Disclaimer: Not mine, yay!
Chapter 36-
"Alice!" Sora looked in through the glass that contained the blonde haired girl. The pod that held her glowed a bright blue. Sora observed the other pods. They all contained women that seemed oddly recognizable. 'The women on those stained glass floors in my dream…' Sora thought.
"Sora!" Donald yelled. "Come and see this!"
Sora's head jerked up towards where the magician was, halfway up the grand staircase. Sora ran up and past him. At the top of the stairs was the largest Keyhole he'd ever seen. The insides of the Keyhole swirled in a mass of ever-changing colours, making Sora feel a little ill at the sight of it. Something caught his eye. In the middle of the floor there was a body.
"K-Kairi…" Sora whispered, eyes becoming wide. "Kairi!" he shouted happily and ran to her. He didn't notice Goofy and Donald bounce backwards off an invisible shield as they tried to follow him. Sora bent over Kairi. "Come on, open your eyes!" he gently shook her.
"It's no use." Riku hissed, sitting above on the Keyhole's frame. "That girl has lost her Heart. She cannot wake up."
"What?" Sora stared into Riku's eyes. There was something wrong with them. "You… you're not Riku." Sora said slowly.
"The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last Princess of Heart still sleeps." He glanced down at Kairi.
"The Princess?" Sora asked, looking down at Kairi. "Wait… Kairi's a Princess?"
"Yes, and without her power the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened." Whoever it was that held Riku's form leapt down from the Keyhole and floated down to the floor.
Sora stood up and held his Keyblade, ready to attack. "Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his Heart!"
"But first, you must give the Princess back her Heart." The false Riku held up his Keyblade. Sora fell to his knees as he felt a pang of pain in his heart. His eyes were wide in question. The holder of the dark Keyblade laughed deeply. "Don't you see yet? The Princess's Heart is responding! It has been there all along! Kairi's Heart rests within you."
"Kairi… Kairi's inside me?" Sora held a hand over his pounding heart.
"I know all there is to know."
"Tell me… Who are you?" Sora stared into his eyes.
He smirked and laughed. "It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness."
Sora's eyes were wide with shock. How could it be? The man who had written all those reports… All that time… all along… it had been him… What had this man done to Riku? And where was Iji?
"I shall release you now, Princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!"
"Sora!" Donald and Goofy yelled as Ansem/Riku raised his dark Keyblade.
Sora looked up. The blade was coming for him. "No!" Sora held his own Keyblade high and blocked the attack. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's Heart!" He swung around onto his feet and lashed out with his weapon.
Ansem jumped back, avoiding it. "You're a fool, Keyblade Master. Even if you manage to protect her Heart, I'll still find a way. There's more than one way to open up the door."
Sora gritted his teeth. "Iji…"
A small smile spread across the fake Riku's face. "Yes…" he hissed.
"She'd never do anything for you, you monster." Sora glared at him.
Ansem's smile grew. "I think you're quite mistaken there, Sora." He looked over Sora's shoulder.
Sora followed his gaze, and felt his breath hitch in his lungs. Iji hung limply inside a blue pod on a ledge on the far wall. She looked pale and close to death in the way her head hung, resting on her chest. Sora roared in anger and turned back to face Ansem. "What have you done to her?!"
Ansem continued to gaze up at Iji. "Nothing really, I just gave her what her Heart desires, though she too is a fool. Her love is but an illusion, one that fortunately has proved to be of an advantage to me. As long she continues to love this boy, she will forever follow me and be my slave. The power she contains is mine now."
"Then I'll defeat you so she can be free again!" Sora yelled and charged at him.
"Fool," Ansem replied, blocking his Keyblade. "She doesn't want to be free! She'd rather die with me! Iji! Come tell him I'm right!"
Sora gasped and glanced back at the pod. It was empty. He turned around and came face-to-face with Iji. Her eyes were dark pits, darker than the night.
"Please, do not harm Riku." Iji whispered peacefully and smiled. She spread her wings out to protect Ansem.
"Iji, no! Don't protect him! He's using you!" Sora shouted at her.
"It's no use," Riku's voice came from behind Iji's wings. "She loves me too much Sora. Would you hurt her just to get to me?"
"Please, do not harm Riku." Iji repeated to Sora.
Riku laughed. "You know, I really must thank Iji later, not only for her unwavering loyalty."
"Why's that?" Sora growled.
Riku patted his Keyblade. "It was thanks to her that I was able to obtain this."
"What? How?" Sora flinched.
"Using the Hearts of the other Princesses, she forged them together along with her own darkness to form this. It's far superior to your own Keyblade." he explained, sneeringly. "Now, are you going to attack me or are you afraid you'll hurt your best friends even more?"
Sora shut his eyes. "Iji, I know you're still in there somewhere. Forgive me for this, okay?" Using the flat side of his Keyblade he hit Iji over the head. The girl slowly dropped to the floor, passed out. With Iji out of the way, Sora leapt at Ansem and cut him across the chest.
"You'll pay for that." Ansem hissed.
"Bring it on then," Sora narrowed his eyes. "I'm gonna pay you back for all the suffering you've brought to everyone."
*****
The final blow left Riku on his knees. He looked up into Sora's eyes darkly.
"Riku!" Sora called out as he faded. The dark Keyblade he held clattered onto the ground.
Donald and Goofy ran to Sora to make sure he was alright. Sora stood quietly while Donald healed him.
"There!" Donald announced as he finished. Sora remained quiet. "Sora?"
Sora hung his head. "I wish… I just wish none of this had ever had to happen. I didn't choose to be the Keyblade Master; I never even knew there was such a thing. I wish we were still all back on our island."
"But Sora," Goofy put a hand on his shoulder. "Your island is gone and now you're its only hope. And you wouldn't have met so many new friends and gone to so many new worlds if you hadn't of left!"
Sora glanced over at Iji, still unconscious on the floor. "But then, maybe Iji would have been happier instead of getting mixed up with us." He went over to her and knelt down. Her breathing was light.
"Sora…"
Sora blinked and looked around the platform. "Did someone just call my name?"
"Sora…"
Sora looked back down at Iji. The voice seemed to be coming from her. "Where are you?"
"Here…"
Sora noticed something white sticking out of Iji's pocket. Sora pulled it out. It was a white feather, as pure as snow.
"Sora..."
"Talara." Sora whispered.
"Return me when the time is right." The feather slightly quivered.
"I will." Sora promised and put the feather in his own pocket.
"Sora, look!" Donald pointed up at the Keyhole.
"The Keyhole!" Goofy nodded.
Sora stood up and pointed the Keyblade at the Keyhole. A light appeared on the end of the blade and flickered weakly. Sora inspected the Keyblade. "Why won't it work?"
"The Keyhole's not finished yet, Sora." Donald said.
Sora unsummoned the Keyblade and threw his arms up into the air. "What do we do now then?"
"Er…" Goofy scratched his head. "Maybe we've gotta go wake Kairi up."
There was a pang inside his heart again. Sora thought for a minute before answering. "I think you're right. If we can free her Heart… But… but how?"
Goofy and Donald shrugged.
"How…?" Sora whispered to himself and let his gaze fall to the floor and upon the dark Keyblade. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's Hearts… I wonder." The Keyblade Master walked slowly over to it and picked it up.
"Sora!" Goofy exclaimed.
"No, wait!" Donald exclaimed as well.
Sora looked back at his two travelling companions and remembered all the good times they had enjoyed together. Giving his trademark grin he held the dark Keyblade to his chest and shoved it into his heart. Small sparkles of golden light drifted away from Sora's body. The dark Keyblade shone and burst into six glittering Hearts which returned to their owners. Another Heart followed, falling out of Sora's chest and into Kairi's. The red haired girl suddenly burst back into life, taking deep swallowing breaths of air.
"Sora! Sora!" Donald yelled.
Kairi gasped and looked back. Sora was floating above the ground, his body fading quickly and disintegrating into golden light. "Sora!" she screamed and jumped up to grab onto him. Just as her hand touched him he faded into nothingness.
"Sora! Come back!" Goofy called.
*****
"What's… What's happening to me?" Sora questioned the darkness that swallowed him. "Falling… falling… into darkness…"
*****
A pair of violet eyes cried tears and stared up into the air. "Sora, are you really…" Kairi sniffed back her tears. "No. He can't be! I won't let him go!"
The sound of deep footsteps alerted Kairi. She whirled around and gasped. Donald and Goofy jumped in to protect her from the tall man in front of her. Ansem laughed deeply. "So, you have awakened at last, Princess." He looked down his nose at Goofy and Donald and their attempt to shield the girl. "The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose and all that is left to do now is use the lock to open the door. But it's over for you now." Ansem stepped towards the three of them with an outstretched hand.
"Don't make another move!" warned Donald. He waved his staff threateningly.
Goofy leant over to Donald. "Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know." Donald whispered back.
Suddenly Ansem stopped and started to shake. He strained to try and move. "Impossible…" he grunted.
A glowing yellow being emerged before Ansem and held his arms out wide. "No! You won't use me for this!" Riku yelled.
Kairi stared at the ghostly figure. "Riku!" she gasped.
Riku struggled against Ansem. He gazed into Kairi's eyes. "You've gotta run! The Heartless at coming!" As he finished a swarm of Heartless appeared at Ansem's back. Riku stared wildly at them and turned back to Kairi. "Hurry! And please, take Iji with you! I don't want her here! No matter what, keep her away from Ansem! I don't want him to use her again! Now get out of here!"
Kairi nodded sadly and helped Goofy to get Iji over his shoulder. The four of them ran down the stairs and out of the hall.
"What about the Keyhole?" Goofy asked Donald.
"Let's just get out of here! We'll deal with it later!" Donald leapt into one of the elevators and activated the switch to take them down.
Behind them, a lone shadow Heartless followed. It looked around cautiously and jumped down the elevator shaft after them.
*****
"Kairi! Hurry!" Goofy urged the last Princess of Heart. She stood at the top of the staircase, gazing back.
"I can't leave him behind!" Kairi cried.