Xehanort floated above them, his wings beating powerfully, keeping him aloft as he considered them.
"Do you know the nature of the heart bearers? Do you know the nature of the thing that you fight for?"
None of them answered, and Xehanort chuckled, "it is despair, darkness, pain, and suffering. Shadow is what the heart is, not light. You are fighting for the wrong ideals. Light is not the answer, none of what you've been fighting for is the true nature of the heart."
"You're wrong." Sora said, Xehanort examined him as he might an insect.
"Oh?"
"The heart isn't anything like that, if it were, then why would it let my dad come back? You killed him, and yet he's been fighting alongside us all this time. Nothing dark could do something like that."
Xehanort chuckled and shook his head. "So he hasn't told you about the toll this is taking on him, how quaint."
"What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, clenching Sora's free hand.
"Your father, boy, is pushing the limits of what the heart will allow in any being bound to it. Haven't you sensed it? He's faded, if he keeps on cheating his heart's passing like this he'll vanish entirely. I suppose that must be what you would call love; he's risking his very existence for you and your precious world. It might be quite touching if it weren't so pathetic, instead of conquering the heart; he is working with its limits." Xehanort snorted derisively, "stupidity at its finest."
"You're lying," Sora murmured though he sounded less than certain as he remembered the whispered conversation he'd tried to hear between his father and brother.
Xehanort shrugged, dismissing Sora with a wave. "I am not here to pander to your delusions bearer; however I am here to offer you a final chance to join me. We can make this world ours. With the power of the keyblades behind me I can topple anything, even the heart if it stands in our path."
Riku snorted and smirked confidently, bringing his blade up in a guard. "You're just frightened, you know you can't beat us and so you're trying to bring us over to you to save your own sorry self; pathetic."
Xehanort ignored him and cast his eyes around the others questioningly. "Are any of you willing to take that leap of faith? That final act of bravery to join me in righting this world and letting the heart express its true feelings?"
The response he got was Sora and Kairi moving closer together, hands clasped as they starred at him defiantly.
Namine put both her arms around Roxas, "I already have all I need in the world right here."
Roxas blushed but didn't protest, both his keyblades shimmering brilliantly as Namine held him.
Riku stood between the two couples smiling confidently. "I've already faced the shadows and come back, I don't want what they can offer me."
Xehanort twitched slightly and he cast a hand towards them, "very well bearers, then you shall die."
The same spikes from earlier erupted from the floor and tried to lance them, but Riku had been ready for exactly that and he struck the ground hard with his keyblade and a barrier came up, shattering the sharpened stakes as they tried to find their targets. Roxas, Sora, Namine, and Kairi all readied their own blades and charged at Xehanort lifted higher into the air. Roxas leapt after him and swung with both blades, one of Xehanort's wings flashed out and caught the strike and deflected it easily.
Xehanort laughed heartily, "foolish boy, you cannot beat me."
"Roxas duck!" Kairi yelled, Roxas flipped in midair and she swung her blade, "wind cutter!"
Roxas felt the sharpened air slice past him, missing him by just hairs; they slammed into Xehanort's chest and grated against his armored skin. He growled furiously and cast his wings at Kairi, a ripple of shadows tore towards her, Roxas landed in front of her and cross his blades instinctively. The shadows hit his blades and swept up and over them like waves around a rock. Roxas blinked in surprise, he hadn't expected that in the slightest.
"My turn," he heard Sora call and watched his cousin rush by, Riku alongside him, both jumped up and slashed at Xehanort who closed both his wings around his body. The keyblades grated in a shower of sparks off of the hardened membranes. Roxas watched as Riku ran up Xehanort's wing and dove from behind, cutting across his back. Xehanort howled furiously and cast a clawed hand around to slash at Riku, but he'd already leapt away and was readying another attack when shadowy hands reached up from the floor and began pulling him downwards. He gave a shout and tried to slash at them but they restrained him, pinning him to the floor with hardly any effort.
"Riku!" Namine called and began chopping away the dark arms, they lashed out at her but she cast a fire spell and incinerated any that came towards her.
"Hey watch it! I don't want to get cooked!" Riku shouted as he got an arm loose and tore himself free.
"Stop crying," Namine said, "do you want to be singed or crushed?"
Riku didn't answer, shoving her out of the way as Xehanort slammed into the ground where they had been standing. Roxas took the chance to charge forwards and attempt to get at Xehanort's head; something shot out from Xehanort's back though and wrapped around Roxas' throat, slamming him back and forth across the floor, dragging him every which way as he gasped for air. Sora jumped onto the flailing limb and began hacking at it, hanging on with one arm as it lashed across the fighting ground. Around them, the girls and Riku slashed at Xehanort and cast spells in an attempt to slow him down.
Roxas felt the grip around his neck loosen and he yanked himself free and watched as Sora let go, sailing into the air. His relief at being free turned to horror as one of Xehanort's fingers extended outwards and lanced through Sora's chest, pinning him to the wall of the dome they were trapped in. He fell as the finger withdrew and slammed into the ground where he lay, unmoving. Roxas ran to him, rolling him over and lifting him up. He saw Kairi coming towards them, fear etched in her face as she dodged Xehanort's fury. Roxas waved her away, she paused for just a moment then nodded fearfully as she turned back to help her sister and Riku.
Roxas looked down at Sora, his eyes were closed but he was still breathing at least, he pressed his hand to the wound and tried to visualize and believe that it was healing. Nothing happened. He clenched his eyes shut and tried yet again, gritting his teeth and still he felt nothing. He cursed himself, how could he not believe he could save his cousin? He had to believe it; he didn't have any other choice. Something warm surged through him; he didn't pay attention to it at first assuming it was just another burst from everyone that had been supporting them up to this point; but something felt different about this and he opened his eyes and nearly screamed as a ghostly white hand touched his face soothingly.
Sora's mother, Aria, smiled at him quietly, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly though somehow it was soothing as Roxas placed the words from his memories of his aunt. She looked down at Sora, taking him in her lap and placing her palms on his chest. Roxas watched in fascination as the wound closed, Aria looked at Roxas, still smiling, reaching out again and brushing his face lovingly, her mouth opening again in silent speech. She lifted Sora up and kissed his forehead tenderly, brushing her hand over his messy hair; Roxas' jaw hung open as the silvery image of his aunt melted into Sora's body.
Sora's eyes flickered open and he looked up at Roxas with a frown. "What happened?"
Roxas shook his head. "I'm not sure."
His cousin still looked very confused as he picked himself up and looked at Xehanort and the others.
"Roxas, we can do this, I know what to do."
"Huh?" Roxas said, then he realized that Sora was literally glowing, the same silvery light that had been given off by Aria.
Sora's smile was confident as he held out his hand, "give me your hand; trust me."
Roxas hesitated for a moment, before reaching out and taking Sora's offered hand. The silver glow spread from Sora's fingers to his and up his arm. At first he was calm, and then he screamed as he realized that his hand and Sora's were melding into each other and slowly fusing.
Sora grabbed the back of his head with his other hand and pulled him close. "Trust me, we'll be fine."
Roxas nodded tightly, watching in horror as their bodies began to blend together, obscuring the lines between the two of them, he looked into Sora's glowing blue eyes worriedly as his cousin's face drew closer. When they were about to touch he clenched his eyes shut, the last thing he heard was someone else, he thought it was Namine, but it could have been Kairi too, scream their names. Then he was engulfed in light and everything faded away into endless warmth.
Its eyes opened slowly, blinking against the harshness of the world around him. It shook its head, clearing the fog from its mind and looking around itself curiously. What was going on? Who was it…it couldn't quite remember at all. Then there was a shout and it looked up at the winged thing rising before it and its eyes narrowed. Something inside of it asserted that it was meant to destroy this man. That this being was evil and needed to be destroyed before he harmed anyone else; reaching out, the being opened its hand, a massive tri-bladed sword snapped into existence. Without so much as a though it leapt towards Xehanort, who turned and shouted in surprise at this new opponent.
Riku, Kairi, and Namine scrambled out of the way as this new individual clashed with Xehanort. They stared in shock as the pair stood locked together for a moment before breaking off their duel for a moment.
Xehanort staring at the glowing entity standing before him, his mouth agape; "no, no no no," he murmured. "Who are you? Why do you have the heart's power?"
The Heart smiled and pointed its blade at Xehanort's chest, the smile was reminiscent of the giddy expression Sora often bore, and the voice that came forth echoed with both of the boys' voices.
"The bearers are my guardians, and I make use of them how I choose. They cannot defeat you alone, so we will defeat you together."
Xehanort's mouth opened in a vicious snarl and he roared furiously and streams of shadows flowed out from him, wrapping around the Heart in an attempt to crush it, wring its existence from the world. The Heart surged out from the shadows, its blade aimed for Xehanort who raised his wings up in an attempt to block the attack. The wings, which had deflected all the previous attacks shattered like glass. Xehanort howled in agony as the keyblade drove through his chest and into his spine before erupting from his back. The Heart withdrew the keyblade and let Xehanort sink to the floor, staring at the broken man that had tried to take its place from this world.
Xehanort looked up at it quietly; "you…you cheated these children. You aren't telling them the truth."
The Heart smiled quietly, raising its blade high before speaking, "the truth is that neither shadow nor light can exist without the other. There are fools like you who see the world as one or the other, instead of the true twilight that is the reality. These children, whether they realize it or not, have fought for that balance with everything they are. That is the truth, and you are not worthy of it."
The blade fell, and tore Xehanort's head from his body. Xehanort's corpse fell, and vanished in a fiery burst of shadow fire. The Heart turned to face the three remaining bearers as they stared up at it. A gentle smile crossed its face and it nodded towards them.
"Thank you, I give your friends back to you."
Its eyes closed and it seemed almost to fall asleep, falling onto the ground and disintegrating in a silvery wind. Roxas and Sora lay next to each other, unconscious on the ground, wrapped in each others' grip sleeping silently. Riku looked at the pair before looked at the dome around them as it faded away, he turned back to look where everyone else had been and was relieved to see that they were all released from the spines and unharmed. He looked to the girls, raising his keyblade and stepping towards the nearest of the capsules containing the trapped husks powering the artificial heart.
"Come on; let's finish this before they wake up."
He drove his keyblade through the thin shell and into the chest of the person inside, the individual writhed for a moment, as if in agony, then faded away in the same silvery light that the heart had dissolved in. Kairi and Namine did the same to the closest of their capsule and the trio moved out, releasing each individual as they went. As they proceeded the artificial heart beat and pulsed erratically. Leon and Cloud moved past them and knelt next to Roxas and Sora, lifting their little brothers up in their arms and taking them back towards the rest of the group.
Auron took Sora from Leon, brushing his son's hair out of his eyes and smiling. "Thank you Aria, don't worry, you won't have to be alone for much longer."
Leon put a hand on his father's shoulder, his lips tight. "Wait until he wakes up."
Auron nodded, watching as Riku, Namine, and Kairi finished their work and the heart chamber began to collapse on itself in convulsing throws and screeching metal.
"Don't worry; I'll take him home first."