:::::::::: Hello you pretty little people. I'm back with another chapter. Sorry I had to leave you hangin' with the appearance of Maleficent and all, but I do love those cliff hangers. And I know you all do too…even if it takes five therapy sessions for you to realize it. Now, lets all sit down and read the story. If you leave a good review I'll give you a cookie!

Chapter Eight

Books were the only thing that kept Bella-Donna from gazing upon the two as they conversed. Leaving Riku completely alone with Maleficent was absolutely out of the question, although she did tell the menacing woman that she would let them talk. It may have not been wise to eavesdrop on one of the top enemies of the game, but B.D. was a teenager…she wasn't suppose to be wise.

So far all she was able to make out from the conversation was something about Sora, which was expected, who Riku was looking for, once again expected, and herself. Now that wasn't expected. If she hadn't known better, Maleficent knew more about her then she was comfortable with. If the black clad woman found out she was from another dimension and had this 'immortality' toward the Heartless…well, lets just say Bella Donna was sure that couldn't bring anything good her way.

"Think about it. This is a rare offer. It would be a pity to pass it up." Maleficents slick voice carried over the book cases and into the girls ears. Along with that, the sound of the woman's sharp footsteps and dragging clothes came to her attention. B.D.'s eyes widened and she quickly took off through the maze which was the library. It wouldn't do to get caught by the head villain of Disney characters. Skidding through the doorway, she ran down the steps and swiftly sat down on the ledge of the fountain in the Entrance Hall. Pushing her now loose hair out of her face, she tried to calm her breath as the sorceress descended the stairway.

She was even more intimidating up close. Her skin was pale and had a sickly, almost reptilian green to it. If you ignored the tone of her skin, her sharp features made her attractive. But the venomous gleam in her eye made you think otherwise. The horn type objects protruded from her head and gave her an air of imperialness. A vicious imperialness. Her long fingers were wrapped around her staff, which made a soft thump of the floor every time she took a step. As Maleficent stepped down to the level of Bella-Donna, she looked over at the girl with narrowed eyes.

"I don't know who or what you are, girl, but I will give you a fair warning. Stay away from the boy." she spat out in a harsh tone and slowly glided over to the exit and disappeared out into the now dark outside world.

Those words were simple, yet they brought a cool shiver from B.D. The woman was dangerous, and she had no problem letting her know about it. She also had no problem letting the Egyptian know that she knew of her odd placing. The villain knew she didn't belong there. Or anywhere for that matter. That was a bad sign, but right now she couldn't worry about that. Pushing herself off the ledge, Bella picked up her book bag and climbed up the stairs and walked through the twists and turns of the library once again until she reached the stairwell to the second level of the room.

"She said she could help me." Riku's voice filled the quiet void. "Could help me find Kairi." he finished from his standing point on the stairs. Silver strands of hair covered his face as he looked out the window, leaning on the banister lightly. He was turned from B.D., his arms crossed tightly over his chest in thought. Looking up at him, the girl bit her bottom lip. He really wanted to find Kairi, just like in the game. But if he took up Maleficents offer, he would be in even more danger then he was now. But if he didn't take the offer, he would be fair game for the Heartless. Ah, this was just all so confusing!

"I want to get Kairi back, Bella. I want everything to be the same as it used to be." Riku interrupted her thoughts and turned his head toward her.

"I know you do Riku. But…" B.D. shook her head. To hell with being nice about it, he needed to know the truth. He needed to know why he shouldn't take the deal. "But Maleficent won't help you at all. She might say she will, but in the end, she won't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she stomped up the stairs and stood in front of the boy, "she won't do anything but hurt you. You may get Kairi back, but the cost will be way, way to high! And I highly doubt Kairi would want you to, ya know, get all messed up just to save her." the girl mumbled the last.

"Messed up? How would I get messed up?" he asked with a quirked brow. Bella shook her head.

"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that you don't go with Maleficent. Nothing will be the same with her help, in fact it will just be a whole lot worse!" she exclaimed and threw her arms in the air for emphasis.

"And why should I trust you more than her? You haven't exactly proved to be a very honest person Bella." Riku shot back. The girl ignored him and grabbed his shoulders tightly while looking straight in his eyes.

"You promised me Riku. Back on Destiny Islands, you promised me that you would stay away from the tall green toned woman with horns, a staff, and thats dressed in black, and is basically scary beyond all possible reason. Well now that woman is here and she's a real threat. Riku, if you just say no to her, not take the deal, I promise I'll tell you everything that I've been hiding from you. Please…will you keep your promise or not?"

After the little convincing speech, Riku just looked at her. His eyes that were only a moment ago filled with anger and suspicion, were now over flowing with guilt. He did promise her. He remembered the sincere look in her eyes as she asked him to promise her all those days ago. Looking at her now, he found the same sincerity mixed in with a tad bit of fear. She was afraid of this Maleficent woman and what she could do. But she could help him, help him find Kairi and at the moment that's all that mattered.

His eyes told Bella-Donna all that she needed to know. He wanted Kairi back. And he was willing to endanger himself to do it. He was a committed friend…or whatever he was to Kairi. Once again B.D. felt the sharp pang of jealousy rip through her. Shaking it off, she turned from Riku and looked out the window. This wasn't how things were suppose to go. She was suppose to keep Riku from even meeting Maleficent, but as Auntie Albie said, the game seemed to be refusing to be changed. Riku met the sorceress, she gave her proposal, and he was going to take it. Nothing she could do would change the stubborn look on her friends face.

"Alright…" she sighed and turned back around. "If you really want to find Kairi, I can't stop you." a bitterness shown on her face as she spoke. This wasn't going to be the only promise broken in this little adventure. The silver haired smiled and nodded his head in satisfaction, and slowly faded as he watched the girl tap her fingers in an almost aggressive manner on the railing.

"Stay with me?" Riku asked with a half smile on his face. Bella-Donna stared at him with an unreadable face. He wasn't alone now, he didn't need her around now that he had Maleficents help. So why was he asking her to stay anyway? Guilt of breaking the promise? Or maybe he just needed a friendly face. Who knows. B.D. didn't. Sending him a crooked smile and shrugging one shoulder the girl answered.

"Where else am I gonna go?"

"I can't believe that stupid Heartless had my flip-flop. I mean, really, what would a Big Body want with a shoe?" Erin rambled on as she followed beside Sora, slipping on her shoe as they walked. The chestnut haired boy just gave a big smile and shook his head. Even after nearly being torn apart by twenty some Shadows, the girl still amused him to no end.

"Yeah, yeah. Now where's that cat?" Donald squawked from up front. As they entered the Bizarre Room once more, Erin raced ahead and pointed up to the table.

"There, there he is!" she pointed and looked back at Sora and the others.

"You'll have a better view from higher up." the Cheshire Cat called down from his relaxed position on the table top.

"Let's go!" the Keyblade master yelled and they all raced toward the furniture. Sora still had to help Erin with the jumping a little. She just couldn't get used to being able to jump about five feet in the air. Finally, she stumbled up onto the table with the males and looked toward the cat. She had to hold back a smile. Erin could never resist a kitty. The pink feline stood and pranced around in a taunting manner.

"The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!" with that he pointed up just in time for the hero's to see the herky jerky Trickmaster jump over them and then uncoil beside the table. Sora hopped into fighting stance as did Donald and Goofy. Erin stood in the middle of them just staring over at the Heartless then poked Sora.

"Stay behind it when your on the ground, jump and hit when it slashes. If you can, stay on the table and leap at it." she explained and stepped back as the Trickmaster started walking around the table, swinging his…uh, things. Sora nodded and took off into battle.

All through the fight, Erin was dodging things, jumping out of the Trickmasters weapons and kicking at him when he collapsed those few times. When the Heartless swaggered over toward the stove, the girl took the time and climbed her way back up the table and yelled over to the fighters.

"Blizzard! Use your blizzard magic on the fire!" she screamed, which unfortunately brought the creatures attention her way. Squealing she scampered off the table top and ran frantically away from the ever closer Trickmaster. She could hear the clatter of its jerking behind her as she dove into the small space under the stove. Pressing up against the brick wall, she turned to see the thing break down in front of the entrance and the energy seeping out of it.

"Erin! Erin are you alright!" the voice of her Destiny Island friend cried out as the remains of the Heartless were pushed aside and her three companions rushed in.

"Gawrsh, are you okay?" Goofy asked and helped the girl sit up. She nodded with a blank face and crawled out of the little space and looked down upon the Trickmaster.

"How did you know what to do?" Donald asked and padded up next to her. Erin just gave a small laugh and looked at Sora, as if he would be able to help her out. The boy just smiled at her with a raised eyebrow. She was alone on this one.

"Um…would you believe woman's intuition?" she laughed a bit and looked back and forth between the three males.

"What a racket. How's a doorknob to get any sleep?" the golden knob behind them suddenly spoke out. Running over to the speaking inanimate object Sora, Erin, Goofy, and Donald all gave it a strange look. It was then that the knob yawned, showing off a keyhole which was hidden inside his mouth. The Keyblade in Sora's hand emitted a beam of light that entered into the keyhole. Erin was nearly jumping up and down the excitement. She was seeing a keyhole being closed! As the switching noise sounded and the door knob closed his mouth, the girl looked over to the other three.

"What was that?" Donald questioned.

"You hear that? Sounded like something closed." Sora wondered and glanced over at Erin with a small smile. He knew she could give the answer to what it was, but guessing by the look on her face, she wasn't giving. The boy was about to open his mouth to say something else in request for information, but before he could a small odd looking object dropped to the ground which caused Donald and Goofy to instantly hover around it.

"This gummi ain't like the others. No, sir." the dog commented and shook his head. Donald picked it up and looked it over before tucking into a pocket of his clothing.

"Okay, I'll hold on to it." he quacked then turned and looked around the room. Sora and Erin were off to one side. At the moment the girl was looking ahead with her hands clasped behind her back while the Keyblade master was looking over at her through the corner of his eye. In his mind he was willing Erin to spill the beans. 'You will tell me…you will tell me…', he kept repeating over and over in his head. Unfortunately, Sora's mind powers weren't what he hoped they were.

"Splendid. You're quite the hero." a voice rang out from above bringing the party's attention up to the table. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness…"

"No…" Sora whispered and bowed his head. Behind him, Erin put her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. When his blue eyes turned back to her, she cracked the reassuring smile that she had picked up from Bella-Donna. The islander gave a smile back and patted her hand before turning and following Donald and Goofy back to the Gummi Ship. Watching the three move off, Erin looked to the floor then to the ceiling of the Bizarre Room. Mentioning Cleo, she wondered how her friend was fairing…

:::::::::::Yeah, that was a relatively short chapter compared to some of them, but, I think it would be best for me and for you if I stopped here. I need to get my brain in order with the worlds and all that, so I think it'd be less confusing if I just started on the next chapter. Well, once again, sorry its kinda short but you can deal with it…or call a therapist. But before you do that REVIEW!!!!!!!!