Chapter Four:

I Keep on with Nothing to Fear

A/n: :O I got two reviews last chapter -- I'm so excited. xDD Thank you Lesser -heart- and AccessBlade! This chapter is going to take place in - mostly - Des Plaines alone, but it'll be... more or less fun. Next chapter should take place a few days later in the story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer - I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just my three OCs.

'Mata yo ga akereba owakare

Yume wa tooki maboroshi ni

Anata wo oikakete ita hikari no naka de

Dakareru tabi atatakai kaze wo tayori.'

-"Shiki no Uta" by MINMI


"Who are you?" demanded Sora point-blank once he sensed Katalin's distress. His emotions could change so quickly; one minute he was all happy and joking, and the next he was forceful. He didn't realize, of course, why she was distressed.

"Shawn," replied the boy as he raised an eyebrow. He was about Riku's height, meaning that he was quite taller than Sora. This fact hardly seemed to face the shorter brunet.

In an effort to diffuse the fusion, Katalin spoke. "Shawn, what are you doing here? Actually, how do you even know where I live?" The two of them hadn't had a class together for a year, and the only time they saw each other was in the halls during passing periods.

The tension eased as Shawn broke into a grin. "Internet," he replied, half-laughing. A thought flitted through his mind, and his smile faded. "Everyone's been going crazy looking for you."

She tried to appear unperturbed by his words but failed miserably. "I've only been gone for about a day."

At this, Shawn raised both of his eyebrows. "More like two days." Katalin was quite sure she would never remember how to breathe again.

Kairi put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "I guess we should've mentioned something sooner, Kat; time flows differently between worlds."

"But... but...! How is that even possible?" she demanded of any of them.

Riku stared at her flatly. "Katalin, does any of this seem possible to you?" He had a point. Shawn cleared his throat in order to remind them of his presence.

"Anyway, your mom should be happy to hear you're home."

"Wasn't she a little confused... and concerned that you've been sitting in our driveway?" asked Katalin. The thought was quite humorous, but she couldn't find the strength to laugh.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe? Anyway, she's not home right now."

An all too familiar howl emitted from the house. Katalin looked toward the front window to find a large, black labrador retriever perched on the windowsill. Some things, at least, hadn't changed. "This is all great and everything, but what are you doing here?" she repeated. It pleased her that she could act businesslike when it felt like the world was crashing around her.

"The night that your mom found out you were missing, some strange stuff was happening here," began Shawn thoughtfully. "A bunch of black bugs were running around and stuff. One tried to attack my dog, and I went outside to get it to back off. When I did, uh..." He was abruptly hesitant, glancing from left to right as if he was afraid of being heard. "Something happened."

Kairi and Sora seemed unable to follow, but Riku and Katalin understood where the conversation was going. "Let me guess," started Riku as he held out his left hand. "Did something like this happen?" Way to Dawn flashed into his hand, and Shawn flinched somewhat.

He nodded. "Pretty much."

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe there was more to that Heartless invasion than we thought..."

"Heartless?" repeated Shawn.

"We need to explain a lot -- again. Can we go inside and talk about this?" Sora asked Katalin.

She clicked her tongue. "Hm. About that... I don't have my keys, so... I'll have to go around back. Can you wait at the door while I go around?" added Katalin to Sora, Riku, and Kairi as she headed for the front gate. They nodded and Shawn followed her up the lawn. "Shawn, you're tall. Give me a boost over the gate."

"There's... no other way to get in?" he asked although he hardly seemed concerned. If anything, he seemed delighted to be doing things the more dangerous way.

Katalin glanced back at him, shook her head, and grasped the wood of the fence. "Okay, just give me a boost..."

Quicker than she'd anticipated, Shawn swept her onto his shoulders and lifted her up. She momentarily forgot to breathe. That was, until, he hurled her over the fence. Katalin hit the pool of rocks on the other side of the fence with an audible crash. "Shawn," gasped Katalin once she was able to breathe again, "I didn't tell you to throw me over; I just wanted you to lift me up."

"Katalin, are you okay?" called Kairi from the front door.

She nodded and, realizing she couldn't see her, gave a verbal confirmation. When she stood back up and headed around the back of the house, she found that she was relieved that she was wearing jeans; only her arms would suffer from the fall. As she wrenched open the unlocked backdoor, her cell phone began to play the chorus of "I Get it" by Chevelle.

Katalin flipped open her phone at the same time as she entered the house. "Hello?"

"Finally, Kat! Where the hell have you been? Everyone's been worried sick!" shouted an angry girl on the other line. It was none other than...

"Darcie! Oh, Darcie. It's so nice to hear your voice, Darc," cried Katalin with more emotion than she had expected.

Darcie was just as surprised. "Are you okay, Kat?" But she didn't wait for a response. "I'm coming over there right now. You're home, right?"

Again, Katalin nodded and realized that she couldn't be seen. Maybe it was for the best that Darcie join them. "Yeah. Come on over," she said at the same time as she wrenched open the front door.

XxxxxX

Shawn awaited, impatiently, for Darcie to arrive before any explaining began. Sora wasn't quite sure about including another person -- one who didn't, in his eyes, need to know about the situation -- in on the conversation, at which point Katalin told him that she wouldn't go back to the Radiant Garden if Darcie didn't get to know. Only, she chose to explain this to him with a vulgar set of words instead.

When the doorbell rang and Darcie entered the house, Shawn all but shouted, "Can you explain what's going on now?"

The brunette threw a glance his way, glanced back at Katalin, and looked back toward Shawn. She was more than a little confused at the present situation.

A confusion which only increased when she spotted the spiky-haired brunet, the silver-haired boy, and the auburn-haired girl sitting around the living room. Out of the three of them, Kairi looked the most normal. Except for the fact that her dress was a... bit out of the norm.

"...Kat, are you having an orgy?" asked Darcie with slightly raised eyebrows. Her dark, medium-length brunet hair was the epitome of norm in the room. Usually, this would be the opposite; particularly in the past years when she had dyed her hair blue (and the blue had given way to green), bleached the ends of her brown hair, bleached all of her hair completely, gotten pink tips, and many other styles. Currently, her dark hair hugged her face and the back of her neck. Katalin could tell by the way that her best friend was staring that she badly wanted to ask Riku what type of dye he used before asking Sora about the gel he used for his hair.

The thought made Katalin giggle, as did Darcie's original question. "An orgy? Of course not. I'm gone for -- what, two days? -- and you expect me to come home and have an orgy?" She tried to take on a stern tone, but it did her no good; again, she broke out in the giggles. This was a common occurrance when she was around her best friend.

The other four in the room obviously felt out of the loop; this was further exemplified when Riku cleared his throat. "Just tell the shorter version, Sora," he murmured as he absentmindedly scratched Midnight's, Katalin's dog, ears. Katalin loved how her dog acted toward strangers: friendly and loving.

"Darcie, this is Sora, Kairi, and Riku. They... helped me," began Katalin rather lamely as she gestured to each one of the Keyblade wielders. Sora grinned in response, Kairi waved, and Riku nodded upward. (A/n: Because he's badass like that.) Darcie badly wanted to ask Kat what she was talking about but waited to hear the story before saying anything. "Shawn goes to our school." The introduction, thought Shawn, was a bit odd. The expression on both girls' faces was even weirder. He said nothing, wanting to only hear what Sora had to say.

Once Darcie and Katalin were ready to calm down, Sora jumped into the explanation of all things Keyblade, Heartless, and Nobody related. Then, he allowed Katalin to fill them in on what had happened to her a few nights ago in Des Plaines. She ended the story at the point of... just that morning. After the meeting with the King. Although Darcie didn't say anything, Katalin could see the wheels turning in her head. She waited, not at all awkwardly for her (though it was another story for the others), but Darcie never got to speak her mind.

The laundry room's door flew open, and Katalin jumped as Midnight barked and ran to meet whoever was entering the house. She wondered how he would feel if he could realize that Uncle wasn't coming back. Mostly, she wondered this because the reality still hadn't set in for her. Her mother, a short woman with short and light blond hair, gasped audibly at the sight of Katalin. "Katalin, I was-- why didn't you call?" she demanded instantly, her chocolate eyes narrowing. "You've been gone for two days, and... Hold on. Where's Uncle?"

Katalin licked her lips and swallowed hard so that she didn't have to answer right away. Although no one in the living room was looking back at them (aside from Darcie, who was standing a foot or so behind Kat), she knew that they were all listening intently. "He's gone. Not coming back."

Confusion concealed her mother's features. "I... don't understand."

"He lost his heart, may as well have died, really," laughed Katalin bitterly. She caught herself quickly before she could lose it. "Anyway, while we were at the Nature Center, we got attacked by these creatures called Heartless. They attacked Uncle and took his heart. Then, when I was trying to get away, I found out that I could wield a Keyblade. A Keyblade is the only weapon that can harm a Heartless, by the way. Anyway, I found out I could use one of those, but then I got thrown into the river, and I nearly drowned. Luckily, Kairi," she gestured to the redhead, "saved me. Then she, Sora, and Riku," she gestured to them, too, "took me to another world where I met a King. And here I am. I guess time passes differently between worlds, but I've only been gone for a day in reality. Here, I've been gone for two."

The thing that Katalin had feared the most was happening: her mother was staring at her with an understanding expression. An expression that, she knew, meant she thought her daughter needed to be inspected by a therapist. "Oh, God, please don't send me to a mental institution; it's all real, I swear." When she realized how close she sounded to crying, she mentally cursed; crying around anyone was never fine for her, particularly in a room filled with mostly strangers. Crying in front of Darcie and her mother was only slightly alright in her book.

"She's not crazy, I promise," Sora informed her as he stood to stand beside Katalin. "We can prove it." He glanced back at Katalin, and she nodded after receiving his mental message.

In perfect unison, they held out their hands and called upon their Keyblades. Kingdom Key appeared in Sora's hand while Katalin's appeared in hers. Her mother backed off a few paces. She had never expected to have her mother look at her that way: so frightened, so confused. "Mom, I don't really know what's going on, but there's something evil going on here and it involves me."

"Uncle is gone?" her mother mumbled. The fear hadn't quite left her eyes, but it was now sharing the space with sadness. Katalin nodded because she couldn't get her mouth to admit to it. "And you...?"

"I have to go with Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Then, we're going to find out what's going on." She paused and added in a voice full of awe, "and I'm going to help save other worlds."

Her mother felt terrified; she could feel the raw emotion radiating off of her like heat was emitted from the sun. "You'll do... great things."

A wry smile upturned the corners of Katalin's mouth. Three days ago, she had been recalling the moments when her grandfather had told her that same thing.

XxxxxX

For any parent, it was difficult to let a child go. Most parents, luckily, only had to deal with their children going off to college with the promise that they would, of course, visit at least every other weekend. Her mother had to deal with her completely leaving their world and visiting new ones. Katalin had cleverly left out the part that she could, like her uncle, lose her heart and never come back home.

The sake of other worlds be damned, her mother would not have allowed her to leave her room ever again. It was too difficult (particularly in the present day economy) to pay the mortgage on a house on your lonesome, so her mother was going to stay with her aunt, cousin, and grandmother for a while. Until Katalin returned.

As she was packing, Katalin's mother made one final request of herself. While her mother threw clothes into a suitcase, Katalin had sat on the waterbed -- thus leaving the others to talk amongst themselves downstairs. "Katalin, I will miss you and worry about you every minute of every day, but there's something you can do to ease my mind just a little."

"What's that?" Katalin had asked, eager to make her mother less anxious, even if it was only by a slim percentage.

"It may not be very easy to convince her parents of this, but I want you to bring Darcie with you." To some, it may have seemed a strange request, but not to her. Her mother would be more confident in Katalin's departure so long as someone familiar was with her. That way, she figured, she'd have to come back.

In a way, Katalin was relieved, too. The last thing she wanted to do was to leave Darcie in a world that was susceptible to another Heartless attack where there would be no defenders. Aside from that, she would really like Darcie's company alone. Sora had no choice but to allow her to come along.

After a short spat with her parents (that involved the Keyblade wielders showing off their weapons once again), Darcie was given permission to leave with Katalin and the others when they departed in a few days. Sora still thought it a good idea to stick around Des Plaines to see if they could figure out what was going on.

Until they returned to the Radiant Garden, Katalin's mother vowed to stay home in order to be sure that they ate and didn't do anything too inappropriate. However, her mother had a rule. "The boys will have to stay at Shawn's house."

It didn't bother Kairi, Katalin, or Darcie much. In fact, it hardly bothered them at all. The guys, on the other hand, were not quite so pleased. "But what if something happens to you three? We're a good ten minutes away!" protested Sora after Katalin disclosed the news later that afternoon. They were gathered in her backyard with Katalin leaning in the door frame.

Kairi raised a thin red eyebrow. "Sora, we're Keyblade wielders,"

"And I have badass ninja moves," added Darcie.

Fighting back a laugh, Katalin remarked, "I think we'll be okay. If we need you, we'll just call you and hold the monsters at bay while awaiting your arrival."

Darcie eased herself back so that the white patio chair stood on its back legs. "It's a good thing the guys will be staying at another house; your freshman lover would be pretty jealous if you had three guys staying in your heart."

For an inexplicable reason, Katalin's cheeks burned with embarrassment. Shawn, on the other hand, scowled. "That loser, Nick? Yeah, he'd want to be over here instead so that he could sleep with you."

Katalin and Darcie fixed him with an incredulous stare. They hadn't known Shawn remotely well until just a few hours ago (and vice versa), but they were already acting like they'd been friends for years. "Suddenly you're a mind reader?" demanded an annoyed Katalin. She couldn't quite place where the annoyance was coming from...

He shrugged. "Once you go to our school, it's pretty much the same between guys. Except for me, of course."

Darcie rolled her eyes. "Of course."

XxxxxX

Not wanting to sit at home all night, Kairi, Darcie, and Katalin decided to walk the guys to Shawn's house around nine. Sora, always quick to get nervous when it came to Kairi, paused at the front door and asked, "Are you sure you'll be okay getting back home?"

The girls exchanged a conspiratorial glance before Kairi nodded. "Of course, Sora. We can take care of ourselves," she told him confidently.

Darcie tried her hardest not to laugh. They weren't going back home. After they finished saying their goodbyes, the girls walked across the street to a school's ground. They passed over baseball fields and headed onto a bike trail that, as children, Darcie and Katalin had raced on. Being the faster of the two, Darcie had one; Katalin supposed this was a good thing if they got attacked by Heartless. A small grin adorned her lips briefly at the thought.

The moon was full and surrounded by multiple stars in the sky. Usually, they were lucky to see any stars, but... Maybe the knowledge of the existence of other worlds allowed them to see more of the stars/distant worlds. They spoke of the most interesting things to happen in their personal lives recently and, eventually, got on the subject of guys. Or, at least, the subject of Katalin and Darcie teasing Kairi about Sora.

"He's cute, Sora is," remarked Katalin, "and he obviously cares about you a lot." Kairi's cheeks burned as deep a red as her hair.

"I... uh..."

"The two of you drew pictures of each other exchanging Paopu fruits, right?" asked Darcie. At Kairi's nod, she continued, "And a Paopu fruit, on your island, represents love and staying with each other forever. I think that's symbolic enough."

They stopped antagonizing Kairi once they reached the end of the bike trail several minutes later and crossed the street, which was mostly empty of cars. "Shouldn't we worry about curfew?" asked Kairi once they crossed the street and entered the parking lot of a skate park.

Katalin and Darcie giggled. "Curfew? Right," they laughed, besides themselves. "Besides, there are worst things than police officers out here, aren't there?" added Katalin with a grin. "We'll be fine; don't worry. We've never been caught before."

Kairi became more at ease as they took a right in the parking lot and headed toward several ramps. "I'm... surprised not to see any of the druggies out tonight," admitted Darcie as she sat down on one of the ramps. Katalin headed over to a half-ramp and lay down in the center of it, leaving Kairi to take a large four-sided pyramid ramp.

"Is this where you go when you want to think?" the Princess asked no one in particular as she stared up at the stars and the moon.

"Sure," replied Katalin with a nod. "I mean, we can't go to the beach or anything like you can, so this is what we do," she added with a wry smirk.

"I go to a park near my house -- or to the field near there," remarked Darcie. "It's pretty relaxing, but... nothing beats Wood Chip mountain."

Katalin giggled. "Yep, there's nothing like adrenaline flowing through your veins while exploring a place you, most likely, shouldn't be."

A puzzled Kairi inquired, "What's Wood Chip Mountain?"

"It's a large stack of Wood Chips located behind the park near my house. There's also a mountain of garbage and dirt, but I find Wood Chip the most fun. They hold onto extra wood chips and dirt for the park. We probably shouldn't be there, but..." Darcie broke off with a shrug. "We haven't been stopped yet."

Kairi laughed. "That's the kind of people you two are, huh? You do whatever you like until you get in trouble for it?" she asked with an admirable smile.

The other two broke into yet another giggle fit. "I... suppose you could say that, sure," agreed Katalin. They fell momentarily silent as each of them drifted into their own thoughts.

That was, until they heard the telltale sound of scampering feet. It was a noise that Kairi could place almost immediately. She bolted upward and called upon Radiant Destiny (A/n: I'll settle on this name... for now) just as a Shadow jumped at her. Out of reaction more than skill, Kairi swiped at the Shadow and killed it instantly.

Darcie was up almost immediately and rolled out of the way of a Neoshadow's advances. Katalin, who had a slightly slower reaction time than the other two, jumped up just as a Shadow crawled onto her back. A well aimed beam of light from Radiant Destiny killed the Heartless instantly.

Katalin quickly called upon her Keyblade as a large figure stepped out of a portal. "Well, well, well! Way to make things easy on me," the large man remarked with a wide grin.

Kairi scowled. "Pete!"

Said dog-man chuckled. "This'll be like taking candy from a baby." He snapped and more Heartless appeared and surrounded them.

The three fell into a back-to-back position. Kairi and Katalin held their Keyblades at the ready while Darcie glowered at the fact that she had nothing to defend herself with. A group of Neoshadows jumped at her and, before Kairi or Katalin could help, Darcie found herself smothered.

This did not last long enough for either girl to call out. A bright light emitted from the bottom of the pile, and the Heartless were thrown off. Darcie stood up and dusted herself while staring in wonder at her right hand.

Pete faltered. "... Maybe this won't be so easy after all."

A/n: Wow. I was quite concerned that this chapter was going to be over 7,000 words but, as it turns out, I just copied and pasted this chapter AND last chapter. Oops. xD (You see, I keep the story together in one place on my USB port... just in case. xD) Please review, and I will update soon. :3 (Probably today, actually because I have the most inspiration for this story and I owe Lesser. :D)