Aaaaaaaaaand they're getting shorter again!!! Sorry, but I'm odd. Its not my fault!! Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or any of the characters.

******************************************************************** Chapter 9

The next day, they began building a tree-house for Amy to live in, about 1 mile off the coast. They built it in a big, thick trunked tree, with branches sprawling out everywhere. At the end of the day, they had finished the floor.
Exhausted, they climbed down and sat on the beach together.

"So, what was your world like?" Sora asked Amy.

"Well, it wasn't as beautiful as here. Sure we had beaches like this one, but we didn't live right next to one. It was always polluted, car fumes and stuff like that. Life just seemed to go so much faster there. The only place I really liked was my room, but then that got burned down, so.." She trailed off, and then started up again. "I like it much better here. You all are your own person, not what the fashion of the week tells you to be." Amy replied. They spent the next few days just building Amy's new house, and then at the end of the day just sitting, watching the sun set and talking.

After a few weeks, Amy had properly moved in to her new tree-house, and it was like she had lived on the Destiny Islands all her life. She was friends with everyone on the island, and Amy, Riku, Sora and Kairi were inseperable.

But one morning, almost 1 year after Amy had arrived on the Island, Sora and Kairi burst into Amy's room.

"Amy! Amy, are you OK?" yelled Sora

"Mm.. wha?" Amy woke up "yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

"Phew" said Kairi, and heaved a sigh of relief. "Its just that Riku has been taken by the heartless but there was no sign of a struggle. It was like he wanted to go or something" Sora nodded

"Its true" he said. Amy quickly got up got dressed.

"Well, what's gonna happen?" she asked "they'll probably come back for me"

"We'll just have to wait and see" said Sora, still clutching onto Oathkeeper. They waited for what seemed like hours on end, not talking. When Amy was just starting to feel like nothing was ever going to happen, the door flung open with such force that it rebounded off the wall.

Sora stood up and held the Keyblade ready, standing in front of Amy to protect her. Kairi stood up, and held Amy's hand, ready to drag her out of the room if need be. But the need didn't be, because it was Leon, with Yuffie, Aerith and Cloud standing behind him.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're keeping a firm watch over Amy, Sora" said Leon, a trace of a smirk flashing across his face.

"Leon!" shouted Amy, running towards him, and giving him a huge hug. The next few minutes followed with Amy just running around madly hugging everyone.

"So," Said Leon, just catching his breath after being pratically squeezed to death.

"The Heartless found the one with the necklace, before we could even get so much as any trace of information about.. Ermm.. It."

"Yeah," Agreed Yuffie. "We didn't know who it was, and the Heartless were obviously 1 step ahead of us"

"And your friend, Riku, has been taken because apparently Sephiroth is very persuasive." Said Cloud. " So we really need to be sure that Amy is safe."

"In other words, you're taking her with you." Said Kairi, tearfully.

"It's not that you weren't doing a good job of keeping her safe," Said Aerith " we need her in our own sight at all times."

"But you said I was the only one who could protect her fully" said Sora, defiantly.

"Yes, but now the circumstances have changed, because now Riku is involved," Began Leon

"And he's fighting for the wrong side" cut in Yuffie.

"And you might cut him some slack because he's your friend, which would not be very good." Continued Leon.

"You will bring her back, though, you know, when you've finished and everything." Said Sora, looking pitifully sad, but there was hope in his eyes, and that was all Amy needed.

"But why would Riku go with them? I refuse to believe that he would go with them willingly." Kairi said, speaking out her thoughts. Amy agreed with Kairi. Over the past year or so, she had felt a strange sort of bond between Riku and herself, but never could explain it. Sora and Kairi were her best friends, but Riku was more than that. Kairi was there to be girly with, and she appreciated Amy because before she only had Sora and Riku, and so appreciated Amy for that. Sora was Amy's protector, and a close friend as well. But Riku didn't have to be there, didn't have a specific role, but he was, like he was there simply because he wanted to be. And now he was gone. Taken by evil.
Suddenly Amy felt strong in her heart, sort of courageous. She wanted to do her bit for mankind. It was time to save the world.

"Come on, squirt" Said Cloud, heading out of the door.

"Coming." Amy called back. She turned to Kairi and Sora and hugged them. "I won't miss you." She said, defiantly. "Because I know that I'll be back very soon, and you will always be in my heart, giving me strength." She turned and walked slowly after Cloud.