A/N: Well, here we are. One more story from me. I've had this one knocking around in idea-form for some time, but held off working on it until I finished one of the other stories. And now I've finally gotten to that point.

This story technically follows the two stories, The Last Pack and When Vampires Bite - but in this case, you won't need to have read either of them, so don't panic if you haven't. The bits of those two stories used here get mentioned and explained when they crop up.

And that's pretty much all, except of course I don't own Kingdom Hearts in the slightest. Still. Shame, isn't it?

Five figures sat in the shadows around a rectangle table, two on either side and one at the head. The low light gave nothing away to any of the other members, but they knew each other.
The one at the head of the table stood.
"Two worlds, identical yet not identical." he intoned in a quiet voice. "Both with the same inhabitants, the same structures, but only one heart to each. One heart for two worlds, linked together through one single point of access."
The figure to his right continued, "One world forgotten about, left to go its own way," her voice said, sounding almost silky-smooth. "And yet still linked enough for some effects to be mirrored, or even passed from one world to the other. The worlds are linked because they are one and the same, and what affects one must also affect the other in some form."
Now the figure on the other side spoke in a low growl that was impossible to tell what the speaker's gender was. "But those who come into the original world after the mirror world was created have no alternate within the mirror. They are unaffected, unaware. And yet, some inhabitants of the mirror world are aware of them, and talk of them as though they were there. Causing an imbalance, creating links where there should be no links, causing events that affect the mirror world where there should be no such effects."
"The imbalance causes further imbalances," the first spoke again. "Like a ship that rocks and takes on water, the water only causes the rocking to become worse, and so the ship takes on yet more water. The more water, the more the ship rocks, until it sinks."
There was a long pause, then one of the last two figures spoke in a calm and more casual way. "The imbalance has to be corrected before the mirror world reaches that fate. Something must be done," he added insistently.
"I trust the two of you have been able to devise a solution?" the head figure addressed both him and the one figure who had yet to speak.
"We have. It's time we made contact with the original world through someone who has no idea about any of us. Someone without any preconceptions about the situation."
"To what end?" the silky voice asked.
"With the right persuasion applied to the right person, we can cause an exchange. Two, to be exact. Myself and... one other. I will take my counterpart's place to allow for free access between the worlds, while he will have to remain under guard here among the rest of us."
"And the other?" the growl came.
"They will also exchange, though it will be known about as opposed to the kidnapping necessary for me to take my counterpart's place there. We will have them leave our version there, and their one will return here for us to... exploit."
"And who do you propose we nominate for this task?" the head inquired.
The final figure made a movement, setting a small circle disk into the centre of the table with one slender arm. "Him," she answered, tapping a button on it before the arm disappeared. The disk projected lights above the table, forming a green wire frame of a person that slowly began to appear more and more human. He had blonde hair, a grey vest over a black shirt, and green pants with matching footwear.
"Hayner," the head identified the boy projected above the table. "He will be perfect."
"It will have to be done in two phases," said the silky voice. "First we will have to install our friend into their world. It will not be easy to get him or anyone out, so we must plan accordingly."
"Leave that to me," the casual voice replied calmly. "I can get myself out, and my counterpart in. As soon as you have him here, get him secured and we can start the second phase."
"Your confidence is inspiring," he was told by the growl beside him. "But some of us do not share in it. How can you be certain this will work?"
"Because I know my counterpart. Will you approve our plan?"
There was a silence around the table. The slender arm reached in again, deactivating the projection, then its hand remained above the disk. The hand of the casual voice reached in, his arm in a white sleeve.
After a pause, a thicker and hairy arm extended a similarly large hand to theirs, followed by one in a white glove that went up almost to the elbow. Though the shadows masked the movements, all heads turned to the figure still stood at the head of the table.
A hand that appeared to be either made from, or encased in something shiny black came into the small light on the table, placed on top of all the others. "Begin phase one," he said quietly. After only a few moments, the hands and their owners dispersed, leaving only the final hand in the light. It was brought almost to the edge of the light, turned by its owner as if to examine it. "The real world awaits us," he murmured so quietly it sounded almost like there was a faint wind speaking. "Our chance to become real has come at last."

Hayner lounged in the Usual Spot with Olette and Pence not far away, as usual each with an ice cream in hand. Pence had barely touched his though, sat leaning on one arm staring at the floor in thought.
"Hey, Pence!" Hayner called, extra loud in case Pence was thinking so deep he'd gone deaf. "Whatcha thinking about?"
"The howls," he answered, distractedly. "There's been less of them recently."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Olette suggested. "After what happened..." she trailed off.
A little over three months ago, Twilight Town had been attacked by a swarm of vampires that had sucked every last resident of their blood and turned the lot of them into even more vampires. They'd then been ordered over to some town built around a fortress, a command the quicker to recover had been unable to resist.
While there, they had been told about the Werewolves, and told they would be witnesses to the last of the Werewolves being defeated by the first of their own kind. Hayner remembered the incident well, he and Pence had a clear view of the arena, not to mention of Seifer and his gang just two rows ahead of them.
But it had been the Werewolf that had attracted their attention, because they all knew him as Sora. They'd thought little of his chances, but Sora threw the offer of surrender back in his opponent's teeth then turned around and defeated him.
Just as quickly as they'd become vampires, the death of this first vampire had restored their stolen humanity back to them, curing them. For many this was considered a miraculous blessing, but there were a few that held otherwise.
Then a couple months after that incident, they'd begun to hear wolf howls from outside the town, and occasionally within the town as well. Those heard within the town always seemed to get cut off in mid howl, but no one ever found out why. No one ever found out who or what was howling. If there was a Werewolf in their midst, they were doing a very good job of keeping it from everyone else.
"I dunno," Pence said at last. "I get the feeling what we were told about them just wasn't true. If the howls in town are Werewolf howls, then why don't we see any? What they told us about them doesn't fit; if they were right, then we should all either be dog food or Werewolves ourselves."
"So what?" Hayner replied, leaning back. "It's still a good thing, right?"
"I dunno," Pence repeated. "I want to find out more about the Werewolves. See if what we were told is true or not."
"If it's not, we're gonna get chomped."
"Since when has that bothered you?" Olette replied. "You didn't seem to have any trouble with the vampires."
"Not until one of them ran me down and cornered me," Hayner muttered. Running away hadn't gone down well with him, but it at least let him keep his humanity a little longer. "So how do ya plan to track a Werewolf down here in Twilight Town, Pence?"
"I'm working on it," he answered, at last starting on his ice cream. "I think I know where they're coming from, I just haven't figured out how to see the place without being seen."
"Top of the clock tower?"
"Too far away," he shook his head. "Everything I've turned up says somewhere in the tram common, but no one's seen anything. That suggests the rooftops to me. Now you tell me there's somewhere we can watch them from, and not get watched in return."
"Why not just use the clock tower to find out where we gotta look, and take it from there? It's not like it's gonna be too dark to see, right?"
"It could work," Pence conceded, thought doubtfully. "I don't think we'll get anything useful-" He broke off as another howl filled the air. It was much quieter than all the previous ones, as if the one howling was too weak to put forth a full effort.
They all paused to listen, then Pence headed out quickly. Olette and Hayner shared a look, then they followed after him. They could catch up with him easily.
The howl was not cut short this time, but it was already starting to grow fainter as they followed Pence into the various back streets and alleyways of Twilight Town. When it petered out entirely, he stopped, looking thoughtful.
"What was that about?" Hayner asked him when they caught up. "You just dashed out like... like I would have!"
"I think I know where that one came from," Pence puffed in response. "Come on, howl again!" he burst out suddenly. As if on cue, the howl sounded again, much closer but still weakly, and Pence was off again.
The howl was cut off this time, just after Pence had rounded the next corner. Before they managed to get around there was a sound like someone getting hit, then Pence's voice muttered something.
When Hayner and Olette joined him, they found no sign of whatever had been howling, but two Pences. One was out cold on the ground, looking almost identical to the one stood over him, except the unconscious one wore a white headband in contrast to Pence's normal black. He glanced up as they turned the corner.
"What a find, huh?" he asked them. "I thought we'd find something howling, but it turns out to be some kind of copy of me."
"What happened to him?" Olette asked, moving to check the unconscious Pence.
"He attacked me, of all things," Pence replied. "Don't know why, but I got him back. I think I might have hit him a bit too hard though. I didn't mean to knock him out."
"What about the howl? Did you find anything for that?"
Pence shook his head, then patted his new twin down, turning up a small box that looked like a speaker. He touched one of the buttons on it, and the same howl they'd been hearing came from it.
"Guess that solves that mystery. Wonder who made it, and why?"
"We ought to get this Pence somewhere safe," Olette said, ignoring this. "We can't just leave him here."
"We can't let just anyone find him though," Pence pointed out. "I know! Why don't we take him up to that old mansion? No one will ever look for him there."
"You're never gonna get him through town without someone noticing him," Hayner pointed out.
"Nonsense. We'll just pack him into a box or something, and say we're helping someone out." As he said it, he leaned on a crate nearby that looked just big enough. "Convenient this one's right here for us, huh?"