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.52 The Last Keyhole

The new path Cid had enabled to use took a long time to travel through, but on the bright side it wasn't overflowing with Heartless. Since it wasn't we could go forth, and make our way through the space between worlds. After what felt like and probably was hours we made it back to Hollow Bastion, appearing in the Rising Falls once more. The Beast was there, staring up at the castle, and I said "You're still here? Where's Belle?" "Still in the castle," he replied. Goofy frowned. "Against her will?" he asked. No, I think she stayed for a reason. The other princesses are inside as well," Beast replied. "Really? I wonder why," Donald said, looking up at the castle as well. "Let's go find out," Sora said. I nodded, and the Beast said "You may need my strength. I'll go with you."

We nodded our consent and moved out, making it back up the falls. When we reached the top I half-hoped that Riku was there again. But this time around there was nothing; no one to see. I hung my head and sighed, and followed the others. Now that Ansem had taken over Riku and possessed him, was it possible to bring him back. I knew Sora believed he could, but I wasn't so sure. There were just certain things, me for instance, that were beyond salvation. No light could change that. But I didn't want to bring Sora down with my thoughts, and weaken the resolve of the team. So I kept what I thought to myself, and continued walking. With the five of us together we made it through the gates and entrance hall easily, and entered the library. Rows upon rows of books were seated on shelves that almost reached the ceiling, and went over every topic imaginable.

There was a flight of stairs that reached the second floor where more books were, and standing in front of a desk was the woman with the yellow dress that I had seen back in the Grand Hall. Beast saw her and gasped, calling "Belle!" The woman turned swiftly at the sound of him, and gasped. "Beast!" she said, smiling in joy. She ran towards him and jumped, wrapping her arms around him. Beast held her just as tightly, if not more. "Belle, I searched for you," he said, unwilling to let her go. She didn't want him to, and said "I knew you would. I'm so happy to see you again." I smiled at the two of them. Beneath that feral appearance, the Beast really did have a kind heart. It just took Belle to bring it out.

After a long while the two of them finally did disengage from each other, and Belle looked at us. "You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?" she asked. "We have, yes," I said. I wasn't sure to be formal with her or not, since I wasn't sure if she was an actual princess, so I just decided to be. "Please, be careful. The darkness is raging deep inside. We've been holding it back, but we can't hold out much longer," Belle told us. "Is that why you and the princesses chose to stay? To keep the darkness from spreading?" Sora asked. She nodded, and I said "Rest assured. We will put an end to it." "Thank you," she said. I looked at Beast. "You stay here and keep Belle safe from any Heartless," I said. He nodded and said "Good luck."

We left Beast and Belle in the library and proceeded to the castle chapel, where we found the rest of the Princesses of Heart waiting. There was Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora. Cinderella heard us coming and turned, her face becoming surprised when she recognized me. "Dexal? Oh goodness! It's been a long time, hasn't it?" she said. I smiled and bowed, saying "Cinderella, it's good to see you once more." "We've been waiting for you, Keyblade masters," Aurora said. "Where's Ansem?" Sora asked. "He is gone. When darkness poured of the Keyhole, he vanished," she told him. "I won't ever forget the look on his face. As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling," Cinderella said. "Sora, Dexal, please hurry!" Jasmine said.

"We've barely been able to keep it here," Alice added. "We're counting on you. In the mean time, we'll do what we can here," Snow White said. "Don't worry; we'll put a stop to it," Sora said. We went past the Castle Chapel and made it to the Grand Hall. I could feel monumental amounts of darkness in this area, just on the cusp of breaking free. "This power... it's unbelievable," I said. "You said it," Donald said. We entered the Keyhole and went through, ending up in the Dark Depths. In there the area was a blend of colors, ranging from red to blue to green and purple. At the far end was a Heartless crest with a Keyhole in the center, but something else stood in the way. That something was a Behemoth.

I muttered a curse as the massive Heartless roared and stomped a hoof on the ground, glaring at us. "Another one of these things?" Sora said. "Looks like. Let's take this one down too," I said, summoning Stormfell. Sora nodded and did the same with Oathkeeper, while Donald held up his staff and Goofy rose his shield in front of him. The Behemoth roared and charged at us. We moved to the side and it stopped, turning back around. Donald cast Fira at it but it didn't even blink, crashing into him and sending him flying. Goofy tried to hold his ground, but even his mighty shield was incapable of holding back the massive Heartless. He landed on top of Donald and they both groaned, standing and breaking apart.

I tried to cast Blizzaga and Stop, but both of those spells faded as well. The Behemoth turned and tensed its hand legs, before leaping through the air at me. I shouted and rolled forward, ending up underneath its chest as it landed. The monster growled in surprise before backing up. I took that chance to jump up and slash at the Behemoth's horn, knowing that it's weak spot. It roared and jabbed its head forward, nearly impaling me with the very thing I was hitting. But I cast Aero and propelled myself backwards, moving out a range while also firing a Thundaga Shot. But like the other spells this one didn't faze it, and it turned to Sora. He cast an Aerora spell around himself and charged, moving around the Behemoth when it tried to step on him.

Sora ran behind it and jumped, landing on the Heartless's back. Before it could do anything Sora ran up and grabbed one of its curved horns, holding onto it while he hit the small one with Gravira. The increase of gravity nearly brought the Behemoth to the ground, but it managed to stand. And once the spell had resolved it reared up on its hind legs and bucked around, trying to knock Sora off. "Whoa! W-Whoa!" Sora said, struggling to hold on. He continued to swing at the horn, and I said "Don't let it breath!" Eventually Sora swung again and cast Gravira at the same time, both hits combining into single blow that smashed the tip of the Behemoth's horn off. It roared and fell forward, landing on its chest. Now that it was down we could all attack, and did just that.

Now that we knew it wasn't immune to gravity magic Donald repeatedly cast that, while Goofy pounded on the beast's head with his shield. Sora began to slash at its sides while I stood next to one of its hind legs. I pointed Stormfell downward and yelled, shoving the end of my blade through its leg. The Behemoth howled in agony and shook its head, standing. It glared at all of us and cast an empowered Thundaga, creating a rain of lightning bolts that shot down from above. Goofy used his shield deflect one aimed at him, but Donald, Sora and I were hit. Sora and Donald both screamed in pain while I didn't move, trying to endure the pain. Once the voltage faded I cast Curaga on myself, while Sora and Donald cast Cura on each other. The Behemoth tried to leap but couldn't; I had injured its leg and rendered it unable.

In return a sphere of orange appeared in the air at the tip of its straight horn, while its two curved ones glowed and channeled energy through their tips and into the sphere. I leaped onto its back and ran to stop it, but before I could the Behemoth reared its head back and fired the orb upwards. Once it reached a certain height the orb exploded, and over a dozen smaller ones dropped to to descend on us. Sora re-cast Aerora to renew his wind shield and Donald did the same, while I destroyed three of the orbs with Triple Blizzaga. The Behemoth tried to charge at me again but I dodged, jumping to the side. I ran next to the Heartless and slashed with Stormfell, inflicting a long cut that ran completely along its side.

The beast howled and turned to impale me with its horn, but then Sora jumped onto its back and ran up, holding the Oathkeeper high. "This is it!" he said, and he grabbed the horn. Using it he swung down... and stabbed the Behemoth between the eyes. It's eyes grew wide and it wailed, falling back and trying to stand on its rear legs, but failing because of what I had done. It fell onto its side and gave a pitiful groan, before its massive body faded into shadows and a heart drifted into the air, vanishing. In its place was an Omega Arts accessory, one which I picked up and tossed to Sora. "You did it, Sora!" Donald said, smiling. "Now, let';s go and see that Keyhole!" Goofy said. Sora nodded and walked in front of the Heartless crest, pointing the Oathkeeper at it.

Stars gathered at the tip of the blade before firing in a single beam of light, one that hit the Heartless crest dead in the center. It shined and there was a distinct click, before the crest faded, showing the Keyhole. It lingered for just a few more seconds before it disappeared as well, the heart of Hollow Bastion sealed from the Heartless for good. With that done we walked back out the way we came. When we entered the gran Hall we stopped, seeing Leon, Aerith, Yuffie and Cid standing there. "Sora, Dexal, you did it," Leon said. "What the-? How did you guys get here?" Sora asked. "We came my ship. Not a finer craft in the interspace," Cid said proudly. "But why?" Donald asked. "This is our childhood home. We wanted to see it again," Aerith told us.

I nodded, remembering. Leon and the others had lived in Radiant Garden before Maleficent and the Heartless invaded. It made me wonder if I would ever see the Land of Departure, or I guess it was now Castle Oblivion, ever again. Leon sighed sadly. "It's in worse shape than I feared. It used to be so peaceful here..." he said. "Don't worry. If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including your island," Aerith said, looking at us. "Really?" Sora asked, his voice hopeful. Yuffie nodded, smiling sadly. "But that's also mean saying goodbye. Once the worlds are restored, they'll be separate again. Everyone will go back to where they came from," she said. "No worries! I'll just visit you guys on our Gummi Ship," Sora replied. I shook my head. "That won't worked, Sora," I said. "Huh? Why not?" he asked.

"Well, before all this you didn't know a thing about other world, right?" Cid asked. Sora nodded, confused, and Aerith explained. "That's because every world was isolated. Impassible walls divided them. The Heartless destroyed those walls. But if the worlds return, so will the walls accompanying them." "Which means Gummi Ships will be useless," Leon finished. Sora frowned, the implications setting in. "So, you're saying we'll never...?" he began. "We may never met again, but we'll never forget each other," Leon declared, looking at him in the eye. Aerith nodded. "No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," she said. "Besides, I couldn't forget about you guys if I wanted to!" Yuffie added. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" I asked, smiling.

Everyone laughed, doing so with heart for this was probably the last time we would laugh together. Eventually we stopped though, and Aerith said "Oh! I almost forgot. Here." She turned to Sora and waved her hand. His body was suffused with the green light of healing magic, and she said "I just gave you additional power of healing. You can now use the strongest healing spell there is: Curaga." "Really? Thanks," Sora said. She nodded, and turned to me. "By the way, we found these in a hidden compartment in the library. You still have a great fight ahead of you, so they'll serve you better than us," Aerith said, pulling a stack of papers from her pocket. She handed them to me and I looked at them, my eyes going as wide as car lights. "These are... the rest of the pages of Ansem's report!" I said.

"Sure are. Like Aerith said, they'll do you more good than they will us," Cid said. "Oh, and one more thing. The Princesses of Heart were looking for you," Leon said. "Got it," Goofy said. "Good luck, guys!" Yuffie said. We all nodded, and left to go talk the princesses.

The last Keyhole has been sealed, but the adventure isn't over. Can Dexal and the team make it to the End of the World?

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... or am I?)