Chapter VII: Home Is Where the Heart is

Sora stared at his hand, his memory was still foggy. But he had bad vibes. Hayner and Pence looked concerned, and Olette was nowhere in site.

Keyblade...

His eyes were still locked on Braig's hand, this was his choice.

Keyblade...

Sora began to raise his hand.

"Sora, don't!" Hayner shouted.

All was still. The brunette's eyes shifted from Braig's hand to his own. Then, suddenly, a bright light flashed.

With a quick motion, Sora had swept the Keyblade in both hands.

"I don't need you to tell me my path!" he said.

Braig scoffed. "Oh, now you're a big shot! I see..." He brought up his arm, summoning his Sharpshooter. "In that case, I'll just take you by force!"

Braig aimed at him and was about to shoot, when someone appeared.

"Don't touch him!" A girl shouted, swinging her Keyblade at him, causing him to disappear, then reappear a few feet back.

He began to laugh. "Look who's decided to show up! The very reason you're here!"

Sora stared at the girl. She looked so familiar.

"Gimme a break, Ka-"

He shook his head.

"There's no way you're taking Kair- heart!"

She turned to face him, it was a face that he had seen so many times before.

"Kairi!" He gasped.

She nodded a bit "It's my turn to do the saving."

Sora smiled and walked forward "We can both be the hero."

"Or so you thought, as if!" Said Braig with an air of confidence.

Just then, they were surrounded by 11 more figures.

"Hayner, Pence, get inside with Olette!" Sora called to the two boys who were cornering themselves to a wall. They did as they were told, and ran inside.

"Kairi, thank you..." Sora said, looking at Kairi.

"Don't thank me." She said quickly, looking at the hooded figures.

"Now, you have your choice, Keyblade bearer, come with us peacefully, or we can do this the hard way." Said Braig.

"There's no way I'll go with you!" Said Sora, running at Braig.

Braig scowled, "Fine. I see how it is."

He then raised his Sharpshooter and deflected Sora's hit. Kairi ran at him, but one of the cloaked figures grabbed her.

"I'll take you down one by one." Said Braig. He leaped onto a roof and aimed at Sora. His finger touched the trigger, pulling it. At that moment, Sora ran to Kairi's aid.

"What's the plan?" Sora asked, Kairi normally knew what to do. His memory was still pretty hazy.

"I thought you had one!" She said, back to back with him. They then leaped apart to take down some of the cloaked figures.
Sora swung, knocking one of the members to the ground. Another appeared and kicked him, then pinned him to the ground. He began to struggle under the weight, but the cloaked man shoved his face in the dirt.

"Sora!" Kairi cried, swinging her Keyblade and knocking one of the organization member's away. She ran to Sora's aid.

"Get off!" She yelled, swinging and hitting him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. "You have to get up, Sora!"

He nodded and jumped to his feet. "Thanks."

"I sense a dark disturbance, Riku." Said a wise man, stroking his gray beard.

"What do you mean? Is Xehanort's army complete?" Riku asked with panic.

"No...but I do believe it is coming from Twilight Town." Yen Sid added with a dark tone.

"That's impossible! I thought he was safe! How could we have messed up?"

"Go get Kairi. Bring her here. We mustn't exclude her, for I believe both of you must hear this."

Riku nodded and quickly ran out the door. Yen Sid sat in silence.

"I can't seem to understand...how could have Xehanort foreseen this, again? There was no way. I made sure of it..."

Yen Sid's door opened once more. Had Riku really have been that fast? No, it was the king.

"Yen Sid, I-"

"Mickey, I have some grave news if you wish to listen."

"But this is really important!"

Yen Sid stared him in the eyes. "Don't tell me-"

"The Organization has found Sora!"

Just then, the door flew open. It was Riku. "Kairi's gone!"

"You two should really keep still!" Said Braig, shooting at Kairi and Sora.

"In your dreams!" Sora shouted back, dodging another laser.

Kairi was holding her own against an Organization member, she held her Keyblade up while pushing back. She then swept their weapon away.

"Sora, we have to get of here!" She called.

Sora nodded and began to run in Kairi's direction. A laser then cut him off. He jumped back.

"What's the rush? I thought we were just getting started!" Said Braig. He leaped off of the roof.

"Look, we didn't spend 10 years for nothing. You're just making this harder than it has to be. Just give in to the darkness. It gives you strength."

Sora shook his head. "I've told you this before. Strength doesn't come from darkness or hate. It comes from the people we meet, the people we care about. It comes from here." He placed his hand over his heart. "That's why everything you do will always fail! Because we will be here to stop you!"

Braig's eyes widened. He gritted his teeth. "And look where that 'power' has gotten you, kid. Where's your friends, now? You look a little pale, why not let me take care of you?"

He shot at Sora's leg, knocking him down.

"Sora!" Kairi screamed.

One of the cloaked men held Sora down. Another grabbed Kairi and held tightly.

"Now, let's finish this." Said Braig, stepping forward.

Kairi's eyes brimmed with tears when all of a sudden, all of the Organization members were knocked down.

"I think not." Said a familiar voice.

Sora looked up, "Riku!" he gasped.

"Gosh, are you two okay?" Mickey asked, popping out from behind Riku.

"You two!" Braig hissed.

Sora got up. "I'm fine." he looked to Kairi, who nodded.

"I'm okay. We're just glad you're here."

"Oh great, a nice family reunion." Braig said sarcastically, clapping.

"The show's over!" Riku said, pointing his Keyblade at Braig.

Sora was smiling and holding back tears. How could he have forgotten his friends? The ones who had been with him every step of the way.

In fact, this was about the fourth time Riku had to get him out of some kind of trouble. But right now was not the moment to reminisce.

"Riku, we've gotta get out of here!" Sora exclaimed.

"Right!" Responded the silver haired boy. But to their surprise, the Organization members began to attack.

Mickey ran up to confront Braig. "You!"

Braig grinned, "It's me, alright."

Mickey had expected someone like Xemnas to have conducted this. But it made sense. Xemnas was pretty valuable to the Organization. Still, without Xemnas they were pretty weak. And they were going after Sora.

Unless they knew...

"How did you know that Sora would have been here? And how did you know that he didn't remember anything?"

Braig's grin widened. "How could you not know? It was simple, really. Thank Kairi, without her we couldn't be here today."

"Kairi?" asked the king. He looked back to the auburn girl who was fighting alongside Sora and Riku. "What do you mean, Kairi?"

He began to explain, "Well, I gave her this little gift-"

"Your Majesty, we have to go now! This is our only chance!" Sora called.

Mickey glared at Braig before running after the others.

"Until next time..." Braig growled. "See ya real soon."

Hayner, Pence and Olette had their faces pressed to the window. They sat in silence, watching.

"A-are they gone?" asked Olette. Her face was now a pale, dead color.

"I think so." Pence whispered.

Hayner stood up silently. He walked to the door and looked out the peep-hole. He then pressed his ear to the door.

"We need to report to Xehanort."

"He's not going to like this..."

"He will have a plan."

"Let's just hope it won't take as long."

He then heard a portal open and close. It sounded like a large gust of wind. Hayner looked to his friends.

"They're gone." He said.

A large sigh filled the room. Pence and Olette leaned back. "But where's Hi-Sora?" asked Pence.

"Do you think they got him?" Olette asked, her eyes wide.

Hayner shook his head. "No, they sounded disappointed."

"That's a relief." She responded.

"But who's Xehanort?" Hayner asked.

"Who?" asked Pence.

"Xehanort, the guy they were talking about."

"I have no idea." said Olette.

Hayner thought. They said that they needed to report to him. Apparently he had a plan too.

"I'll bet he's their leader." he said slowly.

Yensid, Mickey, Lea, Donald, Goofy, Sora, Kairi and Riku sat in silence. Yen Sid raised his head.

"It seems that Xehanort has discovered our plan of putting Sora into safety. It is now apparent that we cannot evade what is to come." He paused and looked at Kairi. "Mickey has informed me that an Organization member said that you may have been the cause, given a gift."

Kairi nodded.

"Can you tell me exactly what happened?"
She shuddered and looked around the room. She felt that everybody was disappointed in her.

"It-it was on the train." Kairi looked at Riku. "Braig gave me a page of a book. He said it was a way to make portals without using the darkness. I guess it was him making the portals all along. Because how else could you make a portal without using darkness?

Anyways, I used the portals to check on Sora every now and then. It didn't seem like I was doing anything wrong, but..." She looked to the ground.

Yen Sid nodded, "Ah, I see now...Braig has been using these portals to track Sora. He knew that you would want to see him again. Thus, when you created the destination, he could see through it. Of course he wanted to make sure it was consistent as to where you were going."

"I wonder when they'll learn." Lea said. "They'll never win. I know this for a fact."

Everybody nodded.

Yen Sid spoke. "Sora, I am sorry for endangering you. It was wrong of me to try and prevent fate. You will all begin training as of tomorrow."

Sora shook his head. "You know I can handle it. I'll never become a vessel for Xehanort, and that's a promise." He then looked to Riku. "And I am so sorry. I never meant to always make you come and save me."

Riku chuckled. "That's what friends are for, doofus." He poked Sora in the head.

"Who are you calling 'doofus'?" The brunette grinned.

"You're the only one here."

"Hey!"

Everyone began to laugh. It was such a relief that almost everything was back to normal.

"Gawrsh, I was so worried." Said Goofy.

Donald folded his arms. "I knew Sora would be okay."

"Yeah, sure." said Lea with a wide grin. "That's why you were panicking, right?"

"WAACK!" Donald's eyes popped open.

Everyone laughed again. "I missed you too, Donald." Said Sora. "But I have some unfinished business."

"Not alone, you don't." Riku said.

Sora looked around and smiled. "Sure, you can come too."

"Hayner, Pence, Olette...thank you." Sora started.

"It's no problem, really." Olette responded. She then looked to Mickey. "Sorry we couldn't keep him safe, your Majesty."

Mickey grinned. "It's no problem."

"You did your best, and that's what matters." Said Riku.

"If you ever need our help, feel free to drop by." Hayner offered.

"Thank you, we will." Said Kairi.

"Take care." Pence said with a smile.

"You too." Lea replied.

Sora looked to the sunset, he knew it would be a long journey before he could go home, but it was worth it. He also thought of Roxas, all of those memories he held. 'Hikaru' held some of those memories in place of Sora.

If Sora could go back in time, he wouldn't have traded this for anything. Home is where the heart is.

Author's Note: I can't believe I'm finally done with this story! I had loads of fun writing it :D And thank you all for the reviews and support, that means a lot to me. I hope this ending did justice for you all, it's kind of supposed to lead on to Kingdom Hearts 3, in a way. Again, thank you all so much!