A/N: Last chapter, everyone! Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Shadow, Kurai, Night, & Kesshi.

Kingdom Hearts 3D, Shadow's Story

Chapter 8

When Sora and I landed in the next world, it was a very familiar place. And in a bad way. We landed at the base of a tall skyscraper in a dark city, where we looked about, confused.

"Wait, isn't this…" Sora started to say, walking around a bit. "Is the Organization's world sleeping, too? No, it can't be. I know we definitely found the seven Keyholes already. So, we've gotta be awake again and in the real world. But why here?" I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what to say.

"Aw, what's the matter, sleepyheads?" a too familiar voice taunted, and we looked about warily.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" I snarled.

"We jumped through a lot of hoops to get you two here," the voice continued. "But it looks as if it's gonna pay off." A sudden shot was fired at us out of nowhere, and the brunette and I swiftly dodged it. A man atop an adjacent skyscraper then jumped down to the street level, dispelling his arrow guns. It was Xigbar, looking as cocky as ever.

"You're a part of this?" Sora gasped, surprised as I bristled on his shoulder.

"Hey. Let's hit these plot points in order, Sora and Shadow…Roxas and Night," he began, ignoring Sora's remark. "First, you must be wondering about your revised itinerary. 'Why am I here, not back home?' The answer's simple. We brought you two to this place! Hijacked your little slumber party before it started. And ever since, we've been both your companions and your constant guides."

"Before it started?" I repeated, confused, but then I gasped when I caught on. "The man in the robe! And so that guy in the black coat, and Xemnas…"

"Bingo. You were able to go back in time to just before your home became a Sleeping World, only because a past version of you already existed there," Xigbar explained, walking closer to us. We backed away slowly as he spoke again. "And I can see, in the past, you already met Mr. Robe Guy. Yup, he was there then to make sure you ended up here now."

"That's ridiculous!" I scoffed, but I still felt fearful.

"It sure is. It's too perfect. Who'd ever believe it?" the grey-haired man replied. "Which is why you idiots never saw it coming. You thought you were off doing some kind of test, right? Well, test this—how come you're wearing the same clothes if you're already back home? You are not gonna wake up, okay? Look—there's no real versus dreams anymore. There's just you, us, and this."

"I see. Fair enough," Sora nodded, and summoned his Keyblade, readying himself for a fight. I growled lowly at Xigbar. "So what? At least we know who to blame for it!" We glared heavily at him.

"Ooh, I see you still have that angry look down," Xigbar teased. "But, here is where I tag out. I just got a few more hoops I gotta jump through." He teleported away, leaving us alone. Suddenly, he reappeared in the air above us, and shot 13 bolts at the ground, laughing. In the place of each bolt, a cloaked figure appeared, and the silver-haired youth from our journey stood to our immediate front, his hood completely lowered.

"Come with me," he said, extending his hand, and Sora and I saw a flash of Riku and Kurai doing the same on that fateful night that everything changed. Feeling dizzy, we clutched at our heads, and I whimpered.

"What?" Sora managed to say. We looked to our right and saw Xigbar.

"Pleasant dreams, kiddos," he grinned, and we collapsed.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

We awoke on the beach of Destiny Islands, where we saw the silver-haired young man gazing into the ocean water's depths. A figure in a brown robe with an "X" across its chest walked up to the young man and spoke with him.

"Yes. This was where it started," a voice said, and Sora and I looked to see the cloaked youth sitting to our left. "At this point, I still had no idea that I was talking to myself. He cast away his bodily form just to set me on the appointed path."

"What do you mean?" I growled, narrowing my eyes to slits.

"That is Xehanort reduced to just a heart—the being you and your friends called 'Ansem'," the young man explained. Sora and I turned to see the robed man standing before us.

"Whoa!" the brunette gasped as I yelped. We then blacked out again.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

When we came to again, it was nighttime on Destiny Islands. I noticed the robed Ansem heading into the Secret Place, and I pointed him out to Sora.

"Him!" my partner said, but then we saw ourselves running towards the Secret Place, too. "Is that…"

"Yes. The point in time that Xigbar mentioned," the voice from before said, and we looked at the cloaked youth.

"Us, right before our world was swallowed by the darkness," I murmured.

"To move through time, you must leave your body behind," the young man said. "Ansem first sent me on my way, and then placed himself here when the time was right. That was what set all these events in motion."

"What are you saying? That he knew everything that would happen?" Sora questioned, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"No, not everything. But remember, Ansem possessed Riku and Kurai and saw their experiences in real time," he reminded us.

"So? That could only tell him so much," I snorted, crossing my arms. "How did he know we would be here today?"

"Simple." There was a sudden boom and a gust of wind, and Kairi's form flew out from the Secret Place.

"Kairi!" Sora cried out, and tried to catch her, but she disappeared as we blacked out again.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

We woke up again, this time in Traverse Town. We then felt ourselves floating, and we opened our eyes.

"What is…" Sora started to ask, but then we saw several other floating images of us. We gazed down to the First District as we slowly descended to the ground. Looking up, we saw the other images of us walking around as in our previous visits to the town. One pair of the images even fell to the ground and disappeared.

"You two have been here many times," the voice said. We looked to see the youth standing beside us again, and I internally cringed. Why won't this end? He's making our lives more difficult!

"Your first journey…your voyage through memories…in the datascape…in your dreams. Relived again and again…like déjà vu," he remarked. Sora and I spotted King Mickey as he raced through the door to the Third District.

"King Mickey?" the brunette said curiously, raising his hand up as Donald and Goofy passed through us. Donald turned to Goofy, who was pointing to the sky. We followed their gaze in time to see a star blink out. We looked back down and saw Donald, Goofy, and Pluto walking up the stairs. "Donald! Goofy!" he cried out, and we ran after them. Upon reaching the stairs, Pluto raced out from a side alleyway and through the door to the Third District.

"Pluto!" I shouted, and we pursued the dog to the door, pausing when there was a pair of faint voices.

"Sora! Shadow!" the voices called, and we blacked out, yet again.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

We woke up back in The World That Never Was, each of us wearing a black outfit.

"Huh? Are we back?" I wondered aloud. We then caught Mickey, Donald, and Goofy running through the alleyway back into the city.

"Wait, Your Majesty! Donald! Goofy!" Sora shouted to them. We quickly ran after them and turned a corner. However, we paused when we saw a petite blonde girl in a white dress.

"Naminé? Is that you?" I asked gently, but she turned and fled. "Wait! Naminé!" We caught up to her and Sora grabbed her hand.

"We've got a message for you. We meant to tell you once this was all over," Sora said. She looked toward us, but then her form changed to a girl with dark hair in a black cloak.

"Huh? Who are…you?" I questioned, bewildered. She looked away from us and a tear rolled down Sora's and my cheeks. I brushed away the moisture as Sora did, and we glanced at each other in surprise.

"Wh-why are we…" the brunette wondered curiously. The girl pulled out of Sora's grip and fled, her hood up. "Hey, wait!"

"You've gotta wake up…" a pair of voices called out to us. The girl ran up the stairs and vanished as the world contorted around us. We grabbed our heads and made our way through the endless city. We eventually caught up to a pair of figures in black cloaks, the smaller one perched on the other's shoulder. They were standing in the center of a large crevasse.

"C'mon, wait up. Who are you?" Sora asked, and they turned to face us, lowering their hoods to reveal a boy with blonde, spiked hair, and a dragon with silver plated armor.

"You're…Roxas and Night," I said, tilting my head to the side slightly. "How can you be here? Are we dreaming?" The blonde boy and silver dragon shook their heads, saying nothing.

"C'mon, say something," Sora urged.

"This could have been the other way around," Roxas murmured.

"Huh?" Sora uttered.

"But it really has to be you two," Night continued.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"There are so many hearts that are connected to both of yours," the blonde explained. "You're us, so you can feel what we felt."

"No. Roxas, Night, you're you. We're not the same," Sora and I told them firmly. "We wanted to tell you that. That you deserve as much as we do to be your own people." The pair gasped and smiled at us.

"Sora, Shadow, see? That's why it has to be you two," Night told us. Roxas grabbed Sora's hands at the same time Night grabbed mine, and we were filled with Roxas and Night's memories and experiences. The pair vanished, and we were left standing alone, overwhelmed with emotions.

"Not again. Did they cause all this pain?" Sora wondered aloud. We clenched our fists, and I bared my fangs in frustration.

"What do you want us to see?" I shouted furiously, but there was no answer.

"Sora, Shadow, don't chase the dreams," the pair of voices called out to us again. "They'll lead you nowhere, just to an abyss you'll never be able to wake up from."

We continued through the distorted city, eventually coming upon a boy with long silver hair, a small, dark grey dragon on his shoulder, and a girl in a pink outfit. Sora and I took off to them.

"Riku, Kurai, Kairi, we found you!" my partner and I cried out to them. We caught our breath and they turned to face us, their forms starting to dissipate. "Huh?" When we looked at them again, there was a tall brunette man and a slightly shorter blunette woman standing there, watching us.

"Who…" I started to say.

"Ven. Kesshi," the man said.

"Ven. Kesshi," the woman repeated. We looked at them in confusion.

"Huh?" we uttered. The pair before us began to extend their hands to us, and we nearly reciprocated, but then their forms began to waver. The two faded back into Riku, Kesshi, and Kairi, and we attempted to run to our friends. No matter how much effort we tried to put into running, however, we felt like we were moving in slow motion.

"What is going on?" Sora yelled in frustration. As we struggled to reach our friends, though, those same two voices from before shouted to us.

"Sora! Shadow! Don't! You've gotta wake up! Sora, Shadow!" they cried out. We became distracted by the voices and took another look back at the brown-haired man and blue-haired woman. The pair faded away and the world faded into Memory's Skyscraper. Sora and I continued to run, each footstep heavier than the one before it.

"Wait!" we shouted. We each reached out our hands, and a bright light appeared, engulfing everything.

The scene changed to Destiny Islands at sunset, where we saw younger versions of Sora, Riku, Kurai, and myself running along the beach. They stopped when they saw a blue-haired woman above them on the bridge. She jumped down and spoke with them, smiling. The world shifted, and Sora and I saw Ansem.

"What…" I started to say. Ansem turned, and we were blown backwards.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

We were back in the Dark City, and a comet appeared and struck a fallen building below. The resulting light flashed in front of Xigbar, who stood before us, unflinching.

"Oopsy-daisy. Wasn't easy putting you into a second sleep, and they almost woke you up," he grinned. The dust settled, and Sora was down on one knee, while I crouched next to him, both of us out of breath.

"So then, all that stuff we just saw—did you put that in our heads?" the brunette questioned.

"No. That wasn't 'stuff,' it was a dream," Xigbar replied. "The falling asleep part was definitely our bad. But we can't put stuff in your heads. Hey, I got an idea. Ask your hearts. See if they've got a clue."

"Well…our hearts were aching," we murmured. "That's why we kept going."

"Oh…Thank you, Sora's and Shadow's hearts, for pushing them right into our clutches," the grey-haired man sneered. "Aren't hearts great? Steer us wrong every time."

"You know, right, because you all have hearts!" I snapped. "Axel and Roxas and Night and Naminé, and that other girl. We felt what Roxas and Night felt and…they laughed together, got mad, and they grieved. You have to have a heart to cry."

"It's about time you noticed," Xigbar smirked.

"Indeed," Xemnas's voice said, and he appeared behind us. "A heart is never lost for good. There may have been variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement. Once born, the heart can also be nurtured. Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes. And so I knew, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation."

"Why, then? Why did you lie to them and tell them they had no hearts?" Sora yelled, and I growled, bristling furiously.

"Xemnas and Xehanort formed the Organization for a specific reason—round up a bunch of empty husks, hook them up to Kingdom Hearts, then fill them all with the exact same heart and mind. Translation—they were gonna turn all the members into Xehanort," Xigbar explained.

"Make more Xehanorts? You tricked your friends to…But you—aren't you scared of just turning into someone else?" I asked, bewildered by the information.

"Me? I'm already half Xehanort," Xigbar replied, and his yellow eyes appeared mad.

"That's nuts…" Sora breathed, shocked.

"However—through weakness of body…weakness of will…or weakness of trust—most of the original members we had chosen for the Organization were inadequate. Thus, naturally, they never had a chance to attain their goal. Yet, even this was to be expected," Xemnas said, and we scowled at him. "We have learned of the heart's folly, and we have achieved our other goals. This last excursion has proven to be a worthy closing assignment for the Organization."

"Just stop it! You treat people's hearts like their bottles on a shelf, but they're not!" we shouted at them. Sora summoned his Keyblade, making my claws glow, and Xemnas smiled. "Hearts are made of the people we meet, and how we feel about them—they're what ties us together even when we're apart! They're what…make us strong."

"Duh!" Xigbar stated, pointing at us. "You're both strong because of the ties you two have with other people. As if the Keyblade and light would choose wimps like you." Sora and I turned on Xigbar, glaring. "But no pouting. We see much bigger and better things in your future…once you side with us." He extended his hand and Sora looked at his Keyblade, sighing. I gazed at my claws with a small whimper.

"We know the Keyblade and light didn't choose us, and we don't care. We're proud to be a small part of something bigger—the people it did choose," we stated determinedly, and Xigbar gasped. "Our friends! They are our power!"

"Those are just words. You've lost," the grey-haired man said nervously. He seemed to struggle with the thought, and then added, "Fine. See where you're power gets you here. Xemnas! They're all yours."

He left, and Xemnas raised his arms, causing the pieces of the buildings behind us to rise into the air, and hence making debris fall into the chasm below. Sora readied his Keyblade, and I jumped down from his shoulder, shaking with rage, but we stood firm.

"As your flesh bears the sigil, so your names shall be known as that…of a recusant," the silver-haired man told us coldly.

Xemnas teleported several yards away and threw pieces of skyscraper at us. They crashed into the ground as Sora and I dodged neatly, and the pieces of building fell into the abyss. The silver-haired man summoned his ethereal blades and moved in to attack, and we exchanged several blows. After many successful attacks, he trapped us in an energy barrier, sending lasers in our direction. Using swift instincts, we leapt off a wall and over the barrier, when Xemnas teleported away.

"Despair shall be yours!" he yelled at us.

The older man sent a skyscraper at us, knocking us and the platform away. The brunette and I went into a dive, and, after dodging more buildings from a laughing Xemnas, landed on another fallen wall, allowing the battle to continue. Xemnas's attacks increased in ferocity until Sora and I summoned our full strength to us, dealing a finishing blow. Weakened, the silver-haired man teleported away. Sora and I breathed heavily, our bodies emitting darkness, and lay on the ground. A corridor of darkness appeared and the silver-haired youth from before emerged from it.

"You…again," I panted weakly, trembling slightly as I tried to remain conscious.

"You just make it too easy," he said. "I know you think you've won, but you lost the moment you dived this far in. You're in the deepest pit of slumber, and you've worn yourselves down to nothing. There's no returning to the world above."

"What do you mean?" Sora questioned.

"We told you," he said simply. "It was not the Sleeping Keyholes that guided you. They are not the reason you are here. You've both been on a path, one we laid out for you. That sigil on your chest is proof." He pointed to the white crossing straps on Sora's chest, forming the shape of an X.

"What?" Sora uttered, confused, and looked down at it.

"See? That sigil, the X, it tells us where you are at all times," the youth stated, and made an X-shape in the air. "You had wondered aloud before—why we kept showing up where you were. It's because we need you, Sora and Shadow. Or, to be precise, we need what will be left of you—the thirteenth dark vessels."

"Why…we…" we mumbled weakly.

"Why was it assured you could come here today? Because I followed my destined path, and I'm here looking at you both right now. You can move through time, but time itself is unmovable," he explained. Sora and my vision started to blur, and the brunette wiped at his eyes as I blinked rapidly. "Today, all of my selves throughout time were meant to gather here, and to welcome you, Sora and Shadow, as our thirteenth members." He knelt beside us. "These facts cannot be changed." A tendril of darkness crept along our arms.

"What's…gonna happen…" we started to ask.

"I have now told you both all that I know. We are all here, and what the future holds in store is beyond my sight. I will return to my own time, and grow into the man who becomes all these others," the young Xehanort informed us, and darkness covered us. "While I know this future now that I have lived it, returning to my own time will erase the memories and experiences I have gained here. Still, my appointed path is now etched in my heart, which will first lead me to seek the outside world."

"Riku…" Sora murmured.

"Kurai," I whispered weakly at the same time.

"Your hearts will sleep forever in the folds of darkness. And your bodies will be another vessel for me. So light gives way to darkness," he stated coldly. "Good night, Sora and Shadow." He reached towards us as our vision went black.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

We had woken up later on in Yen Sid's tower, and discovered Riku and Kurai were asleep. While waiting for them, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had a little tea party, I'm mortified to admit.

"Hey, Donald! Come on, you're hogging it all!" the brunette snapped at the duck.

"Aw, calm down, Sora, and drink your tea," Donald chided.

"Gawrsh, it sure is yummy!" Goofy chimed in.

"Hey!" a pair of voices barked, and Sora and I looked up quickly. My partner quickly pulled off the party hat and fake mustache glasses he was wearing and greeted Riku as I ran over to Kurai.

"Riku…You're safe! Riku!" Sora crowed as he jumped his friend, laughing.

"Thank goodness you're all right," I murmured, bumping foreheads with Kurai in a friendly gesture.

"Wait, haven't we got this backwards?" Riku asked, bewildered.

"And why are you having a tea party?" Kurai questioned with an amused expression.

"I had no part in that!" I huffed indignantly.

"You're safe, Riku!" Sora continued to say, and hugged Riku again.

"Ah, never mind. You okay? Feeling all right?" the silverette said.

"Yeah, we've never been better," we assured them as I jumped back onto Sora's shoulder. "We were watching what was going on in our dream. And we could hear your voices the whole time. Thanks, Riku and Kurai. Thanks, everybody!" Everyone smiled happily.

"Oh yeah! Did we pass the test?" my partner asked. Yen Sid nodded.

"You performed truly admirably, all four of you," he told us. Sora and Riku picked themselves up off the floor, knocking a chair over, and stood before Yen Sid as Kurai quickly climbed onto Riku's shoulder.

"More than anything, I am grateful to have you four back from Xehanort's deception unharmed," he began. "And I am grateful to Lea, whose spontaneous actions turned the tides. I am also deeply sorry, for failing to perceive the danger and throwing you headlong into a perilous test. This experience has revealed many hidden truths, and we must gird ourselves for the great clash with darkness that lies before us. I believe we need a new Keyblade Master, one with a new kind of power. Sora and Shadow, Riku and Kurai, you all deserve the honor. However, two of you braved the realm of sleep again to unlock the final Keyhole and save a friend each. Riku and Kurai, I name you as our new true Keyblade and light Masters."

"Way to go, Riku!" Sora cheered excitedly, and placed a hand on Riku's shoulder with a laugh.

"Awesome!" I chimed in, grinning at my friend.

"Y-yeah?" they stuttered, stunned.

"We knew you two were gonna pass with flying colors," we told them. "This is just so awesome!"

"Gee, Sora and Shadow, you're kinda acting like it's you that passed," Goofy pointed out, smiling.

"I told ya Sora and Shadow still needed some practice," Donald muttered.

"Hey," Sora pouted.

"What the heck!" I snapped, glaring.

"Really? I'm a Keyblade Master?" Riku murmured.

"And I'm a light master?" Kurai added. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy walked over to the four of us.

"Congratulations, Riku and Kurai!" Mickey told our friends, and shook hands with them both.

"Thank you, Mickey," they replied gratefully. "We owe it to our friends." Sora and I laughed.

"Ah, I'll catch with ya in no time flat," Lea grinned.

"What? You wanna be a Keyblade Master?" I questioned doubtfully.

"Yeah. I mean, I came here to learn how to wield one," he shrugged.

"YOU?!" Sora, Riku, Kurai, and I yelped.

"Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence," the redhead stated, rolling his eyes. "You know, I was gonna come swooping in, Keyblade in hand! But I just couldn't get mine to materialize. Must be in the snap of the wrist or something." He held his hand out to try, and a fiery Keyblade flashed into his hand, surprising all of us, even him.

"WHOA!" we all gasped.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

Later on, Sora and I were walking out of the Mysterious Tower, being seen off by Riku, Kurai, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.

"Do ya have to go?" Goofy asked.

"Well…we did doze off…We just have some stuff to take care of," Sora assured them.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Donald questioned.

"Yeah. We won't be long," I promised with a small smirk.

"Be careful," Mickey advised.

"Very careful," Riku and Kurai added.

"Right. See you soon," we said. Sora summoned his Keyblade, causing my claws to glow, and we unlocked the Keyhole that appeared in the sky with a beam of light. We woke up in Traverse Town and stood.

"Good. I was hoping this world was still here," the brunette smiled. "But where are they?" We looked around, but saw no one. Sora's gaze lowered to the ground, and I whined softly, but we quickly looked up when we heard a small whimper. We turned to see a Meow Wow running towards us.

"There!" I pointed, and it leapt into Sora's arms, licking him as he laughed. I chuckled as well, and then we bumped into a Kooma Panda behind us, gazing dreamily down at us. To our right, a Necho Cat pranced about, and a Komory Bat flew over to us on our left.

"Hey!" we greeted to them all as all of the Spirits we had encountered on our adventure gathered around us, squawking, chirping, roaring, and making a wide arrangement of sounds. "Thanks. You're the best."

A/N: And that's the end of this series until KH3 comes out! R&R, peeps!