Now, we go on to chapter 4. Like before, Rant, Rave, Review.

Missing IX chapter 4- Missing no. IX found: Shattered Smile

Sora, Riku, and Kairi's journey was already well underway; they had already been to new and old worlds, defeating heartless, and looking for the Missing IX and their hideaway. Soon after completing the first ring of worlds, they were contacted by phone by Tron, who had found something interesting; he found a 'link' to a new set of digital worlds that sat inside a connected hard drive named 'Raxip'. It seemed that these worlds were under heavy heartless attack as well, meaning that the three of them would have to go in and clear them out. So, using the 'link' and a 'digital copy' of their gummi ship, they reached the first digital world: Suburbia.

Immediately, they realized that this world was very different; the case was that either this world was very large or they were very small because when they landed, they found out that what they initially thought was soft ground turned out to be someone's bed. Sora, Riku, and Kairi fought off a group of heartless, and met the inhabitants: they were oddly shiny, smooth, and seemed familiar in a way. Sora could tell something was off about them but didn't know why, and Riku had an idea about the cause but was in disbelief about it. Then, Kairi called it out: they were toys; living, walking, talking toys. Apparently, the newest one of them, Buzz Lightyear, fell out of the window because of their owner, Andy's, 'favorite', Sheriff Woody, and now both were next door with Sid, a boy who destroys toys, and Scud, Sid's dog. So, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, per the toys' request, went to bring them both back before Andy and his family moved, which was set to happen in only a few days.

Karadex had reached Suburbia through a separate computer thanks to Maxell, and had been trailing Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Without them seeing him, he followed them across the yard into Sid's house, and even indirectly helped them find Woody and Buzz. He even helped them with the escape plan without them knowing. Often, he would fight off heartless, so the Light Heroes could help Buzz and Woody without being attacked. He even kept the heartless manageable as the other toys got in position. In one instance, Scud was about to walk in on the Light Heroes and the toys as the plan was being made, and Karadex managed to distract him; he got Scud to chase him, and then tricked Scud into running into the parent's room, trapping the dog momentarily.

Karadex was on a roll; Right after getting rid of Scud, he even celebrated in his own offbeat, humorous way by whispering to himself, "It's a home run, and the crowd goes wild, " cupped his hands around, and made a pseudo-crowd cheering as he walked away.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi managed to find Woody and Buzz, and quickly realized that the two didn't get along at all. To make matters worse, Sid's room was completely overrun with heartless, especially the floor. Then, mid-day before Andy and his family were set to move, Buzz got in what Woody called a 'flying' accident, which the three of them couldn't understand because they know toys can't fly. Anyway, after a huge heartless attack and recovering in Hannah's room (which was strangely devoid of any darkness, the three went to find buzz and woody only to find Sid happily strapping a rocket to Buzz's back, but thankfully it started to rain, delaying Buzz's liftoff ... for a while.

Very early the next morning, after Buzz and Woody patched things up with help from Sora, Riku, and Kairi; Sid woke up and took Buzz with him, presumably for liftoff. Woody, with the help of Sid's 'toys', quickly came up with a plan, and set it into action. The three planned to give back up, but since the night before, the heartless seemed strangely absent; Kairi and Riku were both suspicious of this of course, but Sora didn't seem to notice. Woody's plan worked perfectly, and all of them, Sora, Riku, and Kairi included, made it to the backyard. That's when the three saw him: Karadex was standing in the grass, watching Sid set up.

The three then broke away as Woody and the others were getting in position, and slowly crept up behind Karadex when ... CRUNCH! Sora had stepped on a dry leaf. Karadex, obviously hearing it, stood straight up, and, without even turning around, began to sprinting for the back fence with the three right behind him as he tapped the symbol on his lifeline. Then, 

when Karadex reached the fence, he stopped, realizing that the fence had no opening for him to escape through, and, just as it set in, the three caught up to him.

"Looks like you're trapped," said Riku as he and Sora summoned their key blades and Kairi took out her rod, all three ready to fight.

Karadex slowly turned around as he said, "Guess there's no way around it now," and took his hood off, revealing his face: he had hazel-brown eyes and all dark brown hair with the exception of four almost dark-blue strands that hung diagonally across his face and curved inward at the bottoms like rib bones. In actuality, based on his appearance, he was rather young, not that much older than Sora, Riku, and Kairi, much to their surprise.

Despite being trapped, Karadex produced a smile, and said, "Well, if it isn't the Light heroes."

Sora, ignoring the comment, said, "Nowhere to run, nobody."

Karadex shook his head slowly, and replied, "My, my, Sora. Such hostility, and so rude especially for a hero. My name is Karadex or Kar if you know me."

Karadex paused as he seemed to relax a bit and asked in a conversational tone, "So, to what do what do I owe this chase? I mean, I was minding my own business."

Kairi, still not sure about these nobodies, asked, "If you weren't doing anything, why did you run," and Karadex quickly replied with a smile, "Why were you sneaking up on me? You can really scare someone doing that, you know."

Riku, somewhat impatient at this point because of Karadex's attitude, then said, "The question is: why are you here," and Sora added, "Yeah. Are you here to ruin the plan?"

Karadex again quickly replied, "The Rescue? Of course not! Especially since I've been breaking my back to make sure it went off without a hitch."

Sora, Riku, and Kairi were really confused by this statement, and Karadex, seeing the looks on their faces, continued, "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you didn't notice you haven't fought any heartless since yesterday."

Sora got more confused while Riku and Kairi started to look on in disbelief with Riku asking, "You've been fighting the heartless?"


Before Karadex could answer, Sora said, "Wait, wait a second. What are you talking about?"

Karadex chuckled and said, "Man, there really is just 10 cents up there, isn't it."

Sora, not getting the reference, just replied, "Excuse me", as a more confused look crossed his face.

Karadex smiled as he explained, "You know. A few cards short of a deck, a few pennies short of a dollar, the elevator doesn't quite go to the top floor."

Sora just shrugged his shoulders, not understanding.

Karadex quickly responded by making a hand motion as if knocking on a door and...KNOCK! KNOCK! He made a noise extremely similar to a door knocking, and then said, "Hellloooooo! You know, the lights are on, but I don't think anyone's home."

Sora, growing impatient and slightly irritated, asserted, "Alright, enough," and Karadex, sensing it in his voice, quickly replied, "Sorry, it's my Tourette's, y'know."

Riku and Kairi were both just trying to not explode with laughter.

Karadex quickly added, "By the way, if you have Tourette's or know someone who does, I'm sorry. It's just a joke; I meant no offence."

Sora, irritated fully at this point, said, "Would you quit it? I'm not laughing; do I look like I'm joking to you."

With that, the smile on Karadex's face seemed to shrink, although it didn't disappear, as Sora's words sunk in.

As Sora, shortly followed by Riku and Kairi, got back into fighting position, Karadex said, "Wow. You're really not gonna trust me, are you? Not even after I saved one of you."

As Karadex began to look right at her, Kairi immediately got out of position out of surprise and responded, "Wha...what?"



Karadex then explained, "You remember. The other day when, I assume, you three arrived here. And I hadn't even been here five minutes." Immediately, Kairi remembered the event:

The three had just snuck into Sid's house, and into his room. Suddenly, Sid came in the room, and noticed Kairi. She then cast 'Stop' on herself to appear like a doll as Sid walked over, and picked her up. With Sora and Riku hiding and unable to really do anything, Sid began to look her over, trying to figure out where she came from. Sid just assumed that Kairi was one of Hannah's dolls, and said he would 'punish the intruder' as he began to walk to his 'workbench'. Suddenly, Sid's hand shook as he shrieked out of pain, and he dropped Kairi. As she was about to hit the ground from what, at her size, was about a 40-foot drop, Kairi suddenly began to slowly float gently to the ground just as the 'Stop' spell wore off, allowing her to duck into the shadows to safety.

"That ... that was you? You saved me," inquired Kairi, in slight disbelief but strangely not surprised and inclined to believe him, and immediately Riku said, "Really? And why would you do something like that?"

Karadex replied, "Good question, but can you explain it any other way?" There was a silence between the four of them as Karadex waited for a response.

When one didn't come, Karadex responded saying, "No guesses? Well, there you go. Besides..."

The smile on Karadex's face seemed to melt away, and a serious and sincere look crossed his face as he continued, saying, "I have a ...'lady friend' (makes the quotation motion with his fingers) that I know I would be crushed if she were... well, crushed."

Sora responded with a scoff, and said, "Now, I know you're lying. You're a Nobody. You don't have a heart; you wouldn't be crushed about anything."

Karadex, still with the sincere and serious look on his face, replied, "Mock me all you want. I know how I used to feel, how I would feel now if I had my heart, and how I hope to feel about Trisi. That's something I'll always remember and something even you can't question." There was another moment of silence as Karadex's words seemed to sink in.

Finally, Kairi started to say something when Sora said, "Are you just gonna keep talking or fight?"

Kairi couldn't believe Sora said that, and even Riku was surprised Sora would say something like that. Despite sensing Sora's seriousness, Karadex began to smile again as he said, "You're just not gonna believe me, are you? Well, then I guess there's nothing else I can say. Can't say I didn't try."

Suddenly, a bright light began to emanate from Karadex's hands. Hoping to make the first move, Riku disappeared, and reappeared above and behind Karadex, ready to strike. Then, just as Riku was about to land a blow, Karadex quickly spun around, with his hand grabbed Riku by the keyblade, and threw Riku back towards Sora and Kairi, all in one fluid motion. As he flipped to recover, Riku wondered how Karadex could stop the keyblade with his bare hand, and, when Riku looked up; he saw how he did it just like Sora and Kairi did. On Karadex's hands were steel gauntlets with clawed fingers, and metal strands that extended up the wrist and twisted around and up his arms to his shoulders; these were his weapons.

Karadex, as he looked at his arms, said, "You know, I've been trying to avoid using these; I'm a joker, not a fighter. Plus, these things are murder on the shoulders, but they get the job done; you gotta use whatca got, right?"

Riku rose to his feet, getting back into fighting stance, and the three braced themselves, readying for the battle ahead.

Karadex then got into his fighting stance as he said, "Alright. Down to business," and then began to speak in an announcer's tone, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, we ask that you please return to your seats as the MAIN EVENT is about to begin! Our Heroes of the Light Realm have cornered Karadex. Will he be overpowered and become the first victim? Or will the 'Joyous Paramour' rise to the occasion and beat the seemingly insurmountable odds? We're about to find out! It's Sora, Riku, and Kairi; the Light Heroes against Missing 'nobody' number IX! Oh, hold on to your seats everyone because things are about to get... heavy."

Quickly acting first, Karadex slammed his fist into the ground, sending a wave of purplish-energy geysers towards the three of them. As they dodged, they noticed the wave was 'chasing' them, but they were just a little faster. As the wave finally ended, Karadex sunk his hand 'underneath' the ground, and pulled up a huge black and purple energy sphere. "I wonder if you remember this, Sora," said Karadex as he threw the ball into the air. At its highest point of ascent, the ball exploded, 'showering' the area with smaller orbs of energy. Sora, Riku, and Kairi did their best to dodge, but all three were hit and knocked down by several surprisingly forceful energy orbs. Karadex smiled as he formed in his hand a blue energy orb that looked similar to a 'Gravity' spell, and began charging at them. Kairi was the first to her feet, and looked up to see Karadex running right at her. Not sure how to react, Kairi tightly gripped her rod, and braced herself for impact, but then she noticed the look on Karadex's face: he looked almost surprised that she was the one he was running at. Mid-stride, Karadex let out a frustrated grunt, and jumped surprisingly high over Kairi as he shot the energy sphere at Riku and Sora. Sora didn't see the attack coming until it was too late, and was hit and propelled backwards by the impact, but Riku managed to 'teleport' away in time. Karadex, who seemed to be hovering in mid-air, noticed Riku disappear, and began to look for him when Riku appeared right beside him and began to attack. Over and over, Riku repeatedly delivered vicious blows to Karadex, who managed to get his guard up just in time to block. Seeing Riku struggling to get a good hit in, Sora ignored the pain in his chest, jumped to his feet, quickly performed a Strike Raid, hurling his keyblade and slamming Karadex in the back. Karadex immediately dropped his guard, reacting to the pain from Sora's attack, and Riku, taking advantage, hit him point-blank with a Dark Fireball, sending Karadex spiraling to the ground; Karadex hit the ground with a sick thud, and continued to skid a little distance.

Pressing the advantage, Sora and Riku began to charge at Karadex as Kairi's ring and the crystal orb on the tip of her rod began to shine from her beginning to gather enough magic 'power' to perform a powerful spell.

As Karadex began to rise to his feet, he saw Sora and Riku coming at him fast, held out one hand towards them, and said, "Release."

Immediately, Sora and Riku began to float helplessly in mid-air as if they were in water.

"Wha...what? How are we..." inquired Sora, and Riku added, directing it at Karadex, "What did you do to us?"

Karadex stood up, and hovered to them as he said, "It's a 'Gravity' thing; there's enough to keep you on this world, but not enough to keep you on the ground. I just made you a little less heavy."

Karadex then reverted to an attendant's voice as he grabbed both of them by the shirt and said, "Welcome. This is your elevator. First floor men's apparel, second floor sporting goods. Going up!" With that, Karadex threw both of them straight 

up into the air.

Sora and Riku shot straight up to their surprise, and, at the peak their ascent, began to float in mid-air again.

"Riku... what just happened," asked Sora, as he tried to move his stuck body, and Riku replied, "Didn't you hear him? He must control gravity."

Karadex popped his knuckles as he said, "All passengers, please keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times. It's going to be a bumpy ride," and shot up into the air with impressive force.

Seeing him coming, Riku warned, "Here he comes," and, upon reaching them, Karadex hit them both with uppercuts so strong that they began to rapidly back flip in place.

A smile crossed Karadex's face as he stopped them from moving and started to pummel them with heavy punches, knocking the wind out of them with each shot. Finally, Kairi had gathered enough 'magic' but she couldn't use her attack without hitting Sora, Riku, or both. After his frenzy of shots, Karadex grabbed and threw them back to the ground.

Thinking quickly, Sora pushed through the pain that racked his body and called out, "Defend," casting the 'Protect' spell and somewhat cushioning he and Riku's impact with the ground.

Seeing them both land, Karadex formed another 'Gravity' orb and back flipped into a headfirst dive right for Riku and Sora; Sora collapsed to his knees in pain after landing, and Riku, who could barely hold himself up, looked up and saw Karadex barreling towards them as he shot the 'Gravity' orb at them.

"Thunder," yelled out Kairi, casting the 'Thunder' spell, as she shot a bolt of lightning out of her rod and destroying the 'Gravity' orb.

Karadex, dodging the lightning bolt, pulled up from his flight, and his momentum began to carry him towards the fence. Karadex quickly dug his hand into the ground, stopping himself, and, using his own arm as an anchor, spun back towards them as he formed a 'Gravity' orb in his free hand.

Just as he landed, Karadex shot the orb at Riku and Sora, and Riku retaliated with a Dark Fireball, stopping the attack, but the force of impact still knocked Riku backward; fortunately, Sora was able to stop Riku before he flew too far backward.

As they tried to regroup, Karadex shook his right arm as he said, "Alright, let's press the issue," and then held it towards Sora and Riku, palm in their direction, as he began to hold his right forearm with his left hand.

He then began to rapidly shoot smaller but seemingly more powerful energy orbs. Sora and Riku quickly retaliated with a Dark Cannon, shooting waves of Dark Fireballs at Karadex, but Karadex's energy attacks were stronger with several of Sora 

and Riku's needed to offset just one of his. Kairi immediately noticed, and quickly raised her crystal rod to the sky as she said forcefully, "Comet, descend!"

Karadex, seeing Sora and Riku struggling to keep up their attack and his own getting closer to hitting with each attack, intensified his own as he said in his announcer's voice, "Uh-oh. It looks like Missing no. IX has the Light Heroes on the ropes. Doesn't look like it will take long now."

Suddenly, Karadex stopped as a confused and slightly worried look crossed his face; he could feel that something was wrong. Finally, he looked up and saw the cause: an enormous rock covered in blue flames was falling right over him.

Karadex's smile returned as he said, "Not today," and held up both hands toward it, somehow stopping it right in mid-air.

"No way," said Sora and Kairi simultaneously, and Riku said at the same time, "You've gotta be kidding me."

Karadex chuckled, and said, "What is this? Is this a comet? Excellent! That is awesome!! But, I don't think it's for me. I appreciate the thought though; here, you can have it back."

He then took a small step forward and 'tossed' the comet into the air. The comet went up in a very steep angle before curving back toward the ground.

"Kairi, look out, " shouted both Sora and Riku, causing Kairi to look up, and see the comet coming right for her. Kairi raised her rod and prepared for impact, her mind racing as she frantically searched for a spell she could use; suddenly, the comet took a fortunate but unbelievable turn, impacting the ground a few yards from Kairi and kicking up a cloud of dust. Kairi quickly turned her attention back to the fight, seeing Sora looking at her and Riku already running toward Karadex, and then she noticed Karadex: his right arm was stretched out to the side, and he had a very concerned look on his face. Kairi's surprise grew on her face as she realized what happened: Karadex must have...

Just then, Riku came falling down, blade-first, right on the top of Karadex, stabbing him, and repeated it twice before Karadex deflected him into the air. Before Karadex could follow up, Sora took aim and performed Ragnarok, shooting multiple rays at him. Karadex saw them too late, and took every hit, knocking him backward almost to the fence before he hit the ground. Riku landed safely just as Karadex struggled to stand. It was visually clear that Karadex didn't have much left; his breathing was heavy and his face was wore as he seemed barely able to keep himself standing.

Through his pain and fatigue, Karadex managed to smile, shocking Sora, Riku, and Kairi, as he said, "Looks like I've got no choice."

He then raised both arms to the sides his palms outward; then, in each hand, he formed a larger-than-normal 'Gravity' orb as he said in his announcer voice, "Oh no, he can't be... Yes, he is. He's going to use it."



Knowing something bad was happening, as Karadex began to levitate high into the air, Kairi began to attack, shooting him with several 'Blizzard' spells and a 'Thunder' spell, but to no avail as each one seemed to deflect away from him.

After his ascent, Karadex raised both his arms over head, combining the 'Gravity' orbs into one massive sphere, and said still in his announcer voice, "That's right. Missing no. IX is going to bring down the sky with his Ultimate Attack!"

Immediately, Sora and Kairi huddled next to Riku, crossed their weapons as they raised them toward Karadex, and said in unison, "Defend," casting a 'Reflect' spell around all three of them.

Just as the three's shield was up, a massive amount of energy rays shot from Karadex's massive sphere as if they were rounds from a Gatling gun, and began to bombard Sora and Kairi's shield; with each shot, the shield shook and was on the verge of breaking as Sora and Kairi tried to stand their ground.

Karadex, with a smile still on his face, said to himself, "Now, to finish," and held the sphere higher in the air, causing an energy beam to shoot from the sphere into the shield.

The shield began to crack like glass under the pressure of the beam although Sora and Kairi tried to resist, and finally the shield broke, allowing the beam to hit the three of them and send them backward, the farthest of who was Kairi. Karadex dispersed the massive sphere, and fly after them, hoping to continue the pressure and possibly end the fight. Kairi slowly lifted herself to her knees, trying to fight through the pain, when she felt a presence very close to her, and looked up only to see Karadex standing in front of her, holding a normal-size 'Gravity' sphere to her head. Kairi immediately froze in place, scared of what he would do, and then gripped her rod tight when the sphere began to shake. As time began to slowly pass and the sphere continued to shake but not propel forward, Kairi began to nervously wonder why, and her eyes wandered up where she noticed that the sphere wasn't shaking from power, but because Karadex himself shaking. Kairi looked up further and saw Karadex's face: a very pained and conflicted look was on his face; Karadex seemed like he didn't want to do it.

Kairi continued to look at him when she saw him mouth the words, "I...I can't."

Karadex dropped his head and closed his eyes as he said to himself, "I can't do it. I won't"

His smile returned to his face as he said, "Sorry about being so rude. Trisi hates when I do that."

He then spun around away from Kairi, and shot the 'Gravity' sphere at Sora and Riku, kicking up a cloud of dust upon impact. When the dust settled, Sora and Riku were completely gone, causing Karadex to walk forward a bit as he said, "I know I didn't hit them that hard. Where'd they go?" Karadex stopped and looked as silence began to surround him...

"You ready, Riku," asked Sora from seemingly nowhere, and Riku replied from an equally mysterious location, "Just try to keep up, Sora."

Then, quicker than Karadex could react, Sora and Riku appeared on either side of him, Sora's keyblade stretched in front of himself, Riku's stretched out to his side, both facing away from Karadex and each other . Suddenly, Karadex let out a pained grunt, and began to hold his chest as he began to slump forward from pain and fatigue; Sora and Riku had risen up from 

the tall grass, and hit him with a combination Cross Slash-Sonic Blade. Sora and Riku slowly turned slightly toward each other, preparing for another strike, and then repeated the combination several times, slashing Karadex viciously, before both appearing next to each other in front of him. Karadex, desperately trying to remain standing, braced himself as he saw Sora and Riku prepared for another strike, and Sora and Riku performed the combination one more time, giving Karadex one more slash and putting them right in front of Kairi; Both turned around to face Karadex and got back in fighting position, but Karadex seemed frozen with his back to them until he began to choke.

Karadex's smile incredibly returned to his face as he stopped coughing and weakly said, "Looks like the joke's... on me." With that, his gauntlets disappeared in a flash of light, and Karadex collapsed to the ground, defeated.

Sora slightly turned to Kairi and asked, "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?"

Kairi, now to her feet, with a shocked look on her face, could only shake her head 'No' as she continued to stare at the fallen Karadex, her mind racing over what had just happened and the whole trip: Karadex had saved her not once but twice, one of those times from herself; he avoided hurting her the whole fight; then, when he had her dead-to-rights, he spared her and then apologized for threatening her. Kairi knew she hadn't encountered many nobodies, but she knew that that hadn't happened before. Kairi was completely convinced now, and there was no doubt in her mind that these 'nobodies' were telling the truth and were different than Organization XIII. She then almost broke down and cried when she realized that they may have 'killed' an innocent man, someone's friend, someone's loved one.

"Think we got him," asked Riku, causing Sora to turn back to face Karadex, and Sora replied, "Only one way to make sure," causing Kairi's stomach to turn and chest to ache.

Suddenly, as Sora was about to move toward him and as Kairi was about to say something, a familiar voice called from seemingly nowhere, "Stay away from him!"

Then, large (large to them, but not in the world) trees sprouted out of the ground, and surrounded Karadex so that he couldn't be seen through them. Before Sora or the other two could react, Sid screamed in horror ran into house, signifying the plan had worked.

Sora continued to stare at the trees, when Kairi called out of him, "Sora, we have to go."

Riku then added, "Yeah, we have to help Woody and Buzz get to Andy's before they leave."

Sora was silent for a moment, and then turned back to them, and said, "Yeah, you're right."

With that, Sora, Riku, and Kairi ran to help out; Kairi, although very concerned about Karadex, continued with Sora and Riku, not knowing how to talk to them about her concerns (and fears).

"Man, am I glad to see you," said Karadex as Trixis emerged from her independent shadow, and quickly flipped her hood off, revealing her face as she raced over and kneeled next to him.

Trixis, concern heavy in her voice and on her face, said, "Kar, you're hurt; it's bad too. What...what can I do," as she helped him roll onto his back, and began to hold his upper body in her arms, cradling his head gently.

Karadex replied, "Don't worry; it's not like I'm dying ... oh ... wait," and flashed Trixis a smile; he always joked with her when he was hurt so she wouldn't worry too much and normally she would, at least, smile, but not this time.

Seeing her extreme concern, Karadex reached with the hand closest to her, the hand that he wore 'her' ring on, and lightly held her locket in the palm, as he tried to comfort her; looking into her eyes, he said, "Come on, Trisi; you have to be strong for both of us now, at least for a little while anyway. Another thing, I know it's hard, but could you... smile for me before I go."

Trixis lifted the hand not supporting his head, and locked fingers with his hand that was holding her locket, trapping it within their hold, as she replied to him, "I'll try."

She then looked deep in Karadex's eyes, the hazel eyes she loved so much, and began to race through her memories shared with him, every conversation, every time he made her laugh, every special moment, every happy memory, remembering how he makes her feeling, forcing herself to replicate it and partly hoping to cause a physical reaction. Then, as she remembered the feelings she has for him and seeing him in pain, Trixis had a reaction that she'd never had before as a nobody: her face tightened, two small beads of water formed in the corners of her eyes, and two tears rolled her cheeks.

Karadex's smile quickly disappeared and was replaced with the look of concern as he solemnly asked, "Trisi, when did you re-learn how to cry?"

Trixis, in the shaky and choked-up voice familiar with those talking through tears, replied, "Just now."

Karadex's face took on a regretful look, and he said, "I'm sorry. I...I never wanted to..."

Trixis stopped as she gave him a smile, and said, "No, Kar. You never have, and you never will."

Karadex seemed to relax with this, and looked as if he were daydreaming as he said, "You know, I probably don't say this enough, but..."

He then looked back at her as she replied, "But what? What do you not say enough,' and he said with a smile on his face, "I love you."



Trixis' smile grew wider as she responded, "I love you, too."

Sensing another presence, Karadex said, seemingly into nothing, "Here, at last. It's about time," and then turned back to Trixis, saying, "My ride is here. Better let me go."

Trixis, also sensing it, kissed Karadex on the forehead, as she always does before they separate for a time, lightly placed him on the ground, and backed up a little although she didn't rise to her feet. Then, from out of an independent shadow, a floor with six sides, four short and two long, and purple lining appeared underneath Karadex, so that he was lying down on it; six walls that were slightly taller than Karadex when he was lying down and had the same lining as the floor, appeared on the sides right after. Finally, a separate 'sheet' with the same lining on the bottom and Karadex's symbol on the top in the middle appeared and leaned again the six-sided, black-steel box Karadex was now inside, acting as its 'lid'.

Karadex, realizing what was happening, solemnly said, "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen; you've been a wonderful audience. Drive home safely and good night."

With that, the lid slid up the side of the 'box' to the top and into place, and slammed shut, completely sealing Karadex and every part of him inside; This completed Karadex's black-steel 'coffin', Xelta's own creation used to house one of them and keep them from 'breaking apart' while they recuperated. Trixis and Karadex from inside his coffin then 'sunk' into the still-active independent shadow as tears began to flow freely from Trixis' eyes and the trees around them withered away. With both of them 'inside', the shadow then flew along the ground and disappeared in a small puff of black smoke.

A/N: There's chapter 4. Chapter 5 is coming very soon. Hope you're enjoying the story so far. Next time, we're going star-gazing. Please R&R, and I hope you stay with me.