Oh my God, I'm so sorry it took so long to get this done. I'll finish this story up this month, I promise.

….or at least, I hope.

And now, I shift our glance away from characters you've all come to know and love and introduce you to the hero of this tale; the other side of Dexn and our true Keyblade master.

Enjoy.

Chapter Fourteen: Struggled Heart, Struggled Mind

There it was… finally: the light at the end of the tunnel. For months he had searched, prayed for this opening out of this hellhole called… well, he didn't really know what it was called… just "The Darkness" would suffice.

He crawled onward, towards the light. Someone, somewhere, was screaming- a woman. She was shouting a name… one name, over and over…

His?

He kept going forward. The light was now so close, it was blinding. He wouldn't have felt surprised if it were burning his "skin", it was so bright and so hot now. But it didn't stop him. He was so close now. Just a little further and he'd finally be freed.

His arm went forward… he went through the light…

And all fell into darkness again.

---------------

"He's waking up!"

Who? Me? I'm waking up?

"Son? Can you hear me?"

They are talking to me, right? There's not, like, another kid in the room, is there?

"Ned? Sweetie, it's Mom."

Yup. Definitely me.

Slowly, his eyes opened. And once again, bright light shown through.

"How are you, son?"

Ned sat up slowly, as if every move he made brought nothing but pain to him. His blurred vision finally cleared, revealing about fifteen people huddled around his bed. Doctors and nurses, mostly, but his own parents could be made out in the group.

"I'm alright," his voice came out, hoarse, as if he had not used it in months.

"He's awake! My baby's awake!" his mother was crying with happiness. His father wrapped his arms around her, also crying.

Ned rubbed his weary head. He felt like he had had five hangovers all in a row.

"W…What the hell happened?" he asked finally.

"We… we don't really know," said his mother.

Ned looked up sharply at what his mother said. "W-What?" he asked.

"Well… you just… disappeared for two months, no trace or anything," she explained, and then you just showed up in a back alley a few weeks ago, and we put you in here. You've been in coma the whole time."

Ned fell back against the bed. Two months… he had been missing for two months. That's how long the Darkness felt like… well, actually, it felt more like eternity.

"The scans don't show any unusual symptoms," the doctor spoke this time, "but we would like to keep you another night. That is, if you would-"

"No," stated Ned firmly, "I wanna go home."

"Doc, surely he can come home now?" his father questioned.

The doctor appeared to be against it. Obviously; someone in this predicament would not be released without at least a night of observation. But the boy did seem fine, and his parents seemed insistent. So, naturally but reluctantly, he gave in.

"OK, now, his health is stable now, but if he falls back into coma, then I recommend that you bring him back here so…"

But what they were supposed to do, Ned never quite found out. For at that moment, something else caught his eye.

A white being, tall and flexible, simply standing there. Whether or not it was actually staring at him was unable to be told, as they creature had no eyes. But he had to be staring at him; the head was looking right at him, so it must've sensed his presence.

You possess it…

This weird voice whispered that into his ear. Ned looked all around, but apparently it was a "for-your-ears-only" voice, because the other adults gave no inclination of noticing anything wrong. The voice spoke again.

You possess it… so there is another one…

He frowned. Another one? Another what?

Well well… He will be interested to hear…

"Ned?"

Ned snapped out of it. Everyone was staring at him.

"Are you ready to go, son?" his father asked.

Ned glanced over to where the white thing had been.

There was nothing there.

"Son?"

"Yeah," Ned answered, "yeah, I'm ready to go."

-----

Ned looked at himself in the mirror. It was the same reflection he had always lived with; the abnormally (well, OK, about 5'9) tall, thin, curly haired kid of seventeen that he had always been. Nothing special, despite the fact that he had the PS3 jacket from that Megatokyo comic book, a black "L33T" shirt, and white, very baggy pants with chains. And yet, here he was, two days out of a life threatening coma… and he was going back to school.

Yay.

And yet… he felt different. Not different in that his insane personality and ego were thrown down the garbage disposal. But enough to make him feel scarred. He had just woken up from a two-month disappearance and a three-and-a-half-week coma to a strange white creature saying he was in possession of something he didn't even know what, and some "He" person would be interested.

And a few months ago, he thought falling for his best friend would be the least of his problems.

"Honey?"

Ned's mother poked her head in. "Are you ready for school?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah…" Ned replied, a little uncertainly.

"Oh, sweetie, I know it's hard," she said, "But you know, you don't have to go in today, you could wait a couple more days, take it slow-"

"No! I really wanna see the guys again," he insisted. "It's just… how much has changed?"

"I guarantee you, honey," his mother put her hand on his shoulder, "It'll be as if you never left."

And on this, he would have to just take her word for it.

-----

Ned stepped off the bus and looked around at his school. The building itself looked exactly the same. Small, gray, and downright dislikeable. But everyone was waving to him, actually happy to see him. He had always gotten the impression that they didn't like him.

"Hey, Ned. Welcome back," said one boy.

"Thanks," Ned muttered, kinda uncomfortably.

He kept getting this, left and right, from people who he openly resented with a passion. But it was only when he got to the door did he get his best welcome back yet.

As he was about to walk through the doors, all of a sudden, something slammed into his back, choked him, and knocked him to the floor.

"OH MY GOD! YOU'RE HERE, YOU'RE REALLY HERE!!!" a girl's voice exclaimed.

"Nice to see you too, Ren," Ned replied, cracking his first real smile in days.

Ren- short for Katherine- was Ned's oldest and best friend in the world. She was tall, with a plain face, but a b-e-a-utiful body, she had known Ned since they had both been knee high to a grasshopper. Both had grown up to comments about how it wasn't cool for a guy and a girl to be hanging out, and they ignored it. Ren saw Ned as a brother. And right now, she was squeezing the daylights out of her brother.

"I can't believe it, you're awake! We've been so worried about you, don't EVER do that again, you hear me?" she demanded.

"Ren, he knows. Now let him up, he can't breathe."

Ren hastily got up. Ned slowly lifted himself off the ground and brushed himself off while Corey again spoke.

"So, man, where've you been?"

Corey was Ned and Ren's other best friend. They had both met him back in fourth grade, and became good friends with him in fifth. Short, with spiky blackish hair and glasses, he seemed like a dorky kid, but was really cool and laid-back. He grinned at his friend.

"I've been asleep," Ned responded, somewhat spitefully.

"In what? Cold storage?"

Ned glared. Corey just laughed.

"I'm kidding, man. It's really great to have you back," he said.

"Isn't it?" Ren squealed, "This is sooo great! Now, the Golden Trio is reunited!"

Ned looked at Ren and Corey. It had been three months… and Corey always had been bugging him, trying to get there before he did…

"So… did I miss anything?" he asked.

"No, nothing. It's been boring as hell around here," Ren groaned.

"Yeah, Ren didn't want to do anything fun. All she did was visit you in the hospital, like, fifteen times a day," Corey laughed.

"Shut up," Ren elbowed him, glowing red.

BRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!

The bell signaling the end of morning loitering rang. All around, kids were packing up, putting out cigarettes, rolling up newspapers, and heading for their homerooms.

"Crap, I have to go. I'll see you guys later!" Ren called back, waving as she ran off.

"Yeah… later," Ned said softly. Corey clapped his back.

"Really glad you're back, man," he said, before he, too, left.

And oh, how good it was to be back.

-----

"Welcome back, Ned."

"Thank you, sir."

"Take a seat."

Ned sat down at his usual seat near the back of the room, towards the window. This was great for him, because he always felt the need for some cool air coming through.

"Now, class, turn your books to page 420 and begin reading chapter six-"

Ned quickly drowned out the teacher and whatever it was the man was saying. He gazed out the window.

It was still weird. Nothing had changed, and yet a lot had changed. Not outwardly. Just a rift, which he had felt there at lunch when Ren and Corey had gone on talking about some party they were having Saturday night. They obviously gave him an invite, but they were inviting all these people that he had never talked to a day in his life. They had made a bunch of new friends while he was lying dormant in a hospital bed. He couldn't help but feel a little left out.

Ren still treated him the same as usual, but he noticed that during their conversations there were a lot more of those awkward pauses that they had never used to have. A lot more strained tension, and for some reason, she seemed uncomfortable to be too close to him, as if she would catch some awful disease if she did or something.

Corey, on the other hand, treated him no different than he had always had. Which had its ups and downs, as he still treated him like a little kid half the time. But he still gave him that old smile that said, "Relax, everything's fine." That helped. A lot.

He glanced out the window. And froze.

Standing there, almost hidden behind the tree, was the white creature he had seen in the hospital. It almost floated, whipping around as though it had no bones in its entire structure. Again, it was hard to tell exactly if it was staring at him or not. But Ned just knew it was.

Come to us…

There it was again. The voice only he could hear.

Come to us… my master is dying to meet you…

No way. No way in Hell was he getting anywhere near that thing.

Come…

"Ned?"

He jerked back to reality. The entire class was staring at him. Perfect.

"Are you alright?" asked the teacher.

"Yeah, I'm just… a little disorganized," Ned replied.

"Take your time. It'll all go back to normal eventually."

But somehow, Ned doubted it would ever be normal again.

-----

"Hey."

Ned turned around just in time to see Ren catch up to him. She slowed down her pace to match his slow, steady walk.

"Why didn't you wait up for me?" she demanded.

"Are you kidding me? I waited for, like, half an hour," he told her.

"Oh… really?"

"Yeah," he answered.

They went on walking, again falling into an uncomfortable silence.

"You OK?" Ned asked, "You've been really weird around me today."

"Huh? Oh, I'm just getting used to having you around again, y'know?" she hastily replied.

Ned examined her carefully. If Ren had been nervous before, she felt really weird now.

"What?" she finally snapped at him.

"Dude, something is seriously up. What's wrong? You know you can talk to me."

"…I know, it's just…" she sighed, "It's really weird. For the last two months, I've been scared that I'd never see you again. Then, when you showed up completely gone, and… I thought you wouldn't wake up. Every day, I'd visit you in the hospital, praying you'd wake up. And now you finally are, and…"

She stopped, and threw her arms around his neck again (not easy, as he was definitely taller than her), this time in an affectionate way.

"I really missed you," she whispered.

Ned simply gulped. Now it was his turn to feel nervous.

To tell the truth, the stereotypic "guy falls for his best friend who's a girl he's known his whole life" thingy had kicked in a few months back. He had realized it during the time he had gone to see a school play she was starring in and realized that she looked really cute in stage make-up. After that, he was hooked. Corey, being the observant bastard he was, kept pushing him to go for it, even going so far as to threaten him, saying, if he wouldn't ask her, then he, Corey, would.

That was the main reason why being away for so long sucked. But now, she had her arms around his neck, and Corey had made no move, so he somewhat felt better.

But he still felt nervous at his current situation.

"Um… Ren? You can let go now."

"Oh! Sorry!" she quickly released him from her hold.

"Aw… isn't this a pretty sight, huh, boys?"

Three guys suddenly came out of a back alley and blocked their only known passage home. The two teens stopped cold.

"Uh…hi?" said Ned.

"Hi there, kid," the one who had spoken before and who was obviously the leader said, "What's a couple kids like you doing on our turf?"

"Since when's it been yours? We've always walked this way home," argued Ned.

The other man laughed.

"Oh, a wiseass, eh?" he chided, "That's fine." In one fluid movement, he had grabbed Ned by the scruff of the shirt and had him pinned against the wall.

"I'm one too," the dude snorted.

"Leave him alone!" Ren was ready to beat the crap out of this guy, but the other two held her back, having no trouble holding her as she kicked and squirmed.

"I've heard about you, kid," the guy continued to say to Ned, "You're that one that was knocked up in that coma. Well," he brought out a switchblade and flipped the knife out, "Hows about I put you back in?"

"Hey man, c'mon," Ned held up his hands, fearful for both his and Ren's lives, "I don't want any trouble-"

"Aw, shame. 'Cause I do."

And right then, something really weird happen. Just as the knife flashed in front of his eyes, so did a blinding light. At first, he thought it was just the sun reflecting off the blade; then he remembered that it had been pretty cloudy all day…

You are the key to the light… Reach out and take it…

For some strange reason, he felt compelled to obey. He reached out into the light and…

"What the hell is that?"

Ned opened his eyes, having not even realized he had closed them. Something heavy lay rested in his tightened fist. Something long and wackable. How it ended up in his hand was a mystery, but he didn't complain; he might now have a chance. The guy pinning him to the wall looked at the object in horror.

"Wh… where the hell did you-?"

It was now or never. With all the speed and power he had, Ned pressed his foot against his assailant's gut and pushed him back. Surprised, he released his grip, allowing the teen to cock back and swing his arms forward.

BASH! The object smashed into the guy's skull, throwing him backwards into the street. His two cronies, shocked, then angered, released Ren and charged. Ned slammed the head of the object into one of their guts, then swirled and slammed it into his head. The third guy rushed at him with another knife. Ned deflected a swing, then a blow, then ducked under and kicked his legs out from under him, then brought the weapon down with a satisfying SLAM!

The three guys had enough. Running, stumbling, crawling, and half-dragging they ran away, out of sight before long.

Ned watched them leave with immense satisfaction.

"Wow," he said finally, "I didn't even know how to do half of that."

"Ned?"

He turned to face Ren, half expecting either a giant cheer or another bone-crunching hug. What he got instead, however, was a look of surprise and worry.

"Where did you get that?"

She pointed at the weapon in his hand. Ned lifted it up and for the first time saw what exactly it was.

It was a blade of some kind, but not the sharp ones he had read about in history; this one was long and gray, the handle was large and yellow, and two short, spiky things stuck out near the tip. From someone else's point of view, you'd almost think it was a…

A key.

"Um… I dunno," was his final answer.

And as he stared at the blade that had saved their lives, he couldn't help but wonder if his biggest adventure hadn't ended when he woke up, but really was just beginning.

Again, I'm so sorry it took so long to post. I hope you people are still interested, and I swear, we're almost done here. Only a couple more chapters left, and one being the 1st major fight scene of the trilogy.

I expect good, long reviews, people, either saying welcome back or about the chapter or something you like about the story… anything, hell. Just for reviews sake.

Review please!¸