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.48 Maleficent's End

"Take this, you fools!" Maleficent called, and she fired a bolt of lightning at us. I grunted and ducked, swinging at a Darkball that tried to bite into me while I was distracted. It fell back and was blasted to ashes by a Fira from Donald, while Goofy tackled a Defender from behind and destroyed it. Sora tried jumping onto the stone the Maleficent was on, but she merely laughed before blasting him with a bolt of energy. He shouted and fell back on the ground, groaning. "Sora!" I called, and cast Cura on him. His body was suffused with healing light before he stood, nodding his thanks before charging again. Maleficent tried to blast him again but he dodged, casting Gravira on the floating rock. It came down with harsh thud and she stumbled, not having expected that.

Now that she was open to attack I cast Ice Barrage on her, the ground beneath her turning blue. She managed to burst into flames and vanish just before pillars of ice erupted from the ground, nearly impaling her. She reappeared near the edge of the area, and waved her hand. "Hear me, my Heartless. Gather in greater numbers, and destroy these insolent fools!" she called. The ground around her turned dark and four Neoshadows rose up, along with two more Darkballs. They all rushed at us, and I blocked yet another Darkball. It bit onto the end of my Stormfell and wouldn't let go, so I came up with an idea. "Don't want to come off, huh? This'll teach you!" I said, swinging my Keyblade like a baseball bat. The Darkball hung on for the ride, and so it didn't see it coming when I slammed it against a Neoshadow, destroying them both.

Beast used Furious Bellow and roared, creating a shockwave that sent all of the Heartless near him falling back. He slashed at a Defender and left a series of claw marks along the front of its shield. It tried to use the face on the front to bite him, but he grabbed the shield and ripped it out of the Heartless's hands, leaving it defenseless. I took advantage of the opportunity and cast Zero Gravity, creating an anti-gravity field that the Defender was caught in. It rolled end over end in the air, and then Beast threw his shield like a massive Frisbee. It sailed through the air and cut the Defender in half, also doing the same to a Neoshadow behind it. Maleficent waved her staff and the rock glowed before rising back into the air, and she reappeared on top of it. "Meteors of heavens, unleash thy fury!" I called.

I looked up to see that near the ceiling several small comets were appearing, and rained down on us. I grunted and blocked one with Stormfell, pushing it so that it struck one of the Heartless. Beast roared and slashed one out of the air, while Goofy protected himself with his shield. Donald and Sora weren't so quick though, and they were both hit hard enough to be sent flying. "Sora! Donald!" I called, and I ran for them. They both landed on opposite ends of the area, and so I cast Curaga on Sora before running to Donald. He was being surrounded by Darkball, but I called "Hey!" They all turned to look at me just in time to see my Firaga Burst spell fly at them, before hitting and exploding. Two of them were killed instantly while the other three flew around in a panic, having caught fire.

I picked up Donald and he shook his head, saying "Thanks." I nodded and he cast Cura on himself, before charging. One of the flaming Darkballs came up him and tried to literally bite his head off, but he froze it with Stop. The others all finally fell to the ground and burnt away, while Beast ripped the frozen one to ribbons with his claws. Maleficent aimed at him and shot another lightning bolt, which hit him in the middle of the back. He roared and spun around, glaring at her. "You witch!" he yelled, and he ran up. Ducking under another bolt he grabbed the edge of the floating stone and pulled. Slowly it began to move, and Maleficent's eyes widened. "What are you doing?!" she yelled. But he ignored her, and began spinning around in one place, the stone in tow.

I watched, amazed, as he slowly built up more and more speed, until he actually was spinning around in one place. Maleficent had dropped to one knee and grabbed the edge of it to hold on, and with a yell Beast threw the stone to the side of the area. It sailed through the air until it hit the wall and buried itself halfway in. Maleficent tried to pull it out with her magic but to no avail- it was just plain stuck. She looked at us with anger, vanishing and reappearing on the ground. "Now you shall you all perish!" she called, and held up her staff. I could sense power gathering at the tip of it, and if we let her finish we were going to be in a lot of hurt. "Stop her!" I called, and cast Triple Blizzaga. Three chunks of ice flew forward while Donald cast Fira and Sora cast Thundara, while both Goofy and the Beast charged.

All three spells connected at once and she grunted from the barrage, when Goofy football-tackled her from behind. She fell forward, not having seen it coming, and that gave Beast the chance to grab her by the front of robes and throw her to the ground. She looked up, now in real fear at seeing the enraged Beast above her. Before he could do anything bloody I said "Beast, wait!" He looked up at me, and I said "If you finish her off now, she can't tell you where Belle is." He paused at that, and looked down at her. "Where is she?" he asked. Maleficent grunted, before looking up at him. "even if I told you it would be no use. She is beyond your reach!" she said. He growled. "That doesn't matter. Where is she?!" he demanded. But rather than speak Maleficent suddenly vanished in a burst of green flames.

My eyes widened I made a sound of anger. She had just been talking so she could save herself energy to get away. She reappeared behind us and braced away, vanishing through a dark hole. On the ground where she had been was a piece of paper, and I picked it up. It was another piece Ansem's report, Page Five to be exact. "What is it?" Beast asked. I showed him and the others. It read "To study the Heartless behavior, I picked one out for observation. It wiggled its antennae and, as if sensing a target, headed deep into the castle. In the deepest part of the castle, its antennae began vibrating, as if searching for something. Suddenly, a strange door appeared. I'd never known of its existence. It had a large keyhole, but didn't seem to be locked. So I opened the door. What I saw on the other side mystified me. What was that powerful mass of energy? That night I observed a great meteor shower in the sky. Could it be related to the door that I have opened?"

"This must have been what first gave Maleficent idea of using the Heartless to find the Keyhole," I said. "Well, we gotta go after her and make sure she won't use them any more!" Goofy said. He was right; we had to stop Maleficent. We ran through the portal. On the other side was a large rounded room with a domed ceiling, which was covered by giant dark roots with equally large thorns on them. In the middle of that area was Maleficent, slowly walking forward after having been injured in the fight. From behind her Riku appeared, dark Keyblade in hand. "Do you need some help?" he asked. "Riku!" Sora and I called. We ran up, and I gasped at the sight of what was in Riku's hand. "Is that...?" Donald began, also shocked. Riku smirked, and held up it up. I noticed that two voices were speaking from his voice at once, but because of his voice I couldn't discern the other. It sounded familiar though.

"Yes, a Keyblade. But unlike yours, this Keyblade hold the power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate," he said, before suddenly turning and stabbing it into Maleficent's chest. "Behold!" he said. "Wha-?" Maleficent said. "Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness!" Riku told her. He pulled the dark blade out and vanished. Maleficent smiled widely, her eyes gaining a slightly crazed look to them. Her body began glowing with power. "This is it! This power! Darkness... the true darkness!" she called. Her body burst into a pillar of green flames, one that spread and barred everything from out sight. When it faded it showed that Maleficent had transformed. She was now a large dragon with a black hide and purple skin on her underside, and her mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth.

Despite now being faced with a dragon I smiled; I knew Aqua had once faced Maleficent in her dragon form, and had beaten. Even with her heart now open to darkness, she didn't scare me. "Bring it on!" I said, re-summoning Stormfell and attacking. She growled and snapped her teeth at me, but I sidestepped and slashed at her, scoring a cut of the edge of her snout. She roared and turned to me, raising her head before unleashing a wave of black-green flames. I used Teleport and appeared away from the line of fire, using Freeze Raid and throwing my Keyblade while it was coated in ice at her right foreleg. It connected and the ice crystals broke apart, cutting into her scales while the blade flew back to me. Before she could attack again Beast charged at pierced the weakened skin with one of his horns, before pulling back and punching the spot savagely.

Maleficent roared and turned to face him, issuing another breath of fire. He used Furious Bellow and sent it back, before plunging straight into the flames and creating an X-shaped cut on its side with his claws. Rather than blow out flames Maleficent swung her tail, catching him off-guard long enough to hit him in the chest and actually send him flying. He landed on his back with a groan and Goofy asked, "Uh, you alright?" He nodded and stood, pulling out a Hi-Potion and downing it quickly. Meanwhile Donald was trying to pull the dragon to the ground with Gravira, but failed. She swung her tail at him but he no that he was reminded of it he saw it coming, jumping into the air. "Freeze!" he called, and fired a Blizzara at her face. She merely snorted a puff of flames out of her nostrils and melted the ice in mid-air.

Donald stared before glaring at her, saying "Okay, now you've done it!" He turned and fired several more Blizzaras at her, enough she couldn't melt them in time. She held up a clawed hand and blocked the, growling as the ice splinters cut her palm. I took the opportunity to run up to her other leg, and called "Brutal Blast!" before swinging. My blade connected with the joint between her hand and leg in a blow that would have sent a Heartless into next year, or in this case create a loud crack. Maleficent roared in pain and fell forward, the leg she was supporting herself with now frozen. While she was on the ground Goofy ran up and banged on her head with his shield, the sound not too different from that of a gong. Sora used Sonic Blade and slashed her across the side of her face, actually breaking off a fang in the process.

Maleficent roared in rage and opened her mouth wide, blowing out flames like there was no tomorrow. Sora cast Aerora and surrounded himself with wind to blow them away, and I extinguished the ones that came near me with Deep Freeze. But she kept going, rising back up on three legs and moving her head from side to side to spread the flames out. I frowned; it looked like with her rage she wasn't going to quit before we did. Then I came up with an idea, and cast Blackout on Maleficent. A veil of darkness covered her eyes and she roared, now blinded. Using that window I ran up and cast Ice Barrage, pillars of ice erupting from the ground beneath her other foreleg. She reared up on her hind legs as several holes were torn in her hand, and that was when I leaped into the air. "It's over, Maleficent!" I called, and I threw Stormfell. It sailed through the air end over end, before finally stabbing into her chest just over her heart.

Her roaring came to a sudden halt, and changing to wails of pain and she came back down on her front legs and tried to take the blade out. But one of those legs was broken, and the other hurt to move because of the holes in it. Her body began to burn with green flames, and she made a whimper of anguish as she was burnt to ashes. The roots all along the walls burnt away as well, signaling that the witch was dead. "Is it over?" Beast asked. I nodded, and he grunted. "Now she won't harm any other worlds," was all he said. Just then Riku reappeared, walking forward. "How ironic. She was just another puppet after all," he commented. I blinked in confusion, and Donald said "What?"

"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning. She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her," he said. Then Riku stepped on the pile of ashes and they scattered. "A fitting end for such a fool," he added, before vanishing. I looked at Sora, and saw that his expression was one of despair. I knew what he was thinking, because I was thinking the same thing. If Riku was this far gone, could he even be saved? "We can't stop trying," I told him, even while at the same time I was telling that to myself. He looked at me and nodded, and we went back through the dark portal. After a little more searching we found the last piece of the door in the Entrance Hall, and so moved out to put them in and fight whatever was beyond.

The dark witch Maleficent has fallen, but in her wake an even darker enemy shall arise- Ansem! Can our heroes stop him from enveloping Hollow Bastion in darkness? And at what cost?

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