Hello again. I apologize for the brief wait on this chapter, but here ya go! This chapter is a little less action than usual but I hope that's ok...


It was mid afternoon. Though the sky above Radiant Garden was blue and cloudless and the townsfolk went happily about their business, an unsettling feeling nestled itself in the room. Everyone was gathered in Merlin's house: me, Kaden, Roxas, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Melissa, Hayner, Seifer, Rai, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Tifa, and Merlin. Everyone was either sitting in a random chair or on a table or they were leaning against one of the walls. There was some idle chatter, but for the most part, no one talked. Finally, Roxas let out a deep breath and stepped into the center of the room.

"Alright, everyone."

The room fell silent and everyone turned their attention to him.

"I know I didn't explain what's going on yet. I just told everyone that there was bad news. Well, it turns out we're facing a bigger problem than we ever have before and I'm not going to blindly lead us all into danger. We all need to decide together, as a team, what we're going to do. There's no easy answer to the situation, so we need to be patient with each other and talk everything out. Cid?"

Cid stood up from his seat. "Well, folks, prior to now, our problem was always the Heartless. The darkness tried to overcome the light, yada yada yada. Well, it turns out, the light fought back a little too hard. Now we're looking at the complete absence of darkness throughout the universe. As in, no Heartless, no anything like that."

Hayner opened his mouth to say something, but Cid cut him off. "Well, that sounds great, doesn't it? But the thing is, the light and dark are everything. They hold everything together. They keep the worlds in balance. Without that balance, everything could get all haywire and the worlds could basically destroy themselves."

Everyone just stared in shock. Cid continued. "So here's the deal: If all the Heartless are destroyed, the darkness naturally found in people's hearts may be enough to balance everything out and hold the universe together. Then we would all be living in a Heartless-free world with no more suffering or dying. But it might not. Everything could collapse and then…it's over."

"So…we have to decide," Roxas spoke up again. "Do we risk it?"

"Wait a minute," Melissa cut in. "So, what if we decide it's too risky? Then what?"

"Then everything stays as it is."

"You would just let the Heartless live on stealing people's hearts?"

"Neither choice is ideal."

"But our whole duty is to protect people! You would just let the Heartless go about like nothing's wrong? You're sentencing the worlds to death!"

"No. We would keep fighting to protect people or find a way to keep them away or something. We need the Heartless to exist, but we wouldn't just let people die!"

Melissa yelled back again, but Riku stopped the fight. "OK, you two! Obviously there are pluses and minuses to both choices! That's why we all need to discuss this!"

Roxas and Melissa relaxed slightly. Melissa spoke in a more collected manner now. "I just don't see how doing nothing will help. We can never beat the darkness by just warding it off all the time."

"No, but destroying the whole universe won't help either," Seifer grumbled.

"If it's your duty to protect people, you can't risk something like that, y'know?" Rai added.

"But imagine a world free from darkness, a perfect world! That's what humans have been working for since the beginning of time! And we don't know how likely the worlds are to fall apart. What if it isn't that risky after all?" Melissa pointed out.

Roxas said sternly, "Even if there was the slightest chance it could destroy everything, the risk isn't worth taking."

"Roxas," Melissa replied, "I understand what you're saying and I don't want anyone to get hurt either, especially the whole universe! But if nobody ever took any risks, nothing would ever get done."

"I know. Risks are necessary, but not when they're this big. We're talking apocalypse here."

"The Heartless are another factor, too, aren't they?" Kairi joined in, speaking for the first time. Everyone looked over towards her. 'I mean, what if they can learn not to hurt people, just like Ricky and Slasher? Then letting the Heartless live wouldn't be as dangerous, right?"

"They're still killers," Melissa protested. "Most of them don't even have half a heart left, but the ones that do still need to kill to live."

"Wait, what?" Riku stopped her.

"Those Heartless. They're Halfbloods. When they were swallowed by darkness, they only had the light half of their heart taken. I think the darkness is creating them in hopes of doubling its dark power."

"And restoring the balance," Riku cut in.

"Right," Melissa nodded. "But the light in the hearts isn't destroyed by the darkness when it's taken. It forms its own being, a creature called a Solstice."

"Woah, are those the white things we saw in Twilight Town?" exclaimed Hayner.

"Yeah, occasionally they'll listen to me, but not usually," Melissa replied.

Riku got things in order again. "So about these Solstice things…You're saying the dark isn't really balancing everything out again? Since the light of the lost hearts is still here?"

"Exactly."

"And what are the Solstices trying to do? Get rid of the Heartless?"

"Yes. Light naturally tries to drive out darkness. I sent those Solstices after the Heartless in Twilight Town because I knew I couldn't take them all out on my own, but either way, they would've tried to destroy them."

I perked up with an idea, a thought that struck me. Kaden, that monster… er, Solstice that attacked me…did you think it looked kinda similar to me?

Yeah…

Maybe it wasn't trying to kill me. If it was the other half of my heart, maybe it was trying to rejoin with me or something and make me human again.

Could be. That would make sense, wouldn't it? So all we gotta do to become human again is find our light? …Wow. That sounded really cheesy.

I chuckled. Yeah, just a little bit. Now the only hard part will be finding the right ones…

At that moment, the window by the door shattered. Everyone jumped and whipped toward it to see a large white monster in armor with two blades protruding from either side of it and the white dragon-like creature from before was next to it.

Well, that wasn't that hard, joked Kaden.

Let's go! I yelled, pouncing at the Solstice perched on the windowsill. I knocked it from where it was standing and tackled it to the ground on the other side. Kaden charged at his target and became locked in combat. I hoped to end the battle quickly. I reared back with mouth open, ready to clamp around the Solstice's neck, but it threw me off and leapt up.

Kaden whacked his enemy across the room, smashing it into the door and causing the door to fly open. He followed up by running and slicing downward. The Solstice leapt backward and dodged it. Now both battles were outside.

"What will happen if they kill each other?" yelled Roxas.

"Well, if the Heartless destroys the Solstice, it becomes whole again. If the Solstice kills the Heartless, its darkness is gone and it's free forever," Melissa explained.

WHAT? I looked over at her in disbelief. The Solstice rammed me in the chest. I flew backward into a wall.

Kaden blocked an attack from his enemy. Katie, don't let it kill you! We have to take them out!

I know! I called, getting back up shakily. The dragon Solstice charged, but I hovered up and clawed its face. It screeched in anger. The others were outside watching now.

"What should we do?" demanded Riku.

"Nothing," Leon answered tensely, "If we intervene and fight off those Solstices, these Heartless will be Heartless forever."

Kaden's foe knocked him to the ground, leaving him defenseless. It raised one blade to stab him through. I glanced over quickly. I tried to run to help him, but the enemy I was fighting barred my path. KADEN! I screamed.

Roxas hurled his key so that the edge of the hand guard smashed into the Solstice's face. It stumbled backward and clattered to the ground dizzily. It retreated, disappearing into an orb of light. I roared and leapt at the opponent who remained. I was getting my heart back! It flew above me, avoiding my attacks. Roxas stepped forward, ready to throw his Keyblade again. The dragon also retreated, enveloping itself in a portal of light and vanishing.

I let out a low growl. I'll get you next time, I swore to the empty space where the dragon-like monster had been. Kaden uneasily got up. You OK? I turned to him.

Yeah, that was close, he exhaled in relief.

"What was that for?" Melissa addressed Roxas, throwing her hands up.

"It was about to kill him," Roxas answered, sending his weapon away.

"Is that a bad thing?" Melissa raised her eyebrows.

"They still have a heart! You said it yourself!"

"Yeah, the dark half! That's the side we all try to get rid of!"

"You need both sides!"

"I don't have both," murmured Sora. The fighting stopped.

"You…don't?" asked Melissa. Sora shook his head.

"He lost the darkness in his heart," Kairi explained sheepishly. "So he just has the light side left now."

"And he's a Keybearer, right?" confirmed Melissa. "That just goes to prove my point! No darkness means a strong heart!"

"Not necessarily," Cid scratched his head. "Just because his heart is strong even without darkness doesn't mean you don't need both halves…I've been doing some research and I'm afraid that the same thing might happen to Sora's heart as to the worlds…"

I gulped. Everyone else paled.

"You mean, like…full-out collapse?" croaked Kairi.

Cid nodded. "I'm sorry, kid, I didn't wanna worry you, but I thought you should know. Maybe there's something we can do about it."

Sora didn't say anything.

"But wait a minute," Roxas jumped in. "He's been living with just half a heart for at least a year now and nothing happened. He's probably fine…right?"

"I don't know," Cid shook his head. "I'll keep looking into it."

Suddenly, there was a scream. A group of four teenage girls ran around the corner. Behind them were a mob of Shadows, quickly gaining on their victims. One leapt for the person in back. The girl in front grabbed a rock and chucked it. It hit the Shadow in the eye and it fell to the ground in annoyance.

"AAAH, RUN FASTER!" another yelled.

Everyone immediately sprung into action. Roxas ran forward while hurling his key, ripping through a few of the Heartless. Melissa jumped over the group and brought her weapon down on the Shadows. Riku grit his teeth as he shot right into the mass of dark creatures and started hacking. The teenagers backed away as the heroes cleared out all the enemies. Some of the Heartless got around them, but Kaden and I took care of those. It seemed like all of the Heartless were gone, when one appeared out of the ground behind the group of teens.

"Look out!" one of them cried in worry. The Shadow leapt with its claws ready. Its target cringed. Roxas shot forward like a bullet, shoving her out of the way and stabbing the Keyblade straight through the Heartless. It disintegrated. He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her up before she hit the ground. The others started to come out of their state of shock.

"T-thanks," they stammered.

Roxas nodded. "You guys OK?"

"Yeah, thanks."

With a smile, they started to walk away.

"That was so awesome!" one of them whispered.

"No it wasn't! We almost died!"

"I know! That was the craziest adrenaline rush ever!"

There was a facepalm. "Fear and fun aren't the same thing, Skye…"

"Hey! I wasn't scared!"

They walked out of sight. Melissa turned to Roxas with a glare.

"You still think keeping the Heartless around is a good idea?"

Roxas looked down, unsure of what to say. "No, but…"

"There is no 'but'! The Heartless are dangerous! End of story! Now, I don't care what the rest of you decide. I'm saving the world and you can join me if you like." With that, she turned and started to walk away.

"Melissa, wait! MELISSA!" Roxas called. She didn't turn around. Roxas sighed. "Now what?"

"Now we go back to Twilight Town," Riku ordered confidently. "We've got some Solstices to hunt."


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