Looming Darkness: Daybreak

by Shadow Horizons

Part I. Sora, Kairi and Riku are looking forward to a somewhat normal life. However, Maleficent has returned with powerful new allies, seeking revenge and control of Kingdom Hearts. All the while, an old enemy's revival is close at hand. Will our heroes be prepared? Or will they be consumed by the everlasting darkness? Rated M for language, violence, and some adult themes.

35. The Cornerstone of Darkness (Part I)

WARNING! This chapter contains content in one scene that is definitely not suitable for all viewers. Reader discretion is advised. I understand that the scene in question may make some readers uncomfortable. Please remember that Daybreak is rated M for 'Mature'. Content such as this may appear from time to time in future. I will include warnings from here on out when necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Square Enix. Neither does Shire Folk. If we did, the world would be traumatized.

Please, stick around after reading for a very important PSA relating to a scene in this chapter.

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Chapter Thirty Five: The Cornerstone of Darkness (Part I)

Saturday, July 3rd, 4794 P.C.

Destiny Islands

Bael Stoutiron stood outside of a restroom door in Fatum's city hall, taking a small moment of restful watch while Jonathan did his business inside. Besides the 'gas leak' at the park, the day had passed by pretty quietly for him, just like most days since he'd been assigned guard detail to the mayor. He smiled, though, and chuckled in his throat, remembering Kairi including him in her party for that brief moment when she stopped to give him cake and chat with him for a few minutes.

"Lass finally worked up her courage tah say 'hi'," he chuckled before sighing. "Ah, she's a good lass. Glad she's enjoying her special day. Hm, hope she doesn't cut herself with that dagger before she gets a sheath fer-"

He stopped at the sound of footsteps on the tile floor. There weren't supposed to be many people in today, given the holiday nature of the festival, and even fewer would be coming into this corridor. Bael turned his head and grasped his spear from where it rested against the wall. The man he saw approaching was certainly not one he recognized.

"Who are ye?" Bael demanded, eyeing the sword strapped to the silver-cloaked man's left arm. "State yer business here."

"My business is with the Templar you serve, not with a grunt like you," the man replied, his voice emotionless and dry.

"I have no idea what nonsense yer spouting," Bael answered. "But if yer referring to the mayor, I'm afraid you'll need an appointment."

"I have one," replied the cloaked man, raising the tip of his sword.

Bael glanced back at the door to the restroom. Jonathan was inside, unarmed. On the off chance that this emotionless man got past him...

Slipping his shield onto his arm, Bael kicked the door open and shoved his spear through the portal before whipping back around to face his assailant and drawing his axe. "It's been cancelled. Git lost before ye meet my axe."

-LD-

Jonathan Brightheart hummed softly to himself as he washed his hands. Seeing just how far Kairi had come in just a month warmed his heart. Already she looked more confident than he had ever seen her look before, and she carried herself with such pride that, as her father, he couldn't help but feel some it himself.

It's a good thing Sora is taking good care of her. He chuckled softly. After all, it's not like she can rely on her old man to be there.

He stopped as the door suddenly burst open, and Bael's spear was shoved inside. He heard his guard say something, and then the sounds of combat filled his ears. Jonathan quickly grabbed his guard's spear and glanced up at the door when a pained grunt came from beyond the door. There was silence for another few seconds before the door opened once more. A silver-cloaked man stepped into the restroom, casting a barrier spell over the entryway to prevent anyone else from entering or leaving.

The man lowered his hood and stared at Jonathan with a pair of emotionless, golden-tinted eyes. His hair, white as freshly fallen snow, fell down to his shoulders, yet, somehow kept out of his eyes of its own accord. His angular facial structure caught the dim restroom lighting at the right angles to give him a truly terrifying look. Strapped to his left arm was the blade of a sword, its tip bathed in the red of blood.

"Who are you?" Jonathan demanded. "What do you want?"

"And a fine Sun's Shadow Festival to you too, Mayor Brightheart," the man said, his tone flat and void of any emotion. "I am Jevenan. I'm here as a favor to Maleficent, soon to be ruler of all worlds."

"Then you're a fool." Jonathan fell into a fighting stance, raising his left arm to cover his front while holding Bael's spear in his right. "The Realm of Light will never be ruled by someone so corrupted by the Darkness."

Jevenan chuckled mirthlessly. "Who is the bigger fool? The Nobody who has chosen to side with the strongest allies? Or is it the Templar, left to grow old and fat on a backwater world, still believing that the Light is the only true path to follow?"

"You." Jonathan flickered briefly before fading out of existence. Jevenan raised an eyebrow at the display of quickly executed magic. He ducked as he heard the sound of steel slicing through the air toward him, narrowly avoiding the dagger Jonathan had produced from inside his suit jacket.

Jevenan was quick to recover. Without wasting any movement, he spun around and attempted to drive his blade into Jonathan's chest. The Mayor however, was equally quick to react. He stabbed his spear deep into the ground, using it as an anchor before dropping as low as he could.

The Nobody's blade hardly even grazed the top of his scalp. Jevenan's attack had left him wide open for a counter from Jonathan. The Mayor tightened his grip on the spear's haft and spun himself around on it and attempted a slash at Jevenan with the dagger in his left hand. He missed, but his feet crashed heavily into Jevenan, hoisting him into the air and sending him flying into one of the mirrors above the row of sinks.

The Nobody rolled back onto his feet, summoning an identical second blade to his other arm as he did so. He lunged at Jonathan before he had time to react and managed to sink his right blade deep into the Mayor's shoulder. Jonathan let out a howl of pain as Jevenan slowly twisted the blade, worsening the wound.

"And here I was told that the Templars were some of the most skilled combatants in all the worlds. How disappointing," Jevenan said with a sigh.

"You're a Nobody. You can't feel disappointment." Jonathan hissed with pain as he struggled to escape. "Don't kid yourself."

"I suppose you're right." With a grunt of effort, Jonathan swung both of his legs up and kicked Jevenan square in the chest. The Nobody was thrown backwards, smashing one of ceramic sinks and sending a fountain of water into the air. A pale green glow surrounded the wound in the Mayor's shoulder, and in a matter of seconds the flesh was left whole and undamaged. "You want to fight a Templar? Fine. Your funeral."

Jevenan rose to his feet, and held his blades before him in a defensive stance as Jonathan's body was surrounded in a pale light. The light quickly faded, revealing him to be dressed in a tattered, silver cloak. The lower half of his face was concealed by a metal mask that was decorated with a jagged golden line over where his mouth should have been. His eyes were concealed behind an ebony-colored blindfold. Gripped in his hands was a massive broadsword, the blade of which seemed to have been crafted from blue crystal and seemed to have an ever present glow to it. A jagged golden line, identical to the one on his mask ran down the center of the blade, glowing with a pulsating light.

The water pooling on the floor came to life, called forth as Jonathan thrust his hand out at Jevenan. The water coalesced into four orbs that floated freely of their own accord. Spikes formed out of the sides and the orbs were sent flying at the Nobody. Jevenan easily sidestepped the first two, while his blades made short work of the second pair. However, the destruction of the second pair briefly blinded the Nobody as water filled his vision.

Jonathan descended upon the Nobody, swinging his broadsword with astonishing speed in one hand. The crystalline blade sliced through empty air as Jevenan dropped to the ground. The Nobody flipped himself back onto his feet and attempted to run the Mayor through as the momentum of the broadsword caused Jonathan to stumble forward.

"Out of practice are we?" Jevenan taunted, lunging forward. A wall of hard-light flared up between the two combatants, stopping the Nobody's blades inches from Jonathan's back.

"On the contrary," the Mayor said as he turned to face his opponent, "I'm getting warmed up." The barrier shattered, fragments of Light magic blasting toward the Nobody like cannon fire. Jevenan was thrown through the wooden stalls, leaving none of them intact.

"Is that really the best you've got?" The Nobody taunted as the stall debris was blasted away from his body. The tiled floor beneath him cracked and shattered as a pair of thick, barb covered vines sprouted from the ground and lashed out.

One of the vines wrapped itself tightly around Jonathan's ankle but was almost instantly severed with a quick slash from the broadsword. The second vine rose up to the ceiling and slammed down, narrowly missing as the Mayor rolled out of harm's way, instead only ruining the remaining sinks.

The broadsword in Jonathan's hands spun like a blur as the Mayor hacked his way through the vines, closing the distance between him and the Nobody. However, he couldn't see Jevenan behind the wall of writhing vines that had formed behind the two primary ones, and didn't have time to react as the Nobody unleashed his next trick.

Two thorns, twice as long as Jonathan was tall and as hard as steel burst out of the ground and effortlessly tore through the armor protecting the Mayor's legs and straight through both of his knees.

"Son of a-!" Jonathan collapsed, his knees no longer capable of supporting him. He barely hit the floor before another thick vine burst out of tiling and rammed into his chest. The mayor was thrown bodily through one of the walls, scattering chunks of drywall and insulation into the office beyond as the force of his landing smashed a wooden desk.

In the blink of an eye, Jevenan stood towering over the crippled Templar. "As fun as this could be, I have a deadline to meet," the Nobody drawled. "Good night, Templar." He drew back his arm and plunged his blade into Jonathan's side.

The mayor let out a cry of pain as darkness filled his vision with agonizing slowness.

-LD-

Kairi gave a start as she felt something cold as ice and slightly moist press against the back of her neck, breaking her concentration. She turned around, ready to snap at the culprit. However, her vision was obscured by a bottle of cold lemonade being offered to her by her grinning boyfriend.

"Two wishes in one day?" Sora asked as she accepted the offering. "You're not getting greedy on me, are you?"

"How else am I supposed to get that diamond studded swimming pool?" The birthday-girl quipped. "Those things don't grow on trees, you know." Sora rolled his eyes at her, dropping down to sit beside her on the pier. Instinctively, Kairi shifted closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence for several minutes, watching the colorful symphony of fireworks exploding in the skies above the ocean.

"Do you remember the legends about the Sun's Shadow Festival? You know, the ones not about why we have it?" The auburn-haired teen glanced up at Sora, waiting patiently for him to respond.

"Not really," Sora said with a chuckle. "You know me; I never really was that great at history."

"Well, to keep it simple, it's said that wishing upon the fireworks is considered good luck," Kairi explained. "And with everything going on in the worlds these days, I figured a bit of good luck couldn't hurt."

"So what did you wish for?" Sora asked. Kairi fixed him with an incredulous look.

"I can't tell you that, silly," she giggled. "Don't you know that it's bad luck to tell others what you wished for?"

"I guess you're right," Sora said, still in his ever present cheerful tone. "But isn't that technically just superstition?"

"Maybe." Kairi gave a small shrug. "But it's better to be safe than it is to be sorry."

"Is that why you threw salt over your shoulder at dinner when Roxas knocked the shaker over?" Sora asked. Kairi merely grinned in response.

"My point is, even if it is superstition, it doesn't hurt to play along. After all, my wish from last year came true." She planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "It only took almost a full year to do so though." Sora pointed at himself with a slightly confused expression. A giggle escaped the redhead's lips and she nodded. "I wished for you to come back home."

Sora shot a grin at her and pressed his lips to her forehead. "That's sweet, but didn't you just tell me that it's bad luck to tell someone what you wished for?"

Kairi let out an obviously faked sound of indignation and gave Sora a light shove. "It doesn't count if your wish already came true. So there!"

"If you say so," Sora said through a chuckle. "Too bad today has to end."

"Yeah." Kairi sighed. The two of them quickly lapsed into silence once more, enjoying what was sure to be their last moment of peace for weeks to come until the issue with Maleficent was resolved. Kairi eventually shifted her gaze to the necklace Sora had given her, a small habit she had formed over the course of the day. The gems seemed to glow dimly of their own accord in the dark of the night.

"This really is a beautiful necklace, Sora," she said softly, trailing her fingers over each of the gems as she spoke. She paused before she touched the opal, the images from earlier rushing to the forefront of her mind encouraging her to skip over it. "Thank you again."

"It looks great on you," Sora said, tightening his one-armed hug for a brief moment. "I'm glad you like it." He gave Kairi a slightly nervous glance and then pulled away from her, leaving her with a confused expression on her face. "I do have another gift for you. If you want it, that is?"

"What is it?" Kairi asked, a look of mixed eagerness and uncertainty appearing on her face.

"Just this," Sora said, flashing his trademark goofy grin at her as he pulled a yellow, star shaped fruit out of his pocket and presented it to her. Kairi's heart leapt into her throat and immediately found it hard to breathe.

"Is that… is that a-" she stammered, staring at the fruit in her boyfriend's hand.

"A paopu fruit," Sora said. "I wanted to share one with you. You know, since we don't know what's going to happen when we're out fighting the Heartless."

"I… I don't… I don't know," Kairi said. She could practically feel her cheeks burning. Sora wasn't usually this forward. She didn't quite know how to react. She quickly averted her gaze, unable to look him in the eye without feeling like her cheeks were going to burst into flames. Instead, she decided to focus on her necklace.

"What I mean is…" she started to speak, but she cut herself off. The emerald and the ruby on her necklace had both dulled to a sickly green and a pale pink respectively. Immediately, Sora's words from when he had given her the necklace. "The emerald dulls around evil." "The ruby grows pale when misfortune threatens the wearer."

Kairi's gaze hardened as she slowly looked up at Sora. For a fraction of a second, she could have sworn she saw him flicker. It was almost unnoticeable, but she knew what she saw.

"You're not Sora." Her voice came out in a growl. Ocean's Toll flashed into existence in her right hand as she took a step back. "Who are you?"

"Damn. And I was so close too," the Sora look-alike grumbled. "All you had to do was take a bite of the fruit and this would have been a lot simpler." The look-alike tossed the paopu on the ground. Darkness floated off of it in wisps as the illusion surrounding it vanished, revealing instead a bright green apple that seemed to glow from within.

"A sleeping curse, if you were wondering," the look-alike said, gesturing at the apple. "Almost identical to the one your princess pal Snow White got a taste of a few years back. Only this one can't be broken by true love's kiss." The look-alike gave Kairi a sneer and shot a glance back toward the heart of the island. "Not that your 'true love' will be able to do much of anything once the Heartless I summoned take care of him."

Kairi's head whipped around, her gaze locking on the rows of tents and food stands set up just off of the beach. Sure enough, Kairi could see several dark shapes that didn't look anything like normal humans dancing around while flashes of fire, ice and lightning spells could be seen from an unknown source.

"Who are you?" Kairi demanded, whirling to face the imposter Sora.

The imposter grinned as tendrils of Darkness swirled around him. "Someone you never expected." Sora's voice said. The Darkness faded, revealing none other than Kairi's scantily clad friend Kim, who clutched a Keyblade in her left hand. The blade was black as obsidian and longer than Kairi's own by just over half a foot. The key portion sloped out of the obsidian in a dark cone shape before suddenly transitioning to a vibrant blend of red, orange, and yellow; the colours of lava. The hilt was as black as the blade, but surrounded by precious jewels. Kairi's eyes didn't find what the keychain was because her jaw dropped.

"Surprise!" Kim laughed. "Now, be a good little damsel and come with me."

"No way!" Kairi snapped. She quickly fell into a fighting stance, doing her best to shake off the feelings of surprise and betrayal currently running rampant in her heart. Kim shrugged and brought her Keyblade up in front of her.

"Suit yourself." Kim drew her blade back and with a ferocious cry, threw herself at Kairi.

-LD-

Richard came to a sudden stop in the heart of the main thoroughfare. Roxas collided with the warlock, having not been prepared for the halt.

"What gives?" the blond grumbled, shoving himself away from Richard.

"Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing out on a really great fight?" the warlock responded cryptically. "Because I'm almost certain that-"

"Not really. No." Roxas side-stepped Richard and continued his hunt for an ice cream vendor.

"You'll feel silly when it turns out I'm right," Richard grumbled.

"No I won't, because you aren't right. Now let's find some ice cream."

"Didn't you already get sick after eating that?" Richard asked.

"Yes. What's your point?"

"Nothing," Richard answered with a smile on his face. "I just wanted to clarify that you enjoyed indulging in mindless self-destruction." Roxas shook his head and continued on for another fifteen steps or so, head bobbing around as he searched through the crowd and the different signs in order to find the sweet treat for which he craved, before a scream off to his right split the air.

"What was that?" Roxas asked.

"The sound of me being right and you being wrong," answered Richard with a gleeful smile. The crowds to their right scattered in a panic as dark shapes with glowing yellow eyes rose out of the ground.

"You have got to be kidding me." Roxas' shoulders slumped. It looked like he wouldn't be getting his ice cream anytime soon.

"I bet you feel silly right now," Richard said cheerfully. Roxas summoned his Keyblades to his hands.

"Shut up," he growled. "Hey! Heartless!" The figures in the alley turned and looked at him. "Yeah, you! You guys suck! You know why? Because you're fucking with my ice cream time!"

-LD-

The Kingdom Key spun through the air, little more than a gold and silver blur as it weaved itself in and out of the panicking crowds filing the streets of Fatum. It struck down a Novashadow as it leapt at a fleeing man's exposed back. A trio of Shadows that had cornered a pair of young siblings were reduced to black mist as the Keyblade shredded through them. A pair of Neoshadows were impaled on the blade as it finally came to rest by embedding itself into a bronze statue of a fisherman riding a vulkna shark.

The Keyblade's Wielder appeared above it in a blur of motion. A gloved hand gripped the blade tightly as it was pulled free from the statue. Sora's comically large feet touched the ground softly as he hefted his Keyblade above his head. Two Heartless lunged at him from both sides. A Neoshadow to his left and a Novashadow to his right.

Sora reacted on instinct. He jumped above the faster Novashadows' claws just before they would've sliced into him. The tip of the Kingdom Key was swiftly jabbed against the Heartless' face, not dealing significant damage. Sora grinned and cast a Firaga spell. Magically created flames exploded from the Kingdom Key's tip in a bright ball. The Novashadow was instantly destroyed.

Trailing smoke behind him, Sora was thrown higher into the air by the explosion. Below him, the Neoshadow's head was whipping back and forth, clearly confused as to the whereabouts of the Wielder it was pursuing. Around it, five Shadows rose from the dark street to join in the hunt.

Sparks of electricity gathered around his Keyblade's teeth as Sora took aim at the Neoshadow. With a shout of "Thunder!" Sora unleashed an orb of electric energy into the midst of the Heartless group. The Neoshadow took the worst of it as the orb struck it down. The Shadows around it were knocked flat on their sides as arcs of Thunder magic came loose from the attack and struck them. A second burst of Thunder magic from Sora quickly put an end to them.

As he hung, suspended briefly upside-down in midair, Sora gave a quick glance over the thoroughfare-turned-battlefield. Stands and stalls were crushed and broken. Debris and small random objects littered the emptier part of the street. People continued to run in all directions, pushing and shoving at one another in their blind panic. All the while, more Heartless waited close by, ready to pounce on the two Keyblade Wielders present as soon as an opportunity arose. Almost directly below him, Nanaki was effortlessly fending off a small group of Shadows with simple swings of her Keyblade. She spared a glance up at him and smirked.

"All yours, Spikes," she called up cheerfully. "Freeze!" The tip of her Keyblade became shrouded in swirling ice crystals as Nanaki unleashed a powerful Blizzard spell, freezing seven of the closest Heartless solid. Sora spun around as gravity dragged him back toward the ground, raising the Kingdom Key as he fell. Nanaki dove out of the way as he came crashing down, Keyblade first. The ice trapping the frozen Heartless shattered, as did the Heartless, cut down by the shockwave Sora created.

"Do you always get someone else to deal the killer blow?" Sora asked.

"What, are you saying that you'd rather be shown up on your homeworld by an outsider?" Nanaki teased as she plunged her blade through a Novashadow's chest. "Sheesh, try to give a guy an ego boost and all he does is complain."

Sora let out a derisive snort and dispatched a pair of Shadows headed for Nanaki's exposed back. "You'll have to try a whole lot harder if you wanna show me up. I'm a Keyblade Master, remember?"

His companion stuck her tongue out at him. "A Keyblade Master that seems focused on handling the small fry while I take on the bigger challenges."

The Kingdom Key split a Neoshadow's head in two as Sora spun to look at Nanaki. "Are you saying I can't handle it?"

"I'm just saying that it seems convenient." Purple-tinted magic lit up Nanaki's Keyblade as a gravity field crushed a Novashadow into the dust.

"You only think it seems convenient," Sora replied, quickly looking around. He spotted a Neoshadow about to rise out of the ground and raised his Keyblade in a defensive position. The Neoshadow leapt into the air, and Sora easily blocked its spinning claws with the Kingdom Key. "But there are actually a lot more of these ones than those."

"Your point?" Nanaki asked, turning around and slashing Sora's Neoshadow across the chest. It staggered backwards, spilling darkness out of the line in its chest. Sora finished it off with a blast of ice right into the open wound.

"It sounds more badass to say that you defeated fifty Heartless instead of ten," he answered. Someone shoved him in the shoulder, and both he and Nanaki gave a start as the people who had been running around in a panic like headless chickens were now all running in the same direction: down the street away from the two Wielders.

"What the...?" Nanaki wondered. "There's something behind us isn't there?" Sora and she shared a reluctant look before turning around.

A massive horde Shadow Heartless barreled down the street towards them like a stampede of the bulls, trampling or shoving any remaining stalls or the wreckage of them still on the street. People scattered before the horde as the Heartless tore down the street, packed tight across the way from building to building. Sora swallowed a lump in his throat. The horde had their sights set on the pair of them.

"Great." Nanaki's shoulders slumped. "Feet first into the thick of it."

"I've had worse." Sora gave his companion a confident grin. "Remind me to tell you about the time I took on a thousand Heartless single-handedly to protect a city."

"A thousand Heartless? By yourself?" Nanaki deadpanned.

"Well, I had some help," Sora admitted with a cheesy grin. "I used some of the Surveillance Robots to kill the others. And some of my friends helped too. I think. It's all a very long story."

"I've already heard it. Naminé is surprisingly chatty in her sleep." Nanaki grinned. "It all made perfect sense. Only your friends would be crazy enough to stand by you and face down something like that." She pointed her Keyblade at the rapidly approaching horde. "But, I always knew I was crazy."

"Perfect!" Sora grinned and fell into a fighting stance. "What do you say we keep these Heartless from the rest of the city?"

"I say Keyblade Masters first." Sora quirked an eyebrow at Nanaki, who grinned cheekily back at him. "Lead the way, oh great Keyblade Master."

Doing just that, Sora charged straight for the center of the writhing mass of Heartless. The Shadow horde fell upon him. Claws slashed and grabbed for the Keyblade Master and there seemed to be no end to the glowing yellow eyes of the monsters. Their attacks never reached their mark.

With every swing of the Kingdom Key, three or four Shadows were reduced to dark mist. It wasn't long before Nanaki lost sight of him beneath the 'tide', save for the occasional glint of light reflecting off of his Keyblade. The horde continued on, bearing down on her with raw, animalistic instinct. Purple light surrounded Nanaki as she charged up her magic, preparing to counter the Heartless closest to her.

With a snap of her fingers, the aura surrounding her spread out in a large circle, stretching from one side of the street to the other. Shadows leapt into the circle, eager to cut down the Keyblade Wielder and claim her heart. Nanaki grinned. The Zero Gravity field she had cast kicked in, lifting the Heartless that entered the circle high into the air above her.

"You're not getting past me!" She hollered triumphantly. Her grip tightened on her the Keeper's Crest as she leapt into the air to engage the disoriented Heartless. The first Heartless she reached was sent spinning into its fellows. The momentum of her attack sent her floating away from the floating 'cloud' of Heartless.

Nanaki twisted as she floated, allowing her to plant her feet firmly against a well-placed lamp post. Arcs of lightning magic danced along the edge of the Keeper's Crest as she bent her knees to gather momentum. With a triumphant cry, Nanaki kicked off of the post and launched herself at the Heartless like an arrow. Her Keyblade tore through its victims with little effort. Bolts of lightning lanced out from the blade with each impact, zapping down any Heartless that came within range.

Gravity took hold of her as her momentum carried her out of range of her field. Nanaki turned back toward the 'cloud' of Heartless and raised her palm in their direction. "Crush." The Zero-Gravity field was briefly obscured as a dome of swirling black and purple magic formed over it. The dome persisted for little more than a second before it flattened itself against the ground. More than half of the Heartless horde had been caught in the attack. Without missing a beat, the Lynfaelan turned to help Sora face down the rest of the Heartless.

The first thing she spotted was Sora, smiling without a care in the world and waving at her. Then she realized that he was doing so while standing on a pair of Shadows and riding them like a surfboard. Nanaki felt her jaw drop. The Shadows Sora was riding were only part of the rest of the horde, which was moving down the street like a flood. And, to her utter amazement and mild terror, the Shadows were flying as a group.

"Nanaki! You've got to try this out!" Sora shouted to her. "It's so much fun!"

"What are you doing?" Nanaki still had trouble believing her eyes.

"I call it 'Surf'!" Sora was laughing, still clearly without a care in the world. "It's kind of like my 'Glide' ability. Except not really."

"We're supposed to be fighting these things! This isn't the time for playing around!"

Sora gave her an indignant loop as the flying Heartless swarm looped around at the end of the street and started heading back towards the Lynfaelan. "I am fighting them!" He said defensively.

"You're riding them," Nanaki corrected. "Just because the two words sound sort-of similar, doesn't mean they mean the same thing, you know."

"Har-dee-har-har." Sora stuck his tongue out at her. "Fine, I'll do it your way."

Sora leapt off of the Heartless swarm as it veered toward one of the buildings, landing near his companion. Above the pair, the Heartless circled around in the air. The Shadows grabbed onto one another, pulling each other along to keep their momentum up and to keep the horde as a whole up in the air.

"I've never seen Shadows behave like that," Sora noted. "They always stay on the ground and try to flank me or avoid my attacks by sinking into the ground. I've never seen them fly before."

"I don't think that can count as flying." Nanaki watched as one of the Shadows failed to grab hold of its fellow, and thus fell to its demise against the pavement. "Yeah. Definitely not flying."

"You know, I've got to be honest. I was really hoping to have a day off back home without worrying about the Heartless." Sora let out a sigh of defeat. "Looks like I'm not that lucky."

"Worry about your own luck later." Nanaki slapped Sora on the shoulder. "If we don't get rid of these Heartless A.S.A.P., then the whole city's going to be in a panic. If they aren't already."

"You're right," Sora hefted his Keyblade and dropped into his signature fighting stance. "And I gotta go find Kairi. I was supposed to be getting her something to drink, you know."

"I'm sure she'll understand." Nanaki raised the Keeper's Crest and held it in front of her.

The Heartless swarm looped around once in the sky above them before the leading Heartless changed direction and threw themselves at the Keyblade Wielding duo. Crying out in unison, Sora and Nanaki leapt back into the heat of combat.

-LD-

There were three things every guard in the Destiny Islands Defence Force had drilled into their head from day one of basic training.

Number one was that the Islands were chock-full of mystical locations and countless myths and legends. Many of which had some truth. And most of which were dangerous. Therefore, a guard had to be ready for anything, because anything could happen.

Number two was that no plan ever survives an encounter when faced with an enemy, especially against an enemy that used strange or foreign tactics. Therefore, all guards needed to be quick, both on their feet and with their minds.

And third of all, a guard was to never assume anything. To assume something could spell defeat or death for an entire squad.

Captain Markas Swallowsmith was ashamed to admit that all three were thrown to the winds on the night of the Sun's Shadow Festival. Having served in the Fatum division of the DIDF for eighteen years, he'd grown complacent.

He'd assumed that the Festival would've gone over as smoothly as the other various festivals, celebrations, and Island-wide parties he'd guarded before. At worst, there'd be a drunken scuffle or two. But never anything overly serious.

He'd assumed that living on the Islands for the thirty-four years he'd been alive, he'd have heard about all of the myths and legends and seen the monsters that prowled the seas and 'haunted' sites that he could see. The beasts rising from the shadows on the ground and emerging from dark portals however, he had never heard about before. And, loathe though he was to admit it, he was perturbed by them. Their black-as-night flesh. Their massive, glowing yellow eyes. Their sharp looking claws that looked as though they could easily rend flesh from bone.

These monsters behaved like nothing he'd seen before. They attacked anyone that moved, often changing their targets for no apparent reason. What was worse, when they got their claws on someone, they would pull a bright, glowing pink heart from the person's chest, and the person would disappear. No body. No trace they had ever been there. Just… gone.

And it disturbed Markas greatly.

Another of the shadowy monsters leapt at him from the ground, spinning through the air like a mass of claws and darkness. Markas' runeblade was ready. The golden runes carved down the fuller of the blade lit up as he swung the blade into the beast's torso. Electric sparks leapt from the blade and coursed through the monster.

Markas winced as the monster exploded into a cloud of black mist. How many had he felled in the past five minutes. Two dozen? Three? Yet there seemed to be no end to them. Glancing up from where the monster had fallen, Markas took advantage of his brief reprieve and surveyed the street around him. His men were scattered across three visible blocks and from the looks of it, he was short more men than he had been moments before. Even as he watched, one of his soldiers in the distance had a glowing heart pulled from her chest before she, too, faded away.

"Son of a-!" Captain Markas cried out as her heart rose into the sky before Darkness swallowed it, "Bastards! How am I going to tell Izan?"

"Captain, sound the retreat!" Trelio Ariahi, the squad's arcane warrior shouted. Ariahi swung his jewel-topped staff with tremendous strength as he spoke, beating one of the monsters out of the sky. The jewel flared red for an instant before a column of fire erupted from beneath the beast, incinerating it instantly.

"No!" Markas retorted. "We are soldiers of the Defence Force! It is our duty to protect these islands and this festival! I will not let their loss be in vain!" To accentuate his claim, Markas made three quick steps towards the back of one of the monsters, one tall enough to match his six-foot-two frame but floating just above the ground on tiny wings, and took his runeblade into both hands. He brought it down across the back of the creature in a powerful diagonal slash with a cry of "Sei!" and the beast started for a moment as his runeblade delivered an electric jolt along with the crushing physical force of his blow. That moment was just long enough for the soldier it had been fighting against to get beneath the reach of the blue greatsword the creature was holding, and pierce it through the middle with her own runeblade.

"To me!" Markas shouted. "Rally to me, brothers and sisters! To me!" The captain turned to Ariahi. "Trelio, give them a clear path."

"Yes, sir." Ariahi raised his staff above his head in compliance. He closed his eyes, bowed his head slightly, and began to quickly speak words long practiced. "Ike. Sol. Kelm. Mune. Flash. Rem. Nai. Del. Get. Val. Eiz. Trail. Bolto!"

Bolts of blood-red lightning rained down from the heavens. Each strike slew a monster, leaping from one to another. The air crackled and fizzled violently under the onslaught. And the creatures were no much against the raw fury of nature's might. Those who did not sink into the shadows were struck down. Those fortunate enough to escape turned tail and fled for easier prey.

Markas let loose a sigh of relief as his soldiers came rushing back to him. The lightning parting to allow their passage. "Atta boy, Trelio!" The captain said, proudly clapping the arcane warrior on the shoulder.

"Thank you, sir." Ariahi grunted, doing his best to keep his concentration on his spell. He rotated his shoulder a little, still not used to the strength that Markas put into his shoulder claps.

A quick headcount immediately put a damper on Markas' spirits. Twelve of the soldiers under his command were nowhere to be seen.

"No way," one of his men muttered, looking around at their paltry nine left standing around Markus.

"What the hell were those things?" another shouted. "They aren't natural!"

"We still have the rest of the area around Fatuhna Square to cover," the first continued.

"Does anyone else hear that rumbling noise?" the smallest of their group, a girl barely in her twenties inquired.

"What of the rest of our comrades?" Ariahi demanded. "We need to join up with them so we can attack these monsters with all of us at once. We were too divided and they got the upper hand. We need to move as one!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," the girl added, worriedly.

"So we turn our backs on civilians to just to look for our comrades?!" The first strode up to Ariahi, tearing his helmet from his head as he went. "Our Code we swore to uphold during the Joining demands that we defend civilians from any and all threats. Even if we must sacrifice ourselves or our comrades to do so! You would abandon the Code? Bah! Typical mage."

"Enough!" Markas stepped between the two bickering soldiers and forced them apart. "I'll not have you two at each other's throats while our Island is being attacked! Ariahi! Your loyalty is commendable, but we must hope that our comrades hold their own and can find us in this chaos. Bheren! Bite your tongue before you piss off the wrong person. Ariahi just saved all your asses."

"Forgive us, sir," both men replied immediately.

"Good!" Markas let out a frustrated sigh. "Let's move out. It looks like this block's-"

The captain's words were drowned out as the ground below them began to shake violently. A massive, tentacle-entwined head rose up in front of them. Glowing yellow eyes, each the size of a man lit up the darkened street. Clawed hands, large enough to grab hold of any man and squeeze the life out of him reached slowly up out of the ground before crashing back down as the beast pulled it's torso out of the ground.

"... clear," Captain Markas finished in a deadpan.

"Sir," the young woman, Ulya, began in a trembling voice, "your orders, sir?" The hands holding her runeblade were shaking.

"Do they really need said?" Markas asked with grunt. He tightened his grip on his runeblade and shifted into a fighting stance. "That thing can't be allowed to leave this street. Who knows what it'll do if it reaches the civilians." He glanced around at his men, all looking as nervous as he felt. How in the hell were they supposed to take that thing down?!

"We show that thing why their kind made a mistake by attacking our home!" The captain declared. "We use everything in our power to put it down!" A grin spread across Markas' face as his men let loose ferocious battle cries behind him.

A bright streak of light lit up the street from behind the massive monster. It turned slowly to look behind it, only for bright, glowing cracks to form along its body as it did so. The glow grew brighter and brighter until, with the sound of shattering glass, the beast was torn asunder. Markas' jaw dropped open. Black mist dissipated rapidly as a massive, pink crystalline heart rose into the sky from where the beast had risen.

But what really caught his attention was a blonde teenage girl, dressed in a sky-blue halter-top with a serrated grey frill jutting underneath the hem and a beige box-pleated skirt that just reached past her knees that was forcing herself up off of the ground. He could just see the shine from golden earrings reflecting in the light, as well as a glint of what looked like silver coming from a chain necklace.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch," the girl groaned. "Stupid scroll could've at least warned me about the kickback." She stood up for a second only to fall back on her rear. "And the mana drain. That stings."

Markas quickly shook his head, bringing himself back to reality as the girl eased herself back up and crushed an ether against her forehead. "That's the stuff," the girl sighed. She looked up at the soldiers, surprise quickly showing on her face. "Oh! Sorry about that! I didn't realize you guys were there. I didn't get you by accident, did I?"

"Get us by accident?" Ariahi repeated. "She took down that monster?! By herself?!"

"That quickly?" The captain couldn't believe his eyes, even as the girl ran up to them.

"Oh good! Looks like I missed you guys!" She said with a sigh of relief. "I've haven't really had time to practice that Smite spell. It's a lot more powerful than I realized."

"Wait, you're a mage?" Markas asked. "Aren't you a little young for your powers to have developed?"

"I didn't even show signs of being a mage until I was twenty-three!" Ariahi exclaimed.

"I'm not a mage," the girl said defensively. "I'm a Keyblade Wielder. Magic just comes with the territory."

"You're a what?" Markas asked. "A Key Blade Wielder? What makes you so 'key'? No offense intended."

The girl scowled a bit. "Not 'Key Blade'. It's 'Keyblade'. All one word." She held her hand out in front of her and lit up the dark with a flash of light that quickly faded. Now clutched in her grip was an oddly shaped sword that, much like its name implied, looked to be a cross between a blade and a key. The shaft of the blade was silver and had semi-circular indentations on its sides. The 'teeth' of the key were comprised of two silver, triangular blades that overlapped each other and slanted downward. Both triangles had slanted, heart-shaped gaps in them. The guard was black and curved around the handle on both sides, but didn't connect to the base of the handle itself.

"A Keyblade is the only weapon that can permanently defeat the Heartless," the girl explained. "The Heartless are those monsters you were fighting. Shadows, mostly, but that big one was a boss Heartless, a Darkside."

"Who are you?" Markas asked, bewildered that a girl as young as her could both use magic and was in possession of a unique type of weapon.

"Naminé Brightheart," she replied with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain."

The captain's eyes widened further. She was still surprising him.

"You've heard of me?" he asked. Naminé pointed to the golden palm leaf decorating Markas' brigandine.

"Nope. I just look for the finer details," she said with a laugh. "Now, I've got to go find my sister. She's going to need some backup."

"Wait a moment!" the captain called out as Naminé turned to leave. "You took down that thing in one hit!"

"And nearly knocked myself out doing so," Naminé added.

"We could use a fighter like you to help protect the Islands!" Markas continued. "If that Keyblade of yours-wait a second, did you say Naminé Brightheart?"

"I did."

"As in, you're Mayor Brightheart's daughter?"

"One of them. Why?"

"He's letting his daughter fight these things?" Ariahi exclaimed. "Isn't that risky?"

"Riskier for you guards," Naminé said simply. "None of you have experience fighting Heartless. I do. It's simple."

"Then I have to insist that you stay with us," Markas said firmly. "Not only because you can fight off these Heartless, but so that we can protect you as well."

Naminé smiled sweetly at the captain. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine. Besides, I'm not the only Keyblade Wielder on Fatum at the moment. There's at least eight or so of us total and the Heartless will mostly stay near the city to get to people's hearts. We've got this covered."

"Ah, there you are!" a new voice said, sending a chill up Markus' spine with the ecstatic cackling in it. "I've been looking for you everywhere, elf." Naminé facepalmed and let out a low groan of frustration.

The door to a nearby building was blown off its hinges by a sudden explosion that shattered nearby windows and seemed to light everything nearby on fire. From the flames strode a dark cloaked figure. Its eyes shined yellow, similar to those of the Heartless. What little skin it showed was white as bone and its fingernails were sharpened into razor-sharp points.

"For the last time, Richard. I'm not an elf," Naminé turned to face the newcomer. "And did you have to blow a hole through the building?!"

"I don't understand the question," 'Richard' replied as he reached their group.

"You're impossible," the blonde teen grumbled.

"I'm not impossible. I do the impossible," Richard retorted.

Markas eyed Richard up and down warily. "Who's he?"

"I AM RICHARD! CHIEF WARLOCK OF-" Richard began, raising his fists to the sky as lightning flashed, thunder crashed and Hulk smashed. He was cut off as Naminé shoved her hand over the cloth that covered the lower half of Richard's face.

"We don't have time for that." She shot the warlock a scathing look. Richard crossed his arms and pouted.

"You people are always interrupting me from introducing myself. How is anyone supposed to know about the little village up the coast that I'm Mayor of?" He then produced a pamphlet out of nowhere and passed it to Markus. "It's very scenic in springtime, you should visit."

"Yet you always manage to bring it up," Naminé retorted. "I never thought I'd actually say this, but it's good that you're here, Richard."

"It is?" The warlock placed a finger to his temple and scratched his head. "That's odd. Usually people see me as a bad thing. I don't understand why."

"Don't ruin the moment," Naminé sighed. "You know that Island we parked the ship on?"

"The small one with the funny shaped trees and the random star on a stick?" Richard asked. "The one you wouldn't let me burn down and so I had to sleep on it last night since everyone forgot about me?"

"Yes. That one. I need you to go back there, and get rid of any Heartless that may be trying to get on there. Don't let a single one through to the small cave. Got it?"

"So, I get to kill these Heartless. Yes?" Richard asked.

"Yes, Richard. Kill the Heartless."

"Wonderful!" The warlock leapt into the air and clacked his heels together in glee. A disturbing sight indeed. "It's like it's my birthday! Or half birthday. Since I don't get to kill normal people." Richard's excitement vanished. "It's actually lame now. I don't want to, not even as an unbirthday present."

"Do this, and you'll get to cut a path of destruction through Maleficent's armies the likes of which this world has never seen…" Naminé prompted enticingly.

"Do these armies have normal people?"

"Yes."

"Do they have families?"

"Some of them. I suppose," Naminé added, only a little bit of anxiety in her voice from what Markus could tell, though he himself was finding this conversation somewhat queasy.

"Do those families have small children or infants?"

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

Markus' thoughts now went to his own family: his wife Cathy, his sons Thomas and James, and his only daughter, Rose.

"I'll do it," Richard said proudly, completely ignoring Naminé's question.

Markus prayed that this crazed man in the robe with white skin and glowing yellow eyes never found out who his family was or where they were.

Naminé turned back toward Markas. Her left eyelid was twitching something awful and it was plain for all to see that dealing with Richard was not something she overly enjoyed. "I need to go find my sister. You guys look like you can handle the Heartless, especially since you've got Keyblade Wielders on your side."

"Are you sure you can't join us?" the captain asked one last time. Naminé seemed to consider the question for a brief moment before shaking her head.

"I can't," she sighed. "My sister has no idea what she's up against. I have to go to her. Good luck holding the line." The captain nodded, understanding Naminé's decision. He turned back toward his men. Each face he saw was hardened and ready to do as the Mayor's daughter had said. They would hold the line. And they would hold it with pride.

"For the Islands!" Markas shouted, hoisting his runeblade high into the 'night' sky.

"For the Islands!" The other guards and Naminé raised their weapons as well.

"For pony!" Richard declared in unison with the others. Naminé fixed the warlock with a look of confusion.

"What in the-? You can't use that as your battle cry!" she shouted.

"Why not?" the Warlock replied innocently. "You all have one."

"Yeah, we do," Naminé conceded, "but ours is for honor. It's an old Destiny Islands battle tradition before going into the fray!"

"Mine is for ponies." Richard ignited both of his fists and marched past the now irritated blonde.

"That's not-" Naminé stammered as the warlock strode toward the ocean. "You can't-"

"For pony!" Richard shouted, his tone one of finality. He quickly vanished beneath the gentle ocean, only visible by his hands, still burning under the water and defying all laws of known physics.

Naminé stared after him for a few moments longer, obviously doing her best to ignore the twitching coming from her left eyelids.

"I don't even know why I bother with him…" she grumbled. Naminé winced violently, her head lurching backward as though some invisible force had pulled on her hair. "Oh, crap. Kairi!" She turned on her heels and took off running in the direction of the boardwalk, swallowed quickly in shadow cast by the Nox's eclipse of the sun.

"Alright men, you heard the lady!" Markas' barked as he turned in the direction of Fatuhna Square. "Let's go hold that line!"

-LD-

Jonathan gave a gasp as ice-cold water splashed over his head. Sputtering, he pushed himself up onto his knees, hacking and coughing as he accidentally inhaled some of it. He blinked his eyes several times to adjust them to the dim, torch-fueled lighting from nearby.

"On your feet," a gruff voice ordered from somewhere in the darkness. "We've wasted enough time as it is." A large hand grabbed him by the upper arm and hoisted him onto his feet. Jonathan bit back a cry of pain as he was forced to hold up his own weight, a feat that quickly proved impossible due to the holes in his knees. The gaping wound in his side did little to help either.

"Looks like I'm not going anywhere," he said. A morbid chuckle forced its way through his lips. "Too bad for you."

"Okay, I've had enough of this place. Move," a female voice growled. The sound of someone pushing another person aside reached Jonathan's ears. A flash of light in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He recognized that flash. It was the same flash made by a Keyblade being summoned. "Lift." A periwinkle light surrounded Jonathan's body as he felt his body slowly float off of the ground and start to float along after the sounds of footsteps retreating from him.

By now, his eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting. He had woken in a long, cobblestone lined hallway. The walls, floor and ceiling were all cracked and damaged in numerous places. Pools of water reflected the light of the single torch carried by a silver cloaked figure and the light of the magic surrounding his body.

Jonathan swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. He knew exactly where he was and where he was being taken. What he couldn't figure out, however, was how these people had known about this place. Its location was a trade secret. Only the Templar's knew about it. And, even among the Templars, only he knew its exact location.

"Who are you people?" he asked, wincing at the sandpaper-like feel of his tongue and throat.

"They aren't people," the female voice, the one he assumed was the Keyblade Wielder, clarified. "They're Nobodies."

"Nobodies..." Jonathan repeated. "And here I was, thinking that it would be Xehanort or Maleficent that would come for the Cornerstone."

"We're here on Maleficent's behalf," the gruff voice said.

"Oh joy," Jonathan muttered.

Silence, save for the footfalls of the group surrounding him, filled Jonathan's ears for several long minutes. He listened carefully, eventually deducing that there were at least seven sets of footsteps around him. He tried looking around to verify this, but the darkness in the hall seemed to swallow all light before it could travel any decent distance.

Eventually, Jonathan felt his movement begin to slow and quickly stop in unison with the footsteps. He knew why without even being able to see.

"The first of the Trinity Gates," the flat-emotionless voice of the Nobody that had attacked Jonathan earlier echoed through the hall. "Open it, Templar."

"Here's a thought: how about you go to Hell instead?" Jonathan suggested.

"If you don't cooperate, we'll be forced to take more drastic action," the Nobody continued. "I've been told that your daughter is back home, celebrating her birthday. Correct?"

Jonathan's body went rigid as ice filled his veins. "How did you know about my daughter?" he demanded.

"We work for Maleficent. Remember?" the gruff voice chided. "We know all about your little princess with the heart of Light. And she's going to end up having a very unhappy birthday if you don't cooperate with us."

"What do you need me for?" Jonathan grumbled, doing his best to glare at the silhouettes moving along the edges of his vision. "You already found this place. Surely getting through the Trinity Gates wouldn't be an issue?"

"You know full well that the gates prevent corridors of Darkness from opening up within," the voice of the Nobody that had attacked Jonathan said. "Even the Lanes Between can't pierce the barriers. There are no records anywhere that explain how to open the gates. Which means you are the only one who can get us through the gates." At his words, the Keyblade Wielder shifted slightly. Jonathan turned his head to try and get a better look at her.

A defiant grin forced its way onto Jonathan's face. "Too bad for you lot, then. My lips are sealed." He let out a hacking cough that sent waves of pain shooting through his body from the hole in his side. "And if you think you can get to my daughter, then you've got another thing coming. She's a Keyblade Wielder, and she's sharp as a tack. I highly doubt that any of you can get to her. So do your worst."

The sharp, angular face of Jevenan came into focus as the Nobody in question pressed his face close to Jonathan's. A ghost of a smile spread across his pale skin. "Believe me, Templar. We will." The pain in Jonathan's side increased as Jevenan plunged one of his fingers into the hole in the mayor's side. Jonathan gnashed his teeth together as he fought back a cry of pain.

The Nobody pulled his hand away and turned back toward the gate, leaving Jonathan writhing in pain and gasping for breath.

"I'm sorry," the voice of the Keyblade Wielder whispered softly from beside him. "This... this isn't right."

"That's what you get when you let yourself be controlled by Darkness," the wounded man managed to grunt out through his pain. "Darkness is selfish. Darkness only cares about the end. The means don't matter."

"Just tell us what we need to know," the girl whispered. "There's no point to all of this."

"If I tell you how to open the Trinity Gates, then you'll just take the Cornerstone of Darkness. And no matter what I do, you lot are going to go after my daughter. Maleficent already has the other six Princesses of Heart. Once she has Kairi and the Cornerstone, it'll be very difficult to stop her."

"You technically don't even need to tell us how to open the Gates," the Wielder said. She adjusted herself, sitting down in the darkness to stare at the Templar. Jonathan winced as he was lowered slowly to the ground. "I've got a special weapon that'll undo any agreement, pact, oath or bond, even on the atomic level. No gate, spell, or enchantment can hold me back." Jonathan's eyes went wide as a feeling of dread and fear settled rapidly in his stomach.

"Oath Breaker," he realized. "You have Oath Breaker." The girl nodded, a motion that was almost impossible to see in the darkness now that the spell lighting the general area around Jonathan had vanished. "Then why go through the trouble of dealing with me?"

"Because the Nobodies don't know what the Oath Breaker is or what it does," the girl explained. "And when Jevenan brought you here, I knew I couldn't tell them. They'd just kill you to tie up loose ends. And I'm not a killer. At least... I don't want to be... Don't you see? I'm saving your life."

"Well, you're not doing a very good job at it," the Templar grunted through his pain. "See these wounds? I've been bleeding out for a couple of hours now, at least. I doubt I've even got an hour left before I kick the bucket."

"So, you're giving up?" The girl shook her head. "Don't you want to see your daughter at least one last time?"

"It's not like I have a choice. I'm a dead man either way."

The two of them lapsed into silence. Aside from the pacing footsteps and grumblings of the Nobodies, not a sound could be heard.

"If you're dead either way, then don't you at least want to say goodbye to her?" The girl asked after a minute or so. "I know that I would've liked to say goodbye to my dad if I knew I was never going to see him again."

"Like I said. I don't have a choice."

"Yes, you do," the Wielder countered. "Look, if you help get me to the Cornerstone, then I'll make sure that your daughter will be safe from these Nobodies and I'll make sure you get that chance to say goodbye. Deal?"

"Why do you want Maleficent to have the Cornerstone?" Jonathan winced as pain lanced through his core once more. "She's so far gone. Can't you see that? She's only going to destroy herself if she tries to use it to open Kingdom Hearts."

"It's not about what I want," the girl sighed. "My mother wants Maleficent to get the Cornerstone. I don't know why, she just does. And mother always gets what she wants in the end. Unlike you, I don't have a choice."

"Foolish girl," Jonathan muttered weakly. "I don't have much time left to go on. And I'd rather not waste it by arguing with you. So how do I know you won't just stab me in the back when you get the Cornerstone? This could all be a clever ruse."

Jonathan retorted. The girl responded by simply placing her hand over the Templar's chest and muttering a single word.

"Heal." Tendrils of green light flowed out from her hand and spread over Jonathan's body, working rapidly to seal up his wounds. The girl smiled softly back at him. "Does this look like the face of a liar to you?" Jonathan's jaw dropped open as he got his first real look at the Wielder. She had large, indigo colored eyes, ruby red lips and caramel colored hair that was tied into a ponytail with the loose bangs framing her face. This girl was practically the spitting image of Sora.

"That healing magic won't replace the blood I lost," Jonathan moaned. "And it looks like you don't know enough about it to heal my damaged organs. You've only delayed the inevitable by a few minutes."

"A few minutes can make all the difference," the girl said. "So. Deal or no deal?"

"You'll make sure they won't get to Kairi?" The girl nodded. "Then we have a deal." He cleared his throat and called out to the Nobodies further down the hall. "The key to the first Gate is the Proof of Life!" The Nobodies fell silent as they turned to look back at the mayor who was struggling to get to his feet.

"And what is the 'Proof of Life'?" The gruff-voiced Nobody asked. "Where can we find it?"

"It's on your leader's hand." Jonathan let out a violent series of coughs as pain coursed through him yet again in response to his raised volume. "My blood. The blood of the Guardian Templar."

Jevenan glanced down at the glistening blood on his fingertip for a moment before wiping it across the grooved stone wall blocking the path to the Cornerstone. Instantly, the grooves lit up with a pale red light that quickly engulfed the entire wall.

When the light faded, the wall had vanished, revealing a set of narrow, descending stairs that were illuminated by a series of glowing red cracks in the walls. Jevenan turned back toward the shaky form of Jonathan, who was doing his best to stand in defiance.

He flashed an emotionless grin at the mayor and stepped patiently aside. "Lead on."

-LD-

Kairi staggered back as she blocked an overhead strike from Kim's Keyblade with Ocean's Toll. Her defence held in place for only half a second before Kim's attack broke through, driving down towards Kairi and missing just to the girl's left. Kairi used the moment to slip to Kim's left side and pointed her Keyblade at the other teen. "Freeze!"

Kim dodged backwards and to the right, completely avoiding the ice before it even left Kairi's Keyblade. Kairi scowled and tried again, pointing Ocean's Toll at where Kim's velocity was taking her. "Fira!" A trio of fireballs, each as big as Kairi's head and half again, fwooshed into existence and rushed towards Kim.

"Reflega!" shouted the other with a smirk. The honeycomb-pattern barrier of her spell took hold, and all three of Kairi's fireballs slammed into it. Fire burned around the half of the shell that took the hit and a little bit of the grass on the ground caught fire, but inside Kim was completely unscathed. She shouted, "Stream!" and the shell around her broke apart into at least twenty different glimmering shards of a blue glass-like substance. Kairi watched in fascination as a half-second after they had appeared they all wove through the air to come together at a focal point in front of Kim.

I didn't know I could do that with the energy from a reflect spell, Kairi thought. It was only a moment later that she realized she was staring straight at an orb of swirling blue energy as large as the area from her knees to her neck, and that it was being directed at her!

"Aw shit!" Kairi muttered under her breath as Kim fired it, the orb becoming a beam as it left its position in front of the other Wielder. She jumped to the left and began to sprint with a gentle curve to the right so as to take her around towards Kim again. The beam just missed her, but only a second later Kairi felt a strong force with searing heat strike her in her right side. She tumbled to the ground, feeling her new goggles smacking her chin in the process, and quickly began to reorient herself. Kim. Where was Kim?

She became painfully aware of just where Kim was when the girl's foot collided with her ribs. Kairi yelped and quickly rolled away before the next strike could hit her, and was silently glad that she had when the sound that next entered her ears was the tink of metal striking rock.

"Honestly, I thought that maybe, just maybe, you might have improved a little since your bout with your little boy-toy on the beach," Kim jeered as Kairi quickly got back to her feet. "Looks like I was wrong. You're still just a half-assed excuse for a Keyblade Wielder!" She lunged at Kairi and the redhead twirled away. Blocking Kim with her Keyblade had proved to be a challenge for her, not due to a difference in strength but in positioning. Kairi had never fought a leftie before!

Kairi dodged again as Kim came at her with another flurry of swipes. "Why Kim?" Kairi asked. "Why do this? I thought we were friends!"

"Friends?" Kim spat on the ground. "You really are as weak-minded as I thought, to still be believing the act I put up and the illusion spell I had all of you under."

Kairi ducked underneath another slash and brought Ocean's Toll across her body in a quick horizontal slice. Kim jumped back a foot, getting just out of reach. "Illusion?"

"That's right," Kim told her, advancing once again. "It was all an illusion. We never were friends for years and I've been acting out the part this entire time." She started to laugh and picked up speed in her attacks. Kairi felt blood run down her cheek as Kim caught her with a shallow nick just above her cheekbone. "And now that the cat's out of the bag, I can tell you that I hated every second of it! Laughing at your stupid jokes, pretending to be excited for you and Sora getting together, plotting your gay ass wedding with your airhead best friend. Watching you two kiss each other and forcing myself to smile instead of stabbing you both made me want to vomit!" Kairi blocked Kim's blade with Ocean's Toll, but the other teen kicked her in the stomach, knocking her back as well as taking some of the breath out of her. "And to top it all off, you call yourself an Apprentice to a Master, but you've got no skill. You aren't a Keyblade Wielder; you aren't a warrior, you're a whore!"

Kim unleashed a vicious slash at Kairi's faltering defence, and ripped Ocean's Toll from the redhead's grasp. She placed the tip of her Keyblade to Kairi's throat, and Kairi stood still as stone as both anger and fear rose up in her, each vying with the other for dominance.

"I always had to wonder why a Keyblade Master would take someone like you as an apprentice," Kim remarked snidely in her triumph, "but you clearly aren't his apprentice, now are you? Are you not his whore?"

Kairi's anger won out.

"Well, Kimberly," Kairi replied, "since we're speaking candidly now, I can say the things I always swallowed because I believed we were friends."

Kim made an amused hmph sound. "Really? Like a goody two-shoes like you has anything bad to say. Go on then; I'm listening, Keyblade whore."

"How much did those implants cost? There's no way that those tits are real."

If looks could kill, Kairi was sure she'd have been struck dead at least three times with the one Kim gave her. "F-forget capturing you, you're going to fucking die tonight!" She removed her Keyblade from Kairi's neck, bringing it back and preparing a swing that would remove Kairi's mental faculties from the rest of her body.

Expecting that, Kairi acted in the instant she had left. She raised her right hand and shouted, "Light!" Brilliant white light streamed from her hand and directly into Kim's eyes. Kim cried out and her posture fell apart as she was blinded. Ocean's Toll reappeared in Kairi's hands and she struck Kim across the ribs with the blade, pushing the other teenager back. Kairi swiftly pointed her Keyblade at Kim's chest, and shouted, "Fira!" A giant fireball struck Kim right in the sternum, sending her flying as a cry of sudden pain left her lips.

Kairi rushed forward and swung her weapon down at Kim's prone form, but she rolled out of the way of Kairi's strike and cast a spell. "Force!" Immediately Kairi felt like the weight of a whole gummi ship was pressing down on her. Her knees buckled and collapsed, dropping Kairi to the ground. Kim got up to her knees and poised herself above Kairi, readying her black Keyblade above her head for a downward slash. Kairi fought against the force of Kim's gravity spell and twisted around. She was still pinned, but at least she could look up at the sun in eclipse as she shouted, "Reflect!"

The honeycomb barrier formed around her just in time to halt Kim's strike with a loud ting! Kim got to her feet and jumped backwards as Kairi ordered her magic shield to burst apart, and Kim deftly avoided most of the blasts, only taking one small blue orb to her ankle. Kairi scrambled back to her feet as the weight pressing on her vanished, and snatched her Keyblade up.

"Heh," Kim said with a darkly excited grin on her face, "looks like you've got a little spine after all, little whore."

"You're not so bad yourself," Kairi admitted, sporting the same look, "though you dress like a tramp."

"A tramp?" Kim asked, rushing Kairi. The redhead quickly raised her weapon and stepped to the side, trying to get the best angle possible on Kim's advance. The other girl's obsidian Keyblade came across swiftly, and Kairi worked frantically to stay on her feet while backing away as Kim pressed her, striking at Kairi with a series of quick strikes that flowed fluidly around the redhead. "You're calling me a tramp? Have you felt this weather? It's fucking hot here!"

"Still doesn't excuse you from wandering around in only a bikini top and short shorts like that," Kairi said through gritted teeth, manoeuvring her Keyblade to block where Kim's own was moving to strike at the left side of her neck. This wasn't looking good. Kim was a lot faster than Kairi had expected her to be, and everything being flipped wasn't helping at all! Where Sora would come at her from the left, then the right, and then the left again, Kim was coming from right, left, right!

"Hey, these are natural, and if I want to flaunt them, I will!" Kim retorted. "My ass won't quit, but you're just a jealous bitch!" Kairi leapt back from a horizontal slash of Kim's, but she didn't quite get out of the way and the tip of the other girl's Keyblade cut a small rip into her dress just above her bellybutton.

Kairi gasped. "You ruined the zipper!" She charged at Kim, repeatedly striking high. "Do you know how hard it is to fix this when the zipper gets busted?"

"Don't know, don't care," Kim laughed, holding her Keyblade by the grip in her left hand and supporting a downward slant behind the blade with her right in order to block Kairi's angered assault. She winced as Kairi's blows rained down a little stronger than she expected. "Don't you have, like, twenty of those tube top mini dresses anyway? Oh! Speaking of which, you call me a tramp, but have you seen how fucking high up the hem on that thing is?" She pressed back against Kairi's swing and twisted her Keyblade to lock both of them together by the teeth, and got right into the other teen's face. "You're the one who is constantly looking like she's looking for a good time. I swear I just saw your underwear. By the way, you've got nice taste in panties; if you're going for the slut look, that is."

Kairi snarled through her teeth and tried pressing back to regain her position, but Kim was the stronger, and soon both Keyblades were locked together just underneath Kairi's chin, scant inches away from her neck. "What I wear under my clothes is between me and Sora. It doesn't concern you!"

Kim laughed. "Aha! Now I see how you were able to get a boyfriend. I'll admit it, I never thought that you'd be that loose or that Sora liked whores."

"FIRA!"

An explosion engulfed the two teens at point blank range, lighting up the area and hurling both of them away from each other in opposite directions. Kairi kept her footing, even as she slid backwards across the boardwalk in a low crouch. She ignored the self-inflicted burns she had just received on her arms and chest as her dress started to smoulder from the intensity of her fireball, and willed the black cloak Master Xanthos had given her into existence. Instantly she felt the uncomfortable shift as the cloak she had received from Tidus and Wakka vanished along with her dress, halter top, and Nanaki's gift of goggles to be replaced by the black cloak. Pants popped onto her legs a moment later, but nothing came into being beneath the cloak above her waist.

Right, she thought, Naminé mentioned something about that.

Kim was just getting back to her feet, but Kairi wasn't going to let her get cozy again. "Insult me all you like, but leave my man out of this! You wanted Island heat, Kim, you got it! Burn!" Kairi launched another fireball at Kim, which the other girl was just barely able to dodge in time. More fireballs flew from Ocean's Toll as Kairi almost danced on the spot, conducting them out of her Keyblade while embers flitted around the bells. "Burn! Burn! Burn! Thunder! Buuurrrnnnaahhhhh! BEE-YETCH!"

Kim had neatly dodged Kairi's first salvo of fire spells, but the random bolt of lightning from the thunder spell stuck her clean in the chest, leaving the other Keyblade Wielder stunned for the moment Kairi needed in order to create a pillar of fire right beneath Kim's feet. Kim screamed, and Kairi felt sickened at how the first sound of that scream had made her feel good. However, Kim's initial scream turned into laughter, and Kairi shifted backwards slightly, nervous.

"Ha!" Kim shouted. "Your magic is as weak as your swordplay! That didn't even break through my armour!" The pillar of fire dropped and Kairi saw Kim standing exactly where she had been, looking little worse for wear even after being struck by Kairi's magic. However, her outfit had changed.

Kairi's jaw hit the boardwalk.

"How the fuck can you call that armour!?" Kairi hollered.

Kim's top was only barely covered by a few bands of silver metal that looked like their only real purpose was to give her immense bust support and keep them from wobbling like kids jumping on a waterbed while she fought, the very peak of the 'breastplate' just barely reaching halfway up Kim's bust in order to conceal the nipple. Slightly above her hips was a thin leather belt that supported what looked to be little more than a four-sided leather loincloth studded with silver and copper on the front and reinforced underneath by mail ringlets. There wasn't a helm, a cape, greaves, bracers, or even boots; Kim still wore the same sandals as she had on before.

"Lightsteel Keyblade Armour, bitch," Kim replied haughtily. "Fully customizable and protects the same no matter what. It could even look like this." The armour 'covering' Kim's chest glowed gold and shifted shape. Kairi gasped as it shrunk, and when the light dimmed there were two tiny triangles of metal covering only the nipple area of her breasts, being held up by chains stretching around her back and around her neck. Kairi gasped at what was essentially the skimpiest 'chainmail bikini top' possible, and looked away with a hand held above her eyebrows.

"For fuck's sakes, Kim, are you trying to get me even more pissed off at you?" Kairi growled in exasperation. Kim giggled.

"What? Jealous of the fact that I have stylish armour and you're stuck with that drab black cloak, or jealous that I have breasts and you don't? Or are you jealous of all of the above?"

Kairi inhaled deeply and gripped her Keyblade in front of her, using the feeling of the metal in her hands as a focus. "Maybe I am but, unlike you, I don't dress like a slut and I have a steady boyfriend. I never needed to walk around in a piece of string in order to get a man."

Kim snarled. "Don't act like such a 'holier than thou' bitch all because you have somebody to take you to bed every night! You're still a weakling who's going to be in the coldest cage in the blackest dungeon Maleficent's got by the end of today!" Kim launched herself at Kairi, and the redhead prepared herself for the strike that was coming, but Kim suddenly stopped several feet away from Kairi, big breasts heaving against the chains of her itsy bitsy top, and pointed her Keyblade at the ground beneath Kairi's feet. "Blizzaga!"

Kairi jumped back, but the ice crystals that formed from her opponent's spell were too large and formed too quickly, leaving Kairi caught in the ice up to her ankles. She fell backwards, feet refusing to move, and the back of her head connected with the wooden planks of the boardwalk. Gasping in pain, Kairi leaned forward and pointed her Keyblade at the ice trapping her feet. "Fire!"

Nothing happened.

"Shit!" Kairi cursed as her body fell backwards, though she was able to keep from hitting her head on the ground again. The skin around her feet was already uncomfortably cold and just getting colder. Kim was slowly walking towards her, laughing quietly while she did so, and Kairi heaved her thighs, abs, and back muscles in order to hold herself somewhat horizontal so that she could look at the ice trapping her. She swung Ocean's Toll at the ice, but her swing had little power in it and all her Keyblade did was chip a small piece of it off. Muscles screaming at her, Kairi flopped back down for a moment.

"Aw, is the poor little Princess of Heart out of mana?" Kim cooed, now standing right beside Kairi. The redhead looked up, gritting her teeth in anger. A slight hiss made it out through her teeth as Kim grasped her by the hair and yanked Kairi's head up by the bangs until they were at eye-level with each other. "You know, I was going to just bag you and give you to Maleficent straight away if you'd just eaten that damn sleeping poison, but since the situation's played out like this, I'm going to have a little fun with you first."

Kim recoiled as Kairi's spit collided with her left cheek. Stunned for a moment, Kairi hissed, "Do your worst," and brought her left hand around in a slap to Kim's right cheek. Kim slowly turned her head back towards Kairi. She grinned.

"You're going to regret that, bitch," Kim stated, still holding Kairi up by her hair. Without warning she swooped down and assertively pressed her lips to Kairi's. Kairi stopped moving, stunned, and was unable to stop Kim's tongue from invading her mouth until it was already too late to do anything about it.

Kairi squirmed as soon as she regained enough sense to move her body again. She tried to jerk her head out of Kim's kiss, but that proved impossible as the blonde still kept a firm grip on her bangs, keeping her in place. Her legs were also unable to do anything about the ice that had entombed her feet.

Kim removed her lips from Kairi's, and Kairi stared up at her, a completely different kind of fear than simply that of defeat in battle beginning to clutch at her heart. "W-w-w-what the fuck was that about?"

Kim struck Kairi on the cheek with the back of her hand. "You do not talk back to your master, slave."

Slave...that's, that's even worse than anything else she could have called me.

Kairi steeled her eyes. "I am no slave Kimberly, and I will never be one and certainly never be yours!" Another backhand slap struck Kairi on the cheek, and Kim let go of her hair. Kairi gasped as the back of her head made contact with the boardwalk again.

"Then it looks like I'll just have to break you in until you're nice and obedient!" Kim said maliciously. Kairi barely registered her words as her head swam from the sudden impact, but she did register the feeling of Ocean's Toll being kicked out of her hand. Kim grasped both of Kairi's hands and forced them together above Kairi's head before slightly unzipping the black cloak in order to force them out of the sleeves.

"What are you doing?" asked Kairi, horrified. Kim yanked her arms out of the sleeves of the black cloak, leaving it dangling off of Kairi's shoulders, and then pinned both hands together behind Kairi's head again despite Kairi's resistance.

"Gaira," Kim muttered, and the wooden planks of the boardwalk broke free of their nails and wrapped around Kairi's wrists like snakes before solidifying into shape. Kim smirked and moved away from Kairi to admire her in her helpless position for a few moments before casting another spell. "Force."

Kairi felt the oppressive weight of gravity increase again under the influence of the blonde's spell, and Kim cut her free from the ice before casting another spell to bind Kairi's ankles like she had her wrists. Kim dismissed her Keyblade and straddled Kairi's waist.

"What am I doing?" Kim asked. She grinned again and Kairi felt a thrill of fear run up her spine. Kim descended again, forcing her lips onto Kairi's and sticking her tongue into Kairi's mouth. Kairi found herself unable to do anything as the gravity spell was still in effect, and suffered to Kim's tongue roving around the inside of her mouth. She tasted like cinnamon. Kim rose off of Kairi and straightened her back, looking down on the captive Princess of Heart. "Mother doesn't let me date, no matter how many times I ask her to let me. I'm better than you in every way, slave. I'm a better fighter than you, I'm a better spellcaster than you, I'm more beautiful than you, and I have better boobs than you. Yet you, the poor little damsel in distress who thinks she's a tough action girl, gets saved by the hero and has her knight in shining armour. The weak and worthless cast-off gets the guy and the strong and beautiful one is left alone. I want a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, too, dammit!" She punctuated her exclamation by slapping Kairi across the face. Kairi winced from the sting, and Kim spontaneously slapped her twice more.

Kairi spat, trying to force her anger to rise above her fear. "So you're jealous because despite everything you have going for you I have someone and you don't? Newsflash Kim! People don't like to date complete bitches like you!"

Kim yanked Kairi's head up by her hair again and began slapping her face. "What did I tell you, slave? You do not talk like that to your master!"

"Go to hell!" Kairi howled. Kim gripped Kairi by the cheeks instead of the hair, pursing her lips in a goldfish-like 'O' shape and making speaking intelligently difficult while also causing some pain.

"You wanted to know what I was doing?" Kim asked sweetly as the skin of Kairi's cheeks began turning a bright pink from her slaps. "Well then slave, I think I'll tell you. Because you're being so disobedient and as punishment for flaunting your flawless romance in my face, I'm going to take what I want from you."

Kim's hand went to the zipper of the black cloak. Kairi froze.

"W-what!?"

Kim yanked the zipper down, bearing Kairi's chest to the 'night' air. Kim grasped at a breast covered by a lacy crimson bra and squeezed. Kairi immediately gasped in discomfort.

"I'm going to ruin you!" Kim declared. "I'm going to make your precious Sora never want to look at you again with how you'll be after you've broken down and admitted that you're my slave."

"Never!" Kairi snarled. "I'll never be your slave!" The gravity spell had ended, and Kairi swung her bound arms down from where they had been above her head. Kim didn't even flinch as they raced towards her head. Just an inch away from the other's blonde hair Kairi felt a jarring shock as her bound hands collided with some invisible force and bounced back.

"I told you," Kim said smugly. "Lightsteel Keyblade armour, bitch. It's plate armour and completely covers me, except for the open-faced helmet I've got. Ha, it only looks like I'm wearing a metal bikini and leather skirt, but I'm just as protected as full plate!" She leaned down towards Kairi's head again, and squeezed the breast she still held onto harder. "So maybe you'd like to rethink those words."

Kairi growled, even though her fear was now triumphing over her anger. She still had to keep up a brave face, even if it was entirely a bluff to avoid letting on just how terrified she was of her current situation. "No matter what you do to me, I won't submit to you or Maleficent. So what if you're stronger than me? My friends will stop you."

Kim laughed. A giggle at first, followed by a louder and deeper chuckle. "I'll let you in on a little secret, slave. Heartless are attacking all over the city and nobody knows that you're here. They'll all think that you're fighting the Heartless in some other troubled part. Nobody's going to come looking for you, and nobody's going to save you this time." Kim slammed Kairi's hands back to their place beyond her head. She summoned her Keyblade again, and pointed at the space just beyond her hands. "Hemataga."

An iron spike shot out of the volcano-like protruding key of Kim's Keyblade, a chain jangling behind it. Wood splintered as the spike drove into the boardwalk, and the chain wrapped itself around the planks that had snaked their way around Kairi's wrists, binding them all together. The chain itself was barely two feet long, and gave Kairi almost nothing with which to use in order to fight back.

"Now then, slave," Kim began as her Keyblade once again vanished. "It's time for your punishment." Kim ripped the zipper of the cloak down until the garment was completely open, and she pushed it aside so that the only purpose it now served was to act as a fabric barrier between Kim's knees and the boardwalk.

Kairi gasped as the 'armour' Kim was wearing glowed again with golden light, expanding and branching off to different parts of her body. The light faded, and Kim now appeared to be in a black corset, with black leather bracers laced together on either arm from the wrist almost to the elbow, knee-high black leather boots, and fingerless black gloves. She no longer wore a skirt or anything of the sort, but instead her bottom was openly covered by matching black underwear. She summoned her Keyblade again, and the dark blade shortened in length and thinned until it resembled a black riding crop, though it still retained its keychain of a basalt rock over a circle of lava.

Kairi tensed as Kim smacked the instrument in her hands a few times. "Now then, slave, let us begin." Kairi shrieked as Kim yanked her bra down, exposing her breasts to the blonde, and Kairi looked away.

No, no this can't be happening! This isn't happening! Sora! Naminé! Riku! Someone help me!

Kairi felt Kim's hands around her neck, and a bit of weight left her chest with the sharp jingling sounds of metal. Kim had removed the necklace Sora had given her not even an hour ago and was fastening it around her own neck. "Hey, no! That's mine! Give it back you bitch!" Kairi immediately paid for her outburst with a sharp strike across her right nipple with the riding crop.

"You do not speak without permission," scolded Kim as Kairi gasped from the strike. "Jewelry like this is wasted on a slave," Kim added, smiling at the necklace and holding it up. "Besides, it looks much better on me."

"I'll kill you," Kairi hissed. "I swear I'll kill you! Ah!" She cried out as Kim struck her again with the riding crop.

"Every time you open that filthy mouth without permission I shall hit you," Kim explained in an even tone. She placed the pad of the crop just against the pink nub sticking out of Kairi's right breast. "Do you understand?"

Kairi defiantly remained silent.

Kim struck it again with her riding crop, forcing another gasp out of her captive. She struck Kairi twice more, once against the opposite nipple, and once right between the shallow mounds. "When I ask for an answer I expect one, slave," Kim said as she lashed Kairi with the crop. "I asked you, do you understand me?"

Gritting her teeth and looking away as tears welled in her eyes from pain, shame, and fear, Kairi answered in a quiet voice. "...Yes."

Kim prodded her with the crop. "Yes...?"

Kairi looked back and glared, refusing to answer the prompt. Instead of the crop, Kim grasped Kairi's nipple between her right index finger and thumb, and began to rub both back and forth. Kairi grimaced at the sensation, and tried to hold back her yelps as Kim smacked it a couple of times.

"My, slave," Kim cooed as she watched both become hard as pebbles, "you seem to be enjoying this."

"No I'm not," refuted Kairi. She winced as Kim grabbed both and began to tweak them between her fingertips, rubbing, pulling, and squeezing intermittently. Kim squeezed one particularly strongly, and Kairi arched her head back and bit her lip.

"What did I tell you about speaking without permission?"

Kairi gasped as Kim twisted.

"Fuck you," she hissed.

Frowning, Kim smacked Kairi's cheeks with the crop. She continued to tease Kairi with her fingers, and the redhead gritted her teeth and tried not to look. She squirmed under duress from the torment.

Please, make it stop. Sora please, find me soon!

Something wet touched her breast, and Kairi gasped when she saw that Kim was licking all around her excited nipples. Her breath came in faster as she watched and felt the roughness of the blonde's actions. "No. Don't..." She implored, squirming even more and trying to wiggle free.

Kim bit down on the nipple, drawing a howl out past Kairi's teeth, and then removed her mouth with a wet 'pop'. She removed the red bra that adorned Kairi's underbust, leaving her completely topless before the victor. Kim returned to her prior position of dominance, almost leaning back to leer down at the expression on Kairi's face, an expression which frequently changed.

"I think you're ready now," Kim announced. Kairi glared up at Kim, and suddenly Kim got off of her waist. She gripped Kairi's hips with both hands, and a moment later she had flipped the Princess of Heart over. Kairi wondered for only a moment as to what Kim had in store for her with her ass up in the air, then her blood ran cold as she felt Kim's fingers run up and down the crotch of her black pants.

"Yes," Kim said, rubbing against the fabric. "You are damp down here. You are enjoying this, you little slut."

"No! Stop!" Kairi shrieked. She could no longer feign anger or defiance. Kim yanked down both Kairi's pants and underwear in a swift motion, and whipped her six times across the rump with the crop.

"You! Do! Not! Talk! Back! Slave!" Kim shouted, punctuating each word with a stinging slap of the riding crop against Kairi's ass.

"No! Please don't!" Kairi screamed as Kim started rubbing the fingers of her right hand against Kairi's precious opening. "Anything but that! Nobody's touched me there!"

"Nobody?" Kim laughed. "Well this is too good! Here I thought you were trying to be modest, but you were telling the truth! You are a little virgin bitch, and now I get to be the one to take you!"

She had increased the speed of her rubbing while she had been speaking, and Kairi bit her lip and held back the moan as tears leaked from her eyes. "N-no! Stop it Kim, please! I don't want this!" She cried out as Kim struck her again with the riding crop, but never let up rubbing the lips between Kairi's legs. With every complaint and urging from Kairi for Kim to stop, she received a lash, and soon both cheeks were stinging and red. Finally Kim removed her hand, and Kairi whimpered as the other teen brought them to her lips, coated in the juices she'd coaxed out from the redhead.

"I love this taste," Kim said, licking at the shine in the moonlight. "And now you can see yourself for what you are, you hussy. You're just begging for this."

Kairi's eyes widened and her voice came out in a garbled cry as Kim swiftly placed the tip of her index finger right against the middle of Kairi's wet vagina. "No! Don't do it!"

"You know, I think I like it when I hear you beg for me not to ruin you," Kim chuckled. Kairi involuntarily gasped as Kim didn't say another word and plunged her finger right in. She'd never plucked up enough courage to even put her own fingers inside, and now Kim, Kim of all people, had just taken what she had been saving for Sora.

"Sora, I'm sorry," Kairi whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"What's that?" Kim trilled. "Apologizing to your man because I've gotten you first? Oh it's too bad he's not here to watch this, but hey, he might even be turned on from the show you'd be giving him." She started to pump her digit in and out of Kairi's wet snatch as more juices leaked out, and Kairi kept her eyes closed and head to the ground. She tried to ignore the feeling of her body's arousal and simply drown in the shame she was feeling burning in her heart.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry...

Kim was laughing as Kairi's hips involuntarily moved backwards, thrusting in time with the motions Kim made, and Kairi didn't even notice as she concentrated on her internal mantra.

"Ha! You really are a slut, Kairi! You're getting so wet just from me fingering you. It's too bad I don't have anything bigger to put-" she stopped, and Kairi forced her eyes open to look behind. Kim was eyeing her riding crop with a dark light in her eyes.

A finger was one thing, but that!? That was crossing the line! Finding the threads of her anger buried within the shame and humiliation, Kairi grasped onto them as strongly as she could and forced them to appear on her face again. Even if it was only for a few seconds, even if Kim lashed her until she bled, she would hold out for as long as she could.

"You put that thing anywhere near my pussy, Kimberly, and I swear that you're going to regret it!" Kairi snarled.

Kim visibly balked at Kairi's tone. She hadn't been able to speak like that for the last five minutes. Kairi tried her best to withhold her shout of pain as the crop descended on her so fast that a great red welt formed almost immediately.

"I am the one in control here!" Kim roared. "I am the one deciding your fate! I give the orders here, not you! And I am going to-!"

She stopped, frozen, and this time Kairi didn't need to wonder why because she could see it too.

A giant spider, at least thirty feet tall, was walking towards them. Eight great furry legs and eight black eyes all bearing down on the pair of them. Kairi's anger, pain, shame, and indignation all melted away as her body simply shut down at the sight of the massive arachnid, terror overriding absolutely everything. The spider reared up on its back four legs and started hissing from rubbing its fangs together. Suddenly it slapped its legs down, just missing Kairi and Kim by a scant few feet. The ground shuddered beneath the three claws Kairi could just see extending from its furry leg.

Kim was away from Kairi in a flash, screaming and working as hard as she could to gain as much distance from the giant arachnid as she could. Kairi tried tugging at the chain that still bound her to the iron spike, and found it completely immobile buried in the boardwalk. Tears dripped out of her eyes as Kairi felt uncontrollable sobs erupt from within.

"Saved and then killed by a giant spider in less than twenty seconds," she murmured. "My life...really sucks."

"Kairi!"

Wet eyes flew up along with Kairi's head at the voice. Naminé appeared out of thin air, just in front of the spike and standing directly beneath the spider's mouth.

"Naminé?" Kairi sniffed in disbelief. "Naminé...Quick, Naminé, run! That spider's about to-"

Kairi stopped as Naminé knelt down and wrapped her arms around the mostly naked redhead. "I'm so sorry, Kairi," Naminé declared, clutching her tight. "I'm so so so so so sorry I wasn't able to find you sooner."

"Naminé the spider-!"

"Is an illusion," her sister answered, still clutching Kairi tightly. "I needed it to drive Kim off. If she beat you then there was no way I'd be able to win in a straight fight." Letting go of Kairi with one hand, she summoned Rejection of Fate to it, and struck at the wood and chain binding her hands. It broke with the single chop, and Naminé quickly did the same to those trapping her ankles together. Naminé turned back to embrace her sister, and Kairi could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks and striking her neck. The spider began to walk away, heading in the direction Kim had gone. "You're safe now, Kairi."

Kairi sniffed twice, clutched Naminé tightly to her chest, and wept. Never had she been so glad to see Naminé's face in all the short time the blonde had existed.

Many minutes passed, both sisters simply holding each other and wrapped up in their own feelings. Naminé was glad that she was able to find Kairi, but devastated that Kim had been able to defeat her and had been doing such loathsome things to Kairi by the time she had arrived, and had been about to take Kairi's maidenhood with a riding crop in the most humiliating way possible!

"I want..." Naminé began in a low voice that she was sure Kairi was only able to hear due to their close proximity, "I want... I want to kill that bitch."

Kairi slowly pulled out of Naminé's embrace and looked her square in the eye. She knew that the signs of her tears were still burning fresh on her face, but it didn't matter right now. "Take me with you."

"Kairi..."

"Take me with you," Kairi insisted. Naminé looked hesitant.

"Kairi...are you fine?"

Kairi immediately shook her head. "No, I'm not fine, Naminé." She looked down at herself, and quickly pulled her pants and underwear back up from where they'd been around her knees. She hissed as the fabric slid over what Kim had done to her buttocks. "I don't know if I will be, either, but I know that right now I need to make good on my promise and make that fucking bitch regret every single time she hit me with that fucking riding crop she turned her damned shit Keyblade into! I'm a warrior, dammit, not a whore! I'm not a whore and I'm not a slave either!"

Kairi almost choked on her words as they made her feel like breaking down again, but she swallowed them down. Naminé handed Kairi the top Kim had forcibly removed from her and turned away as Kairi dressed herself again in the black cloak, zipping it up completely. Wordlessly the blonde handed Kairi an ether, which Kairi quickly put into her mouth and began chewing furiously.

"Ready to go?" Naminé asked.

Kairi summoned Ocean's Toll into her hand in a flash of light. "Let's make that bitch pay in blood."

-LD-

Olette worried that the amount of grinding her teeth had been doing in the last several minutes due to annoyance was going to cause permanent damage to them. She and Nikki were standing in a reasonably large square with a large water feature against its north end. Surrounding them in the air were probably hundreds of Rapid Thruster Heartless. Nikki had just removed at least thirty of them at once with a powerful third-tier magnet spell, the affected Heartless bring drawn in and getting crushed by the force of gravity at the spell's origin, but it didn't matter.

The Heartless' incessant squeaking just wouldn't stop!

Olette jumped up into the cloud of Rapid Thrusters above them and slashed her Keyblade around in a few wide arcs, each swipe cutting through two of the Rapid Thrusters with a single blow. A flash of Blizzard magic whizzed past her head, trapping half a dozen of the Heartless in a solid block of ice next to her. Olette flipped herself around, planting her feet firmly against the ice as she held her Keyblade above her head.

"Thunder!" Bolts of Thunder magic gathered at the tip of the Aubade, swirling together in a tightly condensed ball before lashing out and striking down any nearby enemies. For a brief moment, the air around Olette was free of Heartless. But the cloud of Rapid Thrusters quickly filled the gap and surrounded her once more.

A pair of the Heartless darted forward, their mobility in the air greater than Olette's. They struck at her swiftly with their beak-like helmets before darting away. Olette couldn't help but cry out as their attacks forced her back to the ground.

"Keep it up!" Nikki laughed as she nimbly cartwheeled away from several determined Heartless. "There aren't any more showing up from the looks of things, so we've got them outnumbered!"

"Yeah, three-hundred to two. We totally have them outnumbered," Olette grumbled.

"Sour grapes!" Nikki stuck her tongue out at the Chaser, not even looking as she brought her Divewing Keyblade up to cleave a trio of Heartless in two.

"You're enjoying this?" Olette facepalmed in realization. "Don't you realize what kind of danger we're in?"

"Duh! Why do you think I'm having so much fun?" Nikki leapt into the air and came crashing down, Keyblade first. The resulting shockwave reduced several Rapid Thrusters to clouds of black mist and floating, crystalline hearts. "You've got to enjoy the little things."

"We're fighting to protect a city!" Olette leapt over a Heartless as it tried to strike at her exposed legs. "How is that fun?"

"For starters? You and I are the only people nearby. So we don't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt." Thunder magic danced along the edge of Nikki's Divewing as the blue-eyed teen charged it with her magic. "So we can cut loose and enjoy the fight. Think about how good this exercise is for you!" The Divewing went spinning through the air, striking down Heartless after Heartless. With each blow landed, bolts of lightning lanced out, striking the nearby Rapid Thrusters that weren't in the Keyblade's path.

"Well," Olette murmured, "I could stand to lose a few pounds."

"With the amount of training Master Xanthos put you through, I thought that you'd be pretty happy with that bod you've got there " Nikki answered, firing off another magnega spell to draw in the Rapid Thrusters.

Olette backed up a step, striking at each of five Rapid Thrusters that were coming in at her and reducing each in turn into a cloud of darkness and floating crystalline heart. "Tch. When did you get so chatty?"

"I'm usually chatty when I'm not studying." Nikki gestured with her hand toward the Heartless trapped by her Magnega spell. The Divewing came spinning back toward her through the 'night' landing heavy blows against the trapped Heartless.

"Studying?" Olette aimed her Keyblade at the cloud of Rapid Thrusters and cast a series of fire spells. Coconut-sized balls of flame launched from the Aubade's tip and rocketed into the sky in pursuit of Heartless to burn.

"I'm an active medical student. Part of Master Jenna's 'training' for me," Nikki deadpanned. She didn't even spare a glance at the Rapid Thruster trying to sneak up on her as her Keyblade dropped through the air behind her, gravity bringing the weapon down on the Heartless full force. "And let me say, from a medical point of view, you only get to look as good as you do if you're eating healthy and keeping up with your exercise. And since there doesn't seem to be a shortage of Heartless to beat into submission…" The raven-haired teen clapped Olette on the shoulder.

"You really think I look good?" Olette had her doubts. "How do I know you aren't just telling me what I want to hear?" A small group of Rapid Thrusters fell victim to the Aubade when they made the poor decision to fly too closely to teen wielding it.

"Doctor's code." Nikki leaned to the side to avoid an attack. "There's no point in lying to my patients. Especially if they're my friends."

"Since when am I your 'patient'?" The brunette gave her medically inclined friend a skeptical glance.

Nikki stuck her tongue out Olette. "Since you probably won't find someone else with medical training and degrees from three medical academies on two different worlds that's crazy enough to travel with you."

"Wait. You have three medical degrees?" Olette couldn't believe what she was hearing. "How?!"

"I've got an I.Q. of one-hundred and twenty-nine." Nikki shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

Olette stopped, her mind needing to process this information. "So, you're the Brain?"

"'The Brain'?" Nikki spun her Keyblade around once before driving the point into the ground. Columns of earth and stone burst upward with tremendous speed to assault the Heartless above. "As in 'Pinky and..'?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'Arthur'," Olette said, leaping from column to column as Nikki continued to create them. She slashed left and right at the Rapid Thrusters near to her position with the Aublade, and Nikki called up in confusion.

"Arthur?"

"Yeah, you know, Arthur the Aardvark," Olette answered flippantly, tossing her Keyblade in a Strike Raid towards a particularly tight thicket of Heartless. "That old kids' show from way back when."

Nikki gasped. "I haven't seen that show in YEARS! Wait, which one was 'Brain', again?"

Olette paused. She barely noticed the squeaking of the Rapid Thrusters now. "He was that...that...whatever animal he was. The one with brown fur who always wore a grey sweater and was, like, the smartest kid in school and top of Mr. Ratburn's class. There was that one episode where he got a B and everybody freaked out, and then there was that other one that was like a library book musical episode and he got 'Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde' and sang that song where he was Jekyll Jekyll Hyde Jekyll Hyde Hyde Jekyll, Jekyll Jekyll Hyde Jekyll Hyde."

"Oh that guy!" Nikki answered, watching as Olette sent out a swarm of weak lightning bolts, one each time she said either 'Jekyll' or 'Hyde', and wiping out several Rapid Thrusters with each of them. "Yeah, okay, I can take that nickname in that context. World domination with my plans always being foiled doesn't sound too good given I'm a Keyblade Wielder."

"Probably doesn't look too good on a resumé either." Olette landed near her companion, barely making noise as her feet hit ground. She placed her hand on her hip and looked up in satisfaction. "Huh, looks like we made a pretty big dent in them."

"Yeah," said Nikki. "I bet there's only around fifty or so left. Would you like to do the honours?"

"Nah, after you, Doctor Nikki."

Nikki made a pouty face and puffed out her cheeks. "I said I have three degrees, not a doctorate. I still have at least three more years to go on that, probably more with how much the worlds are going all to shit recently."

Olette laughed and lightly hopped backwards, avoiding a line of five Rapid Thrusters that had all tried to get her. Aublade and Divewing cut all five down in under a second. "So are you saying that you want to leave mopping the rest of them up to me?" Olette asked while their faces were lit by the glowing crystalline pink hearts released from their defeated foes.

"I never said that," Nikki answered with good humour, "but why don't you finish them off right here, right now, with me, together?" She and Olette grinned at each other and readied their Keyblades.

"That was totally from SNL," Olette said.

"Shut up and let's give these Heartless more cowbell!"

"Wait!" a new voice shouted right before the girls were about to leap into the fray to finish things off. "Stand back! We'll handle this!"

Olette turned her head and saw a man dressed in a brown brigandine over a chainmail shirt with steel armour on his arms and legs, and carrying a hand-and-a-half sword with golden runes etched down the length of the blade in both of his hands. Behind him were maybe as many as twenty-three other people, all but one wearing the same type of uniform as him, though the man in front had a golden palm leaf pinned to his brigandine right above his heart. All of them were panting as if they'd just run a marathon, and most of them had scratch marks and other signs of wear and tear from battle on their armour.

"No, no," Olette said calmly, holding out her hand, palm outward, towards the soldiers, "you just stay there and catch your breath. We'll handle this."

"You're only children!"

Nikki made a clicking sound with her tongue. "If I had a hundred munny every time I heard that one I wouldn't need to adventure with Master Jenna in order to pay for med school." She glanced up at the Rapid Thrusters, with only a few of them eyeing the new arrivals instead of the two deadly Keyblade Wielders in front of them. "What do you say we attack them now before they decide that those guys are easier pickings than their mortal enemies?"

"I say yes, and you must have heard that a lot since you have two different med schools that you're attending," Olette replied.

Nikki chuckled. "Well, variety is the spice of life." She held Divewing back behind her body and tensed, getting into a half-crouching position as she prepared to pounce. "Stand back, soldiers of Destiny Islands, and prepare to be amazed! The Doctor is in!"

"I thought that you said you didn't have a doctorate," Olette quickly interjected before her cohort could attack. Nikki fumbled for a quarter-second before regaining her posture with cheeks flushed in embarrassment and annoyance.

"Stand back, soldiers of Destiny Islands, and prepare to be amazed! The Graduate Student is in!"

-LD-

"Keyhole. Keyhole. Hole shaped like a key. Or a key shaped like a hole," Richard muttered as he strode out of the waves and onto the shores of the play island. He stopped shortly after reaching dry sand and looked around at the island. "If I were a Keyhole, where would I stick myself?" He tapped a finger against the side of his head.

"A hole-shaped key shouldn't be too hard to find." Richard peered around at the island. "I've never seen a hole-shaped key before though. That might make this difficult." A pair of Darkball Heartless rose out of the ground and roared directly into the warlock's face. Richard didn't even flinch.

"Ah! Perhaps you lot might tell me where I may find this hole-shaped key?" The Darkballs looked at each other in confusion. Then both burst into flames from the inside out.

Richard shook his head in disappointment and stepped through the dark mist left behind by the fading Heartless. "A simple 'no' would've sufficed," he grumbled. "Just can't find good help from a kindred spirit anymore." He strode off once more, heading further inland.

Ten more Darkballs rose up around the warlock in greeting. Fire and ice formed around the warlocks' hands. "One of you must know where I can find the key-shaped hole. And I'll just bet you're all about as talkative as your friends were back there. We'll have to change that, won't we?" The Darkballs shot straight for the warlock before he could finish.

The Darkballs on his left burst into flame while the ones on his right were impaled on oversized spears of ice. Half a dozen Invisibles rose from the shadows, swinging their massive swords over their heads. Richard placed an arm around the shoulders of one.

"I do hope you'll excuse me," the warlock said. "I'm just acting out because I don't get to kill anyone." With a snap of his fingers, the sand on the beach came alive. It reached up and swallowed the Invisibles whole.

"It's like they're not even trying," Richard grumbled. "This is why I like killing things that can think-" The warlocks' whining was cut off as an Invisible's sword ran him through from behind. "There's a sword through my chest?" Richard glared down at the weapon. Flames fwooshed into existence around his hands as he spun around and punched the Invisible in the face. "That was rather uncalled for." The Heartless was blasted into oblivion, its sword remaining lodged in Richard as it went.

Richard pulled the sword out of himself. He spun the blade around once before throwing it through another Invisible's head. "Ha! Richard: Twenty. Heartless: Zero. Losers!"

A massive, jet-black fist rose from the ground and backhanded Richard. The warlock flew headfirst into the treehouse just off the beach. The treehouse collapsed moments after the impact, burying Richard beneath the wooden rubble.

"Okay. Cheap shot," Richard grumbled as he pulled himself out of the rubble. Two Darksides rose slowly from the ground, massive yellow eyes glowing brightly amongst the dark sky. A third Darkside rose up from behind the warlock, grabbing him tightly with its massive claws and hoisting him high into the air.

"As much as I'm enjoying our time together, I was thinking that-," Richard began as the Heartless brought him closer to its face. The warlock pulled his hands free and launched a rather sizeable ball of condensed flame at the spot between the Darksides' eyes. "Ha!" He cackled gleefully. The Darkside didn't even seem fazed. Richard reached into the folds of his robe and produced a twenty-sided die, which he proceeded to roll on the palm of his hand.

"A natural twenty!" Richard proclaimed victoriously. He held out his hand to the Darkside, showing off the die in his hand. "That means I win. You can fall down now." The Heartless remained standing, unimpressed by the warlock's antics, as any Heartless would be. Richard glared up at the beast. "What? Are you fourth edition?" The Darkside stared back, not a trace of emotion on its tentacle-wrapped face. Instead, it drew back its arm and threw the warlock high over the top of the play island's tallest tree.

"Heh. I'm a bird," Richard snorted gleefully as he soared over the top-most leaves. "But I can't help but think I'm forgetting something." The warlock slammed heavily into the island's other beach, sending a massive cloud of sand up into the air. Richard clambered out of the pit his impact had left behind, shaking sand out from the inside of his robes as he went.

"Ah yes. Gravity. I always forget you." The warlock lifted his face mask slightly, allowing for a small downpour of the grains to escape his face. He spared a glance up at the stars above. "Though you do have the best ideas."

Across the island, the Darksides and their horde of Heartless underlings that continued to rise from the shadows turned their attention on a tiny opening in the rock wall between the island's largest tree and its waterfall. The Heartless could feel it there. The Keyhole. The Door. The only thing between them and a heart unlike those they normally consumed.

The heart of an entire world. And it was theirs.

Or, it would have been, had Richard not dropped back out of the sky, landing firmly between the Heartless and their goal. Shadows and Neoshadows leapt back from the warlock. Invisibles and Darkballs rushed forward to attack. A cloud of Rapid Thrusters descended from above.

Richard remained unphased. His eyes were ablaze with an unholy, and very real, fire. Blood-red light surrounded his hands as he held them up to the heavens. He mumbled a chant under his breath as the flames in his eyes and the glow around his hands intensified.

"For... for... for..." the warlock repeated over and over again as he drew upon his immense power, reaching out with an invisible hand to the heavens.

A violent screeching filled the air, like metal being torn asunder by a pack of starving cats. That were on fire.

"For... for... for..."

The Heartless turned their gaze skyward. A ball of fire and steel and gummi-ship parts. From the Sea of the Worlds in the night sky above, Richard had pulled the Kingdom from its orbit, and brought it screaming down toward the island he and the Heartless stood upon. Friction between the ship and the atmosphere of the world set the Kingdom's hull ablaze, and Richard's unholy and unnatural magic only made the flames burn until there seemed to be less ship and more chaotic fire.

Richard leveled his gaze at the three largest Heartless that towered above their fellows. Beneath his mask, he grinned. His eyes twinkled with delight at the thought of what he was about to do. With a ferocious war cry, he brought the Kingdom crashing down into the Darksides. "For PONY!"

The Kingdom made impact, and exploded with tremendous force, both natural and arcane.

-LD-

Keila eyed Jonathan with hesitation as the Templar led Jevenan and his Nobody lackeys across a massive, carved stone bridge that lead to the third Trinity Gate. The bridge alone made the girl nervous. It spanned a massive, mile long chasm without any support beams or structures to keep it steady and secure. Nestled at the bottom of the chasm was a lake of boiling lava. Smoke and sediments were cast into the air with each bursting bubble of the molten earth, making breathing painful for all present. And the heat was nothing to sneeze at either.

I can't remember the last time I sweated so much. Keila grumbled to herself. Though, whether from heat, or an imminent sense of dread, she wasn't sure. The bridge itself was almost as terrifying as the prospect of falling to a fiery demise. Entire chunks of the bridge had been blown clean apart. Debris was scattered across the length of it and large boulders, clearly having fallen from the jagged stone ceiling high above them threatened to bar their path.

Ancient bloodstains were frequent across the stone. It was impossible to go more than three steps without walking in the dried lifeblood of some poor, long dead bastard. Broken and worn swords lay where they had fallen, some still grasped in the mummified hands of their owners.

But what disturbed Keila the most was the sight of well over a hundred ancient Keyblades, driven into a still solid side of the bridge like twisted spikes. What color the Keyblades had once had was now faded, leaving each only in various shades of black and grey. Each Keyblade, lifeless, separated from the hearts of their Wielders, were like tombstones. Keila couldn't help but shiver.

Did nowhere escape the Keyblade War? She pondered as she slid past the Keyblades, bringing up the rear of the group. She nearly ran into the hulking brute of a Nobody, Zental, as she turned her gaze away from the weapons. Zental shot her an unamused grimace before pointing further down the path.

Leaning around the Nobody, Keila looked to see where he was pointing. Less than a hundred yards away was a massive iron-wrought door. The third and final Trinity Gate. Words of an ancient language were carved into the frame, glowing of their own accord. A pair of intertwined serpents, each easily a dozen times long as Keila was tall, were carved down the center of the door, serving as a decorative lock. On either side of the door frame, a pair of stone daises rose a few feet into the air, each glowing with runes of their own, different from the language carved into the Gate's frame.

"What now, Templar?" Jevenan asked, shoving the mayor of Fatum toward the Gate. "What riddle opens the Gate? What puzzle must we complete? What trial must we endure?"

Keila's unease continued to rise as she caught a glimpse of Jonathan's expression. It wasn't one of the defeated old man she had seen when she healed him earlier. It was determined. Smug. Confident.

Questions the teen hadn't had before suddenly rushed to her mind. Why did he agree so easily to come along? Sure, Jevenan's tough, but his daughter's got a ton of friends around her today. And a lot of them have Keyblades. Two of them are Masters that took down all of Organization XIII and Maleficent! Jevenan and his cronies wouldn't stand a chance! Keila's eyes narrowed. There's no way the Templar doesn't know all of that. He's a Templar for crying out loud! Mother always told us that the Templars never lacked information. He agreed to my plan way too easily.

Her internal rambling was cut off as Jonathan spoke, a grin adorning his face now. "Two of you need to stand there and there." He pointed to each dais in turn. "Then I'll speak to the Guardians to open the Gate. Nothing complicated."

Jevenan nodded in approval. "Zental. Coris. Up you go."

The brute of a Nobody and the short, stocky woman obeyed silently, each moving to stand on the daises. Keila watched in interest as Jonathan placed himself between the daises and raised one hand toward the door.

"By rite of blood and word and flesh, by the right granted to me by the Templar Order, I demand entry to the Sanctum!" The Templar's eyes lit up with a blindingly blue light as he spoke, yet he did not flinch.

The eyes of the serpents on the door flashed red for an instant. Then they came alive. Iron became flesh and scale as the serpents pried themselves from the Gate. Keila and the others instinctively stepped back, weapons appearing in their hands in the blink of an eye. The serpents paid them no heed. They eyed one another for a moment, before turning their gaze upon the daises. Zental and Coris, to their credit, didn't move a muscle as the serpents examined them.

"Acceptable," the serpent on the left said, its voice monotone and genderless.

"Though disappointing," the other hissed in the same voice.

"You may pass Templar. As is your right," the spoke in unison. Keila let out a breath she had been holding since the serpents came alive. Only for it to catch in her throat as each serpent darted forward with lightning speed. Quicker than the blink of an eye, they clamped down on Zental and Coris, splitting the Nobodies in two and killing them instantly. The serpents slithered the rest of the bodies away from the Gate and coiled themselves up on the daises over the vanishing legs of their victims.

"As I said, nothing complicated." Jonathan glanced back at Jevenan, now seemingly smugger than he had been before. Jevenan narrowed his eyes.

"You didn't mention sacrifice. I would've sent less valuable cohorts," Jevenan said flatly. Keila didn't miss the glance the Nobody sent her way.

"Then we'd never get in," Jonathan rebutted as he turned his gaze on Keila. "The Gate requires a Keyblade to open it. And only you have one. Would you do the honors?"

Keila nodded nervously, still somewhat taken by surprise at how the serpents had reacted. She cautiously approached the door, summoning Darker than Dark to her hands as she went. She was highly aware of her hammering heart, each shortened nervous breath she took and the quaking in her knees. Would the serpents attack her like they did the Nobodies?

Both serpents turned their gazes upon her and Keila felt her blood run cold. Not like this. She pleaded to whatever higher power would listen. I don't want to die!

"An Apprentice." The serpent on her left lowered its head. "Amusing."

"Such confusion in her heart," the one on her right noted. "So much Light for one so blinded by the Dark."

"A pity. Such power is wasted on fools who only listen to the commands of others without question."

"And she's coward as well. Clinging to the familiar, when the unfamiliar seems more natural."

Keila's teeth ground together as she reached the Gate. They were making fun of her! She couldn't believe it. A massive Keyhole, larger than even she was, appeared in the center of the Gate. "Don't talk about me like I'm not even here!" She snapped at the serpents. With a single swing, the girl aimed the tip of her Keyblade at the Keyhole. A beam of bright light burst forth from the Darker than Dark and entered the Keyhole. The sound of a lock being turned filled the chasm behind her and the Keyhole vanished.

"Tread carefully, Wielder of Shadows," one serpent hissed.

"Dark paths only lead to darker realms." The other let out a disturbing chuckle, somewhere between a snort and a hiss. Keila ignored them and strode through the opening Gate.

The chamber beyond was perfectly round and rather small. Every inch was made from obsidian stone, from the floor, to the ceiling, to the thirteen pillars of thorns that surrounded a central pit. In the heart of the pit, floating just inches off of the ground was a small glass-like orb. Black and purple mist swirled within the orb, each seemingly vying for control within.

Just seeing the orb filled Keila with a sense of ice-cold hopelessness, boiling hot rage, smoldering envy, and the heavy burden of terror. There was no mistake in Keila's mind. There it was.

The Cornerstone of Darkness.

-LD-

---

PSA:

Rape and sexual molestation are both very serious issues, but in modern society they aren't taken as seriously as they should be. You should not ever joke about either or take them lightly. I did not have the Kairi/Kim scene happen lightly. It took some debate with Shire Folk and my morality as the scene was being written, with a completely different direction in mind, during the planning stages of this chapter.

However, even the best laid plans can change as the situation calls for it and, considering the characters involved, Kim was far more likely to do what she did than what we had planned for her to do. That, and Kim's plain fucked up in the head. Cynthia's her mother, after all. Terrible parenting job; we're lucky Keila's turned out as well as she has.

The tiny bit of silver-lining this traumatic event has for Kairi is the possibilities for character development that hadn't existed before now, and that Naminé saved her before Kim could get any further.

Remember folks, this story is 'M' for a reason. Fucked up shit happens. Dark shit happens. This may be fiction, but that doesn't mean it gets to avoid bits of reality.

Author's Note:

Guess who wrote what. Come on, we dare you to guess who wrote at least that damning scene. You have a 33.333% chance of being right. +50 Internets to the person who hits the nail on the head.

So. Yeah. Another few months between chapters. What can I say? Life. Procrastination. New game obsessions that Shire Folk led me to. New game obsession that I led both Shire and I to. You know how it is. By the way, join us as citizens of Star Citizen and row through the stars beneath the black flag with us!

Anyway, Kingdom Hearts III! Holy shit! I know I'm late to getting to it, but still! I know I'm not the only one who has been waiting seven years for even a hint at it. My excitement cannot be contained.

Also, when leaving guest reviews, don't be the guy that complains about waiting for new chapters or begs for them. It's not polite and I'll delete them. I post progress reports on my Twitter account. Follow me ShadowHorizons for updates and Looming Darkness trivia. I'll be posting some trivia about this chapter over the next couple of days.

On a related note, one Guest reviewer going by 'Guest' reviewer has been pestering me almost weekly for the past month doing all of the things I said above that were impolite. Keep it up 'Guest' and I will disable Guest Reviews because your spam is only annoying and only serves to discourage me from writing out of spite. Seriously, knock it off.

Well, that's all for now. It's late. I'm tired. I've kept Shire up helping me add finishing touches to this thing. It's time to hit the hay.

Aspicio, diluculo Infinitas Noctis.

Shadow Horizons

and

May the Grace of the Valar Protect You

Shire Folk

Yo-ho! Yo-ho!We row beneath the black flag! A rollickin' we go! We own the sea and sky!

Yo-ho! Yo-ho!We row beneath the black flag! A rollickin' we go! We bleed the kingdoms dry!