Author's Note: I do not own anything from the Kingdom Hearts franchise or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

Ch.5 Enchanted Dominion, Part 2

As I walked to the girl's room in the Enchanted Dominion, I heard voices coming from inside. Instantly cautious, I summoned my Keyblade and crept over to the door. I placed my hand flat against the door and waited a second, then I shoved it opened and pointed it at the people inside. "Don't move!" I yelled. Then I blinked at who it was in the room: three fairies where different colored outfits, and Ventus. I blinked and dismissed Ultimatum, saying "Ven?"

"Dexal?" he asked, looking at me. "What are you doing here?" "I was going to ask you the same thing," I replied. "Who are you?" The fairy in red demanded. "My name is Dexal. What are you doing with this young girl?" I asked. "We're her guardians," the one in blue told me. I blinked and said "Oh! Then you have my apologies." The first fairy, the one in red, said "Oh, you don't seem mean harm my dear. But while this boy Ven and our Princess Aurora have pure hearts, you have something different."

I blinked. "Really?" The fairy in green nodded. "Yes dearie, these two have hearts that are filled with pure light. But your heart doesn't have any darkness or light. Instead your heart is filled with something else, almost as if the light and darkness fused together and became one." I blinked. A heart where darkness and light combined as one? I had never heard of such a thing before, and certainly didn't think I possessed it. "Either way, you seem trustworthy, perhaps you can help us," the fairy continued.

"Yeah, Dexal's trustworthy, take my word for it!" Ven said. I nodded. "Okay, so what's going on?" "Someone named Maleficent stole Aurora's heart. Now we're going to try and get it back," Ven told me. I started in surprise; that had been exactly what I told Terra I was going to do. "All right, let's work together, and get the Princess's heart back." They all nodded, and the fairies started forward. "The Forbidden Mountain is through the forest. Come along- follow us. After all, we wouldn't want the two of you to get lost."

With that the fairies, Ven and I left Aurora's room, heading for Maleficent's castle. When we reached the Grand Room however, a large group of Unversed appeared. I rolled my eyes. "You know, this is the second time I've fought something in this hall." "Well, then let's make sure there's not a third!" Ven said, drawing his Keyblade. I nodded and did the same, and we both charged forward. Ven used Aerora to spin all the Unversed around before I sent them back into the air with Zero Gravira.

Then Ven used Strike Raid followed by Fire Surge and his body burst into flame, signifying that he had activated Firestorm. I used Blizzara on a Bruiser, and my activated Diamond Dust. Ven slashed at a pair of Floods and I made shards of ice to spin around me, finished off that Bruiser. Then a total of five Bruisers appeared, and I said "Ven, Finish move! Now!" He nodded, and jumped up, crossing his arms.

I ran forward and stabbed Ultimatum into the ground, shards of ice appearing around me. They spun and shattered, sling off to hit the Bruisers just as Ven unleashed Firestorm, pillars of flame spreading out and hitting the Unversed just as the shards did. The combination of fire and ice proved too powerful, and the Bruisers disappeared in burst of shadows. Ven and I stood there for a moment, waiting for the adrenaline to go down before we continued out of the castle.

We traveled along the outside bridge and through the forest the fairies mentioned, fighting the waves of along the way. At the end of the forest was a wall of black, green and yellow flames, and I frowned. "Looks like we're stuck," Ven said. The red fairy, Flora, said "This must be Maleficent's doing." Fauna, the green one, said "I know!" She waved her wand and flicked it at the flames. A hole speared in them, which spread and caused the flames to die down. "Shall we?" she asked.

"Yep," Ven said, and I added "Let's do it." We exited the forest and came to a long winding path made of stone, which lead up to a dark castle set against and equally dark sky. "Is that Maleficent's castle?" I asked, and they nodded. We continued up the path and through without any interference except from a few henchmen, until we arrived in the throne room. By the throne was a pair of henchmen, one with the appearance of a pig and the other rather bird-like.

"Careful, they're Maleficent's," Flora warned. "Well they ain't guardin' nothing," Ven said, summoning his Keyblade. "Let's get them," I agreed. One of the guards yawned, and Ven yelled "Ten-shun!" They blinked and looked around, seeing me and Ven run toward them. "No sleeping on the job!" he said, and I added "Let's go!" The pig one ran forward with his axe while the bird one pulled an arrow out of his quiver.

I used Collision Magnet to draw the one with the arrow toward me before throwing him into the one with the axe. The two fell to the ground, but from both ends of the room there were squeals, and henchmen began pouring from the entryways. I and Ven stood so were back to back, and I said "ready to fight a ridiculous amount of enemies?" He smiled and said "I'm ready when you are." I smiled as well. "Then let's go!" And we charged forward.

I used Freeze Raid and threw my Keyblade at the henchmen the length of it coated in ice. A few of the henchmen were frozen in ice, while the rest evaporated in flame. Then Ven used Fire Surge on the ones that were frozen, the ice shattering dealing extra damage. But still more kept coming, and I had to use Cura on myself to heal myself after I was pelted with a volley of arrows. Ven healed himself to, and I used Collision Magnet again to get rid of two archers. Ven activated Fever Pitch and went after the ones with the axes, the Command Style giving him the increased speed needed to stay ahead.

I swung my Keyblade overhead and hit one enemy with Poison Edge, sending him back with his face a sick greenish color. But more arrived to take his place and I was beginning to tire. Ventus used his Finish Command Fever Pitch, attacking with incredible speed and taking out half a dozen more henchmen, but six more ran in. Ven and I backed against each other again, and he said "They just keep coming. Any ideas?" I looked around, and suddenly got an idea. Use your Shotlock, then immediately fire up Terra's D-Link. Just bear with me."

He looked at me, but nodded and jumped up, unleashing Flame Salvo. I used Pulse Bomb, and our combined Shotlocks eliminated half of all the enemies, but that still left the other half to go. Once I came down to ground I pulled out my Wayfinder and focused on Aqua, just as Ven did the same with Terra. I could feel magic power rushing through me, giving me Aqua's powers. I fired Blizzard and Thunder in rapid succession, and followed it with Quick Blitz.

Meanwhile Ven used Quick Blitz as well, but followed it up with Sliding Dash and Stun Edge. The combined magical and physical assault left the henchmen unable to retaliate, and we just kept going. It ended when Ven used Finish, jumping up and slamming his Keyblade on the ground, creating a small shockwave, and I fired a pair of twin orbs upward, destroying all the enemies around me. I stopped, seeing that miraculously no more emerged, and Ven had run out of enemies.

With that small army of Maleficent's enemies gone, we continued onward, coming to a large maze in a large room. We went through the maze, becoming lost once or twice, but when we reached the end we saw a green flame, with an orb of light floating in it. I gasped and pointed at it. "That's it. That's Aurora's heart." Ven nodded and pointed his Keyblade at it. A beam of light fired forward and hit the flames, which faded and the heart flew away. "That should do it," he said, and I nodded in agreement.

We began to walk away when there was a flash. I had just enough time to wonder what was going on before I saw something.

xxx

Two people were standing next to each other in the middle of the forest. One was Princess Aurora, while the other was a young man I had never seen before. My guess was he was a Prince. He grasped her hand and said "Don't you remember? We've met before." Aurora looked uncertain and said "We… we have?" The Prince smiled. "You said so yourself, didn't you? Once upon a dream."

At this Aurora's face lit up with recognition, and she smiled. The two of them walked hand in hand through the forest, eventually coming to stop. They say down, and Aurora laid her head against his shoulder. "I've never thought I'd meet you. Outside of my dreams that is," she admitted. "Who are you? What's your name?" the Prince asked. "Hmm? Oh, my name… Why, it's…" Aurora began.

But then expression turned panicked, and she hurriedly stood up. "Oh, oh no. I can't…" she said. She gave a quick curtsy and said "Goodbye," before beginning to run off. The Prince stood and said "Wait! But I must see you!" "Oh, I don't know. Maybe someday," Aurora said, trying to run off again. "When? Tomorrow?" he persisted. She turned back around and said "Oh, no. This evening. At the cottage, in the glen." Then she ran off, and this time he let her leave.

There was another flash, and the vision ended.

xxx

I looked around, seeing I was back in Maleficent's castle. "What was that?" Ven asked. The three fairies came forward, and Flora said "Aurora's memory. She must have gotten her heart back." "So, her dream came true?" I asked. Flora nodded. "Yes, not long ago. Dreams are very powerful beliefs. Aurora's led her to her true love." "I can see that you have strong belief too. Don't you, dear?" Fauna asked. "Ven nodded and said "Yup."

"You also have a strong light," Fauna added. "What about me? Is my light strong?" I asked. "Well, it's like we said dear, your heart doesn't appear to have any darkness or light. Theirs is something there, but we don't know what it is," she told me. My face fell, but then Flora added "But whatever it is that's in your heart, it is powerful, that much can be assured." I smiled slightly, thankful for the compliment. "All right. Hurry, we can't stay here!" Merryweather said, and we began to leave.

The five of us went back through the maze, not getting lost this time, and made it back to Maleficent's throne. But once we arrived I glanced at the center of the room and froze. Standing there was Maleficent, and she began to speak. "Someone has released Aurora's heart. Tell me child, was it you?" She looked up and glared at Ventus. We drew our Keyblades and he said "Only because you stole it in the first place!" We ran forward and swung at her, but she disappeared in a burst of flame.

We both looked around, wondering where she had gone, and we saw her standing up near the throne. "A Keyblade… you must be Ventus." He gasped. "How you know about me… and the Keyblade?" he asked. "My dark powers ensure I know the method to extracting hearts. Terra gave me a demonstration," Maleficent said. Ven's expression faltered. "Terra… he was here?" "Yes. In fact, he was the one who stole Princess Aurora's heart," Maleficent said.

I glared at her and said "He didn't do it by choice! You forced him to do it!" She glared at me, and she said "I was planning on leaving you unharmed, but now I've had a change of heart!" She disappeared, and I readied myself, wondering where she would appear. The fairies turned into balls of light and flew forward, intent on helping us.

xxx

Uh-oh, here comes another boss fight, but at least Dexal has Ven by his side!

Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)

Kingdom_Hearts:_Birth_by_Sleep_-_PSP/Meld_Commands

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