A/N: OMG! I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I had a long day at work and completely forgot! Ugh! Anyway guys, this fic is ONE YEAR OLD! With that in mind, I am back from hiatus! Hope ya'll enjoyed playing ReMind because I did and it was AWESOME!

With ReMind & Limit Cut out, I did go through the older chapters and make some slight changes here and there to reflect the new content. However, I don't deem it necessary to go back and reread them unless you wanna see Riku and Kairi's rewritten fight in Chapter 2 and read a new scene with the Wayfinder trio in Chapter 13. At the end of the day, the overarching plot of the fic is gonna stay the same from here on out. The changes were more or less for the new readers that are just discovering the fic post-ReMind.

Okay, now that we got all of that out of the way! Here's the new chapter!


Chapter 38: Star Seekers

In the peaceful fields of Radiant Garden, Aros and Kaguya found themselves fleeing from the chaos of Zootopia. It was evening. The sun was down, the town, as well as its residents, rested peacefully, and the nocturnal creatures of the forest were out on the hunt. Kaguya kept close to Aros as he slowly dragged himself forward. She had only seen him like this one before, and she remembered the last time, all it took was her standing by him to brighten his spirits. Her hands interlocked as she waited for Aros to speak. Instead, he was quiet, avoiding eye contact with her. Aros stared down at his hands, his heart pounding against his chest.

"Aros? Are you okay?" Kaguya asked.

Aros took a deep breath, keeping his head low. "I've...never seen her like that before…" He muttered to himself.

"Aros…?"

"Oh, sorry." He apologized while rubbing the back of his head. "I'm fine, really!"

"Are you sure? It looks like Kairi really scratched you up." She noted.

"Eh, it's fine. That's what armor is for, to protect you." Aros said with a shrug, not noticing that a piece of fabric from his armor had torn up, revealing a deep slash.

Kaguya gasped, reached forward and lightly grabbing Aros' arm. "Wait, you're hurt."

"Oh, this?" He chuckled. "It's nothing, just a scratch."

"Can I at least patch it up?" She asked as she sat down with him.

Aros sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get far without her helping him. "Well, I guess a little patching won't hurt."

Kaguya sat down, gently bringing Aros down with her. She looked around briefly, coming to the realization she didn't have anything of the sorts. Instead, she had to improvise. Kaguya grabbed a leaf and dampened it in the pond they sat by. After placing the damp leaf on Aros' wound, she pulled a long piece of grass and tied it around, applying a little pressure to the wound, but not too much. Despite the application not doing much, Aros couldn't help but watch Kaguya fondly. She didn't need to do this, and yet, she did. Why? He didn't deserve it, did he?

"Thanks…" Aros thanked her softly.

Kaguya nodded. "Of course. I'm not hurting you, am I?"

"Nah. Kairi did the same thing to Sora whenever he got hurt."

"Oh?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Yeah. She was always...really gentle, and her hands...they were really soft...just like yours." Aros said in a tender tone.

"I see…" Kaguya said with her head low.

Despite Kaguya keeping her gloves on, Aros could feel her hand's warmth right through the fabric. He remembered the first time their hands touched. It was the first time either of them had felt physical contact with another person other than themself. It was...nice, as the two of them would put it. Kaguya especially thought so, yet there was something that was preventing her from enjoying the warmth of each other's presence, but what?

"Your hand, would it be okay if I held it again?" Aros asked as he held his hand out.

Kaguya, remembering how she felt the first time, removed her glove. She wasn't as hesitant this time around. Yet, there was a part of her that wondered if it was her touch that he wanted to feel or if it was Kairi's. Why would he be thinking about Kairi? She was their enemy. It was all confusing to her. Still, as Aros requested, Kaguya reached out and rested her hand in his. Upon contact, his fingers curled and cradled hers. Although there was some uncertainty with Kaguya, she couldn't deny that whatever warm feeling Aros had from her touch, she felt the same.

"Yeah...warm and soft…" Aros murmured. "It's really...nice."

"Just...like hers?" Kaguya asked as she brought back her hand.

"I-I didn't mean it like that! I just meant...the feeling was really nice. It's like, I know how Sora felt when he held Kairi's hand. I felt the same feeling. You know what I mean?" He stammered, trying to correct himself.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said softly while slipping on her glove.

"Nothing to apologize for. It was a...misunderstanding. They happen. Besides, I can't get on you for that. Feelings and emotions are complicated things, and when your heart and mind are feeling different things, it gets even more crazy." Aros explained as she stretched his legs out.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" He thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain. "Maybe your mind might be feeling one thing about a person and your heart might be feeling something completely different. Maybe your heart thinks someone is special, but your mind thinks they're bad news. Have you ever had that happen to you?"

Kaguya held her head low. There was one instance where it occurred, and unfortunately, it was recurring. She knew it, but she always denied it. There were two people in her life that meant something to her. One of them was someone she considered her partner and maybe something even more. The other was someone she didn't know how to feel about. He was always there for her, and yet, she always felt empty around him. She never knew what he was thinking and how it would affect her. There was a feeling of warmth and bittercold at the same time. It caused a painful pit in her stomach to even think about him.

"This is a nice place. What is this world?" Kaguya asked, changing the subject.

Aros paused, realizing he hit a sensitive subject. Not wanting to press her any further, he decided to go along with it. "This is Radiant Garden. It's a special world."

"Radiant Garden? Is this Kairi's home?"

"Yeah, her original home. This world has quite a history. The most famous tale was when the world fell to darkness about 11 years ago. Radiant Garden transformed into this wasteland called Hollow Bastion. When the worlds were falling to darkness-one by one-this world was the gateway to oblivion, the final keyhole." Aros recalled the tale as if he were there. "Sora sealed the final keyhole, as well as the door to darkness. After that, this world was almost restored to its former glory. They just finished restoring it to what it once was and more."

Kaguya smiled as she looked out toward the village. "It's really...beautiful."

"Like the flowers right there?" He pointed out with a chuckle.

"Yeah!" She giggled softly.

"Got a favorite color yet?"

"Hmm…" Kaguya looked over and noticed a pink flower. She plucked it from the ground and held it close to her helmet. "I'm liking the pink ones. It's a really soft color."

Aros laughed softly. "It suits you." Kaguya looked at him with her head tilted in confusion. "I mean like if you were to wear that flower in your hair or something...I'm sure you'd look really...pretty."

Kaguya, unable to put the flower in her hair because of her helmet, decided to use a magic spell. Using the spell, it stuck the flower right on the side of her panther-inspired helmet, where the ear normally was. She bounced her head forward a couple times, testing to make sure the spell worked.

"How is this?" Kaguya asked as she tilted her head back and forth.

Aros smiled, gazing upon her. "Just as I thought...really pretty."

"Aros! You're...smiling!" Kaguya gasped, noticing the chunk of his helmet that covered his lower jaw had broken off and revealed his mouth.

"Wha…?" He asked, stammering and looking about.

"Look, the bottom chunk of your helmet fell off!"

"Hmmm…." Aros stroked his exposed chin with his hand. "I thought I felt a draft in my helmet." He chuckled. "I guess Kairi really did a number on the helmet then."

"Y-Yeah…" She nodded slowly, bringing her head down. Her helmet hid a blush that spread all across her face.

"Did I say something wrong?" He asked while tilting his head.

Kaguya shook her head quickly. "N-No, not at all. I...I think...you have a...nice smile."

"Oh," Aros laughed in amusement. "Thanks." He said while flashing another smile. "I'm sure yours is nice too. That is...if you'll show me." He watched as Kaguya folded her hands, her fingers twiddling with each other. "You don't have to show me if you don't want to."

"I just...I don't feel right about it." She said softly.

"Oh, okay. No big deal." He shrugged his shoulders.

Kaguya rested a hand against the bottom of her helmet, her smile fading. It was moments like this where she smiled the most. To her, there was nothing like just sitting down in a nice peaceful spot and enjoying the moment. Having Aros by her side was a nice bonus, having someone to talk to who seemed to have a more positive outlook on everything as opposed to Luxu, who did nothing but preach darkness and negativity around her. She never smiled around Luxu, never having a reason to. Aros was different. He made her feel like there was a whole different side to her that she never knew existed, a side that was...better? It reminded her of the stars in the night sky. Even the darkness had a beautiful side to it.

"Aros?" Kaguya broke the silence. "Could I ask you a weird favor?"

"Uh...sure? How weird are we talking?" Aros answered, a little taken back by her request.

"I'm not sure, but...would it be okay if we could just lay here and look up at the stars?" She asked as she brushed her arm.

"Oh! That's not a weird favor at all!" Aros laughed. "People do that all the time. You don't have to ask me twice to do it."

As the two of them lay down on their backs, their eyes gazing right up at the stars, Aros took in a blissful breath. He started to think back to his past. He remembered staying up until crazy hours in the night, watching the stars with his friends. It was a much more enjoyable moment to think about other than trying to hunt down Kairi for Luxu. Aros sighed his fingers tapping against his abdomen. It was times like this that made him wish he could just run away and forget everything, go back to where he came from. The big question was...where did he come from? Even if he had sporadic memories, Aros couldn't bring himself to remember who he was in the past. He looked over at Kaguya. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about her that was almost reminding him of who he was as a person.

"What are you doing?" Aros asked.

"I noticed that if you connect certain stars, it makes a picture." Kaguya answered as she chuckled with amusement. "Like that one looks like…"

"A cactuar." He filled her in. Aros pointed up and began tracing out another shape he saw in the sky. "You think you can figure out what that one is?"

"Hmm…" She squinted her eyes, hoping to see the picture. "That looks like...like...a bomb?"

Aros nodded with a laugh. "Hey, you're getting good at this."

"I guess this is...fun?" Kaguya asked.

"Yeah, sure is. You know, there's a lot more to stars than most people think." Aros noted.

"What do you mean? Aren't they just sparkling dots in the sky?" Kaguya asked as she looked over.

"That's what everyone thinks they are because they only see stars from a long distance away, but when you dig a little deeper, then you learn a lot more about them." He pointed up to a shining star. "You see how some stars are bigger and brighter than others?" Kaguya nodded in response. "Well, those stars, they are other worlds."

Kaguya gasped. "I never knew…"

"Not everyone knows about that. They just look up and think those stars are bigger stars. That's why not everyone believes there are other worlds. They only choose to believe what they see rather than what they feel." He said in a low tone.

"So, when we travel to a different world, we're travelling that far?" She asked, earning an amused nod from Aros. "That's crazy!"

"It gets even crazier. Some believe that if you see a comet flying from one bright star to another, it's a Keyblade wielder travelling between worlds." Aros chuckled. "Our entire world is one that its made up of many worlds, and there is so much we don't know about it. This world that we're in now, is just a small piece of something much greater."

Kaguya hummed as she stared right up into the stars. "I'd like to see them...someday."

"You mean other worlds?"

"Yeah. I know we've seen a few already, but I'd like to see them all if I can."

Aros sat up, resting his arms on his knees. Kaguya's desire to see other worlds sparked something in him. He remembered often having a dream of travelling to different worlds, seeing what exactly the much bigger world was made up of. It wasn't just a past dream, it was a dream he still had. While his and Kaguya's mission did send them to different worlds, it wasn't necessarily a joyride, and Aros knew it'd be much more of an adventure if they just went and travelled the different worlds for the fun of it.

"Hey Kaguya, I just got this crazy idea." Aros said as he stood up and walked ahead.

"What crazy idea?" She asked as she sat up.

"Let's just play hooky for once." He suggested as he kicked some dirt.

"Hooky?"

"You know, take a day off? Hell, let's take multiple days off, take a vacation!"

Kaguya furrowed her eyebrows. "A vacation? From what?"

"From doing what old man Luxu wants us to do. I mean, come on, he's not exactly the most clear. I don't even know if the guy has a clue about what he wants." Aros said as he folded his arms. "So, let's just take some time off, go do our own thing, whatever we want. What do you say?"

"Wouldn't Master Luxu get angry with us?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

"Maybe, but…" He sighed. "There has to be more to life than just being someone else's slave, you know? If there are that many worlds out there, then that's just a whole other galaxy of life experiences. Come on, Kaguya! At least give it a try!" He encouraged.

Kaguya breathed out heavily. "But, Master...he…"

"I'll take the blame. Luxu will have to go through me to get to you. I'll keep you safe, that's my promise." Aros swore in a firm tone.

Kaguya thought for a moment. She was on a mission, but the more the idea settled in her mind, the more she liked it. One day wouldn't hurt, right? Besides, it's not like Luxu would find out, right? For all he knew, they could still be going to different worlds looking for Kairi. With encouragement from Aros, she nodded in response.

"What world are we gonna see first?" Kaguya asked with a smile.

Aros laughed. "Whatever you want. Ladies' choice."

"Well…" Kaguya thought for a moment, really hard, and failed to come with something. Instead, she ended up laughing. "There's so many choices."

"Then we'll start with someplace I know you'll like." He said with a confident nod.

Aros held out his hand and helped Kaguya up, their touch lingering for a moment before she let go. He held out his Keyblade and opened a portal to their first destination. Kaguya followed at first, a fluttering feeling lingering in her stomach. It made her want to smile. Her smiling also made her want to do...something else.

"Aros? One more thing." Kaguya asked as she stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah?" Aros turned around and faced her.

"I just...want to show you something."

Kaguya held her head up high and rested her hand against where her jaw began. Beneath her hand, the bottom portion of her helmet faded away, revealing a soft jawline that belonged to a young pale face. Her lips that had the shade of a dark pink rose curled into soft smile, one that was engraved in Aros' memory. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, not because he hadn't seen anyone else smile before, because he had. It was because it belonged to her. For the first time, Aros finally got to see the effect he had on Kaguya. It was an effect that he liked, and if he could be honest, he wanted to keep it that way. He gently reached out and brushed his fingertips along Kaguya's jawline, stopping at her small chin.

"Yeah, just as I thought." Aros said tenderly. "Beautiful."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Back at the headquarters, Luxu watched as digital projections of Aros and Kaguya interacted with each other in what could only be described as a 'wholesome' manner. This wasn't what Luxu had intended for them to do, just sit around and socialize like it was an after-school club. Yet, at the same time, he wasn't surprised. He had to expect that there would be some connection between the two, but went ahead with denying it out of sheer frustration that this was setting him back.

"Huh...figures…" Luxu mumbled.

Instead, Luxu moved onto Plan B. From across the room, Ira, Invi, Aced, and Gula all emerged, having sensed their summoning from him. Once they realized Luxu was the one who called them back, Gula sat on the round table and got comfortable. He knew this would be a while. Luxu always had a lot to say.

"You rang?" Ira asked.

"Good, got here quick enough."

"You have news for us, Luxu?" Invi inquired.

Gula folded his arms. "That didn't take long."

"News? More like a situation." Luxu scoffed.

"Let me take a wild guess. It's those kids that you sent out to do your dirty work?" Aced mused, pointed a finger at Luxu.

"Kids? As if. I would hardly call them that. They're barely human."

"Whatever they are, they seem to be causing problems if you had to summon us." Ira noted as he stood by Luxu.

Luxu chuckled. "There are much bigger problems right now. They're just making it worse."

Invi gasped softly, stepping forward. "Problems? With what?"

"If you're talking about darkness, I'm pretty sure it's been a problem for a while now." Gula added in with a shrug.

"No, the darkness is not the problem." Luxu groaned. "It never was the problem. You know what the problem is? Take a look inside each of your books. I know you still have them, the Master entrusted these to you like they were your own newborn children. Take them out, and look at the end of your books."

As Luxu requested, each foreteller took out their copy of the Book of Prophecies and looked toward the last few pages, the ones that spoke of the Keyblade War and how light would expire and darkness would reign supreme. It was just as how the Master of Masters wrote it many years ago and it was unchanged. It only confused them even more why Luxu was asking them to look at their books again.

"It says what it has always said." Ira pointed out. "On that fated land, light will expire."

"Bingo! Now, do you see anything in there about some punk kid reversing the clock and taking a little fork in the road to change fate?"

"What…?" Aced groaned.

"Exactly! You see my point?"

"Wait...so if somebody rewrote the future...then that means…" Ira muttered. "Nobody knows what the fate of the world is."

"Doesn't that give anyone hope for it? As in, is it possible that maybe the light won't expire." Invi suggested. "That's what we want, right?"

Luxu chuckled. "Not possible."

"How do you know?" Gula relapsed. "You don't even have a copy of the book. And now, none of us know what lies in the future. How can any of us prepare?"

Ira frowned, holding his head low. "Gula is right. How would any of us know?"

"Because...soon enough, the Master will figure out that someone disrupted the cycle. He won't tolerate someone going against his word or his teachings." Luxu walked closer to Gula, staring dead into his mask's eyes. "Isn't that right, Gula?"

"N-no…" He muttered softly, turning his face away.

"It won't be long." Luxu moved toward the window and stared out toward the sky. "Soon enough, the Master will return, to fix the cycle."

Invi shook her head. "How can we fix it without creating a time paradox?"

Luxu sighed heavily before walking back toward the table. He held up his hand and summoned more digital holograms. This time, it was one of Kairi. She was walking with Namine and Xion trailing in formation right behind them. She happened to be carrying her Keyblade at the precise moment, giving everyone a good idea of who she was and what exactly she was capable of.

"This girl look familiar?" Luxu asked.

"Hmm…" Gula studied her. "Red hair...she has a Keyblade...is she one of the seven pure lights, a Princess of Heart?"

Ira nodded as he opened the book. "I remember that...here. It says here: 'Seven pure lights, created from seven of the twenty pieces that the X-blade shattered into, protected in the hearts of seven young women, shall assist in retaining the balance of light and darkness in this world, the Princesses of Heart. Six of the seven will pass their lights once their role has reached its end. The seventh light, one belonging to a Keyblade wielder, and the one that will remain with its keeper, may only pass once the princess bears a daughter in the next generation.'"

"She looks like…" Invi muttered, cutting herself off.

"Forget who she looks like. What does she have to do with fixing the cycle?" Aced grumbled as he folded his arms.

"Hang on, I'm gettin' there." Luxu sighed before bringing up the next hologram. It just so happened to be Sora, standing right next to Kairi. "Recognize this kid?" He waited for them to answer, but nobody said anything. "This is our guy. His name is Sora. He's the one who decided to mess up the Master's timeline." Luxu started pacing back and forth. "Here's the deal. It's because of Kairi here that Sora was able to rewrite the past and begin a new future. They have a shared light that has formed from their bond. At this rate, he isn't a problem. He's off in 'nowheresville'...for now. But, if she gets to him, our job is gonna be a heck of a lot harder than it needs to be."

"Job?" All four of them asked in unison.

"Don't worry about it right now." He waved them off. "Right now, the focus is on her. She knows too much. If she saves Sora, both of them will do what it takes to prevent the Master's prophecy from coming true. The only way to prevent that, is to keep 'em separated. How do we keep 'em separated? Well...that's where my little 'assistants' were supposed to come in handy." Luxu brought up the holograms of Aros and Kaguya.

"What was their role exactly?" Ira asked as he studied them.

"They're the key to tarnishing that light...by weakening hers."

The Foretellers all shared concerned looks with each other. The idea of intruding something as significant as the seven pure lights was never something that would ever cross either of their minds. They weren't even sure if it would even cross the Master of Masters' mind, considering he wrote about them and how important they were to retaining the balance in the world. Luxu snickered as he stepped away and toward the outdoor balcony. Despite Ira, Invi, Gula, and Aced all not feeling right about Luxu's plan, Invi was the one who had mustered enough courage to say something about it.

"Wait! Luxu!" Invi ran forward. "The Princesses of Heart, their light is precious and pure, and it contains great power if they discover it. You can't take that from them…"

Luxu scoffed, patting Invi on the back. "As if! Have you forgotten already? The pure lights always get passed on, no matter what happens. All we gotta do, is get rid of that light, and she's no longer a problem!"

Ira stepped forward, sighing. "I'm not sure I like this, Luxu. The Master specifically stated that the princesses were to be protected at all cost."

"Who said anything about harming her?" Luxu sneered. "I've got it all handled."

"It's too bad you don't have your assistants handled." Aced remarked.

"At this point, let 'em do what they want. The more they goof off, the more power I have over them. They got nowhere else to go anyway. They might as well be as worthless as old man Xehanort's replica dolls."

"What about the girl that was with you?" Gula asked.

"Oh her?" Luxu chuckled. "You just wait. She's a one of a kind special weapon. Gotta wait for the opportune moment to strike with her. In the meantime...Invi, I've got a special assignment for you."

"Uh…yes." Invi answered, albeit taken back at first.

"Keep an eye on the princess and her friends. Report anything unusual, and keep tabs on her location." He demanded as he summoned a dark passage in front of him.

"What about the rest of us?" Gula asked.

"Just keep doing what you're doing. If we're gonna summon the Master back, we can't do it alone."

"And you?" Aced pried.

"Don't worry about me. I've got my own agenda." Luxu chuckled.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Upon arriving back at Radiant Garden, Riku and Mickey noticed the central square in town had changed significantly in the last week since they had been there. It was bursting with color, yet the streets remained quiet. However, the streets were busy with various vendors setting up their stands. Riku did recall that Leon and Yuffie had mentioned there was a festival happening. He was amused by the stage that was being set up that was similar to the one used for Struggle tournaments in Twilight Town. In his memory, Roxas was one of the best Struggle competitors, but couldn't help but grow curious over who was competing in Radiant Garden's tournament and how they stacked up against Roxas.

"The town's looking great!" Mickey complimented.

"What's the occasion?" Riku asked.

Yuffie pulled out flag and held it up. "It's the one year anniversary since we finished the restoration of Radiant Garden!"

"Actually, the one year anniversary was months ago…" Leon prodded in.

"Well, we would've had the festival months ago, but we were a little busy." She remarked while rolling her eyes and folding her arms.

"Were? I'd say we still are." Riku mused with a chuckle.

"You're telling me, kid!" A middle-aged blonde man came from around the corner carrying a crate of gummi blocks.

"Cid!" Riku and Mickey both greeted him in unison.

"Yeah, he finally came back." Yuffie snickered.

Cid growled. "Hey! Those gummi ship blueprints are not an easy time! They take hard work, testing, and a lot of tweaking! And that's why I'm opening up shop here at the ship."

"You're actually gonna market the idea of travelling to other worlds?" Riku asked with a chuckle. "Whatever happened to the 'world order'?"

"You kiddin' me? That 'world border' thing died a couple years back when Sora decided to go world hoppin' to find you and Kairi. Then again, gotta admit, thanks to that kid, I'm rolling in dough thanks to the amount of munny his majesty here spends on materials and blueprints for his gummi garage." Cid jested, referring to Mickey.

Aerith came over to the group, holding a basket of flowers. "Did you guys find anything new?"

Mickey nodded while folding his arms. "Yep, that's actually why we're here."

"The guy we're searching for, his name is Luxu. Sound familiar?" Riku asked.

Leon folded his arms, shaking his head. "Never heard of him." He looked over at Cid, who was busy opening up the crate.

"Don't look at me! I only know what these three and the computers tell me." Cid shook his head.

"I know you couldn't find anything from looking up Sora's data, but maybe you can find something about Luxu?" Riku suggested.

"I suppose I can give the ol' Moogle a search."

Cid went into Merlin's house, signaling for everyone to follow him. He booted up the computer and started his data search. Unfortunately, there was nothing new other than what Cid had already dug up when he began his initial search for Sora.

"Guess we'd better stick to our original plan and head straight for the library." Mickey suggested.

"The library? What for?" Aerith asked.

"Master Yen Sid thinks it's possible that Xehanort might have known something about Luxu, if he has similar intentions. We're gonna go search through his secret reports." Riku answered before turning and beginning to walk away.

"Hold it there!" Yuffie ran ahead in front of them. "You might need something, a combination, if you will."

"What?"

"Ansem had us hide both his and Xehanort's research in a special containment that requires a passcode to access it." Aerith giggled mischievously.

Mickey bounced on the balls of his feet at the shared information. "You wouldn't happen to know that passcode, would you?"

"Well, your highness, it's your lucky day!" Yuffie pumped a fist in the air. "Allow me!" She got close to both Mickey and Riku's ears and whispered it.

"Okay, we got it." Riku nodded affirmatively. "Let's go, Mickey."

Upon arriving at the library in the palace, Riku felt an unsettling chill travel through his body. He remembered a couple years back when Maleficent gave him a room to stay in during his search for Kairi, not one of his proudest moments, considering he wasn't even successful in saving her. Riku remembered the room that was nothing more than just a small bed, but a couple of shelves that were loaded with books. It was a pathetic amount compared to the large shelves the library contained. He looked around, trying to decide which aisle to start at.

"Where do you think Ansem hid the reports?" Riku asked with a sigh. "This library is huge."

Mickey hummed while scratching the back of his head. "Gosh. I was hoping for some kind of clue, but it still looks as untouched as it was the last time I was here."

"Riku? Your majesty?" Ven waved from afar.

"Ven, what are you doing here?" Riku asked as he and Mickey walked closer to him.

"Kairi mentioned you two were going to try and find out more about Luxu. I figured I'd lend a hand, especially since the name...it's...kinda sounding familiar to me…"

"Familiar?" Both of them asked in unison.

"Wait, you know a Luxu?" Riku asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

Ven sighed, holding his head low. "I'm...not sure. The name sounds familiar...but I can't match a face to that name."

"And all Kairi has seen of him is a black coat, just like Organization XIII." Mickey tapped his foot.

"I was thinking about it...what if Luxu has some connection to my past?" Ven asked, resting a hand under his chin.

"You don't remember anything from your past, do you?" Riku asked, Ven shaking his head in response. "Well, we may find out sooner than later then, but we need to figure out where Ansem had everyone hide the reports. I strongly doubt he's gonna give us the location. If he hid them away, it was for a reason. Let's split up."

The trio split up, each of them tackling a different aisle and shelf. They checked every nook and cranny on the shelves. Mickey checked the children's books, Riku checked autobiographical and horror shelves, Ven checked the young adult shelves, nothing. They checked the different shelves of encyclopedias and they still didn't find anything. Wherever this hiding place was Ansem made it the most difficult. Riku could tell that he didn't want anyone looking at his and Xehanort's research, only for their curiosity to peak and cause trouble.

Finally, the guys decided to think out of the box. Where would they not find a stash of reports? Mickey started browsing for a secret switch, similar to the one Kairi triggered to open the secret lab. Riku started looking behind the book shelves, and Ven started look underneath the furniture. Much to his surprise, upon climbing on the floor and underneath a long table, Ven found something. They looked like tiny switches with numbers on them. He remembered Riku and Mickey mentioning they needed a password to find the reports and his immediate first response upon seeing the numbers was that was the numbered lock.

"Found it!" Ven said as he crawled out from under the table. "It's like way down here."

Riku chuckled as he came over and ducked under the table. "I should've guessed. It would be in a place nobody would think to look." He rolled over until he was on his back, sitting up toward the bottom of the table, the tips of his fingers adjusting the numbers on the lock. "Okay...zero, nine….zero, seven...nine...seven…" He murmured as he successfully unlocked the compartment under the table. "Not a very creative passcode."

"Did you find anything, Riku?" Mickey asked as he waited patiently.

"Yep." Riku carefully pulled out a box and crawled back out, laying the box on top of the table. Inside were files upon files of documents, both handwritten and typed. They were all organized chronologically and by who they were by. Riku pulled out Xehanort's files and started filing through them.

"That's an awful lot of research." Ven mentioned as he rested his hands behind his head.

"No kidding. I don't even know where to start." Riku sighed heavily.

"Well, Ven believes it's possible that Luxu is someone from his past. If Xehanort had anything to do with Luxu, it would probably be either before or at the same time he met Ven." Mickey pulled out the first document from Xehanort's file. "Let's just start from the beginning and see what we find."

Each of the reports was just as Riku and Mickey expected, it was Xehanort chronicling his life and experiences as a Keyblade master. They read through, one detal that kept on catching their eye was Xehanort mentioning a specific Keyblade master, one that could see the future. Riku thought back to what Yen Sid had spoken to them about recently. He remembered what he had noted about The Foretellers and the union leaders. Although it wasn't much information, Riku couldn't help but wonder if Xehanort was referring to one of them when mentioned "the master" in his reports. It was either them or it was one more than Yen Sid mentioned.

"Mickey, Ven, do you think it's possible that this 'master' that Xehanort is speaking about is The Master of Masters?" Riku thought out loud.

"Whoa!" Mickey gasped.

Riku set down the report he was reading immediately. "What is it?"

"Did you find something?" Ven eagerly asked.

Mickey slowly set the report down and looked at both boys in the eyes. "Riku...Ven...you're not gonna believe what I just found…"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Once they departed from Zootopia, Kairi immediately set course for the next world on their radar. Lucky for them, it wasn't terribly far, which hopefully meant it was going to be a smooth and easy ride. For the most part, it really was. Thanks to Judy, Kairi was able to download a ton of good music onto her gummi phone, which she plugged into the ship's stereo and blasted it, giving the girls some really nice musical stimulation during the long ride. Chirithy was back to drinking his favorite cappuccino and Namine sketched. This time, she worked on a sketch of her, Kairi, Xion, and Chirithy all together. She was quite proud of it. In fact, her art skills had improved immensely in the past year.

"Hey, what should we listen to next?" Kairi asked as she munched on a carrot.

"That Face my Fears song was great. I could listen to that one all day!" Xion laughed.

Namine folded her hands together. "What about Don't Think Twice?"

"Can we not? It's too painful." Chirithy asked as he sipped his coffee. "I have a better idea. Let's listen to someone else."

"I can't help it, Chirithy." Kairi said with a shrug. She finally turned off the music for his sake.

Xion sighed and looked out the window. "You know, it really is too bad about what happened back in Zootopia?"

"You mean about us going savage?" Namine asked.

"Yeah. I mean, if you think about it, it all feels like a dream, so I don't even know whether to believe it was real or not."

"Kairi showed you the scar you gave her. It was definitely real." Chirithy noted as he pointed to Kairi's face.

"She's...kinda right." Namine nodded. "It was like, we had no idea what was happening. Maybe...it has something to do subconscious." She hypothesized, thinking deeply. "Our greatest fears lie deep within there. Usually if they try to consume us, it's done without any sort of actual awareness. That's the cause of nightmares, mostly."

Kairi thought back to that moment after she had defeated Jack with Nick and Judy. She remembered how it felt she had lost complete control of herself. It was almost as if ice had just shot throughout her entire body and she had this insatiable desire to see Aros suffer for what he had done to Nick. Kairi always had her moments growing up when she got angry at something or someone, but this was something else. This wasn't normal by-the-books anger that someone could brush off and bounce back from later. Even her determination to take down Xemnas back in the Keyblade Graveyard or her anger toward Luxu couldn't match up.

Then why did it feel real to me?

I found it strange that Xion and Namine passed it off like it was just a nightmare. It also felt the same way, but also, it felt more cold, painful, and like the world was rushing before my eyes. Is that what Riku felt like when he fell to darkness?

If that's true...then maybe...I'm not as immune to darkness as I think I am...

"But you know what," Xion said, snapping Kairi out of her trance. "If Zootopia has made me realize anything, it's that I'm looking forward to going back home again and having a normal life." She stretched out her arms and rested them behind her head.

Kairi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it'll be nice. Come to think of it, since we returned home, I didn't really do much back home aside from school. I missed out on a lot."

"Maybe, but you had a valid reason to. You were hurting a lot." Namine said with a sigh. "But, once we've saved Sora, you both can go back to having a normal life together."

"Just be sure to steer clear. Those two are gonna be mushy." Chirithy teased while rolling his eyes, causing Kairi to blush. "But...I'd be lying if I said you two weren't cute together."

"I'd like that, but something tells me that we might have even bigger fish to fry after this."

"You talking about Luxu?" Xion asked. "Well, we've defeated Xehanort and his entire troop, what's one more?"

"You say that, but there's always been a catch." Kairi sighed as she turned her seat. "He knows something…and he won't give it up without a fight."

"Maybe, but the three of us together will have nothing to worry about." Namine encouraged.

As the ship travelled in along Misty Stream and grew closer to their next destination, the temperature started to slowly but surely drop. The earthy meteors were now starting to look like ice glaciers. Kairi was careful not to collide with any of them. Having seen a movie when she was younger about a cruise ship that sunk after hitting a glacier that scared her into going out on boats for a short period of time, she was extra cautious. The last thing they needed was being stuck on the next world with a damaged ship, especially if it was gonna be one where the weather was really cold like Xion and Namine were thinking of.

"Mmmm, we should turn on the heater, it's starting to get chilly." Kairi shivered.

"We must be getting close to our next destination." Namine noted as she studied the radar.

Turning on the heater, the ship began to warm up, but that wasn't all. Kairi looked ahead and noticed a large Heartless ship blocking their path even though she could clearly see the next world. This ship had an interesting design to it, per-se and looked like a giant snowflake, but it was anything but beautiful. It immediately put up its cannons and began shooting at the Falcon. Kairi quickly shifted controls and dodged the ammunition, but not without taking a little damage. This ship wasn't going to be easy to take down.

"Hmmm….trying to get in our way, I see." Kairi growled.

"Ladies, you know your stations!" Xion encouraged as she jumped onto the cannons.

Namine jumped onto the lasers and kept an eye out while Kairi flew around, dodging the Heartless fire and also applying the shields. Unfortunately, the chill in the atmosphere was making it harder for everything to work, so a lot of the Falcon's lasers and cannon fire was delayed, as well as Kairi's shields. While she and Xion were getting frustrated, Namine noticed there was an opening in the middle, taking into consideration that the snowflake design of the ship meant there was a hollow core.

"Kairi! Fly to the middle! I have an idea!" Namine ordered out.

As Kairi started flying toward the middle, Namine switched places with Xion and got ready to drop an explosive on the ship as they passed on through. The trick was that Kairi had to be ready to blast ahead and have the shield on at the same time, otherwise the ship would get damaged and they could get hurt. Xion had her hand ready on the shield while Kairi got the ship ready to switch into turbo mode. Namine counted down as she lowered the explosive on the ship, aiming it carefully. Just as they flew over it, Xion put on the shield, Kairi flicked on the turbo boost, and Namine dropped the explosive.

The explosive detonated and took down the Heartless ship completely while the ship safely flew out of the aftermath and toward the stratosphere from their destination. Kairi exchanged high fives with Namine and Xion and was especially proud of Namine. She had come such a long way since they first began their journey and Kairi couldn't have been happier to have her travelling alongside her.

"Okay, you ready, ladies?" Kairi asked as she broke the stratosphere.

Xion and Namine both nodded, buckling up. Kairi fought against the stratosphere hard, the cold air really making it more difficult, and based on the windchill from from below, she could tell that this world they were travelling to was also going to be quite the chill. However, Sora was counting on them, and Kairi wasn't going to let a little cold bother her.


A/N: Yes, the combination lock in the library was a reference to FF7 because the remake is out next month and I am SO HYPED! Now, to go play the demo they just released! See ya'll next time!