"Are you ready to go yet?" He asked me.

"Honestly?"

"Yes, honestly."

"No." He ran his fingers through my hair.

"C'mon, Mikaila. Do you want to hold my hand?" he asked. I nodded, and he smiled. "Okay," he explained, putting his hand in mine, "on the count of three, we go in together. One... two... three!" We ran in together. For a couple seconds, I felt like I was floating in nothing. All I could feel was Riku's hand. Then there was a flash of light, and we were in a farmiliar place, Traverse Town, along with Sora, Kairi, Goofy, and Donald.

"What took you guys so long? Were you flirting with each other again?" Sora questioned. I blushed. Riku laughed.

"This doesn't feel right. It feels... almost empty," I said.

"Yeah. Almost dark," Riku agreed. Then another gigantic heartless appeared. Riku, Sora, and I all summoned our keyblades at once. Donald got his staff and Goofy got his shield. Sora started by attack from the side. I ran to the back and attacked from there. Riku went to the other side. Goofy and Donald attacked from the front and Kairi, again, used light. Kairi was knocked over. I shouted her name into the air, and she popped right back up again. I hit it with my keyblade a couple times and was thrusted into the air. This heartless was really tough to beat! I was knocked against a building wall. I heard Riku shout my name, and I got up once more. The cycle repeated a couple times with a couple different people. Finally, Donald made the final blow and it was gone. Another beam of light appeared. There was no other exit, so Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy walked through it. Riku laughed when I stopped in front of the beam again.

"Still afraid?" He smiled and grabbed my hand. He walked through, pulling me with him. I had the same floaty feeling again. Then we ended up on another rock platform with a beam of light. This cycle continued with many worlds. Beam, heartless, another beam, platform. Some of the worlds I recognized, but most I didn't. It process finally came to an end with the last beam of light. It was a different color than the rest. Sora, trying to be the bravest one here, went through first. Kairi followed shortly after, then Goofy, the Donald.

"You ready yet?" Riku asked.

"Yeah. Can you still hold me hand, though?" I asked weakly. He smiled and took my hand. We walked through together. Next thing I know, I'm floating in a creepy place, a gigantic shadow heartless about 100 feet tall face-to-face with me. I backed up slowly. Since when can I fly? But that really didn't matter at the moment. Sora's movements were sleek and quick. He would hit about 5 times, then circle the heartless until it got confused and hit it some more. Kairi followed his example. Donald and Goofy attacked from a distance. Riku just attacked with no method in particular. I floated there, not knowing what to do. I used magic from a distance at first, but when I ran out of magic, I started to attack it up close. It swiped at me. It missed most of my body, but it still hit my head. I started to feel dizzy. I couldn't move my neck. Kairi cried my name, and I was back up again, but this time I followed Sora's example. After a few more minutes, it roared and turned into a purple and white inferno. The fire died down and the heartless was gone. All that was left was the mound that it was sitting on.

Then, in my heart, I felt a door open somewhere.

And we were on Destiny Islands.

But it felt empty. Just like the other worlds we went to.

"Is this... is this my island?" Sora asked. We started to explore it when we heard a voice.

"This world has been connected." Riku recognized the voice right away.

"What was that?" Goofy asked. The land that the paopu tree was on disappeared.

"Tied to the darkness," the voice continued, and another part of the island disappeared, "Soon to be completely eclisped." The sea went black. "There is so very much to learn. You understand so little." The world shook. "A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing." There was a flash of light. A grabbed Riku's hand in fear. Then Destiny Islands was a dark place. Bits of the islands were left. There was another Riku on the edge of little pieces of island. We ran over to the fake Riku.

"Take a look at this tiny place," the voice continued, "To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds, and he opened his heart to darkness." Riku didn't argue. The fake Riku turned around to us. Then the fake Riku became Ansem.

"What..." Sora was speechless.

"Mikaila, that boy, his heart belongs to darkness. He feels no love for you, of the light."

"That's not true!" Riku yelled in anger.

"All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came. You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora yelled. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in, but I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!

Ansem rose into the air. "So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade; every heart must return to darkness!

And a battle began.

A strong heartless-looking creature sprouted up behind Ansem. Sora was first to attack. Ansem didn't seem like he was giving his all. He let us attack him with all our strength, occasionally fighting back with a strong blow. I attacked him several time from behind. After a few minutes, he flew backward and was gone. One of the structures that we built on the islands was blown into the sky. Some parts of the islands cracked. Then there was a pit with nothing in it.

Nothing. Except Ansem.

Sora, Donald and Goofy were the first to run over to it. Sora jumped in. Riku and I followed Sora. Donald and Goofy jumped, but were knocked right back out by some sort of invisible wall. The same with Kairi. The world shook again, and a huge heartless sprouted from the depths of the dark pit. Riku ran up to it first, followed by Sora. Then me. I gathered up enough courage to fight the thing. I ran up to it and started to attack. I jumped out of the way the first time is swung at me. Then it buried its head into the ground. Right before the head hit the ground, a hole filled with darkness appeared. Sora continued to hit its arm, but I ran over to its head. Riku followed my example. We attacked it's head until it rose back up again. Then a ball of darkness appeared in it's hand and bolts of lightning shot out. Not for long though, because we defeated it! I felt so proud of myself.

Then Ansem rose up where the huge heartless stood. He was fighting back a lot harder this time. The heartless attached to his back threw bolts of darkness at us. They curved and followed you. One of them hit me. I fell to the ground. I heard Riku shout my name and I felt 100 better. He gave me his only elixir. He's so sweet sometimes.

Sora rolled over to Ansem and tried a sneak attack, but Ansem seemed to see him. He turned around just as Sora was about to hit him and attacked Sora first. It didn't seem to damage Sora much. Sora kept on attacking up close and Riku went next to Sora. I kept a distance and used magic. I had gained the ability to use more magic at one time, so it was much easier. A ball of purple surrounded Ansem, and he seemed momentarily stronger. This cycle repeated a couple times. Then everything slowed down, and there was a flash of light.

Then we were all floating somewhere. All six of us.

"Wha..?" Sora yelled.

"Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!" Ansem's loud voice boomed. "Look as hard as you are able! You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours. Darkness conquers all worlds!"

Were were pulled to a platform by a force. Sora missed the platform.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled. She seemed to use some kind of power that none of us could see. She brought him up again.

"Thank you, Kairi," Sora whispered. She hugged him.

Ansem was floating before us. He looked part fish. There was a heartless symbol right under his stomach. Figures. There was an even bigger heartless than the last floating behind him. The heartless grunted. And a very difficult battle began. Sora, Donald, and Goofy immediately ran up to Ansem and started to attack. They seemed to have a strategy. One would attack, one would distract, and the last would use magic. The process rotated. Riku, Kairi, and I had no particular strategy. Riku attacked from the back of him, Kairi used her light, avoiding attacks, and I circled him, attacking in every place possible. His attacks were slow, but powerful. One hit me and I started to fall off of the platform. Then I rose back up again. I looked at Riku, who seemed relieved that I floated up again. I grinned. I kept attacking and attacking. Nothing I did seemed to mean anything. Then he started to breathe deeply. Then everything went kind of slow. He was done. We were done fighting.

We flew away. There was another flash. Part of the heartless seemed to catch on fire for a moment. It disappeared. Ansem floated out of the heartless and the whole thing burst into flames. Something rose out of Ansem's heart. The whole thing was a big inferno, then just a ball of light. Then nothing. We were floating again. Ansem rose.

"It is futile. The keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." He turned towards the door. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness!"

The doors opened a small bit. Darkness was pouring out.

"No..." I whispered.

"Supreme darkness..." Ansem yelled.

"You're wrong. I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts is light!" Sora yelled to Ansem. Light burst from the doors. Ansem shielded his eyes from the strong light.

"Light?" Ansem whispered. "How..." Ansem couldn't finish his sentence. A ball of light erupted from his heart. Light from all around gathered with that ball of light in his heart. It was over. He was gone.

"Come on!" Sora yelled as our feet planted on the solid ground and we ran towards the door. I could barely run. My legs were like jello. But I had to help Sora. I ran. Once I got to the door, my legs collapsed. I scraped myself against the ground. I was forced about ten feet. Everyone else pushed the door. Then Riku saw me lie helplessly within. He ran in to help me. The others still pushed. Then Goofy looked in and his jaw dropped.

"Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald yelled. Then Donald looked in. His jaw dropped.

"The heartless!" They yelled together.

"Riku.." I whimpered.

"Hurry!" Donald yelled.

"I can't.." Sora said, trying with all his might.

"The door must be closed from both sides," Riku whispered.

"What?" I yelled at him, having no idea what was going on.

"Mikaila, stay right here!" He said, running towards the door.

"Don't give up!" Riku yelled to Sora. "Come on, Sora! Together, we can do it!" Sora seemed to know what he was sacrificing and nodded.

"Okay," he said. Sora pushed. Riku pulled. Heartless rose from behind me.

"It's hopeless!" I heard Donald yell. I heard a swishing noise and turned around to see the large heartless disappear. Mickey jumped out from some rock.

"Your majesty!" Donald and Goofy yelled together. Mickey took out his keyblade.

"Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!" Mickey yelled.

"Close it! Quick!"

"But..."

"Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light," Mickey encouraged.

"Sora, you can trust King Mickey," Goofy said,

"Now! They're coming!" Riku yelled.

"Donald, Goofy, thank you." Sora, Donald and Goofy pushed, and the door moved. Riku turned.

"Sora, take care of Kairi. Don't worry about Mikaila."

Sora nodded. The door closed. I saw a seal of light. Mickey twirled his keyblade and locked the door. The door disappeared. Just like that. We all stood is silence. I heard Mickey shout my name, and he used and elixir on me. I felt perfect. I turned around to thank him, but he was gone. All I saw was something yellow on a napkin on the ground. It was in the shape of a star.

A paopu.

I ran over to it. It had a note on it.

Riku and Mikaila,

Thanks for all you've done. You really were a great help. Put this to good use for me.

-King Mickey

I looked at Riku. He looked at me. I smiled.

I was with him.

We would survive.

We would get out safely.

I felt it. I knew it.