I turn to Mickey as we prepare to leave. "I have a question about something that happened while I was in Riku's heart."

"Ask away. I'll tell if you if I know the answer," he replies.

"Well, I had to fight the darkness, obviously, but... My magic wasn't working. I couldn't even cure myself. Do you know why that is?" I ask.

Mickey frowns. "Well.. Hmmm, given that it was your heart, not you yourself, that was in there, I'd say the best answer is that you could only use the power of your heart."

I frown then. "I guess that makes sense."

"Ready to go, Sora?" Kairi asks.

I turn to her. "Yeah, just a minute."

Mickey smiles. "I'm pretty sure that's right. Anyway, good luck finding the next Dark Prince. I'm rooting for you."

I smile back. "Thanks, we'll get back real soon."

We land in the Dwarf Woodlands and everything seems normal. Birds chirp, the sun shines, and best of all, this world is still balanced, which means H isn't here. We still have a chance to save the dark reflection of this world.

All we need to do is find the entrance way. We walk through the forest silently, looking for anything that could lead to an entrance. I turn to Aqua, "Is there anything in the notes about the dark reflection of this world?"

She shakes her head with a sigh. "None. Just Wonderland and the Enchanted Dominion were in King Mickey's notes."

I scratch the back of my head. "Okay then. I'm sure we can figure this out."

"At least H isn't here," Ventus says.

Riku frowns. "The fact that he isn't here just means he's destroying a different world."

Ventus swallows. "Uh, yeah.. You're right, Riku. Sorry."

"We'll stop H in the end, that's all that matters," Kairi adds.

"She's right," I smile, "We'll stop H and everything will be okay again."

"If we can beat him," Aqua sighs, "We don't even know what he's really capable of."

"We can do this," I reply, "We're strong, especially together. We'll beat H and restore the peace to the worlds!"

Kairi nods, smiling. "We can do this. Together, we're unbeatable."

Riku smiles lightly. "Right. Let's find the-"

He's cut off by a scream. Ventus gasps, "I know that voice!"

"Ven?" Aqua blinks as he runs ahead of us, following the path

"It's Snow White!" He yells back.

"She's a Princess of Heart!" Kairi gasps, following after him.

Riku, Aqua, and I follow our friends deeper into the Woodlands, stopping when we come to a clearing with a small cottage in the center. We catch up to Ven and Kairi as they summon their Keyblades. We summon ours as well, taking in the scene before us; H has Snow White unconscious in his arms. He smiles at us. "Still two steps behind."

"Release her!" Ven growls.

H simply chuckles, a portal of light appearing behind him. Kairi steps towards him. "What do you want with her?"

"You'll see soon enough. I'll be seeing you again, Princess. For all Seven have a place in the destruction of darkness," is his reply as he disappears into the white portal.

"Wait!" Kairi gasps.

Aqua frowns. "This isn't good. He's planning to use the Princesses of Heart, and it can't be good."

"We need to alert Mickey," Ventus says.

"We have to warn the other Princesses, get them someplace safe!" Kairi replies.

"What about the Princes of Darkness? They still need to be warned of the danger they're in!" I say.

"We need to split up," Riku says, "We'll take on telling Mickey, relocating the princesses, warning the Dark Princes. It's the best way to get ahead of H. If he's after the Princesses, we need to get them to Mickey, or Yen Sid."

"Riku's right," Aqua says.

"So, what's the plan, then?" I ask,"Where do we go?"

"I'll go inform King Mickey, Ven and Kairi will go round up the princesses and get them to Disney Castle, Riku and Sora, go warn the Dark Princes. If there's any problems, call me on the rider communicator," Aqua orders.

"We will," Riku says.

"You can count on us!" I smile.

"Meet you back at the castle," Kairi says.

Ventus nods, "We'll make it quick."

Aqua nods, summoning her Rider. "Good luck everyone. Once the Princesses have been brought to King Mickey, send us your location, Riku."

"Right," he says.

She disappears in the sky and Ven and Kairi wave goodbye and disappear in the sky on their Riders as well. Riku sighs, running a hand through his hair, "We better hurry and find the entrance to the Dwarf Woodlands' dark world."

I nod, looking around. "Right."

"How are you feeling?" I ask Riku.

He sighs. "I'm doing fine, Sora. You don't need to keep asking."

I shrug. "I'm just worked up that's all."

"I won't lose control," he snaps.

I frown. "That's not what I meant... "

He sighs again and walks ahead of me. I trail behind, giving him space to cool off and I sigh, "I just worry about you, Riku."

"A waste of time, if you ask me."

I turn with a growl, Keyblade in hand instantly. "H. Why did you come back here?"

"I still want you to join me. You've fought the darkness, you know how deceiving it can be. How dangerous, how manipulating. No darkness can be trusted, not even your friend," he replies.

"Riku isn't just darkness. He has light, he has feelings. He isn't controlled by the demons of his past," I say.

H shakes his head. "You speak as if you know. But you are wrong. He may say he has it under control, but he'll turn around and attack you in a moment's notice."

I lower my blade, eyes widening. "You trusted someone like Riku before.."

H doesn't respond, so I continue, "You were betrayed by a friend with a lot of darkness once. You trusted them and they betrayed you. H you can't destroy the balance just because of an event in your past. If the balance is destroyed, the worlds will be as well!"

"The worlds will be reborn again in Light," he replies.

"There will be no worlds left! Without the balance, the worlds can't exist, everyone has darkness in them, even me, and even you," I explain.

"Not everyone has darkness," H smiles lightly, "The worlds will be perfect peace within the Light."

"You can't use the Seven Princesses to recreate the worlds in Light." I frown.

H smirks, "I don't want to use the Princesses to recreate the worlds."

"Then... What do you want them for?" I ask.

A portal of Light appears behind H and he gives me a light smile. "You'll see soon enough. My offer still stands, Sora. It will stand until it no longer can."

"H, wait!" I gasp as he backs into the portal and disappears. I frown. He didn't agree to my assumptions of his past, but he didn't correct me either. If I'm right about his motives, maybe we can talk him out of his actions? I should talk to King Mickey about it. I should contact Aqua. I gasp, looking around, and I can't see Riku.

"He couldn't have gone too far." I head off in the direction we were going before my talk with H. I jog along, looking for my best friend. "Where'd he go?"

I call for him as I followed the path, hoping he didn't find the entrance to this Dark World without me. I continue to call for him as I go. I stop and look around, frowning. "Riku! Rikuu!"

"What?" Riku walks up to me from my left, frowning.

"Riku!" I smile. "I thought you'd left me!"

He shrugs. "Where would I go? Oh, I found the entrance. Where were you?"

"I..." I shake my head, "I wanted to give you some space. I was annoying you."

He sighs, shaking his head this time. "You're not annoying me, Sora. I was being a jerk. Anyway, I found the entrance, so let's go."

I nod. "Business as usual."

He nods and I follow him through the woods and to a stone wall. At first, it seems there's nothing there, then Riku walks right through the wall and I gasp, following quickly. We come out on the other side. The sky is a deep purple color with dim stars. The forest around us is all dead trees with dead gray leaves on black soil that turn to ash when we step on them.

Our pendants glow lightly in the dark as we continue our trek through the dead forest. I look around to see little yellow balls moving and glowing in the dark. Riku stares ahead as we walk and I try to follow his lead. We leave the forest to find a castle before us.

"Think the prince is in there?" I ask.

Riku shrugs. "Only one way to find out," and we head to the front gate. The same type of shadow people I saw in Lowland are roaming the castle grounds and two soldier Heartless guard the gate. I frown. "How do we get in?"

"I doubt we could just walk in," Riku replies.

I sigh, "Yeah, but we need to get in and warn the Dark Prince of this world about H."

"I know. We could sneak in," he suggests.

I shake my head. "The Heartless would attack us, and we'd lose our chance to warn the prince if we attacked them back."

"Right," Riku sighs, "but we still need to get in there and talk to the prince."

"Maybe we could ask for an audience with him?" I suggest.

"I doubt that would work." He frowns, running a hand through his hair.

I frown, too. "So how do we warn him?"

"I don't know... " he sighs again, looking around.

I look around as well. "There has to be a way."

"Surely," Riku replies.

"I'm just going to ask for an audience," I say, walking up to the gate.

"Sora," Riku groans, following.

I go up to one of the soldier Heartless. "I need to see your prince, please."

Riku stands beside me and the two soldiers look at each other and whisper in some language I don't know. I frown, crossing my arms, waiting. They turn back to us and whisper something I don't understand. Then the gate opens and Riku and I hurry through.

We enter the black stone castle, ignoring the shadow soldiers roaming. We quickly make our way to the throne room, which is black stone with blue banners and carpet. Sitting on the throne is a boy about my age with almost white skin and short black hair wearing dark blue armor and black eyes with no pupils.

I swallow and approach him. "Your Highness... "

He looks us up and down, then smiles slowly. "Ah, the Keyblade Masters. I was told to expect you."

"By who?" Riku asks.

"Prince Ecila of Lowland," he replies.

Remembering the little prince, I swallow again. "And what do they call you?"

Riku glances at me, then back at he prince. "Where are we?"

"This is the Shadow Lands, and I am its ruler, Prince Etihw Wons." the prince replies.

I step forward. "Prince Etihw, we came to warn you-"

He cuts me off, "Of the figure in white, yes? Ecila informed me of your visit to lowland."

Riku steps up next to me. "And unlike Prince Ecila, do your intend to heed our warning?"

Prince Etihw is silent for a few moments, then he speaks, smiling slowly, lightly, "Present your evidence of this mysterious figure's plans of destruction on my world and I might consider your warning as serious."

"Why are you all like this?" I frown. "I want to warn you so you can protect your world, but you never listen!"

"Sora," Riku warns.

I growl softly. "Just listen to what we have to say and act upon our warning to keep your world safe from danger!"

"You seem to really care about what will happen to our worlds, Light. I've never seen such devotion of your kind," Prince Etihw says.

I stare at him wide-eyed. "So... You'll listen?"

He nods and I smile. "Thanks."

Hey guys. Thanks for reading! Unfortunately, my tablet stopped working so this will be the only update for a while. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter regardless!