A/N: 6.15.11: It amuses me greatly that I never took credit as Elie being my OC... Anyway, crescent moon definitely assisted me in designing her, but, all in all, Elie -is- mine. I gave the awakening a bit of an overhaul; you'll see what I mean.

Old: I can promise you that this chapter will certainly be special, but a tad late. Late in the fact that this should have happened in the first story... What, you ask? You will soon see. Hehe, big props to my best friend, Kristi, and crescent moon. The two of them are my support for this story now. :P

Disclaimer-Don't own Kingdom Hearts.


"How silly of me to think that I could get five minutes of peace after regaining my heart," mumbled Stefa unappreciatively as she fixed the thing before her with an anxious stare; she had seen many odd things since the storm night that changed her life, but this creature, this Nobody, took the cake.

Riku sighed, "I'm starting to wonder what our lives would be like had none of this ever happened."

"C-can we really t-take this th-thing?" Kairi asked, stuttering from the fear, her knuckles turning white from her grip on Radiant and Sora's hand.

"Sure we can, Kai," he assured her as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. She believed him for about a minute, but, when he released his hand from hers, panic filled her completely. She stared at the dragon Nobody with a look of pure terror, and, as the others started forward, her unconscious body hit the ground with a large thud. Sora turned back around and gasped, "Kairi!"

He made to run to her side, but Naminé stood in his path. "I'll watch Kairi, you guys need to take care of that thing." He hesitated. "Sora, trust me. Please." Her tone was so desperate that he finally agreed.

Elie's usual hyper nature returned as she charged at the Nobody. "Let's get rid of it!" The boys agreed with ease and joined her, but Stefa swayed on the stop, quite sure she would be like Kairi in a few moments.

'Of course fear comes to me now that I'm completely sure that this is real; of course.' She thought, if not a little bitterly, as her stomach clenched. After a few deep breaths and tightening her grip on her familiar, soothing weapon, she joined the rest.

Elie, Sora, Riku, and Roxas were way ahead in the defeating process. It would have been quite comical to see the four of them on the dragon's back under any normal circumstances. Then again, why would the four of them even be on a dragon under normal circumstance? Stefa wondered how they had so easily climbed up as she faced the silvery head with rows of jagged teeth bared. More fear rushed into her, if that was even possible.

"Don't stand in front of it!" She distantly heard Roxas shout at her, but, as she stared into the black eyes of the dragon, she found that she was rooted to the spot.

"Move, Stefa!" A soft voice called from behind her, but she still didn't listen.

"Graviga!" shouted Sora, raising Ultima. A dark purple bubble surrounded the Nobody's head and forced it to hit to ground, sending out a shockwave that caused Stefa to topple over.

'Come on, stupid. You never choked the first time around.'Stefa bit her lip, and, after a few more deep breaths, she ran forward and began to slash at the head. As it came to, she climbed up and prayed for dear life. She swayed a little as the dragon stood back up to its full height, but she managed to hang tough.

XxxxxX

Reixka gasped loudly as she used the wall of the hallway to support her. Her head was spinning, and she clung to the wall for dear life. "You don't look so good," she made out an annoying voice, Vexen's.

She managed to steady herself long enough to glare up at him and appear somewhat menacing. "Are you going to do an experiment on me?" she asked, Sakura Dawning flashing into her hand.

Vexen held up his hands in mock-surrender. "That's not very nice. You should be respecting your elders, missy."

Still glaring, but ignoring him, she demanded, "Where's the Superior? I want to speak with him right now." Her thoughts drifted back to Halloween Town and the horrible betrayal.

"You can't do that, I'm afraid," he answered, smirking. "You see, all of the others set off to continue their work. I, however, was ordered to hang back and wait for your return. In other words, I'm your babysitter."

Reixka settled down only a little, knowing there was not much she could do as she slid against the cool wall and sat on the floor, "Babysitter? Pfft."

"I was also given permission to do whatever I like if I so please, or if you give me reason to." He added, his smirk widening, if possible.

She rolled her eyes and, in a voice laced with sarcasm, said, "I am so sorry if I hurt your feelings, Master Vexen. However can I make it up to you?" She barely had time to draw another breath as a rather sharp piece of ice materialized before her throat.

"You see, without Larxene around, any and all sarcastic remarks aimed at me may prove... fatal," he stated, allowing the ice to shatter upon the floor. "Not that the Superior would mind. Now that your Somebody is back in existence, he won't really have a use for you."

Reixka glared at Vexen, her free hand balling into a fist while the other tightened painfully on the keyblade's hilt. Despite her anger, she mumbled in a quiet voice, "That's a lie."

"Is it?" Vexen drew to his full height and disappeared down the hallway, leaving the Nobody to her thoughts.

XxxxxX

Stefa found herself able to enjoy the fight a little once she felt safer. She was, more or less, just relieved to feel the anxiety and the cool air on her face. "Fighting never looked this fun," she said to Roxas, smiling, as they both slashed relentlessly at the dragon's head.

He answered with a smirk. "Poor Naminé, she's missing out."

"I'm surprised this Nobody isn't going after her," noted Elie as she sprang onto the dragon's head, and, instead of just slashing, she started to bang it in the head with Dragon Fang. (A/n: Obviously her keyblade's name.)

Grinning, Stefa said, "Don't piss off the dragon, now, Elie."

"Aw, but this is so much more fun!"

"The similarities between you and the younger Sora are scary," remarked Riku as she continued to beat the dragon over the head. (A/N: Imagine chibi Elie doing this in some sort of gif animation. xDD)

Sora also grinned. "Are you kidding? I was more laid back then than she'll ever be." Lightning bolts reigned upon the dragon as he raised Ultima, and the Nobody had finally had enough. It stood up on its hind legs and slanted its back so that Elie, Sora, Stefa, Roxas, and Riku slid right off. Once they hit the ground, it slammed back onto all fours, causing a shockwave to spread out from beneath it.

"Ouch," mumbled Stefa and Elie as they fell back to the ground. For the fist time, they noticed an odd, and very large, portal of darkness was beneath the dragon.

Roxas stared at it in wonder as they attempted to close back in on the Nobody, "What the-? What is that?"

"There's only one way to find out," decided Sora as he took several steps forward, an extremely unintelligent move. The moment he took one step into the black puddle, began to sink; Roxas and Riku wasted no time in pulling him back out.

Riku rolled his eyes once Sora was freed. "That wasn't the smartest thing you've ever done."

"And, as your Nobody, Sora, I can rightly say that you've done a lot of stupid things," added Roxas.

Elie, however, was not to be deterred. "We can get across!" The boys stared at her with disbelief, but Stefa nodded in agreement.

"We're really good with gymnastics. As long as we don't hit the puddle too many times or go down too hard, we should be able to make it across easily," she decided.

Sora eyed the darkness with dislike. "We'll fight with our magic." The girls agreed and the boys ran off to face the dragon face to face.

"I know you can, at least, Elie," remarked Stefa. "With your energy, I'm surprised that you can't fly."

Elie laughed, dipping into a low bow. "Why, thank you. Are you ready?"

"You go first," she answered with a sheepish smile; Elie didn't seem to care. She called off Dragon Fang, and performed several backhand-springs. Elie hit the puddle about twice, but, with much effort, she managed to fling herself to the dragon's tail and climb up from there.

Elie re-summoned her keyblade, calling, "C'mon, Stefa!" Then, she moved onto the back and began to attack the Nobody once again.

Stefa nodded, gulping a little as Shadow Heart disappeared, and followed Elie's example. However, she got a little too comfy with the ground, and fell on her back on the third spring. At first, she was confused, then, quickly, surprised. Finally, she was terrified. "Uh, Elie?" She attempted to shout, but her voice died in her throat as she plunged beneath.

XxX

Stefa was flying, headfirst, toward the ground... Only, the ground appeared to be some sort of pillar depicted an image on its pink stained glass. Surrounding her was darkness. As she fell, she looked over the picture of Kairi, Sora, Riku, Roxas, Naminé, herself, Elie, a few people she didn't recognize, with hearts decorating it. She hit the ground with a rather violent thud, but it did not hurt nearly as much as it should have. "Ouch. In any regular world, that should have killed me, or given me a concussion."

A voice called from somewhere above, in the darkness. 'In case you haven't noticed, you aren't anywhere normal.' It took a few minutes, but she realized that she recognized this voice.

"I've heard you before! Last time, when I first got my keyblade and was all confused... I fought my anti-form, or something, didn't I? What am I doing here?" Nothing responded and, even after waiting a few moments, she still received no answer. "I think I'm going insane."

Finally, the voice agreed, 'Yes, you did, but that was not an awakening.'

"An... awakening?"

'Yes. An awakening is when you learn your true power. Sora, Roxas, Riku, Naminé and Kairi have already gone through this.'

"I know my true power."

'Just listen to what I say. Call upon your keyblade and go up to the highest platform.' Stubbornly agreeing to obey the disembodied voice, she summoned Shadow Heart. The instant she did so, Shadows began to appear on the ground.

Through gritted teeth, she slashed the Heartless out of her way. 'This voice wants to kill me.' The Shadows disappeared into clouds of darkness, and, agitated, she mumbled, "Now, how do I go up, oh, magical voice?" At her words, yellow and orange glass steps began to appear, leading up to another pillar.

"If I wasn't already so used to things like this, I would have thought that I've gone truly crazy," she half-sang as she followed the steps upward, each one disappearing as she stepped onto the next though Kairi's platform remained. When she reached the next one, no Heartless appeared, and she elected to look at the picture.

This time, the color of the stained glass was more or less silvery, mainly depicting Naminé with smaller pictures of Roxas, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Elie, herself, Axel, and more hearts. There were also a few pictures of what looked like sketches that Naminé herself had drawn. "No more Heartless? But no stairs..." And, as though she said the magic words, Dusks began to appear by the dozen.

"Of course. Naminé was a Nobody so Dusks would come into play here..." Once again, she charged forward and fought them off. They were nowhere near as easy as the Heartless, and several welts on her arms and legs formed, though she kind of wondered how it had gone through the cloth of her robe. Once she cleared the platform, new steps appeared.

This time around, she was a bit hesitant to go forward. "Who knows what I'll meet up with this time," she mumbled, eyeing the stairs with a wary expression. After a few more moments of standing on Naminé's platform, she forced herself to take the steps.

Like before, each step disappeared behind her. "This had better be the last one," she grumbled when she made it to the next platform, the color of which was ocean-blue. To her mild surprise, the main feature was her. She shook her head as she looked at those around her. There was her Nobody, Reixka, Kairi, Naminé, Roxas, Riku, Sora, Elie, Cloud, Aerith, and... Quince. When she looked closer and ignored the painful feeling in her heart from the association of his picture and name, she noticed another girl, a brunette in an orange t-shirt.

"...Nalani." She took a few steps closer to stand beside the image of her best friend, and bent down to touch it. Before her fingers touched the smoothness of the glass, she noticed something else odd on the platform. It had been nearly impossible to see standing but, being so close, she now noticed a strange, small black image between herself and Reixka. The image resembled that of a child's drawing of a girl; the girl was made up of a circle for a head, a triangle for her body/dress, two long rectangles for legs, and an 's'-like shape coming off of the head as a ponytail. "Weird." As her fingers reached out to the grass, she froze, sensing something behind her. All she had to do was crane her head a little to find herself face to face with herself. Rather, the black form of herself.

The last time she had seen it was when Quince dragged it out from her heart in Traverse Town; it had been quite some time. 'The closer you get to the light...'

"The greater your shadow becomes," mumbled Stefa as the voice said the same thing.

'Do not take anything lightly; size is not everything.' The shadowy Stefa seemed unable to stand still any longer, and she struck out with a black tar keyblade. Stefa barely had a spare second to react and just missed getting hit.

Stefa held Shadow Heart at the ready. "I've lost to you twice, but they say that third time's the charm." Determined, she rushed at the dark form of herself.

XxxxxX

From the ground, beneath the dragon, Riku called up to the girl positioning herself on the Nobody's head, "Elie! Where did Stefa go?"

"Huh?" Elie paused, gazing around wildly, before sliding down onto the back and peering into the portal of darkness, "Oh, no." She returned to the head for a moment, slashing it a final time. "I, uh, think we might have a bit of a problem here..." Roxas gave Sora a boost, allowing the Keyblade Master one last powerful swing before returning to the ground.

Elie jumped off when she noticed darkness that was beginning to engulf the dragon as Naminé joined them. They watched with awe as the dragon fell to its knees and faded into the darkness, the portal disappearing with it. 'But no Stefa!' thought Elie, anxious.

"'A bit of a problem'?" echoed Naminé. Elie nodded her head at the spot where the darkness had been but Stefa was not.

"...That's a huge problem," groaned Roxas as he ran a hand through his hair. They had just gotten Stefa back and, once again, she was gone. That seemed to be the story of their lives when it came to the princess.

Behind them, against the cliff wall, Kairi's eyes fluttered open as she came to. "What happened?"

Sora rejoined her, enveloping her in a gentle hug, "Kairi!"

"What are we going to do?" asked Elie, guilty and abashed. The others became silently thoughtful, but Naminé was the first to speak.

"I know what to do," she told them, a portal appearing beyond her outstretched hand. Chain of Memories appeared, and she shouldered it before making to enter the portal without another word.

Roxas gently grabbed at her arm, and she stared at him without blinking. "What are you going to do?" He asked slowly, worriedly.

"I rescued you from the darkness before, right?" Naminé winked. "Just trust me." He released her, and she disappeared into the portal.

XxxxxX

Stefa hit the cool glass and slid backward, nearly sliding right off of the platform. "It would be nice if someone wasn't trying to kill me every chance they got!" she raged as she lunged with Shadow Heart. Once again, her darkness dissolved and disappeared. Frowning, Stefa briefly examined her keyblade, which was shaking quite a bit; her hand was shaking much more violently than the weapon it was wielding, and she wondered if it was out of anger, fear, or both.

She heard her anti-form appear before she saw it, and, this time, managed to jump out of the way. Stefa swung herself around, and Shadow Heart connected with the dark figure this time. Her victory was short lived when her other jabbed her in the stomach with its keyblade. It pressed the keyblade in for at least a couple of minutes, until Stefa was clever enough to use her keyblade to push off the other.

Stefa turned her head to cough and wished for nothing more than to be able to lay down peacefully on the cool platform, though she knew that was irrational and would not happen. It seemed that her darkness was getting aggravated either with her pathetic enemy or with the fact that Stefa could manage to defend herself. Then, the strangest thing of the day happened; the creature opened its black mouth and spoke. "So pathetic," it growled in a raspy voice. "Such a waste of time. Such a waste in general."

It ran toward her once again and, instantly, her leg flung out to kick it. "Reactions really do work," she mumbled, pleased and thankful that her body had reacted before her brain could. She tried to wave off what she had heard, what she had seen, as she slammed Shadow Heart against the tar keyblade 'We're evenly matched,' she realized, annoyed. Her heart thudded hard against her chest, and, to her surprise and delight, a silvery light shot out from her and engulfed her anti-form. The light did not cause the anti-form to disappear, but it did drag it back into Stefa's body.

"That was... so weird." She allowed her body to sink onto the platform, and she pressed a rosy cheek to the cool glass. The coolness disappeared after about a moment as it was replaced by wetness, almost tar-like in substance. She reopened her eyes and began to flail at once. Where the once beautiful picture of her friends had been was now gooey black and purple darkness. She flipped onto her back and attempted to force herself up, but the darkness was engulfing her body quickly.

"Are you kidding me?" she shouted, allowing Shadow Heart to disappear as she kicked her leg and reached out with her arms for something, anything, to hold. "I swear, I have the worst luck!" she exclaimed to no one in particular as desperation engulfed her.

"You really do," agreed a soft and delicate voice and, suddenly, Stefa's left hand met with another, and a white light engulfed the area.

XxX

The first thing that Stefa saw was darkness, and she assumed it was because the darkness had engulfed her. Like the conversations with Quince, she assumed the familiar voice back on the platform had been her imagination. When something released her from the darkness, and she found Naminé's smiling face before her own, she nearly cried with joy. Instead, as Naminé pushed the hood of her costume onto her shoulders, she managed to say, "Thanks."

Then, she looked around and started at their surroundings as Naminé flopped herself onto what looked like a small rectangular-shaped platform. Everything was blue and, without consciously speaking, she mumbled, "This looks rather familiar..."

Naminé nodded. "When you gave hearts to me and Roxas, you got to take a peek at our memories, too, but... you probably don't remember all that much." She looked around with a certain fondness. "This is where I brought Roxas after saving him from the darkness, too."

"Thanks," repeated Stefa, managing a smile. "Can anyone else get here?"

Naminé nodded once more. "Sure. Riku came here, too; right after I had saved Roxas and was about to tell him that he was a Nobody, Riku stopped me. But you've heard all of the stories, so no one can blame him. He was just looking out for Sora." She continued when she realized that Stefa wasn't satisfied. "Others probably can, too. It's just that, no one knows where this is; it's nothingness." It was strange for her to hear Naminé speaking of nothingness; she always seemed like the cheerful one, though, she guessed, everyone had the darkness in their pasts and though Stefa knew of Castle Oblivion, she had not heard the stories.

Naminé's light blue eyes caught sight of Stefa's, and she giggled. "Don't worry, Stefa. I'm your friend. I wouldn't take advantage of this place and kill you." It was also odd to hear delicate Naminé speaking of killing or anything related to death.

Had she not been thinking about what happened with the pillars and darkness, she would have laughed at the joke. "It's not that, Naminé. It's... I'm confused."

"You were the last one of us to awaken, so I imagine that you are," she agreed with a light nod. Suddenly, she leapt off of the platform and summoned a portal. "Let's go. You can explain to everyone at once and prove to Elie that she didn't screw up completely," she added with a small smile, which Stefa reflected as they took the portal.

XxX

"How long have they been gone?" Riku asked for what Sora counted as the fifth time in ten minutes.

Worried, Roxas mumbled, "Naminé's been gone for a good ten minutes at least. Stefa's been gone for longer, but who knows how much longer." Had Reixka's purpose been to separate Stefa and, what, kill her? Take her heart? Roxas glanced around at the others and saw the worry on their faces; they were obviously thinking the same thing.

Another portal appeared in the cliff wall as Stefa and Naminé stepped out, the others rushing to meet them. Many of them began to talk at once, so Naminé put a finger to her smiling lips. "Stefa has a great deal to tell us, but I think that we should go and catch up with Jack and Sally first."

The others mutely agreed. "But how do we get back?" inquired Kairi as she looked around the abandoned area.

"Don't worry about that," said Sora, a smile appearing on his face. With Kairi's hand in his, he headed for the waterway and followed it to a cave-like opening. "It's a bit of magic, but nothing harmful," he added, mostly to her, as they disappeared.

Naminé looked to Stefa for a moment before she and Roxas followed Sora and Kairi. Elie looked from Stefa to Riku, grinned mischievously in understanding, and headed for the pathway as well. "Well? Did you miss me or what?" Stefa asked with the same mock-arrogant smile from when she was fifteen.

Riku rolled his eyes, embracing her without a second thought. He had never had the opportunity to hold her so many times before but, he decided, he would no longer allow those opportunities to go to waste. "No, of course not, tat's exactly why I called you back from the darkness," he mumbled into her hair.

Stefa felt the blood rush to her face even once he pulled away. "Well, I missed you lots."

"How did the darkness treat you?" He asked, smirking knowingly.

"Badly," she answered with a sour face. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the moonlight glint off of something and ran to pick it up. Riku came to join her and the two of them stared at it, a keychain in the shape of a Nobody.

She looked up at him, and he answered her unspoken question. "Keep it. I only need one keychain." Stefa held the keychain in one hand, her free one wrapping around Riku as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Together, they headed back toward Guillotine Square.

"We were just about to come and look for you," Jack was telling Sora and the others when Stefa and Riku appeared out of the fountain. "Santa's back home, safe and sound."

"Good news," announced Sally, smiling at the wielders, "He said that all of you are on his nice list."

"Cool!" Sora shouted, smiling victoriously; Kairi giggled and patted him on the head.

Jack smiled at the group. "It was great seeing you again, Sora. And it was nice to meet you all."

"Jack, just tell me this," began Sora in a serious voice not fit for him. "You're leaving Christmas to Santa this year, right?" Everyone laughed at Jack's crestfallen expression.

XxxxxX

"Vexen threatened me," whined Reixka from her spot on the couch opposite of Larxene, who was reading a leather bound book. "I demand a new 'babysitter' if that's what Xemnas is calling it."

Without looking away from her book, she flipped a page. "I'll take care of him, Rei." With no warning at all, she slammed the book shut and looked over at her companion. "Are you happy now that you and your Somebody are separate?"

"Hardly," sighed Reixka. "I don't like how I feel now... I feel so..."

"Incomplete?" Larxene offered, smirking. "Yeah, well, get used to that one; you're a Nobody, it's expected out of you."

"That sucks."

Larxene nodded curtly. "That's why you're with us. Xemnas is looking for a way to get us back our hearts."

Reixka looked up, a dark expression on her face. "That's not the only thing he's doing. What is he trying to accomplish by sending us to different worlds?"

"The same as usual," sighed Larxene, as if Xemnas' plans bored her, "Trying to get us to turn powerful people into Heartless so that we can get their Nobodies."

"Hm. He's going to use my Somebody, isn't he?"

Larxene shrugged her shoulders lamely as she stretched her legs out on the couch. "Who's to say what the Superior is planning? No one knows him better than him." She closed her eyes. "Well, alright, nobody knows what he's thinking. One Nobody to be exact," she added, opening an eye, "Saïx, his bitch, or whatever else you'd like to call him." Her lips were set in a smirk. "I, quite personally, can't wait to see what happens to that traitor. She left the first time without a punishment, and now for a second time... Sheesh. Maybe ol' Xemnas is growing soft."

Reixka nodded a little, knowing who the Nymph was speaking of immediately; Elie, the non-Nobody.

XxxxxX

"You don't really want to go home, do you?" Elie whined to Stefa in one of the ship's rooms while the boys took care of the ship in the cockpit.

Stefa opened an eye. "What? You don't?"

"What do I have to go back to?"

She quirked an eyebrow, fighting back a laugh, "You have a mother, don't you?"

"Oh, right. Her." Naminé and Kairi both shook their heads, lying on the bed beside Stefa, while Elie faced them from the couch of the room.

Kairi remarked, "That's nice. I was ecstatic to see my 'parents' when I got home from my first journey, although I could have done with Sora and Riku being there, too."

"Well, what can I say, Kai?" Elie rested her arms behind her head as she closed her eyes. "You're crazy." A pillow hit her square in the face.

"Less than you," conclued Naminé with a small smile as she turned toward Stefa, "You can't leave yet, Stefa. Cloud would kill us if he knew that we brought you back from the darkness and then merrily sent you home without dropping you by. Besides, the worlds need us all."

"After we go to the Radiant Garden," Stefa said in a tone that suggested she was attempting to negotiate, "can we drop by my home for one or two days so that I can show my family that I'm alive and well?"

"That means we get to stay, too? You're not going to hide inside of your room and hope we never come back?" asked Kairi, a playful smile on her lips.

Stefa yawned. "Aw, of course not, you guys are my friends. I missed you all so badly. It might be fun; we could go to the pool."

Naminé, Kairi, and Elie exchanged looks of happiness. "Sounds good!"

Elie sat herself up on the couch. "Well, missy, you haven't told us what happened while you were in the realm of darkness; it's time to explain."

Stefa nodded her head slowly. "I can even tell you what I... heard, I guess, from Reixka."

Naminé and Kairi looked confused at first, but then they remembered the Nobody, and understood. Stefa started to explain her talk with Quince, "It was like he was trying to keep me... there. He didn't want me to fade."

"That's strange," mumbled Elie muttered, her hyper and childish behavior fading at the mention of her cousin. "He faded. Kind of, didn't he?"

"That's what I thought, too... But there he was. He was making fun of me and everything, that's how I figured out that he had to be slightly real. When I asked him if he was real, he just smirked and said that was a good question. But he did say he'd always be with me." Stefa had hardly noticed, but her voice had become terribly quiet when she spoke the last sentence. "Just like Sora told me, when he was fading away, he was forgetting everyone. I was, too. But then I met up with Reixka later and she inherited my memories and I told her that she had a heart, my heart, and I didn't think that she could have another one... But I don't really remember what else I said to her.

"The only thing that I can really remember about what Reixka felt and heard is that... Well, she thinks Xemnas is up to something, more than just finding hearts. I never really understood how a Nobody felt, but Reixka... was so confused and angry... Angry at me because she was created because of me; she wants to be a Somebody more than anything. It's sad."

Naminé smiled knowingly and sadly. "The life of a Nobody usually isn't a happy one. And, even if it turns out good in the end, there's all of that confusion in the beginning... Like Roxas. Learning that his life in the alternate Twilight Town was a lie wasn't the best thing that anyone can hear."

"Imagine," Kairi sighed as she stared at the ceiling, "Leading an average life with lots of people that you care about, and then learning that it was nothing more than false memories." Naminé smiled sourly. "Since my first adventure ended, I really have changed. Going on without Sora and Riku for a year was difficult and it made me a different person. It makes me feel kind of bad that I'm no longer that carefree kid."

"It's funny how there are still many people in different worlds that are living without knowing about the existence of other worlds, Heartless, Nobodies, and keyholes..." Stefa said, and, in an odd way, agreeing with what Kairi had said.

Elie was still serious as she muttered, "I know things about the Organization. I think that Xemnas is planning to start some sort of takeover, which is probably why he still wants Reixka around; she can unlock the keyhole to each world and allow them to come in and take over."

"But why would Xemnas want to take over other worlds?" Naminé muttered more to herself than anyone else. "It sounds more like the thoughts of a person like Maleficent than a Nobody like him."

"But look at his Heartless; Xemnas wants vengeance and power," pointed out Kairi.

"It's true," agreed the others.

Sora poked his head inside of the room. "We're at the Radiant Garden."