Kairi summoned her keyblade and looked toward the door.  Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could see through the blindfold. 

Suddenly, a heartless burst through the door running toward them.  Kairi ran toward it ready to crush it into oblivion when she heard it talk. 

"What are you doing, I'm not a heartless!" 

Zidane jumped toward them yelling, "He's right, he's no heartless!" 

Kairi stopped.  She looked at the figure in front of her.  "He sure looks like a heartless…" 

The figure lowered his head and toed the ground sheepishly.  "M, My name's Vivi, I'm a black mage." 

Kairi apologized but was still on guard..  "Sorry, I guess I got ahead of myself." 

Yuyami smirked and folded his arms.  "You've really changed, Kairi."  "I bet before all of this, you wouldn't have hurt a fly." 

Kairi looked at Yuyami and began walking toward the door.  "Shutup, we have heartless to kill." 

Zidane brandished his daggers and smiled.  "This is my kind of girl."  Yuyami began to walk toward the door also. 

"You're too whipped by Dagger to be coming on to another girl," Yuyami whispered.

Zidane sighed and looked at Kairi who turned toward Vivi.  "Can you fight?" 

Even though Kairi couldn't see his expression, he sounded like he was smiling.  "I think I'll be okay…", he said, gripping a rod. 

Yuyami opened the door and they all saw the many of heartless wreaking havoc on the city.  Kairi cursed softly and gripped her keyblade tighter.  How many were out there?  Thousands? Millions?  She shivered. 

Yuyami summoned his keyblades and looked back.  "Everyone ready?"  Vivi nodded.  Kairi did the same. 

Zidane grinned and raised his daggers.  "Of course!"  Yuyami turned back toward the door and tensed. 

"Well, let's go."  They walked out to face the darkness. 

………………………………

He walked in darkness calling out one name over and over again. 

It was raining and his silver hair was soaked. 

The darkness was all around him and the night was freezing. 

He didn't care. 

He would search all day, all night, forever. 

He would only stop to eat and sleep. 

He didn't have time for anything else. 

Time had no meaning. 

Every minute he wasn't searching, death was one step closer to him. 

Every now and then a heartless would appear and he would dispatch it with ease. 

He had no time to deal with small issues like that, his mission was too important. 

He had to find the key. 

The one who would, could open the door to the light. 

He would find him…his enemy, his rival, his friend…

………………………………

Kairi ducked as a heartless flew toward her.  She swiped upward with her keyblade and destroyed it.  She then jumped toward a flying heartless and gave a swift swipe to its midsection.  It disappeared in a flash of dark energy. 

She looked toward her friends and saw that they were fighting as furiously as she was.  She turned around to dodge a heartless attack but wasn't fast enough to dodge another.  It hit her in the shoulder with stunning force and she crashed into some boxes. 

She got up before the heartless could overwhelm her and gingerly touched her shoulder.  She couldn't feel it but she her fingers felt something warm.  Blood?  It was too dark to see.  She held her keyblade in her right hand and ran toward the others.  A heartless jumped in her way and she slashed at it without stopping. 

"Retreat! Retreat!"  Yuyami was signaling for everyone to follow him.  Kairi looked around and saw Zidane acrobatically flipping over heartless and running toward them.  Vivi was letting loose a volley of powerful fire spells and was also running in their direction. 

"Follow me!"  Zidane was running toward a huge mansion.  They ran inside and Zidane shut the door.

 "How is this gonna help us, they can teleport in here!"  Kairi was still holding her arm trying to stop the bleeding.

Zidane answered, "This mansion has been blessed by a white mage to be a haven from the heartless." 

They sat down and began to look at their wounds.  Vivi's wrist appeared to be broken, Zidane had a nasty cut below his eye and scrathes everywhere, and Kairi still had a deep wound in her arm.  Yuyami reached into his ever-present backpack and began handing out potions.  Kairi took hers and rubbed some into her wound.  It began to get warm and instantly heal.  It was amazing every time she saw a potion in action, the tissue reconnecting and blood returning. 

"So what do we do now."  Vivi was wrapping a cloth tightly around his wrist and casting a petrify spell on it so it wouldn't move. 

Zidane, who was rubbing a potion into the his cut, answered, "We wait here until the heartless are done and heal up." 

Yuyami wasn't saying anything.  He was just standing outside of the window watching the heartless destroy everything. 

"The heartless are hungry…" 

A voice came from the balcony and they all looked up, ready for another battle.  "The heartless need sustenance, and even the hundreds of hearts they devour in this town won't fill their appetites." 

Yuyami summoned his keyblades once more and climbed the stairs to the balcony but Zidane beat him to it.  "Dammit Kuja, you shouldn't sneak up on people!" 

Kairi ran up and saw a man with silver hair standing with his arms folded and a smirk on his face.  "Zidane, I can't believe you jost got your ass whupped by a few heartless, especially when you can go into the 'trance'." 

Yuyami looked away and Zidane lowered his head.  Kairi looked at them and asked, "What's a 'trance'?" 

Vivi looked up at her.  "Kuja and Zidane came from a different planet called Terra and have a power called the 'trance'."

 "What happens?", she asked. 

Zidane closed his eyes and sighed.  "I become way more powerful, but I also lose control of myself a little every time I use it.  I'm afraid that one day, I'll completely lose control and…" 

He didn't have to finish. 

Kuja chuckled.  "If you ever went berserk, I'd finish you off in no time." 

Yuyami walked back down the stairs and continued his watch by the window.  They all began to walk down the stairs with Kuja in the lead. 

"So what's it gonna be?"  Kuja looked at Zidane.  "You gonna punk out or are you gonna be a man and take these heartless out with me?" 

Kuja's eyes began to glow along with the rest of his body.  Kairi shielded her eyes and when she lowered her arm, she saw that Kuja had transformed to some kind of red, furry figure with a tail.  She felt intense power radiating from him and had an involuntary shiver. 

"THIS, THIS IS THE POWER OF THE 'TRANCE'."  Kuja smiled and turned to Zidane.  "ARE YOU AFRAID?  WE CAN DESTROY THESE MONSTROSITIES IN A MATTER OF MOMENTS." 

Zidane folded his arms and said, "Why do you wanna help me?  What's in it for you?" 

Kuja lauged.  "THEY ARE A THREAT TO MY LIFE ALSO, AND THAT'S THE ONE THING I CARE ABOUT." 

Zidane shook his head and looked at Yuyami.  Yuyami returned his gaze and shrugged.  Zidane also shrugged. 

"Let's do it."  Zidane closed his eyes and focused his energy and he began to shine.  Kairi once again shielded her eyes and when she lowered her arm, she saw Zidane except he was covered in pink fur.  He was also giving off a fearsome power.  Zidane turned to her. 

"HEY, DON'T BE AFRAID BEAUTIFUL."  "THIS'LL ONLY TAKE A SEC."  Then, in unison they flew out of the mansion to battle the heartless army. 

Yuyami turned to Kairi and said, "Let's go, while they are distracting the heartless."  He turned to Vivi.  "Do you want to come?"  Vivi shook his head.  "I, I think I'll stay here and wait for them to return." 

Kairi went over to Vivi and hugged him.  "Be careful."  "You too.", he answered.  "Later."  Yuyami nodded toward Vivi and motioned for Kairi to follow him.  He led her to an underground passage by what looked like an auction room.  They went in and they were once again on the run.