"This is getting crazy," Riku sighed as he and Sora entered their hotel room.

"It is. We have to ask Ed about who Dante is tomorrow. It's all just so confusing to me," Sora agreed, sitting down on the edge of the bed and flopping down on his back. "We should take a break from all of this after we find the Keyhole here."

"We can't do that. Xemnas is still on the loose being the crazy freak that he is," Riku said. "Probably plotting on how to kill us as we speak."

"Dying…has never really entered my mind before," Sora admitted as Riku sat down by Sora's head. "I just…always think I'm going to make it out okay. I guess that makes me a little cocky but…it just seems like everything will always be okay."

Riku stretched out beside Sora, thinking over what he was saying. "It does seem like that, now that you mention. I never really thought about actually dying before. But now that I do, it kind of freaks me out."

Sora turned to look at him. "I don't want to die in battle. I don't want to die fighting this off."

"I wouldn't let that happen Sora. You know that."

"But I don't want to live if you die for me," Sora said, chewing his lip nervously as he spoke. "I couldn't go on knowing that you died to save me when I should've been strong enough to save myself."

Riku suddenly straddled Sora's waist, staring down at him. "I wouldn't hesitate even a second to sacrifice myself for you and I know you wouldn't hesitate either."

Sora twirled his arms around Riku's next, leaning up to hug him tightly, pressing his face into the pale neck. "I love you Riku. I know I've said that before but I just need to tell you again."

Riku halted what he was saying by suddenly grabbing his chin and kissing him forcefully, pinning him to the mattress and invading Sora's mouth with his tongue. Sora felt the burning need rise up in him again, just like when they were at Hollow Bastion, and groaned into Riku's mouth, moving his tongue against Riku's. Riku's lips moved to his earlobe, nibbling it before moving down his neck to his collarbone, kissing the flesh there before slipping his hands beneath Sora's shirt, tugging it up.

Sora was surprised at the bold move but lifted his arms so that he could be stripped of his shirt. He heard it land on the ground but paid it no mind, instead arching into Riku's touch as the hands drifted over small nubs, tweaking them both once before letting his hands roam over the rest of his chest and stomach.

"Riku…" Sora murmured. "I…this is too much right now. I just…"

Riku nuzzled his neck. "Shh. I know. I'm going to go get ready for bed. You do the same. I'll come to bed."

Sora shifted to kiss Riku's forehead and then moved away as Riku stood up. He tugged his shirt back on. He watched as Riku disappeared into the bathroom before standing up and quickly changing into borrowed bed clothes, slipping beneath the covers and turning out the light. In less than a minute, Riku was back, easily finding his way in the dark to the bed, slipping in beside Sora.

Sora immediately curled into his side, sighing in contentment. Whenever he was a way from Riku, even if only for a minute, he felt as though he was missing something important and he wouldn't feel whole again until Riku was back. With these thoughts, he drifted into sleep.

RERERE

"Are you serious?" Axel demanded.

"You're the one with the Alchemist License. That means you're researching," Sora told him.

The nine of them were at breakfast the next morning at a nearby café.

"I'll go with you, if that makes you feel better," Roxas offered.

"Me t-too," Wonderweiss said firmly.

"So what are you guys going to be doing?" Axel asked, finally resigning to his fate.

"Greed is going to tell us where Dante lives," Riku answered. "That and we'll be getting the full story on who she is too."

"So basically you guys get to go kick ass while I waste away in the library?" Axel grumbled.

"Axel, there's probably information in that place about possible places the Keyhole might be. I can't sense it at all. Wherever it is, it's too far away," Riku informed him. "So please just do this without whining."

"Alright, alright. Still don't think it's fair."

"We'll be with y-you," Wonderweiss told him. Thanks to Roxas and Axel, his speech was finally improving.

"And that's what makes it better," Axel said, grinning.

"I still don't trust Greed," Ed voiced. "Or Lust or Gluttony."

"He only wanted to kidnap you to make Envy mad," Wrath pointed out. "He doesn't want you now."

"But he does want you," Ed countered. "He wants you on his side."

"Technically I am," Wrath said with a shrug. "I'm with Sora and the others and they're with Greed. So I am with him."

Ed sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Just be careful."

"So who else is staying behind?" Axel asked. "Because we can't protect Central from Heartless if we're in the library."

"Usually, we can handle the Heartless," Ed said. "But for some strange reason, there haven't been any attacks in a couple days."

"Which is weird," Sora started. "Because usually they're after our Keyblades."

"So someone is controlling them and for some odd reason, they don't want them attacking us," Riku finished.

"We can take care of the Heartless," Ed told them. "Al, Wrath, and I can handle it just fine while you're gone."

"Sounds good then," Riku said. "So that's the plan. Kairi, Sora, Greed, Gluttony, Lust, and I will head up to this Dante's place and wipe her out and anyone else who is working with her."

"What do we do about Sloth and Pride?" Wrath asked. "They're here. You'll only have to deal with Dante, Envy, and Hohenheim."

Ed suddenly paled. "Did you say Hohenheim?"

"Yeah, why?" Wrath asked.

"Why didn't you tell me!" Ed shouted.

Wrath cowered away from him, shocked by the anger. "I didn't know it was important, I've only seen him once with Dante."

"Brother, you're attracting attention. Please calm down," Alphonse begged.

Ed squeezed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath as he attempted to calm himself down, resisting the urge to punch something.

"Hohenheim is our father, Al," he hissed, staring at the table.

"Whoa, talk about a family feud," Axel snorted.

"Axel!" Kairi scolded.

"Our father?" Al asked, his voice slightly confused.

"Yes. Our bastard of a father who left with out an explanation. And now I find out he's been working with Dante and the homunculus?"

"Wrong," Wrath interrupted. "Hohenheim came to talk with Dante. Envy got upset and tried to kill Hohenheim but Pride restrained him and we haven't seen him since. I think he was trying to stop Dante."

Ed was silent. "We have to find him. I need to just punch his face in."

"Brother-"

"Al, not a word. You don't remember him but I do. He made Mom happy and then he left!"

"Who is Dante anyways?" Riku demanded. "No one ever told us."

"For some reason, she wants the philosopher's stone too," Ed sighed. "I don't know why. I just know she's some old lady who controls the homunculus, somehow."

"She switches bodies using the philosopher's stone," Wrath answered. "She says she'll use it to make us real again."

"You're like us," Roxas said quietly. "You just want to be whole again. Which reminds me, Riku. You asked Sora and Kairi about Rezen. We've forgotten all about him but he's obviously a Nobody."

Riku's eyes widened. "Shit! We forgot all about him!"

"Rezen…" Wrath murmured, frowning in thought. "I think Envy mentioned the name at one point."

"I can't believe we actually forgot about that…" Sora muttered.

"Who the heck is Rezen?" Axel demanded.

"We don't know," Riku answered. "But apparently, he taught someone on the first world we went to how to use Heartless."

"So this Rezen guy probably taught Dante and Envy how to control the Heartless," Edward said. "And to create a philosopher's stone…you need to kill humans. A mass number of humans, at least an entire city."

"So they're going to use the Heartless to kill everyone in Central," Wrath said, eyes widening.

"But why haven't they yet? Ed said that the Heartless have been attacking them for awhile," Kairi said.

"Power corrupts people, Kairi. It's fun to just experiment with it," Riku said quietly.

And you would know that all to well, wouldn't you?

Ansem…please shut up.

Just pointing out the truth.

"There's something else," Kairi said, breaking into Riku's inner torment. "If it's only Dante and Envy that we're going after right now…why do we need six different people?"

"Homunculi are powerful," Ed answered. "You'll want all the help you can get."

Kairi shrugged. "If you insist."

"Well, I guess this is where we all part then," Riku said, standing up with Kairi and Sora.

"Good luck you guys," Ed told them.

"Same to you."

RERERE

"Colonel, what are you going to do?" Riza asked quietly as Roy filled out his paperwork. "If the Fuehrer is really a homunculus-"

"I don't know. We still have Archer and Scar to deal with. I have no idea what Archer is planning or why he's in Risembool either. Scar is…who knows where," Roy muttered, a frown creasing his features.

"Well we can't have the Fuehrer calling the shots! He wants a philosopher's stone and you know Edward said the only way to do that is to-"

"Hawkeye. This is not the time to discuss it. We will do as the Fuehrer orders until I come up with a plan," Roy ordered sharply. "Now go find Fullmetal. I want to know what he's doing."

Riza opened her mouth to say something else but closed it quickly, saluting. "Yes, sir."

RERERE

"So how old are you guys actually?" Kairi asked as she, Sora, Riku, Greed, Kimbly, Lust, and Gluttony tramped through the forest and up towards Dante's.

"Eh…over 140 years or so," Greed said nonchalantly.

"Only about fifteen," Lust answered.

"Lust…can I have food?"

"Not now, Gluttony."

"So you guys don't age," Sora stated. "That would be awesome. It's like you could live forever."

"No one lives for ever, kid," Kimbly grumbled.

"Feeling sore because you can't be Greed's little servant forever," Lust taunted, smirking when Kimbly's eyes narrowed.

"Shut up. I work for no one. I'm here because I want to be!"

"Both of you shut up," Greed ordered. "We're almost at Dante's."

As he spoke, the trees broke, revealing a large mansion. You're in there somewhere Envy. Time to come out and play.

RERERE

"Damn it," Envy growled. "They found us."

"You thought they wouldn't?" Dante asked, strutting forwards to join him by the large window.

"I just didn't think they'd guess we were hiding right near Central. Then again, Lust did betray us. I'll go kill her myself," Envy muttered, pushing away from the window and looking at Dante.

Dante fixed her black hair before turning to look at him. "I'll just stay here."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to hurt your new body," Envy sneered, whirling around and stalking out the large room, slamming oak doors behind him.

RERERE

"Whoever this Dante is, she's loaded," Sora commented as they headed into the main hall.

The floor was pure marble and before them was a giant stair case with a red rug down the middle, golden tassels on the corners. The door at the top of the stairs was made of dark wood and as the seven of them scanned it over the doors began to creak open.

Once they were open, all seven pairs of eyes widened. Envy stood at the top of the stairs, glowering at Greed with a deadly glare, violet eyes seeming to glow. Long green hair spilled around a bare stomach, the slim purple material only covering his chest. "Greed…" Envy hissed.

Greed shoved the others out of the way, pulling off his sunglasses and tossing them to the ground.

"Good to see you again, Envy," Greed said emotionlessly.

"Oh don't lie, you bastard!" Envy growled, slowly starting down the red stairs.

"Greed," Kimbly muttered. "You can't take him on yourself. Let us help."

"Yeah right. This is my battle. And Envy knows this. The rest of you go on to Dante," Greed ordered.

"But the Heartless," Sora started.

"No," Lust interrupted. "He's right. This is between them. We need to keep moving."

"I'm staying with you," Kimbly snapped.

"Fine but stay out of the fight," Greed sighed.

"Oh, I see I've been replaced. I'm so jealous!" Envy screeched, his anger practically radiating off of him. "I'll destroy you both!"

"Come on!" Lust ordered, racing past Greed and Envy, the others right behind her. Sora gave Greed and Kimbly a worried look before shutting the doors tightly behind him.

"Look Envy…you know that-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear your damn excuses!" Envy shouted. "You left me! You left me and then betrayed Dante! You have to die!"

"She locked me up," Greed said calmly. "Not like it was my choice. And just for the record, Kimbly is not my new toy. He's straight."

"Whoa…Greed…you're gay?" Kimbly asked, slightly shocked.

"Heh, surprise, surprise," Greed chuckled. "So let's do this Envy. I'll destroy you."

Envy snapped his fingers, the ground around him becoming flooded with what looked like black shadows. Slowly, the shadows pulled themselves out of the ground, surrounding Greed easily and locking Kimbly out.

Greed sighed and then shrugged off his leather jacket, tossing it to Kimbly before holding his arms out, letting his Ultimate Shield overtake him, the hard navy skin over taking his entire body. The Neoshadows attacked then and he stood there, eyes locked with Envy's as the Heartless continued to batter away at him despite the fact that no damage was being done.

"You can't hurt me with these Envy! Attack me yourself. You know you're the only one who can," Greed taunted.

"Bastard!" Envy shouted.

He lunged towards Greed, drilling a fist at Greed's face. Greed ducked and then slammed a hand into Envy's stomach only to have Envy's foot snap into his kneecap, breaking past his ultimate shield with his strength.

Why is Greed provoking him? Does he want Envy to kill him? Kimbly thought.

Greed stifled his grunt of pain, seizing Envy's arm and tossing him away. Envy flipped through the air neatly, landing on his feet before lunging again, his feet a blur as he lashed out at him with his feet. Greed weaved in and out, dodging each hit with practiced ease.

"I haven't had a fight like this in a while," Greed said. "And let me tell you, it is enjoyable!"

"Shut up!" Envy growled as his foot hit Greed's forearm. He bunched up his muscles and flipped back, landing on his feet and crouching down. "I hate you. You need to die. And you will!"

"Why do you want to kill me Envy? Just think of all the pleasure we had when we were together," Greed cooed, smirking when Envy's face contorted with pain.

"SHUT! UP!" Envy wailed, springing up and slamming his fist into Greed's chest, jumping into the air and snapping his foot into Greed's neck, sending him sprawling across the floor.

"So, did you find anyone else while I was locked up against my will?" Greed asked as he got to his feet.

"No! I thought when you got free we would be together but no! You left!" Envy shouted.

"Really, and here I thought you would get with Lust. She is hot," Greed said. "Hotter than any whore I've been with."

Envy's eyes flashed with a more intense anger. "I know you aren't straight Greed, no need to hide behind petty whores who can't give you pleasure. I bet you have moved on, but the feeling is unrequited, right?" Envy smirked when Greed winced. He had hit the nail on the head. "I wonder, what is his name, Greed?"

They're tearing each other apart…Kimbly thought. Emotionally at least. Despite what Greed acts like…he isn't that strong as far as emotional stability goes. Then again, who is?

"Shut up Envy," Greed hissed. "Leave him out of this."

"Hey, alchemist," Envy drawled, looking over his shoulder at Kimbly. "Did you know that Greed here has been in love with you?"

Kimbly's eyes widened. "What the hell?"

Greed seized Envy's distraction, drilling his fist into Envy's cheek and sending him crashing to the floor. Envy turned over on his back, glaring at Greed. Kimbly stood up.

"Greed…"

Greed didn't look at him, turning towards Envy and jerking his neck, cracking it as he got ready for the fight to continue.

"Greed!" Kimbly barked.

Envy grinned. And here's where Greed broke down. As if on cue, Greed's Ultimate Shield vanished, revealing his skin and his real face again. He watched as Greed turned to face Kimbly.

"Yeah, Envy's right. Disgusted?" Greed asked, a half hearted grin trying to cross his face.

Kimbly didn't say anything. So…Greed…womanizer of Devil's Nest…is actually gay, and he's in love me…wow…"Well if this just isn't awkward."

Envy's eyes narrowed. He was hoping the Kimbly guy would freak out, reject Greed. If he did, Greed would be crushed and then he could finally kill him, ending his own pain forever.

"Kimbly…"

"Hey, save it Greed. We'll talk about this later. I don't know what I think right now but…just kill the dude and we can talk this out later," Kimbly said.

Greed nodded, eyes locking with Kimbly's. "Later than. I promise there will be a later."

Kimbly smirked.

RERERE

"Will he be okay?" Sora asked as Lust led them through the twisting hallways of the mansion.

"Who knows? If he doesn't survive, it means he wasn't strong enough," Lust replied simple, sliding to a halt when she reached the end of the hall, two other halls branching off from the one they were traveling. "Dante is down one of these. The right leads to her room. It's the very last door if you keep heading straight for awhile. The left leads to the largest hall in the building."

"So who takes what one?" Riku asked.

"We'll take the left. You three take the right," Lust ordered.

With curt nods, the group split up.

RERERE

"Well isn't this just sweet!" Envy growled, getting to his feet.

"I'm not going to kill you," Greed stated. "Kimbly, toss me a knife."

Kimbly shrugged, pulling out one of the knives he kept on him for emergencies. He tossed it to Greed who snatched it out of the air.

"It's not like you could anyways," Envy sniffed. "My body's remains aren't here. But yours are. Dumb move to give me that finger bone of yours." Envy reached into the pocket of his purple shorts, dangling the bone between his forefinger and thumb.

Greed shrugged. "Let's do this, shall we?"

Envy grinned before sprinting full out towards Greed. Greed readied himself and then snatched a hand out, seizing Envy's wrist with one hand, flicking his wrist and sending the knife right into Envy's homunculus seal in his left thigh.

Envy screeched as the knife sunk into the tattoo, collapsing to the ground. "How dare you?"

Greed crouched down by his head. "I told you. I'm not going to kill you."

Envy's eyes shut tightly. "Bastard. Just end it."

"I can't. I don't have your body's remains and I would never do that anyways. You do mean a lot to me, despite what you think," Greed told him quietly.

Envy's eyes flew open. "Don't toy with me. I know you don't. You've moved on."

Greed seized Envy's chin. "You can't move so that means I don't have to worry about getting hit for this."

"Wha-"

Greed's lips cut off what he was going to say and Envy tensed up, his first reaction being to shove Greed away, only to realize he was partly paralyzed by the knife in the tattoo. His eyes slid close then and he kissed back, sighing at the familiar and warm taste. But then Greed's lips were gone.

"That's a good bye kiss Envy," Greed said, patting his cheek. "Come on Kimbly. I've done what I wanted to do. We can leave the others."

"What about Dante?" Envy hissed. "She can take on Lust and Gluttony."

"The other three aren't from here. She's underestimated them," Greed said, not looking at him. "Let's go, Kimbly."

"Right."

RERERE

"So you're in love with me, huh?" Kimbly asked as they walked back towards the Devil's Nest.

"Yep. No use in hiding it now," Greed sighed.

Kimbly stopped walking and Greed turned to face him. "You know, I've never been with a guy before. They don't interest me. But…let's give it a try, hm?"

Greed stared. "You're serious right?"

"You're a big softy on the inside, aren't you?" Kimbly asked, smirking. "Yes, I'm serious. Now kiss me."

Greed closed the space between them, sealing his lips firmly over Kimbly's and kissing him furiously, pinning him to one of the trees. Hm…being dominated is kind of a turn on, Kimbly thought as Greed's warm tongue invaded his mouth. He fought back half heartedly before pulling away.

"Taste good," Kimbly commented.

Greed rolled his eyes, pulling an extra pair of shades out of his pocket. "Let's go, Kimbly."

"Alright lover boy."

RERERE

"I hate this job," Axel groaned as Wonderweiss brought him another stack of books.

"It needs to be done by someone and you're the only one who can get us into the library anyways," Roxas sighed.

Wonderweiss sat down on the other side of Axel, grabbing one of the books and opening it, staring at the words intently. Axel glanced at him curiously. I wonder if he actually understands what he's reading, he thought before going back to his book.

Several long minutes passed in this fashion and Axel felt himself growing more and more bored. He was sure he now knew all the basics of alchemy as well as a good chunk of the history of Amestris. Sighing, he closed the book and set it on the ground, pulling the next one off the pile and opening it up, resting his head on his fist.

"Axel," Wonderweiss said quietly, poking Axel's side.

"Huh?"

Axel turned to look at him but Wonderweiss thrust the book in his face, pointing at a paragraph frantically. Axel took the book and Roxas leaned over to read it as well.

"Over one hundred years ago, Central collapsed and sunk beneath the ground. It is unknown what happened because there weren't any survivors. A new Central was built on top of the old one and a search crew was sent beneath the ground to investigate the cause. There were no survivors from the trip. One of the members of the search crew made it half way back to the surface but was found dead. His camera had several blurry pictures recorded and can be found on page 789," Roxas read.

Axel hurriedly flipped to page 789, eyes widening at what he saw. "Roxas…is that what I think it is?"

"But that means they've been here for over one hundred years. So why isn't this world gone yet?" Roxas muttered, scanning the blurry photos over again.

"Who knows? So what do we do?"

RERERE

Lust wrenched the door open and rushed into the large hall, eyes narrowing when she saw Dante staring out the large window, back turned to them. She wore a slim red dress that stopped mid calf. Small black shoes covered her feet and a black jacket hid her arms from view.

"Dante," Lust hissed.

Dante turned around, a small smile on thin lips as dark violet eyes seemed to mock her. "Look who has decided to turn traitor."

"There has to be another way to create the philosopher's stone," Lust objected. "We shouldn't have to kill so many people for this!"

"What happened to you, dear Lust?" Dante cooed. "I thought you would sacrifice anything to be real again."

Lust glanced away. "Not anymore I won't. And neither will Gluttony."

"Can you really fight me?" Dante asked, reaching into the pocket of her jacket as she continued to come closer. Lust trembled when Dante pulled out a locket, holding it before her. "Feeling weak, Lust? That's because this contains a locket of your hair. You can't fight me like this."

Lust fell to her knees, her shaking intensifying as Dante grew closer.

"My Lust! You hurt my Lust!" Gluttony shouted, charging at Dante.

Dante pulled out something else, throwing it at Gluttony with a flick of her wrist. It hit Gluttony in the head and clattered to the ground next to him. It was a skeletal hand. Gluttony froze, unable to move. He was too close to his real body, just like Lust was.

"You two really seem to be begging me for death, you know that?" Dante cooed, kneeling beside Lust.

Lust sucked in a deep breath and then extended her fingers, whipping the dagger like fingers at Dante's hand, seizing the locket on one extended finger and tossing it towards Gluttony.

"Eat it Gluttony!" Lust ordered.

Gluttony extended a beefy hand shakily, picking up the locket and popping it in his mouth, swallowing it in one gulp.

"NO!" Dante shouted, whirling away from Lust as Lust got to her feet. She clapped her hands and slammed them into the ground.

Lust didn't give her a chance to complete the alchemy, whipping her dagger fingers forward to slice at Dante viciously. Dante dodged with a swiftness that seemed abnormal and Lust quickly added her other hand to the mix. Just then, the doors were thrown up and Sora, Kairi, and Riku rushed in, surveying the situation quickly.

Lust retracted her fingers, turning towards them. "Dante can use alchemy at high speeds. Attack quickly and don't let her use any alchemy!"

Riku was the first to react, sprinting across the ground and rushing towards Dante, summoning Way to Dawn as he did so. Lust resumed attacking, impressed that Dante was still able to dodge. Dante clapped her hands together again, pressing one to the fabric of her dress. A slit appeared along the left part of her leg and she now gripped a red colored whip in her hand. She quickly created another, using one to knock away Lust's attacks and the other to attack Riku.

Sora rushed forward to help and Kairi lingered by Lust.

"What's wrong with Gluttony?" she asked.

"He's near his real body. But don't move the hand. If he comes near me I'll get weak," Lust said, hissing when Dante successfully severed one of her fingers.

Blood washed onto the ground but Lust refused to stop attacking, instead trying to speed up her movements. Kairi did the first thing that came to mind. She preformed a Curaga spell and Lust watched as her finger suddenly healed, faster than it would've taken if she let her body heal on its own.

"You're handy. But you should worry about your friends," Lust ordered.

Kairi glanced at Sora and Riku, hurriedly performing another spell when she saw their blood washing onto the ground from numerous wounds.

"Thanks Kairi!" Sora called. "Hey Riku?"

"Kind of busy Sora!" Riku grunted.

"I'm going into Final Form. Get ready," Sora ordered.

Riku jumped away as Sora closed his eyes, stopping completely and letting the change wash over him. Kairi let out a squeak of surprise before she vanished. Lust stopped attacking when she saw both Riku and Kairi disappear, her surprise increasing when she saw that Sora was now glowing with silver light, a white Keyblade in one hand, a black in the other.

"Alright Dante! I can only hold this form for so long, let's make this quick!" Sora ordered.

"Can you really kill me, boy?" she growled as she tossed the whips away, clapping her hands together and slamming them into the ground. She pulled two marble swords out of the ground and lunged at Sora.

Sora blocked each of her hits easily before sending Oblivion into her shoulder, sinking it in firmly before spinning Oathkeeper once and plunging it into Dante's chest. He kept his gaze firm as Dante's eyes widened. She choked and Sora ripped his weapons out of her, backing away as she coughed up blood. Lust seized her opening, swiftly decapitating the woman's head without a second thought.

Sora looked away and released the Final Form, allowing Riku and Kairi to reappear. Riku took one look at Dante's dead form and then rushed over to Sora as Kairi stood up and moved to stand next to Lust.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked quietly.

"Fine," Sora answered. "After doing it once, it's a little easier the second time."

Riku nodded and then turned to Lust and Kairi. "So what now?"
"We need to burn Gluttony's human hand. Then I have to carve out my locket from his stomach and we can burn that," Lust instructed.

"Won't he die?" Kairi cried.

"Homunculi don't die," Lust sighed. "We can heal ourselves but if we're by our real body we can't."

Sora walked over to Gluttony and picked up the skeletal hand, tossing it away in disgust before casting Firaga, destroying it completely.

"Feel free to look away," Lust said, stepping as close to Gluttony as she could without growing weak. "Just hang on Gluttony. This is going to hurt."

Kairi looked away and plugged her ears as did Sora and Riku. Gluttony's cries of pain still wormed their way into their ears but once they stopped Kairi quickly cast Curaga, healing Gluttony as best she could before turning around.

Lust had fallen to her knees, the locket still connected to her extended finger. Riku approached her slowly, not minding the blood he had to walk through before picking the locket off of her finger, tossing it to Sora. Sora quickly burned it as well and Lust stood back up, wiping the blood on her fingers onto the ground.

"Let's go. We should head back to Central," she said.

"Right," Sora agreed.

RERERE

"We should go find Roy or Ed," Roxas suggested. "See if they know about any openings to this place."

"Alright, sounds good. Let's go," Axel ordered, grabbing the book and walking in the direction of the front desk. "Take care of the other books. I'll be waiting outside."

Roxas and Wonderweiss quickly took care of the other books and rushed to join Axel who was finishing checking the book out. As they headed outside into the bright light, they discovered finding Ed wouldn't be too hard.

"Hey, Ed. We hit the jack pot," Axel told him.

"That's great. So why do you look so serious?" Ed asked, halting in front of them with Al and Wrath on either side of him.

"Because it's been there for over a hundred years. The Heartless have been here but they haven't invaded the Keyhole at all. It seems they're protecting," Roxas answered.

"Where is it?" Al asked.

Axel sat down on the steps, flipping the book open to the page with the pictures as the others sat down around him.

"These are the pictures taken I'm guessing fifty years ago. There was a Central below this one that collapsed with no survivors. This Central was built on top of it. But a search party went down. There were no survivors but they were able to retrieve these pictures."

Roxas examined the pictures again. The first was a grainy but among a sea of countless houses was a small clear area. The keyhole was there, right in the center. It was large and dark but several Shadows and Large Bodies surrounded it, their attention turned towards the camera, eyes glowing menacingly.

The second picture showed a gigantic beast made of darkness looming near the very back of the city, its large yellow eyes piercing the darkness. The next picture showed the beast much closer and several humans running from it, towards the camera man. The final picture was nothing but a gigantic blob of darkness and a single beady yellow eye.

"What is that?" Ed asked quietly, pointing to the large beast.

"It's a Darkside. It's an extremely powerful Heartless, one of the strongest," Roxas answered. "To think it hasn't destroyed the Keyhole in a hundred years."

"It certainly is strange," Ed agreed. "Have the others returned yet?"

"I don't think so," Axel replied. "But we were going to head to the Devil's Nest to wait for them."

"Sounds good. We'll stop by later," Ed said.

RERERE

"Well you've gotten yourself in quite a fix, haven't you?"

Envy whipped his head around, glowering at the intruder. "Rezen…just get the knife out!"

The man stepped forward, his face hidden by the hood of a black cloak. He knelt beside Envy, tapping the knife with his finger. "I don't know why I should."

"You-"

"Calm down. This world is a failure and is not helping me at all with my plans. So I'm leaving," Rezen told him, yanking the knife out of his thigh. "Do what you like."