Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

Ch.3 End of the Islands

Soon after Sora, Kairi and the others left I laid down in the tree-house to sleep, worried about Xehanort's appearance and what it might mean. As usual I had a nightmare, only this time it was much worse.

I sat on the rocky ledge that Terra, Aqua, Ventus and I would be on after a long day of training. Those three people, my best friends, sat beside me. This had to be before we left on our journey, an act which ultimately ended in their respective demises. "The stars sure are bright tonight," Ven said, and I nodded. "You know, they say that every star is another world. And if that's true, then there are more worlds out there than we can count," Aqua said. "Yep," Terra said, and I nodded. Something about the setting wasn't right, as if I was waiting for something to happen.

Terra, Aqua, and Ven didn't seem to feel that way though, so I tried to relax. We spent a long time there, merely staring at the stars and enjoying each others companies. After a few hours- had it been hours?- Terra said "Hey, I think we need to head back." We all agreed and stood, beginning to walk back to the castle. That was when everything went wrong. All of a sudden the sky darkened, and I looked up. "What's happening?" I called, when we heard Ven cry out in pain. We all turned to see his Keyblade shatter, and his body dissolved into particles of light. "Ven!" we called, when a dark hole appeared beneath Aqua's feet.

The Guardian that had fought alongside Xehanort so many years ago rose out of the hole, grabbing Aqua and pulling her in. "Aqua!" Terra and I called, running forward. But she was pulled in too quickly, and disappeared into the darkness. Terra suddenly shouted, and I turned to see his Keyblade fall to the ground, replaced by Xehanort's. I looked around; the Land of Departure was being destroyed. My friends, my home, all of the worst things that had happened to me. They were happening again before my eyes. Then, suddenly, Xehanort changed to be the figure in the brown cloak that I had seen earlier in the day.

He laughed, and said "You tried so hard to save your friends, but in the end you failed. And you will do so again, when I return the worlds to darkness." "Never!" I called angrily, but that only seemed to amuse him further. "Is that what you think? Then awaken from your sleep, and see the world you live in be once again consumed," he said, and flung his hand out at me. A blast of wind hit me, and although I tried to resist I was sent back, through the air and into the darkness.

I gasped, waking up and sitting bolt awake. I could feel my blood pumping, and I looked around to see of anyone else was there. There wasn't and I sighed in relief. Maybe it had been just a dream, maybe that's all it- Then suddenly I heard thunder rumble, and I looked out the doorway to see the entire island had darkened. Palm trees were swaying the breeze, and clouds churned overhead. Then it hit me. The raft! I stood and ran out, climbing down the ladder and running to the beach. By the dock I could see Sora get out of his boat, and Riku's and Kairi's were docked next to it.

"Sora! We got a huge storm coming!" I called, and he nodded. He tried to call something, but it was drowned out by the blaring of my senses. A trio of Shadows appeared in front of him, and I called "Heartless!" I ran forward and summoned Stormfall, cutting through them and grabbing Sora. "Dexal? What were those thing?" he asked. "There's no time to explain. We need to find Riku and Kairi!" I said, and he nodded. More Heartless appeared, and I cut through them as well before running forward, Sora right behind me.

As we ran more and more Heartless kept appearing, no matter how many I destroyed. Sora picked up a weapon and tried to knock one away, but the wooden sword passed right through it without doing anything. "What the-?" he said, as a lone Shadow jumped forward and scratched his arm. "Sora!" I called, casting Firaga and destroying it. "You alright?" I asked, and he nodded. Still, I gave him a Potion and he drank it, the claw marks on his arm disappearing. "What is that?" he asked, pointing up at the sky. I turned and saw a huge sphere of darkness in the air, crackling with energy.

My eyes widened; that was the same time of dark sphere that had destroyed the Land of Departure. "Let's go!" I called, and Sora nodded. We kept going on until I saw Riku standing in the area with the papou fruit tree, and we ran there. Once we got there I called "Riku!" and Sora asked "Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" Without looking at us, Riku said "The door... has opened." "What?" Sora asked, and he replied "The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" "What are you talking about? We have to find Kairi!" Sora called.

"Kairi's coming with us!" he replied, and Sora looked at him surprise. I didn't like this, something about Riku had changed. He looked up t the dark sphere. "Once we step though, there might be no turning back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can;t let fear stop us. I'm not afraid of the darkness!" he called. My eyes widened.; was the darkness affecting him. He looked down and held out his hand, and Sora said "Riku..." Suddenly a dark hole appeared beneath Riku, rising to wrap around his body.

Sora ran forward but was also ensnared, and when I called "Sora!and ran forward I was stopped by Heartless. A Shadow jumped at me and I dodged, spinning in circle and cutting it half across the stomach. Another laid down on the ground and moved across it, trying to rise behind me. But when it did I teleported, and called "Thunder!" That very spell hit down and destroyed all the Heartless around me, just as Sora and Riku were enveloped in darkness. "Sora! Riku!" I called, and ran forward. But when I reached them there was a flash of light, and the darkness vanished to reveal that Sora was there while Riku had vanished.

More surprising though, was that Sora was holding a Keyblade, a Kingdom Key to be precise. I didn't understand; the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony had been performed on Riku, not Sora. Then I heard a voice whisper "Keyblade... Keyblade..." and I knew it was Ven's. That explained- the presence of Ven's heart inside Sora's had given him the power. "What is this?" Sora asked, and I replied "Just as the voice said: It's called a Keyblade." More Heartless rose out of the ground, and I said "And it might be a good idea for you to use it." They moved forward and Sora nodded, running at the Shadows and swinging.

The move had enough power in it to send them back, but unlike me Sora could defeat them in one blow yet. Still I stayed behind him and destroyed any Heartless that got around, trying to attack him from behind. We fought or way towards the door that lead to the cove where the raft was, but when I tried to turn the knob it wouldn't budge. I pushed against the door and attacked it with Stormfall, but it wouldn't budge. "Forget it, if this door won't even open to my strength Kairi couldn't have gotten through," I said, stabbing a Shadow that ran towards me.

"Then where else could she be?" Sora asked, sweat starting to form on his brow. I knew he wouldn't last much longer against this many Heartless, so I said "I don't know. Think, are there any places she might go to hide?" He was silent for a moment, until he gasped and said "Our cave!" I nodded, it made sense, and said "Then we had better got there quick! Stand back!" he did as I said and moved aside, and I pointed Stormfall at the sky. "Meteor!" I called.

A huge flaming rock dropped out of the clouds, and I said "Now run!" We did, and as the heartless gave chase the Meteor hit the ground. The impact and resulting explosion shook the ground, also wiping out every Heartless that stood in the way. I knew I wouldn't be able to cast that again for a good moment, so we kept running and made it to the cave. The entrance was replaced with a huge door, which opened when we got near. Crawling through, we stood once inside and ran towards the interior. We indeed saw her, and Sora called "Kairi!"

She turned to us, looking like she was ill, and slowly said "Dexal... Sora..." I was about to ask what was wrong when the door behind her burst open, darkness billowing outwards. Kairi flew towards Sora, and just as he caught her she disappeared. Before we had time to wonder where she went though, the darkness sent us back through the cave and into the island, landing on our stomachs. I hurriedly stood, trying to see of either Riku or Kairi were still anywhere on the islands. Then I realized that I was wrong. I should have said "what was left of the islands."

A single small patch of rock floated around in the air, while around us pieces of debris swirled like a maelstrom. Below was nothing but an empty black abyss, while above the dark sphere had more than doubled in size. Sora and I looked around, when a dark shape rose out the ground to stand before us. It was thirty-feet tall and similar to the Shadows, in that it also had jet black skin and glowing yellow eyes. But the resemblance end there, as its fang was covered by dark ropes of stuff like hair, two small wings grew out of its back, and an entire heart-shaped part of its stomach was missing. A Darkside.

I groaned and tightened my grip on my Stormfall; they had to bring out the big guns. Still, I ran forward and began attacking his left hand, while Sora did the same to its right. I was surprised that Sora knew to attack the monster's hands, but I didn't give it much thought before attacking. The Darkside pulled back its right arm and its hand began glowing, before she punched the ground and it went through, creating a dark vortex that a quartet of shadows rose from. I jumped onto its arm and tried to run up to attack its head, but It pulled back before I could I landed on the ground.

"Dexal!"Sora called, but I waved him off. "Don't worry about me! Just keep attacking that thing while I deal with the small fry!" I called, and he nodded. Jumping back to my feet, I blocked one Shadow from attacking just in time and cast Fire, watching it burn as it was enveloped in flames. The other three laid against the ground and moved forward, but I smiled and called "Earth!" casting Quake. Pillars of earth shout out of the soil and sent the Heartless flying. The move dealt extra damage because they were against the ground when I cast it, so with one good swipe I cut all three of them down.

The Darkside got down on its knees and its chest cavity glowed, before it spread its arm and fired a pair of energy shots at us. I blocked it but Sora couldn't, shouting as the shot hit him in the stomach. It kept firing and firing, leaving no room to attack unless we wanted to be hurt in exchange. "there's no end to this!" Sora called, and I nodded. I tried to think of a way to beat this thing when it hit me. "Sora! Get over here!" I called. Slowly, he did as I asked while hitting away any blasts from the Darkside. When he got close I stabbed my Keyblade into the ground and grabbed his hand, jumping onto the Stormfall and throwing him into the air.

"Now! Attack its face!" I called, while also casting Blizzaga. Sora nodded and flew down, hitting the Heartless in the face with an overhead blow at the same moment the spell hit. The Darkside buckled from the assault and stood, covering its face with its hands. I smiled in victory, but it was short-lived. The wind from the dark sphere picked up, and the Darkside actually rose into the air as it was sucked in. Sora held onto the last remains of a bridge while I grabbed a palm tree, but neither of us held on for long. We were both pulled in, the darkness consuming us and everything else.

xxx

Aww, the Destiny Islands have been destroyed! But now that they are gone, where will Dexal go? Will he meet up with Sora again? What will happen next? Find out next chapter!

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