Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to its rightful owners.

3rd Person P.O.V.

Sora wasn't all too sure how he keeps getting himself into situations like this one. His beady yellow eyes glanced around the room. Ever since they had fled due to the swarm of crazy Heartless, it had been empty in here except for the still sleeping princesses. He jumped down the stairs, his body twitching as if it was broken. He was small and completely back, twisted antennas sticking out of the top of his head. What was he supposed to do now? They were so scared that they took Sasuke's body with them. Clearly, they had no intentions to come back. It wasn't like he could just go along with them. He was a Heartless now. Donald would probably piss himself judging by how loud he was screaming.

But, there's no point in not trying. Twitching more than what he felt was physically comfortable, he exited through the door that Goofy, Donald, and Kairi had ran through. If he could just convince them that he was Sora . . . except, he doesn't have a mouth anymore. This is going to be hard.

He crawled out of the room that they had fought the dragon Maleficent in. They weren't in here, but he could definitely hear Donald's yelling. They were in the next room. Taking a deep breath (mentally, seeing as how he didn't have a way to breathe anymore), he walked into the foyer. Donald was already at the bottom of the stairs, Goofy standing next to him holding Sasuke, but Kairi was still standing at the top of the stairs. Was she not going to run? Sora almost rolled his eyes. She didn't change a bit.

"Kairi, come on!" Goofy shouted up at her.

Kairi shook her head, her short red locks whipping around her face from the harsh actions. "I can't leave them here," she argued. She must have been talking about the six princesses.

"We can't stay here!" Donald snapped, then screamed when he seen Sora behind Kairi. Kairi ran down the stairs to escape him. "A Heartless followed us! I'll take care of him!"

Uh, oh . . .

Sora crawled down the stairs to try and talk some sense into the duck. Donald summoned his staff, pointing it at Sora in anger. Sora could tell by the way he was standing that he was scared. As Sora stepped closer, Donald took several stepped back. "Confounded Heartless," Donald mumbled. "Get lost, will ya!"

Sora rolled his eyes, causing Kairi to gasp. "Sora?" she breathed. "Is that you?"

He didn't even get a chance to nod yes or no. Another swarm of Heartless spawned around them. How was he going to prove himself while he was fighting. Donald and Goofy got ready to fight. With a loud thunder spell, they rushed into battle. Sora didn't know what to do. If he helped fight them off, then they could get confused about which Heartless is which. So, he stood there, waiting for Donald and Goofy to finish them off. Kairi stood in front of him, her arms open in a defensive stance. Sora looked up at her in confusion.

"Don't worry," she said. "This time, I'll protect you."

The Heartless jumped on them, their claws swinging to attack. He didn't want Kairi to get hurt. He didn't want to lose someone else. Instead of her standing guard for him, he quickly reversed it, standing guard for her. The Heartless dog piled them, surrounding the two in never ending darkness. But, a light from Sora's chest shined through. There was no way he was going to give up this easily after everything that they've been through. The Heartless slowly faded away, revealing a now human Sora and a shocked Kairi.

He turned around and hugged her, thankful that at least one of his friends were okay. "Kairi." He smiled. "Thank you."

"Sora?" she asked.

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy yelled in unison, running over. Though, Sasuke almost slipped off of Goofy's shoulder, so he stopped running. They stopped when the Heartless swarmed around them again, everyone getting into a fighting stance to defend themselves. "They never leave, huh?"

Before they could attack, everything was stopped because of a loud roar. Sora looked up. It was the beast. He jumped down from the top of the staircase, giving Sora a stern look. "Go!" he said.

Sora furrowed his eyebrows. "Come with us!"

"I told you before, I'm not leaving without Belle," he replied. Sora nodded. "Now, go! The Heartless are coming!"

"Tell me what happened."

Sora stood there, pouring every single last detail out to the older boy. They were back in Traverse Town, the safest place they could think of going. Hollow Bastion was completely overrun with Heartless now that the Keyhole was opened. Leon leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed as he listened to the story. In the corner of the room, they had placed Sasuke in one of the spare beds. Aerith was checking her for signs of what could be wrong with her. So far, they were getting a lot of 'I don't know's. The only sound coming from the girl was the occasional clanking of the chains of her necklace. The large, upside down, spiky heart was their only reminder that a life was once there.

Leon nodded in understanding, moving a spike of his dark brown hair out of his face. "So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole . . ." he started, his blue eyes glancing at Sasuke for a split second. Honestly, he was one of the most worried. That girl had so much potential. No she was just . . . gone.

"No wonder there are more and more heartless everywhere," Aerith said, placing a warm towelette on Sasuke's cold forehead. "The only way to stop them is-"

Sora held up his Keyblade with a small smile. "To seal the Keyhole, right?"

"Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed," Leon said.

"Well, we can't just stay here," Sora protested. "We have to do something. I've got a few friends back there."

Leon closed his eyes and nodded. "That's right. You have a friends to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts. Just like that Keyhole you saw." He glanced over at Kairi, the girl sitting on the bed next to Sasuke, looking around the room innocently. "Or course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed. Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save your friends, you can."

"Do you think," Sora started timidly. "So you think I can wake Sasuke up, too?"

The older boy snuck another glance at the girl. "Honestly, I don't think anyone but Sasuke herself can wake her up. That's just something you're going to have to wait on. It could be a long while before that happens."

Sora sadly nodded in understanding. Whatever was going on with her, he hoped that she would make it out of it. She deserved that after all this. She deserved to go home and feel the sand between her toes. They all do.

"We're ready to go back whenever you are."

Sora nodded. It wasn't like he had any other choice.

Leon looked around the Hollow Bastion castle. The heart-shaped portal was still in full effect. The princesses', who they had luckily found, were downstairs safe and unharmed. Yuffie was sitting on the stairs with Kairi. Sasuke was next to them, lying on the ground like she's been doing since they found her again. He looked around before sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose like he always does. "This place is in worse shape than I feared," he said. "This is our childhood home. It used to be so peaceful . . ."

Aerith placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored." She looked at Sora with a huge smile. "Including your island."

Sora's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really?"

Yuffie nodded, her voice suddenly heavy with sadness. "Yeah," she answered. "But, it also means goodbye."

"Once the worlds are restored they'll all be separate again," Aerith explained. Sora frowned. He would no longer be allowed to see his friends? "Everyone will go back to where they came from."

"Then I'll just visit you guys with the Gummi Ship." Sora waved the idea off with an awkward chuckle.

Leon crossed his toned arms over his chest. "It's not that simple," he said. "Before all this, you didn't know about other worlds, right? Because every world was isolated. Impassable walls divided them. The Heartless destroyed those walls. If the worlds return, so will the walls. Which means Gummi Ships will be useless."

"So, you're saying we'll never-"

Leon cut Sora off with a sigh. "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other."

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," Aerith said.

Yuffie snorted. "Besides, I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."

Sora turned to her and glared, causing Kairi to giggle. "What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

"Sora!" Sora turned around to see Donald and Goofy standing by the Keyhole. They were waving their arms in the air to get his attention. "Hurry! Come and close the Keyhole!"

He nodded, giving everyone one last wave before running to catch up with Donald and Goofy. He summoned his Keyblade, pointing it at the Keyhole. This could be it. Hopefully, it was. A beam of light shot at the Heartless symbol-shaped Keyhole. It glowed, a locking sound ringing throughout the room. It was over. Hallow Bastion was safe. He turned around to see all of the princesses walking up the stairs. He waved at them before scratching the back of his head sheepishly. How was he supposed to act around royalty?

Alice was the first to speak. She bent down and grabbed her dress to give him a little bow. "Thank you, Sora," she said. "I think the darkness had begun to weaken. But I can feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away. It's the heart of the darkness. It must be where Ansem went."

Sora nodded in understanding and determination. "Then we'll take the Gummi Ship and deal with both Ansem and the Heartless."

"Sora, your courage can bring back our worlds." Jasmine flashed him a beautiful smile. "Once it's done, all the worlds should return back to their original state."

"Kairi and Sasuke will be back on the island?" Sora couldn't help but to ask.

"Most certainly. You should be, too."

"I can't go home until I find Riku and the king." Sora sighed, getting ready to travel to defeat Ansem and close the doors for good. He turned to Kairi, giving her and Sasuke one last look. "I'll be back for you guys. Stay safe."

Yay, Kairi's a reoccurring character again! There should be one or two chapter left in this story. It depends on how things go. I'm excited, are you?