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By the time the whole group of the eight of them had been reunited in Domina, it was after dark. Their little adventures had taken longer than they'd thought. Inside the tavern, which was now much fuller than it had been earlier, they were all sitting around a large round table, with the four artifacts they'd collected. Rikku spotted Daena sitting alone, and walked over. The cat-woman had her head on the table; she was either very upset or very drunk, or possibly both. However, Daena was not one to drink, her strict moral code didn't allow for it. Rikku was wondering why she was alone as she took a seat next to her.

"Hi Daena." She greeted softly. Daena looked up at her, but didn't say anything. Rather uncomfortable, Rikku spoke again. "So, did you go see the Wisdom?" She asked offhandedly. Daena nodded, her expression resentful.

"He has the title of Wisdom, though he is anything but wise." She replied bitterly. With that, she stood up. "Goodnight Rikku." Rikku watched her go, rather surprised. Tidus was twisted around in his seat and looking at Rikku.

"You okay?" He asked after a moment. Rikku nodded brightly and returned to her seat at their table.

"I'm fine, I don't think Daena is though…" Not making any other comment on the matter, she looked curiously at the four artifacts sitting in the middle of the table. She grinned. "Well, today was certainly productive." She observed happily. Gippal tossed the bag of money that they'd gotten from Niccolo on the table next to the artifacts.

"…And, uh, enriching." He added with a smirk. Kairi inspected them.

"I wonder what…er…where they are?" She asked.

"…What?" Sora asked, totally confused.

"I mean, what places will they make? And how many more of these are we going to have to go hunting for?" She asked again. Tidus shrugged.

"Who knows? I mean, I really don't mind staying here. This world is a nice place." He decided, leaning back so his chair was up on the two back legs. Yuna giggled. "What's so funny?" He asked suspiciously. Yuna grinned.

"You should have all four legs on the floor." She told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He answered. However, little did he know, Rikku (who was sitting on the other side of him) was motioning like she was going to kick the legs out from under him. Getting a little overzealous with her acting, the Al Bhed accidentally hit one of the legs, so the chair was only held up on the one leg. Tidus yelped and quickly leaned to the side to try to keep his balance. However, in his surprise, he leaned too far and fell to the floor with a crash. Yuna and Rikku burst out laughing, hardly able to breathe. The others, who hadn't really been paying much attention to the three of them, looked over in surprise when they heard the crash. Most of the people in the people in the tavern were staring at Tidus as he untangled himself from under the chair and stood up, brushing himself off quickly. He grinned and took a quick bow before righting his chair and sitting back down. Needless to say, he kept a wary eye on Rikku for the rest of the evening.

……………

The stars were the only light as they walked up the cobblestone path to the door of their 'home away from home'. And there certainly weren't many stars. Kairi frowned. It's like Zanarkand was… she thought. At first she thought maybe the moonlight blocked them out, only to realize a moment later that there was no moon whose light could block it out. She thought about Zanarkand. It felt like so long ago. Then again, when she thought of lying on the beaches of Destiny Island, it felt like that was months and months ago. She suddenly felt pained. She knew she wasn't going back. Consciously, she still told herself that she didn't trust Riku, but even so, she knew he was telling her the truth. And she knew deep down that she did trust him, that he didn't deserve his prison. He deserved to be with them, wandering the worlds.

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The dark is never very fun to be in. Especially for long periods of time. That is, unless you're in there for long enough that you grow accustomed to it. That certainly doesn't mean you can join with it, you still must fight it, but after a while, the darkness tends to recede, leaving you to your own devices. This is why Riku had been surprised when he found Kairi. The darkness around her had receded when he found her. It had taken him at least a week to fight the darkness off enough in this prison of his that he had 'glowed'. He didn't really know what it was called, but whatever it was, it made people look like they were glowing in the dark. Once the darkness receded, he supposed that what was left had to be light, and so he wandered the darkness, almost in a little bubble of light. Kairi'd had a little 'bubble' too. How long had she spent in there before he found her? It can't have been that long. If she'd been in there for too long, he had no doubt that whatever was left of the Heartless in her would have taken hold. Yes, he knew about the Heartless in her. He also knew Sora didn't know. Or hadn't, until she told him. Yes, he knew she told him. He knew from the mirror ball. Hidden in the darkness, there was a great orb which would show you all that you wanted to see. He had known Kairi was coming, he'd seen it. He'd been watching her and Sora often (AN: NOT in the creepy kind of way). They were what kept him sane. Because they were still out there, and they hadn't forgotten him, there was still a chance they'd find a way to get him out. They would come back for him. He spent the endless days sitting with the mirror ball, watching the goings on of the outside worlds. Mostly though, he'd watched Sora and Kairi in their search for each other. He saw Kairi find Yuna and the Gullwings. He saw them find Tidus. He saw her becoming overwhelmed in seeing Yuna and Tidus together, he'd seen her running through the streets of Zanarkand. He'd seen Sora, Goofy and Donald find Spira and meet Gippal, Baralai and Nooj. But, no, he hadn't seen these things before they happened, he'd seen them as they happened. So, how had he known that Kairi and Sora were never to return to the Islands? The blocks. If you knew how to read them properly, they told what each would give up, and how and when it would happen. Now, as he watched his friends walking up to the house on Fa'Diel, his heart sunk. They weren't going to find him. They weren't going to set him free. And worst of all, they were walking blindly to their deaths and it was his fault. He had to fix it. Only one problem; fate had set this in motion, each and every event in the worlds leading up to this point in time. Riku knew it was important, because all events before this were just preparing the world for this to happen, but these heroes wouldn't survive to see whatever gift it was they would bring to the world. He wanted to fight it, but how was he supposed to fight fate and destiny?

"It's not fair!" He shouted into the darkness, slamming his fist into the ground. "Why should fate decide? They don't deserve to die!" He shouted again, knowing no one was listening. No one was there to listen to him. So, that's why he jumped when a voice spoke behind him.

"Excuse me? Who's going to die?" It asked. Riku spun, shocked. He almost half expected to see Kairi there again. She was the only other person to have been there. Instead, he found someone else. A girl, about his age, stood behind him. Her brown hair fell to her waist, rather messily, and she was wearing her pajamas. In fact, she looked quite like she'd just rolled out of bed. Riku almost smiled. Her mannerisms reminded him very much of Kairi.

"Who are you?" He asked slowly, walking up to her. Instead of answering, she asked a new question.

"Where am I?"

"A dark place between worlds." Riku answered, crossing his arms and inspecting her. Despite her disheveledness, she was kind of cute.

"Oh. How did I get here?" She asked, looking around in confusion. Riku shrugged.

"I was wondering the same thing." He told her, sighing. "You probably came through a door." She shook her head.

"Nope. The last thing I remember is falling asleep. I'm probably dreaming." She answered non-chalantly. Riku raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I know I'm real. You do dream yourself into real places a lot?" He asked jokingly. To his surprise, she nodded.

"Oh yes. This happens all the time. I dream myself into different times sometimes too. Only, usually I'm clothed to fit in with the locals. This is the first time I've been caught in my pajamas." She admitted with a grin. Riku stared at her. This chick's definitely not normal…

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Whooooooooooooo! I'm done! Kind of a weird note to leave off at but hey! Anyways, RnR, and I'll post again soon! Luv ya'll!