DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, The Black Cauldron, or The Chronicles of Prydain for the short amount of time it is in this chapter.

Chapter 41

The Final Rush

"Once we go through, there's no going back. It's either victory or oblivion."

-Riku

For a moment, all of them stared with sadness at the floating black form. But soon anger managed to get the better of Sora for a moment in time. He summoned his Keyblade and began firing shots of fire at the Cauldron. They kept getting stronger and stronger with each one. However, no matter how many times they might have hit the Cauldron, the cauldron's magical properties deflected it away. He then screamed in rage and kicked the sand that was where they were. However, soon after his fit of rage had begun it just as quickly subsided as Kairi stood up and put her hands around him, holding him there. Then a voice that was familiar to all of them spoke out.

"Why so sad ducklings?" came the voice of Orgoch and Sora looked at the sky, where he believed the sound was coming from in anger.

"You cowards! You knew this would happen! You-" But Sora cut off there as his anger began to choke him, he could say no more. He turned away with the tears of rage still falling from his eyes.

"Oh come now, you got what you wanted didn't you?" Orddu's voice came next from the clouds. "And yet you're still not satisfied." Suddenly the three witches appeared in the sky above them with smiles on their faces.

"No…Gurgi is filled with moanings and groanings." Gurgi said while rocking back and forth. holding himself.

"Now, just what do you think you're up to, ladies?" Fflewddur asked discreetly and almost accusingly. Orddu's smile brightened at that statement.

"We have business with these fine heroes." Orddu told him sharply and turned to Sora, Kairi, and Taran who had joined them near the edge of the beach.

"Haven't you taken enough from us, you witches?!" Kairi screeched at them and they looked taken aback.

"Who is she calling a witch?!" Orwen said in shock but Orddu quickly quieted her down. She turned to them again.

"The only thing that mattered to all of you was the Black Cauldron. But now it's of no use to you, so we'll just take it and be on our way!" Orddu said and all three witches moved simultaneously toward the Cauldron but Fflewddur stepped up and stopped them.

"Wait! Uh, stay your hands, uh, ladies!" Fflewddur said tentatively but he soon picked up his courage to say more as the three witches stopped. "We never give anything away! We bargain! We trade…remember?" He had a small smile on his face and for a moment the witches looked repulsed.

"Did these old ears hear the word bargain? Hmmm…" Orddu said after a small while before she grimaced and with a wave of her hands Dyrnwyn appeared. "I know what it is you want…A magnificent sword for a warrior."

"I'm no warrior, just and assistant pig-keeper. I have no need of a sword." Taran said, slightly crestfallen. "But I think that all of us here, myself included, would like Edge to come back…since he was the real hero in this whole thing."

"So you still want a trade?" Orgoch voiced with some small amount of displeasure, but Orddu was infinitely more cheerful, now that she got to realize she could keep her sword.

"So you want the Keyblade wielder who sacrificed his life to destroy the Cauldron's powers, in exchange for the Cauldron itself?" Orddu asked and all of them on the sandy beaches nodded. "Sorry, but it's not possible!"

"See, just admit it!" Fflewddur yelled out with no amazement in his voice, or fear, this time. "You ladies have no real power, do you?" They looked at him, absolutely livid, even Orwen who was kind of smitten with him in way. They whirled around the cauldron and it disappeared as Edge's own lifeless body appeared on the edge of the beach.

"Fine! We have made a bargain!" Orddu yelled with a cackle punctuating the end of it. They were about to fly away when Orddu turned back to Sora and tossed him something. He caught it and looked at it; it was his crown pendant. "We had to see if you were the one…we had to test you, you see…"

"Test me?" Sora asked, completely confused. "For what?"

"In time you'll see…send our regards to Yen Sid…the old codger hasn't spoken to us for almost a century." Orddu said and soon, all three of the witches of Morva were gone. Sora quickly tied the crown pendant around his neck and suddenly felt a welling up of strength inside him. It was almost as if he was now ready for all challenges set ahead of him. He saw Kairi run up to Edge's body and he quickly followed. Sora felt at his neck and found a small pulse. Kairi summoned her Keyblade as well and the two cast a quick, yet potent Cure spell on Edge. Then they waited.

After a few seconds, Edge began to start coughing and spluttering, water merging from his lungs. He turned over and coughed out onto the beach. Then he began to stand up and looked at Sora and Kairi. The first look that found both his face and his voice was that of confusion.

"Sora? Kairi? Are you dead?" he asked, hoping that it certainly wasn't the case. Smiles stretched across their faces and they shook their heads. "Then…unless I'm dreaming…I'm…alive?" They nodded and suddenly he began to laugh. He loved to laugh. He loved the joy of life. Not that the brief seconds of death were terrible…but life needed him much more than death at this point. Sora walked up to him and shook his hands while Kairi hugged him. In the background, Taran and Eilonwy quickly hugged each other in happiness, but then, feeling awkward, they parted a small distance, though their hands hadn't let go. Sora looked at Edge.

"So…what did death look like? What did you see?" Sora asked him. He cast his head down a bit.

"White shores…and beyond…a far green country, under a swift sunrise." Edge said with a smile, and Sora smiled genuinely back. He nodded his head and answered with a very brief "Me too." Edge quickly extended his hands and summoned his Keyblades in a flash of flame. They still came to him, and that was good enough before he dismissed them. They were getting ready to turn away from the beach when suddenly a great, green pillar of flame arose near them. The three Keyblade wielders knew what was coming and instantly summoned their Keyblades. The rest of the group drew away from the now towering and imposing (leastways to them) Mistress of All Evil.

"So…the Horned King has been vanquished." Maleficent said with a small defeat echoing in her tones. "My staunchest ally…defeated…humbled by the Master of the Keyblade again."

"Right…" Sora said with a slight chuckle. "You do know that the Horned King was planning treason against you, don't you Maleficent?" Maleficent chuckled herself, but it was a much more frightening and terrifying chuckle than theirs.

"Then his treachery has been defeated as well. Regardless, I care not." Maleficent's eyes suddenly gleamed a dark green such as her flames were. "Though the Horned King is defeated, I am not. At last our time has come once more Sora, the time in which I challenge you openly. But we play by my terms…I believe it is only fitting. Henceforth, my castle shall be unguarded. I will not have Heartless roaming the halls. Seek me out there and if you should find me…we do battle to the death." Sora stared into Maleficent's dark eyes, searching for some meaning of her intent but could find nothing. But this was the first legitimate ray of light they had at casting down Maleficent once and for all…and none of them were going to pass it up.

"We'll take your challenge and accept it." Sora said confidently. Maleficent bowed to her enemies.

"Very well then, Sora. I admire your bravery." And with that she let off a high-pitched cackle as she disappeared and th winds stirred briefly against the calm surface of the water. Kairi turned to Sora.

"We're not going to consult the king on this?" Kairi asked and Sora shook his head.

"We have no time. Maleficent just offered us the chance to destroy her and I'm gonna take it." Sora said. He looked at Edge, as if asking if he would go along, and Edge nodded. Sora held out his Keyblade and created the portal to the World That Never Was. Edge nodded again and stepped through first, followed by Kairi. Sora then put one foot into the portal but looked back at the friends he had made on Prydain. Fflewddur and Gurgi were waving goodbye sadly. But Sora found only Taran and Eilonwy. "Oh yeah, Taran, Princess Eilonwy…you make a cute couple, good luck!"

And he stepped through, knowing he had left an awkward impression on the group. When he stepped out, he was welcomed back to the rain-streaked sky of the World That Never Was. Before him, at the Brink of Despair was the mammoth-huge Castle That Never Was. Sora hadn't been here in years…but the last time he was, the Altar of Naught had been sheared off and yet here, it was now rebuilt. And Sora knew, that was where Maleficent was hiding. Still holding his Keyblade in his hand and had it shoot towards the castle's entrance, creating a large blue bridge as it had done seven years ago.

"Hmm…never was able to figure that out. Usually I was under Heartless pressure any time I even tried to infiltrate this place." Edge said, slightly impressed with how easily Sora had opened the path. "Well…guess there's nothing to it now. In we go." And, ironically, it was Edge who led the way forward. Sora followed quickly behind him.

Maleficent had kept true to her word and the halls of the castle were more or less deserted and no spells rested on the place that would prevent them from entering specific area. But Sora figured that he knew where Maleficent was, and he knew the exact path to take there. That was why Sora eventually went ahead of Edge and began leading their way. At last, Sora reached the Hall of Empty Melodies, where he remembered having fought Xigbar here seven years previously. He also remembered that was where he had seen Kairi for the first time in over a year. The thoughts of nostalgia washed over him in a smile until he heard Kairi yell his name before a very familiar laugh sounded out.

"Pete…" Sora said with disgust, holding his Keyblade aloft. "I was wondering when we'd run into you."

"So, Maleficent challenged you guys huh?" Pete said with a finger on his chin, as though thinking with his incredibly small brain. "Well then, bring it on!" He waved his hands and waves of Heartless suddenly appeared, all of different shapes and sizes. "Bet ya can't handle 'em all!!"

"We'll see about that!" Kairi asserted as a Shadow leapt at her. She twisted around and easily sliced through it with a smirk.

"What about Maleficent?" Edge asked angrily, clearly not very happy that Pete was here to slow them down. "If we let Pete slow us down we'll be in no condition to fight her!"

"We have no choice!" Sora yelled in determination. "We'll take her later!" But somehow, Sora knew that Edge wouldn't go with that course of action. He needed to prove his worth to all of them by stopping Maleficent himself. He shook his head.

"No…I'm taking her NOW!!" Edge yelled and in one fluid motion, flipped over the tops of everyone's heads and landed on the other side. He instantly began sprinting towards the exit and Sora shook his head. They were gonna have to take him alone.

"Kairi, sweetie, take care of the Heartless for me, would you? I'm gonna take care of big, fat, and ugly here!" Sora said and Pete started getting angry. Kairi gave her fiancée a peck on the cheek and ran straight into the crowd, twirling her Keyblade around. He almost laughed. Compared to seven years ago at this very same castle, she had really improved in a fight. Sora just looked at Pete and smirked. He recoiled slightly but then tossed a bomb Sora's way. "So old school…"

Sora leapt into the air and dodges the exploding bomb. He landed gracefully and made a headlong rush at Pete who saw him coming. He instantly erected his shield and started laughing. But Sora raced around to the back of the shield and delivered a round house kick to it. This sent Pete rolling and he immediately disengaged the shield for fear of falling through the hole in the ground. Sora ran at Pete again and Pete jumped into the air and slammed down, creating a huge shockwave that spanned the entire room. Sora ordered Kairi to jump and she did so, while eliminating the bulk of airborne Heartless in the room. By the time she landed, the ground Heartless were no more. Pete looked at this in fear.

"Ready to surrender now?" Sora said, both he and Kairi holding their Keyblades out towards him. He scoffed.

"This ain't over!" he yelled, and in a puff of smoke. Sora waited till he was completely gone and then began running towards the exit. They needed to find Edge.

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While the intense (or maybe not-so-intense) battle against Pete was going on down below, Edge had at last reached the Altar of Naught, now known as the rebuilt Altar of Dark. He stood there, rage filling him…and yet, there was a certain degree of calmness within him. Before him stood the very woman who had given the worlds hell, the Mistress of All Evil, the Sorceress, or merely just Maleficent. And he hated her for it. He hated that she felt she should rule all the worlds by herself. He hated that she had destroyed Agradar which had led the boy Gentai to doing such imaginable things. But most of all, he hated her because of what she stood for and reeked of: darkness. He stepped forward and Maleficent smiled. Though she only knew him from their very few and sparse encounters over the last year, she would always remember him.

"Maleficent…" Edge seethed, his hands and fists clenching and unclenching. "For this…what you've done to the worlds…and everything…you will pay!!" Maleficent turned to him, a truly wicked smile on her face.

"It is not I who am doing these things to the world, but rather your friend and comrade Gentai." Maleficent said, her smile twisting even further.

"He's not even an acquaintance of mine." he said with passion and disgust.

"Nevertheless, it shames me as it grieves you…shames me that he is succeeding where I could not." She put a hand to cover her face as though she truly was ashamed.

"Don't you dare speak of shame!" Edge cried in anger and Maleficent smiled once again which made Edge hate her all the more.

"I respect you Alexander, you're a man with courage and are never afraid to do what you feel is right…" Maleficent said sympathetically. But then suddenly her tone changed and became slightly more icy in demeanor. "But you are a slave to your heart and your emotions…and therefore you shall never know true strength, no matter what you try." Edge looked down at his shoes and closed his eyes.

"You think that following my heart…the rage I feel in it…is a weakness?!" Edge snapped and is head and eyes did the same as he looked at the witch. "Then let me show you…HOW WRONG YOU ARE!!!!!" Two great columns of flame suddenly erupted near his two hands and began spinning and spiraling until at last, both of his Keyblades were in his hands. He leapt forward and took a strike at Maleficent, but she had already used her staff to form a sword and blocked the blow. Edge flipped backward as Maleficent sent a jet of green flame at him. He dodged it with a flip and landed. She sent another flash of flame at him. "Smoke!" Smoke eruped around him and he managed to escape quickly before the blast hit. Maleficent looked for him and found him straight behind her. "Flood!"

Water suddenly burst in torrents from a symbol that formed between Edge's two Keyblades. Maleficent was borne up under the flood but with a great sweep of her sword she cut it away and dropped to the floor, unharmed. She sent torrents of green flame even faster at Edge this time which he expertly used flips to dodge. He then threw his Keyblades at her horizontally. They spiraled to her but she knocked them away effortlessly. He caught them easily and then began to toss one after the other, hoping to wear Maleficent down but to no avail. Edge caught them and spun them around a bit. Maleficent then began to cackle as her self was emerged in green flame, as if to escape.

"Not today!" Edge yelled and he ran at her, ran right into the green flame which began to scorch his body. But he didn't fear the pain or injury and instead aimed his Keyblades straight at her and managed to give her a great gash on her side. She gasped in pain and then amped up the heat of her flames which caused Edge to fly out and crash onto the ground. Maleficent, heaving great gasps of pain, walked over to him to finish the job. She plunged her sword straight into Edge's heart. He gasped unable to move, save for his hand which gave one final heave of the Keyblade and gave Maleficent yet another gash in her other side. Maleficent gasped in pain before she saw something that made her even more fearful.

Sora came running up and she immediately began to make plans for escape. Sora leapt into the air and came slamming down upon the floor of the Altar of Dark. Maleficent was gone and they had failed. Sora whipped around and breathed out Edge's name. He saw Kairi cradling him as his breathing began to become staggered and erratic.

"I…I failed…" Edge breathed out, his words very short and brief. "I could only wound her…but…she'll be out of your way…for a while…"

"No. Out of our way." Sora insisted. But Edge just chuckled and started coughing. It hurt to laugh. It hurt even to talk. He had been claimed by green fire and it would coast him dearly.

"You're a good person Sora…I…only wish I could have been of more help." His breathing became more labored as he strained for breath and life. "All I've ever done…I did for the worlds, not myself. I could only hope that you wouldn't gainsay my loyalty."

"Not anymore…I wouldn't…I…couldn't." Sora said and Edge nodded, slightly at ease though his body was still coughing and hacking.

"Please, promise me, you'll take the Order and lead them…one of you…must." His breath on the final word was like he was letting the last bit of air rush out of him. Both Kairi and Sora nodded at this statement and Edge smiled, his eyes staring up at them with sincere admiration of the both of them. "If there is to be a brave new world…one without darkness…then you will be the ones to make it…I know…you will…"

Sora cried out as Edge spoke those last words. His mouth closed as he said those words and said no more. But Edge never closed his eyes to reach eternal sleep. They remained open, as if watching every moment that would now play out in the worlds. Kairi began to sob. They knew he was gone. There would be no magic and no trading to bring him back this time around. It was incontrovertible beyond a shadow of a doubt that Alexander "The Flaming Edge" Garibaldi, was dead, the last of his line, and the first of the new Order.

Author's Note: Okay, I lied. It's not next week yet! Surprise!! I figure I'll post this as the two-day early three month anniversary of this story. But wow, am I cruel or what? I bring back a character in the same chapter that he dies permanently. But it needed to happen. I'm sure you have many questions. What was Orddu talking about testing Sora for? Is Edge really dead? Is Maleficent out of the picture? Who will lead the Order with Edge's death? And most importantly, where is Gentai fitting into all this? Relax, next chapter we will pick up on Gentai and his whole deal again but yes…Maleficent is out of the picture and Edge is, totally and completely dead. Everything else will be told in time. In the meantime, drop me a review por favor, and Dare to Be Silly.