-Sora53: Yarr, this chapter is long, and you learn LOTS!
Corita: Grr.
Sora: I APPEAR!
Sora Fangirls: -all melt-
Riku: I APPEAR MORE THAN SORA!
Riku Fangirls: -wild applause-
Joe: Corita, I'll still love you no matter what Vexen did you you, my sweet little pure-hearted princess.
Corita: O.o Don't call me that!
Sora: Yeah, you can't call her that anymore, because Vexen...
Sora53: SHUT UP, SORA!-

Disclaimer: I don't own KH or CoM, but I own Corita and have the right to torture her in any way I desire MUAHAHAHA

"Tsk, tsk. Sleeping, are we?"

Corita feebly opened her sleepy eyes to the same unwelcome sight: Larxene.

"Don't you have anything better to do than to stalk me?" Corita growled, still tired after being so rudely awakened by someone so unwanted.

"Hehe, I imagine you would be tired, though." Larxene said lazily.

"Why?...What happened?" Corita asked, opening her eyes wider now.

"I don't know...I just hate spoiling things..."

"Tell me!"

"Okay, okay. It'll kill you to hear this...but I can live with that. When Vexen first learned about your arrival in the castle, he became very...eccentric." Larxene responded. "He couldn't wait to get his hands on you."

"Why?"

"You don't know? Vexen is a scientist. Not a very good one, but a scientist nonetheless. Anyway, one of his particularly favorite methods of investigation...is through experimentation."

This took a moment for Corita to take in. So much had happened at once that she was having trouble understanding everything, but she tried her hardest.

"What did Vexen do to me?" Corita grumbled.

"Vexen thought about what to do for a long time. It was really rather boring, seeing him standing in front of our prized orb, watching you and your hard-headed brother march through the castle as if nothing was going on."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Since Naminé's magic didn't affect your heart, it gave Vexen an idea. A brilliant idea, I must say. Bundled in this package was the fact that Naminé made Sora forget you. Vexen then had me bring you to him to try out his experiment."

"Yet my question remains remarkably unanswered."

"Vexen wanted to know what happened when a pure heart was steeped in darkness."

Corita blinked. She blinked again. A few more times. Larxene smiled and blinked back.

"Eye problem, my dear Princess?" Larxene asked sweetly, putting particular emphasis on the word, 'princess.'

"Oh, I see." Corita said, grinning. "This is all some stupid trick. You're just trying to trick me into something stupid like that so you have an easier shot at my brother."

"Ha, Princess Corita is ignoring reality, as usual..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you hadn't ignored the fact that Sora was forgetting and remembering things, then you could've just turned them all around and pushed them out of Castle Oblivion...that is, before he remembered Naminé."

"You're saying this is all my fault?"

"I guess it depends on the way you look at it. But yeah, that's what I'm saying."

Corita tried to stand up again, and came very close to falling over in front of Larxene once again. She managed to stay up, though, and she headed for the exit to the room.

"Don't worry." Larxene called. "Axel and I'll watch over Vexie's little experiment...see you later, little princess Corita!"

Corita had a strong urge to turn around and shoot several blasts of fire at Larxene's nasty grinning face, but she decided against it. She wasn't going to let Larxene's taunting lies affect her anymore. Besides that, it was taking all her strength to keep walking. She didn't think challenging Larxene right after being experimented on was a very good idea.


"Who are you?" Sora growled as he stood ready for battle alongside Goofy and Donald.

"That's no way to greet a stranger, Sora." responded the figure will long, tan hair. "I am Vexen. I've come to collect your debt."

"Did you lend him some of our munny?" Goofy asked.

"Of course not! I don't owe him anything!" Sora answered.

"Oh, but you do." Vexen called out. "You owe me for reuniting you with your former friend."

"Former friend? You don't mean..."

"Yes, I am the one who brought Riku to you."

A strange silence rung out through the hall. Sora's head was once again buzzing with thoughts. He'd brought Riku to him, so.
"You're the one who's been controlling him! What have you done to him?" Sora cried angrily.

Vexen remained calm, unwavering strength in his eyes. "I see no need to tell you. Why trouble you in your final moments?"


Corita's strength was returning, and she moved out into another brightly lit hallway. The light hurt her eyes; compared to the previous room, this hall was brighter than the sun. Squinting to let her eyes adjust, Corita saw someone familiar standing at the end of the hallway.

"Riku!" She cried, then quickly covered her mouth. Riku had forgotten about her, forgotten about her friendship.

Riku turned around, his clothes of darkness swishing with him. He spotted Corita at the end of the hallway, and a shocked expression crossed his face.

"You're...Corita, right?" He said, and Corita nodded. "You remember me! Thank goodness!" Corita sighed, thankful. She moved closer to Riku, but he took a step backwards and grabbed his sword, holding it above his head.

"Stay back!" He cried, and Corita watched him in silent horror.

"Riku...you really have forgotten about me, too..." She said sadly.

"I haven't forgotten. You're just trying to hurt Naminé, just like your hard-headed brother!"

"First of all, I'm not out to hurt Naminé, and second, why does EVERYONE think Sora's hard-headed?"

"Yeah right. Like I'm gonna fall for your cheap tricks!"

Riku ran forward with his sword, ready to slash Corita with it. Corita could do nothing but grasp her staff to try to protect herself, but he was too fast...

Just then, a figure went sailing over Corita's head, landing in front of her and defending against Riku's attack with a loud BANG. Opening her eyes, Corita was shocked to see more silver hair...


"Haha, excellent. As expected, you don't die so easily." Vexen grinned, eyeing the Keyblade Master carefully.

"As if I'd ever lose to you!" Sora growled.

"You'll let have your chance." Vexen said softly. "As we fought, I delved deep into your memory...and found this."
Vexen held up another card, and smiled when he saw Sora's confused expression.

"This is a card crafted from memories locked in the other side of your heart." Vexen explained as if this was entirely normal. "If you want to fight me for real, step into the world in this card."

Vexen threw the card at Sora, who caught it easily. After being thrown cards for a while, it gets much easier to catch them when thrown at high speeds.

"Wait!" Sora cried, but Vexen vanished before Sora could question him. Sora looked down at the card, and an unfamiliar world greeted his eyes. "'Other side'? What's he talking about?"


"We all knew Vexen was crazy, but now he's really lost it." Larxene said impatiently. "What now, Axel? The show's over if Sora finds out about the other side."

Axel sighed and crossed his arms, deep in thought for a moment. "If Sora passes through without catching on, we can patch things up later...but if not..."

"Let Naminé deal with this." Marluxia responded, stealing a glance at Naminé. "In the meantime...Axel, you know what to do."

"No, I don't." Axel said lazily. "Maybe you could spell it out for me."

"Rid us of our traitor."

"Done. There's no taking that order back later." Axel said smoothly. He vanished, leaving Larxene, Naminé, and Marluxia behind.


"You fake! Your time is up!" Riku 1 growled.

Riku 2, who was defending Corita (who had an extremely confused expression on her face) gave a short laugh. "You're calling me a fake?"

Riku 1 yanked his sword away, and ran up the stairs, away from Corita and the other Riku. Corita blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes to make sure she'd really seen what she'd just seen. Riku turned around to face her, putting his sword away nimbly.

"You...there...2?" Corita stuttered, looking at Riku, then looking at the stairs behind him. "Riku couldn't be here...he was closed behind the door to darkness..."

"I couldn't be here?" Riku growled. "Corita couldn't be here...she was with Sora when we closed the door..."

Anger flared inside Corita. "You're saying I'm a fake?"

"I'm saying it's possible." Riku answered cooly. "If you're really Corita, then tell me: what was my score against Sora back on the Destiny Islands?"

"47 to 1; he only won once because a coconut fell on your foot." Corita answered almost instantly. "What about you? What were we planning on the islands?"

"To build a raft to get off those rocks. What happened when we reunited in Traverse Town?"

"Sora and I tried to get you to go with us, but Donald was acting like an idiot. Believe me yet?"

Corita then noticed that Riku was doing something strange.

"Uhh...Riku?" Corita asked nervously. "Why are you smelling the air?"

Riku stopped what he was doing and looked at Corita with a look of disbelief in his eyes. "You can't be Corita."

"What? Why not!" Corita roared, causing Riku to flinch.

"Because," He said after he'd recovered, "you reek of darkness."


"Where are we, Sora?" Goofy asked. Sora shook his head.

"I don't know..." Sora muttered, looking around the twilit town they had appeared in.

"That can't be!" Donald cried. "Up until now, we've only been to the places in Sora's memory!"

"Maybe so, but I definitely don't remember this."

"Maybe you forgot this town just like the other stuff." Jiminy said.

"This is terrible. Our memories are practically gone." Goofy said sadly.

"We'll be fine." Sora said firmly. "See, look at this."

Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his small, star-shaped charm. The yellow paupu-shaped charm hung from Sora's hand, and he gazed at it fondly.

"Naminé's good luck charm!"

"There's a special memory that goes with this. One night, when Naminé and I were little, there was this meteor shower. Naminé started crying. She said, 'What if a shooting star hits the island?' So I said, 'If a shooting star comes this way, I'll hit it right back into outer space!' I was swinging this toy sword around the whole time. Naminé just smiled and said 'Thanks.' And then she gave me this."

"Wow, that's really nice!" Goofy said cheerfully.

"Yeah. So I promised her... 'From now on, I'll bring you good luck. I'll keep you safe.' I really let her down..."


Just about everything that had happened within the short time of exiting Neverland came crashing down upon Corita at that moment. She felt weak and powerless, but she mainly just wanted to kick something. So, she settled for the wall.

"OW!" She howled as her foot bounced off the hard walls as Riku watched her with interest.

"So, did Vexen create you?" Riku asked as she hopped up and down on one foot in pain.

"What...do you mean by that?" Corita grimaced.

"Vexen created a replica of me. One who accepts the darkness." Riku said grimly. "Since you're a Corita who accepts the darkness, Vexen must've created you, too."

"ARE YOU STUPID?" Corita roared. "I AM CORITA!"

"You certainly have her attitude."

"GAH!"

Riku started to laugh as Corita watched him in fury.

"What's your excuse, Riku? What's up with the darkness in your heart?"

Riku stopped laughing very quickly, and anger flashed in his eyes. Corita became nervous; obviously Riku was touchy about the subject.

"Okay, Real Corita. Tell me your story."

Corita sighed. "It's a long one."


"...and then, Vexen, he..." Corita continued, but suddenly found it hard to continue. She'd told Riku everything he didn't already know: about Castle Oblivion, how Sora had forgotten her, and she'd been kidnapped...again. But now, it was suddenly hard to continue. Riku listened without saying a word.

"He...he...he..."

"I'm guessing it had to do with darkness?"

"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE THEM!" Corita cried, kicking the wall once again. As she hopped up and down in pain once again, Riku nodded.

"Okay. Corita couldn't invent such a detailed story...I believe you."

"You believe me? Hey...what's that comment supposed to mean?"

"Like I said before, Vexen created a model of what they think I'm supposed to be." Riku said grimly. "One who accepts the darkness. If he could do that, he could probably add darkness to a heart, too."

"'Add darkness to a heart'? That sounds sweet, Riku, thanks." Corita said grimly.

"You can't deny it. I can smell the darkness in you."

"What? Smell?"

"Well, I guess you could say that...scent, reading auras, sensing an individual, whatever the heck you want to call it." Riku sighed.

"Great. 'Join the darkness, you get your own scent and power over the Heartless!'"

"That's pretty much all it has to offer."

"Oh, that reminds me..." Corita said softly. "I owe you something."

Corita walked over to Riku, and smacked him in the head.

"Ow! Whadja do that for?"

"THAT's for joining the darkness!"

"OW! Why'dja do it again?"

"THAT's for kidnapping me! TWICE!"

"OWWW! THAT REALLY HURTS!"

"THAT'S FOR LETTING YOURSELF GET POSSESSED BY ANSEM!"

"I GET IT!" Riku cried. "What about you? You let yourself get experimented on by Vexen! Now look at you: you're just like me!"

"I AM NOT JUST LIKE YOU!"

"You want to fight the darkness, right?"

Corita stopped her ranting and looked at Riku, stunned. "First you want me and Sora to join the darkness, now you want me to help you fight it?"

"Would you rather sit there as Vexen's good little experiment and let the darkness devour your heart?"

"You've got me there."

"Let's go, then."

Riku held out a gloved hand to Corita. She'd seen this before, but he'd once been tempting her into joining the darkness. Now, he held his hand out to have her fight it.

"Let's go." Corita said firmly, taking his hand. "I'm not just gonna sit here and let this nasty darkness sit in my heart. I have a debt to pay back to Vexen and Larxene."

Sora53: I TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE DARKER!
Fans: FINALLY! SOME DARKNESS!
Riku Fangirls: O.o Corita and Riku? CORITA, YOU'D BETTER NOT GET ANY IDEAS!
Corita: Yeah, right. He's just a silver-haired darkness loving freak.
Joe: But you have darkness in your heart now, too...I STILL LOVE YOU!
Corita: It's not my fault!
Naminé: You beat Riku up!
Riku Fangirls: YEAH! GET HER!
Corita: None of this is my fault! -runs away screaming-
Sora: Yeah, it's Naminé's!
Naminé: Uh...what's your point?
Sora53: I've been dropping SO many hints about something like this happening...reread a bit and see if you can find any Besides, I thought this might shake things up a bit...but you'll still get the storyline of CoM and KH2...no matter what.
Fans: GOOD!-