Welcome to Gaia! ::

[[Cue: Overture]]


Every stood silently as nothing happened, Kefka lowered his hands with a silly look on his face, “Just kidding!” He threw his hands up again, only this time, the black clouds of darkness parted, spinning around and around, bit by bit revealing his goal, high above was Kingdom Hearts, shinning down onto the small group of beings left staring at its completed form.

“It can’t be!” Kuja said not drawing away his attention for a moment to look at Kefka, “You managed to assemble kingdom hearts… right under our nose.”

“With this amount of power at our disposal, we could easily rule the world! Everything would be under our control! Aslan would be powerless compared to this!” The White Witch stated triumphantly, but was interrupted by Kefka’s insane laughter, “What, may I ask, is so funny?”

“Ahahahaha! We! She said We!” Kefka continued to laugh as the others grew angry, “She’s so funny! For a moment… I thought she was serious.”

The earthlings quickly readied themselves for what was to come.

“It doesn’t quite matter though…” Xemnas began, lowering his tone, “Whether or not you have assembled Kingdom Hearts means nothing if you lack the power to command it.”

“Oh but I do.” Kefka said, leaning down and caressing Kyla’s face, “To think… this little earthling girl… as weak and helpless as she is… is the key to this ENTIRE plan!”

“Let Kyla go!” Rae yelled out standing to her feet.

“Oh, thank you for reminding me. I almost forgot.” Kefka turned around and snapped his fingers. Another colorful explosion engulfed Rae, and in a split second, she was gone, with her heart floating up to Kingdom Hearts as well.

The earthlings stood frozen, unable to take their eyes off where Rae stood only a moment before as Kefka continued, “Silly me, I almost forgot… we can’t have that playful white mage running around healing you now can we?”

Kyle stared at his hand were a small burn remained from where he’d been holding her hand a mere second before.

If this… is the level of power he has now… we can’t let him get a hold of Kingdom Hearts. Riku thought to himself as he gripped his keyblade tighter.

“This girl…” Kefka continued as if nothing had happened, “Holds the power to create… anything she can imagine. Anything as long as she has the power to back it up so most things practical are completely out of her reach… things like immortality would only be a dream to someone like her… that is… under normal circumstances.”

Kyle shook as he stood and angled his eyes up to lock on Kefka.

“But, given all the power of… say… every heart in existence... she could do anything… even make someone a god.” Kefka finished, and everyone was quiet, “Well… what do you say? Who would like to witness this momentous occasion, hmm?”

“Absolutely not!” Maleficent replied immediately, “I would never be placed under such a lowsome creature such as yourself. I’d die first.”

“As you wish.” Another snap and Maleficent joined the rest of Kingdom Hearts.

“This is insane! You’re insane! I want nothing to do with this!” And with that Yubaba followed Maleficent.

“They’re dropping like flies.” Leon muttered under his breath.

“Stop this! We’re your allies! Did you invite us here just to kill us off?!” The White Witch exclaimed, losing her usual ice cold composure.

“Annoying.” Another snap, another one down, and Kefka continued, “Anyone else?” No one said anything, “Good, that’s better. For those of you who are still here. Get to taking care of those light bearers, I have some preparations to take care of.”

With a wave of his hand, that was the end of the clown’s conversation. Those remaining looked over to the light bearers and grinned. Everyone braced themselves, and so the battle for the fate of the world had begun.


[[Cue: Destati]]


Kefka strolled over to Kyla and waved Kai over. With a quick stroke over her replica’s pen, Kyla began to move. A glow slowly rose up from the pages, and the light coming from kingdom hearts seemed to radiate even brighter than before reacting to Kyla’s drawing automatically.

Amy rushed out to the front again, firing a volley of bullets at those closest in the advancing group. She dived to the side as a collage of spells originating from Kuja spiraled in on her previous location. As she stood, two others rushed past, this time it was Leon and Cloud to her rescue, the buster sword wielder throwing down his sword to send out waves of energy through the floor at their opponents.

As the villains leapt into the air over the blast, Leon swiftly picked them off, firing his gun and nailing several, knocking them back into the blast allowing them to be carried away by the attack.

Riding on a black wolf, Kuro Oni, James’ replica leapt over the blast, clearing all the obstacles in order to tackle and toss the buster-swordsman into Amy like a bowling ball. Kuro aimed his gun and pulled the trigger on his gun. A powerful black and red orb shot forth and flew at James. James quickly shoved Michelle out of the way and jumped away himself as the blast flew by. In its wake, an explosion spread out in a line leaving scorch marks on the stain glass surface but nothing was broken.

Back behind the rest of the group, Seymour and Zexion stood still. Zexion flipped rapidly through the pages of his Lexion, stopping momentarily to pull out a page then continue flipping through. There was a large explosion that drew his attention as his Superior, Xemnas, collided with a blast from Kichi.

Finally, drawing the last of his pages, Zexion spread darkness over them and three clones of himself holding a keyblade, a spear, and a large buster sword appeared in their place. The three charged forward as Zexion remained behind allowing his copied to do his dirty work.

Kyle stood to his feet, feeling a rush of energy fill his body as Jenny began to play a song of haste. He flew forward, streaming by all the opponents making his way directly to Kyla. He could see her there, sitting silently drawing away on her sketchpad. Maggie was sprawled out on the floor next to her, slowly regaining consciousness. Rio, struggled to get free, finally kicking Raine in the knee distracting her long enough to break free.

Rio scrambled across the floor and before Raine could catch her, the youngster threw up her hands and out of thin air her summon, Valefore, flew in and picked her up in one fluid motion. Rio flew over to the main group and was immediately dropped off by Valefore. The two spun around to face the enemy, releasing red beams from both the tips of her trident and Valefore’s mouth. The result was a series of explosions right across the enemy lines sending everyone present into disarray.

In the midst of the destruction, Cory burst in and out of Xaldin’s line of sight striking at the few tiny openings he could find in his defense.

As Kyle reached a reasonable distance from Kyla, he yelled out to her, “Kyla! Wake up! You have to wake up! You need to stop before you make a huge mistake! Kyla! Stop before it’s too late!” He reached out his hand to her, but pulled it back as a spear flew in from the right and stuck itself in the floor an inch in front of him.

He tripped on the spear and rolled to a stop, quickly rising to his feet a moment later. He swiftly looked around and spotted the source. His own replica, Ajora, strolled over and pulled the spear from the floor, “Looks like you’re just in time… for your execution!” With that, Ajora rushed forward at his original with a bloody vengeance.

Kichi went back to back with Timmy as Zexion’s clones closed in on them. Kichi fired off flares as Timmy let loose a tree of lighting towards everything in front of him. The closed had little trouble dodging their attacks and swooped in for the kill. One clone didn’t even get to take the first step however as Kichi called on Bahamut, the Great King of Dragons flew overhead releasing fare on the foes below only to vanish a moment later.

“Nice going Kichi!” Timmy yelled over his shoulder as he blocked the first blow of one clone. Kichi rolled around under Timmy’s shoulder and planted the short end of his Tonfa into Zexion’s gut followed by a flare. The clone flew a good distance then was slammed to the ground as John brought down his hammer and crushed it to the floor. The clone immediately reverted back into a page from Zexion’s book and burnt up in black flame.

“We can do this! Don’t give up!” Sora yelled as he and Riku worked together striking out at Xaldin from several angles at once.

“It’s not over until we say it is!” Kyle McKenna yelled over the sound of battle in reply before going back to his fight alongside Axel up against Rio’s replica. Beneath him, forming right out of the stain glass, Midgardsormr, the giant snake of earth snapped its jaws on the replica just barely missing by a hair.

“That’s right…” Kichi said to himself pushing back Zexion’s last clone, “As long as we have each other’s backs, we can’t lose!”

Just as he said this, a spear of ice flew in from the darkness with no warning or sign of a source. Kichi followed the spear and yelled out to Timmy, but only a moment too late. The spear flew in far too fast for any of them to have done anything. Timmy turned back to Kichi, a look of worry on his face. His eyes drifted slightly to the side only spotting the spear a second before it thrust itself into his chest.

[[Cue: Promised Land]]

Timmy stumbled, holding the spear, watching it fill with a black ink, “Ki-Kichi…” He lost his footing and collapsed to the side. Kichi was there before anyone could blink catching him before he hit the ground.

“No… NO!” Kichi cried, holding his friend’s shoulders, “Not again! Please no! I already thought I lost you once! Don’t leave me! Please… I can’t go on alone…”

“Kichi…” Timmy stuttered, reaching over and placing a hand on his shoulder. The explosions behind Kichi reflected off his paling eyes, “Kichi… don’t give up. I’ll… just be… going on… ahead…”

“Don’t say that… you can’t say that… you’re going to be fine… we’re all supposed to get through this together… remember? You promised! We promised!” As Timmy’s body began to fade in Kichi’s arms, he could hear John’s roars of frustration as well as the following thunderous booms from his lightning immediately after. Kichi shook his head, trying his best to clear the tears from his eyes, “I’m not going to lose you! Don’t die!”

Evan saw it all, and immediately let loose a wave of fire like no other, engulfing the closest opponent in fire instantly turning them to dust, which happened to be one of the replicas, Quareen, who was unfortunately not looking in his direction.

“Silly… Kichi… I’m fine… I just need… to take a little nap.” Timmy whispered as his eyes closed entirely and his body burst into shimmering lights that scattered all over and his heart rose up and joined the others.

“Tao!” Rio screamed, firing off another of her beams alongside Valefore. No one noticed the name she used, even she wasn’t sure what she’d screamed such an odd name but it didn’t matter, her battle cry still carried on as her beams continued to cause havoc for all her opponents.

As Kichi sat staring at his hands and the black oil that covered them, he felt something break deep down. Something vital that kept his mind in check. He spun around, roaring loudly, joined in his grief by his summon. He pointed his Tonfa forward in Kefka’s direction but froze in place after who he saw next, “R-Rhiko?”

Louis stood before him, with his Rapier drawn and a look on his face of strangled agony.

“Rhiko! Thank god you’re alive!” Tears were running down his face he quickly ran up to his friend, and hugged him, his legs immediately giving way under the stress.

Louis leaned down and rubbed Kichi’s back softly.

“Rhiko… Tao is gone! I couldn’t do anything… I couldn’t… save him!” Kichi broke down and continued to cry.

“It’s alright…” Louis proceeded to say, “It’s ok. It isn’t your fault. Don’t worry… I’ll take care of everything.” Louis reached down and lifted Kichi’s chin so that he could look straight into his eyes. Kichi seemed to stare into his as Louis looked back with a now blank, apathetic glare, his pupils a deep shade of purple, “Sleep, and join him in death’s sweet embrace.”

Before Kichi could react, his eyes opened wide and his mouth gaped open. Darkness flowed from the rapier protruding out of Kichi’s back as it retreated back and allowed the fighter to slide out of Louis’ grip and onto the floor, “Now, you’ll never have to feel pain again. Forgive me. This had to be done.”

In the darkness, where Kichi floated, loosing track of the light, he saw a tiny glimmer off in the distance high above. His eyes were but slits now, barely able to open them as sleep felt as though it were going to wisk him away at any moment. He could hear the voice of an old friend calling out to him, “Don’t give up! You can do it! Ganbare!” A red and yellow feather burning endlessly in fire drifted down and touched lightly to his chest, a sudden jolt running though his body forcing him to gasp for breath.

Louis turned away from his fallen friend and dawned his black armor, glaring out at the rest of his opponents. He took a step forward then stopped, listening to the sudden shift behind him. He spun around and slashed down with his Naginata deflecting a flare at the last possible second.

Kichi stood to his feet, lined with golden light, “You’ll… pay…”

Louis stared blankly as his helmet enveloped his face, “Alright… so be it. If this is the punishment I must face… I shall kill my friend a second time if I am to succeed in my goal… this time… please… stay dead.”


[[Cue: UN-OWEN Was Her Him]]


Louis Drew back his Naginata and spun forward, clashing with the enraged fighter, pushing his tonfa up as he released the beams from their ends. Kichi flipped up and back, placing a foot into Louis face, then pressing off. He flew up and angled himself with a good view of his opponent. Summoning Bahamut’s golden wings, the spikes shot off and positioned themselves in front of him. As he fired off his flare, the spikes caught it in their circle, amplifying it, and launching it down at the Vangaurd.

Louis threw up his palms and drew out a shield of metallic ice. The beam passed through, but not out the other end. Louis prepared to send the attack back, but as the beam continued to fill the mirror, it started to break without his command. Louis ran back away from the slab of ice just as it shattered, sending out a blast tenfold of what had gone in. The explosion put everyone fighting on the floor, but Kichi flew in after Louis like a lion chasing down its prey.

Louis had little he could do, he threw back his arms, summoning lances and spears of ice that launched themselves into the air at the glider with little accuracy. Kichi swooped in struck, first his fists went into the floor, detonating a huge explosion knocking Louis into the air. With the force of the explosion Kichi flipped backwards, firing off his flares to propel him like jet engines. He didn’t care who the beams struck behind him, only that he would catch and kill Louis for what he’d done.

Louis flipped around and used the specialized ice on his Naginata’s blade to reflect the beams that followed close in his wake, shaken by his opponent’s ferocity. Second later before he could move to block, Kichi flew in and slammed him across the face, flipping him backwards and sending into back into the floor. Louis scrambled to his feet and brought his Naginata around to block his opponent once more only this time, sliding backwards a few feet before finally halting the charging beast.

Kichi fired two more flare bursts from his tonfa, thrusting his arms forward and shattering Louis’ defenses. Louis stumbled back as Kichi slid forward and followed through with a heavy uppercut. The flare spell inevitably followed after the impact.

As Louis flew straight up, Kichi followed and continuously pounded Louis with a endless fray of strikes coming at him from unpredictable directions, as was the correct use of the tonfa. His arms thrust up and smashed into Louis gut, breaking his ice armor like it was paper. Louis gasped for breath, but felt it instead leave forcefully through his open mouth.

Kichi grabbed Louis by the head, and flipped around. Now facing the floor, Kichi fired off a flare from the back of his remaining tonfa and flew down at the floor. Louis had nowhere to go, nowhere to run, no way to escape, instead, he summoned all the ice he could around his body to dull the impact.

When the two hit the floor, first there was a loud crack, followed by a massive explosion off of Kichi flowing backwards up into the sky towards Kingdom Hearts. Under Kichi, Louis struggled to move his body, every inch of him scorched and as he opened his eyes again Kichi brought down his tofa slamming it against his helmet, sending a crack across its surface. Again and again he continued to pound on Louis’ armor as it started to give way and break.

Louis threw his arms back and slammed them against the floor at his back. Ice blasted up, curling around at Kichi’s sides forcing him to retreat as well as slightly cutting at Louis’ sides. Louis jumped to his feet, and as the glyph on his stomach began to glow, pressed in on the offensive.

Kichi moved back as Louis slid across the floor, slashing at their feet with his weapon and summoning sheets of ice every second. The area around the two became a death trap for those who were unlucky enough to be in their way. John had to leap with all his strength to get free of their path of destruction.

Louis spun around finally gaining the upper hand as Kichi lost his footing on a patch of ice. Kichi moved out of the way, launching himself into the air with a backwards flare. Louis wove his hand up and an arc of ice shot out of the floor and smacked Kichi out of the air before he could gain altitude.

Kichi rolled along the floor as Louis jumped onto him again, this time, two of soldiers joined him, slashing across Kichi, not giving him a moments rest, or a second to judge from where he was being attacked from. Bahamut appeared again, dropping several explosive blasts onto the trio. Louis returned fire forming a huge spear of ice at his side and launching it into the sky. Bahamut swatted it to the side and fired a huge beam from his mouth. Louis dived out of the way and summoned more spears and sent them into the Dragon’s wings.

Bahamut faltered and fell, but vanished before hitting the floor. Kichi looked to where Bahamut vanished then back to Louis coming face to face once more with the Avatar. Kichi was now at the disadvantage. He jumped back as Louis jumped forward, spinning his Naginata and letting it fly. Kichi fired another pair of flares and rocketed away from the Naginata’s path, watching as it stuck itself in the ground. And with that, it was over. Red ice trailed across the floor and sprang up behind him. Louis flew out of the bloody ice in his normal form and stabbed forward at the fighter in motion. The Rapier found its target and pierced his back, right through the heart.

As Kichi’s heart floated away, Louis fell to his knees and coughed up a puddle of black ink that might have been identified as blood. When he raised his gaze, his eyes were no longer those of the former earthling, but of his counterpart, Mateus, The Corrupt.

Elsewhere, Maggie sat up in a snap, looking around completely confused. She noticed Kyla sitting by her side drawing, then the chaos beyond her. Maggie turned and grabbed hold of Kyla’s shoulders, shaking her violently, “Kyla! Kyla! Wake up! There’s something going on! We to help! Kyla!”

Kefka leaned over and backhanded Maggie straight across the floor, “Stupid girl! Stay out of this! Raine! Remove this nuisance.”

Maggie turned and spotted Raine, a choll running up her spine as she recalled the horrific things the replica had done to her before. Without a second hesitation, she reached into her alchemy bag and pulled out a special potion she’d saved just for that situation. She pulled back and threw it right at her replica. Raine laughed and smacked the bottle with her bare fist, shattering it instantly, “What? Did you think a little potion was going to harm me? Like that would wo-“ The replica was drowned out by a massive explosion that swiftly engulfed her entire body. The explosions continued to repeat over and other flying higher until the replica fell out of the colorful clouds and collapsed to the floor where her body disintegrated on the spot.

Kyle pushed Ajora back, yelling out to Maggie, “Grab her pen! Don’t let her finish that drawing?”

“Huh?” Maggie responded clueless for a moment, “Oh! The pen! Got it!”

Maggie ran right past Kyla, and up to Kai, drawing back her fist then decking the replica in the face. The alchemic properties in her gloves resulted in an added explosion on Kai’s face. The replica screamed and rolled on the floor. The replica’s book lie open on the floor in-between the two. Maggie ran over and pulled a fire bomb from her bag, tossing it down on the book. The book lit on fire, the pages vaporizing as the fires incinerated every speck of Kai’s dark works.

Kyla shifted as Kai’s hold over her released. She blinked once, and pulled her pen away from the page. As consciousness returned, the pictomancer looked down at her page, horrified by what she saw. In the picture, it held Kefka encased in a heart shaped frame in god-like form all hovering over a desolate wasteland. The magic of her book took action as much as she wished she could stop it, the gears of fate were already in motion.


[[Cue: Curtain Fall]]


Kingdom Hearts lit up brightly above their heads as everyone, good and evil, lifted their gaze to watch reality unfold. Before Kyla’s eyes, she watched as a golden glow enveloped Kefka and he rose off his feet several feet into the air.

Seymour turned to the rising clown and threw forward his staff. Chains shot forward out of nothing and trapped Kefka, holding him down. Nick appeared from the shadows behind the Maester and grinned from ear to ear as his glyph glowed brightly. His bladed gauntlets formed on his hands and his other four swords surrounded the clown, hovering for just a moment, “Did you think you could betray us that easily Kefka? Do you think we’d stand for this?”

“No…” Kefka stated in a now dark, menacing tone, “I expected you to DIE for it.” In a flash, Kefka’s body contorted, and four blood wings shot out of his back, slicing through the chains like paper and blowing away the swords with the force of their creation.

Nick took a few steps back putting distance between him and Kefka, “You freak! I’ll kill you!”

“Just try.” Without another word, in the blink of an eye, all trace of Nick was gone from the world, aside from the heart that lingered in his place, “As for you Seymour, I have a torture far worse for you… that is… for you to watch as all your plans fall to pieces before your eyes. Did you think I was stupid? I was on to you all along. And now, you’re going to suffer for it… for all eternity.”

“You won’t get away with this Kefka! We can still take you down!” Sora exclaimed, pointing his keyblade forward.

“I already have.” Kefka laughed as he floated higher with each beat of his wings, he aligned himself with Kingdom Hearts at his back casting a menacing silhouette on the platform’s surface, “Wallow in the shadows of despair! Pathetic creatures, stuck in sorrow and misery! Now, at the moment of my greatest triumph, witness as your worst fears become reality! I, Kefka, am god of all and rule over everything! All shall perish! Only I shall live! Sadness and suffering will consume all!”

“We lost? How could we lose?! We’re the good guys!” Rio yelled out, gripping her trident till her knuckles were white.

“We haven’t lost! We still have our hearts!” Riku yelled out to the rest.

“He’s right! We can still win this!” Sora agreed.

“Fools! Your hope was lost long ago! Your resolve is forfeit! I am all powerful! This world! This universe is mine and mine alone! NOW… BEGONE!” After Kefka finished, everyone watched as darkness spread out from his form, blocking out the light of Kingdom Hearts and sinking down onto them. Though they struggled valiantly, they simply did not have the power to fight back and the darkness took them.

[[Cue: Blind Justice ]]


Louis stood over Maggie after her breathing finally ceased. His heart heavy with the darkness of what he’d just done. As her body slowly vanished, consumed by darkness, he watched her heart float up into the abyss above. He sensed the presence of another, but refused to acknowledge it until her heart was completely out of sight.

Finally, he turned around speaking as he did so, a sick laughter breaking up his sentence, testifying his broken state, “Have you come to be saved too? Come, join the rest. They’re waiting for you.”

Kyle stood there with a stare, looking upon the sad fate Louis had fallen into, “You… killed her…”

“Killed… is such a derogatory term. I released her from her mortal bindings. She, who was the girl I’d so fondly fallen in love with… how else could I repay her kindness, other than to save her from the pain this world throws upon us all.” Louis raised his eyes to meet Kyle’s, the dark spots that were his eyes pronounced to their fullest.

“What’s wrong with you?! You weren’t like this before!” Kyle yelled out, only to stop, holding his head slightly in confusion, “Before?” He asked out loud to himself, wondering what exactly he meant by his own words.

“Before? Right…” Louis raised his arms to the darkness above, “Your mind is clouded by this darkness!” Louis laughed again, his whole body trembling, “The doorway to other worlds, alternate worlds, worlds we may have well lived in! Kingdom Hearts! Not an ends, but a means! A gateway! A gateway one can open, to another reality! A gateway… so large, every heart in existence can be swallowed up in its gaping jaws!”

Kyle stared out at Louis, trying to grasp what he was saying.

“But this world is the one we live in! This is the world that we are bound to! The one we should really care about!” Louis looked back to Kyle, a look of shock on his face, “Wait… don’t tell me you don’t understand?”

“What? Rhiko, you’re not making any sense.” Kyle said throwing his arms out to his sides.

“Am I not? Come, think about it. Think hard now, in the world WE came from, the reality through which we got here, did we ever meet? Why do you call me Rhiko? How do you even know me, my face, my otherworldly name, I never told you, did I? What reason is there? In our world, we never met, yet here we are, talking with one another like people who have known one another for what seems like ages. How can you explain that?!” Louis roared his last question, stomping his foot.

Kyle dropped his head and shook it, “I-I don’t know. It’s so confusing. All of this is… this place, these images, these memories that are not mine, yet… are.”

“Precisely. These memories are NOT our own, but someone very much like us. Even now, memories of another self scream out at the things I’ve done. This other me that says everything I’m doing is wrong in some way. These ways of thinking, may just have been mine before our earth was destroyed and my mind cleared of these false ways of thinking. But I know how to tune these voices out, the only one I must hear is my own. And my own voice is saying one thing now… that we must fight! That in order to preserve my way of thinking, to preserve myself… I… must kill! KILL or be washed away in the tide! The tide of emotions and thoughts not my own! I must preserve myself for what… no… who I am!” Louis fingers twitched violently as he brought them up to his face and clamped down on his forehead.

“Why though? There’s no reason, nothing saying that we HAVE to fight now! The tournament was a farce, a play written out and directed by Kefka, we should be working to find a way out of here!” Kyle reached a hand out, “We can still work together to find a way out! If what you say is true, we can find a world where none of this ever happened!”

“The other me would say you’re right… but… look around us… do you see any plausible way out? Any hole or crack in this prison? That’s right, you see now don’t you? This isn’t a game, this isn’t some puzzle meant to be solved. We’re stuck here, this is our reality. A reality in which… everyone so far that has died… is dead… can you really disgrace their existence by discarding this reality like a soiled cloth. This is our destiny. And part of that destiny… part of our destiny here… is to fight! Come, Avatar of The High Seraph… let us play our part in this story… let us not struggle against the forces that would have us wage war to our dying breath! Let us relieve these weary bodies and bring an end to this eternal cycle!” Louis let go and brought his hands out to his sides, “Let’s do this…” Louis’ eyes locked onto Kyle’s, “So-ry-u-ju.”

Kyle stood motionless, unable to find anything to say in order to bring this situation back from the brink of destruction. Louis seemed dead set on maintaining whatever mindset he had. What could he do besides accept it.

“Come, my brother, my friend, the light to my dark, the action to my reaction, my inspiration, the driving force, my deepest rival, and my worst enemy… let’s go! Together we will play the greatest part in this orchestra called life! Let us all hear, the radiance of your heart!”

Louis bent down close to the ground, his armor forming over his body in a split second, the darkness flowing off that and turning the entirety of the expanse behind him pitch black. Kyle swore he could hear maniacal laughter far off in the darkness, mocking him and his efforts.

Prepare yourself. This… is the final battle.


[[Cue: Duet of the Keyblade Masters]]


Hearing Ultima say that sent a shiver up Kyle’s spine. The final battle? She couldn’t be serious. This couldn’t really be it, could it? Kyle didn’t like it, but he knew it was true. Kyle summoned his spear and prepared himself for the inevitable assault. Louis lunged forward, the darkness flowing around him and over Kyle before they even clashed. Darkness enveloped everything for several seconds. Until a battlefield formed out of the darkness, Kyle was left fending off attacks that he could not see. Meanwhile, as Kyle’s eyes slowly came into focus, Louis’ voice roared out with an enthusiastic fury, “Show me! Show me more! Show me the brilliance of your heart! How brightly does it shine?! Surely it shines brighter than all the rest!”

Kyle, finally able to make out Louis’ form in the darkness, blocked the next attack. Louis was not using his Naginata, instead he had claws attached to his gauntlets made of pitch black ice. The sheer cold of their bladed tips chilled Kyle, even through his armor. Releasing a blast of holy energy, he pushed Louis back and illuminated the battlefield for a split second. Kyle saw a flash of something, though he couldn’t make out what it was, but the raw emotion that came with it was almost debilitating even now that his empathy curse was being held back.

Louis dug his claws into the ground to quicken his stop. His claws ripped from the ground and sent a wave of blood red ice towards Kyle. Kyle jumped up and out of the way. Then blocked as his counterpart flew out of the ice itself, swinging around with a blade longer than the wielder’s body grown right off the arm. The blade was heavy, heavier than Kyle, resulting in his body being thrown across the shadow covered landscape. The blade shattered a moment after impact, but the dark knight did not let up even then. His arms formed new weapons made of the same icy material. He flew forward with extreme speed, aided further by the powers of darkness that flowed in this realm.

Kyle rolled up and spun his spear, clashing with Louis’ blades one after another. The avatar of darkness showed no sign of reserve, no holding back, just a continuous onslaught of attacks. Every sword, claw, spear and blade that he conjured up, shattered against Kyle’s swallow spear. Finally, Kyle noticed a lag in-between Louis’ crazed attacks. Opening his palms and gathering energy to them, he jumped back as his spear dissolved. Louis swung down, finding the brace to his balance was now gone. Louis stumbled for a second, then was blasted backwards by two balls of holy light.

Louis flew through the air and corrected himself to land on his feet. In his hands, his naginata finally made its appearance. With it, he stabbed the floor of their black, shadow born world. Out of the ground burst thousands of large crystals filled with darkness. In a flash, each formed an individual ice soldier. Louis backed away into their masses with a chuckle, and after he was out of sight, they charged.

With shear mass in number, they forced the Holy Dragoon to begin running backwards throwing holy spells left and right to keep them from overcoming him. Several caught up and began attacking viciously. He dodged underneath the blade of one as another struck vertically from above. Kyle raised his spear and blocked the attack. Kyle pressed up and knocked the soldier off balance and stumbling backwards. Gathering white light to the tip of his spear, he spun and released a wave into the surrounding enemies, cutting them clean in half. Several more lunged at him from the sky, falling onto him with increased speed. His hand lit up and released several simultaneous holy beams that pieced them all through the chest and continued, curving down into the other oncoming forces, exploding, taking countless with them.

“This power… I’ve never felt this level of strength before.”

The effect of this place, it’s like a bent up volcano of pure energy of the heart. Can you feel it? This is the power Kefka is after. The power of all hearts unified as one! The power is overwhelming! If only I could reach out and claim it for myself!

“Ultima, pull it together!” Kyle yelled, just before gasping out in pain. A sword struck shallow at his shoulder. He spun around and blasted a decrepit soldier that had somehow survived the blasts with only one arm and its legs intact, headless, apparently it had only swung wildly in desperation… and gotten lucky.

“Dang it.” Kyle gripped his shoulder, a green tinted healing light flowing over the wound.

“Heh…” a voice suddenly echoed from the darkness. Kyle spun around drawing his blade once more to attack, but stopped mid swing, unable to continue. Louis held out his naginata, and gave a hefty thrust, driving the blade deeper into Kyle’s chest. As he gasped for breath Kyle suddenly realized what had surrounded him during the distraction. A forest of blood red trees, each made of ice, ice Louis could pass through like water and reappear out of from any point.

Louis stepped out of the ice, the forest shattering a moment he did, “After all that… this is how it ends.”

Louis looked down at Kyle’s wounds, tears welling up in his eyes, “Damnit!” He screamed, bringing a hand up to his face, the helmet shifting back instantly to make way. His armor dismissed as well as he rubbed his eyes to clear them, “This isn’t how it’s supposed to end! Not like this! Kyle… what are you doing? Are you really that cruel? You’d die… and leave everything to me? I can’t do this on my own…”

The naginata dismissed, and let Kyle drop to his knees. He bent over, holding his hand to the wound, the green light dimly glowing over it.

“Kyle… Kyle… KYLE!” He screamed, “You can’t die! You hear me?!”

What’s wrong with him? He’s not making any sense… Kyle thought, trying to heal himself, First he tries to kill me, now he doesn’t want me to die!

It doesn’t matter. This is your chance! Ultima screamed. Then, without his permission, six golden wings sprouted from Kyle’s back, folded over him, then, blasted outward, knocking Louis backwards through the air, before crashing into the ground. Hundreds of beams shot out from Kyle’s wings, arcing over, then bombarding the place where Louis landed.

There was a heavy silence for a moment, then, shifting. Louis slowly stood to his feet, his tears no longer flowing, “So that’s it, is it? Why? Why does the world hate me so much? Am I really that horrible? Am I really that bad? What did I do to deserve this? All I ever did was be kind. All I ever did was submit. Roll over… play dead.” Louis stood limp, his body bent over, arms hanging lifeless before him, “I finally try and do something for a change… and this is how I’m repaid for my suffering…”

Louis raised his head to look at Kyle, “And you… you’re the worst… you demon! You devil! You wolf in sheep’s clothing! Are those… angel wings? An angel? Is that what you are? There was a name of a traitorous angel… Ultima. That’s right… she was an angel… not anymore though…” A purple glow engulfed Louis, and the glyph on his stomach glowed brighter than before, “Ultima… you betrayed me… you betrayed us all. I’ll get my revenge. You can be sure of it. I’ll take away… the only thing you have left in this world.” Louis let out a crazed laugh, darkness blasting out from him, whipping around, brushing by like gusts of wind.


[[Cue: Prelude & Nostalgia]]


The turmoil had Kyle’s hair flaring and raging around with the moving currents as darkness blustered up against his face and body. It wasn’t painful like he expected. It flew by like the caressing of a feather.

Never give up. A gentle voice rang clear in Kyle’s head, completely foreign to him.

Who’s there?

I can’t let you fight him just yet… first there is something you must see…

What do you mean? Why not? What am I supposed to see?

A glimpse... so you may first understand his heart…

Suddenly the darkness retreated as did the image of Louis, whisked away by an unknown force.

Kyle was left standing in a dark hallway, the end of which he couldn’t see. He could hear laughing down the hall so he started walking in its direction. He eventually reached a door that was slightly open, though its heaviness almost completely foiled Kyle’s attempts to open it. He pulled and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge, then, it slammed shut and changed shape. Kyle stood in awe at the giant monstrosity before him. A gigantic gate made of cold steel and spikes stood before him in place of the small door that was there before.

Kyle slammed his fist on the gate, “Open up!”

“He won’t just let you in…” the voice returned right next to him, “He’s a stubborn child… but… he isn’t this way without reason. I’ll let you in… so you may see the reason… and thus be able to understand… I’ll never let you leave if you don’t.” The voice turned cold, serious, yet still soft at its core.

The gate suddenly shifted, and creaked open, obviously resisting the action. Finally, when it opened, just enough to allow Kyle through, darkness shot out, and pulled him in.

Inside, Kyle found a clear, open, grassy plain, warm and peaceful with a gentle breeze, “Where… is this?” The plains suddenly, tore past him, he was flying at blinding speeds, until stopping suddenly before a tree. Around the tree were several children, Louis was one of them, the others were faceless, black shadows. The children were laughing, walking around and around the tree with Louis. Louis looked happy, a smile on his face, laughing along with them.

But his laughter stopped, and his eyes were empty, deeply sorrowful, and his gaze rested solely on Kyle. Kyle felt he was being drawn in by the gaze, literally falling into his eyes. Soon, he found himself in a black expanse, with an image laid out before him like a movie theater screen, yet, it was closer than that, almost a first person view.

On the screen, the children from before were laughing, but not like before. Louis wasn’t laughing. The image was blurry, only clearing for a few seconds after going black, then blurring again seconds later. Suddenly, Kyle felt a pain in his chest, a gut wrenching blow as he fell to his knees.

The image went black, though Kyle’s eyes were open.

Next, an image of a woman, stood before him. Behind her, several doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians were looming over Louis, examining him. The woman looked distraught, Louis, looked more so.

“I don’t need fixing.” Louis said, “I never needed fixing. The world… is what needs fixing. But… the world doesn’t change. I’ll just need to change to fit it… since I don’t fit in. If I’m not good enough… I’ll just try something else…”

The image shifted again, in his hands appeared a soccer ball that wilted and turned to dust. Another, a basket ball, vanished even faster. People appeared randomly, behind them, loomed different shadows, some soft, others, demonic by definition. Many… most… turned to dust, blowing away in some unfelt wind. As time went on, Louis matured, and soon, the area was filled by books, formed out of the dust left behind by the faceless individuals. There were so many books, so many, Kyle couldn’t see their end. Louis sat at a chair, reading the books in the shadows… till with a tiny spark, they all caught fire. They all burned to the ground, but in their place, several figures stood shining, giving light to the gloomy surroundings. A classroom, a hallway, a hospital waiting room, a hospital bedroom, a church, finally an empty field again, all the while, the figures only grew in number, slowly forming a semicircle around him and Kyle.

“I get it now…” Kyle said, looking at the images before him under new light, “This is his past… the stages of his heart throughout his life.”

The images were flying by now, but it seemed to Kyle, the surroundings were growing warmer with every second that past. Grass grew on the ground, and trees began to grow, and roses climbed up their surface blooming a brilliant white.

“I was… alone until now…” Louis said, to the figures, now numerous in number, “My life was dark.. hopeless… and about at its end… but you saved me. I’m not alone anymore.” Louis started crying, whipping the tears away from his eyes, “I don’t… I don’t know what to say… you’re my brothers, my sisters… the ones I never had. Nic, John, Caitlin, Wade… you’ve been there for me all this time. Thanks to you, I’ve been able to heal these wounds of mine. You’re… priceless to me. I’d do anything for you… anything.”

Louis turned to face Kyle suddenly, their eyes locking, though Kyle was sure it was only coincidence as he said, “Thank you.”

Then, with a loud crack like thunder, the world was torn asunder, and ice covered every surface. The trees broke apart, and the floor fell out from underneath them turning to rubble falling along with them. In the distance he could see Louis falling too. Darkness enveloped him, crashing into him like waves on a beach. The world behind them, blips of the events following the earth’s destruction. One lasting image hung vividly for a good time before Kyle.

Louis stood at his front door, staring at the turbulent black sky, then down at the glowing yellow orbs forming at the front of his house. He ran back inside, yelling for his family, but he was too late. He collapsed on the ground, surrounded by heartless, the monsters not taking a single step towards him. He sat there on his back porch limp and unmoving, his eyes staring up at the sky now littered with hearts rising to the unknown, knowing his family’s was in there somewhere, hoping his would be too.

Louis’ eyes were empty, a blank stare, as if looking at nothing, they grew cold and distant as darkness flowed over him and dug under his skin. As tears flowed from his apathetic gaze, his hands rose to grip his hair and he screamed, not of terror or of sadness, but of rage. Complete, total, and absolute rage at the pain he felt in his heart.

Then, many images familiar and unfamiliar to Kyle flashed before him, a series of events that told the tale of his trip from the world they both new to the unfamiliar one they were now fighting as a part of. Louis stood, his face staring up at the sky despite the chaos spinning around him, “I shall vanquish pain. I’ll destroy it. Everywhere that pain resides… I shall wipe it from the face of existence. Everything… everyone… all shall perish.” Louis dropped his gaze slowly, his eyes setting on Kyle with a blood chilling glare, one of zealous blood lust, no mercy or kindness, a heart completely frozen over leaving nothing but the coldest of emotions to survive. Darkness flowed between he and Kyle, and everything went dark for a moment.

“You showed me kindness once.” Louis said, suddenly standing behind Kyle as he spun around. A different Louis awaited him, his face warm and gentle with eyes radiating warmth, “You think… you can show me that same kindness again?”

Kyle stood saying slowly, unsure of his words, “I’ve met you before… back then… you’re not the same as him are you? Back when I fell into darkness… you were there…”

Louis continued, acknowledging his words with only a slight smile and nod, “You’re the only one capable of showing me mercy… I’ve fallen so far into darkness… I can’t even see the light any longer. I was locked away long ago, who I am as you see me, and who I am at the present… can no longer be considered one and the same.”

Kyle yelled out desperately, “But it’s not too late!”

“It is for me… but not for you. It’s because you can think like that, that you’re capable of bringing this madness to an end.” Louis placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder, “I’m trusting you Kyle. You’re the only one that’s made it this far.” Louis’ hand quietly disappeared from Kyle’s shoulder, Kyle losing sight of him after only blinking once, leaving him with only a voice that sent him off, “Fight… and break the chains that bind us!”


[[Cue: Truth Beneath the Rose]]


A sudden rush of wind brought Kyle back, a heavy crash against him, darkness flowing, raging with unrelenting fury. Kyle saw once more Louis before him, thrashing around like an animal set on fire, “Get out! Get out! I’ll kill you! Kill you!!!”

Kyle stood ready and summoned his spear, “I know now… what I must do.”

Louis didn’t respond, just kept roaring like an animal. In a flash, he was gone from his position, reappearing in front of Kyle striking at his gut with an icy claw. Kyle launched up with a beat of his glowing wings. He climbed high into the air, each beat letting loose more light onto their battlefield.

Louis pressed off the floor and flew through the air with incredible strength. He flew up, coated in darkness, and attacked like a rabid beast, clawing and tearing at Kyle with tooth and nail, darkness and ice, though in all placing little actual damage on the now armored seraphim. The golden armor guarded him like steel, and with a swipe of his spear, the demonized Louis was sent back into the ground. His impact pushed away all the darkness. It spread out as far as the eye could see. Below them, the tower they climbed, though the bottom was not within sight, above, Kingdom Hearts, in all its glory rained light down on them.

Kyle floated for a moment, with the light at his back, looking down on Louis standing to his feet. Kyle spoke quietly, “I’m no angel… but I’ll be your savior.”

Kyle flew down and clashed with the dark knight, blow for blow they connected, releasing their polar opposite elements into the air, canceling each other out with escalating intensity. Louis switched back and forth between armored and unarmored forms, his battle styles changing drastically between the two as his speed, weapon, and tactics changed with each transformation. Louis changed to his unarmored form and quickly brandished his rapier, striking from the left, then right, then left again. Kyle spun his spear over his head, kicking up a wind carrying light around him. Louis stumbled back shielding his purple tinted eyes. Kyle dropped to one knee, spinning himself forward with a beat of one wing, his leg outstretched and a wing overlaying it for protection. Louis pushed off the ground, flipping forward bringing his rapier over his head. He flipped mid air three times before slowing, each time impacting Kyle’s spear. As he stabilized, he continued his rapid assault with several horizontal blows, all with such rapidity that his feet never touched the ground. Suddenly, Louis lost hold of his rapier and it spun off to the side out of view. Kyle lowered his guard to strike, but caught a glimpse of the rapier out of the corner of his eye. The rapier flew in, carried by an attached tendril and acted like a whip across Kyle’s face. The cut bled, but Kyle didn’t falter, Louis was defenseless.

With a heavy swing of his spear and a follow up beam from his palm Kyle gained the advantage knocking the Avatar of Corruption clear off the tower’s summit. Louis began to fall, and defended himself by resummoning his armor but Kyle didn’t let up, he ran right up to the edge and dived off.

Kyle tightened himself into a streamlined stance, a helmet closing over his face to aid his momentum. Louis opened his arms and spun, with each spin a new blade of ice blasting out of the tower’s side, and then more shards flew up from Louis at Kyle spawned in mid air, only floating but because of their movement flew past like projectiles. Kyle closed the distance despite all the distractions. He clashed with Louis who pushed off with some effort to keep the distance. This happened several times as Kyle made passes to strike. Just as the repetition became habit, Louis opened his arms wide, catching the wind and flying right into Kyle. A gauntlet of ice took hold of Kyle’s entire helmet. The two spun together with heavy momentum, Louis holding tightly to Kyle’s head before letting him go flying down below. Kyle attempted to correct with his wings, whist trying to colliding with the side of the tower several times until gaining full control.

They had switched places, Kyle now below getting struck from above. Louis came down and struck with fierce bloodlust, each attack capable of cleaving a normal man in half, but Kyle held fast. Kyle gritted his teeth as his opponent never let up for a moment and even added more to the blows with countless tiny shards shaped like rose petals cutting at him from every direction. Below him, a gigantic rose opened up. Both flew into its blooming crevice and smashed into the very core shattering it entirely. The shards shimmered, them exploded into countless more freezing cold projectiles.

“Damnit!” Kyle spun around and knocked the naginata out of the way long enough to kick Louis right in the face, an effective attack despite the helmet that blocked the majority of the blow, “Just let me in! Stop putting up your guard!” Kyle used a beat of his wings, to crash right into the avatar. Then, he used that momentum to spin them both around into a deadlock spiraling out of control. With a kick to Louis chest, he knocked them free of one another. His palm shooting another beam down onto Louis, blasting a hole right into his armor.

Kyle flew in and planted a continuous combo laced with holy light into Louis, each blow taking a chunk of the armor with it. With one final blow, he knocked off the helmet, its form lost the moment it separated. He stared straight into Louis’ eyes, who spoke with a smile, “You want in? Why didn’t you say so?” Louis opened up his arms, moving his legs below him so he fell parallel to the tower, “I’ll show you what’s inside.”


[[Cue: Fate of the Unknown]]


In mid air, Louis slowed, as did Kyle, then, reality itself shattered, and in its place, a scorched barren wasteland. Kyle landed on his feet, as did Louis, and he wasted no time to come at Kyle again, this time, wielding his rapier. Louis zipped past Kyle on the ground, moving at much faster speeds than before. His passes were like lightning, Kyle was only able to block a few in the process, most tore his thick armor to shreds as though it were made of paper. He escaped into the sky, using his wings to gain hundreds of stories before he stopped and raised his hands to the sky.

The earth below rippled, ice sprung out, moving across the landscape like a wave. Above, a moon cycled through its phases casting strange shadows on the lonely world, “The battleground of my heart! Let’s see how you fair now!”

Louis shot up from the ground, carried by a pillar of ice summoned beneath his feet. He flew up to meet Kyle. Kyle simply leaned back with his spear and smacked Louis back with a heavy blow sending him right back at the floor of the landscape. A flash emitted around Kyle as all his wings vanished except for two, scattering the rest into tiny sparks that shot off into the distance in every direction.

As Louis fell, his eyes opened wide, the sky was ablaze with stars. His eyes opened wider as they grew closer. He spun out of the way as a “falling star” flew past and collided with the ground far below lighting the dark world up for but a moment. The light sent another ripple across the landscape, grass growing through the ice, shattering the entire surface sending the shimmering remains up into the air before vanishing.

Countless stars fell from the sky, flying at Louis like homing projectiles. He smacked many away, but their numbers were overwhelming. Finally they got the best of him and homed in for the kill, exploding with every individual impact. He fell head first until he hit the ground, fighting off all he could all the way down at which point all the stars collected on his position in order to crush him in one final blow.

As the dust settled, Kyle’s eyes opened wide with shock as a dome of ice shimmered only a moment before shattering into several large chunks. Those separate pieces released beams of light that shook the very fabric of the air around them, vibrating the earth and sending cracks in every direction. The Seraphim Knight weaved through the air, lobbing balls of holy energy at the ground, randomly.

Finally, amidst the chaos, he spotted Louis sliding along the ground with his naginata held out at Kyle. He dived down deeper into the fray, light gathering behind his back, and consequently, darkness gathered behind Louis. The light burst out to form the High Seraph herself, garbed in flowing white and gold robes. She took hold of an ethereal spear identical to Kyle’s, only equally massive to match the goddess’ size. As Kyle grew closer to strike, Louis raised his Naginata as it warped and changed form into a Trident just as the form of Mateus took shape behind Louis, tearing itself from his giant shadow on the ground. Both pulled back then slammed their weapons together resulting in a gigantic explosion blinding both fighters, a spiraling torrent of black and white engulfing both of their forms. Light versus darkness, shadow versus illumination, holy versus the demonic, two sides of the same coin each dependant on the other to exist… until now.

When everything came into view once more, Kyle could see his opponent still standing, his arms open wide. He rushed forward, drawing back his spear. At the last moment, a memory rushed into his head, one of a terrifying ability of deception. Kyle wanted to pull back, but it was too late. There was a metallic noise, a ripping of cloth, a splashing noise like water, then a pressure on Kyle’s spear.

When Kyle opened his eyes, he couldn’t believe what he saw. Louis fell backwards, holding the spear to his chest. Kyle moved with his spear and Louis to the ground.

Kyle sat on his knees next to Louis, in shock, “But… why?”

“I used…” Louis coughed, finding it hard to speak, “I used the last bit… of my strength… to give you… that opening.” Louis coughed several times in a fit, his whole body trembling.

Kyle also felt a trembling, but not for the same reason, above them, clouds were gathering over the open field. Louis continued, “I’m sorry… for this. I’ve put… a heavy burden on your shoulders. But… you’re the only one… I knew could handle it.” Louis let out a heavy breath, then another one in, much more labored than before, “Thank you… for following through with this. I think now… they’ll finally be able to rest.”

Who? Kyle refrained from asking, ignoring the rain now falling on them.

“Those who’s sins I’ve carried this far.” Louis answered for him, his eyes growing pale with every blink to blot out the rain, “Every last heart… they’ll finally be able to be at peace knowing… their pain and regret die with me.”

“But… that’s not how it works.” Kyle said, dropping his head, the downpour slowing to a stop.

“Is that really…” another fit of coughing, “what you’re supposed to tell someone who’s dying?” Louis let out a laugh only to be interrupted by more coughing. He looked down at his body, darkness streaming off it, deteriorating at a rapid pace, “Look at me… how far have I fallen?” He sighed, “No matter… my decent has halted. Now… it’s time for me to go… where the others are… I’m sure… they’ll be glad…”

Kyle looked up as the clouds parted, light shining down from a bright shining sun, which soon started taking shape into the image of Kingdom Hearts. White roses bloomed as far as the eye could see scattering their pedals to float freely in the air.

“When I wasn’t myself… I intended to trap you here… but... This is my last act as Louis Luciano… no… strange… I can’t seem to remember my real name… no matter.” At this point, Louis focused his eyes one last time on Kyle, “It may be selfish, but take up my burden… and finish this… for me and all those we’ve lost…”

“But…”

“Defeat that monster! Destroy everything he’s trying to accomplish! You can’t let him succeed! Now go!” Louis pushed Kyle back with an arm just as his body burst into darkness. Louis’ heart flew out and hit Kyle square in the chest, light pouring out in every direction enveloping Kyle in the light. Kyle felt something deep down break, like a lock or chain on his heart. He felt a sudden relief from the constant influx of emotions… his curse, was lifted. Kyle fell back as the floor and scenery shattered, falling along with a multitude of floating hearts , they all flowed towards a center point, a bright star in the midst of all the darkness. Kyle flew right into it at full speed.

For a moment he could see nothing, but when the light cleared he found himself on the stain glass platform looking out at the masses of other platforms scattered in the distance. One by one they glowed and soon his glowed as well. They formed together, forming one giant platform, next to him, Jenny, James, and Kyla stood ready, looking out at the opponent before them.

Kefka, floated before them in full form, monstrous in size, and vibrating with power. This would be their last stand.

Are you ready? Ultima spoke in Kyle’s head and he nodded.

“This is it…” Kyle stated to the others as Kefka finally noticed them but said nothing yet.

“That’s right… there no more turning back now.” Kyla responded to him. The look in her eyes showed something had changed since they’d last seen one another.

“There’s too much riding on our success to turn back.” James replied aiming his hexagun forward.

“Besides… we have nothing to turn back to. All we have left…” Jenny began.

“Is straight forward.” Kyle finished for her, pointing his spear at Kefka, “You hear us Kefka?! You’ll never win!”

The laughter boomed and echoed from the giant demigod of madness, “You still believe you can stand against me? Fools… you may humor me, this one last time.”


[[Cue: Brilliant Road to Tomorrow]]


“Alright guys! Let’s go!” Kyle cried out and charged forward, hearing the voice of Siren join with Jenny’s array of instruments summoned at once to play in unison by her command. An entire orchestra played by one lone girl and her shining will. All the power at her disposal went into every spell Jenny knew, that same power flowing into the others. Kyle sped up as did James, who ran not far behind already firing off powerful blasts from his now feral gun that matched his new fur detailed attire as well as wolf skin hood and cloak.

Kyla swiftly drew a design in her book which lit to life a moment later thrusting her up into the air on a platform of her own. As Kyle reached the base of the floating giant, he took off with a flash, extending his shining wings to each side in order to glide right along the length of Kefka’s extended arm. Kyle dragged his spear up his arm, digging in and leaving a glowing white line in his wake. As he pulled away, the light expanded outward and took a chunk of the arm with it while it faded away.

Jenny never flinched as a blast came in from above and crashed into the ground next to her, momentarily destroying one of the ethereal instruments that formed back a moment later but the music continued regardless. The instruments joined in tune and picked up pace. In response, the darkness burned a dark red in spots all over the sky then rained down fire crashing against Kefka. Lightning of many shades dropped down and impacted the stained glass surface several times scattered across the battlefield.

Scattering into the air, thousands of small feathers flew around as Kefka beat his wings once. Their forms warped and fired in random directions. Kyle dived underneath one then weaved around another and finally canceled out many with some spherical blasts of his own. James cleared his own way with a single shot from his gun that absorbed the power of the shots that impacted it as it flowed up into Kefka’s face.

The former clown roared and swept his arm over where James stood. The gunner had already moved and fired more bullets into his arm. They imbedded themselves then exploded from within leaving large holes in the hand and forearm.

Kyla drew as fast as she could, summoning countless swords, birns, and spinners that flowed around her like a flock of starlings, blocking out any vision of her entirely. Finally with one final stroke, she drew out the last of her creations. A massive, dragon-like creature flowed off her pages, lined with several dozen pairs of wings. The dragon coiled around and floated above her as she waited for the right moment to strike.

Kyle flew around, spinning and weaving through the air as meteors fell across the battlefield pummeling Kefka relentlessly. He flipped back and positioned himself right before the demi-god’s face. Out of his hands a giant beam of light shot forward and at the moment he was surrounded by the flock of Kyla’s drawings flowing as one along with his attack. James joined in, firing a bullet that gave off a loud howl much like that of a giant sized wolf.

All their attacks impacted at once, crashing into Kefka’s chest and then flowing outward. Following up behind, Kyla’s dragon spiraled around Kyle, swooping in and striking the same place as before. Its body separated with an explosion into several giant phoenixes, then as others detonated elsewhere, split further into clouds of birns which then lit up the landscape, burning away all traces of the god of madness from their eyes.

A laughter filled the air further, shaking the darkness itself, “A valiant effort… but as I already said… your efforts are meaningless!” Out of the darkness, a beam, with a width larger than a building struck the place Jenny stood playing her flute. In that moment, the music stopped and Jenny was gone.

“Jenny!” James screamed and returned his attention to the darkness. He fired aimlessly into the abyss, hitting nothing but still detonating the bullets in the distance, trying desperately to get lucky. A giant fist flew out of the shadows and slammed into the floor once more. Without Jenny’s haste, he could only narrowly avoid it and fall to the floor a bit away.

As Kefka drew back his hand, the floor split and cracked. James struggled to his feet and raised his gun again. The demigod leaned in close, his head three times large that James’ entire body. He opened his mouth revealing a smile of razor sharp teeth. Then as the teeth receded, a black beam engulfed James and yet another earthling fell.

Kyla shook, unable to properly grip her pen and draw. Kefka looked up at her, rising to her level. He ignored the loud shatter that signaled the complete destruction of the stain glass sanctuary. He rumbling laugh escaped his throat as his mouth flung open. Kyla stared, mortified and unable to move.

Just as the monster released his attack, spelling certain death for the pictomancer, Kyle intercepted and brought forward his wings. The beam curved around him, parting the sea of energy long enough that it slowly dissipated. Kyle panted, glad he had been able to hold it back. While the last of the beam vanished and only a thread remained, it lit up from the base at the back of Kefka’s throat and an orb of the beam traveled down and impacted he defense. In a flash, Kyle’s guard was broken and his body burned away.

As the last of their hearts rose and joined kingdom hearts, only one remaining individual stood quivering, unsure in her place. Kyla stared up at the chaotic demi-god who floated over her laughing, no longer comical, but in every way sinister and corrupt. Kefka floated away, leaving her to wallow in despair and helplessness. As Kefka rose up and was engulfed into the giant mass of hearts, Kyla felt tears streaming down her face.
Everyone? She was helpless to do anything for them. The world was quite literally crumbling around her, and she could do nothing to stop it. Darkness leaked out from kingdom hearts and slowly occupied every bit of space expanding outward. The darkness soon took in Kyla as well, who before being taken entirely, had collapsed to her knees on the lone glowing platform. She thought they’d been climbing to their victory. Now before her, she could see they were crawling down to their graves. And now everything was going to be lost. Everything… everyone was gone...


[[Cue: In This Serenity]]


The lights went out for Kyla. The floor beneath her seemed to just… disappear along with everything else. Soon she felt lost to her own self, no longer feeling at all. Was this what it was like to die? If only she could forget it all. She’d have no regrets. But she couldn’t forget. Though her body was likely gone, her heart was still here, clinging to her self that still fought to exist. That’s when something happened. A spring of life, a glimmer of light, illuminated the tiny space where Kyla’s heart remained, in seconds, Kyla found herself floating in the endless darkness, not able to see but a few feet in front of her where the clouded darkness loomed ominously waiting to overtake the light. A voice shook the tiny sanctuary, “What dares defy my rule? My overwhelming power granted me by the power of all things.”
Kyla stared out into the darkness, her eyes slowly seeing deeper, making out parts of a silhouette. Soon that silhouette gave light to the largest monster Kyla had ever imagined. Kefka, with the power of kingdom hearts, ruler over the endless darkness that had taken everything now floated above her. A thousand wings beat a chaotic drum, keeping the god in place in his endless domain. Kyla glared back, her heart now more determined than ever.
“What is this nonsense? A single heart stands alone against the power that is I? Laughable.”
Kyla stayed silent, and closed her eyes. She could feel the memories boil up inside her. The feelings, the emotions, the love, the hate, the cheer, and the sadness, all that she and her friends had experienced not separately, but as one. Kyla’s book appeared before her in a light exploded out and pushed the darkness back. Kyla’s quill appeared in her hand as the book floated before her. Kyla searched her heart to find the one thing that she could draw, the answer to all.
“Come on Kyla! Let’s go home!” Maggie’s familiar voice shouted from her memories.
“Home…” Kyla spoke, opening her eyes slightly to look at the page, “Home… is a place where all hearts are called back to. A home is where we feel welcome. A home, is where we feel loved. And a home, is where we feel whole again. One home, one body, one heart.”
Kyla’s pen then made a few simple strokes. Lifting her pen from the page, a beautiful yet simplistic picture lifted from the page. Two hearts, intertwined at their bases, coiled to form a continuous loop. Lights streamed from the surrounding darkness and into the picture. Feelings and thoughts of her friends poured out from the streams.


[[Cue: Hikari Orchestra]]


“I thought I’d lost everything. But then I met everyone… and it made it all better, because I knew… I wasn’t alone!” Maggie’s voice led the charge initial charge.

“Everyone has darkness in their heart, the key is to shine your light even brighter and work your way through.” Kyle’s voice followed close behind with another wave.

“I lost my friends and family when earth was destroyed… but I found new friends, and a new family in everyone! You’ve given me new hope!” Noelle yelled out enthusiastically.

“Even after losing my memories of everything. Everyone fought to get me back. Now I know I have friends I can count on and I would sacrifice everything for.” Aldrick’s voice drifted softly by.

“The strength of our enemies is strong, but the intensity of our love is stronger! Nothing can block our path!” The combined voices of James and Michele chimed in unison.

“There’s a light in all of us. No matter how dim, it’s still there.” Dani spoke in almost a whisper.

“You can always count on your friends you back you up!” Kichi began, his statement completed by Timmy, “Friends will always have your back and protect you!”

“Even after all I’d done… I was still forgiven. Perhaps there’s still reason to life after all.” Louis said, his tone carrying a sense of relief.

“My heart is my sword and my friends are my shield. With them nothing can stand in my way!” Amy yelled like a battle cry.

“Even with all the pains, the wounds, and the hurts so deep inside, my friends were the ones to dig down deep and heal them.” Rio finished up, though many voices still shouted out drowned by army of voices that added to the chorus. A symphony of a thousand instruments playing in harmony. And as the streams trickled to an end, and every bit of their light gathered in Kyla’s drawing, Kyla opened her mouth, quoting a familiar poem…

All the noise went silent as a flute began playing and Jenny faded in behind Kyla with more appearing one by one in to join her with each consecutive line, “Thinking of you wherever you are…”

“We pray for our sorrows to end.”

“And hope that our hearts will blend.”

“Now we will step forward to realize this wish…”

Kefka roared loudly but went on ignored. His wings pointed forward in pairs, firing off massive blasts at her before vanishing in flashes of light.

“And who knows…” The blasts crashed against an invisible barrier, straining with intense pressure before erupting and shattering into trillions of lights that shimmered and danced off into the darkness, piercing through the curtain before vanishing to unseen other-side. One after another the blasts repeated over and over against the force of their will as the lines continued…

“Starting a journey, might not be so hard…” Cracks formed along the wall of darkness, light peeking through as another blast crashed against their shield.

“Or maybe it has already begun…” The voices and heart-songs of every person sang out with Kyla’s words, spelling torture for the god of hate.

“There are many worlds…” Kyla paused and looked up with a huge smile, the clouds parting now, light crashing through like water from a broken dam, “But they all share the same sky!”

Then yelling out with all her might, her own voice now melted in with the thousands of others, “One sky! One Destiny!”

At that point, light broke through the stronghold and illuminated the darkness, engulfing everything in light! Kefka released one final agonizing scream, but went unheard by the cheerful cries of every last heart freed from his grasp and they flew out in all directions, absorbed into the light and carried away into the unknown.


[[Cue: Dearly Beloved]]


When the light faded away, Kyla found herself staring out into a wide open expanse, at her sides, the others stared out with the same excited expressions on their face. A night sky, the sky they all longed for and saw only in their memories once more spread itself out before them filled with countless stars that illuminated the night each shining like diamonds on a black silk canvas. With joy reflecting in each of their eyes, they turned to one another smiling. They had done it! This was it! This wasn’t an illusion, not a dream, but reality!

A few minutes passed without words, only conversations spoken through their silence. Some stood with tears in their eyes, others with looked to one another, smiles burning with pride, others simply stood quietly, their eyes closed, basking in the silence and gentle breeze.

After some time like this, how long none of them could tell, Kyle spoke up, breaking the silence, “Looks like it’s time to go.” he said, feeling his connection with Ultima fading off into the distance. Then to their surprise each of the earthlings started to fade away, disappearing from their feet up.

Some panicked, others accepted the fate, but the few with the true understanding were able to see through it for what it was.

“Wait?! Why do we have to go?! Why can’t we stay?!” Rio cried out upset to see others leaving, her eyes filled to the brim with tears.

“We did our part. Our role is finished here. It’s time to go home.” Kyle stated, trying to keep himself calm and collected, though it was even hard for him watching his friends vanishing before his eyes after coming this far.

“But… I don’t want to go home if it means losing all of you.” Jenny said, dropping her head and staring at her disappearing feet.

“We have to.” Louis said, who had faded already more than most, “Our true place is back home.” He gave a shallow glance in Maggie’s direction accompanied by a shy smile.

“But… We’ll see each other again. Right?!” Rio shouted, choking back her tears.

“Of course!” Maggie answered confidently, kneeling down next to Rio and giving her a big hug, “Don’t forget, One Sky… One Destiny.”

Bobbi knelt down beside Rio as well, laying an arm around her comforting her, “Don’t worry. Whatever happens, you’ll always be able to find us.” Placing a hand over her chest she continued, “Even if our minds were to forget, our hearts will always bring us back together. Promise.”

Bobbi stood up and leaned against Evan as he took up the next part, “After all. Ours brought us back together… even if at first I didn’t want it to.”

“So let’s make a promise!” Kichi spoke up, smiling at everyone around him, “No matter what happens…”

“No matter what hardships await,” Al added, nodding to the next person to speak.

“No matter where we are,” Maggie continued.

“No matter how we feel,” Noelle said next.

“Or who we become,” Louis tacked on to the end as Kyle spoke next.

“Our hearts will be bound together!” Kyla stated rounding it up, with a giant smile.

“Together forever!” Rio put on the end.

“Though we’ll be far apart, we’ll never be alone!” Kyle finished summoning his spear with the last of his magic, holding it up to the sky. Everyone followed suit, raising their weapons up. Above them, a constellation of stars forming together forming a gigantic keyhole. Light from each of their weapons, shot up and crashed against the constellation. It glowed brightly before a loud lock slid into place with a boom. And as a final farewell, the light guided everyone away with a gentle illumination, that imprinted one last image in their minds. An image of light, and of happiness, and of peace. At long last… they were going home…

Many Months Later…

[[Cue: Supercell/Rio: 君の知らない物語]]



(Mikomi)Rae says: “So, did anyone hear the news?! The next Kingdom Hearts is coming out soon! O.O”

Aldrick says: “YAY!”

(Enji)Kyla says: “No way really?! It’s finally coming out? About time! Guess that means I should finish the second one.”

Kichi says: “Yeah, I’ve been aware it’s been coming out for quite awhile. xD”

(Rhiko)Louis says: “Shut up Kichi! You don’t count. Lol, razz … Wait, you still haven’t finished the second one?!”

(Enji)Kyla: “I’ve been busy, bite meh.”

(Soryuju)Kyle says: “Shut up Louis. Stop trying to be a smart a**.”

(Rhiko)Louis says: “Dx I’m not trying to be a smart a**!”

Rio says: “Wheee! I’m so excited! xDDD”

(Lavi)Jenny says: “Oooo! Rio, you’re too cute!”

Rio says: “Noooo! You’re too cute!”

(Lavi)Jenny says: “No! You’re cuter!”

(Fuu)Maggie says: “What’s going on?”

Mathy says: “They’re at it again.”

(Fuu)Maggie says: “Ah, can I join in? I think you’re both cute!”

Rio says: “NO!!!”

(Lavi)Jenny says: “Nooooo!”

*Cory Kidnaps Maggie*

(Psalm)Amy says: “Cory! Stop kidnapping girls! It isn’t right!”

*Cory hits Louis with a lawn dart*

*Louis dropkicks Cory and rescues Maggie while handing her a cup of tea*

(Mizu)Bobbi says: “Wow…”

Dani says: “lol, you guys are crazy.”

Evan says: “…”

*Dawn watches, laughing*

James says: “Haha… I love this chat.”

Amy says: “Anyone seen my slav- I mean... Mathy?”

*Mathy hides*

Amy says: “Ah, there he is!”

*Amy drags Mathy out of hiding*

*Aldrick grabs Mathy and starts pulling him back into the shadows*

Amy says: “No!!! You cannot have him! He’s mine!”

*Mathy is dizzy*

*Nick laughs on the sidelines*

(Mikomi)Rae says: “So guys… sorry to interrupt but… I was thinking...”

(Soryuju)Kyle says: “Oh?”

(Mikomi)Rae says: “I was thinking of starting a new RP.”

(Soryuju)Kyle says: “Really? What’s it called?”

(Mikomi)Rae says: “I was thinking of calling it…"

"Heartfelt Adventure"






The End…?

*proceeds to gnaw at Rhiko's hair*

You. I love you.

I don't even know where to start. Seriously. There were so many things going on in my mind, wondering how you were possibly going to end this beautiful piece. And where I'm sad to see it's end, I enjoyed the way you ended it. No joke. Best ending evar.

Great work with all of the battles. Louis and Maggie were so heartwarming. I loved it, it was heart-wrenching... and the part between Louis and Kyle. Perfect amount of EVERYTHING in that section. =///w///= The joint battle between Kefka was something o_O! And the replicas before that. Everything was moving so fast, and my imagination totally shot out ahead of my brain and it was amazing. XD If that made ANY sense at all.

Love the way you incorporated Kingdom Hearts ultimately in the end especially with the dialogue. It flowed so nicely and I felt like crying. ;w; I can see it all in my head. And you ended it the way HA began with instant messages but with all of us. YOU ARE AMAZING. nuff said.

Love the music choices. YET AGAIN. Asu no e Brilliant Road was perfect. I can't think of any song that could've gone in it's place. Angela's voice really fit with the piece, great choice on that. Loved Yanni's Prelude & Nostalgia... grahhhh... *is blissful* And the ending. I love you for the ending. I can see credits rolling and everything. It worked so well for the Bakemonogatari ending but you know what... Heartfelt Adventure rocked it better. ^w^ No offense Bakemonogatari. XD

Rhiko, what can I say- there are just no words enough.
This last chapter made me cry- a lot, and in that GOOD WAY!
My pulse raced, I felt all tingly and excited, moved, and touched and left with such a good feeling.
You did such a wonderful thing with this story- i'm keeping it forever with me. Heck- I'm printing it and SAVING it in my room to READ!
Every once ina while you find something just so memorable.
I feel so good and filled with hope, and like I've come to the end of a long journey- to only step onto another one.
which is probably your intension.
From your choice of music, to the battles, precious dramatic moments, inner monologs, the comedy, the detail and descriptions. You really acomplished something so wonderful here. I hope you know that.

EPIC... doesn't feel like enough to me to describ this story.

Thank you is all I can say. Thank you for adding one more story to the list of ones that will forever be etched into my memory.

Even though I am behind, I still want to comment on the chapters I'm reading. Just finished Chapter 11. GREAT chapter.

The fight with Cory and Elleon vs Rio was very well written. I especially liked what Valefor did, and Elleon's personality and cage-like attacks. The Cory vs Rio is something I kept hearing about, over Skype, but hadn't read yet.

The cliffhanger is a brilliant hook, by the way. xd Now, I must go read the next chapter. *does so*

Very amazing work Rhiko! I know you put a lot of time into this and it definitely shows. All the fights were amazing and intense. Not a single dull moment and always captivating. I loved all your music selections, they worked amazingly! Here's like 6 thumbs up to your writing and your amazing story =D

Chapter 16 Review

The Larxene battle hooked me into the chapter, making me want to read more that way that you do. I always enjoy reading your fight scenes. It's like... it's like I can actual visualize them happening. And that's just cool.



AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Your sentences, Rhiko, are good sentences. I know that sounds weird. Let me illustrate:



I guess you could call that a good paragraph... Whatever. It's good. XD

The pre-battle interaction between Cory, Alan, and Jenny was superbly done. In fact, Cory was so in character here, it's amazing.

And you made it happen in a rotunda. That's just cool.