I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I'm sure you still remember my earlier requests for world and storyline suggestions, and I'm still calling out for them (mostly because I haven't gotten as many helpful suggestions as I would have liked even from the reviewers who did want to help. If you place your suggestions, either in a review or in a PM, do so in this format, please:

World (or movie/game/TV show you want a world based on). Party Members. Antagonists (be they world-specific or part of the Villains of a Sort). What would happen in that world.

Thank you. And be sure to let me know what you think of my story updates. Don't be afraid to provide feedback, even of the negative kind (so long as it is constructive and not mean-spirited, but why would I expect mean trolls on the Internet?); give me your opinion on my writing and storytelling choices; let me know how you interpret some of the more subtle moments; and I'd also be happy to read some of your theories on what might happen or what might have happened.

I'm happy to have supportive readers such as yourselves, and I hope I don't break too many hearts in the next several paragraphs...

Chapter 80

Den of Wolves

As it turned out, the coats proved rather unhelpful in obscuring their scents from the local monsters. They were barely in the Realm of Darkness for two minutes before the first Shadows and Neoshadows swarmed them. As soon as they had carved through that batch, giant spheres with antennae, tails, and faces materialized. The Darkballs flew at them, chomping their cartoonish interlocking teeth in an effort to take a bite out of them.

Kairi dove out of the way while Sora struck the one that was coming for her. She cast Fira, knocking it off balance, and Sora finished it off with a four-hit aerial combo. Mickey, Donald and Goofy fought another one from all angles, but it managed to knock them all into the air by thrashing about in every direction. Sora and Riku slashed a third Darkball into ribbons, though it took a lot of effort, then Riku used Dark Firaga to destroy the Heartless that Mickey, Donald and Goofy had failed to defeat. His eyes widened and he smirked as he realized that his dark magic was much stronger in the dark realm.

Sora, Riku and Kairi helped Mickey, Donald and Goofy to their feet. "You guys alright?" Sora asked.

Mickey nodded while Donald loosened his joints. "Yeah. Just a few scrapes," he replied.

"These things are a lot stronger than the old batch," Sora commented, recalling the Darkballs that had materialized in Hollow Bastion. They had given him a lot of trouble at first even after he regained the Keyblade, but they became less of a pain to deal with over time as he grew stronger, to the point where they were hardly any more difficult than Soldiers and Large Bodies, even with only half of his total maximum power. Since then, he and his friends have grown much stronger, so any Darkball in the realm of light should have been a piece of cake even for Donald and Goofy. But these creatures took a lot of effort to bring down.

"Yep. The Pureblood Heartless are a lot stronger in their natural habitat. All this darkness is just going to amplify their power," Mickey confirmed. "And they're gonna get a lot more diverse, so we should be on our guard."

Kairi crossed her arms, realizing just what they had gotten themselves into. "We're out of our element," she said. "Let's hurry and find Aqua."

"Of course," Mickey replied. "I should still be able to detect her light, like I did last time. I don't know if any of you would be able to do the same, given your limited interactions with her." He closed his eyes and held his hand out. He shuffled briefly as he turned around to check in different directions, before he stopped and pointed in the direction he was currently facing. "That way! Let's go."

Mickey led the way, and the rest of the party marched over the terrain after him, keeping their eyes peeled and ears tuned for anything that might come after them. They took in their surroundings. The sky was an entirely dark gray, and there were few clouds. The entire land seemed to be made of black and dark blue rock, shaped into uneven ground and mountains. Some of the rocks were cracked, revealing a blue or purple light, giving the place an even more eerie feel. The entire realm felt more like a haunted cavern deep underground rather than an actual world full of life.

It was not long before they were attacked again. This time, Goofy noticed a few winged Heartless fluttering above them and pointed them out to his friends. They were a cardinal purple color, and they resembled bats with dragon-like heads. The shape of the heads made Sora think of the Living Bone monsters that he had clashed with in the Pride Lands. Jiminy noticed them and, his mind stuck on the first verb he thought of to describe them, decided to name them "Flutterings". Sora chose not to argue. When the bat-like Heartless noticed them and flew toward them, Sora and Goofy were the first to summon their weapons, and the others followed suit, ready to counter whatever attacks they dealt.

The Flutterings dove toward the party, but Sora, Riku and Kairi cut three of them out of the air with their Keyblades, causing them to fall to the ground. Mickey jumped into the air to intercept another Fluttering, which spun like a top to strike him with its wingtips. As it spun, its wings wrapped around its body in such a way to make it look like an umbrella. Mickey was hit, his strike failing to power through, but he countered by casting Firaga, which sent it into a panic. Donald finished it off by firing another Firaga spell. As one of the first three creatures took flight again, Kairi leapt and delivered an aerial combo before it could attempt a counterattack. The combo, however, was not enough to slay it, only send it flying. Sora and Riku dealt with it and its companions with a Thundaga spell and a Dark Fire storm, respectively.

Not wanting to wait for more Heartless to follow the commotion to their location, they pressed on, Mickey still certain of their path. For the most part, their trek was in silence, allowing them to think over the recent developments.

"Gawrsh, you know, something's been bothering me for a while," Goofy said, finally breaking the silence, a welcome change given the spooky atmosphere. "Aqua's been down here all this time, and Ven's in a coma, right?" Mickey nodded. "Then, whatever happened to Terra?"

Sora and Riku crossed their arms in contemplation. True, according to Mickey's story, Aqua had made sure that he would not become lost in the darkness by way of sacrificing herself. But that would mean Terra should have been in the Realm of Light for at least part of the last twelve years. There was a possibility that he became lost while the Heartless had been consuming worlds. But if Mickey and Yen Sid have been searching for him like he said, they should have found him early on, and if not then he would have reappeared after the worlds had been restored.

"Yeah, I have been wondering that as well," Riku admitted. "Maybe something happened between him and Xehanort after they all got separated…"

"Wasn't Master Xehanort an old man?" Donald asked, recalling what he knew about the evil Keybearer. "I'm curious about how he could be the same guy as Ansem and Xemnas when they were less than half his age."

Mickey shook his head. "I don't know how that happened. That's actually why I never thought there was a connection when I first met Xehanort as Ansem's apprentice."

Goofy scratched his forehead, a bizarre theory coming to mind. "What if Xehanort possessed Terra?" he suggested. Everyone looked at him in surprise and confusion. "Well, he did the same with Riku, right? So, I guess he would have the power to do that. And, I suppose that if he took over Terra's body, that's how he would be that young again."

Everyone considered Goofy's idea, and realized that it made a lot of sense. However, they had no way of knowing if it was true. Riku shrugged. "Who knows?" he said. "Shame none of us knows what Terra looked like. I barely remember even meeting him."

With no way to press the topic forward, they dropped it and continued their trek. At one point, Kairi stumbled and fell, but Sora came to her aid and helped her to her feet. After a few minutes, they came to a ledge and jumped down to a lower level.

Hearing a splash of water to their left, they turned and saw a new kind of Heartless. It resembled a giant black water droplet with a blue watery tip on top, a pair of black wings, and several ice crystals growing out of its base. The water-based Pureblood was joined by two more friends. They all possessed jagged mouths like Darkballs and the inside of their mouths had the same watery texture as the tip on its head and the crystals below.

Sora sighed as the Water Cores floated closer, waving their icy underbellies so that their movements were reminiscent of jellyfish. "Elemental Heartless," he muttered, recalling how Mickey had mentioned such creatures in his tale. He summoned his Keyblade, and his allies called upon their weapons in turn. "Counter Water magic with Thunder!" he shouted, advising his companions on the requisite strategy. He demonstrated by rolling in between the Heartless and casting Thundaga. Too late, he realized a logical flaw in his plan as he stood between three water Heartless that were all conducting electricity, with enough instability to cause damage to them. He screamed and his body jittered as the lightning struck him as well a second after the charge of the spell wore off and left him vulnerable.

"Sora!" Kairi called out in concern as he dropped to the ground. She slashed at one of the dazed Heartless and knocked it away, then attempted to drag Sora to safety. However, she was unsuccessful, so she simply cast Cura on him where he lay. He stood up and swatted a Water Core that dove toward them. Goofy joined in and the three of them attacked the Heartless until it was no more.

Riku ran to confront another Water Core. This Heartless created a bubble of water around itself. When Riku jumped and swung his Keyblade at it, it simply vanished into the liquid, much to his confusion. A few seconds later, it reappeared several feet to his left. He made another attempt at attacking it but it vanished again, reappearing a short distance behind him. He whirled around and launched a volley of Dark Fire orbs at it, but this yielded the same result. He turned when it appeared behind him, but this time decided to wait for it to act, as he came to the conclusion that the bubble allowed it to teleport when attacked. The Water Core decided to act and gathered its shield up around it to lob several balls of condensed liquid at him. Riku brought up a Dark Shield, which blocked all but one of the water balls, which hit him on his left arm. He recovered and cast Blizzaga. The water-based Heartless was frozen solid, completely vulnerable. He threw his Keyblade like a javelin, shattering the Heartless on contact.

Mickey and Donald assaulted the last Water Core, the onslaught so unrelenting that it did not have time to even attempt a counterattack, especially with their abuse of spells that it was weak against. When it melted into water and dark smoke, the two spell casters nearly inflicted harm upon each other as they had each fired another spell before realizing that the Heartless was finished.

When they thought that the Heartless were finished for now, they heard Kairi shout "Look out!" They turned and saw another set of Heartless and realized that they had only defeated the first wave. There were five Shadows milling about, two Neoshadows, and four Heartless of unfamiliar varieties. Two of them had a similar appearance to the Water Cores, except for the fact that the tops of their heads were lit aflame and there was nothing too exotic about their lower halves. The other two looked more like hedgehogs, with sharp, light brown rocks standing in for fur, though they lacked legs and their faces resembled those of Darkballs, albeit elongated.

Sora ran up to Mickey and crouched to speak directly into the king's ear. "Say, is there any magic that counters the Earth-based kind?" he asked nervously.

Mickey shook his head. "None that I'm aware of," he replied. "Though, I haven't really seen these things using those spikes for anything other than physical attacks. Just do what you can."

Sora ran toward one of the Neoshadows and quickly overpowered it. Donald aimed Blizzard spells at the Flame Cores. One of these foes was frozen solid and fell to the ground. Goofy shield-punched it as hard as he could, sending it straight into a rock where it shattered into pieces. Kairi pursued the other Flame Core, striking down any Shadows that came near as she made her dash. She jumped and struck it with her Keyblade, only to watch it turn a bright orange as its entire body became wreathed in flames. As it zoomed all over the place, she realized that she had made it angry. She ran around to avoid the flying fireball, performing rough somersaults and one slightly more graceful cartwheel to dodge it. When it calmed down and the flames began to weaken, she drank an Ether to restore her mana, then conjured her Keyblade and willed a cold magic to envelop it. She threw the weapon, the key arcing through the air all over the place, exuding cold energy that created ice crystals in the air. When the weapon made contact with the Heartless, the fiend was frozen solid, large icicles bursting out from the source of impact. And yet, the Keyblade continued to soar, looping around and striking the frozen Flame Core once again, shattering the icicles but creating new ones. The weapon returned to its target and cut through a third time, this time utterly destroying it.

Kairi gasped in surprise as the Keyblade returned to her hand. She had not expected her Blizzard Raid to be so powerful, particularly since her combat magic was not at the same power level as Sora's. She wondered if the atmosphere of the dark realm, or at least in this section, was boosting magical power. In hindsight, she thought Sora's earlier Thundaga was stronger and more focused than usual. Deciding that she would contemplate the issue later, she returned her attention to the Shadows, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Riku had managed to easily destroy the second Neoshadow.

Sora ran toward one of the Earth Cores and swung his Keyblade at it. However, it turned so that its back was to him and the Keyblade bounced harmlessly off of the rock spikes. He ran around to try to get at the face, reasoning that it was the only vulnerable part of its body. However, it continued to turn to avoid him. Frustrated, he jumped over it to try to get directly in front of it for an attack. It acted first, unfortunately, and threw itself at him, trying to take a bite out of him. Sora fell back, but swung his Keyblade to knock his opponent away. It regained its balance, which was not too hard since it did not have any feet, and began to dig its face into the ground. Sora looked on in confusion, wondering what it was about to do. His eyes widened and he raised his Keyblade just as it had begun to twirl its body about the point where it had burrowed. Just in time, he managed to block the attack as the Earth Core threw itself at him, aiming its entire spiky rear at him. It landed on its side from the recoil of the guard and growled, realizing that its attack had failed. Sora took a step toward it and delivered a fierce barrage of blows at its face, bashing it until the Heartless faded away, rocks and all. He turned around and saw that Mickey and Riku had a similar experience with the other Earth Core, though Mickey seemed somewhat dazed, as if he had taken a blow to the noggin. Nevertheless, the Heartless was soon vanquished.

Once the last of the Shadows had been eliminated, the party took the opportunity to sit down and take a rest. Mickey cast Curaga to heal any injuries sustained. Goofy passed bagged sandwiches around to everyone, which they gladly took out and began eating.

"Phew… You weren't kidding when you said these things were tough," Sora said. "I've never seen them this strong."

Mickey nodded. "There's a reason even the Organization never strayed down here for too long," he replied.

Riku shook his head in disbelief. "To think Aqua had to put up with this for twelve years straight…" he mused.

"Actually, it probably only felt like a few months to her," Donald corrected.

"That doesn't make it any better," Riku argued. "And that's not even counting the Darksides and whatever else is out there that we haven't run into yet."

"Yeah. It is a scary thought," Kairi agreed. "I mean, the Darkside wasn't so bad in the Realm of Light, but down here, who knows how dangerous they are?"

Sora looked at Mickey with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't you take three out with a single shot each?" he asked, recalling what he had seen Mickey do from the opposite side of the Door to Darkness.

Mickey shrugged as he conceded the point. "Okay, I guess we can manage them if we're careful to avoid their attacks," he admitted.

"That shouldn't be hard," Sora snarked, recalling how slow the Darksides' movements were and how telegraphed their attacks were.

"Can you tell how much farther we have to go, Mickey?" Riku asked.

"Hmm…" He concentrated on sensing the familiar light that he had used to guide him and the others, reaching his hand out in the direction they had been going. "Not too much farther, I think."

Riku nodded, relieved by the response. The party continued to eat in silence. When they had finished, they got up and continued their trek.

Once they had gotten into the groove of coming up with strategies to combat each breed of Heartless, any fights during this round became simpler, albeit still rather tedious. From Sora's perspective, their power level relative to his current ability seemed about relative to how the Darkballs and such had been during his first return visit to Hollow Bastion, after the Heartless across the worlds had been boosted by the darkness pouring out of the unblocked Keyhole and he had been cut to half of his strength. Of course, they were not as formidable like the big bosses that he had to deal with, such as Parasite Cage, Kurt Zisa, Dark Thorn, Storm Rider, Grim Reaper, Groundshaker, or Midnight Ball, and certainly not the several-stories-tall Raid Armor. As such, while the battles in this world were formidable, Sora found that they were manageable, especially as he realized that his offensive magic had been given a boost in the Realm of Darkness for some reason.

After the latest battle, Mickey felt a strange tingling and, based on an earlier feeling he had sensed, came to a conclusion. "I think she's close," he announced.

Sora, Donald and Goofy looked around, holding their hands flat over their foreheads as if they were trying to keep the glare of the sun out of their eyes, even though there was no such light source above them.

"What's that?" Kairi asked, pointing ahead of her. Everyone turned to see what she was pointing at, and they noticed a tall, thin silhouette. They took a few steps closer, and Mickey noticed a few distinguishing traits about the figure's outline.

"Aqua?" Mickey said, calling out to the figure that he believed to be his long-lost friend. "Aqua, is that you?" There was no response. "Gosh, I've been so worried about you. I wanted to come back to find you, but there was too much going on in the Realm of Light. And I was afraid it might be too dangerous. But I'm here now. And I brought some friends for help. Now we can get you out of here." He did everything in his power to keep from breaking down in tears as he spoke, though his voice conveyed his emotions thoroughly: sadness at the thought of all that she had suffered, guilt at not saving her sooner, and relief at finally finding her again.

Even still, the figure that Mickey was now sure was Aqua made no reply. "Aqua…?" Mickey repeated, the single word pleading for her to say something.

Something appeared in the figure's hand and she slowly turned around, pointing the object at Mickey. The mouse, as well as those behind him, felt a force blast launch them back several feet. Shocked, Mickey pushed himself back up and stared at the figure in surprise. He now noticed that the silhouetted figure was wreathed in a black flame, what had started out as a slow burn having flared up with that display of power.

"Mickey…" the figure said slowly, in a voice that confirmed her identity, but this only added to his horror. Slowly, the black flame faded away and the figure's form became fully visible. She looked almost exactly like Mickey last remembered seeing her, though there was something very wrong. Behind the mouse, Kairi gasped at the sight. Mickey's jaw dropped as he stared into her eyes, which glowed in a haunting color. Mickey's shock was only met with a scowl and a truly heartbreaking line.

"You're too late."