Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom Hearts (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 72

"Let the games begin." Xigbar smirked as he readied his arrow guns. The boys growled at him as they readied their weapons, before he did something totally different. He took one look at where Kairi, Ansem, and Kyrie were fighting before looking back at them. After a moment, he dispelled his weapons.

"We better get goin'. Looks like the girls and that dude need our help." he spoke as he began walking away. The group stared blankly at him.

"WHAAAAAT?" they cried, making him turn to them and raise an eyebrow at their confused expressions.

"What?"

"Aren't you on their side? Why're you helping us?" Sora exclaimed as he pointed his index finger at him. The man shrugged his shoulders. "What, Axel and Demmy did it, why can't I?"

"Wait, this isn't like you, Xig. What's your real motive?" Axel asked suspiciously as he dispelled his chakrams, crossing his arms. The man shrugged.

"Well, I've grown fond of little Angel and the rest of you and would feel bad if I kicked the tar out of you guys. No pun intended." the group blinked at him before he continued. "Besides, I doubt Xemnas is gonna give us hearts anyways once we get Kingdom Hearts."

"Really? You don't think he was gonna?" Demyx asked as they stared at the man. He nodded.

"After what happened at C.O., I doubt he was gonna. We're disposable to him. Now c'mon, the girls need our help." he answered. The boys nodded as they ran through the Hall of Empty Melodies, soon finding themselves at Naught's Skyway. Sora looked around at his surroundings, before looking at Xigbar.

"So uh, Xigbar, right? Why did you call me Roxas? Now that I think of it…" he looked at Axel. "Axel said he wanted to see Roxas, too. Right before Kyrie saved him. So, why did you call me Roxas?" he asked. The two men looked at each other, then at Demyx, before looking back at the boy.

"We'll tell ya once all of this is over and done with. Right now, we have to find the girls and that guy who looks like Xemnas." and with that, they took off running. Sora cried out an indignant "Hey!" before following after them, Donald and Goofy following right behind him.

"So where can we go from here to get to Kyrie and Kairi?" Sora asked as he looked at the trio, who were running on both sides of him.

"Well kid, once we get through here, we'll get to the second floor of the hall. That's where your girlfriend and Angel are." Xigbar explained. Sora blushed brightly as he looked away, embarrassed.

"S-she's not my g-girlfriend!" he exclaimed, embarrassed. Xigbar chuckled.

"Whatever you say, kiddo. Whatever you say."

-Hall of Empty Melodies, 2nd Floor-

Kyrie and Kairi stood back to back at the heartless surrounded them, keyblades drawn as they glared at the horde. Riku was about fifteen feet away, taking out his group as the heartless surrounded them. Before they could move, the doors flew open, with Sora, Axel, Xigbar, Demyx, Donald, and Goofy running in, weapons drawn. The girls smiled in relief.

"Sora!"

"Axel!"

"Hang on!" Sora cried as he rushed in, taking out the closest shadow to Kairi. The girls nodded and fought as well, trying to make sure that none of the heartless escaped. Once they were done, they relinquished their weapons.

"Kairi, you were great! Kyrie, you too!" Donald complimented. Both girls faced him, Kyrie smiling happily while Kairi giggled, brushing some of her hair back. "Oh?" she inquired. Sora nodded as he took a few steps forward.

"You are different, Kairi, but I'm just glad you're here!" he explained as she took a few steps forward as well, the two teens standing a few feet away from each other.

"You and Riku never came home, so I came looking for you." she explained.

"With a little help from Axel." Demyx coughed into his hand, making the two stare at him as Axel punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!" the two shook their heads and turned their attention back on each other.

"I'm sorry." he apologized as he looked down at the ground sadly. Suddenly, Kairi embraced him, making the boy gasp as he looked down at her.

"This is real…" she whispered as she buried her face into his shoulder. He was quiet for a few moments, before wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. Kyrie blushed a little at this, before turning her attention to Axel, who was watching the touching scene with a bemused expression on his face. She smiled, walking towards him.

"Axel…" he blinked, turning his attention to her as she approached him. He smiled in relief, running a hand through his hair.

"Kyrie… you're okay-" he was cut off when she suddenly embraced him, making him look down at her in surprise just as Sora had done. A feeling welled up inside his chest, and he hugged her back, relieved that she was safe and unharmed.

"You're okay… I-I'm so… glad." she mumbled into his stomach. He nodded as he looked down at her, before reaching into his cloak pocket and pulling out her Wayfinder.

"Uh, here. This is yours." he mumbled as he handed it to her. She looked down at the charm in her hand, before smiling and tugging the lapels of his jacket, so that he was lowered to her height. She gave him a soft kiss before pulling away, smiling but blushing madly at the same time.

"T-thank you…"

"Aw, I wish I had a camera for this! Axel and Angel FINALLY kissed, and she's talking!" the two jumped apart, their faces bright red as Axel glared at Xigbar. Donald and Goofy were laughing, as well as Demyx, while the free shooter smirked at them.

"Xigbar…"

"What? Just sayin'." the man defended. Sora and Kairi looked at them, laughing as well at the embarrassed expressions on their faces. Riku, who had watched the entire scene that had transpired between the two couples, turned and opened a corridor. Sora caught this and turned to him.

"Wait, Ansem! I mean Xehanort's heartless… I never thought for a second that I'd ever see YOU again. Just thinking about all the things you did makes me really mad. But… but you saved Kairi, right? I have to be really grateful for that… thanks." Sora spoke as he stared at the man. Kyrie blinked, Xehanort's heartless? But it was Riku, not Xehanort!

"X-Xehan…ort? B-but… that's-" before Kyrie could explained further, Kairi ran over and grabbed Riku's arm, preventing him from going any further.

"Riku, don't go!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy's jaws dropped at this, while Axel, Xigbar, and Demyx blinked in confusion. Kyrie nodded as she slipped her charm into her backpack, before wrapping her arms around Axel's.

"Kairi, what did you just say?" Sora gaped. She turned to them.

"Riku."

-Meanwhile-

"This spot should do." an elderly man spoke as he and King Mickey reached Naught's Approach. He was holding a strange gadget in his hand, making the King blink at it in confusion as he set it down.

"What's this gadget for?" he asked the man. The man, Ansem the Wise, began setting up the contraption as he stared at Kingdom Hearts.

"It's a device to reclaim Kingdom Hearts and encode it as data." he explained to his companion. The King shrugged, since he didn't know much about modern technology.

"Not sure I get it."

"I do not claim to know the outcome of this venture, either. After all…hearts are unpredictable." he agreed as the machine began to charge, emitting a flash of light as it pierced Kingdom Hearts.

-Back to Sora and the Gang-

"Then…let's finish it. You're still Riku, no matter what!" Sora exclaimed as he stared at Riku. After figuring out that it was truly him, Riku explained what he had been doing and why he had the appearance of Xehanort's heartless. Kyrie, Axel, Demyx, Xigbar, Donald, and Goofy, who had been listening silently the entire time, nodded in agreement. Sora turned to them.

"So how 'bout it? Think we can handle this last rumble together? The King's waiting!" Sora asked as he turned to Donald and Goofy. The two nodded as he turned to the nobodies and Kyrie.

"How 'bout you guys? When this is over, you can even come back to the islands with us!" he added. Kyrie smiled and nodded. "Y-yes… t-that sounds nice…"

"Hell, why not? Where Kyrie goes, I go. And where I go, she goes. Got it memorized?" Axel added as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Demyx tapped his chin with his finger.

"The islands, huh? Is there a lot of water and music?" he asked. Sora nodded, making the melodious nocturne grin. "Sure, I'm game."

"Well, since the gang's goin', I'm goin'." Kyrie smiled at this, before nudging Axel. He looked down at her in confusion before she pointed at Kairi. "G-Go…on. A-apologize…"

"Oh, right." He looked at the younger red-head, turning her attention to him as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "About before…I'm sorry. For uh… kidnapping you." Kairi smiled at the pyro as she shook her head.

"It's okay. It's thanks to you that I got to see Sora and Riku again. Like I said before, our goals were the same. So I should be thanking you." the others blinked in confusion at her words before Axel shook his head.

"Nah, you don't need to thank me. Let's say we call this a sort of… truce?" he asked, holding out his hand. Kairi smiled as she shook it. "Okay, truce." Sora and Kyrie smiled at each other, before he turned to them.

"So, are we all ready?"

"Then let's get going!" Donald exclaimed as he pointed to the doorway ahead of them. The group nodded as they began walking, Kairi sticking to Sora's side while Kyrie stuck to Axel's. But a sharp, cold feeling made the girl stop and place a hand on her chest, her eyes wide. It was a really, really, really bad feeling. Like something bad was about to happen.

"It… hurts."

"He's hurting us…"

"Make it stop…"

"Set us free!"

"Stop!"

She clutched her head, a million voices echoing and screaming inside of her mind. It was like they were wailing in pain and lament, the most awful and heart wrenching sounds possible screaming inside of her. These feelings of pain were not her own, and they were completely foreign. But the scary thing was, these feelings at the same time weren't foreign, like something about her knew whoever it was that was feeling these feelings. It was…strange. Axel stopped, staring at her in concern as she held her head tightly between her hands.

"Kyrie? What's wrong?" he asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She shook her head as she held it tightly, unable to answer him.

"W-what's… happening…?" she thought, the screams getting worse. Opening her eyes slightly, she could see that no one else seemed to be in any pain. Why could she only hear these strange and tormented voices? After the cold chill, a sharp flash of pain radiated from her chest, making her scream in anguish as she collapsed. The rest of the group turned, their eyes wide when they spotted the girl shaking and writhing on the floor. Axel gasped as he dropped to the floor, trying to stop the girl from writhing in pain.

"Kyrie!"

Oh crap...run! *runs away from the fans who have now become rabid*

Xigbar: Well, I live, so all's good.

Demyx: Yeah. Too bad the author-chick says that you're the last member she was going to have live. I think.

Axel: No, I'm pretty sure Xigbar's the last one. So it's tough luck for Saix and Luxord.

Luxord: Hey!

Saix: ...You may review whilst I go and bash their ignorant heads in. Proceed to come back the next chapter to read more. That is all. *summons claymore and goes after Axel, Demyx, and Xigbar*