Carolyn's Comments:

Mood: Bored

Rant: I felt bad about the delay with the last chapter, so I wrote up the next one as soon as I could. Just a note, I think this story is going to have a lot more angst than the original. My writing has greatly improved, so I think this will mean a much deeper and expressive story, but this one is going to be a bit more serious than the other one. Katie will still keep it pretty humorous, but if it were all humor it would be Action/Adventure/Humor instead of Action/Adventure/Romance. It's going to have some sad moments, so please bear with me and don't stop reading please! (Drops down into pleading position)


"Man!" Cronos said in shock as they walked down the stone halls. "That guy, Raphael dropped so much of the plot and was so COOL about it!"

Alex waited until he was sure Tira couldn't hear them, then he whispered to his friends, "That's exactly why I don't trust him, dude."

"Huh?" Caitlin said frowning, "But he seemed so nice!"

"I know, but there's something wrong with his aura. I don't trust that guy as far as I can throw him."

"With your weak wrists, you shouldn't throw anybody!" Carolyn joked.

Alex glared at her. "Go soak your head."

Cedric was staring at Tira in an odd way. She finally noticed and turned to face him. "What are you staring at?"

"I couldn't detect your aura earlier." Cedric stated flatly, "But after I found out that you were a sorceress, I could detect your chi. Why was that?"

"I've learned to hide my chi." Tira stated calmly, "You have to really concentrate, or you can't sense it. This makes it easy to fool my opponents."

"I see." Cedric said nodding, "Well, you're so innocent looking, I doubt anyone would guess you had such power at your disposal."

She smiled and nodded. "Exactly."

They reached a large room with several long wooden tables. There were a few people sitting at a table on the other side of the room talking. They stopped and stared at Riku and the others as they entered the room. Tira led them over to a table with a few loaves of bread and a large cauldron filled with a tasty-smelling liquid.

"Go right ahead and dig in." Tira said gesturing towards the food, "I'm sorry it's so simple, but it was all we could scrap up on such short notice."

Eager for any source of nourishment, the group of friends sat down and began to eat. Carolyn was an extremely fast eater, so everyone was shocked when she downed all the broth in her bowl in one gulp.

"Hey!" She said spooning up some more of the soup, "This stuff's not bad!"

"How can you eat so much, so fast and not gain a pound?!" Sam asked in shock.

"It's a gift." Carolyn said grinning. She took a bite of bread after she finished speaking.

"Does she always do that?" Tira asked as she watched the young girl in amazement.

"Sometimes," Caitlin said calmly, "Carolyn's not a glutton by any means, but when she's hungry, she can eat enough food to feed an army."

As Riku was downing a goblet of water, he noticed that the people from across the room were coming up to the table.

A boy that looked two years younger than them, pointed at them. He had short blond hair and wore a black headband. His eyes were hazel with flecks of green in them. "Tira? Are those the Chosen Ones?"

Tira nodded. "Indeed they are, Cassius."

The boy called Cassius grinned. "Good to meet you! I'm Cassius Dracon!" He pointed at a girl standing behind him. She was very skinny and had long black hair and green eyes. "This is Cassandra Knight," He pointed at a boy with dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes, "And this is Marcus Lineth."

"Yo!" Katie said cheerfully, through a mouthful of bread and broth.

"So it's finally going to happen?" Marcus asked Tira, as he, Cassius, and Cassandra sat down across from them, "The sealing ceremony?"

"Yes." Tira said smiling.

Cassius elbowed Marcus and grinned. "Of course it's going to happen! Raphael said so! You should always trust him! He's kept us alive so far!"

"Oi." Cassandra said rolling her eyes, "Please excuse Cassius. He's sort of a Raphael hero-worshipper. Raphael's been training him to fight, and is always looking out for him. He calls Cassius 'Little Brother'."

Cassius grinned sheepishly as Cassandra spoke.

"Kiss-ass." Marcus said rolling his eyes.

"Aw you're just jealous that I'm his favorite," Cassius said grinning. Then the young boys face became serious. Cassius leaned towards Riku and his friends. "Listen, do me a favor will you? Make SURE you stop these 'Lifeless' things. My parents were killed by the Heartless and my world was obliterated. I'm only alive because of Raphael, but he can't handle everything on his own. Stop those bastards, I don't want anymore kids to wind up orphans like me."

Mia smiled kindly. "Don't worry. We'll do our best. Well stop them before they get through what's left of the seal."

Cassius nodded smiled weakly. Cassandra patted him on the back and smiled at everyone. "It was nice meeting you all, but we've got to go. We're helping with preparations for the ceremony." The three teenagers hurried off.

"Were all three of them refugees from the Heartless' first attack?" Kairi asked in shock.

Tira nodded sadly. "Yes, all three of them had their whole families wiped out."

Sora felt sick suddenly. He never imagined how much heartbreak that the Heartless had caused. He wondered how many other children had lost their families, or their lives, to the Heartless.

"If I had just stopped Ansem sooner," Sora thought miserably as he nibbled on his piece of bread, "Cassius might still have his parents." At that moment, to him, the food tasted very bitter.