Chapter 13.

Three nights after the incident had found the entire group departing from Yen Sid's tower with parting regards from the old wizard himself and those who would remain behind. The group consisted of Aqua, who would guide them, Sora and Kairi, who each had a vital role to play in the mission, and Riku and Lea, who would act as guardians while the mission was being completed.

Lea, as expected by this point, was not taking the mission as seriously as they would have preferred, instead using every opportunity to continue taunting Sora and Riku about their drug-induced interlude, and he was becoming increasingly snide in his comments. It had gotten to the point that both boys adamantly refused to eat their meals in his presence- Sora had an affinity for drinking white tea, and one of Lea's remarks was a snide question about whether it really was tea that Sora was drinking, causing Riku to choke on what he was eating and Lea to get a face full of the still scalding drink. Everyone was sure the purest Light magic would not cleanse the area of the profanities Lea sullied the air with as he shrieked them to the world afterwards.

It was no surprise that there was a foul mood all around when the group arrived at Castle Oblivion. Sora and Aqua were nervous, Kairi was apprehensive, and Riku and Lea were staring daggers at each other. The two had been stationed at different areas within the castle, so luckily they wouldn't be at risk of killing each other off before a Dusk or Nobody made an appearance. They had to hold their focus on the true threat after all.

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"Ok, as we decided, Lea will patrol the interior of the castle, and Riku will patrol the perimeter. If either of you spot anything suspicious, use the charms I handed out to alert us."

Aqua had crafted charms in the likeness of the wayfinders she, Terra, and Ventus used all those years ago. There were five of these, each a different color, and each bearing an insignia that represented the bearer- Sora had a yellow charm with his crown inscribed, Riku had a sea-green charm with the Dream Eater sigil, Kairi had a lavender colored charm with a Paopu fruit symbol, Lea had a red charm with a miniature chakram symbol, and Aqua had a charm modeled to look exactly like her original Wayfinder.

Each of them had a spell cast over them that would make each charm glow and grow hot if any one of them channeled their mana into it. Aqua had gotten the idea to create these while this mission was still in it's planning stage, knowing the group had been arguing over how they would communicate with each other while not alerting every Nobody in the vicinity to their presence. It was delicate magic, and very uncommon in modern practice, but it worked.

The group proceeded on, leaving Lea and Riku behind to patrol. Aqua led the way, visibly shaking in anticipation- it had been 10 years since she last laid eyes on Ventus, and now, hopefully, she would be there to see him awaken. Her sole regret was that Terra would not be there to partake in the reunion.

Sora seemed to figure out the way unassisted the further they delved through the stark white environment that was Castle Oblivion, as though, from deep within Sora's heart, Ventus knew he was close to his own body. Sora was becoming pale, but he continued on at a steady pace, not wanting Kairi to see his fear. Some horrible thought kept making it's way to the edge of Sora's mind- like something was going to go horribly wrong.

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Lea and Riku were boredly wandering around their posts. They had been expecting an alarming number of Dusks to appear the moment Castle Oblivion was breached, but the place was oddly quiet, not even animals nor insects broke the silence.

As was Lea's custom, he soon found himself seeking a small room or even a closet to duck into and take a nap. He had no luck, despite the fact that he was in a large castle with many unexplored rooms, and ultimately napped in the hall he was "patrolling," hidden behind one of the numerous colorless sculptures that did nothing to take away from that stark whiteness of the area.

Riku remained as diligent as ever, but soon found himself seeking out shaded areas to patrol in. The area outside the castle was constantly assaulted by sunlight, and it quickly became unbearably hot. He soon found himself in desperate need of water, yet could find no nearby streams or ponds to refill his water bottle with. He leaned against the wall under a shaded part of the castle, thinking bitterly of how comfortable everyone inside the castle must be, only to freeze in the middle of his thoughts. What was that sound?

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They had arrived in a huge, chamber-like room that hummed with magic. It was just as stark-white as the rest of the castle, yet there was something different about this room. Glowing energy traveled up the walls, illuminating everything inside. The only thing that adorned this room was a large thronelike chair, currently occupied by a sleeping boy.

"Ven!" Aqua rushed to the boy's side almost instantly, where she began to treat him with an almost maternal level of tenderness.

"I'm sorry, Ven, I know I made you wait so long for this..." she whispered as she stroked the boy's hair.

"Don't blame yourself, Aqua... I understand..." Sora said, suddenly putting a hand over his mouth.

"Sora?" Kairi asked.

"I didn't say that..." Sora said, alarmed.

"He knows..." Aqua said, rising from her position at Ven's side. "He know's it's time to return..."

"What do I have to do?" Sora asked.

"Kairi is not only here to bring you back, but to set Ven free too. You need to use her Keyblade."

Sora and Kairi stood there in disbelief. At no point in the planning stage did Yen Sid mention about using Kairi's Keyblade to release Ven's heart.

"Yen Sid told me everything. As a princess of Heart, it is only natural that Kairi would wield a Keyblade of Heart. It has the ability to release a person's Heart from it's confines. You just need to do the same thing you did to unlock Kairi's Heart during your first adventure."

Sora gulped, and nodded. He walked to Kairi and,looking deep into her eyes, held out a hand to receive her Keyblade.

"Everything is going to be fine, trust me..." He said as he took Destiny's Embrace from the girl's hands. Walking away so he would be a safe distance from the others, he aimed the Keyblade at his chest, and plunged it into his Heart.

Not one, but several orbs of light emerged from where the Keyblade pierced him, slowly floating away from where Sora stood and settling around him. One orb in particular floated to the sleeping form of Ventus and was absorbed into the boy's body. He began to stir as soon as the glow of his returning Heart faded.

"Sora? SORA! Where did you go?" Kairi screamed into the emptiness that Sora was standing in mere moments ago.

"It's ok, Kairi. He's nearby. I can sense him..." Said another voice. Kairi looked toward Ven, but he was just seated there, still dazed and half-asleep. But the voice belonged to a male, so it couldn't be Aqua. She then turned to where Sora had been, and spotted another vaguely familiar figure standing a few feet away, a boy who closely resembled Ventus, but was dressed in street clothes as opposed to Ven's fighting garb.

"It can't be... you're... Roxas!"

End of Chapter 13