Marie and her keyblade:
www.swirl3y.deviantart.com/art/Marie-and-her-Shooting-Star-Keyblade-383502787

A/N:
Now that we are done with both Atlantica and 100 Acre Woods, we can focus on Tron and the upcoming events, which are leading up to the ending of this story. I hope you are all well prepared for the events to come, because I hope to go out with a bang. :D

Also, if I haven't made it obvious, Marie is the logical type. She is great with computers and critical thinking, and she can even think strategically if she was interested in fighting. Her strongest points are math, science and computers, but she fails in everything else that concerns an art like drawing, singing, playing an instrument and sports.

Chapter Fifty-Six

ଓ

Tron's Legacy

We were outside of Merlin's house heading towards the castle, and just when we were at the restoration site, I felt a presence. Sora, Donald and Goofy stopped when I did, and they asked me if I was alright. I looked around just to be sure, and I nodded my head when I didn't see anyone. Of course, I spoke too soon, since someone jumped right in front of us. We took a closer look, and I gasped when I saw Aura standing straight with her hood on.

"It's good to see you guys are doing well," she said.

"Aura! What are you doing here?" Sora demanded. He shook his head, and changed the topic to something else. "We have so many questions for you and you need to answer us right now!"

"There will be a time for all of your questions, but right now I'm here to deliver something to Marie," she replied. She stuck out her hand with a piece of paper in it. I walked up to her and picked it up but the boys seemed a bit suspicious. I looked down at the paper and a word was scribbled on it. I looked up at her, and she started speaking. "That's the password to a file Ansem created for you, Marie. It contains everything on your past… and a couple of information that you'll want to know."

"My past…? Information I need to know? How'd you get this?" I asked, looking down at the paper. She shifted a bit in her position and told us that it didn't matter, but that the source was pretty legit. There was no reason not to trust her, since all the vibes I've gotten from her have been positive. If Aura truly wanted me gone, she could've done so easily at the beginning.

"Listen, we're close to getting rid of Organization XIII—I can feel it, so keep your heads high," she said. She gave a slight smile that only I could notice, but it didn't look bad at all. Whatever happened to Aura made her quite different. "I have to do a couple of things, but we'll meet up soon, and I can answer any questions you have. That goes for you as well Sora, Donald and Goofy."

"I'm holding you to your word," Sora replied. She nodded as she created her portal, and we watched as she started walking towards it. She stopped right before it and turned around, giving all of us a look of desperation—just what happened to Aura?

"I have faith in all of you, even if you can't see it on my face," she said. We all just stood there as she looked towards the ground. "The Organization—they took a lot from me… they took a lot from everyone. When we fight them… give it all you've got. I know I will."

She walked through her portal after that, and I tried chasing after her. I placed a hand over my chest as the portal closed in, and I felt like I could feel her pain—it was horrible. Just what did Aura go through? I felt so bad…

"Gawrsh, she seemed so sad…," Goofy said. Donald agreed and Sora walked up towards me, he looked down at the paper in my hand and then at me.

"Aura always watched out for you, even now… we can't let her down." Sora looked up at the castle as I stared at him. He was right, we can't let her down. We've gotta make sure we're all right and prepared for when we fight Organization XIII's leader.

-x-

We made it towards the computer in Ansem's secret study, but we were met with Leon pointing his sword at us. Aerith and Ryan were right near him with their guards up. Goofy calmed him down though, and told them that it was only us. They asked about the eradicator, and Sora told them that it was almost done. Aerith told Leon that she and Ryan had everything under control with the computer, and that he was free to go check up on Cid.

"How's Tron doing?" Sora asked. Leon told us that they couldn't get in touch with him, and asked Sora, Donald and Goofy to give it a shot. Sora agreed, saying they would talk to him in person, and Leon nodded as he asked for a favor.

"When you find Tron, could you tell him to come to the I/O tower?" he asked. "That's where we'll upload the MCP Eradication program."

"Oh, Leon. I have a password to some of the files on Ansem's computer, do you think I'll be able to access it?" I asked. I handed him the password and when he read it his eyes widened a bit. He shook his head and handed the paper back to me as he nodded.

"You can try, but I don't know how much freedom you'll have with the MCP acting up." I nodded, and he quickly left to go check on Cid. Sora, Donald and Goofy walked over to the computer where Ryan was typing in some words. He greeted them all, and then looked over to me.

"Hey, it's great to see you again. Sorry I didn't say anything before, this computer business is way too time-consuming," he laughed. I greeted him back and was impressed at how well behaved he was acting. He seemed a bit different but I assumed it was because he was hanging around Leon and Aerith a lot, which was pretty good. He looked over to Sora, Donald and Goofy, who greeted him. He smiled. "It's great to see all of you safe and sound, but I guess this is no time to be playing around. I'll set up the link so you three can enter Tron's world."

"I can't go with them?" I asked. Ryan shook his head, telling me that there was only enough space for three people, since the MCP was giving them all a hard time. I understood though, and looked over to Sora and the other two. "Stay safe, you guys!"

Sora winked at me and in a second they were all teleported into Tron's world. I sighed, feeling a bit useless at the moment, but then I looked over at the computer. Ryan and Aerith were looking at something else, so I approached the computer and pressed a button. A couple of files appeared and I looked at them all—some files were plainly titled, but one of them caught my attention. Ryan and Aerith walked up to my sides, and they looked at the file that I had highlighted.

"That file is protected with a password, we can't get in it," Ryan told me. The file had initials of R.G on it, and I wondered if maybe the password Aura gave me was for this file. I grabbed the paper from my pocket and on it had the word S.M.H. I honestly didn't know what anything meant, but it didn't hurt to try. I typed in the password and for a moment everything turned off. I gasped and was about to panic, but the computer started. The screen had multiple folders and files, but the thing that caught my attention was Sora's voice.

-x-

"Sora? Is that you?"

Sora quickly perked his head up towards the sky when he heard Marie's voice, "Marie? Where are you?" he asked.

"Still outside and in front of the computer—I can hear you guys loud and clear, it's weird."

Sora scratched the back of his head and wondered what was going on, but he wasn't complaining. He was glad to hear her voice, and it helped a lot on his nerves concerning Tron. He told her how they were in the world and she was relieved to know nothing bad was happening so far. Sora walked over to the main terminal and found that it wasn't working all that well, but Marie chimed in.

"Hey… that's another thing. I typed in the password that Aura gave me, and the whole computer turned off and on. I think it secured a private path online so the MCP wouldn't interfere. Here, let me turn on the terminal over there."

A click was heard and the terminal started functioning normally. Sora asked if Marie was able to enter Tron's world, but it still wasn't possible, as the MCP still had that in control. He was a bit disappointed about that, but at least he had outside help from Marie, who proved very useful with computers—just like her cousin. They teleported onto the game grid and saw Tron fighting off the Heartless, which wasn't ending so well. They brought out their weapons and started helping Tron, but there were too many Heartless around. Marie checked out the grid and noticed this as well, and with the help of Ryan and Aerith, typed in a few commands to delete the Heartless. They teleported Tron, Sora, Donald and Goofy out of the grid and near the terminal, and Tron seemed pretty thankful.

"You really saved me," he said. Sora smiled, but told him that he really needed to thank Marie for setting up a secure path between the computer and Tron's world. He tilted his head in confusion, since the name seemed familiar. "Marie is a familiar name. I've heard of it from one of the data files here."

"I'm Marie, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Tron."

He looked around and asked where the voice was coming from, and she explained about a file that had a password on it. He placed a finger on his chin and thought about it for a moment, until he realized just who exactly Marie was. "Now I remember. Marie was the most frequent keyword in the database. Ansem had written many reports on her."

Marie looked around in the folders and she was quite surprised at how many files there were. She was surprised Tron knew about her, but she figured that Ansem might have written something on her while she was in her coma. She looked around some more and saw a couple of reports that Tron might have been talking about and skimmed through them quickly, all noting her time she was in a coma.

"There's so much about me here, I… I… I remember this picture." Sora, Donald, Goofy and Tron all looked as a picture appeared from the terminal they were near. It was a picture of Ansem the wise and Marie in a portrait when she was four, and she gave a soft chuckle that echoed through Sora and the others. Sora asked what she was feeling, and she just shook her head. "Ansem had this picture done so that I could place it in my room in this castle. I… never thought I would see it again."

Sora stared at the picture as well, and saw a truly happy Marie when she was young. Although he would have loved to see how Marie looked right now, he assumed she was smiling at the memories that photo brought about—and he was right. Marie smiled as she remembered having the photo done. She was wearing a cream dress with a cream ribbon in her hair while Ansem wore his usual attire. She shook her head though, and focused back towards the gang inside the world. She took the time to ask Tron what was going on and he cleared his throat.

"The MCP is ready to wage all-out war against the Users," Tron explained. Marie explained through Ryan that there was a machine creating Heartless that was going out of control. The defense system was having problems and Cid was making a program to destroy the MCP, but they needed to reach the I/O tower. "Let's try it!"

Tron asked who Cid was, and Sora explained how he was a friend of theirs. He told Tron that everyone from the outside world was worried for Tron, and he seemed really pleased that he had a lot of User friends. Goofy asked if the program was almost done and Aerith, Ryan and Marie told them that they assumed so. Sora nodded, and told them they needed to head to the I/O tower quickly. As they made their way, Marie looked around the computer some more to see if Aura was right. She clicked on a file that read 'personnel' and a list of people showed up, some of them made her eyes pop wide open.

Even, Ienzo, Aeleus, and Dilan all appeared, and she was immediately able to recognize them. Ienzo caught her eye the most at that moment, since she remembered some of the times she had with him. The other member she knew was Braig, and her heart almost skipped a beat when she remembered him. Braig was always so mean towards her, and she knew he was one of the people who tried to kidnap her. She glared at the man's picture before looking at the other personnel. When she clicked on the last name on the list, her face grew a bit pale from the picture. She had a grim look as she read the name, and she knew this was the man who took her away from her home—Xehanort. He looked incredibly different, and although she was remembering a lot of things, his image still remained somewhat of a blur. She returned to the main files in the folder, and her eyes widened when she saw something she wasn't even expecting to see—a file named Stella H.

She was about to click on it, but Leon came running in with a disc in his hands. Marie turned around and quickly made space for Leon, who ran up to the computer as he inserted the disc. The computer exited the files Marie was looking at and cut the secure path while a program appeared.

"Warning. User control is terminated indefinitely."

Leon growled when the system wasn't working, but Aerith came in and typed a few codes into the computer. The MCP warned them all about terminating everything, but the brunette only smiled as she pressed another button. "Bon appetit! Don't talk with your mouth full!" she giggled.

The MCP asked what she was loading and all the brunette did was give a small, innocent smile. Leon crossed his arms as Ryan and Marie watched, while Sora, Donald, Goofy and Tron waited at the I/O tower for the program. They waited for a while until the ceiling started glowing, and Tron jumped on top of the platform as he brought up his disc. It started glowing as it rose to the ceiling and came back down after a while when Tron grabbed it. Goofy asked how it felt, and Tron felt a bit weird—not understanding Merlin's magic one bit. Tron was glad though, since he got a power booster and some flight routines for the solar sailor.

Marie went back on the computer and typed in the password again, securing the path between her and the boys. She asked Sora where they were, and he explained how they were going to the simulation hangar to get a boat. Ryan raised his eyebrow at this, but typed a few codes into the computer to help them a bit.

"All the boards there are pretty corrupted, but I can secure one that isn't. It won't be there for long so try to hurry."

Sora nodded, and the four of them ran as quickly as they could towards the hanger. He never really noticed just how well Ryan was with a computer, in fact, he didn't know how well Marie was with one either. He decided to ask while they ran, and Marie gave a soft chuckle as she explained.

"I did take a computer class back in Twilight Town with Hayner, Pence and Olette, so I learned a few things from there. As for the rest, I don't know… it somehow makes sense to me."

"If I may interject," Tron said, looking towards Sora and then towards the ceiling. "I do remember reading a report on Marie specifying various traits and abilities. Some of them outlined the ability to analyze while others explained your level of understanding and adapting."

Sora wasn't really sure what Tron was talking about, but when Marie gave another short laugh and thanked the guy, he was glad to know she at least understood his words. He didn't understand why Marie never really showed her logical side, but he definitely found it surprising how smart she could really be—especially how she was in a coma. With that, however, he figured Stella or Kingdom Hearts had something to do with it. As the four of them ran towards the hangar, they saw the ship that Ryan was able to secure and boarded it. Tron typed some codes in the keyboard that was on the ship, while Ryan did the same on the other side. He scratched his head a bit, but then looked at the source information on the computer.

"The MCP will probably try and block you guys as you go, but with this secured network we can try and counter whatever he throws at you," Ryan explained. Tron thanked him, and the two of them kept typing in the computers as Sora, Donald and Goofy kept an eye out.

They eventually made it across with some Heartless here and there, but it wasn't anything that Sora and the others couldn't handle. When they got off the ship, they were met with a tall, grey, gloomy looking tower. Tron explained that the MCP was straight ahead and they were all prepared to fight him. They ran inside the tower and were met with another person—Commander Sark.

"Prepare for de-resolution!" he shouted. Marie, Ryan and Aerith all heard on the other side and she hoped that they wouldn't do anything reckless. The connection between them and the boys began to fizzle until it eventually got cut, and Ryan cursed at it. Although she was worried, she had to keep her hopes up, since this was one of those times where she couldn't help much.

-x-

I looked at the computer as it got cut from the connection between us and Sora, but the files were still there from that R.G folder. I took a deep breath and opened it up again. That file—the Stella H. file… I wanted to open it but something internally was preventing me from doing so, it had to be too much of a coincidence for it to be about Stella—or Kingdom Hearts. I closed my eyes and tried wondering about that voice… the voice that basically started it all for me. Did I want to see who this voice belonged to? What if it wasn't what I expected? What if it was just a random person? But if it was, then who was this Stella person to me? I took another deep breath, I guess I had to find out sooner or later… the file was right in front of me.

I entered the file and out appeared a whole biography of a woman with golden blonde hair that seemed to go a bit past her shoulders. It was pretty wavy and she had such expressive honey brown eyes. They were a bit almond shaped but it all went pretty well with her skin tone, which wasn't totally pale, but not exactly tanned. What caught me were her lips, which were so incredibly red that I couldn't tell if it was her natural tint or she had lipstick on, but she looked very pretty in the photo. I started reading the text but then Ryan came running up and gasped when he saw the photo of the woman.

"That's your mom, Marie! That's my aunt," Ryan said, practically shouting it. I looked at the photo with wide eyes though—was this actually my mother!? Ryan looked further into the file and found a picture of the man that I had in my room aboard the Gummi ship—my father. But… Stella was the name for the voice of Kingdom Hearts… it couldn't be…

"I suppose Ansem couldn't wait any longer. Marie… that file speaks the undeniable truth. I am your mother. Both your father and I are trapped in Kingdom Hearts."

That wasn't—that couldn't be possible! How can two people be trapped inside something filled with incredible power? How come you couldn't tell me any of this from the start!? What kind of mother does this to her child!? Everything and anything I could think have gone directly to this woman, and I know she could hear it. She heard my thoughts… but just… why? I felt my hands get shaky, and I noticed Ryan was looking over to me with a concerned look, but I just couldn't concentrate.

"You can't understand right now. Marie, as a mother I had to think of what was right for my family. I know the decisions I've made haven't all been great, but I did what I needed so that you could survive. I did what I did so that you could live through that coma. I did what I did so that you'd be standing right there with people who love you as much as your father and I do."

I felt myself shaking and crying uncontrollably with Aerith's hand soothing my back, and she asked if I was alright. She looked at the screen and gasped at the picture of Stella, and told us how she knew that woman way back before Hollow Bastion got destroyed. Everyone seemed to have known her except for her own daughter… Ryan told Aerith that she was my mother, and Aerith gasped again, wondering why we looked so much alike. I looked back at the photo, and although I didn't really see it, I guess it could have been in the hair… maybe. I took another deep breath and collected my thoughts, since I still had more stuff to go through on this computer. I didn't exactly feel like talking to Stella right now, and I know she knew that. I just needed time to digest all of that.

I didn't really want to read much on Stella or my dad since I knew they had to tell me either way, what with everything being uncovered, so I looked over that and checked out some of the other files. I couldn't really focus all that well and I still felt tears fall down my cheeks, but I continued either way. The rest of the files didn't really have much, and some of them were things that I had already known. I guess the biggest shock was Stella, and even then I still was having trouble coping with it. I knew this was something I had to talk with everyone… it was bigger than me—it involved Kingdom Hearts, and that power belonged to no one.

-x-

Sora, Tron, Goofy and Donald had all finished fighting off the MCP and Tron was acting incredibly happy that he almost looked silly. The connection returned from where Marie, Ryan and Aerith were, and although the girl returned somewhat to normal, she didn't want to talk all that much at the moment.

"Hey, maybe I'll tweak your program when I get back to the User world," Sora suggested, making Tron not very confident about the idea. Sora started laughing, and turned towards the other two in the room. "Aww… How 'bout it, guys? Singin' Tron? Dancin' Tron! Sound good?"

Donald started agreeing, and Tron laughed a long with them, "Okay, okay, fine. But before I crash—Sora, Donald, Goofy… and all the Users out there… thank you," he said.

Marie, Ryan and Aerith listened in as Tron thanked them all for helping him. He told them how they made him so much stronger and how they truly taught him the meaning of friendship, even going as far as saying that he knew they were going to defeat the MCP as soon as he saw them. He walked up to Sora and stuck out his hand while Sora happily returned it, but Tron pulled him into a tight hug, which Sora took by surprise. He wasn't sure what was going on, but Tron let go of the hug and looked at them. "Isn't this what Users do when they're sorry to say good bye?" he asked.

Sora was still a bit surprised, but Goofy told him that it was a promise that they were going to see each other real soon. Tron nodded, and walked up to both Donald and Goofy as he gave them each a hug, he started backing up as he waved at them. "I promise," he said.

"Where are you going?" Sora asked as he kept backing up. He gave one more genuine smile as he waved, but then quickly ran towards the center of the tower and dived into the mainframe of the CPU. Sora, Donald and Goofy all ran after him and watched in terror as he disappeared into it. "Tron…" Sora whimpered.

The floor started trembling where they were, and it was a sign that they had to leave.

-x-

"Things are settling down in town!" Yuffie said as she looked at us. She came in a while ago to fill us in, and I sighed in relief knowing that Sora, Donald and Goofy got everything really under control. When I heard him crying out Tron's name I knew something happened. Aerith was glad to know everything was back to normal and the computer started beeping when Sora, Donald and Goofy came out. Yuffie and Aerith were glad to see him back, but I immediately noticed Sora wasn't his usual self—something must have happened. He asked how the town was and Aerith told him how everything was back to normal.

"Hey, why the long face?" Yuffie asked as she pointed her finger at Sora. Donald explained how Tron just disappeared, and Sora continued saying that he promised they would see him again. I was about to give Sora a hug, but then we heard the computer beeping.

"Greetings, friends. System is up, and ready for User input."

Sora, Donald and Goofy cheered when they heard Tron's voice, and the guy told us all to stay in touch. Donald ran up to the computer and started touching it a bit, which made Tron laugh as he told him to stop it—since it tickled him so much. Goofy and Sora had such devilish smirks on their face, and they ran over to the computer as they started tickling him. They laughed as they did, and it got me a bit out of my current problem.

"I think Tron's been hanging around those guys too much," Yuffie said, to which, Ryan, Aerith and I agreed.

"W-wait, wait just a moment. I want to show you something I dug up from the system archives—something from that folder Marie accessed. You can see the town back when it was first built."

-x-

We all ran outside when the computer started glowing, since it started glowing outside, too! Yuffie and I started circling the place while tiny specks of light fell from the sky, and pillars of light appeared from various places. I smiled when I finally got the word in my head, and I turned to everyone else.

"Hey, I actually remember!" I shouted. Yuffie and Aerith nodded at me, and Sora asked what was going on.

"This town had another name once," she said. Yuffie, Aerith and I all looked towards the clock that stood right at the middle of the castle wall, and I sighed as the specks of light fell down.

"Another name?" I asked as I smirked a bit. "There's only one true name that this place has, and it's Radiant Garden."

Aerith and Yuffie nodded, and we watched as the pillars grew brighter. Sora grew a bit closer as he hugged me from behind, and I smiled as I held his hand in mine. I noticed the others making faces, but I didn't care—honestly being like this and remembering the home I had for ten years was a treat… even if I had other things to worry about. Too many things to worry about actually. We stayed like this for a while, until we eventually made our way towards Merlin's house, where I really wanted to speak to everyone about Stella.

-x-

We were back at Merlin's house where everyone was sitting down waiting for me to start, and I honestly didn't know how. I placed a finger on my chin as I took a deep breath, and looked at everyone sitting.

"I hate to be serious after remembering the true name of this place, but while I was looking through the files of that folder that was password protected I found something that I thought was important to share with you all," I started, taking another deep breath. "The voice that's in my head—the voice of Kingdom Hearts—is my mother."

Have the room gasped while Leon crossed his arms and Merlin stroked his beard. Cid didn't really say much, just flicked his toothpick out of his mouth. I decided to take the time to continue, but my stomach was feeling uneasy. "She even confirmed it… there are people in Kingdom Hearts and both my parents are there."

"Most unusual," Merlin said as he continued to stroke his beard. "Then you possessing the power of Kingdom Hearts are no longer a coincidence. It seems you were destined for this even before your birth."

Destined. Fated. Those words didn't exactly help, but it's the truth. Maybe this was the path I was meant to walk? My parents in Kingdom Hearts were just the start. Sora looked up to me, and he seemed pretty confused, but then, so was I. "So your parents are actually in Kingdom Hearts? Maybe we can get them out?"

"Sora has a point," Leon added, finished with crossing his arms. "These two people know the full length of Kingdom Hearts; maybe they'll be the key to destroy Organization XIII. We need to help them out of there—before anyone else finds out. They might use it to their advantage."

"While on my way here, Stella told me that they had already tried to get out, but they can't," I said. I noticed some of them fidgeted when I said Stella instead of mom, but… "They said their only hope was through me, but… I don't know where to start."

"Don't give up, Marie!" Yuffie cheered as she got up. "They've helped you throughout your whole life, whether you think of it or not, and they'll still help you no matter what."

I nodded—Yuffie had a point. I didn't really wanna go further in with this, but at least they knew someone was in Kingdom Hearts, so it wasn't impossible to enter the thing. Ryan got up from his seat and told us he was coming along with us, which didn't surprise me, but I wondered why now.

"I learned a lot from being here, but I feel like I can help a lot more than before," he said. He smiled a bit and placed his hands on his hips. "I feel pretty confident now."

Sora was on board along with the other two, and I smiled as I agreed. It would be great having Ryan back with us.

Before we get to the more serious part, OMG TRON I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN KH:3D AND OMG TRON. Guys, I just… I can't I almost cried.

Anyways, Marie found out who Stella was! Finally! Although she's taking it pretty well, I'm sure she wants to scream and cry it all out. Oh well, we're almost close to the end, so we'll see how everything pans out!

Dracula X:
Thanks for words! ;) I'm so angered that they gave Atlantica such a shit show for KH2, but if they put it in KH3 they better make it about the second movie with melody or something—ANYTHING to make it not the shit that it was.

JoojKA:
Haha, it's totally fine! I'm glad you read my review though. Haha, aww well at least I know I have you on it. :3 and yes Pooh is so cute! Oh, and well he said that if she had been considerate about anything Axel or Roxas would still be around, which pretty much pissed the girl. Thank you so much, we're almost near the end!

Trubeque:
Aw, no problem! I'm glad you took the time to read my story though. I hope you enjoyed it :D

Grapejuice101:
Haha, here's another update for you! We only got a few more chapters until this story is done!

Shadow1n2:
I loved Eeyore the most; he was just so fluffy and cute! It's not that bad, they have some neat stuff on sale and pretty cool people with awesome cosplays, but it could be better I think. Haha aw no I totally see them as a couple, not as family members. D: