I took a wrecking ball to my writer's block and this is what squeezed out :P Home is where the heart is…

Kairi's feet stepped into the soft sand. She turned and faced the arm sun and was instantly hit with a wave of nostalgia.

"Homesick too?" asked Hotaru. Kairi nodded her head. "I guess I'm going to be like this every time I see a beach…but it's all right. I mean, we'll be back soon, right?"

Hotaru looked into Kairi's eyes, and suddenly they were Xion's eyes, blue and questioning and slightly fearful, annoyingly innocent as always, asking softly, "And how will I know? Where I belong, truly?"

Hotaru shook the vision away. She was having them when she was awake too?

"Hotaru?" asked Kairi.

"Uh…its nothing. I don't know. I've been feeling a little out of place ever since crash landing on Destiny Islands. I don't really even remember what my home was like…who my friends were…how they're doing…"

"Hotaru…"

Hotaru waved her hand. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Look at me, acting all emo. Let's go. We've got to focus on beating the enemy!" she said, beating a fist into the palm of her hands. Kairi nodded. Goofy and Donald looked at each other strangely, both thinking feeling a little homesick too.

"Gwarsh, we hardly spent any time at home before we set off again. Ya think we'll ever be stayin' put for good?"

"I don't know," replied Donald. Kairi hadn't heard, but Hotaru did. Home…she wondered how long it was before you forgot what the word meant in this business.

Earlier, at the World that Never Was

"Darkness conquers all worlds!" shouted Ansem. Donald and Goofy both fell out of the air, immediately sucked into the monstrous heartless Ansem had joined with. Sora fell, too, fell into the darkness…

"Giving up already?" came Riku's voice in his head.

Riku was now standing there, at the memory skyscraper, wearing an organization coat and a blindfold. "Come on, Sor—

"Ven," came another voice of a figure Sora didn't recognize. "I thought you were stronger than that…"

Sora clutched his forehead, trying to make the dreams go away. He was awake now, he shouldn't be seeing this…

Sora stumbled his way into the lounge. Demyx was sitting on a couch, playing some song for Mixanko. Larxene was on the other side of the room, another figure with her hood up next to her.

"Ugh. Are you awake?" asked Larxene, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"I dunno, Larxene," said the figure standing up and blocking Sora's way. "It looks like he's still dreaming to me."

"Aww," taunted Larxene, standing next to her. "Is the baby still tired?"

"Shut up Larxene!" said Sora angrily. The figure backed away in mock fear, but Larxene's eye twitched strangely. "What did you just say to me?"

"You heard me! I said—ah!" Before Sora had time to process it, Larxene had punched him, sending him flying. Sora bounced off the wall and fell to the ground.

"Silly boy. You don't talk to me like that."

Sora got up and growled, his keyblade coming to his hand. "Oh, does the baby want to play?" she smiled. "Well, if that's how you want it…" lightning crackled around her hands as her knives appeared.

"What are those fools doing?" asked Lexaeus, walking in.

"500 munny on Larxene," whispered Xire to Xigbar.

"As if," he replied, laughing. "Sora's totally got this."

"Larxene! Sora!" Saïx came forward, glaring at them angrily. "Stop this immediately. Sora, depart on your mission with Xion at once!"

Sora frowned and trudged on, fully chastised. Larxene just rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, walking off. Xion walked up next to Sora. "I don't think I've ever seen you that angry before."

"Haha…yeah," said Sora, adopting his laid-back manner and folding his arms behind his head. "It's just Larxene. She really gets under my skin. You know, fighting her seemed a little familiar…"

"Sure it does…where are we today?"

"We have a target to take out in Agrabah."

"The both of us?" she said in surprise. Sora shrugged. "I have double mission duty. As soon as we take it out, I'm supposed to go back up Mixa." He looked over towards where Xima had just splashed cold water on her and Demyx. Xion smiled. "Well, good luck with that. Where's it at anyway?"

"Atlantica."

The two of them stepped into the corridor of darkness. Saïx turned over to Demyx, still soaking wet. "You: go to the lab. Vexen wants a word with you."

Ariel was sitting in her room, looking out of the window and staring forlornly out at the ocean. She was wearing her usual blue dress with the black corset, and her long red hair was blowing slightly in the breeze. Eric had to go to town today, and somehow, she couldn't keep from looking out at the ocean now, as she had once did at the shore. The irony was not lost on her.

"Princess," came a voice, and Ariel quickly pulled her head up, looking alert. "You have…uh, visitors," said the maid snidely, waving a hand over Kairi, Hotaru, Donald, and Goofy lazily before promptly exiting the room. Ariel quickly brightened and stood up. "Donald! Goofy! It's good to see you two…and who's this?"

"I'm Kairi, and this is Hotaru."

"Are you guys friends of Sora too?" asked Ariel. Kairi immediately looked down. "Where is he anyway? Isn't he usually with you two?" she asked to Donald and Goofy. They exchanged glances.

"Sora couldn't make it," said Hotaru quickly. "But, he says hi. It's too bad. He'd want to know all about how your new life is going."

Ariel smiled. "It's going great. Eric and I are married, and…"

"WACK!"

Something darted in through the window right past Donald's beak. The thing landed with a loud thud in a heap of feathers on a table at the center of the room.

"What's the big idea? Watch where you're going!" said Donald angrily.

"Scuttle?" asked Ariel. The harebrained seagull quickly picked itself up. "Ariel! Ariel, my girl! How ya doin' kid? Ooh, and who are these guys? Oh, don't tell me: distant relatives?"

"Oof…get off me you idiot!" came a crabby voice from beneath Scuttle. Scuttle quickly got up, revealing the crushed form of Sebastian.

"Sebastian? What are you doing here?"

Sebastian groaned and stood up. "I came here to check on you. Your father wanted to know how you were doing."

"My father…" said Ariel softly. "Uh…I'm doing fine, Sebastian! Tell Flounder I'll be by the beach later to see him, okay?"

"Are you sure you're all right child?" asked Sebastian. He then turned, noticing the others in the room for the first time. "Donald! Goofy! You guys have changed too?"

Donald and Goofy giggled nervously. "I have a feeling this is what they really look like," said Ariel, a hint of amusement in her voice. "They weren't exactly the best swimmers when we first me them, remember?"

"Hey! We got better!" protested Donald.

"I don't notice anything different about them," said Scuttle, flying over and perching himself on top of Donald's head. "Get off of me you bird brain!"

Ariel laughed to herself, but it was a little sad. Sebastian crawled closer to her. "Ariel, is something wrong?"

"You really are being a pest today, aren't you? All right, I'm a little homesick," she said sighing. "But its fine, really."

"Ariel…do you want to come back home?"

She shook her head. "No, its not that…just every once in a while, I miss it. I have a new home now, with Eric, and I'm happy here."

"Too bad; deep down your father still wants to see you come home," said Sebastian, but he was laughing a bit. "He always was protective of you."

"Yeah…tell them that him and the others are on my mind." She then turned to Kairi and the others. "Oh, I almost forgot you were there! Where are my manners? I should show you guys around or something! Sebastian, want to come with us?" She held out her hands to him, and he grudgingly climbed in and up her arm to her shoulder.

"As long as we stay away from the kitchen!"

"Oh, Sebastian! You're acting like a guppy, just like Flounder."

"Well, sweety, I have to get flyin', so see ya later!" said Scuttle, trying to take off out the window but hitting a wall first. He eventually unstuck himself and flew out the window.

"Umm, Ariel…if you don't mind, we kind of came here on business," said Kairi. "Oh? What kind?"

"Umm…have there been any heartless around recently?"

"Heartless? Not anywhere near the castle…Sebastian?"

He shook his head. "Those creatures haven't been seen in a while."

"Oh," said Kairi. She frowned. Why had Saïx sent them here then? What exactly were they supposed to find?

They walked into a large hallway with equally large windows, and Ariel found herself staring at the sea again.

"It must've been a tough, leaving everything behind to come here," said Hotaru. Ariel smiled a bit, but the smile had a tinge of sadness. "It was hard…but, I didn't really leave everything behind. I still remember home, all my family and friends…as long as I remember them, they'll be with me, in my heart. And that's the place it really counts."

"Huh…I didn't think of it like that…" said Kairi.

"What if you can't remember?" asked Hotaru softly.

"When the memory goes, so do all feelings and connections with that person," said a voice down the hall. A female figure in an organization coat walked towards them. Her hood was pulled up, concealing her face. "If they no longer exist in your heart, they might as well not have existed at all to you. If you've really forgotten, then they must not have been important. Of course…even the most precious of memories are eventually lost to us. All things end in oblivion. Kind of makes it seem like it's not even worth the effort…of bonding and making such memories to begin with."

"You…" said Hotaru backing away. "You're the one…from before…"

The girl turned, her back facing them. "Oblivion. Darkness…they're almost the same. They both take in everything and never release it. I wonder…when the time comes, Hotaru, will you be able to swing the sickle of death and return everything to oblivion once more?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Hotaru. Though her face was hidden, Hotaru could practically feel her grin. "After all, it's your destiny…who'd know better than me?"

Kairi, Donald and Goofy quickly drew their weapons. "You're Hotaru's nobody, aren't you?" asked Kairi. "Why don't you just join with her and become whole? Isn't that what you want?"

The figure wagged a finger at them. "That's too easy. I think I'll pass at the 'heart' thing. Funny thing about Nobodies: they're merely shadows, reflections of the person we were when we became heartless. Let's just say, at the time…well, you might not like the truth. You being all amnesiac now, we're probably very different people."

"Why are you hiding?" said Hotaru. "Just take down the hood already!"

"I would, but…it's a killer getting my hair in here, and it would just totally mess it all up, and…"

"Hey!"

They all turned towards the other side of the hallway, where another Organization member stood. She had long blonde hair and a red bow in the back of it. "This is my mission. You're supposed to be somewhere else. And I thought you didn't do combat?"

"True enough," said the figure shrugging. "Although, I didn't think you did either."

"Uh, well…" said Mixa, "I'm not really the one doing the combat."

"Whatever," said the figure, disappearing into a corridor of darkness. Mixanko stepped forward and pointed a finger towards Ariel. "You're pure heart…" she said darkly. "I'll take it now."

Everytime our mysterious hooded figure arrives, she just sort of...pushes her way into the chapter lol. Pretty much anything I would want YX to suddenly pop in and say, I say it with her instead. I almost made it Sailor Nemesis (oooh spoilers! I don't even care.). YX may or may not make it in here eventually, but...not yet. There will be the 13 lights and 7 darknesses (...that's wrong, isn't it? My brain...), but not exactly the way you think...and it won't be time travel. Perhaps some plot device where Setsuna stops that original plan?

This started as one long chapter, but once I got to like page 14, I decided, meh, this will be two chapters.