Oh wow chapter 29...I can't believe we've…just kidding. I'm not putting anyone through that speech again. Maybe when this hits chapter 30. I was updating weekendly until I ended up getting so freakin sick I couldn't even tell if I was awake or not. It was bad. Word of advice FLU MIST IS BAD Get the shots! Yeah it'll hurt, but it's a lot better and there's no chance of you getting sick! Eh….anyway…kami knows where the heck this story is heading to now…even I was shocked where it when while writing it…but the characters must choose their own paths and they have…even if these are some pretty bad paths…oh well more fun for me I suppose. Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving…mine was more or less hell…..but I got good food…so that's a plus.

Notes: (X) Is POV change

Chapter,29: Puppet Master

"An Illusion world…will they be okay?"

Yoru shrugged sighing.

"Let us hope so."

(X)

Riku looked from Setsuna to Miyuki and than back to the world in front of them. There was 8 doors all marked in different ways in red. These didn't seem to be held up by anything either. If he tried to put his hand into the darkness where there should have been a wall, it went right through as though nothing was there.

Setsuna and Miyuki watched curiously and tired it themselves. They shrugged it off and Miyuki leaned on Setsuna.

"So now what," the healer asked looking around. Riku sighed and Setsuna's arms came up around his lover's waist.

"I think…we have to choose a door," he said somewhat quietly. The ceiling above them shimmered and stars along with the night sky began coming into view. They watched silently and Set shrugged again.

"Fine, let's choose a door…something," Riku muttered looking at all 8 of the doors in turn. He walked foreword and began examining them one by one and than stopped going back o the fourth door. "I think this is the right one."

The other two nodded and they opened the door following him into the dark area. They all wondered if maybe the doors went no where, but quickly noti ced a path that they were on as they walked.

"This place looks familiar," Riku said quietly causing the other two to look at him curiously. They began to notice though as they went on that the darkness was disappearing and being replaced by familiar looking objects.

"This can't be good…."

(X)

"Get him out of here," Leon screamed shoving Tsuki over at Cid. The boy stumbled foreword and Cid grabbed him by the shoulder.

"What about the fight," he yelled back as he move out of the way of an attack.

"It's no use! Get out of here! Take him to the coliseum, it's the last haven!"

Cid didn't want to leave behind his comrads, but his job was different. He told himself the minute he dropped the kid off he could get back to Traverse Town and help.

"Come on kid," he growled dragging him over towards the gummi ship. He was about to get into the ship when a thought occurred to him. "Listen, if anything gets in your way, hit this button," he said pointing to a blue button on the dashboard.

"W, wait," Tsuki stammered eyes wide as Cid pointed. "You, you're not coming with me!"

"Kid, my friends need me. I've already programmed the coordinates of the destination, this baby will fly itself. Just tell Phil why you're there and that Leon sent you. Tell him we'll come and get you as soon as the battles over," he said quickly and without waiting for a reply hit the start up and shut the door. The gummi ship quickly hummed to life and shot off into the sky.

Cid turned back to the fight as a boy with light green hair walked over, he quickly grabbed his spear and fell into a fighting position.

"You fought Yoru," the teen said in an odd mystic like voice as he swayed while walking until he stopped a few feet in front of cid. "Yoru was programmed by myself though…that puppet could not come close to my program….my script is much more thought out," he said a hint of a smile crossing his face.

Cid's eyes narrowed and he got ready. He could see no weapon yet in the boys hand, but he remembered Yoru from a long time ago and he had used a scythe. What did the boy mean by program though? Were they human? The boy laughed doing a small spin.

"You are confused. The puppet unaware of its own strings. You do not even feel the tug of your master, you think it is all you," Tsukasa mused and his eyes flashed slightly highly amused.

"What the hell are you talking about," Cid demanded, but he was caught off as the blade penetrated his stomach.

"A puppet who does not know its role can not understand when the puppet master is angered. You were written off due to ignorance," Tsukasa hissed and pulled his scythe free from Cid's stomach. Cid stared at the boy not completely sure as to what the heck was going on. Puppet? Puppet masters? Programs and being written off? What was that all about? The thoughts were fleeting though and the lights started fading from his eyes.

"Your strings weren't served," he warned as he turned away from Cid's body, who hadn't even realized he'd fall to the ground. "Your illusion of life was only shattered," with that said he walked away scythe casually resting on his shoulders. It seemed odd to Cid though as his life blood poured from his wound around him. The fire and smoke surrounding the boy as he walked reminded him of an angel. An image of Vincent went through his mind and he closed his eyes.

(X)

The heartless swarmed over the town and more of it began to burn down. Smoke rose into the sky causing those few who were still alive to cough and tear. Leon looked around near the clock tower, Yuffie and Aerith next to him. They'd survived so far, but they didn't know how much longer they would last.

The entire town was going up in flames, the heartless was winning and most of the people in the town were joining their legion. The town was lost just as their first home had been and they knew it.

"Why attack so strongly now though," Yuffie asked as they tried to catch their breathes after a long fight.

"I think we've been played," Leon answered glaring.

"Huh?"

"Yuffie, there was heartless here, but not nearly as bad. We got attacked after Sora left Tsuki here," he said frowning. "I think it was all an excuse so the heartless would have a reason to destroy Traverse Town, that and the will."

The two girls looked at him skeptically, but it would explain the attack. Still…the heartless didn't need an excuse to attack them, this could all be coincidence.

"If you doubt your fellow payers, you won't make it out alive," a voice from the smoke said eerily.

The three quickly turned and looked around for the source of the voice.

"Stay alert and together," Leon warned and the two nodded.

"This puppet wonders how these puppets have manager to stay in the play this long with knowing so little," he smiled as he stepped out of the smoke and turned around with his scythe.

The three watched with little amusement nothing the fresh blood on the long curving blade.

"Who are you and what do you want," Yuffie demanded angrily.

"I am a puppet like you, but…this puppet is also a puppet master. You will be written off if you do not learn to understand," he said as he walked over to them and stopped as though he was talking to some friends. Besides the weird talk and the fact ht was holding a blood covered weapon, he looked like he belong to their group.

It was this that angered Leon more than anything. That someone who was causing all this destruction was another human, not a heartless and not Kurai.

"Stop with the puppet crap," Leon said glaring. "None of us are puppets like you," he growled, "we're are own people. We do what we want!"

"How do you know what you want isn't exactly what the puppet master wanted you to want?" Leon remained silent and Tsukasa's smiled widened. "You do not know do you? No one does! The puppet master keeps his plans secret until they are acted out, only than do we know the script."

"Hey Leon, I don't like this guy," Yuffie whispered and Leon nodded in agreement. This guy was just to weird.

(X)

"Hey Riku, isn't this starting to look like Atlantica?" Silence. "Riku?"

Miyuki frowned looking behind and froze. Both Setsuna and Riku were gone. All of Atlantica wasn't here though…no wait, this wasn't the beach leading to the ocean and Atlantica. This was some weird place he'd never been.

"And yet…some of the things here seem familiar…"

(X)

Riku looked around wondering how he'd ended up here in Lia Fail. He figured they had screwed up on the ship coordinates and gotten back in this stupid town. Growling he moved foreword to find his way out.

(X)

"A castle," Setsuna wondered out loud looking around curiously. The castle seemed a little bit familiar from somewhere. A report maybe? As he saw the guards in front of the doo rhe nodded to himself. This was Cinderella's castle. He walked over to the guards and looked over the door.

"Hey, did the key blade master come in here?"

The guards made no move to acknowledge him, but the door to the castle did open. Shrugging since no one moved to stop him nd walked into the castle. Blood was still sprawled everywhere, body parts thrown around. It was the perfect place for heartless to be drawn to.

"There's so much blood…why would he do something like this," a voice stammered ine one of the back rooms.

"Get a hold of yourself! And you're a key blade master!"

Setsuna followed the voices, they sounded familiar. Riku and Leon? Wasn't Leon in Traverse town though? He walked into the room and stopped dead in his tracks. Standing in the room around a corpse was Satori, some other guy, and Caine. His Caine. The three seemed to have heard him and looked up when he stopped.

"So the key blade master's pet is here, or should I say heartless," Yuuan asked with a smirk.

Setsuna death glared him while Satori remained in the same place he'd been. Caine on the other hand didn't seem to happy about hearing Set's problem.

"What do you mean heartless," Caine demanded and than noticed the red hue in Setsuna's eyes. "Set…"

"I, it's nothing Caine….I've been like this for awhile. I'll be fine," he lied not wanting to burden his ex at all. This was impossible to him it seemed. Caine was dead and weren't Satori and that weird guy in Lia Fail?

"What are you guys doing here," he asked calmly slightly shaken by all that was going on.

"It's obvious isn't it? We're making sure Kurai didn't miss anyone."

"Caine," Setsuna let out a small groan almost a whimper. "We're….why are you helping them? Kurai's worse than Tobias…"

"I had no choice, they brought me back to life against my will."

Setsuna wasn't exactly listening anymore though. The scent of blood was everywhere, Miyuki was no where to been seen. Caine, whom he'd seen die and tried to avenge his death, his first lover was now on the same side as the enemy! He swayed a bit falling to his knees. He heard someone call out his name, but it was so distant and suddenly everything he saw was distant.

(X)

"You are…a friend of theirs," Miyuki asked somewhat of a smile on his face. Sora had promised before that after the heartless were destroyed that he'd take himself and Setsuna to his island. Sure neither Riku nor Sora were here, but he was still able to visit right now. The people on the island were very nice and seemed to welcome Miyuki with open arms when he said he was friends with the two boys.

Smiling he looked out over the water of the ocean and wondered if any merpeople lived in this water. It would be interesting to be able to meet merpeople of a different world.

"Perhaps even some of them are from or know of Atlantica," he thought out loud smiling. "I wish Setsuna was here though…"

(X)

"Sora! Just tell me why," Riku begged as the brunette stared off at the setting sun beside him. He knew very soon once the sun set it would be pitch black. He didn't want to talk to Sora in the darkness, he wanted to be able to see his face. "Sor--"

"Riku…I lied to you…to everyone…I'm sorry," he said quietly looking down.

"Sora, it's okay…just why? Why did you do it?"

"I wanted you Riku…I knew you'd be happier with Kairi though…so I had Kurai come and take me…I, I didn't know he'd destroy the island."

Riku shook his head placing his hand on Sora's.

"Don't you ever do something like that again," Riku hissed and leaned over kissing Sora deeply. Sora accepted the kiss moving onto his back and wrapping his arms around him. They key blade master happily complied shifting over so he was completely on top of the smaller boy, mouths still together. The kiss broke a bit later to soon for either of them, but they had to breath. After catching his breath Riku leaned foreword kissing the boy again who was more than willing to give in to it all.

(X)

"With Riku well out of the way now I can make Sora mine," Namine said happily as she looked over the crystal ball. Said boy walked into the room a few minutes later, but who he saw sitting near the crystal ball wasn't Namine as usual, but Riku.

"R, Riku?"

Namine looked over to see Sora and offered him a small smile. How she loved illusion spells.

"Sora?"

"What are you doing here," he demanded glaring. "You're supposed to be watching Tsuki!"

"Tsuki's safe," she said slyly getting up and walking over towards him. "I just had to see you though, Sora I need you," she went on wrapping her arms around him. Sora's eyes widened immediately and he tried to pull away.

"No! Riku what about Kairi," he breathed completely flushed as Namine pinned him against the wall.

"What about her?"

"Riku if we're together the universe will end," he said sadly trying to push the girl away.

"Sora, Kurai lied," the words made Sora freeze. "Keeping us apart made the universe fall," she said dramatically kissing him deeply.

This time he didn't pull away.

(X)

Tsuki fell to his knees breathing hard and waited for the end to come. He had landed on the world of the Coliseum, but he hadn't landed exactly near the entrance gates. There was a long walkway between where he landed and that entrance. The real problem? Hundreds of what looked like undead creatures swarmed around the area attacking anything that wasn't one of its own.

He let out a small whimper wondering how he was supposed to get from the gummi ship to the Coliseum without getting murdered. He thought something may of noticed him and slumped down more onto the floor of the ship.

"What am I going to do," he asked no one and wondered how long he could possibly survive in the ship. Sooner or later he'd run out of food or something would notice him inside. Groaning he crawled over to one of the back rooms and sat there against the wall waiting.

(X)

"Sephiroth, I don't think that's our enemy," Cloud said after awhile. The gummi ship looked familiar to him, but besides that he just had this strange feeling that the person inside was not someone they'd be forced to fight against.

"And just how do you know," his silver haired lover growled as he watched the gummi ship without mercy. Cloud sighed shaking his head. How could he prove that the person inside was not their enemy? He wasn't even completely sure himself that he wasn't. The strange feeling in the pit of his stomach though refused to let him drop it though.

"I just do…Sephiroth we have to check it out…can you call off the undead monsters just while we go and check?"

His lover sighed be he nodded in agreement and gave in to the request. He wouldn't admit it, but he had a bit of the same feeling.

TBC

Thank yous:

Sai-Ryo Aura Feana: Nope…she's an idiot. She's very dense! Hmm……possibly I know a lot of people aren't happy about Spiritus' death. He did try so hard to save Satori…Lol I think she's on top again after this chapter. Lol yes there are a lot of questions to be answered and than I got sick before I could do a good update…but this one isn't to bad. …poor them…:saves Kurai: you can kill kairi, but leave my precious Kurai alone lol.

Animegirl171: Lol it was Kairi. Not a big spoiler than since everyone else seemed to pick it up. I'm sure the person you were guessing at was her and so you were right.

Losthimagain: Updated

Bataru: Thanks for adding me to your lists! Yay! Glad you like the story as well!

Andra-Chan: lol I didn't think it would. :Snickers: Okay it's upated. And you changed your name! I'm glad you put "Yami Tenchi & Chibi-Gatomon" at the bottom or I'd of thought I'd lost you as a reviewer! And you're one of my most long time reviewers! I'd hate to see you go! So you gotta stay! Lol. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Clueless97: No internet all summer! I'd go nuts…lol yes I don't think there's any other words to use…even if it's a major understatement…Lol yeah. I was a bit shocked myself with Spiritus died…like I said…these characters have lives of their own…and that's exactly what any author wants for the characters they write. Lol yeah. Miyuki got a bit violent there for a healer, but Set's gonna have to deal with that. And when Sora and Riku will be together…well we'll have to see.

Jon: Lol I've turned you into a crazed fan? YAY::Snickers: if you just think about it though, you can tell who was going on about wanting Sora and Riku. Or you can ruin it and go up and read my reply to one of the other reviews and see who it was lol.

Well everyone, thanks for not killing me yet and thanks for sticking around and reading the story as long as you have so far! It's getting so long and the story so odd and complicated. I'm so happy. But right now I'm also very tired…lol it's 12:13 a.m. so I'm …going to finish off this ending here. I'd like to say Happy thanks giving to any and all who celebrate it and I hope for all of you good times, days, and other such things until next time! Ja ne until than!