Riku awoke to the sound of knocking.  "Just five more minutes Mom," he murmured, turning back over.  Yuyami didn't even twitch.  He just continued snoring, on the verge of falling out of the bed.

Vincent got up out of his bed (he didn't sleep anyways) and opened the door.  In the hall he saw three men standing there.  One was dressed in an all black bodysuit, complete with a mask like some kind of ninja.

"You must be Shadow," Vincent said, eying him.

"Yes, I am," he replied, walking through the door.

Vincent turned toward the blond, spiky-headed man in the black turtleneck-sweater and gave a rare smile.  He was glad to see Cloud again after all this time and shook his hand.

"Good to see you again, Cloud.  New look?" Vincent eyed the black, baggy pants that went into his black combat boots.  He still had the silver shoulder plate from when they had last met, but he was now wearing another silver armor piece on his right leg.  He also had Aeris' holy materia fitted into an earring stud for his left lobe.

"Yeah, that SOLDIER uniform was starting to smell funny," Cloud replied, grinning.

Cid shoved Cloud to the side and barged through the door yelling, "Time to wake up, ya little punks!!  We got work to do!!"

Riku sat up slowly yawning, but the only response out of Yuyami was the thud when he fell off of the bed onto the ground.  Unperturbed, he continued snoring.

"Why are we getting up so early?" Riku asked, rubbing his fingers through his tousled, silver hair.

"Its noon," Shadow replied, leaning against the wall.

Riku squinted at him and turned to Vincent.  "Who are these people?"

Vincent shook his head.  "The one in the ninja suit is Shadow.  The loud-mouth is Cid, and the spike-head is Cloud."

Riku yawned.  "Well, now that we got that settled…"  He flopped back down into bed.

"We should let them rest, they've probably been through a lot," Shadow suggested.

Cid shook his fist at Shadow.  "Why the #&^@ should we do some &@%* like that!!!  We haven't gotten any damn rest either, and here we are!!!"

Cloud smiled.  "Then maybe that's what we should do."

"What?" Cid asked.

"Get some rest," Shadow answered for Cloud.

Cid walked out of the room saying, "Fine, I'll go book the rooms."

"Then I guess we're staying here for a while," Cloud said, looking out the window.  "As long as we don't stay too long.  We do have business to take care of, and people to return to."

Shadow nodded.  "We'll only stay until we're rested enough to continue without interruption."

"What?!  A hundred gil for this rat-hole?!! You must be out of your #&*#^@*#^ mind!!!  I outta spear you right now and save someone else the trouble!!!"  Cid's voice was heard downstairs, making a commotion.

"We'd better go save the clerk," Cloud said, walking out of the room.  Shadow followed without saying a word.

Vincent laid back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling.  He was wondering how he was going to atone for the new sins he had committed and was about to commit.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kairi awoke to someone rubbing a damp cloth on her forehead.  As everything swam into focus, she saw that it was Fayne giving her the treatment.  They both smiled at the same time.

"How do you feel?" Fayne asked.  She had her keyblade out and it was resting on her shoulder.

Kairi laughed.  "Like I got hit by a couple of trucks."

"Well, at least you passed the tests," Fayne giggled.

"Heh, heh.  I guess so."  Kairi eyed the dark keyblade on Fayne's shoulder.  "So, do you have a name for your keyblade?"

Fayne chuckled and looked away.  "Yeah, but its kinda dumb."

"What is it?" Kairi grinned.

Fayne smiled and shrugged her shoulders.  "I call my keyblade, the Shadowblade."

"I can see why a name like that fits it," Kairi said, glancing at the keyblade's black, gloomy tint, the color of night.

"What about you?" Fayne asked, smiling.  "What's the name of your keyblade?"

"I call mine the Promise Keeper." Kairi replied.

Fayne rolled her lavender eyes.  "Let me guess, this has something to do with Zoro."

"It's SORA…and yes it does," Kairi replied.  "So what?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Kairi sighed and looked around.  She was back in the room of Fayne's palace where she first recovered from their battle.  She got up and rubbed her head.

"Are you sure you're ready to start walking yet?" Fayne asked, her eyes filled with concern.

"Of course I'm sure.  Watch this."  Kairi cast Curaga on herself and was instantly healed of all her ailments.

"Wow, nice trick.  You'll probably need this though." Fayne tossed her an ether.

"Thanks." Kairi took a sip and put the rest in her pocket for later.  "So, what now?"

"We need to find your friend," Fayne answered.  "As keyblade masters, its our duty to try and stop the heartless once and for all."

"I guess…" Kairi looked unsure.  I really just wanna find Sora and get out of here, she thought.

"Here," Fayne handed Kairi a white cloak similar to the one she was wearing.  "Now that you're a white mage, you should look like it."

"Okay, thanks," Kairi replied.  She went to the adjacent room to change into it.

Fayne sat on the bed, waiting for Kairi.  "Hey Kairi, what was that guy's name again?" she asked.

"Which one?" Kairi's voice called out.

"The dual-wielding, keyblade master with the silver hair and eyes," Fayne answered.

"Yuyami."

"Yeah well," Fayne stopped.  Had she just felt something?  Some kind of twinge?  She looked around.  Something wasn't right.  She felt anxious, like something was about to happen.

"Fayne?"  Kairi sounded a little worried.  "You okay out there?"

"Um, yeah."  Fayne looked around.  "I just felt -"

An explosion interrupted Fayne.  The ground shook and she fell to the ground.  She heard Kairi scream in the other room.

"Kairi, you okay?!" she yelled.

Kairi came running in, donned in her new white cloak, and frowned.  "Yeah, I'm okay," she said.  "But what's going on?!

"It's a full-scale Heartless attack," a cloaked figure, standing in the doorway, said.

"What?" Kairi gasped.  "Why would they attack now?"

"They are pursuing the two of you, keyblade masters," the figure replied.  "You must leave this place.  You all are too important to lose."

"What about you guys?" Kairi protested.  "We can't just leave you to fight the Heartless alone!"

Fayne began gathering equipment and things they would need on the road.  "Look Kairi, they know how to handle the Heartless.  We have other engagements."

Kairi, still looking reluctant, helped Fayne to get all of their stuff.  They walked out following the figure.

"Oh no," Kairi murmured.  The Heartless aren't playing around this time, she thought.  There were five or more Darkside-Heartless destroying the city, one building at a time.  The streets were filled with Neo-Heartless, and they were attacking anything that got in their way.  Kairi noticed, however, that they didn't seem to be destroying stuff for fun.

"Their destruction isn't random," Kairi realized.  "They're looking, looking for us."  She summoned the Promise Keeper to reassure herself that she could handle them.

"Well, you two won't be here for long anyway," the figure replied, leading them to a generic building.  "Follow me."  The figure disappeared into the structure.

Fayne was about to follow when Kairi grabbed her arm, holding her in place.  "What?" Fayne asked, looking at her.

"We can't just leave all of these people to die." Kairi said.  "It would almost be like us murdering them ourselves."

Fayne sighed.  Sometimes she got a little tired of Kairi's attitude.  She cares too much for other people and that can get her killed, she thought. 

"Look, these are the most powerful practioners of magic on this world.  I think they can handle a few Heartless."

As if hearing her words, the sky turned blacker than the river of hell.  Heartless began dropping out of the sky like raindrops, and both keyblade masters looked up in awe.

"Just a few?" Kairi thought aloud.  "That looks more like an army."

"Whatever," Fayne replied.  She grabbed Kairi's arm and began leading her after the building.

"No!" Kairi pulled her hand away.  "I can't just leave them to die!" she cried.  She ran back toward the city.

"Kairi, stop!!" Fayne looked at the figure of Kairi running toward the carnage with her keyblade drawn.  She looked at the door the figure had went through, her ticket out.  "Dammit," she cursed under her breath.  She ran after Kairi.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Riku awoke to the sound of Cid's voice.  "Wake up, its time for some tea!!"

"What?"  Riku didn't think he was hearing right.  This tough old bird wanted them to drink tea with him?  He looked over at Yuyami and was surprised to see that he was still sleeping.

Cloud was leaning against a wall watching what was going on with a slight smile on his face.  Vincent and Shadow were nowhere to be seen.

"I don't want any tea," Riku yawned.  "All I wanna do is go back to sleep."

Cloud's smile widened as he watched Cid's reaction.  "You don't want any tea?"

"Nope," Riku replied.

"I think you should drink the tea," Cloud said.

"Um, why?" Riku shook his head.  "I don't feel like drinking any tea right now."

Cid's right arm twitched and he chewed on the cigarette in his mouth.  "You're gonna drink that tea and like it," he said, voice barely below a whisper.

Riku began to get annoyed.  "Look, I said I don't want any tea, so I don't want any tea.  Got it?"

"No I don't 'got it'!!  You're gonna get outta that &$#**$@ bed, and walk over to that $(@*%&^ table!!!  Then you're gonna drink some of that goddam tea you $#&@*@^ girly-eyed pretty boy!!!!  If you don't, I'm gonna smash that *#&@*^ teapot over your empty head!!!"  By the time he was finished yelling, he had brandished his spear and was waving it around to emphasize his point.

Riku walked over to the tea, fuming.  He stood there for a few seconds and then smiled.  Suddenly, his keyblade materialized in his hand and he used it to smash the teacups and teapot to pieces.

Cid growled and went after Riku with his spear.  Laughing, Riku ran and jumped out of the window into the courtyard below.  Cid cursed loudly and ran down the stairs.

Yuyami sat up, rubbing his face.  "What's going on?"  He looked around and saw Cloud and his eyes narrowed.  "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Whoa, calm down.  I'm Cloud." The blond still leaned against the wall coolly, but inside he was anxious. 

Yuyami got up and looked out the window to see what all the commotion was.  He saw Cid and Riku fighting and looked at Cloud.  "Who is that fighting Riku?"

Cloud shook his head and walked next to him.  "That's Cid, he's one of the best pilots to ever fly a gummi ship."

"Why are they fighting?" Yuyami asked, still suspicious.  He didn't know if he should trust this blond, spiky-haired man who just appeared, claiming he's Cloud Strife.

"Um, Riku wouldn't drink the tea that Cid had prepared."

Yuyami looked at Cloud, and then at the remains of the tea tray and laughed.  He stopped however, when he saw a ninja in all black and Vincent running toward the fight with worried looks.

"I think there's trouble," Yuyami said and ran downstairs, followed by Cloud.

When he opened the door, he saw Riku cursing loudly.  He ran up to the group and asked, "What's going on?"

"Salom is being attacked by the Heartless," Shadow replied.

"We gotta go there right now!!" Riku yelled.

"Calm down." Cloud looked at Cid.  "Go get the Highwind ready," he told the pilot.

"Roger!!" Cid ran toward the ship with Riku hot on his heels.

"Are we all ready to go?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah, everything's in the ship.  Now lets go." With that Yuyami ran toward the ship, and so did the rest of the group.