I hope that 2009 is treating all of you well, so far!

This chapter is dedicated to my good friend Shire Folk. Without him, I never would have come up with this. So, Riku?

Riku: "I'm really excited about this. DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or the entire concept of 'Dawn' which belongs to Shire. Enjoy!"

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Chapter 44: Road to Dawn

"Hey, I've been wondering, but why do those guys treat 'hero' like it's an official title?" Nehrut asked a little later, back on the ship, "I mean, no disrespect, but who are they to decide?"

"I've been wondering that, too." Sora admitted. "Maybe there's some kind of union."

They were back in Warp drive, on their way to another world. The ten of them were assembled in the crew lounge, taking a much needed rest. Riku and Yuffie were on one of the couches, getting 'comfortable'. She had his shoulders pinned to the cushions, and was on top of him.

Everyone tried to look the other way, but it was getting a bit awkward. The low moans of pleasure made things a little uncomfortable.

Yet, the two didn't seem to realize this.

"Should we leave?" Goofy asked quietly.

"That may be for the best." Axel muttered.

"Thank you." Yuffie said quickly, emerging from Riku's lips for a split second before diving back in.

The other eight walked out quickly, but before he left, Nehrut said, "Don't forget to breath!" then closed the door.

"Can I kill him?" Yuffie asked briefly, before capturing Riku's lips again.

"We'll wait 'till later." He answered, not really listening, just loving the sound of her voice. He ran his hands through her hair, sinking back into the couch cushions. They broke for oxygen after five more minutes. Yuffie tucked her head under his chin, and she was amazed to find that it seemed to fit perfectly there.

He just lay there for several minutes, running his fingers through her hair, and stroking her back. She made contented little humming noises while he did this, and sank deeper into his chest. She said something quietly.

"What?"

She pushed herself up on her arms a little bit and leaned her forehead against his. "I said, I think I love you."

Riku's eyes widened. She loved him.

Do I love her?

He thought this over for a second, and the thoughts that came from this surprised even him.

His heart danced whenever she was in the room. All his fears melted away when he felt her in his arms. And the worst of those fears had somehow become that of losing her. And when she kissed him, it was like the outside world just melted away, leaving only them. Her smile and laughter were extremely contagious.

This all passed through his mind within the time span of about three seconds. He came to the simple, obvious conclusion, and it surprised him that it had taken him even that long to realize it.

"I know I love you."

Yuffie's eyes sparkled, and she leaned in toward him again. They kissed softly, caressing the other's faces, and running their hands through the other's hair. But there was something new in their kiss now, something other than just the passion that was there before.

Something wonderful.

Three hours later, she fell asleep on top of him, and Riku was nearing sleep himself when he began to think over the day's events.

Xehanort's eyes, and the Guardian. How did Ruxik do that?

Admittedly, he could have imagined the eyes, though he doubted it. But the Guardian was what had allowed Ruxik to escape the coliseum. It was impossible to imagine that. So how had Ruxik summoned it?

For some reason, the same cosmic forces that made him a Keybearer, brought him into the Dive into the Heart.

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Suddenly, Riku was standing, and in a totally different place. This was the Station of Mystery, though who could really tell?

Sora and Mickey had told him about this place, and he had expected that he had a platform here. But it still surprised him to see it.

The picture had a greenish tint. Riku was leaning against the right side of his picture, holding Way to Dawn in the hand facing the viewer (the left). His head was bowed, his eyes were closed, and he was smiling a little. His right hand was held out, palm up, holding a ball of bright red-orange fire. The background showed one of the Destiny Islands, waves hitting the beach. The outer ring showed the Way to Dawn keychain over and over. There were four pictures, for Sora, Kairi, Mickey, and Nehrut. And one extra one that had a blood red tint. This picture displayed Xehanort: His eyes closed.

There was also an empty heart-shape.

Empty?

As if picking up on his chain of thought, the heart rippled, and Yuffie's smiling face appeared inside it.

Riku smiled at it, and looked back at the fire in his picture's hand. Why was it that color? Shouldn't it be blue? He had never actually learned conventional magic, he just relied on the Darkness in his heart to use in its place.

Was that what he was here for? To learn conventional magic? Seemed like a waste of time, really. He could have just asked Donald.

"You are here to learn something far greater."

The voice. Great.

"You reside in between worlds. You live in light, yet you harness the Darkness. It is time that your natural talents manifested themselves in this manner."

"What do you mean?"

"You will know."

Something was stepping out of the darkness beyond the platform. It was a tall figure, draped in a black coat.

Dear Lord, it was him.

Xehanort, dressed in an Organization coat. Actually Riku, after he had taken on that form.

The fake version of him stared Riku down for a moment, before holding out his hand. There was a brief flash of black energy, and he was suddenly holding Soul Eater in his hand. He took up a fighting stance that Riku himself had developed, and charged at him.

Riku summoned his Keyblade and shot a blast of dark fire at his dopple-ganger. But to his horror, the fire had absolutely no effect on 'Ansem.' In fact, it just seemed to sink into his body. Ansem didn't even react to it, just kept charging.

He jumped in the air, and brought Soul Eater down on Riku's blade, nearly driving his own blade right into his face. Riku was just able to throw the blade off, and aim a strike at Ansem's stomach.

But just as Shadow-Sora had with Sora, the blade passed through Ansem with no effect. Riku let his shock show on his face, and almost didn't see Ansem swing at him again. He threw himself backward, and just barely avoided the falling blade.

He tried another blast of dark fire, this one hit him in the face. But of course, no effect. Ansem came on in a flurry of blinding attacks, driving Riku back.

The Keybearer had few opportunities to counter-attack, and whenever he tried, the blade passed through the fake without effect. How was he supposed to beat him if he couldn't touch him?

Ansem clenched his fist, calling Dark energy to it. Before Riku had any chance to react to it, he thrust his fist forward, sending a large blast of Darkness at him. It smashed into Riku's chest with the force of a wrecking ball, tossing him backwards to land near the edge of the platform.

That really does hurt.

"Focus, Keybearer."

He struggled to his feet, trying to ignore the pain in his chest.

Riku looked up past his blade, and glared at Ansem, who was running towards ran forward, and punched him in the stomach, not knowing why. What happened next was surprising.

As he swung, Riku's fist became engulfed in the red-orange flames that he could see in the picture. The flames felt pleasantly warm against his skin.

His fist collided with Ansem's stomach, and the flames burst out from his fist, eliciting a cry of pain from Ansem and sending him flying across the platform.

Riku gazed at his hand, bathed in red-orange fire. He flexed his fingers, and the flames danced between them. "What is this?"

"Dawn. Like the road you chose."

Ansem got back to his feet, and charged at Riku again. Riku extended his hand, and fired the Dawn at him. It emerged as a fiery mass of energy, much like his dark fire had. The blast collided with Ansem, exploding.

Ansem fell to the ground. He struggled onto one knee, and was about to get up when Riku fired more Dawn at him. He shot it out in short bursts that exploded against his skin.

Just as he was about ready to fall apart, Riku engulfed his Keyblade in Dawn, coating it with red-orange energy. He ran at Ansem as he staggered to his feet. The blades flashed, and Riku stood on the other side of him as he fell to his knees, darkness leaking from a wound that had nearly decapitated him.

Ansem didn't make any noise, just looked at Riku over his shoulder as he faded. He gave a nod, as if in respect, and vanished seconds later.

Riku held up his hand, and coated it with Dawn. He admired the way it looked and felt, then extinguished the flame. "Looks like I've got a new toy."

"There is more you need to learn."

"Swell."

Another figure was stepping out of the shadows at the far side of the platform. It was a woman with greenish-grey skin and pale yellow eyes. Her head was crowned with two horn-like protrusions. Her hands were claw-like with long fingers and sharp nails. She was totally covered by black and violet robes. In one hand she held a wooden staff with a green orb on top.

And apart from Xehanort himself, she was the person Riku hated the most in all the worlds: Maleficent. (1)

She smiled at him, and swung her staff in an arc in front of her. A disk made of green flames shot from it, and came at Riku.

He jumped over it, and sprinted toward Maleficent. He brought his blade down on Maleficent's head, but she blocked it with her staff. She threw him off with surprising strength, and pointed her index finger at him as if accusing him. Green lightning flew from it at Riku.

He threw up a shield. Instead of Darkness, it was Dawn. The lightning collided with the shield, and ricocheted into the blackness. He brought down the shield, and fired at Maleficent with a blast of Dawn.

She disappeared in a flash of green fire, and reappeared mere feet behind him. The orb on her staff glowed, and she swung at his back, knocking him to the ground.

He rolled over onto his back just in time to avoid another bolt of lightning. He kept rolling, avoiding more lightning. He jumped to his feet and grabbed hold of his Keyblade again. He blocked a fireball heading his way, then another, and another.

Maleficent took her staff in both hands, and slammed it onto the ground. Green fire burst from the ground beneath her feet and spread outward. It slowly began to cover the platform, covering the top but not burning it.

Riku didn't want to see whether it would burn him or not. He backed away from the flames quickly, and nearly fell off the platform. The fire kept spreading, it was now inches away.

Riku had no idea what he was doing, but he jumped backwards off the platform.

He fell twenty feet head first, and something incredible happened.

A red-orange mass burst from his back and floated behind him. This thing grabbed him by his arms and put him right-side-up. This thing stayed behind him, and they flew back up together.

Riku turned his head, and saw the Guardian. (1)But not quite Xehanort's Guardian. This one was the color of dawn, a bright red-orange. On its chest was the same emblem as Riku's keychain in violet. The bandages weren't there, and its eyes were glowing violet. Its expression was a bit different, too. It wasn't leering wickedly, but bore a more serious expression than its dark counterpart.

It seemed to nod at him. Riku glided toward Maleficent, and it floated above him.

The witch brought up her hand and shot more lightning at him. Immediately, the Guardian flew in front of its master, blocking the strikes. The two shot at Maleficent, the Guardian protecting Riku from attacks.

When they were practically right in front of the witch, the Guardian reached out, and grabbed her by the shoulders. It hoisted her into the air high above the platform (the emerald flames were dying).

Riku floated in between the Guardian's arms, and stared Maleficent in the face. She was struggling in vain to free herself from the Guardian's grip, and she glared at him.

He snarled, and the Guardian's grip tightened. Riku brought up one hand and engulfed it in Dawn. His Guardian tossed Maleficent away like a rag doll, and Riku stretched out his hands.

"Refraction Rays!"

Dozens of small blasts of Dawn flew from his fingertips, winding through the air towards Maleficent. They smashed into her, throwing her every which way in midair, from all directions. But they didn't lose power in any way; they just kept running into her.

Riku made a gesture with his open hand, and every little ball of energy came together directly in front of Maleficent, forming a sphere of Dawn roughly the size of a basketball. He clenched his fist, and the resulting explosion practically ripped Maleficent to shreds.

Her limp form flew out into the blackness. She was soon gone from view, and Riku hoped it stayed that way.

He lowered himself onto the ground, touching gently down near Sora's picture. He faced the Guardian. It gave him a sort of bow, and changed into energy, which moved into Riku and soaked into his skin. He let out a brief flash of light, and all was calm.

He exhaled, and looked up into the dark clouds, waiting for the voice to come. Of course, it did.

"You have done well here this day. Take what you have learned, and use it well, Wielder of Dawn. Do not be afraid."

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Viola! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, which has been a long time coming. Hopefully, I've done Shire's concept justice. What do you think?

PS: The limit for Sora and Hercules last chapter was 'Olympian Crush'

1) Did anyone else actually miss fighting her in KH2?

2) What is this thing anyway? A Heartless, or some kind of manifestation of Darkness/Dawn?

Review please!