FadedPhantom: Sorry for the disappointment! I had a feeling you might feel that way. There were so many ways I could have taken this story, but I already had a plan in place for all that is still to come, and the overall focus of the story was just not really about Sora and traveling. I could have added it in, and it could have had some fun moments, but it seemed like a lot of bulk to add to the story that wouldn't really further the plot. That was my main reason. Secondary to that, I just don't really enjoy writing world hopping. It ends up being a lot of Heartless fights, which after writing several of those in my last fic I kinda felt like I had run out of creative steam in that area, and also a lot of writing out cut scenes, which is not my favorite thing to do. And if I'm not enjoying writing it, then chances are you're not going to enjoy reading it!

Anyway, my apologies for the fast forward, but I certainly hope that you will enjoy what I do have in store just as much or more.

Coolmegan123: Well, like I said above ^^ I knew some people wouldn't really like the time skip, but I'm glad that you appreciated the way it was written. I tried to make it as fun as I could! Also, I kinda feel like I should apologize for breaking your heart on more than one occasion, but on the other hand...* rubs hands together with an evil author smile *...that's my job! ;) Thanks as always for all your kind words!

A/N: Lots more views again the past few days! I'm definitely expecting those to drop now, though, now that KH III is FINALLY HERE! So, yeah, you guys enjoy playing it...I'll just be over here waiting a few weeks for my sisters to come back from Disney World so that we can start it together... * sniff *

It was a couple of weeks after Port Royal when we found ourselves back in Twilight Town. Being back there felt so strange, but I didn't have much time to dwell on it. Almost as soon as we arrived, we were pulled into a battle with a bunch of the lesser Nobodies in an area of town known as the sandlot. It was a tough fight, but with a lot of teamwork we got the job done.

"Impressive!"

We were still trying to catch our breath, and the newcomer took us all by surprise. I whirled around to see another black-coated figure standing a few yards away. I frowned, trying to decide if this was someone that we had seen before, but based solely off of body type it was impossible to tell.

"By the way," the man spoke again in a smooth, cool voice. "Have you seen a man named Axel? I expect he's here somewhere."

The voice and demeanor told me that this was not someone we had encountered yet. Something about the way he spoke gave me the shivers. And why was he asking us about Axel? Were we supposed to have run into him?

"Like I care," Sora retorted, jumping into his defensive stance.

"You see, Axel's no longer acting in our best interest," the man explained. My mind went back to my conversation with Axel, when he had mentioned not being on good terms with the Organization. Things must have gone south when he was looking for Roxas.

"Is he with the Organization, too?" asked Goofy.

"Yes," the man confirmed.

"You havin' a fight?" Donald queried.

"Not a very organized Organization," Sora quipped. It was a stupid joke, but I had to fight back a smirk, nonetheless. That's what I got for hanging around these guys for so long – eventually their sense of humor rubbed off on me, no matter how distant I might have tried to be.

The man pointed at us. "Don't let your guard down. Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a Heartless."

That accusation struck me as being a bit strange. What in the world would Axel get out of turning Sora into a Heartless? Unless...I ran all the possibilities through my head until it dawned on me. Unless he was actually aiming to create a Nobody – in other words, Roxas. It made sense, in a way. I definitely didn't trust the red-head, but obviously I couldn't trust this guy, either. He had to have a reason for telling us this, other than just being nice.

"Gee, thanks for looking out for us, mister," Sora returned sarcastically. "But I'm sure we can take care of ourselves just fine."

"Glad to hear it," the man replied. "Axel aside, it would break our hearts to hear something happened to you." Right, because for whatever reason, they needed a Keyblade bearer to be out killing Heartless. Guess that meant that they had given up on getting Roxas back, which is probably why Axel was going against them.

"Hearts? You don't have any hearts!" Donald countered.

"True, we don't have hearts." The man reached up and removed his hood, revealing long blue hair, yellow eyes, and an x-shaped scar across the bridge of his nose. The blue hair immediately reminded me of Chander, but I had never gotten a good enough look at his face to tell whether he really looked like this guy or not.

"But we remember what it was like," he continued. "That's what makes us special."

"Whaddaya mean?" Goofy asked as a dark corridor appeared just behind the man.

"We know very well how to injure a heart," he answered ominously. "Sora, you and your friend just keep on fighting those Heartless."

"Let's jump in after him!" Sora whispered.

"How come?" Donald questioned.

"I'm not sure, but maybe he'll lead us to the Organization's world."

"I don't know if that's a good idea..." I broke in.

"Don't be reckless," the man spoke up. "Do you want to end up like Riku?"

I snapped to attention immediately. How did they know about Riku? Was he in danger now, too?

Sora reacted visibly as well, dropping out of his stance. "What?" The blue-haired man merely bowed and backed away into the corridor, leaving us gaping after him.

"Hey, wait!" Sora cried, but the door was already closed. "What did he mean, end up like Riku?"

"I'm sure he's fine," I assured him, placing my hand gently on his arm. "He was probably just trying to throw you off so you wouldn't follow him." Sora nodded in agreement, but kept his gaze down at the ground.

A moment later, the black-haired boy that Sora had met the last time we were here ran up. "Oh, Sora!" he panted.

"Um...Pence, right?" Sora responded.

"Do you know a girl named Kairi?" Pence queried.

"K-Kairi? I sure do!" Sora shouted. We were all at attention again, waiting to hear what this was about.

"Then you better come to the station!" Pence replied. Sora agreed, and we all took off at a jog behind Pence. There was a big grin on Sora's face, and I could tell that he was more than ready to see his friend again. I, personally, was feeling suddenly nervous at the prospect of finally meeting my other self.

When we reached Central Station, the other two kids came running up to meet us. Kairi wasn't with them, however.

"Hey, so how do you guys know Kairi?" Sora asked.

The blond guy and the girl exchanged glances, then dropped their gazes to the ground. My heart was already starting to sink. This did not look like it was going to be the happy reunion that Sora was hoping for. The three kids took turns telling the story about how Kairi had showed up in Twilight Town a few days earlier, and was looking for Sora. While they were all hanging out in the back alley where we had first seen them, a dark corridor had opened and a certain red-headed Organization member had walked in. The kids claimed that they had tried to defend her, but Axel had dragged her off into the darkness.

Sora looked down at a star-shaped charm in his hand, something I had seen him staring at on more than one occasion. "Kairi..."

I watched him absentmindedly, feeling my body heat up with anger. So, I had been right not to trust Axel after all. I could just imagine how terrified poor Kairi must be feeling right now. If only we knew where Axel was hiding out, so that we could go after her.

I had a sudden idea, and quickly created a dark corridor around myself. Once in the In Between, I shut my eyes and tried to focus on the girl I had seen in my dreams. Perhaps there was a chance that I could track her down like I had Riku. With him, though, I was very familiar with how it felt to be near him, and could imagine him standing next to me. I couldn't do that with Kairi, and after several long minutes of trying, I had to give up. I opened a corridor back to the station and found everyone staring at me in alarm.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I was...trying to find Kairi. It worked for me once before...opening a corridor to a person rather than a place. But...I guess I have to really know the person for that to work." Ironic, that Kairi was basically me, but I didn't know her well enough to find her. "I'm really sorry. I can try again later, but it's dangerous to stay in there for very long at a time."

Sora smiled at me, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks for trying. I guess we'll just have to figure out another way to find her."

The uncharacteristic sadness in his voice crushed me. "I'm sorry," I murmured again.

"Has anyone ever told you that you apologize too much?" Sora laughed.

My mind flashed back unwittingly to an image of Riku, lying on his back in bed, running his hand through his silver locks, a small smile playing on his lips. "You apologize too much, you know that?" I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and had to shake myself back to reality.

"You don't have to be sorry," Sora was saying. "It was a good idea, and really nice of you to try."

I managed a half-smile back at him. "We'll find her somehow. I know we will."