Riku: Grr.
Per: Uh oh. Are you guys mad at me again?
Kairi: Gosh, Per, it took you three months to update!
Per: Did not!
Sora: You posted chapter 20 on the fourth of July.
Per: Yeah...wait, crap.
Riku: Mmhmm. That's what I thought.
Per: Wah, but I've been working hard on it! I wrote lots of chapters ahead!
Kairi: Like what?
Per: Like Roxas and DiZ and...oh yeah, King Mickey, and fluff--
Riku: -cough-
Per: Did I say fluff? I meant, uh...
Sora: What's fluff?
Kairi: Well...er...
Per: -nervous laugh-

Don't kill me! This fic has just been thrown for a loop. I got the biggest hit of inspiration EVER at the end of the last chapter, and I spent these last two months having a life and plotting out this story on the side. You guys are in for some huge plot twists...yes, there are more coming, even if you're already seasick from how many I've thrown at you already.

Also, TTIF now has a website. Since the site doesn't allow me to post the link to the site here, in the chapter's author's note, type freewebs dot com in your address bar and then make a slash. Then after the slash, type "thistimeillfight". The links do not work yet, but the homepage is up. Also, you can make another slash beside "thistimeillfight" and type "characters dot htm" beside it. Note, it is "htm" and not "html". Enjoy the character bios! More of the site will be up soon.

Please be sure to PM me with links to any fanart, if you choose to make some. I already have one or two submissions for the site. Thanks everyone. You all rock SO hard, I love you all. Enjoy chapter 21.

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Chapter 21: End of the Tunnel

"I hardly expected visitors at such a late hour. Do come in. May I inquire as to the occasion?"

The short and stout figure pushed his way past his host, pulling his hood off with apparent impatience.

"This isn't the time for jokin', DiZ. We've got trouble."

"Oh? Surely our messenger hasn't failed in her plan, your Majesty?"

"No, no, nothing like that," King Mickey said, as DiZ ushered him farther into the hall they stood in. "In fact, I've already heard from Riku that it all went smoothly."

The tall, crimson-clad man pushed open a heavy wooden door in the left wall of the foyer, gesturing the mouse king to step inside. He shut the door and bolted it, black-gloved fingers working deftly despite the heavy padlock.

Mickey's eyes swept the room quickly, a small frown tilting his face. Tall, masterfully stained windows lined the west wall, and dark wood paneling surrounded the room and covered the ceiling as well. All looked as it should, except for the fact that the long dining room table was in pieces: its two ends faced each other, but were fallen on their sides. The splintered center lay in two between the sharded edges of the two ends. It was as if the ceiling had caved in upon it and then righted itself again; it was beyond repair.

DiZ motioned the King to a high-backed chair beside the table's ruin, as it stood in the window's glare, unscathed from whatever catastrophe had destroyed the centerpiece of the dining room. He sat down in his own, across the way, his amber eye glinting in anticipation.

"Tell me what's happened, my friend."

"Listen, DiZ, I don't think I even have enough time to tell you all of it before we go and do something about it. It's about the Islands," Mickey said, not sitting down, but resting his hand on the armrest of the chair. "They're back."

"They are not cloaked anymore?" DiZ said, sitting up, alarm evident for the first time in his voice. "Visible?"

"That's right," Mickey said, looking sorrowful, his high-pitched and cheerful voice strained. "Which means...I don't think Leon and the others got my letter in time. Once I'd figured out which Princess those records were talking about, I could've cut off my own tail, I felt so foolish. But it's too late for that."

"Foolish?" DiZ repeated. "How could you have known, my King?"

"Riku introduced me to Kairi over in Beast's castle," Mickey said, rubbing worriedly at his brow. "I knew she was one of the Princesses, but I had no idea she was THAT Princess. It all cleared up too late."

"So the Guardian is missing, then," DiZ said, folding his hands. "And the Islands vulnerable. Where do you think this Kairi could be?"

"That's just it," Mickey said, looking up and biting his lip. "I...I don't know."

"Your Majesty, you underestimate yourself and me," DiZ said quietly. "I happen to know where to fill in the blanks in your story."

"You mean...!"

"Yes. Kairi is in Hollow Bastion."

Mickey paled considerably, his gloved hand gripping the armrest of the chair. "What? No...no!"

"I assure you...this was not mere chance, that brought Kairi to the Bastion. I knew."

"You knew about this? You..."

"King Mickey, my friend," DiZ said sharply, standing up suddenly. "Do you not trust me? I see the fear in your eyes. It does not set me at ease."

"Well, gosh, you know I do, DiZ," Mickey said, frowning, panic evident in his round face. "But...what in the worlds have you done?"

"Done?" the crimson-clad man said quietly. "I have set the board in motion."

Mickey opened his mouth to speak, considered, then closed it again.

"DiZ...what's going on?"

He watched as the tall figure sat back down in his chair, situating himself as comfortably as he could, choosing his words carefully.

"Namine went to the Bastion to deliver your message, as you know. She also saw to it that the Order retreated, as planned. But...I neglected to tell you the manner in which she drew Organization XIII away," DiZ began quietly, his unmasked eye closed. "Namine implanted false memories in the minds of three certain persons who reside in the castle--a certain Squall Leonhart, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Cid Highwind. She implanted a memory of my own device in which two of their companions, one being the Muse, Aerith Gainsborough, went missing…presumed dead. This twisting of their minds caused them to call for assistance--in the form of the Keyblade Master. With him, I'm sure, came his companion...Kairi, the Princess of Heart."

"Gosh," Mickey said, wide-eyed, sinking into the chair. "She implanted a lie? But...the Muse went into hiding, as planned, didn't she? Aerith is safe?"

"Indeed, yes. That is all taken care of. As I was saying...Namine did not arrive alone. Roxas traveled with her, and they split off when they reached the heights of the Falls. Namine took refuge in the Waterway while Roxas deliberately prowled the castle's lowest levels until he was caught. He has been accepted into the ranks of the Order as number thirteen, the Key of Destiny," DiZ continued, ignoring Mickey's sudden gasp. "Sora and Kairi arrived soon after, and Axel ordered Roxas and Riku to capture the Princess, as soon as he was alerted she had arrived, as we planned. The Organization, most likely, is waiting for Roxas to deliver the Princess to them."

"Oh no!" Mickey said, looking distraught beyond words. "Kairi...will Kairi be all right?"

"Your Majesty, are you unaware of the fact," DiZ interjected. "...that Axel has turned traitor on his own men?"

Mickey looked stunned. "Axel's in on your plans?"

"Yes," DiZ replied. "So as to Kairi's safety, we needn't worry about that."

"Well, gosh...that's a relief," Mickey said, taking a deep breath. "But...the Door. What about the Door?"

"Yes...as for the news you have brought me this moment..." DiZ said, looking at the floor. "My friend, I am afraid I have made a grave mistake."

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"C'mon, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Kairi looked almost crazed with happiness, bouncing on the balls of her feet while holding the back of a large armchair beneath the window.

"Calm down, Kairi," Aerith smiled, putting both hands on the girl's shoulders from behind. "We have to strategize a little bit. It would definitely not be a good idea for us to just run across the great maw. It's miles to the Falls."

"So where do you suppose we go?" Cloud asked, folding his arms and looking dubious.

"Well...there has to be an easier way than hiking to get back to the castle," Aerith said. "I mean, Ansem wasn't exactly getting any younger when he used to come out here, was he?"

"What's that door for, anyway?" Kairi asked, pointing at the outcropping in one wall with the heavy wooden door set into it, that she'd seen when they came in.

"Not sure," Cloud replied, shuffling his feet. "It's padlocked shut. The keyhole's too huge for anything we found in the stuff here."

Kairi was already standing at it, crouching and peering through the keyhole.

"Hey, there's light coming from in there!"

"We know," Aerith said. "We weren't sure whether to try and break down the door or not. It seemed a little suspicious."

Kairi traced a finger around the oddly shaped keyhole, a sudden thought gripping her. Her heart pounding furiously, she unsheathed her sword.

"...Kairi?"

She turned the blade to face downward, her fingers running feverishly over the hilt, searching. Finally she found it, as she had by accident on the Islands when she was fiddling with it, and with a small grunt of exertion, swung the large green stone that graced the end off of the hilt on a hinge. Underneath was a strange embossment in the shape of a fleur de lis, standing an inch tall out of the top of the handle.

"I think I found your key."

Lifting the sword, she plunged the end of its hilt into the keyhole, and to her hopeful surprise, it caught. She turned it carefully to the right, and a satisfying clink of gears told her it had worked.

Aerith let out a startled cry, nearly laughing. "Kairi...that sword...I had no idea that was the same one."

Kairi stood up, a little dazed by the simplicity of what she'd just done. "...same one?"

"The gatewarden," Aerith said in amazement. "Leon found you the sword of the gatewarden."

"Gatewarden?" the girl repeated, frowning. "Who's that?"

"The former gatekeeper of the castle. Only she had access to such things, though no one ever saw her carry a key. I bet Leon had no idea," Aerith said, stepping toward the doorway with staff in hand. "It's a good thing they didn't lose that in the attack. Someone must be looking out for us."

Kairi looked down at her sword, dumbstruck.

"Well, go ahead," Cloud said impatiently. "Open it."

Kairi looked at the door, seeing no apparent handle. She tentatively pushed at the wooden surface, and found it gave in under her small weight. It swung inward, nothing but darkness on the other side, along with the eerie glimmer of light some ways away.

Cloud was already in motion, pulling a flashlight from the black bag he'd slung over his back. He fumbled with the button, but suddenly the cavern was illuminated with light. Aerith and Kairi stared.

"Brilliant," he muttered. "It's a lift stop."

Kairi and Aerith followed him in as he strode forward, stepping carefully under the cobwebs that were stretched across the inner frame of the doorway. A stone-carven path led the way to a rusty-looking lift, its crystal giving off a flickering glow. Aerith closed the door carefully behind them, Kairi locking it with her sword before snapping the stone hilt-end back in place.

"Are you sure this thing is safe?" Aerith asked concernedly, appraising the lift's rusting frame with a doubtful eye.

"Do we really have a choice?" Cloud said, suddenly turning to the two young women with the flashlight under his chin. He gave a rare grin as ghastly shadows cast themselves over his face in the glow of the torch in his hand. Kairi, who hadn't turned around yet from locking the door, suddenly glanced at him and yelped in fright.

Cloud and Aerith's laughter rang through the darkened cavern as Kairi grinned sheepishly, allowing Aerith to guide her onto the lift as she tried to slow her spiked heartbeat. They stood near the center, Cloud stepping out to kick at the malfunctioning crystal, letting the lift sputter to life.

"So...you read the letter, Kairi," Aerith said smiling, as the lift began to move beneath their feet, the darkness on all sides a bit disorienting. "It sounds like we're cousins. I feel horrible I never knew about it before, but it was a rather unfortunate set of circumstances."

"You didn't even know when I still lived here?" Kairi asked.

"Unfortunately, no. My birth mother died when I was only a few weeks old. I was brought up by another citizen of the castle, Elmyra Gainsborough. I suppose your father--"

"My father?" Kairi asked suddenly, eyes widening.

"Yes. He was so distraught when his sister died--I think someone told me her name was Ifalna--he hardly ever spoke of her again, even to me. As far as I knew, Elmyra was my mother, for a few years at least. We found some old records and journals in the study back there...and then Mickey apparently found some elsewhere, too."

"My father...you knew him?" Kairi asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes," Aerith said, smiling. "And your mother, too. They were...wonderful."

"What were they like?" Kairi asked, eyes lit up with excitement.

"Your mother gave you your red hair," Aerith said, cocking her head as if scrutinizing the younger girl. "But the eyes...straight from your dad. I don't remember much, it was so long ago. All I remember was one time running into your poor mom by accident when we were playing together--all of us."

"I wish I could remember," Kairi said in frustration. "Yuffie keeps telling me all these stories about the stuff we used to do around the castle, but I was so little--"

"It's true, you were very young, but you held your own with the rest of us," Aerith teased. "Even Leon didn't mind having a five-year-old running around behind us. He was sixteen then, sure, but you were pretty tough for a girl your age."

"I...I know I should remember, but I don't," Kairi mumbled, looking at the ground.

"Don't worry. Those kind of memories might be forgotten, but they're not lost."

She gave a small smile.

"I do remember my grandmother, though," Kairi said suddenly, her head snapping up. "When I was really little, we used to sit in the library together, and she'd tell me stories. I had almost forgotten until Namine reminded me. She told me one story about when the darkness first came into the worlds...and it sounds like that's the story you have to figure out, too."

A light...at the end of the tunnel!

Oh...your grandmother's story, right?

That's right...we were together.

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

"Sora, relax. Come sit down or something."

The teenager looked around with eyebrows raised, his right sneaker stopping its feverish tapping.

"Huh?"

"You wanna make yourself sick worrying?" Yuffie asked, putting her hands on her hips. "It'll take them a little while to get here. Just chill!"

Sora glanced once more at the door he stood at, the one that led from the entrance hall into the library where they now sat. Reluctantly unfolding his arms, he meandered over toward the towering golden glass windows, where his friends sat in bored impatience.

"How far is it to the shelter, anyway?" Sora asked, plopping down onto the bottom step of the staircase. "I had no idea this world was so huge."

"It's around two miles from the Falls, out in the mountain plains," Leon responded. "There's an abandoned town there, where most of the world's people used to live. We happened to have family that grew up in the castle, so we lived here for the most part. The shelter was there in case any trouble came up."

Sora nodded, staring silently at the ground for a moment. But Leon saw the tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers were drumming on the carpeted stair.

"What--"

"--'s taking them so long? Geez, Sora, th--"

"No, that's not what I meant," he said quickly to Yuffie, who looked somewhat sheepish. "I mean...what happened to Namine?"

Leon frowned. No one had seen the slight girl since Kairi had been abducted.

"That's...a very good question."

"Of course it is. And the answer's even better."

Sora looked up, astonished, as he saw a cloaked figure leaning against a bookcase some ways away. It looked totally relaxed, the hood pulled up over the wearer's head and only a grinning mouth and pale visage could be seen under the deep shadows.

"You..."

Sora stood up, his Keyblade suddenly in hand as Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Donald, and Goofy did the same.

"Hey, hey," the man said, standing up straight and putting his hands up in mock defeat. "Hold up. I come in peace."

Leon did not look convinced. Yuffie cried out and ducked involuntarily as a whistling crack pierced the air; Leon had fired a warning shot from his Gunblade past the person's face. It hit a stack of books in a spray of singed paper and falling hardbacks.

"That means you too, pretty boy. I didn't come here to fight."

"Sure," Sora said, his teeth gritted. "None of you ever 'come' to fight, but you do it anyway."

"Now, is that the way to treat an old friend, Sora?" came the sardonic voice. The boy's breath caught as the figure reached up with a gloved hand to pull the hood off. A shock of red hair sticking up in all directions sprung back up as the leather slid off; a pair of startlingly green eyes turned on him.

"Old friend?" Sora asked confusedly, but he was still glaring. "I've only seen you once in my life, and you were unconscious. Real great first impression."

"Ouch," the man said, clutching his chest as if wounded. "That's hitting below the belt, Keyblade master. See, we've met before. Twice, actually. And we more than talked."

Donald and Goofy were beside Sora now, looks of extreme dislike on their normally pleasant features.

"I'm one of those things that's...oh, slipped away with time, I guess," the man said, shrugging, but a wolfish grin still playing on his lips. "Namine's to blame for that one. Can't take credit for it."

"Namine?" Sora repeated. "Then…I met you in Castle Oblivion...?"

"Bingo," the man said, looking genuinely pleased now, his green eyes dancing. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Now I do," Sora said, his expression easing only the slightest bit. "But...you know where Namine is?"

"'Course. Little Blondie's with me. She bailed after number thirteen nabbed your lady friend."

Sora's scowl deepened. "Well, 'number thirteen' didn't do such a good job. Kairi's safe. She's coming back."

"I know that."

Yuffie couldn't suppress a surprised gasp.

"You--you know?" Sora asked, his voice betraying more than he'd intended.

"Organization XIII will know, too, if you don't listen to exactly what I'm saying right now," Axel said, his tone suddenly urgent. "You need to get out of here, Sora. Now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Leon growled. "This is our world. We'll stand for it until there's nothing left to protect."

"It's not the world they want, pretty boy," Axel said, advancing, but seeming to think better of it. "If you know what's good for you, you'll abandon ship and cry over it later."

"You're one of them! Why should we listen to you?" Yuffie said, her voice hysterical. Her shuriken was in hand, trembling as badly as her hand was.

"Traverse Town," Axel said, ignoring the ninja. "You go there, and they might not be able to sniff you out for a while."

Sora said nothing; he stared searchingly at the thin man before him.

"And as for the Order and me…we have our differences," Axel muttered.

"Why should we listen to you?" Donald squawked, his temper getting the better of him. "Leon worked hard to get Hollow Bastion back to normal."

"This may sound clichéd," Axel said, crossing his arms. "But think of it as a leap of blind faith. I think you'll find your heart will tell you what to believe."

Sora looked utterly lost now.

"Besides, Riku doesn't want you in harm's way, either."

The teenager's head snapped up, and he let out a startled cry. "Riku! He's with you?"

"Traverse Town, Sora," Axel said, his eyes now pleading and all spark of malice gone as he stepped into a shimmering portal of darkness behind him. "You're running out of time."

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Oooh, yes, I know I'm evil. Sorry. Cliffie. But I haven't given you one in a very long time, so…sorry! XD

Next chapter coming at you very soon. REVIEWS PLEASE!