"What are these?" Sora leaned over and picked up what looked like a piece of glass. "I thought nobody touched this place."
"I know, that over there looks like a piece of a building," Luigi said as he pointed to a piece of stone with glass windows against the wall of the place. "That over there looks like a destroyed tree."
Tippi's voice was soft when it spoke. "They're remnants…"
"Remnants? Of what?" Sora asked.
"Of the worlds the Heartless destroyed," Tippi said."That turret over there," she indicated as best as she could what looked like the top of a blue castle spire. "I use to always see it overlook my home. It was the top of the Tribe of Ancient's castle." She indicated the building Luigi had pointed to. "That building over there was once a tall skyscraper in a city known as Shibuya if my scans are correct. I don't know what this part of the world is called, nor do I care to learn its name…but it's a graveyard for the destroyed worlds."
"So parts of my island…" Sora started to look around for signs of Destiny Islands, a paopu fruit, his raft, anything to show that he had proof that they were destroyed.
"What are you looking for?" Bowser asked.
"Something from my islands," Sora said.
"Sora, if anything, you should hope to see no proof of your islands," Luigi said. "It means they're still out there."
Sora hesitated, but nodded. "Right, let's go."
They resumed their descent through the world quickly, taking note of all the destroyed structures around, a star attached to some fabric lying on the ground, pieces of metal possibly from a space ship, bricks from the remnants of castles, even an occasional egg shell and blade of grass. Tippi avoided scanning them as much as possible. Nobody wanted to hear about the lost worlds that had been taken by the Heartless until they were back.
Finally, they arrived at the exit, a small portal that lead into a black and green room with the red and black thorny heart sitting at the end of the room. A Behemoth appeared the moment they entered.
"I told you not to say anything," Sora said as it started to attack them, sending a lightning bolt their way almost instantly. The three ducked out of the way.
"Okay, fine, I won't comment about it ever again," Luigi said and they all set to work on climbing the Behemoth's back once more and attacking its horn like no tomorrow, Sora slashing at the Keyblade, Bowser breathing fire on it, and Luigi punching and throwing fireballs. With this being the third they'd fought in such a short time, it fell relatively quickly.
The heart on the wall glowed and lost a piece of it, revealing a pathway beyond it. "Come on, let's get rid of this thing." Sora ran over and began attacking it, but no more pieces fell.
"Uh…Sora…" Luigi tapped the Keybearer on the shoulder and he looked behind him. An army of the dark, round Heartless, Invisibles, and white jar like Heartless with wings had appeared behind him.
"The dark ones are Darkballs, Heartless that are physical attackers that enjoy charging and biting their opponents, the white ones are Angel Stars, Heartless that primarily attack with light and magic based attacks," Tippi scanned them relatively quickly. "And…good luck…"
With that the battle began, what had to have been about ten or twenty Heartless swarmed them. The Angel Star attacked with a ball of light that he ducked around before being hit by a Darkball's bit and an Invisible's ball of darkness. Sora jumped up and hit one Darkball, causing it to vanish, only for an Invisible's sword to hit him back. He blocked an Angel Star's attack, which caused it to rebound back into it only for his Keyblade to be met with an Invisible's sword. The Invisible disappeared just as Sora destroyed the Angel Star that attacked him. The flames surrounding him burnt him. "Heal!" He quickly cast Cure before lunging at the Invisible, swinging his Keyblade down. He effectively destroyed it and quickly attacked the two Darkballs around him, causing them to disappear into darkness.
Luigi was cornered by two Invisibles, each one lunging at him with swords. He rapidly started jumping around the area, attempting to dodge them. One disappeared in fire, the other fired balls of darkness at him. He dodged both before attacking the one still around with an undercut. He sent a fireball towards the other one as it reappeared before ducking around the first ones sword. He punched the first one one more time and it vanished. The second Invisible hit him back into a wall, which he quickly leapt off of and punched it once more, causing it to vanish.
"Take that!" Bowser roared. For him the battle seemed to be going easy. All the Heartless who met his flames were burned and destroyed in very little time. A Darkball tried to bite at him, only to be met with his claws as he tore it to shreds, causing it to disappear into a cloud of darkness. An Angel Star fired a blast of light at him which he ducked under his shell to avoid. The light blast hit the Heartless as it returned to it, destroying it and releasing a pink heart. It seemed that all of the Heartless were gone.
Another piece of the heart chipped off of the wall, revealing more of the entry to the passageway. Sora looked to it, as though expecting it to be finished, but there was still a large chunk of it left. More Angel Stars, Invisibles, and Darkballs appeared.
This was going to be a long fight.
-x-
"Fire! Heal!" Sora sent a fireball at another Darkball and cast a Cure on Bowser before slamming his Keyblade into the Invisible coming up to get him. He'd lost track of how many waves had come a long time ago, and it seemed like the Heartless just kept coming no matter what he did. He had stopped checking the blocked passageway a long time ago, now only caring about surviving the battle. He rolled out of the way of a Darkball's bite and hit the Keyblade into the Angel Star, destroying yet another Heartless.
Another Invisible came at him, which Luigi sent a fireball at and destroyed only for a Darkball to get him moments later. Sora cut through a final Invisible and watched as Bowser and Luigi took care of the Darkball. There was only one Heartless left in the room, an Angel Star. He sliced his Keyblade through it, causing it to release a bright pink heart.
They waited for another wave of powerful Heartless to come and attack them, but none came. Finally, Sora turned to the pathway just in time to watch the last part of the heart fall away. "We…we did it…"
"Let's get out of this room before more Heartless show up." Bowser's suggestion was one they were all happy to take as they scrambled out of the room and into a smaller one. The room only had two pathways, the one they entered, and a brown door reminiscent of the one from Sora's dream.
Just thinking of his dream made him realize how far away all of that really was, his days on the island where he'd dreamt of visiting other worlds. The dream that he had assumed was a nightmare was a warning he shouldn't have ignored, but there was nothing her could do about it now. The past was the past and just ahead was Riku. He could feel it, just like he swore there was a noise in the room. "Huh?"
"What's wrong?" Luigi asked.
"Don't you hear something? There!" Sora listened as a voice spoke.
"Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to light."
"I don't hear anything," Luigi said.
"Bowser? Timpani?" Sora asked.
"I don't hear anything besides you Sora," Tippi said.
"I hear nothing at all," Bowser answered.
"Strange…that voice was so familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination," Sora said.
"Maybe we should rest for a few minutes. It's probably exhaustion from that swarm," Luigi said.
Sora nodded and reached into his pocket. His hand closed around the golden bottle that he had gotten from Leon. He pulled it out. "I forgot I had this…"
"Sora, that's an Elixer," Tippi said. "It's the most powerful healer out there."
"Really?" Sora asked. I guess I do need a healer after all of those Heartless. He drank the Elixer and instantly he felt less tired, less sore, more able to anything. He smiled. "I'm ready." Taking one last look at his friends, he got ready to enter the final battle.
Sora pushed open the door.