Crystalmaiden62: Well, this is one of my smaller chapters but it's leading to the end. We're getting closer to the end though so that's something.

Anna: Still, you at least have something.

Blair: I'm just wondering how you're going to end this. Doesn't the Chain of Memories game have two paths you can take. You can play as Riku or Sora, right?

Crystal: Yes but we'll get to that later. So now, without further delays. The Disclaimers!

Disclaimers: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I only own Anna, Amy, Amanda, and Lunar Wish. So I hope you enjoy this and please, no flames.

Chapter 15: A Small Goodbye

We left the next day, to Amy and Amanda's sadness. They tried to sneak onto the gummi ship but ended up getting caught by Leon and Cid. So our goodbye wasn't too happy since the two kids were crying and clinging to me. Yuffie and Aerith were nice enough to help my cousins and even I was a little sad to leave behind my cousins. I mean, thinking about it, if Ansem was able to kidnap them in the middle of the night they're still in danger even with the others too. On top of that, when this all ends, will Amy and Amanda will get back home? There are so many questions in me right now that I'm getting a headache.

"You okay, Anna?" Sora asked sitting next to me.

"No, I've got too many questions in my head right now." I said, rubbing my head. "That break yesterday wasn't really a break for me and with my cousins in this place, I've been really worried out of my mind."

"Hm, well at least you'll get to talk to Herc when we get back to the Coliseum." Sora said, smiling. "You can take out all your anger out there."

"But I'm not angry." I argued, but we landed at the world and ended up becoming a part of the one of the tournaments. Honestly, it was actually a good thing. Better than going through the Hundred Acre Wood at least. We got that rematch with Cloud, trained, and even fought Hercules. Well, Sora did that one. He practically begged me to stay out of it. I'd have to say, it's pretty awesome to see Sora hold his own and beat Hercules by himself. He worked hard all this time and you can see how much he's improved. I think if Riku saw this, he'd be proud of Sora right now as he held his trophy in the air.

"Wow! And I didn't even hold back!" Herc said, amazed.

"Now I finally know what you mean about strength of heart." Sora said, looking close to glowing. "Mine comes from Anna, Donald, and Goofy."

"Come again?" Phil asked shocked.

"Well, if we stick together, we're unbeatable. It's like when Herc, Ven, and I fought together against the monsters years back." I said, smiling.

"That's right, together nothing can stop us. Not even Hercules stands a chance." Herc seemed to get it too, and smiled down at my friend. "With these guys beside me, I'm ready for anything!"

"And if we got Sora, we're the prefect team." I said, swinging my arm over his shoulder and he laughed.

"But that's not exactly what I…."

"Of course." Herc said, picking Phil up and interrupting him. "Your friends give you strength. Isn't that right, Phil? The four of you guys make great heroes. And as a team, I'm sure you can overcome anything." Sora grinned as he high fived Herc before looking at me.

"So, where's the keyhole?"

"Under the pedestal." I said, pointing to it.

"What? But no one can move it. I can't move it." Herc said, but shrugged. "I guess with the four of you together, you guys can move it."

"Okay." Sora said and really, Herc was right. The four of us, we managed to move the pedestal and we saw the keyhole. We instantly sealed the keyhole and we sealed the last world.

"Hey, guys. Do you think you can wait for me at the gummi ship?"

"Um…sure." Sora said, as the others reluctantly left. Herc is still one of my closest friends so I want to at least talk to him a bit.

"What's up, Anna?"

"I just want to say good bye." I said, playing with my cellphone charm.

"What, why kid?" Phil asked, shocked. "We'll see you again soon, right?"

"Well, I guess but you might not remember me." I said, thinking about what'll happen after we close when we close the door to darkness. I don't know what'll happen concerning me but I'll just get ready.

"Don't worry, I'll still remember you somehow." Herc said, smiling. "You and Ven are my friends, I'm never going to forget you for that."

"Yeah, beside, how am I gonna forget you?" Phil asked, crossing his arms.

"Thanks, still I have a feeling you will." I said, and walked off. We've only got one keyhole left so we headed back to Hollow Bastion to see Beast waiting there.

"Where's Belle?" Sora asked, as we came to him.

"Still in the castle." Beast said, looking back up at the castle.

"Against her will?" Goofy asked.

"No, I think she stayed for a reason." Beast said, looking a little worried about Belle. "The other princesses are inside as well."

"I wonder why?" Donald asked but I can see why. Even without Lunar with me, I can still see the darkness coming from the castle but not enough to engulf the world. The princesses inside are putting all their light to keep the world from being destroyed.

"Come on, let's go." I said, and we went back to the castle. The castle wasn't as bad as before really. There was one thing good though. When we decided to go to the library, Beast got to see Belle again. I have to admit, it's romantic but thinking about what happens in Kingdom Hearts 2 it feels like things went a few steps back. Here, they seem really close but later on, Beast can't trust Belle as much.

"Anna." I looked up to Belle, who looked serious. "You and the keybearer have comes to seal the keyhole, right? Please, be careful, both of you. The darkness is raging inside. We've been holding it back, but we can't hold them back much longer."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it." I nodded and I had to ask her a question.

"Belle, about the keyhole. Isn't my keyblade just a normal one now? Without Lunar's spirit, it's doesn't have it original powers."

"That's not entirely true." Belle said, smiling a little. "You gave Lunar to a person who has a strong bond with you. Even with that bond, you'll only be able to get the ability to purify the keyhole and that's it."

"Okay, but I have one more question. If I'm the light of Kingdom Hearts, why is it necessary for me to have Lunar to do this?" I asked, this question has been on my mind of a while now and this is a better time than any.

"Well, you may be the light but Lunar is your vessel to control it." Belle said, as I looked down at my keyblade. "Lunar acts as the bridge between you and Kingdom Hearts. With her, you had unlimited access to the light but now, you're really limited. So at the moment you're running on reserved light. If you lose the rest of your light that's left, I'm not sure what'll happen to you."

"Oh, I've got a pretty good idea." I said with a sigh, as we left to find the other princesses. I'm guessing I'll die because I need the light to survive but really, I'm kind of tired on hearing the ways I'll die. The climb through the castle wasn't bad at all now. Sure, the Heartless kept trying to ambush us at every corner but they weren't hard to deal with now. Thank goodness for that tournament! But, we made it to the place where we first fought Maleficent to see the princesses gathered there.

"Anna!" Snow White cheered coming to me. I smiled at her, I'm happy to see she's okay but I can tell she was really scared by the darkness around her.

"Anna, Sora, please hurry!" Jasmine pleaded. "Darkness is pouring from the keyhole."

"It's all we can do just to hold back the darkness." Alice said, looking really worried.

"I don't know how long we can manage even that." Snow White said, as I nodded. They don't know their own power very well but then again, neither did Kairi until recently.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it." I said, nodding. There's really nothing else we can do for that.

"Anna?" I turned to see Cinderella and Aurora coming o us. "I thought you were a mouse all this time." Okay, I can't really say now the dirt got to her brain because she's been living in a nice clean castle for the last ten years! Maybe she got a head injury while I was away or she has bad eyesight.

"Where's Ansem?" Sora asked, before I can even speak.

"Gone."

"When the keyhole appeared, darkness poured out of it." Aurora said, seeming calm for a person standing on the edge of a darkness outbreak. "It swallowed Ansem, and he disappeared."

"Though Ansem is gone, the flood of darkness hasn't stopped." Cinderella said, just as calmly. "We're working together to hold it back." Okay, these too are too fearless. The other three have a right to be scared but these two aren't even scared of the darkness! Well, that kind of makes sense because Cinderella never ran from the Unversed when she was with Terra and Aurora was willing to go off with a random stranger after singing a song. They don't seem to have a danger sense in them.

"I cannot forget the look on his face." Aurora said, finally looking unnerved! "As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling." Yeah, that sounds like Ansem alright.

"Well, don't worry. We'll deal with it." Sora said and we went off to the chamber. Really, now it's even creepier. I can feel the darkness pouring out of that keyhole and it's pretty scary. In fact, it felt like it was pushing me down and made it hard to breath a bit.

"You okay?"

"Can't you feel the darkness pouring out? It's suffocating." I said, gasping a little.

"Then let's hurry. They can't keep holding it back." Sora said, and we made our way up and to the keyhole. We had to climb through the heart shape thing and saw the keyhole only to be guarded by a Behemoth Heartless. Sora at least seemed to know where to attack the Heartless now and summoned Mushu to shoot fire at the Behemoth's horn. Its hard to believe that when Sora first got his keyblade, he was shocked to face a giant Dark Side. Now, he's able to fight against a massive Heartless that can shoot lighting and crush us with its hooves! He really has come very far. Still, he can't beat it alone so Donald, Goofy, and I were always there to help him out. Makes me think of the time Aqua, Terra, Ventus, and I fought together against that giant Unversed when Hollow Bastion was still Radiant Garden. We've all grown stronger during this whole thing yet it still took us about thirty minutes to defeat the Heartless.

"Now let's go seal that big keyhole!" Goofy cheered.

"Sora, Anna. You did it!" Sora turned at Leon's voice, which came from the chamber.

"Go Anna!"

"What the?" I ran out to see Amy and Amanda there, with Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie there. "Guys! Why did you bring my cousins here?"

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked, as my cousins came to hug me.

"We came on Cid's ship." Yuffie said, sitting on the ramp. "And since we needed to watch over Kairi, Amy, and Amanda we brought them with us."

"What!" Sora gasped, as I hit my head. This is probably the most dangerous place for them to be.

"This is out childhood home." Aerith pointed out. "We wanted to see it again."

"It's in worse shape than I feared." Leon said, looking a little depressed at his surroundings. "It used to be so peaceful…"

"Still, it's better than nothing." Amy pointed out, but Leon just sighed in annoyance.

"Don't worry. If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including your island and Amy and Amanda can return home." Aerith said, as the two kids looked at each other.

"Yay! We'll go home soon!"

"Really?" Sora asked, looking hopeful as Aerith nodded.

"But, it also means goodbye." Yuffie said, not depressed.

"Once the worlds are restored, they'll all be separated again." Aerith pointed out to Sora's shock.

"Everyone will go back to where they came from."

"They we'll visit you guys on the gummi ship." Sora pointed out, as I shook my head.

"Sora, it's not as simple as that." I said, folding my arms. "The world will be disconnected so there will be no way for us to travel to other worlds. Everything will go back to the way they were before the Heartless came; divided from each other."

"So, you're saying we'll never…?" Sora asked, now depressed as the others.

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other." Leon pointed out as I nodded.

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again." Aerith pointed out, with a small smile.

"Besides, I couldn't forget you guys even if I wanted to." Yuffie pointed out, as Amy and Amanda laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora groaned and I laughed too.

"Sora, Anna!"

"Hurry! Come and close the keyhole!" Donald and Goofy yelled at us.

"Sora, Anna. Good luck." Leon said, and we nodded before running back to close the keyhole. It's a good thing we already beat the boss so all we had to do was seal and leave. We want back to the princesses, who looked over joyed at the darkness being gone.

"Thank you, Sora, Anna." Alice cheered. "I think the darkness has begun to weaken."

"But I can feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away." Jasmine pointed out.

"It's the heart of the darkness. It must be where Ansem went." Aurora said, and really again she doesn't look serious.

"Then we'll take the gummi ship and deal with both Ansem and the Heartless." Sora said, as I nodded.

"Yeah, we've got a lot of things to deal with Ansem. He's got our friends and we'll get them back."

"Sora, Anna, your courage and light can bring back our worlds." Snow White pointed out.

"Once the darkness is gone, all should return to its original state."

"Kairi will be back on the island?" Sora asked, as I nodded.

"You probably will to be we need to find Riku and Mickey first." I said, as Sora nodded. "Still, I need to speak with Aerith before we go."

"Um… okay?" Sora said, and they followed me back to the library, where Aerith was looking over the rest of Ansem's report.

"Sora, Anna, you should read this." Aerith said, handing them to me but I handed them to Sora.

"Read what?" Sora asked, taking it from me.

"The rest of Ansem's report." Aerith said, sighing. "Maleficent must have collected it." Sora looked down at the reports and the guys went to read it as I leaned against the bookcase.

"How are you feeling, Aerith? Everything must be a big shock right now."

"Yes." Aerith said, not looking at me. "Ansem disappeared when this world fell to the darkness. It was believed he died defending people from the Heartless. But Ansem was the one who brought them here."

"Yeah, I know. And to think I had a chance to stop all this." I said, looking up at the ceiling. "I could've stopped all of this at one point but if I did things would've gotten really out of hand and I have to remind myself that what's happening now isn't as bad as if I had interfered more."

"Anna…."

"I do have a lot of regrets about things but looking at Sora, I'm at least happy he's grown during this whole thing and most of my friends are still okay." I said, summoning my keyblade. "I'll get Lunar and Riku back. I know that for a fact. I'll get them back some how."

"Yes, I'm sure you will." Aerith said, turning to smile at me. "This isn't really a goodbye, right?"

"Nope, just a 'be back later'." I said, looking to her. "Just because the darkness will be gone doesn't mean something else is waiting behind the corner. That's why I can't be sad on this goodbye. We'll see each other again. Maybe not tomorrow or next week but some day."

"Right, then we'll see each other again." Aerith said.

"Let's get Ansem!" I jumped and turned to see Sora looking angry and jumped down to me with the others. "Everything is his fault! It's time we make him pay!"

"Right." I said, and made to follow him but nodded to Aerith. Yeah, we'll see each other again. No need to be sad. Now, I have to focus on getting Riku and Lunar while finding a way to get Amy and Amanda back home. We were about to enter the gummi ship and launch off when we saw Amy, Amanda, and Kairi waving to us. Yeah, it's going to be the last battle of this adventure before the next. I won't lose to you, Ansem!

Anna: Hold on! Shouldn't we face Sephiroth?

Crystal: Well, that's the thing I noticed. If Sora faced Sephiroth in this, he'd remember him in KH2 but the cutscene says otherwise. Besides, Sephiroth is a hard boss. Even the guide said it'll be hard to beat him even at level hundred.

Blair: That's on hard boss fight.

Anna: I'm kind of glad not fighting him.

Crystal: Oh you will, but not now.

Anna: What?

Crystal: Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Join us next time in the last chapter of Hearts of Darkness. Chapter 16: End of the World. See you soon!