((Note for this chapter and all following chapters: anything in quotations and italics are in Al Bhed. I'm really sick of translating phrases into Al Bhed when all you people are going to do is re-translate it back. "It'll look like this" --example))

Yuna and Tidus, both carrying armfuls of groceries, walked back into the radio tower. Rikku, who was supposed to be looking after the phone, had dozed off. Yuna put down her bags and poked her cousin, but to no avail. She grinned.

"Poor Rikku, she's exhausted." She whispered. So was everyone else apparently. Paine was asleep on the couch, with Gippal and Baralai each on a chair on either side of her. Sora and Melody was fast asleep together, still on the roof. Rikku was asleep with her head in her arms, resting on the table. Emma was curled up on a pile of pillows collected from all the dorms. Tidus yawned as he put the bags in a corner, out of the way. A funny beeping noise caught both of their attention. They looked at each other, and then at the phone. Tidus grabbed it and opened it.

"Hello?" He asked, carefully. Yuna elbowed Rikku more forcefully, knocking the younger girl awake. Blinking, she watched Tidus carefully which Yuna went and quietly woke everyone else. Within moments, everyone was gathered around Tidus and the phone.

"--is is Sh-n-a -- th -- A- Bh-d --r sh-- Cel--us -urr---ly l-nd-- on Be--id Isl--d. Y--r di-tr--s sig--- ha- -een reci--ed" Came the fuzzy reply. Rikku snatched away the phone.

"Shinra!" She asked hurriedly.

"Y--, th-s is Sh-nr-." There was a long silence as they all looked at each other, their relief, excitement and shock apparent. Then, Rikku started speaking into the phone, overly quickly with excitement.

"Shinra! I'm so glad we managed to reach you guys! We're on some planet somewhere without any way off. I don't know how we got here, and only just a few days ago we all thought we were different people! I thought I was dead when we had that fight, but then I just woke up here with Kairi! And then we went and met up with Emma and Yunie and Paine, but we all thought that we were Tegan and Lil and Naomi and Melody and Rochelle. But Kairi doesn't remember yet. We have to find some way for her to remember. Oh and we found the guys too. So we---." She would have kept talking, but Shinra interrupted her.

"The Mana Goddess told us you were dead."

"She did?" Rikku asked, surprised. It had been her theory that the Mana Goddess had managed to save them, even if saving them meant she had to send them away and erase their memories. Then another thought struck her. "So we really did heal her?" She asked excitedly. Then Gippal grabbed the phone.

"Hey Shinra, I think that's enough chit-chat. We'll figure out what's happening later, just come get us." He said. There was a long pause.

"But I don't know where you are." Shinra answered.

"I can fix that." Gippal said, passing the phone back to Rikku. He pulled open the box, and tugged on a few wires. He zapped himself and yelped.

"Careful." Rikku said seriously. Everyone looked at her; she never showed concern for Gippal, whether everyone else knew she really did worry about him or not. With a blank expression, she sighed. "I mean don't mess up the connection, dummy." Gippal smirked.

"Thanks for caring, sweetheart." He muttered. Rikku went bright red. He adjusted another few things and a muffled "AH-HA!" came loudly through the speakers so that everyone could hear it and Rikku pulled the phone away from her ear, grimacing.

"Not so loud next time, right?" She suggested.

"Of course. Tell Gippal I say thanks for the location signal. I have to go tell Buddy and Brother about this. Stay by the phone, I may have to call back. I get the feeling that they won't quite believe me when I tell them what's up." Shinra answered. Then, there was a click and Shinra was gone. Rikku sighed.

"Well, Shinra's got our location, and he's off to tell Brother and Buddy about us, but he says he might have to call back, so we need to stick around for a little longer." Yuna had collapsed on the bed of pillows Emma had been using, and was fast asleep. Tidus sat down beside her and fell asleep in his chair. Rikku was wide awake, and so were Emma, Melody, Sora and Gippal. Paine and Baralai had barely woken up in the first place, and so were both back asleep immediately. So, for most of the rest of the night, those who were awake sat around and amused themselves talking, snacking, playing cards and truth or dare. By the time dawn came, however, they'd all fallen asleep haphazardly on top of each other on the floor. A loud knock jolted Emma awake. Her head still foggy from her dream, she stood up and opened the door. Rubbing her eyes, she looked down at the person standing there and yawned.

"Who are you?" She asked tiredly. Then all at once, she her senses came to her. "How did you get here so fast!" Before he could answer, she turned around and shouted back into the room. "GUYS! GET UP! GET UP!"

……………………………

Shrouded in darkness, Emma sat up. She knew exactly where she was. Her vision cleared, and she could see a glow in the distance that she recognized as the crystal. Standing up, she brushed herself off and walked towards it. She was surprised to find that Riku wasn't there. She sat down, leaning back against it, and closed her eyes to wait. It didn't seem like long had passed when she heard the padding sound of bare feet on the hard ground. Smiling, she looked towards the sound and saw Riku grinning back at her.

"Hey." He greeted her simply. Instead of greeting him back, she asked him a question that she had been wondering about for the while she was waiting.

"How did you get here?" She asked. Riku blinked, surprised by the question.

"Well, since I had been possessed by Ansem, when Sora cast him into Kingdom Hearts and destroyed him, I was locked in Kingdom Hearts with King Mickey. Eventually we found our way here. I guess this place is like the nothing between worlds. Mickey and I found the door to Disney Castle, and he went back home. I tried to go with him, but some force was holding me back. It's the same with every door, and so now I'm caught in here. The Fates made it this way to keep the ten that would destroy them from uniting." He explained. Emma lay back on the ground.

"But I thought I wasn't supposed to end up on Fa'Diel, and if I hadn't, then we wouldn't have been united anyways, so why would they have locked you in here?" She asked. Riku shrugged.

"Maybe it was just in case. Anyways, if I wasn't here, what would have happened to you?" He asked. Emma looked around.

"Speaking of which, the door's gone." She noted. Riku nodded.

"Not surprising, it only led to a dream, and now that dream's over." He answered. He looked around, looking suddenly upset. "You think I'll ever get out of here?" He asked. Emma smiled.

"Of course." she answered instantly.

"You sound pretty sure of that." He said, still sounding a bit depressed. Emma nodded.

"I am. You got in here easily enough, we'll just have to find out again, right? It's like, what goes up must come down, so what comes in must come out." She said, shrugging. Riku laughed.

"I like your logic." He told her with a grin. She grinned back at him.

"I'm just optimistic is all." she answered. Then, she tilted her head as if listening. "I think someone's knocking at the door." She said. She was about to stand up, but then she smiled sweetly at Riku. "Would you like a kiss goodbye?" She asked. Without waiting for a reply, she leaned towards him and kissed him gently. He took one of her hands in his and his other arm went around her waist, pulling her closer. She started to feel herself become less and less tangible. Apparently Riku could feel it too, because she felt his hand tighten in hers, until he passed completely through it. He broke the kiss and watched as her form faded even more. She was smiling playfully.

"Just when it was getting good too." She said, pouting a little. He couldn't help but grin at that. In a few moments, she was gone. He stayed sitting for a few minutes, staring off into space before he got to his feet and kicked at the ground.

"I must be going soft." He muttered to himself, sighing. "I miss her already."

………………

Emma woke up and yawned. Further knocking at the door forced her out of bed. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she yawned again, fully aware that her senses were more than a little compromised at the moment. She pulled open the door, yawned once more and rubbed her eyes.

"Who are you?" She asked, feeling a little but grumpy at the idea of having waked to answer the door for some bratty kid. Then the thought struck her. It was Shinra. "How did you get here so fast!" Before he could answer, she turned around and shouted back into the room. "GUYS! GET UP! GET UP!" Paine was the first one to stumble to the door, looking wildly around. Then, spotting Shinra, she groaned.

"It's just…Shinra!" She blinked, the surprise jolting her awake. A few surprised voices could be heard from inside.

"Shinra?"

"He's here!" The door was flung open and Rikku came running out, hugging the boy so tightly she lifted him off the ground. He made a choking sound and Rikku dropped him, giggling excitedly.

"You know, Spira's approaching a state of chaos. The only bit of peace left is on Besaid, and Bikanel." Buddy said, walking up to them. Rikku yelped happily and crushed him in a hug as well. Slowly, one by one, everyone else stumbled out outside. Seeing the Al Bhed's, Melody leaned over to Sora.

"Who are these people?" She whispered. Buddy watched her curiously, while Sora pointed out each of them quietly.

"Kairi, don't you remember us?" Buddy asked. Blushing, she shook her head. Sora explained.

"We're not really sure what happened, we all just woke up on this planet and we all thought we were someone else. Anyways, I know Emma was the one who found us in the music room, and she reminded me of who I was. Only thing is, Kairi still can't remember who she is, she thinks she's still Melody."

"Can't you just do the same thing to her that Emma did to you to get you to remember?" Shinra asked, entering the conversation. Sora shook his head.

"All Emma did was call me Sora and everything just kind of came back." He answered.

"Me too." Yuna agreed.

"And me." Paine added. "But we've already tried that. We've tried everything."

"Yeh! Sora even kissed her!" Rikku announced, making both Melody and Sora turn a bit red.

"Maybe seeing the Destiny Islands will help her!" Sora suggested. It seemed like a good idea to everyone else, so they headed over to the ship where it was waiting for them like a huge silhouette.

……………………….

Melody was sitting on her bed in the cabin, looking out the window in amazement as the stars whipped by. Sure, she'd been told about the airship going from planet to planet, but actually being there was a different thing completely. She ran her hand through her hair, and then made a face. She could feel a few strands of hair flipped over, and she tried to fix them by touch but with no success. Glancing around, she saw a hand mirror sitting on the table next to Yuna's bed. She grabbed it and looked in it to fix her hair and gasped.

"What happened to me?" She asked, touching the corners of her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and took another look. She blinked a few more times. Her irises were blood red, and she was very pale. As she looked closer she started to see more odd things. There was a pair of antenna, thin black ones that twitched. She clapped her hand over her mouth, and then touched one of the antenna. Her hand passed through it. Confused, she tried again. It happened again. Her hands had grown longer, and there were thick, sharp claws on the ends of her fingers. Horrified, she looked down. Her hands were still normal, but in the reflection, she was continuing to transform. Within moments, she was staring at what looked like an oversized black bug with big eyes. Then the thought hit her. Her reflection was a heartless. But why? Did this happen to Sora too? She bit her lip and put the mirror down. After a moment, she slowly peeked into it again. This time it wasn't showing her a Heartless. It was a girl, about her age, who actually looked a lot like she did, thought her hair was a bit shorter and blonde and her eyes were a lighter colour of grey. Melody tilted her head to the side in confusion. So did the reflection, but oddly enough, she tilted her head the other way. Both she and the reflection blinked in surprise and straightened up. Melody bit her lip in confusion while her blonde reflection furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

"I wonder what's going on?" She asked herself out loud, as her reflection spoke as well, though she said something different, and oddly enough, Melody could hear it as if it was herself speaking.

"I should talk to Lakhesis about this." Both of them watched the mirror for a second more, clearly suspicious. Then, both girls put their mirrors down. Melody shook her head and stood up. Back inside the bridge, everyone was trying to figure out what happened.

"I don't get how we got there. I mean, not dying because Emma was there, that's something I can accept, but how we ever got to that planet doesn't make any sense." Paine was saying as she walked in. Tidus crossed his arms.

"I'm not even worried about how we got there, it's how we just woke up and had lives." He said. Sora sighed.

"I'm just going to stop worrying about it. I think some things are never going to be explained." He said simply. Everyone stared at him. "Well, everyone thought that the connection between the worlds would close after we closed the door. They didn't. I don't know, I don't really care too much anymore." He decided. Emma nodded.

"I mean, Riku said he was in the place between worlds. That in itself kind of denotes that there's still a connection between the worlds." Then there was a long silence in which everyone stared at Emma. She blushed, backing away. "…what?"

"You never did finish telling us what happened in your dreams that made you remember." Gippal noted. Emma blushed harder.

"That's my business." She answered quietly. Melody eyed her suspiciously.

"I think I can guess." She stated. Emma looked up quickly, her eyes going wide, and her face going even redder. Melody grinned. "Ha, can you say blackmail?" She asked. Emma leapt to her feet.

"Don't you dare!" She shouted, running at Melody. Shrieking with laughter, the two girls toppled down the stairs, landing on the floor at Buddy's feet as he stood next to his seat. Melody struggled to sit up underneath Emma, who rolled off her.

"Hehehe, this is gonna be fun." Melody announced. Buddy shook his head.

"Well, enjoy it now. Spira's in a state of chaos, and we're gonna be the ones who have to fix it." He stated. Everyone stared at him, and then looked at Gippal and Baralai. Both guys backed away, their eyes going wide.

"What?" Gippal asked worriedly.

"What did we do?" Baralai asked. Paine crossed her arms.

"Last time I checked, you two were the leaders of most of Spira, along with Nooj. And as far as I can tell, both of you just up and left without a word." She noted. Baralai gasped.

"We were only supposed to be only on a week's vacation. We've been gone for months…" He muttered. "This has got to be bad." Buddy nodded.

"The relations between the Youth League and New Yevon have collapsed." He told them. There was a long silence.

"Oh no…."