Epilogue: A New World

The sound of seagulls was the only thing that Kairi could be heard as she opened her eyes to the familiar sandy beach and calm waves that could only be seen on Destiny Islands. She pushed herself up, half aware of what was going on as she looked around the play islands. "Home?" She questioned. The last thing that she remembered was Sora purity Kingdom Hearts with the X-blade when a bright light consumed them.

She shot up as she became fully aware, looking around the beach for any signs of her friends. "Sora? Riku?" She called out as she looked around the beach once more, heading to the Paupo tree for a better sight. As she looked for her friends, a glow in the sky caught her attention. The sun was setting as night began to approach them but in the sky, waiting for the night to come, was the moon of Kingdom Hearts.

"Sora! Kairi!" Riku's voice called for them.

The Princess of Heart saw Riku emerge from the other side of the play island, where they had placed their raft before. She called over to the Wielder of Dawn, signalling him to look up at the sky. In moments, Riku had managed to jump up next to Kairi as they looked up at the sky. "What do you think this means?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure." Riku shook his head before looking at his friend. "We need to find Sora. Maybe he will know." As the sun set, the two tried to find Sora on the play island. Searching all of the places that they used to hang out, even the secret place but there was no sign of the Keyblade Master. "Let's check the main island." Riku suggested.

As they were preparing some boats that had been left on the side, Riku's communicator began to ring. The two halted as Riku pick up his communicator to see that a message has been received. He plays the message, only to see Brian on the screen, back when they were at Little Devon.

The sight of their departed friend brought back the thoughts of losing him. Tears feel from Kairi's face while Riku took deep breathes to keep his cool as he hold the recording still. Brian hadn't started speaking on the recording yet as he seemed to be rubbing his own eyes from his tears.

Eventually, he started speaking.

If you are getting this then I can say that the planned worked, we saved Sora and stopped the Dark Master. But for those of you that might not know, time has caught up with me and I am no longer with you.

The statement said made Riku and Kairi think that they were not the only ones that was getting the message. Anyone with a communicator would have received it. They could only think what Hikari and Max's reactions are to the video, not to mention King Mickey and the others. Brian seemed to go over some scenarios of what might have happened, saying that they would have received a different recording for the different victory, showing that he didn't know how it was going to go in the recording itself.

If you all should be able to see Kingdom Hearts in the air too then the Dark Master must have infected it and Sora, Kairi and Riku had to purity the core. By purifying the core of Kingdom Hearts, a bright light would have emerged and taken you back to your home world. I would ask if Riku could go to the others that might not have a communicator to repeat this message too.

"So that would be Roxas, Naminé, Xion…" Kairi listed.

"…Aqua, Terra and Ven…" Riku made a not. "I might need to see Mickey or Master Yen Sid to find them."

This will conclude those that have been infected and taken by the virus. The bright light should have revived and cured the Order Members that was from your timeline as their hearts never returned to Kingdom Hearts but was held by the Dark Master for some reason. I thought I would leave this as a goodbye present for you Hikari.

This caught Riku and Kairi by surprise. They could only imagine forgetting the rest of the message and going out to find her brother in Radiant Garden. From what Brian was saying, Crush, Lizza, Link, Jun, Storm, the younger Snake, Devil, Skullo and Abroc would have been brought back if they would have fallen.

"I wonder if she would still be mad." Riku thought, knowing that Hikari might still have a grudge about the incident.

The bright light that emerged had done another thing though, by seeing Kingdom Hearts, you will be happy to know that the worlds are healing and are connected. They all share the same sky as you can easily visit other worlds without the worries of Heartless appearing to take it over. Over time, you might even see more of the worlds from the distance of your home world as they come closer together. Within a few years, the world will be one again. I would ask you guys to be the voice of those that might not understand what is going on and connect the worlds together.

Now with the badges I gave you.

Riku and Kairi looked at the badges that Brian had placed on them before they had left for Neo Mansion to save Sora remembering that the Aversion Endless had never explained why they needed the badge.

The badge itself is known as a remembrance badge. Due to the light, it would have made every forget that the Devon brothers, Little Devon and I had ever existed so that we could return to our time without the past reminding us of our old life. The badges are there so you will remember us….so you could remember me.

Now on to the bad news

"Bad news?" Kairi questioned.

Kairi, Riku…..Sora isn't with you. Is he?

Their hearts dropped from Brian's question. They just thought that he might be on the main island somewhere. They hadn't even considered that Sora might have not made it out of the blast of light.

Let me assure you. Sora is alive and well. But he won't be coming back soon. If the Dark Master did infect Kingdom Hearts then he must have managed to create the X-Blade and we might had to try and cure and bring back Sora. When you purity the core, did you find that you need more than one keyblade? Because the X-blade was created to co-exist with Kingdom Hearts, it is the only keyblade that can do the job when healing the worlds but that itself takes time.

In other words, Sora won't be coming home until the worlds have come closer together, which might take a couple of years.

I'm sorry guys

I know how much you want to just relax

But he will be home soon

While listening to Brian's words, Riku and Kairi had sat onto the dock while they looked up at Kingdom Hearts as the night came on the islands, taking in all that was being said. After his last words, the message had finished, leaving them to look at the sky in silent with only their thoughts on the situation.

After a while, Kairi laid down as she just looked up at the heart shaped moon. "Will we ever be together like we used to?" She asked.

Looking at the sea, Riku sighed as he looked back at his friend before looking back at the sea. "Do we really want to go back to how we were?" He asked her, causing Kairi to look up at him. "I will always treasure our memories before we left the islands but the people we had met and the adventures we have had is what has keep our friendship so strong. If we had just stayed on the paupo tree, staring out into the sun and doing nothing about, I do think we would be as close as we are now. I don't think you and Sora would have ever said anything to each other."

"There are going to be times where we are not together…"Kairi spoke as she looked at the moon. "But it's not like he's gone forever. He is with us." She couldn't help but feel sad about it though.

Riku sighed sadly before turning to look at Kairi. "Sora and Brian will come back. Once Sora done his job up there, he will properly come down acting like no time has gone by with Brian back in the future. We have to carry on and look forward to when he comes back."He assured her before standing up and giving her a hand. "We have a lot to do before that time comes."

Kairi nodded in agreement, though still saddened by the news.

"Let's go home." Riku swung his around Kairi for comfort as he led her to the both and rowed back to the main island.

….Two Years Later….

Calming footsteps took their place on the sandy beach of Destiny Islands as the Princess of Heart stood out, looking out to the clear blue waves that moved back and forward, its movements keeping steady, the sun high in the sky. It had been two years since their last adventure had ended, two years since Daniel and Kyle had returned to the time they belonged to, two years since Brian had sacrificed himself so that the future was bright, two years since Sora had balanced Kingdom Hearts with the 'X-Blade', mending all the worlds before being engulfed by it completely. Though it had been hard for Kairi and Riku at first, the thought of both Sora and Brian gone, they knew that they would return one day, to see the good that they had done.

Over the years, Destiny Islands was one of the first official worlds to be selected by the Radiant Garden's Intergalactic Transportation Program, RGITP for short, as balancing the worlds had brought them slightly closer, allowing them to create easy travel to other worlds without the worries of Heartless, whether it would be with a Gummi ship or through Radiant Garden's new train service. The RGITP has been officially running for a couple of months now, with connections with Twilight Town, Disney Castle, Land of Departure and Transverse Town, allowing locals to explore new worlds as well as meet new people where ever they go.

Ventus had finally recovered all of his heart, clearing any worries of Vanitas returning. Awakening once more in Castle Oblivion to Aqua, he watched as Aqua restored the Castle to its original form, returning it to their home, Land of Departure. While Aqua worked on the repairs of the worlds and gathering students of her own, Ventus began his search for Terra's body, hoping to bring his friend back to the world as there was no sight of him after they awoke from the light engulfing them.

After informing everyone he needed to inform of what had occurred, Riku had started his own school for potential keybearers on the had gone to Yen Sid and received his Mark of Mastery shortly after the timeline was fix, as a part of him was hoping to try and bring Sora back. After thinking his position through though, he kept his training with Aqua at the newly repaired Land of Departure before starting his small school back on Destiny Islands. From time to time though, he would travel to Radiant Garden, hoping to catch Hikari with luck.

Like Brian had said, Hikari found her brother, Sakuzy, and had begun their journeys to all of the worlds like she said she would. She had made sure to make Destiny Islands her first stop, only to missed Riku by a couple of days. Thanks to the badges that Brian had given them, Hikari hadn't had her memories or experience changed as she recognised Kairi within seconds as well as mentioning that she still wasn't entirely happy with Riku, the memory of her brother's death still in mind. Despite the conflict though, Kairi smiled at the thought when Hikari and Sakuzy return to Radiant Garden, hoping that Riku's luck would work for him on that day.

Max had returned to Disney Castle, along with Donald, Goofy, King Mickey and the other residents of Disney Castle, the Castle remaining as if they were never attacked. The teen goof had become one of the top candidates within the Knight's Archers division and has started to take parts in competitions in Radiant Garden and Sherwood Forest, as well as entering a few skateboard contests as well. Along with Donald and Goofy, Max comes along for the visits to Destiny Islands, checking out Riku's school and hanging out with Kairi and Riku when they get the chance.

Goofy had finally set his eyes on someone while visiting his son at Radiant Garden. Although Kairi or Riku had not meet this mysterious woman yet, they couldn't help but smile at the sight of Goofy turning bashful, as well as watching Donald finally getting his own back from the countless years of teasing he received when being with Daisy.

Donald seemed more than happy to be at home, though he wasn't happy that Daisy wanted to travel to many of the worlds as 'romantic getaways'. The male duck had tried to wiggle his way out of it but she only reminded him how many dates he had missed during those three years of travelling with Sora and Goofy to save the worlds, leaving Donald no choice but to travel to another world with his beloved every month or so, leaving him munnyless.

Any signs of the Endless Virus and the Order had been destroyed when Vantias was defeated. With this, King Mickey and parts of the RGRC were able to find the infected beings and aid them back into their former lives. The hardest trail they had dealt with was with David Devon and Antony Cobra, being formally known as Colonel Devil and Sergeant Abroc. Since they had destroyed their village and killed their world's leader during their Outburst, they were moved to live in Radiant Garden, acting on community service until they have gotten used to human life again. While Antony had easily gotten used to his work on the electronics to the intergalactic trains, it took David a while until he became a valued member of the RGRC, focusing on the nature of the world and the environments. It was a while until he was allowed to see his children again, with a little reluctant seven year old boy refusing to see him. After a couple of months, he was finally a father to his kids again, assuring them that he will work to the bone as punishment for his wife's death.

Thanks to Sora's efforts with balancing Kingdom Hearts, Roxas, Namine and even Xion had their own hearts and were living happily in Twilight Town. While Roxas and Xion had set up a similar school to the one that Riku had, with Xion heading to Transverse Town to set her up there, Namine remained by Roxas' side, happily drawing events in their friend's lives.

Kairi had become the voice of reason for Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden as the two worlds had trouble working together when the RGITP was first set up, acting as the Ambassador for Destiny Islands, to keep her father from losing his way. She had continued with learning the abilities with her keyblade with Aqua from time to time with Riku, she had even been offered to take the Mark of Mastery, only for her to deny the offer.

"Hey! You're here."

The eighteen year old turned around, watching as her silver haired friend moved beside her. His hair had gone more longer than he did back when they were travelling, only this time his hair similar to a samurai, as well as gaining multiple comments from Aqua about looking like her old master. "Hey there, samurai!" She teased.

The nineteen year old rolled his eyes at her comment. "I'm not a samurai!" He groaned. "I can just deal with my hair better this way."

"If you say so, Riku." She giggled, looking back to the sea, taking a seat on the sandy beach.

"So!" Riku jumped on the sand. "Another year…" He said.

"Yeah." She replied. "To think, everything that's happened just feels like such as short time ago." She smiled sadly as the waves continue to push against the sandy land. "Like they only disappeared yesterday."

Riku chuckled at this as he placed an arm of comfort around his friend's shoulder. "We'll see them again." He told her. "Brian will appear again one day, I mean, the sun is supposed to rise again." He smiled, referring the poem that Brian was told about his path.

"And Sora?" She turned to face him.

The Keyblade Master of Dawn chuckled. "He'll fall out of the sky." He jumped to his feet as he looked down at his friend. "He may always be late but he always shows…sooner or later."

"Yeah." Kairi smiled at the thought. She can always trust Riku to cheer her up; his words helped her cope with the waiting. She looked back at her friend, "You heading to Radiant Garden?" she asked.

Riku nodded. "I had a mission from Leon. I need to report in."

"You think you catch her this time?" she asked, referring to Hikari.

Riku smiled warmly as he turned to the sea. "I hope so."

BOWBOWBOW

The crowd gathered around the cathedral as the gyspy girl, Esmeralda, and the captain, Phoebus aided the hunchback back to the city. The three of them halted as the crowd took the sight of Quasimodo, seeing what their reaction would be. Instead of hearing the angry yells or laughter from them, the town cheered as they hopped Quasimodo above them; the hunchback grinning as he finally began to live for himself.

BOWBOWBOW

Lilo and Stitch played on the beach happily, creating a huge sand castle of a gummi ship while the blue alien was reacting the adventures he had gone through back at Radiant Garden. The experiment eventually lost footing and accidently fell into the gummi ship sand castle, destroying it completely. After a quick 'oops' from Stitch, the two friends laughed happily as the sun begun to set in the distance.

BOWBOWBOW

Aladdin and Jasmine rode on Carpet as the crowd cheered behind them, the newlyweds waving at Cassim and Iago below, watching as the two went on to their new adventures together. The Princess and the Thief embraced each other as they flew into the shining moonlight, finally married to be together for all time.

BOWBOWBOW

Elizabeth and Will held each other in an embrace as they looked out to the coming sunset, as well as the Flying Dutchmen awaiting their new captain. Upon the sandy beaches, Will lead up to place a kiss on Elizabeth's lips before making his way to the rowboat that will lead him back to his crew, leaving his beloved wife to watch him disappear within a flash of green.

In the raging sea, the great captain Jack Sparrow looked at his trusted compass before looking at a part of a rotating map, within a rowboat. With a swig of rum, the pirate rotated the map so that it showed in 'fountain of youth'.

BOWBOWBOW

The Jungle became more wild as ever as the King of the Jungle, Tarzan, swung through the forest before making it to the edge of the jungle, looking out to sea as he watched beings from another world way make their way to the Deep Jungle shores.

BOWBOWBOW

Wedding bells sung as Robin Hood and Maid Marian emerged happily out of the church, the town people cheering on their happiness, as well as the King Richard laughing happily with Friar Tuck by his side. They watched as the two stepped ran within Sherwood Forest, their laughter and happiness filling the woods.

BOWBOWBOW

Basil stared at his beakers with pure concentration, taking down notes before halting completely. He turned to his door where the newspaper had arrived. He could only breathe in deeply as he looked at the headline, 'Ratigan strikes again!'

BOWBOWBOW

Mulan and Shang waited as they watched an offworlder aid their close friend back to the Land of the Dragon. Jun walked slowly, her chest, head and right arm bandaged but her injures from enduring the virus didn't bother her as she crash in the two of them, hugging them both, before cheering happily at Mulan and Shang's new marriage. The two of them together was enough to understand the ways of yin and yang.

The hyperactive student halted before turning around to look up at the sky, a unique badge was hidden within her robes.

BOWBOWBOW

Jack Skeleton made his way to the graveyard, with his trusted ghost dog by his side as he watched his beloved sing within the shining moonlight. The Pumpkin King embraced Sally as the two embraced each other within the light of the moon.

BOWBOWBOW

King Triton smiled as he watched his daughters aiding the way that the kingdom run, watching them all grown up into beautiful mermaids…all expect one. On sudden thoughts of his youngest daughter, he was surprised by Sebastian as the red crab rushed in the throne room, a huge grin on his face as he told the king about the news from the surface world. Ariel is expected to have a child; the king was going to become a grandfather. Celebrations began almost immediately.

BOWBOWBOW

The Boy that never grew up flew through the city of London with Tinkerbell by his side, keeping his distance as he watched the familiar Wendy move around in her room. While Tinkerbell rang at him, telling him that they should return to Neverland, Peter had one last look at the girl that he had shared adventures with a couple of years ago before flying off to return home.

BOWBOWBOW

Phil continued his training with his recovering student, watching him with concern as the teen struggled with the weights due to his injuries. Chris gasped as he lost strength in his arms, only to watch Hercules quickly grabbing the weights from crushing the boy. The teen only hung his head in shame, pointing out once more that he doesn't deserve a second chance after what he had nearly done to the world. Hercules only hugged him as a response before the two continued training together.

BOWBOWBOW

Rafiki smiled as he shakes his staff above Kovu and Kiara, officially making them mates for each other. Simba and Nala smiled at their new son in law as the four of them begun to make their way to the point of Pride Rock, the lionesses bowing to the four. Simba roared before watching Kovu, who followed with another powerful roar. The four lions roared together before smiling happily at each other, the sun beaming down on them. At last, the Pride was one once again.

BOWBOWBOW

Aqua carried Terra's body to the former Keyblade Graveyard, which was forming with the Land of Departure as it was once was long ago. She set the body on the ground and stepped aside as she watched. At first, nothing happened but the wind soon started to pick up. Soon, the Keyblade Master watched with tears as she watched her friend open his eyes out of his own free will for the first time in fourteen years.

Ventus watched from the distance but could only break in a cheer as he watched Aqua aid Terra to his feet. From behind, he hugged the two keybearers into a deep group hug. After all of their torments and struggles, they were finally together again.

BOWBOWBOW

Laughter was heard within Twilight Town as Hayner battled with his best friend in a struggle match, the grinning Roxas simply took him down. The keybearer aided his friend from the ground before looking at the side-line. Xion finished her ice cream before jumping up and summoning her keyblade, grinning as she requested a duel between newly made masters while Namine giggled between the two, drawing the three of them with all of their other close friends across the world.

BOWBOWBOW

Hikari smiled as she and Sakuzy returned to their home. After aiding her brother off the gummi ship, they headed their way to the marketplace to grab some supplies before heading home for a break. She grinned happily as she crashed into Max, as well as Donald and Goofy, hearing all of the business that the worlds have been doing lately. All of her friends were here, Vaan, Penelo, Max, Zidane, the Committee and even her brother. Though she knew that she missed Brian and her friends from Destiny Islands, she wasn't sure but she felt that something was missing.

Leaving her brother to catch up with Zidane, the traveller headed to her two bedroom home, only to come to a halt. She was surprised to see the Wielder of Dawn asleep on her doorstep with a box full of flower patterned cakes in his arms. She smiled as she took the cakes off him and placed them to the side before searching through her belongings for her trusted scissors. After her trusted work was done, she took her flower cakes, snuck past the sleeping keybearer and entered her house, slamming the door behind her.

The loud slam from the door had awoken the Keyblade Master of Dawn, as he shot up, keyblade in head. It was only then that he noticed that his cakes were no longer with him and his head felt lighter than usual. As soon as he was feeling the length of his hair, he turned around to find the girl that he had been awaiting to return, shaking her head at him as she ate one of his cakes. No words were said, he could only follow her as she pulled him in the house.

BOWBOWBOW

The sun began to set at Destiny Islands, the red head wielder ignored any calls from Selphie, her father or any of the others as she had spent the entire day at the play islands, watching the sea like she did a couple of years ago, waiting for his return. She gave a slight yawn, knowing that she has spent enough time here. She stood up from the sandy surface and quickly looked at her phone, seeing that she has missed a good couple of calls from her father. She gave a sigh as she dialled her home number and place the phone to her ear. "Hey! You called?"

From the distance, a glass bottle moved gracefully through the waves, the reflection of the sun made the bottle shine within the water as it washed up on shone. At first, it was struck between the land and sea, being dragged back into the sea but with one good push from the waves, the bottle jumped out from the waves and landed next to Kairi's foot.

"Ow." She whined as she looked down at what caused her foot to suddenly hurt, only to gasp in shock from the sight of a glass bottle. She picked it up, expecting the bottle and its content before seeing a crown print on the letter. "Sora…" she muttered.

"Kairi! Can you hear me?!" Her father spoke down the line. "We need to go to that dinner with the Radiant Garden Ambassador."

"I'll call you back." She quickly said, before hanging up. Ignoring the calls from her phone, she popped open the cork in the bottle and pulled out the letter. She dropped the bottle as she opened the letter out, reading out the content.

I want to be with you now.
Can we close this distance between our hearts?
I know if it's now we can make it

We can do our best
Together,
We can save us.

Sora

P.S. Look behind you.

She looked confused from the last line before looking back at the sea, only to see nothing but the dawning sky and calming waves once more. Remembering Riku's words, she kept her sight out to the sea. She looked up to the sky, only to spot something within the sky, looking as if something was falling from the sky. A shooting star? The letter remained in her hands as she started to step into the water, watching the star getting closer and closer to the watery surface. When the star impacted the water, she waited to see if anything would emerge until she saw someone surface, taking in a huge amount of air, the sight of the brown spiky hair was all see needed to see as her grin attempted to brake off her face. "SORA!"

From emerging from the water, the teen turned to the familiar voice, seeing the familiar red head shoot towards him. Was this a dream? The last thing he remembered was aiming the X-Blade to Kingdom Hearts, asking to restore the worlds to its former glory before being forced away from everyone by the light. The sight of Destiny Islands looking perfect, the sight of seeing his right arm free of any infection, feeling the wind through his hair, the salty sea floating around him, he broke out in a grin as he started to swim towards her once more, breaking into a run once his feet reach the sandy surface under the sea.

Within seconds, Sora had embraced Kairi tightly around him as the two stood in the ocean, holding each other that they didn't want to let go. "I miss you so much, Kairi" He muttered in her hair, his hands rubbing her back. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long."

Kairi pulled away from the hug and pulled him into a deep romantic kiss before pulling back. She giggled slightly as Sora's face blushed from the kiss. "You're here now." She smiled. "You're home."

A/N: FINALLY! IT IS DONE! I started this fanfic to help improve my grammar as most of you have noticed from reading the multiple amounts of grammar errors at the beginning. Thank you all that stuck by me. If you have any questions about this story series, fire away. I will soon be back with a new fanfiction, which hopefully, doesn't take 5 years to do. Also, if you are interested, I can separate the story into three parts if you like while going through the grammar and making some corrections.

But until the next story, see you guys later and look out for the first chapter of Balance of Memories.

Kingdommad