[b]Warning: This epilogue is pretty mushy at times.

[center]Epilogue: The Sun Rises[/center][/b]

[i]The Great Maw, Radiant Garden[/i]

There were twenty of them there, in the center of the enormous space. Ephiram, Kaith, Black Paladin, and Uchi. Angel, Flora and Ele. Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Kairi. Isaac, Demi, and Kynthia. Axel, Jake, Inferno, and Pyro. Not the fallen. Noth the Geth or allied Elites. Not the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee or the Twilight Town gangs. Not even the Blade of Olympus.

Not a single person spoke. What could they say? They had been through six weeks of war, of hardship and pain, of evil and horror. They had shed blood, sweat, and tears, sometimes all at the same time. Omega was nonexistent, taken with its leader. Finally, Grace of the present spoke.

"That...that all happened, right?"

Kaith tapped his helmet, his armor in good condition once more. "Sain? Kira?" As they replied, he took off the headgear, holding it in his right hand for all to hear due to the lack of the radios they once had.

[i]"Distorted memory banks,"[/i] the female acknowledged. [i]"Something here, but very hard to work with."[/i]

Sain translated. [i]"Congratulations, everyone. Give yourselves a round of applause, or even just a pat on the back. You just all experienced a month and a half that officially never happened."[/i]

"The Blade?" Ele asked.

"Back in Greece, most likely," Black Paladin answered. "Without Kaith to steal it--not an easy feat, I imagine--the Ghost of Sparta will be needing it."

Angel asked the next question. "Where's the Restoration Committee or the Twilight Towners?"

"Home," Kaith guessed. Maybe they remember, maybe they don't. Probably they dont, or we'd already see them running around crazy. But they'll go back to their business."

Kairi, Flora, and Kynthia had drifted together, all with downcast expressions. The others who noticed sighed as quietly as they could. Not everyone would be home. They had lost those close to them. A good friend, a brother, a boyfriend. Some wounds would not be healed with any amount of Potion.

A sound came from the Crystal Fissure. Footsteps, someone approaching. Who could it be? Nobody could know they were all here.

"Uh, sorry about the Angelus.  Not one of my better ideas."

Audrye and Marianna walked up to them, both wearing smiles.  Despite their tears, both Kynthias and Kairi hugged the two when they joined the group.

Next was Hawk. Before he could even say, "Hi," his sister called his name, running to him. Her embrace knocked the twilight angel off of his feet, a tackle to the ground. Though surprised, he smiled with his fraternal twin, happy to be alive once more.

Isaac saw the next arrival, and cheered, calling his name. "Greg!"

[i]"Greg!"[/i] Kynthia was already a quarter of the way her her beau before Isaac even took a step, tackling him to the ground in a potentially bone-crushing hug. She sobbed her tears of joy running down her face even after it was buried in the folds of the Cruxis angel's red shirt. "Greg... Greg..." She repeated his name again and again, just holding him.

Gregory stroked her long, dark gray ponytail, happy to see her again. His every word was a soothing whisper as he summoned his multicolored ethereal wings, righting them. "It's okay, Kyn. It's all going to be okay. I'm here. I won't leave you ever again. I love you too much to let that happen." He was okay. She was okay. They weren't dead together, but rather had their intertwined lives together back.

Pyro smiled at the couple, calling out to Greg from a distance. "Your girlfriend kicked a [i]godly[/i] amount of a**, Greg."

"Well, duh," the angel shot back, too happy to care about the pun.

Lukgar, however, groaned. [i]That was [b]painful.[/b][/i]

"I love you too, Greg." Her tears finally at least mostly dried, the present-era demigoddess pulled back to see him clearer, a sly smirk growing on her face. She put her right hand behind her boyfriend's head and her left behind his back as he held her back and waist, and they pulled each other into a kissing embrace.

Pointedly letting his past have his space, Kaith turned to Ephiram, approaching him. "Thanks for bailing me out."

The Original Interference turned away, not wanting to ruin the good mood around them with a glare. "I didn't do it for you."

A grin. "Oh, I know that."

That tore it. The true hero rounded on his aquaintence. "You knew. You knew all of this would happen, didn't you? That's why you killed the mercenary. It was to get [i]me[/i] to leave. You used me, used all of them. [i]Where do you get off?![/i]"

"I knew that we needed some form of immense time magic to undo Sora's death. Each other one compounded that need. So, after his death, I knew that I would need to take Dolor's powers, since he had arrived. Nobody likes him anyway.

"After I got the Blade, I realized that I needed to bypass Reaper's heart-reading. Best way to do that was to make you a wild card, or at least backup if I lost the Blade. I knew you'd come back to save me at the last second. We used the Heartless, Nobodies, and the rest to punch through the blockade, but also I needed to distract the forces enough to get you and any other heroes in any way possible. Way I think these things work, it was a completely insane plan. But those are the ones that tend to work for us Interferences. The crazier plans we don't tell many people. It's a video game universe, after all."

"Video game logic..." Ephiram was fuming. "Your entire plan banked on video game logic, on the off chance that I would change my mind." Be threw up his arms, shouting now. "Do you have [i]any[/i] idea how [i]stupid[/i] that sounds?!"

"It worked, didn't it?"

In the midst of this argument, Demi approached. She walked right up to Ephiram before he could ask what she wanted to say, and kneed him in the groin. [i]Hard.[/i] There was a high pitched whimper, and he crumpled to the ground in a heap. "That's for leaving in the first place." The demigoddess then turned on her boyfriend.

Kaith backed away slowly, his armored hands up. "H-hey, Kyn, let's be reasonable here..." The right hook hit him right in the jaw.

"And that's for not coming sooner!"

Still reeling from the punch, Kaith was grabbed by the shoulders by Dolor, who had come behind him. He was not happy.

"What the hell kind of plan was that?! Killing me was the main drive! How the [i]hell[/i] do you think I'm ever going to forgive that?!"

The soldier stared blankly. "You say that as if anyone actually cares. Get over it. You got better."

The futures were all sharing that gaze. Nobody liked Samuel Dolor, at least not here.

He threw up his hands, sand beginning to swirl around him as he muttered to himself. "[size=1]I'll show you. You'll all see what a hero can really do. What [i]I[/i] am capable of.[/size]" He winked to Demi, Ele, and Uchi, and gave them a low bow, a disgusted glare from each of them in return. The sands came up, then disappeared in a flash of yellow. With that, the flirtatious, perverted, irritating future of Samuel Dolor was gone.

Her arms crossed, Demi could feel a bulge in her belly. Her eyes widened. Isaac was gone, leaving Mini-Isaac to his own fate. So that meant... She dragged Kaith aside to talk with him.

Meanwhile, beside Black and trying to not watch the increasingly frantic Kairi staring at the Crystal Fissure, Axel was getting unnerved by the still-kissing couple. Kynthia's occasional moans weren't helping. He leaned to Louis Delgado's future. "Should we stop them? This is kinda weirding me out."

Just a shake of the head. "Give them a few minutes. They deserve a little time."

"But couldn't they get a room? Or at least go to the Dark Depths, if nothing else?" [i]Are they even breathing?[/i]

"Do [i]you[/i] want to let them out of our sight now? No telling what could happen."

The former Number VIII's eyes widened. "They wouldn't. ...Would they?"

"Best not to take the chance."

"Aye aye."

The third person entered the area, waving. His blue eyes again shone with renewed life. He had returned, brought back with the erasure of Reaper.

Sora was back. "Hi, guys!"

For a moment, there was silence. Then an uproar, everyone cheering at the same time. He was back! All of that pain and hardship, and he had finally returned alive! Ephiram's eyes bugged. He would talk with the Keyblade Master later. How did [i]she[/i] get there so fast?

Kairi was standing beside the others one second, was three quarters of the way across the Great Maw the next. She wrapped her arms around her friend very tightly, tears running down her cheeks. "This is real..." she understood. He was really back. She wasn't dreaming, even as he hugged back.

Naminé spoke to Roxas. [i]You...you're okay, right?

As I'm gonna be,[/i] the Key of Destiny replied. He knew that Kairi's eyes were slowly closing, pulling Sora closer. [i]Luk's right. About time.

You said it.[/i]

Radiant Garden's Princess of Heart didn't care who was watching. He was back. They were happy. There was already that picture from Greg and Kynthia anyway. The moment was just so perfect. Their lips came closer, inch by inch...

[size=7][b]"Sora!"[/b][/size]

"Gah!" Both teenagers were knocked to the ground by the force of a charging anthropomorphic duck and dog, both hugging them.

Some of the onlookers laughed, others palmed their faces in exasperation.

Riku jogged over, keeping down his laughter long enough to speak. "Smooth move, Donald, Goofy. Now could you let the lovebirds breathe?" Everyone knew that Sora and Kairi were probably blushing at the bottom of the dogpile. The golden moment was gone.

During this, Uchi spoke with her brother, Black. "What about Ron? He wasn't erased."

"Isaac was the reason he went after the Sacred Beasts after half of Zeik was obliterated, to have a way to kill Greg when those rumors came out two years after Isaac was killed. Now he never had that motivation. He still might be a problem, but we can handle him."

Finally, Greg's future looked to Isaac after seeing (and, to Axel's continued squeamishness, hearing) his younger self-expression of joy long enough, and knowing that Kynthia was squeezing the younger version of the angel ever closer. "Okay, I think we should separate the kid and Kyn. Isaac, pull them apart before you become an uncle."

Isaac gave Kaith a disbelieving gaze. "Would they really?"

"You wanna risk it, runt?" At this, Isaac finally jogged to them, muttering under his breath about how he hated that nickname from Black. He tried pushing them apart with his hands, but quickly turned to just trying to use his double saber as a crowbar, with very limited success or even acknowledgement from the two.

Roxas had a question. [i]Luk', isn't this usually the time you start swearing?

I'll let it slide for another minute or so. He just got back from the dead--not [b]with[/b] her this time. Plus, I'm not in the mood right now, a little tired from time dead again.[/i]

As Sora finally stood up with his friends, they were all gasping for breath. Then Riku arrived and clapped him on the shoulder, a one-armed hug.

"Stop trying to be like Alex," the Dawn Walker said, his tone serious. "Revival by time travel won't happen to everyone." Then they were laughing. All five of them, laughing in purest joy, in relief at having reached the end of this nightmare still alive, or once again alive.

Kaith approached Ephiram again, having talked quietly with Demi. "Karsath, I need to ask you one last favor. I don't know if the Alexander I see where I'm going will be you."

"After all that, you think I'll give you help?"

A pause. The soldier looked back to the silver haired woman. He then turned back to Ephiram, whispering. "I want to take her back to Aselia with me. The Chronos Pathway is too temperamental to use. She's still pregnant. I...I want to be there for her this time. All I'm asking for is one Chronos Warp."

The younger man sighed, softening at the mention of the least emotionally stable of the futures among them. "All right. She's been through enough." F. Alexander looked to the nearby futures, and announced their ticket home. "Show of hands: who among you wants to go?"

Demi, Kaith, Inferno, Black, Uchi, Marianna, and Angel, all raised their hands.

Black removed his mask, revealing himself once more. His sister and Flora were alive again, the danger of Phantom gone, so he saw no reason to disguise himself any longer. F. Louis laughed, actually laughed in relief, for the first time since he could remember. After all this time, finally a happy ending, at least for the time being. The man looked to Kaith. "I guess we'll need a different usual."

The semi-SPARTAN II rubbed his blue-black hair with an armored hand as the other lightly held Demi's. "You've got that right. See you around, partner."

The Original Interference looked to his fellow futures nodding. "I'll let you all say your goodbyes here."

Kaith called to his past. "Kid!"

Only a half-opening of eyes in response. "Mmhmm?" Then he closed the eyes again, going back to rubbing his girlfriend's back as he did not move his lips from hers for an instant.

Isaac was trying pry the two apart with his double saber. "A little help over here!"

[i]Sorry, Edward isn't here,[/i] Roxas snarked.

Sora just rolled his eyes in response to the joke, taking Greg by the waist and trying to pull him away as Kairi tried from the opposite gender member of the couple. About a minute and a half of struggling later, with both Keybladers and the demon, they were [i]finally[/i] separated. The separated pair were pale, the blood drained from their faces for lack of breath, while the other teens, especially Isaac, were sweating from the effort. All five were panting.

"Worth the wait," Greg gasped, smiling with the demigoddess.

Kaith chuckled. Some things never changed. He took two computer chips from his helmet, walking over and handing them to Greg, who waved off the AIs meant to provide guidance until their terms of service expired.

"Give the two of 'em to the keyboy."

Deciding not to question it, Kaith did as asked, giving the chips to Sora.

Isaac turned to his older brother. "Greg...why did you save me?"

"You're my brother," was the blunt answer.

"I know, but you don't even like me. You hate me, and with good reason. Why did you save me?"

"You're my brother," he repeated. "Why are we still talking about this?"

Tears brimmed in the three non-sword eye sockets. Isaac hugged his brother close, patted on the back in reply with a slight smile on the older boy's face.

When Isaac let go, Greg turned to the demigoddess he loved. "Kyn, do you want to go out on a date with me?"

The mostly sheltered demigoddess looked confused. "What's a 'date', Greg?"

"Uh..." This he hadn't expected. "It's where we go off, just the two of us, and have some fun for a while, do whatever we'd like."

[i]The two of them, alone, without any physical forms as supervision. What could possibly go wrong?[/i]

Kairi rolled her eyes at Naminé's sarcasm. Being around Lukgar was not good for her.

"Of course!" Kynthia beamed at her boyfriend.  "I'd love to, Greg!"

The next arrivals caused everyone to draw weapons.

Lee, at the front, was not the issue. Elena and Jess behind him were. The man spoke.

"Hey, calm down! Look at them!" He pointed to the females' faces. "No red eyes, no horns. They killed me, and [i]I'm[/i] letting it go. We just came to tell you they're good now." Only then were the armaments put away or dismissed.

Demi approached Elena; Jessica, Kynthia. The tension was palpable.

"Kynthia," the Jessicas said.

"Jessica," was the dual reply.

Then the Mireu females and Lee walked back the way they had come, off on their way.

[i]I sense another Ashley situation,[/i] Naminé muttered, remembering Spain and the Kynthia's mutual animosity between herself and the American President Graham's daughter.

Sora, Kairi, and Greg all sighed.  That had been incredibly aggravating.

The tension dissipated with their departure. The futures came together. Finally, it was time to get moving.

"Never give up," Angel told Hawk.

"See if you can keep up your training, learn a new form, maybe," Inferno to Pyro.

"You'll do great," Marianna assured Audrey.

"Don't run off," Kaith advised his past. A quick nod as a reply, for fear of a beating.

"Beat him up if he does anyway," Demi told Kynthia, making her boyfriend's past sweat.

Uchi and Black were silent, the latter just giving a quick salute and taking Ele's hand.

F. Flora looked to her past. "Try not to lose him again."

Ephiram spoke to the older Interferences. "I'm sending you back, but I'm staying here. Just to make sure things stay normal." A cough from Greg. "Okay, stable." He summoned the atone Fracture, held it high. "Chronos Warp!" The air rippled, distorted, and the futures except for him were gone.

Roxas spoke with Lukgar. [i]We're okay with this date thing so long as there's only two of them when they get back, okay?[/i]

An exasperated Sora. "Roxas!"

[i]Completely valid condition, Roxas. Lukgar, keep them separate as possible.[/i]

"Naminé!" Kairi shouted.

Laughter. [i]You got it, guys.[/i]

Kynthia looked to her boyfriend, since she could not hear the voices. "Do I not want to know?" A nod, and three facepalms.

"Sora, Kairi. We'll see you around."

"Bye, guys," Kynthia said goodbye to her best friend and Greg's.

With that, Greg gripped Yumigami's daughter tightly in a hug. "Hang on!" He then flew off into the sky, spiralling up, Kynthia's shrieking laughter at the thrill of flight echoing down to the two waving Keyblade users.

Afterward, Kairi walked over to Sora, some sadness in her eyes. "Sora, I...I don't know if I can keep Interfering."

The Keyblader was taken aback. "You're doing great!"

She sighed. "No, I'm not. When you died, I...I just couldn't take it anymore. Our worlds are one thing. But all that's been going on...I need time to think. I know that Greg told you to watch his ship, but can you please...at least come back home with me, to Destiny Islands?"

The Kingdom Hearts protagonist sighed as well. He couldn't change her mind. "If it's what you want."

She nodded. "Thank you, Sora. I'll stay with you on this world until you leave. We can keep the [i]Destiny[/i] with me, in case I ever decide to go again." That settled, they joined the others who remained.

Ephiram nodded. "Alucard, I'll hold you to that rematch."

Isaac turned back to Ephiram, with one last question. "When I was in Reaper's apocalyptic time, I saw a version of Alexander, maybe a version as far ahead as you. He was evil, as I could see in his heart. What if he made it back here some day?"

Ephiram was resolute. "Then he'll come. If he does, someone will be there. Maybe my past self, the one who belongs here. Maybe someone else. But whoever it is, they'll be ready. You can count on that." He looked to Sora. "You want to talk a while?"

"Um...sure." Kairi squeezed his hand, Riku gave him a short laugh at his blush. And so, those who were left walked off toward the Dark Depths. "I guess we've got some things to catch up on."

Ephiram nodded. "Like how you can't make jokes about Lucca anymore."

Kairi and Sora blushed wildly. "W-wait a second!" And all else laughed.

Donald started. "Sora and Kairi, sittin' in a tree..."

---

[i]Gummi Hangar, Radiant Garden
The Next Day[/i]


A pile of Gummi blocks of all types, enough to make a custom model, was lain out on the floor.  All stolen from storage units around this hangar of Cid Highwind.  All he needed to construct a Gummi ship, to traverse the worlds.  A flat clap, and hands pressed against the pile.  Green sparks flew all over the pieces, and they reconstructed, reorganized themselves.  Within seconds, the pile had become a ship in and of itself, a custom model of his own.

The young man looked at the picture he had found--from a deceptive request to Tron of Space Paranoids--of his other self, the self from this reality, as he mused about what had occurred directly prior to his time in this world.

A wall of blue flame rushing toward him, caused by that "Gregory Kaith Zivaku" person.  He was looking for a ship, any ship.  That...[i]thing[/i] was blocking the way to the other end of the ship, actually causing anyone who came near it to spontaneously explode into burst of gore.  Not exactly an ideal situation to find oneself in.  It was the end...

And then it wasn't.  He suddenly was not on that strange world, but was instead here.  Meddling in the past?  Whatever kept him alive was good, he supposed.  Losing his life on a world of such stereotypically bloodthirsty and power-hungry villains with no purpose was a humiliating way to die after such a successful run in his worlds. Still, being saved by a press of the reset button on time itself was a contrived excuse for survival. Typical. Bad excuses for the defeat of terrible villains. It kind of evened things out.

This picture...it was far different from his own appearance. He had to fit in as best as he could, and assuming the role of his heroic self seemed to be the best option, at least for the time being.  So he did just that.

Black smoke surrounded him, illusion-casting clouds.  When they fell, he looked entirely different.  He was slightly shorter, and missing his belt-holstered [i]Arcturus[/i].  His features were significantly less sinister, a definite plus for a disguise.  His classy-looking gray jacket was replaced by a dark red one, the dark blue undershirt with a black one, his black slacks for green, baggy ones with large pockets on the sides, and his black boots for dark brown ones. A gray, fingerless glove was on his right hand, a Flame Glove of Roy Mustang on the left.  His short-cut, brown hair had grown and spiked.  Well, on the plus side again, he would definitely fit in while in a SquareEnix game.

Now, there was the business of his weapon. No Lightning Guard?  Then what was the correct design?  Best not to risk allowing himself to be known until it is too late; better to use his other designs to keep a low profile.  And no Ivalician gun...perhaps he had, or would be receiving, a Morph Gun in Haven as a hero.  Not that he would go to get one; he would still use the [i]Arcturus[/i] if necessary, and try to cover it up with some kind of explanation.

That settled, there was choosing a world to travel to. Well, that one was as good as any other. Beast's Castle it was.

And so, he set off, ready to go about his business. A loss of his purpose in life due to Reaper, he now had no goal.

So, Alexander Karsath thought, why not have a little fun? Cause a little mayhem?

---

For every time, a hero. Lives go on, villains rise and fall, but the words on one man still hold true for the universes at large, as far as the Interferences were concerned.

That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out.


[b]Well, that's that.  This fic was a labor of love from start to finish, and we all hope anyone who reads it enjoys it, even though the story isn't very relevant to the forum now.  Even so, if you enjoyed it, any and all feedback is seriously appreciated.  Thank you again.[/b]