Riku smirked. "There's a LOT that make's me think I can beat you. Like your cocky laugh for instance!"

Cedric's eyes narrowed. "YOU'RE REALLY PISSING ME OFF!" He roared. The eye on his forehead seemed to open a little bit more. He raised the keyblade and brought it down in a huge swipe. Riku was blown back with such a force that cuts seemed to burst open all over his body. He fell to the ground in pain.

"STOP!" Carolyn screamed running in front of Riku with her arms outstretched. "STOP IT! DON'T YOU SEE YOU'RE HURTING HIM?!"

"Get out of the way Carolyn." Riku gasped staggering to his feet, "Cedric wouldn't think twice about killing a girl."

Carolyn gulped and stepped out of the way reluctantly.

"You're wasting your time. BOTH keyblades are no match for this one!" Cedric laughed holding out the Phantom Keyblade. "Both of you must die."

"STRIKE RAID!" Sora and Riku yelled at once. They flung their keyblades forward. Cedric held up the Phantom Keyblade. He easily blocked Riku's keyblade but he wasn't quick enough to dodge Sora's. The handle stuck him hard in the stomach. The force of the blow caused him to vomit out some blood. He fell to the ground in pain.

"OH NO!" Katie cried running to his side, "Are you okay?"

"Why are you helping me?" Cedric growled.

Katie's eyes sparkled. "I love you." She said dreamily.

"Get away from me." Cedric snarled standing up and shooting Katie a look of deep revulsion.

"Oh!" Katie said sounding unfazed, "A challenge!"

"Katie, you have horrible taste in men." Yuna groaned.

"Oh yeah?! Like YOUR taste is any better!" Katie shot back.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Tidus yelled.

"Okay! Now the really fight starts!" Cedric roared. "HIT IT!"

A shadow heartless appeared with a stereo. It started playing 'Baby Got Back'. Everyone screamed and covered their ears and Cedric and Riku battled. Katie however was break dancing.

"I HATE THIS SONG!" Carolyn screamed. She waved her hand and a blast of her power blew up the stereo.

"Well done Carolyn." Caitlin said applauding, "Well done!"

"ENOUGH!" Cedric roared, "BLOOD SWORD!"

Cedric's new Blood Sword was twice as strong as usual. Everyone was blasted off their feet. The wall imploded and the pieces disintegrated. When the dust settled there was a gaping hole in the wall. They could see a huge dense forest off in the distance.

"I got it!" Carolyn cried snapping her fingers. Her eyes were sparkling. She fished into her backpack and pulled out a zip line. She quickly tied it around a nearby torch. Then she used her psychic powers to have the other end fly out of the hole in the wall and wrap around the trunk of a tree.

"We can use these to slide down the line!" She cried holding out and huge handful of hooks. "Well?! What are you guys waiting for?! Someone to kiss you goodbye?!"

"Well…" Katie sighed, "Nah…I guess that's pretty unlikely, huh? …Would be nice though."

Cedric took a quick step back away from Katie.

"LET GO OF ME!" Riku shouted as Sora, Tidus, and Wakka started to drag him towards the line, "I HAVE TO KILL CEDRIC! THAT BASTARD HAS HURT TOO MANY OF MY FRIENDS!"

"Riku…" Mia said gently. But a stabbing pain cut her off from behind.

"MIA!" Riku screamed ripping himself free from his friends and standing up. Cedric had flung the Keyblade at Mia from behind. The tip of blade had sunk into her back right between the shoulder blades. She stumbled forward a few steps, the sword still in her back. She turned and looked at Cedric. Her eyes were full of tears.

Cedric had sunk to his knees. He was trembling. He looked up. Mia was shocked to see that tears had welled up in his eyes and were now pouring down his face.

"What have I done?" He gasped. "WHAT HAVE I DONE!?" His face wore a look of genuine remorse and guilt. He seemed almost gentle now. He jumped to his feet and started to run towards her. He stopped abruptly. He sank to his knees clutching his head in pain. Suddenly he stopped. He was no longer trembling. His face was now one of cold hatred.

"Stupid boy." A deep voice from within Cedric laughed, "Sorry, that one slipped out."

The sword flew out of Mia's back and into Cedric's hand. She groaned and fell over unconscious.

"Get her out of here!" Caitlin cried getting ready to slide down on the zip line. Riku quickly scooped up Mia and held her under his left arm. Everyone grabbed onto a hook. Katie quickly blew Cedric a kiss. He gagged and ducked. Everyone started to slide down towards the forest. Cedric grabbed the Phantom Keyblade and sliced through the line. Everyone plummeted downward screaming.

"I'll save me!" Katie cried grabbing onto the broken zip line.

"QUICK! EVERYONE GRAB HER!" Carolyn screamed. Everyone immediately grabbed onto Katie.

"NO! YOU'RE ALL TOO HEAVY!" Katie wailed. They plunged into an open sewer. (How'd that get there)? As they fell they flew past different levels and saw an assortment of creatures. Carolyn was pointing them all out as they fell.

"OH! MINERS!" She cried as they fell past another level, "WARLOCKS!"

They reached the bottom of the shaft.

"OH! MOLEMEN!"

 "There is no escape from the fortress of the moles!" The mole king yelled.

Suddenly the zip line yanked them all back up like a bungee cord.

"Oh, except that."

They were yanked out of the sewer and back onto solid ground just outside of the dense forest surrounding the castle.

"I never noticed all this forest before." Riku said looking at the dense forest in front of him. He still had Mia cradled in his arms.

"The castle was surrounded by fog when Ansem was still alive." Sora said frowning, "But now that Cedric's in charge it's all gone."

 "Ansem must've made the fog cover the woods. But Cedric's more interested in killing and destroying than concealing his opponent's escape routes." Carolyn sighed, "We can use that to our advantage."

"Let's get into the forest!" Rikku cried, "We have to take care of Mia right away!"

 "Hold on." Katie said turning towards the front gates on the castle. "There is one last thing I must do before I leave."

She hurried up the long set of stairs that led up to the huge oak doors.

"What's she doing?" Wakka asked.

"I have no clue." Carolyn sighed, "Nor do I care."

When she reached the top of the stairs, Katie pulled a silver slinky out of her pocket and set it down at the top of the stairs and tapped it. It began to crawl down the stairs.

"ISN'T THIS INCREDIABLE?!" Katie squealed, "IT'S GOTTA BE SOME KIND OF RECORD!"

As the slinky went down the stairs Katie marched alongside it singing: "Everyone loves a slinky, you got to go get a slinky. Slinky, Slinky, GO SLINKY, GO!"

Suddenly the slinky came to a stop right above the last step.

"OH MAN!" Katie cried, "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! IT WAS RIGHT THERE!" She picked up the slinky and gave everyone the puppy eyes. "Can I do that one more time?"

"Katie," Carolyn hissed, "In about a minute, Cedric's troops are going to head this way, AND MAKE US ALL DEAD!"

Katie's eyes narrowed. "Of course," She snapped putting the slinky away, "How selfish of me. Let's do all the things that YOU wanna do."

She stomped off towards the forest. Everyone hurried after her. Carolyn stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. Her pale blue eyes widened in fear.

"THE HEARTLESS! RUN FOR IT!" She screamed.

Everyone bolted. Suddenly there was a whooshing sound and a tranquilizer struck Katie in the arm.

"Starting to get numb!" She gasped as she ran. She was limping. After ten minutes of running she leaned against a tree and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think I lost them…" She said in a strained voice. Suddenly twenty more tranquilizers struck her in the back.

"Hey…" She moaned feebly. She fell over and passed out.

"QUICK!" Carolyn yelled to Tidus and Wakka. "You guys carry her!"

"I got a better idea!" Tidus yelled. "Let's leave her!"

Carolyn spun around with fire in her eyes. "PICK HER UP NOW!" She roared in a deep booming voice.

Tidus picked her up and carried her on his back, grumbling in anger.

Hours later…

Stars sparkled in the night sky like diamonds sewn into blue velvet. It was in the middle of the woods. Everyone had set up a large bonfire since they had been unable to find the gummi ship. Mia was still out cold. She was dripping in sweat. Caitlin, (being a master of the healing arts) had given her some herbs but nothing seemed to help. Yuna was making futile attempts to close the wound with white magic.

"CUREGA!" She yelled for the 20th time. A white light surrounded Mia but the wound didn't close.

"It's no good." Yuna sighed gasping with exhaustion from her attempts, "There must be a spell on that Phantom Keyblade that keeps any major wound it inflicts from closing."

"Do something!" Riku cried at Carolyn. She glared at him.

"I've done all I can. She's become feverish. We need someone skilled in dark healing to save her. All we can do is make sure she's comfortable."

Katie who had regained consciousness leaned forward. "Maybe I can do it. I am the guardian of darkness. And I was brought over to the dark side once. The sorcerer that brainwashed me taught me every attack I know."

 "All right! Katie you rock!" Tidus laughed. He stopped. "I can't believe I just said that."

Katie took a deep breath, wiped the sweat off her forehead, cracked her knuckles, and breathed on her hands. She held her hands over Mia.

"HEAL ALREADY!" Katie yelled stupidly. Nothing happened. "Well, there you go. I've done all I can do."

 "That wasn't enough!" Lulu snapped. "Even now, her life is slipping away!"

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance." A strangely familiar voice hissed.

A man stepped out of the woods. Everyone immediately jumped to their feet and got into a fighting stance. A silver light surrounded him. He had silver hair and golden cat-like eyes.  It was Ansem.

"YOU!" Riku shouted. Then he realized Ansem had his eyes locked on Mia. Riku stepped in front of her protectively. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER YOU FILTH!"

"Get out of my way." Ansem growled. Riku lunged forward to punch him. His hand went right through him.

"You-You're a…" Riku gasped. His arm was still through Ansem's chest.

"Yes." Ansem said coldly, "See what I have become? See what you have done? Now, step aside."

Ansem didn't wait for a response. He punched Riku across the face. Riku fell to the ground spitting out blood. Ansem knelt by Mia. He held his hands over her. Suddenly the wound vanished and the blood dried up. Mia's eyes snapped open.

"ANSEM?!" She screamed in terror. She stood up and jumped back. "Wh-What do you want?!"

"I want…" Ansem said looking at everyone, "To thank you."

"WHA?!" Everyone cried.

"I thought my heart was lost to darkness forever. It was like a nightmare but I couldn't wake up from the eternal torture. But when Riku killed me, my soul was set free. So now I'm what you would call a ghost. I only left the afterlife to speak to you."

 "Hey pal!" Riku growled, "While you've been living it up in the afterlife, we, the heroes, have been having some serious problems with that offspring of yours."

"Ah yes," Ansem said sitting down and drumming his fingers on the ground, "Cedric. Yes, he…well…you could say his mind is not his own anymore."

"What's that mean?" Tom asked. Ansem sighed.

"It means Cedric no longer has any will of his own. He is being controlled like a puppet."

Author's Comments: HAHA! Another cliffhanger! Is Cedric really the bad guy? What happened to him that made a sweet innocent boy become the most hated person in this fic? Find out in the next chapter!