Kingdom Hearts: Fragments of Starlight

by Moogle Empress

Lucille, Florian and Chi are left in an unknown place after closing the Door to Darkness. They meet a quirky but friendly nobody called Quartz and discover that Sora and his friends had entered Castle Oblivion, where a shady group of people in black coats are lurking. Can they overcome the trials set before them to save her brother? Or will they face their oblivion?

10. Chapter 9: Once Upon A Memory (Part II)

Episode 9: Once Upon A Memory (Part II)

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Eventually, they found a safe location in the form of a some kind of bedroom.

"Whew! Safe! Oh man, that was scary. I almost fainted! Almost." Quartz sighed in relief.

"Heh, who knew that bubble-head would save us? My pride as a Foreteller is damaged now," Gula teased.

"Heeey..." Quartz sniffed.

"You're both lifesavers, thanks. We were kinda unprepared and would have been in big trouble if you guys hadn't shown up." Lucille thanked the pale greenette before turning to the hooded boy who had his hood up the whole time they had been running.

"Aw shucks, it was no biggie. Besides, I was really worried about you guys! You just suddenly disappeared and we got kicked out by that world and-" Quartz started to ramble until he noticed Lucille had turned to Riku.

"Riku...that's you, isn't it?" Lucille asked hopefully.

He sighed and pulled his hood down. "I never could fool you."

"It is you!" Lucille beamed and hugged her best friend tightly. Riku was unsure how to react but he didn't need to since Lucille let go and then slapped his face.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"What do you think?! I was so worried about you and King Mickey! Do you have any idea what we've been through? We were being hunted by some red-haired pyromaniac who's leader is some heart-obsessed freak who wanted to capture Quartz for something bad, and then I find out that my brother had almost been BRAINWASHED by some pink-haired psychopath who bullied Namine into messing with his memories. And don't think I've forgotten that you threw me through that door back on the islands, you jerk!"

"Okay, that part I still have no idea about," Riku corrected.

"But Riku, we saw you do it. I'll admit you did seem a little out of it. It was as if you didn't seem to recognize Lucille at all," Florian recalled

"Really? Wait...don't tell me that Ansem's influence went as far back as..." Riku came to a daunting realization. "Damn it...Was I that weak that I let that happen even back then?" He cursed to himself.

He saw Lucille's body shake and quiet sobs coming from her. When he looked down to see her face, he noticed she was crying.

"I was really worried about you. Why didn't you say anything or show yourself if you were inside the castle the entire time? You didn't think I'd care if anything happened to you or if you had remained trapped in the Realm of Darkness? I didn't want to think that you were under the control of that Marluxia guy or anyone else, for that matter. I was looking everywhere for you as well as Sora and Kairi, but whenever we finally find each other, you keep trying to keep me out of danger or we get separated again by some force. I didn't want you to suddenly disappear on me again. Don't try to do everything on your own. I can help too! I'm not weak anymore, so stop treating me as if I'm some porcelain doll!"

"..."

"Wow, she really had some pent up anger, didn't she?" Gula whistled.

"Gula! Not now." Ava gently slapped Gula's arm to scold him.

"I'm sorry, Lucille. All I ever seem to do lately is make you cry. Believe me, though, if I had known you were in the castle, Mickey and I would have come back much sooner. We didn't know you were there until Diz sent us a message to come back." Riku did his best to try and dry her eyes.

"Diz?" Lucille sniffed.

"Long story. We knew Zero was the key to finding you and helping Sora so we were ordered to bring him back. We found your sleeping forms and brought them to the thirteenth floor, where we knew they would be safe but you were still trapped in the dream world you were plunged into, and only Zero knew how to get you out."

"Really? That's what happened?" Lucille blinked.

Riku nodded. "It's a bit more complicated, but that's the gist of what's happening in the real Castle Oblivion right now. We didn't realize this dream world of Castle Oblivion was going to be this vast, though, so it took a while to finally locate you."

Lucille looked down. "I'm sorry. I guess I have no right to chastise you when I'm the one who's causing you trouble."

Riku shook his head. "I was really worried about you too. It hurt seeing you unconscious like that, not knowing if you'd ever wake up again. I felt like I failed you and Sora all over again, just like how my own arrogance almost cost you your life. All I ever wanted was to protect you, Sora and Kairi, but in the end I became my own worst enemy and almost destroyed what I cherished most. I will always regret what I did back then-to both Sora and you."

"Riku..."

"That's why this time I don't plan on us getting separated again. This time we'll fight and escape together, okay?" Riku smiled softly.

Lucille smiled softly and nodded. "You bet. Don't think for one second you're going to be able to run away again, you jerkface." She lightly joked.

"I know I've already said this once. I owe you an apology too, Florian. I treated you badly and I believed Maleficent's lies about you. I even caused you and Lucille so much pain when I tried to break your pact with each other."

Florian shook his head. "You were lost and didn't know what to do. It was just unfortunate that Maleficent got to you first. And you were just trying to help Lucille and Kairi. I would have done the same if I had been your position." Florian shook his head.

"You're far too nice. I'll admit my instincts told me that you weren't capable of doing something so malicious. I just wished I'd stuck to it." Riku sighed.

"It's in the past now, Riku. We can only learn from our mistakes. Besides, even we Seraphim can make mistakes, you know, so we're not without our faults," Florian told him.

"So...I've been meaning to ask-who are they?" Riku pointed to Ava, Gula and even to the young boy whom Riku still hadn't realized was Zen.

"Oh, right, you never knew about us. I suppose now would be the best time to try and explain." Ava recalled that Riku had no idea about the Foretellers so this was a good opportunity to break the ice with him. After all, he was one of Lucille's closest friends so Ava had known Riku since he was little.

"It's nice to finally speak face to face with you, Riku. I've always appreciated how kind you are to Lucille and how you helped her through her toughest times when she was bed-ridden."

Riku blinked.

"Let me introduce myself-I am Master Ava. I'm one of the Five Foretellers that existed long ago in what people now call the Era of Fairytales. I'm...also technically part of Lucille's heart now, so you could say we're the same person?"

"...What?"

"It's really complicated, but basically Lucille has inherited Ava's power as both a Keyblade wielder and Ava's title as Foreteller. So you could say she's now a Foreteller-in-training, which is kinda the same thing as training to become a Keyblade Master," Gula tried to explain simply.

"Huh, that would explain how Lucille recovered so fast after nearly drowning. It was after that event that Lucille had gotten stronger and healthier," Riku recalled.

Lucille nodded. "Right, it was Ava who helped to make me stronger. You see, when our hearts first merged, it made my heart more weak and vulnerable, and I needed time to get use to Ava's presence within me-My body was affected by that, too."

"So it's your fault that Lucille was so weak when she was younger." Riku glared at Ava.

"Yes. I won't deny or run from that fact. Lucille saved me by allowing our hearts to join as one. I was lost in the Realm of Darkness, on the verge of giving up after fighting so long to keep my heart above the abyss that surrounded me, haunting me with the memories of my past and of the mistakes that I helped make. It was like a poison killing me from the inside. Then Lucille came and pulled me out of that darkness. I would have been lost without her. I owe her everything." Ava bravely faced Riku, standing her ground.

"Riku, if it wasn't for Ava, I probably would have drowned. She was the one who saved me all those years ago," Lucille reasoned.

"She did? How is that-"

"I'm ashamed to admit this, but I took over her body in order to keep her from drowning. I switched her back as soon as she was safely back on the shore," Ava admitted.

"You what?!"

"Riku! It's fine. I trust Ava! She's helped more times than I could possibly count! Please don't be angry with her."

Riku kept his anger in check, but he certainly didn't like what he heard.

"I don't blame you, Riku. After what you've been through, it's understandable why you don't like what I did. Believe me, though, I'd never betray Lucille's trust like that."

"No...that's true. You would have done that long ago if you had wanted to. Alright, since Lucille trusts you, I'll try to do that too," Riku sighed.

Ava smiled and bowed. "Thank you, Riku."

"Uh...so...who's the little kid that looks just like Zen? Only like ten years younger?" Quartz pointed curiously to the young boy.

"Oh, right, I should probably tell you about what's going on with this world and why it's so mixed up like it is." Gula nodded.

"Aw, he's so cute! Look at his wittle cheeks~" Quartz cooed, pinching one Zen's cheeks affectionately.

"Stop that! Why does every grown up do that? It's annoying!" Zen huffed and swatted away Quartz's hand.

"Ah, there's the Zen I know," Lucille quietly snickered.

"Okay, so as you've noticed, this memory world is very unlike the ones we've visited before."

"No kidding. This world doesn't make sense. Are these my memories or Zen's? I don't remember the castle looking this normal-well, besides the psychotic darkness embodiment of yours trying to murder us." Lucille folded her arms.

"Ah...yes. I have to apologize for that. I can only assume he must have come from the darkness that I probably generated from my time in the Realm of Darkness. Like Ava, I had wandered in that dark place with no light to be seen. With my body gone, my heart was exposed to the darkness around it. It almost swallowed me. Just when I was about to just let the darkness take me, I finally found a light in that endless darkness."

"That light was Zen, right?" Lucille smiled.

"Don't tell me that guy is a successor to these foretellers too." Riku groaned.

"Too bad for you, because he's my successor." Gula smirked at Riku before continuing, "It was the light coming from a newborn heart. It welcomed me into its light and, considering my choices were either to accept the offer or stay in the Realm of Darkness and become a pawn of darkness, I took my chances with the light."

"And thus you became just like what Master Ava is to Lucille," Florian added.

"Pretty much. Unfortunately, that darkness stayed with me even after I joined with Zen's. Thankfully, it seemed that darkness didn't, or rather, it couldn't move to Zen's heart. It remained trapped with me. So I've managed to cage that darkness to stop it from ever hurting anyone."

"You've found a way to trap your darkness? How did you do it?" Riku became alert at this.

"I figured this would gain your interest since you're trying to keep the darkness in you in check as well, aren't you?"

"..." Riku didn't say anything but his expression confirmed Gula's suspicions. "Well, I don't think you're doing a bad job right now. You're not afraid of it anymore. Now that you've been burned once by that power, you now know your limits. That's the first step," Gula lightly instructed. "You've still got a long way to go, but I've got high hopes for you. I'm sure you'll work the rest out on your own."

"You're...surprisingly insightful." Riku was impressed-he wouldn't lie.

"Gula has always been the smartest of all of us. He always figured things out before any of us did," Ava added.

"Yeah, that didn't mean my logic was flawless, though. Remember my grand mistake of assuming Aced was the traitor? I admit that it bad accusing him. I really didn't want to think any of us could be the traitor but at the time..." Gula recalled.

"Heh heh, Aced would faint if he heard you say that. That almost sounded like an apology from you."

"Harsh, Ava," Gula pouted.

"What's this about a traitor?" Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Eh, don't worry about it. This happened long ago. I wonder if there was even a traitor to begin with," Gula brushed off.

"Anyway, getting back on topic-it seems like Zero might have made a mistake when he created the memory card for this world. Somehow, he managed to also touch Zen's memories and pull one or maybe even two from him due to your heart's connection to him."

"My heart's connection to Zen caused one of his memories to be copied too?" Lucille placed a hand on where her heart was.

"It must have been when we were still trying to find a way to reach you guys when you locked yourselves behind the Door to Darkness with Riku and King Mickey as we weren't there when Zero created those cards. And, ironically enough, it turns out the memory Zero managed to replicate was the same one that Ion sealed away to keep Zen from remembering what happened when he was being experimented on by Xehanort."

"So that's why the castle looks normal. This was before the Heartless attack," Florian clicked.

"But it's not just Zen's memory. Lucille's memory of Hallow Bastion is here too, thus causing a conflict of memories of two different time eras. One comes from the past and the other comes from the future. Worlds like this can't work like Memoria or the Realm of Darkness where time doesn't exist. If this was a real sleeping world then it would be possible the two to exist, but this is a world recreated from person's memory and it can only be used once."

"So you're saying this place is a mix of both Lucille's and Zen's now?"

"Sort of. It's not as simple as that. Zen's memories have more influence than Lucille's since he spent five years of his childhood here, so it won over, but there's still pieces of Lucille's memories scattered around here. That's why some places look normal while other places look exactly like the Hallow Bastion we know."

"I see. So there's probably parts of this world that come from my memory that we haven't seen yet." Lucille seemed to slowly understand why this memory world seemed so disorienting to her.

"And what about this little Zen?" Quartz asked.

"Right, I was about to get to that. This is going to sound really crazy, but I need you all to stay with me here when I say this, okay?" Gula warned.

"Go on. It can't be anymore insane than what we just heard," Riku scoffed.

"You might want to take that back in a second," Gula teased. "You see...that Zen you see over there is our Zen, but his physical and mental state have gone back to when he was five years old before...well...Xehanort got him."

A long period of silence took over as the information sank in. Once it finally did...

"...WHAT?!" Everyone cried out.

"So this is Zen, but he's been regressed back to a five year old?" Lucille tried to process.

"Yup. He won't remember anything that happens in this memory world. This is just a copy of the real memory that's still inside Zen. So what happens in this world stays in this world. Don't worry, he won't remember you pinching his wittle cheeks," Gula teased Quartz at the end.

"Oh, good. I'm pretty sure he would punch my lights out if he knew I had done that." Quartz sighed in relief.

"Although...the heart is a mysterious thing. Zen could be influenced depending on our actions here. That might be why that dark version of me is trying to get Zen. If he can influence Zen's subconscious somehow, he might be able to possess his body back outside in the memory world.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that...Zen's heart and body are separated?" Florian gasped.

"Well...it's not life-threatening. It just means he's sleeping right now just like you guys are-if we are to believe Ratatosk's words."

"So this is Zen's subconscious..." Lucille bent down to look at Zen.

Zen blushed lightly and looked away from Lucille. "Don't stare. It worries me when people do that."

"Oh, sorry. I guess you have to deal with a lot of staring, huh."

"I...really don't understand what's going on. I don't know what that scary person wants with me but...I don't want to go anywhere with him."

"Don't worry, you won't. As long as we're here, we'll clock that poser and throw him back into the darkness," Lucille reassured.

"Ouch...He's technically part of me, you know." Gula cringed.

"But that doesn't explain how this 'dark' version of you is here. He's even wearing Zen's face instead of yours," Riku pointed out.

"We're in a memory world, remember? And this memory was either before or during Xehanort taking full control of the castle and performing his experiments. Somehow he knew I was inside Zen's heart, and he wanted to extract my heart from him. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way he wanted. Zen and I are so interconnected that he couldn't separate us without destroying both of us."

"But he didn't stop there, did he?" Florian grimaced

Gula shook his head. "No, if he couldn't separate us, then he would try to turn Zen into a puppet, a pawn of his to use. That way, he would still get the power of a Foreteller and potentially a spare vessel if he needed one. He somehow found the darkness that I had trapped inside myself and extracted that instead. That darkness turned into the very thing that disfigured Zen's arm."

"That Heartless claw..." Riku realized.

"Yeah, I'm the reason that Zen ended up with that Heartless claw. Since then, Xehanort had forced countless victims upon Zen, forcing him to use that claw to feed off the darkness in those victims' hearts. How do you think a five year old being forced into such acts would react to such a terrifying scene?"

"..." Lucille couldn't say anything at all. She was speechless.

"So naturally when Zen's subconscious was brought here, he brought that darkness with him to the memory world that manifested using the fabricated darkness of this world. In truth, the one that we saw here-he's just an illusion, but a dangerous one still, especially if he can influence Zen to the point where he can take full control of his mind," Gula finished.

"So that's how Dark Gula came into being." Florian understood the situation now.

"Dark Gula?" Gula repeated.

"Well...we can't just keep calling it the personification of your darkness," Florian reasoned.

"Fair point. It would take way too long to say that in one sentence," Gula agreed.

"...?" Zen looked confused.

"Dude, should we be talking about this with Zen nearby? He's right here." Quartz looked a little worried about talking about such things that still probably hadn't happened yet to this Zen.

"I think Zen already experienced it, but, like I said, that memory was sealed away by Ion. So he probably doesn't know that it happened yet," Gula told him.

"I've been meaning to ask. Zen knew you right away, but you didn't appear before him until Hallow Bastion, right?"

"Well...that's not entirely true..." Gula used a finger to scratch his cheek sheepishly.

"Oh, I've known Gula since I was really little! He's been with me all this time; I just didn't want to tell Aster or Ion about it because they might think I was crazy," Zen chirped in.

"Wait, so he thought you were his imaginary, friend? Huh, I didn't peg Zen to do something like that." Lucille blinked.

"I see. So Gula is like your guardian angel, right?" Quartz beamed.

"Hmhm!" Zen nodded earnestly.

"I don't get it, Gula...why didn't Zen know about you until much later if he had known you long before then?" Ava asked curiously.

"I...secretly asked Ion to seal away any memories involving me too when he was sealing away Zen's memories of what happened when he had been taken by Xehanort. He knew I was there, but he never spoke up about it in front of Zen. I felt responsible-I was the reason he was targeted in the first place. I caused so much suffering for him. I thought if those memories could be sealed away then that darkness would be trapped inside those sealed memories as well. But he still had that Heartless claw arm that he has to contend with on a daily basis. I've got to admit...Zen's got way more willpower than I'll ever have."

"Oh...so when we entered this memory world...it also recreated that darkness that was inside his sealed memories."

"Precisely. That's really all I was able to gather by myself. Sorry it's not much."

"It's plenty, Gula. At least now we have a better idea what's going on here." Lucille shook her head.

Zen went over and held Gula's hand, sensing that Gula seemed a little depressed. Lucille hadn't realized it until now, but she could see Zen's hand was normal. Could it be because Dark Gula took the form of Zen's Heartless claw in their world that Zen's arm looked normal in this memory world?

"Gula, it'll be okay. Miss Lucille said it herself-nothing bad will go wrong as long as you're all here."

"Thanks, kid." Gula gently patted the boy's head before turning to the others. "Right, so now we need to think of a way to defeat that illusion of...ugh...Dark Gula. Man, that sounds so weird coming from me."

"He's a manifestation of darkness, right? He reacted to Quartz's light just like a Heartless would," Riku started.

"I figured that was Quartz's handiwork." Florian beamed.

"Heh heh...At least this power of mine is good for something other than powering ancient relics." Quartz grinned.

"Maybe the Lux Arma could work on him. It repels all forms of darkness, right?" Lucille called forth her Lux Arma that appeared in her hand as she carefully looked at the seraphic blade.

"That's true. A Union Drive would probably be effective too, but we've used that power too much recently. I don't think we should use it. It takes up a lot of energy," Florian added.

"We also don't know how strong this Dark Gula is, so we should conserve what energy we have," Ava agreed with Florian.

"Okay, where would you go if you wanted to find a dark incarnation of a Foreteller hell bent on possessing a small child?" Lucille wondered as she dismissed the blade in her hand once again.

"You know, that sounds really messed up when you word it like that," Gula noted.

"Oh, what about that giant room where Maleficent had all the Princesses of Hearts? You know, the one that had this world's keyhole?" Florian made an accurate guess.

"Hmmm, actually that wouldn't be a bad place to start. There's enough room to move around, and I imagine that's the kind of ominous location they'd pick." Riku gave this some thought before coming to the same conclusion as Florian.

"Uh, Zen...? Do you happen to know where this place is?" Lucille turned to the young greenette.

"Yup, I go there to see Ion on certain days. I know where it is." Zen nodded.

"Alright, we'll check that place first then. If we're right, that's where we'll find this Dark Gula." Riku nodded.

"You know, this is a really nice room. Who does it belong to?" Quartz commented innocently about the bedroom they were in.

"Oh...this was where I stayed while in Hallow Bastion when I was...working with Maleficent," Riku hesitantly confessed.

"But this is my bedroom." Zen tilted his head in confusion.

Riku glanced at Zen and sighed. "Of course I'd end up in the same room that you lived in. I swear fate has a twisted sense of humor."

"...?" Zen was completely unaware of the rivalry that went on between Riku and his older self. "Why do you keep calling it Hallow Bastion? This is Radiant Garden," Zen added.

"Well, you know, outsiders and all." Lucille laughed nervously.

"Oh...yeah, that makes sense." Zen nodded. He went over and took hold of Lucille's hand. "Can you tell me about your world, Miss Lucille? Is it like Radiant Garden?"

"Ah, curious, huh? Sure, I don't see why not." Lucille smiled and decided to humor the younger Zen. After all, chances are he won't remember this conversation.

Riku glared, but Gula's teasing tone forced him to calm himself down. "Riku, your jealousy is showing again."

"Relax, Zen's just naturally curious. Don't forget, right now he's only five years old and doesn't remember anything of the ten years ahead right now. He doesn't even remember meeting you...yet. Besides, couldn't you go a little easy on him? You guys are essentially on the same boat."

Riku crossed his arms. "Did Zen really go through ten years of fighting the darkness on his own?"

"Yeah, he did. Even Master Oswald could tell you that. Look, I know you guys don't get along and I know Zen's prickly at best. He's a good kid underneath it all. I mean look at him right now." Gula pointed to Zen and Lucille, who was chatting away with Quartz and Florian.

"You live on an a island surrounded by water?! That sounds so cool! Why is it called Destiny Islands?" Zen excitedly exclaimed.

"Huh, you know I really don't know myself. It is a really beautiful place, though. The skies are usually warm and sunny, the ocean's surface gleaming brightly as the sun sets over an orange sunset or dawn, the sounds of the ocean's waves crashing on the shore, the white soft beaches…and I've just made myself home-sick. I really need go visit home at some point." Lucille continued her explanation, but as she did so, she felt the pang of pain that comes from the sense of nostalgia she felt.

She really missed her home and her parents. Their parents were SO going to kill them for making them fret and worry for so long. She and Florian fought hard to find a way to restore their home after the Heartless plunged it into darkness. If the theory holds correct, then all the worlds that Heartless captured while under the control of Dark Seeker Ansem would be freed and restored. She really hoped that was true for her home's sake.

"The proper word would be archipelago, Zen. That means it's a large gathering of islands all in one place. That sums up Destiny Islands," Florian tried to teach.

"Archipelago...? I just learned something that Aster doesn't know. I can't wait to tell him!"

"Oh, you'd love Destiny Islands! It's so nice and warm and there's these white birds that fly all over the place."

"They're called Seagulls, Quartz," Lucille bluntly answered.

"What are seagulls like then? Are they giants?"

"Ahaha, goodness no! I think the islanders would be worried if there was a bird that huge! Seagulls are a little bigger than a small bird, but they like to live nearby the shore since they eat fish from the ocean by plucking them out. The sailors and fisherman of our islands always use them as a sign that land is near," Lucille told him.

"Wow, that's handy. What else do your people do? Do you research stuff like Lord Ansem and his...um...appren-appren...the other scholars, I mean?" Zen was intrigued.

"Nah, we live a simple but honest life. We're born on the islands. We live on those islands, and we die on those islands. There were some folk who left to try and find the fabled 'outside world' so the elders would try to scare the younger generation away from doing the same thing by telling old island legends of mythical sea beasts that supposedly claimed the lives of many."

"That's silly. Monsters don't exist," Zen scoffed.

"Heh heh, after everything we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if they did exist. There's so many different worlds out there, each one with a different way of living and so many different people to meet, so many places to see and learn from. It's really an amazing and life-changing experience."

"Wow...I hope Aster and I get to explore those worlds someday! Besides...I'd like to go see my real home if it still exists somewhere among those stars."

"I'm sure your world still exists. I can feel it in my heart that this is the truth. My gut instincts never failed me yet!" Quartz boldly claimed.

"So what about that time you tried to sneak up on us and I nearly ran you through with my Lux Arma?" Lucille teased.

"Lucille~! How can you say that? I was trying to be all cool and awesome, and then you had to remind me of that!" Quartz whined pitifully and started to cry a waterfall of tears from his eyes.

"C'mon, Quartz, I was just kidding. Don't start bawling. You'll look bad in front of Zen."

As the two continued their exchange, Riku, Gula and Ava watched on.

"You know, I never knew Zen had this side of him. He sort of reminds me of myself when I was a kid. I'd never thought I'd say that."

"You see? You two are much more alike than you think. Deep down, this is Zen's true self, but after everything that happened with Xehanort and with Radiant Garden falling to darkness ten years ago-not to mention feeling like he failed Aster when he ended up with amnesia and Ion, who stayed behind to keep the heart of that world protected from the Heartless that would have devoured it in seconds had he not used himself as the seal to protect the keyhole. He eventually...lost that child-like wonder and was forced to grow up faster than he should have, distancing himself from people. He should have lived a normal life. If only he hadn't found me," Gula explained.

"You really feel responsible, don't you?" Riku asked.

Gula nodded.

"You were very much the same, Riku. You wanted to protect the people important to you-like your friends. So you forced yourself to grow up and act like an adult rather than the teenager that you are," Ava reminded.

"Look how well that turned out." Riku grimaced.

"You made mistakes. We've made terrible mistakes too, you know. We caused the Keyblade War that took so many lives and caused a huge decrease in the Seraphim's numbers, as a lot of them were bound to keyblade wielders who lost their hearts to darkness-and thus the Seraphim followed, as the pact is soul-binding."

"I understand your feeling of wanting to atone for your mistakes. Gula and I feel the same way. That's why we won't allow our successors to make our fatal mistakes. As they will inherit the future that is to come, it'll be up to them to decide on the path that they will walk together as one union-something that we were never able to achieve," Ava continued.

"So I'm not the only one who messed up big time. That's...comforting?"

"Well, let's just say we're on the same wavelength. You and Zen could be good friends if you just tried to understand and learn from each other. Of course, knowing Zen like I do, he'll probably still hold a grudge against you for a REALLY long time after what you did to Sora and Lucille. He doesn't like betrayals of any kind. Not gonna lie-what you did back then was pretty low, buddy."

"We didn't get along the moment we first met. We've been hostile with each other since then. I'm not sure how you expect us to actually be friends," Riku sarcastically noted.

"Well, think of this as part of your journey to redeeming yourself. I don't know Zen as well as Gula, but I do believe that if you preserve and don't give up on him, he'll eventually come to think of you as a friend. It worked for Aster and Lucille, so why not you?" Ava advised.

"I think you're both insane but...I'll try. I owe it to Lucille to try and be friendly with him."

"Hey, guys! C'mon, let's go! We need to find that Dark Gula!" Lucille called out to them, who seemed to have finally coaxed the unpredictable Quartz from his pitiful state, with Florian and Zen waiting for them. Zen held on to one of Lucille's hand, which made Riku growl lowly.

"He can start by not being so clingy towards my best friend."

"Hoo boy. Reel it in, bright eyes." Gula shook his head in disbelief.

"Let's hurry to the place where they held the Seven Princesses of Heart." Ava moved to join Lucille and the others, with the two boys following behind, leaving the bedroom behind. From here on, they'd be at the mercy of the memory world.

---

Thankfully, their journey was more or less peaceful, as they didn't come into conflict with many Heartless. Dark Gula was probably biding his strength to wait to summon more using his own darkness when they came face to face.

Following Zen's direction's, they found themselves in the same room that the Seven Princesses of Heart were held as captives in by Maleficent.

"This place brings back bad memories." Riku frowned.

"This is definitely from my memory. It's like Gula said-while most of the memory world resembles Zen's memory of this world, parts of my memory are mixed with it. Good thing this place is separate from Zen's actual chain of memories."

"I can sense Dark Gula. He's here, alright." Gula called forth his keyblade, Ava also following suit.

"Well well, you came to me, after all. Saves me from trying to scour this whole memory world looking for you," Dark Gula mocked as he stood actually where Riku's possessed self once sat.

That memory came back with a vengeance for Riku.

"My, aren't you the one that Xehanort possessed before? What a disappointment you turned out to be. Just like the brat right next to you."

"Hmph. I refuse to-wait, Xehanort? Don't you mean Ansem?"

"Ugh...This is so stupid. That 'Ansem' that took control of you was just Xehanort's Heartless pretending to be Ansem. Had a bad case of delusions, that one."

"Well, we could have told him that ourselves," Gula retorted.

"...Fate really does have a twisted sense of humor. The same guy who made Zen's life a living hell is the same one who nearly made mine a living hell. Just how many more connections are we going to have?" Riku grumbled.

"What's a living hell, anyway? I've heard the word used often but I never understood what it meant." Quartz asked.

"...Seriously?" Riku just stared at Quartz with a incredulous look.

"He's special, Riku, he's special. Just go along with it." Lucille shook her head.

"And you brought the little runt with you. How helpful of you. I suppose you still aren't going to take my offer from before?" Dark Gula asked.

"I'll tell you what I told you back then-screw your deal! I'd sooner be swallowed by darkness than accept any deal of yours," Lucille barked back.

"Oh well, I tried. Guess we'll do this the hard way. How about a trip down memory lane for you both?" Dark Gula shrugged his shoulders and then snapped his fingers. A black hole appeared underneath Lucille and Zen and both of them fell into the abyss below, letting out shocked cries as gravity allowed them to fall into it.

"Lucille!" Both Riku and Florian said at the same time.

"Zen!" Gula tried calling out, but they couldn't see or hear anything from it before it closed just as fast as it appeared.

"Where did you send them?"

"Oh relax, They're fine. I just took them to a place that I prepared especially for this moment. I'm sure that this will break the kid's mind like a twig. Then I'll have full reign over that body waiting for me on the other side without having to fight for dominance. With the Star Fragment in hand, getting out of here will be a cinch while leaving you all here to rot away. Doesn't that sound like a wonderful plan?"

"No! You're wrong. Zen is stronger than that. He'll prove that to you." Gula refused to believe that.

"Oh, we'll see who turns out to be right. While we wait for their return, let's play a little keyblade match, shall we? I've been waiting for the chance to fight my other half," Dark Gula mocked as he summoned not only a reverse version of Gula's keyblade but even wore a darker version of Gula's union armour gear."

You thief! I was saving that for Zen." Gula scowled.

"Then try and claim it back, if you can."

"Get ready, this is going to be a tough fight," Gula told everyone as they braced themselves for combat.

"Will Lucille be okay down there with Zen?" Florian asked.

"Don't worry about Lucille. She can take care of herself. I'm more worried about Zen right now. In this memory world, he has the mind and body of a five year old right now. Unless he can awaken his present self..." Ava told the seraph.

"Let the games begin!" Dark Gula declared loudly as he started to summon multiple Heartless from his own pool of darkness.

---

Zen and Lucille fell rather unceremoniously in a bleak location.

"You know, I'm getting really sick of getting thrown into dark places," Lucille sarcastically noted before sitting up and looking for the greenette, who was not far from where Lucille landed.

"Zen! Are you alright?" She gently shook the boy's body in order to stir him awake. Thankfully, Zen responded as she hoped.

"Owww...that really hurt. Where are we now?"

"Good question," Lucille agreed and tried to focus her eyes on their surroundings. It was then that numerous Shadow Heartless appeared from the ground and had trapped them in a circle, with Lucille and Zen in the middle of it.

'This isn't good. We're surrounded completely by these things! I bet that Dark Gula sent them. If I had Florian or Ava with me, I'd be able to get rid of all of them easily. I'll just have to improvise then. I didn't learn magic for nothing,' Lucille strategized as she summoned the Lux Arma and stood ready to defend her friend.

For some reason, though, the Heartless did nothing. They just stood there staring at them.

Lucille noticed that Zen started shivering and had his eyes shut. He also had his ears covered with his hands as if to block out something. "Zen...?"

"I...I can hear screams. So many voices screaming in pain. They're...angry at me. Because I hurt them...?" Zen then cried out in a loud scream as his head felt like it was about to implode.

"Zen! Hold yourself together!" Lucille tried to encourage him, but it was almost like he didn't know she was there. The pain was clouding his mind.

"I...I remember now. That scary man...he did something to my arm. When I woke up...my arm looked the same as those creatures. After that, he threw me into a dungeon cell and later on threw other people in there with me. I...I stole their hearts and devoured them." He sobbed as the painful memories flooded back.

"I really didn't want to hurt them, but...my arm wouldn't listen. Every time I stole a new heart, it felt like I was losing parts of myself too. I felt empty. I..."

Lucille looked back at the Heartless and started to click the pieces together. That's why they're not attacking; these must be the Heartless of the ones that had their hearts stolen by Zen back then. Since these were Zen's memories of the time he had been this Xehanort's prisoner, they appeared as vengeful Heartless to Zen's mind.

"I'm a Heartless too, aren't I? I only bring misfortune to everyone. Maybe it would be better if..."

"Don't even finish that sentence!" Lucille snapped. She felt bad but in her frustration at hearing what Zen was saying, she raised her voice loudly.

Zen blinked, and his eyes widened and looked up at Lucille. "Miss Lucille..." He started, "If you stay here, you'll be hurt too. Just leave me here and save yourself."

"No way, that's not happening!"

"But..."

"What you said is not true! You're no Heartless or monster! And don't let anyone else tell you otherwise! Okay, I'll admit it, your future self can be scary, harsh, and you can be a complete jerk just like Riku when you want to be. You even call me 'Island girl' at every turn except when we're in danger! But there's more to you than that! You're incredibly loyal to your friends! You care about others even though you pretend you don't! You've fought tooth and nail for years to keep the darkness in you from hurting the people you love, and you never gave up on the people that others thought were impossible to save, like Ion!"

"These memories are shackling your heart and drowning you. If you don't try to face it, you'll stay haunted by these shadows of your past! You're strong enough to take the first step and overcome it-I know you are! Because that's the Zen I know!"

"Miss Lucille..."

"You're my friend, Zen. No matter what you are or what you become, that will never change to me. So I'm not running away. I'll never abandon those important to me!" Lucille pointed the Lux Arma at the Heartless.

"Hey, you hear me, Heartless? I might be on my own, but I'm not alone. My friends give me the courage and strength to keep fighting forward, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! Just try and get Zen if you can, you buggy little freaks!"

With that, the Heartless closed in and one even tried to take a lunge at her, but she managed to defeat it with her Lux Arma. Another tried to attack, but she managed to fend off each attack with the seraphic weapon in her hand.

'My friends are my power...? Does that mean...Ion, Aster, Kairi and everyone has been with me all this time?' Zen gently touched where his heart was. It felt as if a new power was being born from within him. He could feel the hope and strength of the people that he knew and others that he had yet to meet but strangely felt like he had already met them-he could feel they were there.

'What is this feeling? It's like...I'm not afraid of the darkness anymore. I...I can face it now. She's right, I can't run away anymore! I'll face the darkness with no more regret!'

Lucille fought valiantly despite the fact she was on her own and repelling each attack of the Heartless, but she was struggling to keep up with their numbers. No matter how many she cut down, more appeared to replace them. "This doesn't look good, but I'm not giving up!"

One of them made a surprise swipe and knocked the Lux Arma out of her hands. She fell back on her rear from the shock of the surprise ambush. They started to close in, getting ready to jump on her.

Lucille stayed near Zen as if to defend him. She then started casting magic at them. It wasn't as effective as her Lux Arma, but it was all she could do now.

"It'll be okay, Zen. This time, I'm the one that will save you. I'll cast a spell that should buy you some time. Use that to escape."

"Huh? What about you?"

Lucille winked. "People are always saying I'm reckless. I'll think of something, though, I promise. So please don't ever give up on yourself, okay?"

Just as the Heartless were about to all jump on her, Zen rushed forward and embraced Lucille.

"Lucille!"

"Wha-?! What are you-" Just then an explosion of light appeared, its radius expanding across the entire dark void and designating every shadow nearby.

When the light finally faded and sparkles of light danced in the air for a few moments, a voice Lucille recognized right away spoke.

"Thanks...Island girl."

Lucille blinked and realized that Zen felt taller now. She craned her head upwards to see Zen had returned back to his present form, with his bandaged arm included.

"Zen! You're back to normal!"

"You make it sound like it's a miracle," Zen scoffed.

"I don't understand. I thought Gula said you reverted back to a five year old because your memory was from ten years ago."

"He's right. I think it may also have been because to me they were my happiest years of my childhood. Those memories Ion sealed away, though, were pretty painful to watch in my head. No wonder he sealed them away back then."

"You remember everything now?"

Zen nodded. "I think Ion had always intended for me to see these memories when I was ready to face them. I guess we just prematurely removed the lock on them. I've got some choice words for that Zero guy when we get out of this messed up world. I've never been so mortified in my life!"

"Heh, you were super cute as a kid, you know. But I'm glad to have you back. I strangely prefer this Zen for some reason."

Zen blinked a few times before pulling his muffler up to hide his reddening cheeks. "D-Don't make it weird by saying that!"

It was only just then that they both realized that they were still in the embrace.

"WAAAHHH!" They were both horrified and released each other immediately, taking a few steps back from each other. "I'm so sorry about that!" Lucille turned as red as a tomato, flailing her arms madly.

"D-Don't think too much into it! I only did that because you were about go all martyr on me with the Heartless surrounding you! You-you stupid island girl! What were you thinking?! How was that going to solve anything other than getting yourself killed?!" Zen fiercely defended.

"Hey! I was trying to save your life, jerk!"

"I was doing just fine! If I had retained my memories before whatever power reverted me back to a kid faded, I would have totally been able to take on those Heartless all by myself," Zen retorted back.

"Okay fine, whatever. Gah!" Lucille threw her arms in the air. Zen was so impossible to understand sometimes, just like another guy she knew.

They both crossed their arms at each other and huffed in defiance. A few seconds later, they were both snickering.

"What are we doing?"

"Tell me about it. We need to get back up there and help the others."

"Okay, how do we do that? We don't even know where we are."

"We'll think of something. We always do, right?" Lucille grinned at him.

"...Zen? Is that really you?"

"That voice-! It couldn't be, could it?" Lucille gasped.

"...Ion?"

---

Meanwhile, back above, the others were busy fighting Dark Gula.

Gula fought in close combat with his darker counterpart, both keyblades clashing in a fast flurry of movements. Speed and a quick mind were Gula's strongest points as a keyblade wielder, but no matter how fast he was to try and outmaneuver his opponent, Dark Gula blocked his every move.

"Hahaha! Have you forgotten? I'm you but better-I know every move and attack you know, so don't bother trying to outsmart me!" Dark Gula mocked before kicking Gula in the stomach, causing the former Leopardus leader to fall on his back. Dark Gula tried to strike him while he was down, but Gula was able to roll out of the way before the keyblade struck the ground, causing it to recoil from the force of the impact.

Gula got up quickly and got back into his fighting stance. "It's no good. He literally knows my every move."

"Then leave this to us. You concentrate on giving support," Riku told him.

Gula sighed and shrugged. "Well, my pride has already been wounded like three times today. What's a fourth time going to do?"

Riku charged in and attacked Dark Gula head on.

While Riku had him distracted, Florian was reciting a seraphic arte as quickly as he could while Quartz tried to hit Dark Gula with projectiles of crystalized light, but, like Gula, his dark half was dashing around too fast for them to hit.

"Gaaaahh! How is he so fast?! None of my attacks are hitting!" Quartz cried out in frustration.

"Heal Gula if you can," Ava advised.

Quartz nodded. "Got it."

"I'm fine. Just a little exhausted. It was tough trying to keep up with that counterpart of mine," Gula brushed off.

"No way, you look like you're gonna keel over. Besides, healing and defense is usually my forte. Don't worry, this will take a sec." Quartz shook his head in defiance.

Like Gula, Riku was thrown back on the ground harshly, with a keyblade pointing directly at him.

"Hmph, this is the best you can do? You guys are such a disappointment. How were you able to get this far? If I had known how easy you all were, I'd have finished you off the moment you entered this world."

"Shut up! You're the one who summoned all those Heartless beforehand! How are you still standing?" Gula snapped.

"No one like a sore loser," Dark Gula mocked mercilessly. "You really should have just stayed in the Realm of Darkness and just become part of it. This power is so amazing you can't even imagine."

Riku glared at him.

"But it looks like this battle is as good as-" Dark Gula was about to bring the keyblade down on Riku before he quickly moved to block an attack from Ava, who tried a surprise attack, but it failed.

"Nice try, you have to do better than that, though!" Dark Gula taunted as both he and Ava started a fast and furious dance with keyblades clashing constantly, trying to get the advantage over the other.

"Why are you doing this? Why do you want to possess Zen's body so badly?" Ava demanded to know.

"It's all part of a grand scheme made up between me and Xehanort. It's none of your business."

"You're working with him?" Gula realized.

"Well duh, Xehanort still wants the heart of the Foreteller that's inside Zen. We just have mutual arrangement that works for both of us." Dark Gula smirked.

"You're a fool-even more of a fool than I was back then. And that's saying a lot." Gula scowled.

"You're starting to get on my nerves," Dark Gula snapped. He then gave a powerful kick to Ava, who lost her footing and fell to the ground on her back, losing her grip on her keyblade, which disappeared when it left her hand.

"Ava!" Gula, as beaten as he was, hurried over to Ava's side to check on her.

"I-I'm okay, Gula." Ava smiled despite the pain she felt at Gula.

Dark Gula then felt a powerful source of magic being aimed at him and looked up.

Florian threw a chain of paper charms towards him before casting the seraphic arte he had been conjuring. "Holy Lance!"

The paper charms merged together and morphed into a large spear of light aimed straight at him.

Dark Gula used more of the darkness from within him to create a dark shield that deflected the spell.

"Huh?! He blocked my arte?!"

"That was a pretty good move. Not good enough to outsmart-" Dark Gula started before he felt his body convulse in pain and started to pant in labored breaths. "What...? What's going on?"

"Is he...getting weaker?" Gula frowned in confusion.

Riku got up and saw something in the distance. It looked like a portal similar to the corridors to darkness but it was different. It looked like a seraphic arte.

He soon got his answer when he saw three people appear from it.

"Wow, I didn't know you could make corridors of light too!"

"You usually need to be in the Realm of Light to make corridors of light, but if there's one nice little thing that our corridors have over the darkness ones, it's that we can use them in the Sleeping Realm. I never knew how handy this would be when I was taught this." Ion smiled.

"Well, ain't that a convenient loophole." Zen sighed.

"It's Lucille and Zen!" Florian exclaimed in relief. "Hey, Zen's back to normal too!" Florian realized soon after.

"How did that happen?" Riku turned to Gula.

"For once...I have no idea. A wizard did it?" Gula shrugged and cracked a light joke.

"Lucille!" Ava and Florian rushed over to Lucille's side, passing by Dark Gula.

"Ava! Flo! Are you and everyone okay?" Lucille quickly approached Ava.

Ava nodded. "We are now. You came just in time. We wanted to come save you right away but..."

Lucille shook her head. "Don't worry. As you can see, we're both A-okay!"

"We didn't expect to see Ion of all people here, though," Zen added.

"Not sure how I should take that. I'll explain things later. Right now, I need to take back what he stole from me."

"What he stole? Do you mean the Star Fragment?"

Ion walked towards Dark Gula before moving forward and successfully plucking the Star Fragment from where it was on Dark Gula's person.

"Why did he suddenly just get weaker? He was winning against us before."

"He abused the power of darkness. I should know this better than anyone. He used his own darkness from within himself to power his strength and make him stronger, but the darkness in this world isn't real darkness. It's fabricated, so it must have eventually backfired on him," Riku answered.

"Of course. Why do you think we need vessels of our own to possess? I was certain I would have been able to possess Zen's body when I finished you lot off, so I went all out."

"I think I understand now. He was using the darkness in this world but because it wasn't real darkness, it had an adverse effect on him," Ava understood.

"How did you escape, seraph? I imprisoned you."

"Yes, you did. It seems in your arrogance that you forgot one simple thing-you threw these two into the same place where you trapped me, so with their help, I was able to break free." Ion explained.

"How did you brats even see past my illusion? I thought for sure that you never would have been able to overcome your fear of facing the truth of the past." Dark Gula gritted his teeth.

"You're right. If I was on my own, I probably would have ended up becoming consumed by my own darkness like you said. I had always feared what laid behind the memories that for some reason were out of my reach. Now I know that Ion sealed them away-and I can't blame him for doing that. It was a painful experience feeling all those memories come back at once. If I had still retained those memories, I don't think I would have been strong enough back then."

"Zen..." Ion glanced at the greenette.

"But I'm not on my own-not anymore. I won't run away from the past anymore. I'll accept everything, and maybe even someday I'll be able restore what I lost on that day."

"Your darkness? Oh please, don't give yourself too much credit. You wouldn't even have any darkness to generate if it weren't for me," Dark Gula scoffed.

Zen blinked and looked at Lucille, who seemed just as confused.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? We know that you took the form of Zen's Heartless claw in the Realm of Light, but what does that have to do with Zen?" Gula demanded to know. "Unfortunately, I spawned you, after all."

"Oh yes, and you did such a great job of keeping me locked up within your own heart-or what remains of it after your heart joined his. Tell me, how does it feel to have all your hard work be undone by one researcher?" Dark Gula sarcastically countered while he glared at Zen.

"Just answer his question. What did you mean by that?" Riku repeated.

"Alright, since I have no strength to fight back anymore, I might as well tell you something interesting before you finish me off. I'm surprised you didn't notice this yourself since we're the same person, Gula, but Zen naturally has no darkness of his own. Most of that darkness stems from me. There's not even enough darkness to create a shadow-and they're the weakest."

"...Wait, what? What do you mean there's no darkness? I've been haunted by that darkness all my life! I've even had nightmares of Xehanort and-wait a minute, I remember you now! You showed up in my nightmares too!" Zen felt confused.

"I'm flattered that you finally recognized me." Dark Gula gave a snarky retort.

"There's darkness in every heart. No matter how good they are, they'll always have that tiny bit. Although, I would say Quartz is an exception to that rule, but he's a Nobody, so he doesn't really count," Gula pointed out.

Quartz sniffed. "You're a meanie."

"There's also the Princesses of Heart who don't have any shred of darkness either," Florian recalled. "But they're all girls, so it couldn't be that either."

"Unless Zen has been secretly a girl all this time, that's not possible like you say. And I'm pretty sure I've been around him long enough to know what his gender is," Gula teased.

"Gula, don't make me hit you." Zen growled.

"Hahaha...that's why I said don't give yourself too much credit. In case you didn't get the message, you know your Heartless claw that you despise so much? That's me. Xehanort freed me by extracting the darkness from my goody-two-shoes half, Gula. Xehanort wanted to make you a vessel of his, so he needed to overpower your will with his heart. But something very unusual happened-your heart rejected Xehanort. Somehow, by some miracle, your heart was stronger than his. Needless to say, he was not pleased by this," Dark Gula started.

"Is that true?" Riku turned to Gula in surprise.

"Now that I think about it, I was surprised by that as well when it happened. Like he said, something protected Zen's heart from being taken over by Xehanort back then. I never knew what."

"Neither did Xehanort-but he was a man who always prepares for every eventuality. So if he couldn't possess you the usual way, he would break you mentally and emotionally-hence all those experiments he laid before you. He wanted to see how much pain your heart could bear until it broke. By doing that, you would have eventually been molded into the perfect puppet. At first, he extracted me from where Gula's heart was and tried to directly implant me into you so I could influence you, but that also failed. I ended up taking the form of a Heartless claw in place of your real arm after your heart rejected me as well. But I found that I had some semblance of free will even as a claw, so I was able to somewhat control you-if only just a part of your body."

"So you're the reason that my arm's the way it is." Zen narrowed his eyes.

"That's all I know. You won't be getting anything else out of me. All that darkness you thought belonged to you actually belonged to me-and, to an extent, your dear little Foreteller friend Gula."

"Don't think this is a victory just because you've defeated me here. I am but an illusion in this world, but the real me is still alive and well within that claw, and I will always be there lurking inside you. Until you find some way to erase me completely, your arm will never return to the way it was."

"I'll find a way. You'll see," Zen challenged.

"Hmph. Then by all means, fight back to your heart's content. Just remember that Xehanort hasn't forgotten you, and he's still very interested in you. And I haven't given up my plans either. One way or another, we'll find a way to break you. Also, remember this: without me, you will no longer be able to harness the darkness like you do now. Will you be ready to accept that if you do find a way to restore your arm to the way it was?"

Ion took a step forward but Zen stopped him. "Let me do this."

Zen then approached and grabbed Dark Gula by his robes. "Listen here, I don't care what you or Xehanort plan to do me. Didn't you hear what I said before? No more running, no more hiding. I plan to face everything from here on without any regrets. If it means I can no longer use the darkness once I get rid of you in the real world? Fine. I've always been good at adapting ever since that day when Radiant Garden was stolen form us. Know this, though: I will never forgive anyone who hurts those important to me. If you so much as hurt any of my friends in any way, I will find you no matter where you hide inside my heart, and I will make you feel every bit of pain you've ever inflicted on those innocent victims you've stolen hearts from. That's a promise."

"You know it's a waste of time telling this to me, right?" Dark Gula challenged, even though the death glare Zen was giving him was enough to make him shiver in fear. Zen meant every single word of what he just said.

"Perhaps so. Maybe if I try hard enough, I can even reach the real Dark Gula back outside this world. But even if you don't remember this, I will and I will make good on my word. Now disappear." With that, Zen used his Heartless claw to grab hold of Dark Zen and absorb him completely within seconds.

Dark Gula didn't even have a chance to scream as it happened so fast. Zen sighed deeply and turned around. "Well...that felt oddly satisfying."

"...Wow, Zen, you're savage. Glad that's my darker half you were talking to and not me. I'd be fearing for my life otherwise." Gula whistled.

"Ah...sorry...Did I scare anyone during that?"

Lucille smiled. "A little, but that's part of who you are. You're still our friend to us, flaws and all."

"Do you think what he said was true...? That all the darkness that you thought you had actually belonged to Gula and that you don't have any darkness at all?" Florian wondered.

"Who knows? I doubt it, though. There's no way that could be possible. Every person has at least a little darkness. Besides, he was Gula's darkness incarnate so he could have been lying," Zen answered.

"I don't know about most of the stuff he was saying. One thing he said was true-Xehanort did try to force his heart onto yours. That's probably how he intended to acquire my power but something very extraordinary happened that not even Xehanort could predict: your heart rejected him. Somehow you overpowered his heart and made it impossible for him to possess you." Gula added

"I did...? When did that happen?" Zen raised an eyebrow.

"It happened while you were still unconscious after he captured you and Ion. Maybe it was a subconscious reaction?"

"Are you sure it wasn't you who did that?" Zen asked.

"Hmm...I'd probably would have done the same if it came to that, but no, it was something else that came to your defense before I could. Could it be that you might have a another person's heart?" Gula wondered.

"That's ridiculous, Gula. I already have one freeloader. I'd be livid if there was a second freeloader that even you don't know about."

"That's true. I guess we'll never know. I'm sorry for everything, Zen. Because of me, you had to go through all this."

"...Even if that's true, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. You still did your best to keep me safe even when you were powerless to do so. And you were there for me all that time before I forgot about you..."

"You remember now?" Gula's mask hid his shocked expression but his voice gave him away.

"I got all my memories back now, remember? Including the ones that Ion sealed away, you told him to seal any memories of you from me as well, didn't you?"

Gula nodded. "I thought...you would be happier not knowing about me. I was the one who dragged you into this whole mess."

"And like I said, I probably wouldn't be here now if you weren't here. Besides, it's not your fault that Dark Gula broke out. It was Xehanort who extracted him from you even after you sealed him away inside you."

"Zen's right, Master Gula. You should not punish yourself anymore. If you still feel like you need to repent then continue to protect Zen as you have done from the beginning. You were the one who kept him from breaking apart like Xehanort wanted, weren't you? You have my deepest gratitude for that. Besides, I failed as a guardian too, so I can understand your frustration at your failures in both of our roles as protectors"

"Heh...getting pep talks by a seraph and a kid who's hundreds of years younger than me. Man, I'm losing my touch. Thanks, Zen...Lord Ion."

"Ion, how did you end up in the same place as that Dark Gula guy threw us into?" Zen then turned to the guardian of Radiant Garden-or at least he was in Zen's childhood memories-the Ion they knew in the present was a human now by some miracle due to the union arte Lucille and Florian used to save him.

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing to admit. When you used that memory card to create this place, a strange reaction occurred. Zero hadn't realized that he had copied not just yours but Zen's memory of Hallow Bastion as well-rather in this case, the two memories clashed and formed this mash-up of both of your memories. What's worse, the memory Zero had unknowingly copied was one of the memories that I sealed away deep within Zen's heart that included the memory of Dark Gula, who took on your likeness since you were now so strongly connected to Gula's heart."

"Yeah...about that. It was kind of disturbing to see someone who has your face but didn't create him."

"Yeeaaah...sorry about that. Not sure why that happened either. Hearts be weird like that I, guess," Gula added.

"The illusion of Dark Gula that was created by the nature of this world's memories managed to sneak up on me and take me by surprise before I could counterattack. He stole the Star Fragment that Zero gave to me to keep safe and threw me into that void you two ended up in as well."

"That must have been embarrassing for you." Lucille laughed sheepishly.

"You have no idea. It's a good thing the real me never has to be reminded of this humiliation. In any case, I believe I should give this to you properly now." Ion smiled and handed the fragment over to Lucille.

"Alright! We now have the fourth piece!"

"All we need is the last one and we'll finally be able to figure out what's going on in this weird castle." Zen nodded.

"Actually, that might be easier than you think. I'll explain once we leave this place," Riku spoke up.

"Oh?" Florian tilted his head in interest.

Ion's body started to fade and the world around them stated to shake.

"Whoa! Hey, what's going on?!" Quartz panicked.

"Now that I've handed over the fragment to the one it was meant for, by Zero's instruction, this world will now disappear along with me. When you leave this world, we won't meet again, but I'm glad I was able to see Zen grow up with a good heart, just as I always thought he would."

"Ion...This isn't goodbye. We'll see each other in Radiant Garden real soon." Zen softly smiled at his dear friend.

"Heh, you're right. This is only a temporary farewell. Then in that case, see you soon. Now you must go. This world won't be able to maintain its form for much longer before it crumbles. Gula, you continue to take care of Zen, okay?"

"Well, he is my successor. What kind of teacher would I be if I can't look after my student?"

"You're not my teacher yet, cat boy," Zen retorted.

"As soon as we deal with that arm of yours, that will be corrected soon enough." Gula smirked.

Lucille nodded and took out the card that would grant them escape. "See you soon, Ion. We've got a lot of stories to share when we meet again." Lucille smiled at the fading illusion.

Ion smiled back. "You bet. The real me can't wait to hear them. Oh...tell Oswald that he doesn't need to keep his promise about Zen's memories anymore. I don't want him to feel like he broke his word by accident."

"Right, will do. So the Rabbit knew all along, huh? Figures." Zen carefreely waved.

With that, Lucille activated the card that opened the doorway which led back to the dream world of Castle Oblivion. It wouldn't be long now until they would be able to finally find out what was going on and save Zero in the process.

Or at least that's what they thought...

---

When Lucille opened her eyes after the blinding light faded, she found herself alone in Castle Oblivion.

"Huh? Is this one of Zero's memories again? Why is it I'm the only one that can see them?" Lucille threw her arms up in annoyance.

Indeed, she was yet again seeing one of Zero's memories unfold. She saw Zero eagerly running along with a star fragment in hand. This must be just after the previous memory she saw when Zero saw that shooting star fall from the sky.

He seemed too excited to share his discovery with Namine and reached the door of the thirteenth floor, but just as he gently cracked the door open, he heard voices inside and listened in to whatever they were talking about.

"Nice work. I say good riddance to that blabbermouth." Larxene was the first voice he heard.

He sneaked silently and peeked through the crack in the door to see what was going on inside. He saw Larxene and Marluxia, the two Nobodies that relentlessly mocked him about what a failed, flawed replica he was, and there was Axel. Zero didn't mind Axel that much. He wasn't cruel to him like the others, but they never really talked that often. But in the rare occasions they did, Axel seemed to treat him better than anyone else in the castle. Perhaps not everyone in the Organization was that bad...

He then also saw Namine, who sat in the corner on a chair, seemingly lost in thought and sad about something. 'Why is Namine sad? Did they say something awful to her?'

"Marluxia...You used Vexen to test Sora, didn't you?"

"Not just Sora's-it was yours, too. We weren't sure if you actually had it in your bones to take out a fellow member."

'They killed Vexen?! Well...it's not like I had any attachment to him. He was the one who planned to dispose me on his superior's orders, after all. But...he was loyal to the organization, wasn't he?' Zero was taken aback by this news. Sure he never really liked Vexen-he always scared Zero-especially when it came to the check-ups-he was like a mad scientist-but even this felt a little wrong to him, even though he knew he shouldn't feel any pity for that Nobody. He was the one who had created him and then threw him away when it was discovered he didn't have much longer to live, yet he still felt sorry for him...why?

"Well, I guess that you did. It's time to join up."

'Join up?' Zero turned back to the conversation that was taking place between the three.

"Taking over the Organization will be like child's play with the three of us." Larxene leaned over on Axel's shoulder as she said this.

"So that's where Sora comes in..." Axel trailed off, seeming to line the pieces up in his mind.

"Of course, he wants to see Namine, so why don't we give him what he wants?"

'Namine?! What does she have to do with all of this? Don't tell me she's working with them!' Zero shook his head, brushing the thoughts of Namine actually working alongside Larxene and Marluxia away. She literally had no reason to help these people. They're the ones who were keeping her trapped here!

But what he heard next dashed his hopes that what he was hearing wasn't true.

"Rejoice, Namine. The time is nearing for you to meet the hero that you've been longing for."

"I'm...glad."

"But I'm warning you. You'd better not do anything to betray Sora's feelings. Do you understand, me little one?"

"I understand."

"All you need to do is layer Sora's memories and bring his heart closer to you." With that, both Marluxia and Larxene disappeared.

Zero just froze there, paralyzed by what he just heard. He felt his heart would be breaking apart if it wasn't already fractured enough. Namine...wanted Sora. She was replacing him with Sora.

"Sora...even if you come for me...what then?" Namine looked sadly at the drawing below.

Something started to sting in his eyes. His heart hurt more than usual. In his distracted thoughts, he accidentally dropped the star fragment he had in his hands. That alerted those inside of his presence.

Just as Zero was about to run off, Axel caught his arm.

"Well well, so you're still not dead yet. I haven't seen you around in the castle, so I thought you actually-"

"Just let go of me!" Zero snapped, taking Axel slightly aback by the sudden aggression. Zero was usually pretty soft-spoken and meek (thanks to Larxene and Marluxia's constant torment of the poor kid). It didn't take much to figure out just why Zero was angry.

"Okay, sheesh. I get what you heard just now sounded really bad but-" Axel stopped mid-way when he saw Namine approach.

"Zero, wait. It isn't what it sounds like!"

"What does it not sound like?! That you're toying with and manipulating that boy's memories?! That you're actually helping those-! Those bullies! Just because you wanted a friend? So what does that make me, huh?! Was I not good enough to be your friend?! Is it because I'm a failed replica? Is it because I'm just a fake?! Did you ever consider me a friend at all? Was that all a lie? Just like how you're lying to Sora by pretending to be something you're not!"

"Zero, that's not true! You are my friend. You're the only true friend I have in this castle."

"But obviously I wasn't enough for you." Zero's voice broke, although they couldn't see his face. It was clear that he was very upset, even on the verge of tears. "Do you realize what you're doing? Would it truly make you happy? You were always sad being kept in this castle like a prisoner. I wanted so badly to ease that pain because I'm the same. I'm a prisoner of this place too. A prison that...I know I'll never live long enough to leave."

"To me, you were the only person to ever care about me-who actually gave a damn if I were to disappear one day. I was...really happy...to have one friend. It was enough for me. But I guess it's not the same for you. If replacing me with Sora makes you happy...then fine...you continue to wait for your hero to come. There's nothing holding you back anymore." Zero then turned to leave.

"Goodbye...Namine. I hope you'll be happy with Sora. We'll likely not meet again." He couldn't bare to look at her and ran off quickly, keeping his head facing the ground.

Namine gently picked up what Zero had dropped before, and for the first time, she felt her eyes water and tears fell from her cheeks as she looked down at the fragment that was left forgotten. "Zero...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

Lucille saw the whole scene play out and felt an incredible pain in her chest. "Is this what you were feeling back then...Zero? If only you knew just how much Namine misses you right now..."

With that, the scenery changed and she found herself back in the floor with everyone present except for Gula and Ava-who went back inside Lucille and Zen, of course.

"Lucille! Are you alright? We've been trying to get through to you for the last ten minutes," Riku called out with a worried expression, shaking Lucille's shoulders.

"Whoa, take it easy! I'm out of...whatever that was now—Man, that's really disorienting." Lucille shook her head.

Riku sighed in relief. "Don't scare me-I mean us-like that! I thought something had gone wrong."

"Thank goodness. Ya worried us when ya didn't respond." Oswald sighed in relief.

"Oswald! I'm glad to see you! What about Zen? Is he okay now?" Lucille recalled that Zen's conscious was with them so she was a little worried about whether or not he would manage to leave with them or not.

"Don't worry, I'm back in my body. That felt really weird. It was like being in two places at once." Zen waved his hand to let Lucille know he was fine.

"Try not to move too soon. You've only just regained your senses," Zero gently reminded.

"Zero?! That's actually you, right?"

"Oh yeah! While you were still dazed, Riku told us that he saved Zero from that mean Nobody with the pink hair," Quartz informed her.

"Also, don't worry about the recall protocol. It turns out that the protocol didn't work as the theory stated, so we can assume that the protocol failed," Riku added.

"It would explain why I was the only one who was given this protocol to begin with." Zero nodded in agreement. "Vexen probably never implemented it to his new replicas because he considered the recall protocol a failure."

"Zero! I'm so glad!" Lucille ran over and took hold of one of Zero's hands. "That Marluxia guy didn't do anything weird to you while you were with him, did he?"

Zero shook his head. "Nothing too serious. The recall protocol may not be as effective as the theory behind it claimed, but he could still use it on me. At least he can't lock away my memories anymore. That was a one-time effect that can only be used on the first activation of the protocol."

"Oh, so since he already used it once, he can't use it again."

"Right, but I can still be made immobile or unable to attack him because of it. Other than that, it's not as serious as before."

"Which is fantastic news since I really don't want to fight you. We're buddies, after all, and no one wants to fight their buddies." Quartz beamed.

Although no one could see it because of his hood being up, Zero softly smiled before it quickly faded and removed his hand from Lucille's. "There's actually something I've been keeping from all of you...I've kept you all in the dark long enough. Instead of all this running around I made you guys do, I should have just told you the truth of it all from the start but...I was too much of a coward to say it. I thought you'd hate me."

"Huh? Is this about the whole dragging us into this dream world of Castle Oblivion that you created thing? Because we found out about that a while back."

"Oh, you did?" Zero blinked in surprise. "Well, that is one of the things I've kept from you, but there's others that I haven't been fully honest with you about. I wasn't the one who created this place, though. That honour belongs to a powerful seraph guardian who lives here. She wanted to help Sora just like I did, so we decided to work together. This isn't the place to talk about them, though. Do you still have the card for Twilight Town? You won't need it now."

"Huh? How come?" Lucille asked as she handed over the last card over to Zero, who took it gratefully from her. "Because I'm no longer going to hide anything from you all anymore. I'll hand over the last star fragment to you guys when we enter that world, and then I'm going to come clean about everything."

"You're really serious about wanting to help Sora, aren't you?" Riku seemed pleasantly surprised.

"I meant what I said back when we talked about this, remember?" Zero answered softly at Riku. "Sora is just as much a victim of this castle as myself and Namine were. And it's not fair to Sora to prolong his awakening. I'm sure you already know, but I have Sora's memories of Lucille inside me. I plan to return them back to their rightful owner."

"Okay, so what does dragging us around all these floors to get these fragments have to do with that? Couldn't we just go to the thirteenth floor and have you just return those memories?" Zen asked.

"It's...unfortunately not that simple. I wish it was that straightforward, but...there were complications that made it impossible. I needed outside help for this to work."

"Zero already explained everything to me while we were trying to find you in this place. It really is as Zero said-it's not that simple for Zero to just go there."

"Really? How come?" Florian curiously inquired.

"Let's go to the final world of your memories. Then I'll confess everything, I swear," Zero promised.

"Okay, first off, let me just do this." Zen then approached Quartz and pulled on his cheeks.

"Owch! Wh-why are yoush thish?" Quartz managed to say as Zen continued to pull on his cheeks, making it hard for him to speak properly.

"Pinching my cheeks as a little kid, huh? That's something I'm not letting go lightly."

"Wha?! Gula saish yoush wouldn't remember thasht!" Quartz paled.

"And you shouldn't take everything the freeloader said at face value. In case you forgot, I changed back to my present self when we were still inside that world, you moron. I remember everything."

"Okay, Zen. You had your revenge, so let Quartz's poor cheeks go. You're going to pull his face apart the way you're going," Lucille scolded.

"Pfft, fine," Zen scoffed then released the cheeks while he had them still stretched, making Quartz rub his cheeks to ease the soreness.

"I'm sorrrrryy, Zen! But you were just so cute as a little kid that it was hard to resis-" Quartz started to say before Zen started to emit a fiery aura behind him, glaring at him with yellow star eyes.

"Waaaahhhhh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Quartz sobbed, apologizing profusely.

"He's not wrong, though. You were pretty cute as a kid~" Lucille teased.

"Now listen here, you-!"

"Ahem," Riku coughed to get their attention.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were still here. I had hoped you were just part of that nightmare. I half-expected you to change into that gaudy dark purple outfit with the skirt."

"Very funny. I can't believe I actually have to work together with you if we want to get out of here in one piece," Riku retorted with venom.

"No one's making you stay. You're free to leave whenever you want. The door's that way."

"No way, I'm not leaving Lucille with the likes of you."

Lucille sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose. "They're acting so childish over this. Why can't those two see they could be good friends if they gave each other a chance?"

"Tis a long bumpy road ahead of them, but I'll bet my lucky foot they'll be friends someday...I hope." Oswald sighed with a sweatdrop.

"You're telling me. This is gonna take a lot of work...and patience." Lucille shook her head at the two boys, who were busy firing death glares at each other.

Zero softly laughed.

"Hey, it's been a while since I've seen you smile like that. The last time you did was...well..."

Zero shook his head. "It's alright. It was my fault for letting my guard down that he got me."

"Zero...There's something I wanted to ask you. I've been strangely seeing glimpses of your own memory from time to time. At first I thought it was from the star fragments, but now I'm not so sure. How am I seeing your memories?"

"Huh? My memories?" Zero was surprised by this before his eyes softened and gave a sad smile. "Ah, I think I see...It must be because it's the castle's memory-the real Castle Oblivion that is- seeping into this world, allowing you to see what happened within its walls. It also means that the barrier between this dream world and the real one is starting to break. We don't have much time left. Once you're ready, we'll go to Twilight Town. There, I'll tell you exactly what's going on and how we can save Sora."

Zero faced the doorway leading to the twelfth floor with a determined look. 'Very soon this dream will finally be over. I wonder if I'll get to see you one last time before the end...Namine.'

---

Alright! We're finally at the last leg of our journey, guys! Just a roughly three or four chapters left before this arc comes to a close. I wonder if I should work on a poll to decide which game I should do next after this? So many choices, so little time. X3

~:Review Corner:~

Heart: All according to plan. *Evil laughter intensifies* But no seriously, thank you for the review and I'm glad that you are enjoying the story. ^^ Don't worry, we're not that far from the end now and I'll do my best to update as fast as possible! o/

Kaia: Thank you for the review. =3 I'm glad that you really enjoy little Zen, I'm gonna have fun with him when we get to the Birth by Sleep saga. Muhahaha! =P

And thank you for your input about the pairings, I'll take this into consideration for future arcs. For now, I'll keep it open and see what other readers think before making a choice in the direction. Besides, I don't get to do love triangles often so this is kind of a fun experiment. =D

And next chapter will be a bit of a feels chapter. Just to warn you. ;)

Reika88: Hello Reika! Thank you for reviewing. I'm happy to hear that you've enjoyed my work to re-read them often, it means I'm doing my job right as a writer, as much of an amateur author that I am X3 It's a fulfilling feeling to hear that so thank you. ^^ Anyway, thank you for also telling my your thoughts on the pairings. As I told Kaia above, I plan to keep it open for a little bit to see what other readers think before making a decision (don't worry, I intend to narrow down to one couple eventually), I haven't done Love Triangles before so it's kind of fun to experiment with.

I'll definitely take it into consideration for the future arcs as I'm actually kinda starting to ship Lucille and Zen myself. XD But I want to leave that choice up to you lovely readers which I might also make a poll for eventually. =3 I hope that you continue to enjoy the story and it's future story arcs to come! =3

Guest: Don't worry, he will in time. =3 When we get to Birth by Sleep, we might even see the two together. ^^ I thought it would make sense if Zen and Ienzo had known each other as I imagine hangs out in the royal library too. That and Ienzo would treat Zen a little better than most adults since he doesn't speak with that many people himself.

~:End of Review Corner:~

So until next chapter, happy reading folks! =D Moogle Empress out!

Moogle: Kupo!