Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me, though that should be obvious. Here's another chapter of the great Domino Effect! I'm glad you guys are still enjoying this, and I'm trying to update as quick as possible for you. I'd like to say thank you for Star-Shaped-χ, were it not for your constant reviews from my previous stories, I probably wouldn't have come up with this idea (well I would have eventually, just not as a prequel to my other story, Road to Xehanort.) I would also like to thank Isaiahby telling him thank you for liking this fic so much and for saying that it's his favorite (I think that's what he said).

How are your holidays? I was kinda not enjoying mine but this fic seems to be the only thing I enjoy and is keeping me going through these holidays. Since I go back to school on January 5th, from that time onward updates will be a tad slowed due to school and stuff since I can't type all day long, but I'll try to type as much as I can when I'm home. Okay, so…onward to the chapter!

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Balance Slays the Demon

Normally I would tell you that as we leapt into battle, I used some of my awesome magic abilities and kicked some serious butt. No such luck. As Domino and Rika began slashing at the monster before us that had once been Julius, and as Asher began firing bullets of light towards the beast, I created a ring of fire around Julius's throat. Julius growled in anger and the flames around his neck disappeared. And then he swung his fist forward, his knuckles slamming into my chest and sending me flying back three yards. The battle had barely begun, and yet I was already defeated.

I felt my heart pumping against my chest, several of my bones out of place and both of my shoulders dislocated. I couldn't move anything except for my eyes, mouth, and legs. "Kane!" Domino shouted, forgetting about Julius and rushing towards me. I coughed as Domino leaned over me, blood flying from my lip and hitting Domino in the forehead. Domino held a hand over my heart and screamed out, "Curaga!" A green light washed over me, and the scent of flowers overwhelmed my nostrils. I suddenly felt like I was floating on air, and my head slowly rose up.

Looking Domino in the eyes, I said, "Let's hurt this bastard." I stood up—a little shakily at first—and realized my bones had healed and the blood dribbling down my lip was gone. Domino and I looked to Julius. His eyes were full of rage, it didn't even look like we were staring at the same person he was before. He threw a punch at Rika, but she retaliated by stabbing him in his fist with Darksouls. Julius backed away, hitting the wall behind him and howling in pain, blood staining his white gloves.

The Moogle flew from the bench to right in front of the beast and yelled out, "Stop it, kupo! What has gotten into you!?"

"S-stay b-back!" a rather humanoid voice shouted from the creature before us. It sounded like the original Julius, but it was strained as if he were fighting back. Fighting against this monster's urges. "There's n-nothing you can do! Take Desiree and leave this world! I'll only harm all of…of…you…" Julius began shaking and then bared his fangs. He growled as loudly as I could, the air from his breath knocking the weightless Moogle back a few yards. Julius slammed his two fists into the ground, sending a shockwave that knocked Asher and I to the ground.

Asher slowly stood up, locking eyes with Julius and then yelling, "Do you know who I am!? Phoenix Asher is my name! As obliterator of light and destroyer of darkness, I will vanquish you! With some help of course. Now gather under the name…of the Keyblade Hunters!" Snapping his fingers, ten Hunters appeared surrounding the second district.

"I thought you weren't working as a Keyblade Hunter anymore," I whispered, slowly getting to my feet.

"They don't have to know that," Asher replied quietly. Finally Asher screamed, "Listen up, Hunters! Help me take down this beast!"

All at once, beams of artificial light shot from all directions and collided with Julius, an orb of light appearing around the monster and trapping him within. From Asher's hands came the larger beam of artificial light, which pierced through the orb of light around Julius and shot him square in the chest, making the monster howl as loudly as he could. Julius threw a punch, hitting the force-field of light surrounding him, seemingly shocking him until he would not dare to try that again.

"You're going to try and kill it?" I asked, fear rising in my throat. I do not condone killing living things no matter how vicious. The sight of this beat…Julius…in pain, was just so overwhelming. And there I was earlier, trying to choke it with a ring of fire. Now I was feeling regret, and fear, for this poor man who was forced by the darkness and all those mutations, which turned him into what he was now.

"What else can we do?" Asher asked back. "He'll hurt everyone if he stays loose. There's no possible way for us to let this thing ago. Unthinkable."

"Asher's got a point," Domino said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Keeping something like this alive will endanger everyone." If I remembered correctly it was he who brought this monster upon everyone. Nothing he could say would change the way things turned out. "What is he doing?"

Julius growled while he shook as if in another seizure. I an instant, he shot both arms up on either side of him at the same time, and the orb of of light around him shattered like glass. Asher tried harder to fire a beam of his artificial light at Julius's chest, but Julius began walking forward, the light not affecting him at all. Asher ceased fire and dove to the right, just as Julius's fist came crashing to the ground where Asher once stood.

Another shockwave ensued, leaving the ground with a huge dent. Julius growled to the sky and jumped up, landing on the balcony above. Where was he going? And then the beast smashed through the door to the first district, rampaging through.

"Desiree!" Asher yelled out, running up to the wall and jumping up, grabbing the rim of the balcony and pulling himself up. He looked back to the rest of us and called out, "We have to save that poor girl's life. Hunters, you're dismissed." He snapped his fingers, and the Hunters surrounding the district vanished into artificial light. And Asher ran passed the wreckage of the door separating the first and second districts, chasing after Julius without slowing.

"He really cares about people," Domino muttered as if just noticing this trait about Asher. "Let's go help him out." And so we followed Asher, heading into the first district ourselves.

After getting to the accessory shop minutes later, Asher ran through the doors with the little Desiree in his arms. The small girl wrapped her arms around Asher's neck in fear as he dashed towards us. Suddenly, the side of the wall of the shop exploded into hundreds of pieces of splintery wood, and from it ran Julius, swinging its arms at Asher. With every swing, the monster got closer and closer to Asher who looked to be having a difficult time of outrunning the beast. He ran passed us, entering the second district with Desiree. Julius tried to follow, but Domino, Rika, and I blocked the entrance.

Julius growled at the sky and pounded his fists downward, the cobblestone ground breaking from the weight of his fists. Rika jumped forward with Darksouls and stabbed Julius in the torso, making the beast howl in pain, blood dripping from his wound. Domino shot forward and whacked Julius in the forehead with Starlight, making Julius fall onto his butt. Julius rubbed his forehead and shakily stood up to his feet, drool hanging from his bottom lip.

"Honestly, I would've stuck with that giant Heartless from earlier," Rika remarked before sending a wave of darkness crashing into Julius. I almost wanted to scream at her; why use darkness on something that was created by the darkness?

And Julius leapt forward, grabbing both Domino and Rika in his meaty fists and lifting them off of the ground. He held the two high above his head, the two of them squirming for freedom. Starlight and Darksouls clattered to the ground. I wasn't up there with them, but I could tell Julius was squeezing them tightly. The two of my friends looked out of breath that it almost made me want to cry. Lifting my hand into the air, lightning shot from the sky, narrowly dodged both Domino and Rika, and slammed into Julius's torso, making him drop my friends to the ground.

Julius shook his head in anger and threw himself at me. Creating a vortex of wind around me, I used the wind to make Julius rise into the air when he got close to me. The wind was all around me, but I had no choice. Clenching my fist, I cranked up the velocity of the wind speed. Soon, all of Julius's clothing and skin were covered in cuts and scrapes from the sharp wind.

Julius grabbed his scraped up face in his hands, staining his gloves with fresh blood. The wind around me vanished, and Julius fell to the ground, shaking the entire town. And I felt the ground shaking from under my feet. The ground gave way, and all of us fell through the ground into the dark unknown. As we fell, Domino grabbed my hand as Rika continuously fired beams of darkness at Julius as the beast fell by the side of us.

And we hit the ground. Julius hit the ground but for some odd reason it didn't shake the ground. I looked around…we were underneath Traverse Town. The room around us was large and covered with drawings all over the walls. The drawings looked like scribbles that faintly resembled people. I ran my hand along the wall, studying each drawing and not worrying about Julius, who was on the ground immobilized. Rika kept poking Julius's head to see if the creature was dead—I saw it was still breathing, so obviously not—and Rika stopped poking him.

My eyes came across a picture that depicted some huge beast…it looked like Julius! It wasn't very accurate, but I was sure that it was Julius. Could these walls predict the future? Are they…predicting some kind of prophecy? I almost tripped on something…a candle? Giant candles lines each of the walls, a yellow light illuminating the drawings on the walls. How had I not noticed the flames earlier?

I came across a picture of six women, all in princess gowns or dresses. Moving passed them I saw a picture of a girl with red hair and blue eyes. But for some reason she looked very familiar. This was the only drawing with the most detail…it was like I was staring at a face of beauty. I could see each individual strand of hair, her eyes glistening in the torchlight, the unmistakable facial resemblance to…

I cocked my head to Rika. Rika saw my stare so she approached me, looking at the picture of the redheaded girl. "The hair length…" she muttered, running a finger along the drawing. "So similar to my own. And the face…why, it looks just like me. Who is this chick?"

"Uh, guys?" a voice called out, and the two of us ignored the drawing for now to see what Domino wanted. Standing in front of Domino was a now awakened Julius. "Run." A few seconds after he said that, Domino broke out into a run, running passed us. Rika and I followed him, away from Julius and farther into this cave. Ahead of was a small opening in the wall that allowed us to go through. The three of us entered and found ourselves in a small corridor leading into a much larger room up ahead.

Along the walls of the corridor were more pictures. One looked like that strange 'X' shaped Keyblade that Domino held in my dream earlier. Next to it was what looked like a deserted wasteland. Keyblades were shoved into the ground tip-first on either side, and down the middle was a road in which two figures walked down. One wore a strange looking helmet, the other was born and had silver beard. Not an old person's silver, either. It was my silver. My mom's silver. We exited the corridor and we entered a much larger room.

It was circular and all around the rooms were more torches that lit up and revealed the various pictures around. There were far too many to describe. In the center of the room was a circle of torches…in the center of them was a pedestal, and on it was something sparkling like crystal. It was shaped…like a keyhole? How strange. Then it dawned on me. I whipped my head around. Julius hadn't followed me. He wouldn't have been able to fit in that corridor would he?

And then it happened. Exploding from the corridor was Julius, bits of rubble and dirt flying from where he smashed through the tiny corridor. "Watch out!" yelled a voice. As that was said, Domino, Rika, and I ducked to the ground as a beam of light—artificial light—shot passed us, hitting Julius square in the chest. All around the room came beams of artificial light, each hitting Julius and creating a sphere of light around him, locking him within. I noticed that all around the room were Keyblade Hunters.

On the far edge of the room where the first beam of light came from, another corridor to the side of him, was Asher, floating two feet above the ground with Desiree wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist to keep herself up, and the Moogle—whom I had forgotten about—that was standing atop Asher's head. The artificial light poured from his hand and continued to keep the orb around Julius locked.

"How'd you get in here!?" Rika yelled out.

"There's another entrance in a Fifth District," Asher replied, smiling at us. "Long story short, we found our way in here to make sure Julius wouldn't find us. Well, we heard the ruckus and came here…but it seems Julius is here as well."

"And what makes you think you can trap Julius this time as opposed to last time?" I yelled at Asher, bracing my arms in front of me in case Julius broke free.

"More Hunters are here!" Asher yelled back, just as several more Keyblade Hunters appeared and circled around the orb of light surrounding Julius. Each fired a beam of light towards the beast, making the orb larger and brighter and, I guess unable to escape from. "Being a second-in-command has its perks!"

Appearing in a flash of light beside him was someone I recognized…a girl from a vision I had back on the Titanic. If I remembered correctly, her name was Lucina. Her white-pink hair flowed dramatically behind her and her amber-orange eyes sparkled in the rays of the artificial light surrounding Julius. "You guys need to escape before Julius breaks free!" the girl yelled at all of us. "And Ash, don't think you can fool me. I heard every word you had said to these guys…you're not going to try and kill Domino anymore?" Asher's face got red, his secret finally out to Lucina. "That's great! I always knew that Ibiki couldn't control you!"

All of the Hunters were too busy with Julius to hear what Asher and Lucina were talking about. Asher quit shining a beam of artificial light at Julius, probably figuring that the Hunters had him taken care of. Asher dropped himself and Desiree to their feet. Asher made Desiree let go of him as he walked over to Lucina. "But now I can't return to you guys. The Keyblade Hunters will be nothing without me. Nothing…Ibiki's like a bad father, never sticking around to see his kids. He rarely ever gives you guys orders. That was always my job."

"I'll take over," Lucina replied quickly, wrapping her arms around Asher and laying a kiss upon his cheek, making the boy blush. "I can fool Ibiki…tell him you died. He doesn't have to know that Domino survived. I'll make sure you'll never be working for Ibiki ever again." She looked to me who continued to stare at her. "Kane…take care of Ashy for me." Clapping her hands together she yelled, "Everyone! They say a world's heart is closed and locked away by a Keyhole. A Keyhole is like a portal for those who don't have Gliders or special abilities. It also leads to the lanes between the worlds. That crystal Keyhole…one of the first, crystalized and dormant in here for all eternity. Until now, of course."

"How do you know so much?" Asher asked.

"I do my fair share of studying," Lucina replied back. "Listen, once you guys leave here, it'd be wise never to return. I've been keeping an eye on Asher…and in turn, on you, Domino." Domino turned his head to Lucina. "Julius is a man-made monster…you messed with something in this world that can never be changed back. Return here and you can risk the stability of the world by making it even more unstable than it is now."

"What about Desiree?" Asher asked with sadness in his voice, as if he were a brother who was afraid to let his sister go. "Where will she end up?"

"I know," Rika said, and put on the most genuine smile I had ever seen. She walked to Desiree who was staring in awe at the light-covered Julius, and kneeled down to become eyelevel with the girl. "I'm afraid your uncle won't be coming back." Desiree's eyes started to tear up. "He wouldn't want you to cry. Dry those tears." Desiree wiped her eyes with her sleeves. "I know a great man who can take care of you. You'll also have a few sisters to take care of you as well." I eyed Rika, and she continued, "And a brother. The six of you will get along great, I'm sure."

Desiree whimpered and mouthed the word, "Okay." She ran to Asher and wrapped her arms around him as if they'd known each other their whole lives. She let go of him and walked to Rika, who summoned a portal of darkness in front of the girl. Desiree jumped back in fright.

"What the hell is the matter with you!?" Asher yelled at Rika.

"It's okay, I'll make the darkness protect you on your way there," Rika said, holding her hand on Desiree's heart. "Wherever you go, no matter how dark, you'll always find your way. Say hi to the gang for me." She held Desiree's hand and led the girl into the dark portal. Once the two stood inside, Rika stepped out calmly and slowly waved at the girl who tried to break free, but for some reason she could escape the portal. "It's going to be alright."

The little girl smiled as if she believed Rika, and the portal of darkness vanished with Desiree inside. Asher held his hand out like he lost a friend or a sibling, and then stared back at Lucina. "Ibiki is not to know where I am, or that Domino and I are even still alive. Understood?" Asher smiled a small, sad smile, and winked at Lucina, who returned the smile. "How do we unlock this Keyhole?"

"With the Keyblade, of course," Lucina replied.

Domino, Rika, and Asher each responded by holding out their respective Keyblades, Domino and Rika firing beams of darkness at the Keyhole and Asher firing a beam of artificial light. When all three beams hit, the crystalized Keyhole began glowing with a florescent light that lit up the entire underground cavern. Almost immediately, the light surrounding Julius shattered like glass, and the beast slammed his fists to the ground in anger.

Each Keyblade Hunter except for Lucina and the former Hunter, Asher, disappeared. Lucina and Asher held hands for a few seconds before the former said, "You'd best be going. This beast will attack you any second. So far, the balance between the light, the dark, and our artificial light have kept this demon at bay...but maybe it's not ready to be slain. Get out of here. I'll try my hardest to run the Hunters…not as good as you've done, but…I'll make sure I get the job done. Ibiki won't suspect a thing." Lucina kissed Asher's cheek and, as she was kissing his cheek, she vanished into light. When she was gone, Asher lightly rubbed his cheek.

Julius ran to us just when…I opened my eyes.

The light was so bright, but once it was gone, we were on the crystalized road that connected Traverse Town with every other world out there. Domino and Rika had landed on their feet perfectly, but I had landed on the ground with Asher lying right on top of me, his heel poking my forehead. I pushed him off of me and looked around. Which world would we visit now? We continued on, walking down the road, too tired to summon any Gliders. The road ahead was a long one.

The four of us—Domino, Rika, Phoenix Asher, and I—were destined to be together. It had to be fate that brought us together. Right?

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Sorry this chapter is considerably shorter than the previous two, but there wasn't much going on in this chapter, but the next few should be longer. Maybe. I make no promises.

Please review!