Chapter 29

Light and Darkness

Still shaken up from Xehanort's betrayal, Molly and Libby flew their gummiship towards The Keyblade Graveyard. They both gazed into space in silence as they pondered what they should do next. They really wanted to make up with Xehanort so they could be friends again, but if they don't stop him, all worlds would be consumed by darkness.

Before long, The Keyblade Graveyard appeared in the distance, which only made Molly and Libby feel even more nervous. After what Molly and Libby had been through the last time they had visited The Keyblade Graveyard, Chirithy couldn't blame their friends for feeling frightened.

"I know that you are both scared, but I know that we will be able to stop Xehanort." Chirithy assured.

"Would it really make a difference though?" Molly asked, her head hung low. "Even if we defeat Xehanort, we'll never be friends with him again."

When even Molly started to give up hope, Libby knew that their chances of reconciling with Xehanaort were slim. Soon, Libby turned to Molly and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Molly, I-" Libby wanted to say anything to cheer Molly up, but couldn't think of anything.

"It's okay, Libby. We have spent all this time saving the worlds from darkness and this time should be no different." Molly looked down in sadness as she appeared as though she didn't want to go through with this fight.

It wasn't long before the gummiship reached The Keyblade Graveyard. The ship landed on the ground before Molly and Libby stepped out. As they looked around, The Keyblade Graveyard appeared to be as barren and desolate as they remembered it.

Just the sight of it was enough to trigger traumatic memories for Molly and Libby. They knew that they couldn't dwell on the past for too long as they had to stop Xehanort.

"This is it! Are you two sure that you are ready for this?" Chirithy asked.

"N-No." Libby stuttered.

"We're really not sure." Molly admitted.

Despite their fear, Molly and Libby stepped forward as they made their way through the Keyblade Graveyard. Just like last time, there were no Heartless around, and Molly and Libby walked through an endless wasteland.

As they traveled further, Molly and Libby reached a crossroad with countless keyblades stuck in the ground. Right in the center of the crossroad stood Xehanort as he gazed around in awe.

"So, this is where the great keyblade war took place at." Xehanort spoke up before turning to face Molly and Libby. "The war took place a long time ago, but perhaps this place can have one more battle!"

With that, Xehanort summoned his keyblade as he got ready to fight. Instead of summoning her keyblade, Molly stepped forward to reason with Xehanort one last time.

"Xehanort, please! We don't have to do this!"

"No, we didn't." Xehnort replied. "But the two of you forced my hand. We could have worked together to maintain a balance where light and darkness worked together, but you only care about your light."

This time, Libby stepped forward. "Do you really think that spreading darkness through all worlds is going to make things better?"

"I've come too far to stop now! It's time you both realized how powerful darkness truly is!" Xehanort flashed a menacing grin.

In that brief flash of a moment, Molly and Libby were able to see the evil old version of Xehanort who they met all the way back in their first adventure. Seeing that there was no reasoning with Xehanort, Molly and Libby summoned their keyblades as well as they got ready to fight back.

Using his powers of darkness, Xehanort summoned orbs of darkness to blast at Molly and Libby. They both blocked the orbs of darkness before clashing their keyblades with Xehanort's. All three of them swung their keyblades with lightning fast speed, none of them letting up with their strikes.

As Xehanort dodged a couple of keyblade swings from Molly and Libby, he leaped back before summoning Heartless by his side. This left Molly and Libby surrounded by countless Heartless. Despite that, they both continued to fight as they slashed their way through wave after wave of Heartless.

With a growl, Xehanort used more darkness to yanked all of the keyblades out of the ground and sent them all flying towards Molly and Libby. Thinking fast, Molly and Libby dodged out of the way as the keyblades hit the Heartless instead. As the battle continued, Xehanort used more of his darkness until a dark aura surrounded him. Raising him arms, Xehanort summoned a shadow of darkness on the ground that expanded to the point where it reached Molly and Libby's feet.

Surprised by this, Molly and Libby felt themselves sink into the darkness, along with Xehanort. After falling through the dark void, Molly and Libby looked around to see that they were no longer in The Keyblade Graveyard. Instead, they were trapped in what appeared to be a dark abyss.

"Wh-Where are we?" Molly looked around, confused.

"You are both in the deepest abyss of darkness!" Xehanort answered, preparing for another fight. "Now, my darkness is more powerful than ever! Not even your precious light can save you now!"

"Why do we have to fight each other?!" Molly yelled. "We were such good friends, weren't we?"

Xehanort paused for a moment as he thought back to when he first met Molly and Libby, and all the times they protected each other from the Heartless and villains throughout the worlds they visited. He closed his eyes before glaring at Molly and Libby.

"Shut up! I'm not going to let friendship get in the way of my goals!" Xehanort yelled before firing a blast of darkness.

The girls jumped out of the way before clashing keyblades with Xehanort once more. Fighting two opponents at once started to overwhelm Xehanort, but he was not ready to give up as he pushed them both back with his darkness.

After recovering from the attack, Libby tried to speak with Xehanort once more as she started to tear up. "We could have been friends and you threw it all away!"

"All of the adventures we went on together! All of the worlds we explored and friends we made! Did it all mean nothing to you?!" Molly yelled.

This time Xehanort started to tear up too as he thought about all the time he spent with Molly and Libby. Despite everything, it was too late for him to turn back now. With a scream of rage, Xehanort fired his most powerful blasts of darkness, only for Molly and Libby to counter with their spells of light.

Spells of light and darkness flew across the abyss with no side letting up. Now more desperate that ever, Xehanort raised his keyblade and fired a powerful beam of darkness from it. Molly and Libby did the same thing and combined their spells to fire a beam of light. Thanks to the combined efforts of Molly and Libby, they were able to push back Xehanort's darkness. He started to panic as the light got closer to him. Once the light reached him, he was pushed back, weakened from the impact of the spell.

As a result of the two spells, two portals were created in the abyss. One portal that led back to The Keyblade Graveyard appeared behind Molly and Libby while the other portal that appeared behind Xehanort led back to his hometown of Scala ad Caelum.

Everyone panted in exhaustion from the long fight. As he was no longer able to fight, Xehanort decided to retreat as he took a few steps back.

"Xehanort, wait!" Molly reached out her hand. "It doesn't have to be like this."

Xehanort paused for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Molly. Libby. There is no stopping fate. Let's face it. My darkness cannot coexist with your light."

"Is there really no other way for us to be friends?" Libby asked.

Xehanort shook his head. "No. I guess we really were destined to be enemies." He soon made his way to the portal back home. Right at the last moment, he stopped in his tracks before facing Molly and Libby one last time. "For what it was worth, our friendship was nice while it lasted. I-I'll see you in the future." Xehanort got choked up saying those last few words before stepping through the portal.

Before they knew it, Molly and Libby felt themselves getting sucked through their portal back to The Keyblade Graveyard. Once they were back, the portal disappeared, leaving them both in silence. Libby soon turned to Molly to see that she was trying her best not to cry.

"Molly? Are you okay?"

Molly looked up at Libby with a forced smiled, "Y-Yes! Why wouldn't I be? We defeated Xehanort and saved the worlds and, and-"

Devastated from losing Xehanort as a friend, Molly burst into tears. Without a word, Libby embraced Molly in a comforting hug. Despite being victorious over the darkness once again, Molly and Libby were unable to save Xehanort as they both knew fully well what would become of him in the future.