DISCLAIMER: For the last time in this extremely long and CONVOLUTED story, I DON'T own Kingdom Hearts. I wish and pray to God I did, but I don't. Nor do I really own part of the last scene of this novel (teaser....).

Chapter 45

Take Your Place

"They want us to be the guardians of their destiny."

-King Mickey Mouse

One Month Later…

Riku looked at the faint, pink tinge that was settling on the horizon. He leaned over the railing of his balcony and sighed to himself. It was in the early hours of the morning but Riku was no longer tired. He would always wake up to see the dawn fast approaching. I was certainly nice, being able to wake up in the morning and exit out onto a balcony from his quarters. But that was the way life was now in Crown Fortress and the Order of the Crown. They had spent a few weeks repairing and cleaning up the entire fortress to make its living quarters inhabitable and a place where they could train new Keyblade wielders.

Already, they were gathering them and the Order, which had once been the size of only fifty had now grown to a hundred. Never had Riku known so many Keyblade wielders to exist at once…but then again, he figured this was probably only a fraction of the number to have existed during the time of the Round of the Crown. He chuckled to himself. Never, in a million years did he ever think he would be doing this. He sighed to himself as he saw the sky brighten up a bit more. Just another hour and the people in the Order, generals and apprentices alike, would be waking up to begin their daily routines of training. Some would even be sent off once again to the worlds where there were rumors of Unbirth sightings and attacks. Riku shook his head and closed his eyes, remembering the events that had gotten him here.

After Gentai had disappeared in Crown Fortress a month ago, the three Keyblade wielders had dragged themselves from that fortress back to Disney Castle. They were beaten, weathered, and torn. Gentai had done some nasty things…razing and destroying worlds to name a few. But rather than join them, even in all of his pain at such actions, he had sacrificed himself. That was why they didn't answer the king when they had returned. He asked them where Gentai was…and no one had responded.

The next day, when their grief had somewhat lifted, their spirits had been somewhat restored, and their fatigue had washed away from their bones, they met with Mickey, Donald, Goofy…and in fact the entire Disney Castle Court in addition to Yen Sid in the Audience Hall. He laughed to himself as he remembered that Sora had said, "We're back where we started…but look how much we've lost." That was why they took their seats at the table.

They told the story. The story of their adventures through the worlds. The story that very few people would know in its entirety save for these words on a page. It began with their hunt for the Huntsman, to Sora's encounter with Edge on the Tung-Shao Pass. It chronicled Kairi's kidnapping and Sora's subsequent rescue of her. It covered how Maleficent had returned to Enchanted Dominion to wreak havoc…and ultimately failed due to the intervention of both Riku and Gentai. The destruction of Maleficent's Hellfire Club was told, as well as the desolation of Agradar and the twisting of Gentai's soul which caused him to commit atrocities on the world. They even added in the story of Edge and of his two noble sacrifices. Then it came the time to tell everyone of Gentai's sacrifice.

"Then he just stabbed himself and in a flash of light he was gone." Sora finished and he hung his head. The Audience Hall was completely silent, so silent that not even the shifting of position in a chair could be heard. Though not all of them knew Gentai directly, or they had known what he had done, they were still burdened by the loss.

"But why…why did he go and do somethin' like that?" Mickey said in a very disheartened voice.

"It's not like it did any good…" Riku spat out, angry at Gentai for being so selfish. And yet he was more angry with himself that he had not been able to stop Gentai's rampage of madness before it had gotten too far and too out of hand. Yen Sid, however, had something more to say.

"Perhaps at this moment it appears that it did not do good." Yen Sid said and every single head in the Audience Hall turned to face him. "As you all know, Gentai's heart is filled with only light. No darkness existed in that space of his heart. The only male since Windsor."

"Well…yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Kairi asked Yen Sid, wondering why the constitution of Gentai's heart would have anything to do with why he had sacrificed himself. Yen Sid bowed his head.

"You see, Gentai had come to visit me in the days following the destruction of Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, and Destiny Islands." Yen Sid said and there was a collective gasp of shock around the table. Sora was about to put forth his query but Yen Sid held up a hand to silence him. "I did not restrain him because I knew it would have no purpose…his heart was too set." At this moment, Yen Sid stood up and began to pace up and down the table. "Eight years ago, you were told by Xehanort's Heartless that his Keyblade held the power to unlock people's hearts. This is true…but only the darkness in peoples' hearts.

"Your Keyblades however, hold the power to unlock the light in peoples' hearts. Thus it is, that were you to stab yourself in the heart with one then your heart would release all the light it has to offer. Because Gentai's heart held no darkness his body was completely broken, leaving behind nothing. That heart, as I had suspected, fragmented into many pieces of light that shattered and attached themselves to all the hearts in the entire universe."

"But…what does that mean for us?" Sora asked confusedly, not exactly sure where this entire story was going. Yen Sid looked at the three youngest Keyblade wielders at the table and inclined his head toward them.

"With Gentai's self-sacrifice he banished the darkness from all but the most twisted and foul of hearts. Only people like Maleficent still yet have darkness in their hearts. But it is very little, and cannot grow. In fact, it is so little that Heartless had no darkness on which to feed and so disappeared." Yen Sid now looked at Sora directly. "Seven years ago I had told you, Sora, that while darkness existed in a single heart it would be difficult to eliminate the darkness."

"Gawrsh! I remember that!" Goofy yelled out. "Then I suggested that if everybody's hearts were full of light the Heartless would go away!"

"That is correct. And that is what Gentai did. He eliminated the true darkness in all our hearts, thus vanquishing both the Heartless and the Nobodies." Yen Sid answered all of them with a smile.

"But what about the Unbirths?" Kairi asked tentatively and Yen Sid's smile soon changed to a frown.

"I am afraid…that they still live on." Yen Sid answered her gravely and once more a gloom fell over the table. "While Maleficent, who still exists, cannot enter this castle because of her still twisted soul, cannot control the Unbriths, she is nevertheless sustaining them."

"Then I guess we still have to find and eliminate Maleficent, huh?" Riku asked while gritting his teeth. To this, Yen Sid shook his head.

"She is of no concern anymore. Her power is broken as the Heartless are gone. I doubt she will learn to control the Unbirths. No…You're quest is over. Sora and Kairi shall take up their mantles as King and Queen of Radiant Garden and you, Riku…" Yen Sid trailed off, more of asking Riku what he would do than anything else. Riku thought for a moment. Sora had mentioned that Edge had bequeathed the Order to the three of them. But because Sora and Kairi were going to rule Radiant Garden, then that meant…

"I'm going to rule the Order in Edge's stead." Riku said. "I don't care what opposition there is, I will lead them." Yen Sid nodded, satisfied with Riku's answer.

And that was what had brought him here. Sora had introduced him personally to Marcus, Antonio and Donato. Together, the four of them worked quickly (along with King Mickey's help of course) to secure Riku's leadership as commandant of the Order. Thus it was, that Riku's first action was to move the entire Order into Crown Fortress. This scared a great many people within the Order, but Riku had quickly established himself as a strong leader and even the troublesome people that had been mentioned (such as Onyx and Cothius) were powerless to refute his orders. He and the Order…no, his Order, quickly began to restore Crown Fortress to what he assumed it was back in the old days. On the second day of their clean up there, Riku called his first meeting of the generals. This had Riku understand why it was called the Order of the Crown, since at the start of every general meeting, the other nine generals would use their Keyblades to make all the points of a crown, and Riku would use his own Keyblade to light the crown up fully.

Regardless, at the first meeting he was able to quickly ascertain their allegiance. Matthias, possibly the oldest member of their group supported Riku fully, confiding to the twenty three year old that he had been coerced into keeping the Order stagnant because others wanted to save their skin. Lucas was also glad to have Riku at the head, and while he was one of the more scared generals, he still felt that what Riku was doing was right. Of the two women, only Miriam fully trusted Riku while Elizabeth was none too happy about putting her life on the line. She might have to go…Riku would think to himself. Of course, he knew that Onyx and Cothius provided the truest form of opposition, but that was to be expected. To counter that, he had the force of Marcus, Antonio, and Donato backing him.

Very soon after this meeting, the establishment of what the Order was in full came into being. They received an entire fleet of Gummi Ships (or at least the promise of one) for use at the castle and Riku immediately began a training program. With the help of Yen Sid, they had restored all the old tomes in the library for reading and pretty soon, Crown Fortress was shaping up to be something spectacular…and Riku knew things were going right for once. A few times he was worried about Maleficent and sent parties out to find her, he even joined them sometimes to look for her…but they never did find her. She was hidden, her power and sway over the worlds broken at last. So it was that, for the most part, Riku formed teams to protect sections of the worlds and stop any Unbirth attacks, who were currently divided and leaderless.

About a week after the meeting at Disney Castle however, Riku found himself standing near the Castle Gates in Radiant Garden. The castle was still being rebuilt from the explosion, but it was coming along nicely, and that day they were to witness the crowning of the first king since Ansem the Wise. Early in the morning, Sora and Kairi were at last married to each other, for which they were very happy (and Riku was sure they were even happier after they had consummated the marriage in the late hours of the morning) and in the afternoon they were crowned as King Sora and Queen Kairi of Radiant Garden…or as Riku liked to joke "King Sora the Lazy" and "Queen Kairi the Devious". This warranted hits from the younger two Keyblade wielders after Riku's toast at the reception. Riku had chuckled at that too…

Sora had wasted no time in beginning to set things right in his government. Leon was named as his personal advisor and second in command on his council. This was not the mention that he was named as the Captain of the Knights of Radiant Garden. Ironically, most of Sora's royal council consisted of members of the Restoration Committee. Sora also personalized Tron a bit more and Kairi even assisted him in "tickling" the poor computer program. Riku knew they would be fine on their own as they rebuilt Radiant Garden again. It did hurt him that he wasn't marrying anyone…but he knew he had more important things to do. And besides, he still was as important as Sora since, just like Radiant Garden, he answered to King Mickey alone.

Regardless, he had set about rebuilding everything the best that he could. The generals were no longer slovenly, lazy, cowards who would run away from a fight but were shaping up to soon be a committed and hardened fighting force. In fact, of all the people who made their way into the worlds to fight the Unbirths, Riku stuck the generals out there first in order for them to get a feel of what the fighting was really like that. It proved successful and even helped to garner them more Keyblade wielders who had been hiding dormant in the worlds. To this extent, Riku was content.

But elsewhere in his mind, he was still troubled. It wasn't due to the fact that Sora had contacted him but a day before to tell him that Kairi was already pregnant, but something else that was lurking on his mind. What if Edge hadn't died? Would things have turned out different? He knew that it didn't matter to think things like that since the past could never be changed. But that didn't stop him from visiting Sunset Horizons to see whether Edge's or Gentai's Keyblades had appeared there…they never did. Riku himself felt pain at the loss but he knew he couldn't be burdened by it if he was to lead the order effectively.

Staring out over the balcony in the morning was something he did in order to remove his mind and heart of all hurtful things for the day. Xehanort was gone from inside of him…so he didn't need to worry about that. But every day it was something different. And today, it was Gentai's sacrifice from so long ago. Had it only been a month? A month…and he had come so far. He had made Crown Fortress inhabitable, was training a new generation of Keybearers, and felt at least decent inside to boot. But constantly his thought turned to one question that Gentai had asked him so long ago: "Do you think I could ever be a hero like you or Sora?"

Gentai had made mistakes, there was no doubt about it. To many people he was probably considered a rogue and a villain. But Riku's thoughts always turned to what Yen Sid had said about Gentai eliminating the Heartless and Nobodies. he had sacrificed himself…when he could have continued on, he killed himself to free the worlds from such evil darkness. Yes, Riku thought to himself as the sun at last showed itself over the horizon, I think you're a hero Gentai…even if no one else sees it. Riku sighed to himself. They had come so far in such a short time…but Riku knew that the long haul was still ahead of them.

The dawn had come at last…but the day was still a long ways off.

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Gentai lay in a blank realm, his eyes closed but his mind racing. Nothing surrounded him, nothing pressed in on him…and yet, at the same time everything was. All the thoughts of his past life and everything he had done to the worlds, to those he had called his friends, and whether it had been worth it. His eyes suddenly snapped open. He saw nothing but inky blackness and yet he also saw a milky white. Was he dead? He must have been or else he would probably be feeling immense pain. But one question really plagued his mind: was this Heaven or was this Hell? He tried to get up, but found himself constrained by something.

"Go to sleep…" a quiet, female voice called out to him, but it sounded as if it was three voices at once. Gentai gasped.

"Who's there?!" Gentai yelled but there came no response immediately. Gentai tried to struggle but found himself now completely unable to move.

"That is unimportant." the female voice at last responded, but Gentai shouted out with another question.

"Where am I?" Gentai asked, his panic level beginning to rise at being unable to move. But when the voice next spoke, it did not answer his question.

"Darkness from long past I emerging once again into the Realm of Light." the voice said, and somehow, Gentai felt his tension melt away. "But your work will not be undone…that is why we must counteract it with light…your light."

"My…light?" Gentai questioned, utterly confused as to what the voice could mean.

"Yes…your light will be the balance to the darkness. But for now, you must sleep." the voice commanded, but it was not angrily or oppressively. The voice had said it rather softly and Gentai wanted to. But he knew that he hadn't been able to sleep in forever, and he certainly wouldn't be able to here.

"But…I can't-" Gentai attempted to say but the voice cut him off once again.

"Sleep…" And the voice repeated the word until Gentai at last closed his eyes. "That's right, sleep, my duckling." Gentai felt himself slipping away. And then he heard last words from the voice before he drifted into the first sleep that he had had in months, the sleep that would take all the pain away from him, lift the burden that had been weighing him down and keeping his eyes open. Those last words were:

"The time is not yet come for night to fall." And with that, Gentai slept at last.

THE END

Author's Note: Well, there it is! The ending! The "Complete" sign is not a lie! After three months I am at last finished with this project. So, what did you think of the chapter? All of it? What about the story as a whole? I know this chapter seemed more like an epilogue but I refuse to do an epilogue until the series is finished. So therefore, the time is come to tell me of two things: 1) Who you believed was a true hero in all the events that played out here? 2) How are my characterizations going along? In any case, I will give a posting of Fear of the Darkness sometime before mid-April. I already have the exact date in my mind so you'll have to wait till then for the final installment of The Existence Trilogy. I know you're wondering about the end but you can deal…and you can also put me on some kind of Author Alert for the next story. In any case, please review, and always, always, ALWAYS remember, now and forever, Dare to Be Silly.

P.S. Oh yes, a thanks to Lord Moldybutt and Captain A for their wonderful and helpful reviews during this very political portion of my story. And a thank you to hydra man (can't put that last part in apparently)for reviewing.