Wings of Avalon: Yeah, Riku has definitely learned his lesson about paying attention to Meli's 'feelings'!

Jake Hallows: Yes, they're the original Foretellers, and yes, the hooded guy in the dream is Xigbar. :)

coolmegan123: ha thank you! My brain was definitely working very hard attempting to WRITE this story, and I'm just hoping at this point that it all makes sense in the end. But I'm glad you're enjoying trying to figure it out! Thanks for the compliments!

Guys. GUYS. I am so, soooooo sorry. Um...surprise, I'm not dead? I don't know what happened. Well, I sorta do. If you want an explanation, here it is, if you don't care, skip to the next paragraph. We bought a piece of property a couple of weeks ago and are getting ready to break ground but we STILL haven't picked out a house plan, and are having a ton of trouble finding one that works for us, so my life is pretty constantly full of house plans unless I'm dealing with kids (like driving them to dance class 3 times a week this year instead of just 1) or just general life, plus I'm trying to do Whumptober on Tumblr again so writing for that has been on my mind a lot, too, even though I haven't had a ton of time for writing. If it makes you feel any better, I forgot to buy my husband a birthday present, too.

So. Yeah. Here I am again, who knows how many weeks later. I can't believe I left y'all hanging right before my very favorite chapter, too! This one was a lot of fun to write. Hope you guys enjoy.

Chapter 24

Perspective – Riku

"This place..." I set my hand against the light grey stone of the building beside us. "It's Radiant Garden. It has to be."

"But a different universe's 'Radiant Garden', I assume?" I could hear the quotes that Meli put around the world's name, and was reminded of how little she still remembered.

"Right." Stepping forward, I peered out of the alleyway and into the main streets of town. "It definitely is a different version. I've never seen our Radiant Garden this busy before." Meli merely hummed as she appeared in my periphery. "And the castle doesn't even seem like it was ever changed. It's possible that this version of Radiant Garden never fell to the darkness."

Meli didn't seem to be paying much attention to me, her eyes busy scanning all of the people that were walking by. Without a word of warning, she jogged out into the open. "Ava?"

I followed after her, trying to decide which of the nearby females she was talking to, only deciding for certain when the hooded figure a few yards ahead of us broke out fo their frozen state and darted down a side street. Meli immediately gave chase, with me right on her heels. Thankfully this new street was quieter, and she hadn't had a chance to completely disappear yet.

"Ava, wait!"

She slowed to an eventual stop, then gradually, reluctantly, turned. "Do I know y–" Halting mid-sentence, she stared, her surprise obvious despite her face being shadowed by her hooded cape. "You're..."

"You?" Meli finished for her. "Yeah. See, there are these parallel universes –"

"I know." She bunched up some of her skirt in her fists, a nervous tick that I recognized from Kairi. "So, you're my doppelganger. What are you doing here?"

"We need your help," I spoke up. "We...know you're hiding from someone. A man in a black coat." Ava took an uncertain step backwards. "We were hoping you could tell us who he is."

There was a pregnant pause before Ava responded, her voice shaky. "Why?"

"It's a long story."

I glanced at Meli. "Yeah, it...it really is pretty complicated. I guess the short version is, we're worried he might be manipulating us and our friends from behind the scenes."

"Probably."

The abrupt answer from Ava took me by surprise, and I raised my eyebrows and blinked. "Pardon?"

"That's what he does. Manipulates. And if you're who I think you probably are, then the answer is definitely yes."

"Who do you think we are?" Meli echoed, not sounding nearly as incredulous at that statement as I was feeling.

Sighing, Ava glanced around her, as if expecting someone to be listening in. For all I knew, they could be. The Organization seemed to have a knack for that, and this guy could be connected to them. "Can we...?" She walked closer and lowered her voice. "Can we take this somewhere else? I've been able to avoid him for a few years now, but he does know that I'm in this world – I had no way of leaving. If I stay out in the open for very long, he might find me, and you, too." She glanced between us. "One of you must be a Traveler, right?"

"Um, yeah. I guess that's me." Meli raised her hand tentatively.

Catching the drift, I stepped forward. "You can come back to our universe with us. You'll be welcome with our friends."

Ava nodded as if gathering her determination. "Right. Okay, let's go then."

Reentering the alley where we started, Meli pulled out the little mirror that she had pilfered out of Kairi's makeup bag and opened a portal. We exited into a small clearing in the woods that I recognized as being on the path from town to the mansion.

Ava looked around and seemed to be satisfied with the new location. "His name is Luxu." even this close her eyes were nearly covered by her hood, but I could tell that she was waiting for some kind of recognition.

"I don't..." Wait. It's got an X in it. Remove the X, rearrange the letters...nope. It'd have to be Ulu or Luu or something. "No. we don't know anyone by that name."

She huffed. "Well, he knows you."

"What do you mean?" My frustration at the lack of answers and rise of more questions leaked into my voice. "How do you know that? How do you know who we are in order to know that he does?"

Her voice, on the other hand, remained patient as she explained. "I will admit I'm only assuming. You're my doppelganger, and I know that he has been looking for a group of doppelgangers for many years now. The doppelgangers of my friends and me, to be exact, though I unfortunately don't remember much about them. Most of my memories from the time before my captivity are still missing."

I sighed. "Well, it sounds like we are who you thought, then. We were told about you by a group who claim to be your friends, and who are also the doppelgangers of me and some of our other friends."

Ava gave one nod. "So it has started then. His plan."

"What is his plan?" Meli pressed. "Do you know it?"

"Yes." Her shoulders rose as she took in a breath, scrunching up her skirt again. "At least, some of it. He talked of little else whenever he would come to check on me. I think after so many hundreds of years waiting, and planning, and having no one to share it with, he needed someone to talk to." She searched the trees again before continuing. "I don't know how he is going to do it. I only know that he needs this set of doppelgangers, and that...he plans to erase all light from the universe. All the universes."

I stood stunned, too dumbfounded to formulate a response, but Meli was quick to ask, "Why?"

Ava shrugged lightly. "He says that we used to study under the same Master, and each of us had a Book of Prophecies about the future. 'Darkness shall prevail and the light will expire'. He's quoted it to me so many times that it haunts me in my dreams. Apparently many have tried to bring about the fulfillment of that particular prophecy, but have failed. He believes that it was the Master's will for him to make it happen."

"How on earth does he expect to be able to do that?" Through my shock I vaguely registered that Meli apparently still remembered some of the idioms from her universe – I never was quite sure what 'earth' had to do with anything.

"As I said, I don't actually know. Only that it involves the doppelgangers, and Kingdom Hearts, somehow."

"Of course it involves Kingdom Hearts," I muttered, finally finding my voice again. "Okay. This is...a lot more serious than I imagined." To think I almost dismissed Meli's concerns. If it had been a few months ago, I probably would have. But that was before I had learned my lesson about paying close attention and listening to her. Before she had died, and I had sworn to never lose her again. You're gonna have to, anyway. You have to kill her, remember?

"We have to warn the others," I continued, shoving those thoughts forcefully aside. "He's already got everybody together that he needs, so I doubt it'll be much longer."

"Wait." Ava suddenly stiffened, her lips parting in realization. "You said they're the ones who told you about me. Do they know you're a Traveler? Did they tell you, specifically?"

Meli frowned. "Um...yes?"

"He knows." She stumbled backwards a couple of steps. "He knows I'm here. This was his plan. I should have seen it. Why didn't I see it?"

Before either of us could ask her what she was talking about, a dark corridor appeared just to the right, and a figure cloaked in black sauntered through. "That's what I always like about you, Ava. Perceptive. But, you know, not too perceptive, because then you wouldn't be nearly as easy to control."

That voice. I know that voice. Who is it? Who...? With a flick of my wrist I called my Keyblade to my hand, dropping into a defensive pose to watch the man walk closer.

He clapped his gloved hands together in applause. "Well done, little poppet. You performed just like I hoped you would."

"Wha–?" Meli narrowed her eyes at him. "You wanted me to bring her here."

"Yep, course I did." He circled around behind Ava, who was frozen in place, trembling, and dropped his hands down onto her shoulders. "See, little Ava here was supposed to be waiting for me in the house I left her in, but she somehow managed to escape and disappear on me. Unfortunately, I can't complete my plan without her. But you, poppet, were the perfect candidate to find her for me. All I had to do was get my friends to plant the seed."

There was no time now to kick myself for falling for his trap. I needed to jump in, to attack, but he was still hovering behind Ava, effectively using her as a shield. Maybe I could pull his attention to me, instead. "You're not taking Ava. I won't let you."

"Ah, yes. The boyfriend." He chuckled and moved out from behind her, but still kept one arm draped over her shoulder. It was still too dangerous for me to attack, not when he could easily pull her into it. "Gotta say, I was hoping to keep this little meeting between just the three of us –" he gestured to himself, Ava, and Meli –"but now that I think about it, this could work out in my favor, after all." His head swiveled between Meli and me, then he nodded as if confirming something to himself. It sent a chill all the way down my spine and into my toes.

"First things first, though. Miss Ava needs to go to where she belongs. You've got some friends who have been very concerned about your whereabouts." The false concern dripped from his words. Waving his hand, he produced a dark corridor just behind her.

"No!" Forget being cautious, now was the time to act, or I wouldn't get another chance. I charged forward with my Keyblade ready, but he merely placed a hand on Ava's chest and shoved her backwards into the corridor. It closed immediately behind her.

With a noise that was somewhere between a scream and a growl, I swung my Keyblade at the back of his head. He didn't even turn to start with, just reached up a hand like that would stop it, then suddenly my Keyblade was slamming full force into...another Keyblade.

Not just any Keyblade. Xehanort's Keyblade.

I froze with my weapon locked into his. "Xehanort?"

He snickered again. "Nice try, but no. I only let him borrow this for a while." Using his free hand, he swiped his hood back, revealing a scarred face and one yellow eye that I remembered all too well.

"Xigbar?" Xigbar is a wielder? Xigbar has Xehanort's Keyblade? What does that even mean?And why were his eyes still yellow? I had watched him and Xehanort both die myself, so shouldn't they have returned to normal?

"Close enough, I guess, though these days you'll find most people know me as Luxu." He pulled his Keyblade away abruptly only to swat away an arrow flying toward his chest like it was a bothersome fly. I hadn't even seen it coming, much less noticed Meli getting it and her bow out.

Taking a couple of steps back, I glared at Xigbar while keeping my weapon at the ready. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Meli notching another arrow. "What do you want from us?"

He gave a crooked smirk. "Now, I'm pretty sure Ava explained most of that to you already. And the parts she didn't explain, well...you'll find out soon enough."

I lunged in for another attack, but Xigbar was somehow ready for both that and the second arrow that came his way. Using Meli's old trick, he warped out of existence before either could make contact, and a split second later his Keyblade was slicing into my side from behind and sending me sailing across the clearing. I hit the ground with bruising force and tumbled uncontrollably for a yard or two before coming to a halt. My Keyblade vanished from my hand somewhere along the way.

Groaning and clutching at the freely bleeding hole in my side, I struggled up to one elbow. Xigbar was pacing in front of Meli like a predator stalking his prey, Keyblade held deceptively loosely at his hip, while she kept her bow trained on him. She had to know by now, though, that it was useless against him.

"Meli," I croaked, and her eyes flicked ever so briefly in my direction. I have to get up. I have to stop him from hurting her. I wasn't sure I had the energy to recall my Keyblade and use magic to heal myself, but thankfully I had a potion in my pocket. If I could just get to it.

"You know, poppet, a bow and arrow ain't gonna cut it. If you're gonna help me with my plan, you're gonna need one of these." He tilted the Keyblade as if to show it off.

Meli didn't answer, only seemed to sharpen her focus on him. Something bad was coming, I could practically taste it in the air, but I couldn't get my sluggish arms to cooperate with the urgency in my brain. The potion was out of my pocket, finally, but getting the cork out was a different matter altogether. With every moment that passed, more blood stained the ground, and more dark spots hindered my vision. Don't touch her. Don't you dare touch her.

Xigbar vanished again, reappearing right behind Meli with his weapon cranked back to strike. She had learned from the first time and turned immediately, but it wasn't quick enough to stop what was coming. The Keyblade plunged through her chest with a sickening crunch, and pulled back out with a squelch that was even worse, every sound amplified in my ears. All Meli could do was give a strangled gasp, her weapons falling from suddenly limp hands.

"No!" My scream was animalistic and sent pain coursing through my body, but my focus now was solely on her. Not again, no, please, not again.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Nothing personal."

Meli dropped forward to her hands and knees, her body already starting to break away into wisps of black smoke. I could see her heaving for breath as the blood continued to pour out of her chest, and suddenly I had to move, had to be with her, screw the pain. I began a pitiful, one-handed crawl as fast as I could across the dirt. "Meli...Meli..."

With tremendous effort she craned her head to the side to look at me. Her eyes were glassy, and a thin stream of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and down her chin. "Grim..."

It could have been a question, a plea, an exclamation. To me, it felt like an accusation. I had let this happen to her. I hadn't protected her. I could have found a way to recomplete her far less painfully a long time ago if I had actually tried, but instead I had procrastinated and allowed this to happen.

I had nearly reached her, but before I could make it her arms gave out and she collapsed to the dirt. At the same time, there was a whoosh and a sudden burst of smoke, and the rest of her body disintegrated into nothing.

"No!" I choked on the word, giving one final push with my feet before crumpling into a semi fetal position inches away from the crimson puddle she had left behind. "Meli..."

She's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone she's gone

"Well. That was all very dramatic and tear-jerking."

My head weighed a thousand pounds as I lifted it to glare daggers at Xigbar. He was leaning casually against a nearby tree, arms crossed over his chest and blood-stained Keyblade nowhere in sight.

"You...you...killed her."

His visible eye rolled and he pushed himself up to stroll closer. "As if. Again, so dramatic." Stopping just in front of me, he leaned over with a taunting smirk. "I recompleted her. You know, that thing that you were supposed to be doing? You should be thanking me, really. Now you don't have to d it yourself."

In a way, he was right. However... "I wouldn't have hurt her so badly." And I would have held her in my arms until she was gone. Again.

"Pssh." Waving a dismissive hand, he straightened. "Take it from someone who knows, there's no such thing as a good, happy way to kill somebody. It's all gonna hurt like the devil when you come back."

I tried to shift my position and blacked out for a second from the pain that shot through my side. I really needed that potion that I had dropped somewhere in my haste to get to Meli. "What...what are you going to do with her?"

Xigbar crouched down. "I think right now you should be more worried about what I'm going to do with you." He poked a finger into my forehead, and I let out a low growl. "After all, I can't have you running back to your little friends and telling them about me and all of this. I need them to keep cooperating like they've been doing so well so far."

"They'll figure it out. They're...they're smart. They won't...fall for your tricks for...long."

One corner of his mouth went up. "We'll see. Speaking of cooperating, though, I'm gonna need your help with that. Which means we probably oughtta get you out of here before you bleed out."

Before I could come up with a reply through the increasing haze, he placed his hand on the ground next to me and opened up a dark corridor beneath me. The last thing I remembered was the sensation of falling before the encroaching black took over.

A/N: hehehehehe

Remember that thing where y'all kept saying they were gonna find a way to recomplete her without killing her?

Surprise!

Okay, so I will try my very best to be back here this Saturday with another chapter. If I don't lose my brain again before then.