"Am I...dead?" Sora tried to get a feel of where he was, but all he could see was complete and utter darkness. "Because if I'm dead, why does my body ache all over?"

"Hey, Sora?"

"Roxas? You're in the afterlife too?"

"No, you foofie. Try opening your eyes." Sora's eyes snapped open to Gummi space and a familiar-looking cockpit. As his vision refocused, he was greeted to the horrific sight of Armored Xemnas raising his arm back, preparing to impale cold, heartless metal into Kairi's chest.

Time seemed to halt to a standstill as Sora quickly rolled over and gripped the floor with his hands and feet. Ignoring every nerve ending that told him his body was completely broken, Sora pushed off from his position, flinging himself toward the two combatants. Instinctively restoring his clothes by reverting back from Limit Form, his entire body ran on adrenaline with only the thought "I can't lose her again..." running through his head.

Roxas didn't even have to say anything as Sora was reacting the same way he would've done for Naminé. Without any regard for his own personal well-being, Sora dove in front of Kairi's battered body.

"KAI-"

*SQUNCH*

Kairi's heart stopped as Xemnas' Keyblade pierced straight through Sora's back and burst out of his stomach. The mortally shocked expression on Sora's face at the realization of many ruptured vital organs in his torso would haunt Kairi's nightmares for a long time. Blood splattered over her dress as the weapon withdrew from the Keyblade master's back, causing his body to flop lifelessly onto the Princess of Heart.

"No..." Kairi carefully rolled Sora off of her and attempted to push herself up with her trembling forearms. "Sora, you're going to be fine, right?"

Sora tried to play off his rapidly dropping HP by giving her a weak smile. "I've...felt worse..." The color draining from his face said otherwise.

"Remember when...erg...Keyblades could only be used to unlock hearts?" Roxas coughed in pain. "I miss those days..."

"Sora! Don't die on me!" Kairi cried. Looking into the eyes of her knight, her biceps quivered as she struggled to stay upright and pressed her hands around his. Sora's smile began to grow fainter.

"It's okay, Kairi," Sora whispered. "All that matters is that you're safe." His eyelids began to flutter closed.

Naminé desperately tried to think of something they could do. "Roxas! Can't you just switch out with Sora?"

"I'm...trying..." Roxas' voice staggered as he felt his own essence fading as well. "I think...that blast did...something to us..."

Sora's breathing became hard and shallow as he clung to life. "Kairi...I..." His voice trailed off to a barely audible murmur.

"Sora, please..." Tears streamed down Kairi's reddened cheeks. "Don't leave me alone..." She could feel his hand give one last gentle squeeze before finally falling limply out of her grip.

"No...Roxas..." Naminé sobbed.

Overwhelmed by the loss of their loved ones, Kairi lost what little composure she had left and threw her head back, screaming out in anguish. Her pained and sorrowful cry echoed throughout the cockpit and carried out into open space.

Naminé was at a loss for words. Usually she would say something to keep their spirits up, to not give in to hopelessness and keep moving forward. But with the loss of Sora came the loss of Roxas. Both of them had made her feel loved and confident in her existence. Anything that the memory witch could think of saying to comfort and support her other half would only come off hypocritical.

Kairi buried her face into the non-bloody part of Sora's chest, a few inches above the stab wound. Her hands gripped at his shirt, clenched at the incomprehensibility of the situation. She didn't care that she was in the middle of a fight or about the loss of any dignity. All Kairi cared about was that her true love had sacrificed himself for her. He died believing that Kairi would still be able to survive this.

"HOW UNFORTUNATE," Xemnas taunted. Kairi's sobbing slowed as she lifted her head up. Despite the fact that Xemnas could've killed her in her mourning, he had only retained his fighting stance, calmly waiting to see if the Princess of Heart would still continue to fight. He pointed his Keyblade skyward. Kairi looked up and was astonished to find the Gummi ship that her friends were driving had been overrun by Heartless. "YOUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN VANQUISHED. YOUR BODY IS BROKEN. YOUR HEART'S TRUE DESIRE LIES DEAD AT MY FEET. YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT." Xemnas' armor creaked slightly as he repositioned his feet. "DO YOU TRULY WISH TO KEEP FIGHTING?"

Kairi aimed a deadly glare through her tears, irritated by his smugness. Xemnas had proven he had the power to kill the girls right now, yet he was still toying with them. "You may be right. I've tried everything to defeat you. Sora and I combined couldn't do it. My Final Form couldn't do it." She looked down at her hands. They were stained with Sora's blood from clutching at his shirt. "And yet..." The tears had finally stopped as her hopeless depression was replaced with righteous determination. Grunting in pain, she began to stagger to her feet. "If we give up right now, you'll destroy our worlds. If Naminé and I don't fight, then Sora and Roxas gave their lives for nothing." Kairi summoned her Keyblade back to her hand, clutching it close to her chest. "HEAL!" Although her body still ached, she was able to stand again.

"Naminé..." The redhead fixed her unwavering gaze at her opponent. "...Switch."

"Gladly." Kairi awaited the changes she had experienced multiple times before...

But nothing happened.

"Naminé?"

"I...I'm trying, but it's like that fight with Zexion. The only difference is that this time you can hear me."

"Maybe when our Final Form broke, it disrupted our ability to switch?"

"Think we should chance transforming to reverse it?" Naminé asked.

Kairi shook her head slowly. "We were lucky last time. He's not going to let us get another chance."

"I'm out of ideas. All we can really do now is to stall long enough for our magic to recharge."

"It may be futile..." Tightening her grip on her Keyblade, Kairi let out a slow exhale to steady her breathing. "...but it's not like we have anything left to lose."

"I'm really missing my Keyblade right now," Riku muttered as he slashed through a Neoshadow. The Heartless had finally managed to make their way to the bridge and most of the crew members were now locked in a desperate attempt to keep them from destroying the equipment. Snow White had replaced Chicken Little at his station since he was more capable of fighting than she was.

The small poultry straddled Bambi as they galloped around mule-kicking Shadows that were erupting from the consoles.

"No one messes with 'Ace' and his mighty steed!" the vertically-challenged fowl crowed.

"With fighting experience like this, I'll be the Great Prince of the Forest before you know it!" Bambi stated proudly.

Since the other Princesses were busy, Aurora was attempting to multitask between different systems at her console to keep the ship running. "Where are Chip and Dale? I don't think I can keep tabs on these by myself!" Queen Minnie threw out some balls of light at a few Soldier Heartless that were closing in on the former Sleeping Beauty.

"They went with Pluto to try to get the external defenses functional again!"

Lady Daisy had taken residence in the pilot's seat, clutching the steering wheel to keep the Gummi Ship steady. She glanced over her shoulder at Alice who had managed to take out a trio of Invisibles with a swipe of her new blade.

"Why did you choose a butcher knife of all weapons?" Donald's girlfriend inquired. "Let me guess, American McGee?"

"I'm not anything like that auburn-haired psychotic!" Alice snapped. Then she giggled. "The day I can turn into butterflies will be the day Jack Sparrow becomes the Mad Hatter."

Cinderella suddenly made a shushing noise. "Do you hear that? It sounds like..." The unmistakable sound of Kairi's scream of anguish bombarded the ears of everyone onboard, filling everyone's heart with an uncomfortable feeling of heaviness. It didn't take Yen Sid to realize what had happened.

"Sora..." Riku's fists shook with barely contained anger. "Out of my way!" He began moving towards the exit corridor, but a couple of Fat Bandits appeared in front of him, barring his path. He swung his blade with ferocious tenacity, but his weapon bounced off their enormous girth.

"Riku, jump!" Not questioning the sudden outburst, his body rode into automatic as he leapt up. A split-second later, Belle's rose whip swished underneath his airborne form and knocked the two heavy Heartless off their feet. Riku felt Jasmine rush past him as she flipped through the air and slipped through the small opening that was created between the Fat Bandits and the doorway.

The Heartless dissipated into darkness as the Princess of Agrabah sliced her scabbard cleanly through their nonexistential mass.

Jasmine winked at Riku as she adjusted her grip. "A little something I learned from Aladdin."

"Incoming!" Snow White shouted. From the viewing screen, Xemnas' Kentauros reached out an enormous hand and snagged the Gummi ship in its clutches.

Riku gave the Princesses another look. "You sure you'll all be okay?"

"The only way to finish this is if Xemnas is defeated, right?" Jasmine and Riku flinched as the creaking of metal reverberated throughout the ship from the Kentauros' slowly tightening grip.

"Once Chip and Dale get the defenses running again, we should be fine," Aurora stated.

Seeing Riku's hesitation, Belle gave his shoulder a reassuring pat. "Don't worry about jumping from the ship. We'll provide a path." The six Princesses of Heart looked at each other and shared a mutual nod. Each of them gripped at their chest before flinging their arms out, harnessing the powers of their light to create a rainbow tunnel outside connecting the two ships. "We'll hold it as long as we can."

"Everyone..." Riku's gaze swept over the crew with an appreciative smile playing among his lips. "...thank you." And with that, the Dawn Wielder headed for the outside.

"Good luck, Riku," Queen Minnie said.

Sora's sky-blue eyes slowly opened to the warm sunlight basking his face. He sat up with a yawn, seeing nothing but the peaceful shoreline of the beach. What was he just dreaming about? Something about a wedding? It seemed so bizarre...

He lay back down, stifling another yawn only to find himself looking into the face of his redheaded crush. Sora let out a yelp of surprise and quickly sat up. He felt slightly embarrassed that Kairi had caught him napping.

"Gimme a break, Kairi!"

"Sora, you lazy bum," she giggled. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here!"

"No! There was this..." Sora stopped himself. His tongue felt weird in his mouth all of a sudden. Kairi playfully smacked him on the head.

"Are you still dreaming?" She smiled at him with a tinge of amusement, but Sora's mind was racing.

"Say, Kairi..." There was definitely something wrong, but for the life of him, he couldn't quite remember what it was. "Is that a new outfit?" He casually looked up and down her body. "What happened to your pink dress?"

Kairi's smile was replaced with a look of concern. "What are you talking about, Sora? I've never owned a pink dress."

"Yeah, you did," Sora insisted. "It had these zippers and your hair used to be longer...'

Kairi frowned. "Are you feeling okay, Sora?"

"Hey!" Sora's bushy head whipped around and noticed his silver-haired friend holding a plank under the crook of his right arm. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?"

Sora quickly leapt to his feet. "Riku! You're..." His voice trailed off. That nagging feeling he was forgetting something became even stronger.

"...Doing all the work for you two?" Riku finished. He casually tossed the plank toward Sora. Instead of being knocked down by it, Sora took a quick step back, allowing the wood to land in the sand with a small poof.

"Riku? Wasn't your hair much longer?" Riku looked slightly taken back by the question.

"What are you talking about?"

Kairi nudged him. "That's exactly what I said." There was an evil twinkle in her eye as a wicked idea came to mind. "I think Sora's still half-asleep."

Riku understood immediately. "Maybe he just needs a little..." He started flexing his fingers menacingly. "...jolt."

"Sora!" Thankfully, Sora was rescued from the tickle ambush as Riku and Kairi turned toward the unfamiliar voice. All three of them were surprised to see another bushy-haired boy running up the sandy dunes toward them. He was sporting blonde hair and looked slightly older than Riku.

Riku instinctively shielded Kairi. "Who are you supposed to be?"

But the BHK ignored him and stared pointedly at Sora. "Sora! You've got to wake up!"

"Wake up?" Sora didn't know who this boy was, but there was definitely something familiar about him. "But I just woke up!"

"We're not dead yet! There's still a chance we can finish Xemnas once and for all!"

Kairi and Riku looked back at Sora, who began clutching his head between his palms as he struggled to remember. "Sora, do you know this guy?"

"I..." Sora looked up and was stunned to find that the clear, blue sky had immediately darkened to a dull, purplish hue. Debris was being whipped around as bits and pieces of the island were being sucked into a vortex replacing the spot where the sun used to shine. Riku and Kairi had disappeared, but the blonde-haired kid still remained.

"Think, Sora!" He grabbed Sora's shoulders and shook with great vigorous movements. "You have to remember where you are!"

Sora rapidly blinked his eyes in an effort to regain his sense of reality. "I don't understand..."

"So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing!" Sora whirled around and saw a flash of a man with tan skin, orange eyes and long white hair. The name 'Ansem' quickly ran through his mind, as if his brain were a computer streaming data into it.

"Why? Why can't I remember?" The sand beneath Sora's feet hardened into white tiling.

"No surprise, seeing as you also couldn't remember her name!" Finding himself standing in a corridor of white, Sora noticed a blonde woman in a black coat glaring sadistically at him. "Talk about heartless!"

"I get it now..." the blonde teenager said. "This must be what they mean by your life flashing before your eyes!" He gave a reassuring pat on Sora's shoulder. "Sora, don't worry! Just ride these memories out!"

"You would knowingly shackle your heart with a chain of memories born of lies?" This time it was a pink-haired man in a black coat speaking.

"Lies? What is he talking about?" Sora's head was spinning as familiar voices, ghostly images and events danced around his body. Although his heart felt conflicted, Roxas ("That's his name...Roxas") stood by him the entire time, alleviating the burden.

"Is she that important to you?" A man with blue shaggy hair now stood in his path. Although his face was expressionless, an aura of rage seemed to be stirring in his core.

Sora was finally starting to remember everything. Organization XIII. Kingdom Hearts. Heartless and Nobodies. His search for Riku.

...His promise to Kairi.

He was at Destiny Islands again at the usual tree. Riku was sitting on the trunk as he and Sora looked out toward the horizon. Kairi ran up to them clutching a bottle. Inside was a note from King Mickey.

Then more recent memories began to play in front of his eyes. The wedding ceremony. The invasion. Kairi's kidnapping. The fight to rescue her...

...The numerous times of seeing her stripped.

Time slowed down from its speeding through nostalgia until he finally saw himself freeing Kairi from the tentacles and taking every opportunity he could to protect her. Sora had flung Kairi to safety before Xemnas triggered a huge explosion that overtook his body. He saw Kairi become Final Form once again, only to be defeated. Xemnas stood over her, his Keyblade hovering above her heart...

"This is it, Sora. Are you ready?" The Keyblade master closed his eyes as he felt his consciousness finally seeping into the present.

"Once more..."