"Everyone knows you're a liar and a thief! What else do we need to prove you stole it?!"

"Say that again, you jerk! Say it to my face!"

"I just did!"

"Then I don't feel bad about THIS!"

The blonde-haired girl leapt upon the silver-haired boy, wailing on his face with her fists. The group of children surrounding the two immediately began to yell and cheer, eagerly watching the fight.

"Come on, Riku, you can take her!"

"She's just fightin' 'cos she knows we know she took it!"

"Yaaay, Riku!"

With the cheers and encouragement of his peers giving him energy, Riku pushed himself up, ignoring his bloody lip. He grabbed Marisa's long hair and pulled, smirking at her shriek. He stopped smirking when she kicked his shin VERY hard and threw an uppercut to his chin in succession, however.

"I didn't take your stupid watch! What would I want with it anyways?" Marisa yelled. "And I am NOT A THEIF!"

"Are too!" A young Tidus said from the sidelines. "You and your dad!"

"…" Sora was silent among the rest of the jeering children. Sure, he didn't like Marisa either, but even he had to admit that they didn't really have enough proof that she was the cause of Riku's missing watch. Still, Marisa was known for having rather sticky fingers when it came to things back in town on the main island, so it was reasonable to suspect her… right?

"What'd you say, laughs-a-lot?!" Marisa cried, turning towards Tidus. Tidus backed up, but kept face.

"I bet you stole Riku's watch so your dad could sell it!"

"Graaaaah!" Marisa leapt at him, but Riku got in between them.

"Just give it up! There's no point lying about it! We have you surrounded, you know!"

"I'm telling you, I DIDN'T TAKE YOUR DUMB-"

"You're all too loud."

All the children turned at the sudden voice. There, standing in her fancy clothes and pretty long hair, was little miss Hakurei. Her prim and proper appearance contrasted greatly with all the other children's casual attire, especially Marisa's dirty purple dress.

"What's this all about?" Reimu asked, her expression bored (as it often looked when she was with the other children).

"N-never you mind!" Selphie said. "We're handling it!"

"Just beatin' a thief." Wakka said.

"A thief." Reimu repeated. "What'd she steal?"

"I didn't steal nothin'!" Marisa yelled.

"Riku's watch is missing." Sora said. "And the last place he had it was here, and Marisa's always here, so,"

"A watch." Reimu said. "Silver? Blue strap? Fancy moon on the back of it?"

"Eh- Yeah. That's it." Riku said slowly.

Reimu stared at him, at the other children, and at Marisa. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a watch matching the exact description she had just said.

"I found this yesterday over by the waterfall." She held it out to Riku. "I didn't know whose it was so I thought I would ask you guys today. But I guess I don't have to anymore."

Riku stared at the watch in her hand and slowly took it.

"It was really dirty, by the way, so I cleaned it." Reimu frowned. "You should take better care of it." She turned around and began walking towards the boats to leave the small island. "And next time you lose it, try looking for it before blaming the first person you can think of."

The children watched in awkward silence as the girl in red made her way to her rowboat and left the island. Riku looked back at his watch in his hand.

"…Show off." Selphie muttered.

The children grumbled in agreement. Sora wondered if Reimu had really only meant to come to the island to ask about the watch, instead of maybe asking to play with them all. Marisa kicked Riku right up and between his legs.

Sora groaned and opened his eyes. His head hurt. His mouth hurt. His stomach hurt. He struggled to push himself up off the ground, and thankfully was able to do so without much trouble. He looked around. Where was he? It was dark, but he seemed to be surrounded by trees… A forest? He looked up to see if he could see the sky. Either it was night time or the treetops were too thick, because all he could see was pitch-black darkness above him.

"Wha… What happened…?" He looked around again. "Reimu? Donald? Goofy?" He raised his voice with each call for his friends. "Where are you guys?" He frowned. They had been in the Gummi ship… He and Reimu had been looking at the papers Goofy had found in Atlantica… They had approached the next world… What had the ship's monitor said…? "…It was…"

Sora shook his head. He couldn't remember. Something must have happened, and it caused them to crash in this new world. He got up. There was absolutely nothing to be done by just sitting around wondering, especially since those yellow eyes in the darkness had been staring at him for a while now… Uh oh.

Sora sprang into action, summoning the Keyblade as the Heartless leapt at him from the shadows. Vertical slice! Horizontal slice! Though calling them 'slices' was a bit of a stretch, considering the Keyblade was a blunt object. In any case, the Heartless were no threat, and the worst Sora got from them were a few scratches on his legs. He dispatched them all, and was feeling pretty confident with himself… until he noticed larger Heartless coming through the trees.

"Um…" Sora said to himself. "It's fine. I can take all of you on!" He pointed the Keyblade at the Heartless and cast a few ice spells, freezing them in place. Sora ran up to wail on the Heartless. "See ya!" Although the Heartless were able to break free of their frozen states after a few moments, he still had plenty of time to beat down on them. After a little while of freezing and hitting, Sora had dispatched all of the enemies.

"…I wonder if Reimu's knocked out." He said to no one. "Since if she were awake, I'm sure she'd use that blessing that goddess gave her to talk to me…" He slowly turned in a circle, wondering which direction he should go in. "Um… That way." He began walking. He stopped. "…That way." He went 45 degrees to the left of where he initially chose. He stopped again. "…That's weird. It feels like…" He touched his hand to his forehead. No matter what direction he chose, it felt like that was a direction he shouldn't take. He frowned. What was going on? He was starting to get worried. Where were the others? What world were they on? Why was this happening?

…Who was that staring at him from behind a tree a little ways away?

"Who's that!" Sora yelled, pointing the Keyblade at the figure. "Show yourself!"

"Uh. Whoa. Didn't expect to see you on edge, of all people."

Sora's eyes widened as none other than Marisa stepped out from behind the tree.

"M…Marisa?"

"Who else?" The witch grinned. "Sheesh. I just keep running into you guys separated, huh? Where's Reimu and your friends?"

"…" Sora lowered the Keyblade, but was still wary. After all, Marisa and Riku…

"…Ah. Yeah, yeah, I getcha." Marisa's smile faltered. "Listen. I know what you're thinkin', and that's exactly why I'm here." She looked down. "I was expecting you all to be together so I could say it to both of you, but…" To Sora's bewilderment, she got down on her knees and bowed to him. "I'm sorry!"

"Wha- Get up! You don't have to-"

"No way." Marisa said, still staring at the ground. "I've been a real ass to you guys, and this totally doesn't make up for it, but it's the best I can think of. I'm really, really sorry." She looked up. "I-"

Sora had made his way over to her and grabbed her hands, pulling her up to stand in front of him. "It's okay." He smiled. "Thank you."

"Yeah, well…" Marisa rubbed her nose and looked at him sheepishly. "I- I wanna explain stuff, but…"

"Let's find Reimu, and Donald and Goofy." Sora said. "Then you can explain to us all together."

"Right." Marisa nodded. "Uh… You weren't lookin' too sure of yourself tryin' to pick a direction."

"Yeah… Usually we just pick a direction and go, but I keep getting weird feelings when I try to start walking…" Sora frowned. "I don't even know what world this is. I think we crash landed, and I must've hit my head…"

"Seriously?" Marisa patted his spiky-haired head. "Hm. Well, don't you worry, little man!" She grinned and ruffled his hair. "The amazing witch Marisa will solve all your problems!" She raised her hand in the air, and with a pop of small stars in every color, her broom appeared in her hand.

"Whoa!" Sora said. "Neat!"

"Aw, it ain't that cool." Marisa said, but of course her tone was full of pride. "Listen, you just stay right here for a sec, okay? I'll be back in a flash!" She sat down on the broom and rose up, up, up, above the trees. For a few moments, Sora couldn't see her, but she soon came back down to the ground, and got off the broom. "Okay. We need to go the entirely opposite direction than you were goin' just now."

"You could see a path?" Sora asked, following her as she walked past him in the direction she had said.

"Nope! But I did see a big ol' castle in the distance. I figure if any place would be good to start lookin' for our friends, that'd be the best one."

"A castle, huh…" Sora sped up a little so that he was walking next to her. "Must be the ruler of this world. I hope they're okay."

"I dunno. Like, I don't even know what the old hag wanted to do here, like in terms of evil plans and crap." Marisa shrugged. "None of her weirdo lackeys are from here, so I don't really know what kinda place this world is, anyway."

"Do you know what it's called?"

"I think it's… Makai? I guess demons live here or something. But that's all I know."

"Demons…"

"I'm sure they're friendly." Marisa laughed, but suddenly stopped. "Not like these guys, I bet."

More Heartless were appearing from the trees, and rushed at them- or rather, rushed at Sora. The monsters heeded Marisa no mind, or even acknowledged her existence at all. She watched in slight awe as Sora effortlessly destroyed them one by one, and clapped as he stomped on the last one with his foot.

"…You've really grown a lot since we were back home."

"Heheh… You think so?" Sora scratched the back of his head. "It's really the Keyblade doing most of the work…"

"Nah! That's all you, buddy!" Marisa said. "Man… if you'da told me you'd be this strong when we were still back home making the raft, I'd never 've believed you!"

"…The raft…" Sora smiled sadly. "It seems… so long ago…"

"…Yeah." Marisa sighed, and the two began walking again. "It's so weird. You're feelin' it too, right? Like it's only been a few days, but it's really been weeks since we left home?"

"Yeah. It threw us off when we first realized it." Sora said. "…Speaking of which. I… I actually had a dream while I was out earlier, and you were in it."

"Oooooooh?" Marisa leaned in, her smile quite cat-like. "Dreaming about me? Goodness! What would Kairin think?" Instantly her face fell. "…Damn."

"…She's okay, right? She's with you guys, but… She's…"

"Yeah, she's fine." Marisa nodded. "I'll… I'll tell you more about it when we find the others, but… tell me about this dream."

"Right." He stepped over a log on the ground. Was it him, or was the ground starting to get more… blue? "It was when we were kids. Remember when Riku- well, all of us- thought you took his watch?"

"Oh yes. That period of time where I hated every single one of you." Marisa said completely seriously. "What was it? Ended up being he dropped it near the secret cave?"

"Yeah. You were so mad…"

"Oh! I remember!" Marisa looked very excited. "I kicked him right in the b-"

"Aaaanyway," Sora cut her off, laughing, "It's kinda funny, isn't it? I dream about that, and then you show up."

"It's gotta be fate, my little hero nerd." Marisa put her arm around his shoulders. "Alas! How tragic love can be, for we are on opposite sides of the battlefield~"

"What are you even talking about."

"…Hm. Well, if everything goes the way I want it too…" Marisa was more talking to herself now, rather than Sora. "We won't be on opposite sides for long."

"…Does this have to do with what you wanna talk to us about when we're all together?"

"Yep." Marisa let go of him. "It's real important, too. So you better listen up to everything I'm gonna… say…" She stopped walking, looking around. "Uh… When'd everything get… icy?"

"Huh?" Sora looked at their surroundings. So it hadn't been just him earlier… The forest they were in had shifted from dark green trees to snow-covered ground, and the trees themselves were encased in ice. "I didn't even notice!"

"Weird." Marisa shrugged. "Anyway… Oh. Heads up." She pointed as Heartless once again entered the scene. These ones weren't simply Shadows and Soldiers like the past few encounters, but some rather interestingly themed ones. It was a large group of small, spherical Heartless, floating in the air around them. Though they all had the same shape, there were two kinds of them; a black kind that shot out fire spells at Sora, and a white kind that shot out ice. The white ones were also different in that they seemed to have small little angel wings. Once again, the Heartless only targeted Sora for some reason, leaving Marisa completely alone.

"Come on! How come they aren't going after you?" Sora said, trying to hit the Heartless. The creatures simply floated higher from him every time he tried to swing at them, taunting him out of his reach.

"Hehe. That's 'cos I've got connections." Marisa chuckled. "But, since you so obviously need my help…" She pointed her finger at the group of Heartless. "「Magic Missile」!" A small card suddenly appeared, floating just in front of Marisa's pointed index finger. With a pop of light, it disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Sora found himself dropping to the ground as a steady stream of fast, small bullets shot from Marisa's finger. A small magic circle had appeared where the spell card had been, and Sora could see it was the true source of the bullets. Marisa lazily waved her finger around, shooting down the Heartless until there were none left. She dismissed the spell card.

"Thanks." Sora got up from the ground. "Man, you and Reimu… those spell cards sure are something."

"You think that was impressive?" Marisa laughed. "Man! That ain't even a good card! I've got something that'll really knock your socks off. It's so cool and powerful that I bet Reimu would cry because of how jealous she is about it!"

"R-really?"

"Yep! I wasn't really plannin' on bringing it out, but…" She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a… thing. It was a small thing, made of wood, in the shape of an octagon. Sora had no idea what he was looking at.

"Uh… It sure is… An octagon?"

"Moron." Marisa rolled her eyes. "I haven't activated it. Not like I want to right now, anyway. It's way too strong and there's nothing worth using it on." She held it up. "It's the 'mini-Hakkero'! It's a tiny little furnace, and it's magic, and it's super strong, and it's mine!"

"Uh…" Sora had begun to walk again.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Marisa hurried after him. "Just trust me! I'll use it in front of you, and you'll be so amazed you'll be begging for me to forgive you for insultin' it!"

"Sure." Sora smiled.

sora

He froze. Someone had just spoken his name, and it wasn't Marisa, who kept walking ahead. She stopped as soon as she realized he had.

"What?"

"Shh. Sorry. Hang on." Sora replied. He stood still, listening, for-

Sora? Are you there? Can you hear me?

"Reimu? Is that you?" He asked into the air.

Oh, thank goodness. I was worried it wouldn't work. I'm using that blessing that ocean goddess gave me. Are you okay? Where are you?

"We're in some frozen forest." Sora said. "Where are you?"

Oh! We're in a frozen forest too! Uh, but… What do you mean, 'we'? Donald and Goofy are here with me.

"Oh. Er. Well, I'm kind of… with… someone…" Sora glanced over at Marisa, who looked completely confused.

"Am I… Missin' something here?" She asked. "Are you really talkin' to Reimu?"

…Who is that with you?

"Uh, funny story, heh, um, see-"

If who I think is there with you, is with you…

"Reimu-"

It better not be.

"Well," Sora pouted even though the person the pout was directed to had no way of seeing it, "She is here and we're gonna find you guys and then she's gonna talk to us about stuff."

I don't want to hear it.

"Come on, Reimu! She said she was sorry!"

I never heard an apology.

"Reimuuuuuuuuuuu!" Sora groaned.

"Reimuuuuuuuuuu." Marisa walked closer to Sora, though she was a little unsure of where she was supposed to be directing her voice. "Listen. All that crap I said in that whale- I'm really sorry! I wanna make this right, but first I gotta tell you guys the whole story, so, uh, whatever it is you're saying, please let me explain!"

. . . Huh? No, I'm- Fine! Geez.

"Reimu?" Sora asked. "Is everything okay?"

"What'd she say?" Marisa asked.

*sigh* Goofy says hi.

"Hi, Goofy." Sora said, stifling a laugh.

"Hiya, Goofy!" Marisa said loudly. "Uh, which one is Goofy?"

. . . Oh. I can stop using this.

"Huh? What do you-" Sora was cut off by a sudden whirl of red and white, as it was soon evident that Reimu was there with them now, along with Donald and Goofy. The boys were ecstatic to see Sora again, but Reimu was completely preoccupied with having given a literally flying kick to Marisa's stomach, sending the black and white witch sprawling on the snow, her large hat comically floating slowly down to rest right back on her head.

"Hello, Marisa." Reimu said. "How've you been?"

"Okay. I totally deserved that." Marisa said, her voice muffled thanks to her being face-down. She shakily got up and faced her friend. "Okay. Yeah. Get it outta your system. I'm totally cool with it." She grinned. "Heard about the beating you gave Riku. Wish I coulda seen it."

"It's out of my system, don't worry." Reimu put her hands on her hips. "So, what. What's going on? Are you here to yell accusations at us again? Call us out for things beyond our control?"

"No." Marisa shook her head. "It's like I said. I wanna- I gotta apologize for everything that's been happenin'." She got down on her knees and bowed down to Reimu, like she had done to Sora before. "I'm really, really, really really sorry!"

"Uh…" Reimu was very surprised to see Marisa of all people bowing at her feet. "G-get up? Oh my god, get up. I mean, compared to what Riku's been doing, you're a sinless angel."

"Aw, an angel? Shucks, Reimu." Marisa laughed as she got back up. She looked around at the four of them, awkwardly nodding at Donald and Goofy. She held her hand out to them. "Uh, never really introduced myself. I'm Marisa."

"Donald." Donald shook her hand.

"I'm Goofy!" Goofy did the same. "Hi!"

"Heh. Hiya." Marisa nodded. "Right. Right. So, um, to business, then. Oh! First, uh, um, do you… Do you accept my apology?" She asked Reimu.

"…Sure. Just… explain everything, please." Reimu said. "…Though, I wonder how long this will take. There are Heartless in this world, which means we're gonna be needed at some point."

"Yeah, yeah, I getcha." Marisa said. She sighed. "Geez… where to start… Okay. I'll just start with… Saying it outright." She took a deep breath. "There's… there's somethin' seriously wrong with Riku."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sora asked. "That Maleficent lady's making you guys do the bad things, isn't she?"

Reimu was silent. Of course, she had already figured something really bad was happening with their friend, because of those times she had seen that terrible cruelness in his eyes that simply didn't match with how he usually was.

"She's… not exactly making us do anything." Marisa said. "It's been kind of a 'scratch her back, she'll scratch ours' kinda deal. She taught us how to do magic, we've been doing some weird jobs for her… She helped us find Kairin…" She looked down. "But now I'm realizing that the stuff we've been doing for her… was totally bad. Like… we k…kidnapped some girls for her."

"K-kidnapped?!" Sora yelled. "What!"

"You…?" Reimu had not expected to hear that.

"Yeah." Marisa scratched her head. "First it was a (pretty cute) girl with a doll in, I think it was called Wonderland? Then it was that princess from Agrabah… Well, I mean, those are the only two…"

"Alice and Jasmine…" Sora said.

"So it was you!" Donald said angrily. "You're the ones who took them?!"

"Listen. We made a deal with that old hag, and we did what we were supposed to." Marisa said angrily. "Look, I feel bad enough about it. Can I continue?"

"Oh yes. Please do."

That voice did not belong to any of them. They all whirled around, looking for the voice's source. A woman in a red dress with an apron was slowly floating down to the ground. She seemed to be a maid, what with the headband resting in her long, blonde hair.

"Please. I am so very interested to hear your story, servant of that foul woman." The maid said. She was holding a sword, which she pointed at Marisa.

"Ack! Who're you?!" Marisa said.

"W-wait! Let's not get hasty here!" Sora said. "U-um, we-"

"Silence, boy." The maid looked at him with disdain. "You may be the Holder, but that does not deter the fact that you are but a mere human." She looked back at Marisa. "Tell me, girl. Tell me what foolish bravery you have to dare step here in Makai, land of my Lady Shinki, after all you have done to us."

"What?! I haven't done anything!" Marisa said. "I don't know what the hag's been doing here! And besides, the whole reason I'm here is 'cos I'm tryin' to make things right!"

"Hmph." The maid hmphed. "You just confessed to your part in that woman's schemes, a part which directly affects my Lady."

"Huh? What, the… the kidnapping…" Marisa said. "But, they were in… they were in other worlds! What does that have to do with you?!"

"Hey. How about you put that sword down, lady, and we can have a nice civil discussion about this?" Reimu asked. "And by civil, I mean," her expression turned into quite a scary glare, "stop pointing that thing at my friend before I knock your teeth in."

"Um, I don't think we need'ta get to that point, Reimu…" Goofy said.

"Watch your tongue, girl." The maid glared back at Reimu. "It is merely by my own grace that I have not killed you all here where you stand… and the fact that I require the Holder's aid, as much as it pains me."

"Holder? Me?" Sora asked. "Oh, because of the Keyblade?"

"I require the use of your weapon." The maid addressed him, while still glaring at Reimu. "That holy blade which is the only thing capable of completely destroying those damnable creatures…" She glared at Marisa, "which your mistress brought to this world."

Marisa rubbed her nose, uncomfortable.

"I don't like this girl's attitude." Reimu said. "You know, we'd be a lot more willing to help you out if you were being more polite. And not pointing swords at us. And not acting all superior towards us for being human." She crossed her arms. "Like, seriously? It was bad enough we had to deal with it back at Youkai Mountain. Keep acting like a snob and I really will make good on the whole 'knocking your teeth in'."

"You try my patience, human child." The maid said. "I am already unamused by you all regrouping so quickly, when I had specifically separated you all so I could speak with the Holder…"

"So YOU crashed our ship!" Donald yelled. "You were that red thing!"

"Red thing?" Sora asked. "Is that what happened?"

"Did you hit your head when we crashed?" Reimu asked. "It happened so fast, I didn't even realize it. But yeah, a weird red thing flew right into the ship head-on. So." She uncrossed her arms. "That was you, huh?"

"Indeed." The maid said. "I only require the Holder's power. The rest of you are of no significance." She looked at Marisa again. The whole time she had been here, the maid had not stopped pointing the sword at her. "But you… You I will personally punish. You, who confess to the crime of having stolen away my Lady Shinki's most precious thing."

"…" Marisa was unsure of what to do, since she did indeed accept her responsibility as the 'bad guy' in this situation. But what on earth was this chick talking about? Did one of the girls she and Riku took have something to do with the ruler of this world?

"You stay away from her!" Sora yelled, getting in between Marisa and the maid. "You keep saying you need me to help you… But do you seriously think acting like this is gonna make me even want to?!"

"Hmph. You have no choice, boy. Your goal is to save this world from the darkness, yes? For that is what I need you to do."

"…She… has a point…" Sora said unhappily. "B-but, I won't let you hurt Marisa!"

"Save it, Sora." Reimu shook her head. "It's obvious to me now." For some reason, she… grinned? "She's looking for a fight."

"Why can't we ever get things done peacefully…" Donald shook his head.

"Hey, Marisa." Reimu said. "She really wants a piece of you. You gonna let her keep talking bad like this to us?"

"Eh?" Marisa was confused. "Whaddya mean?"

"My patience is wearing thin!" The maid said. "I will deal with you all here and now!"

"I'm game!" Reimu said. "Bring it on!"

"What are you doing, Reimu?!" Sora asked, panicked.

"Come on, lady. I can tell- you're a spell card user." Reimu said to the maid. "I mean, you're flying on your own, and you've got the same annoying attitude as those youkai from Youkai Mountain. I'll tell you what. If you can beat us in a danmaku battle, you can do whatever you want with Sora and Marisa."

"…What." Marisa stared blankly at her.

"What!" Sora cried. "Reimu, what are you-"

"Now hang on here, fellers." Goofy said. "I think Reimu's got a good point goin' on here."

"Goofy, not you too!" Donald said angrily.

"…You are correct in your assumptions of my danmaku abilities." The maid said, finally lowering her sword. "When you say 'us', I assume…"

"Us." Reimu put her arm around Marisa's shoulders. "Beat us both and you'll get what you want. I'm sure a strong youkai like you will be way too much for us poor little humans even fighting together, right?"

"I am a demon." The maid said. "But I am no fool. No doubt you'll have some trick to aid you, as you humans often do."

"What? Scared we'll beat you?" Marisa laughed, feeling suddenly a lot more confident now with Reimu's support than before. "Some demon!"

"…Fine. I will show you insignificant pests the true power of the demon world!" The maid said, rising into the air. "Prepare yourselves!"

"Sora! Keep goin' in the direction we were. I'm sure you'll get to that castle we saw eventually." Marisa said, getting on her broom. "We'll like, call you when we're done, I guess? With that weird thing Reimu did earlier."

"Got it!" Sora nodded, leading Donald and Goofy as they began backing away. "You guys be safe!"

"You will go nowhere!" The maid yelled, pointing her finger- and a sword materialized from nowhere, flying straight to the ground, stabbing just near Sora's foot.

"Hey now. They're not your opponents." Reimu summoned Homing Amulet. "We are."

"Let's go, just us and you!" Marisa said, flying right past the maid on her way up into the black sky.

"Let's go, just one on two!" Reimu added, joining Marisa in the sky. The maid glared up at them, and floated up until they were all together in the air, her a ways away from them.

Back on the ground, the boys ran through the icy trees, keeping their eyes peeled for any Heartless.

"Will they be okay?" Goofy asked.

"I'm still not sure about that friend of yours." Donald said. "This could all be a trap."

"No way." Sora shook his head. "Marisa… she's messed up a lot. But I can tell she really wants us to be friends again." He hopped over a fallen log. "She said there was something really wrong with Riku… I don't think she's lying to us."

"If you say so…" Donald grumbled.

"Watch out, fellers." Goofy said. "Heartless!"

"Now, then, how shall I deal with you?" The maid said, looking at Reimu and Marisa with eyes like that of a child in a candy store. "Skewer? Beat to death? Crucifixion?"

"…She's totally trying too hard, isn't she?" Reimu asked.

"Totally." Marisa nodded. "I can't believe anyone is honestly this edgy."

". . ." The maid looked at them blankly. "Still your tongues! I hope you've prepared yourselves!"

"Actually, we haven't." Marisa grinned, holding out her hand. The Magic Missile card she had used earlier with Sora appeared.

"But that's fine." Reimu patted the yin-yang orbs floating next to her. "For us, preparation isn't important." She looked at Marisa. "You know, this will be the first time I've seen you properly in a fight."

"Heh. Can't say the same for you! But don't worry, I won't get in yer way."

[BGM: Doll of Misery]

"You're looking down on me, eh?" The maid became furious. "Mere humans… I'll kill you both!"

She raised her arms, and a mass of large red bullets came from nowhere, heading straight for the duo. Along with the red, a line of multiple swords shot out from the maid's direction.

"Swords? I'd think that would be against the rules." Reimu said.

"Foolish girl." The maid smirked. "Here in Makai, there are no rules regarding danmaku battles. In fact, we are not limited by using those silly spell cards of yours!"

"What? You don't even use spell cards?" Marisa asked. "Though, I didn't really know there were rules for 'em in the first place…"

Their speaking about spell card rules made Reimu remember Alice, whose grimoire had taught her so much about spell cards in the first place. So Marisa and Riku were responsible for her disappearance… It seemed so long ago.

"Yikes!" Marisa quickly rammed into Reimu. The shrine maiden was about to angrily yell at her, when she realized that the witch had pushed her out of the way of a bunch of swords flying right past where she was earlier.

"Ah. Thanks." Reimu said, looking around, as the maid was warping around them, shooting more and more red bullets and swords. Her Homing Amulets were having trouble reaching the maid due to the warping, and she was starting to get annoyed even though the battle had just started.

"So, uh, as I was saying!" Marisa yelled, having a lot more success with her shots than Reimu was. "Um, we kidnapped those girls, and that hag taught me magic and Riku got that sword, and we spent some time lookin' for Kairi, and, um, also being really jealous of you guys for being on a cool adventure and flying and having that Keyblade thing-"

"DO NOT IGNORE ME!" The maid roared, changing her bullet patterns. She threw sword after sword at the girls, but now shot out dagger-like red bullets aiming specifically for them. She had stopped warping around, which made it much easier for Reimu's shots to hit her.

"Go on." Reimu said to Marisa.

"Um, well, the main concern I've been havin' is how Riku's been takin' all of this. Like, he's really, really, really mad at you guys, and to be honest? I have no idea why. And I think he doesn't know why, either. Like, at first we both agreed you guys were showin' off and didn't even really care about us or Kairi, but as time went on and we, uh, watched you guys a few times-" She had to stop speaking for a few moments because of the enraged maid's bullets getting denser and denser. The maid was obviously infuriated that the two girls were talking, rather than paying attention to her and taking their fight seriously. "Like, we both totally realize that ain't true at all? And I can just tell that Riku knows it ain't true, but for some reason he's really determined to convince himself that you guys are against us, and that we're the only ones who can save Kairi. And that's where it gets really weird."

"Weird? How?" Reimu asked. They stopped talking again, for the maid's bullets once again changed, this time becoming large spreads of blue, white, and green. Marisa got caught in a dense bunch of bullets, grunting in pain from the small assault. Reimu glared at the maid. "If you're not going to use spell cards and make this a proper battle, then I will! Dream Sign: 「Evil-Sealing Circle」!"

The maid yelped as Reimu's card engulfed her in red and white. Marisa yelled out in excitement, momentarily distracted by watching the spectacle her friend had made.

"Hey, shoot her!" Reimu said. Marisa shook herself and resumed fire. "How is he getting weird?"

"…There's somethin' I don't like in his eyes sometimes." Marisa frowned. "Like, he'll be normal one second, even though he's being a huge ass- he's still… Riku."

Reimu was silent. She knew where this was going.

"But… sometimes… When he's getting really mad, or talking about you guys, or even when he's near Kairi… It's like…"

"Like it's not him talking, or doing things?" Reimu asked quietly, at least as quietly as she could what with the battle happening around them. "Like, it's someone who looks like Riku, but it's not him?"

"Yeah! Exactly!" Marisa said. "So you've… you've noticed it too, huh?"

"Tell me something, Marisa." Reimu said, taking note that her spell card had timed out, and the maid was throwing swords at them again. The two parties flew around each other, constantly moving and shooting. "Does Riku seem a little confused after these times? Like, he's aware of what he was doing, but he seems like he doesn't know why he was doing it?"

"How'd you know?!" Marisa exclaimed. "Has he been doin' it when you guys saw each other?"

"When we fought in that whale." Reimu said, summoning the gohei to simply smack away more bullets away from herself. "He had me on the ground, and if Sora and the others hadn't shown up at that exact moment, I don't doubt for a second that he was going to slice my neck open with that sword of his."

"What! N-no way! He wouldn't-!" Marisa completely stopped, staring at her wide-eyed. "He- yeeowch!" Of course, stopping during a danmaku battle was a foolish thing to do, and she was pelted with bullets.

"ARE YOU TWO FINISHED IGNORING ME?!" The maid yelled, now firing blue dagger-like bullets, and lasers along with her endless supply of thrown swords.

"No." The girls said together.

"Hang on. I'm gettin' real tired of this." Marisa said, reaching into her pocket.

"Uh… What is that?" Reimu asked. Marisa had pulled something small, wooden, and octagonal out of her pocket.

"Heh. Sora wasn't too impressed when I showed him this earlier, but you might appreciate it more!" Marisa grinned. "Watch and learn, Reimu! That spell card of yours was fancy, sure, but it ain't got NOTHING on my little mini-Hakkero!"

She held the mini-Hakkero out in front of her with both hands towards the maid, who had stopped shooting in confusion.

"What is that supposed to do?" Reimu asked. She would have laughed, but her thoughts were still on Riku's behavior in that whale.

"Ahem!" Marisa ahemed. "Here, presented for your approval: a lecture on magic, by yours truly!"

"What are you doing."

"First! Concentrate your mind!" Marisa yelled. "Second! Gently mutter the spell to the mini-Hakkero!" She whispered something to the box in her hands. Reimu and the maid looked at each other, both (begrudgingly) agreeing that whatever Marisa was doing was making absolutely no sense.

"Third! Aim at someone you don't like!" Marisa winked at the demon maid. "And finally, the magicannon of love will be unleashed!"

"Marisa, what the hell are you-"

"LOVE SIGN: 「MASTER SPARK」!"

Having found their way out of the icy forest with nothing worse than a few cuts and bruises (which Donald and Sora easily patched up with their Cure magic), the three boys looked with silent amazement at the sight before them. The palace that Marisa had said she had seen before was in front of them, glittering even in the darkness. It seemed to be made of entirely blue crystal.

"That must be where that maid's boss is." Donald said. "We oughta go give her our opinion on how she has her employees act!"

"We oughta be polite, Donald. She'll know where this world's Keyhole is." Goofy said. "Right, Sora?"

"…Huh? What?" Sora hadn't been listening. He had been staring at the Keyblade in his hand, confused. It was the oddest thing; he felt like he had… been here before. More than that, he felt like there was something… Something he needed to do here. Something… important.

"Aw, don't worry about Reimu, Sora!" Goofy said. "She'll be fine!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, of course…" Sora said. Was that what he was worried about? Wait, what was he just thinking about? He couldn't remember. "So, should we just wait here for her? Or should we go into this castle?"

As if answering his question, the grand doors of said castle opened up slowly with a terrible creaking noise that echoed throughout the area.

"We should probably go in." Donald said. "When she's done, she'll call us."

"Hm. I suppose." Sora nodded.

The three boys made their way across the opulent path leading into the castle. Shadow Heartless rose up from the ground as they walked, and the boys just ran past them to the castle's doors, tired of fighting at the moment. They went into the blackness of the castle, and the doors closed behind them. The Heartless following them scratched at the doors, but soon melted back into the earth and disappeared.

Shortly after the doors closed, an enormous blast of white light and colorful stars came from the icy forest. Surely, whoever was on the receiving end of that annihilation of love was not having a good day.

a love-colored master spark.

hello everyone, it's me, Frost. I'm as surprised as you are that this didn't take me another four months to get off my butt and upload. incredible!

now that we're here in Makai, things have finally come full circle... in a meta sense. in case you don't know, this entire story is my second attempt at writing this crossover. the first attempt was Bad and Terrible and we Do Not Need To Talk About It. how does this relate to Makai? well, in the original version of this fanfiction, Makai was one of the very first worlds we went to. actually, I think it was the second world! and then the fanfic died because I got in a writing rut trying to write the next chapter, and time went on, and I didn't update for so, so long. Then one day I just decided to reread what I had written, realized it was Terrible and Awful, and rewrote the whole thing. And here we are! once again, incredible!

anyway! next time: more demons! marisa asking a huge favor! more childhood memories!

comments, questions, and suggestions always appreciated. I read every one, even if I don't reply. ever. sorry

thanks for reading! please play splatoon when it comes out oh my god the demo was today and it was SO MUCH FUN! it's really important. please play it. thank you ^q^