6H:It's time for chapter 39!

Anaretsu: Oh joy. Let's go light some fireworks and stick em up your-

6H: Don't mind her! Just read this great story! Chapter 40 will wield you with a special gift, so you don't want to miss out now!


Kingdom Hearts-Shattered Fragments

Fragment 39-Danger


The four kids stood outside Book Tower. Cedeile and Aru, now up and mostly healed, stood on either side of Ryu, and the three of them faced Yuna.

"Are you sure you'll be okay all alone?" Cedeile asked.

"I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"You could come to Traverse Town with us. Cid and everyone is there." Aru said. Yuna shook her head as a gentle wind blew by.

"No. I'm the High Book Master now, so I have a duty to stay here and protect the books." she replied. "Besides, I know now this world is safe. I'm glad you were able to purify the keyhole and find some fragments." Ryu took the bottle out of his cloak.

"Yeah. I didn't think three would be here. Now we have-"

"Thirteen!" Cedeile said confidently. Ryu looked at her with a blank stare.

"Twelve, Cedeile. TWELVE." Cedeile sighed.

"Damn my adding skills!"

"You don't have any adding skills!"

"Don't fight guys." Aru said, laughing. Yuna smiled. Cedeile turned back to the young book master.

"We have to get going now."

"I hope you have a safe journey."

"Goodbye Yuna!" Aru said as the began to walk down the road.

"Be careful, and call us if you need it!" Ryu yelled back to her.

"Thanks for the book! Good luck, High Book Master!" Cedeile called, waving. Yuna waved to them.

"Thank you for everything! Book City will never forget what you've done!" She said. She dopped her hand and smiled as they headed down the hill. A wind rustle the grass and blew her hair. 'Tifa...if only you could be here now...'


The three walked down the book lined road in a moderate mood. The cool wind and the sounds of insects chirping in the grass made a peaceful calm come over them.

"It's strange it's called Book City when it's full of mostly wide open fields. Sure, there are some roads..."Cedeile said, looking out at the area around them. "There's no like tall buildings of books. Book tower is the only building at all..."

"It's just a name, Cedeile." Ryu said.

"I hope Yuna is okay..."Aru said. "She's the only person in this world."

"She'll be fine. Yuna's very brave." Cedeile said. She walked a little ahead of the guys, and put her arms behind her head happily. "Hey, you guys, when we defeat all the heartless and I have to purify them all and whatever, I was thinking...maybe we could bring Kana back."

"Kana!" Ryu and Aru both said in shock and stopped walking. Cedeile turned to face them, a small smile on her face.

"Sure, why not?" she said softly.

"Are you forgeting all the crud she did? She pinned you to a wall with two stakes through your shoudlers! She nearly killed Aru and Yuna! And you want to bring her back?" Ryu asked. Cedeile sighed.

"Kana was just lonely...and sad. To die that way...it doesn't seem right. I want to give her another chance."

"But Cedeile, she was miserable in this life." Aru said sadly.

"Yeah. If you brought her back, she would still be halfdemon, and she would still want to kill Yuna. Believe me, Cedeile, she's probably alot happier in death than she was alive." Ryu assured her.

"I was just thinking, since we're bringing back Tifa and everyone from Leon's world..."

"Wait! When are we gonna bring them back?" Ryu asked, confused. They continued walking along.

"I figured at the end, when it's all over. When Sora and I do whatever we gotta to get rid of the heartless, I thought after that we would bring back everyone who died. I guess, since Tifa was killed by heartless, then I can get her back..." Cedeile trailed off in thought.

"This has been the worst battle yet. We've never lost someone in battle before. And we've never been so injured." Aru said.

"I'm glad it's all over. I like Book City in the daytime."

"It's probably only gonna get worse as we move on. I'm even surprised we did get this far without having someone die on us." Aru took out the black chain from inside her sleeve. The sunlight made it shine brighter than she had ever seen it before. The black metal felt smooth and cool on her fingers. She zoned out while Cedeile and Ryu kept talking.

'What is this thing? Why did Riku give it to me of all people? It must be something important...'she thought in her head. 'I've felt uneasy lately...like I'm so close to finding my lost memory and who I really am...'

"No, that's not true!" She shuddered at the memory of that strange voice that seemed to come from nowhere. 'It was probably nothing...a wandering ghost or something...no, it wasn't a ghost. I know what that was...I know that voice...came from...'

"Aru!"

"ACK!" Aru fell over from surprise. Cedeile looked at her confused.

"Sorry Aru. Are you ready to bring us back to the gummi ship?" Cedeile asked. Aru adjusted her glasses.

"Oh...yeah, sure. Let's go to Traverse Town!" she smiled. Getting up, she raised both hands into the sky. "TELEPORTA!" she called. A bright light surrounded tham and they floated up into the sky to the gummi ship.


"Hey, Leon! Leon!" Yuffie called, walking into Merlin's house. "LEON!" she yelled again.

"Hello, Yuffie!" Merlin called back. "At this rate with all these yelling kids coming to visit me, I think I will go deaf!"

"Sorry, Mr. Merlin! Is Leon around?"

"I'm right here, Yuffie." The sulking man said as he came down from the training room. "What's going on? Why did you come down here screaming enough to wake the dead?"

"Sorry, Leon, but Aerith sent me looking for you. Dinner's ready! You want to join us for dinner, Merlin?"

"I would love to." the magician replied. He stood up and brushed off his clothes. He turned to go, but then stopped dead, eyes wide, looking at the wall, mouth slightly ajar in shock and fear.

"Uh, Mr. Merlin?" Yuffie asked, confused. Leon took the same expression, looking in the same place. "Not you too, Leon. Come on!"

"Yuffie...behind you..." Leon muttered, as he regained his usual glare. Yuffie turned and her eyes widened. A figure in a black dress stood against the wall, black hair covering one eye, leaning against the wall relaxed-like, with a small smile on her face.

"N-nabuki!" Merlin gasped. She stood up straight now, moving away from the wall and stepping closer to face them all.Yuffie fully turned around and prepared to fight. Leon gripped the handle of his sword. "Nabuki, what are you doing here?"

"Master, I'm glad I found you here And you too Leon...and Yuffie..."she slightly glared when she said the ninja's name. Yuffie bared her clenched teeth. "Now it's time to finish what I started..."

"Nabuki, no!" Merlin pleaded. "Please, Nabuki! You still have your human heart." Nabuki's finger glowed blue as she aimed at the magician, the ninja, and the swordmaster.

"It's time to erase the past." She had quietly. A bright blue light enveloped the whole house as they were all blinded by a light.


The three friends walked into the acessory shop, talking loudly and expecting to find Cid. However, it was another man who looked up from his magazine and stared puzzled at the kids.

"Hello?" he said, confused. They stopped dead, looking at the counter.

"Cid? Man, you've changed. We haven't even been gone that long..."

"Cedeile, you idiot! That's not Cid! It's some other guy!"

"Then where did Cid go?" Aru asked.

"HE DIED! Poor old man..."

"Excuse me-"

"He's not dead, Cedeile. Don't be stupid."

"If I could-"

"What else could've happened to him?"

"He could be on his lunch break or something! I don't know!"

"Calm down you two."

"QUIET!" The man yelled. They all looked at him. "Mr. Cid is visiting Miss Aerith in the 3rd District at the moment. He left the shop to me for now."

"Oh." Cedeile said shortly.

"I told you he didn't die." Ryu shot at her. She glared back at him.

"Let's go see Aerith, then." Aru suggested. They walked out the doors without another word and down to the 3rd district. The stars twinkled above as they enjoyed the new found peace.

"Ah...no killer demons here..."Cedeile said happily, placing her arms behind her head.

"It's good to have some time off from fighting." Aru said. Ryu nodded. Suddenly, a small group of heartless came up around them.

"I guess we're not on vacation yet!" Ryu said, taking out his sword. "Leave this to me, ladies." He sliced through three of them in one swing and then turned sharply, cutting down the last two. In a swift motion his replaced his sword in the scabbard. Cedeile and Aru gave him some applause for his work. He took a mock bow and they continued on their way. In a short while they ended up at the small house Aerith and the other were living in. They went inside to find a worried looking Aerith, who seemed as if she just stood up from her chair as soon as the door opened, and a strangely anxious Cid.

"Oh, it's you guys."

"Don't sound so happy to see us." Cedeile joked. Ryu jabbed her in the ribs.

"What is it, Aerith?" Aru asked, concerned. "What's wrong? I know something's not right here." Aerith sat back down in her chair and heaved a sob.

"I sent Yuffie down to Merlin's house to find Leon and they haven't come back yet. It's been an hour and I have the terrible feeling that something awful has happened!" she cried. Cid gently patted her shoulder.

"There, there, Aerith. Yuffie and Leon are tougher 'en nails. I'm sure they're just fine. Just training and not keeping track of time, you know?" Cid tried to calm her, but obviously, he wasn't very good.

"Maybe we should head down there and check things out." Cedeile said.

"Can't hurt." Ryu agreed. They ran out the door and to the house of the magician.


They ran hurridly over the stones on the lake, onto the small island that Merlin's house sat on. They burst through the curtain that served as a door. Cedeile was in the lead and charged in first.

"Le-Oh god!" she yelled. Ryu and Aru came in after her and were left breathless. The wall oppisite them was splattered with blood. The table and Merlin's chair on the platform in the center were turned over. Everything was blown towards the oppisite wall, as if an explosion had gone in that direction. They were almost afraid to move at first, but they slowly tred over the broken glass from the windows, and other debris that littered the floor. Cedeile headed around the platform and looked around the ground, suddenly seeing a hand. "HOLY HELL!" she screamed. Ryu and Aru walked over.

"Cedeile, it's just a hand." Ryu told her.

"Y-yeah...I know..." Suddenly a moan came from the owner of the hand. Aru approached the hand and then walked around the curve to get a look at who the hand could belong to.

"Oh, Yuffie!" She cried. Ryu and Cedeile followed her. Yuffie turned to lay on her side, wincing and groaning in pain when she moved. She was a mess-covered in blood. Aru tried to stop her from moving. "Yuffie, don't move. You must've lost alot of blood. Just stay still! You're gonna be fine. Now what happened...?" Yuffie looked at each of them with her big brown eyes before anwsering.

"Nabuki...came back..."she anwsered hoarsely before coughing up some blood.

"Yuffie!" The three cried as her eyes fell closed and she went limp.

"It's alright. I think she just passed out." Aru said. She turned to Cedeile and Ryu. "We have to get her to Aerith!"

"What about Leon? And Merlin?" Cedeile questioned her. Ryu walked over to the wall and touched the blood on the ground.

"To be truthful, I don't think Merlin could've survived that attack. It looks like the same thing Nabuki used on Kana. If my guess is right, Merlin was on the platform when the attack happened. He would've been blown off by the force, and hit the wall..." he said to them.

"You're saying that's his blood on the wall?" Cedeile asked in horror.

"I'm not sure...but the thing is, Merlin isn't here. And where did Leon go? They couldn't of escaped. And I doubt either one would be in any shape to just walk out of here." he replied. Cedeile and Aru soaked the information in and stood in silence. Ryu stood up. "Well, it doesn't matter now. We should take Yuffie back to Aerith and Cid. I don't know how much longer she can last down here."

"Right." The two girls said, nodding. Cedeile and Ryu pulled Yuffie's limp arms around their shoulders and dragged the ninja out of the blood stained house. Aru followed, stopping breifly to look upon the choas that had occured here. A sudden chill came over her and she shivered, running quickly out the door.


They struggled with Yuffie across the square of the third district. Finally they stopped, resting for a moment and catching their breaths.

"Which way was is it again, Ryu?" Cedeile asked between panting.

"To the right...I think..."he heaved back at her. Aru looked around the square.

"You think we would've been ambushed by now. The 3rd district is usualy crawling with heartless." Aru said warily, looking around.

"Let's be thankfuly they decided to give us a break." Ryu replied, getting ready to drag Yuffie up the ramp to the house. Suddenly, the ninja coughed and let her her eyes opened slowly.

"Yuffie!" Cedeile gasped.

"Leon...where's Leon...?"she asked softly, coughing up more blood.

"It's gonna be okay, Yuffie." Ryu told her. She shook her head.

"No...No!" she said desperately. "It's not okay! Nabuki...is after Leon!" she gasped out.

"What?" Cedeile said in shock. "Why would she be after him?" Yuffie coughed again, shaking her head as she did.

"I dunno...I dunno..."she choaked out.

"Come on! We have to hurry guys!" Aru pleaded. Ryu and Cedeile nodded to each other, and began to drag Yuffie along. They got her up to the house, when a huge horde of Amored Heartless appeared with two Reverse Guard Armors.

"Damn it!" Ryu cursed.

"You two make your way to the door! I'll fight them!" Aru declared.

"You sure?" Cedeile asked. Aru nodded, determination etched on her face. Cedeile and Ryu slowly made their way to the door while Aru walked backwards behind them, shooting random spells at heartless that came to close. Ryu reached out for the doorknob, slowly pulling the door open. He inched in first, while Aru cast a blizzard spell on a few more armors. "Aru! Hold on just a little longer!" Cedeile begged.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"Cedeile, get in here!" Ryu yelled at her. Cedeile forced her way into the door and Aru came in after, casting a final fira spell as her finale. The door slamed shut and the sound echoed through the house. Aerith was crying and Cid was trying to calm her down enough to help Yuffie, meanwhile the three warriors were piled on top of each other and sort of tangled together.

"You kids okay?" Cid asked, walking over and examining the pile.

"Oh yeah Cid...we're just fine..."Cedeile sarcasticly replied from under Aru, who was on top.

"Would you girls mind getting off me?" Ryu asked from the bottom.


Yuffie rested peacfully on the bed after Aerith had bandaged all of her wounds. The healer sniffed as she cleaned up her supplies and placed them back in a wodden box. Cedeile, Ryu, and Aru looked worriedly at Yuffie.

"Will she be okay?" Cedeile asked, unsure.

"I think so...all she needs is rest..."Aerith said. She sounded unsure as well.

"Ah, I wouldn't worrry. Yuffie's one tough kid. I should know! She was always gettin into fights an' then runnin' to me crying 'Uncle Cid! Uncle Cid!' when she got hurt. But she always came out okay." Cid laughed, remebering what seemed to be a distant memory.

"How did this happen?" Aerith asked.

"It was Nabuki." Ryu anwsered without emotion.

"Nabuki?" Aerith gasped out, putting both hands to her face. Cid became strangely pale as his good mood disapated.

"Is that really bad?" Cedeile asked.

"We're only talking about the queen of all demons, Cedeile!" Ryu retorted at her, smacking her over the head.

"Ow! Well, it's just that they seem to be taking it alot harder than I thought, is all!"

"It's because..."Aerith said softly, but Ryu and Cedeile stopped their fighting anyway.

"What, Aerith?" Aru asked. "Do you know something we don't?" Cid sighed and sat down in a chair. He looked to the ceiling as the lamp over Yuffie's bed flickered slightly.

"It was a few years back when a small girl with black hair landed in Traverse Town. How long was it...three, maybe four years ago, Aerith? Anyway, she stumbled into Merlin's house where we all were, and said she wanted to learn magic. She had lost her world too-everything was destoryed. So Merlin took her in. How could he not? That old doofus has a big heart." Cid began. He paused for a few moments. Ryu thought over the story and his eyes went slightly wider. He lifted is head in realization.

"That girl...was Nabuki, wasn't it?" Ryu asked. Cid nodded sadly. Before he could go on, an explosion sounded outside. Cedeile stood up.

"What is that!" she yelled over a second blast.

"Heartless again! Maybe they're here with Nabuki!" Ryu said.

"We have to fight! We can't let Nabuki hurt anyone else!" Aru called to them. The three ran to the door.

"Wait!" Aerith called. The three turned around. Aerith sighed, taking her seat again. "It's just...be careful...Nabuki is a very powerful demon now. " Her expression changed to anger. "She is no longer human!" she told them. The three nodded and headed out the door. The whole house shook as little particles of ceiling rained down.

"It might not be safe to stay here, Aerith." Cid told her, standing up.

"Where can we go?"

"To the only other safe place I know-Merlin's House!"

"But Cid!"

"Look, it might be a huge mess right now, but Nabuki won't strike there twice if she thinks that no one's there! Besides, we can look for Merlin and Leon too!" Aerith reluctantly nodded, as she looked over at Yuffie, breathing queitly as she lay dormant. Only one thought rested in the young healer's mind.

'Nabuki...'


6H:HA HA HA! Suspense! Is Merlin dead? Is Leon dead? Why is Nabuki after Leon? How many more times are you going to hear the story of what happened to Nabuki in the past? How much longer before I start to annoy you with my retorical and pointless questions?

Anaretsu: Two more seconds...

6H:Find out next time!

Anarertsu: Alright, now...ARG!

6H:ACK! Help, my yami's attacking me! Please review!

Anaretsu: RUN, HIKARI, RUN!