Chapter 5

"Your Majesty!" Goofy and Donald started, knocking several cups of tea over in the process.

"Shh! Shhhh! You never know who might be listening!" King Mickey admonished gently – and quietly. Goofy covered his mouth quickly with one hand and closed Donald's bill shut with the other.

"What are you doing here, your Majesty?" Sora asked. "I thought master Yen Sid said-"

"Merlin informed me of the incident earlier today, and I believe that a large part of this story is my fault," King Mickey said. He turned toward the other occupants of the table. "Thank you, though, for thoroughly informing Sora on the situation his sister is in. At the moment, only he can break the spell she is under."

"Spell? But I thought you said that her heart gave in to the darkness," Sora implied, scratching his head thoughtfully.

"Well, yes and no," King Mickey said uncertainly. He walked over to the side of the table where Goofy and Donald were still standing. Goofy immediately offered him his seat.

"Tea, your Majesty?" Aerith asked politely.

"No, but thank you Aerith. I'm only planning on being here for a little while longer besides. Ahem, as I was saying, Geni's current allegiance to Organization XIII is not completely of her own free will. As Leon had said, Geni disappeared a little over one year ago, about the same time as yourself, Donald, and Goofy began your quest to lock the Keyholes. Just for reference, you remember that I myself had refused Geni's request to accompany me? I left without having to say goodbye to everyone, and left a note for Donald and Goofy to find. Shortly thereafter – when Geni found out about the letter, Donald and Goofy's immediate absence due to their quest – it was the last straw, as one could say. Geni became quiet, solemn, miserable, and furious. She was tired of her weak body but great power, lack of energy but tremendous talent and knowledge. And then that fateful afternoon outside of Castle Disney.

Geni was sitting in her favorite meadow, just outside of the castle walls. Wild herbs and flowers grew all over the hillsides, ingredients for numerous potions and elixirs she made. Geni was absentmindedly gathering them, but glad that for once she did not have Queen Minnie or Lady Daisy there to chaperone her. This was when the Organization assumed this opportune moment; they sent Heartless and Dusks to attack her, knowing that she could not fight back for long. Also, because of her current self degradation, they took a chance that Geni would try and fight off all of the Heartless and Dusks by herself. They were right – the first dozen Geni took down with ease. But quickly, Geni began to lose strength and stamina. She was rapidly losing ground to the darkness. After another five minutes, Geni was on her knees before them. However, the Organization took this moment to act and sent in one of their own.

A member of the Organization defeated all of the Heartless and Dusks surrounding her. Geni, of course, had not heard of the Organization as of yet – even I had just begun to hear the rumors of their activities. Her supposed rescuer did not speak, but only looked at her…"

'I didn't need any help, thank you very much!' Geni said, dusting off her skirt. 'I had everything handled until you decided to show up!' Geni said defensively, with a glare in her eye.

'Of course you did. Those Heartless were quaking with fear from your immense power,' the being said sarcastically. 'Face it; you're just a weakling, a lackey for the King! You have no real power, having to take a nap every five minutes doesn't make you the strongest warrior in all the worlds.'

Geni eyed the individual carefully. 'What are you saying?' she articulated slowly.

'I have friends; powerful friends who could give you all the strength and energy you need – you would never be weak again. No more staying on the sidelines when everyone else is doing their part, no more being pitied or looked down upon as the 'poor encumbered girl who needs a babysitter all the time.' Come with me; you won't regret it.' The stranger dissolved his circular spiked weapons and held his hand out to her.

Geni was wary; the man had defeated thirty dark beings in only seconds, his superior and cynical attitude made her want to punch him, she could feel a slight dark aura around him, and yet his words stung her heart. How truly he spoke, pinpointing every aspect that troubled her or made her cross. She didn't want anyone to have to worry about her or take care of her, she wanted to help everyone and not hinder them all the time. 'What kind of power?' she asked warily.

'Take my hand and you will see,' the being said mysteriously. Geni tentatively reached out, but then pulled her hand back when a voice shouted out.

'Geni! What are you doing! Get back to the castle this instant!' Queen Minnie scolded as she and Lady Daisy came running over the hill. 'Who is that strange-' Queen Minnie stopped short as she felt the dark aura surrounding the being in black.

Well, that decided it. Queen Minnie for the last time had just acted in the overly-protective way that Geni hated. 'No more!' Geni yelled at Queen Minnie, 'I'm my own person; I want to see other worlds, do what I want to do for once. I won't be a weakling anymore!' Queen Minnie and Lady Daisy halted in their tracks, a confused expression on their faces. Scowling, she stretched out her hand and grasped the black glove. Immediately, Geni and the stranger were engulfed in black flames, the strange person laughing all the while. He disappeared into the black flames, taking Geni along with him.

And that was that last time we saw her – until now. So you see, Geni was not at fault completely; she wanted the power to not have to rely on anyone and not be a burden, and so took the being's offer. However, the dark power that she unknowingly took turned her into an underling for Organization XIII. Using the dark power, she was then induced into thinking that it was your fault Sora that she ended up the way she did. In trying to do a good thing, she ended up being what she hated: having no power of her own. Her free will was taken by the Organization and she is now forced to do their bidding, however she thinks she is a formal part of their faction."

"Oh," said Sora, nodding his head. So my sister wanted to be independent, to see other worlds like I did – I guess we have more in common than I thought. But what about –? "Oh yeah, you said she was under some kind of spell that only I could break?"

"Yes, the spell that the member of Organization XIII put on Geni. I've done some research; the spell seems to have made her whole; since she was missing half of her heart, the darkness filled in the other half and gave her the power she needed. Now, to undo this spell…is a little tricky…"

Sora stood up, his chin up. "What? How do I undo the spell? I will do anything to get my…sister…back." The word still felt strange, but somewhat comforting. The others looked at Sora with renewed hope; here is a boy who only hours ago found out that he had an identical twin sister whom he's never met, yet is already willing to do anything to save her.

"Good. I was hoping you'd say that. Now, do you remember what happened at Hollow Bastion when you saved the princesses and Kairi?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what did you have to do in order to set their hearts free and revive Kairi?"

"Oh! I used my Keyblade, on myself…I don't have to turn into a Heartless again, do I?" Sora asked the King. "That is a very, well, dark memory to say the least."

"No, don't worry. No one's turning into a Heartless. But it uses the same property of the Keyblade: a Keyblade can seal as well as unlock. You must unlock Geni's heart and release the darkness therein: you must thrust your Keyblade straight through Geni's heart."

"WHAT?!" yelled six loud voices. King Mickey winced, and several teacups rattled as well.

"You want to kill her?!" Cid said, banging his fist on the table.

"There must be some other way – the strain that would be putting on her heart could, well…" Aerith gestured abstractly with her hands.

"No. There must be some other way, your Majesty," Leon declared.

"I'm terribly sorry, all of you," Merlin finally spoke, still staring into his cooling tea. "The King, master Yen Sid, and I researched this quite thoroughly, looking for any other loopholes out of this mess. However, we found none. So unless no one here is willing to take the risk, Geni will stay under the control of the darkness forever." No one met Merlin's stony gaze, except one.

"That is the only solution?" Sora said, matching Merlin's stare.

"Yes."

"Alright then." Sora got up from the table and released his Keyblade from his being.

"Sora, wait!" Donald shouted, just as Goofy said "What if-"

Sora turned slightly and looked at them out of the corner of his eye. "All of you knew Geni for years. Any one of you could probably tell me what her favorite color was, to what she liked to eat for breakfast. But what would she say now? What would she do if she was faced with this situation, and I was in her place, or one of you was? Would she sit around discussing the "what-ifs"? Or if there was any kind of chance to save you, would she just get up and do it? I wouldn't want to be controlled by the darkness any more than one of you, and I'm guessing it's the same with her. So choose: will you sit here and let her suffer more, or will you come with me and free her?" Sora looked at each one of his friends in turn. Silence greeted him. "Well, if no one is going to help me, then I'll free her myself." Sora turned away, his eyes moist at the lack of compassion in his friends, when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Now who said we wouldn't help you?" Goofy said with a smile.

"Yeah! All for one and one for all!" Donald chimed in.

"I'll prepare the guest bedroom and get out some medicinal herbs just in case," Aerith added.

"And I'll help!" Yuffie said spiritedly.

"I'll start scouting the area to see if any Heartless or Dusks have shown up. She might be somewhere around there," Cid added, heading towards his computer.

"I will assist you with the search," Merlin added.

"We'll help you find her," Leon added to the chorus. Sora smiled and nodded his head; how could he have been so blind? They were all just as worried about Geni as he was.

"Well then, let's get to it!" King Mickey said spiritedly.