Chapter 140: Persistence

There was nothing that the Wielder of Dawn could do to follow his friend as he watched him disappear through the dark portal. In disappointment, he slammed his fist into the ground. He wanted to get through to be by Sky's side, in case his friend froze up from the sight of Kairi's state. He quickly shot up and slammed his keyblade against the barrier that the Endless had placed up, only to get knocked back slightly. "Great…" He muttered, knowing that he could only hope at this point. He struck the barrier once more before helping Donald and Goofy up from the floor. "You guys alright?" He spoke with concern as he pulled Goofy up.

Donald dusted himself off as he nodded. "I'm fine." He assured him.

"Gawsh, that barrier just appeared out of nowhere." Goofy gained his balance after Riku's aid, holding his head slightly. "Hurt my noggin."

"Here." Riku quickly pulled out a potion from his pockets and handed it to Goofy. He looked at Donald. "Is there another way?" he asked him.

Donald pondered with thought before sighing. "We'll have to go through the entire castle to get to the other side." He informed him with a sad tone.

Goofy continued to hold his head before looking back at the two. "Can't we break it down?" He referred to the barrier in place.

Donald quickly aimed his staff towards the barrier and shot a spark of light at it, only to leave it standing. "Well, that didn't work." Donald sighed. He turned around in question as he heard Riku walking away from the two of them and the barrier. "Riku?" He stepped forward.

"We have to keep going." He quickly cut him off, refusing to look at the two, keyblade in hand. "We've still got to save the King. If we save Mickey and Minnie, they should be able to destroy the barrier." He breathed deeply, his thoughts on the possibility that he should lost his friends in a matter of minutes. "We'll be useless if we waste our time here." Without another word, he had begun to run down the other hall.

Donald and Goofy looked at each other with concern before looking back at the barrier. Thoughts with worry and concern hit them both for Sora and Kairi but they knew that Riku was right, standing around will not help their friends. Their best bet will to find the King and Queen of Disney Castle, with their light magic they will be able to destroy the one that Sora has placed up. With one last look to the barrier, the two turned back and followed the Wielder of Dawn.

The three fighters quickly made their way across the halls of the infected Disney Castle, dealing with a few heartless and some different forms of Endless along the way. With the last slice against the Endless solider in front of him, Riku looked back at the enemies they had just forced their way through. He noticed that not all of the soldiers were green; some of them were brown or covered in some form of rock. He only sighed before following Donald and Goofy down to the cellar, knowing that the battle ahead will be a difficult one.

With Donald and Goofy at lead, it didn't take long for the three of them to search through the cellar to find the Order built extension underground, the walls were lighting the room dimly with the glowing blue infection that covered the walls, making the path seem like a walk through the dark realm. Without hesitation, Riku was the first to step through the dimly lit hallway, marching straight on and kept focus on the distance ahead. The infection on the wall moved, forming claw s out of the blue shadows to try and grab onto the Wielder of Dawn. He only marched on though; his friends were at stake if he stopped. He reached the other side, turning to face Donald and Goofy. "Go through one at a time. I'll scout ahead." He instructed them before running ahead, slamming his body against the set of wooden doors in front of him.

The force of the slam broke the doors off their hinges, making a loud impact to entering the cavern like room. The chains shook across the room, sending a shiver down the wielder's back. He looked up to the source of the noise to see two steel cages hanging up above, seeing that one of them was moving rapidly from the aggressive movement happening in the cage. Looking closer, he could recognize the royal mouse bashing against the steel bars while being cuffed in the specialised handcuffs. "Mickey!" He called out.

Movements halted in the cage, allowing the cage's movements to break the deadly silence before the sight of King Mickey was fully revealed to him, a smile crossed his face. "Riku!" He spoke with joy.

He quickly looked over to the other cage to see that Queen Minnie lied asleep, nothing to worry about, he was just glad that the two were kept safe the entire time. "Don't worry!" Riku assured him. "We'll get you guys out of here!" He ran forward, looking around the cavern for any signs of support that could hold the cages in place.

"Now, this is a surprise."

Skidding to a halt, Riku looked across the room to find the familiar looking Endless sitting across a stone armchair, his scarred hat remained tilted across his eyes as he stared at the keybearer from the distance. "I didn't expect you to come here." The Major moved from his position as he began to walk towards him. "I was expecting you to be bashing some see through wall." He chuckled.

The Wielder of Dawn stood firm as he pointed the Way of Dawn towards the Persistence Endless. "Let them go!" He demanded.

Snake chuckled at the threatening tone. "Or what?" He smirked.

"Riku!"

He turned around to see that Donald and Goofy had managed to past the infected covered hallway but the two of them was halted by another figure, bearing the muscle infected armour with scaly brown infection pulsing through, bearing the exact same chain sword that Snake had on his purchase. He looked at the two fighters in shock. There were two Snakes, had Snake interacted with his past self?

"Surely you didn't think that I would be doing the same deed twice." Snake quickly teleported away from the keybearer so that he appeared on the high stone infection guarded balcony, shielded from any attacks. "I'm just here to provide the entertainment." He smirked.

"Mentally and Physically." The younger Snake added from behind him before clicking his claw.

Mickey flinched from the sudden appearance of stone in front and around him, forming out of the bars in front of him in the form of a sharp point, pointing towards him and Minnie. With the cuffs on him, there isn't much that the Keyblade Master can do. "Gosh, that's sharp." He gulped with worry.

Riku looked up at the cages once more as he heard Donald and Goofy's cries of worry. "What the—" He looked at the cages in surprise. That wasn't there before…

"The challenge is this." Major Snake voice echoed through the cavern before he slammed a stereo next to him. "Where I come from, a showdown has a twist to its matches. I'm going to play a song. You have until the song ends to defeat me." He explained.

The Younger Snake chuckled as he continued. "If you fail to at least disarm me before the song ends then those spikes in the cages will reach their full length." To prove the point, he let one of the spikes loose, skimming past King Mickey's shoulder as it shot itself into the cavern wall at a fast speed, still connected to the cage.

"And as you can tell, Captain." Major Snake grabbed Riku's attention from the dark tone of his voice. "I still stand here."

Riku's fist clinched from the last comment, holding his rage from the smug look of the Major's face. This was the first time that he had heard of Mickey's fate for the destined events. From the details from Sora's dream, he knows that he was originally trapped between two barriers as he had managed to past the first one that Sky had placed, meaning only Donald and Goofy could go down the cavern to face the Major's challenge. From the Major's words, he could only guess that no matter how hard Donald and Goofy tried to down the Persistence Endless….

They ran out of time.

"It's different this time!" He told him, determination shown in his expression as he turned to face the younger version of the Endless. "You won't win."

Major Snake hummed in amazement at this. "I properly won't." He spoke causally.

This caught the three off guard as they looked at the Major Snake they knew in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean?" Donald questioned him.

"Well, if the captain gives himself to darkness then I could see myself falling." Snake simply shrugged, ignoring the comment from his younger self about giving him confidence in this battle. He smirked from the glare that he was receiving from the silver headed wielder. "You gave yourself to darkness once…to save a friend." He reminded him. "Not only do you have these two to be concerned about but your friends upstairs as well. If you're needed in the dark, it would be now."

"NO!" Riku yelled as he stepped forward. "I can save my friends without it. I won't jump in the dark no more!" He told him.

"So you are using the way to light?!" The armoured, younger Snake tried to clarify his words.

"No." Riku turned around as he quickly jumped over to where Donald and Goofy stood, standing in his battle stance. "I'm taking the Way to Dawn."

Mickey chuckled in joy from Riku's words. "Good luck fellas." He told them. "I have faith in you guys."

Snake shook his head at those words. "Let's see you say those words again when time strikes down." He slammed down on the stereo and the southern country music began to fill the cavern.

As soon as the music began to play, the younger Snake moved fast as he quickly covered himself in the earth, shielding himself from the fast strikes that Riku, Donald and Goofy had given out. He waited for the Disney Knight to strike against his hardened shield before slamming back, using Goofy like a pinball as the knight crash to the ground. "Take this!" With his sword, he slashed towards, the blade of the weapon turning more flexible, allowing the wielder to tie his blade around the mage's foot.

"Take this!" Riku teleports forward, appearing in front of the Endless, ready to perform his Dark Slicer move. As he slammed down, he was struck by the surprised mage that was caught at the end of Snake's sword, beginning used to slam the other two away from him like a rag doll. The Wielder of Dawn went flying across the cavern, crashing against the cold wall hard. He huffed in pain as he looked up to see that the Snake he knew was dancing around in his protected balcony. "What is he?" He was left bewildered.

"You can tell the world! You never were my girl. You can burn my clothes off when I'm gone…" Snake began to sing as the song when along.

Riku wasn't sure what his reaction is to his singing. He was pretty sure that Snake was thinking that they were nothing but a joke. Despite the strange actions, when the singing was occurring, the ground began to crumble as the cavern shook, the cages above shook, forcing Mickey to try and keep him and Minnie balance with the little magic he has left. Within a second, Riku quickly fell into his element as he tried to kept the cavern and the ground from ripping apart.

Or you can tell your friends just what a fool I've been

And laugh and joke about me on the phone

"Wateraga! Donald aimed his staff towards the Endless while he was still being whipped around and blasted the spell directly at him, making him drop the duck mage, leaving the Endless open to Goofy's attack as he charged through with his shield, spearing him as hard as he could, ripping parts of the armour from the attack.

You can tell my arms to go back onto the phone

You can tell my feet to hit the floor

Or you can tell my lips to tell my fingertips

They won't be reaching out for you no more

As if the younger Snake was following the lyrics, he had struck his boot hard into the ground, casting a landslide the strike at the Disney knight and mage. He shot around to face the keybearer as he shot his whip out at him, grabbing him as slamming him in the ground like a hammer to a nail head.

Snake laughed from above as he shuffled to his song, "But don't tell my heart, my achy breaky heart. I just don't it'd understand. And if you tell my heart, my achy breaky heart. He might blow up and kill this man. OOOOOooooooo" He yelled in song, clicking his scaly claw.

The ground shook, beginning to break from underneath, making the group strike and find somewhere to stand so that they didn't fall down the never ending hole. "Face it, Riku!" Snake shouted, watching his younger self enter a sword struggle with the keybearer. "Even with you here, you won't be able to defeat me in time. "He told, letting the song continue on. "One way or another, being by 'Dawn's' side will just be too slow for you."

Riku grunted from the suggestion, keeping his focus on the battle in front of him.

"You know I'm right." He smirked, pointing his glowing claw towards the silver head as he fought. "The darkness moves faster than the Dawn. You're much more familiar with the dark than you are with the light. And even if light moves just as fast as or even faster than the dark, you don't have to time to master its speed. Time is your enemy here, Riku." He chuckled. "Would you sacrifice yourself to save your friends? For their brighter future?"

His keyblade began to shake. Doubts were filling his head. Could letting the darkness in again his only chance in saving all of his friends from the hurt that the Order had caused? He shook his head of the thoughts. He was lucky enough to escape the darkness the last couple of times, he even still has nights where he can hear Ansem's voice calling to him, telling him to return to the dark.

Mickey looked down at his friend's struggle, watching as he's struck back by the younger Snake. "Riku! You don't need the darkness!" He tried to get through to him. "You have us. Your friends-" The spikes in his and Minnie's cage edged closer to them from his words.

"Stay out of this!" Snake warned him before looking back to watch Riku jump by Donald's side to aim with a joint magic attack, shooting fireworks at his younger self to blast him back. "If your friends are all gone, what do you have?" He questioned.

"The memories of them." Riku answered sharply as he battled on.

"But you would have failed them." He quickly countered. "All you wanted was to protect your friends, be strong for them, save them."

"I don't need the darkness to protect them!" He shouted aloud, his anger side-tracked him as he got strike down once again.

Snake destroyed his barrier as he jumped down to the ground, turning into his scaly Outburst form as he landed. "Then you will never see Sora and Kairi again." He growled before crunching his fist.

"Huh?" Riku looked around the earth around him as the ground began to enclose around him. "No!" He quickly turned into his element once more as he tried to push the walls back, only to see that both of the Persistence Endless' were focusing on trapping him. "NO!"

"Riku!" Donald and Goofy tried to move, only to find themselves beginning to get trapped by the walls and ground as well.

Snake laughed as he fully enclosed the ground around the Wielder of Dawn, listening to the last verse of the song. "Time's up." He announced as he raised his claw towards the cages.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Riku yelled as he was closed up, as a last resort, he summoned his keyblade and aimed it towards the younger Snake.

Snake gasped in pain as he grabbed his chest. "What?" Snake was beyond confused from the pain, looking back at the rock prison, only to look back in shock. A small beam of light shot from the enclosed rock and had struck the younger Snake in the heart. "Impossible!" He looked at his claw, only to see that he was beginning to glow and fade away. "No! No! This isn't how the story goes!" His voice began to sound panicky.

Donald and Goofy broke out of their restrains as they ran over to where the younger Snake stood, watching as he quickly faded away, not even giving them the chance to talk to the original person. His heart floating away. "His heart…" Goofy watched sadly before they both looked back at Snake.

"I won't go like this!" He yelled, fear taking over him. "I won't fade from existence! I won't fade like a Nobody!" He turned transparent as the darkness slowing started to take what was never meant to be. He looked at the cages, watching as they faded from existence, he had made them after all. "You fools! He yelled. "You have ended us all!" He told them. "Dead. Dead. Dead. All of you!" He yelled in pain as the darkness took him, disappearing as if he was never there.

Donald sighed in relief. "That was a close call."

Goofy hummed in thought. "We have Riku to thank, if it wasn't for his fast acting." He looked over to the disappearing rock that trapped the Wielder of Dawn. "We can help Sora and Kairi now." He smiled back at his friends.

Donald jumped in joy. "Yeah." He walked over to Mickey and took the cuffs off him. "There you go, Your Majesty." He smiled.

"No…"

Mickey looked up at Riku in concern. "What is it, Riku…." He halted as he looked at him in disbelief. "Is that…"

Riku huffed out of exhaustion as stood beside his friends silently, keeping calm as he held the Kingdom Key in his hands.

BOWBOWBOW

The light had died down, letting all of the eyes to finally see the scene in front of them. The Aversion Endless, who managed to reach Sky in time to dissolve the barrier for him, stood there in disbelief with the steel spear that he had stolen from the guard earlier in his hands. His anger began to build inside him as he looked at the scene in front of him, the memories rushing to attack his mind. "This…can't be…" He spoke in disbelief, in defeat. He dropped the spear in his hands as his anger took over him. "DAMN YOU SORA!"

Kairi's eyes were wide as she looked at the boy in front of her, his arms stretched out in a protective way in from of her as he stared out at the Armoured Colonel with anger. "Sora…" She collapsed onto her knees, weak from her battle with the Colonel, her eyes watering from the sight in front of her. "Sora?" She called again, trying to get a response out of him.

The infected Keyblade Master huffed in pain as stood in front of the Princess of Heart silently, keeping balance as the Colonel's blade balanced through his chest.

A/N: DEAD GOD! Damn chapter ¬¬ I should have gotten this one done ages ago. What a pain. I have more of a plan for the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and sorry for the delay guys.

Name: Snake
Emotion: Persistence
Ability: Earth
Theme: Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cryus

Kingdommad