Soon... Hikari, Haya, Nobu and all the guardians of light have returned to the Keyblade Graveyard after defeating Master Xehanort and the Real Organization XIII.
King Mickey turned to everyone. "It's finally over."
As everyone nodded, Hikari sighed. "...No."
Sora exchanges looks with Riku and turns to Hikari. "We'll find your mother."
"Let's head back to Master Yen Sid," Riku said. "We can figure it out."
Hikari looked at Sora and Riku and shook her head. "No, I know what to do."
Mickey was stunned. "Hikari..."
Hikari remembered the dark times she and her family had gone through and turns to her loved ones. "My whole journey began the day I lost her, my dad and Haya. And every time I find her... she slips away again. I thought we'd finally be one happy family again. But she's out there, alone. Not for one more second."
Donald walked up a bit with Goofy, Sora and Kairi. "We'll go too!"
"That's right!" Goofy nodded.
"And Kairi can help," Sora said, wrapping his arm around Kairi.
Kairi agreed. "Yeah. You help us and now it's our turn to help you."
Hikari smiled at the four. "Thank you, Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy. But this time, I have to go it alone."
King Mickey frowned. "Hikari, listen. The power of waking isn't to go chase hearts around! Even if you do locate your mother, you might never come home to us again."
"I will," Hikari said. "And we'll both be back before you know it."
"Please..." Mickey pleaded.
Haya and Riku exchanges looks with each other and walks up to King Mickey.
Haya smiled. "Let her go, Mickey."
Mickey frowned again. "Riku... Haya..."
"Haya's right," Riku smiled. "Her heart and her mind are made up. Now, believe in her."
The King had no choice but to agree. "Yeah... Safe journey, Hikari."
Hikari smiled. "Thank you." She summoned her Counterpoint Keyblade and opens a portal to start her one last mission. Sooner or later... Hikari returned to the Final World. "This is..." Then she saw Chirithy appearing before her. "Chirithy. Am I glad to see you?"
"Back so soon, princess?" Chirithy said as it noticed Hikari looking really sad. "What's wrong?"
Hikari sighs. "Long story..." She explained what happened to her mother back at Scala ad Caelum.
Chirithy groaned. "Even with the power of waking and the power of the princess of Kingdom Hearts, you can't just bring someone back."
"But my mom's heart hasn't been lost yet," Hikari said. "She's still with us, right?"
"Maybe, but this time, I'm afraid the situation is a lot worse," Chirithy warned.
Hikari smiled. "Hey, I've already restored six hearts. What's one more?"
"But that's not how it's supposed to work at all," Chirithy explained. "The power of waking is meant to be used to wake and restore sleeping hearts, not to restore them after they've completely faded away from existence. You've done that six times before, and as a result, you've managed to greatly alter the course of history itself."
Hikari frowned. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is you've broken a nature taboo, princess," Chirithy finished.
"Nature what now?" Hikari looked confused.
"Nature taboo," Chirithy nodded. "A forbidden act. Break a taboo of nature, and you'll end up paying an extraordinary price."
Hikari's eyes widened as she remembered Young Xehanort's warning. "I've heard that before... So what's the price?"
"You'll lose your powers," Chirithy answered. "You won't be able to use the power of waking and the power of the princess of Kingdom Hearts."
Hikari smiled. "That's all? No problem."
Chirithy shook its head. "But that's not all. You yourself...will vanish from this world. And without your powers, you can't return to the world you came from."
Hikari clenched her fist. "I don't care."
Chirithy jumped back in surprise. "What?!"
"There's a lot I don't understand, but I know that this is all I can do right now," Hikari explained. "I have to do everything I can to get my mom back. That's the whole reason behind my journey."
Chirithy sighed. "...I can't stop you, can I?"
Hikari giggled. "Nope, I have to follow my heart."
"Hmm... Well, princess, then this really is good-bye, so listen carefully to me," Chirithy said to Hikari. "You'll return to the past again, but you won't be able to rewrite it this time. No matter what happens, you have to accept it and move on."
In the past, the scene where Nobu-Xehanort knocks out Terra replays.
"The heart you have now, it already existed during that time," Chirithy explained. "It went back into that past earlier. Nothing can change that fact. The place where you'll return is the tear in the fabric of time that was created when you changed your destiny, then changed it once again. In order to not stray too far from the true power of waking, you'll enter and pass through the hearts of the guardians and your family, until you reach your mom's heart. Every emotion that each of the guardians and your family felt... sadness, anxiety, fear, kindness. Everything they saw, and everything that they felt then, you'll clear a way through it, traverse across their hearts, and dive ever deeper inside. I can't be sure what's waiting for you at the end, or what you'll actually be able to do, but by following the connection of hearts, you'll come to discover a greater truth—one that's sure to help you. But...in this flow of time in the past, you'll only have up until the moment you left for this place, so you'll have to find and restore your mom's heart before then. That's all the advice I can give you, princess. Beyond that, I can only say... may your heart...be your guiding key."
Hikari flew out of her past self's body as Terra flew through her. Then she looked at the shining light. "This...is Terra's heart..." She found herself in Terra's Station of Awakening. "Terra! Terra!"
An unrecognized voice was heard. "No, leave him be."
Hikari gasped. "What!?"
"He's too pure...and a pure heart can be most careless," the voice said.
Hikari looked around. "Who are you?"
"...Darkness," the voice answered.
"Darkness? ...Xehanort?" Hikari gulped. Soon, she was transported to the Badlands of the Keyblade Graveyard to see an illusion of Terra-Xehanort.
"What you're fighting now is merely an illusion," Terra-Xehanort said, summoning the Dark figure behind him.
Hikari fought the illusion of Terra-Xehanort and after the battle... the scene in the past resumes.
Lea stopped Hikari and Haya for a moment. "Stay back, ladies! I've got him!" He charges towards Nobu-Xehanort and tries to attack him.
Nobu-Xehanort blocked Lea's attack with his hand and sent him backwards. Then he turned his attention to Kairi and Sora who summoned his Kingdom Key Keyblade and charges towards the couple.
Sora stands his ground with Kairi but Nobu-Xehanort had maimed him and was knocked onto the ground.
Kairi saw that her boyfriend was brutally injured. "Sora!" Then she gasped as she saw Nobu-Xehanort preparing to finish off Sora.
"No! Kairi!" King Mickey saw Kairi running towards Nobu-Xehanort and Sora while Donald and Goofy ran after her.
As Kairi held onto Sora, Nobu-Xehanort swings his Keyblade at them but it hits Goofy's shield, knocking him and Goofy back in opposite directions. Donald prepares his ultimate magic that can hurt Nobu-Xehanort.
Goofy fell onto the ground and saw Donald preparing his ultimate spell. "Donald, don't!"
"Zettaflare!" Donald shouted as he uses Zettaflare to blast Nobu-Xehanort into the sky.
"Whoa..." Hikari said as she looked at Donald who passed out after using all his strength and Zettaflare to finish off Nobu-Xehanort.
Donald, Sora and Terra are badly injured so King Mickey, Goofy, Haya, Aqua, Ventus, Lea, Kairi and Riku ran over to them.
"Terra..." Aqua frowned as she, Ventus and Lea knelt next to Terra while Riku and Kairi knelt next to Sora.
Hikari's future self left Terra's body and entered Aqua's to see her Dive to the Heart. "Is this...Aqua's heart? Terra's heart was so peaceful... but this...this is fear."
Back at the Keyblade Graveyard, Hikari's past self's eyes widened as she knew her nightmare is starting to come true. "This can't be real."
While watching over Donald with Goofy and King Mickey, Haya started crying as she felt her eyes prickle with tears. "Dad... why..."
King Mickey saw a Demon Tide appear from the ground and ran over to Hikari. "Pull it together, Hikari! We haven't lost them. They still have their hearts." He summoned his Star Cluster Keyblade and faces the Demon Tide. "But we have to protect them."
Past Hikari nodded as she summoned her Counterpoint Keyblade and faced the Demon Tide. "Right!"
Aqua walked up to King Mickey and Hikari with Riku. "We stand together."
Riku nodded as he summons his Braveheart Keyblade and follows King Mickey, Aqua and Hikari towards the Demon Tide.
Aqua summoned Master Eraqus's Keyblade as she turned to Haya and the others. "Haya, Kairi, Goofy, Ven, Lea, watch the others."
Haya frowned as she wipes away her tears. "No, we should all get to safety, while we still can."
Riku looked at Haya. "It's too late for that."
Then, they saw another Demon Tide flying out of the other corner and formed with the other one into a giant cyclone, much to their shock.
Aqua looked at the cyclone. "It can't be... No..." She sees a lot of Anti-Aquas flying around.
Future Hikari saw them as well, remembering the times that Aqua had been going through in the realm of darkness. "So...this is the fear and despair that Aqua feels... And now...I feel it too." She was sent to the realm of darkness after the Demon Tide swept Aqua away. "Another illusion!" She sees Anti-Aqua preparing for battle and summoned her Keyblade to fight her.
After the battle, the scene in the past resumes.
"Aqua!" Riku and King Mickey cried.
Next, the Demon Tide swept Ventus, Lea and Terra away. And then Sora and Kairi. And finally... Haya, Donald and Goofy, leaving Hikari, Riku and King Mickey the only ones left standing.
Past Hikari looked up and reaches out to Ventus who does the same and gets pulled away. Then she dropped her Keyblade and screamed in anguish at the top of her lungs.
Future Hikari began hearing voices of her past self and Haya. "Did I... Did I pass through the tear...?"
Suddenly... Naminé and Roxas were there. "Hikari!?"
Hikari looked over to see Sora and Kairi's Nobodies. "Naminé?! Roxas?!"
"What are you doing here?" Naminé asked. "Have you lost yourself, like we did?"
"Well, it's a long story. But tell me, why haven't you returned to Sora and Kairi's hearts yet?"
In the past...
"He is their thirteenth," King Mickey said. "And Terra's replacement."
Nobu-Xehanort looked at Hikari, Haya and the guardians of light with a vicious smile. "Today is the day you all lose."
"What?!" Hikari gasped as Haya hid behind her.
"Before you even face the thirteen, every last one of you will be torn heart from body," Nobu-Xehanort said as he summons Master Xehanort's Keyblade. "But fear not. The χ-blade will still be forged."
In the Dive to the Heart, Roxas shook his head. "Because...we're still not able to. Not yet."
"But...we're calling out to your father's heart, and I brought "him" here," Naminé said.
"No, your father's heart...is too steeped in darkness," Roxas said. "Instead, we've brought out your dad's most personal and powerful thoughts."
"This is your father's sadness, anger, lament..."
Future Hikari looked confused. "My dad's thoughts...?"
In the past, Terra glared at Nobu-Xehanort as he walked up to him. "We're not gonna lose to you."
Nobu-Xehanort smirked as he teleports to attack but something got in his way. His eyes widened as he saw a moving skeleton figure and a mysterious woman in a black hood. "Who are you?"
"Got you, Xehanort," the mysterious woman and the skeleton figure spoke.
The mysterious woman pulled down her hood, revealing herself as Hiromi, the mother of Hikari and Haya, and looks at her daughters. "Girls..."
Past Hikari's eyes widened. "Mom?" Then she turned to the skeleton figure. "And what is that?"
"It's you father," Hiromi answered. "His lingering will."
Haya gasped happily. "Dad..."
Nobu-Xehanort glared at Hiromi and Nobu's lingering will. "This is impossible!"
"How we've waited for this moment," Nobu's lingering will said as he and Hiromi battles Nobu-Xehanort which takes them into the distance.
Nobu-Xehanort glared at the skeleton figure. "Wretched spirit!"
Nobu's lingering will stands in between Hiromi and Nobu-Xehanort. "As long as Master Xehanort resides within you, you're a threat to my family."
Nobu-Xehanort smirked. "How noble, you would give your life for theirs?"
"He's right. You must be removed from existence...at all costs," Hiromi said as she and the skeleton attacks Nobu-Xehanort.
Future Hikari couldn't bear to watch. "Naminé, Roxas, can you two call out to my dad?"
"We can't," Roxas frowned.
"His rage is too strong," Naminé agreed. "He won't respond to us."
"No matter who gets hurt, it's bad for my dad," Future Hikari said, looking determined. "Either way, you two have to leave. Go to the world of ocean and sky."
"And you?" Roxas and Naminé said at the same time.
Future Hikari smiled. "I got this."
In the Keyblade Graveyard, Nobu-Xehanort fights Nobu's lingering will and Hiromi until he summoned the Dark Figure to subdue the Lingering Will. "Be gone!" As he was about to finish off the will, he sees Future Hikari attacking the Dark Figure and hugging Hiromi and Nobu's will. "How can you be here?!"
Future Hikari smirked at Nobu-Xehanort. "Hey, I can travel to different times too, you know. Did you think you were the only one with that power?"
Nobu-Xehanort growled. "You dare...!" He began battling Future Hikari until he summoned his Dark Figure to subdue her so he can finish her off but the will managed to sacrifice itself.
"Dad!" Hikari cried.
"Nobu!" Hiromi gasped.
As the skeleton vanishes, Nobu-Xehanort smirked at Future Hikari. "Seeing that you have also taken the forbidden path, you too must be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice."
"Mom... go," Future Hikari said to Hiromi.
Hiromi nodded, leaving Future Hikari to fight Nobu-Xehanort.
After the battle, Nobu-Xehanort summons his Dark Figure to subdue Future Hikari and uses a blast of darkness. "Darkness awaits you!"
Next chapter coming soon...