On Today's Episode: The trinity finally arrives at Lost Jerusalem, a desolate world once known as "Earth" in this world, and the home base of Kuon Ichinose's council of villains. Many great battles will be fought here, for the sake of this world and many others whose fate has already been closed. Who will still be standing when the heat of battle fades? Who will come out with their lives intact? And can Ellen possibly be reasoned with, before it's too late for her to be saved from the darkness?

For Today's World: At last, we have reached the Hollow Bastion chapter! This story's Hollow Bastion stand-in is Lost Jerusalem from the Xenosaga series, the planet once known as Earth that disappeared after the activation of the original Zohar. And if I keep talking, I'll just end up spoiling everything, so LET'S ROCK AND ROLL!

Episode 17: When You're Lost in the Darkness

"...wait, this is Lost Jerusalem?" Maylin asked once the trinity had disembarked in Lost Jerusalem, supposedly the home world of Ziggy, Jr., MOMO, and Shion, or at least the lost home they'd been searching for in their world. "It really doesn't look like much."

All they could see for miles was a coastal cliff, with no life in sight.

"Well, Ziggy did say that Lost Jerusalem had been abandoned for over four thousand years," Haruka answered. "That's probably why there's nothing left but darkness and nothingness."

"Yeah, I sense a lot of darkness here," Nick quipped. "I don't have any doubt that this is where Kuon Ichinose and her goons are holed up."

"And hopefully we can get some answers," Sophia responded. "I want to know what exactly happened to Ichinose after we got separated."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll get those answers soon enough," Nick replied. "Let's get moving, everybody."

With that, the trinity set off across the cliffside, hoping to find some way to Ichinose's lair.

But as they continued on their run, Nick would occasionally glance around at the ruins of various structures, no doubt all that remained of whatever civilization had been here before this world had been abandoned.

And when he glanced at one in particular, he suddenly got a vision of somewhere that looked very similar.

"Whoa, this place looks like it's seen better days," Maylin quipped upon disembarking from the Gummi Ship. The Blue Sky Kingdom was in complete disarray, a shell of its former glory.

"And we'd just gotten things back to normal," Cure Princess sighed.

"The darkness that took our world must have spread out from the kingdom first," Cure Fortune proclaimed. "If these villains needed the kingdom and castle for their plans, it makes sense that they'd have kept the darkness from destroying this world."

"Still didn't have to wreck it so bad, though!" Cure Princess exclaimed.

"I guess the bad guys are somewhere in the castle?" Haruka wondered.

"Most likely," Nick realized.

"We're going to split off from here," Cure Honey stated. "We need to search for survivors, like Hime's parents. You three go into the castle and stop whoever's behind everything."

"Will do," Maylin stated heroically as the Happiness Charge Pretty Cures dashed into the heart of the chaos that had gripped the kingdom.

Nick said nothing, merely summoning the Kingdom Key to his hands.

When Nick opened his eyes, he was very confused.

Those were Pretty Cures, I bet, Nick thought. But how? We only know Nagisa and Honoka, since all the other Cures are still scattered across the worlds. ...and on that note, why were we there?

Knowing he wouldn't get answers just yet, Nick shook it off for the moment, following Maylin and Haruka in jumping across stone pillars that led over the raging ocean until they reached the other side.

"...something's not right here," Maylin quipped.

"How do you figure?" Haruka asked.

"Where the heck are all of the Heartless?" Maylin wondered. "If this world's been as steeped in darkness as everyone said it was, why haven't we run into a single Heartless yet?"

"Maybe they're all concentrating on whatever Ichinose's using as her hideout," Haruka replied. "It would make sense if that's where the darkness is the strongest."

From somewhere just ahead, a jet of fire shot up into the sky along with the sounds of a woman roaring in pure, unadulterated rage.

"What the hell?!" Maylin gasped.

"Come on, let's go check it out!" Nick exclaimed.

The trinity all summoned their keyblades and raced off towards the disturbance.

Ellen let Starlight fall, catching the off-worlder across the shoulder and causing her to fall to the ground in pain. The young woman had long blonde hair decorated with flaming orange tips and a mixture of pink and purple added to her front bangs, red-orange eyes with dilated pupils, a rather buxom figure accentuated by her maid outfit, and a large green tail that resembled that of a dragon. A pair of mid-sized wings were sprouting from her back, and two pairs of curved horns protruded from her head.

"No vessel, no help from the Heartless, no nothing," Ellen mocked. "So, you wanna tell me just how you got here?"

Tohru picked herself up slowly, still glaring hatefully at Ellen.

"All I did was believe," Tohru growled. "Nothing more, nothing less. You honestly thought I was just going to let you take Kobayashi from me?! I'll find her again, no matter the cost. I believe in her, so I'm here. Now give her back, you stupid little bitch!"

"Then come and take her, if you think you can!" Ellen laughed as Tohru once again opened her mouth to breath a stream of fire and hopefully roast Ellen, but she simply raised Starlight to bisect the fire stream. This seemed to be all Tohru could handle, as after this, she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"That was surprisingly easy," Ellen quipped as she prepared to stab forward and finish Tohru off.

"Ellen, knock it off!"

"Ah, so you finally made it," Ellen chuckled as Nick, Maylin and Haruka showed up on the cliff face, their keyblades drawn and ready for battle. "It's about time."

"Ellen, we don't have to do this, you know," Nick proclaimed, hoping he could get Ellen to see reason.

"I think we do," Ellen countered. "We may be boyfriend and girlfriend, but we've also been something like rivals, haven't we? You push me forward, and I push you forward."

Ellen spun Starlight in her hands, the keyblade's colors having almost completely dulled. "But it ends right here and now," Ellen stated. "There can't be two keyblade masters running around."

"What are you talking about?!" Maylin shouted.

"Simple," Ellen quipped, dismissing Starlight and raising her hand towards Nick. "Let the keyblade choose its true master."

Nick was suddenly rocked by a wave of magical pressure as he tried to hold onto the Kingdom Key, only for it to flash out of his hands and into Ellen's waiting hands.

"W-what?!" Nick gasped.

"I was right," Ellen proclaimed. "Ichinose was right. You don't have what it takes to save your sister. Then, I guess it's up to me. After all, only the true keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world."

Ellen took advantage of Nick's stunned state and cast a powerful spell that Ichinose had taught her, surrounding Maylin and Haruka with a vortex of darkness that trapped them both in a dark crystal coffin. Ellen snapped her fingers and they both vanished in a flash of darkness.

"T-That... that's impossible," Nick gasped. "This... this can't be happening... how did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the keyblade! I thought my heart was strong enough!"

"I'm so sorry, but you were just the delivery boy for the real star of the show," Ellen laughed, walking up to Nick as he fell to his knees in despair. "Your part's finished now."

Ellen raised the Kingdom Key over her head. "And you know what that means?" Ellen cackled. "It means that you don't have any importance now. You're expendable."

Sophia could only stare in fright through the screen of the Gummiphone as Ellen prepared to finish Nick off. She desperately wished there was something she could do, but she knew that while she was trapped inside of the Gummiphone, she couldn't do anything.

And that, of all things, frightened her the most.

She'd been lonely for so long after Ichinose had discarded her initially.

She'd made new friends in the Phantom Thieves of Hearts after they'd found her.

Together, they'd put a stop to Ichinose and allowed her to feel again.

Only to be separated from her creator again after the darkness had destroyed their world.

And when she'd found Ichinose again, she had been cold and dismissive much like before.

She'd lost everything. Her friends, her family, even her creator.

And now she was about to lose her only remaining friend.

Sophia's digital avatar began to glow a bright red, though she didn't notice at first, consumed with the scary thoughts of losing the only friend she still had left.

Ellen looked down at Nick one last time before sighing in resignation and slashing Kingdom Key down to deal the fatal strike.

"YOU GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY FRIEND!"

"W-what the hell?!" Ellen shouted as a massive flare of red light erupted from Nick and drove her a few steps backwards. Not letting that stop her, Ellen rushed right back in to finish Nick off...

...only for Kingdom Key to clash with another keyblade.

This keyblade had two white yo-yos with a black center and a ring of cyan LED lights inside of them implemented into its design, one being the hilt of the keyblade and the other acting as its teeth, with a handleguard shaped like a wide, red heart, a blade made up of seven small red hearts much like the hearts that made up Sophia's "pigtails", and a token shaped like a red circle with Sophia's hooded face on it, connected to the keyblade by a long strand of bright red zeroes and ones.

Ellen looked up at who was wielding the keyblade and gasped in shock.

It was Sophia, in her full body, outside of the Gummiphone.

"Don't touch him," Sophia proclaimed.

"H-How in the hell did you..." Ellen gasped. "You're just an A.I.! You're not supposed to have a physical form outside of the Metaverse! What the hell did you do?!"

Sophia simply shoved Ellen backwards before striking at her with her keyblade, Super Yo-yo. Ellen was still in shock at this new development and couldn't dodge the strike, getting sent crashing to the ground.

"I said, hands off," Sophia threatened.

Deciding that a tactical retreat was the best option against this unexpected development, Ellen picked herself up and scrambled away into the fog.

Now that the rush of the moment had faded, Sophia looked down at herself in surprise, noting that she could actually feel herself in her body movements.

It took a couple seconds for the shock to set in, but she smiled brightly when she realized that, yes, she did have a physical body now. She had absolutely no idea how, but she'd question that later.

"S-Sophia?" Nick gasped. "Is... is that you?"

Sophia immediately spun on her heel, so fast she almost gave herself whiplash, to see Nick staring in wide-eyed surprise at her.

All of a sudden, Sophia was overwhelmed with emotion, and she actually started crying as she ran forward to embrace Nick tightly, incredibly overjoyed to see that she could finally hug him as she'd always wanted to.

Despite his own inner turmoil over what had just happened, Nick found himself being overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment as well, and he happily hugged Sophia back with all his strength.

Nick and Sophia just cried for about a minute or two, letting their feelings out.

Once they'd finally managed to calm down, Nick stared at Sophia in wide-eyed wonder. "Sophia, how did you do that?" Nick asked. "I thought you didn't have a physical form outside the Gummiphone?"

"I have no idea, Nick," Sophia answered. "But... I was so scared when I thought Ellen was going to kill you. I've lost so many of my friends, especially since the Phantom Thieves we've been communicating with aren't the ones that I know. I couldn't bear the thought of losing you, too."

"Maybe you wanted the strength of heart to protect your friends no matter what realm you're in," Nick stated. "And that strength manifested your new body. That's all that comes to mind, really."

Nick couldn't help but smile again when he got a good look at Super Yo-yo. "I really like your keyblade, too, Sophia," Nick quipped.

"At this point, I couldn't care less about the how," Sophia admitted before hugging Nick again. "I'm just so happy..."

Nick and Sophia would have stood there for ages hugging each other if they didn't hear Tohru gasping in pain as she tried to stand up.

"Hey, hey, you're hurt," Nick stated. "You probably shouldn't move too much."

"Why... why did you come here?" Tohru asked. "I came here to find Kobayashi. And... I may be on my own, but that's never stopped me before. I'm going to fight with everything I've got to get Kobayashi back."

"Truer words," Nick proclaimed. "I don't know why I lost my drive before, but I can't give up now. Four very important people are waiting for me in whatever's beyond that fog."

"Then let's go and find them," Sophia stated, extending her free hand to Nick so he could take it. With Tohru floating behind them, they made their way through the thick, desolate fog.

Eventually, they made it out of the fog and found themselves at the base of an absolutely gigantic castle, resembling a stonework medieval castle reminiscent of a church, the Heartless emblem imprinted on one of the higher towers.

"That's... something else," Nick admitted. "That's gotta be where Ichinose and her council are waiting."

"And where your girlfriend and sister probably are, too," Sophia stated. "I promise you, Nick, we will get them back, them and your friends."

A loud squawk caught their attention as a large Heartless swooped towards them. It was a large, draconian creature with predominantly dark red skin, save for its tan belly and its salmon-colored, dark red-tipped wings. Its body was rather thin, while its three-toed feet were quite large, each sporting black talons. Its wings seemed rather thin when compared to its body, and its wingtips appeared tattered, with several small holes in them.

Nick knew he was in deep trouble without his keyblade, and attempted to roll away, but Sophia was quicker on the draw, lunging forward to meet the Wyvern head-on. Sophia started with an upward slash from her right leg to her left shoulder, followed by the same slash from the left, and finishing by jumping into the air and performing a spinning slash that knocked the Wyvern back.

Not finished yet, Sophia jumped into the air and struck with a horizontal slash to the left, followed by a horizontal slash to the right, an angled vertical slash down, and ending with spinning Super Yo-yo above her head like a vertical buzz saw. This last attack finally destroyed the Wyvern.

"Nice to know I have someone to protect me until I get my own keyblade back," Nick quipped.

"I won't let a single Heartless get their claws anywhere close to you," Sophia proclaimed.

"And I've got your back, too," Tohru responded. "Just let these freaks try something now that I'm back to my full strength."

The group crossed over the bridge that led to the castle's front gate, only to find it sealed from the inside.

"Why did I think this would be easy?" Nick sighed. "And it doesn't look like there's a lock to this door, either, so that means Sophia can't open it that way."

That was when Sophia noticed something coming from the doorway that ran along the outer walls. The group decided to follow that pipe around the right side of the gates, eventually finding a platform that took them down to the lower levels of the waterway underneath the castle.

When they entered the Waterway, a trio of Wyverns ambushed them, though Sophia swung Super Yo-yo to knock two of them away while Tohru breathed a stream of fire to toast all three Heartless.

"Nice try," Tohru chuckled.

Just ahead of them was the path to another room, though it was blocked by a large steel gateway.

"Let me handle that for ya," Tohru quipped, spinning around and lashing out at the gate with her dragon tail, swiftly crumpling the steel gate and allowing them passage into the room.

That pipe they'd seen earlier led down into this room, where it them split off into five different smaller pipes, each one leading to a crystal switch around the room, of which there were five in total.

"Oh, wonderful, did I mention I hate switch puzzles?" Nick groaned.

"Looks like we need to hit them in a certain order before the castle gates will open," Sophia stated.

"Welp, then let's get a-pressin'!" Tohru proclaimed.

While they spread out to see which switches needed to be pressed in what order, Nick suddenly had another strange vision.

"Hey, guys, look at this!" Neptune exclaimed, pointing to a strange crystal switch at the west end of the Castle Gates. "It looks like it's a teleport crystal. Maybe we can use it to move to another level."

"Let's try it," Nick replied. "Really nothing to lose at this point."

Nick placed his hand on the crystal, and after a strange sensation passed through him, he found himself in the catacombs just below the castle.

"Whoa," Nick quipped.

"Hey, there's another switch," Neptune noted, pointing at another crystal, only this one was blue instead of orange.

Nick walked up and activated the switch, and watched as a platform slid out of the wall and a gate up on the second floor opened up. Nick groaned, knowing he couldn't jump that high on his own, only to be surprised when a current of wind formed under him and carried him to the second floor. He looked back and saw that Nanoha was the one who had allowed him to float to the second floor.

After crossing through the opened gate, Nick was stopped by another gate, this one looking a lot sturdier than the others.

"Allow me," Tatsumaki stated, spreading her hands before clapping them together. The steel bars of the gate bended inwards with a soul-crunching squeal before caving in completely, crumpling the gate as easily as ripping a sheet of paper. Tatsumaki flicked her right hand casually, sending the gate's remains flying to another side of the room.

Nick shook his head to get back to the here and now, wondering why he was getting these strange visions.

Eventually, the group figured out the switch puzzle, and they heard a loud CLICK followed by the scraping of metal, no doubt the front gates opening.

"I think that did it!" Sophia proclaimed.

"Let's get back up there real quick-like," Nick quipped as they retraced their steps through the Waterway to return to the Castle Gates.

Far away from where all of this was happening, inside the castle's Grand Hall near the very apex of the castle, Ichinose glanced at the crystal coffins holding all six of the Princesses of Heart.

Fena Houtman, Ochako Uraraka, Hinata Hyuuga, Kobayashi, Bridget and Suletta Mercury, all trapped there as she'd planned this entire time.

And Marie was there, too, still unconscious and lying in a dark capsule at the center of the room ahead.

"O purest of hearts," Ichinose bellowed. "Reveal to me the keyhole, the path to the heart of all worlds!"

Pink bursts of magic shot from the six Princesses in the crystal coffins, eventually joining together in a spot over Marie's body that fired a much larger beam into a great heart-shaped passageway in the room ahead.

Ichinose smiled wickedly. Yes, it was all coming together exactly as planned.

Not in the mood for waiting around, Nick kicked open the doorway to the Entrance Hall, though he was perplexed to not see anyone in there.

"Huh. Thought there'd be at least somebody waiting to ambush us," Nick quipped.

"I'd stay on your guard if I were you," Tohru responded. "I can feel them getting closer."

Tohru looked behind her, having seen something back in the doorway, and saw what appeared to be a bespectacled young woman with bright red hair tied in a ponytail.

"K-Kobayashi?" Tohru gasped.

In response, the image of Kobayashi erupted into a cloud of darkness and formed into a Neoshadow. Tohru shouted in rage before charging after the Neoshadow.

Before Nick or Sophia could move to assist Tohru, the door to the Entrance Hall slammed shut on them.

"Oh, that's not good," Nick stated.

"Quit while you can."

Nick turned around and noticed Ellen standing there in front of the fountain at the dual-sided staircase, the crystal coffins holding Maylin and Haruka floating just above her.

"Not on your life, Ellen," Nick retorted. "I'm not leaving here without Marie."

"If you don't, the darkness will destroy you," Ellen proclaimed, her clothes transforming into a form-fitting suit that appeared to be made of black muscle tissue. The black faded to red around the wrists and came with purple gloves that were tucked under the suit. The suit had a purple-blue color on the chest and part of the torso with the Heartless emblem on the chest, but without the spiked bars crossing it, purple feet and shins that faded into black legs, a dark purple belt and a cloth around her waist, opening in the front, that faded into dark purple and was ripped all around at the bottom.

"I wouldn't count your chickens just yet," Nick responded. "Even if the darkness does destroy my body, it'll never touch my heart. As long as my heart stays with my friends, it'll never fade away!"

Ellen just scoffed, her free hand surrounded by a cloud of darkness.

"Is that right?" Ellen taunted. "Well, then, let's test that theory!"

Ellen took a step back before thrusting her free hand towards Nick, sending a powerful dark fireball sailing straight towards him.

Sophia started moving forward, intending to deflect the fireball with her own keyblade, but she was stopped by a loud sound almost like shattering glass.

Suddenly, Nick was surrounded by a Reflect barrier that deflected the Dark Firaga right back at Ellen, though she swung Kingdom Key to send it flying into the ceiling.

"Who dares?!" Ellen shouted, only to turn around and gasp in shock when she noticed that Maylin and Haruka were both free from their crystal coffins, their keyblades already in their hands.

"Nick ain't going anywhere, you witch," Maylin proclaimed.

"Really? You'd betray your emperor after all the trust he's put into you?" Ellen taunted.

"Not on your freakin' life," Maylin countered. "But there's no way I'm going to betray Nick, either. You wanna know why? Because he's become one of my best buddies after everything we've been through on this journey!"

"Same here," Haruka responded. "Real friends don't betray their friends, after all."

Maylin and Haruka both jogged up to Nick so they could hug him.

"All for one and one for all, right?" Maylin giggled.

"Guess that means you're stuck with us, huh?" Haruka chuckled.

"...thank you," Nick sighed. "I really needed that, you two."

"This is all nice and fuzzy, but how are you going to fight me without your weapon, Nick?" Ellen taunted, mockingly waving the Kingdom Key around.

"I know now," Nick proclaimed. "I don't need the keyblade to fight back. I've got a much better weapon in store: my heart."

"Your heart?" Ellen cackled. "What good is that weak little thing going to do you at this point?!"

"Even though my heart might be weak on its own, I'm not on my own," Nick stated as Maylin, Haruka and Sophia all stood by him. "It grows with each new experience I find myself in, and it's found a home with all of the new friends that I've made. And as long as they think about me every now and then... as long as they don't forget me... then our hearts will always be one."

Nick clenched his fist tightly. "I understand that I'm not really the one who was chosen to wield the keyblade," Nick proclaimed. "But I don't care about that any longer. I'm just proud to be a small part of something bigger than that... the friends it did choose."

Nick stared Ellen dead-on. "I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"

Ellen just shook her head and prepared to attack, only to see the Kingdom Key flash briefly before vanishing from her hands and reappearing in Nick's hand.

"Well, then, I think you know what comes next," Nick taunted.

Ellen just snarled in response and re-summoned Starlight, though it was now almost completely dull-colored, as if its color reflected Ellen's turn to the darkness.

Ellen lunged forward with a cross-strike, but Nick swung Kingdom Key to parry both hits before jumping forward to knock Ellen back with his counter-strike. This left her wide open for Maylin to start pelting Ellen with rapid-fire Firaga spells, the fireball much larger and burning much hotter.

Eventually, Ellen let out a short-range burst of darkness that stopped the fireball barrage and rushed in before stopping just short of the keyblade wielders, leaping into the air, and coming down with a stylish sword-plant that created a shockwave around her.

"I'm sorry, is this what you were trying to do?" Haruka taunted as she slipped in and slammed Divine Rose into the ground, causing a tremor that knocked Ellen off balance and allowed Sophia to get in close and start wailing on her with a four-hit combo.

Sophia finished her combo by spinning Super Yo-yo all around her reminiscent of a move she liked to do with her yo-yos during her trips through the Jails.

While Ellen was stumbling, Nick leapfrogged off of Sophia's shoulders to strike Ellen with a Blitz that actually seemingly destroyed the dulled Starlight and sent her flying back towards the fountain, her dark outfit disappearing and leaving her in her normal clothes.

"N-No... no, not yet..." Ellen gasped, weighing her options before deciding to retreat for now, dashing up the staircase before disappearing through a corridor of darkness.

Once everything was settled, Tohru burst through the Entrance Hall door just in time to see Ellen retreating.

"So, your heart won this battle, huh?" Tohru quipped.

"Pretty much," Nick responded.

"Okay, then, now that we have some room to breathe," Maylin proclaimed, turning to face Sophia. "And who might you holy crapbaskets, Sophia?!"

"Yup, it's me," Sophia giggled.

"How the heck did you get a physical body?!" Maylin gasped.

"Honestly, I have absolutely no idea," Sophia admitted. "Ellen was about to finish Nick off, and I was frightened of being unable to do anything to help him. That's when... well, this."

"A body and a keyblade forged from the strength of your heart," Haruka stated. "All your journeys with the Phantom Thieves allowed you to forge a heart of your own, Sophia, remember?"

"I wonder if that is why I was able to grant Nick and Marie their own keyblades," Sophia wondered. "Because I recognized their strength of heart much like my own..."

"Well, we won't find those answers by standing around here," Nick quipped. "Let's all get moving and head to the top of the castle."

The group all ran up the staircase that wound around the fountain and through the next hallway, only to encounter another dead end in the form of an empty door shaped like a carving of the Heartless symbol. There were four indentations in it, each corresponding to a fourth of the symbol.

"Well, this is a pickle," Haruka sighed.

"It looks like we have to find the pieces of the door before it'll open," Nick responded. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

After doubling back down the stairway, the group noticed a door to the far left of the hall that lead into the castle's absolutely gigantic library.

"This is a very weird library, if I say so myself," Maylin quipped. "How do we get through here if there's nowhere to go?"

"I can just knock 'em all down for ya," Tohru chuckled.

Nick turned around and noticed a red book sitting on the ground near a bookshelf, then directed his gaze up to a row of red books on said bookshelf with a space between them.

Out of curiosity, Nick picked up the red book and placed it with the other red books on the shelf. A loud rumble resounded as the entire bookshelf swung back to reveal a path further into the library.

"Whoa, that worked?" Maylin gasped.

"I think that's the key to this place," Nick answered. "We have to put the missing books back in their proper places so we can put the library back to what it's supposed to be. Maybe then we can find the pieces to that door."

"Well, then, shall we play librarian?" Sophia giggled as the group split up to find the missing books.

After about twenty minutes of searching, the library looked completely different from when they'd entered it, and now, a new set of double doors that led back out into the Entrance Hall could be seen from the second floor. The group took that doorway back into the Entrance Hall, coming out on its second floor.

"Okay, so what's the deal here?" Nick wondered.

Haruka gazed around, searching for a solution, when she noticed something about the candles lining the walls. Not a single one of them was lit, unlike the ones on the first floor.

"Hey, I wonder..." Maylin quipped once she'd noticed that, summoning Spellbinder and casting Fira on one of the candles, lighting it instantly. Maylin did this on the other candles as the trio moved around, and when all eight on this floor were lit, something fell onto a platform in the very center of the room.

"What now? I don't think we can jump to it if it's that high..." Maylin sighed.

That was when Sophia saw a stone near the platform with a bolt of lightning imprinted on it, raising Super Yo-yo to cast Thundara on the stone. This activated the nearby generators and brought the central platform down to their level.

Maylin leaped across the gap to the platform and saw a door piece lying on the platform. Upon closer inspection, it looked like one of the fragments to the Heartless door down on ground level.

"I'm pretty sure that's one of the pieces we're looking for," Haruka stated. "Which can only mean the others are up here somewhere."

Nick ran around to a statue on the opposite end, smashing the two pots on each side. This caused the statue to spit out another piece of the emblem into the fountain below. Sophia jumped down to ground level to pick it up and decided to wait there.

Tohru noticed something stuck inside the statue on that end, and swung her dragon tail to smash the statue into bits. This revealed another door piece that she grabbed before gliding back down to the ground floor.

Nick eventually found the last piece stuck to the ceiling near the doors back to the Library, casting a Thunder spell to dislodge the piece so he could retrieve it.

With all four door pieces obtained, the group all moved back down to the ground level and returned to the Heartless door, each of them placing a piece into the spot it was supposed to go, then backing away as the door rose to allow them passage into the areas ahead.

"That was fun," Sophia giggled. "I actually like solving puzzles."

"Given that you're technically an A.I., you're probably better with the super-tough puzzles that someone like me would have no hope of figuring out in my lifetime," Nick quipped.

"Well, let's see where this door leads," Haruka stated as the group all headed into the doorway.

Back in the Castle Chapel, Ellen skidded to a stop, out of breath and in disbelief that she'd let herself be defeated.

"Why?!" Ellen shouted, punching the nearby wall in frustration. "It was mine! I had him right where I wanted him!"

"Know this."

Ellen turned around, looking for the source of that voice until her gaze fell on a figure covered by a dirty brown cloak.

"The heart that is strong and true will ultimately win the keyblade," the figure proclaimed in a deep, gravelly voice.

"What was that?" Ellen gasped. "Are you saying that my heart's weaker than his?!"

"For that single instant, it was," the figure responded. "However, you can still become so much stronger."

The figure started walking toward Ellen, its body glowing with a dull green light. "You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no fright for you. If you plunge deeper into the darkness, then your heart will grow even stronger, more than enough to put the keyblade wielders in their place."

"H-How can I do that?" Ellen asked. "Because I'll take whatever help I can get at this point."

"It's actually quite simple," the figure answered. "Open yourself completely to the darkness. That is enough. Let your heart, your very being, become darkness itself. Then, nothing will stop you."

Ellen's body began glowing with that same dull green light as the cloaked figure moved closer to her.

"Man, this place is nuts," Maylin quipped as the group once again crossed through the Lift Stop, a very tall room full of lifts, floating platforms, and other rails that created a strange network of paths around the castle.

"I'm starting to wonder if this castle was part of Lost Jerusalem before it was abandoned, or if it was something Ichinose and her goons created when they decided to call this place their home base," Haruka wondered.

As the group once again left the Lift Stop and found themselves at the very top of the Castle Gates, they noticed a large platform hanging there.

"Looks like this is the only way we're getting to the upper floors," Nick stated as the group all boarded the platform and used the crystal at the center of the platform to activate it, causing it to start moving around the pathway on the outskirts of the castle.

"Hey, Sophia?" Haruka asked. "I was wondering... how are we going to handle Ichinose? You know we may have to fight her when we get to the top of the castle, right?"

"Yeah, that's gonna be hard, knowing you probably have to throw hands with your own creator," Maylin admitted.

"I am ready for it," Sophia responded. "I know it will not be easy, but I will do whatever I must to bring Ichinose back to her senses."

Suddenly, the platform stopped about halfway to their destination.

"Why do I get the feeling that we're about to be ambushed?" Tohru stated.

Sure enough, Heartless began to spawn all around them, consisting of a trio of Wyverns, a few Darkballs, and a small pack of mage-like Heartless.

This Heartless had a small torso and thin upper arms, but very wide, three-fingered forearms and hands, its upper body and arms covered by a high-collared, purple coat with a Heartless emblem on the chest and thin, white lining at its bottom, sporting a violet, wide-brimmed, conical hat with a thin, curled tip, and wearing a small, gold belt around its waist, over the coat, and a lavender robes underneath it that hid its feet and legs.

"Oh, you freaks are back again," Maylin growled.

"Does Maylin not like these kinds of Heartless?" Nick asked as he summoned Reverberating Abyss to his hands.

"Like you wouldn't believe, Nick," Haruka chuckled. "The Darkballs are Pureblood Heartless, but they don't really do much besides flailing around and trying to bite you. The Wizards, though, are a real problem. They're very proficient in magic, and they can't be harmed by most magic."

"Which, given most of my fighting style is about magic, I hate, hate, HATE having to fight these things!" Maylin shouted.

"We've gotta teach you some physical combat at some point, Maylin," Haruka teased as she and Nick moved to fight the Wizards so Maylin didn't have to.

While they did that, Sophia brandished Super Yo-yo and sent a Darkball flying with an overhead swing, while Tohru took to the air to fight the Wyverns at their own game.

Nick raised Reverberating Abyss to send a fireball right back at one of the Wizards, and though it didn't damage it, the parry did disorient the Wizard, allowing Sophia to destroy it with a horizontal chop.

Once the Heartless had all been defeated, Nick re-activated the crystal to get the lift moving again. Thankfully, they weren't interrupted again, and the lift took them all to another area of the Lift Stop near the castle's central tower.

As they crossed through this area of the Lift Stop, Nick couldn't help but notice the evil-looking green flames lining the walls of this particular hallway.

From his experience, that could only mean trouble was nearby.

Nick looked over at Sophia, who suddenly looked very concerned. And he knew why, of course. They were getting closer and closer to Ichinose, and the worry of having to fight the woman who had created her was probably eating her up inside.

Stepping closer, Nick put his hand on Sophia's shoulder to help her calm down. Thankfully, it worked, and Sophia smiled back at him.

"Let's move," Nick proclaimed.

Ichinose stood proudly in the main room of the Grand Hall, gazing wistfully into the Dark Depths where the keyhole lied in wait.

"Long have we waited," Ichinose proclaimed. "Long have we schemed. Now, it is within our grasp."

Just then, Ellen walked up to her, donning her dark outfit as she did so.

"So, I see the path has emerged at last," Ellen proclaimed, now talking in a mixture of her own voice and the voice of the figure she'd met earlier.

"That's right," Ichinose chuckled. "The keyhole that leads to the deepest darkness."

"If you unlock it, the Heartless will overrun whatever is left of this world," Ellen stated.

"Does it look like I care?" Ichinose retorted. "The darkness holds no sway over me. I intend to use this great power to rule all worlds."

"Your confidence is duly noted," Ellen quipped, raising her hand and summoning a strange keyblade into her grasp. It was a simple-looking keyblade with a blood-red guard and a wicked blade with teeth that formed the negative space of a heart.

Ichinose was surprised, as she'd never seen a keyblade like this before. But when she looked back at the keyhole, it didn't seem to react. "Wait, why isn't it working?" Ichinose gasped. "We have all seven princesses, right? What's going on?!"

Ichinose then looked down at the body of Marie, still unconscious on the floor. "Ugh, it must be her, then," Ichinose sighed.

"Without her heart, she will never be able to unleash that power," Ellen stated. "And the keyhole will remain out of our reach."

Before Ichinose could start brainstorming a backup plan, she heard a sound from far off, and looked in the direction of the Castle Chapel.

"Oh, wonderful, the emperor's brats are here," Ichinose groaned.

"Want me to take care of them for you?" Ellen offered.

"Tempting, but no thanks," Ichinose replied. "You stay here and guard the princesses. I'll deal with these fools myself."

As Ichinose jogged off to do so, Ellen glanced back at her before setting her gaze on the keyhole, grinning wickedly.

"You are the fool, Kuon Ichinose."

After making their way through yet another area of the Lift Stop, the group finally made it to the Castle Chapel, which was a large, circular room with a small indentation in the middle.

"This looks like meeting central," Maylin quipped. "Probably where Ichinose met with her council of goonies."

"If that's true, then where is Ichinose?" Nick wondered, readying his keyblade for battle.

"I'm right here."

The group all glanced over to the opposite end of the room, where Ichinose walked through a portal of darkness to greet them.

"Well, well, you've come at last, wielders of the keyblade," Ichinose proclaimed. "I am quite appreciative of the progress you've made. However, I'm afraid that you're far too late. Any moment now, the Final Keyhole will be unsealed, and this miserable, desolate world will be plunged into darkness. There's no way you can stop it now."

"That's what you think!" Nick shot back. "We're not going to let you have your way, especially not after we've come this far!"

In response, Ichinose just chuckled in a wicked way.

"You poor, deluded fools," Ichinose retorted. "Do you really, really think you can defeat me?"

It was at this point that Sophia made her presence known, already summoning Super Yo-yo to her hands. "If that's what we have to do, then that's what we will do!" Sophia proclaimed.

"W-wait, Sophia?!" Ichinose gasped. Ellen hadn't mentioned this to her, after all. "What the hell are you doing outside of your Gummiphone?!"

"I believed in the strength of my heart," Sophia responded. "The heart that you gave me, the heart that saved you before."

"Your heart?" Ichinose laughed. "You're seriously trusting that thing again? You know exactly what kind of pain the heart has brought me. That's why I gave myself to the darkness, so I wouldn't have to feel that pain ever again!"

"You're lying," Sophia shot back. "I can see it in your eyes. You did not dive into the darkness willingly. You just want to believe that you did so, to justify your actions against the worlds."

Sophia raised Super Yo-yo into a battle stance, and this caused a glowing image of her Persona, Pandora, to materialize behind her. This actually caused Ichinose to take a few steps backwards, as this was clearly something she hadn't planned for.

"W-wait, Sophia has a Persona, too?!" Maylin gasped.

"Kuon Ichinose," Sophia proclaimed. "Once again, your desires have been twisted, and once again, I will be the one to take them back. I will never again be your or anyone's doll."

Deciding to let Sophia handle this one by herself, Nick, Maylin, Haruka and Tohru all stepped to the side of the Chapel as Sophia charged straight for Ichinose.

Ichinose touched the ground underneath her with her hand, and this caused the circular indentation at the center of the chapel to rise up as a large floating platform, seemingly taking her out of Sophia's reach.

"Try and get me up here, shall you?" Ichinose taunted.

Sophia responded by jumping to strike the outer edge of the platform with Super Yo-yo, eventually dealing enough hits to cause the platform to sink down to ground level.

Ichinose desperately raised her hand and called down lightning bolts to surround the platform, but Sophia managed to slip in before the bolts came down. Sophia lashed out to attack Ichinose, landing four hits before slashing downward with Super Yo-yo, which caused Pandora to cast Kougaon, blasting Ichinose backwards with a spread of holy light beams.

Before Sophia could attack again, though, the platform raised itself again and one of the lightning bolts forced Sophia to jump back off of the platform.

"Let's see how you like this, Sophia!" Ichinose shouted as she waved her hand, conjuring a swarm of dark blue energy orbs that floated into the air before falling down onto the Chapel like meteors.

Sophia dodged away and hid behind one of the statues on the outer edge of the room, since the meteors couldn't seem to reach her there. When the barrage let up, Sophia ducked out and cast Thundara on the platform, dealing some damage to it.

"Why bother with this pointless façade, Sophia?" Ichinose taunted. "You know that your rightful place is..."

"I don't want to hear it!" Sophia exclaimed. "Your words mean nothing when your heart is so twisted and deluded by the darkness! I swear, Ichinose, I will make you see the light!"

Sophia cast Thundara on the platform again, doing enough damage to bring it down so she could move to attack Ichinose directly.

Ichinose once again called a barrage of lightning bolts, but Sophia was too quick, slipping between the bolts to attack Ichinose and finishing off with a final overhead slash that caused a great burst of light to erupt from her keyblade and send Ichinose flying back into the opposite wall, dropping another thumb drive as she collided with the wall.

Struggling to stay on her feet, Ichinose touched the wall behind her and re-opened the dark portal so she could retreat through it.

"Wait, what did she drop?" Tohru asked.

"I think it's another one of Yaldabaoth's reports," Nick quipped. "Can you still decode this for us, Sophia? I don't know if you can jump back into and out of the Gummiphone at will now..."

"It should be no problem," Sophia quipped as she turned into a ball of red light and returned to the Gummiphone so she could decode the report. "Yaldabaoth's Report, number 5."

To study the Heartless behavior, I picked one out for observation.

It wiggled its antennae and, as if sensing a target, headed deep into the castle. In the deepest part of the castle, its antennae began vibrating, as if searching for something.

Suddenly, a strange door appeared. I'd never known of its existence.

It had a large keyhole, but didn't seem to be locked. So I opened the door.

What I saw on the other side mystified me. What was that powerful mass of energy?

That night I observed a great meteor shower in the sky. Could it be related to the door that I have opened?

"So, Yaldabaoth actually tore down the walls between the worlds thanks to his curiosity?" Nick asked. "I'm starting to think this guy may not be everything he seems to be."

Sophia jumped out of the Gummiphone and re-summoned Super Yo-yo. "We should process that later," Sophia proclaimed. "Right now, we should head off after Ichinose."

"Yeah, she's not getting away from us this time!" Maylin shouted as the whole group chased Ichinose through the portal into a large atrium covered with gigantic thorny vines.

"I'm... I'm not done yet," Ichinose gasped, clutching her chest in pain. "I've... come too far... to be stopped now..."

"Need some help, do you?"

Ichinose looked over to see Ellen appear in the atrium through a corridor of darkness, still wielding the Dark Keyblade.

"Ah, look who finally showed up to help," Ichinose quipped.

"Wait, what is that thing?!" Haruka gasped.

"It is a keyblade, much like yours," Ellen responded, and now Nick could hear another voice speaking alongside hers. "But unlike yours, this keyblade is special. It holds the power to unlock people's hearts. How about I give you a demonstration?"

To everyone's surprise, Ellen swiveled around and thrust the Dark Keyblade forward to stab Ichinose in the chest, darkness flowing into her.

"Wh-what..." Ichinose gasped.

"Now, open your heart," Ellen proclaimed. "Surrender your heart, your very being, to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"

As Ichinose collapsed back to her knees, Ellen retreated through the dark corridor she'd entered from.

"This... this is it!" Ichinose laughed. "This... this amazing power!"

Droves of darkness began to surround Ichinose as her voice started to distort itself.

"This is... this is darkness!" Ichinose proclaimed. "The true darkness!"

The darkness exploded outwards from Ichinose, transforming her into a towering, silver-white humanoid figure without a head. Instead, it had a pair of wings resembling a moth's antennae on top of where its head should be, also sporting red bio-organic features instead of mechanical or digital ones, those being a spinal-cord like waist and tendons jutting out from its shoulders. Ichinose now had six arms, resembling human arms, each one holding a staff pointing upwards on a pair of extra appendages, which were seemingly connected by the aforementioned tendons.

"Okay, what in the hell?!" Maylin shouted.

"We need a plan here!" Nick exclaimed. "That thing's huge, after all!"

Sophia sighed sadly when she beheld the Demiurge, Ichinose's transformed form. This was, after all, the same thing that EMMA had eventually become.

The Demiurge began slowly turning to face the group, violet shockwaves erupting from its feet with each step it made.

"I think we're gonna have to find a way to get it to kneel first," Sophia proclaimed. "Try attacking the legs, but get away when it moves."

"Roger that, Sophia!" Maylin proclaimed as Nick and Haruka rushed in to start attacking the Demiurge's legs while Maylin hung back to pelt it with spells from afar.

The Demiurge would occasionally swing its staff and sweep the floor with an array of lasers, but not do much else.

This allowed Nick and Haruka to finally slice into the Demiurge's legs and force it to kneel, which exposed its chest to direct attacks (as it obviously didn't have a head).

"Pour it on!" Nick shouted even as Sophia took point, jumping off of Nick's shoulders so she could land as many hits on the Demiurge as she could, even blasting it backwards with another Kougaon from Pandora.

Before anyone else could get any hits in, though, the Demiurge stood back up to its full height.

"I'm not letting you stop me from finding Kobayashi! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!" Tohru shouted, unfurling her dragon wings and taking to the sky to attack the Demiurge.

"She's lucky she has wings," Maylin quipped.

Eventually, Tohru flew backwards, then rocketed forward to plant a vicious double-footed kick into the Demiurge's chest, causing it to kneel once again and allow the others a chance to attack.

Nick wasted no time in ravaging the Demiurge with an Ars Arcanum, with Sophia tagging in to blast the Demiurge with a Makougaon, a much wider-ranger version of her Kougaon spell.

After getting back to its feet, the Demiurge raised its hands and erected two walls of light to either side of itself.

"Damn it all, it's trying to box us in!" Haruka shouted.

"Hit the hands and you can stop the attack!" Sophia exclaimed. "I've dealt with this creature before!"

Nick nodded, trusting Sophia's judgment as he jumped back to use Strike Raid, throwing his spinning keyblade at the Demiurge's left hand before calling it back and then throwing it at the Demiurge's right hand.

Sophia's prediction proved correct, as once Nick had hit both of its hands, the Demiurge collapsed back to its knees, the light walls dissipating.

"All right, I'm ending this," Nick proclaimed, only to be gently pulled back by Sophia.

"Let me," Sophia responded.

Nick just nodded in understanding and stood his ground as Sophia ran around the room before running towards Nick, jumping off of his shoulders, and letting her momentum carry her towards the Demiurge.

With one last loud battle cry, Sophia summoned Pandora, who cast Kougaon onto Super Yo-yo, allowing Sophia to bring her keyblade down in one final strike. When Super Yo-yo collided with the Demiurge, a great burst of light erupted from the point of impact that completely tore the Demiurge apart.

When the light from Sophia's final attack had cleared up, nothing was left of the Demiurge except for Ichinose herself, who had fallen to the ground.

Naturally, Sophia was immediately over there to tend to Ichinose, even if it was clear to everybody in the room that she was finished.

"Please say something, Ichinose," Sophia asked.

Ichinose slowly opened her eyes to look at her creation.

Her greatest creation, now that she could clearly think about it.

"Well... it looks like you once again proved me wrong, Sophia," Ichinose gasped in a weak voice. "You... you are..."

Ichinose reached her hand up to touch Sophia's face, happy that she could actually touch her, even now at the end.

"...truly... my... greatest creation..."

With that, Kuon Ichinose had spoken her last, her arm slumping back down to the ground as her body dissolved into particles of darkness and light.

A summon gem fell from where Ichinose had just been, and Nick moved to pick it up as he ran over to Sophia.

"I-Ichinose?" Sophia gasped, at which point she lost her composure and turned around to hug Nick tightly as she burst out crying.

"Oh, what irony."

Sophia's gaze snapped to Ellen, who had just re-entered the atrium.

"What was that?" Sophia growled, unable to remember the last time she'd actually felt angry.

"The Heartless were just using her from the very beginning," Ellen proclaimed. "Obsessed as she was, she failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her until they had complete control of her."

Ellen just laughed softly as she stepped back through the dark corridor. "What a fitting end... for such a fool."

When Ellen vanished, the dark portal they had used to enter the atrium reappeared to lead them all back to the Castle Chapel.

"Nick, I may not know you too well just yet," Tohru admitted. "But I have a very hard time believing that chick's your girlfriend. I mean, what a bitch, am I right?"

Maylin quickly moved to shush Tohru, not knowing how Nick would respond to that accusation.

"That's no longer the Ellen I remember," Nick proclaimed. "I don't know what exactly happened to her, but one thing's clear now."

Nick looked over to the other side of the Chapel, where a chunk of the wall had collapsed to reveal another pathway through the outer edge of the Lift Stop.

"Ellen has to be stopped."

"We're with ya all the way, buddy," Maylin responded, proudly hefting Spellbinder. "We'll smack her back to her senses one way or another!"

"Damn straight," Haruka proclaimed. "But did you guys hear her talking? Because it sounds like someone else was speaking with her."

"You think she is being controlled by someone?" Sophia wondered.

"There's only one way we're gonna find out," Nick stated. "Let's keep moving."

The group all made their way through the hidden passage that had just appeared, through yet another section of the Lift Stop, and finally into the Grand Hall.

The trio readied their keyblades for whatever lay ahead and dashed into the tunnel, once more crossing through the Lift Stop and straight into the Grand Hall, the throne room of the Blue Sky Kingdom's reigning royalty.

"Fancy place," Maylin quipped.

"It's probably the king and queen's throne room," Haruka stated.

As the group crossed the Grand Hall to the large vortex of energy that was open directly behind the throne, they gazed at the strange capsules on either side of the hallway, which held sleeping citizens inside of them.

"You think they're citizens of the kingdom?" Haruka wondered.

"I'll bet they were probably put in some kind of flash-freeze to protect themselves when the kingdom was attacked," Maylin stated.

"...again?" Nick quipped.

"Everything okay there, fearless leader?" Maylin wondered.

"I keep getting these odd visions of a place called the Blue Sky Kingdom," Nick responded. "And in it, I'm traveling with you and Haruka through a castle that's a lot like this one."

"That's kinda strange, huh?" Haruka stated.

"Kobayashi?!" Tohru shouted as she ran ahead of the group, towards a group of six crystal coffins in the room just ahead of them. Within each of the coffins was a young woman, no doubt the Princesses of Heart that Ichinose and the Council had been searching for. "Kobayashi, please wake up!"

"I wouldn't mess with that coffin if I were you, Tohru," Nick quipped. "You don't want to hurt Kobayashi in the process, do you?"

"Is there any way we can free them?" Maylin asked.

"Wait, I am detecting a life signal just up ahead," Sophia proclaimed, gesturing towards the stairway at the other end of the room.

The group followed the path and up the stairway into a small, enclosed area with a pair of computer consoles and a large, heart-shaped doorway with multi-colored light inside of it, no doubt a portal to somewhere.

And lying there in the center of the area was Marie, still unconscious.

Nick immediately rushed forward to his sister's side, cradling her in his arms and gently shaking her in an attempt to wake her up.

"Come on, Marie, please wake up," Nick gasped. "I didn't come all this way for nothing, you know. Please open your eyes!"

"It is no use."

Nick's gaze snapped to the top of the heart-shaped doorway, where Ellen was causally sitting, dressed in her dark outfit and brandishing the Dark Keyblade.

"The girl has lost her heart," Ellen proclaimed, still talking in a mixture of her voice and the mystery voice from earlier. "She will not awaken without it."

And now, Nick could clearly hear the other voice speaking alongside Ellen.

"Hold on just a second," Nick retorted. "You're not Ellen, are you? Who are you?!"

"The Final Keyhole will remain incomplete as long as the final princess of heart stays in her slumber," Ellen stated, hopping off and slowly floating down to ground level.

"P-Princess? You mean Marie?" Nick gasped. "She's one of them?"

"Yes, she is, and without her power, the keyhole will stay fragmented and useless," Ellen replied. "It is time she was awakened."

"I have no idea who you are, but get out of my girlfriend's body and give her heart back!" Nick shouted, summoning Reverberating Abyss to his hands.

Ellen smirked in response before aiming the Dark Keyblade towards Nick. "First, you must give the princess her heart back," Ellen quipped.

All of a sudden, Nick fell to his knees, clutching his chest as if something had responded.

"Nick, you okay?!" Maylin gasped.

"Don't you get it yet?" Ellen taunted. "The princess's heart is responding. Marie's heart rests within yours. It has been there all along!"

"W-What?" Nick sputtered. "Is that..."

"I know everything that there is to know," Ellen proclaimed.

"Who are you?" Nick gasped. "Just tell me!"

Ellen let out a psychotic grin before spreading her arms out wide.

"It is I, Yaldabaoth, the Seeker of Darkness."

When Maylin recognized that name, she immediately summoned Spellbinder and charged to attack Ellen, only for Ellen to swing the Dark Keyblade and send her flying backwards. Ellen then raised her other hand and erected a magical barrier around the central area to prevent Maylin and Haruka from interfering.

Ellen walked towards Nick, pointing the Dark Keyblade towards his chest.

"Now, then, princess, it is time you awakened," Ellen proclaimed. "Only you can complete the keyhole with your power. Open the final door, and lead me into everlasting darkness!"

Ellen brought the Dark Keyblade down for what would undoubtedly be the final strike.

"Nick!"

Marie's voice guiding him, Nick swung his keyblade up to clash with the Dark Keyblade and push Ellen back a few steps.

"You can forget it," Nick proclaimed. "I don't care who you are, I'm not letting you take Marie's heart!"

"Come, then," Ellen responded. "Let us finish what we started."

Nick raised his keyblade as Ellen lunged forward with a slanted one-two slash, parrying the attack and knocking Ellen off balance long enough for Nick to land a couple hits.

Ellen broke out of the combo and leaped into the air to slam the Dark Keyblade into the ground, sending energy waves towards Nick from both sides. Nick jumped over the waves and popped Ellen into the air with a Fira spell from above, though Ellen responded by thrusting the Dark Keyblade into the ground when she fell, unleashing a shockwave that kept Nick away.

Nick and Ellen slowly circled each other, daring the other to make a move.

After a couple seconds, Ellen rushed forward to attack, but Nick responded with a Ripple Drive that knocked Ellen backwards again.

Switching over to Sonic Seven, Nick lunged to strike again, only for Ellen to counter by thrusting her palm and launching a Dark Firaga towards him. Nick swung Sonic Seven to send the Dark Firaga into the ceiling of the Grand Hall, though this gave Ellen the chance to close in and call down a small salvo of dark lightning bolts around her that struck Nick and sent him back.

"Ready to give up?" Ellen chuckled.

"In your dreams," Nick countered, juking to the side before unleashing a Sonic Blade, striking Ellen with six lightning-fast dash attacks and finishing with a lunging uppercut slash that knocked Ellen back into the air.

Ellen landed gracefully on the ground in front of the entrance to the Dark Depths and once again performed her one-two lunge, though this time, the second lunge caused a large disc of dark energy to go spinning towards Nick.

Nick jumped to the side, knowing he probably couldn't block that one, before standing his ground as Ellen rushed him again.

Before Nick could strike at Ellen, she suddenly vanished before reappearing in the center of the arena, holding the Dark Keyblade high into the sky.

"Now, witness the power of darkness!" Ellen shouted as she began teleporting wildly around the room, slashing at Nick with every pass she made before eventually jumping back to the center of the room and planting the Dark Keyblade into the ground. This caused dark shockwaves to ripple out from the point of impact, damaging Nick even further and sending him crashing unceremoniously to the ground in front of the Dark Depths.

"How pitiful," Ellen quipped as she approached Nick to finish him off...

...only for Nick to jump back to his feet and hit Ellen with a Zantetsuken, sending Ellen flying into the edge of the doorway surrounding the Dark Depths. She lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground before disappearing in a burst of darkness, leaving her Dark Keyblade behind.

When Ellen had vanished, the barrier surrounding the arena dissipated as well, allowing Maylin, Haruka and Sophia to run back up the stairs to see if Nick was all right.

"Holy jeez, Nick are you okay?!" Maylin exclaimed.

"I'd say that went relatively well," Nick quipped.

"Um, you guys, I think we need to seal that keyhole," Haruka stated.

Nick raised Sonic Seven towards the Dark Depths, but for some reason, nothing happened when he did so.

"It would appear that, like Ellen said, the keyhole is not completed yet," Sophia proclaimed. "We should try to wake Marie up."

"But how exactly are we going to do that?" Maylin asked.

"If we can find some way to free her heart, then maybe..." Nick started, only to catch a glimpse of the Dark Keyblade. "A keyblade that unlocks people's hearts... no, it couldn't be that easy..."

Nick walked over to pick up the Dark Keyblade, and this caught the attention of the others.

"...Nick?" Maylin stated. "What are you doing?"

As Nick spun the Dark Keyblade around to hold it in a reverse grip, he looked back at his friends and simply smiled.

For one terrifying moment, their thoughts were still.

When it finally sank in, they all attempted to stop Nick, but it was too late.

Nick held up the Dark Keyblade and pierced himself in the chest with it, causing that spot to glow brightly as he started falling backwards.

The Dark Keyblade floated into the air before shattering into shards of darkness, releasing the hearts of the six princesses so they could return to their hosts.

As Nick slowly fell, another glowing heart emerged from the spot where he'd stabbed himself, floating over to Marie and absorbing itself into her body.

As Marie finally opened her eyes, much to her shock and horror, the first thing she saw was Nick's body vanishing before her eyes.

With the others too stunned to act, Marie hopped back to her feet and ran over to catch Nick, only for his body to dissolve into myriad lights that floated into the air and eventually vanished.

"...what just happened?" Marie gasped. "Where did he... why did he... no. I won't let it end like this!"

Marie flicked her right hand out to summon her keyblade, Star Cluster, to her hands. "Where are you, Nick?! There's no way in hell I'm letting you go!" Marie shouted. "Not after everything you've done for me!"

Suddenly, a corridor of darkness opened up near the Dark Depths, and a strange figure stepped out of it. He appeared to be a bizarre-looking old man with a long nose, pointed ears and bulging, bloodshot yellow eyes, wearing a black suit, white gloves, black socks and black shoes.

"So, princess, you have awakened at last," Yaldabaoth proclaimed. "What a magnificent performance. The Final Keyhole is complete at last. But, it now means that you have served your purpose, and are thus expendable."

Yaldabaoth slowly started walking towards the group as they all brandished their keyblades.

"Don't take another step, mister nose," Maylin growled.

"Be real, ladies, do you think we can stop him with just us?" Haruka wondered. "Because if this is the guy responsible for everything..."

"How am I supposed to know that?!" Maylin responded. "But I'm not going to just sit on my laurels and leave my best friend in the lurch!"

"I feel the same way," Sophia proclaimed. "Nick is my best friend as well, and I will not take this lying down."

"Such foolishness," Yaldabaoth chuckled as he prepared to attack. "I have destroyed worlds. Even ones you were once in."

"...wait, what are you talking about?" Sophia quipped. "Are you referring to Nick's visions?"

"Ah, he has seen the visions of the old world that fell at my hands?" Yaldabaoth laughed. "It is true. That world you saw in your visions was a multiverse much like yours. ...and it is gone."

Before the girls could comprehend that revelation, Yaldabaoth's body suddenly froze in its place. "N-No... that can't be..." Yaldabaoth gasped, unable to move.

Before any of the keyblade wielders could question what was happening, a transparent image of Ellen in her normal clothes appeared in front of Yaldabaoth, spreading her arms out to both protect the others from Yaldabaoth and prevent him from getting any closer.

"No... you won't use me for this," Ellen gasped. "You all have to run! The Heartless are going to overwhelm this place any second now!"

"What about the keyhole, though?!" Maylin shouted. "We can't just leave it open like this!"

Just then, a massive horde of Neoshadows began crawling their way out of the Dark Depths towards them.

"We can figure it out later!" Haruka exclaimed. "For now, let's just get the hell out of here!"

With that, Maylin, Haruka and Sophia all charged out of the Grand Hall and away from the incoming Neoshadow swarm.

What they didn't see was a lone Neoshadow standing off to the side of the Grand Hall, intently watching them before deciding to follow them.

Thankfully, the barriers around the Lift Stop had fallen when the Final Keyhole was completed, which meant that the Neoshadow could simply fall off of the ledges to get down the castle.

Eventually, the lone Neoshadow found itself in the Entrance Hall, and looked down to see Maylin and Haruka standing guard in front of the main doorway that led outside while Marie was at the top of the stairs, glancing backwards with worry.

"Come on, Marie, we have to go!" Maylin exclaimed.

"I'm not leaving Nick behind!" Marie shouted.

"We can't stay here, or we're going to get overwhelmed!" Haruka proclaimed. "There's nothing we can do!"

Marie was about to counter that argument when she noticed a lone Neoshadow standing in front of the doorway they'd just come from.

"Oh, wonderful, we've got more Heartless to deal with," Maylin growled, running back up the stairs and summoning Spellbinder. "This is the last thing we need right now, you sorry son of a..."

Before Maylin could blast the Neoshadow with a spell, however, Marie raised her hand, signaling to her to wait.

Marie took a couple steps forward, staring intently at the Neoshadow that hadn't tried to attack them at all.

"...Nick? Is that you?" Marie asked. Before an answer could be given, though, Marie was suddenly surrounded by a horde of Neoshadows.

"Hey, we've got trouble up here!" Maylin shouted, prompting Haruka and Sophia to start running up the stairs.

Marie looked down at the Neoshadow in front of her, then rushed over to hug it.

"You've protected me so many times, Nick," Marie proclaimed. "This time, it's my turn to protect you."

As the other Neoshadows all lunged forward to dogpile on top of Marie, a great burst of light drove them all away and disintegrated them instantly.

When the light cleared, Nick had returned to his normal self, and Marie was hugging him tightly, as if letting go would mean losing him again.

"Is that really you, Nick?" Marie asked.

"I should be asking you that question, sis," Nick chuckled before returning Marie's embrace. "...thank you, Marie."

Marie just giggled, happy that they were finally reunited.

A loud scream caught their attention, and both siblings looked down to see another swarm of Neoshadows attempting to corner Maylin, Haruka and Sophia.

Nick and Marie simply nodded to each other, summoning Kingdom Key and Star Cluster, respectively, before hopping down to the bottom floor to help their friends fight off the Heartless.

All of a sudden, Tohru burst through the doors of the Lift Stop, flew down to the Entrance Hall, and breathed a massive stream of fire breath that carved a swath through the horde of Neoshadows, enough to clear a path to the gateway.

"That should be enough to get you out of here!" Tohru shouted. "Now get going!"

"Come with us, Tohru!" Marie exclaimed.

"I already told you, I'm not leaving this place without Kobayashi," Tohru proclaimed. "I appreciate the concern, you guys, but I can take care of myself. Now, unless you wanna be Heartless chow, I'd suggest you get out of here!"

"We just need to get outside, and then I can take us to the Gummi Ship," Haruka stated as the entire group raced outside the castle while Tohru fended off the swarm of Neoshadows.

"All right, what happened over there?" Jr. asked once the keyblade wielders had returned to Traverse Town. They explained everything that had occurred in Lost Jerusalem, not leaving out any details.

"So, it would seem like darkness is flowing unchecked from the keyhole," Ziggy proclaimed.

"That would explain why there's so many more Heartless everywhere," MOMO quipped. "And that would mean the only way to stop them is to seal that keyhole, right?"

"Yes, but no one knows what will happen once it is sealed," Ziggy responded. "That was clearly no normal keyhole."

"Well, we can't just dilly-dally around here," Nick proclaimed. "I've got someone who's stuck there that I still need to save."

"You're seriously going back for your girlfriend? After everything she's done to you?" Jr. retorted.

"Jr., be nice," MOMO responded. "She was being controlled by Yaldabaoth, after all."

"It seems like Ellen's keyblade was created by the hearts of the captured princesses, much like the keyhole," Ziggy stated. "But, of course, without Marie's heart, it remained fragmented and incomplete. That keyblade's destruction should have freed the princesses' hearts, but..."

"And here's the really weird part," Jr. quipped. "I thought that keyhole staying open would make the darkness even stronger. I mean, it still is strong, but... it feels like something's holding it back."

"It's gotta be the princesses," Nick realized. "They're keeping the darkness at bay until we can get back there and seal the keyhole."

"Sorry to cut this conversation short, everyone, but we've gotta get back there as soon as possible," Maylin stated.

"Then you should probably go see Captain Matthews about that," Jr. answered.

"How about you see if Julius and Dorothy can unlock that summon gem you found?" MOMO asked. "Your new ally might be really helpful in the battles ahead."

"Yeah, that's a good point," Haruka quipped. "Let's book it for the Mystic House, then go talk to the Captain."

The group all exited the house and made their way to the Mystic House, occasionally stopping to scrap with a bunch of Darkballs and Wyverns.

"Jeez, they weren't kidding," Marie quipped as she swung Star Cluster to knock a Darkball away from Sophia. "The Heartless didn't just multiply everywhere, they got stronger!"

"That's why we need to get back to Lost Jerusalem with all possible haste," Haruka stated as Sophia summoned Pandora to cast Kougaon on a pair of Darkballs, the light spell immediately vaporizing the Darkballs.

When the quintet reached the Mystic House, Julius and Dorothy were already waiting for them.

"We heard about the situation," Julius stated. "Heartless are multiplying and strengthening the longer that keyhole stays open."

"Here's hoping your new ally will provide you the strength you need to fight through the darkness," Dorothy proclaimed as she brought out her grimoire and opened it, flipping its pages to the spell she wanted.

"Dream Magic: Spirit Reconfiguration!" Dorothy chanted, the pages of her grimoire glowing and surrounding the summon gem with a cloud of multi-colored magic. After a couple seconds, the cloud vanished, and the summon gem had transformed into a small emerald crystal shaped like a gear.

"You've amassed quite the collection of allies," Dorothy stated. "May they light your way when you yourself can't."

On the way out of the Mystic House, more Darkballs and Wyverns appeared to surround the group, as expected.

"So, how does this work, then?" Marie asked. "I haven't really been... 'around' for most of this journey, so..."

Nick just grinned, bringing the Jadespark out to show his sister.

"Just watch and be amazed, sis," Nick quipped, the Jadespark glowing brightly as Maylin and Haruka vanished from sight. "Give me strength!"

("Trust Love" by Casey Lee Williams plays)

Nick held the Jadespark to the sky, and emerald lightning bolts burst from the Jadespark and flowed around before converging and letting out an explosion of emerald light that eventually cleared to reveal Nick's newest ally.

She looked to be about his age, with long, curly orange hair, bright green eyes, and cute freckles, along with a black fabric bow under a pink metal bow that had a golden outlined green power symbol. She was wearing an olive green German styled dress with a black hem that was striped emerald green, a black abdominal region with four golden buttons with matching buckles on her shoulder straps, an off-white blouse with puffy shoulders, frilled flared cuffs and vertical black lining down the front center, black metal leg pieces running up to her thighs, both having a green stripe that ran down the sides, with a large green circle at the top and a small one at the bottom, both outlined with gold, the knee pieces of her legs were heavily defined to look separate from the rest of the leg pieces, a trio of jets in the lower rear part of her leg pieces, and a pair of black low heeled metal boots with the tops hidden by the lower part of her leg pieces.

Penny Polendina spun around and opened her eyes before saluting to Nick.

"Sal-u-tations!" Penny proclaimed as she floated behind Nick and equipped Floating Array as the Heartless approached.

A Darkball started snapping through the air in an attempt to take a bite out of Nick, but Penny shot one of Floating Array's blades towards the Darkball that hooked on and locked it in its place, allowing Sophia to blast it with a Kougaon spell and destroy it.

While Marie and Sophia dealt with more Darkballs, a pair of Wyverns dive-bombed Nick from the air to catch him by surprise, but Penny raised her hand and projected a green energy field around Nick that repelled the Wyverns. Penny quickly flew into the air and slashed the Wyverns apart with two of Floating Array's blades.

After a few more Darkballs were defeated, Penny's eyes began glowing brightly, and Nick knew that meant it was time to end this.

Nick and Penny high-fived each other as Penny flew into the air, the blades of Floating Array merging together to form a large cannon that Penny used to fire a gigantic blast of green light into the ground, creating a shockwave that obliterated most of the Wyverns and Darkballs before separating to fire a barrage of individual lasers that swept the area and destroyed the remaining Wyverns.

Penny flew back down to the ground and floated closer to Nick, hugging him tightly before vanishing in an outward burst of tiny emerald lightning bolts that reformed into the Jadespark in his free hand.

"Okay, yeah, that was freakin' cool," Marie admitted after Penny had vanished and Maylin and Haruka had returned to the area.

"Told ya so," Maylin giggled.

With the Heartless around this area defeated for now, the group returned to the First District to talk to Captain Matthews.

"What's up, little dude?" Matthews asked.

"I'll make this short and to the point, Matthews," Nick replied. "We need to go back to Lost Jerusalem, like, right away."

Matthews sighed in frustration. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, kid," Matthews answered. "The Heartless over there are multiplying like rabbits. They'll eat your ship up like a cheap bed and breakfast."

"Then what should we do?" Sophia asked.

"Well, that's easy," Matthews responded. "Don't go the same way you went before. Instead, go around them. You just need a new navigation gummi so you can take a different route back there."

"And where would we find one of those?" Haruka quipped.

"I actually have one in the Secret Waterway," Matthews admitted. "Nine years ago, when I came here to Traverse Town, I stashed that thing away in case I ever needed it. I never thought someone like you would be the one to use it!"

"Well, then we just have to get that navigation gummi?" Marie asked.

"Yup," Matthews replied.

The group all left the Accessory Shop, wound their way to the Second District, and into the Alleyway that would lead to the secret waterway.

"Is this the place?" Maylin wondered. "Because I don't see anything that looks like a gummi block."

Nick looked down the opposite side of the cave, towards the mural painted on the cave wall, walked up to it, and tapped the mural twice with his keyblade. The mural of the sun suddenly became a mural of a crescent moon, causing a small gummi block to appear from it and fall into Nick's hands.

"Ladies, we have hit paydirt," Nick quipped.

"All right-y, then, let's get back to Matthews," Haruka quipped.

"Actually... you three can go on ahead," Marie stated. "I wanted to talk to Nick some more. We'll catch up."

Maylin nodded as Nick handed her the Navi-Gummi, after which Maylin, Haruka and Sophia left the Secret Waterway so Nick and Marie could talk.

"Do you remember the 'light at the end of the tunnel', Nick?" Marie asked.

"Grandma's story, right?" Nick responded.

"We were together this whole time and you had no idea," Marie stated.

"That's actually kinda funny now that I think about it," Nick quipped, pacing around the cave. "I was looking everywhere for you, through every world we found our way to, but... you were right beside me the whole time."

Nick looked back at Marie. "And now, we've gotta go get Ellen back," Nick proclaimed.

"Do you really think it's ever going to be the same, though?" Marie wondered. "I mean, Ellen's clearly lost her..."

"Don't you remember, though, Marie?" Nick stated. "When I turned into a Heartless, you're the one who saved me."

Nick remembered the feeling of just floating there in the darkness, unable to do anything.

"When I used that dark keyblade on myself, I got lost in the darkness," Nick admitted. "I just... couldn't find my way. While I stumbled through the darkness, I started forgetting things, like my friends and even who I was. But just as the darkness was about to swallow me whole, I heard a voice. And it was you, Marie. You brought me back."

"There was no way I was going to forget about you, Nick," Marie proclaimed. "No way in hell."

"That's because our hearts are connected," Nick stated. "And the light from both of our hearts shattered the darkness around me. I think seeing that light was what saved me. It's like grandma always said, no matter how deep the darkness dwells, a light will always shine through."

Marie noticed that Nick looked a little uneasy now. And she knew why. People had often said that she could read Nick like a book.

"I bet I know what you're thinking," Marie quipped. "You're worried about taking me along on your adventure."

"Well, I did just get you back, Marie," Nick admitted. "And honestly, I'm a little worried..."

"Hey, we made it this far by sticking together, right?" Marie responded. "And remember, big bro, I'm a keyblade wielder, too. I'm not afraid of those stupid Heartless."

"...I guess you've got a point there," Nick laughed. "Just be careful, okay? I know you tell me I don't need to worry, but... you're my sister, Marie. I'm gonna worry regardless."

"I know," Marie answered. "Honestly, I like that you worry so much. It means you care."

Marie walked closer to Nick and placed something in his hands. When he got a good look at it, it appeared to be a star-shaped keychain made of seashells.

"I made this lucky charm in art class the day before all of this," Marie stated. "I wanted to give it to you."

Nick attached the charm to his keyblade, then swung it horizontally, the keyblade once again transforming mid-swing. This new keyblade had a shaft displaying two hearts, its handle bore two angel wings, and the teeth were fashioned in the shape of the Japanese kanji for "light". The word Oathkeeper ran through Nick's head as he studied the weapon. What an appropriate name.

"Hey, Nick?" Marie asked, leaning closer so she could hug her brother. "I love you. You know that, right?"

Nick couldn't help but smile as he hugged his sister back. "I love you, too, Marie. That's never going to change."

Marie smiled as well as she kissed Nick on the cheek.

"And don't ever forget. Wherever you go... I'm always with you."

She couldn't see anything but darkness as she walked this lonely road. How fitting, in her opinion, given what she'd done.

Ellen looked around, still seeing complete darkness.

"Nick... Marie... I'm so sorry..." Ellen sighed, knowing that nobody could hear her. "This must be the afterlife..."

Ellen stumbled forward as her body started to shimmer and fade, but she quickly composed herself.

"No... no, I'm not ready to call it quits yet," Ellen proclaimed. "I have to see them one more time... and tell them how much I..."

Ellen? Can you hear me, Ellen? I'll be there soon.

"W-wait, who said that?" Ellen asked. "Am I hearing voices in my head? Has the darkness finally driven me loony?"

I already found the other keyblade, the one that came from this world. I've been trying to contact you for a while now, but the darkness in your heart made it difficult for me to communicate.

"Who... who are you?" Ellen gasped. "Do you know what happened to me?"

Your heart won its battle against the darkness, but your body was not so lucky. That's why you're here, in this dark place where hearts gather.

"All right, then what am I supposed to do?" Ellen wondered.

The door to darkness will be open very soon, but it's not a door that people like us can really enter. It has to be closed from both sides at once. In order to do this, you need two keys and two hearts. I wonder if you're here for the same reason that I'm here. Maybe... maybe it was fate.

Ellen couldn't help but chuckle, since she knew that Nick never believed in "fate".

"You seem to know practically everything, huh?" Ellen stated. "So, if you can... answer me this one question. Are Nick and Marie okay?"

Ellen looked ahead and suddenly saw a transparent image of Nick, smiling brightly at her like they were just two teenagers in love, like they had been before all of this.

Can you feel the echoes of their hearts? I believe you already know the answer to that. Look inside of your own heart, and you'll see.

Ellen looked up and smiled.

"...okay. Thank you."

Captain Matthews had returned to the Accessory Shop just as Nick and Marie returned from the secret waterway.

"All right, you're all set, kiddos," Matthews proclaimed. "You can set off whenever you're ready. Honestly, I really wish you didn't have to face all of this danger at your age."

"It comes with the territory of being keyblade wielders, really," Maylin admitted. "Some of the stories we could tell you about our own adventures..."

"All I can say is this," Matthews stated. "Don't get cocky just because you've been there before. The castle's probably crawling with those little bastards now."

"I understand, Matthews, but I'm not leaving Ellen behind any longer," Nick proclaimed. "I promised I'd help her, and I never break my promises."

After doing their usual shopping and re-supply rounds, the group stood in front of the large double doors that would take them back to the Gummi Ship.

"Well, if there's anything you guys still wanna do, you'd better do it now," Maylin quipped.

"I think we're as ready as we'll ever be," Haruka stated.

"We have someone who needs our help, after all," Sophia proclaimed.

"And we've still gotta find that Yalda-whatever guy and kick his face six ways from Sunday, too," Marie quipped.

"All right, then," Nick proclaimed. "Let's go get my girlfriend back."

With that, all five keyblade wielders pushed their way through the doors to return to their Gummi Ship and set sail once again for Lost Jerusalem.

To be continued...

New keyblade acquired!

Super Yo-yo
Strength: 10
MP: +3
Recoil: 20
Critical Rate: 0
Critical Bonus: 0
Ability: Bless Boost
Description: Sophia's keyblade, representing an artificial intelligence that gained strength of heart and her own identity. Unable to deal critical hits, but raises max MP by 3, and greatly enhances magic and summon power. Increases damage dealt by light-based spells and attacks by 20%. Equip more to increase the effect.

New keyblade acquired!

Oathkeeper
Strength: 10
MP: +1
Recoil: 1
Critical Rate: x2
Critical Bonus: +2
Ability: Summon Boost
Description: A keyblade representing a promise made between two siblings. Raises max MP by 1, and enhances magic and summon power. Capable of dealing a string of critical blows. Increases the strength of a summon while equipped.

New summon acquired!

Penny Polendina, the Android Protector
MP Required: 5
Anime of Origin: RWBY (2013)
Theme Song: "Trust Love" by Casey Lee Williams
Action: Penny will assist Nick in both offensive and defensive manners, attacking enemies with Floating Array and protecting Nick with energy barriers.
Target an enemy with R1 and press X to have Penny hook an enemy with a blade from Floating Array and keep it in place for Nick to attack.
Press [] to have Penny surround Nick with an energy barrier that protects against attacks from all directions.
Every Heartless killed while Penny is active fills the Charge Gauge by 1/6.
When Penny's Charge Gauge is full, press /\ to have Penny sweep the area with a barrage of lasers, dealing massive damage to every enemy in range. What a wonderful friend!

On the next episode...

Maylin: Well, readers, we're heading back to Lost Jerusalem!

Haruka: Hopefully the second verse won't be the same as the first, because oh my lord, some of these Heartless are annoying.

Sophia: I can still sense a lot of darkness around the castle, even as whoever is up in the castle attempts to suppress it.

Marie: That can only mean we don't have much time. We'd better get back to that keyhole before even the princesses can't hold that crap back any longer.

Nick: It's gonna be a bumpy ride for sure on the next episode of Kingdom Hearts: Key to Her Heart re:Verse, "Into the Depths of Darkness"!

Nick, Maylin, Haruka, Marie and Sophia: May your hearts be your guiding key!