Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney.

I feel so bad that I couldn't update until now!! I'm really sorry and I'll try not to let it get so out of hand again!!

And to Kanika, that was a fun little review! Hmm, I myself don't care either way about incest and such, but I suppose for those of you who find it 'disturbing', we can reassure this matter by using the following theory:

'Kairi moved to Destiny Islands when she was 6 from.. Uh.. Kentucky. She is therefore not the Kairi we all know and either love or hate, but a more distant clone brought in after a tragic training accident with Tidus…

Which actually explains a lot. Making this story even more Alternate Universe.' There ya go!

Okay, I'd better get started on this before I run out of time again. So, thank you, everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it and all the ideas and offers people are giving me!

"It's not going to work!" Sora shouted over the horrendous sounds emanating from the island around them.

Rocks continued to fall from the ceiling and Kairi yelped as a rather large one slammed into the door next to her. The door was still far from closed, and it refused to budge any further. Long tendrils of shadow were snaking out from the dark depths.

"Ansem, he's right. This isn't going to work. What else can we do?" Kairi whimpered. She stared up at him with eyes full of panic.

For a moment, she thought he hadn't heard her, but just as she was about to repeat herself, he released the door and stepped back.

Riku noticed this, and moved to stand next to Ansem in front of the door. He looked up at the older man, a silent understanding passing between them. Riku shifted his gaze from Ansem to Kairi, and he moved to take Ansem's place at the door.

"What are you doing?" Sora leaned around the thick door to stare at the others in confusion.

"Wait a few seconds after I enter, and use all your strength to close the door." He looked over his shoulder at Kairi before moving toward the darkness.

Kairi stared back at him in disbelief. It took her a few moments for his words to fully sink in, and she ran forward just as he stepped through the door.

Riku grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms back as she fought to get free. All that could be seen of Ansem was a dark shadow moving on the other side of the door.

"Kairi, no! Just calm down, he'll be fine. He can take care of himself!" Riku growled at her, dragging her back to Arashi.

"No he's not! He's going to die in there! I have to help him!" Riku continued to drag her back.

A sudden jolt made the cave shudder violently, almost causing Riku to lose his balance. Kairi took advantage of this by swinging her weight around and successfully knocking them both into the sand. She scrambled to her feet, pulling out her keyblade again and lunging toward the doorway. Riku made a wild grab and managed to catch her ankle.

"I can help him, Riku! Just let me go!!" She shrieked, swinging her fist down and punching him as hard as she could on the side of the face.

She dashed past Sora and leapt through the doorway before they could stop her.
Heartless seemed to emanate from everywhere, appearing around Ansem in waves. He knew he didn't stand a chance against so many, he was already too weak to fight anymore. The darkness was slowly draining what little energy he had, and combined with the loss of blood, he could barely move.

'I wonder if she'll forget about me after this..' He sank down until he was resting on his side in the darkness.

He could feel the Heartless around him, and he could feel the remainder of his control slipping away. A deep, throbbing pain wracked his body, and he grimaced as he waited for it to pass. It was the same pain he had felt earlier in his bedroom, before he checked the Dark Depths. It wavered for a moment before returning with a vengeance, forcing him to stop breathing.

The pain wore off after a few moments, and he inhaled deeply to try to rid his mind of the memory. He heard footsteps behind him, but he didn't have the strength to turn and look.

A hand was placed on his shoulder, and Kairi's voice drifted down from above him.

"Ansem, what's wrong? They closed the door, we need to get out of here." She pulled on his coat, managing to shift him onto his back and taking his face in her hands.

She gazed down at him worriedly, gasping as she looked into his eyes. "Ansem, your eyes.. They're green.." She cursed loudly, struggling to pull him up.

"We have to get you out of here, you're dying. Please, you have to get up." She swung the Oathkeeper around them again, warding off a wave of Heartless that ventured too near.

Ansem struggled to move, but slipped back down after a few seconds. Kairi bent down, grabbing his arm forcefully and putting Oathkeeper away for a moment. She pulled roughly, managing to get him into a sitting position.

"Please, I can't carry you, you have to try to walk. Ansem, come on! For me, do it for me?" She pleaded, holding his arm and stepping back as he struggled to pull himself to his feet. After several tries, he successfully managed to brace himself against Kairi and stepped forward.

Kairi pulled Oathkeeper back out and supported him as they moved through the darkness. The Heartless backed away from the glow of the Oathkeeper, but Kairi was still anxious to get out as soon as possible.

"That way.." Ansem groaned, pointing to the left.

Kairi obeyed, and they moved quickly through the shadows. After a while, a thick set of double doors could be seen, glowing slightly among the darkness. Ansem motioned toward it and Kairi leaned forward to try to open it.

The doors were heavy, and Kairi had to help Ansem sit down before pulling them open. A bright light immediately radiated from the other side of the doors.

It took another few moments to get Ansem back to his feet and they quickly moved through the doors, hiding their eyes from the light. The doors swung shut behind them, and they emerged into a large garden. Ansem and Kairi both collapsed thankfully onto the soft grass.
Sora's angry shouts could be heard echoing all around the cave, reverberating off the now calm walls. Riku groaned and leaned back against the cold stone. To be truthful, Riku had been expecting a more mature reaction from his best friend.

"So now, just because he's suddenly not evil anymore, Kairi's risking her life to help him?! Does this sound like a safe situation to you?!" Sora collapsed tiredly against the closed doors, glowering darkly at Riku.

Arashi took her hands off of her ears, looking up at Sora from across the cave. "Ansem wasn't evil in the first place! The same thing could have happened to you had you been in his position!!" She yelled, turning and making her way down the tunnel.

Riku shook his head, ignoring Sora's complaints and following Arashi. It had stopped raining, but the sand was soaked from the storm. Arashi stepped forward and wrapped her arms around herself, staring out at the ocean.

She turned slowly to look at Riku as he walked up next to her. She gave him a small smile before turning to look around at the island.

"He'll calm down after a while. We do need to get back to the others and see if we can track Kairi down though."

Arashi turned to look at him again, "So you think she's still alive too?" She sounded slightly hopeful, Riku couldn't help but smile.

"Of course she's still alive, she has the keyblade of light, after all. Besides, Ansem wouldn't let her die in there. He'd find a way to save her, he has determination to be reckoned with." He smiled slightly to himself, remembering what little characteristics he knew from being used as Ansem's puppet. Somehow, he didn't find the memory as painful anymore.

Arashi looked slightly surprised by his statement. "Are you sure? You sound like you know him pretty well.."

"Well, wouldn't you do everything in your power to protect someone you loved? And I get the impression he has more power than he realizes."

Arashi was quiet after that statement, lost in her thoughts as they waited for Sora to emerge.

Before either of them could say any more, the dull sound of a gummi ship could be hear over the ocean. Arashi looked up at it as it glided down to land in the sand a few meters away.

"What is that? I've seen one before, but I've never really known what it was." She pointed at the ship in curiosity.

Riku laughed, "Ask Cid, he'd be happy to teach you all about them."
"So you didn't even see Yuffie?" Squall asked, looking from Riku to Sora. The boys exchanged a look before shaking their heads.

Squall had been the last person to see her, and they had already checked Kairi's house. Yuffie had disappeared. And for a loud, rather obnoxious ninja who loved terrorizing Cid and Cloud, it was highly irregular. She didn't know very many people on the islands and she simply wasn't the type to leave without telling Squall.

"Where were you? Shouldn't she have been with you?" Sora asked. He was still a little upset over the Ansem incident, but he had calmed down once Squall and the others showed up.

Squall shook his head, "I sent her to Kairi's house after Riku and Arashi. I told her to wait there until we showed up or something."

"Where did you go?" Riku asked.

"We picked up Tidus and Selphie. Then we made sure the gummi ship was fully stocked and everyone was ready to go. We were prepared to make a run for Traverse Town if necessary. Luckily, however, you managed to lock the door. All we need to do now is get to Disney Castle and check on the King, like you said." Cloud replied from the seat behind them.

Aerith had woken up at some point, and she had nearly panicked when Sora and Riku had retold the group their story.

Everyone had agreed that Disney Castle should be their first priority.
Kairi watched Ansem's sleeping form from her place on the lawn. She had managed to move him into the shade of a nearby tree after emerging from the door, and she had been somewhat surprised that with so many wounds he had been able to move at all.

Had she been confident in her magic skills at all, she might have attempted a cure spell, but in her current lack of talent in magic, she had been more inclined to simply give him a few bandages and keep an eye on him. He seemed more tired than anything, in her opinion. She was going to let him sleep for a few hours and check to see how he was doing.

It hadn't taken Kairi long to recognize their new surroundings as being inside Disney Castle, so as soon as she felt Ansem was safe to leave on his own, she had gone exploring.

There seemed to be no sign of life anywhere inside the castle, and it was way too eerie for her to do a flat out search. The castle itself was in a state of disrepair, broken furniture and such strewn all around the castle and grounds. Whatever fight had taken place, there was no blood to be seen, and it had been horrendous. Her only guess was that the Heartless had taken everyone they could find, and made sure to check everywhere.

Sora and the others would show up eventually, she assured herself. She knew they had managed to close the door, she had felt it right after entering the dark depths. They should be arriving within the next day or so, according to her calculations.

Sighing from boredom, exhaustion, and loneliness, Kairi moved out of the sunlight to curl up on the grass next to Ansem. She silently hoped her friends would hurry, she didn't like being in the empty castle with someone who looked like they had gotten in a fight with Death himself.

She was just about to drift off to sleep when she hear Ansem move next to her. She rolled over and watched as he sat up and looked down at her. She had to admit, he looked better already.

"Kairi? Are you alright?" He asked quietly. He looked around the bright courtyard before settling his eyes back on her.

She stared at him in disbelief before letting out a nervous giggle. "Me? You're the one who almost died in there.." She couldn't help but find his new green eyes a little distracting, she had become so used to them being a radiant orange.

"Why did your eyes turn green..?" She blurted out, blushing slightly at her obvious lack of manners.

He looked at her in surprise for a moment before laying back down against the soft grass. "I'm.. not Heartless anymore, I guess. It must have been the presence of your keyblade in the dark depths. The less light, the stronger your keyblade seems to get." He didn't seem disappointed in the idea of no longer being in control of the Heartless.

"So does this mean you'll help us fight Sephiroth?" Kairi asked hopefully.

Ansem thought for a moment. "I suppose I don't really have a choice at this point, but I do believe that was what I was doing when I arrived on your islands." He grinned at her, almost expecting to be reprimanded.

He nearly jumped in surprise when she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You should get some rest, I'll see if there's any food around here." She smiled warmly at him as she stood up and walked away.
A/N: I'm sorry it was short, I guess I say that a lot now, huh? I'll update soon. Please review.