Roxas stretched out on the sand. This new world was pretty nice.
"You know, Sora does that all the time. Stretches out like that, I mean. He always falls asleep too. And then I have to wake him up. Sometimes I pour sand on him," Kairi said.
"That is just plain cruel," Roxas told her.
"I don't see how. It's not like he's not already getting sand everywhere."
"Yeah, well it's not like just because you've got a little sand in your clothes doesn't mean you need more!"
"Who said anything about clothes? I just said I pour the sand on him."
"If it's on you, it's going to get in your clothes."
"Guys, we have work to do," Mickey scolded.
Roxas groaned, but he did get up.
"Alright. Let's see, any hearts around here? Any? No?"
"Wait, I think that's one over there," Kairi said.
Further down the beach, near the bridge over to the islet where Kairi used to sit and watch the sunset with Sora and Riku, was where the heart was.
"I'll got check out that shack," Mickey volunteered.
Kairi and Roxas approached the heart together. When they were close enough, it came to life.
A young man stood in front of them. He wore a black tunic and pants, and calf-length black boots. He also had gray hair, and when he turned to them, yellow eyes.
"Hello," Kairi said. "I don't think we've met before. I'm Kairi. This is Roxas, though you wouldn't know him, since he's not from around here. Are you from the main island?"
Roxas wasn't so sure he didn't know the stranger. He was getting a strange sensation, like deja vu.
"Nice to meet you," the man said, bowing. "I am from the main island, though I left home a long time ago. It is strange to be back in this small little world."
Above them, Mickey exited the shack on the upper level, having found no one inside. He gasped and summoned his keyblade.
"Xehanort!"
Roxas and Kairi both leapt back. Xehanort gazed levelly at them, calmly assessing the situation.
"Kairi, hasn't anyone told you not to talk to strangers?" Roxas asked.
"Well how was I supposed to know he was our enemy?"
"What a shame," Xehanort said. "Yes, it's really a shame. If King Mickey hadn't interrupted, I might have gotten some useful information from you two. And you never would have wasted any time futilely fighting back. Now your deaths won't be nearly so peaceful, I'm afraid."
If Kairi and Roxas had had any doubts that this man was pure evil, they didn't anymore.
"You tried to make Riku and Sora into darknesses. You'll pay for that!" Mickey accused.
Xehanort didn't respond, and Roxas felt his sense of danger tingling. He lunged, dragging Kairi as far away from the man as possible. She may have learned a few tricks and was certainly good at fighting, but this was one of the darknesses.
Then again, Kairi was one of the lights. Maybe she'd be the key to their victory.
Where Roxas and Kairi had been a moment ago, Xehanort's keyblade whipped through. Roxas stared. He had never seen a keyblade in a whip form before. And it was already back to keyblade form, and shooting at them. Mickey was leaping down from the bridge above, but Xehanort was slashing, and the slash extended beyond his keyblade, adding extra reach to his attacks. Mickey managed to avoid getting hit, but he couldn't get close.
Roxas idly wondered if he had the ability to spontaneously learn and master triple wielding, because he wasn't sure his double wielding ability would even make a difference against this guy.