Chapter 25
Dive to the Heart
Pitch black darkness greeted Molly as she dove into the seemingly endless abyss. If Molly was going to save Libby, she knew that she was going to need to find all of the pieces of her heart, but didn't even know where to look.
After diving for what felt like forever, Molly took notice of something shining in the darkness. Upon taking a closer look, she noticed that it was a shattered glass platform. From what Molly could make out of the platform, it had a picture of Libby with various turtles surrounding her, so she assumed that the platform was supposed to represent, Libby's heart. She landed on one of the pieces of the platform before she decided to take a look around.
"Psst! Hey! In the first grade, there was a girl named, Libby! She was bright-eyed and full of promise!"
The unexpected voice ended up startling Molly. She looked around before noticing a memory that showed her and Libby sitting next to each other in a classroom. Molly recognized that memory as the moment she and Libby first met.
"Until one day, she called Ahndrea, Anndrea!" Past Libby continued. "And from that moment on, she was an outcast, forever shunned from respectable society!"
"What happened to her?" Past Molly asked.
"Oh, she's me! I'm Libby!" Past Libby introduced, extending her hand towards Molly.
As the memory came to an end, Molly smiled, thinking back to how much she and Libby had been through together since then. She looked around some more to see more memories of her interactions with Libby. There was the moment Libby asked Molly to be her best friend, the moment Molly tried giving Libby the best Bat Mitzvah ever, the moment Molly and her family celebrated Hannukah with Libby and her mom, the moment Molly and Libby watched the comet with Scratch, and the moment Molly and Libby reunited with each other after Molly saved Scratch from the ghost world.
As happy as those memories make Molly feel, she couldn't let them distract her from her goal. Determined to save Libby, Molly explored the platform some more before she took notice of a portal. Curious, Molly stepped through the portal in hopes that she might find a piece of Libby's heart.
Once she made her way to the other side, she was blinded by sunlight. Molly opened her eyes to see that she was surrounded by trees. There was something about the woods that seemed weirdly familiar to Molly. It wasn't long before she noticed the Mystery Shack in the middle of the woods.
"Am I back in Gravity Falls?" Molly asked herself.
She only managed to take a few steps before she ended up getting ambushed by the Heartless. Upon, noticing the Heartless, Molly immediately summoned her keyblade before she began to fight.
The bug-like Heartless jumped towards Molly, who swung her keyblade at them. More Heartless soon surrounded Molly, but she was too determined to save Libby to be scared. It wasn't long before Molly was taken off guard when she got scratched by one of the Heartless. Molly cringed in pain before taking out the last of the Heartless. Once the Heartless were defeated, Molly glanced at the scratch caused by the Heartless before casting a spell to heal her wound. Chirithy wasn't kidding when they warned Molly that she would be dealing with darkness more dangerous than anything she faced on her journey.
With the Heartless gone, Molly noticed something shining floating about her. She took a closer look and knew exactly what it was.
"This must be one of the missing pieces of Libby's heart!" Molly exclaimed before grabbing it.
At that moment, Molly teleported back to the glass platform, which had a small part of it repaired, thanks to the heart piece Molly found. Molly smiled, knowing that she was making progress, so she made her way through another portal.
This time, Molly found herself at Ludo's castle in Mewni. That was when the wizard Heartless appeared in front of her. They all casted fire, ice, and lightning spells at her. Thinking fast, Molly casted a reflect spell on herself, knocking the spells right back at the Heartless. She then ran towards the rest of the Heartless and defeated them, revealing the next piece of Libby's heart.
After grabbing the next piece, Molly stepped through the next portal, where she found herself back in Wartwood in Amphibia. Molly was taken by surprise when she got knocked down by the tongue of one of the frog Heartless. She got back up and casted a stop spell on the Heartless to prevent them from hopping away. With the Heartless unable to move, Molly slashed them with her keyblade, earning her the next piece of Libby's heart.
As she stepped into the next portal, Molly looked around to see that she was in the Boiling Isles, standing in front of the Owl House. Just like in Ludo's castle, Molly was ambushed by more wizard Heartless. This time, they were accompanied by wyvern Heartless. Once the battle began, Molly hit the wizard Heartless with her most powerful magic before leaping in the air to finish off the remaining flying Heartless. After grabbing the next piece of Libby's heart, Molly proceeded into the next portal.
The next portal ended up taking Molly to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated in Danville. This time, Molly was ambushed by the Heartless in the toy cars. The Heartless drove circles around Molly, so she casted a slow spell on them, allowing her to swing her keyblade at them with ease. Once the Heartless were defeated, Molly grabbed the next piece of Libby's heart before moving on.
As she entered the next portal, Molly discovered that she was in her duck form once again. She looked around to see that she was standing in the middle of McDuck Manor in Duckburg. Here, the golem Heartless appeared out of nowhere and began to attack. They raised their fists into the air and slammed the ground in an attempt to crush Molly. Thankfully, Molly managed to dodge out of the way and slash her keyblade at the golem's faces, knocking them down.
After getting the next piece of Libby's heart, Molly was teleported back to the glass platform, which was nearly fixed. There was still one piece of the platform that was still missing.
"Just one last piece to find!" Molly told herself before noticing one more portal. She somehow knew that this was where the last piece was. "Just hang on a little bit longer, Libby! I promise I'll save you soon!"
Once Molly stepped through the last portal, she found herself back in Brighton. As happy as she was to be in a familiar place, Molly silently reminded herself that the town she was standing in was simply an illusion. Molly took a few steps forward before a menacing shadow loomed over her. She turned around, only to stare at the entity in shock.
Right in front of Molly stood an enormous Heartless known as, Darkside. Shocked by the Heartless that was towering above her, Molly backed away in fear, having never seen a Heartless so huge before. Despite her fear, Molly summoned her keyblade, determined to rescue Libby no matter the cost.
Darkside started off the fight by slamming its fists into the ground, creating shockwaves. Molly jumped over the shockwaves before slashing at one of Darkside's hands. In response, Darkside pounded the ground with its other hand, creating a pool of darkness. This caused Heartless to emerge from the darkness and attack Molly. Molly struggled to defeat the Heartless while Darkside planned its next attack. As Molly defeated the remaining Heartless, Darkside summoned an orb of darkness and threw it in the air, causing a bunch of smaller orbs to fly towards Molly.
Despite her best efforts to dodge, Molly ended up getting hit orb after orb until she was knocked to the ground. Weak from the attack, Molly slowly got back up and knew that she had to end this fight quickly. She gripped her keyblade tightly before rushing towards Darkside, who fired homing missiles at her. Molly quickly dodged all of the missiles before she leaped into the air and slashed Darkside's face.
The impact of the attack caused Darkside to let out a screech before its body disappeared. With Darkside defeated, the last piece of Libby's heart finally revealed itself. Happy that she found the last piece, Molly grabbed it as she was ready to restore Libby back to normal.
As Molly returned to the platform, she was glad to see that Libby's heart was fully repaired. It wasn't long before Molly noticed someone standing in the middle of the platform. Upon realizing who it was, Molly let out an excited gasp.
"Libby!"
Happy to see her girlfriend alive, Molly rushed over towards her to embrace her in a hug. However, she stopped in her tracks when Libby summoned her keyblade and aimed it at Molly in a threatening manner. Surprised by this, Molly jumped back in shock.
"Wait, Libby! It's me, Molly! Don't you recognize me?"
Instead of responding, Libby simply gripped her keyblade in her hands, ready for a duel. At first, Molly was confused, but upon noticing the dark aura surrounding Libby, she finally realized what was going on.
"L-Libby. You've been corrupted by the darkness." Molly trembled, seeing this corrupted version of her best friend.
It was at that point when Molly desperately tried to think of a way to save Libby. As much as she didn't want to do this, Molly knew that there was only one way to save her. Reluctantly, Molly summoned her keyblade as she was prepared to fight.
Molly started to tear up, knowing that she is being forced to fight the very person who had been with her throughout her journey. "Don't worry, Libby! I promise I will save you!"
As the girls had their keyblades ready, Libby immediately ran forward, clashing her keyblade against Molly's. Both, Molly and Libby swung their keyblades at one another before Libby took Molly by surprise by hitting her with magic.
Molly was forced to run around the platform as Libby started to attack her with a barrage of fire, ice, and lightning spells. Thinking fast, Molly casted a reflect spell on herself, which knocked Libby's spells back at her. With Libby distracted, Molly slashed at Libby with her keyblade, creating a very noticeable cut on Libby as she started to bleed. Despite how strong Molly was trying to be, this was all too much for her to handle. The fact that she was hurting Libby brought her more pain than any attack Libby could hit her with. Once again Libby clashed keyblades with Molly before Molly tried to reason with her.
"Libby, please! You have to fight the darkness! I just want you back!" Molly yelled as tears continued to fall from her eyes.
Instead of listening, Libby swung her keyblade at Molly, to which she leaped out of the way. She quickly turned around to see that Libby was charging right at her. Thinking fast, Molly slashed her keyblade at Libby right when she was close enough. This not only knocked Libby to the floor, but also knocked Libby's keyblade out of her hand.
Once Libby was defeated, a light appeared above the girls before it teleported them away. After recovering from the light, Molly opened her eyes once more to see that she had returned to the Final World.
"Molly, there you are!" Chirithy called out for Molly. "I'm glad that you are okay! Here, let me help you up!"
As Chirithy grabbed Molly's arm and helped her up, Molly sent a grateful smile to her friend. "Thank you, Chirithy!" Molly thanked before she remembered Libby. "Wait! Where's Libby!"
At that moment, Molly looked around to find Libby lying unconscious on the ground. That was when Molly and Chirithy came rushing to Libby's aid before Molly cradled her in her arms.
"Libby, please wake up!" Molly tried to shake Libby away, but she didn't open her eyes. Fearing the worst, Molly began to cry. "No, please don't leave me! I need you, Libby! I-I love you! Please come back to me!"
Unable to contain her sadness, Molly buried her face on Libby's sweater, crying. It wasn't long before Libby started to stir awake as she slowly opened her eyes.
"M-Molly?"
Upon hearing Libby's voice, Molly gasped in surprised. "Libby?"
Once she woke up, Libby sat up before she looked around confused.
"Are we back in the Final World?" Libby asked, having no memory of what just happened.
"You're back!" Molly tackled Libby in a hug, knocking them both over.
This left them both soaked from landing on the watery ground of the Final World, but they didn't care. They were happy to finally be reunited.
"I thought I was never going to see you again! After I saw Xehanort kill you, I thought-" Molly couldn't even finish her sentence before Libby placed a finger over her lips.
"Shh! It's okay! We're together and that's all that matters!"
Now that they were together again, Molly and Libby kissed each other on the lips, both of them crying tears of joy. Chirithy couldn't help but feel emotional as well as they looked away, trying to hide their tears. Molly soon broke from the kiss before turning to Chirithy.
"Thank you for helping me get Libby back, Chirithy! I couldn't have done it without you!" Molly thanked.
"You're welcome, Molly! Still, it was pretty risky for you to dive into a place of darkness like that without a second thought!" Chirithy lectured. "Honestly, Libby! Does your girlfriend always act without thinking?"
"I'm not going to lie. She kind of does." Libby admitted as she had flashbacks to the day when Molly tried to force her and Scratch to become friends. "I'm glad that you saved me, Molly, but it kind of was reckless."
With an amused smiled, Molly rolled her eyes. "Gee! Thanks a lot, Libby! You know, you and Chirithy sound really similar when you lecture me like that! Even your voices sound the same, now that I'm thinking about it!"
"What? No they don't!" Libby and Chirithy said at the same time, both of their voices sounding exactly the same.
This caused both of them to stared at one another briefly confused, before the three friends started to laugh in unison.
"So, what happened back there?" Chirithy asked, curious with what happened between Molly and Libby.
"Well, Libby has been corrupted by the darkness, and I was forced to fight her." Molly explained.
Surprised by what they heard, Chirithy stared at Molly in shock. "You and Libby had a duel with each other? That would explain it."
"Explain what?" Libby raised a confused eyebrow.
"It seems that a new weapon has recently been created. When you and Molly dueled each other, you briefly became a being of pure darkness. That was the last step Xehanort needed to forge the X-blade!" Chirithy explained.
Molly and Libby gasped in shock by what they heard. It was at that moment when they realized that Xehanort planned this from the beginning.
"Xehanort used us! He knew we would fight each other! We need to stop him!" Molly declared before Chirithy stopped her.
"Wait, that last battle you two had with each other probably wore you down. Let's take a break before your final battle."
"Chirithy is right! Do you know where we can find a place to relax?" Libby asked Chirithy.
"Sorry. I don't think I can help you with that." Chirithy apologized. "Its up to you and Molly to figure out your next destination. Just summon your keyblades and follow your hearts."
The girls shared a couple of confused looks with each other, but thought they should give it a try. After summoning their keyblades, they closed their eyes before a couple of beams of were fired from the keyblades. This ended up creating a portal right in front of Molly and Libby.
"Look! That must be our way out!" Molly exclaimed.
"Yes. You two go on, and you should be able to travel to your next world." Chirithy explained with a hint of sadness in their voice.
Both Molly and Libby started to feel sorry for their friend. They could tell that Chirithy didn't want to be in this world anymore, even if they won't admit it.
"Chirithy, come with us!" Molly said, much to Chirithy's surprise.
"Wh-What?"
"Molly and I can tell that you don't want to be in the Final World anymore. If you come with us to Brighton, you can have a home of your own!" Libby explained.
"I-I think I would really like that!" Chirithy was happy to leave with Molly and Libby.
With that, Molly and Libby led Chirithy through the portal into another world. The first thing Molly and Libby noticed was the light of the sun shining down on them. Nothing can be heard apart from the calm sounds of the waves. That was when Molly and Libby noticed that they were standing on a beach. Just standing here listening to the waves was enough to make Molly and Libby feel relaxed.
"This place is so beautiful!" Libby smiled, admiring this new world.
"Yes. This is called, Destiny Islands." Chirithy explained. "This is the perfect place for us to relax!"
Happy to finally relax, Molly and Libby decided to take a look around the island before they noticed a tree in the distance. The three friends decided to take a rest as they sat on the branch of the tree, watching the sunset together. They all sat in silence until Molly noticed a star shaped fruit hanging from the tree.
"Hey, what is that star shaped fruit?" Molly asked, curious. "I've never seen anything like it before."
"Oh, that? I believe it is supposed to be called a paopu fruit." Chirithy replied. "You and Libby can eat it if you like! I'm not really hungry anyway."
Molly briefly stood up before reaching for the paopu fruit. Once she grabbed it, she broke the fruit in two pieces.
"Would you like to share it with me, Libby?" Molly asked, offering the other half of the paopu fruit with Libby.
"Yes. Thank you, Molly!" Libby smiled, gratefully accepting her half of the fruit.
The girls simply stared at the sunset, neither of them taking a bite out of the fruit. With their final battle slowly approaching, they couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
"Molly?" Libby spoke up. "Are we going to be okay?"
"What do you mean?" Molly turned to face Libby.
"I mean, do you really think we would be able to defeat Xehanort. He managed to beat us last time, and he didn't even have the X-blade before. What if we never make it back home?" Libby started to worry.
"It's going to be okay! We have both come so far on our journey. We managed to defeat so many monsters and villains before, so there's no reason why we can't do it one more time!" Molly then extended her arm, offering Libby her half of the paopu fruit. "No matter what happens, I promise I will always be there to keep you safe!"
With a smile, Libby offered her half of the paopu fruit to Molly as well. "I promise to keep you safe too!"
Feeling reassured of there last battle, Molly and Libby took a couple of bites out of the paopu fruit they offered each other, neither of them aware that sharing the paopu fruit made their destinies intertwined with each other, making it so that Molly and Libby would remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. As they finished eating the paopu fruit, Molly and Libby drifted off the sleep as they prepared for their final battle.