The Shadow of me held Riku's Soul Eater, but it did not look like it knew how to handle it. It might have been a Shadow of me, formed from the memory of the Shadow Riku had created and the memory of myself as I'd been at the time, but unlike my Heartless, it lacked the real connection to me.

He held Soul Eater thrust out ahead of him, almost as if he was afraid of it turning on him or something, but also aimed for me. Unskilled as he appeared to be, one wrong move by either of us and he could easily skewer me on the end. Coming up against an unskilled opponent is in some ways more dangerous than a skilled one – reason being, you never know what they're going to do next.

We remained in a standoff for a time, watching and waiting. If I'd raised my Keyblade, he'd have attacked – if he relented, I'd attack. Something had to break that stalemate, and in the confined space of the cabin there was no room for Neku to directly get involved.

The only option I could see was the same one I'd used on the data-Riku back in Hollow Bastion – magic without any sound or move made while casting it. Question was, what do you use in a situation like this? Fire was ruled out for obvious reasons aboard a wooden vessel, and without much space Thunder and similar spells had as much chance of catching me as they did him.

Earth magic was similarly useless – we were out at sea, even if I did call for some it would come from the seabed and take a long time to reach us.

"Ideas are welcome," I murmured, directed at Neku.

Neku wasn't the next voice I heard though. I clearly heard Ventus give me a somewhat cryptic suggestion.

"Have faith in the Keyblade, and its light will dispel all ills and shadows, setting the course once more for the light to return."

Not the easiest thing to interpret, but I had time. The Shadow was showing no sign of relenting, and as long as we both remained ready to react there was nothing going to happen.

'Dispel all ills' suggested Esuna, which was itself light-based magic. Shadows obviously referred to the Shadow I faced, and the Keyblade should have been a source of light. The Keyblade of People's Hearts is a bit different – it's neither of light or dark – so I couldn't be certain it would be able to help. Unless that was why he had told me to 'have faith in the Keyblade'.

The last part still evaded me though. Light to return? What had he meant by that?

He'd at least given me an idea of the next course I could take. I don't find it easy to believe in some things, but by the sounds of him I had to. So I trusted the Keyblade to respond as I wished, working with my own magic to enhance the already potent Esuna spell, then with care not to show any sign of what I was doing, I cast it.

The spell seemed to almost dribble out. At first only my Keyblade glowed, with the glow curiously taking on an amorphous shape that resembled the outline of Gilded Light. The Shadow shielded his eyes from the light with his free arm, taking care not to leave himself open, but he was too slow – the light began to spread, over me, then from me to the floor of the cabin. He started to squint to try to reduce the light he was seeing, but it continued to spread over the cabin until no matter where he looked, there was light stabbing at him.

"Now, drive your Keyblade into the Shadow, and restore the light!" Ventus commanded me.

I trusted him – mostly because despite the light, the Shadow was still poised to strike. Perhaps because I was also glowing with the same light as everything else, he was unable to make out where I was or what I was doing.

So I trusted him and I lunged, sending the Keyblade straight through his chest. It acted almost like a lightning rod, drawing the light from all around into it, and from there into the Shadow. It stiffened, gave a hollow wail, then shattered into a blaze of light.

When it cleared, there were two things immediately apparent. First, Neku had vanished. No door had been touched, no sign of anything moved, he'd simply disappeared. Second, and perhaps more importantly, where the Shadow had been, with the tip of my Keyblade only just over his head, was the King – the light Ventus had mentioned being restored.

He wasn't facing me, so as I prudently put my Keyblade aside he looked around in confusion.

"Huh? What – where am I? What happened?"

"You're in the data Castle Oblivion, one of the basement floors that's been made to resemble Neverland," I told him, startling him as he turned quickly to see me. "Welcome back, your Majesty."

"Back? From what? Last thing I remember, I was cleaning up all the bugs you'd left in Agrabah with Tron and the others. When we finished Tron opened a portal to the next world, then I was here."

"You were, for a time, one of the seven people who were locked in here," I explained, holding up the Keyblade of People's Hearts – which was no longer complete without Mickey's presence, now looking exactly as it had been when Riku held it. Only half the heart shape that made up the teeth of the key was there.

"I'm not one of the princesses though. That was formed from their hearts."

"The normal rules got suspended when Charlie started to get involved. Come with me, I'll explain what you've missed while we go along. Did Neku return your Kingdom Key, by the way?"

Mickey just answered by calling it to him.

"Where is that book of yours, anyway?"

"I'm still around," Neku answered. "When you were released from the Keyblade, I wasn't just able to remove my avatar again, I was forced to. I'm still looking into things, but I think it's something Castle Oblivion has done. Neither you or Data-Sora can have more than one companion."

"Did you find out what happened up there, by the way?" I asked.

"Marluxia caused his darkness to flare part way through a floor as an experiment. Riku bullied Axel into giving him a hand in getting him back out of the darkness again."

"Data-Sora doesn't have any darkness," Mickey objected.

"Like I said, come with me and I'll try to cover everything."

So punctuated with frequent questions from the King and occasional corrections from Neku, which I didn't take very graciously, we headed out of Neverland – apparently the Shadow counted as the local boss for the floor, but it had neglected to leave behind a card like the previous two – and on into Hollow Bastion. Once again I'd paused to see if the Destiny Islands card would open it, but there was no such luck. In order or not at all seemed to be the trend here.

Heartless appeared as usual in Hollow Bastion, but with the King's aid we were able to deal with them far better than I had with Neku. For one thing, they were no longer aiming for Neku, or for either one of us specifically, and for another Mickey is far more skilled than Neku was.

Our route through Hollow Bastion was split up by the rooms, of course. The first room depicted the Rising Falls almost well enough to believe we were not actually in a room in Castle Oblivion if it hadn't been for the door just before the area where Riku had once taken my Keyblade from me.

That door did not lead through to that area, but straight on to the Entrance Hall, and it was about that time I finally finished explaining things to Mickey. Just as well, because the memory of Riku was waiting for me there, just as he had been originally.

He did not hold a Kingdom Key, or Soul Eater, or even Riku's Way to the Dawn.

He held my Gilded Light.

"Isn't that-" Mickey started.

"Of course it is, don't ask silly questions." He almost responded to that, but apparently thought better of it. I don't imagine anyone's ever accused him of asking silly questions before. Then to Riku, I just asked, "Don't you think you should give that back?"

"Why would I want to do that?" he replied. "You've got my Keyblade there, I've got yours here. Seems fair to me."

"How'd you get it anyway?" Mickey demanded.

"I was given it," Riku shrugged. "He said his name was Charlie, and you'd know what that meant."

"He's started finding ways to get around Neku," I murmured.

"Hearing's good as ever," Riku told me pointedly.

"Don't you know it's rude to listen to things you're not meant to?" I retorted irritably.

"Temper, temper. I'd hate to have to do anything to you."

"Just what do you think you can do to me? You may hold my Keyblade, but you're still little more than a memory!"

"Oh, really? Could a memory do this?" He held out one hand, onto which flashed one of Charlie's feathers. "And could a memory do this either?" he continued, levelling my Keyblade at me. The beam of light he shot at me came out with such speed that I had no time to react to it. It threw me up against the same door we'd just come through with enough force to keep me held down.

And then he threw the feather at me. Just like the first time I'd seen one used, it ignored the natural laws and came at me like a shot out of a cannon, and from the impact came darkness. All around, everywhere I looked, there was nothing but darkness. Flowing through me, despite any resistance I put up, was more darkness. Charlie hadn't just found a way around Neku. He'd found a way to render all the progress I'd made here a complete waste of time.

There was always an option. I still had things to do, I couldn't give in to it, but neither could I be rid of it without using it – which was ultimately just as self-destructive as doing nothing. But there was always an option.

With great effort, subdued several times by a jolt I couldn't see a source of, I managed to bring what thought I had into focus and thought two words. Anti Form. The only safe way to handle my darkness.

The darkness cleared in a whirlwind, seeming to be sucked into me. I could still feel it there, I could still hear it there, but I could see again. I could see in the same blacks and whites I had when I had been a Heartless. I was acutely aware of the fact that my form had changed – just as Riku and Data-Sora had told me last time I'd done this, I no longer appeared human in this form, I appeared to be a Novashadow that simply wore my clothes.

I could see Mickey backing away, his Kingdom Key held warily ahead of him, uncertain of who was the greater threat – me or Riku. More concerning was that I could feel him there. I could feel the sense of his heart, I could taste his feelings in the air. I caught the same from Riku too of course, but Riku's were duller than Mickey's, harder to pick out.

"Obey." It was a voice that had no actual voice to it, a command that held tones with no sound. Neither Mickey or Riku had said anything, but that silent voice had come from somewhere.

"Obey," it repeated. "You are as a Heartless. You are as the darkness. You must submit."

Now Riku beckoned to me, and I fought a compulsion to obey the command his gesture implied. I resisted the command, but I headed for him anyway. If he wasn't aware I was doing this under my own choice, it could give me an edge.

"Surrender your will. You are mine now." It was coming from Riku, I was sure now. Here he had darkness and command over the Heartless. He was trying to extend that to cover me as well.

I ignored his command and merely waited before him.

"Deal with the King," he commanded. I ignored him this time, extending one clawed hand outward to him. He showed shock, but was powerless to respond once I took hold of his arm. All the struggling he put up did him no good. I had all the darkness inflicted on me to use how I wished without issue.

With my other hand I took my Keyblade off him, which still burned to the touch, but without either him or me holding it, dismissed itself and left him disarmed.

Then, taking great care not to let it spread to anyone else I took all the remaining darkness he'd forced on me, gathered it all together, and even supplied some of my own latent darkness.

And with it, I forced it back out of me, into him. In leaving me it left my control, some of it trying to flow back to me but I held fast and pushed it back out again. I could still feel it in him though, and I felt him desperately trying to wrestle with the unexpected mass I'd just forced back onto him.

I wasn't entirely happy with what it did next. I felt it at work, searching, seeking, looking for something. And then it found what it was after. It reached into the heart of the memory of Riku, and it crushed that heart. The darkness claimed the memory for itself, leaving a Heartless behind which quickly disappeared.

With the darkness gone with it, the supply that had been maintaining my form was also gone and I returned to normal. Almost. My hands had not been restored to normal, they were still the four clawed hands of the Heartless I had briefly looked like.

It was awkward taking hold of the Keyblade that I noticed had been left on the floor where I'd been, but not so awkward I couldn't get used to it. I noticed once again there was another part missing to it – half the guard was missing this time.

"Oh, put that down," I told Mickey. "I'll be fine."

"You turned into a Heartless and now you're just fine? Are you mad?"

"Probably. He just caught me by surprise, that's all. This will wear off eventually," I told him, holding up one hand. I didn't tell him I wasn't certain of that. "Shall we continue? We've got the rest of Hollow Bastion to go through still."

Mickey stared at me in astonishment, then shook his head and ran after me.

"I'm really not cut out to work with you, Liam."

"I know," I agreed happily. "It's one of my charms."

Mickey muttered a complaint under his breath that he probably didn't intend for me to hear.