CHAPTER I:

Alive With the Beating of Young Hearts

(NOTE)

So, here's the sequel to my first fanfiction, A Step Into the Twilight. If you haven't read it yet, go read it, because this fanfiction will make absolutely no sense if you haven't. For those of you who are reading this after finishing my first one, here it is! I hope you like it! Read and review, please. :3

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy or any of the sort, simply my original characters. Hell, I don't even own one of them at the end. That one belongs to Igor Lollipop and her fanfictions of The Two-Sided Heart and A Nobody's War. Read them. They rock.

(/NOTE)

Medium-length auburn hair flew behind a teenage girl as she sat on the train in the Tram Common. She would often jump the top of the train nowadays just to feel the wind in her face and think about life. Life to her was many things; school, friends, the future, and the past. She hugged her legs to her chest and rested her head on her knees, the soft yet harsh denim fabric rubbing on her cheek.

"Char!" came a familiar voice. Jerking her head back upwards, she looked down from the train. Running by the side of the train, laughing, were Hayner, Pence, Olette, and her best friend in the world, Nessa. Suddenly feeling a bit more alive, she sprang off of the top of the train, skillfully landing like a cat on the pavement.

"Hey!" she exclaimed happily, pushing a lock of hair out of her face to reveal dark cocoa brown eyes. They almost looked golden in the sunset light they were under.

"Guess who's birthday is tomorrow." Hayner said, giving her a toothy smile. Charity laughed, and lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"I know, I know." she laughed slightly, "Sixteen already." Riku came to mind as she said this; last year, he was sixteen. She was originally unnerved by his age and demeanor, but that changed quickly when they got to know each other. Charity was saddened to see that his face was slowly becoming foggier in her mind.

Pence pulled out five sea salt ice creams, one of each everyone took. "Do you just carry these around with you?" Olette joked to him.

"What?" he asked, already with a mouthful of salty ice cream.

Charity laughed, and licked hers. "So it's been a little over a year already, huh?" she asked. At one point, she was happy, but at another, she wondered how it would feel if her keyblade would just materialize in her hand one more time.

"Shocked me, too." Nessa mumbled, biting off a huge chunk of her ice cream; her head quickly paid for it.

"Hey, where's Odol?" asked Charity, looking over at Pence. Pence and Odol seemed to get along the best out of the group they were in.

Pence shrugged, "He said that he was going to the Sandlot for one reason or another."

As they all licked their ice cream, they looked at each other. "Shit!" three of them yelled, while the others just followed. Hayner jumped on a skateboard, and only Olette and Charity seemed to be able to keep up properly.

"Thought so." Charity chimed, smoothing her hair out of her face. Seifer, Rei, Fuu, and Vivi were all in the sandlot, looking at them accusingly. Seifer had never gotten over the fact that the fact that Fuu had been taken away from them a year ago was not Charity's fault, and he held a grudge against Charity and Nessa ever since.

"Seifer, where's Odol?" asked Charity, refusing to be anything less than the unspoken leader once confronted by Seifer.

"I think some creepy black creature took him into the mansion." he taunted them, pointing a club at Charity, who was now only inches away from Seifer.

"Not funny." Charity growled.

"I'm not afraid to hit a girl, you know." Seifer stated, pulling out his club and pointing it at Charity's face.

"Neither am I." Charity said, mimicking him.

"He's not a girl, y'know." Rei said dumbly, obviously not getting the joke.

"You're quite stupid, aren't you?" questioned Charity.

"Pence! Olette! Guys!" Odol's voice pierced the air. In response to this, Charity lowered her club and smiled at Odol, who was running up towards them. Odol was a boy not much taller than Charity with tanned skin and dark, spiky hair. He usually looked clean cut and rough all at the same time, but this time he just looked smelly.

"What happened to you?" Olette inquired, while pulling a banana peel off of his head. He leaned in to kiss her, but she moved out of the way, "No way. Not until you take a shower."

"What happened?" Pence repeated.

"They threw me in the dumpster." Odol said, just a bit too cheerful for his own good.

"Why didn't you just step out?" Charity posed, raising an eyebrow.

"We locked it, y'know!" Rei said happily, earning an elbow in the side from Seifer.

"If I had the keyblade," Odol muttered, knocking a tuna can off of his shoulder, "Anyway, where's my ice cream?" he asked.

"I ate it." Pence mentioned happily. Author's Note: Dx

Ignoring Seifer's gang for a while, Odol whispered something to the group, "I could have sworn while I was getting out of there that I saw Riku."

Charity's eyes widened, and she suddenly looked at Odol angrily, "That's not funny." she said, finally finishing the last of her ice cream as Hayner led them over to the Usual Spot.

"I'm not joking!" sheepishly Odol added, "I thought I saw Riku."

"You mean Sephiroth's bastard child?" asked Pence.

"What?" laughed Hayner.

"Just a joke." he finished, blushing.

xxxxx

"Sorry for making you feel bad earlier." Odol shrugged, sitting in a small armchair in The Usual Spot. Thankfully, he had already gone home and taken a quick shower, so he wasn't stinking up the place too terribly. Charity shrugged.

"I guess I overreacted. It's just that I haven't seen him in a while, and..." Deciding to drop the subject, she sighed and licked her ice cream, waiting for somebody else to say something.

"You know what? We've still got two hours left in the day, and I've still got my birthday munny from all of you guys and what I earned working. Let's go to the beach." she suggested.

They all smiled at this, and each one started going on loudly about what they were going to do and what they were going to bring. Charity smiled.

"I can't think of a better way to spend my last day as fifteen." Charity reassured her. Nessa smiled and gave her the thumbs-up; she always seemed to know a way to make Charity feel better.

xxxxx

"It's so warm out!" Charity told herself. She was surprised that Exie wasn't at all reacting towards this; ever since she saw the beach for the first time when they all waited at Destiny Islands for Hollow Bastion to come back on the radar, she had a passion for living on a sunny island, or at least by a lake.

Olette and Odol were kissing, or something they didn't want to ask about, on the sand ahead of them, whereas Charity and Nessa were sunbathing while talking to Hayner and Pence.

"I swear, she couldn't have done any better than Odol?" asked Hayner, angrily.

Pence just laughed.

"What?" he asked Pence impatiently.

"Nothing." Pence responded, eating a giant pretzel. Author's Note: Yes, I realize I make him eat very, very often. I find it fun. :3

"You're jeeeaaaaloooouuusss, aren't you?" Nessa dragged, sitting up and laying her head on his shoulder.

"I'm not jealous!" Hayner retaliated, folding his arms.

"I can fix that," Nessa cooed, putting a hand on his chest. Charity loved these games that she played with Hayner whenever he showed signs of jealousy. His face would always turn really red and he would tell Nessa to stop, but he wouldn't move at all.

"This is enough of a birthday gift, I've decided!" Charity laughed, as she counted how many different shades of red Hayner's face could turn, before Nessa pulled her hand back to push the bangs out of her face. It had been ages since she got a decent haircut.

Suddenly, a scream came from over where Odol and Olette were sitting. Odol stood up promptly, and looked around. It was hard to tell, but Charity could have sworn that he had a keyblade in his hands.

Odol ran over to Nessa and Charity, and shouted, "I told you something was going on!"

"What?" asked Charity.

"There was a Heartless over there!" he pressed, pointing over by Olette, who just lowered her sunglasses far enough to try and see what was going on.

"Then show me your keyblade." Charity told him. Author's Note: If you pay really close attention, that can become a sexual innuendo.

Odol held out his hand, determined for his Midday Descending to appear in his hands, but no such luck occurred.

"You've been in the sun for too long." Nessa murmured, shifting her head to fall on Charity's shoulder.

"I swear, I haven't," Odol said, for once with a very serious look on his face, "I just saw a Shadow Heartless and it attacked my foot. Midday Descending appeared! But then the Heartless disappeared, and I ran over here to tell you.

"Odol, you're crazy." Olette called back, "I didn't see anything."

"Maybe it's time we go home," suggested Nessa, "I'm tired and I seriously think that the sun is somehow getting past his skin and burning his brain.

xxxxx

Charity awoke from her sleep at her and Nessa's house. Since her world had been destroyed a year beforehand, she and Nessa had moved into their own, small, created-by-Merlin house. Sometimes it was hard for them to make it by, but it was a home nonetheless.

"What?" Charity asked herself. "I must be hearing things..." Softly, she put her fingers to her lips and remembered Riku's and her last kiss. She never thought that she saw such a sad, yet determined smile out of him. It's not like she could remember very well what he looked like, anyway, but surely, if she was presented with his face she would know in an instant.

Putting her hands behind her head, she laid back down on her bed on top of her covers. Twilight Town was always so warm that she wondered why she even used them. Yawning, she closed her eyes.

"Don't worry," a familiar voice cooed from not too far away, "You're not crazy yet." The voice was harsh, yet smooth, and familiar, but oh-so distant, as if from a reoccurring dream.

Charity sprang up and flipped around, and saw a face outside the window. The boy had an angular face with soft skin, long, silvery blue hair, and pale seafoam green eyes. Just his look was enough to make Charity gasp out of remembrance; Riku's head was resting on his arms, which were folded across the windowpane. Happily, although still in her pajamas, she ran to the window and held Riku's arms.

"Riku, it's you. It's... seriously you." she said softly, and felt Riku's warm breath chuckle in her ear. It was strange to be holding a real person when she had only ever dreamed about it for a little over a year now. "I'm not dreaming, right?" she asked, in a very normal voice.

"Charity," he said, smiling giddily, yet taking her by the shoulders, "I was sent here to get you and Odol."

Charity laughed a little, and looked at him oddly, "Why? What's happening?" she asked, a bit more serious now.

"A Keyblade War is going on." Riku told her as calmly as he could manage.

"A Keyblade War?" asked Charity. None of this made sense, how could their be a war with keyblades?

"There's not much time to explain right now," Riku tried to tell her, but looked around, "but Nessa can't come."

Charity's eyes widened even further, black now that there was no light shining on them. "What do you mean she can't come?"

"It's a keyblade war," Riku pressed, "It really wasn't my decision, it was the King's. But for her own safety, she can't come."

"But the King also called all the keyblade wielders last year," she said, emphasizing a bit on last year as if the words would pack up and leave if she didn't, "but Nessa came anyway."

Riku smirked, "Trust me, if Nessa can find a way to come without the King knowing, which I'm sure she will, she can stay with us."

"Oh, Nessa will find a way." Charity smiled.

"Let's go get Odol." said Riku.

Something sunk in Charity's stomach; that was right, Odol had been trying to tell him that he had seen weird things all day. But how could he have seen a Heartless when the world had already been sealed.

"Riku," she asked, as he turned around while she got changed, "Did anybody unseal Twilight Town?" she asked, careful not to wake Nessa up in the next room.

"I don't think so. Not yet, anyway." he looked down, "Why?"

"Odol said that he saw a Heartless earlier." she told him.

Riku shrugged, "Sometimes stray Heartless can make it into sealed worlds. Like in Traverse Town; even when it was sealed the Heartless just kept coming. We finally managed to put up a defense system over there, too. You need any help?" he asked.

Charity laughed. "No."

xxxxx

"Odol! Odol, wake up you lazy bum!" Charity hissed through Odol's window. Thankfully, he was on the very first floor considering he lived in a ranch house.

"Whu—?" asked Odol, rubbing his eyes and looking around. He first noted Charity, "What are you doing here? It's four am," he then stopped, and rubbed his eyes harder, "Riku? Riku! I told you I saw him!" Odol explained.

Riku frowned, "I just got here at about midnight."

Odol gave an odd face, "Oh. What are you doing here?"

"I'm getting the keyblade wielders. There's a Keyblade War going on and we need your help."

"What's a Keyblade War?" Odol asked passively, stretching slightly in his bed. He had a bad habit of sleeping naked, so Charity tried not to look inside.

"I can't explain very well right now, but recently a whole new flock of kids around our age have become keyblade wielders, and some of them are going around unsealing worlds and trying to make them their own. It's not like the rest of the Keyblade Wars that have happened, and so the King doesn't know what to expect, and he sent me to go get you." Riku stared at Odol, waiting for a reaction of some kind to take place.

"I can't go." Odol decided softly.

"What do you mean?" asked Charity.

"What I mean is, we just recently got here, my family would go crazy if I left again. And I'm afraid of having to use the keyblade again... I have been since we left the mansion... because I don't want to ever try to find the darkness, or have it accidentally find me. I'm happy here with my family and Olette."

Charity forgot. She knew what it was like to have to leave a loved one for a long time, and she nodded. "I understand," she said, "Just look after Twilight Town when we're gone."

"Charity?" asked Riku.

"He shouldn't leave if he doesn't want to leave the people that he loves, right?" she asked him. Riku shook his head.

"He shouldn't. You're right."

xxxxx

Charity looked down at Twilight Town as the Gummi Ship lifted off. "Too bad I didn't get to say good-bye to anybody, but we'll probably be back here again soon." She didn't want to jump to conclusions, though, ever since her world had been totally destroyed when they left it last.

"I guess I'm still sort of shocked that Odol didn't want to come." Riku sighed as they sat down on the bench of the Gummi Ship, Charity's head immediately finding the perfect place on his shoulder.

"You know what I'm shocked about?" she asked.

"Hm?" asked Riku, looking down at her.

"That Nessa hasn't popped out and broken this up yet." Charity smiled.

"What?" asked Riku.

"Damn," came a laughing voice from under the bench in the Gummi Ship, "How did you know I was here?" she asked, jumping on top of Charity's lap.

"Honestly? I guessed." Charity laughed.

Riku shook his head, "King Mickey's not going to like this." he muttered.

Charity stuck out her tongue in front of her, "King Mickey can suck my keyblade."

xxxxx

"It's... beautiful." Charity mentioned, putting her hand to her mouth. Hollow Bastion was definitely restored, and in almost no time. It was surprising all of the damage that had been done to it the year before, but it looked ten times better.

"It better be!" came a happy voice, and a woman with long, black hair, a black t-shirt and shorts came into view from a small looking house in the corner.

At first, Charity thought it was going to be Yuffie, until she remembered. "Tifa!" she exclaimed.

"Charit— wait a second, how did Nessa get here?" she asked.

"I took the Gummi Ship!" said Nessa simply, practically jumping on Tifa.

"Charity! Nessa!" came a familiar voice, running down to them. They hugged the redhead girl known to them as Kairi; she hadn't changed except that her hair had grown. She was the same height, and her face had stayed the same.

"You aren't going to believe everything that's happened while you were gone. Riku told you about the Keyblade War, right?" she asked.

"I did, but Nessa hasn't heard." Charity told her.

They soon found themselves in the familiar atmosphere of Merlin's house. Cloud and Leon were quiet in their greetings, but Aerith was as happy as ever, and Sora didn't seem to want to stop smiling. It had only been a year, but it felt like a century.

"So what's with this Keyblade War thing you got going on?" asked Nessa, sitting down on the couch inside of Merlin's house. She was thankful to have not seen the crazy old man yet, and she was even more thankful that she didn't have to hear any of his crazy chants. The 'Hockety Pockety Wockety Wack' spell had been burned into her mind.

"Well—..." Kairi was cut off by a new prescence in the room. A boy with medium-length brown hair and a cute face walked in the room with a well-fitting black shirt and blue jeans, and fingerless gloves on his hands. His dark eyes shone like a baby's in the light, and he glanced over at Nessa.

"I can help explain." the boy offered.

Author's Note: Well, there you have it, a bit uneventful for the first chapter, but it will get better, I promise. :3