Chapter 11

When the door of the Mysterious Tower opened behind her, Kairi cringed and hugged herself tighter. The footsteps that followed were neither graceful enough to be Aqua, nor loud enough to be Donald or Goofy, and that left only Roxas. He sat on the steps beside her, but from her place curled up against the railing she could not see him. Instead she gave her attention to the crown necklace locked in her fingers.

"Hi," he said.

She regretted fleeing to such an obvious place instead of hiding. At least she had enough time to get rid of any signs of her crying before he found her.

"Going to pretend I don't exist?"

Her head lolled forward and twisted to the side to see him. She wanted to be angry, but of the many people who deserved her anger, he was not one. She forced it down, as well as the feeling of discomfort from having him watch her with that slight frown, and murmured, "Sorry."

Roxas shrugged and looked forward, focusing on some point far off in the world, lips still downturned. "You don't have to apologize to me. I don't want to talk to them either."

"That's not what I meant." He looked to her again, and she fought the urge to look away. A few loose strands of auburn hair partly obscured his face from her vision, at least. "I'm sorry for ignoring you. I'm happy you're back." He nodded. The following silence was unnerving, and if only to fill it, she asked, "How did you know where Aqua and I were?"

"I got… impressions, from Sora. I knew you were together, and in The World That Never Was, and if I was released then something must have happened to him, and you'd be alone with the Organization. So I went there, saw the battle, went through another corridor and got you."

Impressions. What did that mean? He still did not seem to know what she had done (or really, what she hadn't done), but he knew she was with Sora, and that was bad enough, wasn't it? "Oh."

"Oh?"

"I'm sorry for not bringing you back, I really did try, it's not like I chose him over you or anything, I don't like either of you more than the other, just differently, and, I couldn't, and I'm sorry."

She was received with a blank stare. "What do you mean?"

He really was clueless. She regretted speaking, knew she should not have said anything in the first place, could not fathom what possessed her to do so. "I. . . When I left the Organization, it was with Axel, he said I had to kill Sora to bring you back, but I couldn't, and I'm sorry."

To her greatest surprise, his mouth turned up in a faint smile. "Kairi, when I left the Organization, you still felt bad about killing a Dusk months before."

The observation left her frozen, blinking absently at him. "I still do." Although, if a Dusk were to attack her right then, she was certain she could kill it without much remorse.

Roxas's smile grew slightly, though it never reached his eyes. "If you feel bad killing a Dusk, I don't think you could kill an innocent, complete person – friend or stranger – no matter the incentive."

She had been so focused on the choice, the thought had never struck her. New bitterness threatened to surface at Axel for putting her in such a position, but she quickly forced it down again. Roxas was not too upset with her, if he was at all, and she needed to be grateful for that. She was too tired to be angry much longer, anyway. "Thank you."

He nodded, then looked back out to the world. Kairi sat up, taking her weight off of the railing, and ran a hand through her hair to push it out of her face. "What did I miss up there?"

"Lots of explaining and storytelling. Apparently I have the heart of some kid named Ventus."

She searched him for a sign that she had heard wrong, but found none. He went on to explain, "So Aqua – or Master Aqua – had two friends, Terra and Ventus, and there was an old guy named Xehanort, and everything went to hell. Terra was lost in Radiant Garden, Aqua fell into the Realm of Darkness, and Ventus lost his heart and went into a coma or something. I look like him, Aqua says she can sense his heart in me, and now the wizard guy wants to rip it out. Then they kicked me out of the room so they could discuss."

Kairi's lips pulled into a tight line at his words, and despite how much she tried to suppress her frustrations, she finally had a reason to dislike Yen Sid other than just her possibly misguided instincts. "They can't make you do that."

Though the bitterness had been apparent in Roxas's voice at the end of his explanation, it evaporated into indifference in an instant as he shrugged. "Guess we'll see."

"What does that mean?" she questioned. He shrugged. Not sure how to continue, she played with the crown necklace in her fingers for a few moments before asking, "So what happened to you?"

"A guy named DiZ sent Riku or whatever his name is after me, so they could bring me back to Sora to wake him up from his yearlong nap. Then they put me in some kind of digital Twilight Town with a new set of memories for a few days before I had to join with him, and that was that. Naminé was there too."

"Riku and Naminé were there?" she repeated, and then upon processing what he had said, "What do you mean had to join him?"

His expression was straight, unreadable. "They said I wasn't meant to exist and that he wouldn't wake up without me."

"And you just willingly went back to him?"

"I didn't have much of a choice."

"That's not fair though! You should be able to choose for yourself."

"So you wish I hadn't done it?"

She went rigid as her teeth grit together. "Well it doesn't matter much now since he's dead."

Roxas jolted next to her, then went quiet. The silence did nothing to dissipate her anger. "I didn't mean it that way."

"And what way is that?"

"A choosing way."

"Then how did you mean it?"

He was quiet again, but this time, her anger slowly began to evaporate as she watched him ponder her question. "Taking Sora out of the picture… do you think I should have given myself up for them?"

After several seconds of scrutinizing his face, she decided on the question he was failing to word. "Roxas… your existence is no less than anyone else's. Doesn't matter what anyone - Riku, Naminé, or the other guy - says. You never have to just throw yourself away because someone else says so."

He was not smiling, but he was frowning a little less at her answer. "The people upstairs don't seem to agree."

"So? Maybe you do have that guy's heart, but it's your choice to give it away or not, not theirs." She paused, fiddling with the crown as she tried to word what she had to say next. "I probably didn't help with this. I didn't treat you right in the last months in the Organization. I'm sorry."

The frown was gone, replaced with the smallest of smiles. "Apology accepted. I may need some help getting them to listen to that though."

"Then let's go up there and tell them," she declared as she pushed herself to her feet, then cringed upon realizing she would be seeing Aqua after running out of the room in a fit of emotion.

If Roxas saw, he did not comment. "Thanks. Up we go then?"

She looked up the steps, and for a moment the quiet voice that liked to remind her how tired she was almost broke through, but she silenced it with summoning an elixir to drink on the way. "Up we go!"

Together they ascended, the only sound their footsteps echoing through the tall tower until at last they were at the top. Perhaps they should have discussed a plan, perhaps she should have let Roxas speak for himself, but when they ceremoniously opened the doors to the study, and she saw Aqua look up to them from the book she was examining on Yen Sid's desk, Kairi let the words spill out before she could lose what little nerve she had intact. "You can't just make Roxas give up his life, no matter who it is for."

Yen Sid's unreadable, and thus terrifying, gaze was upon them. Aqua looked at them with something in the realm of shock and confusion. Roxas continued before either could speak. "I don't even know this Ventus, and you don't know me, and you've already decided that I have to throw myself away for him. Not interested."

Aqua abandoned the desk to walk toward them, shaking her head and now only looking alarmed. "No, Roxas, that wasn't what we meant at all!" Still, Roxas took a step back from her as she approached. "We would never ask you to do that."

"You said you were going to remove his heart, and then sent me out of the room so I couldn't listen to you talk about how."

Aqua stopped a few feet away from them. "I just thought it would be good to check on Kairi." The girl in question was feeling more ridiculous every second she stood there. At least Donald and Goofy were no longer in the room to see her. "I guess it was bad timing."

"I have been showing Aqua the safest known way to separate body and heart," stated Yen Sid from behind his desk. "As it is a process that naturally leads to darkness overtaking both parts, there has never been a fully safe way to do this. If such was the end of our capabilities we would not ask you to do this, Roxas. With Kairi, however, the process can be altered."

Kairi shuffled uncomfortably as all eyes turned to her, hoping her embarrassment over the misunderstanding was not too evident. "Me?"

"Tell us. Aside from light magic, what has your highest aptitude in magic always been for?"

The question made her frown. She had never tried light magic before, since she had never known she had a heart to have light. "Healing."

Yen Sid nodded. Aqua and Roxas finally looked to him instead of her, and Kairi let out a breath of relief. "Light and healing have always belonged together. They are creation, that from which the children of ancient times made the worlds that we now know. As a Princess of Heart, the strength of your restorative abilities would be near of if not equal to that of your light. It is how you called Sora out of the darkness, and even created a new body for him to inhabit. Much less, I would think, would be needed to make sure Roxas does not slip into the darkness."

She swallowed down any threatening emotion. Why did they have to talk about him? "I don't even know how I brought Sora back."

"It is in your heart's instinct to protect your friends. It knows how, even if you consciously do not."

She did not know what to say to that, so she said nothing. Yen Sid gave his attention instead to Roxas. "The choice to comply is entirely yours."

Roxas looked between them, to Yen Sid's even expression, Kairi's somber one, Aqua's hopeful one… and ultimately nodded, adding with lacking enthusiasm, "Sure."

Aqua's face spread into a wide smile and she took another eager step towards him. "Thank you, Roxas!"

He nodded, looking mildly concerned that she might try to hug him. The sight almost made Kairi smile.

"If you two will let us resume, I will finish showing Aqua what she needs to do, and then you may be on your way to Castle Oblivion to awaken him. Donald and Goofy must attend to a situation on their home world, but will drop you off on their way."

"Shouldn't we be trying to stop the Organization first?" Kairi could not help but ask. "They have Kingdom Hearts."

"A powerful moon made in the image of Kingdom Hearts, yes, but not Kingdom Hearts itself. From what you have all said, achieving it has not given them any kind of power over the worlds and those within. Until we can find out what their true intentions with it are, it would be more beneficial to do what we can to increase our numbers against them."

Kairi's shame at continuously saying things that always came across ridiculous in the end kept her silent, but Roxas fortunately had the same question as she did. "What do you mean, 'not Kingdom Hearts itself'? That's what we were working towards that whole time."

Despite their incredulous behavior, Yen Sid did not seem annoyed with them. Still feelingless, actually, to a point that reminded Kairi too much of certain Nobodies. "The true Kingdom Hearts can only be summoned and controlled by its counterpart, the χ-Blade. The Kingdom Hearts you have constructed from the hearts of people is certainly powerful, as all things in Kingdom Hearts' image will be, but could hardly be considered a fragment of the power the true Kingdom Hearts holds."

"So what did the Organization want with this one?"

"That has yet to be seen," stated Yen Sid. "You and Kairi would know best of anyone."

Kairi could guess that it had something to do with taking Riku and Naminé under their control, but saying this or anything out loud did not settle well. Glancing at Aqua out of the corner of her eye, she was unsure she could say anything if she wanted to. Roxas again responded instead. "They weren't exactly interested in telling us the truth of anything going on." By the hostility in his voice, Kairi doubted he believed anyone to be telling him the truth anymore. Except perhaps her.

He turned to leave, but Aqua stepped forward to take his attention. "Something for the two of you." She held out to each of them a thick silver bangle, and Kairi noticed that she had a matching one on her own arm, partly obscured by her sleeve. Though Kairi accepted hers without question, Roxas stared skeptically at the one for him. "It's to protect your heart from direct outside manipulation." Aqua subtly glanced to Kairi at this, though not enough to go unnoticed. "Since we still don't know what caused the memory loss."

"Forget already? I don't have a heart."

"For Ven's?"

His shoulders heaved as if sighing, but he accepted the bangle without another word, slipped it on his wrist, and left the room. Kairi attempted an awkward half bow to the wizard and master before skittering after Roxas with her head lowered.

They started down the stairs, and Roxas glanced behind them to make sure the door was shut before saying, "Sorry for all that for nothing,"

Kairi waved a hand dismissively. "There was good reason to be concerned." He gave her a disbelieving look that she did not bother to argue against. Her fluster at the situation was too obvious. "I think I'll live."

"I hope so. So what did he mean by a Princess of Heart?"

"Oh." How had she forgotten to tell him this? Then again, so much had happened she was unsure how she could tell anyone a fragment of it all. "Adding to the list of great lies from the Organization, I have a heart. One of pure light and no darkness, which means I'm a princess, apparently."

The hint of a playful smile reached his face, one she had not seen since so long ago on the clocktower. "Okay then, your highness. What should we do now?"

She returned the smile, ignoring the guilt that threatened from daring to be anything other than miserable after all that had happened. She had her friend back, she deserved at least one moment with him, right? "Don't call me that, or I'll order you banished or beheaded or something."

"Queen of Hearts style?"

"No, Princess of Heart style, weren't you listening?" They shared a moment of laughter, and for that moment she felt lighter, but it was quickly stifled by guilt that cut her laughter abruptly. Roxas, thankfully, did not notice. "I don't really feel like doing anything, honestly."

"Fine with me. I don't either."

They wandered the tower in comfortable silence, and while neither could say they were entirely happy, they had each other there, which for the moment was enough.

Save for the stench of darkness brought by the Heartless wandering inside, The Land of Departure – or Castle Oblivion, as the others had taken to calling it – was exactly as Aqua had left it eleven years before. The walls were white and clean, ceilings high, and doors foreboding. The Heartless she encountered were trivial in comparison to the ones she had encountered in the Realm of Darkness, and she need not even summon her keyblade to defeat them, instead dispelling them with quick spells.

Even as she defeated them, she feared a fight to be the only thing that may pull Roxas and Kairi from their dazes. They walked behind her, holding each other's hands but giving no other recognition of the other's presence, much as they had been on the Gummi Ship ride there. Through the entire trip, she had been able to think of no words of sufficient comfort to give to them over either of their plights. They were still upset at her – Roxas's empty gaze became a scowl every time he noticed her looking at him, and Kairi refused to meet her eye.

She would be lying if she said it did not hurt. Perhaps she had been too hopeful for her first encounters with people after being alone for so long. Everyone had been irritated with her before she had left, and after years in the darkness she should have expected they would still become irritated with her.

When she found the door to the chamber, she wasted no time for ceremony and walked straight in and around the throne. Still as young and baby faced as the day she had left him sat Ventus, breathing softly, and if she dared believe it, a faint smile came on his face at her presence. She could not help smiling herself as she knelt and rested his cheek in her hand. "I'm back. Sorry it took me so long."

Ventus's smile widened, as did Aqua's as excitement she had not felt for years found its way into her heart. She didn't realize just how much she missed that smile until she saw it again. She stayed there, watching him as she gradually allowed herself to realize that she was finally going to have one of her best friends back, though when she began to worry it was a dream, she stood and faced Kairi and Roxas, who were still at the entrance, awkwardly shuffling as they awaited orders.

"Roxas, I need you to stand right here," she said, gesturing to in front of and beside the throne. He did so, and Aqua stood facing him. She then guided Kairi to be standing by them, facing Ventus, so that they were all looking in at each other.

While she had run through the process multiple times in illusions with Yen Sid, she still could not help her nervousness as she summoned Master Keeper. She did not think she would fail, even if by Roxas's expression he believed she would. She and Yen Sid had discussed many scenarios, and she knew how to react accordingly for each. Unfortunately, one of those was that Roxas was using Ventus's heart as his own, hence his ability to display emotion despite being a Nobody. Even if his body was saved, there would not be much left of the Roxas Kairi or anyone knew if that were true. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Roxas."

He looked aside. "Just do it."

If his emotions did come from Ventus's heart, then Ventus would be just as unhappy to see her when he woke up. Every moment she hesitated, it seemed more and more like a bad idea. With what resolve remained, she lifted Master Keeper. "Everyone ready?"

Kairi nodded, still not meeting her eye. Roxas shrugged carelessly. She pointed Master Keeper at his chest, muttering the incantation Yen Sid had taught her until a string of light connected the keyblade to Roxas's chest. The light spread, wrapping around him before doing the same to Aqua.

All at once, it was gone. For one terrifying moment, Aqua thought she was falling back into the Realm of Darkness, for nothing was around her in any direction, and yet she could feel herself being pulled further and further away from the castle as she floated downward. Only the feeling of water passing smoothly and painlessly through her lungs reminded her where she was.

She landed on dark ground, but knew from her own previous dives what to do. With a step, light burst from the ground, chasing the darkness away in the form of doves, until the entire image of the heart station was revealed. Ventus, she at first thought upon seeing the blonde asleep on the glass. But the sunset orange of the background was unfitting for her friend, the buildings decorating the platform unrecognizable, and that was not Ventus's keyblade in the sleeping boy's hand, but a black and white one held forward, as opposed to Ventus's reverse-grip. Two Become One, it told her.

Of all the things she had expected, Roxas having his own heart had not been among them.

What are you doing here?

Aqua started, and whirled around, looking for the voice. No one else was on the platform that she could see. "I'm here for my friend, Ventus."

Ventus? He's this way.

At the edge of the platform, stain glassed steps appeared, leading up and away. Squinting into the darkness, Aqua saw that they were connecting to another station she had been unable to see before. Ventus's?

What are you going to do?

"I'm just taking Ventus's heart out." Aqua admitted as she walked up the steps, warily looking for the speaker. The voice was familiar in a way she could not place.

Will that hurt Roxas?

"Kairi will make sure it doesn't."

The answer seemed suitable enough for the speaker, for it said no more.

As the voice had said, the station she found was of Ventus, sleeping just as peacefully in the image on the ground as he did outside in Castle Oblivion. Once she stepped onto the platform, light seeped up into her body, wrapping around her like an embrace. The light was pure, not unlike Kairi's, and strong. Hopefully strong enough that he would be able to make it on his own now.

Having to separate two hearts had not been in any of the theories Yen Sid had presented, but she could improvise. Standing in the center of the station, she summoned Master Keeper and held it up as she closed her eyes. Letting it guide her, she searched for where the two hearts were joined together, until a keyhole appeared in front of where her blade was pointed. She pushed the keyblade forward and turned it.

Light from the keyhole consumed everything, and the last thing she was aware of was a strain between the two hearts as they attempted to disconnect. Then she was back in Castle Oblivion, keyblade aimed at Roxas as he collapsed, caught by Kairi so that he lay across her lap.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

As soon as Aqua saw him give a thumbs up, however weak it may have been, she turned back to the throne. Master Keeper vanished as she again knelt in front of Ventus, a hand taking each of his. "Ven? You awake?"

His eyes opened, focused on her. She nearly lurched forward to hug him but Ventus beat her to it, knocking her back so that she was sitting with him dangling from her neck, doing little to support himself. She held him up with a tight embrace, hiding her face in his shoulder so none could see the threatening tears, only hear the muffled laughter that shook her body. "Sorry I took so long."

"Who cares? You're here!" he announced loudly, hugging her tighter for a moment before attempting to release her, though she still had to hold him up. "Uh, help me stand?"

With a firm nod and firmer smile, she stood, pulling Ventus up with her. Her hand moved to his shoulder to steady him as soon as his feet were under him. He wobbled a few moments before gaining his balance, then grinned up to Aqua before hugging her again, as if he could not get enough of her affection. Just like he would have before, as if the eleven years that had passed and the events leading to their separation were nothing. She gladly returned the embrace.

"What happened to you?" he asked after they had been embracing for some time. "You just, disappeared."

She took her time finding an answer, running her fingers over his hair, even if more to soothe herself than him. "I went to find Terra, but he started falling into darkness. I took his place, and ended up in the Realm of Darkness until Kairi got me out a few hours ago."

He leaned back to squint up at her. "You've been there this whole time?" Her nod earned a frown. Before she could think of something to fix it, he asked, "What happened to Terra?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "He's… I'm not sure." What could she say about the Terra-that-was-not-Terra with the Nobodies? A good chance to ask someone about it had not arisen, and the situation was too confusing to dare try to guess on her own. "We'll find him though."

His frown remained for moments more before being replaced with a smile. "Well, I got you back, he can't be too far behind."

The thought was nice, even if his logic unsound, so she smiled and tossed his hair. "Of course. Who knows, we may even find him on our current mission."

"Which is…?" He leaned around Aqua to glance at the other two in the room, as if they could give him a clue, but quickly focused back on Aqua with widened eyes and a finger aimed at the other boy who looked so like him.

"Roxas. Your heart was with him."

"I thought I was with Sora."

A brief glance over her shoulder showed that Kairi was watching them intently, even as she whispered to Roxas. Aqua returned her attention to Ventus. "I'll explain on our way out." He looked concerned by her delaying to tell him, but said nothing as she knelt beside Kairi and Roxas. "How are you feeling, Roxas?"

He squinted at her through half lidded eyes. "Still here."

At least the hostility had been entirely his and not at all Ven's. "Can you walk?"

As if insulted by the question – though Aqua figured he just did not want to show weakness to someone he apparently disliked so much – Roxas removes Kairi's arms from around him and pushed himself to his feet, though he almost immediately fell over and Kairi had to steady him. With all the stubbornness he possessed, he marched to the door, undaunted even as Kairi walked at his side to aid him.

A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed!