Enamis09: Yep, I decided it was more fun to bring Xemnas in this time instead of sticking with Young Xehanort. Besides, the whole thing with bringing doppelgangers into the Organization was his idea back in Sorrow's Promise, anyway. You're right about her not being able to control the darkness as well as an Organization member. She thinks she can, but I think we all know it's not going to turn out well for her.

DyingofFeels: Yep, that would be the smart move. However, there may end up being...extenuating circumstances...

Hcbnc: Yeah, there's really no way that this scene can go well!

Coolmegan123: Haha glad you enjoyed it! I particularly enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hope you like it just as much.

A/N: Welcome, new follower/favoriter! Thanks for joining us!

How do they always know where I am? How did he know that I've been going back to my universe?

Xemnas' face remained stoic as ever, his arms crossing his chest and golden eyes glinting in the sunlight. "As I said, I am here to collect the newest potential members of the true Organization. We have many options before us, but having more than one plan in place is always a good idea, wouldn't you agree? All three of you will have the opportunity to play a vital role in our path to victory."

Zeph had leapt up from where he had been constructing a crude sandcastle upon Xemnas' entrance to stand beside me, and I took a step in front of him now with eyes narrowed. "None of us are going anywhere with you, you pompous–"

My growl was interrupted by Kaj striding past me, straight toward Xemnas. I blinked, breath catching in my throat. "Kaj, no! Stay back! What are you...?"

Xemnas' mouth curved into an evil smile as Kaj fell into place standing next to him. Shuffling his feet, the black-haired boy stared down at the sand, not meeting my shocked gaze. "This is...this is what that guy wanted. The one who tried to get us to come here. He was offering us a position with this Organization."

I was both dumbfounded and furious. Is Saix really screwing up my life yet again? "So? He's a psychopath! They all are! You don't need to do what he wants!"

"I'm doing what I want, Meli." Kaj's eyes bore right into mine, and his expression had changed from whatever it had been before – sheepish, a bit lost perhaps – back into cold and smug like at the warehouse. "This is the reason I came with you. Sorry for throwing off whatever grand plans you had for me, but I have my own."

"These are your plans?" I sputtered. "Joining Organization XIII? Do you even...do you even know who they are? What they're doing? They're our enemies!"

"Your enemies, maybe." He shrugged carelessly. "I told you, I'm ready for a change. I'm ready to be needed. I'm gonna play 'a vital role' here." He cut his eyes over to Xemnas, who was listening to the exchange with amusement, then back to me. "And you can, too."

I hardened my gaze. "Oh, I will, trust me. But it won't be with Organization XIII."

Xemnas took this as his cue to take up the conversation once more, holding out his hand toward me. "Ah, but Meli, your unique skills would lend themselves perfectly to the Organization. We are pleased to have both of your friends join us, of course, but you are the one who already has the training needed."

I flinched and took an instinctive step backwards, feeling Zeph still right behind me. "We both remember what happened the last time you wanted the use of my 'unique skills'. You're crazier than I thought if you think I'm gonna let that happen again."

"This time, however, you would be working with us, a true member of the team." He took a step toward me. "Don't you want that, Meli? To be a part of a team again? You know that your so-called friends will never accept you back to theirs the way that you are now."

"Shut up!" For some reason the comment dug deep underneath my skin, despite already knowing it was true. I shook my head violently, trying to get him out of it, and turned my attention back to my friend. "Kaj, please. Think about this. At least just...just come with us for now, and we'll talk about it, and you can make up your mind once you know all of the facts."

"My mind's made up now." His face softened a little, just enough to give a half-smile. "I really would like it if the two of you would come along, too, though. It's been nice having us back together."

I clenched my jaw, even angrier at him for now trying to manipulate me. "If you want us to be together, then you'll have to stay. I'm never coming, and I'm not letting you take Zeph, either."

All hints of diplomacy dropped from Xemnas' face and voice. "Very well, then. If you refuse to come quietly, that is fine. But I do not need your cooperation, only a body to plant Master Xehanort's will in." With a flash, he summoned his Ethereal Blades to his hands.

Zephyr gasped, then yelped when my Keyblade appeared. "Stay back," I warned him. "This is about to get messy."

Xemnas made the first move, flying forward without warning with his blades crossed in front of him. I had just enough time to lift my Keyblade and block them both as they sliced apart. Bringing my weapon down to the left I stopped a second swing, then ducked under a third coming from the right and brought the Keyblade down across his back. It didn't seem to even faze him. He spun immediately back around and came after me with a flurry of blows, so fast that it looked like just one big red flashing light. I managed to parry most of them using darkness to speed my movements, though one caught my hip. The fairy-made fabric held up, but I could still feel the burning on my skin, and hissed through my teeth.

I'm fighting Xemnas right now. I'm actually fighting freaking Xemnas. I've never fought anyone this powerful before, and certainly not on my own. This was bound to go horribly wrong sooner or later. But the consequences of failing were too dire – I couldn't let myself or Zephyr be taken by them, not again. That thought spurred me on, and awoke the darkness with me.

Rolling away from his blitz attack, I pulled from within and let the dark energy stream through my Keyblade with a roar. Xemnas went flying backwards, and I followed close behind, zooming to meet him with a series of hits before he could recover. The sight of my arms now clothed in sleek blue and red confirmed for me that I had indeed gone into Dark Mode.

He stayed down for longer than I had expected, and my barrage seemed to be having an effect on him. When he recovered, though, it was lightning fast, and I was not prepared. An Ethereal Blade came hard across my right arm and ribcage, sending me tumbling and my Keyblade sliding out of my grip and through the sand. Unlike his first hit, this time the fabric betrayed me. It tore under the blade, and the resulting slash, though not bleeding, left that whole side of my body feeling like it was on fire.

Struggling to my knees, I grunted in pain and clutched my injured arm, holding it tightly against my side. Thankfully, Xemnas had not come after me. I would have been dead by then if he had. Instead, he was hovering where I had left him, an unnerving smirk on his face. Somewhere behind me, I heard footsteps thudding against the beach, and I turned my chin slightly to the side so that I could call out to Zephyr without taking my eyes off of Xemnas.

"Stay back!" I ordered. The footsteps stopped. Cutting my eyes over to Kaj, I saw him watching the whole ordeal with what could have been concern, but he had yet to move from his spot. Focusing back on Xemnas, I called my Keyblade back to my hand, wincing as the muscles in my arm pulled.

"There it is...the darkness that sets you apart from all the others. Those are the very skills that will be put to great use once you are a part of Organization XIII."

I was trying to summon Cure in my left hand, but nothing was coming. The darkness was drowning out every ember of light I had once had inside of me. There was no way that I could continue to fight with this injury, and if there had been any potions in my jacket pocket, they had been lost to Dark Mode.

"I will give you one last chance to come quietly." Xemnas dismissed one of his blades and held his hand out to me again.

I gave a quick glance over my shoulder to ascertain Zeph's position, then shot the angriest glare I could muster at Xemnas. "Go jump down a Darkside's throat."

"Very well, then." He brought his remaining blade up to his shoulder, leveling it at my chest. Before he could strike, however, I teleported to Zephyr's side, latched onto his arm, and teleported us both away.

We landed in the mansion bedroom, and I immediately fell back onto the bed, holding my arm tight once again and clenching my jaw to keep from groaning. Zephyr, apparently realizing the danger was past, exploded in a flurry of exclamations.

"That was totally crazy! I so did not see all that coming! You were like, 'bam!' and had this fire-stick-sword thing, and he was like, 'whoosh!', and were those light sabers? Coming out of his hands? They were wicked, whatever they were! And he was like, flying through the air, and you were shooting black stuff out of your hand, and you freakin' changed clothes in the middle of it all! And it was just like, 'pow! pow! pow!' everywhere, it was freakin' awesome!" He was jumping around the room and waving his hands like a madman as he spoke. "Now I know why you said you could kick my butt that day, 'cause you totally could, 'cause you're totally..."

Halting in his tirade, he spun around to face me, his expression changing from exuberance to concern. "Hey, are you okay? That looked like it really hurt, there at the end."

"Peachy," I ground out through my teeth. "I think your priorities are a little off, though, Zeph. Did you miss the part where Kaj just joined Organization XIII?"

He looked down at the floor. "No, no I got that. They're, um...they're pretty bad, huh?"

"Yeah. They're...a lot worse than the guys he was with back home." I pulled my legs up onto the bed, breath hitching at the pain shooting through my side, and let the reality of the situation hit. "I did this. I was so worried about the potential danger that he was in being with those guys, and...it was me all along. I'm the one who put him in danger. If I had just left him alone, he never would have been able to make it here, and they never would have gotten their hands on him. This is all my fault."

"No, it's not." Zephyr moved to sit down next to me on the bed. "You were just doing what you thought was best, trying to help him..." His gaze was caught by the wound on my arm and his eyebrows flew up. "Geez, Mel, that looks really bad! How are you just sitting here with that?"

I huffed a humorless laugh. "This kind of thing is kinda my life now. I'll fix it as soon as I can."

"Yeah, don't you have that magic healing thing? Why aren't you using it?" His voice was beginning to sound a bit frantic, and he jumped back off the bed to grab a bottle of water that I had left on the bedside table and handed it to me. "Don't you think you might need a doctor or something? That's real deep, Mel."

Shifting away from him so he'd quit staring at it, I accepted the bottle and let him twist off the cap for me. "I don't need a doctor. I can't use Cure right now, because this stupid..." I glared down at the Dark Mode bodysuit. "Hang on a second." Pouring the water over the wound, I washed off the sand that was clinging to it, unable to keep from hissing at the sensation. With that done, I closed my eyes, drawing in a deep breath through my nose and focusing on calming my body. I pushed away all thoughts of Xemnas and Kaj for the moment, and let the darkness settle within me. When I opened my eyes, my regular clothing had returned.

"That's epic," Zephyr breathed.

I was too busy trying to summon Cure in my hand again to answer. Apparently Dark Mode had not been the issue, because it was still not responding. Sighing in frustration, I patted my jacket pocket and was relieved to feel one bottle inside. Thankfully it was a potion. "Here we go. This'll take care of it."

Downing the bitter liquid, I turned again so that Zephyr could watch the wound seal itself up, knowing it would fascinate him. His eyes about popped out of his head. "Happy now?" I asked him.

"Yeah, much better. Now that you're taken care of, we can focus on how we're gonna get Kaj back from the evil bad guys."

I pushed myself up off the bed, shaking my head. "No. Now I'm sending you back home." Walking to the mirror, I pressed my hands against it.

"What? No way!" Leaping up, Zeph ran to stand beside me. "There's no way I'm leaving now. I just got here! And Kaj is in trouble, I can't just leave him! And you..." His voice dropped down low. "I think there's some things that you're not telling me. You...seem different. I don't wanna leave you, either. And what that dude said about your friends–"

"Was a load of crap." The portal was open, and I stepped back from it, refusing to look at him. "I have friends here still. Nothing important has happened. I'll tell my friends what happened to Kaj, and they'll help me get him back." Now it was my turn to soften my voice, and I crossed my arms over my chest. "It's not that I don't want your help. But my friends here are fighters, like me. They're already going after Organization XIII, so this is nothing new to them."

I turned my face toward him, but still couldn't meet his eyes. "I can't let you get hurt. You heard what Xemnas said, he wants all of us, including you. Mainly he wants me, since I can fight, but if he comes after me and wins, then he'll take you, too. I can't let that happen. I've already lost Kaj, I don't want to lose you, too."

"You haven't lost Kaj, you're gonna get him back," he declared. "And you're not gonna lose me, either. But I am not going through that portal."

Fully facing him, I glared and let out a growl. "Come on, Zeph. Be reasonable here."

He stuck his nose in the air and crossed his arms. "Nope. Not gonna do it."

"You know I could just manhandle you through there if I wanted to!"

"But you won't, because you love me."

His cheeky Sora grin was the last straw. "Ugh! Fine!" I opened up a corridor around us, and we came out on the brightly lit cobblestone street outside of Merlin's house. "You wanna stay in this universe? Alright, you got it. But you're not coming with me. It's too dangerous."

Zephyr's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, you're just gonna drop me off on the street somewhere and leave?"

"No, I'm dropping you off outside the house of a friend." I jabbed a finger toward the front door. "Go in there, tell him, or them, whoever's there, who you are. They'll watch out for you." Backing away, I forced myself to smile. "He's a goofy old wizard, you'll like him. And the others...well, they seem nice, too. Maybe you'll even get to meet my twin sister."

"Mel, wait–"

"I'm sorry, Zeph. You said it yourself, I'm doing this because I love you. I'll come back and check on you sometime, okay?" Before he could protest further, or my enormous guilt could make me change my mind, I opened another corridor and escaped back to the mansion.

A/N: I had fun writing this chapter...the fight, and Zephyr's reaction, in particular. Hope you guys liked it! What do you think about Kaj's decision to join the Organization?