Sora the Maelstrom

by KHGiggle

Sora is a nice boy. A very nice boy. But what if he was raised by the Tsviets in DEEPGROUND? Slight crossover twist. May contain OOC and butchering of characters. Chapter nine fixed.

21. Chapter 21

And I finally have the final chapter up! I know there was a long hiatu you guys had to deal with, but I had writer's block when it came to this story and a senior project to work on. On a side note, I am now a college graduate. I finished this in the lots of spare time I have while looking for a job or something.

I wanted to get this done before I leave on vacation, so if I made any grammatical mistakes…Just tell me in a review and I'll make the correction. Hopefully, the fight scenes will be all right though…

I still own nothing. Let's get this show on the road!

Chapter Start!

Sora blinked as he started to wake up. His body felt kind of sore, but he also felt…lighter. It felt…kind of nice. He stretched a bit and realized that there was something restricting his movement. He looked down cautiously and blinked. Kairi was curled up next to him with her arms wrapped around him. That was odd. Then Sora remembered the events leading up to his waking up and it made a lot more sense. He glanced down at Kairi nervously. She looked peaceful. Considering all the stuff that had been happening lately, it would be a shame to wake her up.

"Sora!" Sora jerked his head up. It was just Aerith though. She looked relieved. "We were worried about you!" She came over and somehow started looking him over without waking up Kairi. "Well, you look okay, except for your hair."

Sora made a face. "My hair?" His free hand went up to it. It felt normal.

"I'll find a mirror." Aerith turned to one of Merlin's various pieces of furniture and started looking through it. For such a powerful wizard, Merlin was pretty unorganized. "What happened back in the Coliseum? You tried to attack Sephiroth and just froze…"

Sora winced. "I…have some of his cells in my body. I guess it gives him some sort of control over me." Sora did not like admitting that, but he had to admit it was something he needed to tell others. He didn't relish sharing this news with the other Tsviets though.

Aerith frowned. "His cells? Leon thought it might be because Sephiroth is your father."

"That has nothing to do with it!"

Kairi jerked awake with a shout. "What? !"

"Good morning Kairi," said Aerith. "Do you know where Merlin keeps his mirrors?"

Kairi realized where she was, blushed, and quickly got out of the bed. "N-No. Why?"

"I want to show Sora what he looks like."

Kairi looked at Sora in confusion before her eyes widened. "Your hair!"

Sora nervously fisted his hair. "Did he do something weird to it when he controlled me?"

"Nothing too different," said Aerith, finally pulling out a tarnished mirror and handing it to Sora. "I think most people won't even notice."

Sora quickly grabbed the mirror and looked himself over. To his immense relief, his appearance was more or less the same. His hair was just a few shades lighter. Kairi grabbed a lock of his hair. "Hey, it was this color when you were younger."

Sora blinked. "It was?"

"Yeah. You can look at your old pictures to see if you want to. It was already getting darker when I arrived at the islands though."

That was news to him. Maybe Selphie had a point and he should pay more attention to his appearance after all…

"It's strange though…"

Sora looked up from his reflection at Aerith. "What's strange?"

"I'd have thought Great Gospel would have removed those cells."

Sora gave her an odd look. "Great what?"

"Great Gospel. It's one of my limit breaks," explained Aerith. "My limit breaks all have to do with healing and support magic. Great Gospel is my strongest healing limit. It should have healed your injuries and removed anything foreign to your body, but instead it made you cough up blood."

Sora thought about where he'd been stabbed when Sephiroth went crazy and shrugged. He'd had all sorts of things done to him in DEEPGROUND. There could be any number of reasons Aerith's limit didn't work the way it should have.

For all he knew, Aerith's limit had mistaken him for a zombie.

"Where's everyone else?" asked Sora. He didn't really see a point in talking about his body's oddities. It wasn't like they could do anything about it.

"Leon was sleeping for a while before he and Cloud left with Yuffie to get some clothes," explained Aerith. She paused. "I don't think you should go talk to them. Yuffie's pretty angry about your father."

Sora winced. "I was afraid of that."

"Merlin's just downstairs. Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin left to go get some supplies. They figured you'd want to leave as soon as you woke up."

"I see…" Sora glanced at Kairi. "Guess we'll leave after we've eaten."

"You're leaving without saying good-bye?" asked Kairi.

"Yuffie's angry at me so I think I should let her calm down. Leon and Cloud will understand. I don't think Cid will care either way."

"The others have already eaten," said Aerith. "You two slept pretty late. There's still some food if you two are hungry."

"Okay," said Kairi. "Sora, do you want to join us?"

"One second." Sora quickly looked himself over to make sure there was nothing else besides his hair that had been altered. The only thing he found was a black wing charm on the chain wrapped around his arm. He scowled at the charm before tossing it out the open window. "Okay, ready."

Merlin was happy to see Sora was awake and did a couple of quick spells to make sure he wasn't going to pass out or go catatonic within the next couple of days. Breakfast consisted of some oatmeal with honey and fruit for flavoring. This was good enough for Sora.

"What are you gonna do when you get to where Ansem is?" asked Kairi.

Sora shrugged. "It depends on the environment and the type of Heartless running around. I'll have to save my limit for as long as possible." Not for the first time, Sora cursed the fact he could only use his drives once a day. "I guess I can try using Shiva if things get tough."

"Shiva?"

"Oh, right. I got a new Keyblade at the Coliseum right before…my accident. It's got an ice element to it and it actually summons something as long as it's equipped and I have magic. It's a drain on my magic though, so it would be a bit difficult to use without some practice."

"It summons Shiva?" Sora nodded. "What's Shiva?"

"A woman with blue hair and skin and ice powers." Sora didn't think Kairi would like to hear about Shiva's clothes, or lack thereof.

"That's good. You guys could use some more help." Kairi stirred her oatmeal. She wasn't eating much. Sora was a bit worried about her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm worried about Riku."

Sora sighed. "Yeah…I'm still pissed at him for listening to Maleficent and everything…but I miss him too."

"You won't kill him then?"

"I don't want to, but…" If Ansem was using Riku's body, then how could he kill Ansem without killing Riku? "How do I save Riku and kill Ansem? Is that even possible?"

"Riku will be all right." Sora gave Kairi a surprised look. Kairi had said that in a determined voice, and her expression was equally determined. "You'll beat Ansem, you'll save Riku, and we'll all go back to the islands."

Sora smiled. "Yeah…" A happy ending…It's usually not what you get, but still…Sora had to hope it would turn out as well as Kairi was hoping.

Hey, with how crappy his life had been, he had to have something work out eventually, right?

"Careful with those!"

Sora looked out the window. "Was that Donald?"

"Huh?"

"I'm sure I heard Donald just now."

"Look out!"

Sora got up. "Now I heard Goofy."

"I think I heard it this time," agreed Kairi. "What are they saying?"

"Something about being careful…"

Then the two anthros stumbled into the house with a large bag. Aladdin was right behind them with several smaller bags. "Sora!"

The two anthros looked up. "Sora!" The two ran over to him.

"You're all right?"

"We were so worried about you!"

"What happened to you?"

"Uh, calm down." Sora quickly pried them off. "It just turns out Sephiroth had the ability to control my body. I think there was some sort of interference or something. I'm fine now. I just need to avoid him. It shouldn't be too difficult." At least, he hoped it wouldn't be. Did Sephiroth have the ability to travel to different worlds?

"That's a big deal!" argued Donald. "You can't just write that off!"

"Okay, okay, sorry! If I feel like that sort of thing again, I'll warn you guys."

"We can leave anytime you're ready," said Goofy.

"Good…" Sora stood up. "I'm ready to go."

"Sora…" Kairi hugged him. "You'll come back soon right?"

"You can count on it! The three of us will be back at the islands before you know it!"

Kairi smiled. "I'll hold you to that."

"See you soon." Then the four boys stepped into the green circle and disappeared to their gummi ship.

"Chip, Dale, any idea how we're supposed to get to this place Ansem's supposed to be?" asked Donald.

"We've detected a large energy signal close to Hollow Bastion."

"That's probably where you need to go."

"Go to Hollow Bastion. A warp vortex has appeared in the vicinity."

"That should help get you there!"

Aladdin groaned. "Not again…"

So they had to get to the warp vortex while dealing with the increased amount of Heartless ships. As before, the trip through the vortex was very unpleasant. It was like going on a topsy turvy roller coaster for 10 minutes, and it sounded like something was gnawing on the ship.

Actually, considering what the ship was made out of, that wouldn't be surprising.

Eventually, they were spat out and found themselves looking at a very strange looking world. It looked like some sort of star (the gas kind) with a swirling cloud of gas around it and some darker clouds along with a few trails of light going into it.

"What sort of world is that?" asked Aladdin. "It looks really…wrong."

"Yeah," agreed Donald. "A world shouldn't look like that…"

"What if it's an artificial world though?" asked Sora.

Donald frowned. "What're you saying?"

"Well, an artificial heart was made in Halloween Town. Maybe artificial worlds can be made too," suggested Sora. "And it feels odd. Like it's sucking in pieces of souls…or maybe hearts. I don't know. It's like it's a black hole."

"A what?" asked Aladdin.

"Uh, we'll explain later."

"Maybe it's where the hearts go after Heartless take them," suggested Goofy.

Sora thought for a moment. "Actually, that would make sense, especially if it were the hearts of worlds."

They beamed down and found themselves inside a small cave. Outside the cave was a light in the distance. However, it looked like it was mostly water with rocks occasionally breaking the surface. There didn't seem to be anything else at all.

"Gawrsh, is this all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?" asked Goofy.

"I guess," said Sora. "But those worlds will be restored when we beat Ansem."

"Yeah!" agreed Donald.

"Any idea what's gonna happen to this place and us after we beat him?" asked Aladdin.

"Uh…"

"This is a Heartless world, so maybe it'll just disappear," suggested Goofy. That got a 'huh' from everyone else. Goofy gave them an encouraging smile. "But no worries. Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again." Goofy nodded to himself. "Yup, I know that we will."

Sora smiled. "Yeah, you're right." Sora removed the Oathkeeper charm from his chains and looked at it as it enlarged. "After all, I promised to return this."

With that said, they had to figure out where to go. After examining the water, it was discovered it wasn't exactly normal. It was solid enough to walk on, but after a few steps, an orb of dark energy fell on them.

Inside the orb, 3 Invisibles appeared. The four boys actually managed to deal with the Invisibles pretty quickly. Seems the matches at the Coliseum had helped out some. Given Aladdin had some trouble, but he seemed to get the hang of it after a couple of minutes. After beating them, the orb didn't disappear though.

"How do we get out of here?" muttered Donald. Just then, the orb disappeared. The boys blinked. "What just happened?"

"Do you think it's because I opened that treasure chest?" asked Aladdin. The other three looked over and saw a small empty chest at Aladdin's feet. "It had some sort of medicine in it."

"Well, let's remember it, just in case."

They continued on for a few feet before finding another small treasure chest just sitting there.

"Do you think this is safe to open?" asked Aladdin.

"One way to find out." Sora tapped the chest. It flew open with a burst of dark energy, and Darkballs and Invisibles immediately appeared. This time the orb of energy disappeared a couple of moments after all the Heartless were beaten.

The next treasure chest they came across was a normal chest, thankfully. The next one wasn't. It summoned a Behemoth. The same strategy as before was utilized, and after several minutes, it was defeated and the orb disappeared.

After walking a few feet, another orb fell on them, and several Angeal Stars appeared. After they were defeated, the orb didn't disappear until after Aladdin opened the treasure chest that had also been engulfed by the orb.

The next chest was normal and had a Megalixir, but the one after it had another orb of darkness that contained Angel Stars and Invisibles.

The next chest was normal. The one after it had Shadows, Darkballs, and Invisibles.

The one after that was a trap as well with Darkballs, Invisibles, and Angel Stars.

They were actually able to walk a fair distance before they were engulfed by an orb that contained a Behemoth.

After they beat the Behemoth and the orb disappeared, they found themselves somewhere else entirely. It seemed to be a cave with a lot of sand and crystals. That was unexpected. They'd been planning to get to the ball of energy.

"Where are we now?" asked Aladdin.

"Dunno, do you think that Ansem feller is around here somewhere?"

Donald snorted. "Yeah, in the most dangerous place I bet!"

Sora frowned. "Aren't they always?" It made sense, but it was incredibly annoying. The caves were practically a catacomb. Fortunately, there was a very obvious hole with a light shining out of it. It was agreed to head there simply because it would be an enormous headache to try and go over the whole place. It fell onto a platform of rock with what looked like teeth around the edges with a stone roof despite the fact there were no walls. There was also a ball of green light on one side, and a ball of blue light on the other end.

"What happened to the hole?" wondered Aladdin.

"I don't think this world is going to obey the normal rules of reality," said Sora. "Now, how to advance from here…"

"How 'bout these balls?" asked Goofy. He touched the blue one and disappeared. His companions stared for a second before sighing and touching the ball as well.

It turned out to teleport them to a platform nearly identical to the one they had just been on. The main difference was that there was a pulsing column of purple light in the middle that Goofy was looking over. Goofy was examining that column and looked up when the others appeared. "Hello!"

"What's that?" asked Aladdin.

"Is it some sort of portal to Traverse Town?" asked Sora.

"Portal?"

"You can see Traverse Town in it."

The other three looked. It was a column of light. There wasn't anything in it. "I don't see that," said Aladdin.

"You don't?" Sora looked at it curiously and poked it with his Keyblade. It immediately erupted and covered the area in light. When it faded, they were in the third district of Traverse Town. They looked around in surprise.

"Whoa…"

"Are we actually back in Traverse Town?" asked Aladdin.

"Uh, I don't think so," said Donald. There was a raised portion of ground preventing them from leaving the plaza. Then several Soldiers appeared. When those were defeated, Large Bodies appeared. Then Large Bodies and Soldiers appeared together. When those were defeated, all that was left was a treasure chest that Aladdin immediately opened.

"Are we gonna end up back in that place?" asked Goofy.

"Well, if it was like those orbs from before, we'd be back by now," pointed out Sora.

Donald huffed. "Let's just go through the doors." The big doors that led to the First District were there and completely unblocked.

"Better be careful," cautioned Aladdin. "It might be booby-trapped." He walked over and checked it out. After a few moments, he nodded. "It looks safe." He cautiously pushed one open, and everyone was immediately blinded by a burst of light. When it faded, they were back on the platform from before. "Okay…"

"Now what?" muttered Donald.

"Hey, that wasn't there before." Goofy walked over to another blue ball of light and touched it. The other three quickly touched it as well. It took them to a platform that was identical to the last one.

"You mean we have to do that again?" asked Donald.

"Well, I don't see a second orb," said Aladdin. "I wonder how many of these there are."

"One for each world," said Sora.

"How many would that be?"

Sora took a moment to count in his head. "Nine, ten if you count Monstro."

There was an awkward silence. "At least we know what to expect," pointed out Aladdin.

Considering they didn't get the chance to say that very often, that actually was a pro.

"I wonder if the order is the same..." Sora poked the column of light. Like the last one, it exploded outward and when it faded, they were looking at a familiar landscape.

This time, it was the odd hallway in Wonderland, and there were some Red Rhapsodies and a Green Serenade already present. After those had been dealt with, a single Wizard appeared. When that one was defeated, another Wizard appeared along with two Blue Requiems and two Green Serenades. Then two Green Serenades and two Yellow Operas. That was the end of the Heartless.

The only way out was through the shrinking set of doors, and that brought them back to the platform with the column of light in the center.

Donald made a displeased noise. "We're gonna have to keep doing that?"

"At least it's not hard," pointed out Goofy.

Sora crossed his arms. "It looks like the order of the worlds we are transported to is the same as the order we discovered them."

"What was the order of the ones you found before Agrabah?" asked Aladdin.

"Traverse Town, Wonderland, Deep Jungle, and the Coliseum."

Aladdin thought for a second. "Deep Jungle was that world with all the trees and the stuffy air and the guy in the loincloth, right?" The others nodded. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

The column on the next platform didn't go to Deep Jungle. It went to the Coliseum. They didn't talk about it until after they got rid of all the Heartless.

"I guess they're not in order after all," said Sora looking between the two possible exits.

"It's not much of a problem," said Aladdin. "We're familiar with all the Heartless and terrain that might show up. And if this works the way we think it does, we only end up in each type of terrain once. If that's the case, we can eliminate any of the places we've already been."

The three stared at him in surprise. "What? You learn to notice these things when you live on the streets." Well, that did make sense.

"I think we should use this door," said Sora, pointing at the big double doors. "I can't pick up anything from the other door."

That was the right choice. It took them right back to the platform.

The next platform transported them to the bamboo grove in Deep Jungle. They left through the path that usually led to the camp.

The next platform took them to Agrabah's marketplace. After they took care of the Heartless, Aladdin started looking around at everything.

"Aladdin? You okay?" asked Goofy.

"Yeah, it's just…" Aladdin trailed off as he tried to put his feelings into words. "I don't know if I'll ever see this place again, so I want to be able to remember it as best as I can."

That silenced them. What Aladdin said was true. They didn't know if they'd be returning to their homes. Sora thought back to where he lived. Destiny Islands had been an okay place to live, but he'd never really cared where he lived. He'd rather focus on remembering the people who'd been there.

Then again, was there really anyone worth remembering in Agrabah for Aladdin besides Jasmine, Genie, and Abu? He didn't even have any family figures.

They left through the open gate of Agrabah's wall.

The next platform went to a cave in Atlantica with a strong upward current. They thankfully had transformed into their mer-forms. After taking out the Heartless, they left through an opening that had a trident painted on the side.

The next platform transported them to Oogie boogie's roulette wheel and transformed them into their monster forms. After they took out the Heartless, they left through the door to the outside.

The next platform took them to a part of Captain Hook's ship. They managed to get out through one of the doors.

The column on the next platform was green and was flowing much more peacefully. Sora was not expecting where it took them.

"I don't recognize this place," muttered Aladdin looking around.

"Neither do I," agreed Goofy.

"This is the world inside the book," said Sora.

"Huh?"

Sora looked around. Besides, a log and some flowers, they were standing in a peaceful clearing. There was even one of those glowing circles. "This is the world in the book that I went into in Merlin's house." He continued looking around. There was no one here either. "It wasn't quite this…abandoned last time I was here though."

Donald looked around curiously. "This is what it looked like inside? It's not half bad."

"Yeah." Sora walked forward. "No Heartless ever showed up here. It's actually really-" And then they were back on the platform. "…Peaceful."

Aladdin looked around. "I guess we didn't need to do anything."

It was kind of disappointing. A break from fighting would've been welcome.

The column on the next platform appeared to be made of raging fire. Normally, they would have been a bit nervous about interacting with it, but they didn't have much of a choice so they entered.

Wherever they were, it was dark and there was a large Heartless emblem on one of the walls. There were also several Invisible to contend with. They took longer to take care.

They immediately went through a set of blue doors, expecting to be taken to the platform, but instead they opened into another room with some sort of large machine in the middle of it. None of them were sure what it was exactly.

"This looks sort of like Hollow Bastion," commented Aladdin.

"Well, I doubt we were able to explore the entire place," said Sora. He walked over to the machine and tapped a couple of keys.

'Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts,' Sora blinked. 'Ravage all worlds and bring desolation.' Sora looked around, trying to locate the source of the voice and realized that none of the others seemed to be hearing anything.

Sora was hearing things in his head again…Joy

'Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all.' Well, it sounded like it was talking about Heartless. He wasn't sure what the great heart was though. 'Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyblade, one key to the door. The door of darkness tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens.'

Sora didn't have time to figure out what that even meant as more Invisibles appeared.

After the Invisibles were taken care of, the boys were left to figure out how to get out.

"Was that hole there before?" asked Goofy.

The others went out into the hallway to see what Goofy was talking about. On the wall opposite the Heartless emblem was what looked like a wormhole, or at least what Sora imagined a wormhole would look like.

"Well, let's just see if that works."

It led them back to the platform, but there was no new orb to take them to another platform. Instead there was a hole in the platform with what looked like ice crystals drifting up from it.

"How far down do you think this goes?" asked Goofy.

"Does anyone have a rock or anything like that?" asked Aladdin.

Sora dug out a piece of munny and tossed it into the hole. Everyone leaned forward to listen for the noise when it hit the ground.

After several moments, they still hadn't heard anything.

"Okay, what does that mean?" asked Sora.

Aladdin, shrugged, visibly confused. "That's never happened before. I guess it's either bottomless or so deep that we couldn't hear the munny when it hit the ground. I'm not sure what to do in either situation."

Donald made an annoyed noise. "That means we're stuck."

Sora frowned as he stared into the hole. It felt like something was calling him. "I know some techniques to break falls from high places. I'll check it out and give you a signal if it's safe to come down." Without further ado, Sora swung his legs over the edge and jumped down the hole.

Sora had been serious about the falling techniques, but it turned out he didn't need them, his fall quickly slowed. It seemed familiar somehow. He lowered himself, went up, went left, and went right.

It was just like Neverland. Sora lowered himself a bit before shooting a Firaga towards the hole. That would hopefully show that it was safe. Sora started looking around.

There appeared to be a bunch of creepy looking clouds swirling around in a dark vortex with Sora stuck in the center of it all. It sort of reminded Sora of the eye of a hurricane, which he had experienced several times before. There actually was a bottom…sort of.

There was what appeared to be the peak of an active volcano in the middle of the vortex. Sora figured he'd go see if there was an actual bottom when the volcano started bubbling. Sora's eyes widened and he started heading for the hole before he realized it was not a normal eruption. It had lava streams going up, and there was a dark form rising out of the volcano. As the lava fell off, Sora could make out a pair of black wings and…horns? It was so dark that it was difficult for Sora to make out the form completely, even with enhanced senses.

Then one of the wings stretched out dramatically, allowing Sora to get a glimpse of what they belonged to. Then the other wing stretched out and Sora could finally get a good look at the creature. It was a giant demon that was completely black with horns coming out of his head. The only points of color on it were its glowing yellow eyes and a couple of fangs poking out of its mouth. Despite the fact it wasn't the scariest thing he'd ever seen, he felt terrified of it.

"It's not a Heartless. It feels too different. What is it though? Some sort of demon or something? I can feel the evil rolling off of him! I feel really strange!" It took a moment for Sora to realize what it was. "I want to run away…"

That was odd simply because it had been beaten into him to never run from a fight. You always fight, even if it killed you. The only reason no one had died since they came to Destiny Islands was because Kimihiro had threatened to use his limit on anyone who broke the rule.

Much as everyone hated to admit it, Kimihiro's limit was terrifying.

"What is that? !"

Sora didn't even need to turn around to see that the rest of the group had followed. "It's a monster, but it's not a Heartless. It's incredibly powerful." Sora squashed the suggestion to run away. They needed to go forward, and he doubted they'd be able to retreat.

Donald gave the creature a nervous look. "What's the strategy?"

"If it looks like it's going to attack, get away. And if you see an opening, attack it with all that you've got."

And then they flew forward. They had to fly back when a column of fire erupted around the monster. Donald quickly cast several Aerogas. Then they flew forward and started attacking.

What was there to say about the fight? The demon didn't move, making it easy to attack, but it had attacks that nearly killed them in one hit.

Fortunately, they did manage to beat it, whatever it was. It crashed down into the mountain, disappearing in one last blaze of fire.

"So, what was that anyway?" asked Aladdin.

Sora shrugged. "Who knows? It wasn't a Heartless though…"

"Where do we go now?" asked Donald.

"The mountain's glowing," pointed out Goofy.

The boys tensed up, expecting the monster to reappear, but it didn't. Instead, what looked like snow started coming out of the opening in the mountain. Sora caught one of the particles. It felt neither warm nor cold. "This isn't snow or crystal…" It seemed hard though before it dissolved in Sora's hand. "Maybe we need to go down there…"

"You want to go into the volcano? !"

"This isn't a world that follows the normal rules of the world. There's a good chance that there's something other than magma inside of it."

"…Fine…"

Sora was right. There wasn't any magma. Just a long shaft down with some cliffs they could jump to. At the bottom of a shaft was a doorway that led to a tunnel with random junk in it and a hole that led to another tunnel with random junk in it. At the end of the second tunnel was another doorway that dropped them into a large cavern with a glowing green floor and the Heartless crest on the opposite side of the cavern.

Then a Behemoth appeared, making the cavern significantly less open.

They'd gotten used to dealing with Behemoths so it didn't take too long to take it out.

"So, now what?" asked Aladdin. As if answering him, part of the Heartless crest cracked and fell to the ground, revealing that there was a hole behind it. Some Darkballs appeared as well.

"Keep fighting! That might damage the crest some more!"

So, they fought the Darkballs, eventually killing all of them. Once again, part of the crest broke and fell. Another group of Heartless consisting of Invisibles and Angels appeared. When this group was beaten, the last part of the crest fell and no more Heartless appeared.

Inside the hole was something very strange: It was another cavern, but the way out was a pair of ornate pink doors. Sora stared in shock. "That's…"

"What's wrong?" asked Goofy.

"I saw this the day my islands were destroyed…" And they had been in an equally strange place as well. Sora cautiously put his hand on one of the handles.

Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here.

Sora's eyes widened. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Beyond there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light.

Sora looked around. "There was a voice just now." It sounded familiar. "It called this the last haven…"

Donald shrugged. "I didn't hear anything."

"Maybe it's a Keyblade thing," suggested Aladdin. "So, did it say anything else?"

"There is no light beyond this point. And my heart is the mightiest weapon of all. I guess it's saying that I need to believe in myself or something."

"So, it's non-stop fighting from here on out?"

"Sounds like it…Does anybody want to rest?"

Aladdin shrugged. "I'm not tired. I think it's because of the potions."

Donald nodded. "They work on fatigue."

Sora took a deep breath. "Then let's go." He opened the doors, flooding the room with light.

When the light cleared, Sora was shocked yet again. "This…"

Aladdin looked around. "This place looks really nice."

"This is Destiny Islands!"

Indeed it was. To be more specific it was the island the kids played on all the time where Sora had first gained a Keyblade. It looked exactly the same as it had before that night.

"Wow, Sora your world is really beautiful," said Goofy.

Donald bopped Goofy on the back of his head. "Focus! We need to find Ansem!"

Sora looked around. "Nothing looks any different." "Think. Where would Ansem be?" "The door!"

"It disappeared when we came through it," said Aladdin.

"No, there was a door back in the Secret Spot. I think it was this world's Keyhole." Sora immediately ran over to the entrance, which was back to being a hole. "I saw him in here right before the Heartless destroyed this world."

"This world has been connected."

Everyone jumped. "What was that?" asked Goofy.

"Ansem said that when I ran into him here," explained Sora. He frowned. "Part of the island just disappeared." The island where Riku was pulled into the darkness.

"Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed." Even more of the island disappeared so that even those unfamiliar with the island noticed. "There is so very much to learn." The water turned into a sickly purple. "You understand so little." The ground started shaking. "A meaningless effort." A bright flash of light blinded them. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

As the light faded, it revealed an island that was destroyed and cracked apart. It also revealed Riku in his body suit standing at the edge of the ocean.

"Is that Riku?" asked Donald.

Aladdin's eyes widened. "Riku's alive?"

"…That's not Riku." Sora started walking towards Ansem. "…"

"Take a look at this tiny place." It was Ansem's voice from Riku's body. "To the heart seeking freedom this island is a prison surrounded by water." Ansem started raising his arms while tilting his head back. "And so this boy sought to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds." He lowered his arms and head. "And he opened his heart to darkness." He turned around, transforming into Ansem as he did so. Sora growled at the heavily tanned man.

"Riku! You gonna just let this pedo do whatever he wants with your body? !"

Ansem did twitch slightly at that. "Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end…" Ansem suddenly appeared behind the group, causing them to jump away. "Every heart returns to the darkness whence it came! You see…darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora thought of everything he'd seen not just in the short time since leaving the islands but also everything that happened through his life. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But…" He thought about the people who'd lost their home, but never gave in. The people who fought against the Heartless and their temptations. Cloud. Kairi Riku. The Tsviets. Donald. Goofy. And…Himself. "I know there's a light that never goes out!"

Ansem seemed unimpressed and started levitating with crossed arms. "So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" Then a strange aura appeared around him along with a strange black creature that resembled a Heartless and was attached to his feet.

Donald quickly cast Aeroga on everyone as the other three rushed Ansem. He smirked and held out his hand. Several energy disks flew out of it, forcing the boys to dodge. Sora did something when he dodged that allowed him to quickly close the rest of the distance between him and Ansem. Sora slashed across his chest, opening up a long cut that darkness oozed out of.

Unfortunately, it seemed Sora only landed that blow because his altered dodge had caught Ansem by surprise. He easily dodged the blows that came after it. It appears that he forgot something important though.

Goofy and Aladdin came in from either side in an attempt to cut him off. It worked somewhat. There wasn't enough space between the two for him to dodge their attacks, and it held him long enough for Sora to land another blow. However, when Aladdin pulled out his sword, Sora noticed that the wound closed up.

"Huh?" "Why'd it close up? His attacks have always been effective on Heartless before."

Sora's distraction cost him dearly. "Submit!" Before Sora could react to Ansem's shout, the shadow creature appeared in front of him and took the blow, slithering up the length of the Keyblade and around Sora's body, holding him in place. Sora was barely able to move. Then Ansem punched Sora hard enough to send him flying several yards back. Sora cast a quick Curaga. "Not as bad as getting punched by Azul actually."

There was still the issue of the shadow wrapped around Sora. Aladdin, Donald and Goofy were keeping Ansem from getting near Sora. Sora cast a Thundaga spell on Ansem and winced as the shadow did something that sent pain through his body. Sora couldn't tell if any of the attacks were working, but at least the shadow let go of him and went back to Ansem. Sora cast another Curage to heal the gashes the shadow had left and ran forward to join the group in attacking Ansem.

The others had caught on to the fact that only the Keyblade seemed to be hurting Ansem and were mainly getting into formations that would keep him from escaping. Sora also was careful to make sure the shadow wasn't going to shield Ansem before he attacked. He needed to avoid a repeat of it attaching to him.

Ansem finally had enough and floated straight up and away towards a tree with purple cracks at the top. The group gave chase after him, but had to stop as the ground started shaking and the tree cracked all the way apart, revealing the purple inside of it. Ansem was waiting inside. They ran and jumped in where the pseudo dome was still part sand, but after Sora jumped in, the other three bounced off an invisible wall. Sora's eyes widened.

"He lured me away from them. Smart…" The ground started shaking as a Darkside came out of the ground. Ansem was nowhere to be seen. "But…He'll have to do better than that!" Sora jumped up and split the Darkside in two vertically. "I've relied on myself for so long that it takes much more than this to have any effect on me!"

"Impressive." Ansem reappeared in a dark aura. "But not nearly enough."

"On the other hand, I could use some help with this. Oh!" Sora dodged an attack and switched Oblivion with Diamond Dust, summoning Shiva, who dodged a punch from the Guardian.

Sora transformed into his Valor form and ran behind Ansem, landing a hit, but Ansem dodged somewhat, lessening the damage done. Before he could attempt a counter though, Shiva fired several Blizzagas at him. The Heartless was forced to dodge another strike instead.

Sora cast a Thundaga behind Ansem to keep him from retreating while he went forward with another slash. At the last moment, the shadow guardian tried to intercept Sora, but it was attacked by Shiva, preventing it from latching on to the Tsviet. This allowed Sora to successfully land his attack on Ansem. He quickly went into a long combo that pushed Ansem to the edge of the closed in area.

Ansem eventually grunted and pushed Sora back using one of his energy blasts. His eyes went to his shadow guardian, which was still being held back by Shiva somehow. "You're better than I thought."

Sora didn't bother to waste his breath with a response. He simply fired off another Thundaga combined with a Firaga aimed at his head and a Blizzaga aimed at his feet. Ansem didn't move from his spot to avoid getting hit by lightning, but he did raise an arm to protect his face from the fire, which allowed the Blizzaga to hit his feet and freeze him to the spot. Sora instantly rushed in and impaled him through the abdomen.

And then there was nothing but darkness. Sora looked around in surprise, noticing that the rest of the group were there and looked just as surprised as him. "What just happened?"

"Behold the endless abyss!" Ansem still wasn't dead? ! "Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!" To Sora's surprise there was a pair of doors in the distance. "Look as hard as you are able! You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours." Then something appeared out of nowhere. That was all Sora could think to call it because he didn't think it looked like anything he'd ever seen before. It resembled some sort of airship made of flesh, but it certainly wasn't an airship. It also had a much larger version of Ansem attached to it. "Darkness conquers all worlds!"

Then they suddenly started falling. Everyone except for Sora was pulled into some sort of vortex on the ship with a shout. Sora just kept falling past it.

"Giving up already? Come on Sora, I thought you were tougher than that." Riku!

Sora grit his teeth, righted himself, and flew back up towards the ship, summoning Diamond Dust and Shiva as he did so. "We're not dying here!"

Sora quickly downed a hi-potion and dubbed tossed another to Shiva. "Watch my back once we get closer." Shiva nodded in understanding and the two quickly started flying forward. Ansem started firing some energy blasts at the two. The energy blasts moved very quickly, and were difficult to dodge even for Sora. They were pretty beat up by the time they reached Ansem.

Sora immediately got to attacking Ansem. Ansem tried to attack Sora with his lance, but Sora had lots and lots of experience fighting people much larger than him. He was able to move around all the attacks easily as he lashed out and landed any hits that he could. The faster evergy attacks wouldn't work in such close quarters so Ansem had to use energy orbs that move much more slowly.

Shiva easily destroyed all of them before they could touch Sora.

Sora meanwhile had noticed some…tentacles coming out of Ansem's back that attached to the container. Sora had no idea what they were for, but he figured they were important. So he carefully made his way to Ansem's back, pulled back, slashed downward, and severed the tentacles.

Ansem made a very strange noise and flew backwards into the container as the Heartless crest appeared and covered him. Sora slammed into the crest with a yell, but found Ansem was protected against it. "Dammit! How many times am I gonna have to kill you? !" Sora and Shiva flew back, looking for anything that might help out. He blinked when he saw a vortex that looked like the one that had sucked up the rest of the group. "…It's worth a try. C'mon Shiva." She nodded and the two flew into the vortex.

It led to…somewhere full of Shadows and an injured Aladdin.

"Are you okay? !" shouted Sora.

Aladdin panted. "Potion!" Sora was running low, but he tossed one of them to Aladdin. Then he and Shiva quickly started attacking the Heartless, easily killing them with a single strike. When the Heartless were gone, a strange orb appeared that Sora instinctively attacked it, breaking it in a flash of red light.

The three were immediately spit back out into the black space from the vortex they'd entered. An aura of darkness appeared around some blue…things in front of Ansem. Sora flew straight for them and started attacking them, destroying them by the time the others reached him. The dark aura then turned into another vortex that sucked the group up.

They were transported to another strange place that contained Shadows…and Goofy. "Sora!" He looked to be in pretty bad shape. Sora tossed him a potion.

"We really need to find Donald!" shouted Aladdin.

Sora nodded. "I'm running out of potions!" Maybe changing into his Valor form like that hadn't been such a good idea after all.

After the Shadows had all been killed, Darkballs appeared that had to be taken care of while protecting Aladdin and Goofy from any more attacks. After the Darkballs were defeated, another orb appeared that Sora also attacked. After shattering that one in a burst of red light, they were spat out of that space as well and back to the place with the warship.

Ansem still wasn't moving. The face at the front of the ship started moving though, and to Sora's surprise it actually started exhibiting a life force. That was freaky. Still, it was something. "We're gonna attack the front of the ship! Be careful though!"

The fact that it was a stationary target helped, but it used some sort of attack that caused energy to fall from the sky. Then it used some sort of attack that caused energy to burst out of its mouth and eyes, hitting anything that was near it. Shiva could divert the first attack, but she couldn't do anything about the second attack. It wasn't that strong a foe though.

The face's mouth fell open as its life faded, revealing another vortex. Sora immediately flew into it.

"Sora!" This one had Donald in it. He looked better than Goofy and Aladdin since he had Cure spells, but he still looked rather tired. He used Curaga on the other four and then went back to attacking the Invisibles and Darkballs. The rest quickly moved to help him. Yet another orb appeared after the Heartless were killed, and Sora quickly destroyed it, causing the group to be thrown back into the dark space yet again. As they flew out of the open mouth, the head exploded, leaving a gaping wound on the ship. Ansem still wasn't moving though.

Seeing that the force field protecting the center of the ship had disappeared, Sora gestured for the group to head over there. It was the right choice as some slow energy attacks were being fired from the area. Sora went straight for the thing with the face on it while the others attacked the fleshy protrusions coming up out of the floor.

As the thing with the face exploded in a burst of light, Sora flew out of the center to get a look at Ansem. The crest had disappeared, and he was finally coming out of the container. "He's out!" Ansem immediately started sending orbs of energy connected by a line of energy at them. Generous use of the Aeroga spell and careful dodging kept them from doing too much damage, and they were quickly right next to Ansem.

Ansem looked rather angry, but his moves were about the same. They seemed stronger, but that advantage was negated by the return of the missing members of the group. Sora tried severing the tentacles again, but that didn't work this time. Ansem must have learned and somehow made them stronger. So Sora knifed him in the back instead.

Ansem made another odd noise, and swiped behind him with his spear, which Sora had did dodge. He took solace in the fact that the injury would make it difficult for Ansem to breathe…If he did breathe.

Sora paused. He was still behind Ansem in a position that made it difficult for him to be hit…He stabbed Ansem in the head. That got Ansem angry enough to roar and somehow stab Sora despite not being in a position to see him.

Sora quickly flew back over to the others and huffed. "What does it take to kill this guy? !" Headshots like that should kill anyone, him included!

Goofy blocked an attack with a grunt. "Maybe you need to do that thing you did with Riku again!"

It took a few minutes for Sora to figure out what Goofy meant. At first, he thought the anthro was talking about when he got possessed by Sephiroth. Then he realized it was more likely that Goofy was talking about the second battle. The only thing he'd done that might work here was that strange attack that caused Riku to disappear. Sora didn't think he could do that again without Kairi though. It did give him an idea though.

"Shiva, I need to switch out!" Sora switched to Oathkeeper, causing Shiva to disappear. "Kairi…I have no idea if you can hear me or if this is going to work, but please give me a hand here!" The Keyblade started glowing faintly. It wasn't nearly as much as when he fought Riku, but it was something at least. Sora reacted instinctively and threw the Keyblade at Ansem.

He must have done something right because it went right through Ansem, through the tentacles, and into the capsule.

The effect was instantaneous. The ship started to explode and fall apart. "Is this the answer? It can't be!" A light gathered at Ansem's chest and he dropped his weapon as his body started to jerk. Then it exploded.

To Sora's shock and exasperation that evidently wasn't enough to kill Ansem, although he was holding himself as though he was in immense pain…he was in front of the pair of doors and the rocks surrounding them though. That could be a problem. "It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." Ansem turned, reaching out towards the door. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…" As if obeying him, the door started opening with shadow smoke leaking out of it. "Supreme darkness…"

Sora realized something in that moment though that made him realize that it wasn't what it appeared to be. "You're wrong." The birthplace of all hearts…but hearts were not full or darkness or born of darkness. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts is light!"

Light shot out of the doors, proving Sora right, and causing Ansem to recoil. Sora could see what was left of his life fading away. The one to land the final blow was, ironically enough, Kingdom Hearts, the thing Ansem had been seeking for so long. "The light…But…But why?" And Ansem finally, finally died in a flash of light.

There was a unanimous breath of relief. "So, should we go check Kingdom Hearts?" asked Aladdin.

"It would probably be a good idea." They floated over to the doors. "I'm guessing it would be a bad idea to leave them open…Let's close them." So they started pushing the doors in an attempt to close them.

Goofy, who was facing the doors, glanced inside and made a surprised noise. "Stop staring and keep pushing!" demanded Donald. Then Donald glanced inside to see what had caught Goofy's attention and also made a surprised noise. Curious, Sora and Aladdin glanced in as well.

Inside, along with some black rocks with glowing blue veins were Heartless. "How'd those get there?" "Hurry! We need to close this before they escape!"

"They're not budging!"

A hand suddenly grabbed the door from the other side. "Don't give up!" Sora stared and followed the arm to the crack where Riku suddenly appeared. "Come on, Sora! Together we can do it!"

Aladdin's eyes widened. "Riku's alive?"

Sora swallowed. "Come with us!" He tried to grab Riku's hand, but went right through it.

"I can't."

Aladdin winced. "So, Riku's not alive?"

Sora felt tears pricking on the sides of his eyes but took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay." He went back to pushing while Riku started pulling. The doors started moving, slightly. Given the Darksides rising up on the other side though, they weren't moving fast enough.

"It's hopeless!" shouted Donald.

And then the Darksides exploded into smoke. That was odd because the only person who seemed to be there was Riku, and he was busy pulling at the doors. A figure suddenly somersaulted onto one of your rocks. Goofy and Donald started. "Your majesty!"

"Your majesty?" Sora couldn't make out many feature due to the light behind him, but the king had a thin tail and round ears.

"The king's a mouse?" asked Aladdin. Then again, that wasn't as surprising as it could've been.

The King then pulled out a Keyblade. It resembled the Kingdom Key except the color scheme had been reversed. "Now Sora! Let's close this door for good!"

Sora nodded and went back to pushing along with the others, glancing at Riku. "What about-"

"Don't worry," said the king. "There will always be a door to the light."

Goofy nodded. "Sora, you can trust King Mickey."

Riku nodded in agreement before looking back towards King Mickey and the Heartless. "Now! They're coming!"

Mickey looked back towards the group. "Donald, Goofy, thank you."

They started pushing the doors again, somehow pushing them closed much more quickly. Sora kept looking at Riku, who turned to look at him. He smiled.

"Take care of her."

Sora nodded. And then the doors were closed and Riku could no longer be seen. Sora jumped back, summoned the Kingdom Key, and held it up. Light gathered at the tip and he pointed it at the door. Unseen to him, King Mickey did the same thing on the other side. Both pointed the keys at the door, shooting a pair of beams at both sides of the doors. The doors started to glow. Then they flashed brightly and started to fade away.

The group was still on the rock though.

"That's it?" asked Aladdin.

"I guess so…" And there didn't seem to be any way out of here.

Aladdin gasped. "Jasmine?" Sure enough, a surprised Jasmine was standing over to the side. As Aladdin ran over, Sora felt someone staring at him and turned.

It was Kairi. She was farther away than Jasmine, but she was just as confused. Sora immediately ran to her. Donald winced and made to stop one of them, but was stopped when Goofy put a hand on his shoulder. Instead, the two watched sadly as good-byes were made.

Sora panted as he reached Kairi. The ground she was standing on looked completely different from what he was standing on, the sand of the islands they called home. "Kairi!"

She looked at him in surprise. "Sora!"

The ground started to separate, causing Kairi to stumble into Sora. She was quickly pulled away from him, but their hands were still tightly clasped. "I can't go with her either." "Kairi! Remember what you said before? I'm always with you too!" Kairi was drifting away too quickly. "I'll come back to you! I promise!"

"I know you will!"

And then their hands were pulled apart and Sora could only watch Kairi as she drifted farther and farther away.

As they continued to drift apart, a light drifted down in front of Kairi. She looked up and saw thousands of other lights drifting downwards.

The same thing was happening where the boys were, much to their pleasant surprise.

As the lights fell around Kairi, Destiny Islands started to sprout around her. The waves started to rush in. Sora shouted something to Kairi, but she couldn't make out what he was saying as he disappeared in a bright light that stayed on the horizon as several small lights shot out of it and into the sky, becoming stars as Kairi watched the display in awe. She smiled sadly.

After the lights disappeared and the sun rose, everything looked completely normal again. Kairi made her way to the Secret Spot. As she looked at all the drawings the three of them had made over the years, she was surprised to find one she'd never seen before of Sora giving her a paopu fruit. She put a hand on the drawing, laughing sadly as a tear rolled down her cheek. She picked up a rock and started adding to Sora's picture.

Oddly enough, the group of boys ended up in a rolling green pasture with trees and a single path. Sora was back in his red clothes, Aladdin was back in his formerly destroyed clothes, Donald was wearing a blue sailor shirt and hat, and Goofy was wearing a green hat, orange shirt, yellow vest, blue pants, and brown shoes.

None of them had any clue to when this happened.

"Well, now what do we do?" asked Donald.

"We're gonna find Riku and King Mickey," said Sora. "Then we're gonna find Agrabah and Destiny Islands."

"Where're we supposed to find that door the king was talking about though?" asked Aladdin.

No one had an answer to that. They all let out a loud sigh. Sora blinked when he heard footsteps and looked up.

There was an orange dog with something in its mouth walking across the path. A very familiar dog… "How'd that dog get here?"

Everyone else looked up. "Pluto?" The dog stopped at Donald's voice and looked over at the group.

"Hey, Pluto, where have you been?" asked Goofy. Sora looked at him in surprise.

"That's your dog?"

"He's King Mickey's," explained Donald.

"What's that in his mouth?" asked Aladdin.

It was a letter with a weird symbol on it. "Hey, that's the king's seal!" said Goofy.

Sora leaned forwards towards Pluto. "Hey, have you seen King Mickey?" Pluto immediately turned and started loping off down the path. The boys grinned. "Well? Let's go!" So they ran after the dog into the unknown, grinning all the way.

Remember, Sora. You are the one who will open the door to the light.

Owari

And that is the end of that! Whew! That last chapter was really hard to write! The workload from school probably didn't help.

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who's stayed with me since the beginning. You guys are awesome!

Secondly, I'm gonna try to write a sequel to this, and I'm gonna try a different style that will hopefully let me update more quickly.

Thirdly, I would like to issue a writing challenge. As you may remember, since Zoro is a Tsviet, he ended up being replaced by Terra Bradford. I'd like to see what you guys think will happen due to that change in the crew line-up. I'd write it myself, but my current projects take enough time as it is and I have to find a job or something similar. When I actually get one, who knows how much writing I'll be able to do when I do. The rules are as follows:

This is the only change you may make to the crew. You can't change anyone else, and all the back stories will be the same unless it's someone Zoro would have interacted with before meeting the crew. For example, the events at Usopp's island will be about the same since Zoro didn't have anything to do with what happened, but since Terra isn't interested in swords, she won't challenge Mihawk to a fight at the Barate, which will change things around somewhat.

As romance is not one of One Piece's genres, this will not be a romance story. It is action and adventure like the original. You can have a little flirtation and blushing, but nothing like a romantic relationship a whole chapter is related to.

Terra will not get a devil fruit power. Nobody likes a mary-sue.

You must let me know about the story so I can read it.

Other than that, feel free to knock yourself out.

I'll see you in Chain of Memories!