The Last Crusade

by magicslifer

The War is at its peak. Disney Castle has fallen With Maleficent's army growing and worlds falling by the day and Sora emotionally broken, will he find the strength to defend his home from Maleficent's final strike or will this be checkmate? COMPLETED

3. Maleficent Rising

Chapter 3: Maleficent Rising

The World That Never Was:

The World that Never Was had changed greatly since the final ousting of Organization Thirteen. Maleficent had remodeled it to her methods. She had been correct about what she had told Pete several years before; the castle was truly perfect for enacting her plans. All while that foolish Sora slept under the control of DiZ and she had lived in nothingness, she had been planning, observing, learning the weaknesses of everyone who was her enemy and where she had gone wrong. Before she had simply thrown waves after waves of heartless at her enemies, ignoring the long term damage use of the darkness was doing to her own heart foolishly. Then she had been brought back by Fauna, Flora and Merriweather, but she was not powerful enough to properly challenge the efforts of Organization Thirteen. So she had masterfully manipulated Sora's young and naïve heart into doing her work for her so that she could establish a new command post in the World That Never Was, all the while building up the amounts of heartless she controlled and sending Pete to slay strong hearted people throughout the worlds to form her army. All the while, she let Sora defeat Pete time and time again to make him feel she was no real threat until the time was right. Finally, once Xemnas summoned Kingdom Hearts, she saw her true opportunity and embraced the power radiating from the heart of all worlds. Since then, she had felt power unlike anything else. The darkness unlocked when Riku had stabbed her with his Keyblade was nothing compared to this. She had known it then, with her already vast knowledge and this newfound control over both darkness and nothingness, it was the perfect time to strike.

So she had allowed the keybearers some rest after defeating Xemnas and began moving into smaller worlds, attacking with small strikes, careful to never attract too much attention from King Mickey until she was ready. All the pieces had needed to be in place before she could openly challenge King Mickey and the Keyblade Bearers. Although she loathed them, the three wielders had proven themselves more than capable and needed to be taken seriously. Underestimating their powers had cost her dearly once before. She would not make such a mistake again. This time was different. This time, she had done everything perfectly.

Small worlds had fallen and she had steadily increased the size of armies sent to worlds. Finally, King Mickey had called in the keybearers to aid with fending off forces. Early on she had allowed narrow victories, giving them false confidence and then increasing the sizes until finally her forces began to overwhelm the defenders sent by Disney castle. The knights and wizards of the castle fought bravely but were defeated. Still however, Sora, Riku and King Mickey managed to overcome the odds and battle to victory or at least a draw every time they drew their blades. Finally though, with new lieutenants leading her forces, she began to push them back and worlds began to fall. It had been the happiest day she could remember when she had finally learned that Sora had been forced to evacuate a world that he simply couldn't fight back her armies from.

Then she had only continued to escalate the rate of attacks, never allowing the heroes of the light to recover from the previous attacks. With every battle they grew more exhausted and their numbers thinner. Every time, they had to fall back sooner. Every time, Sora looked more and more defeated and filled with despair. Soon, battles became regular and conflict turned to a true war throughout the worlds. King Mickey had declared a state of emergency and lessened the laws governing the upkeep of the world order. It had not escaped her notice that other worlds began to scorn him after several months of defeat and suffering in the worlds. So she had spoken through her Absent Silhouette's form in Hollow Bastion to plant the real seeds of doubt in his mind. After that day, everything had begun to go her way. Twilight Town, Atlantica, Halloween Town, Traverse Town, the Beast's Castle, all had fallen under her control but still by far her greatest victory had been retaking Radiant Garden and restoring it to its proper form of Hollow Bastion. That had been the same day she conquered the Beast and made him a top general. His strong heart had led to a warrior of great intellect and strength. She would delight in eventually matching him against Sora. Making the boy choose between losing his heart and slaying a one time ally would be a wonderful experience.

It was good to finally have her revenge. She had played the game perfectly and finally she had checked her opponent. Now was endgame and there was nothing that foolish mouse or the Keyblade wielder's could do to stop it. Disney Castle had fallen, Mickey had retreated to the Islands and her forces had been sent out to the various worlds where Sora's strongest allies resided. With nowhere to turn, the worlds would be hers again. She already knew the seven princesses of heart were assembled on the Destiny Islands and she saw the emergency evacuation notice Mickey sent before evacuating the castle. It had been a beautiful time, seeing the prestigious castle fall to her control and the hallways filled with dead bodies and silence. The halls of light were broken, the king's banner lay trampled on the floor. The hedge mazes were burned, the king's study torn apart. The Cornerstone of Light, courtesy of Maleficent's staff, had been shattered and was nothing but broken glass now, much like the hopes of the light. It was the first true step towards her ultimate revenge.

How she hated that disgraceful rodent of a king. He had thwarted her first attempts to assemble the princesses of hearts at every turn without even directly being there. His work behind the scenes hindered her ability to mobilize her armies and coordinate strikes to finally take down the new Keyblade Master. Then he had directly been involved after her resurrection in thwarting Organization Thirteen and through them, her. She would capture him, remove him from his weapon and behead him with his own blade soon. Nothing would halt her wrath. With the King gone, what little organization remained would crumble. Sora took his orders from Mickey and Riku, while a formidable mind and capable or organizing the Light, did not command the respect of the worlds like Sora and Mickey did.

"Lady Maleficent, I bring good news"

The voice of the Beast's Heartless broke her musings and once again she had to marvel at the changes in front of her. Without the heart the curse was bound to, he had reverted to his human form but retained exceptional strength and a keen mind. His skill with a blade was almost on par with a Keyblade wielder and none as of yet had proved his equal in battle. The cold and calculating yellow eyes fit her servant wonderfully and seeing his kneeling before her, subservient and without any true will to go against her, he was the ultimate tool in her game of chess.

"Well Beast, what do you have for me? How have our attacks gone"

Her question carried the subtle hint that if the reports were not to her liking that torture would await the powerful heartless as she had performed on so many others. Still though, the young man did not even flinch at the threat and continued forward.

"We have tremendous victory. The Deep Jungle, Port Royal, and Neverland have all fallen with only insignificant losses. We did lose Hook but in exchange we managed to slay Peter Pan…"

A wicked smile lit the dark witch's face at this. To take the world of eternal youth and happiness was a great victory in itself, but to remove Peter Pan, a staunch ally of the light, from the decisive battles ahead would be a massive advantage and a crushing blow to Sora's morale to lose a good friend.

"Hook is not something to worry about. The fool was obsessive and could not see clearly. Anyone who allowed himself to be bested despite having such a large force at his disposal simply because of a feud deserves to lose his life. Now then…continue"

"There was a small complication in Port Royal. Will Turner, the captain of the Dutchman, intervened and we were unable to relived Jack Sparrow of his compass."

"A minor inconvenience at best. I had hoped young Captain Turner would see the logic of allying himself with me…" To have control over the path to the next world would have been a powerful ally indeed but she knew despite her attempts to sway the young and foolhardy captain of the Flying Dutchman, he was impetuous and headstrong. "…Still, he will learn the price of his lack of vision with time and we shall…remove the compass from Sparrow. Its powers are too great to be overlooked. Inform all legions, if they are found, I want that compass, regardless of the cost. What about our other project…?"

A vicious and bloodthirsty grin lit the Beast's face before he answered "We slaughtered the whale, Monstro, his heartless has been enlisted."

"Excellent!" Such a strong and powerful creature with the ability to move between the worlds at will was a wonderful victory. Also, such a weapon would be ideal for assaulting a beach world such as the Destiny Islands. "How many heartless and nobody have we lost today"

"Of the thirty thousand combined dispatched through the six worlds attacked today, we have lost approximately four thousand. Peter Pan took many of those down in his final charge. We know the ape beast known as Tarzan escaped unscathed and approximately sixty percent of the crews of the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl, along with several others onboard the Flying Dutchman escaped Port Royal. We are prepared to launch a full assault at once and take the Islands milady. We have them on the run and we can crush them! The keybearers will be no match!"

The Beast's only reward for his cadence was a blast of energy that struck him right in the chest, blowing him into a wall. While the Beast's Heartless was indeed formidable, he was still nothing compared to her power. Normally though, Maleficent preferred to sit and torture those who dared to even disagree with her, today however she rose from her throne, the very one once inhabited by Xemnas, and slowly floated from the seat to the floor where the Beast had been kneeling before she had blasted him. Only then did her appearance become visible, previously hidden by the shadows. The black robes remained but now held the heartless symbol on the back of them. Her face, while still primarily human, had retained some of the dragon-like characteristics such as a slit nose and her teeth were merely fangs. The horns on top of her head were straight and razor sharp and much her skin had been borderline reptilian with scales rather than human skin. Her eyes had become pitch black with only yellow and red vertical slits in each one. Her tongue had also transformed into that of a serpent. Finally, she had remade her staff. The staff body held 7 glass orbs protruding from the sides, endowed with magic that could capture and hold the heart of a princess in each. No longer would she need to deal with each individually. She wanted their hearts and she would have them. Also, in what she considered a particular stroke of brilliance, she had forged the crystal at the top from the glass and magic of the cornerstone of light. Utilizing its ancient magic had allowed her to manipulate light to varying degrees as well as use it to enhance her dark magic. To use the essence of what had been her bane for so many years in a weapon against the light would be her ultimate revenge.

"I have told you before you filthy Beast; I will take no chances in this affair. We will gather our forces and be prepared when we strike and this time I shall take direct command. When the Destiny Islands fall, so too shall the light and the Keyblade shall vanish from this world forever! All worlds shall return to the darkness that they were born in!'

The Beast finally rose to his feet and resumed his kneeling position before Maleficent.

"My apologies, my Queen. It will never happen again."

"See that it doesn't you filthy creature, now unless you have anything else for me, begone from my sight and begin preparing the armies"

"Actually milady, we have someone here for you. We felt you could use him…"

"I have little time to deal with such trivial matter you incompetent buffoon! I leave Pete to assembling the army. Don't waste my time with such petty things!"

"Milady, I beg your forgiveness, but I feel you will wish to handle this matter personally…"

A blast to the chest that threw the human heartless across the room was his only answer for several seconds before the high, cold voice finally spoke, "Be grateful I still have use of you or I would end your existence for persisting in bothering me. Bring this creature before me and pray that I find it worth my time."

At her words, the double doors to the chamber burst open and several large bodies began dragging in a bound figure on the ground. The four legs and golden mane identified the creature instantly. Sora's first summoning companion and ally and one of the few hearts strong enough to survive the death of his world during the first heartless invasion. This was the lion king, son of Mufasa. This was Simba

A large and cruel smile instantly lit up the dark witch's face when she saw her guest and she began slowly trailing her way toward the rope bound lion.

"Ah yes, I remember you. You made it off your world and I even recall Sora calling you forth against me. You fight for the light and have a strong heart. Tell me, Simba is it, do you fear death?" A weak but still defiant roar was the closest answer she received as from her cloak she pulled a long silver dagger. Eyeing the weapon, the lion only struggled harder but its bonds and weakened state from battle allowed it no room to do anything and finally Maleficent raised the dagger above the creature's heart and drove it downward…

At the Destiny Islands:

"AHH!"

Jumping up in bed with a scream, Sora fell out of bed, his face drenched with sweat. It seemed like with each passing day the dreams grew more vivid and detailed but this was easily the world yet. Could this really be happening? Could Peter Pan be gone? And what about Simba? Could Maleficent really have grown this strong?

Rising to his feet, he looked out the window at the pitch black sky. There were barely any stars remaining and those that were appeared dim and lifeless. It had been several days since Mickey began to arrive and refugees were arriving more and more by the day. Even though Peter hadn't arrived with the Neverland group, Sora had held out hope that perhaps he could still have escaped. Would Peter also end up as a heartless or a nobody he would have to defeat now? Mickey had set up a base of operations on the play island and tried to find a place to live for anyone on the main island. Although the parents on the island still didn't seem to understand the gravity of how bad things were. Sora had been forced to leave the room lest he erupt at his parents when he heard his father say that the kids needed to try and calm down their 'over-active imaginations'. Sora knew he was just scared and didn't understand but it was hard to be positive when he was hearing such negative comments.

How long did they really have before this army of Maleficent's arrived? Would Sora even be ready? Every refugee brought back reports of armies of heartless never less than a thousand at the least and from the sheer amount of such reports it was making Mickey's guess of at least one million look more and more likely by the day.

"How are we going to make it through this? She's got an army out there. We've got a bunch of random people who for the most part have never fought together."

There were still people missing but unaccounted for that Mickey was hoping to see as well. Cloud had yet to be seen and there was no sign of Queen Minnie either. King Mickey had sent her off in a Gummi ship soon after the attack on Disney Castle had begun and she had apparently not made contact after that. Sora could see how much it was costing His Majesty to stay on the islands and try to organize their fighters when what he obviously wanted to do was take off in his ship and scour the worlds for his beloved wife until he found her.

He couldn't stay here, he had to get out of this room. Breathe. Something. In a single swift motion, he leapt out of the window, gliding along towards the play island in the distance. Tinkerbell had given him a new dose of fairy dust to re-enable his flight abilities upon arriving. Although, she had done little else, without Peter Pan she seemed absolutely lost and broken, with only Wendy to take comfort in. Wendy was also still mourning the loss of her littlest brother apparently and it only magnified her guilt as she was trying to find some way to blame herself, what she should have done better to get everyone out alive. Sora had tried to speak to her, but she had said nothing and didn't even seem to acknowledge his presence with her.

Once he reached the play island, he simply allowed his feet to carry him till he reached the edge of the pier and sat down on it, letting his feet dangle off the ledge and just above the water. A twitch of the wrist caused his Keyblade to flash into his hand. Why did he have to be cursed with the fate of the worlds? Why couldn't he still be a teenager growing up with his best friends with no problems to worry about aside from homework? Still, he couldn't deny that wielding the Keyblade had given him opportunities he never would have dreamed of and he had made friends he could never forget over his multiple journeys and travels. However, it was times like this, when everything seemed hopeless, that he had to wonder…

"What am I supposed to do now? I just don't know anymore."

"Keep going" Came a soft voice from behind him.

Sora was on his face, the Keyblade in an attacking position in the blink of an eye. He only just stopped from swinging downwards towards the newcomer's throat about a second before making contact and then dismissed it in a flash of light. It was the only light left in his life it seemed.

Kairi, bless her, always seemed to give off a calming air "I knew I'd find you down here you lazy bum."

Chuckling at the old gag between them, Sora just rolled his eyes and went along with it uncomfortably, "Gimme a break, Kairi"

Taking his seat once more, he felt Kairi take a seat beside him and they sat together without a word for several minutes before she spoke again, "I know you can do this Sora. Just keep going a little longer, you're almost done."

For some reasons, her words enraged him and he was back on his feet, pacing like a rabid dog. "What if I'm tired of being, 'almost done', Kairi? I've been 'almost done', for almost five years now and it never seems to get here. What if I'm tired of having the fate of the worlds on my shoulders? What if I'm tired of everyone looking at me to fix everything, to know what to do!" He was only vaguely aware that he was shouting now "What if I can't do this! What if I'm not strong enough? What happens if I try and beat her and I just can't! She wasn't easy to beat the first time Kairi and now she's only gotten stronger! What if I'm out of time? What if…What If I just can't"

Now he felt her arms wrap around his waist and despite how strangled their relationship had become even just as friends, he couldn't help but draw strength from her presence. She had always been there for him and he needed her right now.

"You won't ever be alone again. We'll all be here with you. This time, I'll fight too. Riku will be there, and King Mickey, and Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, Cid, Tarzan, Dumbo, Stitch, Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Jack Skellington, Aladdin, Hercules, everyone will be there to stand up with you. You won't be alone in this battle. We won't let you be alone ever again. If you aren't strong enough to do this alone then don't, WE will do this. And I'll be right here when it's over, and so will Riku. And we'll rebuild from there…"

Their faces were close, their breath touching on each other's neck. If these could be their last days, there was no point in leaving anything unsaid or undone. No point in regretting anything if something happened.

"Sora! There you are!" The nasally voice of Donald caused the two to split apart and not even meet each other's eyes as the duck mage raced over to them looking as if all the heartless and nobodies in the world were chasing after him.

"King Mickey needs to see you right away! It's urgent!"

Without even a word goodbye to either Donald or Kairi, Sora raced up to the small tree house that King Mickey had established his headquarters in due to it overseeing most of the play island so he could keep track of all things going on.

Once he got there, he saw the small mouse sitting behind a makeshift desk. The days since arriving at the island and dealing with the chaos of refugees arriving, while also handling the guilt of abandoning his ancestral castle and the center of all of the worlds, had been quite rough on the king. His eyes had dark circles under them and bags hung down from underneath. His voice no longer held any joy or laughter, instead being all business and work when speaking. The only exceptions he made were with new arrivals when he tried to put on a smile so as to aid them in their distress.

"You called for me Your Majesty" Sora said softly to announce himself as he sunk down into a kneel before Mickey impatiently waved for him to stand up while looking over several journals and texts. It was only then that Sora noticed Master Yen Sid was also in the small room, looking as solemn and imposing as ever. He knew that the elderly teacher had survived as Mickey had told him he had made contact but Sora wasn't aware the mage had arrived. Turning to the wizard, he gave a formal bow and acknowledgement of "Master Yen Sid" And received yet another impatient wave from the wizard as Mickey beckoned him towards the desk as Yen Sid also moved forward.

"I think we may have found a secret weapon Sora…It'll be risky but I think we can pull it off. Glancing down at the piece of paper Mickey was indicating and reading it over quickly, Sora felt his eyebrows rise into his hairline.

"You really think we can pull this off? Is this even possible Your Majesty?"

"We aren't really in a position to be picky Sora. Do we really have any choice but to go ahead and pull this off?"

Thinking about it for a second, Sora glanced through the paper once more and shook his head as a thin but real smile found his face for the first time in what felt like years.

"I say let's do it!"

A/N: Well that's chapter 3. I know cliffhangers are mean, but seeing as you're getting this out way sooner than I intended, you can suffer a little cliffhanger. Anyone who can actually guess what Mickey's idea is in a review gets the next chapter dedicated to them. Hope you enjoyed this chapter though.