End of the Balance

When Sora regained consciousness, he was standing in the grassy area outside Yen Sid's tower. He looked around at his friends who had been transported along with him. They were staring around in wonder. Sora had teleported to the Gummi ship many times and had never experienced a feeling like that before.

"Way weird" he said. He went over to Lea who now seemed to be in a state of suspended animation. Her eyes were open, but she was sitting still and unaware of her surroundings.

"Lea?" Sora asked. When she didn't respond he tried something else. "Axel?" Lea's eyes widened a little at this, and a croaking voice came from her mouth.

"Roxas…is….that…you…?"

Yeah it's me said Roxas as he stepped out of Sora. Axel, you'll be fine. Don't worry; we're in a place of mages. Yen Sid will know what to do. He'll help you, I'm sure.

Lea managed a small smile. It was hard to do because her face seemed to be freezing up. "Y…you…better…because…if there's…anymore of…this…then…both of our…minds…might be…gone forever" Axel choked out. Then Lea's eyes rolled up in her head and she slumped to the floor. Axel's voice was choked off in a gurgle.

"Is she alright?" asked Pete.

"No" said Sora as he and Roxas rejoined. "We have to get her to Yen Sid, now. If we don't Axel said that both of their minds will be destroyed!"

"Maybe he could cast a Heart Redemption Spell on him" Maleficent said dryly. Sora gave her a death glare that withered the flowers growing in the grass. Maleficent smiled calmly.

"Shall we go?" the witch asked. She and Pete continued on to the steps leading up to the Tower. The great doors opened and they were gone.

"I've got Rufus" said Pete as he picked up the President of Shinra Inc, and dissapeared into the Tower.

"I've got Axel" said Sora, as he lifted Lea onto his back. The three of them walked into the Tower Lobby. As they were about to ascend to the stairs, Sora felt his vision tip and waver again. When it cleared, he saw that they were in Yen Sid's office. The sorcerer was reading a large, thick book. A skull stared at them with empty eye sockets from his desk. Yen Sid looked up and stared at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. His eyes, large and intense gave Sora the creeps. The Keyblade Master looked down at the floor, the weight of Lea forgotten for now.

"H…hello, Master Yen Sid" said Donald respectfully. "You wanted to see us?"

Yen Sid shut the book with a loud thud. "Sora, Donald, and Goofy" he said in his deep voice. "Forgive me for not contacting you earlier. But the three of us, Merlin, Maleficent, and myself have been involved in research on Kingdom Hearts. We have made many discoveries, some of them helpful, others disturbing and dark. It is the dark ones however, that I must explain to you."

"Merlin said that if Xemnas takes Tine, something worse than a universe of Nobodies would happen" said Goofy. "What's goin' on?"

"Yeah" said Sora, dropping Lea to the floor. "What's going on? I mean, I know we have to fight Xemnas and stop him, but are things getting worse? Does he have an even bigger plan?"

Yen Sid shook his head. "No, no it is nothing like that. I believe that Xemnas is unaware of the true nature of the forces he is playing with. Allow me to explain. Please, sit down." The sorcerer gestured and four chairs appeared in a flash of blue light. The three of them sat down, Sora putting Lea in the fourth chair. "Kingdom Hearts….the heart of all worlds. That is what this structure is called. You have seen Kingdom Hearts on two separate occasions, have you not?"

"Oh yeah!" said Goofy. "We saw it that time in the Dark Realm, remember?"

Sora shook his head. He had tried his best to forget those few nightmarish hours fighting Xeonhort in the Dark Ream. But yes he had seen what Xeonhort said was Kingdom Hearts. At that time, it had taken the form of two gigantic doors. "But it was different then!" he cried. "It was like two doors! And the last time it was like a big heart shaped moon" said Sora. "So it always looks different?" he asked. "Is it like that?"

Yen Sid shook his head. "No. It is not that. The fact is that you have destroyed Kingdom Hearts two times and it has come back in a different form. You destroyed it after your fight with Xeonhort, and Ansem the Wise ruined it with his machine the second time around. That is why Tine is here. She was supposed to be genetically created life form that Maleficent made from darkness…but somehow the energy from the Castle That Never Was that she shot into her to give her life, contained the essence of Kingdom Hearts…I wonder if it was fate or chance coincidence?"

"Maybe chance?" said Sora.

Yen Sid shook his head and stroked his long beard. "I doubt it. There is the second thing I must talk to you about. It is the discovery we made. Kingdom Hearts is indeed the heart of all worlds. It is the Balance."

"The what?" Sora asked.

"The balance between the Light and the Dark" Yen Sid said. "That is why there are always Heartless and there will always be. It is the balance. Nobodies exist outside of that balance. All hearts reflect what is in Kingdom Hearts. There is light and darkness in every heart. Just as in Kingdom Hearts. Tine is the embodiment of that balance."

"But if Xemnas absorbs her into himself---"Donald burst out in horror.

"Yes!" said Yen Sid. "If Xemnas does that, then the great balance will be thrown off---no, it would cease to exist entirely. The Dark Ream will bleed into the universe, and the universe will bleed into the Dark Realm. The very fabric of reality on both sides might very well be ripped to shreds! Heartless would multiply at a prodigious rate, making groups of the size of the army you fought at Radiant Garden last year. All worlds would be thrown into a void where there is neither light nor darkness. Chaos would reign!" The sorcerer took a deep breath and shuddered. "If we are lucky, then perhaps the destruction would only be limited to our galaxy of worlds."

"Lucky?" Sora burst out. "Are you crazy? We have to stop that idiot before he kills us all!"

"Noooooo" said Lea from her chair in a weird, moaning voice. "That's baaaadd"

"Who is this?" asked Yen Sid, seeming to notice Lea for the first time.

"This is Axel" said Sora. "Or…Lea…it's kind of confusing."

"Is she the companion of that young man who Maleficent and Pete brought in earlier?" Yen Sid asked.

"Yes" said Goofy.

"Then I understand her situation" the sorcerer said as he got up from his desk and walked toward Lea, his blue robe rustling on the floor. He walked over to Lea and peered into her eyes. "Lea" he said. "Can you hear me?"

Lea didn't respond. Yen Sid lifted her chin and shook her head a bit. She moaned deep in her throat and turned her eyes away. Yen Sid turned to Sora and the others. "She's almost gone. The strain of having two separate consciousnesses in one body is having the effect of a crushing hammer blow to her brain. If I don't do something to save her…then she will be driven insane."

Please, help him! He's my best friend! He died for me! Roxas screamed from Sora's head. Sora mentally told him to shut up and listen to what the sorcerer was saying. Yen Sid laid a hand on Lea's forehead. He began to chant strange words to himself. A red glow appeared around Lea's body and she floated into the air. The she began to spin faster and faster, and faster until she was a blur.

"What's this? Is he helping her?" Goofy asked. Donald and Sora were too surprised to answer. Then Lea fell to the floor. She opened her eyes to look at them.

"Where am I?" she asked them. "What is going on?"

"Axel?" Sora asked. "Are you…are you still there?"

Lea looked at Sora and grinned. "I guess I am" she said. "I can kind of feel this other person still there, sleeping inside my head." She looked at Yen Sid. "Thanks a lot, old man!" she said. "I owe you one!"

"No!" said Donald. "You let him take over Lea's body?" he cried.

Yen Sid shook his head. "No. I allowed the dominant mind to take over. When these two were one whole being, the part of her mind that became 'Axel' was her main personality. Lea had a compensating personality while he was gone. The one that Rufus Shinra knew was a sort of substitute. Now that one is at rest, and the original Lea has come back."

"So basically, you had Axel's personality all along" said Sora.

"There isn't any Axel anymore" said Lea. "I'm Lea Delosion. Got it memorized?"

Yep you're still my old pal said Roxas.

Lea smiled at Roxas. "You're still mine. I have both sets of memories now and I can put them together. Wow, the things my Other did while I was gone. Well, how are we gonna stop Xemnas from killing everyone?"

"That will be difficult" said Yen Sid. "We have a plan to stop him, but it will require some time. Lea, now that you are whole, do you have any memories of plans that Xemnas may have made? I think that information from Organization XIII will be useful to us."

"I know what he's going to use to absorb the girl" said Lea. She ran a hand through her red hair. "It's some kind of machine called the Kingdom Something. Vexen created it. It's going to suck the hearts right out of her. I think the others think its going spill out all the hearts and they can just play 'which one is mine.'."

Yen Sid shook his head. "This machine…does it run on computers or manual?"

"Computers" said Lea. "Vexen do anything without computers? He'd laugh his ass off if he heard you even say something like that. Why do you ask?"

Yen Sid looked at Sora and Sora jumped. "Tron! He can help us get into the machine and spread a virus in the system. That should crash the computer and give us more time to find a way into the Dark Realm!"

"I like your brains kid" said Lea. "Oh, if only you were---" she was interrupted by Rufus who burst into the room and hugged Lea wrapping his arms around her middle and loosening the red and yellow bandages that covered her chest.

"Lea! You're alive and alright!" he said. He got a nasty surprise as Lea pushed him back.

"What the heck do you think you're doing? I don't know why I got involved with someone like you. Killing old men for stupid business profits. Honestly, the memories that are floating around in my head right now make me want to kill you for ruining my pride!" Lea drew two red and white chakrams. The ones her brothers had taught her to fight with. Axel's weapons. Fire sparkled around them. "But I won't" she said. "Just get out of my sight, Shinra. There's a new day around here Rufus. I'm not the Lea you knew. So just get lost."

Hurt and angry, Rufus turned on Yen Sid…but then dropped his gaze after looking in the sorcerer's eyes. He shuffled out of the room without another word.

"Poor Rufus" said Goofy.

"Ah, who cares?" said Donald heartlessly. "He needs to grow up. Let's get going Sora."

"The three of you will stay at the Tower tonight. Tomorrow you must travel to Disney Castle and tell the King of the news. I have tried to reach him, but my attempts have so far been unsuccessful."

"You can count on us" Sora said. The three of them went off to find rooms to sleep in. Sora walked into one of the rooms in the tower and gasped. It was already prepared! It looked just like his room in the Destiny Islands, complete with that subtle scent of the sea that always hung around his house. "This magic stuff is something else" Sora muttered as he threw himself on the bed. His bed it looked like. Donald and Goofy discovered that their rooms looked just like their rooms at Disney as well. Before Sora drifted off to sleep, he heard Donald exclaim, "And it even has Daisy's perfume!"

Morgan opened one red eye as she felt a shadow pass over her body. The girl rolled over on the bench to see Xemnas blocking the light from getting into her cell with his body. She rolled back over, breathing heavily. Maybe if she pretended she was asleep, maybe if she---

"Get up, Morgan. I know you're not sleeping" Xemnas' deep voice came in through the bars. "And even if you were…do you think that I would let you continue?" he chuckled evilly, and then stopped abruptly. "Now get up, before I do something nasty."

Morgan struggled to her bare feet. With the Dawn Shard still wedged in the cell bars, it was still a pain to be anywhere in the cell. Morgan looked terrible. She had not been able to eat any of the food she had been served by Nexumair's Knights, vomiting it back up, and the superstitious men were too afraid to go in and force feed her, Dawn Shard or not. She felt sick all the time thanks to the object. Xemnas teleported inside the cell. He grabbed her by the hair, almost pulling it out by the roots.

"Ahhh!" Morgan cried. Xemnas put his mouth next to her ear and spoke into it, blowing his hot breath into her face. "I'm afraid Morgan…I have a favor to ask you." He held up a large black book with silver binding on the cover. A raised symbol of an eye was on the cover.

"Synthesis vol. 666" said Morgan without much enthusiasm. "What do you want from it?"

"I want you to read every spell in this book" said Xemnas. "And when you're finished, I want you to tell me which one is the spell for combining matter. Morgan, I will give you about three days…if I find that you have failed in these three days…" he touched the Dawn Shard. I will up the ante on this lovely device."

"I understand" said Morgan. Xemnas smiled at her.

"Cheer up" he said. "It isn't as if you're going to be trapped forever. I promise to release you when I have achieved my ultimate goal." He teleported away before Morgan could say anything. The sorceress sighed and began to read the thick volume. She almost laughed. The spell was on the fourth page! Xemnas, who had no knowledge of magic, had skipped right over it. Of course, it had no title, it had to be memorized. But why should she tell him this? She would take the three days. Maybe that would give the Keyblade Master some time to bust Xemnas' crazy ass.