WOO to the OOT! I'm sure you all appreciated chapter 19. They're okay!

So a bunch of you are completely thrown off by loyalties in this story. Yes, well, this may clear some things up--though you may need to go back to chapter 18 to fully understand WHY Roxas had to kidnap Kairi in the first place. You'll see--trust me, I know what I'm doing.

Riku: Suuuure you do.
Per: I do, I swear!
Kairi: You said the other day that you feel like your story is writing itse--
Per: SHH!
Sora: Glad you got over your slump.
Per: Yeah, my muse moved back in.
Roxas: Your muse?
Per: Yeah, she ran away with my Photoshop muse. I think they were having an affair.

Hopefully this chapter doesn't confuse y'all too badly. It's, ah...Squiffie-riffic. Wow. Try saying that ten times fast. Enjoy Chapter 20. By the way, this fic hit its first birthday on June 6. Happy Birthday, TTIF! Thank you to all my amazing reviewers!

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Chapter 20: Divided They Fall

"Gawrsh, Sora, slow down!"

"I CAN'T slow down!"

"S-sora, there's nothing--you--can do now--she's--she's gone."

Donald dropped to the floor, sitting upright, chest heaving. He took his hat off and wiped the sweat from his forehead as Goofy surrendered, putting his hands on his knees and gasping for breath.

The teenager slowed to a stop fifty paces away, standing trembling in the morning sunlight filtering through the windows.

"Kairi..."

He went down on his knees, his Keyblade vanishing from his grasp. He reeled forward, forcing his stunned mind to catch himself until he knelt prostrate on the floor, his head hanging low between his arms as his chest burned. He coughed, drawing one wrist across his upper lip as he tried to stand up.

"...where are you?"

He suddenly felt a warm gloved hand on his shoulder as he sat back on his heels. He glanced up at Goofy, who stared down at him with more sorrow and comfort in his expression than Sora could bear. He nodded mutely at his friend, allowing him to help him up, somewhat clumsily. Donald stood at his side, patting the teenager's arm amiably as Sora attempted to dust himself off.

"Thanks...Donald, Goofy."

Donald managed a small smile, though his brows were still drawn up in worry.

"No problem."

Sora rubbed at his tired eyes with one hand. "...what do we do now?"

Donald and Goofy exchanged an anxious glance.

"Gawrsh, Sora..." Goofy replied. "We're not gonna let anything happen to 'er, okay? Everythin' is gonna be just fine."

"Yeah!" Donald piped up, gripping his staff with two hands. "We'll help you find Kairi, even if we have to search every world out there. You know we will."

Sora smiled halfway, despite himself. "You really mean it?"

"Sure we do," Goofy said, patting Sora on the back. "But you gotta listen to us first. We gotta use what we've got here."

"Right," Donald added. "We've got our friends. They'll always look out for you, Sora. You just gotta ask. We'll track Kairi down--I'm positive."

Sora looked at his feet, closing his eyes. Donald turned and looked pleadingly at Leon, Yuffie, and Cid as they slowed their frantic chase at the end of the hallway they stood in.

"I hope you're right," Sora said quietly. "Kairi is...my...I can't..."

"You won't have to, Sora," Leon said, having finally caught up to the trio. "Light is easy to find."

Sora looked up, and eyed the swordsman doubtfully. "Easy...?"

Yuffie trailed Leon slowly, and appeared to have one arm linked with his as a coughing Cid came up behind.

"Listen, Sora," Leon said sharply, staring the young man in the eye. "Try to feel. Is she still nearby?"

"What? I don't--"

"Your heart," Yuffie said simply. "You'd know it if she was really gone."

Sora opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly bit back the words he intended to say as his hand flew to his chest. He stared unseeing into space before him, turning his true sight inward, feeling for any glimmer.

Any sign.

"Even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?"

A slow warmth pulsed from the point his hand touched. He smiled softly.

"Kairi's all right. I know she is." The hand resting on his chest curled into a fist. "...I'll find her!"

Leon gave a rare smile.

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She didn't know what else to do. They'd shown up. The operation had suddenly been thrown into action.

She ran.

She took off down the dim hallway, her long hair flying back from her face and chaos unfolding behind her. She turned the first corner she came upon, a page flying out of her sketchbook and fluttering to the floor in a pool of patchy sunlight near a stained-glass window. She paid no heed, just concentrated on not tripping over her own feet.

"SORA!" a desperate voice screamed, too far away for it to pierce her guilt too sharply.

She flew up a stairwell, heading toward what, she didn't know. She stopped, gasping for breath at the T-junction of two hallways, and scrambled for a doorknob, pushing herself into the room and slamming the door behind her, throwing her whole weight against it.

Namine sprawled her body across the door, coughing, chest heaving, holding it shut and closing her eyes to steady her nerves.

"It's begun," a voice said somewhere in front of her. "It's sink or float now."

She collapsed, falling to her knees, the sketchbook sliding loosely from her sweating palm and hitting the floor in a spray of loose papers.

Please...let it all go our way...

She choked a small sob, burying her face in the crook of her elbow as she sat back on her heels, her knees aching from hitting the floor with so much deadweight. Her tears were hot against her skin, a whimper coming high and trembling from between her closed lips.

"Kairi...I'm so, so sorry."

"She can't hear you, you know."

Namine looked up with a scowl, the sunlight in the windows dazzling her in her tears' reflections. She wiped them away hurriedly, composing herself.

"I know she can't. It doesn't change the fact that I'm sorry."

"Namine..."

She sighed, a deep shuddering breath, and sagged, propping herself up with her hands and sitting fully down on the wooden floor.

The other occupant of the room suddenly dropped to the floor beside her, mocking her position. She still refused to meet his eyes.

"What did you do to her, Roxas?"

"I didn't do anything," he said, bringing his knees to his chest and folding his hands atop them. "I just...dropped her off."

"Where?"

"In the mountains."

"In the mountains? You just LEFT her there?"

"No. I sent her in the cave."

Namine's blood suddenly ran cold. She looked at him in horror.

"The shelter! Roxas, have you lost it?"

"No, I haven't," he said calmly, looking slightly taken aback. "I just...threw a wild card into the mix. I thought about it, though, Namine. I'm not stupid."

"Riku was right," Namine said, putting her fingertips to her temples, the heat rising in her face. "You and Axel ARE alike."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, an edge of amusement on his voice.

"...Roxas, that's where I sent the Muse and her guardian," Namine said, grabbing at his arm, shaking it. "...Kairi's going to find them...and she'll come out of hiding. It's not a game anymore! This is life and death, don't you understand...?"

"I do understand," he answered quietly, looking down and to his left at the slight girl pulling at the leather of his black jacket. "And if the light is going to war with the dark, it's up to those who are allied with neither to change the tide."

Namine stared at him, not understanding.

"Most of the Order is gone, Namine. Riku and I are all that's left in this world. They think the Muse is dead...right?"

Namine looked stunned for a moment, but then nodded mutely.

"Right...so isn't it okay for her to come out of hiding now?" he asked. "I don't know about you, Namine, but if it were me...I would have as many friends around as I could. Don't they always say, 'United we stand, divided we fall'? The Light needs as much help as it can get...doesn't it?"

"Like hell, it does."

The two jumped as they saw Axel materialize in the far corner. He walked straight up to them, wasting no time, arms crossed and towering over them. There were tired grey circles under his green eyes.

"...but that doesn't change anything. Not in the least," he said, staring Roxas straight in the eye. "Saix will return here for the Princess himself if you don't take her to HQ by tomorrow's dusk."

Namine's grip tightened uncomfortably on Roxas' forearm.

"If you want to pull this off, Blondie," Axel said, squaring himself. "You need to nab Kairi and take her there. To hell with the Muse and her friends. You screwed that one up, but it's out of our hands now. Got it memorized?"

"I don't get it!" Roxas suddenly exclaimed, getting to his feet, Namine following him and still holding onto his arm. "Why are we dividing them up? If the Light's missing one of their Princesses, that CAN'T be good for their side, can it!"

"Because, dimwit," Axel shot back. "The ultimatum is set. If we don't bring that Princess in alive, the plan goes to pieces. They will return for the Princess and find the Muse."

Roxas swallowed hard.

"And they will kill her. And you, my fair-haired friend, will be good as gone."

"That's...that's why DiZ made me do this, isn't it," Namine whispered. "He ordered me to set it up so they'd abandon this place, so Leon and the others can think out their plan of action in peace--and so Aerith can riddle out where to find the Door."

Axel cocked an eyebrow, but gave a short jerk of the head in approval.

"You...you've got to sacrifice a little to get what you want, Roxas. Do you remember what I told you?"

The blonde shook his head, worry evident in his eyes.

"I said...oh...oh no," she cried suddenly, looking up at Axel. "You...you know what they'll do, if he crosses that threshold, right?"

"No. Enlighten me."

"They'll--destroy Roxas the second they've got Kairi. They have no need for him anymore. If he ever met Sora, he'd have his missing piece back--Roxas would complete him. They can't risk that happening."

"DAMN," Axel swore, clutching his head suddenly. "They make this so friggin' DIFFICULT!"

He paced twice, then let go of his shock of red hair to slam his fists into the wall. Roxas stared at him, alarmed, until the thin man stopped shaking in suppressed rage.

"...how do we stand, right now?" Axel asked quietly, almost dangerously.

Namine let go of Roxas' arm, folding her hands.

"Well," the blonde said quietly. "If...if I go and kidnap Kairi again, first...I'd have to deal with the Muse and her guardian, somehow separate them. Then...I'd have to take her to Twilight Town, which might be hard, since I get the feeling she hates me."

Axel nodded, now looking pensively at the floor. "Two snags in that plan already."

"But if I did get her there and to the base..." he said, and swallowed hard. "...they're gonna get rid of me. I don't think I can face them all on my own. And then...Sora's forever missing his other half...which screws the universe over."

Axel said nothing, but gave a curt nod in grim agreement.

"Plus...Kairi would sort of...be in the Organization's clutches. That's not good."

Axel swore under his breath. "That effectively eliminates plan A, kiddos."

A lone tear slid down Namine's cheek.

"And," Axel said, turning to them with gritted teeth. "What's our alternative?"

Roxas sighed heavily. "I sit here and do nothing, let Kairi find her way back to the others, and the Organization invades again and finds...both the Princess and the Muse."

"Caught between a rock and a hard place," Axel seethed. "It's a game of who we sentence to death...even though it'll all come to the same end."

"The same end..." Namine repeated in a small voice. "Which will be that...the Door can't be opened. Am I right?"

"You said it, kid," Axel said, turning around and leaning against the wall, crossing his arms. "Either the Muse gets picked off, and we never find the Door--or the Keyblade master's Nobody goes poof, and spiky-boy can't ever OPEN the damn thing, even if the Muse figured out where it was."

Namine looked down, staring through unshed tears at her feet. Roxas glanced at her, something like pity in his clear blue eyes, and put a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened slightly, but warmed toward the comforting hold he took on her.

"...so what do we do now?"

A sharp rap sounded against the door.

Axel eyed the door warily, cocking an eyebrow. He glanced at Roxas.

"Uh, Axel..." Roxas said tentatively. "I...don't think the Organization would bother knocking."

Axel clicked his tongue, but seemed to agree, and his hand closed around the brass doorknob. He opened it a fraction, staring out.

"Let me in."

"And if I don't?"

"You get Soul Eater in the groin."

Axel visibly rolled his eyes and stepped away from the door. Riku sidled in, shutting the door with a loud click.

"Riku...? What's up?" Roxas asked as the silver-haired boy untied his blindfold, fastening it around his wrist for safekeeping.

"Where did you take Kairi?" he asked bluntly, cerulean eyes flashing.

"I, uh, the...the castle shelter in the mountains," Roxas said uncomfortably. "But Riku--we've been thinking..."

"I heard everything past that. Listen...I suggest we head downstairs."

Riku grinned.

"You know, I hear Leon's friends with a pretty skilled gummi pilot."

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"OW!" Yuffie whimpered, clutching at the headphones over her ears as a shrill, ascending tone crackled over the speakers. She yanked them off. "Agh, I think i just went deaf in one ear!"

"Give it here," Leon ordered, pulling them off from around her neck and pressing one pad to his ear and plugging the other. "Cid, try the fourth channel."

The gummi pilot leaned close to the radio, turning the largest dial as he listened intently for any click of connection. "Anythin', Leon?"

"Hollow Bastion to Shelter, acknowledge, over," Leon said. Sora sat on the desk nearby, tapping his foot against the floor and looking more than a little worried. Yuffie was rubbing feverishly at the offended ear with one finger, wincing.

"...Hollow Bastion to Shel--what?--Shelter, we read you, over--"

Sora's foot stopped tapping.

"--is that--" Leon appeared to be struggling between an outburst and trying to keep to code. His voice trembled slightly as he spoke loudly, "Identify speaker, please, over."

Yuffie had her fingers interlaced and pressed against her lips, fidgeting where she stood.

Leon suddenly clapped a hand to his forehead, whipping around with a look of pure relief on his face.

"--acknowledged, Shelter," he said, sinking back to sit on the edge of the desk. "Cloud, where the HELL have you two been?"

Sora grinned brightly as Yuffie squealed aloud and slapped him a sharp high-five.

"What--is--WHAT?"

Yuffie's smiled vanished in an instant, and she looked at Leon, whose face had paled considerably. He was silent for a moment, listening, not speaking.

"Can--can I talk to her?"

Sora perked up, looking at Leon's shocked face with desperate hope. The swordsman held the earphone closer, waiting with apparent bated breath.

"...hello?" he said, then a pure smile broke onto his stern features. "...thank God."

Something wonderful, something like hope, lifted and spread without warning somewhere in Sora's chest.

Sora looked wildly over at Donald and Goofy, who were staring equally hopefully at the swordsman.

"Who is it?" Sora managed hoarsely, the color draining from his face.

A mighty tug-of-war had ensued as Yuffie tried to pry the earphones away from Leon and Cid had situated himself atop the desk to listen beside his ear.

"Yuffie here!" she cried into the mouthpiece, pressing the side of her face against Leon's and stretching the headphones over so one side hovered near her own ear. Sora leaped atop the desk and leaned over the bizarre huddle around the radio and yelled an indistinguishable greeting as Goofy and Donald desperately tried to break their way in.

"You--oh..." Leon said, suddenly turning his eyes up to Sora. "She explained already?"

A pause. Sora leapt down and cocked an eyebrow nervously.

"...sure," Yuffie said, grinning and wiping away the tears that had escaped. "One sec."

She tore the headphones with some difficulty off her and Leon's head, and the swordsman immediately rubbed at the spot Yuffie had knocked into with her head trying to hear next to him.

"Someone wants to talk to you, Sora," she said, a sly smile on her lips as she passed them to him.

He looked bemusedly at her, trying to stem the hope now welling up somewhere deep inside him from flooding over. Maybe, just maybe...

Sora shoved the earphones onto his head, his brunette spikes mussing and standing up from static. "Sora to shelter, over," he said, closing his eyes.

"Sora?"

His eyes popped open.

"KAIRI!" he nearly shouted. "Kairi, is that you?"

"It's me," she cried joyfully. Her voice was slightly scratchy from the poor reception, but there was no mistaking it. "Sora--I--"

"Are you all right?" he asked urgently, his voice rising with emotion. "I--I can't believe I--"

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I'm fine, Sora--it wasn't your fault, not at all."

He exhaled forcefully, realizing how flush his face had become. He covered his brow with one hand, feeling the heat rise through his fingers. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, uncomfortably aware of Yuffie watching him with fascination.

"Don't," the voice came, cracking slightly. "Sora--I'll see you when we get there, okay?"

"Right," he said, smiling. "Be careful...and...say hi to Cloud and Aerith for me."

She laughed, a clear sound that carried through the staticky speakers. "I promise."

Sora did not move, make any attempt to cut off, simply listened...waiting for her to maybe say more. He was entranced by the mere sound--

"Cloud speaking, over," a gruff young voice said suddenly. "We're coming back."

There was some slight happiness coming across in his voice, something Sora had never heard before. But his own voice had caught in his throat.

"Right--shelter, over and out."

Sora grinned.

"Acknowledged. Over and out."

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Yay! I like happy endings to chapters. They make the cliffhanger somewhat easier to deal with.

Now, go to it! Reviews, please! Thank you!