Okay, so chapter 21 should be up by Sunday night, okay? I'm typing so much for my stories that my hands are really starting to hurt so I have to be careful that I don't develop Carpel Tunnel.

Thanks to:

Shadow 1n2 - I know, right? I want to develop their relationship a bit, but then once COM hits, it degresses again.

Mysteriousguy898 - lol okay, I think I might change what I told you in the PM just a little bit, but you'll see.

Keysoul - I think I already answered all of your questions =)

Anna Shiki - Haha you can keep Roxy. My favorite KH character is probably Demyx lol 'Run, Run away!'

Lvl-ZeR0 - well, yeah, I have school stuff and other stories and things...sorry. As for the human hug toy...I actually do that in real life, too. A few of my friends are sufferers of that lol Every time I see them I have to hug them at least four times =P I'm a weird woman, I will tell you that.

Chapter Twenty

Monstro Part One

A couple of hours later, the two of them woke from their slumber. Freya looked up at Sora with a sad expression, heart heavy. He looked down at her, eyes sad just because he could tell that Freya was in a low mood. He had an urge to bring a smile to her face, no matter what, but he was also afraid that he would eventually go too far despite her reassurances that she held at least some feelings for him.

Suddenly, the ship rocked and a loud keening noise echoed through the corridors. Freya looked up, the sadness turned to curiosity as she gave her curiosity a voice.

"What was that?" she questioned, but the brunette teenager didn't have an answer for her. He helped her from the bed, a small smile on his face as he watched her stretch, and the two of them made their way to the cockpit. Sora was sad that Freya now had her own seat, courtesy of Cid, but he didn't want her to feel too awkward.

The four of them looked out the windows, appreciating the beauty of space while keeping a watch for whatever made that weird noise. While they travelled, a giant blue whale soared over the ship. Freya gasped, pressing her nose up against the glass as she tried to peer up at the whale once again.

"What is that?" Donald questioned, barely restraining himself from pressing himself up against the glass as well.

"Wow," Sora exclaimed, "It's huge!"

The whale made another pass at the ship, keening that awful cry once again. Freya's astonished face fell into a concerned frown.

"I don't think it's very happy." She warned them, backing away from the window before something caused the ship to shudder once again.

"It's a giant whale!" Goofy shouted, pointing at the whale in an obvious manner.

"Well done, Captain Obvious." She murmured as she stared at the whale. Suddenly, she had a very bad feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. The whale went past the ship, coming dangerously close to it. It was as if the whale was inspecting to see if it was edible. Freya had a shudder forming down her shoulders. She gave into it, gasping in surprise as Sora wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her to him, careful of her wings, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"It's Monstro!" Jiminy cried, showing himself for the first time in a long time. "He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!"

The bad feeling intensified as she noticed that the whale had turned towards them. The whale opened its large mouth, showing them several sharp teeth despite the type of whale he was.

"Whoa, Sora, get us out of here!" Donald cried, shoving the controls at the brunette teenager despite the fact that he was holding onto Freya. The girl whimpered as the whale grew closer.

"Too late!" Sora cried back as a sudden flashing siren started to emit from the security system. It was trying to warn them of the impending danger, but it was too late for that.

"He's going to swallow us!" Freya cried as she turned around in the teenager's arms, pressing her face against his chest. His arms lowered just the slightest bit and she concentrated her power, flaring her wings out so that they glowed as they wrapped around the brunette teenager.

"Wha…? Freya stop it!" he cried, realizing that she was using the Anima Shield even though she didn't say anything aloud. She only shook her head, burying her face deeper into his chest as he tightened his hold around her waist. He gave up, burying his face into her hair as a tear rolled down his cheek.

She would get hurt because of him.

Monstro swallowed them along with the ship and everything went dark.

Sora started to dream as soon as he was knocked unconscious. It wasn't a dream, but more like a memory, and Freya once again watched it as if it were a movie. This time, however, all three of them were children. It seemed like whatever age Sora was, Freya was as well.

Sora was a young boy. He was even cuter than the form of the young Riku. The child form of Freya giggled, but then huffed when she realized that she was wearing the pale green dress that her mother made her wear when she was a child. It had a collar attached to the front of the dress to keep it up, but it had a low cut back to make room for her wings. It was knee length with a small black sash on the side. She wore no shoes and her hair was wavy and went down to her shoulders.

"It's true!" a cute young Sora exclaimed, "I saw it with my own eyes!"

Freya smiled, thinking that the young Sora was almost as cute as the teenaged Sora.

"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?" the young silver haired boy question. Freya couldn't help but think that the shirt he was wearing didn't go well with his bright greenish aqua eyes.

"What difference does it make?" the young Sora questioned roughly, "There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!" the winged girl also couldn't help but think that he talked with a high vocabulary even though he was so young. Maybe it was because it was a dream, but it was also a memory, was it not?

The young Riku sighed. "All right," he said, "Suppose there really is a monster…" his voice took on a smaller tone, "Think we can beat it by ourselves, Sora?"

Freya couldn't help but smile as she walked towards the two younger versions of the boys she knew.

"No problem." The young brunette boy repled, "Let's do it! Listen!" he exclaimed, "There! Can you hear it growling?"

Freya had to laugh. The growling of the monster was actually wind going through the cave.

"Shh…" Riku said, "We've gotta be careful."

And the three of them made their way into the cave despite the fact that neither of the two boys knew that Freya was right there with them.

"See that?" Riku said once they were inside the cave, "It was just the wind making that noise."

"Aw, man!" the younger form of Sora groaned, "I wish it was a monster!" but his thoughts were diverted when he noticed a door on the stone in the back of the cave. "Hold on! What's that over there?"

Riku and Freya followed the young boy over to where his curiosity led him, both inspecting the strange anomaly on the wall.

"A window, or maybe a door?" Riku questioned, trying to open it but failing, "It won't open."

Sora looked around in disappointment. "Geez, is that really all that's in here?"

"What do you expect in a boring place like this?" the silver haired boy questioned his younger companion. "Hey, Sora."

"Hm?"

"When we grow up…let's get off this island." The young silver boy said, excited, "We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"

"Sure," Sora nodded, "But isn't there anything fun to do now? Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor's house?"

A white light flashed…

…and Freya started to wake. Her body was sore all over and she was aware that she was lying on Sora's strong chest. She couldn't move, though, so she decided to wait until she could. She could barely open her eyes even.

The winged girl could hear Donald's voice as he yelled at someone. She wanted to laugh, but her body was still paralyzed.

"Knock it off!" Donald shrieked as the winged girl twitched. She opened her eyes to see Sora looking down at her with a worried and panicked expression. She smiled softly at him and he sat up, bringing her with him.

"Are you okay?" he quietly asked as she managed to regain the feelings of her limbs. She was completely covered with bruises and scratches, but the sight of seeing Sora completely okay was worth it.

"I'm fine." Freya said, honestly feeling that she was fine. Once she had complete control of her limbs, she started to move, but he clamped down on her. He held her in place while he gave her a solid hug.

"You scared me again. I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't wake. I tried really hard." He said, a tear streaking down his cheek. "You're going to be the death of me." he murmured, only intending for her to hear it.

"But I'm always okay in the end, aren't I?" she questioned quietly.

"I suppose." He sighed, "But please be careful." He then let her get up. He ignored her hand, not wanting to put too much weight on her, and got up himself.

"Hey, Sora, Freya, are you two okay?" Goofy questioned as he noticed the two of them standing up.

"We're fine." Sora said, "What are you guys doing? Where are we, anyway?" he continued, looking around the area. Everywhere there were planks of wood and slimy things simply hanging about.

Suddenly, an item dropped and it narrowly misses hitting Sora in the head. Freya couldn't help but giggle.

"Uh, ya know, I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us." He said, bringing up his shield just as another object fell from the sky. "And for today's weather: expect showers." He said in a cheerful note.

An item dropped on Goofy, but it hit his shield. The sound of the item hitting the shield created a loud clanging noise.

"Heavy showers!" Freya chimed in, bursting out in complete laughter. Sora smiled slightly, relieved that her earlier sad attitude had left.

"Hey! Who's there?" Donald demanded, wanting to know who it was on top of the wooden structure.

"It's me." a familiar face said, sticking its head out from on top of the wooden structure.

"Oh, it's just Pinocchio." Donald said, then completing a double take, "Pinocchio!" the wooden boy walked away with the item he found in the treasure chest, ignoring Donald's cries for him to come back. Jiminy started to cry out for him as well, but his cries went unheeded as well.

"Pinocchio? Pinocch, where are you going? Pinocch! Come on, everybody! After him! Quick!" the small cricket demanded. Sora nodded as the four of them dove in the water after the small wooden boy. Freya, however, decided to float weakly from each floating plank to the next until they reached the shipwreck. There, they heard the voice of an old man.

"What have you got there, Pinocchio?" the old man questioned.

"With this, we can get out of here, Father." Pinocchio said cheerfully.

"Really? With this big block? You think so?" the old man questioned once again, this time in a cheerful voice.

The four friends, plus Jiminy, climbed up on the shipwreck.

"It's true." Sora said as the winged girl nodded with a smile on her face. He then turned to the wooden boy, "So, how did you end up here, Pinocchio?"

"Oh, my. So the whale swallowed all of you, too? My goodness." The old man said in shock and worry.

"Yeah, looks like it." The brunette teenager replied, shrugging his shoulders. He was over his initial panic of arriving in the belly of the whale. Now, he was just wondering on how they can get out again.

"My name is Geppetto." The old man introduced himself, "I'm Pinocchio's father. When we got separated, I traveled all over…looking for him. Thank goodness we're together again." The old man said, affectionately looking towards his son. The boy, however, saw a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye, running into another area of Monstro. Geppetto moved the large green object that his son found to another part of the ship.

"So, you seem to know Pinocchio quite well. I hope he was a good boy in my absence." The old man said as he stood higher, "Well, we've all had quite a journey. Right, Pinocchio? Pinocchio?" he questioned, looking around for his son.

"I think I saw him going over there." Freya said, rubbing the back of her neck. Sora nodded and the two of them, plus Donald and Goofy, went to the first chamber. They spotted Pinocchio.

"What are you doing? Come on, let's go back." Sora said to him. Freya felt something bubbling up in the pit of her stomach.

"You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you." Goofy said, trying to get the small wooden boy to come with them. Suddenly, the brunette teenager became angry.

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around! This is no time for games!" he exclaimed before taking Freya by the hand and tugging her behind him.

"But, Sora," came a familiar cool voice, "I thought you liked games."

Sora froze, slowly turning around to face Riku once again. Freya looked frantically around for her brother, spotting him hovering behind Riku's shoulder. He looked…different. He looked darker than before.

"Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?" Riku questioned in a haughty tone.

"Freya, I can't take it anymore." He said, looking her in the eyes. "All he needs to do is activate the Twilight Retribution once. Just once! I've left the keychain everywhere for him. He sees it, but he won't touch it!" the older twin exclaimed with a slightly crazed look in his eye. He looked at her with a pleading expression.

"Just once. He just has to activate the Twilight Retribution just once…help him…" he said, holding out his hand to her. Riku moved and she stepped forward, holding out her hand. He pressed something in her palm and the object moved to her palm, but his skin went straight through hers.

"Just once, sister. Just once." He said before fading away.

"Riku! Wh-What are you doing here?" Sora questioned in shock.

"Just playing with Pinocchio." The silver haired teenager said in a cool voice.

"You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?" and all of a sudden Freya's stomach started to twist into knots.

"Maybe. Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know." the silver haired teenager chuckled.

"Come on!" the brunette teenager growled. Riku then grabbed the wooden boy's arm and took off to another area, Sora and the others following after them.