So... I was considering doing a "villains edition" of one of these - KKBeckett suggested a few people whose embarrassing moments she wants to hear, and I might as well just drag all the villains over.

So ask the villains questions! And that includes everyone on Saix's side of the rebellion, and anyone from the Organization (minus Xemnas. I mean, you can ask Xemnas questions, but I'm not dragging him over here. I'm also not dragging Maleficent over, so don't bother.) You can ask Shad more questions if you'd like, and MAKE SURE to ask Axel more questions; it'd look suspicious if he wasn't in the "villains" question thing.

that's it.

Oh! 'cept, go pop over to the blog, I have a picture of Sora's scar up (or there's a link on my profile)


I reappeared somewhere else in the depths of my brain, in the room I had set aside for Sora and Shad's interview. Sora was already there, occupying a rather plain looking chair. I frowned at him.

"You could've conjured up a more comfortable chair, if you'd liked to."

He shrugged.

"Whatever."

I shrugged, too, and conjured up a swivel chair much like the one Axel had earlier and sat down in it. I had to resist the urge to twist it back and forth, or, worse, just spin around in circles. Not that Sora would have really cared or anything.

"Any idea when your Shadow's getting here?"

Sora shook his head.

I made a face and let out a long breath.

Sora glanced up at me, looking rather confused. "Can't you just summon him here?"

"I could," I replied. "However, I don't mind the quiet for the moment. There was a lot going on in the last one. I could use a quick break." I reached down to pick up the hat with Sora's questions, only to find that it wasn't there.

I had left it in the other room.

I sighed, held out my hand, and summoned it to me—

Except…

It didn't come.

"Looking for this?" Shad asked (that's weird, I've never actually used his nickname in a format like this before…) waving the hat about. He grinned.

I held out my hand. "Give it," I commanded.

"Why? Can't I just read all the questions?"

"Give."

Shad glared, but handed the hat over. He quickly composed himself, though, and flopped down in an armchair that hadn't been there all of two seconds ago. "Boy, am I exhausted," he sighed. "The directions you sent me were totally wrong, so I had to go to the other room and follow your trail. It was ridiculous."

I rolled my eyes. "Speaking of trails, where's the wolf?"

Shad nodded at something behind me. I spun my chair around and found the wolf trotting in. It looked… kind of smug. I reached out to pet it as soon as it was close enough, ruffling its fur slightly. It gave me the look my cat gives me when she's not amused. I quickly pulled my hands away, knowing that look ended in pain if I didn't quit.

I spun my chair around to face Sora and Shad. The wolf flopped down on the ground between us and made itself comfortable.

"Alright, let's get this started," I said, shaking up the hat a bit. I considered mentioning the idea of passing the hat around, only to realize that it wouldn't be nearly as interesting with only three of us. I pulled the first question out, and laughed.

Well, that was one way to start things.

"Both of you; most embarrassing moment."

Sora thought for about ten seconds before saying: "Agrabah. The fiasco with Aladdin and all that."

Shad snorted. "Sure! Because that's totally your most embarrassing moment." The sarcasm was practically dripping of his voice. "No, he's just a lazy bum and chooses the most recent thing that's happened to him."

"So?" Sora replied. "What's yours?"

Shad sobered immediately.

"You actually have one?" Sora laughed, looking excited now. "I expected you to somehow not have one!"

"I tripped once. Did horrors to my dignity."

That filthy lying—uh, I didn't have a word to finish that. But Shad's totally a filthy liar. That is so not his most embarrassing moment, and I know it.

Sora rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like anyone saw you!" he muttered.

Shad shrugged, and sent a very warning look in my direction. I raised my eyebrows. Because threatening me worked… yeah… (That was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it.)

For the sake of plot purposes, I will not say his most embarrassing moment aloud, because Sora can't know.

However, for the rest of you, it's any of those times he was crying. (Specifically; it's most likely the time right before SCAR, considering he also screwed up terribly, too.)

"Next question," Shad said.

I pulled one out. "It's to you," I said. "KKBeckett asks: 'What was the freakiest thing you saw in magik's Namine's memories?'"

"Ooh, toughy…" He scratched his chin, apparently thinking really hard about this. I doubted he was, but, then again, I would've heard a scrap of thought concerning his answer by now if he wasn't. He made a face. "I'm between Larxene, and some of the more in depth stuff concerning exactly how she works with memories. Wait! I lie! She shared a body with Kairi for a while, and things get awkward if you think about that too much."
Okay, I doubt that'd be the most disturbing thing in her head.

But she's not my character, and this is what Shad considers disturbing.

And I won't argue with him on his opinions.

I pulled the next question out. "Well, this is to me," I told them.

"Then why are you reading it here?" Shad asked.

I frowned at him. "Because it's related to you – well, Sora – and in case you – and that's either of you – would like to add your input, I'm reading it here. Capiche?"

"Just read the question, Rar," Sora said.

"Alright, Organization Number 15 asks me: 'Is the trinket Sora bought a wayfinder? Specifically, Terra's wayfinder?'"

Sora frowned and pulled the trinket out of his pocket. "What, this?" he asked.

Shad took one look at it and laughed. "Yeah, that's his wayfinder alright."

Sora turned to him, confused. "How do you know?" he asked.

I'd say I was curious about that, too, but I actually know how Shad knows.

Shad raised his eyebrows. "Tell me, Sora, do you even know who Terra is?"

Sora frowned. "No. Should I?"

"Not necessarily," I assured him.

Shad rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed breath. "I doubt he even knows who Ventus is," he muttered.

"The name sounds familiar," Sora said. "But I couldn't tell you who he is…"

"Thought so! Spent ten years in your heart, and you don't even remember him! Doubt you even know that there's fragments of connection between you—speaking of connections!" He turned to me. "I can see into Sora's head just fine right now, so you must've done something to fix whatever the hell was wrong."

"You think she has any power in my brain?" I responded. "Trust me, she and any other person I can't trust have limits on their powers. Like you, and Edd- granted, there aren't as much on him at the moment, since he's been very quiet after his third death."

"It's only his second," Shad corrected.

"Shut up, it's permanently his third in my head." I picked out another question and read it before Shad could argue. "Sora, you don't mind that you haven't gotten a question yet, do you? I keep pulling out ones for Shad…"

"It's fine," Sora said.

"Cool. Shad, KKBeckett wants to know what you would do if Kairi finds out who you really are."

Shad made a face. "I think I'd strangle something, for starters. Maybe Tifa, if she was anywhere nearby." I could see his fists clench slightly.

"Anything else you'd do?" Sora asked.

"I can't think of anything specific," Shad replied.

I had a feeling that wasn't the whole truth, but I wasn't going to sit here and try and worm the rest out of him.

I reached into the hat, hoping for a question for Sora.

I got one.

"Here we go!" I exclaimed. "Finally, one for Sora. Though, actually, this is explained in story, or will be shortly… so…" I sighed and discarded the question. Thankfully, the next question I pulled out was for Sora, too. And, funnily enough, it was a slightly similar question. "Sora, I have another."

"Ask away."

"KKBeckett asks: 'Why can't you just own up and see Kairi? You're only making it worse by running...'"

"I-" Sora got a very troubled look. Recognizing the look, I cringed.

"Sora," I said slowly. "Are you going to be okay?"

"And here I thought this wasn't going to be interesting," Shad laughed.

I ignored him.

"Sora?"

"I-"

"Just… Just stop trying to remember what you're trying to remember, okay?" I told him. I felt kind of bad for doing this, but for the sake of this question being answered accurately, on top of other things, I had to. "You're going to hurt yourself or something."

"But I…"

Y'know, I just realized; the face that Sora makes (at least, that my Sora makes) when he can't remember something looks a lot like a face that Ven would make. Keep that in mind, readers. Sora's face when having trouble remembering something looks pretty much just like Ven's face when he's having trouble remember things.

You followed that, right?

"Sora, c'mon," I said.

"But it's important! Why can't I- ah!" He gasped and then rounded to glare at his Shadow, who was smirking.

"What, can't I have a little fun?" he asked.

"Leave Sora alone so he can answer the question," I warned.

Shad rolled his eyes, but dropped whatever hold he had on Sora.

Sora cast another glare at his Shadow and then sighed. "I… I just can't. Okay? I can't."

"That's a terrible answer, Sora," I said. "Sorry, but it is."

"I know. But that's all I can give you."

The tone in his voice made me decide to just drop the subject. Sorry KKBeckett, but I'm not going to try and squeeze a better answer out of him. The crud he's giving me concerning how he feels about answering this is almost as bad as Riku when he's in one of his moods, and I'm not going to sit here and try to unravel it.

I pulled another question out of the hat to read. "Shad-" I paused, catching drift of scene that Sora was thinking about. I stared at him for a moment, but then quickly reached for my journal.

"Oh great, now we'll be here for another hour!" Shad groaned.

"Shut up and let me write it, and we won't!" I replied. "Sora, keep focusing on that, let me write it down."

Shad didn't seem very happy about this, but the scene was so clear in my mind that I couldn't care less. I started writing it down, and about fifteen or so minutes later I was finished.

"Can we get back to that question now?" Shad asked as I put my journal aside.

I nodded and picked up the discarded question. "Alright, Shad, Peach asks: 'If you were to meet another Sora, would you be able to affect him and control him, especially if he was close to the Light?'"

Shad let out a breath. "Affect him, yeah," he said. "Control him, probably not. Not any more than I can control anyone else, anyway. It's not like he's my Sora."

"Your Sora?"

"What? I'm your Shadow. And we have yet to come up with a word that classifies people who have Shadows, so what else am I supposed to call you?"

I'd have to come up with a word that classifies people with Shadows…

Suggestions, readers?

"Just to clarify, Shad, you just said you wouldn't be able to control him, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, not to the extent I can control this Sora, anyway." He nodded over at Sora. "Why are we clarifying?"

"I feel like it wasn't entirely clear the first time," I replied with a shrug. "Next question! Flightfoot asks me: 'If Sora could go into Final Form, would that alleviate some of his darkness?'"

"What's Final Form?" Sora asked.

"Something you'll probably never use," Shad replied.

"Probably not, Flightfoot," I said. "His darkness problems are completely different than magik's Sora's darkness problems. I mean, since I don't plan to explore any of the Drive Forms, I haven't thought about it much, but I still don't think it would."

"It probably wouldn't, especially not with me around," Shad said. "However, next question."

I pulled it out and laughed. There couldn't have been a more perfect question to have shown up after Shad said that.

"So, it's from Cookie, and he says: 'Anyone with half a brain knows that Shad will ultimately fail-'"

"Excuse me?"

I smiled but continued reading. "'You know this, Rar. Shouldn't he as well?'"

"Does this kid want to be strangled?"

"What's with you and strangling people?" Sora asked. "And, your luck, you won't be on the same plane of existence of him."

"I wouldn't let you do it, anyway," I told Shad. He was clutching the arms of his chair very tightly. I'm sure if I could see his knuckles, they'd be white. "Anyway, the question continues: 'How does he feel about that? How does he feel knowing that ultimately all his efforts would have been for nothing, and that he would have failed utterly and completely?'" I grinned. "He admits that he's just trying to annoy you."

"'Utterly and completely' my ass!" Shad exclaimed. "The only way all end up failing is if Sora kills me – and it has to be him, no one else can – and we all know that Sora's too much of a nice guy to actually kill me."

"I am not!" Sora replied. "I just… haven't actually tried yet…"

"See, nice guy!"

The way Shad said it make it sound like an insult.

"Well, next time we meet in-story, I'll be glad to just finish you off," Sora said.

"Ooh, bold words!" Shad scoffed. "Especially considering-"

Obviously, he had shared something telepathically with Sora. I could tell just by the look on Sora's face as he thought about whatever it was. For some reason, I hadn't picked up on it.

"Is that seriously the next time we meet?" he asked.

"When?"

Sora sent me the scene that Shad was referring to. I frowned.

"I think you two run into each other before that," I said after a moment.

"Whatever." Shad rolled his eyes, not interested anymore. "Can we just move onto the next question now?"

"You never answered the last question," Sora pointed out.

"I believe I said: 'Utterly and completely my ass!'"

"That's not a proper response," I said.

"You let Sora get away with less!"

"Yeah, because he had a legitimate reason. You're just being stubborn."

"I won't fail."

"Please, you can't seriously be that conceited."

"Isn't it detrimental to your precious plot that something like this isn't mentioned?"

"We all know you're going to fail, Shad."

"I am not!"

"Denial!" I sang.

Sora was laughing so hard that he had fallen out of his chair (though, considering how simple the chair was, it can't have been that hard to do). The wolf shook itself slightly, though it couldn't have possibly looked any less interested in what was going on.

"Can we just move on to the next question now?"

"Shad," I laughed. "I know your bothered by this, but I'd like to hear you say it yourself if you don't mind."

I was being cruel, I know. But what's the point of letting Shad have his way? It'd be no fun! Besides, this was getting boring, I could feel it. What better way to make it more interesting than to bother Shad?

"I am not bothered!"

I shook my head in disappointment. "You are such a terrible liar! Do I need to call Aerith in here so you'll stop that?"

"You wouldn't dare!" Shad roared, jumping to his feet.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Are you threatening me?"

The wolf's ears perked up.

Sora stopped laughing.

"And just what if I am?" Shad replied. "What exactly are you going to do about it?"

I slowly folded my arms across my chest.

"I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about it," I told him.

"Then why don't we just move on to the next question?" he said sweetly.

"I already told you, we aren't moving on 'til I hear you admit you're bothered by this."

Next thing I knew I had his blade at my throat.

Hmm, I would normally flinch when faced with this type of thing, honestly, but I don't feel like giving Shad that satisfaction. I looked him right in the eye and didn't move.

"I am not bothered," he repeated, firmly.

There was an almost frantic look in his eyes.

"Put the blade down, Shad," I said simply. "Threatening me is going to get you nowhere. I mean, it's my brain; you can't hurt me."

"And like you can hurt me?" he laughed. "I know how you fight, and it doesn't get any more violent than throwing random food in people's faces."

I laughed. "Wow, you must've missed the past ten emails to Grace, then. I usually use random Legend of Zelda items. Granted, I can't here…" I made a face. "Anyway, put the blade down, Shad. As much as my readers would love to see us fight, I don't have time for it."

"Then let's move onto the next question."

"I already told you how I felt about that, Shad."

"Fine then." He raised his blade, as if to strike.

The idiot.

I kicked against the ground, rolling my chair back well out of the way, and pulled out a bow and arrow which was in no time aimed at Shad. (Even though, technically, I have never held a bow in my life… Ah well.)

"Must we do this?" I asked.

"What, make you look like a Mary Sue?"

"I think my readers understand," I sighed. "Now, just admit you're bothered by the fact that you're going to fail and we can move on."

"Isn't this an incredibly stupid thing to be arguing about?" Sora asked.

"I'm not backing down!" I replied. "I've made a point this far not to let Shad have his way, and if I let him have his way now I might as well just delete the past page of this. Now, Shad, answer the question."

"Yes, threaten to shoot me! That'll make me answer it! Hah! I know you won't-"

I let the arrow fly, though it missed by quite a bit.

"Just answer the question, Shad."

"I'm not scared of you! You can't make me!"

I dropped the bow (which disappeared instantly) and motioned slightly with my hand. Shad collapsed, clutching his chest. His blade disappeared the moment he let go of it.

"What. The. Hell?" he demanded.

I rolled my chair back closer to him. "You going to answer the question or not?"

"What are you doing to him?" Sora asked.

"Making him relive a painful moment," I replied.

I'd actually considered doing something else to him, but it would be impossible to put into words without sounding absolutely cruel. Plus, it'd most likely start a debate I'd rather not get into. It makes my brain hurt just thinking about it…

"He has a painful moment to relive?"

"I never said it was his."

Sora looked like he didn't know how to respond to that.

"Okay, fine!" Shad said through clenched teeth. "I'm bothered, dammit, now make this stop!"

I motioned with my hand again, and Shad quickly scrambled to his feet. After a second of glaring at me, he sat back down in his chair, crossed his arms, and pointedly looked away from us. I shrugged and pulled the next question out of the hat.

It was to Shad.

I considered it for a moment, and then put it back in the hat.

I pulled out another question. (Actually, I pulled out like, three. But one of them was to Shad, one of them required Shad paying attention to us or it wouldn't have been funny, and my OCD made me discard the last question in favor of this one.) "DarkNinjaPanda asks: 'Does Sora still have Kairi's good luck charm? He said he can't describe anything that's… - lucky, was he going to say?'"

"I was going to say 'anything that's happened to me recently as lucky'," Sora said. "And Kairi's what?"

"Good luck charm. It doesn't apply in this universe."

"Why not?"

"Because she never got around to making you one, and even if she had, there wasn't a chance to give it to you," I explained. "Sorry if you wanted one."

"I wonder if it would've changed things…"

"It wouldn't have."

"Oh."

I looked into the hat again.

Well… if I was rigging this…

I pulled out a very large piece of paper. "Sora," I said. "Peach asks-" I paused. "Well, this is less of a question and more of a hypothetical situation that they want your reaction to."

"Kay…"

"'A guy who looks like Shad introduces himself by the name of Vanitas, saying that he'll help you get rid of Shad if you tell him where a boy named Ventus is. You have no clue who Ventus is, have no clue who Vanitas is, and have no idea what Vanitas's intentions are. Do you trust him? And they want your reaction, too.'"

Sora thought for a moment. "Well, first off, I think I'd demand to know why the heck Vanitas looks like my-"

"Ohmygod that was his name!" Shad exclaimed, rather suddenly. "Vanitas! No wonder why I couldn't remember it, it's friggin Latin! And long! And it- it's… it sounds like Ventus…" He scowled. "Well if I had bothered to make that connection, I probably wouldn't have forgotten it…"

"What are you going on about?" Sora asked.

"Nothing. Ignore me, back to your question." Shad turned away from us again. "Though, I'd like to know how the hell Vanitas would plan to get rid of me—oh wait, he probably didn't even—"

"Shad!" I interrupted. "This is all just a hypothetical situation, and if you had finished that, you would've ruined Sora's reaction."

"How would he-"

"Just answer the question, Sora!"

"Okay, okay, geeze." Sora sighed. "As I was saying, I'd first demand to know why the heck Vanitas looked like my Shadow. Once I'd done that… uh…" He was silent for a bit. "I suppose that all hinges on whether or not I'd run into that Ventus guy before this, doesn't it?"

"The questions specifies that you didn't," I said.

"Oh, well, in that case… No. I don't think I'd trust Vanitas. I'd be suspicious of him because he looks like my Shadow, and I think I'd rather deal with my Shadow myself."

"And he mentions nothing about the fact there'd probably be something inside of him screaming about how trusting Vanitas would be a bad idea, of course," Shad muttered.

"Why would—what?" Sora asked.

"Ventus, you idiot!" Shad said. "The fragments of connection that are still between the two of you, and Ventus obviously wouldn't trust Vanitas, so he'd be screaming at you. And, as stereotypical Sora behavior mandates, you'd listen to the screaming inside your heart and not whoever might be trying to convince you otherwise."

"You lost me."

"Shad, give him a break," I said. "Sora isn't as… fluent in connections as you are."

"Oh, so the connection between everything is a language now?"

"Given the way you speak of it, I'm surprised I didn't make it a language sooner," I replied.

"Let me try and understand this," Sora said, slowly, scratching his head. "There's a connection between me and Ventus. But who's Ventus?"

"Some kid who's heart you helped heal because his was so painfully fractured it was almost ridiculous," Shad replied, shooting a glare over at Sora. "Do you not remember anything from when you were seven?"

"I don't remember that," Sora admitted.

Shad stared at him, now looking more confused than anything else. "So you don't remember not being able to sleep one night just because of how much you were crying, even though you had no clue why you were even crying in the first place?"

Sora shook his head.

Shad frowned, then turned to me. "Was that one of the memories I ended up keeping?" he asked.

"Must've been," I told him, even though I really had no idea.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, not sounding very happy.

Shad sighed. "Remember that time when you forgot everything that happened during to Fa- I mean, during those two weeks when you fell into darkness?"

Oh, so this rant was going here? Okay then…

Not like I knew where (or even if) it was going to happen in-story, anyway.

"Yeah," Sora replied. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, that was about the time I split myself from you," Shad said. "The split went wrong though, and I ended up with too much of your heart, too much of your memories – not a enough to be hazardous, but…"

"But I only lost memory of what happened during those two weeks…" Sora seemed very confused. Poor kid. This is one of those times that I feel bad for being in on the loop…

"That was the main stuff, yeah, but I took more than that. Not like I meant to, or anything, and I tried to give them all back, but I must've missed a few from your childhood."

I think "a few" is an understatement, but we'll just go with it.

"Like what?"

Shad shrugged. "This, along with-"

"Why can't I remember what happened the day of the school play?" Sora asked, rather frantically. "It's just… missing. And I know I wouldn't have forgotten that!"

Shad got a distant look as he went through the memories he had. He chuckled. "I suppose that would explain why he chose Agrabah as his most embarrassing moment," he said.

I glanced over the memory Shad was thinking about, too. It was that moment Kairi had mentioned; when Selphie offered her and Sora a lot of munny to get them to kiss.

That would also explain how Selphie managed to do it in front of the whole school…

She'd asked on the day of the school play (and I wouldn't have put it past her to have interrupted the school play just to ask them).

"Can we move on now?" I asked.

Shad shrugged. "Sure. I guess I don't have reason to sit here and nag Sora about not remember Ventus if I have his only memory of him."

"You wouldn't have reason even if you didn't," Sora said. "It happened… when I was seven, you said? I don't remember a lot from when I was seven, and not just because you have the memories."

It's a pity the memory thing would be resolved before book 5; it'd be such a fun thing to have the two of them argue about.

Ah well.

"Let's move on!" I said, before they could start arguing anymore. I pulled the next question out of the hat. "Xero asks: 'Sora's scar—does it look kinda like Braig's in BBS, or more like this thin scraggly looking thing?'" I paused. "Y'know, I really need to upload some of my concept art for what that scar looks like."

"Am I supposed to answer this?" Sora asked.

"Nah, it was directed at me," I said.

"And so why are you reading it here?" Shad asked.

"Again, in case you have input. Now, Xero, my original drawings of it… it's kind of thin, but thinking about it now, it should probably look more like Braig's scar. I'll have to redraw it…"

"Like you have time!" Shad scoffed.

I cast a look at him. "I can trace the base in like, ten minutes or less. I mean, I've used it three times now, my hands remember what everything feels like."

"Why have you used it three times?" Sora said.

"Once for the sake of tracing it, once for your scar, once for a concept for how your face would've been bandaged." I reached into the hat and pulled out another question. I smiled at it. "Shad! KKBeckett wants to know if you want Riku dead."

Shad burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? Hell no! He's the only fun person to mess with! Besides, he could be useful later."

That so wasn't the response I was expecting…

"She then asks what you would do if you two confronted each other."

Shad made a face. "I'd probably end up having to fight, considering Riku wants me dead," he said. "He does want me dead, doesn't he?"

"Well, I don't know, after making me stab him in the chest, and insulting-"

"Yeah, I thought he was pretty pissed in me. Well, we'd fight, and one of us would probably end up dying…" Shad shrugged. "Unless someone else got involved, of course."

Valid point.

I pulled out the next question.

"Sora, Peach asks if you have any clue how to beat Shad right now."

Sora thought for a second. "Well-"

I glared. "Please refrain from using any knowledge that you wouldn't have right now."

Sora pouted.

"Fine. Then no, I don't. I mean, I assume if I finally get my darkness in check and then go fight him, I'll be able to kill him. That's how these things usually work, isn't it?"

"Usually." Shad said.

Sora glared. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

Shad just smirked and didn't respond.

"Next question then," I muttered, picking one. "Sora. Peach says: 'Reaction to Real Thing. Would you still feel like you were in Riku's Shadow? Understand that he was in another person's shadow?'"

Sora stared.

"Uhm… can you possibly give that to me not all at once?"

Shad groaned and rubbed his head. "Damn you're slow!"

"Okay, you know who Real Thing is, right?" I asked.

"Of course he knows who real thing is! We don't refer to him as anything else!"

Geeze, what had ticked Shad off so much?

Hmm.

"Gee, Shad, what's got you so ticked?" I asked.

"I have better things to be doing with my life!" he snapped.

"Like what, stalking Kairi?"

He glared.

"Excuse me?" Sora asked.

"She's kidding. Just answer your question."

I sighed. "Sora, I think Peach is getting at how would you feel once you realized Riku, our Riku-"

"You don't have to specify!" Shad groaned.

"-used to be in Real Thing's Shadow. Would you still feel like you were in Riku's shadow?"

"I… I haven't felt like I was in Riku's shadow since he first showed up on the Islands. After everything that happened after that, and once I got back out of the Realm of Darkness… I don't know." Sora shook his head. "I don't know what I'm trying to say. I mean-" He paused for a second, then tried again: "I don't feel like I'm in Riku's shadow anymore. I really just don't care. There's more important things to care about."

"Can we just move onto the next question?" Shad asked.

Five questions left. I pulled one out. It still wasn't the one that I had meant to answer forever ago, but had put back in the hat for some reason. What were the odds?

"Shad. Peach wants to know what your reaction to Vanitas is."

Shad rolled his eyes. "If you're expecting something big, you aren't getting it. It's not like it'd be a surprise to run into him, minus the fact that, y'know, he's dead. But I know he exists. I know he looks nearly identical to me. I know quite a bit about him, especially after running into Ven inside Sora's heart a while back. Though, I never did figure out all the details concerning the χ-blade…" he trailed off, thoughtfully.

"And so… what would you do if you were to run into him?" I prompted.

"I don't know. I'd… pick a fight with him. For the heck of it. Why not?" He chuckled. "See if I'm stronger than him. Bet I would be…"

Aha!

There was the question.

"Hey! Wolfy that needs a name! C'mere!" I patted my knees.

The wolf didn't budge.

I think it fell asleep.

I let out a breath and then got down on the ground next to it. I ran a hand through its fur. "Hey!" I said.

It opened an eye at me.

It didn't look very thrilled.

"Cookie wants you to be really cool, and become a good guy and follow Sora around and just be an all-around legend."

It grinned a wolfy grin at me.

No idea what that means, Cookie, sorry.

But, I think I can promise you that I will not disappoint you with the wolf's role in my story. (I think.)

I got up and went back to my chair.

Both Sora and Shad were giving me odd looks.

I ignored them and pulled out the next question.

Oh, it was the question I was too lazy to answer earlier and, again, threw back in the hat. I discarded it, knowing that I wouldn't need the paper itself.

"Alright, Sora," I said. "I have three questions for you. All from Peach. Hypothetical 'what's your reaction to' questions again. Kay?"

"I'm not five," Sora said. "Just because I was slow on that one question doesn't mean I'll be slow on all of them."

"Sora, it's nearly midnight and I really need to go to bed. But I have two questions left, so forgive me for being a bit… soifhsdofjsfos."

"Ask away then."

"First off! Your reaction to seeing a parallel version of you and Kairi who were happy and together?"

"Oh, this'll be good," Shad laughed.

Sora laughed, too, though it was much more bitter.

I haven't missed that bitter laugh of his… (haven't written for Sora in nearly a month now. Focusing on Riku, then anniversary came up… I haven't actually written anything story related since… quite some time ago. The beginning of this month ish.)

"My luck," he said, and the bitterness carried to his voice, too, "My darkness will make me all jealous and—well, you know where things could go from there. They could get really ugly. Fighting, screaming—" He clutched his head, fingers curling into his hair. "And then the anger and the tears-"

I scooted my chair back a bit, as if it would actually distance me from the torrent of emotions and images I was getting form Sora. I suppose this is what I get for writing so late at night.

"That'd be fun!" Shad said, grinning. "I mean, how would that play out… you'd get jealous, start yelling at them, they'd try to reason with you, but you'd inevitably say something that would piss the other Sora off, and—"

"Shad, shut up," I said, firmly.

I didn't need him making matters worse.

"Sora, calm yourself down, I'd like to ask the next part of this question."

Sora took a few shaky breaths, and then looked up.

"Ask away," he said.

Thank goodness there were only two questions left after this one…

"Reaction to a parallel Sora who has no problems with the darkness," I said.

"Well… I'd like to think we'd get along, since we're the same person and all." Sora grimaced, then. I really don't like the grimace on his face… "But then I'd probably get jealous, and cue scenario that I just described."

"Except worse!" Shad added. "Because there would be no one there to stop you two from beating the crap out of other. I certainly wouldn't."

"Last one, Sora," I sighed. "Reaction to a parallel Kairi?"

The grimace left his face. "Well, I don't see this one going down a bad road…"

"Well-" Shad began.

Sora glared. "Don't you dare," he snapped. "Okay, well, I think that would probably just be awkward, and we'll leave it at that."

"Cool," I said, and pulled out the next question. "Shad, what do you plan to do once you beat Sora?"

He glared.

"After all that fuss about me failing-"

"Peach asked," I replied.

He thought for a minute. "Well, I'd say I'd go haunt Ventus, but that path most likely leads to me getting turned into a Keyblade. I could always go bother Ri- oh!" He laughed, darkly. "I'd go to the other universe. Make life miserable for the Memory Witch."

I didn't like that grin on his face.

"Last question," I said. "Sora, Peach asks: 'If you were to meet Riku, how would you apologize?'"

"Our Riku?" Sora asked.

"I think so."

He made a face. "What do I need to apologize for? I apologized for nearly everything back at the beginning of Dead Inside."

"You could apologize for stabbing him in the chest," Shad pointed out.

"I don't think he cares about that…" Sora said. "I mean, I'd say I was sorry for it, even though it wasn't my fault." He glared pointedly at Shad.

"That it?" Shad asked. He didn't wait for a response. "Good." He flashed out.

The wolf sat up and studied Shad's empty chair for a long moment. Finally, it seemed to sigh, before it walked out of the area.

I got to my feet, but paused.

"Sora… aren't you going to leave?"

"Uhm… I was thinking I'd just stay here," he said, shifting slightly. "That's okay, right?"

"Well, sure, I guess." I frowned. "But why would you want to stay here? No one else is here…"

"I'm not allowed in the other room, remember? Can't risk running into Kairi."

Oh yeah.

I was beginning to feel bad about that rule.

"You sure you want to stay?" I asked.

He nodded.

I looked at him for a moment longer, still confused. Then I realized where exactly I had left him, and suddenly understood why he was content with staying here.

"Alright… just- just be there when I need you, got it?"

"Please, that won't be for a while." He smiled a knowing smile at me. "Q hasn't even shown up, and you'll know how long Riku'll start delaying after that."

I chuckled. "True."

"See ya," he said, waving at me.

I turned away.

"Sorry," I muttered, and then was gone.