But now they were all stood in a small one roomed house, with three more people in there Tane didn't know. Sora was talking to a brown haired man leaning against the wall who was wearing a 'too-cool-to-care look.
"Tell me what happened." Was he in charge or something? The younger girl only half listened as Sora explained the details of everything. A few things such as Ansem caught his direct interest, but the spiky haired boy couldn't elaborate anymore.
"So the darkness is flowing out of that keyhole…" That didn't sound promising.
"No wonder there are more and more heartless everywhere" Said one of the girls in pink sat on the bed. She did have a point though, there had seemed to be more heartless since they'd arrived here, and they weren't the cute looking kind either. "The only way to stop them is…"
"To seal the keyhole?" Sora piped up waving his keyblade in the air. He was going to poke someones eye out if he wasn't careful.
"Maybe," Said the brown haired man, "But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed"
"Well, we can't just stay here, we have to do something!" Since when had he become to… determined to fight for good? Maybe everyone had changed since Destiny Island. "I've got a friend back there!" That could explain it. He'd always fought for his friends and after that speech he'd give Ansem about his heart being with his friends. Well, ofcourse Sora would want to go back for him, and Tane would happily join him.
"That's right, you have one more friend to worry about. Riku's keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts, just like the keyhole you saw. Ofcourse, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete." Her sister being so important was starting to get annoying, and Sora's lovesick expression every time he looked at Kairi was also starting to get on the younger girls nerves. "Once that keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed. It seems they all have, but haven't returned to where they lived. I suspect they're still in the castle." What, those other princesses' were choosing to stay there or something? Were they mad?
Not bothering to listen to the end of the conversation, Tane walked over to the far side of the room, sliding down the wall and crossing her legs at the bottom. She vaguely noticed Sora and his two friends leaving the room, but she had no idea where they were going and could only hope they wouldn't have left for Riku without her. What had gone so wrong… It was all Maleficents fault, and Ansem's. They'd corrupted him… Sure, it was partly Riku's decision to choose darkness, but in his position she couldn't honestly say she wouldn't have done the same. The three other girls talked for over an over, but Tane continued to stay in her own bubble, it was easier like that. Infact she didn't pay any attention to anyone else until Kairi walked over to her and held out her hand,
"Come on, I need to meet Sora" The younger sister frowned raising an eyebrow. Why would she want her to go with her? Tane couldn't exactly make a brilliant bodyguard, especially when taking into account the fact she was small than her sister. But never the less she stood up, ignoring the offered hand and slipped her own hands into her short pockets. Kairi didn't bother to start a conversation as they exited the room, both running down a set of stairs and across to another door with a fire symbol on it. Just where was she meeting Sora? Going through the door a frown appeared on the older sisters face as she looked around. There was a huge lake inside, with a little house in the middle and stepping stones to get to it. Without thinking any further, Tane took a run up and jumped onto the first stone. She glanced back over her shoulder, not being able to hide the smile that was creeping over her features at the worried look on her sisters' face. Good, Kairi deserved to be the one worrying for once after the past few weeks she'd had. Jumping onto the next stone she called over her shoulder,
"I thought you were meant to be meeting Sora, standing there all day won't work" The mention of Sora seemed to get her moving again, as she then jumped to the first stone and followed her sister across to the house. Both looked at each other when they reached the other side, one having no idea where they were actually meant to be going.
"Leon said there was a passage way in Merlin's house to a cavern I can meet Sora in" Kairi said, before knocking on the door and going in. Shrugging Tane followed. An old man with a long beard stood in the corner, his head in a book. He didn't even bother to look up as they entered, and instead pointed to a rug on the floor. Were they meant to stand on it? Would it take them to some magic location? Standing beside Kairi, Tane moved onto the rug, stumbling slightly as it started to drop down. Ok, so she wasn't that far off with the guessing. She hadn't guessed however, that there would be another staircase before the actual cavern.
"I'll stay here" She muttered, sitting down on one of the steps and getting comfy. Her sister would probably be talking to Sora for hours. A hand on her shoulder made her frown though, and she glanced up into the bright blue eyes of her sister.
"We'll get him back, don't worry" And with that she walked down the steps to meet her friend.
From where Tane was sitting it was quite easy to either listen in on their conversation or ignore it completely. So that's what she did for most of it, ignore it. After all, why would she want to listen to her sister talk about how great everything was now. The only thing that got her attention was Sora's last few words,
"No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within" Seriously, when had he become so wise? Well, the next part of the conversation also caught her attention aswell, and caused her to stand up and join in. "You can't go" Did he just say her sister couldn't go? Did that mean he would also think she couldn't go?
"Why not?" Both sisters questioned in unison, Tane joining her side. He better have a bloody good reason for saying something like that.
"Because it's way too dangerous" Dangerous? This whole experience had been dangerous, being with Maleficent had been dangerous, being in the same hall as Riku and Sora fighting had been dangerous. He couldn't now decide it was suddenly too dangerous.
"Come on Sora. We made it this far by sticking together" Actually if Tane recalled correctly, Kairi had done bugger all but stayed inside Sora's heart. If anything, she'd done more than her sister had!
"Kairi, even if we're not apart, we're not alone anymore" Was she invisible again?
"So I can't help?" Yeah, she was invisible again
"You'd kind of be in my way" Ok, it probably wasn't kind to laugh at that. But she couldn't help it, and the look on Kairi's face made it funnier.
"Ok, you win" Hold on, did she just give in? Sora better not think she was talking for her sister aswell. There was no way Tane was going to give in. Not when she could help Riku. But as Kairi then gave Sora her keychain, the younger started to realise there was no way she'd be able to get Sora to change his mind. There was also no way she'd be able to get there. Neither one of the dog or duck would stay behind, and that computer guy had apparently restructured the gummi ship to make it faster, and taken out any spare seats.
The next few hours were the longest of Tane's life. After goodbyes had been made and the three 'heroes' had left, much to her disapproval at being left behind, everyone else went back to the tiny-roomed house. The three that already knew each other sat together talking reasonably happily, accepting Kairi after a while and letting her join in. But Tane was happier to sit in the corner alone again. Atleast until the computer guy came in and started talking about taking his ship to the castle. That definitely got the younger redheads attention, and she stood up immediately to go with them. The only downside came when being told that if she went she would never be able to get back to Destiny Island. But if Riku was stuck somewhere else, did she really want to go back to the island?
So she stayed with Kairi. Instantly she wished she'd gone with them, but it couldn't be changed now. Taking a seat on the now empty bed, Tane pulled her knees up to her chin, a comforting arm from her sister going around her shoulder, and waited… What else could she do though? Thinking everything through in her head wouldn't help, it would just lead to worry. And that wizard person they'd seen earlier didn't seem to be any help. The only other option was to create another ship to get her to god knows where and find Riku, which would take… longer than they had right now.
She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried when black portals started to appear on the floor again. It was a horrible similarity to the scene on Destiny Island, and she couldn't help but think what would have happened if it had never happened at all. If darkness had never come to the Island and taken them all away. Would she still have ever got with Riku? Would she have just stayed on the Island for the rest of her life? There were so many questions now spinning around her head now, that when she was pulled into the darkness it barely registered. However what did register was that she was now standing on what seemed to be the Island, with the older red head at her side. Only, as she looked around it didn't all look like the Island. What they were both standing on did, but infront of them was darkness, with a huge white door less than a 30 second run infront. What was going on? And who was stood by the door? Taking several steps forward, off of the 'island' Tane realised it was 'heroes', all three trying to shut the white door. Where did it lead to?
Rather than shouting across the gap, she took off at a run managing to get to the door at the same time as someone else appeared on the other side. Why were they trying to close it, they should be letting him through!
"What's going on?" She questioned out loud finally, manoeuvring past the spiky haired boy and to the gap in the door. The smile on Riku's face wasn't a comforting one given the circumstances, and Tane couldn't help the tears that threatened to spill over her eyes as everything became clear. Luckily the older boy pulling her into his arms helped to hide the fact she was about to have a break down.
"Don't be such a baby" He whispered into her ear, no sarcasm or nastiness audible in his voice. It took all of her strength to let go of the safety from the platinum haired boys' arms. This wasn't the green mist Riku, the one that had changed since she'd gotten to know him. This was her Riku…
"I'm not a baby" She said, attempting to sound strong, but failing miserably. The older boy didn't seem to care however, as he looked down at her.
"I'll be back for you, I promise" He said before pressing a sweet kiss to her lips, which unfortunately didn't last long enough in Tane's opinion. She wanted to hold onto him and tell him not to go, but he was already pushing her back through the door towards Sora- there embrace seconds before had meant she'd gone through it. Taking a step back, she gave a small nod, her eyes firmly fixed on the floor, not being able to face him now.
"Come on Sora, together we can do it!" The younger boy nodded, grinning at his best friend, before pushing the door, whilst Riku was pulling it.
"It's no use!" Said that stupid Duck that Tane had once again forgotten the name of. But just as he spoke a light appeared from the other side of the door where Riku was, blinding them all momentarily, so much so that the younger girl had to shield her eyes. Light was a good thing, right? Evidently, as when the redhead opened her eyes again, the King was suddenly standing next to Riku. Was he going to help them?
"Now Sora, let's close this door for good!" No. Not for good. For good when she was one side and Riku was on the other. No. They couldn't do that! Riku couldn't do that!
"But…" Both Sora and Tane said at once, only there was a lot more emotion in the girls voice. Sora's previous smile was also gone, apparently he hadn't thought his friend would end up there forever. Riku didn't seem to care though, and shook his head.
"Don't worry" He muttered continuing to push the door, "Now, they're coming!" Because that filled her with so much confidence to lock him with god knows what behind that door… But one last push would do it.. "Take care of her" He said to his best friend, as Tane finally gave in to the tears, letting them roll down her cheeks. This couldn't be happening, she couldn't be losing him. Wiping her eyes on the back of her hand quickly, she gave the door one last push. As the aqua green eyes she'd fallen in love with disappeared, she couldn't help but take a sudden gasp in. It felt like all the oxygen was escaping from her lungs, like all of her was escaping. Everything was escaping, into darkness...
Sora looked to the right just in time to see Tane's lifeless body fall to the floor. There was no blood, or cut, but there was neither anything left inside. She was merely an empty shell. Kairi's screams echoed Sora's emotions as the other girl moved forwards on the sand. He couldn't have failed Riku's request so soon. He'd just said he would look after Tane all of five seconds ago this couldn't have happened! And Kairi.. She looked so confused. Ofcourse she was confused, her sister had just.. Sora glanced between both sisters before running to Kairi, whether he'd agreed with Riku or not Kairi was the one who needed him right now. She was still… There. And Donald and Goofy were knelt besides Tane's body anyway, they could keep an eye on her for a second. He continued to run towards Kairi, out stretching his hand and taking hers, but she was already being pulled away by a quickly disappearing beach.
"Kairi!" He shouted but it was no use, that rock just wouldn't stop disappearing.
"Sora! Look after her!" She shouted, tears falling down her own cheeks before Sora himself fell through into the darkness.
A/N: Well. Unexpected/expected? Good/bad? This is the end for this story BUT there will be a sequel, I'm just not sure how that will end yet.. So, if you want the sequel look out for a new story on my page, it'll be up soon within a few weeks, called Xenta. Reviews are helpful as always, so please review the story as a whole. I want to thank Azura Soul Reaver and Mezwantzvgs who have reviewed basically every chapter, and everyone who has been keeping up this story and reviewing it, so thankyou all very much. Z-Nugget xxxx