Ok now I know I should purely focus on the game... but I'll also use the manga as a bit of a reference for this fanfic and the movies. That is IF it'll fit. If not, straight to the game! There was just so much that was cut from each Disney worlds just so that they could make it look like they went through those events in one day! And there were also a few villains that I was upset that didn't make it to the game... What was the name of that cocky hunter? Gaston? Is that how you spell it? Ah what the heck! I'll figure that out later while

writing!

X ~ Thorned Hearts (First Visit, Part 1)

Unknown...

"Woah!" As Jade was thrown out of the door, Choco follows in suit while flapping his small wings around for a softer landing. In vain, he ends up landing on top of her despite how hard he tried not to, and not long after a blue medium-sized block lands not right next to them. "Get off!" Jade throws the small Chocobo off her and quickly gets up. "Great... now where are we?" After losing her map while fighting off heartless in the ocean between, all Jade could do was blindly go from world to world until a familiar name popped up. "How's the gummi bike Choco?" She turns to her companion, who jumps away from the colored block when it sparks a bit.

(A/N: Well if there's a gummi ship, why not one that's like a motorcycle? And no I will not let Jade ride on something like a keyblade in glider form. Remember, she doesn't have one! Yet... -)

"Does that answer your question?" Jade just rolls her eyes in response to the Chocobo's question and goes back to searching the area. "You think Master Yen Sid will be mad at us for breaking it? I know I was the one that took it just in case you lost the star shard... but I don't want to go through moping duty again..." Choco states, reminding them both of how long it took to clean those dreadful stairs. As the two discuss their next course of action, a figure in a white coat stands above the area and silently watches the two intently.

Beast's Castle...

As the four of us walk into the dark castle, I couldn't help but tense up every now and then when I kept spotting a statue that looks like it was looking right at me. I swear they really do look like they were looking right at me. And it is definitely not an optical illusion. "Are you guys sure it's okay to barge in like this?" I ask, looking around with wary eyes as I caught up with the others. "I agree with Akari... Entering and breaking in is against the law..." Goofy mutters. "Ah it can't be that ba-" Donald was interrupted when a sudden loud roar echoed all around us.

"QQUUUUAAAAACCCCKKKKK!" I watch as the duck quickly runs over to me and hides behind my legs, shaking in fear as he slowly takes a peak. "Uh... Donald?" I know that roar was terrifying and all but I didn't expect our only healer to hide behind me. Goofy bursts laughing, "There's no need to be afraid Donald! I'm sure whatever made that sound is friendly!" In what way is that friendly!? "Akari!" Sora calls over. Reluctant at first, I gaze over at the cowering duck then proceed to slowly make my way to Sora. I feel bad for leaving him like that without saying something, though he should be used to this since he and Goofy are most likely more experience than Sora and I combined.

I shake these thoughts off when I was at Sora's side. "What is it?" He puts his finger to his lips then points towards a door, a door that was slightly cracked open with light coming out of it. "You wait out here while the three of us go check it out," he orders. "What? But Sora, I-" Before I get the chance to finish, the boy was already approaching the door with Donald and Goofy following right behind him. I grip onto Starlight for a few seconds then let go as I let out a frustrated groan. Everyone back in the previous world helped me enough to become stronger so I won't have to hang back whenever there was potential danger a foot.

Now that we're in our second world, you'd expect they'd finally trust me in protecting myself. "What's the point of training and having a keyblade if you're still going to treat me like this...?" I mutter as I stare at Sora's back before they enter the room. My fighting instincts flared up when the door suddenly slams shut behind their backs. I was about to run to the door until giant vine covered with thorns blocks my path. I knew on the spot what it was. Another Fragment. I twist around with my keyblade ready for the unexpected upcoming battle. The body was the exact shape as mine and - just like the last one - entire body was white and had no face.

The Fragment wore a floral-like short dress and had to large leafs behind it's back that slightly resembled a pair of wings, which seemed slightly torn if you stare at them a bit longer. The Fragment extends it's hand, summoning Starlight from my hand to its own. I gasp and jump back just in time before it could side swipe across my stomach. I tried to summon Earthshaker but found myself standing there - weaponless. "What's going on...!?" The Fragment doesn't waste a second and sends a swarm of flower petals to my direction. With nothing else to use to fight or defend, I raise up my arms to shield my face while the petals sharply cut various parts of my body.

The gust was so strong that it was enough to send me sliding back a few feet. I was then flung straight towards the staircase behind me when the Fragment whips a vine at me a second later. As soon as I fall on the top of the staircase, my vision begins to spin as I came tumbling down. The bumps and spinning finally ceased upon reaching the flat surface of the castle's floor, lying right in front of the Fragment's feet and at it's mercy. "Without your keyblade you're nothing," the Fragment spoke in my head. "Nothing but a defenseless Other that has to rely on the strength of her protector. If your predecessor never received the Keyblade, things would have been different."

As much as I don't want to admit it, I have to agree with what she says, without the keyblade I'm useless. I can't even fight against the Fragment without having to rely solely on my keyblade with how I still have no memory of my other abilities. Painfully going on my knees, I weakly brought my arms back up and shut my eye in preparation for the next attack it'll throw at me. "You can't let your dark thoughts cloud your judgement!" CLANG! Slowly, I open my eyes to find a person in the same white cloak as that other one stand in front of me with a large shield, which disappeared when the Fragment pulls back. Just one look and I somehow can tell this is completely different stranger compared to before.

She uses as much force as possible to push back the Fragment far enough so it would give her time to heal and help me stand on my feet. What caught me off guard was how much taller she was. "There's no such thing as reliance to ones Protector," she places her hand over where my heart should be and continues in a much more remorseful tone, "just the trust the strength shared through ones bond like most of us should have done before you." Before I could even think of a proper response, I caught sight of the Fragment leaping out of the smoke and flying straight towards us. I push her to the side before the vines it created could touch her back and felt them all of them strike my sides.

"Akari!" I hear her voice call out as my body slams against the ground. This Fragment was strong, stronger than anything I have faced so far since starting my journey with my friends. I tried to use my summon to aid us but nothing was coming out, neither that or my memory form was working no matter how hard I forced myself to concentrate through the pain. The Forgotten protects me from more attacks with a much larger shield and creates a barrier when the vines attempt to strike from our blind spots. "This Fragment is feeding your mind of your old dark thoughts from when you were younger. Your feelings of weakness, helplessness - all of it just to prevent you from regaining the darker parts of your memories. It knows you're not ready to remember that part of your past."

"You will never be strong! If she wasn't able to protect herself, what makes you think you can?" the Fragment points out mockingly, shifting her gaze to the Forgotten. "Everyone else failed because they stubbornly didn't want to rely on their Protector like they should have from the very beginning. If only I hadn't gotten in his way in keeping me from harms way, I wouldn't have to cause him so much suffering!" Suffering? "Whose suffering?" I ask, stumbling back on my feet and slightly stepping past the Forgotten. It doesn't answer me. "Is it someone that YOU were close with?" The Forgotten takes a step back when I approach her.

There was this sudden confidence that took over me. I know that the Fragment is just a small part of me, but I need to know from her herself. The old me. The me

"If you were truly close there should be no reason for you to doubt his strength." I place a hand over my heart and close my eyes as a smile forms on my lips. "I don't plan to become stronger just because I want to prove my worth... I want be strong so that I can fight side-by-side with my friends. I got to learn the true meaning of strength from my time in the Land of Dragons. I still don't know how I used to be like nor do I know how I felt back then about being the Purest of all Hearts, but I vow to remember. And you're not going to stop me!" Just as we were about to make our assault, the roar from before seemed to be closer than it was the last time I heard it.

The Fragment suddenly disappears the moment a large monster comes running down the large staircase and stands in front of us on protectively, its roar loud enough to scare it off. "Are you okay?" he asks me. "Y-Yes... thank you..." He seems to know me in a way, but this is the first I've ever met anyone to respond with a growl at me and walk away just like that. "Well that was weird, right?" I turn to face the Forgotten only to find that she too had disappeared. Scratching the back of my head, I brought my gaze back to the monster who was approaching the room Sora and the others were locked in.

'I guess not all of them want to fight me... I have to remember to thank her when I see her again.' My heart jumps when the monster forces his way in and lets out a roar a second after entering. I run after him only to find a bunch of heartless easily destroyed by his hands and to see the others were safe and sound. "Sora!" I run straight to the boy with a wide relieved smile, only for it disappear when the monster suddenly marches over to where Sora was and just shoves him aside. "Hey-" Just as I was about to help him on his feet, I was even more surprised when I caught sight of Donald and Goofy being shoved to the other side of the room.

Sora lets out a pained groan as I help him sit up. My hands automatically run through his hair, checking if he had any blunt trauma to the head."Are you okay?" I ask him, worried. He shakes his head. "I'm fine. Are YOU okay?" Sora questions back, mainly referring to what happened while I was locked outside of the room. I can't exactly tell him a Fragment has suddenly attacked me and that a Forgotten had saved my life, mostly about the Forgotten since I never got the chance to tell him about the possible existence of another potential foe at foot.

I force a grin and pull him on his feet, "Course I am! I'm not the one on the ground unlike you three." I'll tell them once we're safe in the gummi ship and away from any prying eyes. Sora immediately shifts his attention to the monster, who completely ignores our presence and grabs what appears to be a... rose? Sora and I look at one another with mirrored confused looks then back at the monster. "Did he have to hit us so hard?" Donald complains, rubbing his sore cheek. "Something's wrong... Beast should have recognized me," Sora said after the 'Beast' left. "Is he someone we know?" I ask, nervously pointing at the nearly broken down doors.

"Well... technically he's a friend with the three of us. He's never met you before," he answers while awkwardly scratching the back of his head. I tilt my head, confused. "How come?" There was a long pause that impregnated the air. Before one of them even got the chance to say something, a loud roar erupted throughout the entire castle. "Let's talk about this later. I think we should check on Beast before he ends up doing something ugly!" Sora as just about to run after Beast until I grab his wrist, forcing hom to stop and stare at me with questionable eyes. "We need to see first if there's anyone else in the castle," I reason with him. "There has to be others in the castle besides your friend, it's a pretty big world and this is a big castle for the big guy to live in."

Goofy nods, agreeing, "Talkin' to Beast can be a little hard when he's mad. We don't want ta say somethin' that might upset him." Although we all came to an agreement to search the rest of the castle, Donald didn't seem all that please to know we'd have to search into darker places of the seemingly abandoned castle. I lightly joke to put the duck at ease, "C'mon Donald, this is part of the adventure! There are far more scarier things out there besides Beast and a large castle that seems perfect for a horror-themed party. Besides you guys face heartless on a near day-to-day basis, what's there to be scared of if you're brave enough to face those things?"

Donald thinks on this for a moment before happily agreeing, "Yeah! This place is nothing compared to Halloween Town!" "Hahaha! Yeah- wait, what?" I stare down as Donald strolls up the stairs with his chest puffed out and held his head high only to suddenly stop in his tracks halfway up the steps. Sora and I look at one another then back at him with mirroring confused looks. "What is it?" Sora asks. Lifting his hat up to scratch his head, Donald turns to face us and said, "I just know I saw a lady at the top of these stairs..." Guess I was right after all, there were others in this castle besides Beast, Donald points out to the stairs that lead to the right side of the castle.

Then Goofy remembers something. "Well... If the Beast is here in the castle, that lady must have been Belle!" Belle? Guess that's another face that I might not know. 'Better than encountering strangers again that know me,' I thought as I gaze up at the direction Donald pointed out earlier, The less confusion on my part the better.

East Wing...

After it was decided that we go after this mysterious girl, we didn't waste time in running up the stairs and defeating many heartless that were in the way. Although my first time facing this creatures did scar me a bit, having the others around me was a bit of a relief on my part. I'd rather not be alone with those things until I feel confident enough to face them on my own. "Watch out!" From behind, one of the statues came to life, prompting Goofy to shield my back while Sora takes out the heartless in only four hits. "Thanks Goofy," I breathed out after the cost was clear. Donald looks up at me with worried eyes, "Are you okay?"

That fight with that Fragment must have taken a lot out of me more than I thought. Sora reaches over and touches my forehead. "Did something happen while we were trapped in that room?" I bit my lip and looked away. Something tells me that he knows when I'm lying, and that it'd be useless to still try at this point. "Something did happen... I was fighting one of my memory fragments," I confess. I close my eyes, ready to be scowled for not telling any of them sooner, but instead I received another of Sora's bone crushing hugs. "That's great Akari!" he tells me, practically jumping on his feet as he pulls away. "Once we get things sorted out here, we'll start looking for your fragment!"

I just gap at Sora as he continues to grin at me. Donald nudges the boy with his staff, saying, "Sora, calm down or else you'll scare her out of searching for it." "No I won't!" Sora pulls away and starts arguing with Donald, prompting me to slip straight to where Goofy was to watch the scene play out. I have another feeling that I used to do this since he moved a little bit to give me space without looking. We waited a few minutes for them to cool down. One peek at the clock, I poke Goofy's shoulder and point it out for him to see, signaling that it was about time we moved on.

With a nod, Goofy walks over to the due to diffuse the argument. "Okay ya two! Break it up! It's about time we move on!" Letting out a short 'hmph!' and turning their heads away with their arms crossed, they walk right past us without notice and proceed on ahead. Goofy runs after the two while I stood there for a moment and shook my head, an amused smile forming on my lips before I run after them. It didn't take us long before we found a door with voices behind it. Sora puts a finger to his lips. "Sssshhh!" "Gwarsh...!" Goofy puts his hands over his mouth to muffle his voice in response. With a nod from me, we slowly creep up towards the door and pressed our ears against it.

"What am I going to do?"

It was a girl's voice. With Sora and me side-leaning against the door, he points to the door to the other two, silently signaling them of the presence on the other side. With a nod, Donald was the first to move - more like stomp - a few feet in front of the door. "Okay," I heard him say. My eyes went wide when I realized what he was going to do, and so did Sora. "Donald, wait!" I tried to reach out to stop him but he was far more faster than I thought he would be. Sora pulls me towards him as Donald charges to the door, only to fall in as the doors magically opened themselves.

Belle's Room...

"Ooof! Hey! Who opened the door?" Donald said after lifting himself up. A girl, who appeared a bit older than us, steps forward and had tears in her eyes upon seeing Donald. "Oh, I'm so happy you're here!" The girl scoops Donald into her arms and tightly hugs the poor duck, who struggled within her grasp. "Donald!" I let out a short giggle while watching Donald complain and order her to let him go, which made our presence known by the stranger. She smile happily once she realizes who else was in the room, "Sora! Goofy!" I hid behind Sora as the two casually greet and wave at the girl. "Put me down! Put me down!" orders Donald, which the girl finally hears and does as she was told.

She sets him on the ground - still holding him - and flashes him an apologetic smile when she sees that her hug has (somehow) rendered Donald a bit dizzy. "It's glad to see you're okay Belle," Sora said, earning a confused look from me. 'So that's Belle...' I thought, shyly peeking from behind his back. Belle notices this and slowly walks over to us, causing me to flinch a bit when she leans forward. "Hello," she greets. "You must be Akari. Sora told me a few things about you after he saved me and was searching for you." Her gentle smile helped me push aside my shyness and step out so she could get a better look at me.

"So we never met?" I ask her, just to make sure that we really never met. A bit confused, she answers, "As far as I can remember." While I move to another part of the room to reflect on this, I saw at the corner of my eyes that Sora, Donald and Goofy were explaining to Belle in a hushed tone so as not to catch my attention. I knew their topic was about me as I caught Sora secretly glance over to me every now and then as he kept talking.

"So you see, that's why Akari is a bit cautious around people."

After a short explanation about Akari's situation, Belle had a complete understanding of the girl's case and approached her by offering to answer any question related to their world. "Where's the Beast?" Donald finally asks after things calmed down a bit. Akari was also wondering that too. For such a big guy, she'd expect to hear at least his roar echoing in the halls. Belle sullenly answers, "Oh, he must be in the west wing. We don't talk like we used to." "Did something happen?" Sora asks. Belle looks away a bit, her arms crossed as she simply answers 'Yes' to them. "Isn't that why you're here?" Akari was about to answer what their mission was - besides searching for her memories - one look from Donald was a good reminder not to mention other worlds.

The three look at Sora, thinking he'd have a proper answer but just shrugged. "Not exactly. But we can still help!" Goofy offers much to the girl's delight. Sora adds, "Since we're here and all." Akari had a hunch that it wasn't just that and questions, "Is there anyone in the castle besides you and the beast?" She nods, telling them, "His servants, they were locked away in the dungeon, since then the Beast has been acting strange. I tried talking to him but he just won't listen. The others might know why he's been acting this way." She gazes at the dresser then back at them. "I want to help them. but..." Belle trails off in her sentence.

"Where's the dungeon?"
"You can get to the undercroft from the west hall. The dungeon is down there."

"West hall. Got it." Sora suddenly grabs Akari's hand and walks to leave the room, but not before he gives Belle a thumbs up. "Whatever's wrong with the Beast, hopefully we'll get some answers too." Akari agrees on this, "Yeah, I feel bad for Belle. It must be tough being kept in the dark like that." That last statement almost made Sora trip on his own feet and Donald nearly got run over by Goofy after stopping in his tracks to gap at the girl. Luckily, she hadn't noticed all eyes were on her as she was solely focused on helping out her new friend.

Akari throws her keyblade on the ground and slams her foot on the ground. "You always do this! You think keeping me in the dark will make me feel better? HUH!?" She raises her voice as she threateningly leans closer to Sora's face. "The truth won't hurt me! If I knew about this stuff beforehand, I wouldn't have been so confused until now!" It's been a long time since Akari exploded, this time however, he's not sure if he'll be able to cool her down like he did before when they were smaller. "I-" Sora tries to explain himself, but Akari wasn't having any of it. "Why didn't you tell me you were my Protector!?"

Sora knew that Akari hated being left out of things, let alone learning things by herself that she should have learned from the very start. He thought back then it would be better to not say anything until later, but Riku was the one that told her and it nearly tore them apart. 'But not this time,' Sora swore to himself, tightly gripping onto the girl's hand. 'I'm going to be as honest with Akari as possible.'

What I had said suddenly caused everyone to go absolutely silent. I don't know why, but I could sense from Sora that he was holding something back. And that slightly irritated me. However, I was also keeping things from him; like what happened between me and the Forgotten I encountered her and back in Mulan's world, not to mention the Forgotten themselves to Sora. I stop in my tracks, forcing the others to stop as well and stare at me with concerned eyes. "Speaking of keeping someone in the dark... there's something I've been meaning to tell you guys," I confess, nervously staring down at my feet to avoid looking at what expression they wore on their face.

If I were to keep it a secret any longer, who knows what will happen if I tell them at a later date, they'd be furious with me for keeping something so important with them. Especially Sora.

"Back in Mulan's world... I was attacked by a new enemy and defeated her before Sora found me. She called herself a Forgotten, and apparently there's more than one of her."

Donald and Goofy gasp while Sora continues to watch me, his eyes boring into me as I kept going."

"Earlier when you were locked up, one of my Fragments attacked me and another Forgotten appeared to help me fight. I don't know what their purpose is with me, but I don't think they're planning to end all worlds like Organization XIII. I wanted you after the first encounter, then I realized that if they were bad they would have just kidnapped me while I was alone and separated from my friends. I waited a bit until another one appeared so I can see if their intentions are bad or good, and from what I just saw before the Beast came, the Forgotten that came wanted to help me. To guide me."

Once I was done, I continued to stare down at my feet as I silently wait for one of them to react and voice out whatever disappointment they felt for me keeping quiet up until now. Instead of that, I received another hug from Sora, then Donald, and finally Goofy. "Uh..." I was stunned at their unexpected actions. Sora was the first to pull back and said, "Thanks for telling us, Akari. For what it's worth later on when you get more of your memories back, I'm sorry for ever keeping things from you. All of us." Donald nods as Goofy adds, "It's no fair that you always remained an open book to us while we kept our mouths shut."

"And that's something we're glad will never change!" Donald said, earning a short laugh from the other two. Hearing their apologies made my chest feel all warm and fuzzy and this sudden weight - that I didn't know existed - was lifted from my shoulders.

That's all I ever wanted to hear...

I mentally agree with the voice and smile at the three. After out little exchange, Sora refused to let go of my hand, keeping me at his side as his eyes scan around the room intently for any random enemies that would pop out. I spot something down the right end of the hall and tap Sora's shoulder, silently pointing it out as there was two suits of armor marching back and forth while a wardrobe seems to be blocking what I hope is the entrance to the dungeon. Sora signals everyone to form together in a circle to talk over the plan. "Okay here's what we'll do. Akari and I will distract those guys while you two sneak past and get to the dungeon. We'll catch up once we're in the clear."

With that plan set, I was just about to follow Sora until I spot a figure watching us from the top of another flight of stairs to the right. I rub my eyes then look again only to find that they were gone. I didn't get a good look at them, but I know whoever it was they weren't a forgotten, their eyes almost reminded me of a cat's. It was almost scary how yellow they were.

It was almost too simple with how Sora laid it out, we would act as the decoys and Donald and Goofy would be the rescuers. Well this will be my first lesson in what happens when a plan doesn't go your way. Just as Sora and I were about to make out move, Goofy accidentally knocks over a line of empty armor to our right and gained a lot of attention. And I mean A LOT. The noise not only gained the attention of the moving ones, but also a handful of heartless that appeared not too far from the scene. Sora pulls me to hide behind the other line of armor, both of us hiding and waiting it out as Donald and Goody run the opposite direction, screaming their heads off as their running feet echo in the distance.

As we stepped out, I worriedly glance in the direction our friends ran off to and then at Sora. "Are they going to be okay on their own?" He reassures me, "They'll be fine. We've faced worse so I don't think living armor and some heartless will be a problem." I wasn't so sure about that since Donald has been a bit questionable in terms of his low level of bravery against certain Heartless, but with Goofy at his side, I guess I'll believe Sora. Taking a peek down the now empty hall, we hastily approach the wardrobe, I stop dead in my tracks when I hear the thing snore very loud, nearly falling over when Sora ran into me. "What?" he asks. I look around for the source, but there was nobody here except us.

We then proceed to push the Wardrobe, which was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be since it was 3 times taller and bigger than us. "Here it is!" I hear the boy cry out from my left after we unblocked the doors. Just as we were about to go in, the Wardrobe suddenly comes to life, a little cranky from what I think is it's nap. "Do you mind!?" she said before hopping back to her original spot and goes straight back to sleep. That was fast. "And here I thought I've seen enough to not surprise me..." I mutter out loud. Sora runs past me and starts pushing against the wardrobe, which I helped when I see his feet continuously slide on the carpet floor and the wardrobe not moving an inch.

We had to stop when we saw the wardrobe wake up. "Huh?" The voice... it's a SHE? The Wardrobe jumps so that it could face us properly. "And just when I was starting to get comfortable. Who might you two be?" "Huh? What?" Both of us took a minute to process that an actual wardrobe is talking to us. "It's alive!" we scream at the same time. Insulted, the Wardrobe scoffs at our reaction, "How rude! You should know it's not polite to insult a lady!" "S-Sorry..." we apologized. She lets out a cough then questions us, "Now, how may I help you?" I was about to answer only for Sora to blurt out, "Oh right - we're friends of Belle, she needs us to go to the dungeon."

That boy it too trusting. I think it's about time I have a little chat with him about that when we get back to the gummi ship. Her eyes lit up at the mention of Belle's name. "Goodness! So you're here to help my friends? Why didn't you say so sooner!" "Er..." Sora glances over at me, but I can only give his a shrug since I was jut as lost as he was right now. It would be rude to say it was because she was taking an excessively long beauty nap, especially on 'guard' duty, or whatever she's supposed to be doing right now besides blocking our way. Goofy and Donald finally rejoined us not long after. The duck was ranting about our lack of assistance after being chased by so many enemies while Goofy was struggling to stay away where he stands.

"Sorry guys... I got a little caught up in my duties as a Protector," apologizes the boy as he scratches the back of his head and sheepishly smiles at the duo. I decide to add this so that it'd make it easier for them forgive Sora, "He had complete faith in you guys that you'd come back safe and sound. And he was right! You didn't need our help."

"Aw shucks..."
"Well... If you say so, but I'm not trusting him again with making plans!"

After a bit of talking with the wardrobe, apparently the Beast was acting more... beast-like than usual. "I'm sorry for startling you," she apologizes. "Oh, I used to be human, you know, until the enchantress cast her spell. I was turned into a wardrobe when the prince was turned into a beast." My eyes widen at that last part. 'He's a prince!?' And it seems I'm not the only one. Donald and Goofy were just as surprised to learn this part of the beast. When we tried to further question the Wardrobe about the spell the Beast and the others were placed in, she just told us she'll tell us the rest after we save her and Belle's friends, which seems fair.

We heard a roar not too far away. "Hurry, now! The dungeon is damp and chilly. Certainly no place for a clock!" Sora opens the door and enters while the others follow, though I stayed for a moment after picking up on what she said. "A clock?" She simply winks at me. "You'll see for yourself." Another roar erupted, this time it was accompanied with the sound of heavy footsteps that got louder and louder with each passing second. The Wardrobe panics and ushers me to enter, "Hurry! I'll take of everything so he won't go inside the dungeon while you're there." "What about you?" I jump when i heard something crash. "I'll be fine. This door will lead you straight to the dungeon. I'll go back to Belle's room. Please help the others."

A hand suddenly grabs my, earning a small yelp from me as I'm gently pulled inside. "We will, we promise," Sora said before closing the door.

Dungeon Entrance...

The door led the group to a smaller room with a very large cement door on the other side, just looking at the design of it sent shivers down Akari's spine. Donald was surprisingly the first to approach and pressed his ear against it to listen if there was anyone or anything on the other side, but it triggers something that caused the eyes of the carved creatures to light up. A bright light covers the door and Donald jumps back when the two come to life in the form of two separate heartless. Sora and Akari look over at one another and nod, both transforming into their separate forms; Sora in his Valor form and Akari in her Guard form.

Donald sent of barrage of thunder spells at it while Goofy continuously hits the two heartless with his shield, only to be sent flying back when the heartless retaliates. Sora dodges one of the arms when it slams downwards in his direction, jumping on top of it and runs across to get closer and send multiple strikes at the heartless before jumping away from various black orbs. Blocking them with her large keyblade, Akari sends most of them back with one swing and charges with Sora when they all hit the heartless. They both jump up and shoot a stream of light at the heartless, temporarily paralyzing it as a small strange heartless floats out of it like a ghost.

The heartless possesses a nearby statue behind Akari without her notice. "Akari!" Sora shoves her away before she could get hit by its sword, taking the blow for her in the process. The girl gasps when she sees Sora was sent flying across the room. "No! Sora!" She tries to run to his side but is suddenly held back by the heartless. Once again, she was spoken to by the heartless as it stares into her eyes. "The light... must put it out... the light..." It almost sounded like a chant to her as it raises up its sword. Akari was about to fight back only for her form to time out, forcefully reverting her back to her usual form.

"Thunder!" Donald sends another spell, saving Akari just in time before it could strike down. The heartless flies out and starts to violently float around the room. Akari rushes to Sora and gives him one of her potions as Goofy chases it around, preventing it from possessing the door. "Ugh... That hurt a lot more than I expected." If the situation wasn't so dire Akari would have laughed at Sora's response. He immediately grabs her and both of them roll to the side when the heartless repossesses the door and attempts to take Akari hostage.

With a few seconds remaining on the use of his drive form, Sora leaves Akari and attacks the heartless one last time. Standing back up with using her keyblade as support, Akari raises her hand and musters up whatever energy she has left to create a ball of light to directly his the heartless at the very center, which acted as the final blow. All four of them draw back and apprehensively watch as the somewhat large, gaseous heartless floats of out the door and disappears into thin air. Not only the strange heartless, but the two on the door also disappears as well.

"Don't push yourself," Goofy said as he helps Akari keep herself from tripping on her own feet. "That was really good Akari! You're almost better than Sora now!" Donald comments, earning a short glare from the said boy.

I laugh nervously as I shyly scratch my cheek, asking, "Really? I was that good?" Getting knocked off my feet and having trouble get back up was considered good? Sora rolls his eyes, sarcastically laughing, "Ha ha! Very funny! But we all know that in the end, you'll always be the one open for improvement." It didn't take any of us long to realize what he exactly meant. While Goofy was laughing, Donald angrily glares at Sora with his hands on his hips and repeatedly tapping his foot on the ground. While we were talking, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and the pit of my stomach drop, it's as if there was someone watching us from above.

My head snaps up and I found myself staring into the same eyes I saw earlier before we approached the Wardrobe. They no longer resembled to a cat's as I previously perceived them to be. Instead they now remind me of someone I knew, someone that I can't clearly remember except that I met them in a very dark place. A place which felt cold, lonely and... sad. "You alright?" I snap out of my train of thought to find all three were staring at me with mirroring concerned looks. I look back up to find the eyes were no longer there. "Nothing I just... It felt like someone was watching us," I told them.

To Be Continued

I had to stop here because the chapter was... holy shit it was long by the time I was done. About 18,000 words I think. There's no after story THIS time. They only appear in important chapters so in the next you might see one. Now someone PMed me not too long ago, asking me what's the purpose of the After Stories. Guess it's better than asking it in the reviews... Anyway, there is A LOT to cover about the purest of all hearts - as you can tell at this point - and I do not want to back track to the previous games just so they can be mentioned nor do I want to make an origin fanfic of how each one of them lost their heart and who they were reborn ass. That's more than Organization XIII!