Author's Note: I know you guys have a lot of questions. A few things will be answered in this wonderful filler chapter that is oh, so, important to the plot. Thank you for the reviews.

Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 7

Twilight Town—Yensid's Tower

12:00 A.M.

Riku:

Axel had returned to the inn soaking wet and tired. Kairi was now with Sora and it was all my fault. I didn't expect her to run away from the hotel. I couldn't help but wonder how long Sora had been in our midst. The funny thing was that we hadn't heard anything about any disappearances or murders. Just when I was beginning to understand the situation that Mickey started months ago, something further complicates things.

That's why I was here at the top of Yensid's tower. The old wizard was the first person Sora met with to talk about the Nobodies. DiZ told me that his servants, the fairy Godmothers, (A/N: I almost wrote Fairy Godparents for some odd reason.) had given Sora his clothes.

"Do you think this Yensid guy has some answers?" Axel asked quietly.

"Hopefully."

I walked through the portal and emerged into a large study full of books. There were moon shaped and star shaped windows on the other side of the shape. The room had a slight musty order to it. Someone hadn't been there in months.

"Who are you?"

I turned my head in the direction of the voice. A man dressed in blue robes was standing in a doorway off to the right.

"You must be Yensid," I said softly.

"I am. Now who are you?"

"I'm Riku and this is Axel."

Yensid crossed the room and settled into a chair.

"Your friend is a Nobody."

Axel scoffed.

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked.

I could sense irritation in his voice.

"Months ago, you were the enemy," Yensid said matter-of-factly.

I cleared my throat.

"Excuse me, but you can have this little debate later. Right now, I have some questions. Sora has merged himself with the darkness. Before Mickey died, he blamed the change on his clothes," I said as calmly as I could.

"Mickey was right. Shortly after Roxas reunited with him, Sora came here for knowledge. Mickey thought it would be best if we aided him with spiritual energy."

"Mickey knew about the darkness, didn't he?"

"We all knew, except for Sora, of course. Not only that, but we didn't want to take it out. Mickey knew that Sora's spirit would counteract the darkness for some time, but it really wasn't guaranteed."

"Oh I get it. You and Mickey wanted to wipe out the existence of Nobodies. You pushed Sora to work harder, which in turn, sacrificed Roxas! I should burn you to hell!"

In just an instant, Axel had his chakrams out. Fire danced upon its surface and up and down his arms. He wasn't joking.

"Axel, stop. Calm down," I said loudly.

In truth, I was just as angry as he was.

"We didn't expect another race to spawn from the Heartless attacks," Yensid replied idly.

"And what now? Were you planning on sitting on your ass again? Sora has Kairi in his grasp and she needs our help!" Axel snapped.

"Yensid, Sora's growing a child within Kairi. We need to know how to stop him," I muttered, allowing irritation to creep into my voice.

"He can't do anything like that yet. He's bluffing. Besides, that girl was the 7th princess of heart. It will take time to fully turn her."

What?

Sora was just buying time to actually do what he wanted. That gave us a chance, but we still had to find him. Suspicion crept up my spine. It was true that Yensid helped Mickey, but…perhaps there was more to this that he was letting on.

"You know more than you're letting on," I said suddenly.

"Perhaps I do, but I'm through answering your questions," The wizard answered tersely.

I smirked.

"Axel, would you?"

Axel smiled and lifted his chakrams.

"Sure. I would love to."

All of a sudden, the outer edges of the room burst into flames. I drew my keyblade and moved behind Yensid before he could bat an eyelash.

"Now, my friend here was known as the Flurry of Dancing Flames within the Organization XIII. Do you want to find out how he got that nickname?" I asked in a low voice.

"Fine, I'll tell you. If Sora succeeds in doing this, he'll gain untold power. However, even if you kill me, you won't stop them from reviving a certain person."

"Who?" I asked.

The wizard fell silent.

That was my cue to move and let Axel be himself.

So I did. Axel immediately engulfed the room with flames and laughed. Leaving him to his handiwork, I walked through the door we came through. Who was the person he was talking about? The only person who might be of any importance was Mickey…

Halloween Town/Christmas Town

Sora:

I watched Kairi feed with a small smile on my face. Part of me was still dealing with almost losing her. It will not happen again.

"You seem tense, Sora. What's wrong?"

I smiled a little wider at Kairi.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about things."

"This is a beautiful place. Can we stay here for a while?"

I nodded. Now that I was here with her…there was one thing I wanted to do.

"Do you remember the paopu fruit?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes…" Kairi whispered.

I reached into my pocket and pulled the familiar piece of fruit out. She started at it.

"Will you share this with me?" I asked softly.

"I don't know if I can."

"Why?"

"Riku…"

I felt of twinge of anger course through my body.

"So, you have fallen in love with Riku?"

It was a statement, not a question. I turned away from her.

"It's not like that, Sora!"

"Yes it is. I need to hunt. I'm leaving."

I threw the fruit into the snow, feeling disgusted with myself. I walked away, growing softly.