"What will you do when you can't see him anymore? What will you do when he's found his path home, and you're left to find your own?"

I tried to tilt my head away as more vines slithered onto my face.

I'll find my damned path.

"If you would just accept the darkness, you'd find Orlando." I clamped down on the vine so hard I thought my teeth would chip, and couldn't reply. "It's easy to find anything when you can see in darkness." If Riku doesn't realize where I am… If he doesn't come soon… "I've been to the World That Never Was – I've seen the boy you want to save. I can show you how to rescue him."

A second vine began winding its way up my chin, freezing my lower lip as it wound its way up it. I pressed my lips together in a desperate attempt to keep it out, but it pushed its way in.

I want to save Orlando – but if I give in to darkness, it's obviously stronger than me – Riku will be pissed – isn't he coming soon? Giving in is wrong, isn't it? Xehanort won't show me how to save him, he'll just use me for his own plans… But Orlando…

I quickly snapped my teeth up then down, crunching down on the two vines as hard as I could – they crumbled in my mouth and I spat them out.

Golden eyes hovered in front of mine. "You have something to say?"

I took a deep breath. "What's wrong with you?" I screamed. "What compels you to capture me, every fucking time?"

There was a pause – the ice in his distant voice seemed to melt the tiniest bit. "I've been alone… for so long…"

"You've been inside Riku! How can you say that?" I squeaked.

A freezing hand gripped my chin, that deep bass voice ringing in my ears with hatred. "He's not enough!"

"Sorry to hear that," I mumbled, and twisted my head to bite his hand, but he gripped my chin harder. I could feel fingernails digging into my skin, drawing blood.

"The last time I heard, they were going to kill Orlando. It may be too late. He died, because of you."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to let you play puppet master," I snapped.

The vines were running up the back of my head, twisting in my hair, covering my ears. They crawled back up my neck and Xehanort tugged me to my feet by my chin.

"What do you think you're doing?" I scoffed. I will not give in.

"Consuming you."

I shuddered.

The next voice I heard was low and quick and all too welcome. "I don't think so." A flash of light made my eyes ache, and the bright colors beginning to swirl around me didn't help. The vines turned to dust and I collapsed to the ground, sore all over, eyes tight shut.

"Miyuki?"

"Get me out of here."

"Can you stand?"

"Yes."

I tried to move, but my body seemed to resist my mind.

"Alright, c'mere." His hand gripped my forearm, tugging my right arm over his shoulder, wrapping the other one around my waist. I would've felt humiliated by his needing to do this, if I didn't feel so glad to be out of the dark corridor and out of Xehanort's grip.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked quietly as we stepped into sunlight.

I could feel the warmth prickling the skin of my face, and opened my eyes to see teal ones staring back from beneath his hood. "No. He said he's been to the World That Never Was. That he's seen Orlando."

Riku's eyebrows knit. "That's impossible."

"Well, he could very easily have been lying," I said. I swallowed and sat down on the edge of the roof – we were in Twilight Town, overlooking Tram Common. I crossed my arms, trying to warm myself a little more. The aching had turned to burning, but I wasn't warm at all. "Did you feel cold?" I asked, staring at my lap.

He sat down next to me. "Yeah."

I swallowed again. "How'd you get out?"

"I didn't."

"He just let you go?"

"No."

"Then how are you—"

"You're the only one who sees me as me, Miyuki."

"So he's still… possessing you? But then how could he have hurt me like that while you were gon—"

His voice was low and shaky. "I was there."

My eyes snapped to him and I stared at him for a long moment. "What?"

"When I stepped into the dark corridor, I had to shut the doors so that no light got through at all. When I did that, he just took over. I kept fighting to take control again, but he was in rare form." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"That's disturbing."

"I'm weak."

"You're stronger than I am. I couldn't do anything but yell at him."

"I let him manipulate me and practically molest you."

"Molest?" I scoffed. "He barely touched me."

"Those vines weren't just botanical phenomena. They were him."

"Alright, but just because you were thinking perverted thoughts, doesn't mean he—"

He snorted. "Yes, it does."

I smirked. "So you admit to thinking—"

"I'm not the most self-controlled person in the world."

"Obviously." I felt a little smug, and very uncomfortable. He was there. He was the form Xehanort took on. In a sense… he was what was wrapped around me…

"I want to say he's not going to gain control of me like that again," Riku said. "I want to say that the only place Xehanort can grab ahold of me is in the dark corridor. But I don't know."

"Get stronger," I said.

"I would if, I knew how! I've pushed myself to the brink of insanity with physical training, but it's not enough."

"So train your heart!"

"How?" He turned his eyes to me and we stared at each other for a long moment.

"I don't know," I said, glancing away before smiling at him weakly. "You dealt with darkness for so long… One would think you're stronger than everyone else…" A breeze twisted around us and I shivered, goose bumps prickling on my skin. I scooted myself closer to him, my arm side-by-side with his. "I have a theory," I said.

He snorted. "Okay, DiZ, what theory?"

"I'll bet that you've been training the wrong part of your heart."

He stared at me a long moment. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean you don't just use your right leg to walk, right? Right. You use both. So maybe you've been excersizing the right side of your heart while your left side's just sitting there like, 'Hey, man, I'm gonna watch TV and eat Doritos'."

"That… makes sense. I guess."

I nodded. "So you've got to excersize the left part of your heart."

"Yes, but how?"

"Well…" I stared at my lap again. "You've dealt with being lonely for a very long time. Maybe it's time to deal with being with someone. …If that makes sense." There was a long pause, and I was pretty sure my eyes were going to burn a hole in my leg when I felt warm skin meet my cheek, warm breath spill across my face. I smirked. "I see you're—"

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his breathing uneven. He pressed his lips against my cheek again. "I'm so, so sorry."

I stepped into the library, Riku at my heels, DiZ setting a glass on the desk. He turned to face me.

"I heard you were caught up in darkness."

"Yeah."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, thanks." I smiled faintly.

"You're aware that Naminé says you encouraged her actions?" he said, folding his hands behind his back and staring at me with a collected expression on his face.

"Yeah, Riku told me," I said, thumbing to him. "What's wrong with her telling Roxas anything, anyway?"

"The process will be simple. Take memories from Roxas and return them to Sora. Informing Roxas of that process will only be torturous to him."

"Naminé doesn't seem to think so."

"Would you want to know?"

"If my memories were being dismantled and I had to suffer with it blindly until someone told me what was happening? Yeah, I would."

"Even if you could do nothing about it?" I wavered. "Miyuki, I told you. The moment you hindered our plans in any way—"

"Do you even know what I said to Naminé?" I scoffed.

"Obviously, it was enough to convince her she had every right to walk into the middle of things and dismantle it all!"

"Dismantle it all – like Roxas finding out the truth will stop you!"

"If he discovers how to come back to the real world, yes, it will be a great hindrance! I am tired, child, and I cannot debate my views with you any longer!"

"I'm not apologizing for what I said to her."

"I don't expect you to! I want you to understand that you are becoming a greater and greater risk to this entire operation. And I eliminate risks."

"DiZ!" Riku snapped, but I spoke over him.

"Oh? What, are you going to murder me if I keep telling Naminé that Nobodies are people too?" I mocked.

"I will not destroy any more lives, but I will turn you out of this household if you continue to threaten everything we have worked for."

"She's not threatening—!" Riku started, but again, I spoke over him.

"I didn't come here to bicker, I came here to say I never meant for Naminé to step in and jack it all up. Even if I think you need to start treating everyone equally, I agree, it probably is better Roxas doesn't know." I swallowed. "If I gave Naminé an ego boost and it went to her head, tough. She needed to know she's not a worthless piece of shit."

"Are you quite finished?"

"Why do you keep riding my ass about things I'm barely involved in?"

"Do you know how hard I've worked to reach this point?"

"So, because you're making progress in reversing everything you started, you're going to treat everyone like shit? Oh, wait – not everyone – just me."

His voice was a volume louder than I'd ever heard him speak. "You are going to ruin everything with your constant need to rock the boat, Aoki!" His chest heaved with each breath and he stared at the floor, his hands in fists at his sides. I stared at him blankly.

"DiZ, go to bed," Riku said quietly, stepping forward and taking his arm.

"Don't be ridiculous!" DiZ spat, shoving him off.

Riku sighed and grabbed his sleeve, disappearing all at once. My eyes wandered from where they'd stood, to the desk, and the empty glass there. I walked over and picked it up, sniffing at it. Alchohol. He must've polished off that bottle. I sat down, staring at the glass, leaning my elbows on the desk.

"He's just drunk," Riku said, now leaning against the wall next to the desk, flipping his hood down. "There's an empty wine bottle in the kitchen."

"Who's Aoki?" I asked, looking at him.

"He won't tell me."

I looked back at the glass. "I must remind him of her."

Riku spoke quietly, staring at the floor. "Miyuki… After what happened today… Are you sure you don't want to go—"

I stood up. "Don't make me hit you," I growled.

His expression was collected, steady. "I am just seeing if you haven't been rattled by what's happened."

"Of course I'm rattled. I feel stupid because of what happened with Naminé. I feel weak because I couldn't take Xehanort on. And when you ask if I want to leave, it scares the shit out of me. So don't even go there."

"Got it." He paused. "What can I do?"

I shrugged, crossing my arms and looking down. "I don't know."

There was a long pause. "…How about some ice cream?"

I looked back up at him and he smiled slightly. "That sounds good," I said.