Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys

by lyokoMARVELanime

Spin-off/Sequel to Keyblades of Future Past. The legend you know returns, but this time it's not just Sora, Donald, and Goofy racing to save the worlds, but this time, they'll be working alongside the newest Keyblade Master and Sora's new teacher: Ventus. Experience the first KH adventure you know with a new twist as the forces of darkness face two keys in the battle for the worlds

25. Delve Into Darkness

AN: Okay, so once again, I'm going to try and keep this brief so you can all enjoy the chapter as quickly as possible. Not because of the chapter's length, but because this is one the final chapters, and I want you all to get right into the action.

Sora: And while you guys are doing that, we'll be over here throwing a little celebration party!

AN: Wait, what? [looks just in time to see a massive party suddenly erupt with everyone happily laughing and hanging out like typical party-goers] Hey, hey! Wait a minute! I didn't sign off on any of this!

Ventus: Oh relax, lyokoMARVELanime. Just enjoy the festivities and have fun with it.

AN: Yeah, I think I'll do that after I answer a couple of reviews here. First off, for those of you who were wondering about this, in terms of Aqua's appearance next to Ven's. As well know, Aqua has not changed at all during her time in the Realm of Darkness, and that's not going to change here, either. Ven on the other hand has been wide awake, unlike in cannon, and has been through not just training but a bit of a growth spurt too. If you were to put the two side by side with each other in this story's continuity, you would see that Ven is in fact slightly taller than Aqua, but not to the point where he would be towering over her like Terra sometimes seems to. If anything, the two are now perfectly eye-level with each other, as opposed to when Ven was younger and he had to look up at Aqua unless he wanted to be staring at her chest.

Aqua: Hey! Ven wasn't that short in BBS!

AN: Um...Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was.

Aqua&Ven: [both blushing fiercely]

AN: Anywho, btw "readingchameleon", just in case I did not already make it clear by now, the Ventus in this story is the same Ventus that we saw at the end of Keyblades of Future Past. He's not from a parellel universe or anything like that. Don't where you got that idea from, or how you didn't already figure that out. No offense. And as for Chain of Memories, we're skipping over those events and those of 358/2 Days and going right into the start of KH2. We'll mention some things that had happened in both stories during the journals that we'll see in the next story, but aside from that, I have no plans to do a Chain of Memories or 358/2 Days story for this version of the KH continuity.

Finally, regarding any questions you guys had about what the fate of Aqua and Ventus would be when it was time to close the Door to Darkness, and what they'll be doing come the next story, you'll just have to wait and see like everyone else. Trust me, all those questions will be answered in the next chapter, you know, since that's the chapter that all of that will be happening in and everything.

Riku: Um, isn't that a bit of a spoiler?

AN: No, it's really more of a heads-up on where this chapter will leave off. Speaking of which, move over and gimme a slice of that pizza! I wanna get me some eats while my readers and followers head on down to the disclaimer and the main story!

I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

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Chapter XXIV

Before they left Hollow Bastion for their final destination in this journey, Ventus had all but thrown Chip and Dale off the ship on the grounds that they might not be able to get back again. It was not that he thought they would fail, but he was very certain that the ship would not be able to survive what they were going to be flying into, and he did not want their two engineers to end up stranded with it on the off-chance they were not sent back to Disney Castle after Ansem was defeated. Chip and Dale argued with him as much as they could, citing that the team still needed them, but Ven was quick to remind them that they could still help out via an experimental link they had set up for the ship's engineering functions. It was an experimental link that was completely untested, but it was still better than just leaving the team without any engineers at all, save for Donald, who had already volunteered to take over for the two after they left. With that in mind, it was not long until Chip and Dale realized that they were not going to win the argument, and they finally agreed to teleport down to Hollow Bastion, but not without giving the team heartfelt goodbyes and a wish of good luck in their endeavor. Once the two were gone, Ventus took a moment to call Cid and ask him to give Chip and Dale a lift back to Disney Town, and with that, the team was truly ready to get underway.

That particular conversation was still hanging a little heavily in the rest of the team's minds as they flew to a place that Ventus had said was known only as End of the World, and they were all still a little worried about how long they would last without Chip and Dale right there with them to oversee all things in engineering for them when they got into another aerial battle with the Heartless. Even Donald was worried about this, despite the fact that he had been so quick to volunteer his services for engineering in the chipmunks' place, and he made it no secret either. "Do you really think we'll be okay without them," the magician asked a few hours after they had left.

"Hopefully, yes," Ventus admitted, showing that he was a little unsure of his decision as well. "To be honest, I just wanted to make sure that they would be safe at home again in case they weren't able to be sent home after the worlds were restored. I'm not saying that they wouldn't have been, but I'd really rather not take any chances. Plus, I get the feeling that the Kingdom may be facing its last flight, so I'd rather not risk losing them in the coming battle with the Heartless."

No one could do anything other than agree to that. They were all most likely going to be able to get through the entirety of the journey, but if something did happen that caused them to lose Chip and Dale along the way, they would not have been able to forgive themselves. The little guys had done so much for them up until now that it did not seem fair to ask them to put themselves into so much danger like that. Sure, any one of the five of them could be just as easily lost while in-flight to this place, but the risk to the two chipmunks was significantly greater in more than a few ways, so the other four were definitely able to understand Ven's reasoning a little better now. With that reasoning now out there, they all silently agreed to let the matter drop and put all of their focus on the mission at hand.

Well, most of them put all of their focus onto the mission, because there was something that Ven had said that made Goofy pause and think for a moment. The others all quickly caught onto that when he suddenly hummed in thought, and they were just as quick to ask what was wrong. "It's nothing really," Goofy assured them. "I just couldn't help but notice what Ven called Disney Castle just now." When the blonde threw him a look of confusion, he explained, "You called it 'home,' and in all the time you've been there with us, I don't remember hearing you ever call the castle your home before. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time you've ever done so."

"What? Come on, of course I've…" Ventus started to argue, only to stop short and begin really thinking about the matter himself. When he found that he was unable to recall a time when he had referred to Disney Town or its castle as his home, he finally muttered, "Huh, I guess you're right. This is the first time I've ever called Disney Castle or any part of Disney Town home."

"You mean, you've never thought of it as your home before now," Kairi asked in disbelief, and from the look on his face, Sora had a hard time believing it too. They both remembered Ven telling them that he had lived at Disney Castle with Donald, Goofy, and the king for ten years, so how could he not start to consider the place as his home in all of that time?

"Not really," Ventus replied, knowing he was going to need to explain himself to the two kids right away. "I may have lived there for the last ten years, but…well, as the old saying goes, home is where the heart is, and my home had disappeared into darkness a long time ago."

"You mean you lost your world to the Heartless too," Sora asked, never once thinking that his master had been in the same situation as him until now.

"No, not to the Heartless, and I wasn't talking about a place, Sora," Ventus corrected. "My home is, and always has been with Aqua and Terra for as long as I can remember. A home can be defined in many ways, Sora. While for some, it is a place that they know very well and love with all their heart, but for others, the only thing that they needed to call a place home, it to be with the people that they care about the most in their hearts. Sure, the world that Terra, Aqua, and I grew up on has been…changed a great deal since I was last there, but the thing that made it home for me has always been my best friend who was like a brother to me, and…and the woman I came to love more than anything."

Kairi and Sora both immediately smiled when they heard that, because of Ven's proclamation of his feelings for Aqua, and because they understood what he meant very well. Even though Kairi had wondered what her birth world was like, she had not really thought of it as her home since she first came to Destiny Islands, and like she had told Sora before this whole mess had started, she was happy there, and she wanted to go back someday no matter where she went or what she saw. Sora felt the same way as Kairi, but mostly because he had actually been born on Destiny Islands and had grown up there right alongside Riku and later Kairi. Despite what they had seen on this journey, they both still believed that there was no other place like Destiny Islands anywhere at all. Knowing that made it all the more important for them to succeed, because they were going to get their home back, and they were going to make sure that Ven got his home back too, even if it was only part of it, by saving Aqua as well as the islands.

The touching moment that they were sharing was quickly abolished though, when the ship suddenly shook under a force that could only have been enemy fire. They did not need to look at the scanner or out the viewport to know that the Heartless had finally caught up with them and were now doing whatever they could to keep the team from reaching the place Ansem had fled to, but they still did so, and when they saw what was outside, they were left flabbergasted at the sight. Outside the ship was probably the largest force of Heartless ships that they had ever seen until now, and they came in all shapes and sizes. There were massive ships slowly closing in on them with weapons galore, what looked like tanks parked on some of the meteors that hovered along the path they were taking, and several different varieties of smaller fighters that were armed to the teeth just to make sure that none would pass through here. Anyone else would have looked at this armada and think that it would be insane to try and fight that with one, single ship, but this group was not anyone else, and not only they could not turn back now, they were definitely not even planning on turning back. They all intended to make that very clear to the Heartless.

"Goofy, divert all unnecessary power to shields and watch the scanners for anything else that may come after us! Sora, Kairi, man weapons and fire on anything and everything the minute you're ready! Donald, do whatever you can to keep the ship together, because this is about to become a very rough ride," Ventus ordered everyone, his hands flying the pilot controls as fast as he could, and the others were all moving just as fast to carry out his orders.

Sora and Kairi ended up being the first ones to get completely ready, but only because all they really needed to do was switch the weapons controls over to the game-controller like system that they had been using for so long now. The minute that said controllers had ejected into their hands, the two Keyblade Warriors opened fire with every weapon that they currently could use, annihilating several fighter ships in a matter of seconds, while some of the larger ships received significant damage. While the two were doing that, Goofy finally reported that everything on his end was ready, and Ventus took that as his cue to gun the ship forward, so he looked over at everyone else on the bridge while speaking to Donald over the intercoms and shouted, "Everyone hang on!"

The others barely had enough time to secure themselves in place before Ven opened up the engines to full-throttle, and the Kingdom immediately blasted off into the midst of the Heartless armada before them. Sora and Kairi were soon working overtime in trying to shoot down any Heartless ships in their path, and when they did miss one, they paid it little mind afterwards. There was no reason to think that it would be a problem since the ships would normally just let them go after the Kingdom had flown past, but unfortunately, this time turned out to be different. In a mere matter of minutes, the ship had been shaken up by an explosion from the rear, and Goofy quickly checked the scanners before informing everyone that several Heartless ships were now coming at them from behind. When they heard that, the two Keyblade Warriors immediately began dividing their attention between the enemies that were in front of them and behind them, and needless to say, it made things a lot more difficult, as the constant explosions and shaking of the ship proved for everyone.

Ventus did not appear to be too concerned though, but that was only partially because he had to focus on flying the ship through this maelstrom of enemies. The rest of his reasoning was that he knew they still had their shields going, so any actual damage to the ship would be superficial at best for now. That was quickly dashed though, when they received a particularly hard hit that made the shields fluctuate in a way that caused them to be seen by everyone for a minute or two. "Donald, what just happened to our shields," Ventus demanded.

"Some of those last few hits have started to finally wear them down," Donald reported. "If we take too much more damage, the shields will be completely gone, and there won't be anything I can do to repair it!"

"Have you contacted Chip and Dale to see if they can help via the remote link," Ventus asked.

"Yeah, several times! It's not working," Donald cried out.

"Damn it," Ventus cursed, but he quickly regained as much of his composure as he could. "Sora, Kairi, one of you turn all of your focus to the enemies on our six while the other handles what's in front of us. If the shields go, I don't want to lose the engines before we've at least gotten close to our destination."

"How much farther do we even have to go," Kairi questioned as she switched her controls over to the rear-facing weapons with a few clicks of the buttons.

Goofy was the one who gave that report, but his answer was not all that favorable for the team. "We're just about halfway there now, but the number of Heartless ships is starting to increase!"

"No kidding," Sora retorted as he unleashed several rounds of lasers, torpedoes, and any other weaponry he could on a large ship that had just flown into their path. Thankfully, said ship was destroyed, and before it went up in smoke completely, Ven managed to fly the Kingdom through a hole that Sora had blown through it with the skill of an expert pilot.

Just like Goofy said though, the number of Heartless ships ahead of them did increase, and Sora found himself having to focus fire on more and more of the larger ships than before. He managed to get a few of them, but not all of them, and Kairi was left to knock them out in his place as they appeared in her own scopes. Thankfully, the larger ships were not as maneuverable as the small fighters, so they did not have to worry about them coming back around to attack the Kingdom from behind. Still, some did manage to score a few hits on the small gummi ship, but thanks to Kairi, most of the ships were not able to line up a good shot on the engines. Such luck could not last forever though, and they all knew it just like they knew they had to get to their destination before said luck finally ran its course.

At long last, they came to a point where they could see the world on the edge of their long-range sensors, and Goofy reported that they would be within visual range at any second. While this would typically be good news, it was soon overshadowed by the turn of misfortune that they were soon facing, as the shields had finally gone out a few minutes earlier. Just when they were reaching visual range, one of the Heartless ships finally evaded Kairi's attempt to keep their engines safe, and scored a lucky hit on one of the main engines. Everyone felt the explosion that had followed afterwards, and while it did push them forwards a little faster for a minute, they were soon slowing down quite a bit, while several alarms began going off to warn of severe hull breaches all along the rear end of the ship. Those same hull breach warnings were soon including several other points on the ship as well, and they all knew that it was only a matter of time before they went down if something was not done now.

"Donald, hold this thing together," Ventus shouted.

"I'm giving her all she's got, Ven! She can't take much more," Donald protested.

At that point, another hit from behind was scored on the Kingdom, and when they heard a something cracking above them, the four on the bridge all immediately looked up and saw that several cracks were forming in the glass dome of the bridge. "All she's got may not be enough! Give us something," Ventus pleaded over the explosions and cracking.

"I'm trying! I don't know what else I can give her!"

When he heard that, Ven knew that there was only one option left open for them, and he did not like it one bit. Unfortunately, there was no other way out of the mess they were in at this point, so he could only sigh in defeat before relaying one last order for Donald over the intercom. "Donald, do what you can to get as much power to the shields and hull integrity as possible, then get back up here to the bridge. If we can't do anything to repair or prevent further damage, then we'll have to ride it out to the end."

"…Understood, Ven," Donald replied, his tone showing that he knew exactly what Ven's orders really meant. Not that the blonde was surprised. Donald had mentioned once or twice that he had done something similar to this back in the day, both in his past adventures with Goofy and the king, and in some of his previous adventures with his rich uncle. That did not mean that he was proud of the fact that he had to do it back then, and he certainly did not seem to like it now.

The ship had shaken under the force of another explosion just as Donald had returned to the bridge and strapped into his usual seat, while Sora and Kairi were scrambling to blast as many Heartless out of the sky as they could in a desperate effort to keep the creatures of darkness from destroying their ship. Ven appreciated the effort, but at this point, what was about to happen to their vessel was inevitable. He just had to make sure that they got to their target destination before that finally happened, or at the very least close enough to it where they could use an emergency teleportation safely. He was really not in favor of the latter option, since they could not afford any chances of getting separated in this particular place, but if that was the only option open to them, they had to take it, both for the sake of their survival, and that of all the worlds. Thankfully, it began to seem like they would not need to do that, because at long last, they began to close in on their destination.

It did not matter if it was from a distance or up close, because no matter where or how you looked at it, this place that Ven had called End of the World was nothing too impressive to look at, yet at the same time it still gave them a sense of dread and despair. Most simply described, it looked like a large, dark sphere with cracks along its rough surface. Several, light blue streams could be seen pouring into the sphere, while dark rings circled around it. Place all of this against the dark cloud that acted as the backdrop for this part of interspace, and you would have to be as crazy or twisted as Maleficent to not be a little on edge at the sight of this place. Any further studies of End of the World were brought to an end soon enough, as the Heartless armada managed to score a few final hits that ended up being the final blows necessary for the ship's sensors to warn that hull breaches were imminent on several decks. Not only that, but Ventus soon found himself unable to so much as slow the ship down, and since they were careening right towards the dark world before them uncontrollably, there was only one option left for them at this point.

"Everyone, get to the teleporter. Abandon ship," Ventus finally ordered with a great deal of hesitance.

"WHAT," the other four all shouted.

"You can't be serious," Sora protested.

"If we do that we could get stuck here," Donald argued.

"And what about the Kingdom? We can't just let the Heartless destroy it," Kairi added.

Goofy would have put in his own two cents on this argument, but Ventus was already countering all arguments before the knight could say so much as one word. "The ship's already lost, and if we don't get out now, we'll be destroyed with it! We came here to stop Xehanort's Heartless, but we can't do that if we go down with the ship! I don't like it any better than you guys, but it's our only choice. Now do it! Abandon ship!"

No one argued any further after that, and they all immediately sprang from their seats to get to the teleporter. They stumbled quite a few times, due to how the ship was still shaking and exploding around them, but somehow, they did eventually make it, and Ventus programmed in a set of coordinates that looked like a safe enough landing zone before joining them on the pad. Just before the teleporter had fully activated, Ventus made it a point to activate his armor, prompting Sora and Kairi to do the same, while Donald and Goofy cast some special protective spells that would serve the same purpose as the armors, and with that, they all disappeared from the Kingdom, only to reappear again on the dark region below them. They all took a moment to look over themselves and each other, just to make sure that they had all made it down in one piece, but those examinations came to an end when they heard a loud explosion coming from above them. When they looked up, they all felt a great deal of dismay wash over them at the sight they were greeted with, for it was at that moment that they saw the Kingdom, or what was left of it at least, finally erupt into an explosion of fire and gummi blocks, leaving absolutely nothing in its wake.

A somber silence hung in the air for them at the sight of their faithful ship being destroyed, and it remained there for a few moments as they mourned its loss, until Ventus finally whispered, "What have I done?"

"What you had to do to make sure we could do what we came out here to do," Sora reassured his master, and though his smile did not quite reach his eyes, Ven could tell that the kid still meant exactly what he said in his reassurance of the older blonde.

They all stood there in silence for another few minutes or so, each sending their own quiet farewells to the Kingdom, with Donald and Goofy standing at attention with respectful salutes in the ship's memory, until it finally reached a point where they were unable to do so any longer without wasting time that could be spent hunting down Ansem. After all, as sad as this recent loss was, the Kingdom was still just a ship, and there were far more important things at stake here. So, once they were sure that none of them were being weighed down by sad thoughts regarding their vessel, they all turned to make their way out of the cave that Ventus had beamed them down into, and began to venture out into the dark reaches of this strange world that sat right in the middle of the border between the realms of light and darkness.

When they came out of the cave, they were all shocked and slightly frightened by the sight that greeted them, because from what they could tell, a large dark expanse of nothing was all that could be seen, right up to a large, swirling dark vortex that rested on the opposite side of the abyss in front of them. Said abyss had a few small dirt patches here and there along the way to the vortex, while the vortex itself had several large, stone pillars circling around it. It may not have seemed like much, but this emptiness was certainly enough for the blood of all five members of the team to suddenly run cold with dread at what it likely meant.

"Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless," Goofy asked in despair.

"It certainly looks like it," Kairi admitted, clutching a hand to her chest when she spoke. "I can feel…something from this place. A faint light that's slowly flickering out into nothing."

"Don't worry. Those worlds will be restored when we beat Ansem, remember," Ventus pointed out to everyone, reassuringly.

"Yeah, and everything will be good as new," Donald nodded in response, clearly catching onto the positive Ven was trying to reinvigorate.

Despite his master's efforts though, Sora did have one major, overarching concern. "But, if we do beat him and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's going to happen to this place? And to us?"

"Well, uh…" Donald did not have an answer for that, because it was certainly a good question. Sure, they had been assured that everyone would be sent back to where they had came from when the worlds were restored, but there was a distinct lack of details on what would happen to them once they defeated the Heartless and their master. He did not want to give an answer when he was not entirely sure about it himself.

Thankfully, Goofy had his best friend's back, and easily replied, "This is a Heartless world, so maybe it'll just disappear." When the others all gasped and looked to him in a panic, Goofy did not let it bother him too much, because he was not quite finished speaking yet. "But no worries. Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will."

By the time Goofy had finished talking, the other four had lightened up quite a bit, and Ventus soon commented, "Goofy's right. We didn't come all this way just to go down with the bad guys. We'll make it out of this and reunite with our friends soon enough."

"Yeah, you're right," Sora nodded in agreement, pulling out Kairi's good luck charm so that he could hold it close to his chest for a minute. He then looked to the girl in question and declared, "I intend to return this soon. I promise."

Kairi smiled in return, knowing exactly what Sora meant by that statement. With those simple words, he was promising her that no matter what happened, they would all make it home together, and with Riku and all of their other missing friends as well. Kairi was truly grateful for that, but she was not about to let any of them go out there without making sure Sora knew one important fact. "Sora, promise me something else," she asked.

"What," Sora questioned, wondering what else he could possibly promise her at this point that he had not already.

Kairi locked a loving gaze on the wielder of Kingdom Key, and softly said, "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."

Sora could only stare back at her in surprise, until his eyes softened into a heartfelt gaze and he nodded in return. That was something that he never had any intention of forgetting about. After all, how could he, when he knew that her heart belonged to him just as much as his heart did with her? The two of them would always be one, just as he, Riku, and Kairi would always be best friends, no matter what happened, and nothing was ever going to change that, be it the Heartless, Xehanort's Heartless, or anything else. In that moment, Sora acted on instinct and gave Kairi a quick peck on the cheek, only to have her pull him back in for a full kiss on the lips seconds later, just to make sure he was entirely assured of what she had said to him.

Seeing the two like that brought a smile to Ven's face, while also reminding him of the last night he spent beneath the same stars as his two best friends, and at that thought, Ven immediately pulled out his Wayfinder so that he could give it a loving gaze. "We'll all be together again soon, Aqua and Terra. I truly believe we will," Ventus softly whispered as he held the charm close to him. He then glanced over at the two young Keybearers and added, "And I know that these guys are going to help make that day happen. After all, they've already helped us quite a bit, even if they don't realize it."

When he said that, Ven's mind replaced the image of Sora and Kairi before him with one of much older versions of the two of them, right when they had pulled apart and turned to look at him. They were not just older versions though. These two were full-fledged Keyblade Masters with fully evolved Keyblade armors, and an air of confidence and assurance that could make anyone believe that anything was possible. After a minute though, Ventus blinked the image away, and he was once again looking at the present day versions of Sora and Kairi, who he saw were looking at him a little oddly. He quickly waved off their concerns, saying that he was fine and the needed to get moving, and with that, the five marched onwards.

Their march barely got more than five feet ahead before Goofy suddenly noticed something coming straight towards them from above, and immediately shouted, "Look out!"

On instinct, they all ducked their heads and raised their arms up in an attempt to shield themselves from the massive dark orb that was falling towards them from some unknown part of the sky, but when the orb finally dropped all the way, they were surprised that they did not feel any pain whatsoever. That small relief was quickly dashed when they looked up again and saw that the abyss had been replaced by an odd-looking battle-ground that seemed to lead into a large maze, and all around them were several Heartless. A good number were Shadows or NeoShadows, but for the most part, there were also several new ones that Sora could not help but notice had a few similarities to the one he had fought just before Destiny Islands had fallen to darkness. They were nowhere near the same size, but they did have a similarly muscular frame, and a heart-shaped hole in their chest, but said hole was definitely smaller and more embellished. Some other differences to note between these guys and that one massive Heartless was that they had sharp purple and blue horns, bat-like wings on their backs, gold-tipped feather wings on their forearms, and their pointed feet had bluish-purple fireballs beneath them. Add in the scalloped, blue-bladed sword and the tails that ended in a crescent-shaped blade and Sora just knew that these guys promised to be trouble.

"Jiminy," Ven asked as he summoned Guardian Wind, with the others summoning their weapons mere seconds later.

The cricket automatically knew what Ven was asking for, and had already located an entry in his journal that had details on the new enemy. "These guys are called Invisibles," the cricket reported.

"I'm not really seeing much reason for a name like that," Kairi stated, clearly thinking about how these things were very visible to them.

"The name is more of a reference to how they can disappear when using a curse attack known as Ring of Fire," Jiminy explained. "You'll know it's being used when the Invisible throws its sword into the ground, while the main body turns into a ring of dark fire that quickly surrounds whoever is closest to it. Once the time is up, the curse explodes and can deal a large amount of damage to anyone in the vicinity. You should be able to dodge it by jumping or evading it any way that you guys normally would, but it'll require a certain amount of precise timing. They'll also attack with their swords, their tails and wings, and, on occasion dark energy."

"In other words, approach a fight against them with caution," Ventus summarized right before he moved to engage the closest NeoShadow. Said NeoShadow was swiftly destroyed the minute that Ven had struck it with Guardian Wind and another one soon followed afterwards, but the blonde's combination of attacks came to an abrupt halt when he had to block an Invisible's sword from cleaving him in two.

Kairi immediately came to Ven's rescue with a blast of Firaga, and she kept the other Invisibles at bay for a little while through the use of the spell Gravity. When she had time to learn that, Ven could not tell you, but he was certainly not complaining, since it was keeping the Mini-Darksides off him and the others for the moment. Sora had to agree with that sentiment, but also because it gave him time to target all of the Invisibles with his Keyblade so that he could unleash Typhoon Barrage on them. His efforts proved successful, and allowed them to be rid of at least two or three Invisibles in an instant. There were still quite a few left, but Donald was able to eradicate a couple easily enough along with some Shadows with a blast of Thundaga. Goofy instantly charged in to unleash a spinning attack on some Shadows and one of the remaining Invisibles, and while he was successful in destroying the Shadows, he was unable to hit the Invisible in time, because it quickly threw its sword into the ground and disappeared into a ring of dark fire, just like Jiminy said it would. There was no question that it had unleashed its curse on Goofy since he was the one closest to it at the time, and Kairi and Donald were both immediately throwing some spells over to Goofy that they were sure would help keep him safe when the curse wore off.

Somehow, the two's efforts to keep Goofy from being too injured by the Invisible's curse paid off, but just barely, as Goofy was easily dazed when the curse finally reached its end. On the bright side, the Invisible that had cursed the knight had unknowingly left itself open to Ven's next Shotlock, and it was soon eradicated along with some more NeoShadows by his Pulse Bomb. Sora quickly jumped on the remaining NeoShadows, blazing a trail through them with Oathkeeper cutting down any Heartless that dared to come close at every turn, and when Goofy had been healed up enough by Kairi, the knight had easily managed to join in on Sora's assault and help him finish off the remaining Shadows. Seeing as there were no Invisibles, Shadows, or NeoShadows left, the five all thought that meant they had won, but unfortunately, they were far from done, as a swarm of Darkballs soon appeared to replace the previous enemies, along with more new Heartless that looked far more fragile and weak than any of the Heartless they had seen thus far. This was mostly due to the fact that they had bodies that looked to be made of transparent glass in a delicate bell shape, soft blue and purple wings, and appeared to have a gold spike jutting out from the bottom of its body, surrounded by a pair of light blue rings.

Jiminy quickly identified these new Heartless as well, and announced to them, "Those are called Angel Stars, flying Heartless that cast potent spells. They're said to be born of holy spells, but considering its nature as a Heartless…yeah, I think you can see why I'd question that. They always attack from long-range with magic, and block physical attacks with their wings."

"Got it," Sora told the cricket, and he immediately leaped into the air to try and bring his Keyblade down on one of the Angel Stars from above. His efforts did little good, as said Heartless just deflected his attack with its wings. Thankfully, Ven was able to make up for the failure and hit it from behind with Guardian Wind, destroying it in an instant.

Kairi quickly cast a blast of Thundaga that immediately struck the other Angel Stars, but before she could do anymore, she had to roll out of the way of an attack from one of the Darkballs. Donald was quick to retaliate on said Darkball for Kairi, and he did so with a blast of Firaga that vaporized the flying orb in an instant. After giving Donald a nod in thanks, Kairi noticed that Goofy had just bashed another Darkball aside before throwing his shield into an Angel Star that had tried to attack Sora with some fireballs that appeared to be infused with lightning. Thankfully, Sora was able to deflect the attack just in time, but he still felt a bit of a jolt afterwards, and Kairi could see that very easily. So, after casting a quick burst of Curaga in Sora's direction, Kairi called out for Goofy to give her a boost, and she was soon using Goofy's shield as a springboard for her to fly above the offending Angel Star and strike it down from the air. Another few soon followed after thanks to Sora blasting them with a rapid-fire barrage of Blizzaga, and the last one was soon felled by Ven knocking it out of the air with Freeze Raid, leaving it open for Donald to destroy with another lightning spell. After that point, all that was left for them to deal with were the Darkballs, and they fell much more easily than the newer Heartless that had tried to get in their way.

With the battle finally ended, a strange, dark smokescreen seemed to fill the area around them, and when it cleared, the team was surprised to find themselves right back where they were before. They were all naturally a little confused at first, but they ultimately shrugged it off and decided that they needed to just keep an eye out for anymore surprises from above before they started walking forward. At least that was the plan until Donald suddenly slammed into some sort of invisible wall, much to their surprise. Ventus, Sora, and Kairi all slowly approached where Donald had stopped, and began to feel along the invisible wall for a few seconds, trying to figure out where it ended and where it began.

"What the heck is going on," Sora finally asked, when he failed to notice any openings in whatever was stopping their advance.

"Hey fellers, wasn't there a wall right here when we were fighting those Heartless a minute ago," Goofy asked.

Kairi's eyes widened in surprise at that, and she immediately exclaimed, "Hey, Goofy's right! I remember there being a wall right here too!" She then glanced around for a minute or two, until she settled her gaze on something close to them, and pointed out, "There was also an opening in the wall that led to the chest right over there."

"I get it," Ventus caught on. "This place isn't some kind of empty chasm, but an invisible maze! One that can only be seen inside of a battlefield, and those dark orbs that fall from the sky instantly make things become clear while summoning out Heartless to try and stop intruders."

"So the only way we'll be able to see a path forward is to let the Heartless attack us," Sora asked, incredulously. He was certainly not in favor of having to fight several Heartless over and over again just to see where a path opened up and where it closed.

"Not necessarily," Ventus replied, noticing how some of the small rock islands stood in the abyss. "We can probably gather on a direction the paths take based off what parts of the trail is visible, but we should still be careful. Those orbs in the sky could drop on us again at any minute, and those treasure chests could easily booby-trapped to summon some Heartless out as well. So watch your step, and don't touch anything without all of us being ready and sure that its safe. Everyone got that?"

"Yep, we've got it," Donald replied, but clearly he did not understand that well, because he actually opened up the treasure chest that Kairi had pointed out earlier like he did not have a care in the world.

"What did I just say about touching things carelessly," Ventus demanded, despite the fact that it was already too late to stop Donald.

The minute the treasure chest had been opened though, another dark smokescreen blinded them to their surroundings, and they all soon found themselves in another battlefield, with several Invisibles, NeoShadows, Darkballs, and Angel Stars surrounding them once they could see again. Despite being surrounded though, Sora, Ventus, Kairi, and even Goofy all still found it necessary to glare at the person responsible for drawing them into this and growled, "Donald."

"Uh…Whoops. I'll be good," Donald weakly apologized as he summoned his staff.

Ventus just sighed tiredly as he called Guardian Wind into his hand again, turned to face the Heartless around them, and then said, "Let's destroy the Heartless for now, and worry about punishing Donald for his stupidity later."

"Agreed," the others nodded as they brought their weapons back out as well, and when they entered into another fight, they all heard Donald moaning in dismay at the knowledge of what was going to be coming to him after this was over.

---

After effectively dealing with the results of Donald's carelessness and said duck getting a slap upside the head from each of his four friends and teammates, the adventurers had carefully made their way across the abyss and through the invisible maze. None of them were too eager to so much as touch the other treasure chests that they spotted after getting caught in the trap that first one came attached too, so they did not come across any diversions of any kind in trying to reach the vortex that would doubtlessly lead them further into this dark place. Right when they had reached the vortex though, they found themselves caught in another dark orb from above, only this time they had to fight against another Behemoth. Since they had already defeated one before, they were able to handle this one just as easily, if not easier, since they did not wish to waste time and made sure to hit the beast with a lot of their most powerful abilities and attacks, making short work of the beast. When it was finally vanquished and they were able to proceed into the vortex, they all found themselves suddenly dropping down into large, colorful canyon that was suspiciously quiet. What really grabbed their attention though was when Donald took a closer look at some of the rocks lining the canyon and discovered that a good deal of them were actually gummi blocks, much to their surprise. When he heard that, Ven stated that Mickey had long suspected that the material had some sort of connection to what had been happening to the other worlds over the years, but he never really had any solid proof of it. Apparently, they now had that proof, because this certainly seemed incriminating enough to them.

The thing that really bothered them about this place though, was that there did not seem to be any Heartless in the area as far as the eye could see. Normally, that would have spelled trap in big, neon letter, but after reaching out with her senses, Kairi quickly informed them that there were no Heartless in this place. At least, as far as she could tell there were not any, and given that her instincts as a Princess of Heart were much better than his could likely ever be, Ventus was more than inclined to trust her judgment on the matter. Still, just because there were no Heartless in this particular area, it did not mean that they could relax their guard. After all, they were still deep in enemy territory, and there was likely to be danger around any and every corner.

"Gee, I wonder where that Ansem feller could've went now," Goofy thought aloud.

"Dive into the most dangerous place and we'll find him," Donald determined, fully confident in that idea.

"Makes sense," Ventus agreed. "Even when he was a whole being, Xehanort loved being in places that were close to the darkness and the closer they were the better, in his opinion."

"So where would that be," Sora asked.

Kairi closed her eyes in concentration for a minute, trying to figure out the answer herself by reaching out with all of her senses, until she finally said, "I think…it's somewhere just ahead of us. Literally, right in front of us, but with all of these twisting pathways, I don't know how we're going to reach the place."

"I doubt we even need to follow any of these paths," Ventus informed them, having already sensed where they needed to head long before Kairi started to really look. When the others gave him questioning looks, Ventus just pointed in front of them and said, "Best guess: onward and downward."

With that said, Ventus immediately ran up the ledge of the path they were currently standing on, jumped off, and started gliding down to the lower reaches of the canyon. Seeing as they had very little to lose right now, Sora and Kairi immediately followed after him, with Donald and Goofy taking the long way around by just jumping down from one path to the next as fast as they could. When he realized what the last two were doing, Ven made a mental note to teach his two friends how to use magic for things like jumping higher and gliding through the air later, assuming they all survived this, and then returned his fixed his attention straight ahead. It was not long after that he finally spotted what he was looking for, and it came in the form of a hole in the ground that had a swirling vortex of energy rising up from it. Once he was close enough to a pathway just above said vortex, Ven dropped down onto the ground, with the others joining him soon after, and then signaled towards the vortex as the place where they would be going before he led the way in jumping into the vortex.

Just like before when they jumped through a vortex, the team was transported to a very strange area, and this one was even more disconcerting than the last. They found themselves standing within a pillar that seemed to float in the middle of dark, empty space, and looking further down, they saw that there were several more pillars just like the one that they were currently standing in. The only difference was that they could see some kind of beam of light in the center of each of the other pillars, with the last one being a dark, fire-like color. Since there was nothing after the last pillar, the team had to assume that they would find an entrance to the next area somewhere around there. They just had to figure out how to get to that pillar, or really how to get from one pillar to the next at all, because from what they could tell, there were no pathways between any two pillars.

That idea was soon proven false when Goofy accidentally stumbled into a glowing blue orb that was on the opposite side of their current pillar and then disappeared. Just when the others were all starting to panic, they heard Goofy's voice calling out to them from the next pillar. "Hey fellers! I think we can use these glowing things to teleport between pillars," the knight shouted to them. It may have been a little redundant at that point to tell them that, but it was still nice to receive solid confirmation of the fact.

Ven quickly named himself as the next person to test the theory regarding the teleporting orbs, and after gently placing his hand into the blue orb, he found himself instantly pulled over onto the next pillar and next to Goofy. Seeing as he made it through unscathed, Ven then signaled for the other three to come over, but cautioned against going all at once. When everyone had arrived, Kairi took a glance at the beam of light in the middle of the pillar, and had to wonder, "If the orbs help us move between these pillars, then what do you think these beams are for?"

"Probably to keep the pillars afloat or something," Sora suggested, not really able to think of anything else. Even so, he could not help but reach out towards the beam. The next thing he knew, something was pulling him in, and he quickly vanished from sight, much to the horror of his friends.

"Sora," Kairi cried out as she dove into the beam after him, and the other three were soon following her. When the light finally died down enough for them to see properly, they were all left completely bewildered by what greeted their eyes. It may have looked slightly different, but they could still see all kinds of indications that proved that they had in fact just been transported to somewhere that they all knew very well by now.

"Traverse Town," Donald gasped, because from what they were seeing, it did in fact seem as though they had just walked through the gates into the Third District of Traverse Town.

"But…how'd we get here," Goofy questioned. "Do you think that…something finally got past Merlin's defenses and Traverse Town's now…"

No one wanted to so much as hear Goofy finish that question, but at the same time, the idea did have a bit of merit to it. That did not mean there were not any other possibilities though, and Ventus was about to remind them of that, until the sounds of battle suddenly grabbed their attention. When they looked further into the area, they all quickly spotted Sora battling it out against some Soldiers and Air Soldiers, along with a Large Body or two, and it looked like he was struggling in his attempts to fight them all on his own.

"Let's save the guesswork on what's going on here for after we help Sora," Ventus suggested, and they were soon entering battle once more.

When he noticed that a pair of Large Bodies that were about to belly flop him suddenly get blasted into dust by a couple of Blizzaga spells, Sora knew in an instant that the others had finally come after him, and he showed how happy he was for that by turning a quick grin to them before he drove Oathkeeper through a couple more Soldiers. Just as he was pulling his Keyblade back for another strike, Sora found his back being watched a little more closely by Ven, as the blonde made it a point to drive back any Air Soldiers that dared to try and attack his apprentice. Kairi then spun around a Large Body a few times before she was able to effectively land a few quick blows to its back that made the massive Heartless fall flat on its face long enough for her to zap it into dust with Thundaga. She did not have to worry about anything catching her from behind though, as Goofy quickly proved when he batted aside a Soldier with his shield before tossing it into another two. With a few more further displays of skill and teamwork such as those, the five were able to clear out the Heartless in little time at all, much to their relief. It did not help to solve the mystery that was picking at all of their minds, though, and Sora was not about to let it go unresolved.

"What's going on here? I thought we made sure Traverse Town would be safe from the Heartless, even after that spike that opening the Keyhole in Hollow Bastion caused," Sora questioned, with a tone that was desperately pleading for an answer that would allay any of his quickly forming worries.

"We did, and more to the point, I don't think that this even is Traverse Town," Ventus revealed, confusing his apprentice and their friends even more. "Given what we saw after we first started to venture further into this world, I think it's safe to assume that this might be another natural defense against anyone who would oppose the beings that live here. This might just be an illusion of a world we know that's meant to throw us off and make us needlessly worry about the actual place when it is in fact still okay."

"So you're saying that this isn't the real Traverse Town, but some kind of trick that this world is using to throw us off," Goofy asked, just to make sure he understood right.

"It does make a lot of sense," Kairi admitted, studying their surroundings a little more carefully. "After all, I don't remember seeing those large pillars blocking off all the paths out of this central area being there the last time we were in Traverse Town, except for the doors that lead back First District."

When the others looked around, they realized that Kairi was right. In fact, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ven all remembered those same pillars only appearing once during all their time in Traverse Town: the first time that they had fought against the Guard Armor. "So if this is a trick, then how do we get out of here," Donald asked.

Sora looked back at the doors that normally led to First District and said, "Maybe we just need to go through the only door that's available to us." It was not like they had any better options, so they all followed after Sora as he pushed the doors open. When they stepped through, a brilliant light flashed over their eyes once again, and they once again found themselves standing on the pillar they had been in before. "Hey, it worked," Sora cheered.

"So this place must be like some kind of…world terminus or something," Donald theorized.

"And if my hunch is right, it can change into any of the worlds we've visited in the past, with Heartless waiting to ambush us while our guard is down from seeing said world," Ventus reminded him. "It might be best if we avoid going into those beams for now."

The others had to agree with Ven's suggestion, and they immediately approached the blue orb so that they could teleport to the next pillar. The plan to avoid the beams did work for the most part, but on several occasions, someone in the group was tempted to go into the beam, be it due to curiosity of what world they would see inside, or because they felt like something inside of the beam was calling out to them. It was actually the latter of those reasons that Ven ended up being the one who went into the beam on one of the last pillars before they reached the one they wanted to get to, and unlike the previous ones, he found it impossible to ignore this calling. So, he ended up going straight into the beam, and the others were all soon right behind him, knowing that he had just stepped right into another Heartless ambush.

At least they thought he did, until they came out the other side and found absolutely no Heartless at all. Instead, they were greeted by the sight of a magnificent castle that was connected to twin peaks by lengths of gold chains. Looking around, they could see that it was apparently set at a time with a clear night sky, and the castle rested in high grassy mountains that were surrounded by flowing water. "Whoa," Kairi exclaimed. "This place is beautiful."

"No kidding," Sora agreed, unable to say anything more than that or what Kairi had said.

"But where exactly is it," Donald questioned, not recognizing the place at all.

Sora, Kairi, and Goofy all thought for a minute, but found that they did not have an answer either. None of them could remember visiting a place like this over the course of their journey, and yet for some reason, they were still seeing it here in the world terminus, plain as the nose on one's face. There was more to it than that for one of them though. As he continued to look around, Sora found himself slowly gaining a strange feeling of familiarity. He knew that he had never been here before, but for some reason, this place gave him a nostalgic feeling that he could not quite understand. He eventually shrugged it off though, thinking that he was just imagining things and this place was starting to get into his head a little, and was about to say they should get back when Goofy noticed that the first one of them to come in was standing as still as a statue right in the middle of the courtyard before the magnificent castle.

"Hey Ven, what's wrong," Goofy called out, drawing all attention onto the Keyblade master as a result.

Ventus did not say anything in reply and just barely even seemed to notice when the others came over to him. In fact, it was not until Sora waved a hand in front of his face that the blonde finally came around enough to realize that he was worrying his friends. "Sorry about that," Ven softly apologized. "I just…I never expected this place to show up here."

"You mean you know where we are," Kairi asked in surprise.

"Oh yes, I know what this place is," Ventus slowly nodded in confirmation. "This is the world where I grew up and trained alongside Terra and Aqua. The Land of Departure."

"This is…This is your home," Sora gasped in shock. He could hardly believe that Ven could have lived somewhere so amazing and never told him about it, but given the sad look on the man's face, he quickly remembered why that was. No one really wanted to talk about a place that was long gone in great length.

"…It used to be," Ventus nodded sadly. The moment those words had left his lips, everyone started to look at Ven sadly, never once noticing how an odd orb suddenly started to descend in front of him with a symbol made up of sharp corners, deep curves, and straight edges that somehow formed a heart in the center. When the orb had fallen close enough to the ground, it seemed to surge with energy, drawing all of their attention to it just as something burst out and took a swing at Ven. Thankfully, the energy surge had awoken Ventus from his pitying slump, and he managed to intercept the attack with Guardian Wind just in time. After he had though, he gasped in shock at who the attackers was, or at least who it appeared to be. "It can't be! Vanitas?!"

Indeed, this figure did appear to be the person who was not only Ventus's dark half, but could also easily be considered as Sora's evil twin. Not that anyone other than Ven knew of either of the things, but it was a little hard for Ven to forget about the appearance of Vanitas's face when he finally saw it for the first time. There was just one difference between this person and Ven's dark half, and that was the fact that the coloration of his suit was off. It was still dark in appearance, but now, the bodysuit had been changed to a black-and-white version of what Ven had long known Vanitas's suit to look like. Even the Keyblade that this individual wielded appeared to be slightly different, as it had a more monochrome coloration than the actual Void Gear Keyblade. The final change that Ven noticed was that the symbol of the Unversed was emblazoned on this person's black helmet, outlined in dark silver to help it stand out.

After he had gotten over his shock, Ven finally managed to push this Vanitas-look-alike off him, and watched as he spun over to the base of the stairs leading up to the castle's main entrance. The being managed to land on his feet after back flipping through the air though, and once he had landed, he stood up straight and assumed Vanitas's usual battle stance that Ven now noticed was surprisingly similar to Riku's, silently challenging the five to a fight. That was the thing that finally clued Ven as to what this thing could likely be, because if there was one thing that he had always known Vanitas to never be, it was silent. His dark half always had some sort of thing to say, and a way to mock or threaten him or his friends, so the silence of this being quickly told Ven that this was certainly not the evil boy himself, and Ven already had a strong theory as to what it could be.

"You're some kind of remnant of Vanitas," Ven concluded aloud. "A physical manifestation of his last thoughts, feelings, and will. Like the Lingering Will that acts as the only true remaining piece of Terra."

The being before him still said nothing, but it did wave its hand at Ventus in the universal gesture for "come on," and in that moment, Ven knew exactly what this thing wanted. Looking back to the others, he motioned for them to move away and said, "You all stay back. This is a fight between me and him."

"What?! Ven," Sora started to protest.

"That's not a suggestion, that's an order," Ven snapped. He quickly took a deep breath to calm down and then added, "This is a fight that's long overdue for a conclusion."

None of the others fully understood what Ven was talking about, but from the look on his face as he stared down at this remnant as he called it, they did get enough of the gist. For Ven, this was an important battle that he needed to settle on his own. So, they found they could not do anything to go against his wishes, and stepped back like the blonde had asked. After the four had cleared the area enough, the stare-down between Ven and this Vanitas Remnant finally reached the end, and the two charged at each other, head-on, their Keyblades clashing loudly when they met each other in the middle. When the blades collided, a powerful shockwave seemed to be released that shook the whole area like an earthquake had hit, but the two combatants paid it little mind, as they just broke their lock and began exchanging blows. The remnant was certainly proving to be fast, but Ven knew that he had a small bit of an advantage in that area, and it showed as he blocked and parried several strikes that would have gotten him more than a small scratch several years ago when he fought against the real Vanitas. Not only that, but the fighting style that this thing used was so similar to the real Vanitas, that Ven had an easy time predicting how it would react and what moves it would make at first. So, when the remnant suddenly left an afterimage in its place to avoid Ven's attack, the blonde already knew that meant it had teleported away, planning to reappear behind him for an easy sneak attack, and managed to roll away before the strike could land. What he did not expect was for said sneak attack come along with some powerful ice magic as well, but he was still able to cast a quick Reflect in order to avoid being frozen stiff.

"Nice try, but I don't intend to be made into a Popsicle again anytime soon," Ventus quipped once his reflective barrier had dropped, and he immediately charged again.

Still the remnant said nothing, but instead, aimed its Keyblade at Ven and fired off a round of the Dark Firaga that Vanitas used. Ven watched carefully for when the single orb split into three smaller ones, and when it did, he skidded to a stop, waited for the last possible moment, and then jumped to the side as the orbs hit the ground where he was standing. Having evaded the attack, Ven then proceeded to rush at the remnant again, and landed several slashes against it before the remnant managed to start parrying his blows once more. The remnant then continued its retaliation by spinning back from Ven long enough to get up into the air and fire out a round of Dark Thundaga. Ven was not so lucky to dodge the attack this time, so he ended up taking the blow in full, and it hurt just as much as he remembered. While the blonde was disoriented, the Vanitas Remnant dropped down to the ground, and then aimed his Keyblade at Ven once again, making Ven think it was going for another blast of Dark Firaga. To Ven's surprise, the usual spell did not come, but instead, he was forced to dodge a beam of blue energy that erupted from the tip of the Keyblade.

"Okay, that's new," Ventus admitted after rolling into a crouching position.

The surprising new abilities did not stop there though, as the remnant suddenly encased itself in dark energy and began launching several clones of itself towards Ventus. Ven had to pull out all the stops in order to avoid being hit by even one of these duplicates, even as he closed in on the dark energy encasing. He figured that if he broke it open, he could put an end to this barrage, but unfortunately, when Ven did manage to try and break the field around the remnant, he found the task nearly impossible to accomplish. This also resulted in him being close enough for when the remnant finally emerged from the shield and unleashed a rush attack on Ven, and the attack was clearly laced with a special magic, because Ven immediately found his vision going dark, indicating that he had been struck with a blinding spell.

The underhanded tactic quickly put things in the remnant's favor for a time, as Ventus could only flail around helplessly as he attempted to try and hit the dark being, but eventually, Ven managed to calm down enough to stop his flailing and held his position for a brief moment. The remnant stopped its own attack against Ven when it realized this, but only for a few seconds, because it slowly started to approach Ventus once again. This time though, Ven was ready for its attack, because now, he was using all the senses he could still fully access in order to determine where the remnant would strike from. The blonde's predictions proved true when he heard his Keyblade clash against the remnant's, proving not only where the remnant was standing, but also that it had stopped in its tracks when it realized that Ven had figured out where he was coming from. That allowed Ven to press his own attack and land several critical hits against the copy of Vanitas, even before his vision had fully cleared up once more. When he did managed to see again, Ven just had to smirk when he saw that he had the remnant on the ropes, and it was clear that one final attack would finish it off.

After blasting the remnant away with a Tornado spell, Ven took advantage of its resulting disoriented state and rushed it one last time, this time adding the powers of Sonic Blade to his charge as he did, and he quickly landed several strikes as a result. When he came out of the last rush, both he and the remnant remained standing where they were perfectly still, until finally, the remnant's Keyblade fell from its hand, and the remnant itself dropped to one knee, appearing to pant in heavy exhaustion after it had. Ven then dropped his battle stance and turned to look back at the Vanitas Remnant with a glare that he had only ever used on the actual Vanitas, and after another moment of silence, the remnant also turned to look back, and Ven could swear that he saw that same damn smirk that Vanitas always had on his face whenever he appeared before him ten years ago.

"Not bad, idiot. You're definitely not as broken as you used to be," the remnant finally panted, speaking up for the first time since it appeared, and doing so in a ghostly version of Vanitas's voice when it did. With those final words, the remnant disappeared into a swirl of shadows, leaving nothing in his place afterwards.

Ventus just continued to glare at where the remnant had previously been, holding his own silence for a little longer until he noticed the others approaching. "Come on. Let's get out of here," Ventus told them, and he immediately led them towards the gate that he knew would have lead down to the mountain path that would take one to the summit he used to stargaze from with his best friends if this were the real Land of Departure. Just before they all vanished from this illusionary copy of his former homeworld though, Ven looked back one more time, and quietly thought, "Goodbye Vanitas. Do us all a favor, and this time, don't come back."

---

Their little meet and greet moment proved to be just the beginning to a much easier journey for Riku, Mickey, and Aqua, because they soon found dealing with the Heartless in Dark World had become a little easier. Then again, that was likely because they were all together as a team, and fighting against the creatures of darkness was definitely easier when you had at least two people backing you up. It actually made Riku think that could have been why Sora hung around with Donald, Goofy, and Ven so much at first, aside from the fact that they were the only ones who could help Sora learn about his abilities as a Keyblade wielder and help him get to other worlds. Having some backup was definitely a huge help as opposed to going it alone like he would have and had done back on the other side, and Riku was certainly glad that he had that help now. Add in the fact that having Mickey and Aqua there to help him also had the added bonus of making sure he did not have to call on the dark powers inside of him too much, and Riku could not help but wonder if he should have found a way stick with Sora and his new friends back when the offer had first been given to him.

Any thoughts about regrets and things that someone could have done differently were not something that could be indulged in right now, as a Water Core soon reminded Riku when it tried to land an attack on him while he was distracted. Luckily, Aqua came to his rescue just in the nick of time and easily cut down the elemental Heartless. "You need to stay focused, Riku," Aqua lightly chastised before she spun around to slice through a NeoShadow that had just tried to pounce at them.

"Right. Sorry," Riku nodded, and he was soon slicing through a few NeoShadows and elemental Heartless as well. After he had finished cutting through his share of enemies though, he looked to the two masters and asked, "How much farther do you guys think it is to the Keyblade that we're looking for?"

"I'm not sure, but we're getting close. I can feel it," Mickey reassured him.

"I sure hope so," Aqua sighed after dismissing Master's Defender. "I'm not sure how much more I can take of these Heartless."

"You? They overpowered and drowned me in darkness," Riku reminded her.

Any further discussion on who was getting more tired of the Heartless than whom quickly came to an end when they all noticed a bright light coming from the mouth of the cave just ahead of them, and Riku was suddenly washed over with an odd sense of familiarity when he saw this light. While Aqua feared that it could be another trap that the Heartless were setting for them, Riku did not seem to be too bothered by that possibility, and charged ahead, despite any warnings that the other two gave. Seeing no other way around it, both Keyblade masters chased after Riku, running through the mouth of the cave as the light on the other side slowly started to blind them. Eventually, they all noticed how the ground suddenly became much softer than the hard ground they had become accustomed to traveling, and Riku instantly noted that it felt very much like sand, even as the light finally forced him to close his eyes even as he continued running, albeit at a more sedated pace just to make sure he did not run into anything.

When his eyes had finally adjusted to the new brightness, Riku opened his eyes and gasped in shock at what now lay before their eyes. "No way," he whispered. "This is…this is my island! My home!"

"I remember," Aqua mused as she came to stand beside him, with Mickey on her other side.

Mickey glanced around sadly, all the while noting, "So many worlds have been lost. And now they're trapped here in the dark."

"And it's my fault that this world is here," Riku finished sadly. "All because I wanted to leave and see other worlds with my friends."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Riku," Aqua reassured him. "That's actually a really admirable dream, even more so since you wanted to go with your friends instead of leaving them behind. Besides, from what you told me, you only caused this to happen because someone had not told you everything about what would happen afterwards."

Riku smiled in thanks to Aqua for that, truly appreciating her efforts to alleviate him of his sorrow, but Mickey on the other hand suddenly thought of something that he had to ask about. "Wait a minute…Riku, do you know when and where Sora first got the Keyblade," Mickey questioned.

He was a little confused about why Mickey was asking that question, but Riku ultimately shrugged it off as unimportant for now, and started to think for a minute. "I can't really say that I know for sure," Riku admitted. "But…if I had to guess, it had to be sometime before or after the islands were lost."

Mickey rubbed his chin in thought for a minute, until he finally said, "In that case, we're definitely getting warm."

"Huh," was the only thing Aqua or Riku could say at that point.

"If this is where Sora first got the Keyblade, it also must be where we'll find its counterpart," Mickey explained. "The Keyblade of darkness has gotta be here on the dark side of your world, Riku."

The eyes of the other two both widened in surprise a little at that, because they realized that Mickey was most likely right in his guess. Any celebrations were put on hold though, as they all felt the ground shake beneath their feet a little, indicating that someone or something dangerous was likely close by. "If that Keyblade is here, then I think I have an idea on where it might be, and it doesn't sound like we have a moment to lose," Riku revealed.

"Then we'll have to hurry. Lead the way, Riku," Mickey encouraged, and the boy did just that.

Aqua and Mickey were soon following Riku up the trail that led to the secret place's entrance. Riku had figured that if Destiny Islands' Keyhole was behind that strange door in the cave, then it was also where they would find the Keyblade of darkness that they were looking for. It might have been a bit of a long-shot, but it was the only hiding place that Riku could think of that made the most sense. Before they could even enter the cave though, a vast wave of Shadows suddenly poured out of the entrance and into the sky. They then looped around and back towards them, forcing the three to jump back down to the sands of the beach, where the three each summoned their respective swords once more.

"Not this thing again," Riku groaned in annoyance as he watched the swarm of Shadows spin around into the air before them.

"No, something's different this time," Aqua disputed. "It's a lot bigger, and I can sense a lot more darkness coming from it."

"She's right. This isn't the Demon Tower we've encountered before. It's much stronger than that," Mickey confirmed.

Hearing those comments immediately made Riku a little more worried. If this thing was more powerful than the tower of Shadows that they had been fighting up until now, then there was no telling what it could be capable of, and they were likely going to be delayed in getting that Keyblade. He wanted to suggest that one of them go for the Keyblade while the other two dealt with this monstrosity, but if this thing really was as powerful as Mickey and Aqua were indicating, splitting up was the last thing they needed to do. "Guess we're going to be a little delayed in getting that Keyblade of darkness. Here's hoping you can hold out for a little longer, Sora," Riku muttered to himself, and they all entered battle once more.

---

The encounter with the Vanitas Remnant proved to be the most exciting thing that the former crew of the Kingdom dealt with in the world terminus, mainly because they made it a point to dodge all the other beams in the remaining pillars. They did take a look inside one though, when Kairi revealed that she could not sense any Heartless inside, and they were all relieved to find that there were none whatsoever in the illusionary world that greeted them. What was even more of a relief was that it was the calm clearing in the Hundred Acre Wood where Sora had first met his new friend Pooh, but somehow, despite the calm atmosphere there was still something that felt off about the place. Ventus quickly figured that it was the Heartless' way of taunting them. The dark creatures were giving them a break to relax and recover because they did not think anyone who got this far would survive what came next, and when Ventus relayed this to the others, any sense of calm was immediately washed away.

That did not stop them from going on, though, because once they had downed a few Potions and Ethers to help them recover a little bit of their strength, they immediately moved on to the next pillar, which proved to be the only one left between them and one that they needed to reach in order to move further into this dark place. They would have headed straight for the last pillar had the three Keybearers not picked up on something that seemed to be calling out to them from the beam and decided to investigate. Sure, it had led them into another Heartless ambush that consisted of a few Invisibles and Angel Stars, but they were swiftly dealt with, and the five were allowed a chance to look around the place that they had ended up.

From where they were standing, the place appeared to be some part of Hollow Bastion that they did not see during their time there, and if Ven had to hazard a guess, it was also likely one of the labs where Xehanort had conducted many of his experiments with the Heartless. This was only a supposition that was based on the dark portals that seemed to litter the walls of the room like trash and the massive machine that looked like it could be some sort of supercomputer, but given what they knew about their foe, it did seem like a good guess. When they took a closer look at the supercomputer, they quickly realized that they could access some of its logs and quickly made an attempt to do so in the hopes that it might have some sort of clue on how to stop Xehanort's Heartless. They had a few problems doing so, since most of them were not all that good with such technology, but they did eventually manage to access a few logs, only to find that they were corrupted or just nonexistent. The only thing they did find intact was a single entry that left some of them slightly confused.

"Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation," Ventus read off of the screen to the room at large. "Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness tied by two keys, and better secured by four keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens."

"…Well? What does that mean," Sora finally asked after a short silence hung in the air.

"In the simplest of terms, this is something of a prophecy that details what Ansem plans to do, and how to stop him," Ventus simplified as best as he could. "He's already opened the Keyhole to darkness using the light from the seven Princesses of Heart, so now, he just needs to open the door to everlasting darkness. The door to Kingdom Hearts." He then paused for a moment, and eventually amended, "Well, maybe not the true Kingdom Hearts that legend speaks of, but it is still a small one that's made from the hearts of many worlds. A door that we'll need to close if we're to stop the Heartless from covering all the worlds in darkness."

"Okay, but what did it mean when it mentioned the door being 'tied by two keys, and better secured by four keys,'" Kairi asked, not entirely understanding.

They all fell silent at that question, none of them entirely sure how to puzzle out the answer, until Goofy suggested, "Maybe it means that we need at least two Keyblades to lock the door, and we can better ensure that it stays closed with four."

"Well we've already got three Keyblades, but where are we gonna find a fourth one at this point," Donald puzzled.

Right when Donald had asked that question, Ventus had a spark of realization flash into his mind that prompted him to suddenly slap his right fist into his open left palm as he exclaimed, "That's it! I know what Mickey left to find!"

"You do," Donald and Goofy both asked in surprise, while Sora and Kairi just looked on in equal shock.

Ventus nodded in reply, and then explained, "You see, it's said that when a Keyblade is born in the Realm of Light, a reflection of that same Keyblade is created in the Realm of Darkness. I think Mickey must have known that a new Keyblade was going to be created sometime soon, so he went to go and find its counterpart in the Realm of Darkness. In other words, he went to find another version of Sora's Kingdom Key. That's what it means when it mentions two keys to seal the door. A key that is of the light, and its equal from the realm of darkness."

"So then, we need to make sure that the king has found the other Kingdom Key before we can try to seal the door," Sora asked.

"Most likely, but if I know Mickey, he'll likely have found it by the time we're able to seal the door shut," Ventus reassured him. "At that point though, you should probably switch out your Keychains so that you're using the actual Kingdom Key. There may be a chance that it would still work even if you were using the Oathkeeper Keychain at the time, but with so much at stake, it's better safe than sorry."

"So we get the king back and then seal the door, right," Donald asked.

Ventus's good mood quickly vanished after that, and he hesitantly revealed, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. This Door to Darkness is one that a heart of light can't pass through, so if Mickey is over there, he won't be able to get back out with that door. Not only that, but if this is truly going to work, we need to seal the door on both sides."

"So then, King Mickey will have to be stuck in the Realm of Darkness in order to make sure the door is sealed," Goofy asked, not liking the sound of that at all. Sadly, Ventus just had to nod in confirmation of that fact, and his two friends from Disney Castle immediately let out sad moans in response.

"There's got to be some way we can seal the door without leaving our friends in that place," Sora protested.

"If there is, we don't have the time to look for it," Ventus pointed out. "If we don't seal the door shut, the worlds will be overrun with Heartless and drown in everlasting darkness."

As hard as that was to swallow, the others knew that Ven was right. There was no time to try and find an alternative solution that did not include leaving someone in a place that the Heartless were right at home in, and they were running out of time fast enough as it was. Still, there was one thing that had them confused. "What about when it said that four keys could make it more secure? What do you think that means," Kairi asked.

Ventus lowered his head in thought, before he finally said, "I'm guessing it could mean that in addition to the two keys we absolutely need, we could also use another pair of Keyblades to help make sure that the door is better secured. A set of dual keys on each side."

"Well if that is the case, then where are we going to find a Keyblade wielder that's already on the other side with Mickey, or even one that has a Keyblade that could be a reflection of either yours or Kairi's," Sora questioned.

"I don't think the extra two necessarily has to be the counterpart to any of the Keyblades in our possession. So long as they are Keyblades at all, it should likely be enough," Ventus reasoned out.

"That still doesn't explain where we're going to find the second Keyblade we'll need on the other side though," Sora pointed out.

Ventus fell silent at that, looking away from the group for a minute when he did, and the others began to think that Ven might have known something that they did not. He certainly seemed like he did, and when you add in how he had glanced away, they had to assume that it was something he was not too eager to share with them. Whatever that could have been, none of them were entirely sure, and they did not get the chance to ask, as Ventus quickly brushed it off, and said, "We'll worry about it later. Right now, we've still got to get to wherever Ansem is hiding so that we can stop him for good."

The other four wanted to argue and talk Ven into telling them what he knew or suspected, but given that the blonde was already heading back for the entrance into this illusionary world, they knew that in his mind, the case was already closed. Besides, he did have a point in saying that there was not any time to worry about such details, so they did not waste anymore by hanging around and followed after him. They just managed to catch a glimpse of him transporting over to the final pillar before continuing to follow him, and soon enough, they were standing before the final pillar's beam of light. When they moved to stand right in front of this particular beam, they felt as though it was burning as hot as the fiery colors it was made of, and each of them had to wonder if that was a precursor to what they would face on the other side of the beam. Given that the only one teleportation orb present on the pillar was the one that would take them back the way they came, it became clear that the only option the team had was to go into the beam and find out, so they all steeled their courage and stepped through, feeling that they would be ready for whatever illusion that this place could throw at them next.

When they came out the other side of the beam, they were surprised to find that they were not in an illusion of a world they had already been too, but they actually would have preferred that right now as opposed to the vast, dark pit they were currently plummeting down through. It only took a few more seconds to realize that they were falling towards several spiky rock formations, and they all went with the natural instinct of screaming as loudly as they could while falling to their possible doom. Out of all five of them, only Ven had managed to rein in his instinctive screams long enough to grab a certain summon charm from his pocket and call forth just the person that they needed to save them from being impaled by one of the sharp rocks below. The others only registered some slightly muffled shouts from Ventus, followed by a small light before they realized that their fall was steadily turning into a slow descent until they came to a stop in midair while their bodies glowed with faint, gold sparkles.

Looking around, the other four immediately spotted the reason for their sudden midair stop, and they all smiled at the sight of their pixie friend happily waving to them from Ven's shoulder. "Thanks Tink," Sora gasped in relief.

Tinker Bell just smiled in reply before relaying something to Ventus and then disappearing completely. The others were all worried that they were going to start falling again since Tinker Bell had obviously dismissed herself, but to their surprise, they remained airborne, with her little gift of pixie dust still shimmering brightly around them. Ven could not help but smile a little at the others' confusion, even as he explained, "Tink said that something about this place should allow us to fly like this even if she was not here."

"Well that's good news," Goofy commented.

"So why do I get the feeling it's going to have a really bad downside to it," Donald asked, worriedly.

A faint rumbling soon served as the duck's answer, and they all slowly turned towards the largest mountain in the area to see what it was. When they finally came face to face with what had been causing the rumbling, they all saw what they originally believed to be the top half of the mountain slowly sit up straight and unfurled a massive set of bat-like wings to reveal a muscular torso and arms, a large head that sported two curved horns, a mouth with four fangs, and dark, glowing yellow eyes. Only part of the monstrosity's legs could be seen, as the rest were planted firmly inside of the volcano he was standing on top of, but even with that small detail, there was no denying the vast, dark power that the whole team could feel coming off this creature in waves that rivaled the largest tsunamis.

While the other four members of the team were all frightened by this creature, only Ventus had actually paled in horror at the sight of this beast. "No. No, not him. Anyone or anything but him," Ventus quietly pleaded, praying that this was just an illusion that would be wiped away in favor of their real enemy.

Sadly, the blonde's prayers went unanswered, and only served to heighten the worries of the others. None of them had ever seen Ven this frightened before, and for him to get this rattled, there was little question that this beast had to be very dangerous. "What is it, Ven," Sora finally asked, being the only one who was brave enough to actually do so. "Do you know what that thing is?"

"Believe me, I wish I didn't, and you'll soon be wishing the same," Ventus replied, his tone further emphasizing his dread at fighting the beast. "This creature is the one thing that exceeds Maleficent, and possibly even Xehanort in its evil and dark powers. To beings like the Heartless, it's a like a god, but for us, it's the ultimate demon. Chernabog."

As if on cue, Chernabog let loose a horrendous roar the minute that Ven had said his name, and given how terrible the sound was, the other four could not help but pale a little in fear as well. Sora was the first to shake off his fear though, because he immediately shouted, "I don't care if this thing is the embodiment of all darkness itself. It's not going to stop me from saving all of our friends!"

"Sora, this thing practically is the embodiment of all darkness," Ventus heatedly repeated, but he was soon regaining his usual color and smiling a little before he said, "But you are right to say that we can't let it stop us. So let's show it just what the power of our lights can accomplish together!"

The newly found fear the team felt after learning what this creature was may not have disappeared, but it did dwindle considerably after that comment, and they all immediately charged forward to bring down this titan of darkness. They did not get very close though, as Chernabog pushed them back with a blast of wind that he summoned forth with a clap of his hands. This did not deter them though, as they merely flew towards the monster at top speed once again, only this time, they had the added challenge of dodging fireballs that Chernabog threw from his hands. Given the size of said fireballs, none of them even considered trying to block or deflect them with their weapons, and instead just stuck to dodging the blasts so that they could close in on him. When they had reached a certain distance, Donald and Kairi halted their charge and began to pepper Chernabog with any long-range magic spells that they could manage in that moment, making sure to direct a majority of their attacks at his demonic, glowing eyes. It seemed to serve as just the cover that Sora, Goofy, and Ven needed to finally close in and strike Chernabog in his head, which Sora noted was actually slightly bigger than he and Ven were. He shook off that terrifying thought though, in favor of just bashing the beast's head a few more times with his Keyblade.

Just as Ven was about to land another strike of his own, he noticed that the volcano that Chernabog was standing in had suddenly started rumbling and glowing with a faint aura, and he immediately shouted for the others to get back. As a result, the three had just barely managed to avoid being caught in the explosion of fire and brimstone that had erupted from beneath Chernabog and proceeded to shield him from any direct harm for a moment. This may have been bad news for the team, but on the plus side, it also seemed to prevent Chernabog from attacking them until after his fiery shield had faded away, which gave the Keybearers a chance to each gear up a Shotlock to unleash on him.

Once the energy was charged, Kairi took the first shot, hitting him several times over with Starlight Storm, and given how Chernabog actually seemed to be knocked around a little by her attack, it clearly had quite the impact. Ventus was the next one to strike, unleashing Meteor Shower on the beast without any hesitation. The final strike came from Sora, who put everything he had into a burst of Trinity Force. He was not entirely sure if it would work, given that part of it involved him impaling his Keyblade into the ground, but he was able to make do by using the top of Chernabog's head as a substitute. The end result was Chernabog letting out a vicious roar of pain under the explosion of Sora's light-based ability, and when the light died down, Sora was quick to fly back over to the others, looking a bit exhausted, but still clearly able to fight. It was a good thing that was the case too, because despite being hit with so many powerful attacks, Chernabog looked like he was still able to keep going, even if only just for a few more moments.

Donald and Goofy took their turn at attacking the ultimate being of darkness, with the former firing off some of his best spells while the latter tossed his shield right into one of Chernabog's eyes. The two continued this tactic for a few more minutes, providing the Keybearers with just the distraction that they needed to close in and strike the beast once more. Making good use of said distraction, Kairi quickly came in close and unleashed the power of a quick light spell to further damage Chernabog, seeing as such abilities were clearly more effective than anything else, and Ventus immediately followed her lead with a flash of his Salvation ability. Chernabog was unable to withstand two powerful light-based attacks, and as a result, he was unable to stop Sora when the boy came swooping in, his Keyblade already drawn back for one final slice against the massive beast. Sora's attack struck true, and the whole team all quickly flew up to watch as Chernabog seemed to thrash around for a few moments until he finally vanished into a massive plume of smoke and purple fire, leaving only the volcano he had been standing inside of in his wake.

The team did not let their guard down right away though, because there was always still a chance that this was a trick meant to lure them into a false sense of security, but when Chernabog did not show himself again after several minutes, they finally deemed it all right to relax and prepare to head out. The only downside was that they could only see one path forward, and they were all understandably concerned about taking said path, and this was without considering that this was without said path was previously blocked by their enemy.

"Are you sure it's safe to go in…there," Goofy nervously questioned as he pointed towards the volcano Chernabog was previously standing in.

"I don't know if it's a really that smart," Donald gulped in agreement with his friend.

"Safe or not, it's our only path forward," Ventus reminded them. "Besides, considering the place we're currently in, I honestly think we should be a little more worried if the path ahead wasn't at least a little sketchy in some way."

"That's not exactly encouraging, Ven," Kairi pointed out.

"But he does have a point, and we can't just hang around here in the sky all day," Sora reminded them, and he immediately lead the way down into the mouth of the volcano.

Thankfully, there was no molten lava or any other form of hazards that one would run across inside of a volcano. Instead, they ended up flying down into a large cavern filled with odd crystals and other strange items. What really caught Ven's attention was that he could swear he saw some scattered remains of ruins from worlds he had been to and knew had been lost to darkness, and it made him bow his head in sorrow for those very same worlds. He quickly shook it off though, because he could not afford to start feeling responsible for something that he was not at fault for, especially when they were so close to the end of the long journey. It was good thing that he did shake it off when he had, because they were all soon facing another Heartless ambush by the time they had entered the next chamber.

Said ambush was relatively small scale in comparison to some of the ones that they had dealt with before, so they did not really waste too much time and energy repelling it, and soon enough, they had entered a small room with floor that seemed more like sand than it did the rough terrain that they had been traveling so far, and they also spotted a few small pools with strange, crystal-looking energy streams flowing down into them. The most notable thing that the whole team noted though, was the very fancy looking door that lay just on the other side of the chamber. For Donald and Goofy, it just appeared to be exactly that, but to the three Keybearers, it was so much more, because they each found it hard to miss how similar it looked to the door they saw in their Dives to the Heart.

When he realized this, Sora hesitantly reached out a hand towards the door, as if he planned to test and see if it was real, but he immediately pulled back in surprise and started to look around in confusion. "Huh?"

"What's wrong," Donald asked.

"Don't you hear something," Sora asked. They all stopped to listen for a minute after that, but a second later, only Sora had given any indication of hearing something again when he shouted, "There!"

"Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here," warned a voice that sounded suspiciously like the one that Sora had heard during his Dive to the Heart. "Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light."

While all of this seemed to echo in Sora's ears, the others did not seem to have picked up on it at all, as Donald proved when he said, "I don't hear anything. Maybe you need to take a rest, Sora."

"No, I heard it too," Kairi admitted.

"Same here," Ventus revealed. "There's no way all three of us had imagined the same thing."

"But then…how come me and Donald didn't hear anything," Goofy asked.

Ventus just shrugged in reply and gave the only answer he could think of. "Maybe it's a Keyblade wielder thing."

"All I know is that whatever that voice was just now, it was giving us a final warning. After we go through here, there's not going to be any chance of turning back at all," Sora informed everyone.

The whole group was silent after that point, because it really drove the point home that there was a chance that they could likely end up facing something that some of them might not survive, and there was no telling what they would face once they went through this door. That alone was bone-chilling, and when you add in the fact that Ansem was no doubt waiting for them, there was no way they were not going to be at least a little afraid right at that moment. Still, after a few minutes, they all remained right where they were, with none of them even showing the slightest hint of leaving now.

"Aw, phooey! I'm not scared of going in there. Besides, it's not like we can go anywhere else since our ship blew up," Donald pointed out.

"Yep! We're all in this thing together, no matter what happens," Goofy promised.

"After coming all this way, I don't think the idea of stopping here had crossed any of our minds, so why should it now," Kairi asked, her smile confident and reassuring to anyone who might have doubted she would go along with them.

Ventus cast a grateful smile to those three before he looked to his apprentice and said, "Sora, it's time we showed Xehanort's Heartless that no matter how powerful any darkness may be, there will always be a light to shine through and brighten all the worlds."

"Yeah. As long as our hearts stay connected to those we care about there will always be a light to guide us through the deepest darkness, and with so many friends in our hearts, there's no way that Ansem can beat us," Sora grinned in agreement.

"Then let's finish this," Ventus commanded with a grin, and together, he and Sora slowly opened the door before them, granting the team entry into whatever hellish nightmare awaited them on the other side.

They all had to close their eyes for a minute since, despite how they were warned that there was only darkness beyond this door, there was a surprising amount of light shining through from the other side, but it did not stop them from heading through the door itself. When the light finally died down enough for them to open their eyes without any risk of being blinded, they all openly gaped at what appeared before them, because it was definitely not a sight that they had expected. From what they could see, it looked like they had just stepped out onto a sandy beach resting beneath a clear sky with crystal blue water gently lapping at the shores. Certainly not a place that any of them would think of as a place where darkness would dwell, but while Ventus, Donald, and Goofy were all left confused as to why the door had led them into a peaceful place like this, Sora and Kairi had both gone a little pale as they stared in shock and slight horror at their surroundings.

"Sora…Are we…Is this…" Kairi tried to ask, but she found herself unable to actually get the words out.

"I think so. I mean, it definitely looks like it," Sora admitted, though he wish that he could not do so. "This looks exactly like our island."

---

Ventus's Journal Entry 9

Great news! I did it! I passed my Mark of Mastery Exam! Guess this means that I now hold the record of youngest Keyblade Master. I'll have to try to not rub that in Aqua's face. Sure, I'm not that much younger than she and Terra were when they took their exams, but even if it is a small difference, it's still enough to claim the title as youngest master as my own. To be honest, when Master Yen Sid and Mickey first told me I had passed, I could hardly believe it. I honestly don't think it had really settled in until now, even with Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Daisy all insisting that we needed to throw a huge party to celebrate the occasion. Thankfully, Mickey managed to persuade them into holding off on that for now or at least until tomorrow, because for right now, I'm just glad to let it finally sink in. And yes, the loud whoops and hollers that I let loose the minute I was alone in my room were in fact a part of that process. Don't judge me.

Still, it's just one thing that's been finished, and there's still a lot of work to do. Mickey and Yen Sid both made it very clear that even though I was now a Keyblade Master, it did not mean I was truly finished learning. I can honestly agree with them on that, because there's still a lot left for me to learn and discover, but somehow, I get the feeling I'm only going to start learning these things when I finally meet at least one of those two Keyblade masters again. Sorry, I suppose I should be saying the two special friends who are destined to become great Keyblade masters someday soon. I'm not entirely sure which of them I will meet first, but I know that when we do meet, it'll be a great day for me, both because it'll mean that we may find some new answers on how to save Aqua and Terra, and because I'll finally have reunited with some old friends. I can't wait for that day to finally get here…Sora and Kairi.

Oh, I probably shouldn't have written that last part, and in ink at that. Oh well. Guess all I can do now is hope that I can keep this secret from everyone until the time is right. I don't even want to think about what might happen if some random person were to find this journal. They'd probably think I was crazy or something. Then again, I do travel to other worlds and fight bad guys with a sword that's shaped like a giant key, so can I really get that much crazier than that?

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AN: So in case it's unclear, that was the last entry in Ven's journal, or at least the last one we'll see in this story. There's a very likely chance that Ven's journal will return in the sequel to this story, but it won't be the only thing in there, I can promise you that.

On a more important note, I know some people are going to be a little upset that I let the Kingdom get destroyed at the beginning of the chapter, but I had some good reasons for that. For starters, losing the ship further emphasized that this was the final run for our team and that there would be no turning back after this point. Secondly, it makes more sense in my mind that the next time we see a gummi ship for the team (that being in the next story), it would be a whole new ship and not the exact same one that they had been using in this story. You'll see why that is the case when it's sequel time. On a side note, the scene was actually inspired in part by moments from Star Trek, namely the movies like Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock, and Star Trek Beyond. If you've seen those movies, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, sorry for the spoilers.

Moving right along, I just want to go ahead and point out that it was a little hard for me to figure out exactly when during the final battle of the first game that Aqua and Mickey arrived on the dark side of Destiny Islands, but I do think that this is reasonably close to when it happened. Oh, and on that note, Aqua, Mickey, and Riku are now long gone from the beaches by the time that Sora's group had gotten there, as will be explained next chapter. I just did not see the point in recounting the details of the fight against the Demon Tide, since the only thing that really changed there was the fact that Riku was part of the fight.

Speaking of fights, I figured that it was a little unfair for the places visited in the World Terminus to only be places that we had seen during the journey of this story, so that's why I included that little trip into the illusion of the Land of Departure. Also, the fight that Ven had was indeed against the Vanitas Remnant. Think of it like Ven's way of finally getting rid of the darkest part of his past for good. Or at least for now, because as we should all know by now from some of the latest trailers, Vanitas is going to be making another comeback in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Finally, the fight with Chernabog. I did my utmost best to make it as epic and dynamic as possible, but even then, I'm not sure I really did all that well, but can you blame me? Even outside of Kingdom Hearts, this is still the greatest villain ever created by Disney, so writing battle scene against him are not going to be the easiest thing to do unless you want to set the good guys up for a losing battle. I just consider myself lucky that I was able to make him so well known in reputation with that bit of dialogue before the fight.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Aside from saying Onto the Preview!...

The final battle is here at last. Ventus, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy face off with Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness on his home turf, which he has already shaped into a twisted version of Destiny Islands. Meanwhile, Riku, Mickey, and Aqua have managed to retrieve the other Kingdom Key, and are now ready to help close the door from their side. The only question that remains now is will they all be able to get through this together, or will fate play a cruel hand against them? Only time will tell, as will the exciting thrills that await, next time.

I told you that the previews were going to get shorter from here on out. Anyways...

Please read and review, and see ya real soon!