Author's Note: Yes, I am enjoying torturing everyone by NOT letting Kairi and Sora get together (yet.) Ask my family, I do this with charries all the time. And yes, we are catching up to my timeline lining up with 'Some Things You Just Can't Escape'. This coincides roughly with the first chapter of that fic. Which is cool, I suppose. I'm catching up. Rarmaster's running way ahead in 'Dead Inside', but we'll catch up. And... I'm done talking about things that don't particularly matter at the moment. Go on and read.

"I feel significantly less special now."
"Do you think they'll kiss?"
"Oh, Pi's in another universe right now."

xx

However, the flowers didn't get a chance to do much damage. Before they even had a chance to start hacking away at the flowers, they all simultaneously burst into flames.

"Axel!" Sora said. "Took you long enough."

"Well excuse me, Roxas," Axel said, grinning. "But I was trying not to get my head chopped off. Got it memorized?"

"Run into the Queen, eh?" Sora asked.

"How'd you know?" Axel asked.

"She has a habit of wanting to take people's heads," Sora responded simply.

"I feel significantly less special now," Axel said, beginning to pick off the Rhapsodies.

The Heartless stopped coming after that. The five of them were easily capable of finishing them off.

"Where did all those Heartless come from?" Kairi asked.

"They are attracted to the Keyblade, are they not?" Eighteen said.

"Yeah, but they attacked here, not where we were," Sora said.

"Oh, I suppose that is true."

"The Queen mentioned something about a man in a black cloak, could be Xehanort, or his replicas or something," Axel said.

"I'm afraid that the only person in a black cloak around here has been me," Eighteen said. "I hope my presence hasn't been causing too much havoc for the Queen."

"Anything not about her is havoc," Riku muttered.

"Oh, well then I'm out of ideas," Axel said.

"It still probably has something to do with the Organization, or whatever it is they're calling themselves now," Sora said. "They attacked here, probably because Alice is here."

"You hear that, Alice?" the hare said. "You're wanted!"

"You should be flattered!" the man in the top hat added.

Sora growled. "There's just too much to do!" he said.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, looking at him straight in the face. "I know that you want to make sure that the Princesses stay safe, but it's impossible for you to be in seven places at once. Well, six, really, since I'm trying my hardest to stay with you."

She blushed as she said this, but kept going. "You're trying to do too much. We need to focus on what our mission is. Eighteen said he would keep an eye on the others. Besides, you and I both know that it takes all seven Princesses to bring about any Keyhole. And, last I checked, I'm not getting kidnapped if I'm with you."

Sora flushed.

"We have people to find. You're the one who said we just need to start looking. So, let's keep looking."

Sora reached out and took Kairi's hand. The two of them locked eyes, smiles quivering at the edges of their lips.

"Do you think they'll kiss?" Axel whispered.

"Nope," Riku said.

"Seriously?" Axel asked.

Riku nodded. "I've seen this before with the two of them."

Axel snapped his fingers disappointedly. "So what do you suppose that outburst was?"

"Oh, a bit of it was Kairi getting Sora's head out of the clouds, which is a place it resides frequently. And the rest of it was…"

"Determination that I've seen only in Namine," Axel said.

"Oh, Namine was behind that quite a bit. But Kairi can be ridiculously determined too when she wants to be. She always has been that way with Sora, making sure that he doesn't try to fly too high. And it's interesting that Namine has twice that determination, even though she had nothing of Kairi to go off of."

"You speak highly of such determination," Axel said.

Riku raised his eyebrows, but didn't vocalize his response.

"Well I don't know about you," the man in the top hat said. "But we have a tea party to finish! Would you care to join us? It's my unbirthday!"

"Uh, no thanks," Sora replied, turning to look at him. "We really need to be on our way."

"Suit yourself," the hare said, beginning to shoo them out of the garden. "We didn't want you anyway!"

"Thank you!" Alice called out.

"No problem," Sora said, waving.

"See you around!" Kairi said.

Axel mock-saluted and Riku nodded in their general direction.

"Actually, I would like some tea if you don't mind," Eighteen said.

A teapot began to pour tea into a half-cup. (Literally, the cup was cut in half, but the tea magically stayed in somehow.)

"Thank you," Eighteen said when the cup was handed to him.

"Is it your unbirthday?" Alice asked.

"I'm not sure, perhaps," Eighteen said, unsure of what an 'unbirthday' even was.

"Oh!" the man in the top hat began to sing.

"A very merry unbirthday to you!" the hare chimed in.

Eighteen resisted the urge to pull out his notebook and start taking notes.

xx

Gummi Ship

"So now where are we going?" Axel asked as they all settled into their seats.

"I'm heading in the direction of Neverland," Sora said.

"Any particular reason why?" Riku asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I want to show Kairi that I flew," Sora said, smiling wistfully.

Kairi giggled. "I've told you a thousand times, Sora, I believe you."

"But I want you to fly too!" Sora said.

Kairi smiled.

"Don't we have more important things to be doing?" Riku asked.

"Hey, I could use a vacation," Axel said, reclining in his seat.

"You can always use a vacation," Sora said, looking back at him.

Axel shrugged. "I need time to sleep, too," he said.

"Who said Neverland's going to be a vacation?" Riku said.

"Well, something about going someplace to fly about sounds like a vacation to me."

"Well, by now, we need to keep an eye out for replicas," Riku said with a sigh.

"True," Sora said. "Plus, the Unversed have probably gotten farther spread out by now."

Kairi frowned. "Lovely."

"We'll still go flying," Sora said, looking at her with a smile.

She smiled; then leaned down to pulled out her sketchbook. Namine was itching to draw.

Sora fired up the Gummi Ship and they took off. Axel snoozed, Kairi drew, Riku was left to his own thoughts about determined girls.

The picture Kairi (or Namine) drew was one of Sora flying just over a pirate ship, Donald and Goofy not too far away.

"Hey, Sora," she said, looking over at him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Did this stuff really happen?" she asked, showing him the pictures.

"I remember that day," he said. "It was the first time I had seen you since Destiny Islands fell into darkness. It made me really happy!"

"I don't remember Neverland," Kairi said with a frown.

"Unfortunately, you wouldn't," Riku said, a twinge of bitterness in his voice.

"Oh," Kairi said. "I understand." Her heart had been asleep inside Sora at that time.

xx

Twilight Town

Olette was helping her mother stock up merchandise before the two of them closed up shop and went home for the evening. Ever since Axel had left, Olette had fallen back into the same old pattern she had been in before she had stumbled across Axel in the Usual Spot that one day.

'Do you ever wonder where he's gone off to? Him, and Sora and them?' Hayner had asked, just the other day.

'I don't know,' Olette had replied. 'But I'm sure it's somewhere exciting.'

'Nothing exciting ever happens here,' Pence had complained.

"Olette! Be careful with that," her mother scolded, noting the fragile pot in Olette's hands that she was just haphazardly putting onto a shelf.

"Oops, sorry, I was distracted," Olette replied.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "You were thinking about where Axel and Kairi had gone off to, weren't you?"

Olette shrugged. These conversations with either of her parents never went very far. Her parents (and just about every other adult in the warm, but naïve Twilight Town) didn't believe in other worlds. Sora and Riku had mentioned something saying that that was how it was supposed to be. But then Kairi had said something about how the worlds used to be connected.

Olette knew that they were in another world out there, somewhere. They were on some other twinkling light in the sky. She was curious as to what other worlds were like, and wondered what determined who got to travel between worlds and who was stuck at home. She didn't resent Sora, Kairi, Riku and Axel in any way; nor did she have any particular desire to follow after them. She just wanted to know more.

Maybe it didn't matter.

But next time they came by, she would ask them about their adventures.

And they would come by again. Sora had promised.

xx

Hollow Bastion-Replicating Room

Vexen's footsteps echoed very loudly in the hallway full of stasis pods. Xehanort 'walked' alongside of him, however, his feet did not touch the floor, he hovered several inches above it, as if he were too cool to actually set foot on the ground. He definitely thought he was above such things.

"You keep things very clean here," Xehanort observed. He had nothing else to say at that moment, all of his Replicas were at the end of the hallway.

"Yes," Vexen said quickly. He thought about mentioning that it was Vexen Beta's job to clean, but he figured that Xehanort wouldn't care.

They finally reached the last six pods on the end. Each had a glowing green orb above them, signifying that they were complete and ready.

"And there are no complications?" Though the comment was phrased like a question, Xehanort's tone made it sound more like a statement.

"Of course not, sir," Vexen said. "I have done this process a multitude of times…"

"A simple 'no' would suffice," Xehanort said through gritted teeth.

Vexen found himself bowing his head in some odd form of shame. He did not like it. Long gone were the days when he and Xehanort were comrades, researching alongside each other, studying hearts and darkness and whatnot. Those days had not existed since before the era of Organization XIII. Vexen was now scared of Xehanort, and he didn't like it. He wanted out. And he wanted out now.

"So they are complete?" this time, Xehanort's question actually sounded like a question.

"Yes," Vexen said. "All I need to do is activate them. They could feasibly all be up and completely functional in fifteen minutes."

"Feasibly?" Xehanort barked, raising an eyebrow.

"They could be up and completely functional in fifteen minutes," Vexen said quietly, rephrasing his last sentence.

"Good," Xehanort said. "Activate them now."

Vexen balked. Now? he thought, but he did not dare voice it.

He nodded silently and pulled out the tablet that only he (or select Replicas of him) could operate. After a few quick swishes and taps of his fingers, the stasis pods containing the six Xehanort Replicas all began to open simultaneously.

The smile on the Original Xehanort's face was sickening.

Vexen closed his eyes and wished, very much so, that he could be anywhere but here.

xx

Hollow Bastion-Vexen's Study

Vexen had left Xehanort to his Replicas and had returned to his office, feeling completely exhausted, worn out, and brain-dead—a bad combination for an academic such as himself.

He sat down in his office chair and rubbed his temples, almost wishing for his Nobody existence where feelings (and headaches) didn't exist.

Delta walked in with a plate of pasta.

"Is food the only thing you ever think about?" Vexen asked.

"You programmed me to be in charge of meals and to ensure you ate regularly, Master Vexen," Delta replied.

"Oh yes, yes, of course…" Vexen muttered, vaguely remembering this tidbit that was probably a brilliant revelation late at night but now seemed to be a bit of a nuisance. "You know, you would think I would have put Pi to that job…"

Vexen paused, he had not seen Pi around recently.

"Delta, do tell me," he said. "Where is Pi? Did I send him on a data gathering mission and he simply hasn't returned, or what?"

"Oh, Pi is in another universe right now," Delta replied, as a matter-of-factly. "Something to do with the 'Edd' problem."

"Oh," Vexen said, recalling the odd stranger who crossed universes and wreaked havoc of some sort wherever he went. "Right. Well, if he comes back and you see him before I do, tell him I want a detailed explanation of how the parallel universe works, where the timeline is at and how the Replica Program or Programs are proceeding there. Provided there is a Replica Program at all."

"Chances are," Delta said. "He is in a close parallel, so only a few things would be different."

"I know that," Vexen responded, sounding offended.

"Why yes, of course you do, Master Vexen."

Vexen growled and picked up a fork to dig into his pasta. It wasn't half-bad. Delta went away, probably back to the kitchen to work on some other concoction of food.

"Maybe it's a good idea I programmed him that way after all," Vexen mused between bites. "This is actually rather good."

He finished his food before pulling his tablet back out to see if he had any other projects to work on. He had been busy with Replicas for so long, that he almost couldn't remember any other projects. However, his tablet soon provided him with many ideas—one of which involving close parallel universes.