As Riku walked through the streets eating his ice cream cone, he was also waging an internal battle of stupidly enormous proportions.

Finally, one side won out over the other.

"Hey, uh, Terra?" he said quickly, glancing at the man.

"What is it?" Terra said, giving him his full attention.

"Uh..." Riku flushed, wrestling with himself. Had it always been this hard to just...? Funny, he couldn't remember. "You know how you said earlier that you'd lost your friends?"

Terra nodded.

"Well- you haven't!" Riku blurted. "Uh- what I meant was- well, I told you I met Aqua shortly before running into you. With Kairi and Sora, at that Door to Darkness. She...came out of that Dark Realm. I think...she'd been there a long time. But she's- she's out, she's back in the worlds, and- and from what I saw...she was strong, but kind. Kinder to me than I deserve!"

Riku paused, then went on with, "And your other friend - Ventus? Sora sort of explained it to me while we were going through all those broken worlds; Ventus was with him, in his Heart, for all that time. That's...why he had a Keyblade when we fought..." Riku sighed, falling silent again as his words failed him again. His face was burning, and his Heart was tight with anxiety. But-

"Thank you, Riku," Terra's voice came, warm and sincere. "I appreciate that. I really do. And I hope...that I'll at least get to see Aqua again someday soon."

"Yeah. You're welcome!"

"It really does lift my spirits, just knowing she's out there - still going strong. Still a shining light in all the worlds," Terra said happily.

"Uh - yeah..."

"And I know Ven is missing, for the moment," Terra went on. "But with Aqua on the case...well, she is the expert at dragging him home again. And besides...I have a feeling that he's all right out there. Wherever he is, whatever he's doing...he'll be fine."

"You really are big on that positive thinking stuff, aren't you?" Riku remarked. He flushed as the man turned to him with that literal steely gaze.

Terra gave a small laugh, shaking his head. "And you're big on worrying too much, Riku. You're always so caught up in your own head - instead of your Heart. You worry, and fear, and you doubt. You're always thinking. And that isn't a bad thing...except when you forget to feel things every now and again."

"I thought feeling things was my problem?" Riku responded.

"Part of the problem - the other part is the anger and the impatience," Terra said lightly. "You're always wanting to go, to move, to get where you want to be in the future...but at the cost of the present. What you need is to find some inner peace - tranquility and patience. Don't obsess over where you aren't but want to be - learn to accept where you are, and what you can do here and now."

"You think so?" Riku replied, trying not to sound too...well, angry about the criticisms. He had brought all that up himself, after all, when he'd confessed earlier to Terra about his obsession with the outside world. Chafing at being on the islands, wanting to just...yeah, it was fair enough of Terra to bring it up again.

"I know all about thinking too much - especially about the future that's out of your reach," Terra said. "Ten years in the desert, with no conversation companions. You can't do anything else - except practice training your own combat abilities."

"Is that whole 'ten years in the desert' thing going to be your go-to answer for everything?" Riku said humorously.

"Ten years in the desert - I don't have much else to talk about," Terra said playfully. Though, maybe a bit seriously as well...

"Well - why not talk about before?" Riku said hurriedly. "Those travels of yours - your life before. What were you doing when you met me back then, for example? Or...that enemy of yours?"

"Would you want to hear about my life before?"

"Yeah! I- I mean- if you...want to talk about it with me..."

"Of course I do. Where to start, though...?" Terra's voice held a smile. "Well, I suppose it all began the day I failed my Mark of Mastery exam..." he began casually.

"Mark of Mastery exam?"

"The test to become a Keyblade Master."

"Is it hard?"

"Not usually, no. But differing circumstances with the worlds, and the changing of traditions over the course of history - not to mention different circles of wielders - has given rise to different versions of the test."

"Different...circles? You mean there are other Keyblade wielders out there?" Riku stared in surprise.

Terra laughed. "Supposedly; my Master kept in touch with one or two others he was close to. But he always did mention that there were whole other groups, other schools, out there. Just...so incredibly far away from us that we'd never come across each other in a century of adventuring."

"I- didn't realize the World was that...big..." Riku murmured.

"Millions of stars," Terra remarked. "It's not an exaggeration to say every star is a world. I could travel from world to world, every single day, for the next century or two myself, and I'd hardly map more than a handful, in the grand scheme of things."

"I guess that's gotta be why, even after nine years of...this...the Heartless haven't taken over everything?" Riku said slowly. "Why there are even- worlds like this one, or like- home- that...never even saw them until recently?"

"Good observation - that's right. It would take more than decades to collapse the entire universe. More than centuries, even. Even the darkness has its work cut out for it there."

"So...your Mark of Mastery exam? What did yours involve?" Riku asked, trying to get back on topic. A topic he was eager to learn about, honestly.

"Well..." Terra started, amusement in his voice.

Kairi did her best to put memory-Aerith from her mind as she strode through room after room of this castle.

This illusion of Traverse Town. All square and whatnot...

She fought through the Heartless - even got the chance to "activate" Sora and Xion's cards! Which had brought them back to her side briefly...until they'd gone away again in a flash of light. But Kairi was just happy to know they were really still there with her, in some way. Even if it was way too much like a Summon Gem...

Speaking of Summon Gems: Kairi's gem that contained the Heart of Simba had also become a card. A Summon Card. It worked basically the same, however, and she was glad for that. She assumed it'd go back to a normal gem once she left this place, too. She hoped, really. Not that being a gem was any better than being a card...

Kairi found more cards along the way, anyways - attack cards, item cards, magic cards. Even lots of different red, blue and green cards that had so many different images and numbers, all with a big door symbol on the back of them; Kairi put all those cards in their own pocket. She also found a golden card with the red and black Heartless emblem on it...which she really hoped never to have to use anywhere.

Eventually she came to a special looking door, that...needed a lot of cards. Well, not a lot of cards - just cards that added up to a big number. And it also needed...that Heartless emblem card too. The images and numbers floated in the air above the doorframe, taunting Kairi. Mocking her!

So she used a few of the cards she'd found across these rooms, adding up to it...and then she held up the stupid Heartless card as well.

Light flashed, and the door opened, the doorway swimming with magical energy.

Kairi took a breath and stepped through it, ready for anything!

Except...to find herself in the middle of Second District. Actual Second District! Not some square, random imitation room of Traverse Town's aesthetic! This was the actual place! Down to the details! Even the clothing shop was there! Kairi wondered if she could actually go in there and get herself more new clothes (maybe a nice dress? she hadn't worn a dress in a long time now, and she was kind of missing it). Then again, with this being a memory and all, she really wouldn't want to go putting on a memory dress that might spontaneously vanish off her body once she left this floor! Especially not if Sora was going to be back with her once she left this floor! No, no, no! Definitely not taking that risk!

Dresses...would have to wait, she supposed. Until she really got back to Traverse Town (or maybe she could go shopping in Twilight Town; they were bound to have all kinds of different outfits compared to Traverse Town - a whole other sense of fashion).

Regardless of the possibilities of dresses or not, Kairi vaulted the outer walkway, landing lightly in the middle of the district. She strode down its length, gazing all around herself with a smile. It was nice to be back here, even if it was just a memory. She wondered who else she might meet here. A memory Leon? Noctis? Yuffie? Maybe even-

"A lost princess, wandering alone through the dark streets of night? How foolish..." came an amused voice behind her. A young man's voice.

Kairi stopped, turning to find exactly who she expected to find - the second she recognized the voice! It was that younger looking Ansem. The one with the yellow eyes. She summoned her Keyblade to hand, immediately leveling a glare at the man. She had to remember to breathe. To focus. She'd already beaten Ansem before! No matter what his form or appearance! She could do it again. Besides...

Kairi smirked at Ansem, meeting his gaze head on. "If you want to scare me, you're going to have to do better than that."

Surprise flickered across his face. Then he gave a thin smile. "Will I now? Well then...allow me to put forth more of an effort."

Oh no. Why did I taunt him? Maybe I shouldn't have...

No, no, she could do this! She could win!

"How much effort can an illusion put forth?" she mocked him, cocking a grin.

"Heh. An illusion? I'm very real-"

"No you're not," Kairi dismissed. "You're just a memory - made up in some castle. You're not the real Ansem. Sorry to tell you!"

Those yellow eyes furrowed, gazing at her intently. His head raised, casting a...curious look at his surroundings. As if searching for something. Or maybe noticing for the first time. His head fell, gazing at his own hands in silence for a long time. "How...how unexpected. And rather...interesting...isn't it?" he spoke slowly, hesitantly. "Yes...I see- the truth...is in your Heart... Then I am...?"

"Nothing more than something my Heart created," Kairi told him, feeling...a twinge of legitimate guilt. How could she weaponize his state of existence when she had told Aerith otherwise...? But- but he was Ansem! What did it even-

"-matter." Ansem raised his head, letting his hands fall to his sides. "Yes...what does it matter whether I am a conjuration or not?" A wide smile came to his youthful face. Something that wasn't at all pretty or wholesome. "I am here, I am meant to do battle against you. And thus...I am most assuredly...real enough to end your existence!" he shouted out, raising his hands and summoning crackling blue blades of energy and lightning!

Kairi fell into her combat stance, her inkling of regret fleeing her Heart. If he was as real and valid an existence as memory-Aerith...then he'd clearly made his choice here. She could feel satisfied with that conclusion.

Ansem ran at her with his twin blades, going into a flurry of slashing and twirling motions, spinning and twisting his whole body with force and speed! As he attacked, card after card, image after image flashed in Kairi's mind's eye before her - cards with his weapons on them, with big numbers in the lower right.

Kairi backpedaled, ducking, dodging! She rolled away to gain some distance, then flashed out a hand of Firaga with a sleight of three Fire Magic Cards! Her slow-moving projectile flew toward him - he flickered out of existence, and it hit the ground and exploded harmlessly. He reappeared in front of her, slashing for her neck with a basic Attack Card of seven!

Kairi blocked him, flashed out her hand with another Fire spell at his chest - a single card; he seized her wrist and yanked her up by it, holding her off the ground. Kairi let her weapon go, letting it vanish, then called it back and slashed for his waist with a basic Attack Card! He leaped back, then suddenly loaded up and triggered a sleight! It was all nines. He shrouded himself in swirling fire tornados and ran at her!

ZERO! Kairi thought, focusing hard. She smiled with triumph as the man staggered, gasping and clutching his chest as red light flashed there.

Then...

My turn! Nine, nine, nine!

Kairi flew up into the air, conjuring dozens of pink energy spheres, which she sent flying down for him like a meteor shower!

They exploded all around him, damaging him heavily.

She raised her weapon before her, watching him as he came at her again. Waiting for his move. His next move, it turned out, was to use a blue Magic Card with the image of an energy whip on it. It lashed out at her swiftly - she dodged and watched him with narrowed eyes. He loaded up another sleight - this time, three of those magic whip attacks in a row - and unleashed it on her! It was a furious combo, whip lashing out for her repeatedly, with bursts of energy on impact!

But Kairi dodged her way out of it.

She kept her head and kept methodical. Attack, dodge dodge, break with zero - she only had three of those, though - and use sleights when she felt she had a chance to. He broke her Blizzaga sleight at one point, to her disappointment. But she pressed on with the fight!

She got a Sora card towards the end, and she used it to great effect: he pulled off a hefty Ragnarok against Ansem!

Kairi dodged, she rolled, and rolled...and then she pulled out her last little sleight possible of Seven Wishes, and then Ansem was falling to his knees!

Red light flashed from both their bodies, and Kairi felt the card system releasing her again from its battle restrictions.

It was over. She'd won!

She stood silently, watching as Ansem gave a last gasp, and faded away into dark particles.

She breathed again, and proceeded through the next door, which had appeared in front of the Gizmo Shop out of nowhere.

Kairi walked through the light, and emerged...into a smaller, white hallway, like the entrance hall. It had the pillars, the flower pedestals. It had a big set of white stairs leading upward. Up to the next floor, she supposed. She'd conquered a floor! All by herself!

Light flashed in front of her - two lights - and suddenly Sora and Xion were there before her!

"Guys!" she exclaimed joyfully, rushing forth to draw them both into a hug!

"I knew you could do it!" Sora said happily. "Never doubted it for a second!"

"You really...showed him a thing or two!" Xion said hesitantly, smiling. "Right?"

"Right," Kairi giggled. "I sure did. Thanks!" She paused. "Wait, so you two were...like...aware of what was going on in there?"

"Yeah," Sora grinned. "It was kinda weird. I was floating around, just...following you, I guess. Watching you go through those rooms. And when you picked up my cards, I was suddenly just there again. Wham!"

"You were, were you?" Kairi grinned back at him. "Thanks for watching over me, then, Sora."

"Yeah - you're welcome, Kairi!" he said with a blush. But a pleased look on his face.

"So...what do we do now?" Xion asked, stepping away. Her gaze turned to the staircase.

"We go up and...do this all again, I guess," Kairi sighed. "Boy, this is going to get tiring and repetitive. Come on. We should just get through this as fast as possible!"

The three of them hurried for the stairs. They ascended them together, finding them steeper than they'd expected. But when they emerged at the top, it was into an...almost identical hall to the last, okay. But it was more like the entrance hall in that it had those little steps leading up to a little platform where a fancy door was waiting.

Kairi set off across the hall...and darkness flared up in front of her.

She stopped, gazing upon a black coated, hooded man with a familiar...body shape. Figure. Whatever!

It made her groan out loud.

"Last time you bug me, my ass!" Kairi shouted out, her voice echoing in the hall. "I knew you were lying, you-"

"If you would allow me to-" that familiar man's voice came again. But suddenly, another dark portal briefly flared up to his right, and someone new was standing there with him. A different body shape - thinner, slimmer. But still a man's.

"Hey, no hogging the hero!" came a young man's voice, sounding rather...humorous and playful.

The first man stood silently for a second. Then his hood turned aside. "Then perhaps you'd like to test her..."

"Perhaps I would," the other man responded, in almost mocking tones.

"Very well." The larger man produced a blue card from his sleeve and turned to hurl it at the new arrival. "But remember our orders," he spoke on, in a bit of a sterner tone. "The Keyblade Heroine is not to be killed."

"Well now, that just depends on her," said the other man, with a bit of a shrug. "But I suppose I can do my best to make sure she doesn't die on me..."

"Excellent." The larger man vanished away, leaving Kairi, Sora, and Xion alone with this...new person.

The new man in question strode forward, then stopped abruptly. His hands raised and threw back his hood. Revealing a...younger man, all right. A man with long, spikey red hair, green eyes, and strange teardrop markings beneath them. Tattoos?

Why, why, why...are all my enemies HOT?! Kairi bemoaned. Was the World- was the World just torturing her with this shit at this point?! Or, well, maybe it was some kind of life lesson about how looks didn't equal good...?

Still...

It made it a bit more of a shame to have to destroy them!

"Hey! What're you doing looking at me like that for, princess?" the man called out, frowning at her.

"Huh - what- who's looking at anyone like anything?!" Kairi exclaimed, shaking her head. She leveled a hard glare at him and brought out her weapon, aiming it forth. "I was just trying to figure out whether or not you're going to take any actual effort to wipe the floor with!"

There, yeah. Saved it! That sounded good.

Great going, Kairi's brain! Now never screw up like that again!

"Alright..." the man murmured, scratching his head of ridiculous hair. "Anywho - the name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Sure! Axel. Got it. Now did you want something or what?" Kairi said dismissively.

Axel laughed. "You heard that little conversation before, didn't ya? I've gotta test you. And if you win, you get this." He held up the card, with an image Kairi couldn't make out from this distance. Then, it suddenly vanished in flames. Axel grinned at her, then flashed his arms out as flames burst around them. Swirling fires coalesced around his hands, and two weapons formed in his grasp. They were metal...disc weapons. With spikes all around the edges!

"You're going to fight me with evil frisbees?" Kairi snorted.

Axel froze. His arms fell to his sides. "What did you just call my weapons now?" he uttered, astonished.

"Evil frisbees," Kairi repeated.

"No, they're not- they're called chakrams - get it memorized!" the man exclaimed, as if it really mattered. He honestly looked upset!

Kairi flashed a grin, tossing her head to flip her bangs. "I think I'll pass, thanks! I'm sticking with evil frisbees! They're just so silly! Like, look at those things!"

"They're not frisbees- ack, whatever, fine...frisbees..." Axel hung his head with a groan. "Man, this is why I'm not the biggest fan of kids. Especially one I can't kill... But, I suppose I can still teach you a little respect for my weapons, can't I?" he brightened, straightening up with a grin of his own again.

Kairi's own grin widened to split her face. "Even if I die...I'll die laughing at those things!"

"Alright, you're just asking for it now!" Axel exclaimed. He lit his weapons up with flames and hurled them at her across the distance!

Kairi conjured up a Reflect barrier, and was pleased when it held nicely against the attacks. Just some deep cracks and scorching. She let it fall willingly, and took a step forward.

Suddenly, Sora and Xion cried out behind her. She turned to see a barrier had sprung up between them - cutting them off from her in the hall! Kairi was stuck on her own side...with Axel.

Axel snapped his fingers, and the familiar red light flared in Kairi's chest (and his own).

The battle was locked and set now, then.

Kairi could win it, like her last one! She just had to abuse the heck out of the card system's wonders again. Card breaks and zeros - and lots of rolling! And also spamming sleights when she could for maximum damage. This was a game of patience. The slow and steady one would always win the race!

In a long, white room with large windows of streaming, illusionary sunlight, several cloaked figures gathered around a large crystal ball on a lectern.

"You actually let that jerk stick around to test the princess?" spoke a woman of bright, yellow-blonde, slicked-back hair, raising a hand with sharp motion. Her other arm crossed her body, her hand supporting her elbow.

A tall, powerful male figure reached up to throw back his hood, revealing an exquisitely beautiful face framed by long, voluminous pink hair. Blue eyes gazed at the woman. "Axel follows orders," he said simply.

"Pfft. Yeah, sure - and I'm a pretty princess myself!" the woman snorted loudly.

"Larxene-"

"No, no, face it: what if he kills her?" she snapped, getting in his face. She suddenly thrust her arm out, a finger pointing like a spear - right at a small figure with a mop of blonde hair, wearing a black coat. "She will vanish from this world, is what will happen! You'd risk her? She's-"

Suddenly a dark portal sprang to life on the wall, and a tall, lanky man of long blonde hair strode out of it. His green eyes glinted at the group.

"-w-worth more than any of us put together, unfortunately, what with her being the Keyblade wielder and all!" Larxene continued on, swift and caustic. "The Superior wouldn't like us taking risks with her existence. Not at all!"

"Indeed?" spoke the new arrival, raising a hand to his chin. "Well, perhaps I have just the thing you need to mitigate such risks. Or rather, I will have it shortly enough..."

"Explain yourself, Vexen," spoke the pink-haired man.

"I have just received word from Number Seven that I will have the combat data of a certain...ah, former friend of the Keyblade Heroine's in my hands within the hour!"

The pink-haired man's eyes narrowed. "I was unaware...that we had authorized the creation of another Replica."

Vexen smirked at him, waving a hand airily. "I saw no reason to inform you of the development. Scientific research is my area of expertise, after all, and I had already cleared it with Lord Xemnas himself earlier."

"Is that so?" said the pink-haired man quietly.

"Quite so, yes," Vexen said smugly. "Any questions?"

"Just one," Larxene sighed, putting hand to her forehead. "What are you going to do when this one abandons its mission too?"

"I beg your pardon?" Vexen gaped. "The previous Replica which you refer to was one of my earliest drafts, sent out for a single reason only: a small, simple battle! Its low intellect and emotional capacity, along with a lack of general knowledge, did lead to its empty head being filled with useless stuffing that corrupted its purpose, yes, but-"

"Get to the point already!" Larxene groaned.

"My point," Vexen glared. "is that my latest Replica is to be a vast improvement upon the previous iteration! Such that it will not be distracted from its mission so easily! And besides - Lord Xemnas himself admitted it was a possibility, and wrote it off as a loss!" he added triumphantly.

"Lord Xemnas this, Lord Xemnas that - why not just marry the guy?!" Larxene snapped at him, throwing up her hands.

"Keep your juvenile remarks to yourself, thank you! Some of us are not so infantile that we have even the time to waste on such-"

A high, soft giggle suddenly burst to life in the room, causing all eyes to turn.

"YOU, juvenile or not, were sent here for one purpose only, yourself!" Vexen started furiously, stalking toward the blonde haired girl leaning back in a white chair. "Lord Xemnas tasked you with exploring the full potential of your memory powers, as well as how it could be used to assist me in my Replica program!" He paused, rounding back on Larxene and the pink-haired man. "So why is it, Marluxia, that you have her lazing around like she's on some sort of vacation, giggling like some simpleton schoolgirl?!"

Marluxia stood gazing at him silently. Then, he smiled, closing his eyes. "My sincerest apologies, Vexen. We were merely waiting until there was something for her to become involved in again. If you require her assistance with your Replicas, then by all means, take her down to your laboratory. I'm sure she would be more than happy to assist you in the basement."

Vexen eyed the blonde girl cautiously. He scoffed, then threw out a hand to summon another portal. "Fine. Come along, Xikira! But touch nothing! Keyblade or not, don't think for a second that your special privileges mean anything to me..."

Xikira jumped to her feet, striding off after him without a word.

Once they had both gone, Marluxia turned to Larxene.

"The little shit's not going to be down for any of this," Larxene sighed, staring at the spot where Xikira had vanished. "She's way too much like her Somebody. I never knew, before, if it was just her or if it was the princess...but, watching Kairi now...I can totally see it."

A deep frown came to Marluxia's features. He nodded. "Mmm. True. But she knows the game - well enough to play it, at least. Especially if she's truly wishing to win it."

Larxene's frown matched his as she shook her head and turned away.

After a long battle, Kairi batted away Axel's frisbees, then slashed him across the chest with a growl - ending it.

He staggered back, darkness wafting from his form. He stood there, hunched over. Then he straightened and laughed. His weapons vanished, and in a hand instead was that blue card. "You're no walk in the park, princess, I'll give you that! I'm impressed, truly! I'd say you've more than earned this." He threw the card at her, and then vanished away without a word more.

Kairi went to retrieve it. She turned with it in hand, seeing that barrier fall, allowing Sora and Xion to come forward at last and rejoin her.

She stared at the face of the card, recognizing the world on it: Noctis's world...

So this was it, then? This was going to be their whole world for the...foreseeable future?

Revisiting the worlds they'd been to before?

It was going to be nice to see everyone - but not so nice to refight the same enemies.

What worlds would be next, then? What possibilities were there?

Traverse Town was done. So...

Hercules's world, Noctis's world, Jasmine's world, Alice's world, Tinker Bell's world of Neverland, Elisen's world of magical floating cities, that Robin Hood the fox's world, the world of people with all those incredible powers...oh, and Twilight Town of course (that Demon Tide, as Sora had named it so many weeks ago now, was going to be hell to face again without Aerith).

What else was there...?

Did that whale's insides count as a "world"? God, Kairi hoped not! For so many reasons. If she had to interact with and watch Geppetto die again...if she had to watch Riku do it again...

NO!

Traverse Town had already proven that she didn't have to! She had beaten that younger looking Ansem form - things had gone so differently from reality! From memory!

It was more than memories. It was memories come to life.

And that meant they could change.

Kairi would change it!

What other worlds did she have in her memories of life so far...?

The islands!

Why hadn't it come to her sooner?! She could see her home again!

And- and not just...her home itself...but...

The people within it.

Selphie, Wakka, Tidus...her dad! They'd all be...there...like Traverse Town!

But with as much joy and anticipation as the idea of getting to visit a tangible memory of her home and family brought her...

There was another world in her memories that she did not want to visit again: the Radiant Garden of her childhood.

Sure, maybe it would be nice to get to see it before Maleficent ruined it and drowned it in ocean, and maybe her grandma would be there, and maybe so would Aeleus and Dilan, and maybe even her elusive parents...but...Ansem would also be there.

A tangible, physical memory of the man she'd once beaten. But not some younger or older version of him, some weird product of possessing others and shapeshifting bodies - the exact same version from her memories. And Kairi...didn't even know if she could handle facing that version of the man again. Would she just- freeze again, like she had back in that room...with that machine? Could she handle that?

Kairi wasn't sure. Even with Sora and Xion at her side.

Not that they would be...by her side...as floaty card existences or whatever...

Kairi frowned to herself, as fear trickled into her Heart.