So, I saw Frozen the other week. It was pretty good! Maybe I'll end up putting it in here; I guess we'll see. Of course, with Christmas coming up soon, my family and I will be traveling, so I doubt that I'll have time to update this for the next week or two, but we'll see! I'm more excited about the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special, which will be the last appearance of the Eleventh Doctor. Goodbye, Matt! We'll miss you! And good luck to Peter Capaldi!

Anyway…

*Cracks knuckles, puts on "Shrouding Dark Cloud"*

It's boss battle time!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, The World Ends With You, any Disney movie or TV Show, etc.

Chapter 4: Split Up

Sora leapt aside as the thief shot a blast of darkness at him.

"Be careful!" he called out to Kairi. "She's obviously not some random pickpocket!"

Kairi nodded, and then shouted, "Thunder!"

Lightning bolts rained down from the sky, forcing the thief off the fountain, not wanting to risk electrocution via the water. As the lightning began to strike the ground around her, she raised her hand into the air. The lightning bent toward her, and flowed into her palm. She pointed at Kairi, and the lightning surged out at her.

"Look out!" Sora shouted.

Kairi quickly raised her Keyblade and blocked the incoming bolt. "Okay, let's not try that again," she said to herself.

Sora ran straight at the thief, making several wide swipes at her with his Keyblade. The thief dodged each blow, making no effort to counterattack. She just seemed to be silently observing him.

Meanwhile, Riku was having trouble with the giant Heartless. He had made several attempts to attack it, but its body was so heavily armored that his attacks did little, if any damage. Cloud, Aerith, and the others tried to help, but they fared little better.

"We're not even scratching it!" said Yuffie angrily.

Cloud looked around. His eyes were drawn to the Heartless' many segmented legs. "Those might be easier to handle," he observed. "They don't looked as heavily defended."

"Alright then," said Riku, who deftly avoided the Heartless' attempt to take a large bite out of him. He leapt to the side of the monster and began to attack its legs. The Heartless screeched in pain.

"It's working!" said Yuffie, but then she gasped. The Heartless, in retaliation for this exploitation of its weakness, rose up into the air. The legs began to detach from its body and float towards Riku and the others.

"It's like only of those Guard Armors!" shouted Donald.

One of the legs fired some sort of laser from its tip, hitting Yuffie square in the chest, and knocking her to the ground.

"Not exactly like that," she moaned.

Another laser shot at Donald, but Goofy intercepted it with his shield. A force-field surrounded the Heartless' main body, and it gave a roar of triumph.

Aerith ran over to Yuffie and cast Cure on her. She gazed silently at the floating laser-legs.

"I think…that those legs have some kind of connection with the main body," she said slowly. "If we can take them out, we might be able to knock it out of the sky."

"Works for me," Cloud said grimly. He leapt into the air and sliced through one of the legs. It vanished in a cloud of darkness as he landed. "One down."

"That leaves seven," said Yuffie.

Riku fired a burst of Dark Firaga at another, disintegrating it. "Six," he said with a smirk.

The laser-legs increased their firing speed. Yuffie, however, was ready for them this time. She ran towards one of them, dodged lasers as she did so, and threw several shuriken at it. They each impacted with a thunk, and this one disintegrated as well. "Five!"

"Alright, let's go!" said Donald. He raised his wand into the air, and cast Blizzard several times. The legs dodged most of them, but two were frozen solid. Goofy ran forward and smashed one of them with his shield, while Aerith struck the other with her staff, shattering it.

"That leaves three more," Aerith said.

Those three clustered together and began to rotate, energy gathering around them.

Riku's eyes widened in shock. "Everybody down!" he shouted, as a massive laser tore through the air. Everyone dove for cover as it impacted, creating a good-sized crater where they had been standing.

"Well," said Cloud, "how do you propose that we handle that?"

XXX

The thief leapt back on top of the fountain.

"How are we going to get her down from there?" asked Kairi.

Sora didn't have time to answer, as at that moment the thief unleashed a barrage of dark energy bolts. They both leapt aside, in opposite directions. Kairi tried to move back towards Sora, but more energy bolts flew in her path.

"Watch out!" Sora called. "I think she's trying to separate us!"

Yeah, said Naminé, I was thinking the same thing.

Look, said Kairi to her, if you're going to say anything, could you at least try to give me a little help?

Fine, said Naminé. For starters, I'd avoid getting too close to the fountain.

Why?

At that moment, the thief leapt down and gestured at the fountain. The water rose up and rushed towards Kairi, engulfing her. Then the thief shot two blasts of Blizzard at the water, freezing Kairi in place from the neck down.

That's why.

XXX

"Okay," said Riku. "I'll draw its fire. Once I have its attention, go for it."

He ran right in front of the joined laser-legs. The Heartless spotted him, and the legs began to gather energy again. As their combined laser fired, Riku formed a Dark Barrier around himself. The laser impacted at full force, and Riku struggled to keep it together.

"NOW!" he shouted.

Donald launched a barrage of Fire spells at the legs, damaging them. The legs could no longer hold their formation, and they broke apart. The laser ceased firing.

"It's working!" shouted Aerith. "Keep it up!"

Cloud rushed forward and sliced through each of the laser-legs.

"That's the last of 'em," said Yuffie.

With all of the legs destroyed, the force-field around the main body disappeared. The Heartless began to falter struggling to keep afloat.

"Now's our chance!" said Riku.

He held his Keyblade in front of him and rose up into the air.

Dark Aura

Riku held the Keyblade high over his head, then vanished. He reappeared next to the Heartless and slashed at it. After that he vanished again, then reappeared and attacked again. And again. After the third strike, the Heartless fell to the ground on its back, exposing a vulnerable underbelly.

"Your mine!" shouted Riku, and he dove down, plunged his Keyblade into the Heartless below. Columns of energy flared up around him, and there was a blinding explosion of light and darkness. Riku landed in front of the others, while behind him, a large heart floated up into the air.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," said Goofy.

"We're not out of the woods yet," said Riku. He turned to the wall of purple fire behind them.

"We have to help Sora and Kairi!"

XXX

"Kairi!" Sora cried out. He ran towards her frozen form, but the thief appeared in front of him.

"Be careful!" Kairi called to him.

The thief ran forward, launching a volley of dark magic at Sora. He managed to deflect the blasts, but she lunged forward, knocking him to the ground.

"Get off!" Sora shouted, trying to use his Keyblade. The thief would have none of that, however, and pinned his arm to the ground with her hand. She raised her other hand and cloaked it in darkness.

Open wide.

The thief plunged her hand into Sora's chest. Blinding pain shot through Sora's body, and even though she did no physical harm to him, he began to scream in agony. For a moment, he thought he saw her eyes glow yellow.

Let the prisoners of your heart go free! Let them throw off their shackles and come forth!

Sora felt as though a part of him was being torn from his body. He could here two, three, four voices screaming in unison, and another giving a cry of triumph.

LET THE DARKNESS CLEANSE YOUR SOUL AND PURGE YOUR HEART OF ALL OTHERS! EMBRACE THE DARK OR DIE CLINGING HOPELESSLY TO THE LIGHT LIKE THE COWARD YOU ARE!

His entire body was on fire. He couldn't even remember his own name.

AS YOUR HEART BEGAN IN DARKNESS, SO TOO MUST IT END.

XXX

Even though she couldn't see him, due to being encased in ice and thus unable to turn around, Kairi could still hear Sora's screams of pain.

I have to help him, she thought. But what can I do? I can't even move! She closed her eyes. There's…nothing I can do.

Don't say that! Urged Naminé. You can do this. You have to.

Sora began to scream even louder. Kairi could sense darkness flowing from the thief into him. The whole square began to darken.

Kairi opened her eyes. No. I won't let her hurt him any longer! On her right hand, her Drive Gem began to glow blue.

Suddenly, a column of fire erupted from the ice, immediately melting it. The thief did not initially notice, being entirely focused on her task. That is, until several light projectiles slammed into her back. Their connection broken, Sora's screams ceased. The thief got up, and saw something that she had not been expecting.

Kairi's clothes had turned blue, adorned with several blue flames. While she had momentarily activated Wisdom Form at Yen Sid's tower, she had not fully tapped into its power. Now it coursed through her, the true potential of magic rushing into her brain. She floated in the air in front of the thief, and pointed her Keyblade at the thief.

"Hi!" she said with a smile, although any perceived notion of friendliness would vanish if you saw her eyes. "I don't think that we properly introduced ourselves. I'm Kairi. You?"

The thief did not answer, instead drawing back towards the fountain.

"No? Well okay!" Kairi said as she continued to float towards her. "Then why don't we skip straight to business. I want you to return what you stole from us, fix whatever you did to Sora, and then leave," Kairi frowned. "And don't come back."

"No."

With that, the thief attacked, launching several blasts of darkness at her. Kairi raised a shield of light, and they deflected harmlessly off it.

"Have it your way," she said, and fired several powered-up Fire spells at her. Most of them the thief dodged, but one she was forced to block, and was knocked back several feet.

Kairi flew after the thief, launching several more light projectiles. The thief disappeared in a cloud of darkness, then reappeared behind her and shot a stream of lightning at her. Kairi dodged it, rose up into the air, and aimed her Keyblade at the thief. An orb of light appeared at the end of it.

Ragnarok

Several streams of life burst from the orb, homing in on the thief. They struck home, and the thief was thrown to the ground by the impact.

Kairi let out the breath that she had been holding for the last several seconds. "I wasn't sure if that would work," she said as she landed back on the ground. "But at least I managed to save him."

At that moment, however, the Drive Gem chose that moment to wear off. Kairi's clothes changed from blue back to purple, and Wisdom Form's power faded.

At the same time, the thief rose back to her feet, as if something had pushed her up by the back. She glared at Kairi, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The wind seemed to gather around her.

Oh crap, both Kairi and Naminé thought.

The thief thrust her arms out. "Dark Aeroga!" she yelled.

The air roared as a wave of black wind struck Kairi. She tried to maintain her footing, but the wind picked her up her feet and threw her across the square. She slammed into the wall of a nearby building and slid to the ground, fighting to stay conscious.

The wall of flames vanished, and Riku and the others ran forward.

"Sora!" shouted Yuffie.

She and Cloud ran forward. The thief noticed them, and threw a blast of darkness, colored black with a hint of red, at each of them. They were both knocked to the ground, unconscious.

Several Armored Knights Heartless appeared in front of Riku, blocking his approach. The thief began to walk toward Kairi, dark energy forming in the palms of her hands.

I'm not going to make it in time! Riku thought in desperation.

But at that moment…

"BURN, BABY!'

With a roar, another wall of fire, this one red and yellow, appeared in the thief's path. She turned around to see Lea, Mickey and Leon standing on a nearby rooftop.

Lea leapt to the ground, wielding his Keyblade. "I never get tired of saying that," he said with a grin.

From a nearby street, soldiers began to pour into the street, led by Lightning and a tall, dark-skinned man.

"Oh great," said Leon, "They're out in force."

"Hold it," said the man to the thief. "I am General Leo of the Radiant Garden Defense Corps. Surrender now and you will not be harmed."

The thief tensed up. Then, before anyone could react, she grabbed Donald and leapt to the other side of the square.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" asked Donald. The thief said nothing, but placed a hand crackling with electricity near his head. Donald gulped. The message was clear.

General Leo glared at the thief. The soldiers pointed their weapons at her. Behind the thief, a Corridor of Darkness appeared.

I will not show my hand. Not yet.

"Stand down," the General told the soldiers.

"Sir," said Lightning, "It could be a bluff."

"I'm not going to risk it. Lower your weapons." The soldiers did so.

The thief turned to Riku. Taking out the Wayfinder, she tossed it to him, and he caught it with surprise.

"I have no further need of your trinket. It has served its purpose."

She then lifted Donald up and threw him at Goofy.

"Whoa!" cried Goofy as they were both knocked to the ground.

With that, the thief leapt into the Corridor. It closed behind her.

As Aerith ran towards Sora, Riku surveyed the chaos. He then asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"What was that all about?"

XXX

"Hey, are you alright?"

Kairi opened her eyes. She was still seeing stars after being thrown into the wall, but she was finally managing to come to her senses.

Looking down at her was a young woman with black hair, wearing a sleeveless blue sweater over a black tank-top.

She smiled down at Kairi. "Hi," she said. "I'm Rinoa."

She held out a hand. Kairi took it, and Rinoa helped her to her feet.

"I'm Kairi."

"You took quite a beating there, Kairi."

"I know," Kairi said, trying to clear her head. Suddenly she remembered something.

"Sora!" she shouted. She ran over to the fountain, with Rinoa following her.

Sora was lying on his back, holding his hand over his chest, his face twisted in pain. Aerith and Riku were bent over him.

"He's in bad shape," Aerith told her. "We need to get him some help now."

"We can take him to Merlin's," said Leon, picking Sora up. "It's not far from here."

"Okay," Aerith replied. She turned to Kairi, who saw that she was wearing a red jacket over the dress that she had last seen her in.

Yuffie and Cloud walked over, having already recovered from the thief's attack.

"We'd better hurry," Yuffie said, pointing at Lightning. "Miss Stick-In-the-Mud's looking at us funny."

Lightning was indeed glaring at them, and looked as though she was going to try to stop them.

"Alright," said Riku, "let's get going."

XXX

"Well," said Merlin, examining Sora carefully, "he appears not to be in any further danger."

They were all gathered in Merlin's house. Sora was lying in a bed, still unconscious. Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy and Mickey were gathered around him; while Aerith was standing over him, regularly casting Cure spells. Lea, Yuffie and Rinoa stood nearby, while Cloud and Leon were by the door.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Goofy.

"That woman, whoever she was, tried to extract something from his heart," Merlin explained. "Quite violently, I might add."

"If that's the case," said Aerith. "I don't think she succeeded, at least not fully. Something seems to be…dislodged."

"Recovery shouldn't take long," said Merlin. "I would, however, advise that he not over-exert himself for a while."

"Knowing Sora, I doubt he'll agree to that," Riku commented with a grin.

Rinoa turned to Leon. "Do you think he'll be alright, Squall?"

Leon didn't say anything to her. Behind his back, Yuffie glared at him.

Kairi looked at Sora. She noticed that his eyelids were fluttering.

"Is he waking up?" asked Donald.

"No," Kairi responded. "I think he's dreaming."

"About what?"

"Who knows?"

XXX

Sora's Dream

"You know, we have a lot in common, the two of us," said the black haired girl. "Aside from the obvious."

"Yeah," said Sora absentmindedly.

They were sitting on the crooked palm tree, the one where he usually sat with Riku and Kairi. The girl was staring into the sunset, and would occasionally throw a rock into the ocean.

"I mean, my friends forgot me, and yours forgot you. I guess we're not all that important, huh?" she said.

"I guess."

"Then again," she said, chucking another rock in, "if they didn't forget me, nobody would've ever remembered you. Even that girl you like would have forgotten eventually."

She turned to him and smiled. "You totally owe me." She stood up. "So do you think that you'll be able to help?"

"Sure," he said. Then he was suddenly aware of himself.

"Wait, who are you?" he asked. He turned to face the girl, but she had vanished.

Suddenly, Sora began to sink into the ground. The Islands began to disappear, and soon he was falling in darkness. As he fell, he looked around, and for a moment, he thought that he saw himself falling in front of him, giving him a sinister smile. But then he blinked, and the other him was gone.

Eventually, he landed, as usual, on a stain glass platform. Depicted on it was a sleeping image of himself. Bordering the image were pictures of people he knew. Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Roxas, Naminé, Lea. Also included were people he didn't quite recognize, but felt very familiar. There was the girl he had been dreaming about, and a boy who looked like Roxas, although Sora could tell it wasn't him. There was a woman that Sora was sure that he had met before, and a man that looked extremely familiar, almost like he had met him many times. Most striking, however, was a shadow in the background, resembling that of a young woman. Sora couldn't make out her features, but could see that she was facing the opposite direction that his image was.

A voice echoed through the darkness.

This will the last time that we will speak here. There is little to tell you that you do not already know. But the coming trials will be perhaps the ultimate test of your heart.

A shadow rose up from the ground, formless, in front of Sora.

Your heart has been connected to yet another's, for good or for ill.

The shadow split into six, which surrounded him and took on human-like shapes, each different from the others.

Beware these that you see before you, those who long ago embraced the darkness in their hearts. For they are the dark mirror through which you may see yourself.

All of the figures vanished except for one, which transformed into a shadow version of Sora. It regarded him briefly, and then disappeared.

A great conflict is approaching. I will ask you once more.

Suddenly the darkness disappeared, and the scene dissolved and reformed. Sora was now standing on the shore of the Island. Facing him were younger versions of Riku, Kairi and himself; the same age as they were when he had first obtained the Keyblade.

What are you afraid of? asked the image of Riku.

Sora thought for a moment. Now? he thought. So much has changed. "Failing when it matters most," he decided eventually.

The younger Riku nodded, and then dissolved into sand. Suddenly, the images of Sora and Kairi grew older, to the age they had been during the fight with the Organization.

His own image turned to him, and for a moment it looked like the boy depicted on the platform; the one that looked like Roxas.

What do you want in life? asked the Sora image.

"To bring help to people who need it," Sora said without hesitation.

Without a word, the Sora image faded, melting into the air.

The image of Kairi turned around, and motioned for Sora to follow her. They walked into the water until they were knee-deep, then she turned to face him. Sora watched as silver and purple armor appeared on her. In her hand was the Oathkeeper Keyblade. Her face looked tired, as if she had seen things that she didn't want to remember.

What is the most important thing to you?

Sora stared at the ground, deep in thought. Everything had changed; could he really trust himself to answer this?

But even after all that had happened, some things never really do change.

Sora raised his head. Looking straight at Kairi, he said, "My friends – no, everyone who's connected to my heart."

Kairi gave him a sad smile. Do not forget that.

Suddenly, an enormous wave appeared behind her. It rushed towards them at a blinding speed, and Sora could only watch as crashed down on them.

The image of Kairi vanished from sight as he sank down into the depths of the ocean. A searing pain suddenly rushed through his head, and he clutched it in shock…

He was in The World That Never Was, dueling Riku in front of Memory's Skyscraper.

No, he was in Twilight Town, dying in Roxas' arms.

No, he was in an arid desert, while an old man and a masked boy walked towards him and two others in the middle of a field of Keyblades.

And do not forget…

The shadows surrounded him, impenetrable.

No matter how far you go, no matter how lost you might be…

There was a distant glimmer of light…

You will never truly be alone.

XXX

Merlin's House, the Real World

"So what was she using my lucky charm for?" asked Kairi.

Merlin studied it closely. "It would seem that she was using this as a representation of your bond with Sora," he said, handing the Wayfinder back to her. "Through it, she would have been able to access your heart as well as Sora's."

Kairi stared. "Are you saying that she was going to do to me what she did to Sora?"

"It would appear so."

Suddenly there was a commotion at the door.

"Out of the way, you two!" a man said with an impatient voice. "If the Keyblade Master is injured, then I must see him at once."

Bustling past Leon and Cloud was a man with long blond hair and wearing a lab coat.

"Ah yes, here he is," he said as he approached Sora's bed.

Riku's eyes widened as he recognized the man. "You!" he cried, summoning his Keyblade.

"Yes, hello Riku," said the man without looking up. "I'm afraid that I cannot chat now. If my hypothesis is correct, then your friend will shortly be in great peril."

"Riku, put that away," said Lea. "He's with us."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "You mean…"

"Yes. Everyone, this is Even, formerly Vexen, a founding member of Organization XIII. Who, to be honest, I'm surprised is up and about."

"I'm a faster healer than you thought. And that period, while ethically unsound, was a bounty of scientific knowledge," said Even, who now had his ear over Sora's heart. "And that knowledge will be crucial in about two minutes."

"Really? How's that?" asked Kairi, who motioned for Riku to dismiss his Keyblade, which he did, with some reluctance.

"The woman that attacked Sora, whoever she was, has affected Sora's heart in a way that I had previously thought impossible, but upon further consideration, I now believe entirely otherwise."

"Right," said Aerith. "We noticed that she seemed to have dislodged something."

"It's more than that!" Even shouted impatiently. "There are several hearts inside of his body, and one's connection has just been severed! If we don't act fast, the damage to his will be catastr-!"

He didn't have time to finish, because at that moment, Sora eye's fluttered open, and he sat up in the bed. "Hey guys," he said. "Why's everyone looking at me like that?"

"Do ya feel alright?" asked Mickey.

"Yeah, I feel fine. What's wrong?"

"This isn't right," muttered Even. "At this point, you shouldn't be able to wake up. Could it be that I was mistaken? Or has the process been delayed someh-?"

Suddenly, a blast of light filled the room. Once it had dissipated, everyone stared in shock at the blond-haired boy suddenly sprawled on the floor.

"You've got to be kidding me," Lea said in disbelief. "This isn't possible."

"What's going on?" asked the boy as he struggled to his feet. "Axel, is that you?"

"ROXAS?!"

To Be Continued

Next Time:

"Aren't You a Little Young to be Building Gummi Ships?"

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