"Look out, Katie!" Sora called as a huge dark claw swung down to crush me. I dove and rolled to the side away from it. It pounded into the ground, shaking the earth. While its arm was out, I leapt onto it and ran up it until I was at the Darkside's head. Gripping my sword firmly, I plunged the glowing blade into the giant Heartless' eye. It reared back and gripped at the wound, flinging me backward. I tumbled through the air, trying to catch myself, as I headed straight for the rocky ground. Sora was running over to the spot where I'd land (probably to try and catch me, which would hurt him a lot more than it would hurt me), but Kairi got there first. Holding a hand high into the air, she called out, "Reflect!" An invisible barrier appeared under me and I bounced off of it, landing lightly on the ground.

"Thanks, Kairi," I nodded. Then all three of us turned as the Darkside stumbled back, getting closer and closer, threatening to step on us. We began to run to escape it while Riku leapt in front of us protectively and shot a series of Thunders at its force balanced the Heartless back out before it crushed us. Roxas, who was still in front, ran and leapt fifty feet into the air, bringing his Keyblade straight down through the enemy. He landed on his feet as the Darkside dissipated. We all stood silently for a moment, then began to laugh.

"You should've seen your faces!"

"You were so scared!"

"Just scared that you couldn't keep up with me!"

We continued laughing. After a minute, our giggles softly died down.

"Well, you think that did it?" asked Roxas. "It did seem to be their leader."

"We should report back to Leon," decided Sora. I nodded and we all walked across the empty plains of Radiant Garden toward Merlin's house.

It's been a year since the incident with Vanitas. Shortly after all that, Leon and the others moved in to Hollow Bastion, which is now known as Radiant Garden. They renovated it and made it a decent place to live. Now it's home to lots of people. Kairi and I have been working a lot over the past year on fighting skills. Not to brag or anything, but I can easily take down Leon now. Magic, however, eludes me. No matter how hard I concentrate or focus on learning it, it won't come to me. Kairi still hasn't mastered a sword, but she's amazing at magic. She makes it look simple. That makes it even more frustrating. But whatever, everyone has their skills.

Sora and I are officially together. As in, everyone knows about our previously-hidden feelings now. For awhile, things were awkward. Everyone could tell we liked each other, but neither of us would say it and no one wanted to bring it up for fear of being clobbered by one of us. But finally, I got so sick of all the tension that I just let it all out. Looking back, I've had more graceful moments…

We all sat out on the palm tree at sunset, Roxas included, as he had moved back to Destiny Islands. It was silent as we just enjoyed the beauty of the sun on the water and each other's company. It was starting to get late and night was setting in. Finally, Riku broke the silence.

"Well, uh, I should head in for the night, but um, if some of you guys wanna stay, go ahead…" (He glanced over at Sora and I for a fraction of a second as he said it. They think I don't notice this stuff. I do.)

"I should…probably get some rest too," added Roxas, stretching and getting up. Kairi followed and they all awkwardly turned to leave. (As if I didn't know what they were doing! I'm not stupid!)

"HEY!" I yelled, leaping up and causing them all to jump in shock, even Sora. "Listen! If Sora and I wanna be alone, we'll ask! Just because we SEEM like we MIGHT like each other doesn't necessarily mean we do! But maybe we do! Maybe I am in love with Sora! What's the big deal? Is it a big deal to say that? Huh?"

By this point, their eyes had all widened to the size of pizzas and their expressions were so shocked that you may have thought they just saw the Grim Reaper disco dancing or something. But as if I hadn't made enough of a scene already, I whipped around to face Sora then.

"Is it a big deal to say I love you? I love you, Sora! Will you go out with me?"

Then I froze too. My own words had surprised me. Sure, I'd recited them a million times in my head but not like that. I gulped as an uneasy silence thicker than fog settled in. After a moment though, Sora's stunned face melted into a smile.

"Of course," he nodded, sliding off of the tree and wrapping me up in a tight hug. Riku, Kairi, and Roxas hid their smiles as they pretended to be observing the sky or their shoes. "I love you too," Sora whispered in my ear during our embrace, so quietly that no one else heard it.

So, not the most romantic or creative way to ask someone out but…it worked!

We reached Merlin's house and stepped inside to find Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, Merlin, Rai, and Seifer. It turned out that Rai and Seifer wanted to continue helping Leon and the gang protect people. If someone had told me that a year ago when I first met those bullyish pushovers, I would've laughed. But getting to know them better, Rai and Seifer really weren't as mean as they seemed. Or tough. Seifer actually has kind of a soft spot for me. He'd never admit it, but it's there. I almost think he likes me, but I can't tell for sure.

"Well, look who's back!"

Oh, Cid is here to. He's an old friend of Leon's who works in the gummi industry. He's also been helping with the Heartless problem. A surge of them flared up in Radiant Garden and we're still not exactly sure why yet.

Cid clicked a few buttons on his huge computer. 'Well, whatever you guys just did, it worked! The Heartless level went down a whole lot! It's almost gone completely!"

"Well, I guess that Darkside was the source of them after all!" Roxas smiled.

"Darkside?" Seifer became interested.

"Yeah, it was this HUGE Heartless that we had to take out! It was crazy! Katie, like, ran up its arm and gouged its eye out!" Sora yelled excitedly. Yuffie gagged.

"Yeah, but Roxas practically ripped the whole thing in half!" I added.

"Riku had some awesome magic, though!" Kairi joined in.

"You too, Kairi!" Riku reminded her.

"Sounds like a team effort," concluded Tifa, smiling at our excitement over one battle.

"Yeah, it was!" Sora nodded. I walked over to the computer and looked at the screen over Cid's shoulder. There was a layout of the town and in one corner, a large black dot was shown.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the mark.

"That is the darkness remaining in this world," Cid explained. "That's where the rest of the Heartless are hidin' out. That Darkside wasn't the source of 'em. A leader maybe, but that right there is where they're all comin' from."

"Why though?" Riku crossed his arms. "Why would a wave of them suddenly sprout up here?"

"Who knows?" Cid shrugged. "I'll keep looking into it."

"Let's hope it doesn't spread," Roxas glanced out the window. "The last thing we need is another full-universe invasion."

The last time all the worlds fell into peril, Sora and Roxas were the ones to stop it. Riku, Kairi, and I stayed on the island, but I remember being so worried about them. Apparently, Sora had given up his own heart to stop the darkness, which created Vanitas, but luckily got the light part of his heart back. Otherwise, he'd still be a Heartless.

"Well, let's go then," I commanded, standing up tall. "We've got work to do."

Woah, let's just slow down for a sec," Leon jumped in. "You were all just Heartless hunting for days. Why don't you take a little break?"

"Break? I can't slow down now!" I was ready to eliminate those Heartless for good.

"Alright, then at least do some training," Leon sighed.

"Training?" I groaned. "Leon, I don't need to train! That's for rookies! I'm a full-fledged hero now! Besides, I'm already better than you are."

"Oh really," he raised his eyebrows. "We'll see about that."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Leon can't pass up a challenge."

I laughed. "Leon, I beat you in sword fighting every day. I'm pretty sure-"

"We're not going to be sword fighting," he smirked.

"Huh?"

"Let's have a magic duel."