Author's Notes: Sephiroth and Ansem, Riku, Sora, and other characters of Kindgom Hearts belong to their respective owners. Dion and Vax are my own creation... and I will further note original characters of my own creation as they come along...

This is a sequel to Wire and Rain. I was getting to the point in the story that the title was unfitting for the continuation of the story... so this will take on after Hikaru leaves Sephiroth on the island to his insanity, after Dion and Vax find each other, and after the Door in Northern Tarbina was closed and the Heartless receded.

There will be little Heartless in this sequel... the reason being is because I find it more interesting to have real thinking people as bad guys rather than mindless, hungry creatures... cunning mind-screwing cynical entities are more frightening than thoughtless beasts. ^_~

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Fear Not...

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Snow alighted on the blushing cheek of spring in the bitter north of Dion's world. With spring came renewel and rebirth. Many fortunate souls returned once more to inhabit their appointed bodies and continued to thrive as anything embodying energy should.

The twins' mother met them in the hospital with shriveled health, bony arms, and bright joyous eyes. The rest of her had diminished, but wherever her soul had went did not. They never again left her side, and to them their time was joyous.

She did not question Dion's possession of the magical pistols. She embraced her boys with a strong and unwaning strength that they had both missed. Their tears gave her flesh a strange gleaming liveliness to it, a testament to the final truth that they had survived the Heartless.

A lesson was learned as well among the peoples of this rebuilding realm. To work together, to realize that each other's strengths could overcome the other's weaknesses. The twins' story was overwhelmed in the maelstrom of activity which constituted the shutting down of the field that kept magic from tainting their industrial paradise. But slowly their names were brought up in conversation, and hundreds of people every week came to see how they were doing, to give them gifts, and thank them.

Dion himself was asked many questions, from both grateful citizens and very curious high officials of the Order of World Peace. But most of his time he spent inside he and his brother's bedroom, or trying to make up for his lost studies from school.

The exact opposite of his brother, he was studious and responsible. Never again would he let himself shy away from his responsibilities and abandon reason to despair. He felt he had succeeded somehow... and that Vax had always proven himself better in more ways than one.

* * * * *

In another world, uncountable distances away, lunacy reigned supreme in an innocent world of light. While weeks had passed in the other world, time passed differently here. Only a day passed... and Hikaru was not to be seen.

The branches dug into his sides as he leaned against the tree. But he had treaded these forbidden jungle paths too long to let their harsh jagged limbs bother him. His head craned to the side, watching the red-haired girl and her friends play a complicated game with the ball provided by a spunky boy with a bandana around his head.

His serpentine eyes of ocean-azure followed the motion of the ball as they played soccer. The red-haired girl coached, her voice calling out as she saw things called "fouls" and "goals". A tentative pink tongue removed itself, passed slowly over thin, cracked lips, which then transformed into a crooked smile.

He touched his throat, and swallowed. He was thirsty. Hunger tugged in his stomach painfully, pulling away piece by piece of his resistence. He could eat fruit and things all he wanted... but he couldn't have meat. It was not difficult to catch the birds, for he was more cunning and swift than they. But somehow, when he caught them and their life trickled away in his terrible grasp, he always released them. The way they squirmed terrified him, bading him to release.

Sephiroth's fingers rubbed his throat, and he swallowed as he tore his eyes away. Would he reveal himself to them? Or would he starve himself into lunacy and try to devour them as though they were innocent beasts?

"So hungry..." he whispered hoarsely, and turned his face up to the canopy.

"So it's obvious," the chilling voice said with amusement. "And thirsty... you must be in turmoil. Madness, hunger... what an awful pair to contend with."

Sephiroth's feral instinct sent him into a snarling crouch. For once, he felt the inclinaton to murder with his bare hands... the thought that went hand-in-hand with the destruction of Hikaru and the redemption of his loss of Ansem. "You put this suffering on me... so you should know!!"

Hikaru bent forward, reaching out to caress the feverish cheek of Sephiroth with a low chuckle. "What's the matter? Do you want to see Ansem or not?"

The touch sent cold chills to Sephiroth's gut... suddenly he wasn't hungry. There was a cruel, devilish affection in that sort of touch and he tore away. Then his heart was in his throat, and he responded, "Ansem... Ansem? See him!?"

"Yes... but you're hungry... why don't we eat first?" The hooded man stepped forward and caught Sephiroth's wrist in his grasp... and the islands melted away from his senses, replaced by nauseating vertigo--

During this time, he lost consciousness. He thought he dreamed. But perhaps not. In swirling fits of insanity, he heard an indistinct cackling that filled the chambers of his mind. It continued, ceaselessly, hammering into his brain until seemed to be the only thing, the loudest sound, he could hear...

* * * * *

When he could think somewhat coherently again, he was awake. The room was small and quaint, though odd abstract paintings were hung on the walls. It hurt his head to stare at them, so he focused on the simple objects he thought he'd never see again.

The door to the room was open, and after looking for a long time he saw a person walk past it. Followed by another, so swiftly there were only shadows to his eyes.

He sat up slowly, looking at the open door and waited for another shadow to pass. He rubbed his eyes, saw nothing. Then he spread his hands over the bedspread that covered him, noted the fine details in the quilt.

Most tantalizing aromas suddenly filled his nostrils, and as he breathed deep he was keenly aware of a pain in his stomach. Thoughtlessly, he threw the quilt aside and stood up, moving out to the door to the hallway. One wall comprised of fine oak and more paintings; the other of windows which spilled in bright, blinding sunlight, so much that he couldn't see the bright world beyond it. He stayed close to the wall with doors, raising his arm to shield his eyes while he followed the scent of food.

He found the door. It stood cracked open, the doorknob made of shining glass. At first he was afraid to enter... but to him, this might have been a dream. A wildly maddening dream... but the twisting in his gut felt very real all the same and he reached out. The door flew open before he could touch it, startling him backwards as a man in a chef's suite swept out into the hallway, turned right, pushing a cart of goodies in front of him.

He bit his tongue when he stumbled, and he held his jaw, suppressing a growl of frustration. His watering mouth did not make the pain easier... but it was easily forgotten. For now the door was wide open, and the scents seemed to physically pull him through the door into the clattering, loud world of a kitchen.

Steam billowed from a number of places, and chefs moved here and there, bearing plates or bowls or bloodied knives. He swallowed heavily, dizzy by the new sounds, before he righted himself and slinked along the right wall, searching for something to eat. Regardless of whether or not his presence was desirable, Sephiroth was starving, and woe to any man in white who wished to tell him otherwise.

A tray of meats was left carelessly to Sephiroth's pickings. He moved toward it, and reached out, swiping a handful and eating them. He heard a sharp voice, snapping in some foreign language, but it was unmistikable - this cook was unhappy.

"Look, I'm hungry, and I don't know where I am... I just got here!!" Sephiroth hissed, and backed away, his stomach roaring for more of the sweet meat that had graced to slide over his tongue down his throat.

The chef waved a spatula at him, his eyes flashing angrily from beneath the humorously flopping brim of his hat. Sephiroth eyed the spatula and the bits of grease that flew from it.

Suddenly he felt a hand drop to his shoulder and a voice, soothing and reassuring, speak to the chef in the same tongue that the chef was chattering in. When the chef had listened, his expression relaxed and he was stunned silent. Then he turned, snatched up the tray, and shoved it into Sephiroth's arms.

"It's alright," the man behind him said, laughing softly. "Andre understands now. You can have all of them if you like."

Sephiroth turned, recognizing the devil Hikaru at once and hissed. Meanwhile, he plucked another delicate meat from the tray and devoured it. Hikaru wore an attire otherworldy... even more odd than what Sephiroth had seen of the previous worlds. Silk night blue pants adorned his legs, but it seemed infinitely tied to the sleeveless tunic he wore, which was comprised of a number of black and white ribbons that secured the front shut, and came together to wind around his waist.

Sephiroth also wore a similar outfit, except that his was not silk but soft, substantial cotton and there were no ribbons. And his tunic was not apart of his pants. Matching black and silver slippers came with the oriental style pants.

"Surprised? I had thought you stronger to endure the trip... but perhaps not. But then... maybe you haven't traveled in deep space before," Hikaru went on, hardly phased by the look of death the silver-haired man sent his way. "Are you going to eat those or not? There is a cabin already set up for you... that one was temporary."

"Where are we?" Sephiroth demanded. He put the tray aside, his head pounding with the sounds of the kitchen. He tried to concentrate on Hikaru. His eyes blurred and he leaned against a wooden counter, and found the scars of knives on it most fascinating.

Hikaru took the tray, then took his arm. "Come on, please, you're being quite ridiculous, you know... There is so very much to learn." The last phrase was spoken with somewhat of amusement, as though it held special meaning only for him.

They left the kitchen with its steam, chattering and loud intrusive sounds. Their feet were soundless on the navy blue carpeted floor. Sephiroth once again shielded his eyes, unable to remember which way he had come in order to reach the kitchen. He became aware, however, of a dull humming that permeated from the very walls.

Hikaru opened a door, and shouldered into it. Inside, it was silent and the humming merely a distant memory. Gone were the abstract paintings. A broad four-poster bed stood perpendicular to the door against the wall. A dresser and mirror, carved exquisitely of cherry oak with golden handles and exotic mammals etched into the frame of the mirror stood near the window, whose lace curtains were open.

Hikaru put the tray aside on a small round wooden table with two matching chairs. He forced Sephiroth to sit and pulled out the second chair.

"Hikaru--"

"Eat."

Silently they sat, Hikaru's eyes closed, his chin rested in his hand as he folded one leg over the other in a strange mocking elegance that Sephiroth found intriguing but yet repulsive. Such a monster couldn't possibly be so poised or polite at all. Unless he wanted something.

When he was finished, he was still hungry but he didn't complain. His hunger moved now to answers. "Now... where are we?"

Hikaru moved suddenly, as though he'd just been startled out of thinking. He took the tray and set it elsewhere as he uncrossed his legs. "Someplace nice. I figured you needed a change from the wilderness... I wonder, has the madman noticed how clean he is?" The man laughed out loud, leaned back and gripped the edge of the table with a smirk.

Sephiroth blinked in confusion. Then he realized he was clean. How this came about didn't interest him, unless Hikaru cleaned him off himself. Somehow, he had a feeling he didn't. He brushed his hands through his long hair and found Hikaru still smirking at him.

"I want to know what world we're in. Right now. If you don't know, then this place... this building! What is it?"

"If you couldn't tell by the ungodly number of windows, take a guess," Hikaru said boredly, sighing in frustration. "Nevermind. I will tell you. It's an airship."

"Airship?"

"The boy learns. Listen, I don't have time to answer too many questions. I have an appointment. So ask quickly."

"Why have you brought me here, Hikaru?"

"The question is.. why were you in Destiny Islands. Well... to be honest, I needed to keep you someplace so I could prepare something for you... Ansem, for example..."

"Ansem!?" Sephiroth stood up, and growled as his hands slammed down on the table. "DAMNIT, IF YOU DON'T TAKE ME TO HIM RIGHT NOW--"

"STOP." Hikaru stood up, and leaned forward, pressing his face toward his, his yellow eyes flashing with equal rage. "Stop, or you WON'T see him... I'll let you... but you must do all that I demand, or your precious Ansem shall suffer all the more for every moment you disobey."

"Take me to him now."

"You test my patience."

"My ass. Show him to me."

The dark creature hissed, before he turned away, flicking his hair out of his face with a dismissive motion. "Fine..."

Then he held out his hand. A sphere grew above it... larger and large until it was nearly the size of a basketball. Sephiroth approached it cautiously, seeing shapes swirling and melting. And there, in the shadow depths he saw Ansem bound and unconscious in shadows, asleep and dreaming like a child.

No.. he was a child.

A whisper like dead leaves passed into Sephiroth's ear as Hikaru brushed his hand over the image and clarified it, bringing Ansem closer to view. His hair was disheveled, his nose bloodied but he seemed othewise unharmed if not.

"If you help me, Sephiroth," the man crooned lovingly, leaning his head on the transfixed Sephiroth's shoulder. "If you remain calm and reasonable... we can go rescue him together... but you must do everything I ask of you..."

A featherlight brush of mouth stole Sephiroth's attention. He jerked away, the sphere disintegrating while Hikaru stood and watched him with amusement. The satisfied gleam in his gaze sent chills down Sephiroth's spine and he felt a foreboding fear begin to rise, choking off all ideas of murder and madness.

"Everything," Hikaru punctuated finally before he turned and left through the door.