DyingofFeels: Haha yes, I had to make Meli point out the inconsistency with the costume change, but Donald's just like, "Don't ask questions, because we don't have the answer."

Enamis09: Haha sorry! Yeah, it started and ended with angst, but you have to admit, the majority of the chapter (and it was one of the longest chapters!) was not angsty!

Hcbnc: Good, I'm glad you liked the change of pace! That's what I was hoping for. No San Fransokyo, but we'll get the other two things you wished for a little later.

Rejected. Sora, Donald, and Goofy...they all rejected me. Just like Xemnas said they would. It had been a possibility in my mind from the very beginning, but having it actually slap me in the face in reality was harder than I had ever imagined it would be.

But Grim...surely Grim wouldn't reject me. He loves me, and he's been deep in the darkness before. He'll understand...won't he? I didn't know whether or not I actually wanted to find out. If he did end up rejecting me, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to stand the pain. At the same time, though, I didn't know how much longer I could handle not knowing.

I had been wandering the In Between for nearly an hour, fighting off Dusks as they appeared, unable to bring myself to make any kind of decision one way or the other. I was in limbo, caught between fears and desires, between the light of those I loved and the darkness I now couldn't imagine living without, just like this forsaken place.

The more I wandered, though, the more I ached for Riku's arms around me, and that by itself was about to make my decision for me. We had been separated far too much for my liking lately, and I had stupidly run off without even a proper goodbye the last time. I needed to see him again.

My mind finally made up, I began searching for his connection, and as I had suspected, my new power made it possible to actually pinpoint his location. The Realm of Darkness. I had never thought that I would return to that awful place of my own free will, but I squelched my nerves and opened the corridor anyway.

I found myself standing on a beach, not too dissimilar from the way Destiny Islands looked at night, but the air here was so heavy with darkness that you could almost taste it. I imagined that in the past it would have caused me to shudder, but now it didn't bother me in the least. I felt quite at home here, like my powers could flow with even more ease than normal.

"Meli?"

Turning toward the voice, I smiled when I saw Riku walking across the sand in my direction. "Hey, Grim."

He broke into a jog and was throwing his arms around me in an instant. "Hey, yourself." His lips pushed against mine long and hard, then he leaned back and looked me in the eyes. "What are you doing here? How did you...?"

I shrugged lightly. "I figured out a way." There was suspicion in his gaze, but I tried hard to ignore it. "Love conquers all, right?"

The corner of his mouth lifted. "I guess so." Then his eyebrows furrowed, and he dropped into a frown. "Listen...are you okay? I thought you seemed alright the last time I saw you, but then you seemed like you got really upset–"

"It was nothing. Don't worry about that." I tilted my face back to give him my most convincing smile. "I was being stupid...the last two times I saw you, in fact. I just don't like being away from you. I hope my pathetic-ness hasn't distracted you from your job."

"You're not pathetic." He ran one hand through my hair. "And I don't like being away from you, either. When all of this is over, I'm not letting you out of my sight for at least a week."

I laughed. "As long as that means I get kissed every minute and a half."

Riku smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh, of course."

Just then, there was a vibration in my chest, much stronger than anything I had felt from the Heartless so far. I tensed, peering out across the water beyond Riku's shoulder.

"What is it?" he asked, watching me.

A split second later, the ground began to rumble, and King Mickey ran into view. "Looks like we've got company!"

Riku spun around, his new black and silver Keyblade appearing in his hand, just as something huge and black exploded out of the water. It looked like a water spout, twisting and spinning at a blindingly fast speed, but if I squinted my eyes I could tell that it was made entirely of Shadow Heartless.

"What is that?" I breathed, more amazed than scared.

"Demon Tide," King Mickey replied flatly.

Riku gave a weary sigh. "We've been fighting these the whole time, one after another. It's getting really annoying."

"And still no sign of Aqua?"

"Not so far." He cut his eyes over to me, not moving from his fighting stance. "You staying?"

"Of course! Sounds like you two could use an extra hand." I summoned my own Keyblade and dropped into position beside him.

King Mickey smiled. "Well, we certainly won't turn it down!"

Fanning out, we each took up positions surrounding the Demon Tide. As if sensing our nearness, it began to dip and sway sporadically, spewing out Shadows that skittered along the ground before rejoining the fray. I leapt into the air as it swung near me, striking several times before dropping to the sand again. I could feel the weapon make contact with something, but it was difficult to tell what exactly I was accomplishing.

"Watch out!" Riku called as the Tide shot straight up into the sky. The tail end of it left the ground altogether, and the glowing yellow eyes that had been shining eerily out from it turned dark orange as it began careening around the beach at top speed. I had to duck to avoid it as it flew right over my head. Thrusting my Keyblade up, I managed to knock a couple of Shadows out, and finished them off with a couple of swings while the rest of the Tide finished its wild dance by crashing into the ground.

"This is my very first time fighting one of these things, and I'm already annoyed!" I shouted as the eyes returned to yellow and the Tide resumed its original position.

Riku landed in a crouch after pummeling the top a couple of times. "Yep. They suck."

Having already had enough of this whole jumping thing, I gritted my teeth and ran through the small crowd of Heartless on the ground, right up to the core. I heard Riku yell at me, but ignored both him and the Shadows that were tearing into my legs so that I could pound my Keyblade into the Tide, only giving up when it took off in flight again.

Riku ran up to me and placed his free hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yep, I'm fine." Or, I will be, as soon as I take a potion. "Just trying to get rid of this thing a little faster." I could probably get rid of it super quick if I used darkness against it.

Then why aren't you?that annoying little voice whispered as Riku jumped back into battle. I pushed the question away, not wanting to face the answer, and shot Dark Firaga instead.

Fumbling in my pocket, I blanched when I realized there was only one bottle of potion left. Ugh, why didn't I restock after the battle with Squid Face? Apparently I had used more of them than I realized. I had to do something to get rid of this stinging in my legs, though, so I uncorked it carefully and took a couple of modest sips before storing it away.

I looked up just in time to see King Mickey and Riku leap gracefully from opposite sides of the Tide and burst through the center simultaneously, sending multiple Shadows flying. I ran in behind them to clean up the ones they had loosed. The Tide was flying around again, sending all three of us ducking and dodging before it once more plowed into the ground right where Riku had just been standing.

For a moment it seemed like it had disappeared for good. The vibrating in my chest started up again, though, just as a black spot began growing underneath the sand right behind Riku.

"Riku, look!" King Mickey cried.

The Demon Tide burst back to life, and Riku whirled around, but it was too late. Spiraling, it smashed straight into him, and he skidded and bounced on his side through the sand before tumbling over and landing on his stomach. His Keyblade vanished a few feet away from him.

"Grim!" The Tide vanished again, and I flew to his side. Dropping onto my knees, I placed a hand on his back, feeling his steady breathing with relief. "Grim, hey, can you hear me?" I bent close to his face, gently brushing the sand from his skin.

There was a high-pitched scream behind me. I jerked around to see the Tide hovering a few yards away, with King Mickey nowhere to be seen. Then his star-covered Keyblade dropped seemingly from out of the sky and thudded into the sand. "Your Majesty!" I called, craning my neck up toward the top.

Riku stirred underneath my hand, and I turned my attention back to him. "Where is he?" he mumbled, slowly pushing himself up on one elbow.

I pointed. "Up there somewhere, I think."

"Mickey!" Swirls of darkness began surrounding the Demon Tide as it morphed into a ball of energy, oozing with darkness. Riku struggled up to one knee, watching.

"Are you okay?" I asked, checking him over.

"I think so." He groaned, though, and clutched at his right arm.

I reached out to touch it, but held back, worried. "It it broken?"

"No, I don't..." He bent the arm, clenching his teeth as he did. "I don't think so. I think I just twisted it or something."

If you weren't so full of darkness, you could heal him right now. "Here, I've got a partial potion left–" I began, reaching into my pocket.

He shook his head. "Save it. I'll be okay in a minute."

His eyes went back up to the ball of energy, and mine followed. It was beginning to turn red in the center. Despite the fact that my chest had been vibrating pretty much nonstop since I had gotten here, I could tell something else was coming, something even darker than the Demon Tide. The red spot burst out of the ball, changing in the air to some kind of wispy shadow that landed neatly on the ground. The shadow straightened, and it looked an awful lot like a person beneath the smoky wisps.

Walking over to King Mickey's fallen Keyblade, the shadow person stooped down, and a distinct hand reached out to pick it up. "This Keyblade..." The voice was echoing, but definitely female.

"Is it her?" I could see King Mickey again now, trapped up above us in the ball of energy.

"Master Aqua?" Riku whispered.

The smoke began to clear, then, and a young woman was left behind. "Mickey...you're too late."

"Aqua?" Riku repeated, louder this time. I didn't know about him, but I had not expected her to remind me so much of Xemnas and Ansem, with silver hair and golden eyes, nor had I expected the darkness that was still very palpable around her.

"What happened?" the King asked.

"You abandoned me, that's what. Left me in this shadow prison for more than a decade, knowing what it would do to me..."

"I'm sorry," King Mickey sighed. "It's all my fault."

Aqua turned and walked toward the water, then continued to walk out across it as she spoke. "I reached this shore after endless wandering. Waited forever for help to arrive. But no one ever came. I lost my Keyblade. Had no means of fighting my way back through the Heartless. You should have known I was stranded. Do you have any idea how lonely it is here? How frightening it is to have no one?"

A lump caught in my throat. Lonely and frightened. I had felt that way before, many times. It had been a long time since I had truly had no one, but I feared more than anything that it was the fate that awaited me once again. That's why I haven't used my darkness in front of Grim yet.

"All that's left in my heart is misery and despair." Stopping, she spun back around and swung the Keyblade. "And now, you can share it!"

Suddenly Riku was on his feet, marching down to the shoreline to stare her down. "There's no need. Got my own." He summoned his Keyblade, seeming to have regained his strength, and began walking out across the water to meet her.

I hopped up and ran after him, not about to leave him to this alone. Instead of the fight with Aqua that I assumed was coming, however, we were interrupted by the ball of energy, with the King still inside, zooming in front of us and turning back into a Demon Tide.

I groaned. "Here we go again."

A/N: Sorry, had to divide this up to avoid a super duper long chapter! As you can tell, though, next chapter will make the fourth one in a row with a fight scene...whew! I started out writing the first couple thinking, "Hey, this is fun, it's been forever since I've written battles!". By the third and fourth I was starting to run low on ideas haha. So I hope I was able to keep each one interesting to read, despite them no longer being very interesting to write.

See you guys Saturday!