Chapter 9: Struggle

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine and all characters and worlds belong to Square Enix and Disney, respectively.

"Hey, you okay?"

Sora heard the voice but was unsure how to respond to it. His throat felt tight and his head felt heavy as lead, a strange aching pounding in the back of his mind, as thought became useless and intense pressure surged through his broken brain.

Sora slowly blinked open his eyes, squinting as the light harshly attacked his unguarded pupils. Is this a dream? he thought. Then a shadow darkened over his face. Startled, he jumped up with a shout, his head spinning slightly from this action. Quickly, Sora turned to the source of the shadow, clasping his fast beating heart. There before him stood Hayner, who looked down at him with equal mixes of confusion and curiosity.

"Hayner!" Sora squeaked, his throat still in a knot, glad to see his old friend again. He tried to stand but fatigue overcame him and Hayner had to catch Sora's arm to keep him from falling to the floor.

"Whoa, easy does it, Sora. You look like you've been through a number. Try not to overdue it man," he said patting his friend's shoulder.

"'Kay," Sora responded weakly, but lighthearted, glad to feel his body recovering as his throat loosened its death grip and his head's ache dulled. Once his body was back to its normal, healthy self, more or less, Sora gazed around him, becoming aware of his surroundings. He was in the "Usual Spot", Hayner and friend's favorite hide-out. All at once, Sora was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace, feeling at home in that small rundown corner of the back alley and, for a moment, he tasted a salty-sweet sensation that made his whole mouth tingle.

"Sora!"

Sora quickly looked back at Hayner, and seeing the frustrated look on his friend's face, realized that he hadn't been listening.

"Huh-what?" Sora said quietly, distracted by the pleasant tingling that still embraced his overwhelmed taste buds.

Hayner sighed, then continued, slower this time. "I said, how did you end up here?"

"Ohhh," Sora responded, finally understanding what his friend was asking of him, "Well you see..." Sora stopped, suddenly realizing he didn't know how to finish the sentence. For some bizarre reason, his mind was drawing a blank. That aching feeling returned, making his whole head pound. Howdid he get here?

"Yeah," Hayner said, slightly irritated.

"Well, umm..." Sora drifted off into uncomfortable silence, feeling Hayner's glare on him, unsure of how to finish the sentence.

"Hayyyynnnnner!" called a familiar voice from outside. Hayner and Sora turned to see Olette walk in, smiling ear to ear, with a bag hanging loosely in her hands. "I got the..." Her voice drifted off upon spotting Sora and the bag hit the floor with a soft thud, momentarily forgotten.

"Sora, your here!" she said excitedly, giving him a friendly hug. Sora laughed and returned the hug, unaware that the strange aching had drifted from his mind.

"It's good to see you, Olette," Sora said cheerily, as the two pulled apart. Meanwhile Hayner went to retrieve the discarded bag off the floor, but before he could, Pence came running in and, not noticing the bag laying there, stepped on it, to which Hayner let out a groan.

"Pence!" he exclaimed. But Pence only half heard him as his attention was on Sora.

"Oh, sorry Hayner," he quickly responded, not even bothering to look at Hayner as he did. "Hey Sora," he said as he joined the two, leaving Hayner to rage for a moment alone.

"Hey Pence, long time no see," Sora said, giving his chubby friend a high five.

"Yeah, it's been way too long," Pence replied with a smile. "Oh, hey, did you ever find Kairi?"

Though he tried to sound casual, Sora could hear the edge of worry in his friend's voice. And from beside him, Olette was not quite able to stifle the look of fear on her face. Sora felt a pang of guilt, thinking of all the time that had passed since returning to the island, he wondered if they had been worrying about this the whole time.

"Yeah, we did," He said with forced cheer, not wanting his friends to worry anymore then they already had. "She was being held in this castle, but luckily some friends helped free her. We headed back to the islands and... we've been there ever since."

"Phew, that's a relief," Pence said as Olette let out a sigh she didn't even realize she had been holding in. Even Hayner looked relieved as he fumed from his corner.

"I'm so glad she's safe," Olette breathed, the fear she'd been holding in for months, finally dissolving from within her.

Sora looked down, before hesitantly adding. "Um, sorry I didn't come sooner. I hope I didn't cause you guys to suffer any."

Olette and Pence exchanged a glance. "Sora," Olette said, sympathetically, shaking her head and putting a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look at her with pain-filled eyes. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Sora's face immediately softened. "Really?" he ventured slowly, shrinking from her gaze, almost afraid of the answer.

"Of course," Olette said with soft tenderness, glad to see Sora standing a little taller with every word . "It's not your fault any of this happened, so you don't have to take the guilt for it."

"Yeah," Pence added, emphatically. "And, anyways, you came, so stop stressing."

Sora gave them both a wain smile, feeling the guilt subsiding. "Thanks guys," he practically whispered, his eyes drifting between the two friends, filed with joy, knowing he was forgiven. And just like that the guilt was gone and all was good again. Until a new thought struck him. If he was here, could Riku and Kairi have left the island as well? And if they did, could they be here, too? Or could they have ended up somewhere else? The familiar ache returned and Sora struggled from within, fighting for control of his memories, that just didn't seem to want to give.

"Aw great!" Hayner exclaimed, forcing Sora out of his inner-struggle, as he followed the example of his friends and finally, took stock of his clearly upset friend. He was glaring over at them, a bag of pretzels in his hands.

Olette gasped and raced over, taking the crumpled bag from Hayner's hands. "Oh no, the pretzels!" she cried, noticing through inspection that they were now nothing but crumbs. "I'm sorry Hayner, I forgot all about them."

Hayner sighed deeply. "Well there goes our hard-earned money down the drain."

Sora was confused and turned to Pence to ask, "Pretzels?"

"Yep. See the beach is closed this summer and me and Hayner and Olette always go down there every year. But since we can't this year, Hayner got this great idea to use our money from summer jobs to buy our favorite snack we always have when we're down there. He said it was the second best thing to the beach itself." They both turned to see Olette attempting to comfort her downtrodden friend.

"Right," Sora said absentmindedly, distracted by a weird buzzing in his head as he fought to remember the events of the previous day. "But I thought watermelon was your favorite."

"Yeah but those things are really expensive," Pence replied then turned to Sora startled. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"Know what?" Sora asked confused, the buzzing slowly fading and the ache with it.

"About watermelon being our favorite," Pence replied.

Now Sora turned to face his friend, startled. "You told me."

"No I didn't."

Sora frowned, and crossed his arms, suddenly not sure how he knew that either. He hummed thoughtfully to himself as he pondered this knowledge. The words had just slipped out without him realizing. He wasn't even sure why he had said it.

Pence, seeing Sora's face, quickly tried to recover his friend's mood. "But, uh, clearly one of us did, otherwise how would you know that, right?"

Sora nodded, still feeling off about not remembering the things he should. And then, Sora being Sora, immediately dismissed the feeling altogether. "Yeah, your right. I probably heard it from Olette or something."

"Yeah, that's probably it," Pence agreed. Then he dramatically added. "Ooooor..." Pence paused mysteriously and Sora turned to him, suspiciously. "Maybe you heard it from... HAYNER!"

Sora was silent for a moment his eyes squinted in concentration. Then Sora exploded with laughter, the joke finally sinking in. Pence smiled at him with a goofy, but satisfied, grin on his face, chuckling a little himself, as Sora's infectious laughter continued on. But suddenly, all laughter from both stopped, as Hayner popped up between them, giving his chubby friend a death glare.

"Pence, you ruined our pretzel-y goodness! Now what are we supposed to do!" He growled. Pence was silent for a moment deciding what was best to do in this situation, before he simply shrugged, knowing Hayner was just blowing off steam. But Hayner seemed to have more steam to spare, as his eyes narrowed. "You ruined our one chance to remember our times at the beach and all you can do isshrug?!"

Pence shrugged again and Hayner looked about ready to strangle his friend. Sora decided it was time to step in before things could get any worse. "Umm, maybe I could get you guys some pretzels," Sora offered with a shrug.

They all turned to look at him, Hayner's eyes already lighting up at the mere thought of pretzels. But Olette, feeling guilty, replied, "Oh Sora, you don't have to do that. We'd feel bad taking your money like that."

"I wouldn't," Hayner said and Olette gave him a look.

"Well most of us would feel bad about it," she corrected.

"I-It's alright," Sora said, waving his hands up and down in gesture. "It'd be my pleasure."

Olette still feeling uncomfortable about it, rubbed her arm in thought. "Wellll-"

"Sweet!" Hayner exclaimed giving Sora a hard pat on the back, that nearly sent Sora sprawling. "Thanks man!"

"Now hold on Hayner," Olette said, putting her hands to her hips and giving him a scolding look. "We never agreed to-"

She was interrupted, however, as Hayner waved a hand halfheartedly at her and said, "Yeah, yeah. Come on Olette, Sora's offering. He doesn't mind. Right Sora?"

Sora nodded. "It's really okay Olette, it'll be my treat... and my apology for waiting so long to come see you," he said the last part sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and giving her an apologetic smile.

Olette sighed, knowing she was beat. Then smiled, running a hand through her hair. "All right then, I suppose if you really want to, we can't stop you. Thank you Sora."

Now Pence jumped in. "Yeah, thanks a ton. It really means a lot to us. Especially Hayner. He needs some cheering up. He's been all mopey and depressed ever since he lost the struggle tournament to Seifer."

Now Hayner was glaring at Pence once again. "I have not."

"Have too," Pence retorted.

"Shut up, Pence!" Hayner turned away from his friend, angry. And the moment he did, Sora exploded with laughter. This however seemed to reset Hayner's temper, and set it in overdrive.

"And what's so funny?!" he said, making a face that was meant to discourage Sora from his outburst, but instead heightened it. Soon, Olette and Pence joined in, the three laughing so hard they had to hold their stomachs to keep from falling over. Hayner, though, found no humor in the situation and fumed as their laughter grew more and more intense. Finally, the contagious sound of their laughter was too much for even Hayner and he found himself laughing too.

The four friends continued on like that for awhile, laughing as tears steamed down their faces and their stomachs cramped, thankful, that for just a moment, they could be together like this, sharing in each others company and allowing their lives to become that much fuller, as there friendship found a lasting place in their hearts.

Sora briefly thought of Kairi and Riku but decided that for now he should remain in Twilight Town, at least until he could remember how he got there. For all he knew his friends were there, too. Yes, he needed to stay there, for now. And for some strange reason Sora felt like he needed to stay. He would tell Hayner and the others about it later, maybe between the four of them they could figure out what to do. And for some strange reason Sora felt like he needed to stay.

…

As the four walked side by side through town, Sora got the feeling that if they ever tried, his friends could walk the streets of Twilight Town blindfolded. They seemed to know every nook and cranny, every shortcut, every person they passed on their way to the Tram Common, who gave them each a smile and a wave as they passed. In a way, Sora felt like he might be able walk the streets blindfolded. This place had a calming nature about it, that made Sora feel at peace when he was there. It was like home away from home to him. Sora realized that it was no so far fetched that this town had felt familiar to him when he had first awoken there back when he had been on his journey with Donald and Goofy, the place had a magical way of making you feel you belonged, like this place was your home and always had been, you just never bothered to realize it before. But, then again, that could have been from Roxas.

At the thought of Roxas, Sora's head span and it was all he could do to keep standing upright. As he walked on, waiting for his head to clear, he failed to notice the tall blond jumping into his path, holding a Struggle bat in his hands, eyes watching an object above him. Seeing the danger, Olette shouted to her friend, "Sora, watch out!" But was unsuccessful of warning her friend as he had already collided with the tall boy knocking both of them to the ground.

Sora, still in shock and head still spinning slightly, could only stare at the figure he had just knocked over, who he eventually recognized as none other then the Head of the Disciplinary Committee himself. Seifer looked over at Sora with a glare and tried to push the nuisance off of him, who just continued to stare at him blankly.

"Hey, get off, loser! YOUR GONNA MESS ME UP!" he shouted, finally managing to push Sora off of him. Just as the two stood, however, a ball bounced down beside them, coming to gentle stop at Sora's feet. The crowd of people, who Sora just noticed had gathered, let out a collective sigh of disappointment and then went on their way, while the girl who ran the Grandstander street show, shook her head in utter dissatisfaction at the display.

Sora picked up the ball and went to hand it to Seifer who stood frozen on the spot. "Uhh, sorry Seifer, I didn't see you there," Sora said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, feeling the tension flowing off from Seifer in droves. Seifer just stood there like a statue, his eyes covered by the shadow from his cap, his mouth clenched in a straight line.

"Seifer?" Sora said, confused, waving a hand in front of the bully's eyes, and getting no response. Sora had never seen Seifer like this before, but having dealt with the teen in the past knew it probably wouldn't end well. Not wanting to make the situation worse, Sora simply set the ball at Seifer's feet, giving another docile "sorry", before backing slowly away toward his frozen friends, hoping the problem was resolved and he and his friends were free to go get some pretzels. Unfortunately for Sora, he had forgotten that with Seifer problems, trouble had its accomplices. "Hey, you can't do that to Seifer, y'know!" Sora cringed upon hearing the voice behind him. And in seconds, Sora found himself surrounded by Seifer's gang, Rai, Fuu, and Vivi.

"You thought you could just knock him down and break his concentration. Well now Seifer's gonna break you and the Grandstander record, y'know," Rai said, angrily.

"Traitor," came Fuu's melancholy reply, as usual, while Vivi merely gave Sora a glare with his beady yellow eyes.

"I wasn't trying to knock him down, I just tripped into him, honest," Sora replied innocently, trying his best to quell their anger and make light of the situation. "And anyway he jumped in front of me. So we were both kinda to blame, y'know," he added with a shrug and a smile.

Hayner immediately face-palmed and groaned at his friend's stupidity, while Olette and Pence let out loud sighs. So much for pretzels, they all thought in unison.

"What'd you say," came Seifer's angry reply, and Sora looked past Rai to see that Seifer was slowly turning his head to look at Sora.

"Uhm," Sora said, confused on what he had done to anger the teen. "I just said that we both just got into one anothers way so it was really no ones fault, right?"

"No one's fault,"he said in a quiet, but deadly tone, as he slowly approached the Keyblader.

"Now your in for it," Rai said. "Seifer's gonna make ya pay, y'know."

"Look I don't want a fight," Sora said calmly, not in the mood to deal with Seifer.

"What's the matter?" Seifer asked now just inches from Sora. "You afraid you'll lose."

Sora just kept his mouth shut, an angered look forming on his face as Seifer continued. "I see. Your okay with messing me up while my back is turned, but your afraid to face me in a real fight. Should have known you'd wimp out, your just a little coward."

Hayner had heard enough and instantly jumped to Sora's side, literally, as he pushed his way past Seifer's silent trio, and put an arm around Sora's shoulders. "Bring it on Seifer, Sora's not afraid of you!"

Sora turned to his friend in shock. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

"What's it look like I'm doing. I'm not letting this jerk, badmouth my friend," he replied, purposely loud enough for Seifer to hear.

Sora, knowing all to well Hayner's ability to create trouble for him and his friends, tried his best to console his hot-headed friend. "Uhh, no it's really okay, Hayner. I can take care of this," Sora whispered, removing Hayner's arm from his shoulder and pushing him away from Seifer as best as he could. "Let's just go."

Seifer smirked as Sora pushed Hayner away from them and back towards his friends, coldly joking, "See, I told you he was a coward, running off to his friends like a chicken-wuss."

This got a laugh from Seifer's flunkies and caused Hayner to lose all sense of reason, as he quickly removed himself from Sora's hold and then dragged Sora back over to the group of bullies by the arm, grumbling loudly as he stomped his way over.

"That's it, Seifer," Hayner said standing in front of his nemesis, their faces inches from touching as they glared daggers at one another. "Sora challenges you to a Struggle match!"

"I do?" Sora said, meekly.

"And he's gonna kick your butt." Hayner continued ignoring his friend. "And when he wins you have to tell the whole town that your a loser that doesn't know his way around a Struggle bat."

"Is that all, blonde?" Seifer said, challengingly.

"No, then your gonna have to give Sora your Struggle trophy and belt," Hayner said with a mischievous smile.

"He is?" Sora asked, his voice even quieter than before.

"All right, you've got yourselves a bet," Seifer said, shaking Hayner's hand. "And when you lose, blonde, you have to wear a dress for one whole week." Seifer noticed, with satisfaction, that Hayner's eyebrows narrowed even more than before. He smirked before continuing."And spiky over there," pointing to the flustered Sora , "will have to hand over his little key thing, which I will keep as a personal trophy of his defeat."

"W-What?!" Sora asked in shock, not liking where this was going. But before he could disagree, Hayner butted in once again. "Done." Hayner said with a victorious smirk. Sora could only gap at his friend, as he shook hands with his now future opponent.

"See you in an hour, wuss. Hope you bring your A-game, I want to savor beating you to a pulp," he said as he pushed his way past Sora, his crowd of followers close behind.

"Oh yeah, Seifer's gonna pound ya into dust, y'know," Rai called, then ran to catch up with idol.

"Cakewalk," Fuu called over her shoulder as well, before falling into step behind Rai.

Sora could only stare in disbelief at the retreating backs of his tormentors, wondering how things could have gone so wrong. Pence and Olette both ran up to him and began trying to console their frazzled friend, but Sora was in too much shock to comprehend their soothing words. He quickly snapped back into reality, as once again a familiar arm flung across his shoulders.

"We sure showed them," Hayner said triumphantly, smiling ear to ear at his delusional victory. Sora merely gave Hayner a distraught look, which was completely lost on his gleeful friend, then looked off into the distance. As Hayner reveled in his new-found power, both Sora, Pence, and Olette were busy pondering how exactly they could go about silencing their big-mouthed friend with a role of duct tape.

…

The gates to the Old Mansion were still closed.

This was the first thing Roxas noticed as he approached. Sora hasn't arrived yet, Roxas thought to himself. He realized, that that could be both a good thing or a bad thing. Roxas, for the moment, was still pondering over which it was.

Roxas' gaze drifted to the second floor window of the mansion as he came to a stop at the gates. His stare lingered for a moment as he spotted a movement from within. To most people that movement would seem like nothing more than a curtain flapping in the wind, but Roxas knew better.

He summoned his Keyblade and aimed it at the lock on the gate.

…

Sora was still pondering how exactly he had gotten roped into the mess an hour later, as he stood in the Sandlot's Struggle Arena, a bat in hand and his opponent obnoxiously smirking a few feet away. Deafening cheers could be heard all around him, as people from all over had gathered to watch the makeshift match. But Sora was still pretty sure he could make out Hayner, Pence, and Olette's distinct voices, shouting above the crowd of gathered residence. Sora smiled to himself, glad his friends were there, even if one of them had dragged him into this mess.

"And what are you smiling about, loser," Seifer taunted, snapping Sora back to the moment.

"None of your business," Sora replied, coldly, taking his signature stance. His opponent did the same, as the Struggle Promoter stepped up onto the arena and began his habitual speech, "All right sports fan, you know the drill. Today's match is between newcomer Sora and the Head of the Disciplinary Committee himself, Seifer."

As the promoter continued, Seifer chuckled cruelly to himself than called over to Sora in his most taunting tone, "You won't be smiling once that key is mine, loser."

Sora's grip tightened on his makeshift bat, as the promoter's speech came to a close. "And so without further ado, Leeeet's-"

"STRUGGLE!" the crowd finished for him and the match officially began.

The two opponent's charged each other, their bats clashing together with a dull thud. The two quickly flew into one another in a ferocious onslaught, their bats clashing again and again, as they hit then countered, blocked then attacked, while cheers deafened the two competitors.

Seifer swung his bat to Sora's side and his opponent parried the blow, a buzz almost immediately going through him. Sora pushed the weapon away and swung toward his opponent who stepped out of range, with a laugh, holding his bat out in front of him.

"Come on, quit playing around and fight."

Sora took his stance, then advanced swiftly, knocking the bat out of the way and going in for the hit, but Sora was slow today, and Seifer was able to block it at the last second.

As the battle continued, Sora was having more and more difficulty focusing, the buzzing almost blinding him to his opponent's attacks and with each hit of the bat Sora felt his strength diminishing. As of yet, the two had yet to lose a point, but that wouldn't last for long.

At his best, Sora was Seifer's equal, blocking each hit thrown his way, thrusting his bat forward at the needed times, but Sora was off today, and Seifer could tell. Sora was already panting while Seifer had energy to spare. He was slow and his attacks were weaker then normal, making it impossible to get an edge on his opponent.

Seifer, however, seemed to be at his best, almost playing with his opponent, jumping around him, hitting him at odd, hard to block angles, and smiling ear to ear all the time. In his mind, this battle was over and as the two circled each other for the last time, only seconds on the clock, they both knew time was running out and the end game was here.

Sora's grip on the bat was so tight his knuckles had gone white and the bat shock slightly. If he was going to win, he had to do something unexpected. Seifer, confidence slapped across his face, dove toward Sora yelling one of his signature lines. "Isn't this Romantic?!" Sora dodge rolled out of the way of the incoming bully, causing Seifer to come to a bumpy and uncoordinated stop. Meanwhile, Sora pulled out of the roll and threw his bat at his opponent with his infamous Strike Raid. The cheers exploded even louder, as Seifer easily deflected the bat sending it flying. Not only was Seifer unharmed but now his opponent was empty-handed.

But this didn't seem to faze Sora as he charged his opponent. For a second, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were afraid Sora was going to resort to using his Keyblade, which was against the rules. Even Seifer was momentarily frozen, as confusion overwhelmed him. What is this idiot thinking? Seifer wondered seeing the charging teen. Just as Sora got in range, Seifer recovered and swung his bat at his enemy with all his strength. But he stuck air, as Sora had gone into an expertly timed dodge roll, flowing under the advancing attack. Time seemed to still as Seifer realized the error he had made. By choosing to attack his defenseless opponent, he had opened himself up to an attack. As Seifer's swing continued onward, Sora emerged from the roll and reached out and grabbed his bat as it finished its plummet to the ground below, after being launched into the air by Seifer's bat. Sora expertly swung his weapon straight into his adversary. Orbs exploded outward scattering around the arena and a soundless crowd watched Seifer plummet to the hard ground below.

For a few endless seconds Sora panted as the crowd remained motionless and silent. Then the timer for the match buzzed and the announcer needlessly called, "The winner of the Struggle match is Sora!"

With this, the crowd recovered from its shock and exploded into deafening cheers, as the promoter added, "And Seifer put up a great fight, too." Seifer was still sulking on the floor as Sora's shadow fell over him and he looked up. Sora reached out a friendly hand to help his fallen opponent up, but Seifer being too stubborn, stood up on his own. Sora lowered his hand and said in a friendly tone, "Thanks for the great match, it was a lot of fun. And don't worry about the whole bet thing, Hayner just likes to run his mouth sometimes."

Seifer merely scoffed in reply and turned his back on his conqueror, skulking away. Sora shrugged, use to Seifer's attitude, then turned to see his friends running up to him. Hayner slammed his hand into Sora's back as he excitedly cheered, "Way to go champ. I knew you could do it."

"Thanks," Sora said, rubbing his now sore back.

"You were terrific," Olette exclaimed.

"Yeah, you looked like a true pro out there," Pence added.

Sora smiled and sheepishly replied, "It was really nothing."

"Hey, loser!"

They all turned, surprised to see Seifer approaching them with champion belt and trophy in hand. When he reached Sora he thrust the objects toward the Keybearer. "Here!" he said, with an emotionless tone.

Sora tried to refuse the commanding teen. "No, it's really okay, you don't have to-"

But he was interrupted as the trophy was forced into his arms and the belt was handed to a dazed Pence.

"I always keep my promises," was all he said as he walked off, leaving behind a very confused group of friends. For a second the four were silent as they watched the teenager walk off, thinking highly of their once cruel opponent, until Hayner exclaimed, "That cheater! What about the other part of our deal? He never admitted to Sora being better than him! That rotten punk, he has no respect for the rules!"

Sora put a hand on his shoulder, stifling Hayner's rant. "It's okay, Hayner. He gave me the belt and trophy, that's really enough. And it really says a lot for his character."

"Oh it says a lot about his character, all right," Hayner grumbled before following his friends off-stage.

Sora tucked the trophy under his arm, before turning to his friends, "Now come on, guys. Let's go get those pretzels!"

A/N: Hey everyone. I'm sorry it's been such a long wait for this, but I've been super busy with other things. I really can't apologize enough for taking so long, but I added two chapters this time to make up for it... hopefully. I also hope to rededicate myself to this project, in between my other non-fanfiction things. My goal is to get a chapter out every couple of weeks or so, sooo... fingers crossed. I do want to reassure everyone that I have every intention of finishing this, I just have some bigger goals right now. But I will keep at it and get it out in the most orderly fashion I can and still making it the best I can.

Anyways, this chapter was tons of fun to write and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as me. I had some difficulty getting into the heads of the Twilight Town gang and so I hope I pulled them off right. And if Sora felt a little off in this chapter it was intentional. Sora's not feeling much like himself lately but I did my best to still keep that Sora-ness that he always has. After all, Sora will always be Sora.

So anyways, love you guys and thanks for following and reviewing, cause that means the world to me. Seriously it does. I just got internet here so I've been enjoying your kind words and they are what really pushed me to get this done as soon as possible. Again, sorry it was still such a long wait. And yes I realize that this was a really long note, but a necessary one. God bless.