Disclaimer: I do not any of the characters involved in this fic. I have made no profit off of this.

A/N: I know who the couple is going to be, just wait and see…I know exactly how it's going to end, but first I have to finish up the middle…

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(Sora POV)

We walked in silence for a bit before Riku finally spoke.

"You know, Sora, I've been thinking a lot lately, about what happened. You know, between you, me, and Kairi. Back on the island…" he looked at me before continuing, I nodded in response.

"Yeah…and about that, I'm really sorry it worked out the way it did. If I had paid any attention to you and Kairi's feelings we could have avoided a sticky situation." I admitted. He nodded as if that was the reply he was looking for. We continued on in a comfortable silence. Then we came to a fork, I stopped and looked at Riku and he immediately headed left.

"We'll want to find the DEK first, and then after finishing them off we can free Gippal and Wakka and have them join us. Then we can take on Maleficent and go from there." he said, breaking the silence. It seemed like a pretty reasonable plan so I agreed without hesitation. Then a wild thought jumped into my mind.

"Riku, I know some people that might be able to help us. If you want to take a little detour I think we might have a better chance in succeeding." I looked up at him hopefully and he raised his eyebrows.

"How long might this detour take?" he said finally.

"I can't really say for sure, but no more then three or four hours." I nodded, that sounded about right.

"Three or four hours? What exactly do you have in mind?" he said, raising his voice a little as he spoke.

"Well…you see…back in Traverse Town there are some pretty decent fighters. Their names are Yuffie, Leon, and Aerith. I think if we went and talked to them we could get them to come and help us." I bit my bottom lip and awaited his reply.

"We can't afford to lose all that time if they don't come, so I'm going to have to say it's not a very good idea." he answered. I sighed heavily and trotted after him. Soon we approached huge door. "Play along," he said, "they still think I'm in their side." I nodded and we entered the conference room.

"Well well well, if it isn't the traitor." Madame Medusa scoffed when we entered. I felt defeated, that wasn't exactly the reaction Riku and I were hoping for.

"How do you know?" I blurted out and Riku slapped the back of my head for my stupidity. I rubbed the spot and scowled at him.

"Everyone knows darlings, its old news. But now that you're both here, why don't you make yourselves comfortable." She motioned towards two empty chairs and we sat in them stiffly. I looked around the room at the shifty looking figures who were all huddled over some sort of paper.

"So Madame, you seem pretty confident in yourself. Asserting yourself as the position of leader in the DEK Class 1." Riku sneered. Her eyes darted from her paper and a jealous expression glossed over her face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked him, even though her voice told that she already knew the answer.

"Oh nothing. It's just that if Sora and I were to, say challenge your group here to some sort of…duel…" Riku finished lamely.

"We were?" I asked Riku elbowed me in the side quickly and I gagged, causing Madame to raise her over plucked eyebrows.

"Yes Sora, we were." Riku answered calmly. I bit my lip and nodded. The DEK looked at us confused as whether to accept our challenge or burst into fits of laughter. They chose laughter.

Suddenly the lights flicked off and on and a new figure appeared in the room, it was none other then Maleficent.

"Madame I told you to bring them to me as soon as they arrived, enough of this sniveling the boss requests their up most presence at the feast tonight." Maleficent hissed before exiting the room into a pit of darkness.

"You heard her," Madame said to the other members of the DEK, "show our honored guests to their rooms." She smiled a smile of absolute evil and suddenly we were grabbed tightly at each arm. I began to struggle, but I noticed Riku wasn't, unless he was still under the influence of the darkness, which was unlikely, he was simply allowing them to take him. I decided to give up struggling and play along as well, for now.

867-5309

Later that day…

Riku and I had been taken to a large room in the castle. It was unnaturally humid and the room had little furniture. A simple cot, a small table, some wooden benches in the corners, and a small half-bath with no sink. I guess when they built the castle people hadn't heard of hygiene.

Riku was sitting on the balcony, which was connected to the room. He was staring up at the silver sky; I went out and joined him.

"So Riku, do you think the plan will work?" I said as I leaned on the balcony's thick marble railing.

"It has to." he continued gazing at the stars. I shrugged, it wasn't like Riku to be so somber and frankly it was beginning to scare me, I thought of my favorite line from that stupid book I had to read in English class last year, Cat's Cradle, and I decided to give it a try.

"You know Riku, she said you mind was in tune to the biggest music in the universe, the music of the stars," I paused and Riku raised his silvery eyebrows, "crap." I finished and Riku chuckled slightly.

"You know I hated that book and failed the essay assignment," he paused and started laughing uncontrollably, "thanks Sora I needed that." I chuckled and secretly congratulated myself for remembering that little inside joke we shared. Then I left the balcony and went inside the large room to begin getting ready for the feast. It was time to put our little plan into action.

LauraismybestfriendeverandTristanisthebestguyanyonecouldevermeetandIlovethemboththeyaresocoolbutIguessyou'dhavetose

The Feast

(Normal POV)

Sora and Riku stepped into the large room where Maleficent and the boss were waiting to accommodate them. All show-downs between good and bad started this way. The eerie feast, the double meanings behind everything, nothing what it seems to be. It was way to cliché and James Bond for Sora. Riku, however, loved almost every minute of it. The almost being for the fact that he was practically in love with a girl who had some dark powers controlling her brain at the moment…that sounded promising…

"Welcome boys, the boss will accommodate you in a moment. Please be seated." Maleficent gestured at the chairs on either side of the cherry wood dining table. Riku and Sora took their seats cautiously.

Suddenly two heavy doors flung open and a dark figure approached the table. Sora leaned forward in his chair to try to get a better view of this much talked about "boss".

"Welcome," his baritone voice boomed, "I do hope you're comfortable." Riku sunk into the chair and crossed his arms over his chest, he noticed Sora was fingering his keyblade lightly, the guards had attempted to take it away from him, but it kept disappearing and ending up in Sora's hands again. The whole episode turned out to be quite comical and Riku found himself chuckling slightly just thinking about it.

"You think this is funny?" Sora whispered quietly, Riku bit his tongue and stopped laughing. Sora rolled his eyes, something he rarely did, and turned his attention back to the "boss".

"As I was saying, boys, we are pleased to have you with the program. Welcome aboard." He raised a champagne glass and Maleficent did the same. Riku and Sora nodded dumbly and raised their glasses as well. The boss, Maleficent, and the boys all took a sip at once. Maleficent grinned when Riku and Sora were knocked out immediately afterwards.

"Never thought he'd actually fall for that," Maleficent mused, "guards take them to the dungeon of the hearts at once! We only have a limited time before they wake up and realize what is going on!" The boss disappeared back into the shadows and exited the room once again through the heavy doors.

In the "Dungeon of the Hearts"

A familiar silver-haired warrior stood in a corner of the dungeon, to her left was a large staircase; to her right was a door. She heard the voices getting increasingly louder and heavy footsteps were stomping down the hall, she sucked in her breath and waited silently when the guards opened the door. Next to her was a ninja with short black hair and a couple of shruiken stars. She rocked ever-so-slightly on the balls of her feet and silently waited as the guards entered. Across the room a gunblade wielder and a blitzball player stood next to each to each other. Their brown and blonde heads hidden among the shadows being cast by the eerie lighting.

Paine, the silver haired one, put two fingers above her head and waved them slightly. Leon, the gunblade wielder nodded. Yuffie, the ninja, and Tidus, the blitzball player, crouched into position.

The door opened and Paine could see Sora and Riku's "unconscious" bodies being carried to the stone platforms at the top of the small flight of stairs. Yuffie crept along the wall, using every one of her ninja skills to her advantage. Soon, as expected, Maleficent along with the rest of the DEK entered the room.

Step one of 'Operation Crazy Eights' (Yuffie was responsible for the name):

Turn the DEK against each other

And it wasn't going to be easy; they were somehow a close-knit group. After all they had been working together for awhile on this plan to control darkness and whatnot; you'd think the bond they've formed would be rock hard. That was about to be tested.

The members of the DEK all took a seat at a small rectangular table, with Maleficent at the head and Madame at the foot. They began mumbling to each other incoherently. Yuffie took this as her cue and walked right into the center of the room. Tidus held his breath and put his fingers around the elctromarble in his pocket.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Yuffie said panting as she pretended to be out of breath, "the boss held me up for awhile, you know?" The rest of the group looked dumbstruck.

Madame finally spoke up, "Excuse me, do I know you?"

"I'm the great ninja Yuffie! Your boss, he's my old leader. We go way back, so when I came here he let me join your group. He told me I'd be a great class one leader. And by the way, he told me to take the seat at the foot of the table. Sorry lady." Yuffie lied. Madame blushed a little and began to move out of her seat. Yuffie smiled in her mind, if there was one thing she was good at it was lying.

"Wait a minute; tell then Yuffie if you're in the DEK, what does it stand for?" Madame asked coldly. Yuffie rolled her eyes and gave her a doesn't-everyone-know-that-look.

"Disney's Evil Klan, of course." Yuffie sighed and silently thanked her spying skills. Leon and Tidus looked at each; both were thinking the same thing, 'WTF, Disney's Evil Klan?'

Madame shot a look of hatred at Yuffie and got out of her seat huffily. Yuffie smiled and sat down, putting her feet up on the table and leaning backwards in the chair. "Shan-Yu could you and Sykes fetch me a Rum-n-Coke please?" Madame asked. Both members rose from their seats slowly, only to be stopped by a clicking noise Yuffie began making with her tongue.

"Where do you two think you're going?" she chided. They looked at Yuffie uncomfortably which made her smile inwardly.

"To get her a drink she asked us to." Sykes said almost inaudibly. At the other end of the room Paine held up three fingers, a signal for Tidus and Leon. They placed their fingers around the handles of their weapons in preparation for the battle. All they had to wait for was Yuffie's cue.

"I have an idea," Yuffie said smiling brightly, "why don't all of you go down to that bar at the other side of the castle and wait for me and Maleficent here to catch up. We have to discuss our takings in this gig." Yuffie counted to ten mentally and waited for the blow-up.

"What do you mean gig?" Madame questioned bitterly. "This plan has been in the making for months and years. The boss happened to stumble upon our organization early on and offered us some power if we provided the capture of the eight princesses, I'm sure you know about them by know. We have been working night and day for a year now, this is not just some gig." She fumed and Yuffie wanted to do a touchdown dance.

"Are you sure your whole organization feels that way? I'm pretty sure I heard McLeach and Radcliffe talking about how they thought you were an old hag, they're glad I'm in charge now." Yuffie smiled and Radcliffe stood up to defend himself. Before he could even open his mouth Madame had whipped out a pistol from her garter and was aiming it directly at Radcliffe's forehead.

"I-I she, don't…" Radcliffe stuttered to defend himself. If Yuffie wasn't acting she would be rolling around on the floor laughing right now.

"Don't ever talk to me again." Madame's voice dripped of venom and she shot Radcliffe. He didn't move for a moment but then he fell over. Yuffie cringed and saw a red bubbling liquid emerge from his mouth and a red heart drift out of his body. Suddenly Shan-Yu punched Madame forcefully in the back of her head.

"How dare you destroy his honor." Shan-Yu snarled. Madame and Shan-Yu threw punches back and forth for awhile before McLeach and Skyes stepped in to back up either of their co-DEK members. Yuffie didn't dare look at Maleficent face at the moment. Maleficent herself had been sitting quietly in the chair watching the whole episode unfold. She had to hand it to Yuffie; she knew how to start a riot. She also knew Yuffie had something up her sleeves, but she didn't know what. All she could think of right now was that with all the simple fools of the DEK gone and all the princesses already captured, even if they weren't able to be used at the moment, she would have more power for herself.

McLeach had joined Radcliffe via Shan-Yu's fists of fury hitting him in the temple. Madame was nearing loss of consciousness and Skyes was doubled over with a bloody nose. The plan was working, the DEK were turned against each other and soon the DEK would be completely eliminated. Yuffie wanted to smile so bad, but instead she sat on top of the table and waited for them to finish each other off.

"I practically raised you!" Madame shouted as she shot McLeach's arm with her small revolver. He winced in pain, but continued to throw punches at her. "I'm warning you little brother." She added, as she cocked her gun and aimed it at his forehead. He didn't stop and Shan-Yu punched him in the neck. Yuffie closed her eyes when she heard the gunshot and opened them to see Shan-Yu and McLeach with a bullet through their foreheads. Madame was trembling and didn't notice Skye's coming up behind her with a small dagger.

"This one is for Radcliffe!" he yelled mock-heroically, Yuffie almost burst out laughing, those two hated each other she could tell.. Madame turned around to see him charging at her and she fumbled with her gun. It was too late. Skye's stabbed Madame in the heart and took his dagger out of her. His eye's reflect murder and he charges. This time his target is Yuffie.

A/N: Not much of a cliffhanger, but I didn't want to drag this chapter on to long. Besides everything would just result in another fight scene or whatever. So anyway…about the Cat's Cradle reference. Yes it's a real line in a real book, I have to read it for Summer required reading and I felt like sticking it in there. I found it funny, but I guess you'd have to read it to understand…btw has anyone read Cat's Cradle? If so, maybe you found it funny too. So…I know who the couple is. Salut!

Lucy!