Chapter 40

CHAPTER 5 WAY TO THE DAWN THE HEARTS KEPT FLOATING UP TO THE SKY, where they joined with Kingdom Hearts—all the hearts from the Heartless that Sora and his friends had eliminated. With every fallen Heartless, Kingdom Hearts only glowed brighter over the strange realm. Reaching a balcony in the back of the castle, King Mickey and Ansem the Wise raised their eyes to the shining heart-shaped moon. There was only emptiness here between them and its light and nothing else to illuminate them. “This place should do.” Ansem set down the huge device he carried. “So what’s that gadget for?” asked the king. “It’s a device to absorb Kingdom Hearts and encode it as data.” He examined his enormous target again. Puzzled, King Mickey turned to the device. “Gee, I’m…not sure I get it.” “I can’t claim to know the outcome of this venture, either. We are dealing with hearts, after all—unpredictable at best.” Ansem aimed the end of the device at Kingdom Hearts. The one great heart—Kingdom Hearts. But what was a heart? For all that, I never did find the answer, Ansem thought. When a person’s heart was taken from them, a Heartless was created, a thing with no sense of self, while the body and soul left behind would become the makings of a Nobody. But what if someone deliberately released their heart from their body through the strength of will alone? Sora and Xehanort had managed to retain their selfhood even after becoming Heartless. Plus, there were Kairi and Naminé to consider. Unlike most, Kairi had harbored no darkness within her heart. Not only that, once her heart had been freed, it had migrated to a new vessel—Sora. Two abnormalities in one person, both theoretically impossible. And yet, the existence of the heart itself was an impossible irregularity to begin with, exactly what Ansem’s theories could not explain. The heart—and Kingdom Hearts. The best we can do is to surmise the gist of it, he thought. And this device, which I only made based on that guesswork—how much effect will it have? Ansem switched on the device, and light streaked from it toward Kingdom Hearts. Sora could see the beam stretching up toward the great moon. “What’s that?” “The king and DiZ—I mean, Ansem the Wise. They must be higher up,” said Riku. “Let’s hurry.” With a nod, Sora kept going. He had never imagined that just being with Riku—fighting alongside him—would give him so much strength. He’d hoped and wished that he would be able to reunite with Riku and have him as an ally, and yet he hadn’t expected that desire to come true. Riku didn’t look like himself now—but it didn’t matter. Sora was so glad to be near him again. “Let’s go!” A little bashful for some reason, he broke into a run. Riku and the others moved to do the same. But darkness rose in the air between them. Instinctively, Sora whipped around and found himself face-to-face with another organization member. Luxord raised his hand, and a barrier of enormous cards materialized to cut him off from his friends. “You!” Sora had the Keyblade in his hand. He’d be fighting alone. “Let’s make this quick.” Luxord smirked, and more cards whirled and scattered, hiding him. Sora couldn’t tell where he was. “That’s not fair!” He slashed through the cards one after another, splitting them in half, but couldn’t reach Luxord. “Sora!” he could hear Riku calling from beyond the wall. “Riku! What should I do?” “Reality isn’t only what you can see with your eyes,” said Riku. “Feel out the truth. I know you can.” Sora closed his eyes. If he believed only in what his vision showed him, he would never have found Riku. He wouldn’t have known it was Riku. So, if Riku said he could…then he could do it. He could discern what was real. “There!” Sora jumped up and brought the Keyblade down on one particular card. And behind that card was something of substance to strike. “Roxas… How could you…?” Luxord grated, collapsing to his knees. “That’s Sora!” he snapped as the cards trapping Riku and the others dissolved into dark mist—and so did Luxord himself. Why do they keep calling me Roxas…? Sora mentally complained. “You okay?” said Kairi, a bit anxious for him. “Yeah! No worries.” Sora gave her a grin. “C’mon, let’s keep moving.” Donald and Goofy exchanged a look. “Gawrsh, Sora’s kinda…showin’ off, don’t ya think?” Goofy remarked. Arms crossed, Donald nodded. “Yeah. For Riku and Kairi.” “Hey!” Sora twisted his body around. “I can hear you guys!” As Donald and Goofy jumped, Riku and Kairi shared a look and chuckled. They fought their way through a never-ending torrent of Heartless. “Should we really destroy all these Heartless…?” Goofy said with a sigh. “If we don’t, they’ll cut us down.” Riku slashed through the ones in front of him with Soul Eater, forging ahead. “We’ve got to keep going.” They reached a passageway where the great heart-shaped moon shone down on them. They couldn’t help but stare up at Kingdom Hearts. “Just believe in yourself. Don’t give up.” When Kairi’s encouraging murmur reached Sora’s ears, he realized something and asked her, “Say, Kairi… Where’d you get that Keyblade?” “Huh…?” She looked down at the weapon in her hand, then up at Riku. But Riku gave a tiny shake of his head as if he didn’t quite know, either. “So now Kairi and the king have Keyblades, too, not just Sora,” said Goofy. “What, we aren’t cool enough?” Donald edged closer to Kairi, squinting at her key. Goofy smiled helplessly. “What is the Keyblade, though, really?” Sora wondered. “A key, wielded by a chosen one… Nothing more.” With that, Saïx appeared. Kairi was the first to ready her Keyblade. “It’s you…!” she said with audible resentment. Sora glanced at her before fixing his attention on Saïx and readying himself for combat. “You—you’re the one who kidnapped Kairi!” “Hmph. Well, only you could have made it this far in one piece, Roxas.” “You know, that’s getting really old!” As Sora nearly lost his cool, Donald and Goofy jumped out in front of him, defending their friend. “Yeah! This is Sora!” Donald aimed his wand at Saïx. “Different name, same fate.” Saïx gripped the enormous Claymore and swung it faster than their eyes could follow. It whipped up a stinging gale that tore through the hall, past the trio to assail the other two. “Kairi!” Riku wrapped her in an embrace to shield her from the wind—which was fierce enough to hurl them back out of the passage. “Sora?!” Kairi called. “Leave it to us!” Sora replied. He rushed at Saïx with Donald and Goofy right behind him. “You’re gonna pay for what you did to Kairi!” His Keyblade clashed against the Claymore. “Thundaga!” Donald’s spell struck from above. Saïx swiftly knocked aside the Keyblade and blocked the lightning spell. “So…you are not just Roxas.” He spread his arms as if to gather up the light from Kingdom Hearts. His long blue hair stood on end, and a dull glow surrounded him. “Now what?!” Sora cried. The Claymore gleamed in the moonlight as Saïx struck at him—and with far more power than before. “Ngh…!” Sora winced. “Hold on, Sora!” Goofy slammed himself into Saïx’s back. Slowly, Saïx turned around. “All shall be lost to you!” he roared, whirling the Claymore to hurl Goofy away, and then charged Donald before he could finish his spell. “Wak!” “Goofy! Donald!” Sora ran to the mage collapsed on the floor, and gave him a potion before helping him up. Meanwhile, Goofy was already back on his feet to confront Saïx again. “C’mon, Donald!” Sora rushed Saïx again, knocking him into the air with an upward sweep, and then Goofy rammed him. Saïx soared higher still and regained his balance in midair—but Donald hit him squarely in the chest with a powerful “Firaga!” It blasted Saïx into the wall. Motionless, he dropped to the floor. “Got ’im!” Sora and Donald hugged, but Saïx dragged himself upright and raised his eyes to the sky. “No… Kingdom Hearts…” He opened his arms, bathed in the moonlight. “Where is my heart…?” He dissolved into dark mist and faded from existence. “Nothing less from the Keyblade wielder and the king’s finest,” Riku said after watching the battle, stepping cautiously toward them. Behind him, Kairi nodded. Gazing at Riku, Sora asked the question that had been on his mind for a while now. “So…why are they all calling me Roxas?” Riku blinked and rolled his eyes up toward the heart-shaped moon. “You know why, Riku, don’t you?” Sora pressed. “Because, Sora…” Reluctantly, he brought his gaze back down to meet Sora’s. “Roxas is your Nobody.” “My…Nobody?” Sora sank into thought. Goofy folded his arms, too. “Isn’t a Nobody what’s left behind when someone loses their heart and turns into a Heartless?” “But, Sora, you’ve never— Wak?” Donald interrupted himself, cocking his head. “It was when you came to rescue me,” said Kairi, trying to give them a hint. “Remember?” When Sora had plunged the Keyblade into his own breast to free Kairi’s heart from inside him…he had become a Heartless himself. “That’s how Roxas came into being,” Riku explained. “Xemnas was the one who found him. He could use the Keyblade because he was your Nobody. So Xemnas took him into Organization XIII—but he betrayed them. And then I fought him because I thought it would help you wake up.” He closed his eyes as if a memory was coming back to him and shook his head. “Riku?” Sora peered at him uncertainly. “The first time, I lost. The second time, I made sure I was stronger.” “You…lost to him?” At that, Riku opened his eyes and nodded. “Maybe I didn’t need to fight him after all. I think he left the organization because…” He looked squarely at Sora. “…Because he really wanted to meet you.” “Roxas…” Sora’s gaze fell. “I wish I could meet him, too.” My own Nobody… Another me. Roxas. As he fell into thought, Riku stepped closer and placed a hand over Sora’s heart. “Roxas…” “Huh?” Sora covered Riku’s hand with his own. Here… He means Roxas is here? A joyful, warm smile spread on Sora’s face. He let go of Riku’s hand and looked toward the other end of the passageway. Watching them, Kairi rested a hand on her own heart. “All right. Let’s go,” said Riku. The others nodded in reply. At the entrance to the passage, Naminé never took her eyes off the scene, somewhat protectively. Roxas… You returned, didn’t you? She placed her hand to her chest like Kairi had done. Was there a heart? She could feel the beating of her physical heart. We Nobodies are alive. But like this place itself, it was an in-between existence, barely definable. I have to go back soon, too… To where I can hear a warmer heartbeat. On the high balcony with a view of Kingdom Hearts, Ansem the Wise closely monitored the device as it worked. The ray linking it to the great moon twisted and trembled. He chuckled. “Ansem…?” King Mickey said tentatively. “Ah, my friend… So many years I’ve spent studying the workings of the heart, and yet in the end, it seems I haven’t learned a thing.” He shook his head, gazing up at Kingdom Hearts. “What d’ya mean?” “The process of encoding hearts into data can’t be predicted with calculations,” said Ansem. “The inhabitants of my simulated Twilight Town were data created from the hearts of real people. I was convinced that they would think and behave the way I’d envisioned—but I couldn’t have been more wrong. A heart is…so much more than any system could be.” The king folded his arms. He didn’t quite understand what the other Twilight Town was… But why would Hayner and his friends in the real Twilight Town have been so concerned with Sora? It was probably because of Roxas’s presence in the alternate Twilight Town. “I saw it when Roxas and Kairi crossed paths,” Ansem went on. “I knew… But I was too stubborn to accept it. I’ve always done that. I try to wrap my mind around what my heart already knows—and it goes awry.” The device, cradled in his arms, began humming ominously. “While I was trying to bring Sora back, I had so many plans in place. But once Sora was an acting force, they fell apart. All my research, all my designs amounted to nothing in the face of that one boy’s heart.” The droning from the device grew. Now it was vibrating. “Ansem—the machine!” King Mickey worried. “All the more proof that hearts cannot be contained by something so restrictive as data.” Finally looking away from Kingdom Hearts, Ansem focused on his friend. “Run now! This contraption may very well explode, and there’s no telling what might happen then!” “But—” Conflicted, the king lowered his eyes. And then they were no longer alone. “Your Majesty!” It was Sora and the gang, bounding up the steps to the balcony. “Sora…” Ansem turned to them. “The rest is up to you. And, Roxas—if by some chance you can hear me…I’m sorry.” If Sora could hear, maybe the one inside him could, too. He reached up to his heart, clenching his fist there. “Ansem!” King Mickey ran toward him. “My heart is telling me what I must do,” said Ansem. “Please…allow me to listen.” “No—!” The king couldn’t bring himself to leave Ansem’s side. Riku put a hand on King Mickey’s shoulder, shaking his head. “But Riku…! We can’t just—” He shook his head again, gently. “He’s going to follow his heart. No one can change that.” Just then, the air trembled at one corner of the balcony, and everyone but Ansem turned. “I was wondering who would dare interfere with my Kingdom Hearts.” Xemnas stepped out of a dark portal. “And look—here you all are.” “Xemnas…!” Sora stood ready with the Keyblade. “And even you, Ansem the Wise. You look pathetic.” Ansem refused to look at Xemnas as he spoke. “Have your laugh. I deserve as much for failing to see what a fool my apprentice was.” He shook his head in regret. “Students do take after their teachers. Any apprentice of yours would be a fool,” Xemnas sneered, then raised his eyes to the light of Kingdom Hearts. “After all, none of this would have happened without you. It was you who brought the Heartless into being. Your research inspired me to go further than you ever dared.” You saved me when I wandered without memories—or rather, saved Xehanort, Xemnas added to himself. If you hadn’t found me that day and helped me… If you hadn’t been studying the mysteries of the heart… Things would never have come to this. Does that mean it was all inevitable? Or is someone’s will at work? A will greater than ours…? “I admit, my recklessness brought chaos to more worlds than one. But what is it you were seeking?” Ansem demanded. He was asking the shell of his former apprentice, though he might ask the same question of himself. “You erased me from this world only to take my name and continue research better left forgotten… And is this the answer you’ve been after?” “Indeed. I am carrying on what you began, creating a new world brick by brick—heart by heart.” But even as Xemnas said it, he wondered. Really? Is it really what I sought? The inexorable pull of Kingdom Hearts, so strong that even he no longer understood what he’d first been seeking, and the longing for the heart he had lost… But what was a heart? What I lost when I became a Nobody…I don’t even know what it is. He concentrated his frustration back on Ansem. “Once I thought I’d earn your praise. But all you’ve ever done is hold me back. I understand—unlike me, you have a heart. And you are powerless to control it. Consumed by your jealousy of the student who surpassed his teacher.” Ansem sadly shook his head. That young scientist who had once shown so much promise in the town of Radiant Garden—where had he gone? Was this what it meant to lose one’s heart? Or…had he never had one to begin with? “Xehanort… The foolish apprentice of a foolish man,” Ansem said heavily, at last facing Xemnas properly. “You have surpassed nothing—only proven that neither of us ever learned anything. We may profess to know the heart, but its essence is beyond our grasp. We are both ignorant, as oblivious as when we began. Any world you try to create would be the same—an empire born of ignorance! You and your creation are destined to fail!” Sparks were flying from the device he held. He forced himself to stop ranting. “I’ve said enough. Riku—you know what to do!” Riku nodded firmly. “King Mickey, my friend… Forgive me!” Anguished, the king shook his head. “Farewell!” Ansem said, just as a blinding light flared from the device. And in the same moment, Riku darted out to shield King Mickey, Sora, and the other three. The device fired its last at the great moon. Tumbling down from Kingdom Hearts and spilling from the machine were hearts, countless glowing souls. Sora had seen a rain of light like this once before… Back then, those radiant shards had belonged to the worlds… But now, they belonged to hearts. Deep in the castle and all over the world, the Nobodies looked up to the sky. The hearts they sought showered down upon them. And then…new Heartless were born, too. The brilliant light pervaded everything, and they knew no more… The light is what we lost… Our hearts and so many other precious things. Wake up, Sora. Hey, Riku… Wake up. The things you lost have come back, right? Naminé clasped her hands together beneath the shower of light. He thought he heard someone calling his name. Sora came to, eventually pushing himself up. The first thing his eyes focused on was Riku—collapsed on the floor. “Riku…!” Sora scrambled over to him and knelt down, peering into his face. It belonged to a silver-haired boy. Not the Ansem-impersonating Xehanort, not anymore. It was the real Riku. Donald and Goofy got up and saw what had happened. “Wow!” “Hooray, you’re back!” And then Kairi was awake, too. “Riku!” As he slowly got to his feet, they noticed the black sash covering his eyes. He shook his head, then cautiously touched his face. “No tellin’ what might happen, huh…?” King Mickey murmured to himself as he stood, repeating Ansem’s words. And then they noticed that neither Ansem nor Xemnas was anywhere to be seen. “Riku!” Sora flung his arms around the other boy, looking up into his face. Far up. I know we haven’t seen each other for a year—but Riku’s so much taller! No fair! “Are you gonna take that off?” said Sora, tugging at the black cloth over Riku’s eyes. Riku slowly untied it and blinked against the light. Sora let him go and asked, “What’s that for?” Riku lowered his head. “His eyes couldn’t lie,” said the king, stepping toward them. “Lie?” Sora pouted at Riku. “Just who were you trying to lie to, huh?” Riku’s expression didn’t change as he looked up again. “Myself.” That word from him had a terrible certainty to it. Sora’s brows drew together and he moved closer to his friend again, staring into the face he’d missed so much. “Seriously, Riku…!” Sora grabbed his collar. “Why were you trying to do so much on your own? You’ve got friends—you have us!” Donald and Goofy nodded, then King Mickey, and finally Kairi. Seeing all his friends smiling at him, Riku exhaled and leaned over, bringing his face close to Sora’s. “What, did you forget? The thing is, Sora… I’m not a huge sap like you.” “Hey!” Sora scowled. “That’s harsh!” Just as the others burst into laughter, an unsettling sound emanated from the diminishing Kingdom Hearts in the sky—a rumble that shook through the world. Donald ran to the balcony. “Uh-oh!” The hearts that should have been scattering through the worlds were now trying to assemble back into Kingdom Hearts. And huge swarms of Heartless were crawling up and up in an attempt to chase them. “What should we do, Riku?” Sora looked at his friend. “We have to defeat Xemnas. He’s the last surviving member of Organization XIII.” With that, Riku threw off his black cloak. In his hand was his own Keyblade—the Way to the Dawn. “Yeah…,” Sora agreed, seeing that the other boy was already leaving. He was only too happy to follow. “Riku!” The hordes of Heartless set upon them in far greater numbers than before. They couldn’t afford to stall, instead dashing on to the highest point of the castle. “How are there so many…?” Riku muttered. Sora grinned at him. “We can beat ’em together!” Right. We’ll be okay together. Whatever’s waiting for us, we can get through it now that Riku’s back. “Sora! Riku!” Kairi called, pointing up to an inky blotch on a wall. More and more Heartless were pouring out of the roiling blackness. “Time to show ’em what we’re made of!” Sora hurled himself right into the swarm—or was about to, when two figures arrived to block his path. “Be gone from here!” the tall, shadowy one cried in her cold, imperious voice. “Leave these creatures to us!” “But there’s no way we can take ’em all!” another voice protested—one that King Mickey and the others from Disney Castle couldn’t have forgotten if they wanted to. Somehow, Maleficent and Pete were here. “I will be sending them after Xemnas,” Maleficent told him. “Unless you would rather fight them yourself?” Pete seemed to consider for an instant before twitching in alarm. He looked at her helplessly. “Uh, I think there’s one more option… Run!” Maleficent turned her back on him and raised her staff. “Off with you, then!” Pete edged backward, right into King Mickey. Recognizing the king, he pulled himself together enough for a disdainful smirk. “…Well, if it ain’t the boat-boy king.” “I think you’d better weigh anchor, Captain Pete!” said the king. Pete squinted in confusion. Right, he used to call me captain. Back when this little guy was always scurrying around, giving me a headache with his mischief. Back then… I used to be great back then…! “What, me putter away?! I don’t think so!” Pete ran back to Maleficent, who stood facing down the Heartless. “Sora! And you, little king!” With a swish of her cape, Maleficent brandished her staff at the Heartless. “Remember this—when you are finished here, this castle shall be mine!” “Heh. I don’t get too many chances to show up the king! Bring ’em on!” Pete charged into the swarms. “We’d better hurry,” King Mickey prompted Sora, who was watching Maleficent and Pete. “But…!” He had his Keyblade ready, prepared to follow them into the fray. “They’re doing what their hearts command. We can’t interfere.”