The massive form of Kingdom Hearts had given way to an endless ocean before him, now diving into it deeply. He could breath without issue though, and continued down through the depths as the light from above began to fade.
He slowed as he fell, finally turning in the air to land on a the edge of a large white circle, the whiteness erupting upwards around him in the form of many small black birds.
As it cleared, it revealed a circle platform, lit up from underneath. Around the edge were symbols, along the edge to his right they were of Roxas' Kingdom Crown, to the left they were the symbol of the Organization.
Within them, two figures leaned against the edges, seeming to be asleep. Both were him, but both were different.
On his left, the image of him wore the black coat, and held a Kingdom Key that was totally black, while on the right he appeared as the alternate Sora had looked, with the same Kingdom Key he'd always had.
In the gap between them, was another, smaller ring, containing yet more even smaller ones. Each had the head of someone he knew. Roxas. Kairi. Naminé. Riku. Donald Goofy.
In what was left, a stylization of the beach at Destiny Islands was shown.
Who are you, Sora?
"Who's there?"
Are you Sora, or are you Sora?
"I'm me! No one else!"
But which you is you? The voice seemed to come from all around him.
Then from his left, Is it the you that embraces the darkness, with all that you have gained here?
Then from his right, Or is it the you that embraces the light, with all that you have forgotten?
The alternate Sora appeared opposite him.
"Time's up, Sora," he said. "You've got to make your choice."
"Who are you really?" Sora asked the alternate.
"I already told you. I'm all that you left behind. Everything that you're not. You've got to decide, Sora."
"How can I be someone I'm not?"
"Do you know where you are?"
"Isn't this inside Kingdom Hearts?"
"Sort of. But I meant in a wider sense."
"No."
"This world... all the worlds you've been to... they're not real. None of this is real. It's just a simulation. Roxas created it to give me a chance to find out what I'd have done in his life."
"Roxas is the real Nobody, isn't he?"
The alternate nodded, "You aren't really a Nobody. The simulation was set up so that you'd be like one though. Just like Roxas was when I created him."
"So you're... what I was like outside."
"That's right. But now you have to make a choice."
"How do I know you're telling me the truth?"
"I'm you, Sora. If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?"
"You're not like me. You're different."
"Of course. Different lives. But you and I are still Sora together."
"How should I know what to choose?"
The alternate extended both arms to either side. Paths formed from the edge, not far from the heads of the images on it. They extended upwards, outwards in a broad arc to a second platform above this one.
"Only you can answer that. Choose your path, Sora," the alternate told him. "The choice is obvious now."
It floated up between the two, then came down out of sight. Sora assumed his alternate had landed on the far edge of the second platform.
He was torn. To keep what he had, and lose what he left behind, or to take back what he left behind only to lose what he had?
Did he really have to lose anything? From what this alternate had told him, Roxas here was leading the life that had originally been his. All he had to do was look at his life to find out what he'd forgotten.
Roxas would stop him, of course. If he chose to take the path and become his previous self, it would undoubtedly be a more peaceful way, but he wasn't his previous self. He was the Nobody Sora, the Nobody of Roxas, and he still resented Roxas for forcing him to live without a Heart for so long.
Angry. He was truly angry. All these Hearts... Kingdom Hearts... it must have given him true feelings. His goal at last. The first of them, anyway.
There would be differences, of course. Perhaps something might have happened between the real defeat of Xemnas and his entering this simulation – if the alternate was even right – and these things he wouldn't know of, but did that really matter? A few memories? He could live without them. He had power unimaginable. What fool would give it up to be... nice? To be such a hero?
Sora made up his mind. He knew who he was now.
He headed over the platform, over the image of himself that wore the coat and held the black Kingdom Key, and took the path that kept everything he had.
The other path cracked loudly, then shattered into pieces, falling down. Just after it, the original platform went the same way. No going back now. His choice was made.
The alternate Sora was waiting, just as he'd thought. This platform was identical to the one he'd left, but was turned around slightly. As he stepped off the path, which also shattered behind him, he stepped onto the image that wore the coat.
Stood opposite him, on the image that showed him as he had been, was the alternate.
"I'm disappointed in you," the alternate said sadly. "I thought you were better than that. I thought I could trust you to make the right choice, the way I would have."
"This is the right choice. Just because you don't see it my way, doesn't make it any less right."
"I knew you'd see it that way. But I hoped you wouldn't take this course. You leave me no choice. I have to force you back onto the right path."
The Kingdom Key appeared in one hand. Sora summoned his own, finding it had become the pure black one the matching image held.
"You can't fight the darkness," he told his alternate.
"Yours isn't true darkness," he replied. "Just the simulation of them."
"And this is in the simulation – so I still have it!"
He threw a bolt of darkness from the tip of his Keyblade toward the alternate, who made no move to get clear. It impacted him, and did nothing.
"A simulation won't work against the real thing," he shook his head. "All that's left is you, me, and the Keyblade. You can fight me, Sora... or you can give up. Either way, I'm going to set you back on the right course."
"This is the right course – and I'll prove it to you!"
Sora headed for his alternate, who followed suit. He made an overhand strike, but it was easily avoided as the alternate dodged quickly aside, lashing out low at his legs. Sora swiftly jumped back out of reach, turning sharply to meet the alternate's second, higher strike with his own Keyblade, pushing back hard to send him stumbling back, then lunging forward. The alternate tried to roll aside, but he caught the edge of his jacket with the teeth of his Keyblade, pulling up sharply. The alternate was dragged back, but got loose by hitting his other arm, making him pull back and making the alternate swing enough to get the jacket off Sora's blade. He fell to the floor, but recovered quickly, and just in time to catch Sora's downward strike on his own Keyblade, shoving back and scrambling to his feet.
The alternate kept his calm, making a feint high that Sora moved to block, leaving himself open lower down. Only swift reactions and an instinctive pull on the darkness allowed him to move quick enough to prevent himself from being caught again.
"What's this?" the alternate exclaimed drawing back. "Impossible!"
Sora realised too. "Of course," he laughed. "I should have realised. The darkness can't do anything to you, but it can affect me still. You can't beat the darkness, and you can't beat me, not now!"
"I've fought worse opponents than you!" the alternate retorted, launching himself toward Sora again.
Now Sora drew fully on the darkness, bringing in every bit of it he could, speed, strength, nothing was beyond him. He blocked the blow the alternate tried to land, then struck hard into his chest, sending him flying.
Sora pulled on the darkness again, depositing Heartless onto the platform in many kinds, some in fusions that had never appeared before. He didn't have time to name them now.
But these Heartless seemed incapable of harming his alternate. He walked through them as if they weren't there. Then he walked into one of them, and he was gone.
"What's wrong," he called out, circling around the platform, trying to find him among the Heartless. "Are you afraid to fight me now you know you can't beat me?"
Something struck him hard on the back of the head, and he lashed out behind him. His strikes met nothing but the Heartless though.
"How about you, Sora?" the alternate's voice echoed. "Are you so insecure in your abilities that you're too afraid to face me without the darkness on your side?"
He struck out at a few more of the Heartless, destroying more of them, but his alternate was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm not afraid of anything, least of all you!"
"Then cast off the darkness and face me."
"Like I told Roxas; what's the point of having ultimate power if you're not going to use it?"
A few more of the Heartless were destroyed. Sora felt real anger start to well up in him, and he lashed out indiscriminately, until only one Heartless was left, and when it was gone, his alternate remained, watching him with the same sadness he'd shown when Sora had first stepped onto this platform.
"I see," he said. "So that's how it is. If that's the way it has to be... then so be it."
Sora struck out at him again, but the alternate moved with the same swiftness he did now, and repelled his attacks with the same strength he had. He'd accepted the same darkness he was using.
The two struck out, block and counter, strike and counterstrike, circling each other in a blur, filling the air with the ring of the Keyblades striking each other.
Sora realised he wasn't going to make any headway as long as they both continued to use the same tactics, so started to take risks, going more on the offensive, sacrificing his defence to deal out more and more damage. The alternate was pushed back, step by step until he was on the edge, trying to keep his balance.
"Whoops," Sora said nastily, as he pushed him off. The alternate reached out, as if expecting him to catch him, then fell into the darkness below the platform.
Beneath him, the image of his alternate vanished from the platform. The Kingdom Crowns were replaced fully all the way round with the Organization symbols.
He almost turned away, but something put him off, and he peered down closer into the darkness. There was something there still, something coming...
It was another platform, identical to the one he now stood on, but it held the image of his alternate and with Kingdom Crown border.
His alternate was not alone on it. Roxas was aboard as well.
The station drew level with his own, then with a flash the two were one, and it was the half-and-half it had been before, with both of them displayed on it.
"You didn't really think I'd let you cast aside your old life that easily, did you Sora?" Roxas asked him.
"You got here just in time," the alternate Sora told Roxas. "Any longer, and it could have been impossible to retrieve me."
"Oh, I doubt that. But right now, we've got other things to deal with." Oathkeeper and Oblivion flashed into Roxas' hands. "Care to give up?" he asked Sora.
"Never!" he snapped, angrily readying his Keyblade again, heading toward Roxas first. He knew he could best his alternate, Roxas was the target now.
Roxas brushed aside his attack with one Keyblade, the other slamming into his side, sending him straight to the floor. Sora rolled, getting to his feet only to raise his Keyblade rapidly to block his alternate swinging for his face.
"Hi!" the alternate said brightly. "Remember me?"
Sora was beyond words, letting loose a snarl as he shoved the alternate away. He took his Keyblade in both hands, putting every bit of strength he could behind it.
When his alternate couldn't hold him off any more, Roxas stepped in, flinging one Keyblade at Sora from behind. Sora turned and blocked the other, then charged him, Keyblade swinging so wildly that Roxas had trouble blocking the strikes that came his way. Roxas had two Keyblades though, and wasn't about to let up that easily.
The alternate Sora joined in now, forcing Sora to block not two but three Keyblades. The darkness couldn't lend him enough strength or speed to keep up with them any more, he was the one being driven back-
Then he was at the edge.
"Whoops," the alternate said in the same nasty tone he'd used, then pushed.
Sora fell back, the platform receding into the distance, becoming only a tiny speck of white in the distance...

There was a hiss around him, then a second one. He felt strange, as if he'd been lying still for too long.
Sora sat forward, blinking in the sudden light. He was in the pod. He glanced beside him, and saw Roxas leaning on his knees, watching him.
"What are you thinking? Roxas asked him.
"I'm hungry," Sora said, voicing his first thought, then his brow creased as he tried to remember. "Oh, gods," he muttered. "Did I really do all that?"
"Yep. You gave me a ton of trouble trying to get you out of it again."
"Oh, gods," he repeated. Why didn't I get the chance to come out?"
"Instability in one of the modules that I couldn't fix. I was sort of hoping you'd follow my life a little closer, you know."
"I guess I went a bit of course," he laughed weakly. "Can we talk about it later? I really want something to eat."

Roxas found Sora back in Danny's café, once more holding a cup of coffee. This time though, he wasn't sat in the corner, but at the table beside it, taking part in the poker game.
He picked up a drink of his own, then took their usual table in the corner, watching.
"400," Sora opened the last round of betting confidently.
Two players folded, then the next said, "Your 400, and another 800 on top of that."
"You're mad," the next shook his head, but met the bet all the same.
"If he's mad, then I must be overcome with insanity," Sora quipped. "Another 1600 on top of your bet,"
Both players called, then Sora followed suit.
Sora was bluffing. Roxas was sure of it this time.
Flush, Queen high. Three Aces. Then it came to Sora's turn.
"Oh dear," he said theatrically, grinning again. "Have I won again?" He laid his cards on the table. "Straight Flush. King high."
So maybe he was wrong again. He wasn't having much luck predicting when people were bluffing lately.
Sora had a few last jokes with them, then excused himself and joined Roxas.
"I was wondering when you'd show up."
"Are you alright now?"
"No, I'm still the Nobody pretending to be me. Honestly Roxas, could you have picked a better question?"
"Can't blame me for worrying. After the way you acted in there..."
Sora's face fell, becoming more serious, almost depressed. "Yeah, I know," he answered. "I'm not exactly proud of it."
"That's all you've got to say on it?"
"What more do you want, Roxas? Do you want me to sit here and apologise for everything I did?" they sat silently for a few moments, so Sora went on, "What I did in there... I thought it was what I wanted. I didn't know it wasn't real, or that I wasn't really a Nobody. But your simulation was convincing enough that I thought I was."
"Sorry I brought it up," Roxas murmured grudgingly. "I just wanted to make sure..."
"Sure that I wasn't slipping back into that persona again."
"Yeah."
"Don't worry. That Sora isn't going to show up again. Not unless there's no other choice, and I know there's always a choice."
"Hey, cheer up. You can see one good thing from it."
"What's that?"
"I had fun living that small bit of your life."
"You..."
"Yep. Especially in the Pride Lands. Took me a while to get used to four feet though."
Sora laughed, smiling again at last.
"Go on. I know what you're thinking. Go ahead and do it."
"Well... I'd need to know a few things off you first... I don't have everything I'd need to create the full story... and I'd need someone to keep an eye on me, to make sure I don't get out of line like you did..."
"One condition," Sora said, holding up a finger.
"What's that?"
"If I have to go in after you, I don't have to lead your life again."
"Don't worry – I'm not taking that risk again."
"You're on then!"

A/N: And so at last, we reach the end of this tale - though as you've no doubt noticed, it's left open enough for other stories. Not just Roxas giving Sora's a shot, but either of them taking on other lives. Anyone for seeing how Roxas does as Riku?
For now though, this story is over, and any new stories like this one... well, who knows... maybe if people pester me enough I'll work on it a bit.
Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did writing it - if not more, of course!