Chapter 15

Keyblade Graveyard

SORA STOOD ON THE WASTELAND, HIS RIGHT HAND clasped firmly in Kairi’s left.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Kairi.”

Kairi smiled back at him. When Sora looked around them, he saw that all the others were there, too.

“It did work.”

I’m so glad.

Sora felt the tight knot of emotions within him slowly coming undone. The despair had threatened to consume him—but it was thanks to all those he saw here now that he had made it back. Sora slowly released his grip on Kairi’s hand. Everything was going to be okay.

Donald and Goofy smiled valiantly.

“Of course!”

“Now point us back at those guys!”

Their enthusiasm filled Sora with relief, and he faced forward again. “Right!”

Everyone quickly agreed and got moving. Master Xehanort and his cohorts—the real Organization XIII—awaited them across the wastes.

Ventus was the first to catch sight of the figure up ahead amid the whirling dust. “Terra!” he shouted, running off before anyone could get a word in.

Aqua started after him, calling his name with a hint of apprehension. Ventus was unaware that Terra’s body was under Xehanort’s control.

“Terra! We found you!” Ventus exclaimed as he took his friend’s hand.

In a rather more cautious voice, Aqua said, “Terra, please say you’re in there.”

Instead of replying, Terra observed her quietly. His blue eyes seemed to stare right through her, and she placed a hand on Ventus’s shoulder to draw him away.

“What gives, Aqua?”

“I know that you’re not him,” Aqua said as she placed herself before Ventus protectively. “Now, let our friend go!”

That was when Terra’s hair turned white, and his blue eyes turned to gold.

“He is their thirteenth,” Mickey said softly.

“Today is the day you all lose,” Terra-Xehanort quietly told the nine heroes.

“What?!” Aqua cried.

A dark fog began to congeal behind Terra-Xehanort. “Before you even face the thirteen, every last one of you will be torn heart from body. But fear not. The χ-Blade will still be forged.”

Terra-Xehanort called his Keyblade to his hand. Beyond the dark fog, atop the cliffs looming above the wasteland, countless Keyblades stood thrust into the terrain like grave markers.

“We’re not gonna lose to you.”

With a smirk at Sora’s challenge, Terra-Xehanort launched himself at Ventus, closing the distance in a single moment, and dealt the boy a devastating blow with his Keyblade—or he would have, if someone had not intercepted the attack.

“Who are you?”

The one who blocked and knocked away Terra-Xehanort’s Keyblade was a man clad in armor. “Got you, Xehanort,” he said, forcing the possessed figure back.

“Terra?” Aqua said softly. That armor had once belonged to their friend. And what lay within it now…was Terra’s lingering will. Though there was no one physically in the armor now, the thoughts and desires dwelling within it were still fighting to protect everyone.

“This is impossible!” Terra-Xehanort seemed panicked as the Lingering Will strode ominously toward him.

“How I’ve waited for this moment.”

Its Keyblade lashed out like a whip and wrapped around Terra-Xehanort’s weapon, and the Lingering Will yanked back its Keyblade with enough force to fling Terra-Xehanort into the air. Terra-Xehanort quickly let go of his ensnared Keyblade and adjusted his trajectory in midair so he could attack his armored foe head-on. But the Lingering Will’s Keyblade transformed into what looked like a giant cannon and released a blast of light.

Terra-Xehanort let out a cry of anguish as the beam sent him hurtling back. The Lingering Will wasn’t about to let him escape, though. As soon as Terra-Xehanort had recovered his Keyblade, he was forced to fend off a furious assault.

“Terra!”

“No, Ven!”

Aqua stopped Ventus as he tried to join the fray.

“But—”

“Them first,” Aqua said as she turned around. Ventus followed her line of sight to a vast throng of Nobodies, Heartless, and Unversed that practically filled the sky—and it was coming right at them. The ground rumbled and shook as an inky darkness spread—and from it emerged the Demon Tide.

“We’ll hold off the others.”

Aqua and Ventus charged toward the advancing army.

“Okay. We’ve got this!” Sora replied, and then he, Donald, and Goofy turned to take on the Demon Tide. Riku, Mickey, Kairi, and Axel readied their Keyblades for battle as well.

Sora hacked away at the Demon Tide, which was like a tsunami composed of hundreds of thousands of Shadows. Goofy did his best to fend off any attacks on Sora, but whenever the Heartless managed to land a hit, Donald was right there to patch him up with a spell.

Meanwhile, Riku and the king fought the horde of Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed. It was like taking on all the different foes they had ever faced at once.

“You hangin’ in there, Riku?”

“I’m fine! What about you?”

Just as he had been back in the realm of darkness, Riku was reminded of how much Mickey was looking out for him. Their friendship was a little different than his and Sora’s. He and Mickey were open with each other, of course, but there was still a sort of respectful distance between them. That distance didn’t exist between him and Sora, but was still comfortable for Riku all the same.

I guess it’s like…we know we’ve got each other’s backs.

Riku risked a quick glance to the side to check on Kairi, who was fighting alongside Axel. The fruit of their training was evident in their teamwork.

“I’ve got this!” Kairi called out to Axel as she parried an attack from a Nobody.

“Glad I’ve got you in my corner, Kairi!”

“Right back at you, Axel!”

Though the two of them were trading banter as they always did during training, this was no time for joking around. Axel threw his flame-wreathed Keyblade at the enemy. “I just wish I felt better about all this.”

These Nobodies used to work for me, after all. Fighting them…kinda hurts. And it wouldn’t hurt if I didn’t have a heart now. I can feel that sadness and loneliness. Yeah, I might have been faking emotions back then, but it’s not like I couldn’t remember how they felt. If I had lost all my memories—like Roxas did—then I wouldn’t be thinking about all this.

Axel’s Keyblade returned to his hand. Across the battlefield, Ventus and Aqua were going head-to-head with a giant Heartless.

I never forgot about Ventus. But if you don’t go back to those memories every once in a while, they’ll just slip away. Bet that’s why so many things are coming back to me lately. But there’s still so much more I have to remember.

“Aqua!” shouted Ventus, who dashed over to his friend as a punch from a huge Heartless sent her to her knees. He caught the follow-up attack that was intended for her with his Keyblade. He took advantage of the recoil to rush in close and finish it off.

“Thanks…but it looks like now isn’t the time to talk,” Aqua replied as she got to her feet and moved off to confront more Heartless.

Ventus followed suit and went after an Unversed.

I never thought the two of us would be fighting together side by side again. I hope all three of us will be together again soon—but right now, I’ll trust the piece of him he left in that suit of armor. Terra will come back to us, just like Ventus did. I know he will.

The Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed kept coming—no matter how many they struck down, there were always more to take their place. It seemed like the darkness was blotting out the sky itself.

All the same, they couldn’t give up.

“Let’s end this!” Sora shouted as he dealt the Demon Tide an attack so fierce that the whole shape of the mass shifted.

“C’mon…” As Sora came back to the ground, he watched as the Demon Tide began swirling around itself in a vortex.

“Something’s wrong,” Goofy said.

“Look out!” Donald shouted.

All the Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed were sucked into the winds it had stirred up, forming a colossal hurricane of darkness.

Soon, Riku, the king, Kairi, Axel, Aqua, and Ventus were staring in awe as well.

“What now?” Goofy asked as he edged backward, using his shield to fend off the wind.

“Sora?” Donald asked with an uncertain glance.

“I’ll stop it!”

Sora broke into a run, knocking aside any Heartless that got in his way as he made a beeline for the Demon Tide.

“Sora!” Donald and Goofy both shouted behind him.

Just as Sora sprang into the air and was about to come down on the Demon Tide with his Keyblade, a blinding light engulfed him.

“Need some help?”

Standing within the light was a boy Sora had never even seen before, let alone met. The boy had silver hair and a red scarf around his neck.

“Huh?” Sora gasped, then found himself back on the ground again. When he opened his eyes, thousands of Keyblades were flashing through the air above him. It was like all the Keyblades thrust into the soil like grave markers had taken on a life of their own, joining together to attack the Demon Tide.

Sora leaped onto the swarm of Keyblades and rode it straight toward the dark vortex. The Keyblades plunged into the Demon Tide and scattered it.

Need some help?

I don’t know who that guy was, but I bet he’s the one who called all these Keyblades into the fight. I can feel the emotions in each and every one of them—these must be the wills of the ancient Keyblade wielders.

The surviving Heartless of the Demon Tide came back together to form what resembled a black comet hurtling toward Sora. But the Keyblades fanned out to shield him from the onslaught, and together with all of them, Sora became a ray of light and sliced the dark mass apart.

Once he landed back on the ground, Sora looked up at the thousands of Keyblades. Their purpose served, the proud weapons burst apart into glimmering shards.

“Sora! Are you okay?” Riku called, running over.

“Yeah,” he replied with a smile.

“What was that?” Mickey asked, looking up to where the Keyblades had been a moment ago.

Aqua answered. “Keyblade wielders…from long ago.”

I knew it. I was feeling the hearts of Keyblade wielders from ancient times.

We’re all connected…

“It’s the light of the past,” Ventus added as he, too, looked up at the sky.

“Look.” Kairi spotted someone and pointed.

“Just send out the Big Bad,” Axel grumbled.

The one strolling toward them across the empty battlefield…was Riku—a Riku that was a little younger than the one with them now. He snickered at the guardians.

“You!” Riku shouted, taking a step forward.

Mickey quickly stepped over to hold him back. “The Organization’s been using hearts. Ones Xehanort got to in the past and has influence over. So that must be you from when Ansem had control of your heart.”

“Yeah. How could I forget?” Riku said half to himself, lowering his head for a moment. Amused by his chagrin, the other Riku—Dark Riku—opened his eyes wide, bared his teeth, and laughed loudly.

“I’d say that was our finest hour.”

Riku returned the gaze of his younger self. “Wrong. My hour of weakness.”

“You sure? How about we find out?!”

A black miasma billowed up from Dark Riku, and then, from behind him, a gigantic shadow shaped like Master Xehanort rose ominously. It extended its arms to the sides, filling the sky.

“A real test for the Mark of Mastery!” cried Dark Riku.

Xigbar chose that moment to make his entrance. “We gotta make sure you’re not blundering your way toward a second failure,” he said with a sneer.

Axel answered with a snarky comment of his own, “Blundering? I’ll have you know we failed with style, chief.”

“At least you admit it. Well, if you guardians think you brought the goods, you’ll have to prove it to the old guy one last time. Kid, take it away,” returned Xigbar, clapping a hand onto Dark Riku’s shoulder and vanishing in a swirl of darkness.

Dark Riku let out a bellow, causing the dark figure looming behind him to swell even larger. Several Demon Towers burst from the ground around Sora and his friends. Dark Riku made a shadowy exit of his own, leaving the world shrouded in darkness.

The Shadows were so great in number that it was hard to tell if they were a tower, a tide, or even individuals at all. One thing was certain: There were enough of them to consume the world. The creatures attacked haphazardly, and while Sora and the other guardians dispatched any that came their way, there was no end in sight. It wasn’t just Shadows—or even Heartless—that threatened them, either. There were also Nobodies and Unversed among the throng.

“Form up! Now!” Aqua shouted.

Everyone gathered in a circle, but they were being pressed back in on one another. Within the defensive ring, Mickey looked down at the Keyblade in his hand.

Is this it for us…? No, we can’t fall here!

Mickey started to raise his Keyblade—only to be stopped short by Riku. Mickey looked up at him, but Riku only shook his head quietly.

“If you try to use time magic against these numbers, you won’t have enough strength for the final battle.”

Mickey lowered his eyes sadly.

“I’ll try and break through,” Aqua called. “Everyone, get ready!”

“Alone? That’s crazy! I’ll help!” said Ventus. Both of them struck at the Heartless, but no more than that.

“Two is no better,” said Kairi.

“Yeah, splitting up’s a bad idea!” Axel added, punctuating the statement with a swing of his Keyblade. Even as they argued, more and more Shadows were falling from the sky like a black rain.

“There’s way too many!” Goofy yelped, dropping into a fearful crouch.

“We’re finished!” Donald quickly joined him.

It’s gonna be just like last time…

Or so Sora thought, until an orb of light lanced through the gloom overhead and fell upon their foes. The light grew into a radiant column that sent the Shadows flying every which way, and the guardians had to shield their eyes against it. When they opened them again to see what had happened, standing before them was Yen Sid.

“Master Yen Sid!”

The sorcerer, who was also a Keyblade Master, clapped his glowing hands together, then quickly held them aloft, releasing a burst of light that destroyed any Shadow it touched and created a pathway straight through the horde.

“Go, my young champions. I will hold them all here for as long as I can.”

“We’re not gonna leave you behind!” Mickey cried.

Donald and Goofy looked at each other and then, with a nod, ran over to Yen Sid’s side.

“You guys go on!”

“Me and Donald will stay here. The two of us’ll back up Master Yen Sid!”

The two of them readied their weapons to protect the sorcerer’s back.

“Donald… Goofy…” Sadness filled Sora’s voice. They had stuck by his side through all his adventures thus far, and he hated to leave them.

“You’re a whole pint by yourself, Sora,” Donald said in reply.

“Don’t worry. We’ll catch up with ya in just a bit!” Goofy added with a smile.

Sora and Mickey looked at their friends.

“Okay!”

“We’ll regroup later!”

Yen Sid then shouted, “Make haste!”

Sora and the rest of his companions ran down the glowing path the sorcerer had cleared for them.

The seven guardians of light eventually reached a crossroads in the wasteland marked out by countless Keyblades thrust into the reddish-brown soil. Aqua, Ventus, and Terra had been here before.

Sora and the others came to a halt in the middle of the crossroads. Thirteen figures clad in black coats were walking toward them with Master Xehanort at the center.

“Today, we join these other wielders and leave our mark on fate. I have waited patiently…but together, we shall unlock the Keyblade War’s secrets. Now we forge it. The ultimate key… The χ-Blade!” he said, calling his Keyblade to his hands and plunging it into the ground.

With a deafening rumble and huge clouds of dust, thick walls engraved with arcane symbols rose up from the wasteland, cutting off any other possible paths for Sora and his companions and trapping them in a labyrinth. The guardians of light found themselves surrounded on all four sides, and beyond the maze they could see Master Xehanort standing atop a solitary stone pillar in the distance. Just below him, the remaining twelve figures in black coats stood before him like a barrier on top of a wide, square platform.

“Here we go,” Sora said to his friends, and then they stepped into the maze that beckoned them onward. After a short time, they reached a fork in the path. Sora was wondering how to best make their way through the narrow corridors of the maze with so many people when Riku offered an idea:

“Looks like splitting into two groups might be our best option.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

Riku walked down one passage, while Mickey walked down the other. Aqua and Ventus followed the king, while Kairi and Axel joined Riku.

“Be careful, everyone,” called Kairi.

“Same to you,” Sora said back, then let out a deep breath. Donald and Goofy aren’t with me anymore, but that doesn’t mean I have to do this alone. I just have to choose carefully…

“Agh!”

Mickey’s yelp brought Sora back into the present. He could see the king fighting multiple Organization members down the right-hand path.

“Your Majesty!” Sora shouted and took off running. Barriers slid up from the ground to cut him off, but he was able to dodge them as he hurried to aid his friend.

Mickey was surrounded by Marluxia, Larxene, Luxord, and Xemnas. Aqua and Ventus were nowhere to be found. Maybe he had sent them on ahead while he handled things here?

Luxord threw cards from Mickey’s left, while Larxene released a blast of lightning from his right. The king leaped high in the air to avoid both, but that was when Marluxia chose to spring at him with his scythe. Mickey did a quick flip in midair, and the blade just barely whizzed by, leaving a trail of scarlet flower petals behind it. Sora ran over to the king’s side when he landed.

“Your Majesty!”

“Sora!”

As soon as the two of them joined up, the combat began again in earnest. With an arrogant sneer, Xemnas floated into the air and summoned a hedge of black brambles around the battlefield.

Marluxia pressed the attack with his scythe, while Larxene kept up the heat with her electrified throwing knives. Meanwhile, Luxord came after them with tricky maneuvers from his playing cards.

Still, Sora and the king were starting to gain the upper hand, until…

With another smug sneer, Xemnas held out his palms and released a black light that poured over Luxord and infused his body with its power. With one final conceited laugh, Xemnas released the dark barrier around them all and vanished.

“Xemnas!”

Luxord, Larxene, and Marluxia remained.

When Luxord fanned out the cards decorated with black symbols in his hand, they flashed red for a moment.

“Exactly what I needed,” he said, then scattered cards in every direction. The cards grew in size and formed a large enclosure around Sora and Mickey. Then, while the two of them were watching this unfold, Luxord threw his final card right at Sora.

“Sora, look out!” Mickey swiftly darted in to protect him.

“No!” Sora yelled out as the card intended for him sucked the king inside with a flash of light. It returned to Luxord’s hand, only now bearing an image of a trapped Mickey.

“Sora, one final game. The rules are simple. All you have to do to win is find me among these cards and strike me down,” said the roguish gentleman.

The cards surrounding Sora began to rotate around him. Luxord then snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving Sora alone with Marluxia and Larxene in the ring of cards.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out!” Sora swung his Keyblade at one of the cards.

“Too bad,” Luxord said as the card vanished, and Marluxia swung down at Sora from behind with his scythe. Sora was able to block the attack, though, and then go for the next card. Unfortunately, a cackling Larxene stood in his path. The crackling knives she threw sent Sora tumbling back, but he quickly bounced to his feet and rushed for the next card.

“Impressive,” Luxord commented as his position was revealed. Sora closed the gap between them in a single bound and let him have it with his Keyblade.

“You were born for these sorts of games.” Luxord gasped as the blow sent him to his knees. The rotating cards scattered, and a black miasma flowed out from him.

Snorting with laughter, Luxord threw a card to Sora, who caught it.

“What’s this?”

“A wild card. You’ve earned it. Hang on to it. Could turn the tables.”

“Play ya again sometime,” said Sora, observing the card. “When we’re just guys.”

Luxord grinned and replied, “I should like that very much, Sora.” With that, he transformed into pure darkness and faded from view, leaving behind only a single card, the one bearing Mickey’s image. With a flash, the king was released from his prison.

“Thanks,” Mickey said.

Sora gave a thumbs-up in response—but their reunion was cut short by a flash of lightning.

“I always knew he was useless.”

Larxene came flying into their midst hot on the heels of the blast, but Sora and Mickey shared a quick glance and dodged back out of the way.

“You’re so annoying!” she shouted, and she sprang straight at Sora, sending a knife flying ahead of her. Sora knocked it away, but this time Larxene leaped high into the air and threw more knives that stuck into the ground and crackled with electricity.

Avoiding the onslaught by a hairbreadth, he landed a swift Keyblade strike on Larxene as she returned to the ground.

The desperate blow knocked the fight right out of her.

“Are you kidding?” Larxene sank to her knees in pain as the darkness fled her body.

“You’re gonna be recompleted,” Sora reassured her. Just like Axel and Ienzo were. I wonder what she was like as a human…

“I didn’t ask you for your garbage opinion. I lost! To a bunch of losers like you! But…could be worse. Become that geezer’s heart tank? No thanks.” Larxene cast her gaze up toward the sky.

“Then why help him?”

“I was really just along for the ride,” she said offhandedly.

“With…?” Sora asked.

Larxene shot him a quick glance from the corner of her eye. “My secret,” she said with a finger pressed to her mouth, then faded to oblivion.

That left only Marluxia, who Mickey had been dueling while Sora was busy with Larxene. His scythe left trails of crimson petals fluttering in the air as the two of them exchanged blows.

When Sora ran over to join the fight, Marluxia threw his scythe to stop him short. Apparently, he had been keeping tabs on Sora even while he was otherwise engaged. Sora deflected the scythe, sending up another outpouring of red petals. Mickey used this moment to fire off a spell, which Marluxia had to teleport away from to avoid. This time, Sora was the one ready with a counterattack, firing off a volley of shining energy that sent the villain tumbling to the ground.

“You pests…”

As had happened with his comrades, a dark haze began to stream into the sky from Marluxia’s body as he sagged to his knees. His scythe vanished in a shower of petals as it hit the earth beside him.

“Oh… So now it all comes back to me.” Marluxia chuckled sadly.

“Hey. Is that a real laugh?” Sora asked.

Marluxia placed a hand against his own chest and turned his gold eyes toward Sora.

“Yes… My heart is remembering how to feel.”

“Really? That’s good,” replied Sora, returning the gaze.

“And now, I am on the cusp of reclaiming my identity… My purpose for being… Thanks to you, Sora,” Marluxia said. With that, he faded away into black mist.

“Sora!”

“Your Majesty!”

The two friends shared a smile.

“I’ll go after Xemnas while you find the others,” said Mickey.

“Okay!”

Sora left him and headed back to the initial fork in the maze. This time he took the other path. While the walls were more aggressive in their attempts to stop him than before, Sora made clever use of the cover available as he proceeded.

He could see Riku up ahead, locked in combat with the other version of himself. Observing it all with crossed arms from a short distance away was Ansem. It appeared Axel and Kairi had gone on ahead.

“Riku!”

“Sora!” Riku shouted back. He caught an attack from his dark counterpart while Xigbar fired a barrage from his Arrowguns. Sora and Riku nodded at each other, then each chose a target to go after.

Sora decided to start with Ansem, who hovered in the air and attacked with a barrier of lasers protecting him. But the barrier couldn’t stay up forever, and Sora waited for the moments when Ansem was defenseless to jump in with his Keyblade.

Dark Riku was focused solely on Riku, engaging him in a frenzied contest of Keyblades off in the distance. That left Xigbar, who darted about the battlefield unpredictably. The struggle continued in this manner for a time, until…

“Shadows!” roared Ansem as he created a barrage of black orbs. While Sora and Riku weathered the attack, Ansem put some distance between them and unleashed a murky fog. With a mocking smile, he turned to make his exit.

“Wait!” Riku shouted as he raced to catch Ansem.

But then a voice called out, “Where are you going?” and suddenly Dark Riku was on him again. Ansem looked back with a smirk, then moved out of sight as Dark Riku sent Riku crashing to the ground.

“Riku!”

Glowing bolts fired from Xigbar’s Arrowguns harried Sora as he ran to his friend. Sora shielded Riku from the stream of projectiles using his Keyblade.

“Hey, let’s speed it up! Keep the line moving!” Xigbar taunted. Now it was Sora versus Xigbar and Riku against Dark Riku.

It was all Sora could do to keep up with Xigbar’s unpredictable movements. Riku will be fine, he told himself. That guy may look like him, but he doesn’t even come close.

Sora devoted all his attention to Xigbar, countering his arrows with blasts of light from his Keyblade. When the crafty villain was briefly thrown off-balance, Sora quickly closed the distance between them and got some hits in.

The cycle repeated for several rounds before finally, Xigbar couldn’t take any more.

“Figures. If I had a Keyblade, it’d be different…,” he muttered. A black miasma began to rise from his body, just as it had when Luxord, Marluxia, and Larxene had fallen. This was what happened when Nobodies met their end.

There was also a certain sadness in Xigbar as he knelt on the ground.

“Like you’re actually worthy to use one,” Sora said skeptically.

“Oh, I am worthy,” he shot back. Using his Arrowguns for support, Xigbar pushed himself back to his feet.

“Whaddaya mean?”

“The old coot promised to bequeath me his. Why else do you think I would ever put up with all his nonsense?”

Is he talking about Master Xehanort? I don’t believe for a minute that a guy like Xigbar could ever wield a Keyblade.

“It’d be wasted on you.”

“As if.”

With a defiant grimace, Xigbar vanished in a swirl of darkness. Sensing someone watching him from above, Sora looked up to see that he had teleported to the top of one of the stone walls. He then slowly staggered backward and toppled from the opposite edge.

His Arrowguns remained for a time, but eventually they, too, dispersed into dark mist.

“You can’t stop me!” Dark Riku roared, bringing Sora back into the moment. Riku and his dark version were in the midst of a fierce exchange. Sora hurried over to assist his friend with Keyblade at the ready.

“How about this!” Sora shouted as he battered Dark Riku with a series of attacks, while Riku followed up with more of the same. The two of them moved with almost telepathic coordination as they pummeled Dark Riku.

Finally, Riku delivered the coup de grâce and sent their foe flying.

Dark Riku rose on unsteady feet as black vapor began to seep out and shroud his form in darkness. “You’re not…real,” he said, faltering.

Riku inhaled sharply.

“I’m…the real one…,” Dark Riku said again. His breathing was labored, and he seemed on the verge of losing consciousness.

“Aren’t you my past self? From when Ansem possessed me?” Riku asked in surprise. He expected Sora to answer, but the answer came from someone else.

“No, you beat Ansem, and you’re still here. This guy…is me!” came a voice.

After all, Riku Replica and Dark Riku were identical, right down to the darkness they wore.

Oh—I can sense it. It’s that guy Riku knows so well, the one who helped him on the Dark Margin when the darkness almost swallowed him up. The guy he spoke to on the Destiny Islands.

It’s the Riku Replica inside his heart.

The Riku Replica moved swiftly to his dark twin and pressed a hand to his chest. Dark Riku let out a howl as darkness began to spiral out from the point of connection, until he appeared to be wearing a black coat with the hood up.

“I knew it. It’s a Replica. A soon-to-be empty vessel. I’ve been waiting for a chance like this.”

Darkness swirled around Riku Replica and Dark Riku once again. After a moment, Riku Replica flew out with Dark Riku under one arm, leaving behind only the empty Replica in a black coat.

“Hey! What are you doing? Take the vessel!” Riku shouted.

“No.” Riku Replica smiled back at Riku. “The world already has you. There’s someone else who needs the Replica more. You know who I mean.”

The empty Replica slumped to the ground.

Riku suddenly realized something. “Naminé. You’re saving her.”

Riku Replica looked down at him with a smile, still holding Dark Riku.

“Good luck,” he replied, and with that, the two of them vanished, his white light mixed with the darkness of his old self.

She was special to me.

And now I can finally be my own person. Me, and no one else.

The two boys couldn’t hear the words, but they could feel them.

Riku and Sora observed the fallen Replica in the black coat.

“Is that a Replica—for Naminé?” Sora asked.

Riku thought for a moment before he answered. “Yeah. Wish we could help her now. But first…”

“I know,” Sora agreed. We’ve got a bigger priority right now.

“I’m going after Ansem.”

He may have run off somewhere, but we can’t just ignore him.

“Okay. I’ll go help the others.”

Sora knew there were others who still needed help up ahead, so he hurried off to find them.

Now by himself, Riku looked down at the Replica.

“Just wait a bit longer. Once this is all over, I swear…,” he said, sounding almost as though he were asking for forgiveness.

And then suddenly, Riku wasn’t alone anymore.

“Hey, I thought you’d be gone by now,” the new arrival said.

“You’re…the Organization!” Riku brandished his Keyblade at the man in a black coat approaching from a dark portal.

“Whoa, chill out. I’m not here to fight, I promise. Listen. Name’s Demyx,” the man said with a shrug. He seemed entirely too laid-back given the present circumstances. “It’s a long story, but I’m sorta on your side… Oh right, here. See?”

He produced a Gummiphone from his pocket, hoping to dispel Riku’s suspicions.

“All the cool kids have one, right? Zex…er, Ienzo got me this. Enough proof for ya?”

“Why are you here?”

The Gummiphone wasn’t enough to make Riku put away his Keyblade.

So Demyx leaned in close to his ear and began to whisper. “I’m on a top secret mission. Apparently, they’re looking to find themselves another Replica. I heard a rumor that I could maybe find one here from Zex…er, Ienzo, so I’ve just been killing time.” He leaned down and picked the Replica up off the ground.

“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Riku said, finally setting his doubts aside.

“Don’t worry about it! Not to brag, but I’ve done this before.”

Demyx headed back toward his portal with the Replica slung over his shoulder.

“That’s not just an empty vessel,” Riku told him. “It’s filled with important memories. Promise me—you’ll be careful with it. Deliver it safely, okay?”

Demyx turned back to the ever-serious Riku with a grin and gave a thumbs-up. “Demyx time!”

INTERMISSION

Who are you?

BACK ON THE WORLD OF OLYMPUS, WHEN THIS whole adventure had only just begun, Sora and his friends had defeated the Heartless, Hades, and the Titans mere moments ago.

Meanwhile, an evil fairy and her henchman arrived in a now Heartless-free city on a box hunt. As he watched it all unfold, Xigbar softly whispered to himself.

“May your heart be your guiding key.”

A voice abruptly addressed him from behind.

“Picture this: A black goat stashes away a letter, then orders a white goat to search for it. What could his intentions possibly be?”

Xigbar scanned the area for the speaker and spied Luxord emerging from the Corridors of Darkness.

“Great, a riddle. Just what I need.” Xigbar shrugged, his usual sarcastic grin in place.

Luxord paid it no mind, instead producing and hiding cards in a series of sleight-of-hand tricks. “There are many possibilities. Perhaps he forgot where it’s hidden, or he’s playing a prank, or the letter has truly gone missing. I can think of several reasons offhand; guessing…is simply useless.”

“Well then, just follow your orders, plain and simple,” Xigbar said wearily at Luxord’s implications.

“Yes, that’s what I’ve always done. I followed the orders from above without question. However, I sometimes can’t help but read into my opponent’s strategy,” Luxord replied.

Xigbar snorted. “Too long on the job?”

Luxord was, first and foremost, a gambler. Any member of the Organization that came asking questions about the box would be a problem for Xigbar.

He knew very well that he was playing the part of the fool in all this, for Master Xehanort and for the entire world. He couldn’t have someone start believing there was a deeper meaning behind the performance.

“If the contents of the box are so unknown, why is it of such critical importance to the Organization? Furthermore, was it Xehanort or Xemnas who gave the order?”

“Well, it’s tricky,” Xigbar replied, mentally gritting his teeth at Luxord’s infuriating tenacity.

“All Xehanort cares about is the clash between the seven lights and thirteen darknesses. It’s unlikely he would hold such an interest in this mysterious box. Which means…the order was issued by Xemnas, or the one who informed me of my task—you.”

Luxord fixed Xigbar with a look he normally saved for an especially heated card game—direct and searching for any tell. Xigbar wasn’t about to give anything away, though.

“As if! It musta been Xemnas.”

“My inquiries suggested otherwise.”

Luxord’s retort gave Xigbar some pause, but he quickly adapted and incorporated his very real surprise into the act.

“Oh man…you asked him?”

“What are your intentions?”

Convincing your opponent that they have the upper hand is also important in games like this. In fact, it was an essential strategy—and that’s why Xigbar turned toward Luxord and began talking like some child coming up with excuses.

“Look, I don’t know what’s inside the box. But it’s been protected by Keyblade wielders since way back when. Aren’t you curious? I heard it contains information that’s vital to all Keyblade wielders—secrets.”

“And where did you hear this?” Luxord inquired.

“Hmm, I don’t remember.” Xigbar looked away, feigning forgetfulness.

“I keep my eyes and ears wide open, but I’ve traveled to so many different places, it’s hard to keep everything straight, y’know?” Xigbar continued, trying to play it all off as nothing.

Luxord threw a card his way, and Xigbar snatched it out of the air just before it could slice him. “If this box is truly as important as you say, why now?”

Xigbar had no answer for that.

“I believe you discovered that others also seek it, and you need to find it before anyone else does in order to keep your connection to the box a secret from those around you. Xigbar, who are you really?”

Still holding the card, Xigbar fixed Luxord with a look from his singular eye.

In the end, it was Luxord who broke the tension. With a wry grin, he said, “No matter. It doesn’t make a difference to me. It’s all the same.”

So you’re pretending not to know either, eh?

Xigbar was in no mood to provide any answers, so Luxord opened a dark gateway and took his leave.

“The question is, who are you, Luxord?” Xigbar asked, tossing the card away.