Chapter 7: Nos obduco cum aevum (We are still growing)

"Why would Mr. De Castellac want pictures of these things…?" Aqua asked as they all walked into the old mining shaft within Black Isle. Pey'j just kept on complaining about it all saying that De Castellac was out of his mind. Jade and Ven on the other hand wanted to do this for the good of the Hyllians, even though Riku and Kairi said Ven was just doing it for the money. Vieh was sniffing the soil of the old mine, it didn't seem anything different like the soil back on Destiny Island.

"But what's Stealth Sneak doing in a place like this?" Riku asked looking at the picture that Jade had in her hand. That was the type of Heartless that it was. It was a giant chameleon like Heartless with an emblem on its chest. No one else really knew why something so big would be there, it wasn't its nature, they mostly liked being in lush green areas.

"You think the Domz are using the Heartless?" Jade asked as they stopped in front of something that appeared to be a dead end.

"If they are it doesn't really matter… we're going to get rid of them." Riku said looking up at the broken wooden ladder in the distance. Vieh looked up and noticed that something was buzzing by his ears. His ears twitched trying to swat the annoying fly away.

"So…" Jade examined the broken ladder and looked back at the others. "I don't suppose any of you could fly…?" she asked chuckling.

Pey'j stepped forward and Kairi stopped from advancing. 'They use other things beside pixie dust?' she asked herself, she could hear Naminé chuckling from within her mind. Ven looked at Pey'j perplexed as did the other Keyblade wielders. He said that he had been working on something for two years, somewhere along the lines that it would be the transportation of the future. Ventus looked at him with a careful eye and then back to the others and shrugged, he didn't know what Uncle Pey'j was going to do.

"…contract the abdomen muscles…" he said explaining how the device worked. "…pressurized methane…" Something would travel down from the thin container located on the behind of the pig's pants. "And it travels down to the jet boots."

"Wait!" Ventus cried out shaking his head. "You mean to tell me those things run on farts?! They run on butt gas?! What the heck…?"

Pey'j snorted and looked back at Ventus and shook his head. He allowed himself to demonstrate.

"This is the transportation of the future, son!" Pey'j said as the gas traveled into the boots creating a sort of fuel that lifted the older humanoid pig into the air. His catch phrase for this was-

"Who says 'chili con carne'?" Ventus asked looking back at his fellow Keyblade wielders, and they couldn't help but amuse themselves with the catch phrase. Vieh shut his eyes tightly and his ears went back. Jade watched as something went wrong and…

THUD! He landed right on his rear, and he shook his head trying to dismiss it as if it were nothing. 'I guess pigs weren't meant to fly…' Aqua thought as Pey'j picked himself up. Pey'j waved his hand and he seemed to be all right, but his reputation as an inventor seemed to drop a bit with that last stunt.

"Two years worth of secrecy…" Jade added and smirked. She meant nothing by it, and the others felt at ease to laugh a bit. Riku and Vieh spotted the strange looking scale that seemed to move thanks to Pey'j's unintentional drop to the earth. "It worked out in the end…" she said to herself noticing that the force hit onto the scale would send the other person upwards. "Hey Pey'j come on and help me out with this thing."

Everyone gathered around the strange looking scale and Jade placed herself on one side. Pey'j launched himself into the air with his jet boots, and once he fell back to earth again, gravity pressed into the little scale, and the end part of the contraption on which Jade stood launched her into the air. She grabbed the ledge of the man made walkway and looked around for a moment. The mine looked even more beautiful from there and she couldn't help but take a picture, she figured she'd have enough time to make copies later. Her green eyes looked around and noticed a little circular valve in between two tall wooden beams. She ran forward picking enough momentum to climb up the wooden beams, and using all of her leg strength she held herself right below the strange looking valve.

Pey'j watched as the two large bridges from the top of the area began to move, and soon they fell, creating a walkway between this area and the next. Jade let herself fall and she touched the ground, and she cleaned her hands, realigning her gloves for a moment. Vieh sniffed the air cautiously and looked around as they appeared to make their way up to the second level of the mine. Riku watched as the little silver hound looked around with its yellow colored eyes. It didn't sense anything even remotely hostile so that was a good sign to everyone. 'We're looking for a Heartless and a pair of earthworms…' Jade thought at they walked ahead deeper into the mine.

"Hey what's this?" a voice pierced through Jade's thoughts on the whole situation at hand. She looked up and noticed that there was a strange orange colored spore in the ground. She poked at it with her Daï-jo and noticed it jiggled a bit at contact with another type of matter. Ven brought out Diamond Dust and poked it as well, it seemed like it could jump out if it wanted too, but it didn't seem agitated enough. Riku suggested that Pey'j try his jet boot attack again, and once again the ground around them shook. The strange looking jelly like spore rose into the air and once again it went back into its safe little hole. Vieh sniffed it and turned away in disgust the smell was much worse for a hound's nose.

Aqua and Kairi noticed a strange looking box in the distance it was a box filled with explosives. Jade told them that the strange little spore had some explosive properties, making it useful after all. From that point it was a contest to see who could whack the little spore fare enough into the box with the explosives. It was the only way they could advance deeper into the mine after all. Ven's little spore ended up hitting a box of explosives not that far away but that wasn't the target of choice. Riku's spore went over the designated target and hit something, whatever it was it shattered into a million pieces of so. The guys in the group were having fun, but in all seriousness they needed to explore the ancient mines.

Jade was the last one to hit the spore and it hit the explosives in the center of it all. The box exploded and as a result a new path had opened up, but it had been blocked off by a mutant anemone! Kairi pulled out a strange looking Keyblade, it seemed very familiar but the design caught her off guard. 'It's mine…' Naminé said sharing a small memory of when she had become her own separate being, during the time the Dark Master had made his presence known to all the worlds.

"Let me look at it…" Sora said taking the weapon from Naminé's hands. Within moments of contact against the gloved hands of the ' Chosen One' a keychain formed in replacement of the rusted Keyblade. In the 'Room of Sleep' that Keyblade's true nature was hidden, but awoke when it felt Sora's presence near. 'Aqua…' the boy thought hearing a whisper within the walls of his mind.

"What are you doing to name it?" he asked Kairi's Nobody. She looked at the handle and the newly formed keychain that hung on it. It seemed to model a grey colored design of a planet of some sort. She knew the name of the world in which Radiant Garden was placed in and smiled holding the blade proudly…

"Gaia…" Kairi said softly to herself letting the words flow from her lips. She gripped the handle of the Keyblade tightly and smiled letting the warm energy flow through her whole being. She could feel the manifestation of fire gather to the tip of the Keyblade, and the heat began to radiate from the entire blade. Vieh tilted his head and looked at the flames that began to circle around the Princess of Heart. The Keyblade was taking control of the spell, not Kairi, and it surprised Aqua a bit but she felt relieved. Within seconds something gave out a small shout and it filled the room, a voice was heard, it spoke so softly and so inviting as the flames moved forward. The anemone that blocked their path retreated feeling the heat from the flames that the Keyblade had fired.

"Thanks, Kairi." Jade said patting the young teen on the back. "Come on you guys, let's get this thing done.

With Sora and Amaterasu

Sora was looking through the channels on the Hyllian network and flipped through each channel, watching five minutes of it, or until the commercial break came on. He sighed and stopped at the local Hyllian News. Something caught his eyes and he looked intently on the screen. A voice in back of his head was telling him to move closer and Sora leaned in a bit trying to get a better look at the screen. 'No… CLOSER!' the young voice said and the young Keyblade wielder felt his knees hit the ground, and he was pretty close to the screen of the television.

"Cut!" a voice said loudly on the screen, but another camera was still rolling, oblivious to what the person in charge was saying. "Hey pop, stay zen. Don't get your snout bent out of shape." The television continued with its audio and visual part of the presentation.

"What the…?!" Sora covered his mouth and the next thing he knew Roxas' voice was coming out from his mouth. "Let go Sora!" the voice said as it was muffled by the hands of the one in control. Amaterasu was close by in another room and sighed biting into a piece of toast she had just made. It was late in the morning, probably getting close to the afternoon and they were barely having breakfast.

"Roxas hold on!" she would often hear Sora speak out in his usual voice, and at times Roxas' voice could be heard from the mouth of his original. This was the second time things like this had happened to the young Keyblade bearer. Roxas' voice was muffled once more and the young brown skinned girl shook her head biting into the toast for the third time. She was trying to hear the news, but with those two things seemed almost downright impossible. "Roxas--!"

THUD

Amaterasu pulled out her Keyblade and stood up looking around with her eyes. She didn't sense a presence at all. 'Caught off guard?' she asked herself looking around the kitchen. Sora groaned in pain, and she couldn't hear Roxas' voice for the time being. She walked cautiously through the kitchen with her back against the wall, and the counter, slowly making her way through the area, she would be prepared for anything that came her way. Sora groaned again and Amaterasu couldn't ignore his cry for help and she ran into the living room with her Keyblade at her side. She sound of metal hitting metal caught her attention as she opened her eyes and looked at Crab Claw locked with her own Keyblade.

"Ro…Roxas?" Amaterasu couldn't help but ask; still her Keyblade wouldn't get off of the one that Roxas held. He pulled back and pressed something on the remote that rewound the entire five minutes that he had missed with Sora's outburst. Sora sat up clutching his forehead and glared up at Roxas in a sort of pouting gesture that played on his face. The young Dark Princess felt her face muscles relax and her jaw wasn't tight this time. Roxas paused a certain scene on the television and looked back at Amaterasu.

"Some guy getting kicked in the face in mid-air?" she asked looking at the blue haired person and a blonde haired person. "Is that why you made me smack my head into the screen?!" Sora asked sitting up slight still holding his head. Sora's older sibling flopped onto the couch that he had been on earlier and Roxas watched the young girl with the strange colored irises let out a small groan in annoyance.

"Not just some guy." Roxas said pointing to the frozen screen cap. "He looks just like me!" he yelled out, and covered his mouth as the other two placed on finger on their lips to silence the ecstatic Nobody. "And… and that girl! She looks like Naminé!"

"Yeah if she dyed her hair blue." The other two said looking at one another snickering for a while at the idea. Roxas threw a scowl at the two of them and slumped into the couch next to Amaterasu. In a way it made them related as well, in an adopted sister of his original self. Sora jumped up and placed his face inches away from the screen and pointed frantically to the screen.

"Hey you guys!"

The Nobody and the young girl sighed and looked away, they thought it was one of Sora's weird ideas again. Sora waved his hands in the air and they still didn't pay attention to him at all. Amaterasu closed her eyes trying to catch up on some of the lost sleep while she had come into this world. 'I wonder if I finished eating my toast…' she asked herself losing herself in wonderful memories of the past. One memory made her stomach flutter and she found herself smiling for a while. Roxas looked at Amaterasu and grinned watching her cheeks turn a faint shade of red, it seemed almost impossible due to her skin color, but something proved otherwise.

"You guys!" Sora cried out in one last ditch effort. Amaterasu jerked herself forward in her chair opening her eyes. Sora flinched watching the irises glow yellow for a spilt second. Roxas leaned forward and looked at him a rather annoyed face. Sora laughed nervously and moved to the side of the television to give the other two a better chance to view what caught his attention.

"Look!" he said pointing to the two noticeable figures in the distance. One was a young teen around Sora's age with noticeable red hair, and another figure was a young male who looked slightly older than Amaterasu with silver hair. In the distance the three figures noticed a silver bundle of fur right by the silver hared teen. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

Amaterasu looked at the figure with silver hair and felt something like a needle hit her heart. It was something she could only describe as a feeling of longing-ness towards the individual. She smiled remembering something that seemed like it had only happened yesterday…

" Chico, hey!" a girl yelled out close to his house.

Riku looked at the scene and noted that she was trying to get her dog back; it had wandered into his yard. She looked around, and stepped onto his lawn, and snatched the dog up. It ended up getting away from her though as it had struggled in her arms, and she couldn't hold on to the animal.

Riku was still on his way to house and decided to help the girl, if she still couldn't get her dog. He felt something tug on the lace of his right shoe, he looked down and saw the puppy playfully pull the lace, it growled at the shoe.

" Chico, hey leave that guy alone." The girl said in a firm voice. At that moment the puppy went back to the owner's side.

Riku finally let his eyes catch a glimpse of the owner. She had light brown skin, with blue streaks on her dark brown hair, she looked to be Kairi's age. She wore a fan made shirt with the name of a band called 'The Black Mages', with jeans and black tennis shoes with yellow stripes. He was able to make out that she had dark colored eyes.

"He's been causing some trouble today…" she said shyly, as she finally looked at Riku, and noticed what he was wearing. She stared down at the ground, and then looked at her puppy. "He peed on some guy today…" she finally picked the puppy up and held him tight.

Riku let out a small laugh, "Really?"

"Yeah…" she said laughing a little. "Do you live far from here?" she asked.

"No, you stepped on my lawn earlier," he pointed out giving her a small hint.

She looked back at the lawn she was previously on. The house was pretty small, it had a beige color to it with the window panes in a light tan color. She looked back at Riku and felt a bit more embarrassed, "Oh… He didn't do anything on your lawn, if that's what you're worried about…" she said looking at the puppy in her arms.

"How about you, where do you live?" he asked trying to get her a bit more comfortable. "Is it far from here?"

"No," she shook her head, "I live a block away from here." She said turning her head in the direction where she lived. In that moment she heard a small growling noise, she looked at her dog, but it wasn't him.

"That was me…" Riku said she saw that he had blushed a bit.

"You're hungry… what have you been doing all day?"

"Relaxing…" he said honestly.

"…You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," he said giving a big smile.

"Well me and my dog we're going to get some sea-salt ice-cream, do you want to go?" she said pulling out a leash from her back pocket, she hooked it up to the dog's collar.

"Yeah, all right…" at this point he didn't know what her name was.

"That's right, we didn't introduce ourselves…" she outstretched her hand, "My friends call me…"

"She's daydreaming again…" Roxas said chuckling and thought of some that made him smile for a moment. Sora noticed that she snapped out of her daze and Roxas looked back at Sora for a moment and looked at Kairi, smiling. He knew that Naminé was doing fine with Riku and the little beast, Vieh. He didn't know the other two people with them though, one of them had blue hair and was female and the other looked too much like himself, it gave him the chills every time he remembered that person in the news from the early morning. It was weird, like looking in a mirror of some sort.

"Come on…" Amaterasu said standing up. She was already in the doorway looking out into the hallway. The Alpha Section patrol unit wasn't there to guard them or escort them into the city. They had a day to relax from their duties in the world of Hyllis and they needed some form of entertainment to let their minds wander from the giant eel Nobody that was created in some place called Black Isle. Roxas jumped off of the couch and noticed the Keyblade that was placed on the side of the television suddenly disappeared. A little orb hovered over Amaterasu's side pocket and there the keychain appeared as if nothing happened.

"Are we going to that pedestrian district that we flew over a couple of hours ago?" Sora asked as Roxas followed behind looking around at all the new things his eyes could take. Ever since Sora opened his heart to the other side through Yen Sid's training, Roxas could act as an independent entity from his original self. He moved with Sora pushing the iron door all the way open. Sora's eyes adjusted to the light quickly and he looked around, the smell of the sea-salt air reminded him of his home, and of one special girl he held dear to his heart.

"What about your sunglasses?" Roxas asked looking at Amaterasu: She looked back at him curiously and thought about it for a moment. She pulled out some very thin framed sunglasses and frowned. She didn't like wearing them at all, but she had to now. The Alpha Sections said that it would help with blending in, they were told beforehand about the expanding color of her iris. Sora smiled as his adopted sibling placed the glasses on her and she looked around trying to remain cool and collected for a while.

"I haven't worn any kinds of glasses since I was a kid…" she said softly letting Sora and Roxas led the way into the pedestrian district of Hyllis. She looked around, no doubting experiencing the same smells and sounds around the area.

"You have the cards?" Roxas asked looking at Sora as he walked down the street bearing the Organization XIII uniform. Sora nodded and pulled out several cards that had geometrical shapes on them. The Alpha Sections were ordered to give the cards due to the fact that the Supreme Commander had ordered it so. Several people down the area looked at them with a watchful eye when the cards were thrown into display. Both the blonde Nobody and the young looking dark wielder looked around the crowded streets with a watchful eye, but as always Sora didn't seem to know, or just chose not to

"I'm getting kind of thirsty…" the young dark skinned teen said looking back at the two similar looking individuals. They agreed all that walking through the market places was getting them a bit 'parched'. They passed a newsstand, and Roxas couldn't help but look at the human-eagle hybrid that was right before his blue eyes. He was mesmerized by that fact alone, but the good thing was that the seller had some sunglasses on. Amaterasu pulled the curious Nobody along and Sora paused for a moment pulling out a small looking credit card.

"So kid, you gonna subscribe?" the eagle man asked pulling down his sunglasses for a moment. Sora caught a glimpse of hazel in the iris of the eagle, and the man ruffled his feathers for a moment looking straight at Amaterasu. Sora gave her a signal with his eyes to have her take Roxas to another place around the area. 'Animals can sense the darkness, right?' he asked her through the mental link they both shared, and she replied with a solid yes before dragging off Roxas to another place. Sora nodded and placed the small credit card into the scanner by the edge of the register. The eagle let out a small shrilly whistle in amazement to all the zeros that the account had stored within it.

"You guys are pretty loaded…" the man said in a slightly jolly tone. He examined Sora again and sensed something in him, it was better being around him than the girl he was with earlier. "So then, the Hyllian Word, for the informed citizen? Or-" Sora said that he would take both issues offered and the man smiled as much as he could. He was making small talk with the boy and Sora did seem interested with what he had to say. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?" and right away the eagle man knew that he wasn't, but he just wanted to make sure. "So then… that sandy place, huh you guys must be from Vector 105." Of course Sora didn't know, but he agreed with the eagle man anyway. "Hey…" the eagle man took off his sunglasses and looked at the button on Sora's coat. "That's the insignia of the Alpha Section… You guys are affiliated with them?"

"Just be careful with them and that girl…" that was all Sora remembered hearing from the bird man after he had left. He really wished that the eagle man hadn't told him that, because now it was starting to spin around in his head. Sora walk along the area following closely behind Amaterasu and his Nobody, the two of them were laughing at a joke Roxas had said. 'I trust her though…' he thought nodding to himself. He was alarmed though when his older sibling and Roxas had stopped laughing. Sora noticed that they were looking at him with worried expressions on their faces.

"It's okay…" Sora said trying to brush off the questions that would most likely escalate from the other two. Amaterasu stared at him straight in the eyes trying to see what was wrong, but Sora blocked out the connection before it could even begin. Roxas frowned placing his hands on his head. 'Sora doesn't act like this most often, something's starting to bug him…' his Nobody thought looking up at the afternoon sky, it was getting a bit warm in the pedestrian area with the sun over their heads now. Amaterasu stopped short and looked up, they had walked a bit far away from the Alpha Section HQ and they now came across a place called the 'Akuda Bar' with the 'k' backwards.

"Wait Ammi, we can't go in there." Sora and Roxas said quickly as Amaterasu's foot crossed the open entrance towards the bar. She looked back at them and pouted, all that walking with their coats made her thirsty. "Yeah, we're thirsty too…" Roxas said quickly. "But we just can't go waltzing into a bar!" he said waving his arms madly. Amaterasu spoke once more stating that she was thirsty. "It's not like this is the only place we've seen that has drinks!"

"I think it is, Roxas…" Sora said poking him slightly in the shoulder. "But we haven't tried that one place… that eagle guy said something about that place having lots of things. I think her name was Nora or something…" Sora said noticing that Amaterasu looked up at the sign of the bar and sighed. With that the three of them left the entrance of the Akuda Bar and headed back into the streets of the civilian district. The Bartender of the establishment known as 'Akuda Bar' by the name of Moe, walked out into the streets, he had heard a commotion, and he managed to catch a glimpse of two figures in black robes, and another teenager with blonde hair and baggy pants with a white and black checkered outfit.

"Kids these days…" the bull humanoid muttered and snorted in disapproval through his nose, and walked back inside his business place.

Nora was a young woman around the age of twenty or so with a bandana on her head. She looked very warm and inviting at that shop of hers, and it was just outside the restricted area that the Alpha Sections had blocked off a couple of days ago. She looked at the strange three newcomers and smiled giving them her warm hospitality. She pressed something that was on her ear and smiled hearing the news that buzzed into the little earpiece:

"They're going your way then Nora…" a familiar voice said and clicked off, the little earpiece. It was craftily made to look like a stylish earring and it worked, no one suspected a thing at all.

With Terra and the others

Terra was tossing and turning in his sleep and Abedo was getting tried of hearing the soft moans and groans that the original was starting to give off. 'What kind of dream is he having anyway? It sounds like they're killing him or something…' he thought and looked up at the open doorway. He saw the former Memory Witch sitting by the stove humming something that played on the radio, and he smiled. He loved watching her be happy and he wouldn't change that one moment for anything n the world. Ames stopped humming and smiled at Abedo, and he felt a blush crept up. His old mood kicked back in and he looked away trying to block out any other emotion or than guilt.

"What the hell is he dreaming about…?" he asked hearing Ames walk into the room. She bent down slightly and looked at the pained expression on the Keyblade Wielders face. Ames placed a gentle hand on his forehead and smiled sadly, withdrawing her hand and inclosing it with her other hand. The young replica looked at her hands for a moment noticing that they were curled up into little fists. " Ames?" he called out again. She blinked for a moment, and he was glad to the see the life spring back into her gentle blue eyes:

"You like dozing off, don't you." He chuckled and watched her smile a bit. "So are you going out into the district?" he asked noticing that the Memory Witch was looking out the window. It had taken all night and parts of the morning to reach the area on their little makeshift boat, and it had even sprung a leak when it was 300 meters away from the shore of the pedestrian area. Abedo had remembered throughout that whole time Ames had been scribbling away in her sketch pad. From memory he knew that her strokes, when she drew, were short and slow, but that time it was slightly long and faster, that meant she had been writing something. 'But what…?' he asked himself before Ames caught him staring at her again.

"I was writing a letter to His Majesty…" she said softly walking away from the room. Terra had finally gone into a peaceful sleep at this point. Abedo pushed himself up from the wooden chair and smiled at Terra. Ames came back in before he had a chance to walk out of the light tan colored room. She gave him a sheet of paper and looked at it, and then up at her. She nudged him forward with her head and Abedo's blue eyes looked back at Terra and laughed. "I know he's going to kill me, but he needs a good laugh when he wakes up," the Memory Witch said softly running a hand through her hair and ruffling it up a bit.

"This is kind of disturbing to wake up to though…" he said chuckling at the amusing picture. In the back of his head he knew that after yelling Terra would see the humor in it sooner or later. He placed the small sheet of paper by the pillow and looked at him with some envy. 'You have a lot of people that care about you, Terra. You'd better not forget that…' the young replica thought while walking away with Ames, out the tan colored room. The two of them made it through the light colored kitchen and past the pastel colored living room, and finally they walked out of the wooden door that led to the outside world of Hyllis. Abedo was curious as to why Ames had written to King Mickey, he felt that those days were over, but he had guessed wrong.

The two of them walked side by side in normal clothing, at least by Hyllian standards. Ames had said something along the lines of 'wandering on a sunny afternoon' and Abedo had agreed. The Memory Witch laughed and they continued walking, apparently she had been referring to something else that the replica didn't know about. Music was playing around the establishments of food and merchants each trying to get customers to but their items because they offered more selection that their competitors. The two individuals stopped for a moment hearing something that didn't seem machine recorded and looked around the area through the crowds of civilians. The young looking silver haired Memory Witch gave a big smile that made Abedo wonder why she would be so happy to hear the sounds of violins.

In the distance three figures were walking through the area in strange royal clothing that made more than half of the Hyllians around them gawk and stare, they had never seen anything like it at all. A couple of people found it funny watching a duck like creature waddle through the streets of Hyllis. A couple of people gapped at the tall canine creature that seemingly towered over most of the other people that were around regular height. Then, right there in the middle was mouse that was guarded by the two figures at this left and right hand side. He held a small piece of paper in his hand, folded halfway, the creases on there looked worn out, as if the mouse had read the paper more than twenty times. The mouse king could still not comprehend it all, the sudden burst of information still didn't settle in his head.

'What is she planning with this…?' he asked himself walking through the streets of Hyllian. He didn't even recognize the area anymore, it had been decades since he walked through the streets of this world, and everything seemed to change right before his very eyes. Donald Duck walked with him alongside Goofy as they kept their eyes peeled out for the young 20ish looking Memory Witch. 'I wonder if she's going to have Terra with her,' he pondered on that for a moment. If she did in fact have Terra with her, then things could run smoothly, he only hoped that she did. After all they all were at one point friends, but that was a long time ago, and the King knew that with age came forgetfulness. True, there were some things he forgot, but that was why he decided to come here today, to try and get his memories jumping again.

The substance of the letter was simple enough to follow, but what was addressed in the later paragraphs was hard to swallow for the aging king. He found himself at his desk that night throwing the paper hastily to the desk, and hand his chin rest on his fists, and then without warning her found himself unintentionally grabbing the paper once more to re-read the issues addressed at hand. He knew that she was crafty, but to be going so far as to do that was something entirely different. He had known the Memory Witch for some time, keeping her existence hidden from Sora and his group. She was known to keep things to herself, but with the King that was a whole different matter. The King reflected on his first meeting with her, shortly after he had come into Radiant Garden.

"My name is AmesAmes Diaz." A young girl around the age of 15 or so said in a very pleasant voice. A man with round glasses and a white lab coat stood beside the girl he seemed very proud with the young girl. King Mickey looked up and noticed the man with a dark tinted scarf, it was Ansem the Wise of Radiant Garden. The most remarkable feature about him were the pair of amber eyes, they seemed to be a bit more soft since the last time King Mickey had paid a visit to his old and dear friend. The girl was ordered to sit down beside the king, and the man in the whit lab coat was ordered to wait outside with another man by the name of Grimoire and someone else by the name of Lucrecia Crescent. King Mickey offered a hand to her, and she took it shaking his hand warmly. King Ansem seemed pleased for some reason.

The young girl had light blue eyes with brown colored skin, and silver colored hair. For some reason he could've sworn that he had seen her somewhere before, but the person that popped into his mind was completely different, but the similarities were there. The young girl smiled at Ansem the Wise waiting for him to formally introduce her a bit more to the mouse king. Ansem the Wise spoke more elaborating on the person before them known as Ames Diaz. He spoke with truth saying that she was in fact human to an extent, and when he paused she demonstrated her ability, startling King Mickey a bit seeing another person right before his very eyes. The girl looked like another young child he had seen days before.

"They are in fact almost one in the same, my friend." Ansem the Wise said holding out two popsicles in his hand for his guests to enjoy. Ames took it for a moment and looked at it, letting herself bring it close to her face. She breathed in through her nose trying to see if it had a scent, and she placed it in her mouth. King Mickey watched Ames for a moment before nibbling on his sea-salt ice-cream popsicle. "This is what happens when the heart is released and it forms the Heartless and Nobody of that person. When that person's Nobody is destroyed the body ceases to exist, and with that that dying Nobody leaves behind the energy that it had within it. If the energy within it is strong enough it can create a human replica, or a creature at best if it is not that strong enough.

King Mickey looked at Ames, and gave a small look of disapproval to Ansem the Wise. He understood why his good friend the mouse king seemed upset. He explained that the experiment had been carried out before the kind and benevolent king of Disney Castle had graced their homeland. Ames sunk into her chair looking down, she felt responsible for the King's reaction and frowned. King Mickey looked at the young girl, back to the original self with silver hair, and he tried his best to smile for the young girl.

"You are not going to tell the girl?" King Mickey asked as Ames seemed to be preoccupied with something that took her mind away from the conversation. Ames placed her pencil down and frowned, crumpling the paper in disappointment. The older speakers stopped and looked at the young girl with some curiosity. She tried to get them back to their topic, their eyes were burning holes into the paper she had crumpled in frustration and again the young girl tried to get them off of that topic.

"I know she doesn't know how to draw…" Ames said softly taking back the small ball of smashed paper. "That's why I want to learn." She said smiling. "Professor Grimoire and Ms. Crescent said it's better for me to get acquainted with her instead of them answering my questions about her, but Professor Hojo thinks that's not a good idea to do. He says something about it damaging my mind. He's really proud of this for some reason." She said looking at the poorly drawn mouse head on the white sheet of paper. "Saying something about this being better than that boy, Xehanort…" she said it so innocently, but still she was afraid of the look that Ansem the Wise had on his face.

"I know she met him… I wanted them too. He needs a friend like her… I really hope you aren't mad, sir." She said softly her blue eyes tried to get the older pair of amber eyes to soften a bit. "You said so yourself, he needs a good person to keep his mind busy."

"She's just a child!" Ansem said slamming his fist down. "She can't handle that. Especially with all that experimenting. Ames you know better than that, we've taught you better than that." He said trying to regain his composure. He didn't want his good friend to remember him yelling at a small child.

"True…" she said softly biting her lip for a moment. "I guess I'll have to fix that then. Sorry your highness." Ames stood up, wearing a simple plain black dress and bowed her head towards the two older individuals in the room. "I'll be back in a while. It was very nice meeting you your Majesty!" she said running out the door.

"There, that's the man!" Donald quacked loudly interrupting King Mickey, shattering his glimpse into the past. There was a man playing the violin, a street performer with another person playing the cello. Goofy looked back down at the king and then to the performers. He wanted to say something but waited for a while. King Mickey sighed in relief, he was glad they had found the cellist and the violinist.

'…They'll end up playing The Burdened, Sky-Blue Eyes, and Scars of Friendship together. I will already be there, and so I'll end up waiting for you to appear your Majesty. Hopefully you can enjoy the three peaceful movements before we talk…'

It was something that had been written within the letter that was addressed to King Mickey. Goofy was amazed at how down to the dot her description had been on their meeting, and he smiled. His Majesty knew that nothing bad would happen today for that one soul prediction she made to them for today seemed to hold true. There in the distance by a bench a young silver haired woman was nibbling away some strange orange colored popsicle, chatting away with a young teen that looks like someone that King Mickey once knew.

In the distance a young man woke up with the words 'Old man boob grabbing Xehanort' written in red ink with little small chibi like figures of himself being touched by a strange looking man. Terra felt his eye twitch in rage and her stormed out of his room to find the culprit.

"This isn't funny…" he looked around and noticed that the two people he was going to blame were already gone. Terra looked around the rooms but he couldn't find those two people he needed to yell at. Terra sighed and sat on the couch, sprawled out lazy in his green colored boxers. He made a small face at the little drawing he had in his hand, but found himself laughing for some reason. "They always did say I looked like a girl from behind…" he couldn't help but laugh.

Terra decided to walk back to his room to go and get washed and dressed up. He moved without difficulty at first, feeling more than happy for some reason, but something got him to start thinking. A voice he had not heard in some time echoed through his mind and he looked around. He noticed his vision getting hazy, his eyes were growing heavy. He shook his head again and tried to move forward but his legs locked. 'What?!' he felt a heavy pressure sit against his heart, and he tried to breathe in, but he couldn't get air into his lungs. 'Not now… Go away!' he closed his eyes gritting his teeth tightly, he hadn't felt this pain in a while.

"Get out of my heart… Go away!" he yelled, feeling his legs grow weak. His knees slammed on to the wooden floor, and he lurched forward, the pain was getting worse. He wanted to call out to his friends, but he remembered they weren't there. 'I'm alone…' Terra thought closing his eyes trying hard not to yell out in pain. 'Aqua… Ventus…' he thought as the pressure increased. 'Help…' he looked at the entrance of the doorway. For a spilt second he saw someone walk away from the doorway. Squinting for a moment his blue eyes made contact with the figure. 'That's not… Not it's not her, and it's definitely no Xejicka… who…?' he closed his eyes for the last time before falling into infinite darkness.

With Jade and the others

"What the…?" Jade dodged a hot laser beam from the black and white tinted eel. She spun around using her Daï-jo stick for balance. Things had happened so fast. One minute she was taking a picture of the earth worm and the next thing a huge looking eel turns out to be part of the whole scene. It wasn't just an ordinary eel, oh no, it just happened to be a creature called a Nobody as well. Everyone except for Pey'j and her didn't know what it was, but the young kids with Keyblades knew that the monster was right off the bat. Aqua yelled something out and time seemed to stop for that spilt second.

"Riku… Riku, no!" she yelled out. The silver haired teen felt his knees buckle, a figure was chuckling in the back of his head, he had finally come out of hiding. 'Found you, boy.' The voice said colliding with his thoughts. The menacing silver furred wolf stopped in its vicious attack and ran hastily towards his master's side. It whimpered watching Riku's turquoise eyes disappear for a moment as he closed his eyes briefly. "Wake up… Riku, hey snap out of it!" the hound said, without moving his mouth. Aqua placed a Reflectgun around the boy and his dog, and the others continued to fight in hopes of getting the creature to calm down.

"It's not use, we'll have to kill it!" Pey'j yelled pulling out a favored wrench of his. Jade concentrated some energy into her weapon, and Kairi did the same. Naminé was giving up some of her own strength to aid Kairi in this fight, they were after all fighting as one. Aqua tried to swing at the creature with Rumbling Rose, but the creature evaded it, flying through the air like it would if it could swim in water. Ventus picked up Diamond Dust once more and ran through the air giving a loud shout as he brought his Keyblade down. The eel like Nobody was brought out of hiding now, as it had taken shelter in the nearby holes it had made. Pey'j threw his wrench, but the creature didn't seem fazed by it, its defenses were too high for the wrench.

Aqua twirled Ventus into the air using a simple Aero spell with her Keyblade. The blonde haired Keyblade wielder was spun into the air, and his preferred weapon of choice twirled around with him. He was getting ready to use a Firaga spell, as the Keyblade rotated around him in a similar fashion as a moon would to a planet. The giant eel soar through the air getting ready to color its razor sharp teeth crimson. Ventus grabbed the Keyblade and pretended to pull a trigger on the hand guard of the weapon. He smirked:

"Fire…" he said with an impish grin, and the eyes of the eel reflected back the flames the Firaga spell. Jade took that moment to launch herself into the air as high as she could, and with a mighty cry she let out the power that had been suppressed within her Daï-jo, and a flash of red and yellow orbs danced around, hitting the creature. The Nobody let out a small cry in pain and fell limp to the floor. Kairi took that chance to hit the creature with her newly acquired Fire spell, and the creature ceased to move. It slowly began to fade away, clumps of white strands and black strands began to disperse into the air, back to where ever it came from.

"Riku… hey Riku…" Vieh muttered softly, the barrier around them was beginning to crack. The hound felt Riku's hand lightly brush against his curved horn. Riku's breathing became slightly heavier than normal, and he opened his eyes slowly. The wielder of Way to Dawn gave a small smile that alarmed the wolf looking creature and the creature in turn licked his cheek out of worriment. "Riku, come on don't play around…" the hound instructed gingerly looking at the pained expression written clearly on the Keyblade wielders face. He watched as Kairi fell to the floor on her knees beside Riku, her Keyblade was planted firmly into the ground for support, she looked exhausted, as did everyone else around them.

"Hey come on Riku, wake up!" she pleaded rubbing her eyes, her face was covered in dirt and sweat from the battle. Kairi's hand moved gingerly over to his cheek, and she lightly tapped him for a moment trying to get him to wake him up. Naminé's voice became present for a spilt second, though Pey'j and Jade didn't hear the name muttered out by the other female voice. Aqua and Ven heard it loud and clear and looked at one another with confused faces, but they would ask the young Princess of Heart later once Riku woke up. Kairi drew her hand back, he wasn't waking up and it made her worry since his breathing was a bit shallow. 'In a deep state of sleep?' she asked herself and Naminé just replied with a simple 'I don't know' statement.

"Is he… is he going to…?" Jade didn't know what to say, she was used to experiencing those blackouts but she had never seen one quiet like Riku's at all, it seemed as though something was trying to get into him, and he had fought back. She knew that somehow he had won, but that wasn't the victory she was expecting at all. 'I hope he's all right… Come on Riku, wake up!' she thought pleading that somehow the fallen silver haired teen would hear her thoughts and then suddenly wake up.

"We can't stay here…" Ven said softly gripping Aqua's shoulder and whispered into her ear. "I don't want to stay here too long…" he said softly looking back down at Riku and Kairi for a moment. Vieh had reverted back to his smaller form and Aqua had him in her arms, gently trying to comfort the silver bundle of fur. Aqua nodded and Pey'j agreed it was best for them to go back.

"I'm sure Mr. De Castellac will be understanding about the whole situation…" Jade said softly as Ven and Pey'j picked up Riku and carried him out of the area. They moved through the mine up to the topper levels, going back the way they came from. They each prayed in their own ways that nothing would happen to them. Vieh sniffed the air as he was carried in Aqua's arms and looked around trying to see if anything stalked them by the shadows. He growled for a moment alerting the others around him and they looked around. They were close to the broken ladder, and something had to go and make their escape almost bittersweet.

"I guess it was nothing…" he said softly, using his mouth for the first time. Everyone was stunned for a moment watching his lips move for the first time. Kairi blinked for a moment, forgetting that her mouth was ajar and Aqua blinked a bit looking at the silver haired puppy. Jade titled her head wondering why on earth the pup decided to use its mouth now. "Now there is something…" he said softly his ears moved from side to side picking up noise too faint for the human ears.

"Let the fun begin…" Vieh said softly as something cracked through the wooden floors of the mine. Jade pulled out her Daï-jo and twirled it around her, and the other conscious teens pulled out their Keyblades. More strange looked Heartless and mutated Voraxes appeared on sight.

"Just for humor that thing we saw earlier on the roof wasn't a beaver, it was a two-legged otter…" Jade said looking back at Kairi, the looks on her face was priceless.

With Ames and the King

"You found me Your Majesty…" Ames said giving a curtsey to the mouse king, and to his two royal friends, Donald Duck and Goofy. "It's nice meeting you Donald Duck, and George Geef Goof." She said, letting a smile grace her lips as she said Goofy's last name. Abedo bowed in his own manner, not staying too far behind of Ames, and he looked up at the duck and the tall clumsy soldier. Someone cleared their throat in the distance and both the silver haired girl, and the replica looked up, peering behind Goofy. A slightly shorter related member of Goofy's family stepped forward and bowed in his own way, he looked to be about in his teenage years. The Memory Witch was unfamiliar with this individual and looked at Goofy for a moment.

Abedo beat her to the punch though with a simple guess:

"He's his son…" the replica said softly. King Mickey knew though that this wasn't the person he had known during his younger years, and felt a bit disappointed. 'She tricked me…' he thought and sighed for a moment. For some odd reason the replica couldn't help but look the mouse king when he sighed, he had an odd feeling that sigh was directed at him.

"Max G-" his father cleared his throat and Max groaned rolling his eyes. "Maximilian Goof…" he said blushing in embarrassment and Ames tried hard not to laugh at the embarrassment the young boy felt.

"Let's get down to business then, shall we?" King Mickey led the way past the crowds of several Hyllians, most people gawked and stared at the crowd of strangers walking past them, they were all different species and in color at this point. "Are you enjoying your stay here in Hyllis, Ames Diaz?" he asked walking straight ahead.

"For the moment, yes King Mickey." She said humming a simple tune, she felt like a small child again, it had been years since she had seen the king, but they had kept in touch thanks to the letters they sent each other back and forth. "Terra's here though…" the Memory Witch said getting King Mickey to stop in his tracks. "He's back at the hotel by the Akuda Bar, which is not that far from here." Ames instructed and the King looked back at her with a curious eye. "It's written on your face, your Majesty." She said giving a cheerful smile.

"The one you see before you, his name is Abedo… We haven't given him a last name though…" she said looking back at Abedo. Goofy's son and the replica were lost in some sort of topic, no doubt related to things their age. "History repeated itself again when Sora and Amaterasu entered Castle Oblivion. He still doesn't know that he had been there once before, and it's probably better that he doesn't for now…"

"For now?" Goofy and Donald asked looking at the Memory Witch Confused for a moment. She nodded and told them that she would explain at a later date. The young looking Memory Witch said something along the lines that Terra shouldn't be trusted being left alone in the house.

They all walked through the streets, some of the people stepped back creating a sort of manmade pathway out of the area, and others just stared like last time. Ames walked forward showing the King and his subjects the way, while Abedo walked at her side, he felt is was his duty to protect her to the fullest when Terra couldn't. He felt something troubling his mind for a while, something didn't seem right back at the hotel, and he had wanted to tell Ames something that had been bothering him for some time, but he didn't want to ruin the happiness she was experiencing right now.

' Ames… are you sure it was right to leave him alone?' she could hear his voice break clear into her thoughts. For some reason in her mind she could see ripples begin to form and she looked down at the ground in reality as she walked. 'We'll talk about this later, okay, Abedo?' she responded, the replica hearing her voice enter his thoughts without any interruption.

With Sora and the others

The young brunette teen sat down overlooking the crowds from the rooftop enjoying the orange flavored sherbet that Amaterasu had purchased for him and for Roxas as well. Roxas stood beside Amaterasu on the edge of the rooftop looking at the people below, they all seemed noticeable, some of the people weren't even as small as ants, that was because the roofs in the pedestrian district aren't that high at all, but still it was hard to see the people who were up on the roof because the sun would blind you for a moment. Amaterasu had felt something, like a needle in her heart a couple of minutes ago, and the pain had ceased for a while.

"I hope he's okay…" she muttered to herself softly before stuffing her mouth again with orange ice-cream. Roxas glanced back at her in confusion and Sora looked down at the tip of his shoe.

"Riku… and Kairi…" he said swinging his leg unintentionally, it was just a bad habit he picked up when he was nervous. Sora felt awkward though because he hadn't thought of those two people in such a long time, they were pushed back far into his mind, and it pained him to remember he had left them back in Sunset Horizons about almost a year ago. The young wielder of Kingdom Key remembered that days ago he had felt a presence that was similar to the two people he left behind, and it made him feel at ease for a while. "I hope they're okay…" he hoped silently, biting a piece of his ice-cream.

"I'm sure they're fine… they've Naminé with them…" Roxas added, trying to ease his original self.

"Riku though is what worries me the most," the young dark skinned wielder said looking up at the sky, dusk was starting to set in, it had been a couple of hours since they had wandered about the area. "I worry about him a lot…" she answered truthfully, finally sitting down on the edge right next to her 'brother'. Sora looked back at her and gave her right hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

"Hey wait… you guys never told me what was up with the two wedding rings." Roxas butted in, he didn't mean to ruin the brother and sister moment, but the rings were the object of his curiosity. Sora messed with Ammi's hair and watched her scowl and she fixed her hair with her right hand, the ring glinted with the setting sun that was placed in the distance.

"We meet these two people…" Sora began looking off into the distance. "They had fallen in love, so much, that they decided to go and get married." He said looking back at Roxas for a moment before he continued. "With the love they had in their hearts, they could tame the darkness because the darkness would bow down to the light within each of them. They were granted the powers of the Keyblade, but in the end the Keyblades brought destruction upon them both… in the end not even their love could save them…"

"That's a sad story…" Roxas added, he found himself sitting beside Sora. "But what do the rings have to do with them?" he asked.

"The young man who we defeated asked us, like a dying wish, to wear them as a reminder of the happiness we took away…" Amaterasu said softly looking at her right hand.

A/N: You know what to do one review please!

Xejicka: Thanks Xejicka for the review buddy! It really made my day, for some reason this chapter came out a bit too serious for my liking, and I really should move out of BG&E soon too, I don't want them staying in that world for too long, but we haven't even gotten into the good parts yet!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyond Good and Evil, Kingdom Hearts series, or the songs listed within the story! I do own Amaterasu, Abedo's concept and Vieh for the most part.