A/N: 6.25.09: I prolly should've finished editing Two-sided before moving onto this, but... I didn't. xD

Old note: Welcome to my second Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. Alright, this is a SEQUEL, people, so if you haven't read my other fanfic, go read it. It's called the Two Sided Heart. The title is awful, but the story isn't, so go check it out. So, without further ado, let's start this thing.

Disclaimer-Kingdom Hearts is NOT mine. I only own the plot and my characters.

The sky overhead was, for a change, clear of anything but white clouds as the wind roared, lapping the waves of the lake onto the rocky shore. A girl was lying on a bed of rocks lazily, uncaring as the water hit her bare feet, as she idly wound a finger around a thick strand of dark blond hair with stripes of black and sections of red. She turned over, onto her stomach, and yawned quietly as she gazed up at the bright sun. Being on babysitting duty was boring on such a beautiful day. Well, not that she could call what she was doing 'babysitting'. In fact, she wasn't all that sure where the kid, her cousin, was; that probably wasn't a very good thing.

The girl gave another great yawn as she flipped onto her back. The discomfort of not knowing the location of her little cousin was keeping her from sleeping or relaxing at all. Without yet getting up, she pulled down her long pink tube top, further obscuring the short jean shorts she was wearing. Summer had nearly returned to Jewel's Grove again, and there was just about a week of school left. Then, she would be seventeen.

Behind the gate that separated the area where the girl was laying and where the rest of the world was allowed to stand, there was a little girl with blond hair that fell a little bit down her back. She was writing with chalk on the black tar path. For a little over two hours, she had been sitting there and drawing. In fact, quite a bit of the winding path was covered in her drawings and handwriting.

"Can we go home yet?" she called to her lazy cousin. The older girl grunted in reply, so the little girl took that as a no. The seven-year-old sighed dramatically as she began to draw a little bit more furiously, the chalk somehow squelching against the tar.

"You know, Kath, there's a park just about fifteen steps away. If you're bored with coloring, then you can go there." The annoyed teenage girl muttered from where she was laying. The little girl named Kath frowned and stood up. She dusted the chalk dust off of her knees and walked over to the fence with her hands placed on her hips. She kicked at the fence twice to catch her cousin's attention. The older girl groaned and got up, rubbing her eyes as she faced the little girl. "Yes?"

"I don't wanna go to the park by myself!" shouted Kath. "I want you to come with me, so if I hurt myself, I'll be okay."

Her older cousin rolled her eyes as she put her face to the fence, too. "You're not going to get hurt going to the park that's right there," said the teenager. "You're seven now, darling; start acting like it."

Kath shook her head vehemently. "But I don't wanna!" The teenager sighed in defeat as she kicked her flip flops on and jumped the fence.

She bent down beside her cousin and decided to offer her an ultimatum. "If I were to tell you another one of my stories, would you go play on the playground and let me lie in the sun for a little while longer?" She asked, though she needn't expect an answer different from the usual. Kath nodded her head furiously with a large smile, "Alright." The girl agreed as she set her back against the fence and stretched her legs straight ahead of her so that the little girl could sit.

Kath climbed into her cousin's lap and the story began to be told. "Which one do you want to hear?" The older girl asked as she began to braid the little one's hair.

"Tell me about Kairi and Naminé again," pleaded Kath, the big smile still on her lips.

The girl finally smiled. "Okay. Kairi was really pretty, and so was Naminé. In fact, they had a different type of style than anyone would expect out of a princess. If you just met them randomly, you wouldn't expect them to be princesses. Kairi had really pretty dark red hair, and Naminé had light blond hair. The two of them had two boyfriends that, I guess, you could consider princes: Roxas and Sora..."

XxX

It had only taken about five stories to send off Kath; she was such a joyful little child. The teenage girl relaxed on her stone shore once more in peace for about an hour before she heard another peep out of anyone. "Hey, Stefa," Kath called from behind the fence.

Stefa opened one eye and groaned. "Yes?" she asked in a voice laced with forced sweetness.

"You remember those black things without hearts that you told me about?"

Stefa opened her other eye and blinked. "Heartless? Yeah... Why?" She asked slowly.

"Could I pet one? They just look so furry and cute!" The little girl said. Stefa bolted up and turned around.

"Don't be ridiculous, they don't really- Oh, no." Her cousin was mere inches from a black creature with eyes the size and color of tennis balls that Stefa immediately recognized as a Shadow Heartless. "No, no, no. Back off, Kath. Why don't you go home and see if your grandma fixed lunch?"

Kath sighed, but, excited by the prospect of going home, agreed as she skipped off. "Okay..." Stefa then jumped over the fence once again and glared at the single Heartless.

"I haven't seen a single one of you for two years. Why must you come back now?" The Heartless merely moved around harmlessly. In a way, it did look a little bit cute; just a little. "Okay, I'm talking to a Heartless... That's perfect." She murmured as she slowly backed off. When it didn't come after her, Stefa ran all the way home.

XxX

The next morning, Stefa was willing to accept that she had been dreaming the entire thing with the Heartless. Her little cousin was still sleeping when she rushed off to school, so she decided to ignore everything that she thought may or may not have happened. "I'm leaving!" Stefa called to no one in particular as she grabbed a piece of buttered toast and headed for the bus. It was Thursday, the second to last day of school for her. "And I will soon be a senior," she silently declared to herself as she stood at the bus stop.

It was a little chilly that morning, so she regretted the fact that she was wearing one of her shorter jean skirts and a white t-shirt that she thought oddly resembled a mouse that she knew a while ago... It didn't really matter, though. Besides, when would she have known a mouse like it was a good friend that spoke to her about the weather? The bus pulled up a couple of minutes later and Stefa did as she always did: retreated to the back of the vehicle in order to sit with one of her friends.

Her friend, Kate, had hair that fell down in curly ringlets and looked more orange than it did red. Kate was always wearing something outrageous. Today, for example, she was wearing a short dark blue tube top and an even shorter black skirt. "You're totally going to get caught by one of teachers, you know." Stefa remarked as she gazed at her friends clothing. Right over Kate's bellybutton was an emerald piercing. "Ah, that's why," she added with a smirk, "Nice."

"Thank you, Princess." Kate muttered sarcastically as she looked over the blonde's clothing. "Your outfits are slipping, Stef." She scolded her friend as she grasped one of the earrings hanging from Stefa's right ear: a large black hoop. Also lining this ear was a ruby stud, a small silver hoop, and at the very top of Stefa's ear were three small silver hoops in a row. "Nice earrings, though."

Stefa inclined her head, grinning. "I'm glad you approve of something on my body."

"So, have you heard?" Kate asked earnestly. Obviously she'd been holding in some 'major' news since she had gotten on the bus, and it looked like she was about to explode.

Stefa felt a little exasperated as she asked, "What about this time?" Kate either did not notice or did not care about her tone.

"Okay, well," Kate began with a smile, "I heard from Lucielle, who heard from Janet, who heard from Jake, who heard from Alma that there are five new students at our school." Stefa couldn't see what was so exciting about the news since new students were always transferring to their school.

"You couldn't get to the point, could you?" asked Stefa sarcastically, a playful smile on her face.

Kate frowned for a minute, but she immediately recovered. "There are supposed to be three gorgeous guys and two not bad girls," she stated. "One of them has chocolate-colored hair that's spiked, another is a honeycomb blond with his hair spiked in a different fashion, and the last one has straight silver-moon hair." Stefa always found it funny the way that Kate described the hair of guys.

Deciding that she needed a laugh, Stefa tugged on her friend's chain a little. "I know you were talking about one guy for sure, but are the other two the girls?"

Kate pouted. "Why do you always have to do that? It's so mean."

"Yes, yes, life is terrible," remarked Stefa, grinning. "What do the girls look like?"

"One of them has long blond hair and the other has red hair," she said bluntly. Leave it to Kate to describe the boys like gods and the girls like rats.

Stefa, always pointed out the obvious, frowned. "Isn't it just a little strange for so many kids to be transferring to school during finals?"

Kate shrugged meekly, clearly uncaring about the reasons and simply wanting to spread gossip. "I guess that's true, huh? Well, you know, people are weird. Maybe they're just checking out the school? They could be coming for the last two days of school or something."

"Could be," she agreed although she didn't believe it. "What are their ages?"

"The silver-haired boy is eighteen and the rest of them are seventeen." Stefa stared at her in amazement while she wondered if she was the only one who realized it was a bit odd for a Senior to be going to the last day of school.

'Something isn't right here.' Stefa, however, decided not to reign on her friend's parade. "Maybe we'll see them during our free period, or something."

"Well, if I see that silver-haired guy, I'm totally going up to him, final or not," declared Kate.

Stefa laughed, "That's my Kate, always getting into trouble with all of the deans."

XxX

When they got into the school, Stefa and Kate headed for the former's locker to get some of her books and money. The both of them had two free periods and a final for the last period. They had both grudgingly gone into school anyway since their parents refused to drop them off late. Stefa carried her Chemistry book and studied from it as she and Kate walked towards the cafeteria. She had become such an expert at navigating the overly-crowded hallways that she could now read from a book and walk without bumping into anyone. "I hate it when you do that," grumbled Kate as she pushed past several slow freshmen.

Stefa did not look up, bumping the same freshmen out of her way, "When I do what?"

Frowning, Kate answered, "When you study and walk. It annoys me. Especially considering you don't have your chemistry final until third period."

"In my defense, I haven't studied a thing in chemistry yet, so shut up." The effect of her words was lost as she yawned.

Kate sneered. "Tired?"

Stefa nodded her head, taking her free hand from her side and wiping at her eyes. "Rough night." It was true that since Stefa had been so worried about any Heartless attacking her while she slept, she had drank pop, coffee, and several energy drinks to keep herself awake, yet had not bothered to study for Chemistry once. Stefa yawned once again, and this time she lost her footing as they descended the stairs. Consequently, she and her chemistry book hurled down the overly crowded stairs. "And an even rougher morning," she added as she tripped all the way to the bottom of the steps. "But that did make things pass by a lot faster."

Her chemistry book was sitting in the middle of a crowded hallway, causing her to groan. She crawled towards it on her hands and knees, getting kicked or receiving greetings as she struggled towards it. When she was close to the book, someone made to kick it, but someone who was closer grabbed it. A strong hand lifted Stefa to her feet as a boy handed her the book. "Here," he said as she took it from his hand. She got only a second to catch a quick glance of him, but it was good enough for her.

When Kate ran over to her, half-laughing and half-panting, she said with much excitement, "That was the boy!"

'Sea-foam green eyes and straight silver hair. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I knew him.' Stefa thought to herself as she and Kate claimed a table.

About twenty minutes after sitting down, Kate said, "What's wrong, Stef, you seem a bit... distracted." Stefa had been staring at her open book, but the words didn't make sense at all in her head. In fact, the words held no meanings at all; they were all just sweet little nothings. Then again, chemistry had never made much sense to her in the first place, "Stefa!" Kate shouted so loudly that many people in the cafeteria turned to stare at her.

"What?" Stefa asked sharply, looking around with confusion.

Kate smacked her on the back of the head before she smiled. "You like him, don't you? Ooh. In love at first sight, are we?" she added in a murmur with her velvety voice.

"Oh, shush, I'm just tired." Stefa replied, waving off Kate, "You and your hopeless romanticism."

"Actually, I'm more for the one night stands, but..." Kate joked, earning her a look from Stefa, "Knew that would catch your attention."

Tiring very quickly of Kate's company, Stefa gazed across the lunchroom with an intense look in her eye, "Oh. My. God," she made her voice sound shocked. "Is that Brian talking to Linda?"

Kate quickly turned in her seat. "What? That little cheat, how dare he do this to me?" Kate, unable to locate the two, growled, "Where did they go, Stefa?"

"Oh... Oh, God, Kate!" Stefa muttered in a quietly serious voice. "They were heading for the guy's bathroom. You better hurry."

"That tramp," she growled. "I'll teach her to screw around with my boyfriend. I'll be back." With that, she jumped out of her seat and practically ran across the room. Since Stefa had been making it up, but also guessing that it was possible, she figured that she had given herself at least a half an hour of alone time. An hour if Brian decided to 'make up' with Kate. It was then that Stefa realized that Kate had told her that she wanted to go out with the silver-haired boy.

'A bit of a hypocrite aren't we, Kate?' Stefa smirked to herself as she stared in the direction her friend had run.

"Stefa, Stefa. You haven't changed a bit, have you? Putting relationships in danger as usual, I see," came a girl's voice from behind Stefa, causing the latter to jump. She turned in her seat to see who was standing behind her and found a chocolate-haired girl grinning.

The girl was shorter than her with big brown eyes that peered up from beneath her thick bangs. She was also extremely familiar, and Stefa had to force herself to not jump up. "Elie, I haven't seen you in forever!" Since she had last seen her, Elie's hair had grown quite a bit; they were practically flowing onto her shoulders. (A/N: Think of what Olette's hair looks like.)

"This school's big," pointed out Elie with a grin. "How've you been holding up, hm?"

"Oh, you know."

Elie raised her eyebrows. "You know I'm going to ask what happened."

Stefa nodded. "I know, but let me ask you one question first." She said as she looked at Elie with a serious expression. "Do you know if Riku, Sora, Kairi, Naminé, and Roxas are here today?" She was shocked at how easily the names rolled off her tongue, as if she spoke them daily. Then again, she supposed she sort of did; Kath was relentless in her want for Stefa's stories.

"What?" demanded Elie, staring with a slightly open mouth.

Stefa felt her cheeks burn a little as she answered. "Well, Kate said that there are five kids who are supposedly transferring, and their descriptions fit the five of them perfectly. Not a detail missing. Not to mention a boy with seafoam eyes and straight silver hair that looked exactly like Riku gave me my book today."

Elie became thoughtful and quiet for a minute, two things that were totally unlike her. "Anything is possible, I guess, but why would they come here unless something was wrong?"

"Maybe I wasn't hallucinating yesterday after all." Stefa muttered quietly under her breath as Elie stared her hard in the eye.

Elie leaned back in her chair. "You better start talking; I don't like playing guessing games."

XxxxxX

"I can't believe we have to be back here," complained a man wearing a black coat. His hood was pulled over his head, shrouding his face in darkness. There were about eleven others in the room that also had the same outfit. None of their faces were visible.

"I agree with the Schemer," agreed a female, "Bad memories here."

"It's only temporary, until we get a new castle. We've been here for almost two years, so why complain now?" asked another man. This man seemed to be taller than all of the rest of his colleagues.

"I still don't understand how we got here. Isn't Castle Oblivion inside of Kingdom Hearts?" Another man's whiny voice inquired. He was holding a strange blue sitar in his hand.

"We use portals, Nocturne, does it really matter? Besides, it's past the door, in the Realm of Darkness. Moron." Another man with a pink scythe remarked.

"Can you stop talking long enough for mind to clear?" The female snapped at the two of them.

"Why is it whenever I'm talking to someone, I get yelled at?" The man with the scythe demanded as he turned to face the woman.

The woman turned towards him only. "Because you aren't allowed to talk to anyone other than yourself," she answered. Her sneer was almost audible. "Who knows, maybe it's because hearing your voice annoys me." Now there was no mistaking the smirk.

"The Nymph is manlier than you, Number XI, so she could beat you up in order to make you permanently shut up." A man with a deep voice, obviously better built than the others, grunted.

"No, I think you could do that on your own if you wanted to, Number V." A man with several purple lances floating behind him declared.

"We could settle this over a game of poker," remarked a man with an English accent.

"Shut up, all of you." A man with a large claymore barked. "Do not think that without the moon I can't go into Berserker mode; I would be glad to prove you all wrong." He growled dangerously. All fell silent instantly, even though the female hit the scythe wielder's shoulder.

"We will soon be ready to initiate the plan, but I am not so sure," the tallest man began as he looked over the others, "if any of you are capable of this aside from Number VII."

Immediately, the quiet turned to loud noise as almost all of the cloaked members reassured their superior that they were definitely ready although they would name people who would fail for sure. The Superior held his hand up for silence as he rubbed his temples. "Silence." He said in a sharp voice. "This meeting is over, you may leave now."

A/N: Kind of short, but it's alright for an opener. Nothing more to say than that. Read and review, please!