"This is what I wanted. No need to rely on or work with other people. I just want to drift through the water in silence." ~Haruka Nanase (Free!)
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We ran out of the castle, but we didn't have to go far to find the Heartless. Already just outside the castle there was a brawl going on with Heartless and Nobodies. If the outside of the castle was like this, I don't even want to imagine what the inside of the town looks like...

Just then, we spotted Maleficent and went into battle stance, summoning our weapons. She sneered before disappearing under a veil of green-black fire. As soon as she did that, another swarm of Heartless appeared along with the Dusks "Heartless!" Maleficent's voice echoed. "Leave the white ones. Turn your attention to Sora and his friends!"

"Uh-oh!" Goofy gulped as both the Heartless and Dusks slowly approached us. In a fell swoop Donald casted Thunder in order to scatter the swarm and it worked. Sora then casted Magnet to draw all the Heartless into one spot as I jumped up and brought my Keyblade down, taking all of them out at once. Goofy slid around on his shield, taking out the ones we had missed.

The three floating girls from earlier came out from a corridor from the castle. "Where's Maleficent?" Brunette asked.

"Looks like she ran away," Sora informed.

"Well, that was PRET-ty lame of her," blonde rolled her eyes.

"I guess we picked the wrong side," silver sighed.

The three turned away from us and began to converse amongst themselves, deciding what the next best course of action to take. We all stood there awkwardly, listening in to their incoherent conversation. "Umm, hey...if you're looking to pick sides, why don't you pick Leon's? They can always use help." Sora interrupted.

"Does this Leon have any treasure?" Brunette asked as the trio turned back to us.

"Yeah, lots of stuff!" Donald exclaimed, spreading his arms wide to show how much he had.

"Perfect!" Blonde cheered.

"Come on," silver nodded.

"Who ARE you?" Sora asked.

"Oh, we're nothing worth mentioning," brunette assured.

"Just three treasure fanatics," Silver replied.

"Later, taters!" Blonde grinned as she waved goodbye to us with both of her hands as they disappeared into blue, silver, and yellow light, leaving behind sparkles.

"Did Leon...really have any treasure?" Sora asked. I shrugged in response as Goofy began to tap his head.

Donald snickered as he ran off and we turned to follow. Just when we were about to exit the castle, three Dusks appeared. "We don't have time to deal with you!" Sora growled as he jumped up and took them out in one strike and we continued on forward.

Once we exited the castle, a huge bright orb of light shone, stopping us in our tracks. "Whoa!" Sora shouted as I shielded my eyes from the blinding light. From the light, a man with long silver hair, a single black angel wing protruding from one side of his back as he dressed in black clothing that had red running all over it, including a strap that made an "X" on his otherwise bare chest with silver armored shoulder plates on each of his shoulders. On his hand, he carried a long sword. As he got up, he turned around to face us. "Sora, Sakura, it's Sephiroth!" Donald cried.

"Ain't Sephiroth the one whose supposed to be the dark part of Claud's heart?" Goofy asked.

"Did Cloud tell you that?" Sephiroth smirked. "Then he must understand now."

"Just what are you gonna do to him?" Sora demanded.

"Nothing," Sephiroth replied curtly. "Cloud is the one who hungers for Darkness."

"He said he's got a score to settle with you," Sora said.

"I see...he wants to meet me again," Sephiroth nodded as he turned and walked away from us. "Then I should give him what he wants. That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out."

Sephiroth spread his arms and he began to levitates off the ground, his wing flapping as he flew away from us all. Once he was above us, a light pierced through his middle as a dark orb consumed him before disappearing, taking him with it.

We ran into the restoration sight to see Leon, joined by Areith, taking out a swarm of Heartless in front of him. "We'll help you!" Sora yelled as we drew our weapons.

Areith turned around and gasped, "Sora! Sakura! Behind you!"

She pointed and we turned around to see Dancer Nobodies appear. Being a small group, there was no problem in taking them out, even as more appeared once we took each group out. Once the path was clear, Leon and Areith ran ahead. "The King's in the Bailey," Leon informed. "You better head over there!"

As we reached the headed towards the Bailey, we began to survey the damage down by the Heartless. Buildings were toppled over, leaving rubble on the roads. The usual path we would take out was blocked so we had to keep backtracking and finding alternative routes to take. Finally, we had reached the Bailey and Sora placed a hand over his eyes and squinted, trying to get a better look of what was out there. His eyes widened as he took in the sight. "Whoa..." Sora gasped.

Below us, there were thousands of Heartless were slowly inching their way towards us. It was like watching a zombie hoard come towards us during a apocalypse. Everyone in Hallow Bastion were down there, trying to keep the Heartless army under control and prevent them from going into town and destroy what they had worked hard to preserve and rebuild. "Leon, everybody-hang in there!" Sora prayed.

The King, out of nowhere, jumping through the air and landing in front of us, arms spread wide. "Okay, fellas, you gotta go find Riku and Kairi!" He ordered.

"But Leon and the others are our friends too!" Sora yelled.

"Don't worry," King Mickey insisted. "There's already have lotsa help here. We'll take care of this fight."

"But...I promised Leon!" Sora pleaded.

"Donald! Goofy!" King Mickey yelled. "Take Sora and Sakura and get goin'!"

"Riku, Kairi...give me a little time, okay?" Sora muttered, clutching his fist and placing

Donald and Goofy exchanged a look before stiffening up as they addressed the King. "Your Majesty!" Donald said.

"We understand," Goofy added. "We'll go search for Riku and Kairi."

"Right," the King nodded. "Watch for danger!"

"You be careful, too!" Donald pleaded.

"Wait, you guys!" Sora cut in.

"Sora, do as you're told!" Donald lectured.

"You're comin' with us whether ya want to or not!" Goofy said.

Sora and I exchanged looks and I shrugged, unable to source where this strange behavior from Donald and Goofy was coming from. "C'mon, Sora! You have to be good!" Donald winked.

I finally caught on what was going on. Sora froze, processing the information before he smiled, remembering as well, "Gotcha."

"Well then, skedaddle!" Goofy grinned. Sora mouthed thanks at the both of them.

"Let's go!" Donald yelled. We all sprinted forward and jumped down the ravine. King Mickey cried out as we passed him and peered down from above us. "We're sorry, Your Majesty!" I yelled.

"That's one order we can't follow!" Sora added.

"Hope that you can forgive us!" Goofy finished as we jumped down all the way in the ravine.

Just as we were heading over to the Great Maw, a Corridor of Darkness appeared and out came Demyx. He flinched upon seeing us. "Hey, you guys are looking lively," he greeted nervously.

"Scram!" Donald shouted.

"Didn't we catch you messing around in the Underworld?" Sora raised a brow. "How'd a wimp like you get into Organization XIII? I bet you can't even fight."

"Yeah, but we can!" Donald jumped in.

"You shouldn't judge anyone by appearance," Demyx wagged a finger in front of us, his tone shifting unexpectedly to serious. We all drew our weapons as a response and Demyx jumped and turned around, muttering something to himself.

"Who is this kook?" Sora rolled his eyes.

"Remember, the Organization's made up of Nobodies," Goofy reminded.

"Right-no hearts!" Sora remembered.

"Aw, we do too have hearts," Demyx tried to sway us. "Don't be mad..."

"You can't trick us!" Donald taunted.

Demyx blinked but then smirked. He pointed at Sora. "Silence, traitor."

Sora stepped back, stunned. Water droplets began to go upwards as Demyx let his arm drop and then his raised it into the air again. The water came together and made a blue sitar in the shape of the Nobody symbol. Demyx played a couple of notes and ten water clones of him appeared. "30 seconds!" He smiled.

30 seconds until what? I don't want to find out what happens. With my Keyblade, I sliced a clone in half. The clone then became nothing but a puddle of water. Sora was setting the clones on fire and making them evaporate. Demyx then strummed his sitar and jumped backwards as water pillars appeared and moved towards us. Sora and I scattered in order to not get hit by the jet of water.

Demyx strummed once more and a huge wave appeared behind him. Demyx smirked, seeing we had no way of dodging this move. Sora gulped nervously but I stood my ground, smirking back. "Did you forget-water freezes!" I yelled as I shot a blast of Blizzard at the wave. Once the snow crystal struck the wave it began to freeze it. Sora sped up the process by shooting another round of Blizzard at it. As the wave compelled froze, above Demyx, he stared back at it in shock. Cracking noises were heard as the frozen wave broke apart and fell on top of Demyx, sending out a blast of cold air upon impact.

Once the cold air cleared, Demyx stood, bent over, panting, as he dragged his sitar with one arm. He crouched down, panting as his sitar dispersed into water droplets. Demyx stared at his empty hand as he stood back up. "NO WAY!!!!" He cried as he fell on his knees, his body crumbling into dust and water droplets.

Sora stood up. "Anyone from the Organization who'd like to be next?" He shouted.

"Hey Sora!" Donald scolded. "Don't antagonize them!"

"Yeah, we gotta go help our friends out first," Goofy agreed.

"Oh," Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Then let's go!" I patted his shoulder gesturing us to go forth.

"Aha! There you are!" A voice shouted.

We turned around to see an angry King Mickey. He stepped forward arms crossed. We all sighed and dropped slightly, awaiting our scolding. King Mickey's face softened. "You sure have lotsa friends to help," He smiled. We all sighed once more, but with relief as he weren't going to get yelled at. "So, I guess we better all pull together and finish this battle for good!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" We saluted.

He smiled and walked forward. From above, a Heartless and a Dusk Nobody were getting into a fight. The Heartless shot a laser and rocks to fall. Goofy gasped. "LOOK OUT!!!" He screamed, shoving King Mickey aside.

The rock smacked Goofy on the nose and he fell down, skidding across the floor and hitting the ravine wall. "GOOFY!!!" We screamed, running over to him.

"No..." The King stopped in his tracks and reached out to his fallen captain.

"Hey" Donald yelled. "You're the King's captain! You gotta get up!"

"C'mon, get up!" Sora pleaded.

"Please, wake up!" I cried.

"I'm sorry about the ice cream!" Donald shook Goofy.

"Goofy...?" King Mickey mumbled from the side.

"Goofy..." Donald groaned as he collapsed onto Goofy.

"This is not happening..." Sora whispered. "It can;t be happening...it can't..." Sora dropped his head while I stood there, still shocked at the reality in front of us and unable to accept the truth.

King Mickey clenched his fist. "They'll pay for this," he growled as the King threw his cloak off, revealing his clothes underneath as he summoned hi yellow Keyblade and bolted forward. Donald let out a battle cry as he followed as well while Sora reached out for the magician before looking back down at Goofy's body, not wanting to leave his friend's body behind. I stood up. We couldn't leave Goofy, but we also couldn't leave our friends to fend for themselves.

I tugged Sora's shoulder. "Come on," I sighed. "We got to go. I'm sorry." Sora stood up, determination in his eyed as we both summoned our Keyblades and ran forth through the ravine.

A swarm of Heartless waited for us and all the sudden, Yuffie leapt out of her hiding place into the middle of the swarm, throwing her ninja star around to take out the hoard around her. "Sora! Sakura!" She grinned. "Did you miss me?" We fought off the swarm in front of us until a path cleared. "Alright, get going!" Yuffie told us.

We nodded and ran forward where a group of Heartless stood in front of us. Leon came soon after we arrived. "I'll help out," He said. Leon's sword glowed as it drew in size until we was able to wipe out an entire group with just one massive swipe. He wasn't even sweating using a weapon that big. A bit of swordplay and soon the group was eradicated. "Hustle!" Leon shouted.

Sora took me further into the ravine and hoard appeared. The woman in black appeared, punching them. "I'll help!" She shouted as she jumped and landed a flying kick on an Armored Knight Heartless. Sora and I took care of the aerial Heartless while in the woman in black handled the ground Heartless on her own. When the group was gone, the woman yelled at us, "Hurry! Go on ahead!"

We ran even further into the ravine and just when we going to exit, a cluster blocked us. Cloud jumped down and slammed his sword down, sending out a shock wave and killing all the Heartless. "Sora! Sakura!" He announced his presence. Cloud swung his large sword, taking out multiple Heartless at once while Sora dashed forward, Keyblade in front of him as he pierced through the Heartless, killing them while I stuck to swinging my Keyblade around. Once the Heartless were gone Sora and I went ahead.

We ran into the opening and out of the ravine and into a path covered in purplish-blueish crystals of varying sizes. King Mickey and Donald were already at the end of the path when we arrived. Sora bent over his knees, panting while I leaned against the wall in order to catch my breathe. The fight wasn't over yet. "Are you both alright?" King Mickey asked.

"Yeah, we're fine, but..." Sora trailed.

The reminder of what happened just before hit us like a truck. "Ohh, Goofy..." Donald sighed as he and King Mickey slumped over.

"Hey fellas!" A familiar voice shouted.

I froze. I slowly turned my head to see Goofy jumping, smiling and waving at us, as if nothing had happened. We all broke into a grin. "GOOFY!!!" We screamed.

Goofy ran forward. "Ya know, that really hurt!" He said.

"Aw, Goofy!" King Mickey jumped onto him and gave him a big hug. "

"Gawrsh, Your Majesty," He laughed. "I get bumped on the head all the time."

Sora laughed and I sighed, clasping my hands together and leaning on them, relieved and happy at the same time. Donald didn't look as pleased as he stomped forward and swung his staff, smacking Goofy in the knee. Goofy cried it as he hobbled around on one leg, bringing his injured leg up. "That hurts, too," he whined.

"Don;t you ever do that again!" Donald yelled.

Sora stared enviously at the trio, wishing it was us, Riku and Kairi. "Hey, same here," I spoke casually as Sora looked at me, understanding what I meant.

Soon, Sora. Soon.
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I'm going to be real with nyall; when I saw Goofy's "death" for the first time, I nearly lost my sh*t. They were treating as if he actually died, so I was near freaking tears. Like, Kingdom Hearts killing off one of its main charterers, much less a DISNEY charter?!
But then he came back.