Hey all, welcome to Chapter 2 of my highly experimental story; To Love-Ru In the Realm of Light. In this chapter, is this fic's take on how other worlds work with each other.

Also, fair warning, Combat scenes are not exactly my forte, I realized as I was writing this.

On with the show!

(7/22/18 Edit: Made Rito's Nobody's expressions a bit more..."blank", so to speak, at least until stuff starts going down. And gave Lea's Keyblade a Name)

(9/7/18 Edit: Just a few edits here and there)

(10/10/18 Edit: More General edits)

(10/13/18 Edit: General edits)

(11/20/18 Edit: General edits)

(4/9/19 Edit: Gave Lea's Keyblade its actual name)

(6/7/19 Edit: Yuffie now Almost attacks Rito. Considering he most likely wasn't even aware of where he was or who it was and not 'all there' those times. Also, these guys understand Rito's current predicament a bit more)

Prologue - Stage 2! Enter the Midnight Darkness!

Mysterious Tower

An old wizard has made this tower his domain, he bore a blue wizard's robe with a equally blue, tall, wizard's hat, which was accompanied by designs of yellow stars and a yellow crescent moon. He had big grey eyebrows, and a long, long, grey beard. His eyes looked as if they can pierce into your very soul, but despite that, he is actually a benevolent wizard, if a little stern. This man is known as The Great Master Yen Sid, former Keyblade Master and King Mickey's teacher.

Yen Sid was now looking at three beings, his long-time student now Keyblade Master Mickey, a young man by the name of Riku; the newest appointed Keyblade Master, and one of the princesses of heart as well as fellow Keyblade wielder, Kairi. These three alongside Yen Sid were good friends to the Keyblade wielder named Sora, who was recently saved from Xehanort's clutches.

However...

"The great battle with Xehanort is almost upon us." Yen Sid began "As you know, we must take action to keep the seven pure lights safe, and thus we must hasten to assemble the seven guardians of light." A short pause, then he continued.

"It is time to return to our world the three Keyblade wielders we lost over a decade ago. Ventus, Terra, and Aqua must be saved from their sad end, for they have more to achieve." he closed his eyes and tilted his head down as he finished, as if recalling the three he mentioned to his mind. Yen Sid then tilted his head back up and opened his eyes to the three that were in front of him as he went on.

"Following their first battle with Xehanort, Ventus's heart refused to awaken, and so Aqua found a safe location to conceal him. But when she set off in search of her other missing friend Terra, she fell to a place from which there is no return without outside help." after finishing this sentence he turned and nodded to Mickey as if goading him to continue for him, to which Mickey nodded back and turned to his friends, Riku and Kairi.

"I saw her, in the realm of darkness." Mickey stated.

From there, he began to recount what had transpired while alongside Aqua.

Both...trapped by the darkness.

The City of Light - Radiant Garden

In the Radiant Garden town square, a man was busy buying two sticks of sea-salt ice cream. The man had long very spiky red hair, bright green eyes, and had a tall, skinny figure. This man used to be known as Axel when he was a nobody working for the previous Organization XIII, but events have lead to him defecting from the Organization, regaining his heart, and being complete once more, thus he is now known by his original name, Lea.

"Come again, kupo!" the shop-keep moogle said as Lea left the ice cream parlor.

Lea, however, didn't reply as he was lost in thought. Recalling the events that have led to today...

The door to the Restoration Committee HQ swung open.

"Hey! Guess who learned to summon his own keyblade!" Lea exclaimed as he walked in, feeling proud of himself. "I think I was trying to hard, actually!"

"SHHHH!" Shushed Yuffie. "While that is very great news, can you keep it down?, Rito is sleeping." she finished in a hushed voice.

Lea raised an eyebrow at hearing the new name "Rito? who's that? a new committee member?"

At that moment a rustle was heard as the boy named Rito slowly sat up from bed.

"Well, nice going, you woke him up." Leon sarcastically stated from where he was, leaning against a wall.

"Well, can't blame me for not knowing he was there. By the way, who's the kid?" Lea questioned, as he looked at the boy and started walking toward him.

"I just told ya, it's Rito." Yuffie repeated his name in a huff. Aerith was busy tending to the flowers at the window, but was listening to the conversation.

Lea said nothing as he walked to where Rito was sitting up from.

"Kinda a quiet kid ain't he?" Lea mused as he examined him, but his face got serious as he looked at Rito's eyes. He noticed the light and life from them was absent.

'Wait, I've seen this before!' Lea thought to himself. 'Roxas was like this when he first joined the Organization, wasn't he?' Lea continued thinking to himself as Rito stared back, unflinching.

'If that's true, then this guy might be...'

"We believe something is wrong with the boy's heart, the only thing he can recall is his name. He has no memory of anything else, poor thing." said Merlin, who had gotten back not too long ago, sympathizing with Rito's current condition.

Lea froze in place 'Wait, he remembers his name? I've only ever seen Nobodies who are born remember their past lives or don't, like Roxas and..." Lea struggled, then found himself confused. 'And? Wait was there...someone else like Roxas in the organization?'

"He was the only one like that when we found him in Traverse Town, so he'll be under our care until he gets better, if he does." Leon explained, breaking Lea out of his thoughts.

Now, Lea wasn't too sure if the boy was indeed a Nobody, but just to be safe, he had to assume so for now and had to let the others know. 'Who knows, maybe he's a special case like Namine was.' he concluded in his head before turning to the others.

"...Hey guys, don't be alarmed, but this kid might be a, well, um..." Lea struggled to finish his sentence.

"Wait, you know something about him? Well, my boy, don't keep us in suspense!" Merlin demanded.

"Alright, but..." Lea began, but sighed as he remembered the recent revelation Sora found. Then he looked toward the group with a serious expression "First you all need to hear...about the true nature of nobodies, and what Xehanort is planning right now."

So, Lea began his explanation of Xehanort's plans and the nature of the Nobodies; about the X-Blade, about the Seven Lights and Thirteen Darknesses, how he manipulated everyone in the original Organization, the fact that Nobodies can grow their own hearts if they are nurtured, and how his endgame is to start another keyblade war that will without a doubt re-shape the universe, regardless of how many lives will be lost in the process.

As Lea finished, the room was deathly silent...until...

"My goodness..." Merlin stated in awe.

"Hmph, it looks like he even saw everyone in the original organization as nothing but pawns in his game. The more I hear about this guy, the more I don't like him." Leon said with a frown on his face.

"You and me both, Leon." Cid agreed, sharing his anger against the man who banished the real Ansem and ruined their home many years ago.

"...Hold on, you said you wanted to tell us about the Nobodies, what does that have to do with Ri-" Aerith found herself stopping short when she clicked it together in her mind, a short gasp, followed by "Could it be?"

"Yup." casually stated Lea, popping the 'p' at the end, "Call me crazy, but the kid here may be a nobody himself."

The room fell silent again for a moment, then came the reaction

"Huh?!"

"Hey! Don't startle the poor kid!" Lea reprimanded, gesturing to the not all-there boy, who was now looking at the rest of the crew with a lazy stare, the direction of the sudden loud noise.

"Wait a moment, how do you know, my good lad?" Merlin asked curiously.

"...I worked with a whole gaggle of Nobodies, I think I would know for sure if I saw one." assured Lea.

'A gaggle?' Aerith thought to herself while holding in a giggle.

"But with what we recently found out about Nobodies, I don't think being one is such a bad thing anymore, more of a...temporary set back, if you get what I'm sayin." Lea grinned.

"He is a kid who lost his heart, how is that 'not so bad'?" Yuffie asked with air quotes at 'not so bad'.

"Weren't you listening to Lea earlier? Nobodies can grow their own hearts overtime, meaning that he can become whole again, And if he remembers his name, who knows what else he might remember? He could just regain his existance." Leon mused.

"Those were my thoughts exactly!" Lea exclaimed with a proud smile. "Think of it more as, his second chance." With that he turned to Rito, who was sitting up staring at him.

"Hey there Rito, my name's Lea, Got it memorized?" Lea pointed to the top of his own head as he finished with a smile.

There was a long pause before Rito nodded to him.

With the faintest smile gracing his own face.

About two weeks have passed since that day. When Rito started showing signs of improvement (like talking) after one week, the others decided to start taking care of him and taking him around town, showing him where things were, and where the Restoration Committee HQ is. Granted, Lea had to make room for Rito considering he was still training with Merlin to be a Keyblade Master to face Xehanort. However, he still found time to do so, eventually becoming close to the boy. Now here Lea was, getting sea-salt ice cream for the two of them.

Lea kept walking even as he saw Rito waiting at the bench in the park, who was silently looking toward him as he walked.

'Stray puppies, huh?' Lea thought to himself, remembering what his old friend would often say when he would seemingly make friends with someone who looked lost and alone. 'Isa...'

"...Lea?" a quiet voice interrupted, Lea came out of his head and looked down to the boy, who was still silently staring at him.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Lea apologized as he handed Rito one of the ice cream sticks. Then he sat down next to him and continued "But hey, at least you got my name memorized."

Rito said nothing, as he was too busy eating his own ice cream.

"Well, what about the guy with the scar on his face, you know his name right?" Lea asked.

Rito took his time to finish off the ice cream that was already in his mouth, then he spoke "...Leon."

Lea smiled "Good! How about the man at the computer who always has a smoke in his mouth?"

"...Cid."

"Nice, how about the old wizard training me?" Lea questioned. He told Rito about his training with Merlin, but never fully elaborated on what kind of training he was given or why. Just that he was a keyblade wielder in training to fight monsters called the heartless. Because they all, Lea begrudgingly (For reasons he himself couldn't place), agreed to keep his true nature as a Nobody, one not of light or dark, a secret and treat him like a normal boy, so he would grow a heart of his own without any setbacks. Honestly, they didn't even need to elaborate on the Keyblade or The Heartless. At the time when they told him, he would just quietly nod. Personally, Lea attributed that to him still being spacey.

"...Merlin."

Lea smiled as he went on "How about the nice flower girl?"

"...Aerith."

Lea nodded to himself before moving on "And the...um...ninja girl?"

"..."

Lea looked toward Rito when he didn't answer, then raised one finger to his cheek and started to scratch, feeling a bit awkward about what he was going to attempt.

"Come on, you know...the one who always gets mad and almost attacks you when you...uh...'fall' on her?"

"Yuffie" Rito answered.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Lea groaned as he put his free hand on his face. They all took note that the boy couldn't seem to be in a woman's vicinity for too long without falling and landing on them in a most...ungraceful position. Aerith was a bit more understanding about it, even if she was embarrassed about the whole ordeal. Yuffie, on the other hand...well, Rito almost got punctured by her shurikens many times out of reflex because of it, with her being stopped by the nearby person.

"...Wrong?" Rito asked, looking at Lea with a slightly confused expression.

Lea took his hand off his own face "Oh! Nonono! Your right! It's just...why do you remember her name from that?" Lea finished, shifting his eyes away from Rito.

"...I don't know." was all Rito could answer with while he shifted his own gaze to nothing.

Lea after thinking for a while, shrugged his shoulders "Eh, oh well. At least I know there's no way you'll forget about her, considering how many times 'that' happens..."

The two continued eating their ice cream bars in silence, Lea took this time to notice how nice of a day it was in Radiant Garden. The sky was a clear blue, with the sun beaming down on all inhabitants. The park wasn't too full, with the occasional person, children, and moogle passing by the two on the bench. A nice warm breeze was flowing, making it the perfect weather for a cool treat. Like the ones Rito and Lea were eating right now.

'This brings back memories' Lea thought. 'After doing a days work, we would eat ice cream like this, just the three of us, right Roxas?' He paused 'wait, three of us?'.

For some time now, whenever he would think of his time in the old Organization with Roxas, he could swear that he was supposed to remember someone else he would hang out with alongside Roxas, someone that wasn't Saix. 'But, that can't be right...'

"...Is...Riku...here?" came the sudden question from Rito, much to Lea's surprise.

"Oh him?" Lea scratched the back of his head. He had told Rito about Riku before, how he was a fellow Keyblade wielder.

"He'll be here when he gets here, said something about maybe getting one more person to train with me. Though I can't even begin to think of who it might be..." he wondered as he finished up his salty and sweet treat, with Rito finishing soon after.

"Ready to head back?" asked Lea, getting up from the bench as he did so.

Rito also got up from the bench "...Yeah" he replied.

With that, the two threw out their ice cream sticks in a nearby trash bin and started to head back to HQ. All in all, the walk was rather quiet. Lea, feeling uncomfortable with the silence, decided to see if Rito remembered anything else other than his name.

"Hey, do you remember anything else besides your name?" Lea asked, curious about the boy's past.

As they rounded a corner, Rito began to speak "...Sorta-" but he was interrupted when Lea outstretched his hand in front of him "What's-"

"Uh oh!" Lea exclaimed, upon closer inspection of where they were, Lea realized the street was WAY too empty, as if it was abandoned. However, beyond that...

The stench of darkness was in the air...

Just then, as if on cue, 7 puddles of darkness appeared on the floor in front of them and skinny but muscular shadow creatures started to slowly rise out of them.

"Damn, not now! Rito, you need to get out of here!" he commanded as he turned to the boy, only to find that he had gone pale, with a sudden look of fear in his eyes. "Hey!"

As the creatures of darkness continued to surface, Rito took their appearance in. They were completely black with large hands, complete with sharp fingers that seemed to be claws. Long, crooked antennae fell behind the monsters heads, their feet were long and digitless, making it look like they were wearing long shoes that blended right into their bodies. Blue veins were lining their whole bodies. However, what stood out to Rito the most about them was their beady yellow eyes that seemed to glow. The boy seemed to be paralyzed in place...

Even as one had started charging him...

"Look out!" Lea yelled as he pushed Rito out of the way, summoning his weapon in the process. The weapon was a blade that looked like it was on fire, and the rim around the handle of the blade looked like a pointed red and silver chakram. The handle of the blade was a jet black, and the blade had a keychain that had a small silver chakram as a decoration. This weapon is Lea's Keyblade, Flame Liberator.

The push snapped Rito back to reality as he fell to the floor.

"Ugh! Are these-"

"Yeah, the heartless! You gotta, rgh! Get outta here!" Lea interrupted as he pushed back the heartless that almost attacked Rito. 'Neoshadows!?'

Unlike most heartless, when in a pact, the Neoshadows worked together with each other to bring opponents down. Lea knew this from his experiences in the original Organization XIII, and with Rito not being a fighter as far as he saw...

'Not good!' he thought.

"I can't leave-" The teen began to speak but-

"You forget? I'm trained to fight these guys!" Lea declared as he pointed his blade at the Neoshadow in front of him. He also noticed they were starting to surround the two. "Hurry! It's not safe for you to be here! You need to get out of here now!".

After a few moments of thought, he conceded "Ok." he turned to leave "But, I'm telling everyone-" but found his escape route was blocked by another Neoshadow. "Um, Lea?!"

"No time to-" Lea started to say, but then noticed a new Neoshadow had blocked Rito's way of escape. 'Ugh, fantastic...' he sarcastically thought to himself. Now the both were surrounded by 8 Neoshadows, with Rito not being able to defend himself from the coming onslaught.

"Looks like it's my show now! Don't worry kid!" Lea confidently announced with a grin on his face as he walked backward and went back to back with Rito.

"...I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about it! Just watch!" Lea said as the heartless leaped up and started spinning in mid-air.

"I always got your back! Get it memorized!"

They launched forward, one by one.

Lea pushed Rito down to the floor with his free hand, afterward he dodged out of the way of the Neoshadows, making them fly into nothing. Lea followed up his dodge with a Firaga spell from his keyblade, sending the heartless flying into a nearby wall.

'Man, why didn't I listen to that Cid guy when he told me about the maintenance!' he thought to himself as he dodged a swipe from an oncoming Neoshadow. Cid had previously warned Lea that he was in the middle of the final update to the town's defense mechanism, meaning that it would be down and not help against the heartless for some time and he shouldn't head out with Rito. But Lea told him that it would be a quick ice cream break and that they'd be back in a jiff.

'I hate long lines!' he mentally screamed as he surrounded his keyblade with flames. He started to spin it around at a high velocity, then he threw it at two charging Neoshadows like a chakram, hitting them with a strong impact and destroying them.

The keyblade soared back through the air and found it's way to Lea's open palm, to which Lea griped it's handle and gave a triumphant laugh. "Ha! Worked like a charm!"

While all this was happening, Rito crawled to what he assumed was a safe place, behind a nearby barrel. From there, he looked at the battle in amazement, watching the way Lea moved and used his keyblade to vanquish the two heartless.

"Wow..." he said to himself as he looked on. Unfortunately, he was so enamored by the fight he didn't notice a black shadow creep up behind him.

Lea however, did. "Behind you!" he shouted as he rushed toward Rito.

Rito looked behind himself to find a Neoshadow about to take a slash at him. He closed his eyes as the Neoshadow went for an attack, waiting for the impact to happen.

It never came...

"Argh!" came a voice from in front of him, Rito opened his eyes to find Lea had stepped in front of him and had taken a critical swipe from the creature!

"...LEA!" he shouted. As Lea began to fall back, Rito opened his arms to catch him, but Lea was suddenly sent into Rito's arms with a strong force, sending the two to a wall. The impact left Rito winded and he slid to the ground with Lea in tow.

"Lea, are you okay?!" he looked Lea over as he said this. A deep claw mark was embedded in Lea's chest, with blood falling out of it.

"I've felt better" Lea joked as he gave a weak chuckle while his keyblade disappeared from his hand.

"...Why did you save me?" Rito asked. Why would Lea, a keyblade wielder, take a injury that was meant for him in his place?

"...Because...like I said, I always got your back." Lea answered "We're friends."

Rito's eyes widened and his irises shrunk as he said this. Lea went on, "You see, when your friends with someone, you...do what you can to help them...no matter what happens..."

"..."

Right...'friends'. Before this fight started he was gonna tell Lea that he remembers this...feeling...of being with other people. People he can talk to, spend time with, and such, much like what he did with Lea and the restoration committee. He wondered to himself what to call people like that and the word 'Friends' struck a cord with it. However, for some reason, he can't place any names or faces to them. He doesn't even remember their voices. But knowing he had them, and that he has forgotten about them, made him feel a lump in his throat each time he would try to recall them to his memory.

What bothered him the most though, is that he got the feeling there was someone small, who was very important. But he can't recall a face, name, or what THEY sounded like either. The feeling of knowing he forgot people who mattered to him, it wasn't a feeling he liked at all.

Also, something about this current situation. The feeling of not being able to help, this powerless feeling, felt familiar too.

All of it, if he could put it to a word...hurt.

'Was I...Always like this?...'

At that moment, something inside Rito, seemed to click...

Lea silently watched Rito's face as he was lost in thought, which switched from shock, to sadness. Now, it switched again to another face he'd never seen on him.

Anger...

'...NO! I can't die here, and I'm not gonna lose Lea!'

"...We need to get to the others, maybe they can help you." Rito said in a low voice. "Can you stand up?"

"What, you think an injury like this prevents me from standing?." Lea answered sarcastically while keeping an eye on Rito's expression. 'Is it me or is he emoting more all of a sudden?' he thought.

"...OK, use my shoulder to help you keep balance."

'Wait, How does he know about balance? He was just tripping over himself last week!'

Lea put his arm over Rito's shoulder, and used it to lift himself on his feet. With Rito helping to hold him up. "Okay, now we go this-" he stopped short when he looked toward the direction of the gang's HQ and saw there were still 6 more heartless up and about, ready to strike.

Rito looked at the creatures of the dark, gritting his teeth in fury.

'...Why...you!...'

Lea was also looking at the 6 heartless in front of them "Looks like this is the end of our road." Lea somberly stated, casting his gaze at the ground 'Roxas...Isa...Xion...I'm sorry'. Then, he remembered, he could save Rito at least, if he could open a dark corridor-

Wait...

...Xion?...

"...No! It's not our end!" came the aggressive reply from the boy, much to Lea's surprise and interruption of his thoughts yet again, his bangs seemed to have hidden his eyes from all around him.

"MOVE!" he tried to command the monsters, but to no avail, causing Rito to growl under his breath.

'What's with this sudden pressure in the air.' Lea noticed the change happen after Rito gave the command to the Heartless. 'Is it coming from him?'

The heartless slowly advanced toward the two, ready to pounce at a moments notice.

"...I...I SAID...MOVE!"

After that shout, an overwhelming wave of pressure engulfed him, shot out passed Lea, the heartless, and beyond. Along with the wave of pressure were thin, grey, thorny tendrils of energy that went unnoticed by all present. The world, the heartless, everything, seemed to have STOPPED moving. Everything halted for a while, as if trying to register what that wave of pressure was.

Then, after a second later, the Neoshadows that were in their way, disappeared in puffs of dark smoke.

Lea was shaken from the sudden intense pressure that seemed to come all at once from Rito. Lea was now looking wide-eyed in the direction the heartless were once standing, slightly shaking from the experience. Then he turned his head in shock to the boy who was no doubt the cause of this phenomenon. The kid looked angered and winded, but was still conscious. It felt like Rito's presence itself bipped out of existence when the intense pressure engulfed him, but now, it's as if it never happened.

Lea's mind finally cleared as he had one question in his head.

'What the heck just happened?...'

Troubling World - Sainan

It was a nice quiet night in this town. The nearby park was devoid of occupants, for they had all gone home by now. The sound of crickets chirping was the only thing piercing the silent air.

Then, someone whooshed right out of the nearby trees into the empty park.

"That was close." a young girl said as her crimson eyes looked toward the trees she came from. She had long blonde hair that reached way past her hips, the two black ornaments in her hair making two additional, straight pigtails. She was wearing a black battle dress that had a star shaped gap at the chest with the back portion of the dress reaching to her feet. On her arms were detached black sleeves that ended at her wrists, her legs had two small black belts with her thighs having two extra belts each, and her boots were the same color as her dress, black. This girl is an extraterrestrial of this world with the power of the trans ability, capable of transforming parts of her body into any weapon she chooses. She also happens to be an assassin by the name of Golden Darkness, though the friends she's made here call her Yami. As an assassin, she lived in the darkness of this world for most of her life, having fought and killed many things.

However, even she had never seen these enemies before...

The things that attacked her seem to have wriggled through the trees one by one and the five of them were now spinning in mid-air. Yami watched as the mysterious creatures stretched their legs to the ground from the air and pulled themselves to where their legs were, all while that action caused a strange noise to emit from them. The creatures were now standing on the ground, shifting in place.

Yami took this time to identify them once again.

Their bodies were white, if a little thin. The sides of their bodies were lined by black lines that pulsed with a weak light. Their feet and hands were thin, pointed, and lack digits, the hands themselves were each sporting two black bands around them. Their heads were flat at the front going up and their mouths seem to have been zipped up.

However, what Yami was really curious about was the sigil on the top of their heads. The sigil was a completely white, upside down, splintered heart that flowed into an irregular, skinny, pointed cross.

'I've never seen such a mark before...' she thought as she examined the sigil on their heads. 'What-'

Before she could finish her next thought the zippers on their mouths started to undo themselves, causing Yami to raise her guard. When they finished undoing their flaps, their mouths opened one by one to reveal sets of grey, sharp teeth.

It was at that point that Yami transformed her hand into a blade, ready to fight.

"Come." she said in her usual calm demeanor.

The creatures decided to split off in different directions, rather than lunge at her head on. Two of them stretched to the sky again, while the other three started to...'walk' toward her by stretching and twisting their legs forward to take a step, pulling and shifting their bodies to where they placed a leg, all while their arms were wiggling and curling.

'Something is...wrong with these creatures...' Yami's eyebrow twitched slightly as she finished that thought, then she lunged forward, taking a slash at the closest one. The attack connected, slicing the creature in half, and causing it to disappear in a puff. The other two started to 'swim' on the ground, curling up under Yami's legs, preparing to attack.

Yami made a small gasp in shock at the ones by her feet, then transformed two strands of her hair into swords and stabbed the ones at her feet before they could attack. However, she wasn't shocked because of their movements, but rather because from where they were, they got a clear look at Yami's choice of white underwear.

"I hate perverted things!" she declared in a hushed tone just after they disappeared. Her combat instincts then told her to dodge as she felt attacks coming from behind. She jumped to the left and looked where the attacks came from...only to find the remaining two creatures flailing their arms about in front of them while they 'walked' upside down beyond where the direction of the attack came from.

'Just what are these things?' she thought as she finished the last two off with a blindingly quick, wide, horizontal slash. As the two creatures disappeared in a puff, Yami noticed that one of puffs dropped a small block. After the block fell to the ground, Yami looked at her surroundings to make sure the battle was over. When she concluded that indeed it was, she walked to the block on the ground, picked it up with her right hand and brought it to eye level. It was green in color, and she hadn't encountered anything like it before.

'What is this material?' she thought as she began to rub her fingers on it. 'It's texture...feels like rubber...'

"Well, looks like the old coot was right in saying to be wary of you!" a smooth surfer-like voice pierced through the night sky, causing Yami to snap to attention and look around. "Made quick work of those Dusks, didn't ya, Goldie-locks!?" The voice seemed to be echoing from everywhere.

"Are you the one who ordered those creatures to attack me?" She inquired while looking around.

Just then, a dark portal appeared from the ground several feet away from Yami. Sensing the rather strong surge, Yami turned herself to face it.

"The Nobodies? Heh, I guess I am in league with them, but giving them the direct order?..."

From the portal, a man in a black coat stepped out. The coat had a zipper that went from the top all the way to the bottom, with the bottom portion of the coat open. He was wearing equally black gloves, black pants, and black boots. At the neck of the coat hung a silver neckchain and two silver strands. Unfortunately for Yami, the coat's hood was up so the man's face was shrouded in mystery.

"As If!" the man finished.

Yami simply stared at the man, there was this sense of foreboding to him for reasons she didn't understand. She could also sense a VERY strong force from deep within the man himself, like staring into a deep darkness.

It made her feel very uneasy of him, it'd been sometime since she felt that way about someone else.

'Is he another weapon, like myself and Kurosaki Mea?' she thought to herself.

The man looked at the block that was in Yami's hand. "Well luck be a lady tonight! Looks like you got yourself a Gummi Block."

Yami narrowed her eyes, she decided to press him for information; "Gummi Block?"

"Yup, that's your ticket to the outside worlds." the coated man clarified, with slight emphasis on 'outside worlds'.

"...Outside worlds? As in, space and other planets?" the assassin guessed, even though she had a feeling that's not what the man meant.

A sarcastic gasp escaped from the man's hood "Wait, don't tell me you don't know about the outside worlds either? Whoops, maybe I said a bit too much." The coated figure chuckled as he finished.

Yami frowned, she didn't take kindly to his obvious patronizing. "Just. Answer." she demanded in a cold voice as she formed her left hand into a bladed claw.

"Hah! Might as well. I already let it slip." casually stated the man, "This might be a while though so you might wanna buckle down, Goldie-locks."

Yami took a moment to glare at the man in the coat. She could attempt to take him down, but not only did he seemingly have no weapon and no interest in fighting her himself, but she also found herself being mysteriously intrigued in what information he held. What exactly does he wish to gain?

'If not other planets, then what?' thought Yami. In the end, she decided to change her hand back to normal to let the coated man speak.

"Continue." she replied after finishing her last action.

The man smiled under his hood at this "Very good, so where should I start?..." He wondered out loud to himself, bringing his right index finger to the top of his head. Then, he raised it off as he started to talk again.

"Okay, let's start here. What if I told you, that what you know as the Universe actually isn't all there is?"

"...But, the universe is everything, how can there be more?" asked Yami, perplexed by what the man was saying.

To this question, the man chuckled again. "See, you only use the information that you picked up here in THIS world to think that, but the fact is that the universe that you know is actually called a world. It's just a smaller piece of the greater world, the true universe."

Yami raised an eyebrow at this "You mentioned other worlds before, you mean to say that these 'other worlds', smaller universes, truly exist?"

"Bingo! But that's not all. These worlds each have their own set of history to them, with their own set of living things, as well different laws that apply to them."

Yami's eyes slightly widened, to her it sounded like these worlds were more like alternate dimensions. 'Is this man from another world? If so, how does he know of me?' she thought to herself.

"However, these worlds are separated by barriers that are practically impossible to get through. One of the only few ways to get through them is right in your hand." he smoothly stated.

Yami then looked to the block she was holding in her hand, then back to the man "This 'Gummi Block'?"

The coated figure nodded "That's right, a whole ship made of those things can pass through those barriers in a breeze."

Yami then looked incredulously at the man "I've never heard of such things in all my travels. How can I know your not telling lies?"

"Lies?...heh...As if!" the man countered. "Do you know for SURE if no one in this world knows about what I'm talking about, it's a pretty big place, and what I'm saying is a VERY well kept secret across the worlds."

Yami then had another question "If I were to choose to believe your story, how would just one block help me?"

The coated man then shrugged "Who says it can't, I'm sure you know someone smart enough in this world to help you out."

Yami thought about the man's claims for a few seconds until a long haired pinkette princess came to her mind.

But, with the recent event that have her comrades troubled...

"I don't understand." Yami went on "Why tell me something so secret? Do you expect me to go off on some 'adventure' across these other worlds? What would I have to gain?"

She wasn't going to leave now, not when her best friend Mikan needed support for her brother's sudden disappearance, not when she had come to enjoy the people living here. Even if she occasionally wondered if she, something that is considered a weapon, can continue to live on this quiet planet...

Leaving now, just didn't sit well with her...

"Jeez, Are you always this mistrusting Goldie-locks? Anyways, I'll tell you something you can gain..." the man paused for a moment, then he continued "Out in the other worlds may be something or someone that is important..."

Yami looked at the man in confusion as he went on.

"All you have to do is reach out and claim it, if you want it to be yours again."

'Wait, yours again?' Yami's eyes widened with realization 'Could he mean!-'

A dark portal opened up behind the man "Be a good girl now!" he mockingly exclaimed as he walked backwards into the portal.

"Wait!" she ordered as she tried to go after the hooded man. But, by the time she reached where the portal was, the portal and the man had already vanished without a trace.

'He escaped' she thought to herself, looking at where the portal once was. Then, she looked to the ground in deep thought, her eyes holding annoyance and, if someone didn't know better, just the slightest tinge of concern.

'...Yuuki Rito, did he mean you?...'

From a lamppost afar, a girl who had witnessed the whole conversation stood. She had dark skin, long pitch-black hair with two red ribbons, and gold eyes. She wore a black kimono with red lining that was closed by a big yellow sash. Attached to the sash was an open star shaped ornament, the same shape on Yami's combat dress. She was also wearing geta on her feet. Around her neck was a black choker that had the open star shape ornament at the front. Like Yami, she is an extraterrestrial of this world.

Her name, is Nemesis. She herself had no idea who the man in the black coat was, and the information he spoke of was rather...

"I see, 'worlds' beyond our own." she commented to herself before smiling. "How interesting." she paused, then closed her eyes to think over the situation.

Yuuki Rito had gone missing without a trace a little more than two weeks ago, the news surprising even her, for that was not in her plan at all. If anything, he held a big role in the awakening of "Darkness", the true nature of Golden Darkness that slept in her heart. Initially, she wanted Golden Darkness to kill Yuuki Rito in order for her to return to the path of a weapon. But a few realizations caused Nemesis to switch up her plan. Rito's sudden disappearance however, was a massive derailment to both of them.

And just when she started taking a liking to her manservant too...

She then opened her eyes and looked toward Yami from where she was.

'So what will you do now, Golden Darkness?...'

Chapter Done!

When a whole section is in Italics, that means it's a flashback.

I tried to get everyone in character as much as I can, especially everyone's favorite Freeshooter. What do you all think? Rito's Nobody will be kind of a special case. With his memories being all wonky. Don't worry, he'll still be Rito at his core.

Also, his Nobody didn't exactly use "Conqueror's Haki" per say, if you were already drawing parallels. But to go into it further would spoil plot.

Anyway, I'll try to get Chapter 3 up by the time Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition is released in the USA. It's already half-way written. Thanks for reading!