Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Strength in Numbers?

A/n: Oh. I probably should have come right out and said this, but the Princesses of Heart killed Lexaeus. My bad. xD' UGH. I only have a few days left to finish this monster... Can I do it? Only time will tell. Enjoy the chapter and listen to the song? I was caught between "West Coast Smoker" by Fall Out Boy and the song whose lyrics I posted... So you may choose which one you want to listen to. :3

Disclaimer - I don't own anything aside from my plot and OCs.

'Don't need no drugs, you're my chemical.

Now I'm dependent, swear I'm clinical.

Addicted to those glances, taking chances tonight;

I need a fix in those heroin eyes.'

-"Dance, Dance Christa Paffgen" by Anberlin


"Your father?" repeated Katalin's mother with surprise. "Why would you want to ask about him at a time like this?"

Katalin didn't appreciate that her family members were staring at her like she was insane. They were all gathered in her grandmother's room. She, her mother, and grandmother were sitting on the fluffy King-sized bed while her cousin sat, much to her grandmother's annoyance, on the long vanity, scattering precious mementos as he did so. "Dempsey. That's not his name, right?"

"Dempsey?" her cousin repeated. He was playing with the black gauge in his ear without really looking like he was paying attention. Katalin knew him better than that. He was just trying to appear disinterested. "Definitely not, Kat."

Maybe he was the Nobody of her uncle, then. But why would he feel the need to torment her every chance he got? Unless she made him feel something, so he wanted to get rid of so that he didn't... Nothing made any sense. Katalin groaned and dropped her head into her hands. She knew that she had to find Sora and the others; it was the only was. She picked her head back up and hopped off of the bed, sliding somewhat on the glossy wooden floors. "I have to go," Katalin told them slowly.

Her mother and grandmother looked horrified and opened their mouths to argue, but her cousin nodded and also hopped off of his seat. "Right. You still have to save the world, right?" A wry smile was on his lips, and Katalin found herself smiling back. She quickly hugged her grandmother, then her mother.

"I promise I'll be back soon, okay? I'll be alright, don't worry about me," she said to them before exiting the room. Her cousin was following behind her. Nothing bad could very well happen to her, could it? If she was going to die, then it probably would have happened already. "Hey, Jay, thanks."

Jay grinned and nodded. "Yeah, whatever, Squirt. Just remember that you owe me."

"What could I possibly give you?" He gave her a look.

"You're so clueless, geez," he murmured. "Let's see your keyblade."

Katalin complied almost immediately. Beautiful Disaster flashed into her hand in all of its lethal glory. "This still doesn't look like the keyblade of a Princess of Light, but..." She trailed off and shrugged. He chuckled and pulled her into a headlock.

"When we were kids, we used to always hope something like this would happen to us, didn't we? We used to hope that Professor Oak would come to our houses and give us our first Pokémon. Then, I grew up and gave up on the fantasies. You, on the other hand, get to live it," said Jay as he released her and folded his arms. "So why don't I get a keyblade?"

Katalin smiled. "Take it up with King Mickey," was her only reply as she started for the backdoor. When she realized that she couldn't see Shawn any longer, her heart skipped a beat. She kept Beautiful Disaster in her hand and asked, "Where did he go? Where's Shawn?"

'You really need an answer to that question, my dear? He betrayed me. I must punish him,' Dempsey's voice rang in her mind once again.

'Who are you?' demanded Katalin.

'Wouldn't you like to know? You can find me in the Radiant Garden, at the Castle. I suggest not bringing anyone else with you. It could mean terrible things for your friends. Darcie, Shawn, Naminé, and Roxas.'

Katalin narrowed her eyes, her grip on her keyblade becoming painfully strong. Dempsey was... threatening her. Would it be smart to follow his threats? "Jay, you're an expert on making bad choices." He hit her for that, his strength enough to slightly knock her to the side. "How did you make up your mind to do what you have?"

Jay, realizing that she was being serious, considered the thought for a moment. "It's going to sound borderline sickening, but I looked into my heart. Saw what choice I should follow... And did the opposite," he answered with a small shrug. "That's it."

"Your heart? But, you've done some stuff, dude. Wasn't that a little risky?" asked Katalin.

"Isn't following your heart always?" retorted Jay before ruffling her hair. "So, whatever you're trying to decide, don't do what I did. Follow your heart and you should be okay. When you get back, we're figuring out how to get me a keyblade."

"I promise," agreed Katalin before stepping outside. She took a few steps down the yard to make sure that Shawn wasn't really just hiding out somewhere. Then, she slowly inhaled, concentrated on where she wanted to go, and summoned another bright white portal. As she stepped into it, Katalin mentally thanked God that no one had been outside to witness her portal.

XxxxxX

Maleficent awaited at the very top of her ornate castle. She had watched Pete running out of the castle while screaming in a very unflattering manner. He had not been stopped or attacked, however; perhaps it had been because he was running away. She had, likewise, seen Leon and the others rip through Oogie Boogie like he was nothing more than a bag of bugs. A smile quirked at the corners of her lips. But he was nothing more than a bag of bugs, wasn't he? After the swordsman, Cloud, stepped on the beetle that was Oogie Boogie's main brain, she had sealed the entrance to her castle.

No one could get in, now. At the very least, they could not hope to get in, not without being able to summon portals. "Admiring your view for the final time?" An emotionless voice asked from behind her. Maleficent slowly nodded to herself; she recognized the voice immediately. For whatever reason, she found herself meeting Saïx more often than she did Xemnas. Always.

"What are you blabbering on about, fool?" replied Maleficent as she turned with her staff.

A cold smile appeared on Saïx's lips, one that made him bare his teeth, like an animal. "Without being able to tap into your darkness, Maleficent, you cannot hope to defeat me. Darkness is, for you, power. Without it, you are nothing but a washed up old hag."

Maleficent narrowed her eyes. "You know not what you speak, Saïx." But she knew that he was right. Without being able to tap into her complete darkness and become a dragon, she could not defeat him. Her eyes slowly drifted up to Kingdom Hearts. Saïx could tap into his full power and go into Berserker mode.

Was she really doomed to die by his hands? "Even if you could tap into your darkness, Maleficent, you would not. Once you go into that dragon form, you are unable to get back. Collecting the Princesses of Heart would have been a waste, wouldn't it? That is why I am here to liberate you." Lunatic flashed into Saïx's hand. "Let us end this. We will make it very, very quick."

XxxxxX

Sora and Tifa had been sprung from their jail cell relatively easily. Only, not exactly. It had taken a lot of light on the part of the Princesses of Hearts, but the bars had been beaten up enough for, finally, Tifa to break them apart. "Now what?" asked Sora. "You said the elevator's not working, right?"

Kairi nodded. "We go with my plan. I saw the foyer of the castle... We can go there." She envisioned the royal purple walls, the emerald green carpet, the long winding staircase... A burst of light appeared from her hand and formed into a large portal. Everyone stared at in surprise, even Kairi. "Let's go."

XxX

When they appeared out of the portal in the foyer, they found the others already there. Everyone had equally annoyed expressions on their faces, but they promptly disappeared at the sight of Sora, Tifa, and the princesses. "Kairi," the others called the redhead's name in surprise. "You did it, Sora," remarked Riku with surprise.

Sora frowned. "Well, not exactly. We fell into a trap and they had to help us out, sort of..."

"We can leave, ya? This place gives me the creeps!" remarked Wakka.

"We all split up. How are you back here?" inquired Tifa. Paine narrowed her eyes and said something about dead-ended portals. "Maleficent really thought ahead."

Sora eased his arms behind his head. "Since we got the princesses, we should leave. We can come back and deal with Maleficent once we've hidden the princesses away."

No one disagreed. "We'll go back to Disney Castle and work out a plan," decided Yuna. When they tried to open the doors, they realized that they were sealed. It took Sora, Riku, Tidus, Wakka, Paine and a few magic spells from Lulu to open it.

Cloud, Leon, and Yuffie backed away from the door. "You left us out here!" complained Yuffie.

"Maleficent sealed the door," pointed out Cloud.

Leon ignored them both as they began to argue. "You got the Princesses of Heart. Where to now?"

"Back to Disney Castle," answered Sora as they started down the long bridge. No one heard the sounds of Saïx and Maleficent, from way up high, fighting.

Riku pulled Kairi to the back of the group with him. "Hey, what's up?" she asked him as they picked up the tail of the group.

"Can you summon a portal for me?"

Kairi raised her eyebrows. "Maybe... Where do you want to go?"

"Radiant Garden," he replied.

"Why? Without us? That's dangerous, Riku!" she hissed.

Riku shook his head. "Can you just trust me? Kairi, I'll be fine. It's not me I'm worried about." Of course she trusted and believed in him. Wordlessly, Kairi lifted her hand and summoned a portal, one that would bring him to the Postern.

"We'll catch up with you soon," promised Kairi as the portal appeared and Riku disappeared into it.

XxxxxX

"Everyone is in the World that Never Was right now, and my best friend is MIA? Fryd dra vilg?" demanded Darcie dangerously.

A smile quirked at the corners of Rikku's lips. "Katalin wasn't kidding about you two learning Al Bhed," she remarked. "But, you're right. So," she clasped her hands behind her back and swayed from foot to foot. "What are we going to do?"

Darcie blinked. "You're looking at me?"

"Well, yeah," answered Rikku. "Come on! You've been with Dempsey for a while. Do you know any of his weaknesses?"

She shook her head. "I've definitely seen more of Marluxia than I have of Dempsey. But Axel can probably be a huge help to us..."

Auron sighed. "And now I have the strangest sensation that something unwanted is about to happen."

"Let's take a Gummi ship to the Radiant Garden!" Rikku and Darcie exclaimed at the same time. "With Auron and Axel we can't go wrong," declared Rikku.

Axel rubbed the back of his head. "You think the King will give us a ship?"

Darcie nodded. "Of course he will. All I have to do is show him how cute I am. Then, he'll fork over one of his best ships pronto. Fer sure."

Rikku nodded enthusiastically. "Let's do it!"

XxxxxX

Riku entered through the main part of the castle with Way to Dawn already in his hand. Things hadn't looked very good outside; it looked like Dempsey was allowing Heartless and Nobodies to rage around the Radiant Garden. He kept to the shadows as much as was possible. Dempsey appeared to have already begun redecorating the castle. The walls were bright red and the carpets looked like they were either black or a very dark purple.

When he entered through one of the doors, he found himself in an unfamiliar hallway. It was long and the color schemes appeared to have flipped. Now the walls were black and the carpet was red -- albeit a very dark red. The black made the hallway look smaller and more closed in than Riku was sure it really was.

As he reached the middle of the long hall, a portal appeared in front of him and a blond stepped out. One with eyes the color of neon green antifreeze. "Ah!" cried the Nobody in sudden surprise as he noticed Riku was also in the hallway.

"Demyx, right?" acknowledged Riku as he raised Way to Dawn.

Demyx shook his head earnestly. "U-uh, n-no! You have the wrong guy! Guess you m-must be thinking of someone else, huh?"

Riku raised one eyebrow. "I'm not stupid, I know who you are," he replied, earning a squeak of fear from the Nocturne. "Demyx, I know a little about it, so I know you hate fighting." Demyx nodded his head eagerly.

"Bad, bad stuff," he agreed.

"Then, why don't you get out of my way and tell me where Dempsey is? Maybe I won't make you fade away."

Demyx's eyes widened with surprise and delight. "He's in the Great Hall with Naminé and, uh..." He rubbed the back of his head as he tried to remember the name of the other one. "Oh, yeah! Shawn!"

"Shawn?" Riku nodded to himself. "Good. Now I can finally keep my promise. What about Darcie? Where is she?"

"Gone," answered Demyx. "Luxy gave Axel the card to her cell before he left earlier. I don't know where they are now."

Riku nodded his head somewhat. At least Darcie was out of Dempsey's clutches. "Thanks, Demyx. The others will probably be here, soon. You might want to leave before then." And Demyx, so relieved that he wasn't going to get ripped apart by Riku, quickly summoned a portal and disappeared. He quickly moved to the door at the end of the hall, although not at a rushed pace, and put his hand to the knob.

As he did so, he was abruptly knocked off of his feet by a weapon of some sort. Riku fell, cracking his head on the doorknob on his way down, and collapsed on the ground. Xemnas chuckled somewhat. "Did you really think that the only one you would run into was IX? Fool," he scoffed as Riku tried to push himself back up. "If it is a fight you are looking for, Riku..."

Riku scowled as he slowly stood. "You don't scare me, Xemnas."

Xemnas' lip curled up unpleasantly. "You might like to rethink those words."

XxxxxX

Saïx's breathing was barely irregular as he kicked the only remains of Maleficent off of the top of her castle. The cloak fluttered downwards, past the bridge, and settled in a heap at the bottom of the canyon. His expression eased from berserk into his normal emotionless one. "Very good, Saïx. I appreciate your assistance." Dempsey's voice was in his ear, and Saïx realized that there was a body directly behind him. The falchion, slightly rusty and stained, was being held near the Berserker's throat. "Now, as you have helped me immensely, I will allow you to choose. Which way would you rather die? Falling and breaking your neck or getting your throat cut?" Dempsey's voice was too cheerful for the words that he was speaking.

"Why are you doing this?" Saïx's voice held no surprise. When Larxene had been sent to Traverse Town and some of the stronger members had been sent to different worlds, Saïx had had his suspicions. It was obvious that Dempsey had been placing many of the Organization members in situations that were sure to cause their demises. Saïx only wanted to know why.

"I can't allow you all the chance to get your hearts and turn against me. Oh, no. Nor can I waste my time using the three princesses to give you your precious hearts. I appreciate all you have done for me, however," remarked Dempsey. "When I am ruler of all the worlds, I will make sure that the textbooks say you died in a very valiant way."

Saïx shook his head. "I do not care for my valor to be preserved. I just want to feel. I want to feel angrier than I can pretend for what you are doing. I want to feel my heart hammering against my chest as you press your blade to my throat," he growled. "I want to feel."

"Well, my friend," replied Dempsey as he put his falchion to Saïx's throat. "We cannot all get what we want." He slid the blade horizontally and Saïx fell to the ground. He didn't pay attention to whether blood, darkness, or both poured out of Saïx's body. Instead, he raised his arms in the sky and turned to face Kingdom Hearts. "True power is almost mine. You and I will become better acquainted soon." He promised, ignoring the gasping sounds coming from Saïx, before summoning a portal and disappearing.

XxxxxX

"Your Majesty, let us use one of your Gummi ships to go to the Radiant Garden," requested Darcie as she, Rikku, Auron, and Axel stood before King Mickey in the Audience Chamber. He had, at first, looked relieved to see Darcie and Axel were alright. Upon her request, however, the King looked much more nervous.

"Fellas, don't you think you should wait until the others get back?" replied King Mickey weakly. He was sitting in his throne while facing them with a troubled expression.

Rikku shook her head. "What if we take too long? What about the Radiant Garden? Something bad can happen to everyone there!" she insisted. At Auron, Darcie, and Axel's stares, she amended with, "Worse. Something worse can happen."

King Mickey still did not appear like he wanted to help them. "What if somethin' were to happen to you fellas? Isn't it smarter to just go as a group."

"We will not fit in one ship, Your Majesty," pointed out Auron. "I believe the four of us can manage to at least hinder Dempsey from going through with any of the plans that he has."

"If Darcie goes, you're just walking into a trap!" Donald quacked from the left of King Mickey's chair. Goofy was standing on the other side.

"Gawrsh, Donald's right!" mumbled Goofy. "He'll capture Darcie again!"

Darcie pursed her lips and folded her arms. Before she had the chance to point out that she could, indeed, take care of herself, Auron said, "Hn. I have reason to believe that she is in more capable hands this time."

Axel choked a little. "Nice ego," he murmured to the girls. "Kairi and Katalin are very able," argued Rikku. "But, uh... maybe less so than Auron here. So, your Majesty! What do you say?"

Goofy and Donald stared at Mickey like he held their lives in his hands. Slowly, but surely, King Mickey reached into one of his pockets and brandished a keyring with a few keys. He threw it to Darcie who caught it with ease. "Just be careful, okay, fellas?" was the King's only request.

Darcie smiled and nodded. "You can count on us!"

XxxxxX

Katalin knew that she would find Dempsey in Hollow Bastion, yet the portal led her to the end of the Great Maw closest to the Dark Depths. The sky was pink but, for the first time, it looked like they were dark clouds hanging in the sky. Not clouds that signaled a light shower, but large purple ones that signaled a huge storm. She moved through the patches of yellow and white lilies as she headed in the direction of the castle. She knew that she should have drawn up a plan before coming, but... she hadn't. What could she do? Expect the unexpected seemed like a good idea. Parts of the Great Maw were completely destroyed, or had large craters, from the large battle that had taken place there. Katalin could make out large footprints that had belonged to a Behemoth.

As she walked through the deserted field, she noticed other things. Craters in the cliff walls from, she guessed, Xaldin's lances, perhaps. Something must have happened once everyone left, but she had not a clue as to what. Maybe she should have asked Shawn; he would have known. The appearance of an ungodly amount of Heartless startled her from her thoughts. More of them appeared than usual, she guessed, because Dempsey allowed them to have free reign.

Before she made it even close to the castle, she had a feeling that she would be in even less shape to fight. The Heartless included Shadows, Neoshadows, Defenders, and Darkballs. Katalin knew that if she wanted to have a shot at finding Dempsey while still standing upright that she had to ignore the Heartless. She surged forward, only stopping to knock Heartless out of her path, and ran up the slope leading to one of the fissure caves. All the while, she could hear Dempsey mocking her in her mind... and she began to entertain the thought that, perhaps, she was starting to go the slightest bit insane.


A/n: I think this probably only has a few chapters left, so it should end in the early thirties. You've gotta love how I'm so sure about what's going to happen when I'm the author. Dx'' This story has already thrown a few surprises my way. That probably sounds weird. I'm going to stop now. xD' The title is obviously a shot at the fact that some people (i.e. Katalin and Riku) are braving enemy territory on their own while the others are being smart and sticking in groups. I hope you enjoyed this chapter -- next chapter is going to be extremely fun. Please review!