They started to walk to the Castle Gates and when they reached there, there were so many heartless. It took them around 15 minutes to go and open the various gates and get into the waterway. Then they got to this massive door and opened it.

"Be on your guard, the all of you. They're close I can feel it." The Beast said as they entered a hall. They took a few steps forward until they heard something and they turned around. They saw a woman dresses in yellow she had pale skin and brown hair. "Belle?" The Beast asked and just when he was about to walk up to her, the Princess turned into a heartless.

It was very frightening and traumatising for Mai to see with her own eyes. The red haired teen screamed at this and Sora pulled her closer to him as he covered her eyes. She started to sob when she saw that and it was stuck to her mind. How the beautiful Princess turned into a small heartless was scary? She heard a roar, Kenji asking 'what's the hell was that?', and the slamming of doors and the girl started to shiver with fear. Sora patted her back and hushed her, telling his friend that everything was going to be okay and nothing like that would ever happen to her.

"Sora." They heard Riku's voice say and they pulled away. "Quit while you can."

"No, not without Kairi." Sora shouted.

"The darkness will destroy you!" Mai growled at Riku's comment, look who was talking. His whole outfit changed. She stood in front of Sora and interrupted him.

"The darkness may destroy someone's body but not their heart. As long as Sora has light in his heart, the darkness can never destroy him. But Kenji has been telling you that the darkness will destroy you! You try and listen sometime." She pointed at him.

"Stay out of this, this is me and Sora's fight." Riku said and she stood her ground.

"Not anymore! I'll fight alongside my friends." Mai's Vining Destiny appeared in her hand. "I won't just fight with my Keyblade; I'll fight with my heart."

"Are you serious Mai, with your heart? What will that weak little thing do for you?" Riku laughed and she glared at him.

"Although our hearts may be weak, they're not alone. They've grown with each new experience, and they've found a home with all the friends we've made. We've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of ours. And if they think of us now and then, if they don't forget us, then our hearts will be one. I don't need a weapon, my friends are my power!" Sora got in his stance with the wooden sword.

"Return yourself to Sora!" She raised her hand and yelled. Sora's Keyblade sparkled and glowed as it disappeared from Riku's hand. It reappeared in Sora's hand again.

"I can't believe you're doing to me your best friend, out of all people." Riku mumbled and she frowned at this.

"No, you're wrong. The boy I met 10 years ago is long gone and replaced with the darkness. You leave me no choice Riku. You've done too much to me." She looked down and touched her heart. "But I'm not weak anymore!" She yelled as she ran towards him.

Sora started to run towards Riku, too, but Kenji stopped him, "No... This is Mai's fight..."

Sora gulped and watched their battle nervously.

They engaged in battle and for Mai it was really hard. There was so much darkness coming from him, it was unbelievable but she wasn't going to lose. Then all the moments of when she succeeded in life repeated in her mind and this gave her strength. Now it was Riku who was struggling and he skidded back when she swung her Keyblade at him. His clothes returned back to normal as he panted. The silver haired boy looked up at her and ran away. She gasped at this and was about to run after him but chose not to.

"So your heart won this battle?" The Beast asked and she turned to him with a smile and nodded Mai, Kenji, Sora, Donald and Goofy went up and walked through a door, where the red haired girl assumed Riku went through...

~

"So I see how the path has emerged at last." Riku said to Maleficent as they looked up at something that looked like a heart kind of keyhole.

"Yes, the Keyhole to the darkness." Maleficent smiled.

"Unlock it and the heartless will overrun this world." The silver haired teen warned.

"What do I care? The darkness holds no power over me! Rather, I will use its power to rule all worlds."

"Such confidence!" Riku smirked and the Keyblade of people's hearts appeared in his hand.

"Oh." Maleficent's eyes widened at this and walked up to Kairi's body. "Impossible! The Princesses of Heart are all here. It must be her...or else..." Riku walked up to Maleficent's side.

"Or else what?" He asked curiously.

"Either's she's the seventh princess or..." Maleficent gulped and shook her head. "No, it was a myth, it cannot be true." Riku stared at her as he anticipated what she was going to say next. "The Princess of Twilight, a powerful and strong hearted Princess, whose powers are balanced with darkness and light. She can control anything, open any portal and has the power to do anything."

"Do you think it's Kairi?" Riku asked.

"No, it's that girl." Then they heard a bang. "The King's fools are nearby. I'll go deal with them myself. You stay here and guard the Princesses." Maleficent said as she left and Riku glowed blue.

~

Sora, Donald and Goofy ran into the Castle's chapel with Mai and Kenji behind them. They saw Maleficent and she smiled wickedly at them.

"I'm afraid you're too late. Any moment now the Keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable."

"We'll stop it!" Sora exclaimed.

"You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of darkness?" Mai smirked at this and walked around her friends. Maleficent's eyes widened and she stepped back with fear. For a moment, Mai turned into her mother, with just a few changes and changed back again.

"No, it can't be. I-I thought you were dead Momo!" She smirked smugly at this and shook her head.

"You're wrong on both accounts. Momo lives, she lives within the heart of her daughter and those dearest to her and I am not Momo. I am Momo's daughter, Mai!" The red haired girl yelled and Maleficent started to rise. Mai, Kenji, and Sora looked up at her and then they looked at each other. They nodded and hopped onto the stone Maleficent was on. They started to fight her with all their might until she was finally beaten. She touched her heart and stepped back into a pink orb and disappeared. They ran after her and saw Riku with her.

"Riku!" Mai called out as they walked into this place. She was about to run up to him but stopped when she sensed this horrible dark aura.

"Is that..." Donald trailed off and Mai nodded.

"Yes. A Keyblade. But unlike yours, Sora this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate..." Her eyes started to widen until she saw Riku pierce the Keyblade into Maleficent's heart and Mai herself felt it pierce into her heart. "BEHOLD!"

The red haired girl screamed at this and covered her eyes; it was beginning to traumatise her. Sora noticed this and held her close to his chest. She was trembling with fear again and fell to her knees. Riku saw this and growled with jealousy.

"Now, open your heart and surrender it to the darkness." Mai uncovered her eyes and felt her heart stop beating.

"NO! STOP IT PLEASE!" She yelled but Riku didn't listen. He took out the Keyblade out of her and Maleficent started to glow.

"This is it. This power! Darkness...THE TRUE DARKNESS!" She screamed and glowed green. Then from a smoke of green appeared an enormous dragon. Mai looked up at it with large eyes and gulped.

"Mai, courage isn't the absence of fear, but rather the judgment of something that's more than fear." Her mother spoke in her mind and she nodded as her Keyblade appeared. They used every kind of magic spell and tried to defeat her with her Keyblade. Sora was on the ground panting and so were Kenji, Donald and Goofy. Mai had a few scratches here and there and the dragon was starting to get tired. The red haired teen looked down at her Keyblade and then at her bracelet. She closed her green eyes and then screeched from the top of her voice and lungs. "LIGHT!" A vast amount of light and power came from the bracelet and her Keyblade turned into keybow and light arrows. She coated the arrows with all the magic she had and shot them off, which finished the dragon off.

The black dragon fell to the ground and Mai hopped back from being crushed. The dragon's body started to burn and turned into a black clock; Maleficent's cloak. Riku stepped onto the cloak and smirked. "How ironic. She was just another puppet of the darkness after all."

"What?!" Donald and Kenji asked.

"The heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning. She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool." The silver haired boy answered and the cloak disappeared. Mai looked down and then when she looked up she saw the boy she loved walking backwards in a pink portal. "RIKU!" She yelled and just as she was about to run into it, the portal disappeared.

They started to explore the Castle even more and fight the heartless until they finally got to the Grand Hall. Mai was oblivious to what was going to happen next and what was going to happen to her...