Look, here's the next chapter already, just like I promised.

キングドムハーツ・化け物ダニー・はじめましょう

"Sora, good, you're back. Riku just sent us a message saying he has important news. He should arrive soon. How was Beast's Castle?" Leon went straight to the point.

"When we arrived, the castle was under siege from Heartless, like the King had told us." Sora noticed that the King was not present and wondered if he was returning with Riku. "Eventually we cleared them all out, and defeated those inside, and found Beast fighting the new Heartless Commander, named Plasmius. He'd come from Amity Park, the same world Danny and his friends came from, and they knew each other. He left after noticing all the Heartless he'd summoned were gone, but before that, he mentioned plans."

"What about Beast and Belle?" Kairi asked, concerned for their safety.

"They were both okay," Sora responded, to her relief.

Leon, about to ask another question, instead turned as the others did at Riku's entrance.

"Riku!" Sora greeted him, delighted, then he saw his face of grave expression. "What's wrong?"

"It's the Nobodies, Sora. Organization XIII is back. A new member was born in their world."

Danny's head shot up. He'd been looking at his shoes again, awaiting the confession of his transformation. "Did he have white hair?"

Riku, surprised, looked at him sharply. "How did you know?"

"And white gloves?"

"Yes, that was unusual. How did you know?"

"At the castle I was kinda captured by the Nobodies and turned into one." Everyone in the room who hadn't already known wore either an alarmed expression or dumbfounded one and they all stared at Danny. A few exclamations also shot into the air.

"But how can this be?" Aeris spoke up. "You appear normal and still have your heart."

"My other form doesn't."

"Your 'other form'? What are you talking about?"

Sora stepped in front of Danny. "I saw him, and what he says is true. Danny and Sam explained to me on the way back. He said I can tell you, but this is a very important secret on his world, so you can't talk about it to other people, okay?"

Everyone around the room nodded.

"Danny has two forms. There was an accident with a portal between the two sides of his dual world, and a dual form of himself was created. Not a separate copy, because he can switch between the two, but he has the human form like he is now and a ghost form called Phantom."

"Appropriate," Leon commented on the name.

"Even with two forms, he only had one heart, so it was shared between them. When the Nobodies captured him, he was in Phantom form, and they broke the connection with his heart, turning Phantom into a Nobody that happens to be powerful enough to take the guise of a member of Organization XIII. Danny didn't lose his heart, though, because it was still connected to his human form, where the Nobodies couldn't get to it since he was Phantom."

"That is an interesting story, Sora. Since Danny did not lose his heart, there probably isn't a Heartless form of him running around."

"That's what I thought."

"It's not entirely different from what happened to you, Sora."

"Me?"

"Sora?" Danny perked up at this bit of information. "What happened to you that's similar?"

"I lost my heart and became a Heartless once. A Nobody of me was formed, but my Heartless found Kairi and she helped me get my heart back. The Nobody didn't disappear; he actually joined Organization XIII, but then he left and disappeared for a while. Eventually we were reunited and remerged, and now he's just a memory." A small smile appeared as Roxas's voice echoed in his head.

"I get the feeling there's more to it, but..."

"But I never had two different forms to start with like you did, Danny."

"At least you still have your heart," Riku told Danny as memories of his own filled his head.

He hadn't lost his heart, not precisely, but he had lost his form to Ansem, the Heartless who'd used him to fight with Sora. Ansem had continued to plague him while he wandered the levels of Organization XIII's stronghold looking for escape, and a final confrontation had rid him of the malevolent presence. Then, while Sora's memories were undergoing restoration with Namine, Riku had allied with DiZ under the guise of an Organization XIII cloak. Events later in the restoration process forced him to resort to dark powers. Though Riku still had his heart, he'd lost his true form and only the Nobody-like skill of the manifestation of a body from memories had given him one akin to his original. When Riku turned to his dark powers once again, he was forced to take the form of Heartless Ansem, since that was the one associated with the powers and since he was forced to manifest his body from memory like a Nobody. A seemingly permanent change resulting from a seemingly permanent choice.

"Hey, Riku, there's something weird." Sora broke into Riku's musing.

"What?"

"The Heartless Commander, Plasmius? Danny said he used to have two forms just like himself, but now he's a Heartless. Why would he be different?"

"I don't know. Perhaps I'll ask the King next time I see him. He might have some ideas."

"What about his plans?" Leon asked. "They are what we should be considering now. Danny, if you knew him, what do you think he wants?"

"He wants to take over and rule worlds. Now he just has more powers to use and more worlds to chose from. His plans really haven't changed. He'd practically taken over out town Amity Park before it . . . ."

"Is there a way we can bring Amity Park back?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, there should be. Riku, Kairi, and I lost our world the same way you did, and we were able to bring it back from the Darkness."

"How did you do that?"

"You remember that old tower in the distance, the one in a big crater?"

"Yeah."

"That used to be called Hollow Bastion and there was a portal there, to the Heartless realm of Darkness. We went in and then found the End of the World; our world, specifically. From there we went and found the Door again and shut it to close that world off from the Darkness. When all the Darkness fled back, or world was restored."

"Could we do the same thing with Amity Park?"

"We can try."

"It doesn't sound too difficult."

"It's definitely harder than it sounds."

"And remember Sam, there's Vlad to deal with, too. He'll probably try to interfere or something when he realizes that we're trying something."

"We've been keeping an eye on the tower, since it was where most of the Heartless appeared on this world," Leon explained, "and there are a few Heartless in the area but not too many. Not like the horde from last time."

"So, let's go," Sam said.

"You should rest," Aeris stalled their plans in a kind and caring voice. "You were fighting earlier today and do not have much energy left."

It dawned on Sam that she did, in fact, feel tired. "Yeah."

"We have spare rooms that you can use here. I'll get you some food, and then you should rest for a few hours. Hollow Bastion will still be there tomorrow." Aeris led them away from the command room, having only minor difficulty with removing Tucker from Tron since he became quickly enamored of her looks.

LINEBREAK

"Wake up! Hundreds of Heartless just appeared at the tower! Wake up, people!"

Danny shot awake, still dazed from sleeping. His first thought was that Vlad had arrived.

Please review. The next chapter will appear next week.