RECAP: Sora just met up with a strange man in a black trench coat. But he didn't get the chance to see who he really was after their little skirmish. Now the gang is on their way to the Grand Hall
The Grand Hall came upon them fast as they made their way through the darkened hallway. It was like a revelation for the gang. The only one who had seen it before was Tina and the secrets that it held.
The scenery opened up before their eyes. A large, velvet red carpet stretched their way out in front of them. A beautiful chandelier hung above their heads. Small torches and other lights lit the room ahead. After the fancy part of the room was up, a split staircase led up to a central platform with a control panel, many different smokestacks billowing silver fumes, and other electric currents running loose. Last, a menacing Heartless Sign that looked suspiciously like some sort of portal was embedded into the middle of the wall. The gang looked at it and their insides turned into butter.
Unfortunately, the beauty of this room did not catch the heroes attentions' for long. Instead, their eyes now focused on blue cryo-tubes implanted into the walls. There were six of them, three on each side of the east and west walls. Inside, women were being held.
"What in the world?" Sora stepped slowly up to the glass cases, not believing what he was seeing. "Who are these...?" he trailed off as he noticed a couple of familiar faces within the tubes.
"ALICE! JASMINE!"
Sure enough, the blonde-haired little girl in her powder blue dress and the elegant, ebony-haired Arabian princess were frozen in time within the glass cases.
"Yeah..." Tina sighed, regretebally. "There are six of the seven princesses to open the door to the darkness here..." she finished.
Sora gave her a quixotic look. "Door to the Darkness? Seven princesses?"
His question was put on standby as the beast rushed up to one of the glass cases as well. "BELLE!" he cried.
Within the cryo-tube he was looking at, a young woman wearing a golden dress with long-brown hair up in a bun slept.
"That's Belle?" asked the Keyblade Master, coming up from behind the large creature.
The beast shook his head in disappointment at himself. "Look at what's happened...everything...I couldn't protect her."
Tina started to circle the room, going to every glass case there was, looking forlorn. "We kidnapped them all..."
"So what's with this seven princess thing?" asked Sora, still looking at the cases with the captive young women.
"Aurora, Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, Alice, Jasmine......" her voice trailed off. She stared up at the split stairway that lay up ahead for the heroes to examine.
In the meantime, when Tina was naming off the princesses' identities, Sora was counting the names on his fingers. "Um...you missed one."
"No I didn't..." she coldly answered. "This way."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy gave each other a 'mental' look. She did miss one, but who was it?
The gang made their way up the half-spiral staircase to the upper platform as the beast stayed behind to make sure nothing more could happen to his beloved Belle. If anything, he could protect her if she didn't move.
Sora was the first to get on to the platform. The others attempted to follow suit, but a barrier was immediately put up after Sora had entered the premises!
"Hey! Guys, what's going on?"
Tina and the others shook their head violently and pointed up towards the Heartless Portal.
"Riku." Sora had turned to see his lifetime best friend sitting on one of the stray cylinders by the overflowing darkness.
He did not speak, instead he pointed towards something on the ground near the control panel, or rather someone
His blue eyes opened wide. His yellow-shoed feet you'd never seen run so fast towards the passed out girl that was Nikki on the floor before him.
"NIKKI! Come on..." he cooed as he took her in his arms, "please open your eyes..."
Her porcelain face still looked as beautiful as it did last time he saw it. But she was cold as death. She did not stir when Sora called to her, nor when he gave her a little shake.
Silence passed between the hall for a moment. Donald, Goofy, and Tina all looked at Nikki. Tina felt the most hatred towards herself for doing this to her best friend.
"What did you do to her?" Sora's face turned to anger, but he never once looked up at Riku.
"She won't wake," he completely ignored his question, making him even more angry.
"I'M ASKING YOU WHAT YOU DID TO HER GOD DAMMIT!" the Keyblade flashed to life in his hand and he spun around to face his enemy.
"She will forever sleep, until you give it back to her. You must give the princess back her heart," Riku summoned up his Keyblade and pointed towards Sora.
"Nikki..." Sora lowered his in response to the new information he just received. "Nikki's a PRINCESS?!"
Riku didn't say another word. He pointed the Keyblade of Darkness at Sora's chest, in return, a burning sensation arose within Sora, making him collapse on to his knees to the ground. He clutches his chest to try and quell the feelings rising up inside of him.
"GAH! What's—?" he tried to talk, but the words would not come. He felt as though he was going to lose his innards if he said anymore.
"Don't you get it! The princess's heart is responding! Nikki's heart......RESTS WITHIN YOU!"
"What?! Ni—Nikki's inside of me!?" Sora still held his heart and gasped for air. It hurt and burned, but he would be able to take the pain. For Nikki.
"You see, it takes seven princesses to open this door. Unfortunately she lost her heart some time ago. But it found a new vessel to travel in. You, Sora. Now just surrender Nikki's heart and we can end this charade," the evil Riku said with a grin on his face.
Sora's head tilted upwards and looked deep into Riku's aqua-green eyes. He looked for some kind of a sign that this was still his friend, but there was none.
"You...you're not Riku..."
Riku's stare squinted at him and the grin on his face got even bigger.
"Tell me! Who are you?" Sora demanded, still holding back the pain in his chest.
From outside the barrier, Tina, Donald, and Goofy watched in agitation. They wanted to help Sora, but there was no way to get around this more than powerful barrier.
As soon as the words 'You're not Riku' left Sora's mouth, Tina became worried. He was right. The Riku she loved was not there. Something had happened to him. She wanted more than ever to get to him, hold him, comfort him and help him come to his senses and save him from the darkness before it completely devoured him. Somehow, though, she knew she was too late, the feeling of failure crept through her innards and up to her throat, making her let out a whimper she'd been holding for a while.
"Tina?" Goofy asked, but she did not look at him. She simply stared at the lost Riku.
From inside the barrier, Riku stepped forward to come even further to the paralyzed Sora. He scoffed.
"It is I. Ansem—The Seeker of Darkness!"
Back outside the barrier, Donald and Goofy gasped in horror. "ANSEM!!!"
Tina was confused, "Wait, who's Ansem?"
"Gawrsh, he's the feller in control of ALL the Heartless and the cause of all of this! He's the one who used to rule Hollow Bastion! But...supposed to be dead!" Goofy explained.
"DEAD?" Tina exclaimed. "So what's he doing in Riku's body?!"
"Dunno, but we gotta do something!!!" Donald chattered.
Sora's blue eyes opened wide. "Ansem? How? That's impossible!"
"Now why don't you be a good boy and give back the princess's heart?" Ansem raised his Keyblade, ready to strike Sora before...
*CLANG!*
Sora raised up the Keyblade of his own and clashed it with Ansem's!
"You may have his face and a little of his voice. But you can forget it! THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE TAKING NIKKI'S HEART!" His face scrunched up with anger and determination. "I'M TAKING YOU DOWN!"
"Hmph. Very well, if that's the way you want to play," said Ansem, taking up Riku's familiar battle stance, ready to destroy the Keyblade Master.
"HAAA!" Sora charged head-on to Ansem, but as soon as he got a millimeter close enough to strike, Ansem sent him flying back with the fastest hit anyone had ever seen up to par.
"No, way! Did you even see him move?" Tina asked in awe.
"Uh-uh!" Donald and Goofy shook their heads, their eyes never leaving the fight taking place before them.
*CLANG, SCRA-SCRA, CLANG, CLASH!* The Keyblades continued to crash against one another, Ansem and Sora sliding past one another, Ansem gaining speed with every parry from Sora.
"Give it up, boy!" Ansem called as he flew up into the sky.
"Get your ass back down here and take some!" Sora challenged.
"SURRENDER YOUR HEART TO THE DARKNESS!" Sora's enemy cried from above as he held the dark Keyblade above his head. He was charging up for an attack!
"Sora, get out of there!" Tina yelled through the barrier.
"Kinda busy!" he called back.
"RRAAA!" Ansem grabbed the dark Keyblade by its handle and penciled down to the floor, slamming the tip of it into the ground. This caused a massive black puddle of darkness to come out of the ground and send a shockwave of epic proportions at Sora along with hundreds of electric energy blasts.
Target hit. Sora screamed in agony as the current flowed through his whole body, giving him the feeling of floating in bliss and yet being tortured until he would break. Falling to the floor, the Keyblade skidded away from his grasp.
"SORA!" they all called out to him, but he didn't stir.
Ansem chuckled to himself. "Almost too easy." He came upon Sora with the dark Keyblade ready to stab the area of his heart just as he had done with Maleficent.
Suddenly, he froze. He couldn't move.
"What? Wh-what's happening? This isn't supposed to—!!" Ansem argued with himself, trying to make Riku's body move for him, but it would not budge.
A bright light surrounded Riku's body. A grown man with tan skin, white hair and a cream colored outfit separated from him! He was glowing and ghostly. A spirit. His eyes were a striking gold and he stood there gritting his teeth.
Tina gasped. "Look!"
The real Riku was holding back Ansem's spirit!
"NO! You won't...USE ME FOR THIS!!!" Riku cried and held out his hands.
"Riku! You're okay! Oh, my god! Rikuuuuu!" Tina cried out and waved her hands.
"Tina!!! You've gotta get them out of here! The barrier's broken! Get them OUT OF HERE!"
She hesitated for a moment. Looking towards the ground, Sora began to become conscious.
"Uuhh..." he groaned and sat up. The sight ahead of him made him blink a few times. "Riku?"
Riku noticed his friend waking up and said, "Sora! You guys have to get out of here while you still can! I can't hold this guy forever!"
"But—but...what about Nikki's heart?"
Sora stared at the dark Keyblade lying nearby. "Well..." he said, "I guess..."
"GYAK! Sora what are you doing?!" Donald ran up to the boy, looking up into his eyes, hoping he wasn't going to do what he though he was going to do.
Picking up the dark Keyblade, Sora looked at all of them and gave his goofy grin. That was all that he had to do before they got the hint. Afterwards, he gripped the dark Keyblade and stabbed it deep into his chest.
Time stopped. Everyone's expressions were of the greatest dread.
The dark Keyblade began to twinkle with light and disappear. From it came six bright lights. They made their way down the hall and into the princesses of heart. From Sora's chest, the last bright light floated out and into the empty spot of Nikki.
Her face got its color back and her eyes began to flutter open in surprise. "Wh-wha-?"
Sora began to glow. He closed his eyes peacefully, accepting that he was going to...
Tina ran over to Nikki and helped her up. "Tina?" she asked.
"Yeah...yeah it's me." She smiled back at her friend, telling her that Tina was once again her best friend.
"Where's...*gasp* SORA!" she saw her love begin to fall backwards and continue to disappear from her sight.
Nikki ran up to him to try and grab him, but she was too late. He fully evaporated into light and into the air, small floating balls of brightness circled them for a while before completely dissipating as well.
"Sora......?" Nikki clenched her hands. Her eyes began to well up with long held tears. "SORAAA!"
"GAHH! GUYS GET OUT OF HERE! HURRY!" Riku couldn't hold back Ansem any longer. The sight of his best friend disappearing had weakened him. Regret filled him.
Donald screamed up to the ceiling, "SORA! COME BACK SORAAAAA!"
"HURRY! THE HEARTLESS ARE COMING!" Riku exhausted his voice.
Tina grabbed Nikki by the hand and dragged her along, "Come on Donald, Goofy! We have to get the beast and get the hell out of here before this entire place goes!"
Donald and Goofy ran along side of her and Nikki in a flurry, "GYAAAAAA!!!!" "WAHOOHOOHOOOEY!!!"
They ran past the beast who still watched over his Belle.
"Beast! We have to leave!" Tina cried.
"No...I'm staying. I'm sorry. I need to stay with Belle to the very end."
Everyone gave each other a sentimental look before nodding to the beast and leaving him to take care of his beloved princess.
Multiple Shadows began forming where Ansem and Riku once were. They had long disappeared into darkness before the Heartless began to form.
One such Shadow had a curious expression on its face.
'Where am I? How did I get here?
