KH3 Another Side, Another Story

by rikufanattic

CH.43 The epilogue, this is just the beginning of the end. RikuxOC

42. The Past Gathers together Again

A/N: Well you guys, it's finally come down to this, but don't worry! See me again soon, or just read this whole thing and figure out my little 'extra' I suppose!

Xejicka: Thank you so much for all the talks, and not to mention Amaterasu's cameo appearance in Discovering Fate it was a blast seeing her act like that. Watch out for me in the future! Thanks a bunch buddy!

Sorasheart281: Thank you SOOOOOO MUCH, because I did it half and half, Italian and Latin, well sort of. And I wasn't stalking you!!! XD

Rozen-senpai: I almost did shed a tear while writing this, but I must remember to keep my cool. Your late night talks (where I'm from…) kept my moral up, and ready to tackle on a lot of challenges within the story, and I've taken your advice to the maximum, not to mention this is the longest thing I've ever typed in my whole life! So don't hurt me if you find typos, I'm only human after all… XD

Emalyzah: Chica! What's up?! Thanks for reviewing my story, even though I know you're not even done with it yet, lol. Man we have pretty weird conversations don't we? Thank you so much!

TwilightBlader: I'm not offended, but I mean that's why I write...

In the famous words of Dante from DMC3… This party's gettin' crazy, let's rock!

Chapter 42: Il passato arricciatura assieme ancora (The past gathers together again) Preteritus recolligo una iterum

Amaterasu ran frantically through the crumbling hallway pacing herself as she felt the earth shift underneath her feet. 'They're gonna get hurt…' she thought running through the falling debris. Naminé stayed with Roxas underneath a thick support beam hoping that everything would be all right. The blonde female Nobody tended to the deep wound that Roxas had, and she looked forward to the hallway, feeling the ground start to shake once more. 'Ammi…' she thought watching Roxas stagger forward.

"What are you…?" Roxas heard her speak and looked back at her with a pained expression.

"Kairi and the other princesses…" Roxas said simply moving forward once again, this time Sora took the stage and left Roxas back to relax in the comfort of the mind.

Naminé stood up and walked alongside the battered Keyblade wielder and they went to the deeper chamber. Amaterasu was mumbling something looking at the device that each Princess of Heart was within and noticed that the dark aura hadn't ceased. Here the girl threw caution to the wind, and did the unthinkable in her manner. With the Keyblade 'Way to Night' she broke each glass like container, and soon broken edges of sharp debris covered the floor of the ruined chamber room.

Each crack of glass symbolized something within her mind watching it shatter as it connected with the ground. Her sorrow, anger, and guilt were breaking off into more pieces that could possibly never be repaired at this point in time. Her dark brown looked back at the Princesses that were visible in plain sight, and something still didn't seem right to her, and she could feel it. 'He has them under his control,' the other voice echoed calmly as Amaterasu carefully lifted each titled female away from the strange broken containers. Everything seemed to be all right with them physically, except for the dark aura that was around them. 'You may not be safe either because of…'

"I know…" she said despondently, hearing footsteps run across from the other side of the room.

Sora looked around seeing the Princesses of Heart in deep slumber, and Naminé quickly followed behind looking at the royal figures lost within their deep sleep. The Keyblade's 'chosen one' looked at Kairi and without a second thought about it he ran towards her, ignoring the sharp pain coming from his shoulder. Naminé followed in suite, running towards the familiar fallen Princess of Heart, noticing the dark and purple aura that seemed to hover around her. Sora picked her up slightly, pushing strands of her wine colored hair away from her face, and hugged her. He whispered words that could only be described as optimistic, but somehow Amaterasu thought that they fell on deaf ears, Kairi couldn't hear him.

In Roxas' and Naminé's psyche the only thing they could see replaying within their mind was the day when a certain blonde Nobody had been hit by a very powerful Blizzaga spell. Amaterasu stepped away from the scene, feeling something hit her heart heavily. Her body wandered to an open window and from there she overlooked the war-written desert of Sunset Horizon. 'I hope Versus is all right,' she thought back to the young heir who loved his beloved capital with all his might. Amaterasu had a feeling that he would probably die for his capital, but somehow for right now that didn't seem all that likely.

"She's breathing," Naminé's voice could be heard as it echoed across the room.

Amaterasu looked from the corner of her eye slightly adjusting the position in her body to watch from a different angle. Naminé's hands hovered dangerously close to her 'other's' nostrils feeling the warm carbon dioxide release from her nose, a sign of good breathing. It was a good sign to the Nobody knowing that her 'other' was still alive. Amaterasu turned her head to gaze back at the desert; it was alone, just like how she felt right now. 'No light,' she thought bitterly folding her arms across her chest, to make up for the lack of warmth she wanted to feel from her light.

"But what about…?" Sora began to ask about the strange aura surrounding Kairi and the other Princesses of Heart.

Amaterasu sighed softly not trying to let this all get to her, but it was impossible at this point to turn a blind eye to the whole matter. 'This is a life or death thing for every single one of us…' she thought finally turning around and leaning against the edge of the opening from the window. "The Dark Master," she began to speak, looking down at the ground beneath her feet, "he… He has them under his disposal. He's slowly absorbing the power they hold to finally unlock Kingdom Hearts…" she said undoing one hand from her folded arms, and pointing to Kairi for a moment, "I'm sure he's already taken their energy by now, even as we're talking. Plus with your help…" she snapped her fingers.

Sora felt something heavy come into his grasp and there in his right hand was a Keyblade no less. Amaterasu forced the Keyblade 'Ultima Weapon' to appear in his hand. Sora looked at the lengthy Keyblade and looked away in disgust for a moment, withdrawing the weapon back to the loops attached to his side. There he noticed, as metallic objects clinked together, all the other key chains he had acquired from several other worlds. Each one of them at one point or another in time had been used to destroy Heartless that plagued the world, defeating enemies that endangered those he called friends, the ones he came to care about deeply.

"So then if he's gone, they'll wake up?" he asked her looking up at Amaterasu, she had her back turned to them, no doubt staring at the scene once again. She vaguely nodded and Sora sighed for a moment staring at Kairi for a moment. "Then I'll have to make sure that he falls for good," the brunette said intending to keep every single word that fell from his lips.

The girl with the dark brown hair laughed a bit, feeling slightly uneasy knowing that he truly did mean every word of it. She rubbed her wrist for a moment sensing that the Dark Master was out there somewhere within the world of Sunset Horizon. 'Just what is it you want?' she asked herself, gripping to her wrist for a while. There was no answer from the Dark Master or her dark side, and this time she knew that it was something she'd have to find out for herself.

"Light isn't the best thing for everyone if they don't know how to use it to its potential," Ignis said walking around the room for a moment. Amaterasu was the only member in his audience and she listened intently despite the fact she didn't really like him. "Once you've actually seen what it is the light can do you realize it's just like darkness but in a different form of the sort. You cannot truly get rid of the light or the darkness for they need one another. Take shadows for example…"

"Ignis…" she interrupted him by gradually raising her hand. "One who talks like that, you being someone who has lived for FAR longer than I have, you mean to say that the LIGHT can actually be a bad thing at times?" Ignis gave a small chuckle and nodded for a moment. "But how? I mean why?" she asked trying to wrap this all around her little mind, but it didn't seem to stick.

"You'll see in time in many countless battles, like those before you, and after you." Ignis said leaning back into his chair now. The one who once held glory was held to a crumbling state forever staying within the boundary of the shadows, such was the wisdom he came to shape out and teach, and Ignis knew it all to well. He had aged while he traveled with his pupils and now here he was back in the real world, breathing and spreading his reign, with no one to stop him for the moment. "If you survive this, you'll see the next generation come and try to stop me, and you'll see sometimes the light can be truly evil."

"I don't understand…" she said fidgeting with her hair for a moment, and she looked down for a moment staring at the dusty boots that he wore. They seemed to have walked so many different paths once, and now they rarely got to move with age.

"I don't expect you too," Ignis said in his manner, a tone that made Amaterasu shiver whenever he addressed her in little remarks. "You're just like them," he said letting out a laugh and carefully placing his amber eyes on the face of the girl. She didn't how to respond to that, only making a face of confusion, causing the Dark Master to laugh at her this time. "Nothing to add then… Good you're better off silent." He said, noticing the fire in her eyes finally come alive, but quickly with one glare the fire in her eyes died all too soon.

Amaterasu turned her body slightly facing away from the Dark Master and gazing at the horizon that was outside of the window. The sun was slowly meeting the horizon, and therefore giving off its beautiful color of the element of time called dusk. 'I really wish you were here with me…' she thought sadly biting her lower lip. Amaterasu tried her best to mask her emotion of sadness knowing that Ignis could be as cold as ice, yet his name meant 'fire' in the language of the dead. 'He makes ice look lukewarm…' she thought folding her arms.

"Terra , vos es iustus amo puer in ut voluntas." Ignis said noticing that Amaterasu looked up at him, with watchful eyes. "Did I hit a nerve?" he asked her, and she growled for a moment, and Ignis seemed pleased the reaction on the young Atrum Procer. 'How am I like Terra?' she asked herself reiterating what Ignis told her moments ago. "In any case that's not anything new since you taught him a bit about darkness, am I correct, Atrum Procer? That's part of your job description."

"EGO doctus haud talis res!" she said yelling angrily, she had never done something like that to Terra. 'I never taught him!' she thought looking at Ignis with disgust for a moment.

Amaterasu found herself come back to reality, she almost lost herself in the emotion of the memory from that day. 'Terra, he and Xehanort, the one from Radiant Garden are one in the same person, but Xehanort's identity was created from what we call ignorance…' she thought looking at her feet for a moment. 'I didn't teach him anything about the darkness, he learned on his own.' She thought thinking back to when she was a kid, hearing about Ansem the Wise's lectures on darkness. The girl once walked in on Ansem accidentally after a session with Hojo, and Xehanort wasn't all that happy to see her. 'He started becoming distant that day…' she thought sadly knowing that happiness didn't last forever. 'I never thought you'd be the first case in a long line of people corrupted by darkness… I am still the Dark Princess and you were the second generation of being the Dark Master…'

Sora looked up finally and watched Amaterasu for a moment trying to figure out why she was lost in thought. For a moment something within his mind broke off, his vision became distorted. He didn't see the girl he knew, but rather first a girl with blue hair. 'Aquan…' he thought thinking back to the memory spheres. A boy that looked like a familiar Nobody, 'Ventus…' he thought thinking back within his memories, and finally someone with brown hair, 'Xehanort…' he thought, and finally his mind made since of what was going on. 'She's like our reflection in a sort… she's our gaze into the past…' this was Roxas' input. Sora nodded for a moment and Amaterasu turned her head slightly to look at Sora.

"We should leave now," Amaterasu said putting on a fake smile. The brunette blinked slightly feeling a bit confused at her whole demeanor at all of this. Naminé looked back at Amaterasu and she nodded slightly. The Dark Princess closed her eyes for a moment searching for Lightning's aura. She found the presence and at that moment she outstretched her hand and a dark portal appeared out of nowhere, stationing itself in the middle of the room. "We're going to have to transport them one by one…" the girl said as she started by taking the maiden in the yellow dress towards the portal first. Naminé and Sora looked at one another and then back to Amaterasu as she walked through the portal with Belle.

"It's her own way of saying sorry, I guess…" Naminé said softly as Sora and she lifted Alice and slowly paced themselves through the dark portal.

With Ignis

The Dark Master was perched far above the ground on a tall column of earth. The winds were relatively slow, and they slowly carried the scent of blood and Heartless across the land. "Once he sets foot on this land, I'll take everything from him," the old man said softly to himself, and he gave a crooked smile. 'There's no need for him, he'll just abuse hi power like all the others,' he thought back to what he had told the Dark Princess. 'There's no need for her as well she has done her job, and out lived her usefulness,' he thought hoping that Riku would soon outburst like he did, and he was right on the money at this point.

'WHAT?!' it was accompanied by the growls of a beast by the name of Vieh of course. 'Why kill her? She's helped you; she deserves to live at least!' Vieh's voice resonated with Riku's into a combination of beastly bellows and yells. Ignis sighed for a moment, he never expected for the beast to get involved now. 'We have a point you know, just let her live for a bit longer, could you do us that simple favor?' the beast asked, and Riku could be heard growling somewhere in the distance of his mind.

'Just shut up, both of you,' Xehanort said growling for a moment, 'she's already done her part she's used up.' Riku growled for a moment and cursed back at him. Ignis tuned them out quickly and placed a gloved hand over his face covering his eyes for a moment. He heard nothing and saw nothing, it was perfect for him right now.

"All that's left to do is just wait, she'll either lead them here, or she'll tell them where I am, whichever one it is it's still her part. She'll be done soon and she'll be done with her part, and then…" he laughed to himself, "it'll be all mine. They're all foolish, every single one of them."

Riku sighed for a moment finally sat up against the wall of the 'dark' room and Vieh placed his head on the Keyblade wielders lap, closing his eyes and giving a heavy sigh. "Why'd you agree with me?" Riku asked placing his hand on the head of the beast, and creature in reply just growled for a moment. "You like her too, don't you?" he asked smirking. "I guess you are part of me," that made Vieh give out a raspy sounding laugh, and Riku shook his head for a moment. "I'm gonna get out of here, you'll see, once Xehanort gets ready to leave…"

"How do you know he's going to leave?" Vieh asked his yellow eyes staring up at Riku. Riku shrugged for a moment and thought of something quick.

"It's like that in every book or show, they always send out their minions first and then they fight once their minion gets destroyed." He sounded confident for once, like this could actually make sense, and Vieh almost found himself agreeing with what the Keyblade wielder believed.

"In case you haven't noticed we're minions too…" Vieh said snickering at the whole thing, "we're going to die at your friends' hands, just grand…" he said sarcastically. Riku shifted uncomfortably in his position and Vieh got up in an annoyed manner. "You know you're really strange, I just hope Amaterasu gets to dispose of us…" Riku laughed nervously at that comment. "Don't lie, you're thinking about it… And whole mess of other things, you know you might want to keep a lid on what you think, some things are…"

"I know…" Riku said placing his hand firmly on the beast's head, and Vieh pulled away slightly. "Dying at the hands of the one you love…" he said softly shaking his head for a moment. "Yeah that's really how I want to die…" he said contemptuously and Vieh rolled his eyes at the comment of the silver hared teen. "I'll do the best I can to get out of here…"

"You'd better find a way lover boy, or else we're all going to die in here… I haven't even gotten a chance to celebrate my first birthday…" Vieh felt a bit remorseful for some reason, "Tragic, tragic day, what a shame to be put to waste, to die in a forsaken place."

"Shut up, Vieh…" Riku said turning his head away, there was finally silence, and he had time to formulate a plan, but he didn't know if it would work. "What was it that you said about a bright light?" he asked thinking back to a previous comment the silver furred beast had mentioned.

"Oh! Now you want to hear about what I have to say…" Vieh said bearing his teeth to the boy, but the darkness prevented any detection of it at all.

Ignis was glad he tuned out the conversation for once, their babble seemed meaningless at times, but they were the only beings he could use to fight against Sora and the others for now. That would soon change, and he was looking forward to it.

Versus and Lightning

"So then, Heartless, what are you doing here?" Versus asked leaning against a fallen column from a nearby building. Cloud and Leon's group had advanced forward into taking out more Heartless that had gone further into the capital. These two and several other soldiers chose to say behind to rest for a bit.

"She sent me to go and see what was happening here," Lightning answered truthfully and sighed for a moment crossing her arms over her chest. "I didn't expect to find you like that…" she said eyeing the bandages that were wrapped around a flesh wound. "What happened to your arm?" she asked, her blue eyes looked up him for a moment.

"A Wyvern," he said laughing for a moment. "I didn't see it coming from the air and tackled me down to the ground. Its talons were getting to close to my face so the only thing I could do was use my arms. It knocked me out though before I got a chance to get rid of it." Versus said noticing that the Heartless snickered for a moment. "How is she?" he asked referring to the young girl.

"She's with friends," the Heartless said not really knowing what call the three people that kept Amaterasu company. "I'm sorry about what happened to the capital and the other countries…" she said trying to be as sincere as she could, but she could only feel like that around Amaterasu. Versus accepted the strained tone of the apology and looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were moving around, the wind was pushing them along, making them traverse towards the area of the desert. 'He's out there…' Lightning watched the clouds for a moment and felt a shiver go down her spine, 'he's out there… waiting…'

Versus pushed himself off of the column and took his sword back into position since it was on the dirt ground. He walked off in the direction that Leon and the others traversed along, and he looked back at Lightning, "Are you going to come, or not?" he asked the female Heartless, she in reply pulled out her weapon transforming it into a somewhat strange looking Gunblade. "I'll take that as a 'yes' then," Versus said waiting for her to walk over.

Lightning slung the weapon over her shoulder, sensing the presence of Heartless fall for a moment. 'They're getting tired,' she thought, referring to Leon and Cloud's group. 'They are human after all, and they know their limitations.' She walked alongside Versus and took notice on the look he placed on his face. He didn't seem all that focused for some reason. 'His capital is in ruins, and soon there's going to be a massive fight between the Dark Master and Sora…' the Heartless thought deducing as to why he seemed so distant from reality.

Cloud and the others

Tifa felt her fist knocking down a Heartless and she looked back at Zack and Cloud, they seemed to be doing all right. "Above you!" someone called out and Tifa looked and jumped back. The sound of metal clanking together caught her attention noticing the large body before her. 'Shit…' she thought dodging the powerful Fire spell. The Defender, as it was called, successfully evaded Tifa's attack by using its shield to push her back. At the same time it tried to bite off her leg, but she was saved for now. Zack came in from behind and sliced the Heartless down the middle.

More Heartless appeared when their comrades fell, and it included winged Heartless as well. Cloud and Aerith looked up at the sky noticing the evil creatures cover the area, but one thing they didn't expect so see, or rather what Cloud didn't expect to see, was Sephiroth taking to the skies to wipe out the Heartless that flew around. The was a loud boom coming from the gummi ship overhead, and the whole gang noticed that smoke was starting to emit from the place where the ship had taken damage.

"Sephiroth!" Zack yelled quickly glancing at his friend.

Sephiroth nodded knowing exactly what spiky hared man was asking of him and rushed towards the gummi ship. The others continued on holding back the Heartless from advancing forward. Vincent pulled the trigger on 'Cerberus' and watched as Heartless fell backwards. He glanced up at the gummi ship, and several names ran through his head, 'Reeve… Cid and Shera, Shelke… and the two children.' Zack brought his Buster Sword down on the remaining Heartless that were around him and he moved his sword to the side, cutting more of the enemies down to size. Cloud parried with several of the Heartless, blocking attacks and slicing them down when they were caught off guard. Spells of every element were being said, coming from Rinoa and Aerith as they attacked the Heartless relentlessly with their elemental attacks.

Leon and Reno took turns bashing the Heartless, moving as quickly as they could to try and end it all quickly. Electricity befell the Heartless from Reno's Electro-rod, and they twitched slightly on the ground before disappearing back into a puff of black smoke. He smirked and went back to the other Heartless at hand. Several 'Soldier' Heartless moved through the air with spinning kicks, and Reno ducked before one of them got a clear shot of his face. Leon gripped his Gunblade and successfully managed to knock out several of the dark creatures, and once more of them showed up was time for some Fire spells.

Rude and Nanaki worked off one another quite effectively. Rude was able to grab two Heartless by the head and bash them in together, and they fell to the ground. Nanaki used Sled Fang against the Heartless that didn't fall from Rude's combination of kicks and punches. A shuriken narrowly missed the man with the black sunglasses by about an inch or so, and Yuffie apologized whole-heartedly. Yomigami sighed and threw both of his chakram at the remaining Heartless around him as the weapons spun around wildly with the element of thunder encompassing them.

The gummi ship was starting to descend as Sephiroth finally made his way through the sky, and he noticed that the engine had been damaged and the side of it. Flames were sprouting from the engine and the silver hared man moved about as quickly as he could. He made it inside and looked around, yellow eyed creatures had taken residence within the flying vehicle and the members within the ship were fighting them off as best as they could. The humming of the EM sabers was heard as Shelke zipped past Sephiroth.

"Reeve, Shera, and the kids made it out through the escape pod…!" Cid said slamming the Heartless down with his spear. Shelke provided support and slashed wildly at several 'Shadow' Heartless that moved about. The gummi ship jerked towards the right, and Sephiroth managed to catch himself from falling. Shelke was thrown back and Heartless went in for the kill, but she pulled out a strange looking orb, and a shield formed around her. "Shit…" Cid cursed noticing that the decrease in altitude was starting to pick up. "We've got to abandon ship!" he said picking up Shelke and Sephiroth was more than happy to hear those words.

'Zack would've killed me if anything happened to these people… I still don't see why he cares about them that much, he doesn't even talk to them most of the time…' the one winged angel thought taking the two away from the wreckage.

"What the hell took you two?!" Reno yelled out, swinging his weapon at nearby Heartless. He looked at Lightning and Versus for a moment as they moved in quickly, making mince meat out of the Heartless ahead.

Zack and Cloud were back to back now staring at the Heartless around them. Zack chuckled for a moment, "Just like old time, eh Cloud?"

Cloud gripped his weapon tightly noticing the agitated look within the Heartless in front of him and he felt a smirk creep up on him. "You think it'll be a bit more tough if a couple more of them show up?"

"I don't know…" Zack said looking in back of him for a moment. "Ready?" he asked, and Cloud nodded. The two of them pushed off at superhuman speed, and both of their swords were held high ready to strike down. The Heartless moved forward and Cloud took on his side swinging the huge blade over to his right, knocking a couple of them down for the count. Zack brought his blade down, and a gust knocked several Heartless in its wake.

Amaterasu and the others

The girl sighed and noticed that Kairi was the last one to be carried over. "You can take her Sora," she said noticing that Sora had already gotten Kairi in his arms. Amaterasu laughed for a bit and they all started to walk towards the portal.

Leaving so soon?

Naminé and the others topped quickly and looked around the room. 'That voice…' Amaterasu thought pulling out 'Way to Night'. Naminé pulled out her Keyblade and tried to search for the location of the voice, but she didn't find anything. Sora looked back and pulled out his weapon. "No, Sora, just go…" Naminé said trying to get him through the portal. "Amaterasu and I can take care of ourselves, they're just trying to slow you down."

"Naminé…" Sora said softly and looked at Amaterasu. "If she gets hurt…" Amaterasu cut him off quickly.

"Just move!" she said sending a chill down his spine, and he quickly hurried along the portal. Once he was through the portal she closed it and looked around. "All right then, show yourself!"

With pleasure…

'It's that soldier…' Amaterasu thought remembering him from a previous battle. Naminé gripped her weapon tightly watching the soldier as it moved forward. "What do you want?" Naminé asked still gripping on the handle of the Keyblade.

The soldier dressed in black moved forward and Naminé dodged an attack from the soldiers weapon of choice, this here being a Keyblade. Amaterasu ran forward locking her weapon with the soldier's. She was sent back with a more powerful version of the attack 'Dark Aura'. Naminé rushed over to the fallen girl, but she shook her head, not wanting assistance from the female Nobody. "He's the only thing that matters right now…" the girl said getting up slightly. The soldier didn't wait any time soon, and Naminé pushed Amaterasu quickly, away from harm.

Amaterasu rolled a little bit, and caught herself quickly just in time. She stood up now and ran towards the dark solider. Naminé was in his grasp, and he used her as a shield of some sort. The blonde Nobody struggled trying to free herself from the soldier. The soldier turned his gaze towards Amaterasu as she growled for a moment bringing her Keyblade down to her side. "Let her go…" she said gripping the handle of her weapon.

"'Fraid I can't…" the soldier replied with a sort of taunting tone. Amaterasu ran forward and used her speed to an advantage, before letting her blade connect with Naminé's body she spun around to the right side, and with her free hand used her version of 'Dark Firaga', moving the soldier by an inch. It was enough to get Naminé free, and the Nobody moved quickly towards Amaterasu's side. The soldier growled for a moment and advanced with a quick burst of speed.

Amaterasu and Naminé jumped back as the soldier brought his weapon high into the air. Naminé went forward and quickly brought her weapon to strike. Amaterasu followed as her shadow, in a since, and when Naminé was blocked the girl jump over the Nobody and brought her weapon down, breaking the faceguard in half. The Heartless soldier moved back and threw his weapon towards Amaterasu, and the blond Nobody used the spell 'Reflect' to bounce the Keyblade back. The Heartless growled for a moment and moved back as Amaterasu moved forward. Naminé stood near to support her through any means necessary.

The soldier moved quickly, bring his hand forward. Naminé knew he was going to try that other attack, and quickly with her Keyblade threw it forward. The spell that the Heartless used connected with Naminé's weapon, and sent it flying back to its owner. Amaterasu moved quickly to the left, and threw her weapon as fast as she could. The solider leapt back bending his body a bit, so that the weapon would miss him completely. The girl growl for a moment watching her Keyblade skid across the floor, and soldier stood on the keychain of her weapon. The girl called back her Keyblade, and it disappeared in a small flicker of light, and appeared back in the girl's left hand.

The soldier moved once again going for Naminé this time, and he brought his weapon to the side. 'Reflect!' Naminé thought, quickly hearing the Keyblade hit against the barrier. Amaterasu and Naminé were feeling out of breath for a moment, they couldn't keep it up much longer. 'Damn it…' Amaterasu thought watching the soldier move towards her. Naminé's eyes caught something that zipped through the air; it didn't come from either one of them. The soldier looked in the distance and noticed a familiar figure wearing a black coat. Amaterasu turned around quickly and felt her eyes widen for a moment. 'It's him…' she thought thinking back to the royal mouse. 'It's really him!'

King Mickey discarded his robe and summoning his Keyblade back he dashed forward ready to fight against the soldier. "Hey you two!" it was Goofy's voice, accompanied by Donald shouting a frenzy off magic spells. He was putting his mage skills to the test as the soldier had a harder time fighting off against the King and spells at the same time. Goofy threw his shield knocking the soldier around a bit. "We'll take it from here!" Donald said using Blizzaga on the soldier. Amaterasu and Naminé looked back at the King and he nodded for a moment. A dark portal appeared underneath the girl and the Nobody.

Sora and the others

Various soldiers from Versus personal squad were transporting the Princesses to a safer area. 'This place took a lot of damage…' Sora thought walking alongside some of the soldier that offered their help. He was alone now since Versus and the others had left to fight off the other Heartless that moved up ahead. He looked off in the distance and noticed that smoke was billowing from somewhere. 'I hope the others are all right…' he thought and looked back at what was once the entrance to the capital. It seemed hard to believe that Heartless had taken this area by surprise.

"Aaahhh…!" he heard voices from overhead. Sora looked at a portal that formed overhead and noticed two people fall from the sky. "Ugh…" a blond girl said picking herself up slightly. The dark skinned girl stayed on the ground, lightly sighing for a moment. She didn't bother to pick herself up; she seemed tired, and let her aching muscles rest for a moment. "You okay, Ammi?" Naminé asked wandering over to the girl, and she gave a light nod.

"King Mickey was there…" Amaterasu said turning over on her back now. She stared up at the sky and looked at the grey clouds, along with them blacks ones seemed to form in the distance. "He got us out of there…"

"I was the one who sent him…" Sora said looking down at Amaterasu for a moment. She looked up at the blue eyes and sighed in relief. "I felt bad about leaving you two there…" he said as Amaterasu sat up for a moment, and shook her head.

"Why are you so nice…?" Amaterasu asked sighing heavily. "Come Sora get mad at me once in a while…" Sora rolled his eyes and fell back on the ground. Amaterasu sat next to him and so did Naminé. "I mean come on you're way too nice for your own good."

"That's what I tell him…" Roxas said walking out from one of the nearby areas.

"Roxas!" Naminé said hugging the blond male Nobody with all her might. Roxas froze for a moment watching Amaterasu and Sora laugh. He felt a blush creep up on him and stuck his tongue out at the other two teens. "How's your shoulder?" Naminé asked quietly.

"It's better…" Roxas said giving her a small smile once he felt his face go back to normal. He sighed and looked at several silhouettes in the distance. "Look!" Roxas pointed towards the figures that were walking down the hill. Sora and Amaterasu looked in the direction, quickly noticing the figures advance. 'Yomigami…' Amaterasu thought running forward, feeling a smile creep up on her.

Sora and the others stayed back watching Amaterasu greet the other people. She stopped for a moment noticing several other people she knew too. 'Wow… Even Zack's here!' it was like Christmas for her, she hadn't seen these familiar faces in so long. "Ammi…" she felt some give her a strong hug, and she hugged the person back with full force. "I haven't seen you in so long…" he said softly, she could tell he was also tired.

She felt something hit the back of her head. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?" he asked looking down at his sister. "You don't even call or anything…" he said hugging her once again. Amaterasu patted her big brother's back and said sorry. "At least you're all right…" Yomigami said finally letting her go.

"Hey…" Amaterasu looked up and noticed a familiar Heartless. She laughed for a bit and ran up to her. Lightning hugged her for a moment and she noticed Versus chuckle for a a second or so.

"Hey, Versus!" Amaterasu said bowing her head for a moment. "Sorry about what happened to the capital…" she said rubbing the back of her head. 'This is Ignis' doing that's for sure…' she thought laughing nervously.

"Where's the king?" Leon asked looking at the others. They didn't know where he was.

"Oh…" Amaterasu cleared her throat for a moment to butt in. "He's off fighting soldier dressed in black… He'll be back soon…" she said sounding hopeful. At that moment Sora and the others ran towards them, and the Keyblade's 'chosen one' sighed in relief knowing that his other friends were doing all right. Amaterasu took the chance to slip away from the others and found herself walking through the ruins.

"Hey…" she looked back and noticed Lightning, her brother, and Versus walk after her. "Don't tell me you're leaving so soon?" Versus said catching up to her. "It's not really fitting for the Atrum Procer to do that."

"I feel…" she shook her head and stopped walking for a bit, "strange… I feel weird around them…"

Yomigami sighed for a moment, as if almost reading his younger sister's mind. "I don't think they're mad at you… You didn't know about what the sphere could do, so it's not really your fault…" he said patting his sister's head. "Anyway they do miss you, so come on." He said tugging at her arm. "Zack's been missing you like crazy… Reno I don't think he remembers you exactly but…" his voice trailed away.

Amaterasu looked back at Lightning and Versus, she mouthed out the phrase 'help me' but the Heartless shook her head. "Have fun catching up." She said noticing Amaterasu pout for a moment. "Besides we're going to wait for King Mickey!" Versus said. With that Amaterasu was led back to the others, and the first person to greet her was the Great Ninja Yuffie.

"Ammi!" she said cried happily tackling the girl to the ground with a vicious bear hug. Amaterasu twitched slightly and sighed for a moment. "I missed you so much! You had your brother worried sick!" Amaterasu winced slightly.

"What the heck was that for?" she asked looking up at Yuffie. "Is this wack Ammi day, because if it is I don't remember…" Yuffie laughed at Amaterasu and helped her up.

Yuffie and Yomigami took Amaterasu under their wing, so to speak, and the first person to remember her right a way was Aerith. She seemed relieved a bit knowing that their second 'oldest' friend was doing all right. Amaterasu hugged the flower maiden for a moment feeling some tension break off from her frame. "How have you been?" the flower maiden asked looking at the dark hared girl for a moment.

"Okay… I guess…" she said laughing nervously. "How about Cloud?"

"You can him ask yourself…" she said point to the blond spiky hared man. He raised a hand slightly to acknowledge her presence, and she waved back at him.

"Ammi!" someone said playfully in back of her. She flinched feeling a pair of strong arms pick her up like that.

"Zack… Put her down…" Aerith said. She landed with a thud and she moaned feeling her bottom connect with the ground like that.

"Just like old time, eh Ammi?" Zack said pulling her back up. "Sorry about that." He said meaning it sincerely. "How have you been? Man, these years have been really good for you. Look at you, you haven't aged one bit!" he said, and Amaterasu laughed nervously.

"You… um…" she tilted her head for a bit. "Got taller?" she didn't really know what to say, but hug the man one more. "I missed you guys so much!" she said. Still her heart didn't beat as it was meant to do. 'He's around here somewhere…' she thought sighing heavily for a moment.

"Hey…" Leon called them over. 'They're going to hold a meeting…' Amaterasu thought following the others as well. Naminé patted a spot next to her for Amaterasu to take. Almost everyone was gathered around, except for Versus and Lightning. "All right first of all, it's nice seeing you again, Amaterasu…" Leon said, and she felt slightly less uncomfortable now. She smiled slightly and waved to the others.

"Damn Heartless…" Cid said cursing rather loudly. It was something they all got use to, even his wife Shera, though she wanted him to stop cursing. "They took out my gummi ship like it was nothing…" Amaterasu looked down for a moment. 'At least everyone is safe…' she thought sighing for a moment.

"All right… Ammi…" Rinoa didn't really know how to put it as gently as possible but this was a grave situation. "Since you're the Dark Princess…"

"Uh-huh…" Amaterasu nodded slightly. 'If she's going where I think she's going… Then…'

"You know where he is then…" Yuffie finished the sentence as best as she could. "Please Amaterasu you have to help us, look what he's done to this world already. Look what he's done to Ri-" Yomigami cut her off, noticing the pained looked forming on her face. "Please…" she asked again.

Sora and Roxas looked back at one another and then to Amaterasu. She didn't say anything for a while. Naminé patted her back for a bit and sighed slightly. "You can tell me… and I'll tell them for you," the blonde female Nobody said hoping to get her to talk again. Amaterasu shook her head for a moment, and thought again about what to say. 'Like Sora said I should help and fix it…' she thought finally getting ready to answer.

"I want to help…" Amaterasu said putting on a smile. "So I'll go with you guys." She said looking back at Roxas, Naminé, and Sora. "No offence but you guys are going to be in the way." She said looking back at the ones who didn't wield Keyblades.

Versus and Lightning

Versus watched for a moment as a portal appeared a couple of feet in front of them. Lightning noticed it as well and looked at the emerging figures. 'They don't smell like a Heartless…' she thought relaxing for a bit. A white duck was the first to step out of the portal, and then someone tripped on something. 'Goofy…' they both thought sighing heavily for a moment. "Hey you two!" Goofy said waving to the two individuals. "Whatcha guys doing here?" he asked chuckling for a moment.

"Waiting for you guys to show up." Versus said laughing for a bit. "Is he on his way?" he asked and both of his royal staff members nodded.

King Mickey stepped out, and the Heartless and the heir bowed their heads, showing their respect towards the royal authority figure. He looked worn out, and a bit disappointed at the same time. Donald and Goofy just looked a bit tired, but that was all that the Heartless could sense about those two. "He got away…" King Mickey said sighing in disapproval over the whole event.

"Don't worry your Majesty, we'll get him next time," Donald said trying to cheer up their friend. Goofy nodded in agreement and the King gave a tired smile in response.

"What about…?" his royal highness looked at Versus for a moment and the heir nodded, knowing exactly who the royal mouse was asking about.

"They're fine; Leon's holding a meeting with them right now." Lightning said looking at group. They were stationed far away from where King Mickey was at. "Do you want me to go and get her?" she asked looking back at King Mickey.

Mickey thought about it for a moment, and he instructed the Heartless that is was better if they waited. Lightning nodded and said that she would wait for them till the meeting was over. In that term of agreement she bowed again and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a faint trace of anemone and the scent of Heartless. Versus sighed for a moment looking back up at where Lightning had gone to. 'This is really it…' the heir thought feeling a smile creep up on him, 'he's really going to go and fight the Dark Master, just with a pair of Nobodies and an ageless princess. At least Lightning won't fight with them, that's a relief. I don't think Amaterasu would want her Heartless friend getting injured like that.'

Goofy and Donald looked at the expression Versus had on his face for a moment. It looked like he was relieved about something. 'Wonder what he's thinking about…' Goofy thought, he had never seen the heir this relaxed, and it was a rather strange sight to see the heir smiling like that now.

"Hey I know that look now!" Goofy said as his light-bulb turned on. "You like that there Lightnin' girl, don't cha?" he asked giving off his trademark 'a-hyuck'.

Versus broke out of his daze and looked back at the soldier. 'What?!' his mind was racing. 'Me…? Like a Heartless?' Versus shook his head for a moment. "No, Goofy, you got it all wrong… We're just acquaintances."

"That how it starts out…" Donald said taunting the telekinetic heir. Versus felt his mouth open slightly, he had nothing to comment on for the moment.

'Do you hear what they're saying?' Versus' voice probed into the Heartless' head.

'Yes… Well I mean a Heartless like myself can't really love someone, now can they?' Versus sighed hearing Lightning's words echo through his mind.

'Right…' with that the last word Versus said terminated the mind link.

Lightning sighed for a moment and watched as how Leon pulled out a map from the area. Everyone gathered around it, and apparently Amaterasu was supposed to show them where exactly the Dark Master was hiding. The girl sat there staring at the map, but nothing was coming to her.

'It's just a feeling… I can't really point it out on a map. It comes from my heart… And the heart it isn't mapped…' she thought sighing heavily. "I can't… Not on a map… I have to actually go and look around. My heart…" she said timidly pointing to her heart. "It's sort of like a, um…" she tried her best to try and describe the process, "like a bloodhound." She wasn't sure if that was the best example to use, but that's all she could think of. "I'll know once I'm out there, I'll be able to sense him, that you can be sure of," Amaterasu said looking back at the two Nobodies and Sora.

"Guess I've got nothing to say then…" Leon said rubbing the back of his head. Everyone seemed really exhausted from the previous fights they were in. With that the meeting was closed and everyone was free to look around the capital, what was left of it anyway.

Yomigami, Zack, Reno, and Rude looked at Amaterasu for a moment and she smiled nervously at them. Yomigami motioned his little sister to come forward and she nodded, waving slightly to Reno. He responded with a simple 'yo' and Amaterasu sighed for a moment. "You remember who I am?" she asked crossing her arms.

"Nope…" Reno said grinning slightly. "Silly Ammi…" the red head said affectionately. "You haven't aged one bit… Man, I should've taken the job back during the start of the project." Rude sighed for a moment and said his 'hello' to Amaterasu and she did the same.

"Trust me your skinny body wouldn't do the specimen any good." Amaterasu said laughing at the red head.

"And I suppose you would know?" Reno asked shaking his head. It was like the old times, but now age became a factor among the friends. "Anyway, you remember Sephiroth?"

"A bit…" she said honestly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Amaterasu…" Lightning called out softly. She excused herself from her brother and the two men and walked towards the female Heartless. "King Mickey is asking for your presence as well as Naminé, Roxas and Sora." She said pointing out the needed individuals.

Yomigami sighed for a moment and noticed that Yuffie was walking about, talking with Rinoa and Aerith. "Ah… Oh yeah," Yomigami looked back at Zack and Reno. "That girl," he pointed to the blue eyed Heartless. "She's one of them," he said noticing the confused look on the spiky hared man, and the one with marking under his eyes.

R i k u

"Where to even begin…?" I asked myself standing up and trying to look around. Again I'm in the same darn 'dark' room. I can't really see anything, except for Vieh's eyes but that's about it. He says that he can see in the dark, and believe if or not for some reason I do not doubt it at the moment.

"We're just going to have to sit here and wait for them to come…" Vieh said brushing up against me with his fur. He sighed for a moment and looked around for something. "I told you we should've gone out when that stupid Heartless was called out, but did you listen, no! You never do…" Vieh didn't sound too pleased with the whole outcome. "Now we're stuck relying on your girlfriend, and they Keyblade wielder. We're doomed I tell ye, doomed!"

I sighed for a moment wandering around the area a bit for probably the tenth time. Still nothing, it was pitch black as far as the eye could see, and well that's what I saw right now. Vieh was off yapping away, I mean he's the only person, well he's not even really a person, he's a beast, to be honest he's just a thought I made up into my head.

"How do you say that word?" I tugged on my mother's blouse. This weird looking animal zipped past my foot, and Mom didn't see it. "Vi… Vieh?" I asked her trying to describe the white thing that was bumping into the kitchen. "It's small and white…" I said pointing to the corner of the kitchen. There by a stool was this small white animal.

"You mean vermin…" my mother said as softly as she could, trying not to scare the animal away, "that's not a Vieh, unless it looks like a Vieh to you." She said giving me a warm smile.

I shook my head and my mother scared the vermin away making this loud noise on the table. I jumped up slightly and looked at my mom and smiled. "You scared Vieh away." I said imitating how the rat scurried out of the kitchen.

A lot of issues were coming and going through our household, and I think that's where my real definition of 'Vieh' came into contact. I had a bad nightmare, and the only thing I could remember was this strange silver colored beast. That's where Vieh was born from, the one who stands right next to me. Vieh's eyes stared back at me for a moment and he sighed once again. "I hate waiting…" he said softly.

"Same here…" I said falling back on the ground. To my surprise no memories plagued my thoughts now. Ignis was really focused this time, and for a bit it did worry me. "You guys better kick his old sorry ass…" I said. I really wish I could be right there alongside them, to fight this old creep, but I'm not. "Hey… You think Amaterasu will be all right without us if anything should happen to us?"

"I don't know…" Vieh said thinking about if for a moment. "I'm just saying what you want to hear, so…" he laughed for a moment. "But to be honest, you know she'd miss you a lot. Skimming through all your memories…"

"Wait, all of them?" I asked quickly looking in the direction of the noise. I could hear the silver furred beast emit a low laughing sound with a variation of growls and raspy breathing.

A m a t e r a s u

Everyone was all present and accounted for, the King, Roxas and Naminé, Sora and Versus, not to mention myself. 'Oh man… Why do I feel so edgy?' I asked myself. I'm frightened, I never would've thought that I'd actually be scared of fighting, but I mean this is the Dark Master we're talking about after all, not just some Heartless. 'My darkness hasn't come back either…' that worried me. I had gotten use to the little voice inside my head, but now everything was just silent, and as much as I enjoyed the peace and quiet I was afraid of it as well.

Being around King Mickey right now, as beyond just plain out nervousness, heck being around Santa Claus would've made me feel better. I owe so much to King Mickey and I've let him down, and considering how old he really is, and how old I truly am that's a lot of time, not to mention a lot of broken promises on my part, but I suppose I can't really get to say sorry as many times as I wanted to. I only remember squeaking out a small apology when I saw him a couple of minutes ago. I can feel my whole body shaking, it wasn't because of the cold, but it was because I was just flat out scared, nervous, be it whatever one may call it, I just didn't feel comfortable.

King Mickey cleared his throat and I tore my eyes away from my shoes, looking up at the royal mouse. He seemed… No rather he was tired; there were scratches by the sides of his cheeks, and dirt covering his clothing now. 'The soldier must have gotten a couple of whacks in him…' I thought sadly, looking back down again. "Ignis Xehanort is out there," he said softly, and we all leaned in to hear him better. "No doubt he is expecting the four of you," he said looking at all of us.

"You're not going to fight?" Sora asked the question for all of us. King Mickey looked down for a moment and gave all of us a sad smile.

"I'm getting old Sora," he said trying to laugh it off. We all looked at one another, feeling regret, or something like that.

"Don't worry though, I have faith in all of you, so don't fret. Each one of you is capable of standing up against him; I know you'll be the ones to restore the light back to all the worlds." He has so much faith in all of us, I just want to cry. He's a very benevolent king, and I felt envious for a moment. 'Why couldn't our home have someone as kind as King Mickey?' I thought back to what our world once stood for, it was for peace and prosperity, but when darkness started to creep into everyone's minds, well it just went downhill from there.

"I won't…" I started to speak softly. "I won't promise you anything, because I can't really keep one…" I said laughing at myself for a moment. "But… I'll do something for you. I'll help fight against Ignis, if it's the only thing I can do for you, King Mickey." I said, meaning every word of it.

"You guys are going to need something that can get you across the desert at a pretty fast rate then…" Versus said looking back at all of us. "You know Elusion-Ilusion is pretty well known for it's advancement in technology and magic…" we all nodded. "I've got a couple of spare bikes. They were salvaged from the wreckage during the attack."

Naminé looked at Roxas, then to Sora, and then back to me, and we just sort of laughed apprehensively. I've never ridden a motorcycle before, and from what I've seen it's probably going to be a bit difficult to master. Then again this is a very advanced area so maybe it wouldn't be that hard.

Lightning reappeared next to Versus and tapped his shoulder whispering something into his ear. We looked at Lightning and she looked back at Versus, he still had more to say. "And armor, you guys are going to need armor." He said getting up for a moment. "He's going to attack you with everything he's got, and he'll probably break you all in the process." He said, and we cringed at the mental image that probably ran through our heads.

"You know how nice that really sounds…" Roxas said scratching the back of his head.

"Anyway, here…" as Versus said this several soldiers brought over some armor. Two were for the female soldiers, and the other two were for the males. "Think of it as a gift," he said looking back at all of us.

Naminé and I looked at the armor that was before us, and it seemed to be fairly new. "Wow…" she said softly picking up the faceguard. "You know… I think I've seen this somewhere before…" she said examining the top part of the faceguard. It had strange ear parts pointing back. I looked back at mines noticing it was in the same shape.

Current Scene

Sora and Roxas picked up their faceguards and examined it for a moment. "This looks just like the one Ven wore…" Sora said looking back at Amaterasu and Naminé. "How did you…?" he looked back at Versus, but even he didn't have a good answer.

"King Mickey found them a while back, and he asked me if I could get some people to restore the parts." Versus said looking back at all of them.

"Hey Sora, it's a got a little cape too," Roxas said picking up the torso part of the armor. He extended the cape a bit and Sora grinned for a moment. Sora paused for a moment and heard a little growl escape from his stomach. Versus and Amaterasu looked at the Keyblade wielders stomach and then back to the embarrassed look on the boy's face. "But we can't fight on an empty stomach…" Naminé said smiling at Sora and to Roxas.

Amaterasu nodded and looked back at Versus.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food, would you, Versus sir?" she asked timidly, hearing her stomach growl as well. 'Man I haven't ate since breakfast… I'm gonna collapse one day,' she thought shaking her head.

With that everyone found themselves sitting on the ground and enjoying the food that was left, mostly rations given out to soldiers when they went on missions and other things like that. Though it wasn't the best tasting food in the world, they all ate it anyway; there was just something about being around the presence of other people that made the food almost tasty. 'It's our last meal together as a group…' Sora thought biting into a piece of bread, 'still it just doesn't feel the same without Riku… or Kairi…' he felt a small frown tug at the corner of his lip. 'It'll be all over soon, and it'll be like old times, you'll see…' he said looking up at the sky for a moment.

"Hey what's your name?" a girl asked Amaterasu. The dark hared teen paused for a moment before drinking the liquid from the cup, and looked at the girl. She smiled timidly and stuck out her hand for the smaller girl.

"My name's Amaterasu," she said softly, and the girl shook her hand.

"I'm Marlene, are you a friend of Roxas?" Marlene asked.

'Am I?' she thought to herself. 'I guess I am now… Friends gather to eat…' Amaterasu placed a small smile. "Yeah Marlene, I'm a friend of Roxas and the others."

"Oh, that's good!" she said happily and nudged at the boy next to her. "Go on…" she said watching the young boy stick out his hand towards Amaterasu.

"I'm Denzel," he said feeling the soft handshake she gave him.

After eating

Yomigami sighed for a moment and looked back at Leon and Cloud as he had finally reached his decision about something. "I'm going to stay with you guys." He said simply, and Rinoa and Aerith sighed for a moment in relief.

"Thank you so much Yomigami," Rinoa said laughing a bit. "We're going to need all the help we can get, to have Radiant Garden back to its proper title." Yomigami nodded and Leon sighed for a moment.

"You can help Shelke and Vincent with the computer," he said knowing Yomigami's involvement with the supercomputer left by Ansem. "They can really use your help for that."

"Just like old time, eh, Yomi?" Reno said messing up the person's hair. "What about you sister though?" he asked. Yomigami looked at Amaterasu, noticing that she was sitting next to the children, just talking.

"I don't think she'll come with us…" Yomigami said sounding a bit hurt by that. "She'll probably want to go with Sora and the others." He said.

"She's growing up… figuratively of course," Aerith said leaning against Cloud for a moment. Cloud didn't move and looked at the flower maiden for a couple of seconds. All of things were running through the minds of the personnel involved with the restoration of Radiant Garden.

Tifa had fallen asleep beside Zack, so he tried his best not to move around so that she wouldn't wake up. "I hear you guys are getting married in about a couple of months…" Aerith whispered giggling a bit.

"What?!" Leon and Cloud couldn't help but ask as Zack flinched slightly in his seat.

Zack laughed nervously looking back at his other friends. "Cat's out of the bag now…" he said softly and nodded. "Yeah, the wedding's in Midgar." He said thinking for a moment. "Invitations were being made… But I think it's going to get delayed even LONGER because of the Heartless attack." He said placing his arm around Tifa as she slept. "She wanted to keep it a surprise, but I guess she just couldn't wait." Zack said rubbing the back of his head. "Are you two coming?" this was directed towards Vincent and Shelke.

"To the wedding of Zack Fair and the future Mrs. Fair…?" Shelke paused for a moment and looked back at Vincent. "I will go." She said looking back at Zack. Vincent thought about it for a moment, and if he didn't go Reeve and Yuffie would be nagging him to no end about all the good food that they ate. Shelke would be slightly upset with him, but that would be it, still that fact bugged him ever more.

"I'll go then…" he said in his own manner, and the girls looked pleased.

"Yomi…" Yuffie said looking at him. "You going?" she asked hoping that he would say 'yes'.

"Yeah…" he said messing up the ninja's hair.

With Sora and the others

"That's so cool!" Denzel said looking at the figures before them. The battle armor seemed to shine brilliantly, showing off the wonderful craftsmanship from the past. Amaterasu and Naminé smiled patting the boy on the head. "You guys even got a cape!" Marlene said pointing to the fabric that stuck out from Roxas' battle armor.

"So you guys ready now?" Lightning asked, looking back at the four teenagers. Sora took off his faceguard and nodded slightly. "All right then. Do you remember what Versus said about the bikes?"

"Other than the fact that they don't have wheels…" Sora said trying to remember everything that the heir had told them about the hovering vehicles. "I'm kidding... I think we remember." He said laughing a bit.

Versus showed them out of the capital, and the others waved goodbye at them. Yuffie was trying hard not to cry, seeing as how Yomigami would see his little sister again. Reno sighed for a moment waving goodbye to Sora and the gang.

"They'll be all right…" Rude said as if already knowing what Reno was thinking about. Cloud and Aerith walked with them to the entrance of the capital, and so did Rinoa and Leon.

"We'll see you guys someday, all right?" the four of them nodded to Rinoa and Leon.

"You'll be able to see Radiant Garden from the sky one day," Aerith said smiling back at the four armored figures.

"Yomigami says his goodbyes…" Cloud said pointing his thumb back. Amaterasu felt her heart sink a little. "He says…"

"I know…" she said frowning for a moment underneath the faceguard. "He wants to go back home, so I don't blame him for staying with you guys. Anyway…" she said taking off her face guard. "Thank you, so much you guys." She said placing a sincere smile. She hugged the flower maiden and Rinoa, and waved goodbye to Leon and Cloud. "Take care you guys." Amaterasu said placing the faceguard back on.

Lightning waited for Amaterasu to get near the bike, and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "Thank you, Amaterasu…" she said softly, and felt a smile creep up on her. "But I'm afraid I won't be going with you…"

Amaterasu flinched and looked up at the Heartless. 'But… But why?" she asked feeling hurt. "I thought…"

"I can't… Or rather I won't. This is a fight to get back what you've all lost. I haven't lost anything," she said looking back at Versus for a moment. "Besides, I've found a place…" she said hoping that the girl would understand her decisions. "I want to thank you… for trying to get my heart back…" the Heartless said hugging the girl once more. "Next time you come back here, we'll see each other again, all right?" Amaterasu nodded and felt tears run down the side of her face. "I think I've found my heart…" the Heartless said. "You can guess who it is…" Amaterasu laughed. "Take care, my friend…" with that the Heartless felt something beat within her chest. 'One step at a time…' she thought hugging her 'client' one last time.

The two Nobodies and Sora looked back as Amaterasu made her way towards them with the bike. It seemed to mimic a certain bike that one person had. Aerith and Leon said it looked like Cloud's bike Fenrir only without wheels. The front of the bike curved down, to use as a battering ram as well. It hovered a couple of inches off the ground and with a final goodbye each figure had a trail of dust following them.

With Ignis Xehanort the Dark Master of the Keyblades

The dust that was starting to pick up below him, it was very strange to see the debris move like that so quickly with almost no wind. 'They're coming…' the Dark Master thought smiling sinisterly. He jumped down from his highest perch, and hovered about a couple of mere inches above the ground, and slowly his boots touch the land of the desert he was within. He outstretched his hand, and from his white gloves a strange aura of purple and black speed from his fingertips. 'A little welcoming party,' he thought watching as how the aura started to slowly descend as it was making its way to the moving dirt.

Sora looked back at Roxas, and Naminé, Amaterasu slowed the bike down and looked around. She closed her eyes letting her heart emit a strange glow, but nothing strummed her heart. 'Not yet…' she thought and opened her eyes, the girl shook her head. "This is bull…!" Roxas said angrily and pounded his fist in his open palm, "we have to investigate this whole damn desert?!" he said violently taking off his faceguard.

"Calm down…" Naminé said softly removing her faceguard, and placed it on her lap. "I think it's the heat that has us like this…" she said looking back at Amaterasu and Sora, and they both heaved a heavy sigh. "Come on, let's keep going…" she said placing her faceguard back, and Roxas did the same grumbling. Amaterasu and Sora revved up the bike and let the engine roar as it zipped down the desert. These bikes boasted the powerful magic and technology that became the pride of the capital. Wind was starting to pick, and little pieces of rocks and dirt kicked up from the hovering vehicle.

Sora and Roxas slowed their bikes down to a steady cruising style and they pointed to something over in the far right. Amaterasu took off her faceguard, and squinted for a moment, the wind made it difficult to see, but still she could sense something. "It smells like Heartless…" Roxas said breathing out quickly. Sora and Amaterasu growled for a moment looking at the black fuzzy area grow more and more. "At least we know where he is, just over the Heartless!" Roxas said and let his impulse led the way, his bike moved so quickly through the open space.

"Roxas!" the others called back at him and their bikes moved with equal speed.

Amaterasu brought out her weapon of choice 'Way to Night' and brought it at her side. She still wasn't use to fighting like this, and the armor made it a bit more complicated. Sora and Roxas seemed use to it since they both could wield Keyblades with two hands very easily, they treated the bike as if it were another weapon. Naminé decided that she would be better off just casting spells rather than using the bike and her Keyblade. Something shrilled in the air, and the four armored individuals looked up to see several Heartless fly through the air.

"Whoa…" it was something that escaped everyone lips, the dragon screeched again, and they moved their vehicle as fast as it possibly could. 'I hope it doesn't hit the bikes…' Roxas thought crouching as close as possible to the bike.

The flying beasts roared, and dove straight down towards the path of the moving figures. "Move, move, move!" Sora yelled out watching the other three spilt up. Sora went in to drive straight into the path of the flying creature. The creatures spilt themselves into one group of four. The Heartless dragon roared and twisted through the air showing off its magnificent black scales. The gust pushed Sora's bike a bit, veering it off from a straight path, and he narrowly avoided with a slab of earth that jutted out. Roxas looked back at Sora's bike, and quickly moved to the right in a 90 degree turn, barely avoiding the dragon it his path. "What the hell?!" he called back looking at Sora. The brunette shrugged and moved back into the path of the dragons.

Amaterasu sighed and looked in back of her, 'Where'd it go?' she looked up to noticed nothing above her. 'Oh man…' she thought turning her head to the left. She slammed the brake clutch, letting the poor old gear creaked. Within second the dragon continued on flying straight, but twisted around to fly head on towards the Atrum Procer. She growled and looked back at Naminé seeing her zip past Roxas and Sora.

Naminé let her body close the gap between the open space and the bike, hugging the vehicle to gather more speed. 'Aw man I hate this!' she thought letting the curved edge of the bike knock Heartless left and right from her space. "Thundaga!" she shouted hearing the physical form of electricity slam the grounds, touching the defenseless Heartless. The dragon roared again hovering over the fallen Heartless. Something moved quickly through the air, and the beast screeched in pain. Sora was coming up from behind, using his Keyblade as a boomerang. The other dragon that chased Sora was coming with equal speed, and Sora got an idea in that head of his. "Naminé, charge at me!" Sora said watching the girl turn the bike. "What?!" she cried out in disbelief. "Are you insane?!" she moved forward anway. 'I hope you know what you're doing…' she thought letting the bike almost cross paths with the Keyblade wielder.

The other two dragons were more preoccupied on their prey to notice the cries coming from their comrades. Roxas braced himself as he saw the dragon closing up on him. Amaterasu moved to the side quickly, withdrawing her Keyblade. 'We've got to find a way to bring them to the ground…' she thought looking in back of her, their wings didn't seem well protected, 'that's it!' she thought smiling like crazy for a moment. "Their wings!" she said looking back at Roxas, he was trying his best not to get the bike chew up.

Sora and the female Nobody brought their dragons down to the ground with ease. Naminé and the Keyblade's 'chosen one' heard the girl's advice and aimed their magical attacks at the vulnerable sections. The one beast cried out in pain feeling the Keyblade connect with the fragile appendages of flight. Naminé used magic on her enemy, freezing a section of the wing with ease. They looked back to see Roxas and Amaterasu fighting the dragon in their own ways.

Amaterasu used a powerful 'Reflect' spell to push the flames away from the beast, and maneuvered herself as quickly as possible to a large column of earth. 'Please let it hit…' she prayed hearing the wings flap behind her with great power. The Heartless on the ground moved quickly helping the fallen Heartless dragons. The column of earth was getting closer and closer as the Atrum Procer moved with each second.

Roxas on the other hand decided the best thing to do was to hitch a ride on the beast. 'Here goes nothing… If I fall I won't lose my heart… but…' he shook his head not caring about the consequences of the matter at hand. He put thrust into the engine and turned the advanced vehicle sharply, kicking up dust in its wake. The dragon roared bravely veering down the path the Nobody treaded on. The dragon lowered its neck, and Roxas could see the glowing yellow eyes on the head. 'Give me strength…' he thought moving forward with the vehicle. The dragon opened its mouth welcoming the Nobody with an array of orange and red flames. 'Reflect!' he thought, letting a barrier come up between himself and the dragon. With that Roxas hitched a ride on the dragon, once he was within reach of the neck.

The winged Heartless chasing Amaterasu nicked the slab of earth, and the beast let one wing hit the ground as it created a path, splitting the desert ground a bit. "Blizzaga!" someone cried out in back of her noticing that it was Naminé's voice that summoned the spell. The Heartless roared feeling the added weight to its wing, and with a terrible shake it feel to the ground. "Go, now!" Naminé instructed to Amaterasu. She brought out her Keyblade once again, and drove the machine towards the wings, ramming it in the process. 'Here goes nothing…' Amaterasu thought letting the blade connect with the frozen wing.

Sora came from Naminé's shadow to help with the dragon extermination. With that it was three dragons down and only one to go. "What's he doing?!" Amaterasu cried out, hearing an earsplitting cry come from the air. Roxas gripped on to the horns that were placed carefully on the back of the creature. He held on as tightly as he could, and attack the horns on its head when it hovered once in a while. Heartless were starting to advance as it seemed that the dragons were just there to waste time.

"We can't let them get to capital!" Sora said putting his Keyblade to the side, and moving with his bike. "Come on Ammi!" he yelled over the roar of the engine. Naminé stayed back aiming her Keyblade to the wings of the Heartless in the air. 'Please hit…' she prayed to herself as shots of ice form from her Keyblade and launched like missiles, ice crystals sparkled as they broke off from the spell, as it went through the air. 'Bull's-eye!' she thought happily, but noticed that the creature was descending to fast for her liking. "Uh-oh…" she said speedily, turning the bike to move away.

Sora and Amaterasu caught up with the moving Heartless. The girl decided it was better if she fought on foot, since she wasn't use to the bike. Sora didn't say anything and rammed his bike through a group of Heartless. Amaterasu threw her weapon, watching it hit designated enemies left and right. With the weapon finally in hand she moved forward, the sound of armor ramming against Heartless, and the metallic step she took could be heard faintly as Sora zipped past her on the bike. He brought Ultima weapon once more, and swung his blade to the side, with the advantage of the full force of speed. Amaterasu growled again looking at the Heartless that surrounded her. 'Where are you…?' she thought to herself hearing her mind sound so quiet, 'what gives?' she asked, blocking an attack from a monkey looking Heartless. Claws tried to pierce through her armor, and only succeeded in making small dents, all the armor was starting to wear slightly. 'For once, there's no voice…' she thought hearing the sound of Sora cry out as a Heartless jumped on him.

Roxas landed beside the dragon, metal hitting earth in a very squeamish way, it made Naminé cringe slightly, and the dragon disappeared in a puff of smoke. 'That's the last of them…' she thought sighing happily for a moment. "Don't you ever do anything like that again!" Naminé said harshly and helped Roxas up. "Where's your bike?" she asked looking around for the hovering craft. He spotted it near a slab of earth. "I hope to the gods that it isn't broken…" she said watching him run like mad to get the bike back. Within moments he appeared by the female Nobodies side with the bike in fairly good condition. The two of them rammed their machines through a group of Heartless that were about to jump Amaterasu.

"What's wrong with the bike?" Roxas asked using his right hand to push some Heartless away. Amaterasu jumped backwards, and placed 'Gravity' on several enemies to keep them from moving. Naminé took the chance and slashed at the paralyzed Heartless and looked back at Amaterasu through the tinted visor of the faceguard.

"Nothing…" Amaterasu replied summoning a Thunder bolt to hit the ground, impacting on the body of a Heartless. It twitched feeling the electricity run down its body, and twitched violently out on the floor, and the Dark Princess ended its pain quickly. More Heartless were starting to gather, and both Naminé and Roxas cussed under their breath. Amaterasu moved the side quickly, feeling something hit her armor, and she swung her Keyblade to the side, instinctively.

"Where the hell are they coming from again?!" Roxas asked violently letting Oblivion and Oathkeeper relentlessly attack their enemies. He stabbed on Heartless in the chest and flung it back towards another group of Heartless. Sora jumped off the bike, and used a burst of speed to send a shockwave through the ground. An aura of grey jutted out from the Keyblade and knocked several dark creatures on the floor. His blade whipped around the bodies of the Heartless, leaving some without arms, and others without legs. Naminé and the other girl focused more on dealing with spells at the time being since there were too many to fight against for close quarter combat. Roxas covered the two females, dual wielding the two weapons with a frenzy of energy, spinning himself along with the Keyblades like a top, just hitting enemies left and right.

Sora used another technique by the name of 'sonic Blade' with Ultima weapon ready to pierce through the flesh of those that it came in contact with. The Keyblade wielder zipped through the area letting his anger come out in a collection of flying Heartless and yells, as he steadied himself when the weapon connected with bodies of the Heartless. Roxas and Amaterasu created a sort of cooperative technique. "Ready, set, go!" she yelled quickly, tossing Roxas into the air, and he descended down to the ground rapidly, spinning the weapons with no mercy whatsoever.

One by one the Heartless were falling victim to the weapons of those wielded by only the ones with strong hearts. Naminé used her Keyblade to slice through the remaining Heartless around her. Summoning spells was taking on toll on her stamina, and her energy was running out quickly. Sora was there to back her up as he placed 'Reflect' on the female Nobody when she stopped fighting for a brief period of time. The Heartless were starting to retreat once the number was down to roughly three hundred. Amaterasu and Roxas threw their weapons at several Heartless, and took the time to notice the heart that was released, and watched the precious item float into the air, and disappear. 'To gather in an endless void to create Kingdom Hearts…' the Dark Princess thought looking back Roxas, and they both nodded looking back at Naminé and Sora.

They all went back on to their designated mode of transportation, and rode down the grounds, chasing after the retreating Heartless. A couple of Heartless stayed back to attack the intruding group of riders. Roxas and Sora were both taken off their rides in a combination of speed and logic as several winged Heartless dropped their comrades like bombs. The Nobody and his 'other' grunted hearing the sound of metal clash with the ground. Dirt was covering the once proud armor, and it was a shame to see it get to waste like that. The other two females, stopped and watched as a sum of about fifty Heartless paused to fight them off. It was suicide for them, as Naminé and Amaterasu brought their weapons and ripped through the group. Hearts went back into the air, and so it was more hearts that gather within that void.

Yellow eyes stared at the Keyblades in fear, but still they found the courage to fight back with all their might. A Wyvern, of a magnificent burgundy color, slammed its body down, forcing Amaterasu on the ground; its talons wanted to desperately cease the attack of the Dark Princess. Even Heartless fought for their own kind be it an order, they had some mind of their own, still it wasn't enough for the Wyvern as it began to move towards the faceguard. Naminé moved quickly noticing the armor that cursed out loud on the ground, and she tackled the dark creature coated in that shade of burgundy, and sliced it rapidly before it could get up. They were all getting tried and hot from the heat, and the battle. The dragons wasted their time so quickly, and their energy as well. The Heartless that stayed behind fueled their rage; they wanted this all end soon.

Roxas and Sora stood back to back, and both jumped into the air to attack the fly Heartless that knocked them off their bikes. Sora moved gracefully through the air, swinging the lengthy blade at the nearby Heartless, and they disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Roxas moved with dangerous speed and zipped past his enemies like lightning, showing no style at like, he wanted to get rid of the Heartless at whatever cost he could pay. Oblivion struck on enemy in the head, and Oathkeeper stabbed one through the chest, he twirled his blades and watched as more Heartless advanced on him. Sora spun around thrusting his weapon up to strike at the creature that hovered above. The 'Air Soldier' was nicked and it descended, Ultima weapon moved again turning downward and the soldier was gone for good.

Naminé spun around to the right avoiding the oncoming attack from the ground. Another dark creature moved about the field charging straight for the female. Without a moment to spare it knocked her on the ground and she tumbled backwards. Yellow eyes watched as the armor failed to move for several seconds, they took no chances and jumped into the air, claws ready to lash out. Naminé watched the scene unfold from her tinted visor and brought her Keyblade up to protect herself. Something broke the cycle that was going to happen, a weapon moved about through the air, and she watched the hearts that were released. "You all right?" the female asked her. "Thanks…" Naminé said softly noticing the figure above her, "I owe you one Ammi." She said picking herself up.

The two girls turned around hearing the soft purring noise coming from two of the vehicles; it was time to move again. "You know… I' really starting to get just a little pissed…" Roxas said using his fingers to measure his attitude. "And this heat is killing me!" he said, about ready to take off his faceguard once more. Naminé and Amaterasu sighed heavily, feeling the hot air from the mouth hit against the inside of the faceguard. They hopped onto their vehicles and followed a small trail of black and yellow leading to a somewhat desolate crossroad of some sort. 'He's here…' Amaterasu thought slamming the brake clutch, making a sharp turn. This was the end of the road for them, psychically, since a cliff stood in their way for the hovering crafts.

"So… they can't fly?" Sora asked examining the bike for a moment.

"Exactly, we haven't gotten that far yet," Versus said feeling a bit embarrassed for some reason. "They can hover though, they have enough power to do that, but not fly like an aircraft, and it's a vehicle not a plane. Be careful with it." He said watching Sora press a button on the side of the bike. Within a couple of moments the hovering vehicle pushed 0 to 85 leaving the boy covered in a cloud of exhaust fumes. "The thrust doesn't last that long, it only goes for about 30 seconds."

"That's still a lot though…" Naminé said watching the bike finally come to a halt.

"Now I really wish they had gotten far with the bike…" Sora said getting off the hovering bike. "Well then," he looked back at the others and laughed nervously. "This is it." He said looking at a tall column of earth that seemed to be in the far off corner of the crossroads. They paused for a moment feeling something like a pressure settle within their 'hearts' so to speak, except the two Nobodies who had the strange sensation of having butterflies flutter around in their stomachs.

"We should rest for a couple of minutes…" Naminé said looking back at the others, and they nodded.

"That's a good plan for right now," Amaterasu said sitting on the ground, hearing the metal clank with each movement she made. Her faceguard rested on her lap and she breathed in the air. The smell of Heartless made her cringe a bit, 'some things I'll never get use to…' she thought looking back at the unguarded faces of her 'friends'.

"Man…" Roxas said taking the time to relax. "So many Heartless in one day, this is torture, not to mention those dragons." He fell backwards and he made a large thud sound as the armor weighed him down even more. He stared up at the sky and noticed that the clouds were almost as black as night. "I really hope it doesn't rain…"

"I like the rain…" it came from the two females, and they laughed nervously. "But I mean if it does rain, it'll be harder for us to fight," Amaterasu said thinking of wet metal and damp earth. "True…" Naminé said putting her fingertips together for a moment. They all sighed for a moment and tried to relax preparing themselves for whatever came their way.

"Let's get going…" Sora said taking his faceguard under his arm, and he stood up staring back at. The other three followed behind and the wind began to pick up again. The capes strapped onto their backs moved with the wind, whipping behind them like crazy. Even nature felt the force of darkness touch its land and it trembled in fear. 'Such power that can even scare the land…' it was something running through their heads and they slowly descended from the cliff, there was a very narrow path for them, but pieces of the land were unstable. "AHHHH!" the sound of metal grinding against rock ceased within a couple of seconds as Roxas grabbed Sora quickly. "Help me up!" Roxas said straining under the weight of his 'other' as gravity started to pull him down. The two teenage girls helped as quickly as they could and with that they were soon on their way again.

Before long, as they reflected on within in their minds, the narrow path came to an end as they finally made it to the strange looking crossroad. As far as the eye could see there were odd looking weapons created from metal corroding away from the harsh desert winds and the rain fall it received once in a while. They seemed to from the pathway to the middle of the thing. They all ran towards the middle and looked around the four separate pathways. 'I think I've been here before…' Sora and Roxas both thought under their own private mind link, it was a feeling of nostalgia for the two of them, and they didn't understand why. 'But I've never been to Sunset Horizon…' Sora thought shaking his head slightly. 'Same here…' Roxas thought answering his part of the whole idea on it.

Welcome, those who wield the blade of keys…

"That voice!" Naminé and Amaterasu said quickly. 'It's that soldier…' Naminé thought summoning her Keyblade once more, and so did the other female. Roxas and Sora took no time to spare to have their weapon within their grasp.

Vieh and Riku

"I told you it would work!" the beast said happily prancing about for a moment, his plan finally worked. Riku looked around; this place looked a bit strange still. "I thought you said that we could get out…"

"Yeah… Away from that place, but not out of his body yet…" Vieh said shaking his body for a moment. He looked back at Riku and sighed heavily giving off a raspy tone that only a beast could make. "One step at a time, Riku. One step at a time…" the beast said staring back at Riku with its yellow eyes.

Riku paused for a moment and sighed. "He's letting his guard down…" the silver hared teen said looking back at his new companion. "Can you feel it?"

"Pressure is dropping pretty slowly, you think he's scared?" the beast asked looking quizzically up at the ceiling. Cracks were starting to form around the room at a very slow rate.

"I think it's their light…" Riku said looking up at the cracks for a moment. "…their hearts… They're trying to break through to me…" he said feeling hope spread throughout him. "I'll be strong for them, and break out of here!" he said grinning.

"Glad to see you in your peppy mood!" Vieh said laughing for a moment. "Now off we go, to see the show!"

Xehanort the Heartless

Sora jumped to the side avoiding a blizzard spell. Naminé spun around slightly barely having time to dodge one spell herself. Roxas and Amaterasu ran forward with their Keyblades ringing out to slay the soldier. Xehanort hover moved with fast reflexes, it was hard to tell at some point if he even moved at all. The Heartless soldier still didn't draw out his Keyblade, it wasn't time for him to fight head on like that yet, his master didn't give him the signal for anything of the sort. Sora moved forward, Ultima weapon moving through the air with ease and the soldier spun around quickly and with his finger tips sent a ball of fire, hitting the 'chosen one' and knocking him on his side. "Sora!" the others cried out and he stood up feeling a bit shaken up. He used his Keyblade as an apparatus to support himself up. The others did the same; it was hard keeping up with the soldier, especially in this heat.

The soldier disappeared from sight, and the armor ones looked around. He was long gone from their current location. Amaterasu panted for a moment looking around the pathways, 'the energy is too big to pinpoint, it's all over the place…' she thought shaking her head in disappointment. In the distance a weary figure walked down the path with dark clouds looming over to almost no end in sight. The soldier turned their heads in that direction, and picked up their weapon once more. Winds kicked up more dust, only making the silhouette of the figure known. 'Ignis…' Sora thought growling for a moment and he placed one foot forward, but Amaterasu held him back. "Don't…" she whispered watching the figure stop for a moment, "that's exactly what he wants…"

Ignis chuckled for a moment watching a figure stop in their tracks. 'It's been so long since then… Hasn't Ventus?' he thought losing himself in a faint memory, but it seemed unimportant now. Sora broke free from Amaterasu's grip and he ran forward. As Ignis continued walking, seemingly unfazed by the boy's outburst he called out the Xehanort the Heartless, watching a light haze appear around him, creating a very structured and solid body of a black armor soldier. Sora ran forward with Ultima ready at had, he jumped forward ready to attack now. The Dark Master had other plans as he lift one palm up and the ground listened to its call and rose forward, Sora collided with half of his torso hitting the raising slab of earth.

Roxas and the others felt the ground around them start to shake and they took the chance to jump off. Sora panted heavily getting up and noticing that the others ran past him now. Another part of the ground rose up hosting the Heartless and the Dark Master up into the sky. Sora ran towards the ascending earth, and stopped quickly as he stared up in shock watching a strange form of electricity come down on him, rendering him paralyzed for a moment. The black armored soldier came down from his post and descended at a fast rate toward Sora now. 'I'm not giving up…' he thought putting Ultima up as his guard.

Ignis sighed for a moment staring out at the weapons that seemed to stand erect as they were carefully placed within the ground. 'Each none marks a fallen wielder… Sadly Ultima weapon will have to be one of them…' he thought lifting up the fallen Keyblades with the flick of a wrist. Sora jumped back and noticed several objects swirling around one another in the distance as he turned around. He failed to notice the fact that the keychain to his Keyblade was gone now, as was for everyone else now. They were fighting against the true master this time, and their hearts were nothing compared to his strength.

"Where's Sora?!" Amaterasu asked as they came into an area where rocky hills and mesas were scattered about. "He…" Naminé didn't have enough time to answer hearing the sound of metal scrap against one another. They all ran for it avoiding the artificially created twister, Keyblades created the deadly arsenal of wind. Roxas ran forward and heard the sound of a blizzard spell. Naminé ran to the side to avoid it, but the twister cut her off sending her to stumble back, but she caught her self, and spun around quickly dodging the attack from the Heartless as he wielded his red and black weapon. Xehanort quickly jumped back into the air and stood on top of one of the moving Keyblades.

Amaterasu growled for a moment and both she and Naminé sent a 'Thundaga' spell within the path of the twister. Ignis moved quickly to the side avoiding the attack of Sora's Keyblade. Sora rolled onto the floor feeling something of great power hit his side again. He groaned for a moment and stood up carefully, panting for a moment. "You're fighting under my rules now, Ventus…" the old man said noticing the tight grip the boy held on the weapon. "Don't call me that!" Sora said swinging his weapon. "My name is Sora!" still it fell on deaf ears as Ignis spent another ball of fire towards the wielder once more.

The others looked up and noticed a figure falling down at a fast rate. Ignis now was standing another summit looking down at them all. "Sora!" the two Nobodies and the girl called out watching Sora's armored body collide with the jagged rocks from the cliff. He stuck his weapon into the earth, and hoped that his fall would decrease. 'No keychain?!' he thought taking a good look at the weapon. 'No! This can't be…' he thought looking back up for a moment. Naminé jumped up hoping to try and catch Sora as the earth was starting to break apart from up above him. The keyblades came back with full force knocking Naminé back down to the ground; Sora threw himself off and landed right next to her. She panted for a moment and looked back at the twister, it was moving again. Her face guard was thrown a couple of feet away from her body; it was a very hard fall. "I'm fine…" she said looking back at Sora and the others.

Roxas stayed behind as Amaterasu and Sora ran to another cliff, and again they launched another thunder based attack, seeing as how Xehanort was still ridding on it. The girl paused for a moment as the twister came within inches of colliding with her, and instead Sora was sent into the deadly assault, his body moving through the air as the weapons hit him dead on. "Reflectga!" Naminé cried out watching the spell rise up through the twister and it connected with Sora. The Keyblades stopped permanently as a tower was formed as each corroded weapon stacked up against the spell. Sora's body was suspended in midair by the spell, but the last weapon that smacked into the barrier caused it to break and explode sending the boy and his weapon high into the air, and skidding around the platform of earth on which Ignis stood.

"Damn it…" Sora thought clenching his grip on the hilt of the weapon. 'With no keychain it's just a regular blade…' he thought getting up and panting. He glared at Ignis and growled for a moment. He ran up again with his Keyblade to the side, and Ignis laughed at the attempt. There the Dark Master blocked the parry of the attacks with his Keyblade, keychain and all, making it seem like child's play. He pushed back Sora and sent a Blizzaga spell; the young Keyblade wielder could hear the sound of ice forming over his left arm. He looked up and noticed someone in the distance. 'Roxas, no!' he tried desperately to move his arm watching his Nobody tried to attack Ignis from behind. Oblivion and Oathkeeper were running with electricity, but Ignis quickly handled it as he moved quickly to the side, catching the Nobody in midair. Roxas moved his body to try and break free from the grasp on his head. Ignis sighed for a moment and placed a heavier grip, crushing the faceguard with ease, and half of the visor was broken off. "Stop…" Sora said getting back up again, but Xehanort's Heartless got in the way, sending him down to the ground.

Amaterasu and Naminé looked up at the event unfold, "Roxas… ROXAS!" Naminé cried out watching the Nobody look at her. She could sense what he was feeling and for a moment it pained her. "No…" she whispered watching his eyes stare at her with a message 'I'm sorry,' was all that could be said from his gaze. The Nobody stopped moving feeling his body go numb, the armor turned black preventing any movement as Ignis boasted off his strength, and soon he mimicked the same thing that once had happened to Naminé. Amaterasu watched in horror as the Nobody's body came colliding with the jagged edges of the cliff. Pieces of Oblivion and Oathkeeper broke off rapidly as the both hit several sharp edges of earth, and Naminé ran forward with all her might.

Ignis withdrew his Keyblade and placed his hand over his heart for a moment. A ball of swirling dark colors hovered over his hand and with a slim smile he threw the ball of energy into the heavens. At that same point in time Naminé slide beneath the trajectory of Roxas' path and caught him quickly. "I'm so sorry, Roxas…" she said softly noticing his eyes moving slowly. She looked up and noticed that the clouds were parting as something was lighting up the sky. Amaterasu found Sora and sighed heavily, and noticed the strange aura in the sky. 'Kingdom Hearts…' she thought feeling her eyes grow wide. Sora growled for a moment and took off his faceguard, revealing the tint of yellow within his eyes. The Dark Master was there anymore, and Sora yelled out in anguish cursing loudly.

Roxas and Naminé moved to safe place and they seemed worn out, their muscles ached very badly. "You two go on ahead…" Naminé said doing her best to try and defrost the armor. "I'll only be in your way." She said softly noticing the look in Sora's eyes. "Be careful Sora… don't let it take a hold of you…"

"But… how can we fight with regular weapons?" he asked angrily showing the empty loop where the keychain once stood. The Dark Princess looked back at hers and noticed that the chain was gone as well. "The heart… Our heart is the only weapon we need." The girl said softly, "he hasn't taken that away from us yet." She said staring up at the pale blue heart shaped moon. "He's in there now…" she said softly looking back at Sora and he nodded. "Then that's where we'll go…" Sora said tightening the grip on the weapon. In the distance a strange door appeared, and Amaterasu felt a smile tug at her mouth.

Within Kingdom Hearts

Sora and Amaterasu looked around the area trying to figure out where to go from there, but they were drawing up blanks. 'Just great…' Amaterasu thought and looked at her body for a moment. "Hey the armor is gone!" she cried out in alarm and stuck out her leg and her other arm, "weird…" she thought looking back at Sora is his regular black attire. "Thank the gods…" Sora said stretching for a moment, the strange color in his eyes still didn't go away. "I was getting cramped in there." He said trying to laugh for a moment, but he had no happiness in him whatsoever.

The two of the walked around trying to figure out where Ignis was at, but it hard sensing his presence within this world, 'I don't remember Kingdom Hearts being this bright…' Sora thought shielding his eyes for a moment as they walked forward. Amaterasu sighed for a moment and looked back at Sora. 'He'll go berserk soon…' she thought feeling worried for a bit, 'I just hope he doesn't hurt himself…'

"Hey what's that?" Sora asked pointing to a strange portal; it was swirling with blue and black energy. The two of them moved cautiously towards the portal, and Sora used his weapon to poke the portal, and the weapon went straight through the swirl of black and blue.

"You think it's safe?" Amaterasu asked looking back at the young Keyblade wielder. He shrugged and took Ultima out of the portal.

"Hey!"

The two individuals looked around in confusion upon hearing the voice; it just popped out of nowhere. They looked at each dumbstruck and stopped moving for a bit. "Who's there?!" Sora called out to the blank walls of the entrance. The voice chuckled for a moment and sighed heavily. "Hey come this is no time for games!" the brunette called out again losing his patience.

"You don't remember me?" the voice asked sounding a bit hurt.

"No…" Sora said looking back at Amaterasu with a 'what the fudge is going on?' sort of gaze. The girl shrugged back and looked around the room once again, still she found nothing.

"I told you he would forget you!" another voice came into the room, laughing in a raspy tone.

"Oh shut up Vieh!" the human sounding voice replied. "Amaterasu are you there?"

"How… How do you know my name?" she asked feeling something hit her heart for a moment. 'It's beating…' she thought happily. 'Wait, no… It's not because of him… It can't be… it didn't beat when he was possessed by Ignis, why should it beat now?'

"Even the girl forgot about you!" the beast sounding voice said, its laughter filled the whole room.

"Come on you guys!" the human sounding voice pleaded. "Is this anyway to treat a guy?"

Sora and Amaterasu felt their hearts jump for joy hearing that phrase. "Riku!" they yelled happily jumping up in the air for a moment. "Riku?!" they looked around again trying see if there was a voice for the body.

"Sorry guys… This is as close as it's going to get for now…" Riku said sighing. "It's nice hearing you guys again though, how have you been?"

"Well I mean… Ok I guess…" Sora said laughing for a moment. "We're on our way to kick Ignis' ass…" he said meaning every word of it.

"Hey who's the other voice?" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask noticing the raspy laughter in the background.

"You've met him before Ammi…" Riku sounded glad to hear her voice.

"Remember that silver furred creature?" it came from Vieh.

"Oh!" Amaterasu started to laugh for a moment. "You…? Hey you… Wait Riku were you within that thing when…? When he you know killed the witch?"

"Don't remind me…" Riku said in disgust.

"Anyway enough talking, get in the portal!" Vieh said barking madly. Riku tried to calm him down.

"How do you know it isn't a trap?" Sora asked Vieh.

'He's a part of me Sora. I don't think he'd want to hurt you…" Riku said laughing nervously. "I'll explain that part later just go in the portal, we've been waiting for you guys to show up, it's annoying hold this dang thing open…"

They both said their goodbyes to Riku and Vieh and went into the portal. "WOAH!" Sora fell forward but luckily the girl was able to catch him before he fell into the endless void. "What the…?" he looked around the area and noticed that there was nothing around, no buildings, no ground, no ship, nothing at all. "An endless void…" Amaterasu said softly watching the boy sit up on a ledge next to her.

Permissum vestri pectus pectoris partum a semita

Sora felt something within his heart, and he carefully placed his feet down on what he felt was invisible ground. He took another step forward and heard something like a chime ring out within the void of the area. A bright light filled the area, ad he covered his face, and so did the girl. A stained glass platform appeared underneath the boy's feet. "Wow…" he felt speechless for a moment and smiled looking back at Amaterasu as she now stepped down to the stained glass floor. "Hey what did the voice say?" he asked looking back at the Dark Princess.

"What voice?" she asked scratching the side of her head. "I didn't hear anything…" Amaterasu said looking at him strangely for a moment. "What did it say?" she asked looking back at him.

"It was in another language… I thought you heard it," he said softly to himself, but nonetheless he repeated what the voice said, sort of slurring the words slightly.

"Let your heart create a path…" she said staring at the stained glass before their feet. "Well Sora your heart did this," the Dark Princess said feeling happy for a moment. "I'm impressed; you've come a long way, Keyblade Master."

"My heart isn't strong enough," he said referring to the keychain crisis. "I mean…" Amaterasu sighed for a moment and made a face. "What?" he asked quickly.

"Don't talk like that!" she said sounding very stern. "Only losers talk like that…" she said trying her best to smile. 'Very well put, Amaterasu,' a voice said whispering in her mind. 'You're back!' she responded to her inner darkness. 'Make a choice now, its either light, or darkness…' she laughed for a moment. 'I'll give you my answer once this is done…' she responded and looked in the distance. A white door appeared before them.

"Kingdom Hearts!" they both said noticing a figure emerge from the dark portal that appeared below. Ignis smiled for a moment and brought out his Keyblade. 'I'm not going to lose to him…' Sora though bring out Ultima weapon, he didn't care now if it didn't have a keychain, he wanted to fight now. 'I want to protect my friends… I want to save Kairi and Riku,' he thought. Ignis watched Sora for a moment, noticing the yellow glow in his eyes. Amaterasu gripped the handle of the blade 'Way to Night' and growled for a moment. 'I don't want to lose my new friends… or Riku… I want the worlds to be in peace again…'

Permissum sicco lux lucis rector vestri pectus pectoris

The voice was loud and clear, it was coming from the hearts of all the others that lived in different worlds. In this place where all hearts gather, they offered aid to those who sought it for now. 'Let out light guide your hearts…' the girl thought feeling something warm her heart. Sora felt the same sensation, 'this is the light from our friends, the hope that they have in us…' he thought running forward. Ignis was pushed back a bit, barely having enough time to dodge the attack. Amaterasu came from behind swung her blade to the left hearing it connect with the Dark Master's weapon. He threw her back, and she fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Sora lost his mind at that point, and his Heartless self came out. Amaterasu picked herself up and watched as Anti-form circled around the Dark Master with ease.

The girl ran forward aiding the hero of light and blocked a ball of fire escaping the man's fingertips. Sora jumped into the air and curled himself into a ball, dark energy swirled around him, lashing out at the nearby individuals. Amaterasu jumped back and watched as Ignis took the hits, 'it still won't do him any good…' she thought watching Ignis dodge more blows with ease. 'We need our true Keyblades…' Amaterasu thought as she ran to aid Sora. Ignis grabbed the Heartless form of Sora, and flung him to the ground, hearing the stained glass beneath the boy crack. "Sora!" Amaterasu called out quickly watching the body slowly rise.

Operor non contremisco quis vos operor ignoro viator of atrum quod vir of lux lucis

"We're not afraid…" they both said softly feeling a warm light encompass them. "We will fight till the end!" the two said pulling out their weapon. This time their key chains reappeared, restoring the weapons to their former glory. Sora grinned and moved forward and Amaterasu followed closely behind as Ignis spun around, blocking the array of attacks. The Atrum Procer jumped forward and brought her weapon down, but Ignis had other plans, he used his Keyblade to hit her forcefully in the ribs, and with lightning quick speed he brought his Keyblade down on her leg as the girl descended to the ground. "Sora…" she called out watching him take her Keyblade in the air. "This ends now, Ignis!" the hero of light cried out tossing the old man into the air, and slamming his weapon forcefully on the back of the Dark Master.

Amaterasu stood up limping slightly watching the fight from a distance. "Good job Sora…" she thought panting for a moment, feeling the pain in her leg. She looked around and noticed that yellow eyes were starting to appear from all over the place. Ignis was knocked out, and Sora was close to the count when something came out from Ignis' frame.

"Sora… Amaterasu…"

"Riku…" they both responded sadly looking at the static appearance of their friend before them.

"I'm using as much energy as I can to keep him from moving right now, Vieh's helping, but I mean… Just hurry up!" the figure disappeared, and Sora and Amaterasu stood side by side now.

"You ready?" he asked placing his hand on Ultima weapon's handle. Amaterasu made a small noise, feeling the pain in her leg, but she made the effort to grab onto the handle of his Keyblade. She could feel the presence of more Heartless starting to emerge from the area. "Let's get this over with quick…" Amaterasu said staring at Ignis; he was starting to move again, and the Heartless were advancing quickly. 'Thank you Riku, and you to Vieh…' she thought able to catch their images for a spilt second, 'I want to see you guys again, real soon…' a strange energy was starting to form around Ultima, the presence of light and darkness were starting to intertwine with one another.

With the others

"Look!" Marlene cried out in alarm. The pale blue moon was glowing brighter and brighter than ever before. Cloud and Aerith looked up noticing that the pieces of the moon were starting to break apart quickly. "It's breaking away…" Denzel said pointing to the cracks that were starting to form around the strange heart shaped moon.

"Did they do it?" Cid asked looking back at the others. "Yeah…" Yuffie and Yomigami said, they had faith in the four of them, "they wouldn't let us down." There was a loud boom within the sky, and blue and white energy was seen visibly from space, and all around the other worlds, those that were taken in by darkness returned, and so did its inhabitants, those that had sought refuge in other worlds found themselves back within the walls of their home.

I can finally take the time to breathe!

There was a distress signal coming from the middle of the desert where the crossroads were at. Versus and a several other soldier took the moment to go and retrieve the person that was there. In another room, deep within the city the Princesses of Heart woke up, a bit shaken up but nonetheless they were alive and well now. Kairi opened her eyes slowly hearing Naminé laugh happily. "Naminé…?" she asked softly sitting up, her head was spinning. Memories rushed through her head from the battle with the Dark Master. "So… Sora?" she asked looking around, but she couldn't find him within the room.

"You're awake…" Rinoa said happily smiling warmly at Kairi. "Looks like they did it…" she said punching her fist happily into the air, "Come on!" she took Kairi away from the room and showed her the stars that were appearing the night sky. Blue and white light crystals rained down from the heavens, giving back to the worlds the hearts that they lost. Lightning watched as the events unfolded, happy couples were hugging one another, others were shouting with joy, some were jumping, others wanted to go and get a drink. 'You all did a good job…' the Heartless thought hearing the laughter of her 'friend' Amaterasu running through her mind. She felt something lightly touch her cheek, and looked up as a warm light touched the tip of her head, and at that point she smiled.

We did one heck of a job!

Rinoa finally heard Squall say those three little words she had been wanting to hear for so long, and kissed her lightly on the lips. Yuffie and Reno got pictures of the event hoping to use it for black mail or something. Sephiroth and Cloud were seen standing side by side watching the sky as more stars continued to form. Tifa and Zack looked at the event with Marlene and Denzel from a good distance. Aerith stood near Cloud and Sephiroth and enjoyed the fact that they weren't fighting. Rude, Reeve, Cid, and Shera seemed to have a great burden lifted from their shoulder, and Nanaki stood by Shelke and Vincent as they watched from the rooftop of a nearby building.

Kairi looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of her friends, but she didn't find anyone. As she turned the corner she found someone else, "Hey…" the figure said waving a hand. "Yomigami!" Kairi said waving happily, "do you know where…?" he shook his head and noticed the pained look on the Princess of Heart.

"They'll be back though…" Yomigami said looking up at the sky, "I mean, what kind of friends would they be if they didn't?" Kairi nodded hearing Yomigami's words. A familiar ninja appeared and jumped on the older male, and he laughed. "They did it!" the ninja said happily kissing the side of Yomigami's cheek.

Versus and his soldier came back with the four vehicles, and three keychains found near the sight. One of his soldiers carried back a familiar silver hared teenager, and another one carried back a small bundle of silver fur. "Riku!" Kairi cried happily running towards her friend.

So now what?

We wait I guess… I mean we're within the Kingdom now, what else do you expect?

I thought we would get to leave, I guess there's still more work to be done.

How long do you think it'll take us now?

They're gonna be mad at us…

I'm sure they'll understand.

Hey did you make your choice?

Yeah… I mean there's light, twilight, dawn and dark, or night whatever you call it. Night is the only one left.

Welcome to the group, Dark.

Shut up, Light.

Ha! I guess its balanced now…

A/N: Expect the epilogue soon!