We are officially at fifty chapters (not counting that unbearably short prologue). And this chapter is a special one.

Kairi: "Thank you, by the way. I'm tired of being the least useful one in a fight."

Well, what about Donald and Goofy? You're better than them, and a lot cooler.

Kairi: "Good point. Thanks! Anyway, Darth doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else he feels like using."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 50: Princess of Light

"Does this bucket have a radio or something?" Nehrut asked, leaning on his pool cue. "I've got that last song stuck in my head."

"I still don't get how we did that in the first place." Axel muttered, taking his shot and sinking the nine and eight balls. "You lose."

"Did not." Nehrut levitated the eight ball out of the hole.

"Dude, not funny."

Kairi walked out of the mostly empty lounge smiling, leaving Nehrut and Axel to their game, and down the hallway. She pulled something out of the inside pocket of her robe. A special souvenir she had picked up from Christmas Town. She pushed open the door to her room, and –just as she expected- found Sora lying on the bed.

He smiled as she walked nearer, laying down on the bed next to him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned in to him. She held up the sprig of mistletoe over his head, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Merry Christmas."

He tilted her chin up toward his face, and he leaned in toward her. They kissed softly, keeping the mistletoe above their heads.

They kissed for nearly a half hour, before Kairi put the mistletoe in the drawer of their nightstand. She had been collecting little souvenirs from each world they had visited. She had a tropical flower from Deep Jungle, and an Olympus Stone from Zeus himself.

She settled down into him, nuzzling his neck. She heard a contented hum rise from his swollen lips. "I love you, Princess."

"I love you too."

Soon, he was sleeping. She smiled to herself, and closed her eyes. She loved it when he called her 'Princess'. She wasn't sure why, she didn't think she could stand being a ruler, and she definitely wouldn't act like one. Maybe it was the whole 'Princess of Heart' thing. No darkness in her heart, only light.

The cosmic forces that brought about Dives were back with avengeance. It was time for Kairi to experience her very own Dive into the Heart.

******************************************************************

Kairi was surrounded by black clouds, apart from the glowing mosaic platform beneath her feet. Her platform in the Station of Peace.

It was tinted pink, and showed mostly the seas of Destiny Islands in the background. Kairi stood in the middle of the portrait, gazing into the sky with a smile on her face. Her right hand held Destiny's Light, her left was held over her heart. The outer ring was made up of her Oathkeeper charms. Riku, Namine, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Nehrut were in the pictures around her. Sora was in a heart.

"You are a Princess of Heart." Came a voice, making Kairi jump. She drew her Keyblade, before remembering that the voice wasn't supposed to hurt her. "Your heart is one of pure Light. It is time you learned to use it."

"Excuse me?" But she didn't get an answer.

From the shadows beyond the platform, someone was approaching. He was bit taller than her, and striding calmly into what would soon become an arena.

Her jaw dropped. It was Riku.

Granted, he looked a little younger than he really was now. He was wearing some kind of armor. It was dark blue and violet, and had the Heatless emblem on the chest. His gloves looked like part of the armor itself, though they faded to red. He had some kind of combat skirt made with a beige, cloth-like material. In his hand was the artificial Keyblade, Broken Heart. (1)

The fake Riku smirked at her, and wordlessly charged at her. Kairi did the same, Keyblade ready to strike.

Their shockingly different blades met in a flash of sparks. They pressed against the other's blades, trying to overwhelm their defenses. They seemed evenly matched, and they leapt apart.

Riku's hand was enveloped in dark energy. He stretched out his hand, and dark energy flew from it in quick, powerful bursts. Kairi leapt to the side, just missing the attacks. Riku fired again, and Kairi brought up her blade. She blocked the blasts, but the force was enough to knock her back a step with each impact.

When she nearly stumbled off the edge, Riku rushed forward, blade ready. He struck hard, and if it weren't for good coordination, Kairi would have fallen off the platform. As it was, he knocked her to her knees, and was trying to beat past her blade with multiple strikes.

Her blade was being pushed slowly toward her own face. But she wasn't going to lose to something from her friend's past life. She gathered all her strength, and threw his blade off hers. Riku stumbled backwards, and she slashed at his unguarded stomach.

When the blade passed right through it with no effect, she got worried. Riku's hand was covered in dark fire again, and he shoved his fist out, knocking her to the ground.

He raised his blade into the air, ready to bring it down on her head, and end her existence. She looked up into his face without any trace of fear. What happened next seemed to go in slow motion. Her hand stretched gracefully out at him, her fingers spread slightly, and pointed at him. It started to glow silver. The glowing intensified into a bright shining light.

Pure silver light burst from her hand in the form of a narrow beam. It collided with the fake Riku's chest, and he flew to the other side of the platform, crashing to the ground.

Kairi got to her feet, and looked at her hand, which was now glowing again. "What...?"

"Your Light is strong. It can be used in many ways. To defend, to attack, to heal. You must master it."

Riku was getting to his feet, clutching the false Keyblade in his hand so tightly that it was glowing with dark energy. He ran toward her, but didn't even get half way across the platform. Kairi raised her hand, and let fly another blast of Light.

Riku was hit in the shoulder, and he stumbled forward, dropping his blade and clutching his shoulder. Kairi fired another blast. It struck Riku in the forehead, and he fell backwards. He got on one knee, his forehead leaking darkness rather than blood.

He moved his hand like he was swinging something, and a disk of dark energy shot from the empty space and streaked toward Kairi.

She clenched her hand into a fist, and the Light formed a shield like one of the real Riku's. The disk bounced off the shield, and flew away into the blackness. Struck by inspiration, she dropped the shield, and moved her arm like Riku had. A disk of Light flew toward him, cutting through the air with a humming noise.

It struck Riku in the chest, and went all the way through, nearly cutting him in two. Riku dropped his blade, which faded away when it hit the ground. He fell onto his side, darkness pouring out of him like smoke, mingling with the clouds surrounding the platform.

He took deep, gasping breaths, clutching at his wound as he faded away. He looked at Kairi with an unreadable expression. His eyes closed, and he faded into the darkness.

Kairi put away her Keyblade feeling satisfied.

"There is one task more. Do not be afraid."

Kairi immediately summoned Destiny's Light back after the voice had spoken. She scanned the clouds, searching for anything else. But she saw nothing.

But she certainly heard something. It was a steady, rhythmic sound like someone beating on a drum softly. The sound seemed to come from everywhere, but it was definitely getting louder each time. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't see anything.

Then a gust of wind brought her to her knees. Her head shot up, and her eyes widened in shock. She dove out of the way just as a massive form landed hard on the platform. She now stood at the edge of her platform, looking at a massive black creature that took up almost all of the room on the platform, leaving little room to move.

It was a massive, jet black dragon. It had to be fifty feet long from head to tail its bat-like wings were spread. It had spikes on its head, neck, spine, and tail. Its claws scratched across the glass, and would have torn it apart, were it not for the magic protection it seemed to have. Its underbelly was dark blue. Its glowing yellow eyes narrowed when they sighted the Princess of Heart.

Kairi recognized it from Sora's stories. It was Maleficent, totally immersed in Darkness.

The dragon belched green flames at Kairi. She reacted instinctively, and did the only thing that came naturally, she jumped away from them...

Over the edge.

She fell many feet, tumbling helplessly as she went. She closed her eyes, and hoped for a miracle.

She got one in the form of her Light. Her arms and feet shone, with silver light. She stabilized in the air, and just floated fifty feet below the top of her platform. Kairi tried to adjust her position, since she had stopped nearly upside-down. She lifted her arms, and lowered her legs, and she righted herself.

She smiled to herself. She could technically already fly with Angelic form, but at least she didn't exhaust as much energy this way. She shot up into the air, reclaiming her Keyblade.

She shot up over the side of the platform and fired a beam of Light at Maleficent's face. The dragon let out a howl, shaking her massive head. She roared, and more flames shot from her mouth. Kairi dodged away from them in the air, and blasted at the dragon again.

Maleficent was agitated, and rose into the air with two great beats of her wings. She hovered in the air, and then shot at Kairi, belching flames. She went under them, and shot forward.

She avoided two vicious strikes from the dragon's claws, and then fired bursts of Light energy at her underbelly. Maleficent roared in pain, and fell a bit as she flew past. Kairi came out the other side, and struck at her tail with her Keyblade.

She and Maleficent turned around, going higher into the air. Kairi blasted Light at Maleficent's gaping mouth just as the dragon let out more fire.

The dragon had only managed to let out a bit of flame before the blast struck her in the back of the throat. Kairi threw up a shield of light as she moved to protect her from the flames.

As she closed in on Maleficent, she swung her arm twice, and two Light disks shot from the spaces and toward Maleficent. The first clipped the dragon in the neck, and she shot up higher still to try and avoid the second. It cut her in the lower leg.

Kairi followed her up, firing as she did. The blasts struck her all over, the stomach, wings, tail, and head. Maleficent swung her tail at Kairi a few times to try and shake her, but she was agile enough to swerve away every time.

Finally, the dragon turned around, and flew straight down at Kairi, mouth agape and spewing green fire. Kairi raised her shield, and fired a massive beam of Light at the same moment.

The Light pushed aside the flames, and rushed toward the oncoming dragon, striking her full in the face. She shrieked, and the flames stopped coming. She lost control, and her flight became a fall.

Kairi dove down to the ground, and then out over the edge of the platform. She heard a crash behind her, and stopped. She turned around, and the dragon looked pathetic. Darkness was oozing from all the wounds she had sustained in the battle, and she looked unconscious.

As Kairi flew back to her platform, Maleficent was fading into Darkness. By the time she touched down, she was gone altogether.

Her limbs stopped glowing when she gently touched the ground, and she dismissed her Keyblade. She smiled to herself. For a princess, she figured she had done pretty well for herself.

"You have done well here today." The voice came. "Use your new abilities well, and consider yourself gifted, Princess. Do not be afraid of whatever may come next."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alright, there we go! The next chapter should mark my one-year anniversary on the site, and BotD's birthday. See you then!

(1) This outfit was the coolest one I've seen in KH. Is this a good name for that Keyblade?

Please review!