Darkness...It was all around them. By some fortunate miracle, Sora, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy were still blessed with the power of flight. Had they not, they likely would have continued falling down into...In truth, they didn't know what to call where they were now. There was nothing but a seemingly eternal stretch of blackness. Apart from the vague, cloud-like mist that was barely discernible in this darkness, they could only see each other. But more than ever before since they entered this world, that feeling of oppression, that crushing sensation inside, the phantom pain wracking their chests...it had grown more powerful. And the burning question of where they were.
"Behold the endless abyss."
A question answered by their enemy, as Ansem's voice echoed seemingly from all around them. "Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!"" The four friends soon found themselves looking upon a tall set of opulent white double doors standing atop what looked almost like a mountaintop with pure, white trees all around it. And behind that door drifted a distortion of air taking the shape of a heart. Sora, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy didn't know why, but somehow...deep down...they realized what that door was. The door that led to the very thing that Ansem sought. That all the villains they faced sought. This truly was...Kingdom Hearts.
"Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light." Ansem continued, taunting the hopeful friends and their clinging to the idea of there being any kind of light, let alone one that never goes out. For here, there was no such light. And there never would be such a light again now that Kingdom Hearts was in his grasp at last. "From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours."
Try as they might to find where he was, Sora, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy couldn't see any sign of Ansem as they drifted through the darkness. His voice still seemed to come from all around them. But then, Sora and Ruby let out a gasp as they beheld what could only be described as a titanic battleship that was also a Heartless. It seemed to be almost entirely organic and made of twisted, discolored flesh with faded pink, cyan, brown and yellow. Its body was very long and flat on top with a demonic face in the front tip, sporting a long, pointed chin and a bulbous forehead while mouth was filled with large, white fangs and the eyes were fairly small, glowing yellow and surrounded by black rings. A bulbous and deformed 'ship core' was located on top towards its rear, colored blue while covered in violet growths of varying sizes but also covered by a twisted, dark pink cage.
On top of that was Ansem's Guardian, now much larger - though still small in comparison to ship - and heavily altered in appearance. Two leg-like protrusions were attached to the ship's underside. The foremost one, underneath the Heartless' face, was long, thin and triangular. The rearmost one underneath the main core was a wide, thin arc and long, rocky 'tail' sprouted from its back. It was something truly chaotic and befitting of a being capable of bringing ruin to any world it traveled to.
And above the cage, connected by what could only be considered heartless-like cables to the more massive and distorted Guardian was their monologuing enemy. Ansem was...at least four times his normal size, his muscled upper body was now bare, and his lower body covered by the same substance as the evolved Guardian. In his right hand was a double bladed version of Riku's Souleater. His eyes, full of malevolence matching the smile on his lips, were completely orange, just like the Heartless he controlled.
"Darkness conquers all worlds!"
With that final, powerful, tyrannical declaration, Ansem gave a dismissive wave with his free hand as he sneered at the four fools who foolishly attempted to stand against him.
"WAAAAAAAAAAK!"
"AAAHOOHOOHOOHOO!"
The next moment, Donald and Goofy were screaming in fear as suddenly they were sucked into two dark, swirling vortexes coming from the ship. As if the ship itself was absorbing them. For in a blink of an eye...they were gone.
The next instant, Sora and Ruby cried out as they suddenly plummeted into the Abyss below. Their powers of flight seemed to simply cease, as if the fear and shock from Ansem's massive, daunting new form had completely destroyed whatever hope or courage or happy thoughts they had left. Ruby vainly reached up toward Sora who tried just as vainly to catch hers as they plummeted. But he couldn't reach her. And within a moment, she vanished into the dark mists of the abyss with Sora plummeting after her.
Was this it? Did they come all this way just to fail? These were the last thoughts floating through Sora's head as he was enveloped by the abyss...
"Giving up already? Come on, Sora! I thought you were stronger than that!"
That voice...it was one Sora remembered anywhere. He remembered those words from when he and Riku raced each other along with Kairi before all this began. But it wasn't simply to tease him...Riku was encouraging him not to give up. To keep on going, no matter what. And here...he was encouraging Sora to muster his courage...and defeat Ansem. That courage and drive filled him with newfound strength. As he fell, Sora summoned his Keyblade and channeled every ounce of it he had and called out, "Tinkerbell!"
A moment of stillness and silence filled the shadows, until suddenly, Ansem was treated to a most unexpected sight. Sora, flying out of the abyss, brandishing his Keyblade. The boy looked right at the one responsible for all this misery with equal disdain, and a refusal to accept the madness he claimed to be truth. Whatever he thought, whatever he planned, Sora refused to let it come to fruition. Like Ruby said, they would stop him. Here and now.
Floating up beside Sora was the sassy little fairy he called out to, relieved she was able to save Sora with a bit of last-minute pixie dust for this crucial moment. More still, any wounds he had sustained during the previous encounter seemed to be slowly healing the moment the pixie dust touched him. For which he gleefully thanked her before flying with all speed toward Ansem, weapon raised and ready to strike.
But Ansem wasn't the only thing he had to contend with. For now Sora noticed a new type of Heartless drifting out from the darkness to attack him. They had large, black teardrop shaped bodies, black bat wings, a jagged jawline and bright yellow eyes with blue vein-like patterns along the corners. Fortunately, these Heartless were trivial to deal with, but they did not make his attempts to battle Ansem any easier, especially as he saw the darkness obsessed man raising his weapon.
Ansem glared at the young Keyblade Master who insisted on making such an annoyance of himself. As Sora cut a swath through the small, teardrop shaped Heartless drifting toward him, Ansem readied his double-bladed Souleater as Sora flew closer to him. "Return to darkness!" Ansem yelled, spinning the double bladed sword in a whirlwind of fatal intent. Much to his increased annoyance, Sora managed to avoid his attack. Seeing Ansem had left himself open, Sora swung his Keyblade, striking Ansem's side. He wasn't surprised by Ansem's lack of reaction, or even a flinch. His experience had taught him to anticipate such setbacks when fighting a massive Heartless. But he wouldn't let it stop him as he continued to swing and swing and swing.
His continued resistance left Ansem once again unimpressed. Staring down at Sora as he continued to fruitlessly hack at his body, Ansem urged the boy to, "Welcome the darkness into your heart." The instant he finished speaking, Sora was suddenly struck by a beam of dark energy striking him from the side. The source was a dark purple sphere which illuminated faintly around Ansem. Before Sora could react, he was then pelted by another from a sphere that formed beside him. Then followed by another, and then another.
Seeing his young foe vulnerable after being pelted consistently, Ansem let out a fierce growl as he raised his double bladed Souleater, and swung the weapon four times. Sora barely had time to even attempt dodging those strikes, only for the final one to hit him and send him reeling.
"All shall be extinguished!" Ansem proclaimed victoriously as Sora toppled backwards. What reason did he have to doubt his victory at this point? He was utterly certain that the extinguishing of all light, all worlds, all hearts was truly all there was to the future of existence. Once Sora was out of the way, all the worlds, the light itself, everything would return to the darkness where it belonged.
But Sora stood ever defiant against Ansem, refusing to give up, no matter how bleak things looked. Channeling every ounce of his determination, he recovered from the blow Ansem delivered and renewed his assault with a set of basic strikes before raising his Keyblade and leveling the now shimmering tip right at Ansem. "Take that!" he yelled out as he unleashed the multiple blasts of Ragnarok. Ansem was unable to defend himself against the blast that felled Riku while he was possessing the boy.
But unlike Riku...Ansem was not so easily defeated. He could not deny, however, that he underestimated Sora's strength and resolve. But for now, Ansem leaned backwards, shifting into a small compartment large enough for him to fit himself in, and closed his eyes. He did not want to chance underestimating this boy causing another major setback, so he chose to pull back and let his vessel deal with Sora while he recovered.
Before Sora could charge at Ansem and continue his assault, a large Heartless Emblem materialized over Ansem, throwing Sora's strike off as his keyblade impacted against it. Before his frustration got the better of him, Sora stopped when he suddenly he heard something. From the bottom of the dome where the ship's engine core was, he saw a rippling distortion of dark, multi colored smoke. It seemed similar to the dark portals Sora had seen Heartless and even the villains they faced use. And the sound from within...the voice he heard...sounded familiar. Sora immediately charged in, hoping that it was who he thought it was.
When he emerged at the other end, Sora felt himself walking on solid ground once more. The only source of light was a giant blue Heartless emblem on the ground with at least a dozen Shadows stalking toward their target. But the target wasn't him. It was... "Ruby!" He WASN'T hearing things! It really was her!
Just as she cleaved another Shadow in half, Ruby turned toward the source of the equally familiar voice, and smiled in delighted surprise. "Sora! You're okay!"
Rather than saying 'I was gonna say that!', Sora chose to save the pleasantries for later as he plowed through the rest the rest of the Shadows with a Sliding Dash. A welcome reprieve for Ruby as she and Sora found themselves back to back against another bunch of Shadows rising out of the darkness.
"I've been here ever since I fell." Ruby explained before cleaving another Shadow in twain with a frustrated grunt. "These Shadows won't stop coming! I'm down to my last round of bullets and I've only got two potions left!" Her frustration and impatience were second to her concern, however, when she realized Sora was alone. "Where are Donald and Goofy?!" she asked with concern.
"I don't know. But if it's anything like this, then we'll save them together!" Sora said, his voice full of conviction and certainty. Despite her initial weariness and fatigue, Ruby found herself believing him. Even in the midst of Ansem's seemingly limitless power, he was still fighting. He even came in here to help her. And so, clutching her scythe with renewed determination, she leveled it in a sweeping arc, and swung. Her blade cleaved through at least nine shadows at once. And Sora, he easily took them down one strike at a time. Before long, the diminutive Heartless fell before their combined assault.
As they stood back to back the wake of their victory, they were left with a troubling thought. "Now what, Sora?" Ruby wondered, not seeing any obvious entrance opening up in the wake of the Heartless' destruction "How do we get out of h-"
Just as Ruby was about to finish, and as Sora was realizing he didn't have a plan to get out, a small sliver of light illuminated the dark void around them. Though they didn't know what it was, Sora was could faintly see Ansem's ship on the other side. "That's it! That's the way out!" he exclaimed. Were it anyone else, they might have said that wasn't good enough. But Ruby had been with Sora long enough to know that in times like this, faith in Sora was never misplaced. As she nodded to him, Sora turned back toward the sliver of light and swung his Keyblade with all his might. The light surged and shined from the blow of his weapon and with a great explosion, opened the way back out.
Taking Ruby's hand, Sora led her back out into the Abyss, where they flew over the surface of Ansem's ship. As they turned back to face him, the Guardian sneered at them from above. Six nubby, blue tendril-like protrusions rose up on top of the frontmost sides of the cage, with two larger, more jagged teal outlined ones between them. The tendrils suddenly wiggled, gathering a strange light within them, before launching it right at the pair. They barely managed to avoid the volley with the realization that these tendrils were turrets!
Ruby barely had time to count eight turrets in total. Six small ones and two larger ones. "Sora, let's split up and take those turrets down in one swoop!" Ruby suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," Sora said before looking at the Guardian glaring at the very same malice in its master's eyes. "I don't think he'll give us a chance to just destroy those parts of the ship though. We need to be quick." Fortunately for Sora, being quick was just the thing Ruby's Semblance made easier. Especially now that she was getting the hang of using it while flying as she cleft her three minor turrets in one fell swoop, just like she said.
But sure enough, As Sora went to work, assaulting the turrets, he was proven right about the Guardian refusing to let them continue unabated. For with a wave of its arm, the Heartless summoned more of those spheres unleashing malignant energies at the youths. Sora pushed himself and Ruby away from the dangerous beams, gaining some distance before casting a protective Aeroga spell on them both. Having narrowly avoided that potential setback, Sora and Ruby continued their assault. It was a little difficult since they needed to watch their sides and be wary of their blind spots. The turrets were bad enough, but that Guardian refused to make it easy as suddenly, it fling its arms in front of itself sharply, sending both youths toppling backwards. As they stumbled in the air, the Guardian unleashed more of those streams of darkness. The Guardian wasn't messing around anymore, not that it was before.
But fortunately, it wasn't enough to stop them from doing what they needed to as Sora and Ruby pinwheeled the larger turrets like a pair of flying blenders. As the turrets were destroyed, both of them were treated to the sight of another portal opening up near the base of the Guardian. Ruby was fraught with concern when she saw Sora seemingly recklessly rush into it. But she'd trusted Sora thus far, and they'd gotten this far despite everything. So she would trust his judgement again and followed with him inside.
"Sora! Ruby!"
The first thing they were greeted with was the sound of Goofy's voice, and the sight of him desperately battering away at a bunch of Darkballs surrounding him like scavengers. "Hang on! We've got you, Goofy!" Ruby called out as she wasted no time dashing over to slice and dice those Darkballs. With her timely intervention, Goofy slammed his shield against another Darkball. The blow was enough to at least open up a chance to chug a large mega-potion. The restorative qualities made him good as new, but even more...they seemed to simultaneously work on Sora and Ruby as well. As if their bond had something to do with it, not that they had time to make sense of it. They had Heartless to slay!
"All I have now is one elixir and megalixir." Goofy said apologetically, blocking the chomping teeth of a Darkball that came at his side before using his Goofy Tornado move to finish it.
"Keep them ready for when we really need them!" Ruby called out as she cleaved through four Darkballs that were attempting to gnaw at her. By now, she was beginning to regret using so much ammunition on Ansem. But now wasn't the time to focus on such things.
Recovering from his brief tornado induced dizziness, Goofy turned toward one attempting to get the drop on Sora who was busy with three others in front of him. He quickly reared his hand back and threw his shield at it, causing it to flinch. Hearing the clank behind him, Sora quickly turned to see the Darkball, and with a swift pivot, jumped and swung his Keyblade down on its face, destroying it. Yet it seemed the last batch of Darkballs was intent on making a beeline toward him, gnashing their pointed teeth recklessly. Sora didn't move however as he knew just what to do. And the moment they drew close enough, he drove his Keyblade into the ground, unleashing a Stun Impact. As the Heartless flaoted there, dazed and helpless, Goofy and Ruby rushed forward to finish them off.
As the last Darkball fell before their combined efforts, Goofy turned toward Sora and Ruby with a thumbs up. "Thanks, fellas! But uhhh, how do we get outta here?"
With utterly perfect timing, the same sliver of light appeared in the center of the arena. Sora nodded to Ruby, making Goofy scratch his head as the Keyblade Master rushed forward and swung his Keyblade. Like before, the light surged and exploded, opening the way back out to their foe.
Sora and Ruby dashed out, followed by Goofy who thankfully managed to figure things out before the portal closed right behind him. "Hey, we're flyin' again!" he observed cheerfully as he tumbled through the air.
"No time for that, Goofy! We've still got fighting to do!" Sora warned. As if reacting to their continued resistance, the monstrous head of the ship gave a great roar. Not certain where else they could go, the trio rotated in midair and charged the monstrous face of Ansem's ship.
Though unsettled by the fact it was alive but also a vessel, the Knight Captain relentlessly battered away at the massive Heartless. Sora charged in after to attack from another side as Ruby joined until she noticed a panel of light emerge from above her. She fortunately reacted in time, avoiding a descending beam coming from the panel, before dashing away to draw those beams away from her friends.
Sora and Goofy kept hitting the face with every swift strike of their weapons they could make. In the midst of their assault, Goofy noticed the face of the ship was glowing in a most unnerving way. "Uhh, Sora, I think we outta move!" he warned as he flailed to get out of the way of whatever was about to happen.
Sora realized it just in time as he flew after Goofy, looking over at Ruby. They turned to see the Heartless ship expand its maw and roar with anger before a burst of dark power surrounded the entirety of the face. Had Goofy not noticed what was happening, they might all have been MUCH worse off. And that was saying something given their already dire situation.
As he recovered from a midair tumble, Goofy noticed a light surrounding his free hand, similar to what he used to revitalize his companions' magic. But this time it was green. The next moment, he raised it up in a similar fashion to the ability it reminded him of. Suddenly, the light shined down on the three of then, and now Goofy along with Sora and Ruby felt revitalized!
Whatever Goofy did, that much needed boost of energy was just what they needed to resume their assault on the ship's face. And try as it might to subdue them with its roaring blasts, Sora's and his companions' quick thinking allowed them to easily weather everything it threw at them. And eventually, with a shield to the eye, a scythe to the jaw, and a Keyblade to the forehead, the head let out a final roar of...what could have been considered pain, before it went limp.
Within its gaping, sharp toothed mouth, they saw another dark portal open. "Y'know, that kinda looks like-" Goofy trailed off when he realized, along with Sora and Ruby, the pattern they had encountered thus far. Since he found Ruby within the first place he flew into, followed by Goofy in the second, then if the pattern held up, Donald would be in here! Ruby and Sora nodded to each other and wasted no time flying inside. "W-Wait for me!" Goofy called out, flying after them into the shadowy vortex.
"Sora!"
Sure enough, the familiar, almost incoherent quacking voice of the court wizard reached their ears. He was swinging nigh fruitlessly at a collection of Heartless around him. Specifically, those sword wielding Invisibles they encountered when they first arrived in this accursed world. They seemed to be practically toying with Donald, battering him with every futile swing of his staff, before they turned to see the interlopers. "Hang on, Donald!" Goofy called out, reaching out to Donald. Just like before, a small light emerged from his hand, and suddenly flowed into Donald.
The duck wizard snapped up, feeling the familiar flow of magic through him. "Thank you!" he called out before glaring at the Heartless. "Make a fool outta me, huh?! I'll show ya! Graviga!" With a twirl of his staff, a great half-sphere vortex appeared in front of him. A great chunk of the Invisibles were caught in it and were suddenly flattened by the sudden increase of gravitational force. Those which had the good sense to avoid it left themselves open to Sora, Donald, and Goofy who charged forward to join the fight, united once again.
Those that were flattened by the gravitational vortex were cleaved in twain by Ruby right as they regained their shape, dissolving away as they split apart. One Heartless however managed to avoid the spell, fixing its burning eyes murderously upon Ruby along with several others that emerged to join the fight. Sora looked over at Ruby just as the Heartless raised its blade and thrust out his Keyblade. "Oh no you don't! Stopga!"
The instant he shouted that, a transparent crystaline clock surrounded by a myriad of shining roman numerals over an inversion of space appeared, surrounding the Invisible, but also the freshly appeared ones. As the clock vanished, the Heartless were totally frozen, giving the now reunited foursome the the opening they needed to finish this fight. "Nice job, Sora!" Ruby called out as she dashed toward the Heartless, scythe barred.
While Goofy unleashed his Tornado technique to repeatedly clobber each of them, Donald released a Thundaga spell, zapping all the Heartless at once. Sora followed suit with his Ripple Drive attack, and Ruby dashed by their frozen foes, cutting the Heartless in half for the finishing blow. As the four friends finished their all-out attack, the Invisible's time proceeded though the combined assault from Sora, Donald, Goofy and Ruby caught up to them right away and caused them to vanish as well. "That'll show ya!" Donald yelled victoriously
Before anything more could be said, a familiar sliver of light emerged in the center of the Heartless Symbol that adorned the pitch black room. Donald didn't have a clue what it meant, though he got his answer as Sora hacked away at it, causing it to explode just like the others. "Come on, Donald! Let's go!" Ruby exclaimed, grabbing the duck by the arm.
"What the-WAAK!"
The next thing the surprised duck knew, they were back out in the abyss that Ansem brought them to. Right as they exited, they were greeted with the sight of the monstrous face exploding, turning into nothing but a cauterized tip of the ship. The forcefield of the 'engine' was gone, leaving it vulnerable. To the cringing disgust of the four, the 'engine' had what looked to be a face. One that seemed to be in pain, and more disturbing still...pulsed like a heart. They shook off the unsettled feeling and proceeded to charge the engine.
Their combined assault on it caused the pulsing 'engine' to shudder and pulse rapidly. The attempts to hinder them from the turrets around it were met with failure as they easily dodged and blocked the shots. Within moments of blade, scythe, shield, and staff assailing it, it finally ruptured and exploded in a great burst, forcing the four friends to leap backwards, taking flight again just in time to see what was happening above.
In response to the destruction of the 'engine', the Heartless insignia that lay in front of Ansem's body vanished. Ansem himself finally rose from his seeming rest and looked at the four of them with that same sinister, unconcerned expression on his face. Reaching his right hand forward, he re-summoned his double bladed Souleater, ready to meet them in battle again.
Sora, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy looked at one another, exchanging firm, brave nods. They fought through the labyrinths of this dark world, faced Heartless unlike any they'd faced before, and other dangers as well. They survived Ansem trying to separate them in the darkness, and come out together again. Now it was time to end this. Weapons readied and hearts steeled, the four friends charged toward Ansem, resuming their assault
Yet Ansem was not the least bit concerned as they attacked him again and again. Why should he be? They weren't a threat. Even after his 'ship' sustained such immense damage, he didn't care. Everything they were doing was futile in his eyes. The fact they still kept up this farce was amusing more than anything to him. "Still confused?" he asked derisively as he reached his free hand out to them. His expression took on a full blown smile of pure madness as he clenched his hand in a fist and finished his statement. "Then perhaps THIS will enlighten you!"
The instant he said that, the Guardian reeled back its arms and flung them forward, unleashing a great blast of force which send the four sailing backwards with shocked yells. While they recovered, the Guardian leaned forward, opening its mouth. Ansem raised his hands up and from the mouth of the guardian, a sphere of dark energy began to form, and expand as streams of dark light flowed into it. With a heave of his arms, Ansem threw the sphere forward. "Look out!" Ruby exclaimed, making the others scatter as the orb flew past them.
Donald squawked in mockery, "Ha! You missed!" but felt himself being pulled backwards and looked behind himself. To his and everyone's horror, the sphere Ansem's Guardian threw was much bigger now. Projectiles of light shot out from the expanded sphere, and worse still...it seemed to be pulling them towards it by some invisible force! They could hardly fly towards Ansem now, let alone avoid the projectiles now homing in on their position! "Now, you weak hearted fools! Witness REAL POWER!" Ansem victoriously as he raised his double bladed Souleater up high.
Sora, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy were all pelted by blast after blast, losing strength rapidly with every hit. A laugh of amusement at their expense came from Ansem, as he watched his helpless opponents with that wicked grin, further taunting them. "Now show me what your 'precious light' can do."
Sora grunted, struggling to push through the pain. He could barely keep his eyes on his friends as they were hit again and again. But it seemed, to his horror, Ruby got the worst of it as suddenly, he saw her aura light up and flicker around her...before seemingly dissipating into nothingness. Her aura was broken. Now not only were her defenses more brittle, she couldn't even use her semblance. Things had grown bleaker than they ever had before, with seemingly no way out as he glanced back, seeing himself getting closer to the black hole pulling them all in. Was this...really the end? Did they come this far, just to fail? Just to have the worlds be consumed by darkness?
No...Sora refused to accept that. He refused to give up on his friends. The ones beside him, and those waiting for them to come home. He promised them that he would stop Ansem. He promised Ruby that he would bring her and her friends world back, along with all the others that the Heartless consumed. And most of all...he promised Kairi that he would return her lucky charm to her. That HE would return to her, alongside Riku. He wouldn't let them down. He wouldn't break that promise. He WOULDN'T!
Gripping his Seyblade tightly, Sora glared defiantly at Ansem, who now was so certain that his victory was at hand. The certainty turned to confusion as he noticed Sora's body glowing with a colored aura. His confusion turned to concern when he looked to see Donald, Goofy and Ruby were all glowing in the same manner. What was that fool boy doing now?
Ruby, Donald, and Goofy looked at themselves as, suddenly, it was like...the pain they were being pelted with, the fear that was creeping into them as they were pulled closer to that dark vortex behind them vanished. "Sora?" Ruby spoke out as her and the others' confusion turned to awe at the sight boy who brought them all together, glowing with the same aura they found themselves surrounded in. All the while, feeling a surge of hope, certainty, confidence, strength, but most of all...
"Courage!" Sora yelled out bravely as he suddenly launched forward, suddenly uninhibited by the swirling vortex of terror behind him and his friends. The next moment, he found himself flying toward the top of the ship, at the base of where the giant Ansem remained connected by those bizarre wires. As Sora landed, he jammed his Keyblade into the ground, balanced himself atop its hilt at a perpendicular angle with both legs in the air. The next moment, massive golden glowing circle with intricate designs and symbols began beneath him, with his weapon centered of it all.
Ansem didn't even have time to register his shock for long, as suddenly, the intricate, illuminating symbols shined more powerfully than before. A great sphere of surging, flowing lights formed above Sora, prompting Ansem to act. But his attempt to stop Sora by thrusting his double bladed Souleater down upon the boy was in vain By the time the blade neared Sora's head, the sphere of light expanded in a great burst of light which engulfed the remains of the ship, Ansem, and the Guardian.
Ruby, Donald, and Goofy didn't shield their eyes however. As they watched Sora, they felt...warmth within. It was as if, in that moment, their hearts were one. The promises they made to each other, the good times and bad they'd experienced, the sorrow they felt from all those times, but also the joy and comradery that allowed them to come this far. All of them, feeling the very feeling that Sora had brimming within his heart as he thought of them, and all the friends he made along the way. The friends that were counting on him to see this through. To come back home. That hope, that affection, that courage, all of that and more drove Sora to deliver this final blow to Ansem.
And as the light finally faded, the ship began to explode completely. Ansem's body jerked and shuddered as he felt his all-powerful form collapsing. His Souleater vanished from his hands as he felt his strength fading. He couldn't believe this happened. These four fools actually managed to defeat him? Here in the very heart of all worlds? The heart of the darkness itself?
"Is this the answer?! It can't be!" Ansem weakly voiced his denial as the bodies of him and his transformed guardian were consumed by the brightening light. As the light finally dimmed, it left a small light blue sphere in its wake. Streams of bright golden light shot out from the sphere and in the next instant, it exploded in a burst of fire. And as the explosion's bright orange embers scattered into the black fog all around them, a collection of small pink shards flitted about where Ansem once hovered. The twinkling shards seemed to vaguely attempt to form the shape of a heart, before the shards scattering into the abyss.
Against all odds, all belief, they had done it. The battle was over.
They had won.