-Sora53: I'm sure you're sick of us.
Fans: -hides from Sora53-
Corita: The last chapter...now you have to wait until December before you get any more Corita-based fanfic joy!
Joe: I'll wait forever, my dearest Corita!
Corita: I seem to remember that you danced with Naminé at the party.
Joe: This is...true.
Sora53: Sora was too busy dancing with Kairi...I had to dance with the Fans. -points-
Fans: -tremble-
Sora: Finally! Kairi keeps tackling me O.o Sora53! Let's dance again!
Sora53: Well, it is tradition :D-

Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own KH or CoM...I own Corita and nothing else! Except for my posse ;)

"Corita, look!"

"Huh? Wha..."

"Wake up, you can see into the orb again!"

"I...I wasn't sleeping...it's still all dark..."

"...open your eyes!"

Corita's eyes snapped open, and they turned almost instantly to the orb in front of her. Naminé was standing to the left of it, staring down into its depths. Corita saw that the darkness in the orb was indeed clearing.

"Ansem!" Riku, still miniscule, cried as he slashed out at Ansem. Ansem was kneeling on the ground, with Riku standing about 10 feet in front of him.
"You're finished!" Riku hissed.

"Hardly." Ansem said so quietly that Naminé and Corita (who'd proceeded to stand up and watch the orb next to Naminé) had to lean forward to listen.
"I gave you the darkness...my shadow lingers within you. I will return!"

At this, Ansem stood up, and the orb clouded once again in darkness.

"AARGH!" Corita roared, banging on the orb in frustration.

"Shh...listen." Naminé said, and Corita stopped ranting.

"I know you wanted to do this alone, but you don't mind a LITTLE help, right?" Came King Mickey's voice out of the darkness. "Let's go, Riku."

"That's my cue!" Corita sang. "See you, Naminé!"

"Bye." Naminé said calmly, waving as Corita dashed down the stairs.


"What are you going to do next, Riku?" Mickey asked kindly. "Are you going home?"

"I don't know if I can." Riku sighed. "His scent...it's faint, but it's still there. I can't go home until it's gone."

"Riku! Mickey!" Came a voice from several sets of stairs up.

"...speaking of lingering scents..."

Corita came running down the stairs at top speed, nearly crashing into Riku at the same time. Riku reached out to stop her from killing him, and Mickey stood behind Riku to catch him if Corita knocked him down.

"Corita, are you trying to kill us?" Riku asked.

"Sorry. I was just worried about you guys..."

"We're fine." Mickey said merrily. "I've gotta say, you came down all those stairs pretty darn fast..."

"Like I just said, I was worried." Corita said with a grin. "Call it my Healer instincts, but something's still wrong here. What is it now?"

"Ansem." Riku answered.

"Again?" Corita sighed. "Doesn't he have anything better to do?"

"Riku, your darkness belongs to you. Just like your light." Mickey said. "Until now, I thought darkness was nothing but bad. But my time with you made me change my mind. You've chosen a road I never thought of. Light and dark, back to back. With you, they mingle in a way no one's ever seen before. I want to see where that road leads. And if it's okay, I want to walk the road with you."

Mickey held out a gloved hand to Riku. Riku smiled, and took it.

"Wow, Mickey...I don't know what to say!" Riku said with a huge smile.

"That's so sweet." Corita said. "I hope you know that I'm not taking any 'road' except the one I'm on right now."

"Of course." Riku said, turning to her. "It's your choice."

"I have to stay here." Corita said calmly.

"I...guess we'll see you later." Riku said with a note of sadness in his voice.

"It's not like this is goodbye. We'll see each other again, right?"

"Absolutely." Riku said. "Bye then, Corita."

"Bye, you two." Corita said. Riku and Mickey smiled at her, and they turned around towards the door. With a final glance backwards at Riku, Corita turned to dash back up the stairs.

"Hey!" She said, turning back quickly, remembering something. "Don't go dying on me, you hear? Otherwise I'll never get to keep my promise to you!"

Not looking back, she hurried up the tall steps back to the top of the castle.


Naminé watched Corita in mild interest as Corita came hurtling back into the orb room, nearly knocking over the orb as she went.

"How...do you watch...what's going on...outside?" Corita panted.

Naminé flipped another switch on the side of the orb's pedestal, labelled 'outside'. Almost instantly, the orb's view switched from one of Castle Oblivion's empty rooms to the surrounding paths outside of the castle. On the path, Riku and Mickey were walking next to each other.

"What the...where'd they get the robes?" Corita asked, dazed. Naminé shook her head.

Riku and Mickey (who were now dressed in robes identical to those of the Organization) slowed to a halt. DiZ was standing in front of a forked path, and Riku sighed.

"What are you making me choose now?" He asked.

"Will you take the road to light — or the road to darkness?" DiZ asked in his usual serene voice.

"Neither." Riku said as he began to walk forward. "I'm taking the middle road."

Riku walked right past DiZ, onto the path that DiZ had been blocking. DiZ was silent for a moment, but he spoke again after Riku'd gone a few feet.

"You mean the twilit road to nightfall?" He asked, and Riku came to an immediate stop.

Riku was silent for a moment.

"No." He said finally, turning his head back to DiZ. "The road to dawn."


"It's so quiet here." Corita said with a sigh. "Riku and Mickey are gone, and my friends and brother are asleep..."

Naminé and Corita, after watching Riku and Mickey's departure, were back in the large room with Sora, Donald and Goofy. Corita turned her head to look back up at her sleeping sibling.

"How long until they wake up?" She asked curiously.

"It'll be a while." Naminé said, looking up at him as well. "It's best to just be patient."

"Patient, eh? One thing I'm not good at being." Corita said, sighing. She sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the machine in which Sora slept. Reaching into her pocket, she was able to fish out her small, gleaming Thalassa shell.

"I tried to tell you, Sora." She said to herself. "I told you that Kairi was the one you were seeking, and I told you that something was funny about this castle. I guess you really are as hard-headed as everyone else says."

Corita smiled, and flipped the shell over in her hand. She stared at it for a long time, the light from Sora's machine illuminating its soft blue surface.

Everyone: Bravo! Bravo!
Joe: Encore!
Sora53: That's the end! There is no encore!
Fans: Good! -quiver-
Sora: I can't believe it! My own sister called me hard-headed! -sob-
Corita: You've gotta admit, it's true.
Sora Fangirls: We don't think you're hard-headed!
Joe: And I still love you, Corita.
Riku Fangirls: Well, it's time to chase Sora53.
Sora53: O.o why?
Riku Fangirls: We won't get a chance to until December!
Sora53: True. -runs away screaming-
Corita: Goodbye for now! Now, to think about what role I'll play in KH2...what with the BHK, the new worlds, and merging with Sora! So much to think about! Farewell :P -watches Sora53 get chased by the Riku Fangirls-