Notes: Alright for those of you who are really want Sora, Kairi, and anyone else who is part of the main cast in the first two Kingdom Hearts games, I'm sorry. I realize I've been focusing on Nihlus and the chasers a bit too much, thereby not fulfilling my promise of Sora and Kairi romance. Naturally I'm going to correct that here and now. On a side note, I do intend to make some Roxas and Namine stuff for those of you who like to see them together, I just didn't add them to the summery to avoid spoilers, and the fact that I'm out of room helps too.

Also I'd like to thank Mooncry, Namilaa, serenitysoldier97, Shire Folk, and iMandy for reviewing. If it wasn't for you guys, I doubt I would have written up to this point. Yeah, sorry I forgot to do this earlier.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except any characters or places I make up.

Me: Alright Nihlus, I swear I'll find someway to make you do the next disclaimer.

Nihlus: Whatever, right now I think you and I need to have a little chat about Namine's drawing…

Me: (gulps loudly) Uh, um, you didn't find out about the stuff I was going to do for the grand finale, did you?

Nihlus: Yes I did, and I'm curious about this "Keyblade Master Xehanort" you're putting in here…

"Uh, guys," Ven started, clearly confused by the looks he was getting, "why are you looking at me like that, and who are these guys?" Everyone quickly exchanged glances at Ven's questions. "Wait, Nihlus, I don't remember you having gold colored eyes or fancy armor either," Ven continued as he walked up to his friend. "Would someone please tell me what I missed?"

"Maybe this will help," Namine said with her usual politeness as she handed Ven a mirror she had found lying around. Ven quickly looked at the mirror with curiosity. It only took a few seconds for his curiosity to change to horror.

"OH MY GOD, I'M UGLY NOW!" Ven screamed, dropping the mirror in the process.

"Excuse me?" Roxas said with more than a slight hint of anger in his voice. Roxas always did have a quick temper, and that was never going to change.

"Well, I think you look rather handsome," Namine said with a mischievous grin on her face. Ven quickly spun around with a grin as stupid as anything Sora could possibly muster. Meanwhile Roxas had actually caught on to the intent behind Namine's statement and spun away from everyone else in an attempt to hide his visible blush. (Ven and Roxas now look the same so…)

"Why thank you!" Ven exclaimed happily, "I think your kinda cute yourself, would you do me the honor of telling me your n-!" Ven was abruptly cut off by Aqua punching him in the back of the head.

"I can't believe you, Ven!" Aqua yelled in outrage "the first thing you do after your resurrection is flirt with someone you don't even know!" At this everyone, minus Nihlus, had anime sweat drops coming out of the back of their heads. It was pretty obvious this wasn't the first time Ven had pulled a stunt like this.

"Gee whiz!" Ven exclaimed as he rubbed the back of his head where Aqua had punched him, "All I do is compliment someone and you try to scramble my brain! By the way, what did you do after you got "resurrected", kiss Nihlus?" At this both Nihlus and Aqua began yelling all kinds of things at Ven, completely ignoring the looks Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine were giving them.

"Wow, they're worse than you and Riku ever were!" Kairi commented as she recalled the rivalry Riku and Sora had before the Destiny islands were attacked by heartless. The rivalry didn't just include how well they could sword fight or race, it included about everything two hyper children could possibly come up with. Kairi let out a small giggle as some of the more embarrassing moments sprang to her mind…

"Yeah, my and Riku were pr- HEY!" Sora suddenly yelled as he realized what Kairi had said. "Alright, what's so funny?" Sora asked sighing. There was no telling just which of the countless embarrassing, and blackmail worthy, memories Kairi was recalling.

"I was just thinking of the time that you and Riku got lost and…" Kairi abruptly began to trail off mid-sentence. "Sora, we forgot to tell you and Riku's parents that we were leaving!" Sora immediately slapped himself in the head at the realization of his grave mistake. "Well, we all did go adventuring for a few days at a time; maybe they'll just think that we're just exploring the island?" Sora had to agree with Kairi's logic.

"Phew, you nearly gave me a heart attack there, Kairi!" Sora exclaimed with his usual optimism. "I don't know what I'd do without you!" Kairi simply chuckled nervously in response. "Wha-. OH, I mean, uh, well, I mean I don't know what would happen if you weren't with me!" Sora's face was colored a brught, and very visible, scarlet once he realized just how he sounded. His only saving grace was the fact that Aqua Ven, and Nihlus were too busy arguing to notice, and Roxas and Namine would never intentionally embarrass him or Kairi, having once been part of them and all.

"So stop being stupid!" Aqua yelled out, loud enough for all to here.

"Y-yeah, Ven, your "jokes" can get pretty annoying," Nihlus said still somewhat shaken by Ven's comment about Aqua and him.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Ven answered throwing his hands into the air in mock defeat. "You have to admit, though, you two did get pretty worked up over one innocent little comment…or was it not so innocent?" Ven was grinned mischievously by the end of his question.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Aqua and Ven yelled at the same time. Usually Ven's "jokes" were pranks that he got Nihlus and Aqua to help him with. In fact, almost all of their adventures that didn't involve exploring caves or something were just helping Ven to pull off his latest, and greatest, prank.

"Alright, I'll leave you two in peace, but would you mind explaining what the hell happened back at that abandoned cathedral we were exploring? The last thing I remember is those two hooded guys activating that weird machine in that castle."

At this, everyone let out a loud, collective, groan. "Am I the only person who ever gets tired of having to tell my entire life story?" Shadow asked aloud, causing Ven to jump out of surprise. (Shadow was still "in" Nihlus when he said that)

Terra walked through the streets of Radiant Garden ignoring the looks all the passer bys were giving him. Although warriors in armor with strange swords were pretty common on that particular world, Terra was a bit of an exception. Unlike most of the other warriors (i.e. Final Fantasy characters) his armor was in relatively poor condition. It looked like it had been pummeled by an adrenaline crazed maniac, which was relatively accurate since it was Shadow who had done the damage.

'That parasite is manipulating that boy,' Terra thought bitterly to himself as he walked toward the castle. 'Nihlus is goodhearted, if a little quick tempered, that thing, though, is up to something.' Terra was extremely disturbed, to say the least, about Shadow's intentions. On one hand it seemed as if it/he really did care a great deal about Nihlus's well-being, and not just out of a sense of self-preservation. On the other hand, countless people before Nihlus had been tricked into trying to spread darkness across the worlds, Riku was a perfect example. 'There's something different about him, though, how could he have gotten so strong so fast?' Terra's mental question was a good one. During his travels he had come across a few records regarding the dark champions of old. According to what they said about the dark champions, Nihlus was on par with champions that had trained for years to accomplish what Nihlus had apparently mastered in a scant year and a half. Granted, the records were limited and said nothing of the most powerful of the champions, namely the one that slaughtered almost all the chasers, but it was enough to make Terra realize that Nihlus and Shadow were much more than they appeared to be.

Shaking his head, he resolved that the best thing to do would be to alert King Mickey about Namine's drawing.

"Nothing good will come of this…" he said quietly to himself as he made his way to the castle.

"…And that's when I came here to tell everything," Riku said, finally finishing his explanation of all that transpired back at Merlin's house. Mickey was taking it surprisingly well, especially considering that Riku had just burst in and interrupted him, Donald and, Goofy from trying to find out what Nihlus was looking for when he first came to Radiant Garden.

"Gwarsh, are ya' sure that leaving him with Sora's a good idea?" Goofy asked worriedly, as he moved his hand up to his mouth in concern. Suddenly Donald began to panic.

"Wait, if he called the truce to save Aqua and Ven that means could turn on Sora at any moment, we've got to go now!" Donald yelled as he drew his staff. He then began to recklessly charge through the door, Rambo style, only to run straight into a rather surprised Terra. Before he could do anything else reckless, Riku and Goofy grabbed him by his arms and dragged him back away from the door, with him struggling and yelling "Let me go!" all the way.

"We need to talk…alone" Terra declared, though not unkindly, as he glanced at Donald, Goofy, and Riku. Mickey tilted his head in confusion, but nevertheless told Riku, Danald, and Goofy that they would just have to talk later. With no other choice the three left the room, shutting the door behind them. They then immediately piled against it in an attempt to here Mickey and Terra's conversation.

"Terra, what could be so important that you couldn't trust Riku, Donald, and Goofy?"

"That nobody, Namine, drew a picture with the door of the light realm and two armored creatures fighting. One was aligned with light and wielded the three keyblade masters' keyblades, while the other resembled one of the dark champion's transformations." The news was a shock, to put it mildly, to Mickey.

"WHAT!" he yelled, losing his normally calm composure for a moment. After taking a moment to calm down he added "How's that possible?" Terra shook his head in reply.

"I don't know, but I think I know how to find out," he said as he moved towards the door. "I was about to explore several now-ruined chaser strongholds before you contacted me. I found some records on the dark champions in the one you found me in, perhaps the others will have something in them that will help explain everything."

"I see…so where are you going, I'll come with you."

"I'm going to the world known as Halloween Town, and don't bother coming with us…the ship will be quite crowded even without you," Terra said as a small grin materialized on his face. Apparently, even he had a sense of humor.

"Besides, if that parasite that has infected that boy somehow kills me…you will need to tell the keyblade masters everything…"

Meanwhile in an unknown location, three figures clothed in grey, hooded, robes sat around a circular table with what appeared to be a hologram generator in it's center. An image of the interior of Merlin's hous, complete with Sora, Kairi, Ven, Aqua, and Nihlus talking was displayed. "It would appear that your attempts to manipulate into Namine drawing the avatars dueling were a success," one of the figures said in a calculating voice. It was clear that he was the leader of the leader of the group. The figure to the left of the speaker simply nodded quietly in response.

"I don't see why we have to bother with all this scheming and plotting!" the figure to the right exclaimed. "Seriously, while we sit around here, the dark champion and the keyblade masters are only getting stronger. We can kill them easily, why don't we just swoop in and kill them already?"

The leader simply sighed and replied "Have you no patience? Why should we reveal ourselves when we can manipulate them into killing each other?" The silent figure on the left shifted uncomfortably in it's chair upon the mention of killing.

"What's a matter, Kinjex, uncomfortable with a little death?" The figure to the right asked tauntingly.

"…It's wrong…" was all the previously silent figure said in reply.

"Rombax, stop tormenting him!" the leader demanded. Rombax simply grumbled to himself, but nevertheless obeyed. "I know how you feel about this, Kinjex," the leader said in a calm voice "but by killing them, we will be saving more lives than have ever existed in the history of the universe."

The silent Kinjex did seem to take comfort in this, but looked from under the hood that concealed his features at the hologram. More specifically he was looking at Sora and Kairi. "…They're innocent…have full lives to live…" he spoke mournfully to himself. The leader sighed, he had complete trust in Kinjex but there was no way he would be able to truly ease the pain of his guilt.

"That is all…unless, of course, either of you have an issue you would like to raise for discussion?" Kinjex shook his head from side to side in response.

"Well, I sure as hell do!" Rombax said crossing his arms. "If we're in our secret base where nobody can see us, why do we have to where these hoods over our faces, it's pointless and overly dramatic!"

Phew, that was a long chapter, hope it keeps you busy for a while! Anyway…I find the lack of reviews/reviwers…disturbing. It either means that a lot of you are lazy bums OR that my first few chapters were so bad and uninteresting that they actually drive people away BEFORE they get to the good stuff. (if you think the recent chapters qualify as good stuff)

That said, do you guys think I should try rewriting the first few chapters? (yeah, there's no way anyone would be too lazy to take a few minutes to say "nice work" or "you suck as a writer".