Chapter Seventeen: Light and Darkness

"So... that was..." I muttered to myself. I started laughing, maniacally, it seems.

"I won't give up just yet. I've still got to defeat Ike. But first things first..." I muttered. "I have to atone for showing Charon the way."

I started down the path when Aegle came running up.

"So? How did it go?" she asked me.

"Well... I know my mission now," I replied. "So, let's get down to business."

"What...? Your mission?" she asked.

"Yeah. I have to stop Charon," I said with a solemn tone.

"But we were supposed to do that before..." Aegle complained.

"Now it's personal," I said, still solemn. "First off, we need to find where Charon is. There's only one thing that can tell us that."

"... Ansem's computer," Aegle muttered.

"Right. Let's go," I said, resuming my walk. Aegle followed. We walked slowly toward the castle, slaying anything that we encountered. An abnormally large number of Heartless attacked us, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. We made it to the castle soon enough, and went to the Computer Room. It was empty, of course, so we searched for 'Charon'.

"So, his headquarters are 'Amaterasu'... funny. That's the name of a Shinto god," I muttered.

"There are more important parts, Jake!" Aegle fussed. "Look. Not only is it a realm of pure light, but it's in Kingdom Hearts!"

"Well, how're we supposed to get there?" I mused.

"Well, we could go in through the artificial Kingdom Hearts Xemnas made, but it's in bad shape," she muttered. "When Roy was here, it says, it was in severe disrepair."

"Wait... Xemnas' artificial Kingdom Hearts...?" I wondered. "I was just there a few hours ago. It was in real bad shape, but it was still there."

"We can get to Amaterasu through there, right...?" Aegle asked.

"Well, we won't know until we try. So what are we waiting for?" I asked, getting out of the chair.

"You guys..." I heard Leon say. He walked in with the entire Final Fantasy entourage. "Good luck. You're going to fight Charon, right? Did he get Illumina?"

"Yeah..." I muttered, looking down. "It's my fault."

"Don't worry. You can do it!" Yuffie chimed in.

"What makes you say that...?" I asked, still hanging my head.

"You're Jake Hartmut, the brother of Roy!" Cloud said. "If his skill has any relation to yours, without a doubt, you can take him. Roy is the best swordsman any of us have ever seen, and... that's saying something."

I looked up.

"So... you all know Roy?" I asked. "What's he like after five years?"

"Roy is... a solitaire. He fights and works alone," Leon told me. "I haven't seen him for months."

"So I probably won't see him... oh, well," I muttered. "I've got more important things to take care of at the moment. I'll find Amaterasu... and Charon. And I'll beat him!"

The entourage parted as Aegle and I walked through.

Funny, I thought. Aerith wasn't there.

Aegle and I had made it to the castle doors when Aerith stepped out of the shadows.

"Wait," she said softly.

"... what? I have to go kill someone," I said.

"Don't give in to your darkness," Aerith said softly. "You will be tempted soon, and when you are, you will have to..."

"Yeah, yeah. Ignore my darkness or fight it head on," I said. "Well, thanks for the heads up."

Aegle and I walked outside and beamed up to our Gummi Ship. We went back to the World that Never Was, then began climbing the Castle that Never Was. We reached the Hall of Empty Melodies when I heard someone whimpering.

"Who is that?" Aegle asked, annoyed by the noise.

"Probably Pete," I muttered. "I... well, I..."

"What?" Aegle asked.

"... it's nothing," I said, dropping the subject. "Let's... let's get going."

We resumed our strek up the Castle. We made it up to the Altar of Nothingness, where the floor was still crumbled.

"What... happened here?" Aegle asked. "It's ruined."

"I don't know!" I lied. We then looked around for something... anything left of Xemnas' Artificial Kingdom Hearts. We finally spotted a faint glimmer of pinkish light.

"How're we supposed to get into Amaterasu with THAT?!" Aegle asked angrily.

"Well, I don't have any better idea but to just go for it," I muttered. "Like a leap of faith."

"You'll die if you fall from here! You'll die for sure!" Aegle tried to reason.

"I've made leaps of faith before. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't," I muttered. "But if I'm to fulfill my mission, I've got to make a serious leap of faith."

I got onto the railing, balancing my feet on the edge.

"Jake! Don't!" Aegle shouted.

"Thank you, Aegle..." I said quietly. "Thank you for coming this far with me. However, from here on, this is my fight. It's my mistake to fix, so I won't be angry if you don't follow me. I'm going to do what I can to cleanse my heart..."

"Jake..." Aegle said slowly.

"Stay back, if you want. From here on out, this is my fight and my fight alone," I said, then made a leap of faith...