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.50 Revival
"SORA!" I called, seeing him stab himself with the dark Keyblade. The moment he did both he and the weapon glowed, the Keyblade rising out of his chest. It flashed before dissolving into six different hearts, which flew off. I watched as they headed towards the other princess of heart, each one entering the chest of their respective owners. Then a heart came from Sora's chest, rising into the air before descending and entering Kairi. She blinked and slowly opened her eyes. The Keyhole glowed before the electricity around it faded, the Keyhole now complete. Light began surrounding Sora's body and he closed his eyes, a content expression on his face.
"Sora! Sora!" Donald called, running towards him. I was frozen, shock and horror leaving me paralyzed. Kairi managed to stand and saw him fall backwards. "Sora!" she said, and ran forward to catch him. But the moment her arms made contact Sora's body dissolved into countless specks of light, which rose into the air. "Sora! Come back, Sora!" Donald called. I watched the lights fade and could help bu think. I never for once imagined that it would have to be this way. If anyone should have died on this quest, it should have been me. I was a Heartless; I was destined to fade into darkness. Even though I lacked a heart, I could still feel a pain in my chest. The others were all silent, shocked as well. Slowly Kairi stepped forward. "Sora, are you really...?" she asked. I managed to snap out of it, coming next to her. "Kairi, are you okay?" I asked gently.
She jumped before looking at me. "Dexal? Why are you here?" she asked. "Well, it's actually a pretty long story," I said, rubbing the back of my head. But then I looked back up at the ceiling, and added "But even so, I never expected this to be a part of it." Kairi looked up as well, and slowly I saw her misery change to determination. "No, he can't be gone. I won't let him go!" she said. I looked at her, surprised, before smiling and nodding. That smile faded when I felt a certain presence though, and I looked behind us to see Ansem appear before us, now in his true form. "So, you have awakened at last princess," he said. I frowned and my hatred for this man resurfaced, only even stronger now. "Ansem," I said, drawing Stormfell. "Sora didn't deserve the fate he got. And if you hadn't tried to get what you wanted, it wouldn't have happened!" I said.
Ansem chuckled. "Whether you hate me with every fiber of your dark being or not is of no concern to me. The Keyhole is now complete. Both you and the Princess have served your purpose. But now it's over," he said. He began to walk forward, and Donald and Goofy also drew their weapons. "Don't you make another move!" Donald said. From behind his shield Goofy said "Do you guys think we can beat him? Even without Sora?" "I don't know," Donald admitted. I scoffed. "I'll destroy this low-life if it's the last thing I do!" I declared, moving into a fighting stance. Then suddenly Ansem froze, his body locking up. "Impossible..." he said, before Riku appeared in front of him. His body was composed of motes of light, but it was him nonetheless. "No! You won't use me for this!" he said. "Riku!" both Kairi and I called.
Riku waved his arm, calling "You've gotta run! The Heartless are coming!" True to his words, a circle of Shadows appeared around us, ready to attack. Kairi and I both hesitated, before nodding. "Let's go!" I said, and I slashed the two Shadows in front of the stairs in half. They faded away and we made a run for it, while the other Shadow Heartless vanished to follow us. "What about the Keyhole?" Goofy asked. "Let's just get out of here!" Donald urged. Unbeknownst to us one Shadow lingered behind, watching us go. It's antennae vibrated and it leaped down, landing on the ground and moving to pursue us.
As we ran more and more Heartless kept appearing, draw by the darkness that I knew would be pouring out of the Keyhole. Donald,Goofy and I destroyed any that were in the way or came close, trying to reach the exit. A Neoshadow managed to sneak behind and tried to attack Kairi, but I stopped it and destroyed it with Firaga. "Are we going to leave Sora and Riku behind?" Kairi asked. I looked at her. "I'll come back for them later. But Sora sacrificed himself to save you. We have to get you out of this world and to safety so that wasn't in vain. That's our first priority!" I said. Kairi seemed unsure, and so I grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Donald, Goofy and I formed a rough triangle around her, destroying any nearby Heartless while we kept moving.
In this manner we managed to make it to the Entrance Hall, but once we reached there Kairi ran out from the middle of us. I grabbed her arm and stopped her. "We have to go!" I urged her. She shook her head stubbornly. "Sora did everything he could to rescue me. I won't leave him!" she said. I was about to tell her that Sora was gone despite knowing how much that would hurt, when Goofy said "There's a Heartless tailing us!" We looked to see a single Shadow running towards us. "I'll take care of it!" Donald said. He ran up to it and started smashing it on the head. Despite the blows though, it wouldn't fade away. "Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya?" he demanded. But the Shadow ignored him, and looked at Kairi.
When that happened I gasped, sensing something within this Shadow. Kairi did as well, and said "Sora? Is that you?" I looked at the Shadow. The odds of this one being Sora were about one in ten trillion, but even so... "Uh-oh!" Goofy said, and we looked to see that the other Shadows had reappeared, surrounding us. I moved to protect Kairi along with Donald and Goofy, and she stood in front of the other Shadow. "This time, I'll protect you," she promised. I charged and began destroying Heartless left and right, the act made easier by the fact they were just Shadows. But a few managed to escape my notice, and pounced at Kairi. "Sora!" she called, and wrapped her arms around the other Shadow, acting as its shield.
I looked and called "Kairi!" I began to run forward, but then the other Shadows and even I were sent back by a burst of pure light. I could sense the power within it, and when it faded ti showed that embracing Kairi was... Sora. "Kairi, thank you," he said. Her eyes flew open in surprise, and she said "Sora..." "Sora!" Donald, Goofy and I all called. The Shadow Heartless came forward once again, and Sora summoned the Fairy Harp to guard Kairi. It was then that we heard a giant roar, and the Beast dropped down from the ceiling. "Go! Now!" he yelled. "Come with us!" Sora said. "I told you before: I'm not leaving without Belle. Now go! The Heartless are coming!" Beast said. Sora paused, before complying. "All right. Let's get out of here," he said.
We ran through the door and out of the gates, heading for the point at the Rising Falls where we could get back onto the Gummi Ship. More Heartless pursued us, but with Sora back we made even quicker work of them than we did before. We made it to the end, and once there we warped back onto the Gummi Ship. Jiminy Cricket sat on the dashboard of the Gummi Ship's controls, writing in his journey. As it was his duty to be King Mickey's royal chronicler, that meant he had to write down everything happened during this journey in detail. So focused was that when a light burst into existence in the middle of the bridge he shouted, jumping three times his rather short height in surprise. Out of that light stumbled Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and me.
"Fellas! Are you alright?" he asked. Donald panted for a second, trying to catch his breath. Running flat-out and fighting at the same time had tired all of us out. "Well, we're alive," I said, placing my hands on my knees. He grabbed his journal and was about to ask us all that had happened during the events of Hollow Bastion, but decided to save it for later. I sat down in one of the seats and tried to catch my breath, while Sora, Donald and Goofy did the same. There was no seat for Kairi though, and so she just stood next to Sora. "This is probably a huge understatement, but I'm going all of you went through a lot of effort to find me," she said. I chuckled humorlessly and replied "You could say that."
She looked at all of us. "This probably isn't much, but I just wanted to say 'thanks'," she said. We all nodded; there could be a more formal thanking and whatnot later. Right now, we just wanted to rest and- Suddenly the Gummi Ship shook, and we looked out the window to see a fleet of Heartless ships pursuing us. "Oh, come on!" Sora complained, grabbing the controls and steering us away. For once Donald didn't yell at Sora for trying to drive- he was too tuckered out to. This time around Sora was actually doing pretty well, moving around and dodging shots from the Heartless. "Where am I going?" he asked. "Traverse Town," I replied. It was a good place to leave Kairi and have her be safe once we went back to find Riku.
Sora nodded and began inputting the commands to warp us there, when the ship was rocked by another explosion rocked the ship. A warning appeared on the panel and Goofy said "What happened?" "Great. The warp system for the Gummi ship just got busted!" Sora told us. We looked at him in horror. That meant we would have to fly all the way back to Traverse Town with Kingdom-Hearts-knew-how-many Heartless following, and we would have to it manually. In response Sora merely took the seat-belt of his chair and put on its over his waist, and we did the same. "This is probably going to be a bumpy ride, so hold!"
I shouted and held on the armrests of my seat, Sora having to have performed yet another corkscrew through the air to avoid being shot at. So far we had managed to make it although the way to Wonderland, which was only a short distance from Traverse Town. It wasn't without cost though. One of the main engines for the ship had been taken out, reducing our speed to two-thirds of what it should have been. The navigation system was also down, meaning we were flying with no idea as to the obstacle in front of beyond what we could see, as well as how many Heartless were still pursuing us. I knew it couldn't have been many; for every hit we had taken Sora had been sure to somehow destroy one of the ships. Even so, I didn't think the Gummi Ship could take much more.
Sora moved behind a floating asteroid and three of the Heartless ships crashed into it, blowing up with explosions of smoke, fire and hearts. More came after us though, and Sora pushed the Gummi Ship to fly faster. "Come on! We're almost there!" Donald said. Kairi held onto my seat while Sora flew the ship, and I put my hand over hers. She looked at me, and I smiled. "Don't worry. He's actually pretty good at this," I assured her, nodding at Sora and the controls. She made a sound of amusement and said "Yeah. I could tell." Just when we said that there was another explosion, the largest yet, and the Gummi Ship suddenly came to complete stop. "What happened?!" Goofy asked. "They took out the last engine! We're stuck!" Sora said. I groaned and face-palmed myself; I had to jinx it.
But then I came up with an idea. If the Heartless could travel without needing a ship, then why couldn't I? "Guys, you stay right here!" I said, and I ran our of the room. Sora and the others looked at me, wondering what I was doing. I ran through the halls of the ship until I came upon the main exit, which was also an airlock. I grabbed the door and slowly opened it, grabbing the sides of the ship outside and closing it. Almost instantly I could feel the lack of air, but then I willed the smallest bit of my dark powers to emerge. Instantly I was surrounded by a red-and-black aura and I gasped, able to breathe again. I let go of the ship and floated in the middle of space, before smirking. It worked. I willed myself to fly in front of the ship and my body did, until I was in front of the bridge.
Inside Sora and the others shouted and at suddenly seeing me in front of them, but I ignored that. I had to concentrate. I extend a hand and focused, a corridor of darkness appearing before me. But it wasn't large enough for the whole ship, and so I focused harder. Slowly it grew in size, but I could hear the other Heartless ships start to moving again, having stopped in curiosity at my appearance. Quickly I redoubled my efforts and the corridor grew, now just large enough to for the Gummi Ship to fly through. It was going to be a tight fit though; I had to get it through just right. Now I willed my body to drift behind the ship, and after casting a quick Stopga spell on the Heartless I rested my hands against the broken engines. "Okay, here we... go!" I yelled, and I channeled all the darkness in me into the engines.
The metal began vibrating as it was filled with energy, and slowly began to repair itself. When at last the engines were fixed I felt the pull of exhaustion that came from using the darkness too much. But I kept going, and channeled one more burst into the Gummi Ship. It groaned before the engines began to lit up, and I quickly grabbed a rail on the edge of the ship. The Stopga spell came undone and the Heartless flew forward, ready to stop us. But the Gummi Ship restarted and blasted forward, moving towards the dark corridor at blistering speed, the fire blasting out of the engines larger than the ship could have ever created under normal circumstances. Any Heartless close enough were burnt to ashes, and the others began shrinking as the distance between us grew. I willed the ship to move just so that it could make it into the portal, and we passed through the dark corridor to Traverse Town.
Sora has been revived! Yay! But now our heroes must return for Riku. Can they save him? Oh, and if yo';re wondering where I got the idea for Dexal floating in mid-space, I got it from seeing Vanitas able to fly through the Lanes Between without a vessel. (He was using darkness as well, so...) But either way, stay tuned for next chapter!
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... am om I?)