "Watch her."

"Yes, sir."

Donald and Goofy sat at one end of the dark conference, at the other end, Twilight Town's chief of the local security.

"Anyways, from the victim's body, the train and the tanker accident, we assume it's the same substance being used." Donald squawked for the two of them.

"What does the analysis of the substance tell us?"

"…It's, er, being researched as we speak!"

"Uhm, the virus don't act like anything we saw before. A hacker named Roxas made it…" Goofy also noted. "We're checking his hacking routes and, er, his other stuff."

"And isn't there a possibility that he's already dead?" The chief honestly asked.

"Yes. There is." Donald answered. "There's a possibility that this has to do with a terrorist group…"

"What are their motives? Random killing? Or is it for money?"

"That's… being looked into."

The chief muttered to himself, "So, basically, everything is under research or investigation? How long are you going to keep us waiting? The physical exam results will be ready in nearly twelve hours."

Donald and Goofy gulped, but said nothing.

Back on Kingdom Hearts, Riku dragged his injured friend, an arm over his shoulder, when the key master spoke.

"Hey, Riku. Is it my imagination or…"

"What?"

"Does my leg feel heavy?"

Riku looked down, and gave a stern-ish look to the Pluto that had attached himself to Sora's limb in question. Namine poked her head out from around the corner, "He's back!"

The three of them, and dog, found themselves around Namine's laptop once more, herself busy diving into the world of electronic information. Like Roxas, she had intuitive knack for hacking, unable to explain the skill other than another form of artwork. To get what you wanted in the end product, though, you stripped away the negative to make the image, rather than paint it yourself. It was all art, in the end though.

Traversing along her sketch board of information, she finally made it to the files of HOL-BAST Inc.

"Guys, I found it. HOL-BAST."

"Namine, look for a truck delivery on October thirteenth."

"'kay!"

Riku turned to Sora, who was directing the hacker. "Sora, just to let you know-"

"I know. It's just research. I can't sleep because I'm curious about this though."

"You sleep too much anyways."

Namine piped up again, "October thirteenth… cargo of trucks… Macadamia nuts, five hundred and twelve pounds."

"Macadamia nuts?" Riku repeated, confused. Sora got the word play, though.

"Most likely an incredible 'seed'."

"Searching…" Namine hummed as she keyed the word through her search engine that tore through the inner workings of HOL-BAST in search of similar phrases.

Sora read them off one by one, "Macadamia Nuts Surveillance Group, Macadamia Nuts Research and Development…"

"That's a lot of power for just a 'seed'." Riku moaned, thinking of the implications.

"Namine, go to Macadamia Nuts Research and Development."

"Right…"

A screen brought up an "Unauthorized" message, and the name of the chief developer, Ansem.

"Can you figure out what they were working on?"

"Neh? They wiped out my hacking program!"

"What, when you got so far already?" Riku exclaimed.

"Namine, try another route for find out about this Ansem guy."

A dossier of names was brought up, bringing Ansem's file to light.

"Doctor Ansem, former Professor and first to research into Nano-technology."

Riku snorted, "I should have known that wasn't a normal medical company. They've producing nano-machine weapons in secret."

"And now Sephiroth, who's dead, is now using it." Sora concluded.

"In the military, Nano-weapons have been forbidden. If he's going to be messing around with it, that means the military isn't going to be sitting around."

"He's still alive."

When Kairi awoke, she was lying on her belly, staring at the moldy wood floor and glass beads scattered about the ground. It was a no-brainer that where she was, her hands and legs were also bound in something. Probably heavy-duty tape.

The sounds of scraping glass alerted her to turn her head. Sitting on the couch, coat splayed over everything like an amorphous shadow, was Sephiroth, his gloved hand playing with the marbles in his hands.

He looked down on her, face motionless.

She ran down the hall towards a familiar blonde head, swamped in lab-coat, as he was about to enter the labs.

"Cloud!"

"Oh, hey Aerith. Need something?"

She looked about suspiciously before reaching into the pocket of her shirt to pull out a glass sample.

"What's this? Someone's blood?"

"I want you to research it. Quietly."

A shark smelt a catch, "So, you'll go out on a date with me?"

"What-I mean… fine…"

"Great! Reserve your Halloween dinner!

She sighed.

Sora sighed. Moroccan Street had swallowed up Xemnas whole. Hide nor Hair of his existence ever appeared. He didn't show at the seed kiosks, and the man at the oddities shop played dumb at his existence. Anyone else who even remotely met Xemnas the last time Sora came didn't even show up on the street.

The entire time was fruitless, and he was running short on whatever time he had left.

But all he could do was look on helplessly at the mass of people that passed him by as he sat, wondering what to do.

"What's going on? Why am I still alive? What did you do to me?" Kairi muttered into the floor, not wanting to look at the spotless corpse of Roxas, who had been dragged into a corner of the room.

"I gave you my blood."

She looked up to the man in confusion. He didn't bother alleviating it.

"Now, you'll live even if the whole world goes insane. Just like me…" Sephiroth's eyes hardened as he spoke into the air, "That time is coming soon."

Sora sat down on the stone stairs, drained. "I need a drink…"

A familiar hand held a can before him, "Did you find what you wanted?"

Sora sighed and gratefully accepted what was given to him, but with no less bite in his voice, "No, I didn't want any of it."

Xemnas nodded in understanding as he looked over the city with the boy, "The world's a lot like that. People will often make stuff we don't want…"

"That one that someone made, that heartless disease… why did you give something like that to me?"

"Because… that pot was meant for you."

"And the present inside, A nano-machine that's shaped like lymphocyte. Right, Doctor Ansem?"

Xemnas chuckled for the just the shortest time, "Three years ago, a man came to Twilight Town, saying 'I've made a horrible device'. Heartless is designed to be able to pass by touch or through the air. Once it enters the blood stream, it begins a self-replication process. It binds to a lymphocyte, and moves wherever it wishes inside the body. It then reaches the brain and destroys it, then after destroys itself, converting into a simple protein, destroying any trail it left behind. That's what it's programmed to do."

"I just want to know one more thing. Why is Sephiroth still alive?"

Sephiroth moved past Kairi's bound form, towards the window that beheld a sun reddening with every passing moment.

"Why did you do this?" Kairi asked from the ground. "For money? Revenge? Or are you just having fun?"

"I'm just looking for a door."

"A door?"

"'I was dreaming, and I knew it was a dream. I didn't wake up, though.' Did you ever experience something like that before? When I was in Wutai, till now… it's always been like that."

"Sephiroth was an experiment. They placed Nanos called Nobody in his blood stream."

"Nobody?"

Xemnas walked down the stairs, explaining, "They're like Nano-machines in theory. They replicate just like Heartless, but it only concerns itself with destroying other nano-machines. In other words, he was an experimental vaccine. No, to be more specific, they were intending him to be a sort of soldier that was capable of acting inside dangerous environments. But the man who was supposed to stop the unstoppable became unstoppable himself. I don't know Sephiroth's true goal. I don't even know if he even has one. Maybe he'll wait until the end of the world, and receive judgment."

"And doesn't Doctor Ansem have an answer to everything? Both Heartless and Nobody?"

"He's already deleted the data and left the military. He didn't have any use for a vaccine since there was no virus. That was what he thought. Ansem is no longer here. He doesn't exist."

Xemnas looked into the air unhappily, "No one can stop Sephiroth now."

Sephiroth looked down into the streets, "I lost two things in Wutai. One was my past. At that time, I had no friends or enemies. The Heartless experiments had killed everyone. They sent me off as a guinea pig, just myself to live on, but I had already lost my memories. I don't even know who I am anymore."

"What's the other one?"

"I saw a butterfly. I saw many butterflies. Butterflies that were unimaginable."

"When Heartless reaches the brain, it seems you see a light, as though they were-"

"-The most beautiful butterflies in the world."

Xemnas looked up to the birds on the roof that suddenly took flight, "I think I've said too much."

Sora walked down to the Moroccan, his hand curled up around something, "Hey Xemnas, can you give this to Ansem if you ever see him again?"

Xemnas looked down for a second, before Sora fiercely curled up the fingers into a fist, which prompts found its way into Xemnas' gut, knocking him against the railing.

Sora smirked, "If I ever see you again…"

Xemnas chuckled and got back up, "Let's just leave it at that."

Picking up the sunglasses that scattered to the floor, Xemnas placed the black lenses over his orange irises, before sitting easily on the railing, "In that case, En Chara."

With that, he slid down the railing and away, with Sora shrugging and head back up the stairs-

Sora turned around, instincts forcing his eyes around him as men in uniform and Golden Snipers rushed around him, surrounded the gaping boy along the roofs, along both sides of the stairs. Everywhere. Pointed at him.

Sora raised his arms. "Geez…"

As the woman made her way into the director's office as asked of her, her shock was made apparent at the guns suddenly pointed at her. She did her best to remain calm.

"Can you explain the meaning of this, Commander?"

"Perhaps the explaining should come from you, Corporal." The director shot back smoothly as ever, the lackey scientist nearby and silent, "Especially about the Nobody Anti-Nano-Machines in your blood."

Nobody! She was more shocked at knowing what was in her blood than her being found out about it.

"Rumors spread around fast in a building like this. Why is it that something Sephiroth was supposed to only have is now inside your blood?"

"Did you come into contact with Sephiroth?" The scientist asked bluntly. She didn't answer. They expected as much, as the scientist spoke again, "For hiding information, you'll be arrested."

"Commander! If there's a cure inside me, we can produce more and give it to the civilians!"

The director smirked, "You don't seem to understand…"

"What?"

"HOL-BAST's current and only goal is destroying anything related to Ansem's work. Heartless, Nobody… If it's not there, it shouldn't exist."

Which brought her to the present, being escorted along to the two dimly lit holding cells at the bottom of the building. A sterile, but still dirty little secret.

The first one was already occupied by a familiar spiky headed and overly laid back brunette, who raised an arm from his lying position, "Yo."

Riku slumped in his seat, alone in the control room of Kingdom Hearts, looking at the incomplete chessboard, musing aloud. Namine was in the back asleep, both of them waiting fruitlessly for the return of either Kairi or Sora.

"I wonder what sort of relationship we have with them now these days. It's not like I want to be overly protective of my friends, I'm not the type for that sort of thing. But everyone just keep going off and doing whatever they want and coming back when they feel like it. And I'm being swung around all the time, in the mean time. I'm getting tired of this. What happened to the days back on the island? One more move and I would have won… eh, what! No, Pluto!"

The dog backed away miserably from the attempt to move a rook. Riku softened up at that and moved to pet the dog, speaking to it.

"It's not like I care, I wouldn't care if they came back or not."

But really, he said it more to himself as he kept looking out the main viewing ports, hoping to see a light of a ship return to Kingdom Hearts. Or anything, at all, really.

"Just like the bet, really." Sora muttered to himself. "I joked that if I get tails, I'd take you out for a date. What a place for a night out."

"Aren't you afraid?" She asked from the other side of the wall.

"Afraid?"

"By the time we get out, we'd have lost or memories, or we'll be killed. Either way, our normal lives have been destroyed. Even if we live through this, it's like being dead…"

"Like Sephiroth?"

She raised her head from her slouch at that, while Sora walked to the bars, testing the width of empty space between each.

"If you're alive even after what happened on the train, that means Nobody is in your blood too."

"You seem to know a lot."

"It's like you said."

"Hmm?"

"'Knowing too much is a good way to die'."

"You're not the average bounty hunter, Sora."

"Seriously. It's just a waste of breath, calling yourselves a military unit."

"…My name is Aerith Gainsborough"

"Figures."

Hmm?"

"Nice, sharp name. Cute, but strong."

Aerith harrumphed in good manner, and leaned up against the side of the wall, "I never knew I had something like this inside of me."

As Sora also sat, Aerith wove a small tale, "Sephiroth is… that is, he's always been alone, from the moment he was born. From his youth, all anyone ever gave him was either honor or hatred. No one ever loved him. That's why I wanted to save him. I thought I could do it, honestly. It was all a misunderstanding, what happened on the train. Sephiroth looked at me like he was looking at a stranger. I'm already gone from his memories…"

"…You loved him?"

"I don't know. I didn't realize those sorts of feelings were inside of me. I didn't know, and I lost myself. My heart hurt. Have you ever felt something like it?"

"Yeah…"

"Maybe I was hoping for myself to be saved."

"Long ago, when I was younger, I was never afraid. I never thought about the moment I would die. I thought I was a hero, that I was invincible. Then I met a girl. I found friends again. I realized I wanted to live. I started to think like that, and for the first time, I was afraid of dying. I never felt it before."

"And where is she right now? Where are they?"

"Honestly? Somewhere. It's amazing really, you're really the first person I told about this sort of thing."

Silence.

Aerith asked, "Why are you going after Sephiroth?"

Sora looked upwards into the corner of the room, eyes twinkling at some hidden joke, "He feels like me. That's why I have to meet him again."

Kairi lay on the ground for the longest time. It would have been fine if day and night just passed. But in Twilight Town, she didn't know if days were passing or not. She was just bored, and tired of feeling her face on the wood.

"That man. He's called Sora or something?"

Here eyes widened and looked up in shock at the man who asked. Sephiroth smiled "I see. You are his friend."

"What do you know? What are you about to start?"

"I came here to end it. The last Party is about to start. The next type is a special type of Heartless. It doesn't destroy itself, it just keep reproducing. So that the entire world…"

"Taking the world with you? You're insane."

"Is that what you think? There is no line ever drawn between the sane and insane. You have to change the boundaries when you think it's right. No one else can. You'll understand soon, that the only thing insane is the world."

Kairi was silent.

"You want to come with me? The only ones left will be only you and me."

"You're joking. I'm not sure what the world's going to about to be, but I'd rather prefer not spending it with you."

Sephiroth walked over to her, a foot shoving her to her back, while he stood above her. One hand pulled a small dagger out of the folds of his coat. Crouching down, one hand drew the zipper of the front of her dress down to her navel, before the blade drew its way across the white fabric underneath, slicing cloth until it rested between the exposed sides of her breasts, ready to plunge down into her chest. The bounty huntress gulped leaned upwards as the blade moved to the underside of her jaw.

"…You should just live by yourself for eternity." She hissed.

A slamming at the door suddenly caught their attention. Sephiroth rose back up, and headed to the door. From where Kairi lay she could only hear voices.

"Sephiroth!"

"I told you not to come here."

"Er… I finished installing them inside the Jacks. I want to go now! The police are getting suspicious! So can you just give me the rest of the money?"

"Did you pray?"

"Eh?"

Kairi stiffened visibly at the sound of a man's chokes and a blade entering his body. Moments later, a body slid against the door and to the ground, the knife sticking out of his back. Sephiroth walked back to the Kairi, unaffected as much as she was affected. Kairi looked on from as she lay on her stomach, covering her breasts, while Sephiroth pulled on a harness of aged and broken angel wings, the remaining tattered piece spray painted pitch black.

"The bridge that connects the heavens and earth. I will be there. The only one that moves in this world. You may watch it as I complete this task."

With that, he swirled about and closed the door behind him.

Aerith's fitful slumber was promptly shut down at the sounds of footsteps. On the other side of the bars were the scientist and two men in military dress and weaponry.

"What's going to happen to me?" Aerith again bluntly asked.

"If you're a solider, you should be prepared."

She was silent as she brought herself to her feet, unafraid as she walked towards the locked gates. Sora meanwhile queried the guard in the back, "Hey, don't you have like a drink or food or something? I'm bored."

The guard snorted and turned back to the matter inside the next cell. Sora sighed, "Doesn't matter-"

Reaching his legs through the bars, Sora's soled foot crashed against the back of the guard's knee, toppling him backwards, and into the arms the reached across the bars as well, trapping the soldier.

In an instant from that confusion, Aerith had also reached out and grabbed the scientist by the back of his garb, while a deft hand stole his security blade and brought it up against his neck in sight of the soldier that brought his magic gun to point at the two of them.

"Wait-wait! Don't shoot!" The scientist begged the soldier from his grip.

"Drop your weapons. Open the door."

Meanwhile Sora was fishing around the guard's vest while he pinned him to the cell bars from the other side, "Hmm… gum. But I guess I'll take it."

The doors opened, the magic wards dissipating, allowing Sora's key chain to once more become a more powerful weapon at his command.

At the headquarters of Twilight Town's still ignorant security, Donald came over to the sight of alarm. "What is it!"

"It's a water processing plant. We were investigating, and we found Roxas' hacking traces all over it."

"Gwarsh, they were planning on spreading it across the city through the water?"

"Goofy! Send men to post a guard! Just watch us take this on!"

"B-but Donald! Shouldn't we, uh, get permission or something, in case we get in trouble?"

"If you keep acting so good, nothing's going to get done!"

Somewhere before the festival, a one winged angel quietly walked down the streets, hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Aerith, why don't we take a side trip?" Sora called out to his ally as they huddled on either side of the rising elevator.

"What?"

"You mentioned about your blood."

As they rushed out of the opening facility, Aerith led, "This way!" Entering another door, they came into a decontamination zone.

"We have to put on the suits!"

"There's no time!" Sora argued, running on ahead to the door on the other side.

"Are you kidding?"

"They'll be here soon, we have to move!"

Inside, Sora found his Keyblade pointed into the face of a spiky headed blondie wearing a containment suit, who jerked up with his hands raised at the sight of the weapon. On the other side Aerith was securing the other scientists.

"Where's Aerith's vaccine?"

"Umm… It's being produced right now," The man said, pointing to the humming slabs that were pushed into the sides of the wall, "It's in the third…no, second case."

Aerith walked up to one, "This one?"

"Yeah, the yellow packs."

As Aerith pulled the slab out of the wall, it revealed the yellow liquid inside blood packs on the shelves. Just to make a point, Sora tapped the end of his blunt weapon against the visor of the scientist, who protested. "I am telling the truth! It's just that the production isn't over yet. In twenty hours, each pack will have about ten thousand of them inside." He explained while the woman in pink pushed pack after pack into a small plastic box nearby.

As they ran off, the scientist spoke up again, "Aerith, I'm sorry!"

She turned around, to look back.

"You should take the level 3 disposal path if you want to get out of here."

She mused over it a second. "Thanks, Cloud."

He shrugged at her disappearing form with his raised arms, "I guess I have to wait another time for that date, huh?"

Kairi rolled across the ground towards the cooling body by the door, before she finally seated herself, back facing the corpse. "I seriously don't like to show myself like this to people." She tried to joke to herself, before her hands behind her back finally grasped the bloody handle of the blade in the man's back.

"Please go to heaven…"

She pulled the blade out.

Riku sat on the couch, foot tapping, and waiting for the radio on the table to come alive with anybody's voice at all.

Namine looked on, "You're waiting for a call?"

"Hmmm? No, not really."

"So you're not waiting for Sora or Kairi to call?"

Riku feigned cluelessness, "Really? I didn't notice them around here…"

The radio rung. Riku snatched it up before Namine even blinked.

"Hello! Hello?"

Kairi's voice came through, along with an extended sound of a zipper being pulled, "Sephiroth left."

"Hmph! And where've you been all this time?"

"I think he's going all out this time. Seems like it's going to be a big party."

"And how do you know all this?" Riku lectured into the mic, while the hatches of the door opened, letting Sora and an unfamiliar to Riku in, the boy carrying a large case with him, "Sora! You idiot! Where've you been all this time, too and… who's she?"

"No time, what's up?"

"The Twilight Town security seems to have gone after a water plant."

"Water plant?"

Inside the control center of the water plant, Donald, ear over a headset, waited impatiently for the reports.

"Squad two, there's nothing in tank three."

"Squad three, there's something suspicious at the entrance to plant four."

"Good! I'll be sending an analysis group! What's it look like?"

"Well… like a pumpkin shaped balloon."

As Kairi took off in her Oath Keeper, she kept talking through the radio, "But isn't it weird to dress up like a fallen angel to go to a water plant?"

Aerith remembered a detail, "There's going to be a big Halloween costume parade that's going to head through the main streets and sectors of Twilight Town.

"Hiding a leaf in a forest, huh?" Sora mused.

"He's going to do it inside the city? How?" Riku muttered.

"An ally of his came by today and said something about a Jack."

"Jack?"

Sora nodded, "I got it…" and turned to a carved pumpkin made by Namine that sat by the vase.

Aerith's spoke aloud, "Jack-o-Lantern…"

Riku's eyes narrowed, "Jack's Lantern…"

The thought hit them both at once, and they turned to each other in horror

While the balloon's scanning began, Donald's presence in the control room was usurped by another, who entered the room with armed guards and a contamination suit.

"What's going on?" The wizard protested.

"This is the Marines! Who's in command?" The man demanded instead of answering.

"I didn't hear about an army movement!"

"This is an undercover investigation. The army is in charge from now on!"

"Oh yeah? What kind of action is this?"

"I have no need to tell you!"

"Oh yeah?"

Goofy called from the back, "Donald! The scanning thing is, er, finished!"

As the army man moved towards the computer screens, Donald despite his diminutive size, managed to shove him away. "Well! What is it? Tell me!"

The Marine commander shoved his body beside the wizard, glaring at him through the plastic visor, "Didn't I tell you to stay out of this?"

"Oh, butt off!"

"The substance is Oxygen, Carbon, Carbon Monoxide, Iron, Neon, and Krypton. Meaning…it's just air."

Goofy sneezed.

The hatches on the top of Kingdom Hearts opened up, pulling to the surface Excalibur, Sora's personal gummi ship in finished red, a laser cannon on the bottom, and medium guns on the wings, for times like this.

Riku talked through the radio built into the cockpit, "But the place is going to be filled with people."

Kairi spoke next, "But I heard it myself. He's going to be at a place where heaven and earth are connected, and moves."

As the wing's opened up on either side of the craft, Sora hailed Riku, "After you get the all the vaccine and stuff into the empty water bottles we have, can you get a bunch of ships ready? Like twenty or thirty?"

"What! Where are you going?"

"I'm going ahead with Excalibur."

"Hey! Wait!"

Too late, Sora had already taken off. That matter taken care off, he called Kairi's ship next, who appeared into an easy course beside him, "Kairi, you remember Merlin?"

"That old guy back in Traverse Town?"

"You need to get there and tell him to make it rain Twilight Town. As hard as he can."

"Are you kidding? I already told you, Sephiroth's going to live, even if the world's going to end! How's rain going to stop him?"

"Don't worry! I have a little something to owe him." Sora called back as he left the atmosphere and just flew above the city. Twilight Town was bigger than one thought, and he would be flying a long way if he were to make it just to the "main" sections of the city.

"That's impossible!"

"Trust me. If he wanted to kill everyone, he'd have done it already."

"Huh?"

"This is just a party invitation. If there are no guests, there's going to be no party. Go Kairi, if you don't go, then this won't work."

Kairi blinked at the sheer quiet vehemence in the words as she flew. "Besides! I'm counting on you! Excalibur out!" The princess frowned and hissed at the sudden silence before she angled her ship towards outer space.

"That idiot will never learn until he dies!"

Inside Excalibur's cockpit, as Sora sat at cruising speed, the radar alerted him to three presences approaching from behind. Turning around in his half-bubble dome, he looked behind him to see the faint forms of three bulky ships with larger engines than his, flying in basic military form.

"What, the army doesn't have anything better to do?" The boy couldn't help but sneer at the trouble.

Back with the military craft, the ship on the far left opened a port to release two missiles that burned away after their small target. Afterwards the three craft dropped down on their sides to level out with their enemy.

Inside Excalibur, Sora grunted as he pulled his ship into a tight corkscrew, bringing himself dizzily upside down, "I don't have time to play with you!"

The agile red craft dove towards the harbor, while the two missiles swerved about him. Each exploded into a cluster of smaller warheads that Sora only barely managed to fly between. As the three militants dove, one of them opened with machine guns, tracing the water with explosions after Excalibur, which weaved towards the connecting transport bridge that stood above the water's surface.

While Sora struggled to keep the rattling flight sticks under control, plaster exploded around him, as the enemy's rounds exploded about him harmlessly across the underside of the bridge. With a trick, Sora barrel rolled and sped away, while a group of flares were dropped behind. Blinding the view of one pilot, one craft crushed its wing against the bridge after flying too close, unable to see till too late. A humiliated parachute and pilot jettisoned before the ruined engine consumed the rest of the craft.

Sora looked up as he watched the other side of the harbor come into the horizon.

Riku slammed his palm onto the counter of the rental gummi flight services, the aged man in the faded Hawaiian shirt unaffected.

"I'm telling you! This is an emergency! Can't you do something about it?"

"I'm sorry-"

Riku folded his arms unhappily.

"-but really, all the fighter planes were rented by a company, and there are none left."

"I don't have time! I don't care what it is as long as it flies!" Riku warned, leaning over the tabletop.

The Hawaiian shirt guy turned back to face the silver-haired youth, a mischievous look evident on his face. "Anything that flies?"

Elsewhere, Oath Keeper had just broken into the atmosphere of Traverse Town, scattering the people in the main residence with ease.

Excalibur followed the bridge towards the high natural rock wall that grew up from out of the sea, his pursuers on him the entire time.

Sora grinned, realizing the time; "I'm still too early for the Party."

As his red craft flew across the rocky cliffs, more machine gunfire came down upon him; twin trails of tracers exploded on either side of the thin craft, until a lucky shot scored a deep scorch along the nose. As Sora grunted with the sudden impact, he realized things were getting too hot.

Then let's make it way too hot and see who gets out first!

With that in mind, his thumb pressed against a particular switch on one of the handlebars. Outside, the laser cannon that was slung under the ship loosed itself and began charging. Outside his range, the remaining two military craft fired their own rocket payload, a frightening total of four heat seeking missiles chasing after him.

With the craft flying on its side, Excalibur pointed its laser cannon to the left, the barrel releasing a bright blue blast upwards towards a group of boulders that were high up on the cliff. The ensuing explosion rocked the stones loose, with the red craft flying up into the falling rockslide with no trouble, dodging around the rubble with more intelligence than his heat-seeking attackers, catching two along the rocks. As he kept flying up, Sora released a bundle of chaff, confusing another missile into a premature explosion. One more agile maneuver skipped the last missile into a rock face, before flying up into the sky, an arc of burning tracer fire chasing after him, while Excalibur twisted around into dive towards a columned shaped rock that jutted out particularly out of the cliffs. The three ships dove towards the harbor in a circular manner.

As one of the wings on Excalibur came close to clipping the stone tower, the machine guns on that end fired into the stone, eliciting more dusty explosions that chased after the two military craft as well. One of them was not so lucky, as one particular piece of rubble slammed into the ship, causing it to explode. As Sora righted his ship and flew back towards the city, one more craft remained in close pursuit.

In an airfield, gummi ships as old as time were lining up for take off. Some of them looked old enough to fall apart before even taking off. So ancient, some of theme without even the ability to head into space, with their exposed cockpits, and the multiple seats for gummi ship, where a modern model would only need one.

Riku gawked at the prehistoric display before him with their noisy engines. Next to him was Hawaiian Shirt.

"Well, even old planes are good." Hawaiian Shirt shrugged.

Riku's jaw was still unhinged, "Do they actually fly?"

A particular one rode to a stop near the duo, one of the multi-seaters, holding an unusual mix of a blonde man chewing a toothpick in the front, a girl with short black hair next, while a dazed man with a scarred nose sat staring at the sky in the novelty turret in the back.

"Just leave it to us, 'kay?" The girl called out from her seat, holding up a plastic drink bottle filled with yellow Nobody, "All we gotta do is just spread this around the city right?"

"And don't talk about us behind our back!" The blonde gruffly accused from his grip on the aged flight stick.

"Hey guys… are we going to space or something?" The Scarred guy mumbled, confused.

The girl turned back to scold the man's idiotic comment, "Don't be stupid! We're spraying pesticides around! Why the heck would we need to be in space?"

Riku shuddered under the display before him before pointing to the runway, "To the city! I want you to go the main sections!"

"I know that!" The blonde indignantly replied, "We're just messing with ya!"

Riku sighed as the plane took off with waving pilots. One by one, all the aged craft took off before Hawaiian Shirt and Riku. The former whistled.

"Wow. They actually fly. Sorry, but you understand these planes haven't been flown in for a while, so I have no idea how the engines are at the moment."

"WHAT?"

As on command, some good three or four planes plummeted out of the take off in flame and smoke, pilots bailing out.

Riku wiped his face with another sigh.

Driving at full speed along the highways, Aerith's car sped and weaved across the two-lane traffic, dodging the larger or slower vehicles as she moved with full force towards the Twilight Town's epicenter. Out of the corner of her windscreen, she could see a flash of light dancing towards the city.

That light, Excalibur spun about the sky wildly, avoiding salvos of rounds at a time as they exploded around the unoccupied high-rises, due to the early celebrations. Still, they made for good cover, as Sora flew towards another body of water, this time a wide river. Ducking into a narrow alley, the two craft were wedged in tight, while the military pursuer opened up on Sora's unwavering flight. One shot buried itself deep into one wing of Sora's craft, letting it plume out in white smoke as he exited out into the river in a wide curve.

As the two flew across the river, the millitant's rounds scored another lucky shot, glancing across Excalibur's exposed engine, this time the ship pouring out black fumes to go with the white smoke.

Sora, having enough with being rattled around, saw two large freighter boats in the distance, side by side. Pressing the button on the handlebar once more, Sora kept his path straight as his cannon charged.

Up above, the targeting reticules closed in on the red ship. Before the bulky fighter could attack again, though, Sora's large laser ripped another blast, splitting the water between the ships in a large plume of blue and white, which Excalibur dove through. The enemy craft attempted to follow through the water as well, but only met face to face with a sizable portion of the boat, slamming it out of control and with many parts flying away as the pilot was force to eject from the explosion.

Sora was home free.

Well almost.

"C'mon! You ancient hunk of junk! Fly for another minute!" Sora complained as he kicked the inside of the cockpit, trying to magically ward off the groans and unnatural popping of the damaged craft with his mind.

Down below a young cabby driver, wearing a beanie unnatural to the temperature of the time, whistled as he clocked his time.

That was until a giant red gummi ship smoked to a skidding halt in front of him, forcing the cab to stop. The cockpit slid open, a kid jumped out and looked down at the cabbie.

The kid raised an arm. "…Hey! Taxi!"

"Merlin! You gotta believe me, you see-"

"Calm yourself, I know what's going on."

"You do?"

A sort of unnecessary grandfatherly chuckle, given the situation, "I have an eye for these sorts of things."

"Oh."

"You need rain, right?"

"As much of it as you can."

"You're going to help me with this, grab that box of cotton wool…"

Sephiroth walked along, examining the view from where he was, as he watched below the giant streamers and floating, bloated figures get pulled down the streets.

Among the forefront of the parade were a series of giant floating Jack-o-Lanterns with various faces, with several more interspersed between the various floats that were coming down the street.

Coming to a stop, Sephiroth let the winds blow through his clothes as he watched the greatest show in Twilight Town ready to unfold.

Sora impatiently rapped on the dashboard, the traffic jam in sight never seeming to end.

"Man, sorry, but this ain't good. The roads are all packed today because of the parade, you'll just have to wait, you know."

Just as Sora was about to lose it, something caught his eye. Gasping, he stood up and through the exposed roof, looking straight into the distance…

…At Twilight Town's biggest clock tower, towering over all the buildings.

A bridge that connects the heaven and the earth, and always moves…

Sora jumped out the taxi, leapt off the hood and took off running, amidst the reminders for the taxi fee.

Sora ignored the giant temporary neon letters that emblazoned themselves along the front of the clock tower, rather riding the ancient elevator that creaked its way up the tower, deafened out by the infinitely louder noises of grinding clock gears and machinery.

As the elevator made its way to the top, Sora shuffled out, hands in his pockets in a mock display of self-assurance, while he easily hopped onto the gigantic horizontal gears, chains and other cogs that shifted around the room. Finally making his way to the other end of the chamber, Sora kicked open the glass pane, the stain glass flipping open to reveal a broad ledge, and below, the rest of the world.

Night was falling fast; there was hardly any sun over the horizon now.

A harness holding a mock single wing fell from above. Sora whirled around, pointing his transformed Keyblade up at the metallic heavens above, searching for signs of movement in the darkness.

A high-pitch scream. Fire works exploded, illuminating the innards of the clock tower.

Black cloth fluttered from behind Sora. Whirling around again, the key master found Sephiroth leaping from one of the horizontal metal gear supports into a fall towards the boy, long sword in hand.

Sephiroth stabbed downwards. Sora raised his blade with a cry of "Fire!"

A blade sliced a spray of red across Sora's side. A bolt of fire incinerated Sephiroth's out reached hand, leaving burns that he did not register. As the burnt hand grappled Sora's face, he fell backwards, letting one foot kick into Sephiroth's hand gripping the sword, letting it flutter away somewhere as the two tumbled across the ground.

Sora rushed towards the older man, who simply slid around with a kick, knocking Sora's own weapon too far away to be reached in time. Sora simply backed away, fists balling.

"Am I too late for the Party?"

Sephiroth got to one knee and stared back, "No. You arrived just in time."

Down below, Aerith looked amongst the crowds in the parade, hoping for a clue of where Sora and Sephiroth went.

Up above, a fleet of aged gummi craft flew in the dying sunlight.

"I remember leading that attack bravely against that flying garden…" The Scarred one mumbled from his backwards-facing seat.

The girl smacked the back of his head, "That never happened! You read that in that fantasy book a week ago!"

"Hey guys! We're nearly there! Get ready!" The blonde toothpick-chewer called back.

In almost tandem, the ships one by one, started spraying a fine mist from their undersides, slowly beginning to douse the city at its slow rate…

Sora slid across the surface of the massive horizontal gear, one leg flailing towards Sephiroth, who ducked under the blow, only to receive a glancing fist to the jaw from the follow up momentum. From there the two parried and dueled with their fists, dancing around their necks and heads and they blocked chops and strikes, until Sephiroth caught a slow fist and pushed it back and forward, letting the opening expose Sora's side as he pummeled into it with a one-two-three, the last a massive drive into Sora's midsection, forcing him to bend over as he choked and coughed.

As Sora stumbled to his knees, Sephiroth confidently strode forward, until a heel of a palm smashed into his face, forcing him back while Sora leapt through the air with a flying soccer kick to the chest, landing on his feet and with several more blows with his fists before he twisted backwards with a kick to the chest.

Sephiroth reeled back, but slowed to a stop while he swung back forward with both fists crashing around Sora's temples as he retaliated, before one blow slammed into Sora's already bleeding side, nearly crippling the youth in pain, and another of unusual strength launched the boy unto his back where he slid for a few feet.

Amidst the screams of celebrations as balloons flew into the air and neon lights burning the sky, Sephiroth gauged his rising enemy with a predatory calm, "I'd knew you'd come back, bounty hunter. That last time… I barely missed killing you."

"Heh… so your eyes are more than just ornaments, huh?"

Sora stepped back quickly as Sephiroth moved in, feinting with his fists as his leg moved like rubber and kicked straight up into the bounty hunter's jaw. Dazed just for the slightest, he missed his next two punches, while the Ex-SOLDIER smashed another one into his gut and backhand knocked Sora back into a metal girder, where he slumped just the slightest.

As Sephiroth moved forward again, Sora jumped out of the way of a crashing foot, and prepared himself as the madman launched forward into an assault. Sora kept up as best he could, but Sephiroth's fists only helped make openings for his legs to suddenly slam into Sora's body again and again. For a moment, as they jumped off the gears and onto the service ledges surrounding the machinery, Sora regained momentum, as he slapped away Sephiroth's offences, pounding away several times into his chest and face, before he accidentally overreached, letting Sephiroth grab his arm and throw him to the ground, smashing through several electrical cables that were temporarily installed.

Outside Aerith watched is surprise as the "H" on the neon "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" began to spark before shorting out.

Something was up in the clock tower.

As she dashed towards the building, rain began to fall…

Water began leaking through the roof of the clock tower, letting rivulets and drops of water splash around them, as Sephiroth kicked Sora towards the edge of the moving gear teeth. With the next falling kick, Sora grabbed the foot with a grunt and twisted it away, causing Sephiroth to stumble backwards as Sora rushed towards him. A flurry of kicks towards Sephiroth's face knocked him back against a vertical column that held the horizontal gear they were on in place.

Leaning forward with a groan, Sephiroth was greeted with several more kicks point blank across the chest as Sora hammered away, the madman's body rocking against the steel, before another kick to the shins made Sephiroth stumble back. A spinning roundhouse kick smashed across Sephiroth's face, then Sora rocked away with two more punches. As Sora swung again, Sephiroth ducked, and grabbed an arm, pinning it behind the boy's back, while another inhumanly strong grip clamped about Sora's injured side, drawing more pain and blood. As the two struggled for a few second, Sora gagged and screamed back, his remaining free arm slamming an elbow again and again into Sephiroth's face until it nearly showered blood, before the grip was loosened, letting Sora stumble forward, off the gear and into a group railings situated on a stone section.

Sora panted. Sephiroth remained amused through his broken face.

"Did you come here to save the world?" Sephiroth hummed, as he reached into the coat to pull out a jackal-headed stainless steel detonator, "You're too late."

"Sorry, old man. But we're not security or police or any of that stuff. Our concern's not about the world… I'm just here to pay back a debt." Sora managed to gasp out through a one eyed grin.

Sephiroth sneered, "You don't think I'll do it? I'll really do it."

"Do it." Sora taunted.

Bringing the detonator closer to his face, Sephiroth slammed the Jackal head down. Across the city there were sounds of concussive explosives, as all the giant floating Jack-o-Lanterns exploded outwards, releasing their invisible payload into the crowds.

Sora was really tired, running around and fighting for days on end. He just wanted a nap-

Ugh. But I have to finish this…

Sora groaned before pulling himself off the ground, frustrated and ready to deal this a finishing blow. Approaching Sephiroth, the two jumped back onto the rotating gear, pacing around each other in a wide circle.

Sora charged in with renewed vigor. Sephiroth didn't even get a chance to properly react, as the key master punched away, dragging him forwards and backwards and smashing into his face and gut with elbows, fists, and palm. A caught foot simply made Sora swirl around with his free limb, slamming the Ex-SOLDIER away. In a single deft move, Sora slammed into Sephiroth with a spinning kick, scattering his foe across the floor.

Sora coughed.

And coughed again.

Rubbing his eyes, he watched in horror as his vision began to swim in double, while his lungs started to feel like they were collapsing. Soon the strength poured out of his legs, forcing Sora to his knees. Across his vision, roving flights of bright butterflies appeared. Moving across the ground with agonizing slowness, Sora crept towards a familiar glint of his deactivated key chain that just lay within his reach…

A pair of booted feet and a swish of trench coat stepped in the way, a sickening singsong of too-long blade emerging from somewhere. Sora glared through the confusion of his eyes. Sephiroth watched on.

The two of them stood as Butterflies swarmed in flight around them.

"Before you depart from this world, can you show me something? I'm already dead from Wutai, but this world the butterflies show me… is it a dream? Or is their world the real one, and the world I was, the dream? I don't really know anymore."

"Sephiroth!" Came the cry of a new voice. Sephiroth averted his sword just the slightest to see Aerith pointing her staff at him, "I'm not letting you get away!"

Wordlessly, Sephiroth moved his open palm towards the woman, hand glowing with energy. Down below, Sora choked.

"Don't… Aerith!"

"It's alright Sephiroth… let's go, together."

She closed her eyes. Sephiroth didn't even blink. Then something flinched.

Thundering of energy through the air.

When Aerith opened her eyes again, she realized she wasn't dead. But Sephiroth was lying across the floor on his back, chest smoking.

"Sephiroth!"

The two approached the fallen body. Sora gave a tired glare, "Why didn't you shoot?"

For the first time, Sephiroth's eyes did not glaze from a dream, "I remembered… who I really loved."

Aerith breathed heavily.

"I wanted to get out of there… I wanted to find a door to do it… I finally know now…there was no door."

Sora sighed, "You should have known before. You were just afraid to see the truth."

"Yes… Aerith… from the time I lived…being with you was the only time I felt… real… It was good to see you before I left…"

Sephiroth shut eyes from the falling water, and slept.

Aerith shut her eyes and drove her face upwards, letting the falling water wash her welling emotions away.

Sora looked up, and watched the glowing butterflies that hovered about the tower slowly disappear back to nowhere.

Kairi watched the rainfall from the bubble encasing of Oath Keeper, as she floated back to Twilight Town, the city covered in darkness of cool night. "What did the rain do?"

Next to her ship was Riku's vehicle, High Wind, whose pilot explained, "Before the Heartless machines could spread, the rain helped made Nobody spread faster. You could say it was a blessing."

"After the rain, there's usually a rainbow…"

A thought hit Kairi, "Say, for a celebration, why not see some games at Setzer's?"

Riku laughed for a second, happy for some return to normalcy as watched the gas light around the city come to life with the neon signs, "You'll never get tired of that, huh?"

Re-Cast:

Spike Spiegel: Sora

Jet Black: Riku

Faye Valentine: Kairi

Ein: Pluto

Edward: (UGH! I GIVE UP!) … Namine…

Vincent: Sephiroth

Electra: Aerith

Hacker guy (Lee Samson): Roxas

Pumpkin Guy (White Collar): Axel

Dr. Mendelo: Ansem/ Xemnas

Scientist guy: (Extras)

Head Scientist guy (Director): (Extras)

Scientist guy that likes Electra: Cloud

The Army: (Extras?)

Black Police Officer: Donald

White Police Officer: Goofy

Police Officer for Riku: Colt (Officially a recurring character with this)

Thief 1 (Engine/Renji): Xigbar

Thief 2 (Black one): Luxord

Thief 3 (Riku's): Demyx

Thief 4 (Washroom): Xaldin

Cabbie: Seifer

Three Old Men: Cid, Yuffie, and Squall

Executive Producer: Person With Many Aliases

Production: Person With Many Aliases/ Disney/ Square-Enix

Based on the Story by: Hajime Yatate

Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura

Co-Director: Person With Many Aliases

Director: Shinichiro Watanabe

He was just…all alone.

He couldn't enjoy a game with anyone else.

Like living inside a dream…that's the kind of man he was…

Sora opened his eyes from where he lay on the couch, and watched a flicker of light dance above his hand. Dazedly he reached for it, and grabbed.

Opening his palm to his face, he found he had caught nothing at all.

ARE YOU LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD?

KINGDOM HEARTS: KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR: END

A/N: This make a third Seasonal Special down. I hope you all enjoyed writing this as much as I did. At times I felt I relied too much on the Cowboy Bebop plot to help bring out the aspects of Kingdom Hearts beyond just a simple re-casting. My Naruto one, in that sense was a lot better done as well. But that's not to say this was bad by any stretch. When I wrote this, given the amount of effort it took to do the last one, I was honestly afraid I wouldn't be able to complete this in time. Yet here I am, before and on time.

Happy Halloween to any of my readers of this work.

-Person With Many Aliases