~o~

More shops had been put in along the streets. Flowers in perfectly plotted gardens and fountains dotted the landscape, making everything feel more alive. Radiant Garden was really transforming into its namesake again. I was the first to reach the Restorative Team's base when we got into town, but as I strode through the door, I wish I'd delayed a little. Everyone was arguing. It was so loud I couldn't even hear properly what it was that was wrong. And no one even noticed that we'd entered the room.

"Guys!" I bellowed, my voice barely carrying into the cacophony. Frantically, I waved my hands and continued shouting, but we might as well have been paint on the walls.

Glancing over at Riku, I shrugged my shoulders as if to ask, 'now what'. Smirking down at me he lifted his hand to his lips and let loose an ear-splitting whistle. Wincing at the sound, I gave him an impressed smile to which he merely shrugged with a pleased glint in his eye before turning back to the others. By now they'd seen us, and were all smiling in embarrassment.

Leon stepped from the crowd and asked gruffly, "What do you want? And who's that?"

He jerked his thumb at Riku who made no move to explain. I laughed good-naturedly and replied, "Well, this is Riku! And we're here because we need to ask some questions about someone. What's the ruckus about?"

"We're running ourselves ragged!" Yuffie exploded, throwing her hands in the air. "I can't tell you how many things we have to do to make this place even remotely functional! I mean, we need more man power! I can't take much more!"

"Don't worry, Riku and I can help out," I started happily.

Leon offered up one of his rare lopsided grins, looked over our shoulders and asked curiously, "What do you guys need to know anyway? And hey, where's Faitouru? Wanted to see how he's coming along…"

My face fell. Faitouru and Leon had always acted like brothers. How was I going to tell him that Fai had been kidnapped? At a loss for words, I looked between their worried faces, wide-eyed and open mouthed. I could see the worry mounting. Riku stepped between them and me as he announced, "Faitouru was taken…"

"By who?!" Leon bit out angrily. I felt his eyes travel over me accusingly, but I couldn't meet his gaze.

Riku answered smoothly, "That's who we wanted to ask you about. We know it was a woman named Aqua; a Keyblade Wielder that has control over the Darkness. We were hoping you guys might know something about her."

We were met by blank faces as the others tried placing the description of the woman with anyone they'd seen or heard. They had nothing. Head hanging low, Leon muttered for us to follow him through town to help get rid of some pesky Heartless groups. I felt horrible, but I knew I couldn't let it get to me. I had to prove to Leon that I would do everything I could to get Fai back. As Riku and I were saying our goodbyes I pulled Leon aside and said, "Nothing will stop me from getting him back, I promise you."

"You better keep your word," he said, dead serious. Keeping my eyes locked on his, I nodded.

The others waved behind his shoulder as I started heading back through the growing town. Stuffing my hands deeper into my pockets, I looked around and told myself that I would work harder than I'd ever worked before to bring him back. I would make it right again.

"Wait!"

Just up ahead, Riku ran by the archway in front of me into an alley, calling after someone. It was all strangely familiar to what happened to me on the Axiom. Feeling my heart pounding in time to my feet running over the streets, I went after him. And there, just ahead, was the same hooded figure. There was no other explanation, it had to be Fai!

"Stop…!" Riku hollered. But it was no use.

We came around the last line of houses into what looked like an older more unfinished part of town. Chunks of building lay crumbled in the street, as the empty husks stood looming over a small circular square. The figure paused in the center, unable to go anywhere else, and turned to look at the pair of us.

Gasping I cried, "Fai please, come back with us!"

I could see the indecision in his body language. But what could be holding him back? Holding my hand out as an offering, I started walking slowly towards him, never taking my eyes away.

"Leave him."

Appearing from a swirling Dark Corridor was a tall, lean figure of a woman that could only be Aqua. She too wore the familiar black coat of the Organization. Her hood was up, obscuring her features, but I knew. Quickly holding out her hand, she forced Fai to stop in his tracks. Looking to Riku and me, I could feel the longing coming from him.

"Don't listen to her!" I cried out, as he hung his head and made his way into the portal. But I might as well have been talking to a rock. He stepped in without looking back. Whatever hold she had over him, I was going to end it. Taking a few angry strides forward, I bellowed, "Aqua!"

She paused, her back to me. For a moment, I thought she might ignore me as well, but then she did something I wasn't expecting. Lifting her hands, she slowly pushed back her hood, revealing her head of bright blue hair. Her eyes found mine over her shoulder, and in them, I saw sadness. But what could that mean?

"That is not my name…" she muttered softly before stepping through the Dark Corridor.

Dumbfounded, I looked back at Riku and asked, "What was that about?"

He merely shrugged and said, "I think we should check in with Master Yen Sid."

Nodding, we quickly went back to the ship and asked Chip and Dale to patch us through to the Mysterious Tower. The old wizard came up on our screen looking a little surprised to hear from us so soon. We related all that had happened, mentioning that it seemed to us like they were looking for something.

"It appears that Master Aqua has not fared well in the Realm of Darkness…" he mused, clasping his long fingers together under his chin in thought. "As for young Faitouru, the legends and laws of the Protector are a mystery to me, but others may know. My only recommendation would be to travel to different worlds and search for anything that could be of use to our cause."

We both bowed respectfully before signing off. Hurrying around the cramped cabin Riku called over his shoulder to me, "There's another world with a spike of Heartless activity. We should get there in two hours, maybe a bit more."

"Okay, I'm going to take a quick nap if you don't mind." I said, pointing with my thumb to the room that held our bunk. "Come wake me in an hour and we'll switch?"

I didn't look to see if he agreed. I was exhausted. I could barely concentrate on walking let alone flying a Gummi. I fell onto the stiff mattress and sighed heavily. But sleep wasn't as easy to come by as I'd hoped it would be, not with Fai out there still in Aqua's clutches, trying to fulfill some unknown task. I missed him. So much so that it left a painful ache in my chest. Even if he said something cruel to me, it wouldn't matter, I only wanted to hear his voice again and know that hope wasn't completely gone. But I can't think like that. Hope is still here even if he won't look me in the eye, or talk to me. I have to think of the happier times.

Resting my hands over my eyes to shut out the remaining light, I took in deep breaths, trying to calm my heart. I only had to think of when everything was right. Like when we first saw each other. Our eyes met and it was like something had clicked deep inside me. I knew then that we'd be friends. Then there was when he'd laughed for the first time in front of me. We'd been in Wonderland, and I couldn't have been more pleased about being wrong about a person. I'd thought I'd never be able to make it through that thick outer shell of his. Of course it had been at my own expense, but seeing it then made me realize that he was a truly good person.

Suddenly, as I recalled moments with my best friend, I could feel my consciousness being pulled deeper and deeper until I wasn't thinking anymore. I was floating down through an impossibly blue sky to my home, Destiny Islands. On I went, my dream-self diving closer to two figures running along the white sand. At first I expected to see the tops of mine and Riku's heads, but…the second was…

"C'mon, wake up you lazy bum. It's your turn to steer." Riku called. His hand on my shoulder shaking slightly drew me back to reality in a split second. As my eyes flashed open I asked myself the question: who had that been?

Shaking my head as I caught sight of Riku's smirking face, I muttered an apology and moved past him towards the main cabin. As he sat down he called after my retreating back, "Don't crash us, okay?!"

Nodding deftly, I stumbled sleepily out and sat heavily in the chair. Shaking my head, I told myself that it was only a weird dream, and checked our coordinates.

~0~

Stepping out onto the world, I took in a deep breath. The air tasted salty with a hint of cool earth. Probably because we were standing in an underground grotto, on a dock, next to a submarine that quite possibly was sitting in salt water. I smiled to myself, as I clapped my hands together and began looking around. So where was the danger? And almost like it was answering my very thoughts, both Riku and I heard frightened cries ring out from up ahead. Giving him a quick look, I called out my Keyblade and dashed down the path towards the noise.

When we skidded to a halt in the center of a torn up campsite, I saw Heartless bearing down on nearly a dozen people. I didn't waste any time, merely jumped into the fray. It took the pair of us a while, but when we'd dispatched with the last of them, my hands were immediately taken up by a wiry young red head named Milo Thatcher.

"W-Wow," he cried, quickly moving to Riku to also shake hands vigorously. "Just…wow. That was incredible!"

Adjusting his glasses, he motioned to the others who'd taken refuge behind a pile of wooden crates, and continued, "Those creatures have been terrorizing us since we arrived, and you two…took care of them easier than –"

"Than me, Mr. Thatcher?" a deep voice finished questioningly.

I turned and caught sight of a tall barrel-chested man with grey hair accompanied by an even dozen armed men and one curvaceous woman with long sweeping golden locks. Instantly I felt the hairs on my arms stand up. And one thing I know from when that happens, is that it's never a good sign. This guy had to be up to something…and that something had to be nothing short of sinister.

Milo's freckled face went pale as his own eyes fell on the man. A young woman with skin the color of chocolate and hair as black as coals stepped forward, slapping Riku roughly on the shoulder (although I don't think she meant it to be that way) and said, "Roark, these boys just saved us!"

"Yes, but have you wondered how they got down here to join in on our top secret mission?" he countered harshly, sizing Riku and I both up.

"We weren't following you!" I answered haughtily. "We got down here on our own!"

"So you don't know anything about what we're trying to do down here?" the blonde woman asked skeptically finally speaking.

I merely grinned and answered, "Not a clue!"

"Well we can't just let them leave." An older woman coughed out, the cigarette held delicately between her index and middle finger creating small smoke rings around her head.

"E-exactly!" Milo cut in nervously, wringing his hands. "That's why we should let them be a part of the expedition."

The man Roark looked down at Milo with smoldering eyes until finally he stood straight, seemingly letting all the ill feelings fall away and cried, "Then I think my security detail would be glad to take you boys in!"

Nodding gratefully, Milo quickly took a hold of our elbows and steered us away from the large crowd. He then set us down on a pair of stools and situated himself before us. Before we could talk he muttered under his breath, glancing back to the others as he did, "I don't care who you two are working for, but the only way you'll be safe now is if you stay with me."

"What makes you think we're in danger?" Riku asked leaning in closer to the squirming man.

His eyes wide, he took a deep breath and explained, "I'm a linguist and a cartographer. For years I've been lobbying to get a team down here to help me uncover the greatest myth in history; the lost city of Atlantis! Everything was going fine until we set up camp here. Roark had his…team of goons sent in from the surface and well they are…rather odd."

"Odd? What do you mean?"

"Something about them is wrong. Not only that, but Roark's eyes have changed," Milo answered, glancing nervously at said man. "And those creatures – the ones you got rid of a moment ago – have been swarming the paths through to the other side of the cavern. We think they're drawn to the lost city's power source, but his men have barely done anything to get us past them!"

"But why does that put us in danger? We only just got here." I questioned.

"It's Atlantis. Roark, he…he needs to find it. And I don't think he'll let anyone get in the way of that discovery. Not if he can help it. I'm even starting to wonder if he even wants us to find it." Milo said lowly. "That's why you two need to be careful around him."

Riku and I both glanced between us before nodding seriously in understanding. At that, Milo sighed and rubbed his eyes, pushing his overly large glasses out of the way. Muttering to himself he said, "All I want is to prove it's real. That's all…"

"Don't worry," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "We'll help you find your um…Atalanta?"

He laughed and asked looking back up at me, "You really don't know what Atlantis is, do you?"

"Not too much of a surprise with this guy," Riku added smiling impishly. "He doesn't get much through that thick skull of his."

"Hey!" I cried, glaring over at him. "You don't know what it is either!"

Milo just laughed and told us that once camp was cleaned up, lunch would be served and he'd get us acquainted with the others.

As we went about the small rocky camp, helping right overturned tables and broken tents, Riku asked out of the blue, "Were you having a bad dream before?"

"Huh?" I stopped and asked, raising a brow unsurely.

"Back on the Gummi Ship, before I woke you up, you were muttering and…looked upset."

"Oh…" I muttered, drawing my brows together in thought. "I don't know. I can't remember what it was about, now."

He returned the smile I gave him but reluctantly, and I could still see the worry in his eyes as we made our way over to the long picnic table where the others were gathering. But I didn't think about it anymore since I was being introduced to an enormous group of people all at once. Gaetan "Mole" Moliere was a dirt loving Frenchman that served as the team's…dirt expert so to speak. Cookie was the elderly chef that reminded me of Cid in a lot of ways, accent and all. Wilhelmina Packard was the sarcastic elderly woman, never without a smoke in her hand that operated the team's communications. Audrey Ramirez was the young dark skinned woman that spoke up before. She was extremely spunky and definitely not afraid to chew your ear off (in my case cause I knocked over a pile of her special wrenches and definitely didn't hear the end of it) and worked as the team's head engineer. Dr. Sweet was the medic, fast-talking, and kind. Lastly, was Vinny the mustachioed demolitions expert, or as he liked to say in his thick accent, "I make things go 'boom'". All in all, a very colorful and…interesting group.

Fai would've hated being with this many people. I could see him now, sitting close to me, but angled in such a way that said 'don't talk to me' to everyone else. But after a while, he would warm up…he always did. I bowed my head, hoping that the flickering shadow the fire was giving off (that we now migrated to sitting around), would be enough to hide the tears threatening to fall from prying eyes. But of course, I felt Riku's warm hand rest gently against my shoulder. I was grateful he didn't say anything.

All I could manage to whisper was, "I hope we find something soon…"

The whole group had just slipped into that sleepy state you find yourself in after eating a large meal, when suddenly a loud mechanical roar erupted from over the cliffs in the direction Atlantis was supposed to be in, accompanied by the crash of rocks breaking. Instantly I was wide awake and on my feet. Frightened cries rang out all around me as I searched for the source of the disturbance. And then I spotted it scuttling like a giant scorpion over the side of a ridge just down the path from us. I called for the others to retreat just as its large yellow eyes zeroed in on us.

Once they were safely out of harm's way, I glanced to Riku and asked sarcastically, "Wonder where Roark and his men went off to at such a convenient time?"

"C'mon!" Riku roared, rushing forward. I followed close at his heels, letting him take the lead.

As we ran, I peered up at the Heartless, trying to figure out what kind it was. It was huge obviously, which meant tough. But it also seemed to have the outer shell of the same sort of rock that made up the cave. Not only that, but under the hard surface and shadowy layer underneath, was a molten core of lava. Both of us had to dodge a few globs of this hurtling down on us as the Heartless flicked its tail.

When we reached the base of the cliff it clung to, I had to continue dodging its rain of fireballs as I jumped from one ledge to the next, trying to hit its front legs. Of course it would scuttle away to the other side before I could do some real damage. So minute upon minute passed, playing this little game of chase, until finally Riku knocked one of its front legs out causing it to topple over.

It crashed to the ground below – its legs and tail flailing angrily – causing everything to quake. Sending a quick burst of my blizzard magic down first, I hurled myself into the air and landed on its soft underbelly, delivering a powerful finishing blow. Quickly, I somersaulted down and watched as its heart slowly drifted up into the air towards the grotto's ceiling. There, it dissipated into a swirl of opaque smoke.

No matter how many times I see it happen, it still makes me feel a little sorry for them.

After a moment of silence, I turned to find Riku also gazing up at the place where the escaped heart had dissipated. Putting a small smile on, I said, "Good work."

He started and met my gaze. Throwing my arm up and over his shoulder, I pulled him down to my level and ruffled his hair. Finally giving me the laughter I'd wanted to hear in the first place, he pushed me away. Walking back to camp he said, "Guess Roark's men were too scared to take on that Heartless."

I answered putting my hands behind my head with a laugh, "Yeah, but it would have been nice to have a hand though."

When we reached camp, we were greeted with stunned appraisal. None of them thought we'd make it back alive. I merely grinned and asked if I could rest for a bit somewhere. Milo eagerly led the pair of us to his tent, which wasn't much, but at least there was a lumpy pad rolled out. Once we were settled, he poked his head in and whispered, glancing over his shoulder, "Roark made the excuse that his men had been detained by a group of those smaller creatures further back. But I don't believe him for a second. I'm glad you two came back in one piece."

"Do you think Roark has something to do with the Heartless just now?" I asked Riku as soon as Milo was out of sight.

He nodded, "Probably, but we can't be certain until he uses his powers openly. We'll just have to play his game until that happens."

Sighing heavily, I flung my arms up behind my head so I could rest on them comfortably and muttered, "And whenever that happens we'll be ready for him."

Yawning, I closed my eyes and murmured something about being totally worn out before I fell into the dream world.

~o~

The air had taken on a golden hue, turning the early evening into a pleasantly warm wonderland. I stood on the beach at Destiny Islands looking out across the water in the direction of the main island. My bare toes dug into the warm upper layer of sand, finding the cooler stuff underneath, making a small shiver run up my spine.

"You have to remember."

Turning curiously towards the voice, I felt my eyes widen in shock as I looked down at my younger self. His aquamarine eyes bore into my own as he stood gazing up at me. Suddenly feeling like my throat was dry; I asked hoarsely, "Remember what?"

"You have to," he repeated urgently. "Or you'll never be able to bring him back."

Shaking my head, I knelt down to my younger self's level and asked, "What do you mean? Who am I bringing back?"

But now he stood silent, merely looking over at me like I was something interesting sticking out of the sand. I tried reaching out to touch his (my?) shoulder, but was shocked to find that my hand went straight through his chest. I was gazing completely dumbstruck down at my hand – that looked solid enough – when I heard other voices calling from behind me. My younger self seemed to light up with happiness, waving his arms excitedly over his head in greeting.

And then I knew that I had to turn around. I had to find out who was there. Deep in my heart, I knew it was more important than anything that I see who was coming to meet…me. But as I began pivoting on my heel, I could feel the dream slipping away. Everything was falling, leaving empty white spaces and broken fragments behind. Just a little more! It was like one of those dreams where you push yourself to run as fast as you can, but never go more than a few feet.

I could see Riku's silhouette from when he was the same age, running over the shattering ground to get to me. And behind him getting swallowed by the expanding light, was someone else…