--- Shades of Grey ---

Chapter 10 - A Good Other

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or any of the Disney or Square Enix characters or stories featured within. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to say that I did, but that would be a blatant lie. Any song, movie, and/or book reference used throughout the course of this story is also not owned by me. In fact, the only thing that is owned by me is this story.

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I bet it's not every day you meet your twin. Too shocked to speak?

Just because you're real doesn't mean you're better! We share the same body and the same talents. There is one easy way to tell us apart, though. Know what that is? Unlike you, I'm not afraid of anything.

You ARE a coward. You're afraid of the dark! The darkness inside you scares you witless. But I'M different. I embrace the darkness. I can make it do whatever I want. In other words... I can wipe the floor with you!

"I'm me," he says. It must be nice, being real. I thought by finding some new strength I could be someone, someone who's not you! But nothing changes... I'm still just empty! Everything about me is borrowed. As long as you're around, I'll never be anything better than a shadow!

So...this is the end. Figures. But I'm not afraid. Good riddance to an artificial life.

What happens when someone who's not real dies? Where will my heart go?

Riku sighed sadly, forcing the memories from his head; Castle Oblivion was a memory best left forgotten. Adjusting his black cloak despite the oppressive heat around him, the mauve-haired teen raised one hand to shield his eyes from the sun, casting his eyes around him. His Corridor of Darkness had taken him to the middle of the desert, a sandstone city in sight. The city of Agrabah, home of the sixth Princess of Heart, Jasmine.

Heaving another sigh, and making sure his hood covered his face, Riku headed towards the city with a heavy heart. While Belle had been quite easy to convince to come to Disney Castle, Jasmine, he knew, would be quite a challenge. Not only did that stupid bird Iago know that he used to work for Maleficent, thanks to the witch's dealings with Jafar, Jasmine herself knew, as he had been the one to come and collect her after Jafar failed to stop Sora.

"Just great," Riku grumbled to himself, "Even if I manage to keep a low enough profile to actually see Jasmine, the second she recognizes me she's going to call in the guards and have me thrown in a cell. If I'm lucky." The results of being unlucky were best left unsaid, but involved 'phenomenal cosmic power'.

As soon as the teen reached the city he dropped his head slightly, weaving his way through the bustling morning markets that lines the street, heading towards the towering palace that filled the horizon. He kept his gaze straight ahead, ignoring the imaginary eyes he could feel boring into his back; he repeated silently to himself 'It's all in my head. I've been paranoid ever since I first fell into darkness.'

Before too long, he reached the final archway before the palace, where a pair of burley guards stopped him. Raising a hand before either could speak, he stated evenly, "I am an emissary of the ruler of Disney Castle, here to see Princess Jasmine on official business. The princess would be less than pleased were I to be delayed."

The two stammered out apologies one leading him towards the front doors of the palace, directing one guard within to escort him to a meeting room, and another to fetch the princess. 'One hurdle down,' Riku thought, with a slight sigh of relief, 'Now, let's hope she'll listen to me.'

o-o-o

Xurik scowled to himself, running a hand through his silver locks as he marched through the halls of the Castle That Never Was. The attack on Radiant Garden had failed, spectacularly so, thanks to the small army of friends that had come to Sora's aid. All those Heartless destroyed, all that effort wasted, and Sora had come out of this conflict stronger than ever, thanks to the host of new allies he had. He would need time to rethink his plan, if he ever hoped to destroy Sora's heart.

He had learnt, if nothing else, that he could not take the fight to Sora. When the 'keyblade Master' was forced on the defensive, he could dig in his heels, put his back to the wall, and survive well past when most people would have lost. No, if he wanted to defeat Sora, it would have to be on his terms; he had to force Sora to bring the fight to him. And if he was going to do that, he would need to have to find bait for his trap.

"Those girls," he remarked to himself. They were the most obvious bait; Sora had already proven he would risk his own life to protect them. "But how to capture them..."

His musing was interrupted by the determined stride approaching him, followed by the stern and irate voice of Maleficent declaring, "You stupid boy! Do you have any idea what you have done?"

"Freed more hearts to repair your precious Kingdom Hearts?" Xurik replied dryly; he had observed on the way in that the giant gaping hole in the heart-shaped moon was less giant and gaping. "Isn't that why you gave me command over your Heartless forces in the first place?"

"You imbecile!" The witch shouted irately, "Thanks to your incompetence, Radiant Garden is now shielded against the Heartless!" When the Nobody just looked at her in shock, she explained, "For months now I have been sending minor skirmishes of Heartless to that world, to reinforce the darkness in it's heart. Now, due to your actions, the protectors of that world have managed to cleanse the world's heart of all darkness, protecting it from my scrying, and denying the Heartless access to that world."

Xurik blinked slightly, asking, "Then how come Sora isn't affected, with all his new darkness?" Before she could answer, he waved her concerns away lazily, remarking, "Whatever. The whims of light and dark mean nothing to the Nobodies. When next we have business there, they can handle it. Besides, fighting Sora there is pointless now; let him have his little sanctuary world. If we want to destroy him, we have to bring him here."

Maleficent sneered. "And how, pray tell, do you plan on doing that?"

Before he could reply, a new voice remarked coolly, "I believe I may be of assistance."

Xurik spun towards the new voice, Way to the Dusk flashing into his hands, as Maleficent raised her staff, glowing with a baleful green fire, and announced, "Who dares trespass in my dominion?"

There was one word Xurik could think of to describe the being that walked out of the shadows: powerful. His aqua hair was oddly styled, looking like he had two long horns trailing down his back to his hips, and a third shorter 'horn' in the front, curving down from his forehead to under his chin. He wore red-and-black, open-chest robes, with a wide green sash tied around his waist. In his right hand he carried a massive staff, with a head made of some kind of red metal, shaped like some kind of demonic glyph.

The man halted a few feet away from the pair, holding his staff out to one side as he dropped into a deep bow, intoning, "Apologies Great Mistress of the Dark. My name is Seymour. I have sought you out because I wish to lend my wisdom and my magic to your cause."

"Why?" Maleficent was nothing if not suspicious.

"You seek Kingdom Hearts," the strange man replied, "I seek an end to the spiral, and I believe that end is Kingdom Hearts."

Maleficent scowled, green flames erupting around her. "Kingdom Hearts is MINE!"

"You misunderstand me," Seymour remarked, bowing once more, "I care not who controls Kingdom Hearts, merely to spread it's influence across all worlds." That calmed Maleficent's rage. "The worlds, divided, are filled with suffering and sorrow, caught in a spiral of death. Light returns, and new hearts are born to mourn the lost, before light ebbs and darkness returns, to wash away more. Only in death is there true release from pain and suffering. I seek to bring sweet release to all life, and blanket all worlds in eternal darkness."

Maleficent smiled coldly, and, heart or no heart, Xurik couldn't help the shiver that went down his spine.

o-o-o

"Wow, this room is so glamorous! Much nicer than anything back in Castle Oblivion," Namine exclaimed excitedly, examining everything before giggling in girlish glee. "I feel like a princess."

"Technically you are," Kairi remarked with amusement, though she was equally amazed by the room. "I mean, if I'm a princess, and you're my sister, that makes you a princess too."

"Oh yeah," Namine giggled again, flopping down on the massive bed beside her sister. After the battle was over, the three off-worlders had realised pretty quickly that they would need a new place to lay low, now that the Heartless had found them out in the canyon. It was Yuffie who had suggested that they come stay in the castle, explaining that the only people who ever really came inside currently were the Restoration Committee members who'd chosen to live there, and the staff who worked for them, the latter of which who were paid to keep quiet about who was staying there. Yuffie had even insisted that they take the suite Kairi once lived in, over a decade ago.

Still smiling, Namine slid off the bed, heading over to the bags sitting against the nearby dresser. Thankfully, before the ninja girl escorted them to their room, the girls (Aerith, Tifa and Rinoa included) had all had the chance to go shopping, so Namine dug through the bags searching for the most important purchase: her new sketchbook. Sitting down in a nearby chair, Namine dug through her newly purchased pencils, finding the one she wanted, before beginning a quick sketch of the massive bed, and her sister still lying on it.

As her hands worked, Namine let her mind wander back to the battle, and to the new powers she had displayed in it. Somehow, she had been able to mimic Rinoa, even to the point of using magic spells that she not only didn't know, but were also way above her current ability; if she could barely cast a Fire spell, there was no way she would be able to cast Firaga, and yet, she had. However, the only spells of Rinoa's she could cast were the one's she'd seen Rinoa herself casting: Firaga, Firaja, Blizzaja, and Aeroja.

Drawing on autopilot, she remembered back to her days in Castle Oblivion, specifically, to the time Sora had arrived, and the things she'd been forced to do. She remembered changing Kairi's thalassa-shell good luck charm into a paopu charm, and doing the same with one of the cards they had made from Sora's memory; the good luck charm that had been given to the Riku Replica, who she had been forced to give, and then destroy, false memories of being the real Riku. She didn't know what happened to him after he had protected her against Maraluxia, but somehow, she knew he was gone.

Remembering back to all the awful things she had done, she felt the old doubts about her worthiness of having a relationship with anyone, let alone Sora, return full force. Setting aside her sketchbook with a heavy sigh, Namine heard herself ask, "Kairi, are you really okay with all of this? About sharing me with Sora? I know you said yes before, but everything was pretty emotional, and... I mean... I just don't want you to regret this, and wind up hating me."

Rolling over slightly to face her sister, Kairi gave her a wan smile. "Namine, do we really have to go over this again? I don't regret us all being together." After a moment's thought, she asked, "You aren't are you?"

"No!" Namine exclaimed hurriedly, before blushing. "It's just that..." She sighed slightly. "I know how much you love Sora. And yet, you accepted sharing him with me so quickly. I guess... I guess I'm just scared that you'll change your mind and want Sora all to yourself. I don't want to wind up alone again."

"Well that's just not going to happen," Kairi stated firmly, sitting up properly. "Firstly, Namine, even if I wasn't sharing Sora with you, you are my sister, and as my sister, that means you are stuck with me. Secondly, I read something a long time ago that said, 'no man should come between sisters'. You are right, I do love Sora, but so do you, and I love you too. I want you to be happy, and I don't want our love for Sora to drive a wedge between us, so the most logical choice is for us to share Sora. You deserve to be happy just as much as I do, maybe more."

Blushing in her usual cute fashion, with an equally cute smile on her face, Namine whispered, "Thank you."

Sliding off the bed, Kairi padded over to give her sister a hug. "It's like I said this morning Nam," the redhead whispered, "You're stuck with us. It doesn't matter what you did before, or what you used to be, Sora and I both love you, as you do us." Smiling, she added, "It's up to the two of us to protect him. You up for it?"

Tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, Namine nodded, replying happily, "Yeah, I guess we'd better. He's so hopeless without us isn't he?"

o-o-o

"Wow, this is a nice place," Sora remarked, gazing around the spacious sitting room, "Much nicer than Merlin's place."

"Yeah," Squall nodded, "Once word got around that Radiant Garden was being restored, a lot of the people who fled years ago began drifting back, including the rest of our friends. We knew Merlin's place wasn't going to be enough for the Restoration Committee for too much longer, so when Tifa opened this place, it seemed like a perfect match."

"Tifa owns Seventh Heaven?" Sora asked curiously.

The older man nodded. "First thing she did once she dragged Cloud back here was to open this bar. With so many of us here now, and with the world as rebuilt as it is, most of us have side jobs to keep us busy; nowadays, it's more just an excuse for us all to meet up and talk once a week. Barret's the only one who's really full time anymore, but then, he's in construction by trade. A lot of us don't have much to do with the Committee at all unless there's combat work that needs to be done; Vincent and Yuffie are prime examples of that."

"So do you all actually live here?"

"No, only Tifa and Cloud live here," Squall replied with a shake of his head, "We've each got our own places. Well, except Red and Vincent, who live out in the caverns, and Yuffie, who claimed a room in the castle as soon as it was habitable and wouldn't accept any reasons she shouldn't."

"That's because she should be there," Cid's voice drawled, preceding the man up the stairs. "You may be too young to remember it boy, but before Maleficent came, her father was an advisor to the king, and to Ansem the Wise after that, so she actually lived in the castle."

The mop of black hair preceding the man, Zack commented with some sarcasm, "As fascinating as your history lessons are Cid, I don't think that's why we were all called here."

"No, it's not," Squall replied, doing a quick head count to make sure everyone had shown up before turning to Sora and adding, "Cloud told us that you and Kairi were on-world again and needed sanctuary, but he wouldn't go into any detail as to why. I think it's time you gave us an explanation, and I'd appreciate it if you started with why we found you in the centre of the largest Heartless invasion force Radiant Garden has seen since we tore down Maleficent's castle."

Smiling a bit weakly, Sora began. "Well, I'll tell you what I can, but there's some of it I don't know myself. The short version is this: about three months back, I ran afoul of Hades while on a mission Mickey sent me on. Rather than killing me though, Hades imprisoned me, and used me as the subject of a series of experiments, using the anguished souls of the damned to enhance the darkness in my heart. Two months in, he succeeded, forging himself a corrupted keyblade, and sending me on a spiralling path down into darkness, before I managed to find a way to shield my heart. Now I can wield that darkness, but Hades has had a month's head start spreading his influence. I don't know why that army was here, other than to guess they were for me, but what I can tell you is this: they reeked of Hades' new strain of Darkness."

Cloud spoke up, adding, "With the information Sora gave me, we surmised that Hades is the one behind the attacks on the outer worlds. We suspect he's building himself an army."

Something of a grin on his face, Zack added, "Well, if those are his new Heartless, it shouldn't be too hard. I mean, those Neoshadows go down quick. Those others though... I'm not sure what they are, I've never seen any like them before."

"I have," Squall remarked grimly. "Darkballs and Invincibles. However..."

As he trailed off, Sora finished the thought for him. "They haven't been seen since I sealed the Door to Darkness."

That killed Zack's grin; everyone knew, from stories if not first-hand knowledge, just how strong the Heartless had become when the Door to Darkness was opened. Barret was the next to speak, remarking in his usual rough drawl, "I ain't ever seen no Heartless actin' like they were. Cowards flee as soon as fights turn against 'em, but all them Heartless fought to the death."

Sora blinked suddenly, taking a moment to decode what Barret has said, before commenting, "Hey, he's right. With a mass of Heartless that big, there's always a few that flee. If nothing else, they flee when the, I guess you could call them 'leader-class' Heartless show up. And there were six 'leaders' too; I've never seen more than two show up at once, and the one time I have fought two, they were a tag-team that that fool Pete sent after me."

Smacking his forehead, Zack exclaimed suddenly, "Gah, of course, how could I be so stupid... That guy watching the fight from up on the cliff must've been controlling them."

"What guy on the cliff?" Squall asked.

"Well, I only got a quick look at him before he disappeared into this black swirling portal thing, and I was in a bit of a hurry at the time-"

"Because you were late," Cloud interjected.

"...Yes, well, anyway," Zack shrugged, "From what I saw, I'd guess he's a bit taller than Sora here, with silver hair, and a black coat. Oh! And he had this wicked-looking red-and-black sword, but it had this extra bit on one side."

"A keyblade!" Sora bolted to his feet, "That sounds just like Riku. But... why would he be watching the fight... He can't have gone back to working for the Darkness again, can he..."

"Maybe Hades took his form," Vincent suggested, "Or, perhaps, he can control him through the Darkness in his heart."

Glancing around at the assembled men, Cloud summed up feelings on that theory with, "If he can, then we're all in trouble."

Walking over to the nearby window, Sora glanced up at the sky, sending out a silent prayer. 'Riku, please be okay.'

o-o-o

'What could be taking them so long?' Riku thought to himself, pacing up and down the length of the meeting room from equal parts worry and fear. 'Have they realised who I am already? Did she decided to round up as many guards as she can?'

As if purely to put him out of his misery, he heard a female voice, drawing closer, and assumedly speaking to someone with her, say, "There's really no need for this. An envoy from Disney Castle is not going to hurt me."

"I'm sorry Jasmine," A second, male voice replied, "But after the last couple of times we've had outsiders come to Agrabah, you'll forgive me for being cautious."

"Oh come on Aladdin," the female voice, Jasmine, paused in it's approach. "You like Sora. In fact, without his help, we probably wouldn't be together."

The male voice, Aladdin, laughed, replying, "Okay, you got me there, but you can't say he doesn't bring a whole lot of trouble with him."

"That's true," Jasmine laughed, before the two continued their approach to the meeting room. Striding in like the royal she was, Jasmine called out, "Okay, so what's this matter of such importance an emissary of Disney Castle would-" Jasmine stopped suddenly, her eyes widening in equal parts fear and anger, before exclaiming, "YOU!" Beside her, Aladdin drew his scimitar, pushing the princess behind him.

"Whoa! Calm down, wait a minute!" Riku exclaimed, holding his hands up in what he hoped was a peaceful manner, "Just, let me say my piece and I will leave, peacefully, no need for any trouble." Taking a deep breath, he started, "Now, I know we... don't exactly have good history-"

"You KIDNAPPED me!" Jasmine exclaimed.

Riku continued as though she hadn't said anything, "But I'm working for King Mickey now. I was in a bad place back then, but Sora beat some sense into me, and King Mickey's been helping me ever since." When Aladdin just tightened his grip on his scimitar, Riku sighed, added, "Look, I knew you wouldn't believe me, and I told King Mickey such, so I had him provide me with a little proof." Keeping one hand visible, he carefully reached into his pocket with the other, pulling out a folded piece of paper, emblazoned with the king's seal. Rather than offering it to either of them, knowing they wouldn't take it from him, he placed it on the ground, then stepped back about ten feet.

Keeping his eyes on Riku, Aladdin edged forward, grabbing the paper and bringing it back to the princess. Breaking it open, Jasmine quickly scanned the note, her features softening slightly, before she placed a hand on Aladdin's shoulder, nodding once when he looked back to her. As the former street-rat lowered his sword, Jasmine declared, "Alright then. I still don't trust you, but I will listen to what you have to say. For now."

Riku nodded, accepting the terms, and quite frankly, thankful he'd gotten that much. "A new Darkness has surfaced, more dangerous than Maleficent ever was. The information we have is spotty at best, but close to a dozen worlds have fallen to this new Darkness already... As has the keyblade Master." Pausing as the two exclaimed their shock at this news, before continuing, "King Mickey believes that the being behind this new Darkness will be going after Kingdom Hearts, and while normally Disney Castle refrains from meddling in the affairs of other worlds, Mickey believe this situation dire enough to warrant a breach of protocol, so he's sent me to bring the Princesses of Heart to Disney Castle for their protection."

"How many have answered the summons?" Jasmine asked.

"You're the last," Riku replied, smiling weakly, "I... was afraid to come here, after... you know, last time."

"So the other six are at the castle?"

Riku couldn't help but wince. "Uh... no. When I said you were the last... I meant you were the last we could find."

"Kairi." Jasmine remarked; it wasn't a question

"Sora has her, doesn't he?"

Though Aladdin had phrased it as such, Riku knew that wasn't really a question either. Still, he answered, with a heavy heart, "Yes, Sora has her, and we can't find him. King Mickey believes that Sora has fallen into Darkness, and will be using the friendships he's cultivated to get Kingdom Hearts."

"But you don't believe it." Aladdin remarked; again, not a question.

Riku shook his head, "I don't believe Sora is truly lost, no. But I do believe this new Darkness, a Darkness that could swallow a light as bright as Sora's, is a real threat."

"I'll go," Jasmine stated firmly, before turning to reassure Aladdin.

Riku just turned away, sighing. 'Strange,' thought to himself, 'how much easier the lie gets each telling.'

o-o-o

"What are you doing here?"

Seymour looked up from the bundle of notes before him to see Xurik walking into the lab, a scowl on his face. The enigmatic man's calming smile ever-present on his face, he replied, "As, the young Nobody; Xurik, was it? Maleficent has given me free run of the castle, on the proviso that I can produce results-"

"No, I meant what are you doing here, in this castle, on this world, and in this Realm?" Xurik cut him off sharply. "You've got Maleficent believing that you plan to 'kill the Light' and usher in a new glorious era of Darkness, but I know that's a crock of shit; you were just telling Maleficent what she wanted to hear. So: what are you doing here?"

Seymour smiled a little wider, still radiating that aura of calm, before replying, "You are correct; I have no intention on creating Maleficent's kingdom of Darkness. I seek not to kill only the Light, but the Darkness as well, to bring about an end to all things, such that only Nothingness remains."

"And now you're just saying what you think I want to hear," Xurik scowled, "Cut the bullshit, I'm not interested in-"

"Oh, but you ARE interested in what I have to say," Seymour interrupted smoothly, "Else you would have informed Maleficent already, or, at least, brought some Heartless or Nobodies to fight me with." He waved a hand absently, as if to point out it was just the two of them.

Xurik's scowl deepened. "Oh don't tempt me. I swear, if you don't answer-"

"What if I told you I had already created a plan that could serve ALL of our goals at the same time?"

Xurik took a step back, eyes widening a fraction in shock. "You don't know what my-"

"You seek the destruction of the Keyblade Master, this, 'Sora'. You feel he has taken everything from you, leaving you as this hollow shell, and so, in return, seek to take everything from him, to take his spirit, and, when he has nothing left, to take his life."

The Nobody took another step back. "How-"

"Fortunately," Seymour continued, still as smooth as silk on ice, "This castle's former owners have given us everything we need to make all our dreams come true. Well," he smiled slightly, "Almost everything. For this plan to work, I will need your help." Plucking a piece of paper from the pile, he slid it across towards Xurik.

His eyes quickly scanning the document, Xurik felt a smile come to his face, as a simulated emotion with all the hallmarks of glee welled up inside him. Nodding once, Xurik remarked, "What do you need from me?"

o-o-o

"Hey Namine, I just thought of something." When her recently-acquired sister looked up from her current sketch at the redhead, Kairi continued, "Well, you can turn yourself into different people, and you can turn objects into different objects-"

"I could," Namine interrupted, "I haven't tested if I still can."

Kairi nodded, "Right, well, I was wondering: can you turn other people into different people?"

The young blonde blinked, as though the thought had never occurred to her. She set her pencils aside as she mulled over the question, before a cute little smile crossed her face as she asked, "Hey, can I borrow your Floral Fallal keychain?"

"Uh, sure," Kairi replied, digging around in her pocket for the paopu-shaped keychain, and tossing it to her sister, "What'd you want it for?"

"A test," the girl replied cryptically, enclosing the keychain between her cupped hands and closing her eyes. "A test that, if it works, should prove to be a neat trick." There were a few minutes of silence, as the blonde concentrated on her task, before opening her eyes, smiling brightly, and throwing the charm back to her sister. "There. Equip it to your keyblade, let's see if it worked."

Kairi blinked. "Oh...kay." Summoning her keyblade in a flash of light, Kairi disconnected the Oathkeeper chain, observing at the back of her mind that her keyblade didn't change back to it's original form on it's own and making a note to ask Sora about it later, before connecting the paopu keychain in her hand. The bright light that consumed, and changed, her keyblade, she expected; what she didn't expect was the bright light that flashed before her own eyes. Turning to her sister, she asked, "What was that?" Then held a hand to her throat when she realised the voice that had come out of her mouth was not her own.

"It worked!" Namine exclaimed, grabbing Kairi's arm and dragging her towards the mirror against the wall. "Look, look!" Kairi did look, and what she saw in the mirror were two Namine's, dressed identically, with one holding the other's wrist, and the second holding a keyblade. "And now, I work a little of my magic, and..." With a flash of light, the keyblade-less Namine vanished, and was replaced with Kairi. Letting go of her sister's wrist, Namine added, "Try dismissing your keyblade, see if the form sticks."

With a nod, Kairi released her weapon, and both girls smiled brightly when the Namine in the mirror didn't change back into Kairi. Summoning her keyblade again, she switched keychains to Oathkeeper again, watching as her own form returned, before switching back to Floral Fallal, changing back to Namine. "So, I equip your keychain, I become you. I equip mine, I become me." Putting a hand to her chin, 'Namine' mused, "I wonder if you could make charms for other people..."

'Kairi' shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't think so. I mean, you and I do have this soul-deep link." Pausing a moment to examine 'herself' in the mirror, she smiled slightly and added, "You know, there was something else I'd love to try."

o-o-o

"So Sora, what's with the girl?" Zack asked, and judging by the looks on everyone else's faces, they wanted to know too. "I mean, Kairi I remember, but I don't remember a 'Namine'."

"She's Kairi's sister," Sora replied with a shrug, as if that answered everything.

The other men glanced at one another, before Cid replied, "Uh, try again. Kairi has no sister."

"Had," Sora corrected, shrugging again. "Technically, Namine is her former Nobody."

"But how could Kairi have had a Nobody?" Squall asked. "She's a Princess of Heart. She has no darkness, so she can't become a Heartless, ergo can't form a Nobody."

"It's... complicated." When the Islander saw the expectant looks on all their faces, he explained, "When Destiny Islands fell into darkness, Kairi's heart fled her body, to prevent the darkness from claiming it, and migrated to the nearest host: me; that's why I was seeing Kairi everywhere. When I used the Keyblade of Stolen Hearts to free Kairi's heart from my body, I consequently freed my own, turning myself into a Heartless, and creating a Nobody, named Roxas, who was found by the Organization, and made number thirteen. However, because a second heart left my body, a second Nobody was formed, using Kairi as the template. That Nobody was Namine."

"Most unusual," Vincent remarked, his cape still windblown despite being inside. "If Namine was once a Nobody, how did she come to acquire a heart?"

Sora opened his mouth, fully prepared to answer, when his mind was bombarded with a sudden barrage of... something he couldn't put into words; an indescribable, overwhelming sensation that saturated his very being. The first wave had barely passed when he was struck by a second wave. By the third wave, however, he'd had time to prepare himself, and he quickly realised just what the sensation felt like.

"Uh, kid, you okay?" Cid drawled, unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth.

Blinking rapidly as memory resurfaced as to where he was, Sora stammered hastily, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine, everything's fine, but I have to go. Like, right now."

Standing up and grabbing the hilt of his sword reflexively, Cloud asked, "What's the emergency?"

Summoning his keyblades, Sora lined the two up, side by side, before releasing them, and the two blades, suspended in mid air, rotated horizontally, before one rose up, and one sunk down, a shimmering portal forming between them. "No emergency," Sora replied, a grin on his face, "Just that, if what I think is happening is happening, I really want to see this." Saying no more, Sora leapt between his keyblades, and they, like the portal, vanished in a flash of light a split second later.

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Author's Notes:

Gods, it's been forever since I updated one of my stories... At this point, I could come up with some excuse as to why, but the simple truth is I've been so busy with other things that I just haven't had the time. I've also decided that I'm not going to update Disturbance again until I have at least two of the final three written, because the one I do have doesn't feel complete enough to post on it's own. Hence, I've updated this story instead.

Now, for those of you who may not be aware, the new character I brought in Seymour, is from Final Fantasy X. I've added him to the villain's side mainly as a counterbalance for Rinoa being a powerful mage. As for what he's planning, well, you'll just have to wait and see. It's actually one of the first long-term plans I've thought up for this story so far, so, it should be good.

Until next time, ja ne.