I throw him off to the side effortlessly, he's as light as a feather. He bangs against the ceiling as the coal key-shaped blade drops on the hollow ground. In the shadows, I see him struggle to use the wall to pick himself up. "Are you…not going to-to save her?"

"I will save her."

"The only…way you can is…to-"

"I know that Nate." I proudly rise to my feet with jade sword in hand. "I did make a pact with my parents to protect Mia, but not because I was a foolish, ignorant child. It is because before she was born I loved her and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that her heart doesn't end up in your hands." From underneath my feet, a cyan light emerges along with a bright violet one. I stand in awe along with Nate as the separate lights swirl around my legs and eventually my torso. Whatever's happening to me-it feels really good, something is changing for the better. I close my eyes blissfully as the two separate lights swallow my face whole. My face burns like the scorching sun but also feels like it's been plunged into the coldest waters. Somehow, I know that the power is coming from inside me and that it's no trick from Nate. The lights dissolve immediately after masking my face and I examine my new torso admiringly.

There are glowing swirls of faint cyan and lavender lines running vertically along the sides of my new deep sea tank top. My pants are replaced with matching, baggy slacks that are tucked into my crisp burnt orange boots. As I lift my sword hand, I trace the new metal platinum blade that is sharper, flatter, and longer than the other one-more jewel décor on the hilt-all the way to the curved tip. Other than my clothes, my muscles look slightly augmented. Gazing at Nate dauntlessly and smugly striding toward him, I put my hand in my pocket and squeeze the flower I picked up for Mia.

I can no longer figure him out. It's like after his transformation, he became a brand new person. But how is that possible? No Nate, a wardrobe change is not enough to change a person entirely but a body one is. Luxeroh lifts the sword horizontally and says, "keep your eyes on me." Sparkles rest around his neck like a pair of snakes then burst, revealing crimson and yellow chains. He has courage now I see; I grit my teeth as I snatch up the Keyblade and charge at him, brandishing it out of desperation. He instantly vanishes as if he was never there. Behind me!

I turn around and to my horror I'm wrong. His sharp blow to the side of my head sends me tumbling to the ground. Something tells me I'm going to end up here for a while. Suddenly he's got a hold on my collar and belligerently punches me until I can no longer feel my nose or see him properly. Oh God there's so much blood on his hands-relax Nate, you can figure out what he's going to do. But who knew he was capable of this? His eyes gave him away as a humble, reserved man-but they have changed so much. Like throwing a baby, he chucks me into the shadowy part of the walls where I know I can recover from his stringent beatings. Just find the Keyblade of People's Hearts and concentrate on his eyes. They always reveal what the mouth doesn't say or what the body fails to show.

As I start to sit up, I howl in agony as Luxeroh plunges his upgraded blade into my chest. Deep enough to pierce through my vigorously beating heart and my soul-how can a blade that isn't a Keyblade do that? Unless-no, he doesn't have one, it's just an ordinary blade, but still how? As my head begins to slump over, I take notice of the fresh blood on my pants and Luxeroh's clothes. "Read me now Nate," he whispers as he holds my bobbing head still with his bloody fingers in my hair. As I gaze into his jade eyes, I realize that his eyes have a clean slate, oh, but there's an image of someone. Someone very scared, someone frightened, and hurt, someone that looks lost-me. He shucks his sword from my chest harshly, sending me to the ground to drown in a puddle of my blood. I was never a good fighter Nox said to me forever ago. So this is how it feels to be Heartless, hopping to different worlds to devour worlds because without a heart there is nothing but a void inside you. I feel that now.

Almost a week ago, or a month I'm losing track of time, I had a plan to seize the heart and soul of a little girl. Using her power, I would rebel against Nox and his pupils and rule over World 15 myself and then search for the cliché things bad guys want-ultimate power, immortality, maybe world domination. I was going to have it all. Nox said I was never a good fighter but I learned to manipulate others in to doing what I want by understanding how different people thought-the eyes. But all that knowledge vanished when the knight in shining blue transformed and I could no longer read his eyes.

I drop Mia on a soft part of the ground, resting her head on a rock. My last golden ring returns to the slot on my sleeve. That Heartless-Guardian Door thing never stood a chance. After all this, after everything I went through, Mia is still dead. I don't care what that kid said about two hearts, Mia's as good as dead and you can't bring the dead back to life. I should know, I tried. But now I look towards the future, finding the other two girls and using them to find the Chaos Emeralds, life goes on. I stand up and start to walk away-where would I go? I have no idea how to get back to the portal I came through and also Luke entrusted me with her. It's a dead end for me.

I turn back around and get on one knee beside the cold Mia. "If you can hear me, get up," I mutter in vain, trying not to let Angelica's death swamp me with emotion. Her pale face does not stir even a little bit. She reminds me of Angelica when she died. Why can't I protect anyone? Am I that much a failure to everyone who I come into contact with? "I'll never be the knight in shining armor," I convince myself with a disheartening chuckle. There are gradual footsteps from behind me. "Who's there?"

From the bushes a man I can hardly recognize comes out. What happened to Luke? The longer I glower at him, the more I realize that it is Luke with more hair and a change of clothes. My eyes cautiously travel to the object in his hand. "Don't worry Don. I'm not bringing harm to you or my sister."

"Why do you have that blade-?" I demand, still tentative of the new-and-improved Luke with splattered blood on his arms. He flashes me that genuine smile of his-finally proving that it really is him-as he holds the key-shaped blade with hands drenched in blood that was once fresh and raw.

"I can still save her if I do this one thing. But you have to promise me something Don." I can feel a new power from within him-how did that happen? He's gotten beefier and some of his dark curls reach down to his eyebrows. How could he have changed into something more? "Are you listening to me?"

"Loud and clear."

"I thought I was going to bring her home and have her live out the rest of her days here, but things have changed. I need you to protect my sister for me, please. Just keep her safe because I won't be able to-"

"What're you going to do?"

"Nate was wrong about you Don. You're not a selfish person," he comments warmly. "I digress. Protect her to the best of your abilities."

"I'm bad at keeping promises."

"Try your best to keep this one, oh, and another thing. Don't tell her about me-please don't ask why. Just never tell her a word about me, even after this, okay?" Baffled but loyally, I nod, putting a fist across my chest. Luke sighs contently, closing his eyes. "Thank you Don. It was a pleasure meeting you and I hope Mia can help you fight your inner demons." My inner demons? Before I can inquire about the cryptic phrase, he plunges the dark blade into the center of his chest as I watch helplessly.

I cry out as I tumble backwards and see the almost-setting sun with amorphous clouds straying by it. When I turn my head to look at my arm, it's transparent, as is the rest of my body. You're doing this to save Mia, remember that. Don said he'll protect her so that should be enough, I can trust him. It might be hard for both of them but I know Don will fulfill my dying wish. I just need to live long enough to see her live but I don't think I can.

"Luke, I'm still here," Don says urgently. Slowly my eyes look up to where I saw the sky and instead I see Don staying by me. Whether he likes it or not, we have become friends. An enormous pain shoots up from my chest but I bite my lip to stop myself from screaming. I can no longer feel my legs or the rest of me, it's as if a part of me just got up and abandoned me. Don and I watch as a broken, rose-colored heart that looks glued together hovers over me and then zooms elsewhere.

"Te-" it's hard for me to even speak and Don can see that. I can see the deep frown lines on his forehead. His face is beginning to blur but I can't disappear yet! No, I just have to see her alive and well once before I go to wherever people like me go. I hope I can finally see my parents wherever I end up, that's all a dying man could hope for.

As I sit up, I open my eyes. My body feels very rested, as though I just took a long nap. But when I blink everything around me into focus, I can't recognize anything. Maybe I'm in the middle of a forest or something? When I turn to my left, I see-Don? I thought he was dead. What's he doing here? "Don-what's going on?" I ask him, high-strung. He merely glances at me but has his attention at the almost transparent man by his side. I crawl over to them, repeating my question. "What's going on?" The man whose face is twisted in absolute agony startles me. "Excuse me sir! Are you okay? I can go get someone to help you, tell me what's wrong."

A pained smile slowly stretches across his face. With a faint grunt, he manages to open his dark green eyes and stare at me. How strange, it feels like I'm staring back into a mirror. "You w-were-ri-ght. I'm-g-glad I-I got-t-to meet her."

"Do I-know you?" With the little energy he has, he shakes his head. Just then a crimson, crystal heart emerges from his chest, pushing me and Don back a little. It spins as it floats upward into the setting sun, eventually becoming a fading pink spec. When I look back at the dying man, he's completely gone, without even leaving an imprint on the grass. "Don, what happened? Who was that man and why are we here?" Don closes his eyes wistfully and gets up.

"Do you sense a portal nearby?" he asks apathetically. I nod and he says, "take it home."

"But won't you please tell me what happened to that man? Who was he?"

He opens his ruby eyes sharply and answers indifferently, "nothing more than a stranger."

"Did you-do something to him?"

"No."

"So why did this-what happened to him?"

"I don't know, he was a stranger to me."