The Heart of a Nobody

by Tsukisamu Sayako

Roxas is said to be the perfect Nobody-unfeeling and dedicated only to serving his master. But his master, Prince Sora of Destiny Islands, is determined to change that. What does it mean to have a heart, especially as a Nobody? AU Sora/Roxas

21. Separate Paths

To reviewers of chapter 19 and others:

Blaid: I appreciate the gesture. But as I've said before, I have no plans to add any more original characters to this story, not this late in the story. Not to sound mean or coming off as arrogant, but this fic wouldn't be my fic if I added original characters that I didn't create. If you do feel the need to write a sort of alternate universe fic based on this one, then by all means, go right ahead.

Nira Rose: Really? Just "wow"? XD

LupinandHarry: Haha, it's amazing how one simple thing could satisfy the fangirls, XP.

DarkBombayAngel: I agree, they are cute together, hehe. And they'll be fine, but that's what you're going to find out in chapter 20, riiiiiiight?

Pandaaaaaa: Well, I hope you've read the chapters between the prologue and now, because here's the update!

kissdagirlorloseit: Thank you. And yes, they finally kissed…

Marina Nyah: Roxas has sure come a long way since the very beginning of the fic… I don't think the Roxas that's fresh off the boat (hoho, a fob) from The World That Never Was could ever fathom that he'd kiss Sora, haha.

Lil Nizzer: Hope you enjoy this long awaited update then!

nescafe: I wouldn't say it's the best… but thanks a lot for the compliment. Sorry it's taken me a long time to update, but how you enjoy it. Don't worry too much about the poor English, your review was just fine.

niwa-k: You're welcome. I do apologize for the need to get a recap, but I reckon that can't be helped when there's a lot of stuff going on in this fic and the updates are rather far apart, heh heh.

---

Recap thus far: Shortly after his fifteenth birthday, Sora, the heir apparent to the Destiny Islands kingdom, began a journey to travel through the world and found himself in the center of an ancient war started before his ancestors lived. Charged with the task to complete what his ancestors set out to do, he traveled from Radiant Garden to Midgar to Revenant Wings to Wutai and back to Destiny Islands, where he took on the mantle of kingship with the death of his father. All the while, he struggled with his feelings for Roxas, his Nobody whose heart had been locked away until the events in Revenant Wings. In a moment of thoughtlessness, he sent Roxas away, only to discover the truth behind his Nobody's destiny. Now reconciled and finally accepting their feelings for one another, Sora and Roxas, with their friends and families, stand fast against the coming Darkness, even as they are taken to the dark realm, the world of the Heartless.

---

Chapter 20 – Separate Paths

---

Kairi felt like her world was falling into pieces with the latest news from the Chasers. She had forced herself to join the fight at Mount Nibel when everyone at the Baren Falls fortress was teleported back to the forge to defend it. Thinking back on it, perhaps the decision wasn't so wise, for now the gravity of her situation wholly weighed down on her spirits, suffocating her.

Why hadn't she joined them in the fight against the Heartless and Naught? She had felt such dread when she thought about leaving Naminé behind. Was it because of the fact that it was a trap that kept her away from the battlefield?

The redhead couldn't fathom what kind of situation her friends and distant relatives were in at that exact moment. She didn't even know if they were still alive; and that simply made it more difficult for her to face the reality. While she had the support of the Chasers, in the end, she knew that she would be the only one left to face the darkness; none of the Chasers will be standing by her when the final seal is completed, separating this world from that of the Heartless.

Oh, she understood what was required of her. As a descendant of the Three, it was her duty to protect this world from the Heartless. But right now, she wanted to be selfish, to be living carefree like she did a year ago, when Naminé first came to her. She didn't want to be the only one left after all's said and done.

In a bed next to her, Naminé continued to sleep on, unaware of the despair and self-doubt her mistress was feeling at that exact moment.

With a sigh, Kairi turned in her own bed, looking at her Nobody's sleeping form with mild jealousy.
"I envy you," she said softly. "Being able to sleep there without any care of what's happening outside."

With that statement, the princess of Radiant Garden got a surprise when her Nobody stirred, moaning softly before the eyelids fluttered open.

Instantly, Kairi got up from her bed, pushing the sheets aside to go to the blond-haired girl. She helped the girl to sit up before grabbing a glass of water for Naminé to drink. The Nobody slowly drank the cool water and breathed a sigh.

"Thank you, your Highness," Naminé said gratefully, making a move to get out of bed.

"Oh, no, you're staying there until we get a healer to look at you," Kairi said, pushing the teen back down.

"I feel fine, your Highness." Kairi looked at her with skepticism. "Trust me. I know my own limits. Besides, I do need to go to the toilet."

"Oh," the princess said dumbly, a blush on her face. "Let me help you then," she offered, pulling the girl up and supporting her as the pair made their way out of the room that Tifa gave to them at the ancient forge.

"Where are we?" Naminé asked with bewilderment. The surroundings didn't look like the fort that they had arrived in.

"The ancient forge in Mount Nibel," the redhead answered.

"Where are the others?" Kairi didn't respond, only helping Naminé into the common bath. The Nobody sensed that her mistress wasn't going to say anything while they were in public and didn't pursue the subject.

The pair returned to the room they shared and Naminé got back into bed with Kairi's help. Once the blonde got settled in, she looked at her mistress with expectation. Kairi took a seat next to her on the bed, smoothing out an invisible wrinkle on the comforter.

"We don't know where the others are," she said at long last. Naminé furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Xehanort set a trap for us. He sent two giant Heartless and a Naught to attack the barrier that we had set up around the Baren Falls fort. They managed to defeat the Heartless and the Naught, but when the Naught was destroyed, it created a portal of some sorts and took them away from us," Kairi explained, repeating what Mickey had told her only hours ago. She looked down at her hands with sadness, wondering what she should do now.

"Riku said," she took a deep breath, "that we shouldn't worry. They'll be back." Her voice wavered with uncertainty.

"How could he say that!?" Naminé blurted out angrily. The red-haired princess looked up at her Nobody with surprise; the passion within the younger teen's voice was something that Kairi had never heard from Naminé before.

"He should know how his disappearance would affect you; affect me as well!"

"But that's just how Riku is," smiled Kairi, happy to see her Nobody getting so worked up over the boy that had grew closer to them, more than just a close friend.

"That doesn't excuse his ignorance of our feelings," Naminé pointed out.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Kairi turned away from the Nobody moodily, thoughts of the daunting task laid out in front of her weighing down on her once again.

"Are you alright, your Highness?" The blond-haired girl looked at her mistress carefully, sensing the unspoken distress within the older girl.

"I'm fine." Naminé frowned; the fact that Kairi hadn't looked at her when she said those words meant that she was clearly not fine.

"You're not alright," the Nobody said, leaving where she had lied to sit next to the princess. "You're scared of what their disappearance means for you, right?"

Kairi gave Naminé a brief look of incredulity before smiling weakly at the Nobody's insight. "Since when have you been so perceptive?" she asked with amusement.

"I've always been perceptive," replied Naminé. "I just haven't had the need to express it until now." Kairi gave a soft laugh.

"But seriously, you shouldn't feel weighed down by this. You should have faith that what Riku said will come to pass. We should be strong for them and do our best to protect this world until they get back and we finish what we set out to do."

"I don't know if I'm strong enough," Kairi replied softly, a waver in her voice belied all the fears and doubts that were tying her down.

"You are," Naminé said firmly. "I know you are. Even though you might not feel it, inside your heart, you are strong and no Heartless can take that away from you. Hope will see us through and faith in our friends will light the path for them to come back to us."

"And their promise to us," added the princess with a genuine smile. Though she still had her doubts, Naminé's words rang true in her heart. She knew that even though she might be by herself in the end, in this world, she would never be alone. Naminé would be with her until the end and her friends and family would always be with her inside her heart.

"Thanks, Naminé."

"My pleasure, your Highness."

---

Sora woke with a start, gasping in a deep breath as his eyes snapped open widely. The sudden movement he made, sitting up from where he lied, disturbed the still air around him. He choked and gagged when he breathed in black ashes that floated over the ground, creating a black fog and obscuring Sora's sight of the dirt floor.

Once he got his breathing down, having been reduced to a fit of coughs as the he gingerly lifted himself off the ground, dusting off the dark ashes that clung to him. He looked about him, noting the bleak looking rock formations that loomed in front of and behind him. The black dry ice-like fog that came up just beneath his knees covered the ground, lapping against the craggy walls that made up a canyon in front of him.

He looked upward, his blue eyes finding a starless black sky where a heart-shaped object was. Sora couldn't call the celestial body a moon, though the golden textured heart suggested that it was similar to the moon in his own world.

"When did I start thinking that this isn't my world?" he murmured softly to himself. But everything he's seen suggested that he wasn't in his world. This world where he found himself in was in shades of gray; the only color he could see were from the heart-shaped moon and the shaded blue and white that he donned underneath the chain link and brown leather vest.

He focused his attention upon the strange moon, frowning as he scrutinized it with narrowed eyes. A blue aura emanated from the moon, shimmering against the black sky. Sora's eyes narrowed further as he picked up pink dots zooming towards the moon, disappearing from sight with the golden light.

"Is the moon eating stars?" Sora wondered aloud, though it sounded rather ridiculous. Pink stars?

Shaking his head to take his attention off the mesmerizing moon, the king of Destiny Islands looked about him again, finding nothing changed since his first scan of the area. He wondered if there was even life in this world beyond the sky.

"I wonder if the others are okay," he said to himself, sadness and longing reflecting within his sapphire eyes. Heaving out a breath to get rid of all the melancholy, he summoned the Ultima Keyblade and began walking toward the canyons, hoping that somehow he would be able to find the others who are undoubtedly also trapped in this world.

As he walked through the canyon, the pumice walls rising precipitously to the left and right of him, he couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching him. Yet, every time he stopped and turned around, only darkness met his eyes. The heart-shaped moon was blocked by the canyon walls, leaving the bottom of the canyon floor dark and cold. Only the faint light from the Ultima Keyblade illuminated the path in front of Sora, but even then, the light couldn't penetrate the black fog that hovered above the ground.

"Creepy," he said softly to himself, shivering when he started moving again after stopping for the umpteenth time.

The brunet breathed an internal sigh of relief as he stepped out of the shadowed canyon. The strange moon remained stationary in the dark sky. Sora frowned at the golden moon, wondering if any time had passed at all since he first woke up in this bizarre world.

Suddenly, he stiffened; his internal alarm ringing shrilly in his mind. Narrowed eyes slowly scanned the immediate area where he stood. The black fog rolled ominously across the clearing between the canyon and the stone forest that stretched out in front of him. For a brief moment, all was silent and still. Then, Sora's eyes widened and his breath hitched in his throat as hundreds of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the black fog.

Underneath the golden glow of the heart-shaped moon, shapes of Shadows and Neoshadows emerged from the sinister fog, surrounding the lone Keyblade wielder. Sora's eyes quickly scanned across the area in front of him, mentally estimating the number of Heartless that had appeared. There must've been hundreds of the shadowy horde.

He took a step backward, almost contemplating a retreat back into the canyons to limit the number of opponents he'd have to face at any one time. However, the fact that no light penetrated the gloom to the canyon floor meant that it was much more dangerous for him, even with the glowing yellow eyes marking his targets.

He swallowed down a lump in his throat, pushing away the unfamiliar fear that rose within his heart.

"I have to have faith in myself," said Sora, a grin appearing on his face and growing wider as the Ultima Keyblade began to brighten. Without given the grim situation another thought, Sora entered into the battle against the horde of a thousand Heartless.

---

A splash echoed through the still air followed by a string of colorful words uttered in pure frustration.

Aqua gave her older brother a withered look as Terra sputtered angrily after stumbling into the dirty water in the swamp that they had found themselves in. Behind her, Roxas seemed reserved, though he too was beginning to become as irritated by the situation as the ashy red-haired man.

Terra scowled and got out of the pool of fetid water, groaning when he heard the squelching sound of his wet leather boots sinking into the mud.

"If it wasn't for the fact that this is the way we wanted to go…" he muttered under his breath. Neither Aqua nor Roxas said a word—the former knowing that Terra couldn't be calmed down when he's frustrated and the later feeling guilty for he was the one who adamantly believed that this was the direction they needed to head in. Since neither Aqua nor Terra had any idea which way they should've gone when they regained consciousness, the pair naturally followed Roxas's sense of direction. In their hearts, they believed that Roxas was much more attuned to the unexplainable powers that each of them had and for that, they gave their unwavering trust to the blond-haired teen.

"We're almost out," Roxas said quietly, narrowing his eyes at the distance. Rock formations rose at the edge of the swamp land, demarcating the end of the water-saturated ground and the beginning of solid floor.

Aqua turned her eyes upward at the golden heart-shaped moon, an odd feeling stirring within her as though she should know what the moon signified.

"Aqua," Roxas called out to her when he and Terra had gone a few feet ahead of the motionless woman. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," she snapped out of her lapse. She quickly caught up to them and the trio continued on their way.

Their progress was slow; the mud through which they walked dragged their feet down. And despite their steps forward, the tree line seemed ever so distant.

"Let's take a break," Aqua said with a pant when they reached a sizeable island of terra firma. Though the ground was still damp, their feet didn't sink down like the paths they took to reach the place. Large rocks were buried into the ground around the center of the island, allowing the trio to rest their feet.

"I wonder where the others are," Terra frowned, looking about the frustrating swamp.

"Who knows?" murmured Aqua, scratching at a bandaged area near her shoulder.

"You alright?" the redhead asked with concern, eying the unchanged bandages unhappily.

"Wounds are healing, that's all," she replied nonchalantly, though she too was concerned with the possibility of infection with the unchanged dressing.

The three siblings remained silent for a few minutes, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. The air was still and damp with the fetid water. The lack of life beside the three would've unnerved, should've unnerved them, but there was a calm within the three siblings that warded off the panic and hysteria that lurked in the darkness, the feelings that even the strongest willed man would've quailed at when faced with such overwhelming evil. It was this calm that bolstered their spirits and allowed the trio to continue on despite such adversity.

"We should get going again," Terra said, standing up to continue on. Aqua nodded silently in agreement, standing up gingerly as well. Both of them looked over to their younger brother and were alarmed by the terror upon the blonde's face.

Roxas let out a choked sound as the pupils of his eyes dilated abnormally. He opened his mouth to take in the breath that he felt he didn't have. Clenching the shirt over his heart tightly, he fell forward in his seat, his eyes seeing things much further away.

"Ven!" cried Aqua as Terra caught the falling teen. As soon as the moment came, it passed and Roxas's eyes returned to normal. He breathed heavily and looked up at the concerned faces of his siblings.

"I saw Sora!" he exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Terra asked, his eyes scanning over the teen's flushed face.

"I'm fine," Roxas replied immediately. "Sora's in trouble. We have to go to him!"

"But how?" asked Aqua. "We don't even know where he is."

"I know where!" the blonde answered animatedly. He leaped out of Terra's support and grinned at his siblings. "Come on, I know the way through the swamps."

Without waiting for them to respond, Roxas began running in the direction of the woods in the distance.

"Wait, Ven!" shouted Aqua.

"Freaking overprotective kid," muttered Terra in annoyance. His blue-haired sister giggled lightly.

"I wouldn't say overprotective as more of overenthusiastic and overjoyed," she commented with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," replied Terra. "Whatever. Come on."

The two siblings chased after their brother who had a large head start already, leaving behind the fears and uncertainty of the future.

---

Riku stared at the room he stood in feeling a mix of awe and bewilderment. The walls were covered with a golden sheen. White columns stood in the corners of the glamorous room. The ground itself was firm but looked like he was standing on clouds rather than solid earth. Red oak wooden furniture complemented the room, ranging from a bookcase holding various ancient scrolls and tomes to the decorated desk and chair and finally to the four-poster bed that was covered in pristine white sheets and curtained by sheer drapes.

Of all the places he had expected to wake up to, this bright room was the last place he could've thought of.

A knock on the door interrupted the teen's inspection of the room. He turned toward the brown door that slowly opened and the thought that he wasn't living any longer passed through his mind briefly.

In front of him stood a woman of fair complexion, whose aura glimmered with light. Her gray eyes reflected the same aura of light that surrounded her. A golden tiara was placed on top of the woman's head, almost hovering over the short sandy-tan hair. A flowing white robe shimmered with light as she moved across the cloud-like ground.

"You're awake," she said with a peaceful smile upon her face, her voice musical. "I'm glad."

"Where am I?" Riku asked bluntly, watching her circle around him with her own watchful eyes. The teen didn't know if the unnamed woman was inspecting him for ill purposes or to check if he was wounded, but that didn't seem to matter at that particular moment.

"Not in danger, that's for certain," she replied cryptically. A low growl escaped between Riku's lips; the impatient teen felt patronized by the woman, who appeared to be rather amused by this situation.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to antagonize you, but this is not your world. It is not for me to tell you where you are right now." She made for the door, stopping just before the threshold to smile at the teen reassuringly. "Now if you will please follow me."

"Not until you answer me at least this," Riku said immediately. The gray eyes looked upon him reflecting amusement and curiosity. She nodded silently. "Who are you?"

"My name is Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca. You can call me Ashe." Trusting that the boy would follow her, she left the room, letting the warm sunlight shine down upon her. Riku followed her out, shading his eyes with one hand as the bright sunlight met his eyes. The courtyard of the house where he had woken in was empty save for a woman working on a knitting project and a man turning the soil around the green bushes that demarcated the borders of the open space, separating it from the covered passages that lined around the courtyard.

After passing through the dining room and the living room, the pair exited the large house and entered into the bustling of the city. Around Riku, people milled about peacefully, chatting amicably with their companions and carrying groceries, materials, and other stuffs. The smell of cooked food permeated the air, suggesting to the teen that they were close to the marketplace. His hostess nodded with a smile as people who passed by them all bowed in respect to her before continuing on their happy ways. The silver-haired teen had no doubt that the woman in front of him was well revered in this place.

Off to one side leaning against the wall to the cabin that Riku had found himself in was a man dressed in armor, a red cape bearing a coat of arms was draped across his back. The man was not much taller than himself, with sandy hair tied up into a long ponytail. Riku found it strange that both Ashe and her companion were fair-skinned though there was no doubt that they must've spent the majority of their days out in the sun.

"Thank you for waiting, Basch," the woman called Ashe said in her musical voice.

"It's my pleasure, Lady Ashe," the man replied. Though his baritone voice was a bit on the gruff side, there remained that musical quality that Ashe's voice held.

"Come," she said, gesturing Riku to continue following her.

After the initial feeling of awe had passed, the prince of Twilight Town could see that something was off as he followed the sandy-haired woman and her companion through the main thoroughfare of this place. Though happiness was on everyone's face, Riku could sense melancholy and all sorts of negative emotions beneath the surface. Not to mention, there weren't a lot of children about and the few that were playing together were looked upon with such sadness in the observers' eyes that Riku wondered if these people truly felt the joy they were projecting.

He couldn't voice his questions for his hosts were determined to get to their destination, walking at a brisk pace and at two arm's lengths ahead of him. Riku took it as a sign that they knew whatever questions he might have, they were not for public ears.

They followed the thoroughfare into a large plaza where a temple-like structure rose into the cloudless sky. Smooth white stone columns stood on both sides of the grand entrance. From where Riku stood, he could see a statue with a beacon of fire burning brightly at the top. As they walked past the statue, he was surprised by the familiar faces upon the trio that held up the cauldron that held the fire—that of himself, Sora, and Kairi. How did these people know them?

Continuing through the foyer, they entered into the main hall where an altar stood at the end of a long aisle carpeted by the same shade of red that hung from Basch's shoulders. A statue of an unnamed woman stood regally behind the altar and light pillared down upon the white statue gloriously. Making a right in the middle of the room, Ashe headed straight for a side path separated off by a bead curtain. On the other side was an open spiral staircase heading upward.

As they moved upward, Riku could see that the city was enormous. He couldn't see the edges of the city at all even from his high vantage point. He noticed that each building appeared the same as the next, all made of the beige-colored sandstone. The only distinguishing features of the buildings were the roofs, some were thatched with straw, other with bound branches, and still others were shingled with tiles or covered by large palm leaves that Riku's seen only in Destiny Islands. While a few of the buildings did rise up into the sky like the temple where he was, it was clear that the building he was in was the main temple of the city. And that meant he was in the middle of the large city; one that dwarfed even Midgar in size.

The questions simply mounted.

At the end of the staircase, they reentered indoors into a large circular room with a dome-shaped ceiling over their heads. There were other people there already, four of which were standing underneath the light speaking to each other.

From Riku's cursory observations, he could tell that three of the four were men; one of them was an old man with a blue pointed hat over a mop of graying hair matted on his head and a long gray beard that reminded him of Merlin. Another wasn't much younger from Riku's sight with streaks of gray cutting through the midnight blue hair that seemed familiar to the teen, but he couldn't put his finger on just who had that same hairstyle. The last two, a man and a woman, appeared to be around the same age. The man also had a similar midnight blue hair but it was somewhat lighter. But what was the most intriguing to the prince of Twilight Town was the woman, whose silver hair flowed down to her waist, shimmering as she shook her head in disagreement with whatever was being said.

The hard sound of shoes tapping on the ground, despite Riku's doubt that the floor was actually solid stone, caught their attention.

As the four turned their faces to the newcomers, Riku couldn't move. He stared in disbelief at the long silver hair that sparkled under the light. A pair of grey eyes met his own blue ones lovingly as they acknowledged the younger teen's presence. The heart-shaped face that was so familiar to the prince of Twilight Town brought forth tears that he had never shed in mourning.

"It can't be," he said, voice breaking with unchecked emotions.

"Hello, Riku," the lady replied. "Welcome to Kingdom Hearts."

"Stella."

---

Sora breathed heavily at the conclusion of the battle, exhaustion beginning to set within his limbs. Despite his experience in fighting with his Keyblade ever since his eighth birthday, the muscles in his arms and legs screamed as he overtaxed them in this desperate fight. The air was still around him; the Heartless that had sought to devour him had retreated.

Taking in a deep breath, he straightened up with the Ultima Keyblade still clutched tightly in his right hand. He felt unusually weary, but in his heart, he knew he couldn't let his guard down in this dangerous, strange world.

He looked upward at the golden heart in the sky that casted its cool light down upon the land. The sound of rapid footsteps approaching him caught his attention and he quickly brought his Keyblade up, mentally prepared for another battle though his body felt like lead.

His eyes widened with surprise at the sight of Roxas leading Terra and Aqua towards him as the trio ran through the forest of tree-like rocks. He yelped when the blonde tackled him with relief clear within his eyes, but didn't get knocked over even with Roxas's eagerness to confirm Sora's presence in his arms.

"I thought I had lost you," Roxas murmured, hugging Sora tightly. The brunet was so unused to the blonde's touchy-feely side that he almost didn't know how to respond. Slowly, he returned the embrace and relaxed, dismissing his Keyblade as he brought his arms up.

"Are you okay?" the blonde asked, pulling away from Sora abruptly. The brunet internally lamented the loss of Roxas's support and frowned slightly at the younger teen's over-protectiveness. Roxas's eyes scanned across Sora's face and body, finding no new injuries to the brown-haired teen besides the ones that he suffered during the battle at Baren Falls fort.

"I'm fine," he replied. "Just a bit tired."

Unexpectedly, Sora collapsed against the blonde, his left hand clenching the shirt over his chest as his heart pounded painfully. Sinister whispers stirred in the air, bombarding the quartet from all sides.

"Sora!" Roxas said worriedly, biting his lower lip as he supported the brunet. Sora simply whimpered in response, his eyes closed tightly.

Terra and Aqua whipped around with their Keyblades in their hands, eyes scanning their surroundings with heightened senses.

"The Nameless Key," Sora managed to grit out. "It's trying to get out."

As abrupt as the whispers came, they suddenly disappeared. The air was still for a moment before a high-pitched, ear-piercing screech echoed through the air, causing the cliffs near them to shake and various stone formations in the rocky forest to crack and crash down onto the ground.

Terra fell to his knees with a "nyargh", his hands covering his ears but the screech wasn't dampened at all. His blue-haired sister soon followed him on the ground, wincing at the shrill ringing in her head.

Roxas too would've fell with the terrible piercing sound that seemed to stab at his soul the longer he "listened" to the sound. But he remained standing, one arm wrapped around Sora's form tightly while the other rose towards the sky. A flash of light flared in his outstretched hand and with the appearance of the Kingdom Key, a dome-shaped barrier appeared, blocking the screech that continued to pierce the air.

Sora's weight against his body lessened as the king of Destiny Islands regained his composure; the presence of the Kingdom Key pushed away its sinister counterpart's attempt to manifest once again. Aqua picked herself up from the ground, wincing at the ringing that remained in her ears. The red-haired man remained kneeling on the ground, his eyes focused upon a dark wave approaching them like a storm.

The closer that wave got, the harder the ground shook. Slowly, the mass of darkness began to form into a gigantic being, one that hadn't been seen by any person with hearts since the days of the Three. The sight of the ancient being that was said to have been destroyed stilled all of their hearts.

"Chernabog," Sora whispered breathlessly, his eyes widened as they stared at the fear-inspiring creature. Red flames licked at the corners of Chernabog's mouth from within, turning into smoke with each opening and closing of the giant mouth.

They gulped simultaneously, uncertainty that they would be able to survive against the dangerous creature ate away at their resolve.

Chernabog roared loudly, letting the flames that surrounded him grow even brighter. The Keyblade wielders prepared to battle against the giant being, but it was unnecessary.

A large glowing circle similar to the same diagram that the Chasers had drawn at Baren Falls Fort appeared underneath their feet. Only few brief seconds passed did the four noticed the glowing runes at their feet before they disappeared in flashes of light.

Another loud roar erupted from Chernabog and the earth shook under the dark creature's anger. A dark swirling portal appeared at Chernabog's foot, revealing Xehanort's frowning face as he looked at the empty space where his targets once were. He looked up at the golden moon and sneered, counting the days when that unreachable sanctuary will finally fall from its perch.

Riku stared at his once "sister" and closest confidant with shock. She looked exactly the same as that fateful day when she died protecting him from the Heartless that had appeared in the Old Forest; she didn't seem to have aged since that day at all. In comparison, he had grown up and was now a good half a head taller than the girl who he once called "sis".

---

"You can't be alive," the prince said forcefully, not believing his eyes.

"You're right," a familiar voice caught his attention. "She's not alive. None of us are." If anything else was capable of stunning the teen even further after seeing his surrogate sister, it was the information that he was amongst the dead.

"King Noctis," he acknowledged, disbelief still gripping his mind as he looked upon Sora's father, who looked the same exactly the way he remembered him during Sora's last birthday with the grey-streaked midnight-colored hair and the dark blue eyes that shone not with their usual amusement when it came to Sora and his friends, but with the same melancholy and resignation he's seen in others throughout this place.

"Tell me, Riku. How is my son doing?" the former king of Destiny Islands asked.

"He took your death hard, sire." Noctis snorted sardonically at his response.

"I thought as much."

"He's doing much better now," Riku continued. "He's found his way back to the right path."

The former king laughed though it lacked the usual ring that Riku's found comforting as a child. Sora's father was, after all, akin to a second father for himself and Kairi much like his own parents for Sora and Kairi.

"Of course," he replied with a nod. "I would be ashamed to have Sora as my heir if he didn't find his way back to the light." He looked at Riku and smiled awkwardly when he saw the sadness within the teen's eyes. "Come my friends," he said to the rest of the occupants in the room. "Let us leave Stella and Riku alone. I'm sure they have much to talk about."

"Stella," the elderly man dressed in blue said sternly. "Don't take too long."

The silver-haired lady nodded. "I won't, Master Yen Sid."

The two watched as Stella's friends and fellow rulers of this strange place left the room. It wasn't until a full minute had passed after they were truly alone did Stella speak once again.

"How are you doing, Riku?" she asked, a waver in her voice suggested to the silver-haired teen that the person in front of was extremely nervous about their meeting; she had probably anticipated such a private conversation between the pair ever since he arrived at this place. But how did he end up in this place anyways? This Kingdom Hearts?
"I'm… well," Riku answered, picking his words carefully. It was true though, he did feel fine, but the hesitant tone in Stella's voice made him wonder why she was so nervous. "Where am I?"

"Kingdom Hearts," she replied with a sad smile.

"Kingdom Hearts?" The prince looked at her with bewilderment. He had never heard of such a place before, not from history, the archives, or from the Chasers themselves.

His surrogate sister nodded. "Kingdom Hearts is a world derived from the realm of the Heartless. It is the place where all souls who died to the Heartless end up."

Riku furrowed his eyebrows in bewilderment. "What? How?"

"When the Three first arrived in the realm of Darkness, taken by Chernabog," explained Stella. "They found hundreds of souls wandering the realm of the Heartless—all killed by Heartless. There was some semblance of their old lives in this dark place, but there was nothing to live off of in the world of the Heartless. Every life had been snuffed out by the ever hungry Heartless.

"Not that we need anything to live off of," she added sardonically, "we're dead."

Riku became rigid immediately at the information. If he was here, then the natural conclusion must've meant that-

"You're not dead," she answered the unasked question upon seeing his stiffening. "At least, not in the sense that you're dead dead like the rest of us."

"You mean I can go back, but you guys can't?" asked the prince of Twilight Town. Stella nodded quietly.

"You're not dead because you, like the Three that came before you, were forcefully placed into the realm of the Heartless. You aren't doomed to wander the realm of Darkness like the rest of us were supposed to."

"So the Three made Kingdom Hearts?"

"Yes," she replied. "We believed that it's because of this creation that they never managed to exorcise the Nameless Key from Ventus the Youngest and successfully sever the link between our world and this one. They were extremely powerful, even though they didn't know it."

"How do you know this?" frowned Riku incredulously.

"Master Yen Sid was one of the first peoples to be killed by the Heartless. He was put in charge of Kingdom Hearts when the Three first came."

"And the others?"

"Lord Rasler and Lady Ashe were rulers of the joint kingdom Nabradia-Dalmasca. That kingdom was wiped out in the first century after the last of the original Three died. You should know well the new kingdom that took her place—Archadia. Basch was their captain of the guard. They made up the ruling council of this place until I came along and then King Noctis."

"I see…" Riku said mulling over the information he just received. "Are Kairi, Sora, and I supposed to completely seal off this realm from our world?"

Stella giggled softly. "I would think that the statue downstairs would confirm that already. But yes, you three are to complete what the Three had set out to do. As the direct descendants of the original Three and rulers of their respective kingdoms, you have been charged with this duty. You will not fail."

"How are you so certain?"

"Because I have faith in your friends. In you, most of all," she smiled. "You might not know what needs to be done right now, but you will when the time comes."

"What will happen, though? When we do seal off this world from ours? What will happen to Kingdom Hearts? To you?"

Stella smiled sadly at the question. "To tell you the truth, we don't know. As far as we know, no one knows exactly. As far as I'm concerned, we will be freed from this cursed realm and able to continue on into the afterlife. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that everything will be all right once again after the two worlds are separated finally. It's been far too long that the Heartless have been leeching on our world. It cannot be allowed to continue any longer."

Riku was silent for a while, pondering the various aspects of the task at hand.

"Riku, are you okay?" the silver-haired woman asked with concern. She had never seen her younger "brother" so brooding before her death.

"What if we weren't supposed to do this?" he asked, his eyes darkened with the inconceivable notion that he was about to propose. "What if our world has been connected to that of the Heartless for so long that if we do this, there would be such a backlash that our world will suffer with the loss?"

"You can't think that way," Stella said immediately, reaching out to lay her hands on the taller teen's shoulders. "That way of thinking will lead you on the path that Xehanort took. None of us but Yen Sid remembered how the world was before the Heartless came. But from his stories, you can bet that the world was wonderful. Magic was much more common then as well. The Heartless had sucked that magic out of our world."

"I see…" Riku answered uncertainly.

"Riku," his "sister" said, pulling him into an embrace. "You can't have any doubts about your destiny. Xehanort will surely exploit that doubt to delay what was meant to be. You can't let him win."

The prince nodded. "You're right. Xehanort's done enough damage to our world. We have to stop him."

Stella pulled away from the teen with a brilliant smile upon her face, one that Riku remembered so well even though the happiness didn't shine in her eyes.

The sound of wind chimes jingling nearby caught their attention and Stella turned around to look at a framed empty canvas that began to shimmer like water rather than cloth as the girl approached it. She gasped at the sight of Chernabog appearing in the frame. As the picture moved downward from Chernabog's face, both of them were surprised by the image of four familiar figures at the foot of the giant creature.

"Sora!" Riku said loudly.

Quickly, Stella turned away from the picture and pulled out a foldable staff. Without wasting another second, she drew a symbol in the air in front of her which exploded into sparks to land on the ground. A large portal appeared on the ground where the sparks landed. Stella murmured softly with her hands clutching the staff tightly, which glowed with soft light before a bright light exploded from the portal, blinding Riku.

When the light faded, Riku found his four friends on the cloudy ground unconscious. The portal that had been there was gone and Stella was folding her staff back up.

"They'll be alright," she said as Riku knelt down to prop Sora up. "You were unconscious when we brought you up too."

The sound of hurried footsteps met their ears and the pair looked to find the ruling council of Kingdom Hearts entering the room. A deep frown was upon Master Yen Sid's face, but Riku hadn't thought much of it.

"Can I have a word with you in private, Stella?" he said sternly. Stella blinked with bewilderment at the request and nodded, following the man out. Riku watched the pair exit with the same bewilderment that Stella had.

"Come, Riku," Lady Ashelia said with a smile, picking up Aqua in the process. "Let's get them into beds."

The silver-haired prince of Twilight Town nodded, picked up Sora, and followed Ashe, Rasler, and King Noctis back out of the room, down the spiral stairs, and back toward the house that Riku first woke in Kingdom Hearts.

---

Roxas moaned softly when he woke up. He could hear someone moving near him, but his eyelids were like lead, refusing to budge open even as he willed them to open. A set of hands helped him sit up and along with it, the scent of roses permeated the air.

"Here," a female voice said. Roxas could feel cold glass against his lips. "Drink this, it'll help." The boy parted his lips and the taste of a fruit juice entered his dry mouth, soothing his throat. When the glass was taken away, he slowly opened his eyes and winced slightly at the brightness of the room. With a few blinks however, his eyes adjusted rapidly to the well lit room and found a kind face smiling at him. The silver hair and the gray eyes that adorned the heart-shaped face were familiar, but Roxas had no idea who she was. A look of guilt was upon the girl's face as she stared down at Roxas, but the look passed so quickly that the former Nobody wondered if he had imagined it.

"Glad you're awake," the lady, who didn't seem much older than himself, said happily.

"Who are you?" Roxas frowned, raking through his memories for reasons why the lady seemed so familiar to him.

She didn't seem to hear his question, her eyes clouded over with reminiscence. "It's been a long time since I saw you last," she said nostalgically, running one hand through Roxas's blonde locks tenderly. Roxas's blue eyes widened with surprise.

"Stella?" he asked. Stella blinked at her brother; she hadn't expected the former Nobody to recognize her.

"You remember me?" she asked.

Roxas shook his head, his face lightly tinted with red in embarrassment due to Stella's misconceptions. "Mom talked about you a lot."

His dead sister smiled at him sadly. "I miss her."

"I'm sure she knows. And so does father."

Roxas moved to a better sitting position in the bed before looking around the large sleeping area. His eyes found the rest of his siblings and Sora asleep in their individual beds.

"I never thought I'd see you guys again," Stella murmured absent-mindedly.

"How did we end up here?" Roxas asked, interrupting the girl's reverie. She looked at her brother again, seemingly still caught in her memories before her grey eyes cleared.

"I pulled you guys up from the ground before Chernabog got to you guys," she explained.

"I thought Chernabog was supposed to be dead already?" Roxas was slightly bewildered by the presence of the dark giant.

"Chernabog isn't an entity that can be slain," came a female voice as a sandy-haired woman whom Roxas did not recognize entered the room with Riku in tow, heading towards them with a strange bounce in her step.

"There are many forms of Chernabog. It is an entity that embodies the life of a world. The only way to destroy such a being would be to destroy the world itself," she continued. "I'm Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca. Nice to meet you." She held out a hand toward the seated blonde, a smile ever adorning her face. Roxas accepted the handshake out of manners.

"I'm, Roxas," he introduced himself, tripping over his words minutely due to the fact that the woman had given him her full name while he doesn't even know his surname.

"Ventus," corrected Stella with a frown.

"I answer to both," the blonde appeased. To that, the silver-haired girl smiled in approval.

"Named after Ventus the Youngest, I'll bet," Ashelia smiled.

"Uh, yeah."

"And my other two siblings are named Terra and Aqua," added Stella. The regal woman opened her mouth as though to state the obvious "Oh I see," but no words passed through the lips.

A groan from the bed next to Roxas's own brought their attentions over to Sora, rising groggily from unconsciousness. The blond-haired boy immediately made to leave the bed to assist the brunet, but Stella stayed his intent with a firm hand upon his shoulder. Roxas didn't need to get up either as Riku took his stead and helped his friend sit up in the bed. He looked upon the pair with a hint of jealousy, which he quickly pushed aside with the knowledge that neither teen harbored any feelings for each other beyond close friends.

His eyes narrowed slightly in bewilderment of the unfounded jealousy that he felt.

"Riku?" Sora said gruffly, his eyes squinting at the silver-haired teen that had helped him sit up.

"Had enough sleep?" his friend joked with a sideways smirk upon his face. Sora punched his friend lightly in response, earning a laugh from Riku as the teen backed off. The king of Destiny Islands looked about him in cursory observation, finding Roxas's siblings sleeping in beds on the other side of the large common sleeping room. He beamed at Roxas upon seeing his former Nobody safe and awake in another bed. The two women who were at the blonde's side were unfamiliar to him, but he felt at ease with the pair since neither Riku nor Roxas appeared guarded.

"Hi," smiled the sandy-haired woman who stood between his own bed and that of Roxas's. "I'm Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca. Call me Ashe."

"Sora Caelum," he replied, shaking the woman's outstretched hand.

"I know," she smiled. "Your fa-I mean friend, told me." A look of confusion flashed across Sora's face, a feeling of suspicion that the woman knew something he didn't rose within him. Likewise, Roxas was bewildered by the stumbling of words.

"Where are we?" Sora asked instead, seeing Riku's headshake, hinting at the fact that he wasn't going to get any information on whatever it was that had made Ashelia falter in her words.

"Kingdom Hearts," the silver-haired girl who didn't seem much older than him said.

"Huh?" he uttered stupidly.

"Kingdom Hearts," she repeated. "It's where people who are killed by the Heartless end up."

Both Roxas and Sora stiffened at the information.

"No," she laughed. "You're not dead. You guys reacted exactly the same way that Riku did when I told him."

Ashe gave her comrade an awkward smile, her eyes speaking volumes of her disapproval of the silver-haired girl's morbid humor.

"Who are you?" frowned Sora.

"I'm Stella Averia, Ventus's sister." The brunet's eyes widened with surprise.

"You're the one who saved Riku," he said softly. The older girl simply nodded in confirmation.

"Seems as though I'm well know," she mused aloud, tapping one cheek with an index finger absent-mindedly.

"You're the reason why Riku dyed his hair silver!" Sora exclaimed, much to his friend's chagrin.

"Oh?" Stella uttered with amusement. "I hadn't noticed."

Roxas stared at his sister as though she was blind. Riku groaned softly, knowing perfectly well that Stella was playing with them. She simply giggled at his reaction.

"Now," she said with a smile. "You feel up to it?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked at the girl who was treating him like he was a kid rather than the king of an important nation.

"We're going to go meet someone, just you and me."

"Why me?" Sora questioned.

"That person wanted to see you once you're awake," she answered cryptically.

"You'll see, Sora," Riku added with a sad smile. Though Sora was still confused by Stella's request, Riku's encouragement was enough to sway the teen to follow the silver-haired girl. He nodded silently and got out of the bed, smiling reassuringly at Roxas before he followed the girl out of the large sleeping quarter.

"Where are they going?" Roxas asked once the pair was out of the room.

"There are some things that haven't been resolved between Sora and…" Riku began, trailing off with a melancholic sigh.

"And his father, you mean," the blonde completed his sentence for him.

"Because King Noctis was killed by Xehanort, he's here," confirmed Lady Ashelia. Roxas made to get up and chase after his dead sister and the brunet.

"Where are you going?" she frowned, laying her hands on him firmly to sit him back down.

"To see King Noctis," he said, meeting Ashe's gray eyes challengingly.

"It wasn't your fault that he died. He knows that. Can't you accept it?"

"But-" began Roxas before he was interrupted by the former ruler of Dalmasca.

"It had been your duty to protect Sora. You had gone beyond your call of duty when you took his place in Revenant Wings and protected Marlene."

"Marlene!" he exclaimed suddenly, his hands clutching onto Ashe's shoulders with zeal. "Is she here!?" His fervor in reaction to the name of the little girl surprised Lady Ashe, but she breathed an internal sigh of relief.

"Yes," she answered with a smile. "Would you like to go see her?"

Roxas looked over at the sleeping forms of Terra and Aqua, debating whether to leave his siblings behind to confront his own guilt at causing the deaths of the bright little girl and her rather intimidating father.

"Go see her, Roxas," Riku said, cutting through the blonde's internal debate. "I'll wait for them to wake up."

"Thank you," the boy said with a grateful smile, jumping off of the bed where he was. Eagerly, he followed Ashelia out of the room, anticipation and giddiness pumping through his veins. In his nervous state, he didn't see the conflicted look within the silver-haired prince's eyes as he struggled with his feelings for his surrogate sister and the red-haired princess who was waiting for their return.

It wasn't far to the new residence for Marlene and Lord Barret of Revenant Wings. Of course, Roxas hadn't paid much attention to the entire three minute trip, the clear night sky filled with bright stars and the cloud rolling underneath his feet taking his breath away the moment he stepped out of the room. Paying just enough attention to follow Lady Ashe around, the blonde marveled at the etherealness of the entire place, so different from the starkness of the realm of the Heartless but at the same time sharing the same underlying desolation that permeated the air.

They stopped in front of another one-storied house that looked very similar to the one they had left a few minutes ago. Ashe pulled on a light blue ribbon to the side of the wooden doors and the sound of small bells jingling echoed across the threshold. A lamp flared to life above their heads and the doors creaked open to reveal a woman in her early thirties with a pair of half moon-shaped spectacles perched on top of a dainty nose. Her hazel eyes looked at them with surprise.

"Good evening, Eleanor," Ashe greeted with a smile.

"Good evening, Lady Ashe," the woman named Eleanor replied, stepping aside to let the two in. "Might I inquire the reason for your presence?"

"Are your daughter and husband home?"

The lady of the house, whose light brown hair was bound into a bun-incorporated ponytail, with the long hair draped on her back all the way to her waist, looked familiar to Roxas. It was clear that Marlene had been her daughter with the heart-shaped face and warm hazelnut eyes.

"Yes, they are," replied Eleanor, who scrutinized the unnamed boy in front of her. Yet, she had no idea who the boy was. "Follow me."

They ventured further into the house where a former member of the Revenant Wings aristocracy sat on a rocking chair. The dead man seemed a shell of his former self, cradling the stub of his left arm with unseeing nostalgia, silent and brooding. Sitting cross-legged on the ground with her back set against her father's legs, the little girl who had Roxas's admiration was flipping through the pages of a coloring book, one hand groping about the smoky ground for the crayons that were strewn on the floor. Both turned to look at the doorway with the sound of footsteps entering the room and both were equally surprised by the sight of the two that had followed Eleanor in.

Roxas was not entirely surprised by the reaction he would get from the little girl, though his heart had suggested otherwise.

Marlene gasped at the presence of the yellow-haired teen. Jumping up with uncharacteristic stiffness in her body, she abandoned the book that had been in her hand and the crayons still strewn across the floor near Barret's rocking chair. Without another word or another glance, the brown-haired girl made a beeline out of the room, retreating further into the house.

"Marlene!" Roxas called out for the girl, making to chase after the child when Lord Barret stepped in his way.

"I'll go talk to her," Eleanor said with a soft smile before disappearing through the same doorway that Marlene passed through seconds before.

"I'm sorry," the blonde could only say, dropping his head in shame.

"'Twasn't yer fault, Roxas," Lord Barret replied.

"But if I hadn't given Marlene the charm…" the boy began, trailing off when he saw the darkly-tanned man shake his head.

"You couldn't 'ave known that it would be th' cause of our demise," he said. "You 'ave a good heart, Roxas. It's jus' unfortunate that there are people who are more than willing to use that against you."

"Then you know of the charm's significance?" Roxas asked. Barret nodded.

"That Xehanort told us before we were killed," he answered grimly.

"How kind of him," Roxas muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"Based on your presence here, 'm assuming he succeeded," frowned the burly man. Roxas shook his head.

"Partly," the teen replied. "Xehanort brought Ventus the Youngest back, but he was resealed. He's allowed me the luxury of living my life."

"I see." Lord Barret fell silent for a moment, digesting the information he was given.

Roxas stood in his spot, eying the dark doorway through which Marlene and her mother had disappeared one after another. Indecision gnawed at his mind: part of him wanted to stay and wait for Marlene to come to her senses and let him speak to her, the other part of him wanted to go since it was obvious that the girl didn't want him here.

"I-" Roxas began, stopping when Eleanor reentered the room. The blonde clamped his mouth shut to hear what the lady of the house had to say.

The sharp-eyed woman looked at him silently for a brief moment, attempting to gauge the boy's thoughts and feelings.

"You're the one who saved my daughter in Revenant Wings," she said sternly, a waver in her voice making the statement sound almost like a question. Roxas nodded quietly in response.

"I'm also the one who caused your daughter and husband to die," he added softly.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "You don't have the black heart for it." The boy looked away still in uncertainty; both Barret and Eleanor knew that it will have to be up to Marlene to make the blonde forgive himself.

Breathing a soft sigh, Eleanor began again with a smile. "Roxas, I know this is selfish of me to say this, but, thank you for bringing my family back to me." Though her words were meant to cheer Roxas up, the boy only felt guiltier. Yet, he hid away the guilt, smiling weakly at the two parents. He will deal with his own insecurities later.

"Now," she continued, holding his hands in her own with motherly love, "Marlene's refused to see you, but I can tell that you two need to talk it out before long."

"Thank you," Roxas said gratefully, letting the older woman lead him out of the room. He took a glance at Ashe with slight concern, acting very much like the child that he still was.

"Don't worry, I'll be here," she smiled. Roxas nodded and continued following Eleanor further into the house.

They entered into another small open courtyard where a loom sat in the middle, a patterned blanket sat unfinished. Disregarding the loom, they stopped in front of a closed wooden door to the right of the courtyard.

"Marlene," Eleanor said, knocking on the door. She slowly opened the door to find her daughter kneeling on her bed, her crossed arms perched on top of the window sill, and her eyes turned upward at the clear night sky with the hundreds and thousands of stars that twinkled.

"Go on," the woman said, gently pushing Roxas into the room. The boy was reluctant to interrupt the young girl's moment of serenity, but when Eleanor closed the door behind him, he knew that he can no longer remain in indecision.

Taking a deep breath, Roxas quietly stepped over to the bed, kicking his shoes off to join Marlene at the sill.

"It's a beautiful night," he began strongly, but his voice failed him at the end, bothered by the awkwardness between them.

"Are you dead? Did that man kill you?" the girl asked without preamble, her hazelnut eyes watching him with expert scrutiny.

He shook his head. "No. I'm not dead," he answered. Her lips shaped into a silent "o" and she turned away, letting the awkward silence fall between them once again.

"You made papa die," Marlene said bluntly, cutting through Roxas's debate to leave her alone. The blonde froze next to her, confused by her words. She hadn't blamed him for her death, but rather her father's death.

"I caused you to die too," Roxas added shamefully.

"You made papa die," she repeated.

Roxas closed his eyes, his heart aching at the lack of emotions that once decorated Marlene's face and the lack of sparkle within her eyes. He bit his lower lip, holding back the sobs that shook his body ever so slightly. Swallowing thickly, he pulled away from the ledge with all the intent of leaving the girl alone. He was already crossing the room toward the door when a tug on his jacket stopped him. From the corner of his eye, Roxas could see the girl's hands clutching onto the back of his jacket tightly, her head downturned to hide her face. Her soft sobs caused Roxas's tears too to begin falling down.

"It's okay," she said softly with a hint of uncertainty, interrupted briefly by a small hiccup. "I still have papa and mama. It's been such a long time since I saw mama…" She let go of his jacket to wipe at her tear-stained face.

No longer able to hold back the emotions that he kept bottled up, the blonde turned around and let out a choked sob as the tears fell, dropping to his knees in penance. His hands gripped onto her shoulders like she was his anchor and lifeline in all the tragedies that had surrounded him.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."

Marlene dropped to her knees as well, throwing her arms around the sobbing teen. "It's okay," she replied, her emotional voice mirrored the tears that fell. "I forgive you."

---

Morning greeted Roxas with glaring light, unfiltered through the window that had remained open after he had fallen asleep. The sound of regular breathing not of his own caught his groggy mind, bringing him back from the dream land. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the figure that was curled up in his protective embrace.

Marlene continued to sleep, her eyes shielded from the glare of the sunlight by Roxas's body. Her small hands clutched onto his jacket, never letting go even as she shifted in her sleep. Roxas couldn't help but smile at the girl's clinginess. Though his left arm was numb from being pinned underneath Marlene's sleeping figure, the blonde didn't want to disturb the little girl. He felt extremely serene after the previous evening's catharsis.

His arms tightened around the girl, feeling the need to protect the little girl despite the fact that she no longer needed his protection.

"I guess that's what older brothers are supposed to do," he murmured softly to himself. "Protect their little sisters."

The door slowly creaked open and Lady Ashe poked her head in to check on the two. She quickly smiled and gestured for Roxas to remain in bed when the boy saw her, having remembered that the sandy-haired woman had promised to stay until he was ready to leave.

Knowing that the boy was able to read lips, she quickly mouthed to the teen, telling him that she had to go to the temple to attend to some businesses and that he was to ask Eleanor to bring him back whenever he was ready. He nodded in understanding, smiling at Ashe before she disappeared behind the closed door again.

A shifting of weight upon his arm and a soft groan turned Roxas's head back down to look at the sleeping girl. The sun had crept above the bottom edge of the square window and casted its bright rays upon the corner of Marlene's right eye. In response, the brown-haired child had simply snuggled closer to Roxas, keeping the older boy as her shade from the morning glare.

It was clear that the little girl, regardless of her peppy personality, was not a morning person.

Despite the fact that he was wide awake, Roxas remained still to let Marlene continue to sleep. He allowed himself to reminisce aimlessly, one hand gently caressing Marlene on her head. It wasn't until Eleanor had come to rouse Marlene did the teen truly rise to face the new day in this strange place called Kingdom Hearts.

Breakfast was a simple affair: eggs, toast, and oatmeal.

Roxas was glad to find Marlene back to her usual self midway through breakfast, her morning grouchiness faded away completely with food in her stomach. While there remained a melancholy as with all others who are truly in Kingdom Hearts, she was enthusiastic for the new day and made no qualms in letting the world know.

"How long will you be staying?" she asked happily, her mouth half full with chewed up toast. The boy was amazed by her ability to talk and not spit out the food.

"Marlene," chastised Eleanor. "Don't talk while your mouth's full."

"Oops," blushed the little girl, swallowing before speaking again. "Sorry."

Roxas smiled at her. "I don't know. Soon, probably." Marlene pouted at those words.

"Marlene," Eleanor added, "he doesn't belong here."

"I know," she replied, poking at her unfinished eggs. "I just wanted him to stay, that's all. I don't even know if I'll be able to see him again!"

"You will," her mother answered with a reassuring smile. "We all will. In the Promised Land."

"I told you, you look better when you're smiling," giggled Marlene. Roxas looked at her with surprise for a brief moment and blushed, realizing that she had been right all this time.

The sound of bells jingling interrupted their breakfast.

"I wonder who that could be?" wondered Eleanor aloud, setting aside her napkin to stand up.

"I'll get it!" Marlene exclaimed, pulling her bib off and running out of the kitchen.

"Marlene! No running after eating!" her mother scolded.

"I'll go slow her down," laughed Roxas, leaving Eleanor to return to her meal before catching up to Marlene with his longer strides.

The young girl slowly opened the front door to peek at the person on the other side and found a silver-haired lady looking down at her.

"Stella-bella!" exclaimed Marlene as she swung the door open to admit the lady, hugging her with exuberance.

"Hi, Marlene-dallene," giggled Stella and patting the girl on the head.

"Marlene?" Sora raised an eyebrow at the sight of the brown-haired child. Marlene pulled away from Stella to find the king of Destiny Islands just behind her tutor.

"Sora!" she exclaimed once again, hugging the teen much like she did with Stella just seconds before.

"Roxas," Aqua breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her brother well. She hugged her brother while Terra inspected his brother closely after finding something different with the way Roxas carried himself.

"Who are you?" Marlene asked curiously, looking from the blue-haired woman who looked strangely familiar to the blond-haired boy and back again.

"I'm Aqua," she smiled, bending down slightly to be at eye level with the young girl. "You must be Marlene. I've heard a lot about you."

"How do you know me?" she asked, shaking Aqua's proffered hand.

"My little brother thinks very highly of you." The girl stared at Roxas for a brief moment, realizing just exactly who the blue-haired woman resembled.

"You're Roxas's sister!" she exclaimed.

"And mine," added Stella with a giggle.

"Wow," Marlene breathed in awe, "you have a large family."

"I envy you guys," commented Sora. "Must be nice to have a large family and that many siblings."

Terra scoffed at those words. "Not when you're the only boy stuck with two sisters."
"Hey!" Aqua and Stella replied at the same time, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"You see what I have to deal with!?" the red-haired man said petulantly, waving his arms in the air in exaggerated annoyance. Both Sora and Riku laughed at the show of sophomoric behavior, especially from the 23-year-old man.

"Besides," joked Riku, "you got me and Kairi. What more could you want?" He wrapped Sora in a headlock and tousled the slighter teen's hair.

"No one wants you for a brother, Riku!" exclaimed Sora.

The silver-haired teen released his friend and took a step back, feigning injury to his chest with his hands covering his heart. "Ouch, I'm hurt, Sora."

The king of Destiny Islands only blew a raspberry at him.

Marlene giggled at their antics.

"We should head back inside," Roxas said, a ghost of a smile on his face. "You sure haven't finished your breakfast yet."

"Come join us!" the little girl said, not giving them any time to respond before grabbing Roxas's and Stella's hands and dragging them into the house. The rest of the group followed them with amusement.

---

They ended up staying over at Marlene's house longer than Stella had intended to.

Eleanor had welcomed them warmly, cooking more food for their unexpected guests. It wasn't until after first lunch did Marlene's friends in Kingdom Hearts, the various kids who attended the same class as Marlene under Stella's tutelage, visit and took the energetic little girl's attention with them. Though Roxas wasn't sure if it was the last time he would see the girl, she refused to say farewell to the teen and he subsequently said nothing, only watched Marlene disappear beyond the door chasing after her friends.

As they toured the great city, Stella informed them of the longer days in Kingdom Hearts; where daylight lasted twice as long as they did in their own world. So despite the second meal they've already had, it was still morning.

When asked where the food came from, Stella simply led them to the district beyond the horizon where they had their midday luncheon. The Country district was the breadbasket of Kingdom Hearts, one of the largest boroughs of the vast city, where food was grown and raised to be distributed throughout the city. And it was there were they had their midday meal, joined by Lord Rasler who had come to the Country district to speak to the various farmers. Yet, Sora sensed that it was more of a gesture of reassurance for the broken families than an actual interest in the status of the crops and herds.

Over the course of the day, Sora noted that despite finding Kingdom Hearts to be a utopia, there were plenty of things that suggested otherwise. Concern over their own despair dictated their every move; the fear that succumbing to their own hopelessness and cast them from this world of light back into the realm of darkness was shared by all, even Stella and Sora's father.

There were, of course, those who did indeed succumb to their melancholy, falling into madness with the knowledge that they were stuck in limbo overwhelming them. They lashed out against the society, hurting people that they cannot kill for no one is truly alive. They were pitied and brought out of their cycle of violent insanity, placed in the services of the temples to teach them how to accept the truth, how to look forward to the day when they will be freed to enter into the Promised Land, the afterlife that awaited them, though that belief might not actually come to pass. The somber conversation reminded them of the task assigned to them and the importance of their success; it wasn't just their own world that relied upon them, those who died to the Heartless counted on them as well.

Sora surmised that it was because of this reminder that made them feel the nostalgia for home.

"I wonder how Kairi's doing," Riku muttered aloud as he looked unseeingly at the cloudless sky; they had finished their grand tour of the city and were now just heading back to Stella's house. Even though the day had been twice as long as Stella informed them, none of them felt the least bit tired.

The king of Destiny Islands watched his friend with a healthy dose of worry mixed in with homesickness. He knew as well as the rest of them did that while they spent in this paradise teetering on the edge of ruin, their own world was in danger of being destroyed by the Heartless. They couldn't let Kairi face the end by herself.

"When will we be able to leave?" Sora asked their hosts.

The previous warmth that they felt from Stella and Rasler suddenly vanished and the pair looked at each other stiffly, stopping in their tracks. Neither answered the question immediately.

Roxas narrowed his eyes and caught a glimpse of guilt within his sister's eyes. Though confused by the strange expression, the boy knew that something was terribly wrong.

"Let's continue back," Rasler said instead when it was clear that his companion was not going to speak. The others looked at one another with confusion and worry, particularly the siblings as Stella was uncharacteristically forlorn.

The walk back to the temple held no words between the seven with the Keyblade wielders following their hosts at a brisk walk. The many denizens of Kingdom Hearts bowed to them in respect but said nothing else, returning to their usual businesses once they've passed.

It almost made the walk unbearable for Sora, as the silence that surrounded them only brought forth an irrational fear and with it the feeling of vertigo.

A hand caught him before the brunet collapsed onto the cloud-covered ground. He looked up at the person who pulled him up and found Basch's stern-looking face looking down kindly at him.

"Captain Basch," Sora said with surprise. Where had the man come from?

"Do not let unanswered questions weigh you down," he told the young king.

"W-what?" Sora uttered with further confusion.

"You should learn to abandon the questions that are unanswered."

"Wouldn't you feel terrible to not know?" frowned Sora.

"Sometimes, moving on is better than knowing the truth," the man replied. "Just keep in mind, you must learn to move on." With those words, the man walked in the opposite direction of where they were going.

Sora watched as the man disappeared into the crowd, his cryptic words having the direct opposite effect on the teen. Instead of following the man's advice and setting aside the many questions, the teen only had more questions that rooted him to where he stood.

"Sora?" Roxas's soft voice reached him. The brown-haired king turned to find the blonde looking at him with concern; the others were well ahead of them already.

"Sorry," the king replied with a smile. "Just having a word with Captain Basch. Let's go."

Roxas nodded quietly, saying nothing further about the matter, though he remained worried for his beloved. He took Sora's hand with a soft smile of understanding and the pair ran after their friends, catching up to them just as they entered the house where they were staying while they remained in Kingdom Hearts.

Without stopping in the receiving room, Rasler headed directly toward the study accessed through the open court where Master Yen Sid predictably was. Stella followed demurely, worrying her siblings even more.

The stern-looking lord of Kingdom Hearts looked up from a set of parchments when the doors to the study swung open. Ashelia, who had been studying the transcript as well, looked at them with surprise and a hint of apprehension, as though she knew what the ensuing conversation would be about.

"They inquire about departure," Lord Rasler announced tersely, his lips set in a thin line. Standing next to him, Stella stood stiffly, her posture suggesting to her observant little brother that she was steeling herself against some reprimand.

"You haven't told them?" the elderly man said sternly, looking at the silver-haired woman. Stella visibly flinched at the sharp tone the man used, shaking her head silently.

Master Yen Sid breathed a sigh of exasperation; in the time he's known the silver-haired lady, it was her lack of foresight that had annoyed him time and time again. It had been her rashness that led to her own death at the hands of the Heartless after all. Still, he couldn't fault her for her unwavering loyalty to her family and friends, her optimism for the bleak future. He simply wished that she would put more thought into her actions.

"You can leave at any time," he said. The five simply stared at him with confusion. After all, if it was clear that they could leave, why couldn't Rasler and Stella tell them? The fact that Yen Sid looked over at the silver-haired girl was not lost on them.

"You can leave," Stella repeated softly, her eyes downcast in guilt, "but Roxas must stay."

The soft words seemed to hang in the still air for several seconds as the five Keyblade wielders froze with dread. The words rang in Sora's ears repeatedly before the brown-haired teen snapped out of his shock though his eyes remained wide and the pupils unusually dilated.

"What? Why?" he demanded, staring at Stella as though a bucket of cold water had been thrown onto him.

The silver-haired woman remained silent as her younger brother processed the words that she had uttered. He knew then why he couldn't leave.

"It's because of Ventus the Youngest, isn't it?" he asked, his voice trembling with the fear that that his theory would be confirmed. "He was killed by the Nameless Key and so was supposed to be here."

She raised her head, her eyes brimming with unshed tears of sadness, and nodded. "Your life is bound to that of Ventus the Youngest." She swallowed thickly before bursting into tears, embracing Roxas tightly with heaving sobs. "I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen when I brought you here."

"Is there no way for Roxas to come back?" Sora asked despairingly. The thought that he would return to Destiny Islands without the blonde scared him. Even though he hadn't known his former Nobody for more than a year, he couldn't fathom living without the emotionally strong teen, the one who stood by his side the whole time he has suffered.

"There is a way," Master Yen Sid said stoically. "But it requires tremendous sacrifice on both Roxas and Ventus's part."

"And that is?" urged Terra, his unusually pale face belied any shock that he had felt when his sister uttered the words that may as well have been Roxas's death sentence.

"Ventus will have to remain here with Roxas's assistance," he answered. "And because he is attached to your brother, it will have to come at a price of Roxas's heart."

"How can Roxas return to our world without a heart then!?" Sora reacted violently. It was with Riku's restraint upon him that the distraught brunet didn't lash out at the stern-looking ruler of Kingdom Hearts. "He wouldn't be alive!"

"He would be alive," the man answered calmly, unfazed by the teen's emotional outburst. "But he would feel nothing."

"He would be a true Nobody," continued Aqua fearfully. Yen Sid nodded solemnly.

"C-can you leave us alone?" Roxas asked softly, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed down a lump of discomfort.

Stella sniffed and nodded, pulling away from her brother as she wiped at her eyes, trying to stem the tears that continued to fall. With Yen Sid's help, she left the room physically and emotionally drained after bottling up the truth for the entire day that the five remained.

Aqua looked at the blonde in despair, knowing perfectly well that they had lost Roxas again, regardless of the boy's choice to return with them or not. Standing beside her, Terra was livid, though he kept himself from losing his composure and letting his anger get the better of him. Letting out a low growl, the pale red-haired man stormed out of the room, the pain in his heart was so great that even he was struggling to not burst into tears.

Silently, his blue-haired sister left the room as well, closing the door behind her with resignation dictating her every move.

"There must be some other way!" Sora exclaimed the moment the door closed. Tears streamed down his face unchecked and the king made no move to wipe them away, letting the salty liquid blur his vision.

"It'll be fine, Sora," Roxas said softly, closing the distance between the two to hold the crying teen in his arms.

"No, it won't!" cried the king.

"Well, think on the bright side," the former Nobody attempted to stay optimistic even as tears fell from his own eyes, hitting the navy blue jacket Sora always had on. "At least Xehanort can't get to me now."

Sora's tears stopped suddenly with those words. He recalled the threat Xehanort made after he brought Ventus back, the promise that Ventus the Youngest would suffer at his hands that made his solitude in the darkness feel like paradise. He shivered in irrational fear at the possibilities that the sinister man have in store for Ventus and Roxas, the knowledge that the man had no mercy simply made the fear greater.

"Sora," Roxas whispered softly, rubbing circles on the distraught teen's back. Slowly, Sora's fears disappeared, leaving behind the immutable fork in the road—one led to ruin of their beloved world, the one that their ancestors fought so hard to protect; the other led to uncertain future for himself. He can't even fathom loving another person. Still, the decision was clear and whether he wanted to or not, there was only one path to go.

Acceptance of their separate destinies dampened his spirits, and Sora pulled away from Roxas's comforting embrace with a glassy look in his eyes. It broke Roxas's heart to see his lover so broken, but that was the sacrifice they had to make for their friends, their families, the rest of the world that looked to them for guidance against the Heartless.

Such was the price of wielding the power of light.

Roxas didn't go to see the other four off when it was time for them to leave Kingdom Hearts. And it was just fine for Sora. Both of them knew that they wouldn't be able to go through the separation if they had seen one another right before Yen Sid sent them back.

Aqua was crying when they were ready to leave. Terra was struggling to not cry, his heart wishing that none of this ever happened. Neither of the two wished to lose their brother and their sister yet again, but it must be done for the sake of those who depended on them.

The quartet of Keyblade wielders stood on the lone wooden dock leading into an expanse of dark clouds. Lightning streaked across the clouds here and there, signifying the turbulent skies beneath them. A small skiff sat over the dark clouds, swaying like it was on water.

"The Keyblades will open the door for you when you reach it," Yen Sid said sternly as he pointed in the direction of the said door to the light. "Where the door will take you, however, is anyone's guess."

"Thank you," Riku said for the group since the rest of his companions were all too forlorn to speak.

"Sora," King Noctis called out to his son. "This isn't the end. You'll see him again."

The brunet gave his father an awkward smile. He didn't know what his father had meant by that. Would Roxas be that stubborn and try to come back even at the expense of his heart? He didn't want to think of the possibilities of their awkward reunion.

"Good-bye, the Chosen ones of the Keyblades," said Lord Rasler.

"Live and fight," added Lady Ashelia. "The light will guide your way."

"Farewell, my brothers and sister," Stella said with a wave as the four boarded the skiff. "Don't cry anymore. The world needs you. We need you. We will always be in your hearts."

"Bye," Riku said tersely.

"Bye," Sora parroted the parting words.

"Farewell, Stella," Terra said, swallowing to hold back his tears of sadness and howls of frustration. He quickly turned his eyes away from the group that had gathered at the end of the dock to look into the distance. He knew that if he kept his eyes on the future, the past would not be able to cast him into a sea of melancholy.

The small skiff left the dock and slowly moved over the gray clouds toward the direction Yen Sid had told them to head in. It wasn't until that they were several boat lengths from the dock did Aqua finally stopped her sobs and stepped towards the end of the skiff.

"Good-bye, Stella!" she cried. "I'll miss you dearly!"

"And I will miss you all!" came Stella's distant reply. Her waves of good-bye were quicker with those words and Aqua couldn't help but wave just as quickly in response, letting out a watery laugh. She continued waving until she could no longer see the city in the heavens.

"I wished I could say good-bye to Ven," Aqua said softly, almost to herself.

"We have to be strong for him," Terra said gruffly, his voice laden with checked emotions. "We can't let…" He couldn't finish his words.

"He's not dead," Sora said grimly, his sapphire eyes looked into the distance with cold clarity. "He'll find a way to come back to us. He promised." The way he spat out the last word made Riku frown, but the prince of Twilight Town made no comments. Though Terra knew that it was a fool's hope to think that his brother could ever return to them, his heart held on to it firmly while Aqua struggled with herself to keep the hope or to face the reality of the future that was in front of them.

A tense few moments passed before the top of the giant white doors that Yen Sid had told them about appeared on the horizon. They breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing that they were actually going home, but a bitterness remained with the loss of Roxas.

As they neared the doors, their Keyblades—ones they wielded for battle and the ones they retrieved from the Stations of Serenities—suddenly appeared around them, sailing through the air like fairy sprites. When the boat came to a sudden halt, the Keyblades all straightened, creating a circle around the boat. Beams of light shot from the tips of the weapons and met at the top of the single mast of the skiff. From that point, another beam of white light shot towards the giant keyhole in the middle of the white door. The black hole filled with rainbow-like light and disintegrated just as the sound of a door being unlocked echoed across the "ocean" loudly.

The double doors began to swing open, letting bright light blind their eyes. The boat resumed its voyage toward the door and passed through the giant doors smoothly. White light surrounded them all, cocooning them in warmth.

Like Master Yen Sid said, no one knew where they would end up. As the ground dropped out underneath them, they could only hope that they wouldn't be separated when they returned.

---

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts and associated characters, places, items, etc. I wish I owned Sora, Roxas, Riku, Kairi, Naminé, etc. etc. of course. But I don't, so don't sue me.

A/N: Oh my gosh, it's been over two months since I last updated. Holy crap. Between getting distracted with Final Fantasy XIII, which I haven't completely finished yet, new ideas popping up in my head, and never finding a good place to end this chapter until now, I've finally managed to complete this chapter in all of its 14k words glory. Still, I'm not quite satisfied with the length. Probably because I'm under the impression that chapter lengths should reflect the period of time in between updates, haha.

As usual, there are references to be pointed out. Ashelia, Rasler, and Basch are all from Final Fantasy XII. Stella's last name "Averia" is supposed to be the original name for Lightning Farron, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII, but they ended up choosing Éclair for her first name in Japanese version, Claire in the English version. (Sorry if I spoiled that tidbit for you guys). Eleanor is Marlene's birth mother in Final Fantasy VII, but she was not married to Barret in game but married to Dyne, who is Marlene's actual birth father in FF7. I chose to make Barret and Eleanor a pair mainly for simplicity, hehe.

For me, this chapter is a mishmash of sorts the juxtaposition of the Heartless realm and Kingdom Hearts, the somewhat banal incorporation of characters that otherwise would never interact with the main characters, the heart-to-heart talks, etc., quite predictable from me to be honest. I chose not to elaborate upon or even hinting at the possible topics for the conversation between Sora and his father mainly because it'll be touched upon in the next chapter or the one after that. I can't say I particularly liked the way the chapter ended, separating Sora and Roxas yet again, but it had to be done. Whether they'll reunite again is anyone's guess—well, I actually already know if they'll reunite, but I'm not going to tell you.

In any case, my apologies for such a long hiatus. Hope you enjoyed the update and such. We are nearing the end of the story, like it or not. So look forward to it, ne?