Notes:

Song of the arc: Hikari e by The Babystars

Song of the chapter: Realize by Konomi Suzuki

The seconds that followed were pandemonium. Screams were heard from every corner of the room and people were nearly trampling over one another just to find any semblance of safety. Riku had jumped into the air to get over a mass of people but without any light he could hardly see his hands in front of his face.

"FAITH!" The shout that he believed came from Queen Minnie was heard above all as a ball of pure white light was shot into the sky and quickly went to the center of the room. It exploded overhead and filled the room as if it were a second sun. Riku searched the room, he'd seen Mickey leave quickly. Knowing the Cornerstone protected this palace it was a good idea to check if it were tampered with. The Queen, Donald, and Goofy were ushering people out as calmly as possible. Them in mere moments he found Sora and Kairi with their keyblades drawn in front of Naminé and before them at the center of the room was a person clouded by a shifting darkness that flowed from them like a miasma.

Riku could not afford the time to think but felt a pang of sadness as he saw his friends staring down another enemy, especially Naminé as she was completely helpless without magic or a weapon. Riku summoned his keyblade to his hand and threw it to his feet while in midair to use it as a springboard. Kicking off of the weapon he was able to use his magic to jump between both Sora and Kairi and resummon his keyblade. Riku took up his duelist stance while his two friends guarded from the sides with their defender stance.

The trio did not move an inch. Any rash action could spiral into a problem and so they watched and waited. Beads of sweat soon popped onto Riku's brow as the second passed. He needed to stall to for time to let others escape and perhaps sensing that the darkness contorted it's head and opened it's maw and as if speech was a foreign concept gave itself a mouth.

"Those who know nothing shall understand nothing. Hero, Master, speak. Ask and perhaps answers will reveal that which is truth."

Riku spoke first with a delicate calmness, if it was going to allow them time then he'd gladly take it. "Who are you?" A simple question but one that needed an answer.

"I am we."

And that was about as helpful as a brick to the face. Sora spat out in a furious anger, "Then what are you?"

"I am Truth, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. That which began this world, that which will end this world." Dark flames spawned on their hands and then shot out behind them and formed a circle around both parties and as the circle completed a barrier shot up to ceiling and encased them.

Riku had to be calm and think rationally. Naminé was caught up in this. A non-combatant.

Naminé!

"Sora, Kairi!" Riku shouted.

"Right!" They both responded. Though they often had to work apart the trio were able to discern exactly what their respective roles were.

Riku charged the enemy first. It was the best action to take. He was the master. He had a duty to them to be the vanguard, to gauge the enemy's strength and provide information to the others. Sora and Kairi closed ranks expeditiously. Riku had casted a thundaga into the air before making it to Truth and they simply sidestepped the lightning but had to pivot again to dodge Riku's downward slash. Even with his keyblade, Braveheart, having a long reach and being lighter than it looked Truth easily managed to dodge the strikes.

"Kairi!" Sora said. Kairi noded without looking at him and so Sora went off to help Riku.

Kairi went directly in front of Naminé and switched her defender stance to her fool's guard, hoping that if the enemy attacked she could trick them into a well placed counterattack. "Don't worry Naminé, I'll protect you!"

Riku had kept up a flurry of attacks however even at his skill Truth managed to evade them. Three quick jabs from their right arm and a strong left punch sent Riku back and he needed to thrust his Braveheart into the ground to mitigate some of the knockback. This gave Sora just enough time to run into the enemy's blind spot and strike with his Kingdom Key. Truth was somehow able to sense him and held out his hand to catch the keyblade.

Sparks of white electricity radiated from the keyblade as the two fought for ground. Riku had recovered and tried to pierce Truth from the other side. Truth let go of the weapon and gracefully pivoted between the two of them but it did not last as a few sweeps from the keyblades had struck them. They held out their arms which radiated more of the dark miasma, "Dark Reflection!" A barrier had come up and pushed the two boys away and the dark energy that exploded from it had taken its toll on them.

"We need to actually hurt this thing!" Sora said. Both of them knew that at this point Truth had merely toyed with them sensing their collective unease Truth bought their hand up to the sky and began drawing out darkness. A sphere of black energy collected just above it and was growing larger as moments passed. Riku collected his own magic in his left hand while Sora leaped into action and managed an upward strike Truth with his keyblade and send them into the air while Riku sent a dark firaga into the collected sphere to try and break its flow of energy.

The attack struck true however the darkness reached critical mass and sent the two boys flying as the darkness flooded the area. Luckily Kairi had sent up a barrier to protect her and Naminé. Then, Truth turned its head in stark realization. Had it even seen the two girls? Truth sent out a massive arm of pure darkness out at them and Sora who was still on the ground reeling from the explosion sent out his own attack to stop it, "Firaza!"

The ball of flame stuck into the arm and exploded but this barely hindered the attack and mearly displaced it a few inches. Riku got up and tried running to Truth's body but could not get close enough to stop him before dark appendage closed the gap.

Kairi raised her Destiny's Embrace just in time to stab into the massive arm. "I won't let him hurt you!" Tears welled up in eyes as the strain from the attack was nearly to much for her and there was nowhere to back into so Naminé held onto her. "Because, you're like my precious little sister!" Just then, after her declaration a fantastic light shone bright and burned through the arm like a bolt of lightning while the darkness melted like a corrosive acid was poured on it.

Protect Naminé! Riku took the opportunity, Truth was distracted just enough for him to get one clean diagonal slice across their chest which cause an outpouring of darkness and thick black blood. Truth staggered back and the darkness on his arm had completely gone away leaving a limp, slightly muscled, and tan arm of a young man. "You two… disappoint. But they…"

Sora had recovered by this time and the two boys pointed their keyblades at the assailant as the barrier was weakening and the flames died down. "It seems… a tactical… retreat is in order." Sora was ready to strike them down as the miasma on the ground cleared revealing Ventus' heart station. On it another boy appeared, Vanitas, and the darkness surrounding the body disappeared into nothing as the same boy, naked, bruised, and bleeding out was left to fall to the ground.

Before this commotion began Aqua had taken Terra out of the ballroom as dusk approached. "Hey, no need to be pushy. Just tell me what's going on." Terra said as Aqua practically dragged him out by his hand.

Aqua put a finger to her lips and shushed him. They were by the courtyard that was outside the throne room and the King's study. "I don't like it, the party right now is just a formality but Mikey is putting a Magic Council together tomorrow morning. I need to know what they're going to talk about."

He kept following her but he had his doubts, "Why search now? If it's supposed to happen tomorrow why not wait?" He smirked at her, "My dancing couldn't have been that bad."

"Oh no it was fantastic, but-" Terra looked away for a second out of embarrassment as they stopped before the King's study. "Would you believe me if I said it was… a hunch? Like intuition."

"Unfortunately, you're usually right." He grumbled as she let go of his hand and opened the door, sneakily taking a look inside. It was dark so Aqua sent out a tiny ball of magic to light the room so as to not raise too much suspicion.

"Unfortunately?" She signaled an 'all clear' and the two went into the study to find clues.

"Can't let you get a big head. You may be a master but you're still the same Aqua I know, through and through." He scanned the bookshelves as she went right to the desk.

"No, I'll show you I've definitely ch-" she stopped as she found a stack of letters and started reading them. The more she read the more she wanted to tear them and everything else apart in the room. "Those… those bastards."

She crumpled the paper in her hand as Terra went over to her. "What is it?" There was a loud noise in the distance.

"Mickey and Yen Sid have been talking about-" Aqua was getting worked up. She knew nothing good would come from her anger and frustration and yet she could not suppress it. "They want more keyblade wielders, natural born ones."

"Natural born? Keyblades are bequeathed; you don't get one from just having a parent with one." Terra did not understand.

"Their reasoning is sound, a strong heart will rear others with strong hearts. Baring that they want to persuade them to have kids until they have the potential." Aqua slammed her fist on the table. Aqua stormed out of the study with Terra following her. She saw Mickey with his keyblade drawn ducking into the throne room. "Don't you leave! Get back here!"

She moved fast to catch up to the mouse and Terra lagged behind. She really walks to fast in heels, he thought trying to get his mind of of the implications of what this plan meant for their group. There was no possible way any of the other's knew about this and yet why would the King and Yen Sid propose such a thing? Terra soon caught up to Aqua as she was yelling while she made her way down the stairs that Mickey had opened up under the throne. At the end of the stairs was another large room that housed an orb of swirling light on a pedestal, the Cornerstone of Light.

Mickey breathed a sigh of relief as it was untouched but scratched his head as if trying to put the dots together on a mystery. Aqua turned him around, grabbed him by his collar and picked him up off the ground to shout at him. "They are my students! You hear me Mickey? Mine! I will not have you turn them into brood sows for whatever reason you want!"

"Aqua what are you-" Mickey tried to talk but was interrupted by Aqua as she started shaking him. She could feel something stirring inside her telling her to give in to her emotions, to her rage.

"Aqua! Calm down!" Terra raised his voice and she tossed the king away. She fell to her knees with tears threatening to drop from her eyes.