Sorry that it's taken a while to update. I went through last chapter and fixed some spelling and syntax errors. It was pretty bad. I type too fast for my own good. You people need to speak up. Anyway, here's chapter 12.

His mind was swimming through memories he'd never forget. The islands were being torn away. Darkness was engulfing every corner of his home world. And before him stood the same creature that stands before him now.

He had faced this particular Heartless thrice before. Once in his dreams that he believed were so real. Second when the Islands fell to darkness. And finally when he was trying to stop Xehanort's heartless. And the one constant: he was alone.

"Sora!"

But he would not be alone this time.

"Donald, Goofy!"

His companions were running from a now disappearing corridor of darkness. They took a stance on either side of him, staring up at the towering Heartless.

"Were the students ok?" Sora asked, his eyes not wavering.

"Uh huh," Goofy responded, "they seemed kinda tired. What happened?"

"Later. Right now we have a bigger problem."

"But you should know that-"

Goofy never finished his statement. In one swing of his massive arms, the Darkside scattered the three heroes. Luckily, they were able to avoid getting crushed. Sora, knowing exactly how to fight this beast, began wailing at the arms.

The Darkside was able swing him away, leaving Donald open to cast Thunder relentlessly, and Goofy to hurl his shield. The Darkside to seemed to sense that his size might not effectively counter the trio, so it quickly brought one of its arms down, opening dark hole. It was reaching for something, and Sora only knew too well what it was.

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy began fighting Shadows and Neoshadows that seemed to pop out of the darkness surrounding the crevice created by the Darkside. Sora leapt in to help, and quickly the numbers were dwindling. But something was different. Sora noticed the hole of darkness wasn't dissipating.

More Heartless were coming, and the Darkside held in his hands a powerful orb of dark energy, gathered up out of the darkness from the hole it opened. It released the orb, and rays of the energy were raining down on the heroes.

"Sora!" Donald cried. The mage could see the situation worsening. The Heartless horde was growing, and the trio were doing everything in their power just to avoid being struck by the dark energy, as well as the Darkside continuing its barrage of limb swinging.

Sora went over to his friends to help keep the Heartless at bay. "This is crazy! How do they keep coming?"

"Uh, Sora," Goofy started. "It is the realm of darkness."

Sora had slain another Neoshadow before shooting a look to his friend.

Back into the fray the trio went, Donald casting spells at random; Goofy charging blindly with his shield out front; and Sora swinging his Keyblade with such precision that the Heartless could not touch him.

Finally, he found an opening through the mass of darkness to the Darkside, and began thrashing at its arms. He only barely ducked his head from an oncoming limb before hacking away again.

Donald and Goofy were doing their best to keep the smaller Heartless cornered, but they knew it wouldn't end if the chasm of darkness wasn't sealed.

"Goofy, we gotta get that thing closed!" Donald shouted.

"Right, but how?"

"I don't know. Maybe Sora can use the Keyblade."

Darkballs were now emerging from the hole, snapping and biting at the duo. Goofy looked back at the Darkside, and could see Sora leaping about, striking it when he could.

"Donald, Sora looks a little busy, so we'll just have to keep these things away from him."

"Aw phooey."

Then many things happened at once. A giant fireball was blasted into the mix, followed by a bolts of lightning. The Heartless began to scamble to find the attacker, but were incapacitated by beams of colorful light spiraling all around. The colors kept coming, blasting the rest of the Darkballs into oblivion. Donald and Goofy were looking around for the source, but couldn't find it. After a few seconds, they began to attack the remaining Heartless. Then they heard a shout.

"Enough!"

Pillars of fire surrounded the area, then circled at great speed, and moved towards the Heartless, turning them to ash and dust.

The pillars faded away to reveal the source of the shout.

"Wow."

"Huh?"

The respective responses from Donald and Goofy were all they could say. A figure landed between them and the now-serene chasm of darkness.

"It's been a long time, Donald, Goofy."

The voice was that of a young woman, not what one would expect from someone with such great power. It was calm and tranquil.

She had a tall, slender figure. Her medium length blue hair was parted mostly to the left. She wore a halter top with a black corset and black shorts. Her arms were covered in white bell-sleeves, with fingerless gloves her hands. Draped around her hips were two strips of blue cloth. Her boots were silver and armored, rising above her ankles with hook pointed outward. Black stockings covered her legs, and went above her knees but stopped short of meeting her shorts.

"Master Aqua?" Donald asked.

She could only chuckle at their amazement. "Believe me, I'm just as surprised to see you. But, perhaps we should help your friend." She gestured behind them at the fight taking place.

Sora was breathing heavily. He did not know how much longer he could hold out. The Darkside was persistent, much more so than those he fought previously. Perhaps it was the Realm of Darkness that gave the monster its incredible strength. He was jumping around, avoiding the blows that were being thrown.

"Thunder!"

Sora heard a voice he thought might not come. "About time you two got over here!"

"Gotcha!"

He froze. He hadn't heard this voice before. His eyes were moving about. He could see Donald casting a freezing spell, surround the Darkside's left arm in ice. Goofy hurled his shield at its center. And around its head, he could see a young woman, but only briefly. In an instant, she charged at the Darkside, leaving a trail of light behind. As quickly as her first attack, she charged again. Sora could barely keep up. She was attacking from all sides with such ferocity, yet gracefulness, he could only gawk.

The blows from the warriors were taking its toll. The Darkside fell to its knees, its strength waning.

"Sora, now!" cried the woman.

Understanding her, Sora leapt into the air and brought his Keyblade down on the Darkside's back with great force. He cut through to the ground and released an explosion of light, blinding everyone.

The light dissipated, leaving no trace of the Heartless.

"Whoa." Sora seemed impressed, even if the final blow came from him.

"Good goin' Sora," Goofy hollered, gathering him in for a hug.

"Hooray, we did it!" cried Donald.

Aqua put her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. Then she brought it to her eye as a lone tear escaped. It had been so long since she last saw this much joy. She had known nothing but endless darkness.

Sora, finally took notice of her through his friends' endless revelry.

He stared at her while his mind searched his memories.

That's your job Sora.

"It's you," was all he could say.

"You sure have grown a lot, Sora."

"Well, it has been a long time."

"I know, and it's been you that's saved the worlds more than once."

Sora was surprised at this, and stammered, "H-How do you know that?"

"Someone I met here told me that worlds nearly fell into darkness. But somebody wielding a Keyblade was there so save the day. When he said it was you, I could only cry. I remembered meeting you as a little boy."

"But who told you it was me?"

"I never asked his name. But he told me that he knew you, and that we were so much alike. Loyal and true to our friends." She glanced over at Donald and Goofy.

Sora smiled, and put his hands behind his head, tilting it a little. But that smile was lost once he saw the crestfallen look on Aqua's face.

"But now," she started, "you're here too. I've spent the endless hours and days wandering around this realm. I thought you might be the one to bring me back, but now I don't see how that's possible."

Sora was about to respond, when Goofy stepped in. "Aw, ya just gotta believe in yourself. I know we'll find a way out of here."

"Goofy's right," Donald said. "All we gotta do is stick together."

She smiled at their optimism. "At least...I'm not alone anymore."

"Right."

They began walking back down to the shore, where the corridor of darkness had first opened.

"Sora, I meant to ask you," began Aqua, "How did you end up here anyway?"

"Well, we know someone who can open dark portals, and move about both this Realm, and the Realm of Light."

"Really? So he brought you here? Why?"

"We were looking for you."

She gasped and stopped.

Sora stopped and turned. "You ok?" She nodded, but Sora wasn't entirely convinced.

"Master Yen Sid said that this is where you would be. How he found that out, I'm not sure."

"So that's why you came here?" Donald asked.

"It was Lea's idea first."

"Actually, it was the King's."

The four turned their heads towards the water where a corridor of darkness opened, and out of it stepped the Flurry of Dancing Flames himself.

"Lea!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran down to the water, stopping just short trampling over him.

"Take it easy. I was beginning to think you three were going to move here." He then looked behind them at the young woman.

"Whoa, who's the babe?"

Aqua could only look down as blush began to creep up her cheeks. He's sure subtle.

"Lea, that's Master Aqua."

"Yea, ya big palooka." Donald had a good mind to whack him in the head with his staff.

"Really? Master Yen Sid said she's been missing for over ten years. She looks good for her age."

"Um, thanks," was all she could say, unable to meet his eyes.

"Ugh. Sorry Aqua. This is Lea, the guy we were telling you about," Sora stated.

"A pleasure. But let's continue these pleasantries on the other side, shall we?"

With that, Lea quickly turned and walked through the corridor, followed by Donald.

"Wait for me, Donald! Ah-hyuck!" Goofy lumbered on through.

Sora turned to look at Aqua. He noticed her trepidation, and felt it better to walk with her through. He extended his hand to her.

"I think you've spent enough time in the dark."

Aqua gave him a small smile before taking his hand, and slowly they stepped through the corridor and into the Light.

Again sorry for not updating. I'll try and be faster, but no promises. And I'll go through previous chapters and fix some spelling and syntax.