An update, which is the fastest one yet on this fic! Hurrrahhhhh for Lulala :D

Thanks so much to the reviewers! You guys make me oh so happy and motivated to get this story updated :D

Anyways. Here we go!

In a matter of minutes, all of them were aboard the gummi ship, getting a hurried explanation from Donald as they warped to Disney Castle.

"The King's gone looking for the path to Asahi's world, so we had no one else to turn to for help," he explained. "We're not sure why the nobodies are attacking, but we need to fight them off before we can find out!"

Sora looked confused. "If you two are here… then who's back at the castle?"

"It's empty," Donald told them. "We dropped Minnie and Daisy off in Radiant Garden. There's no way we were going to leave them there!"

"So… we're going to have to fight our way in?" Asahi asked, brow furrowed with worry.

"Wait, wait, wait… you're not fighting," Riku immediately said. "Sora and I will fight."

Asahi rolled her eyes. "Find me a couple swords, and I'll be fine."

Kairi was glaring at Riku. "You let me fight with that keyblade before… why not now?"

"Nobodies are much more dangerous that heartless," Riku said, arms folded and looking stubborn. "I can't risk—"

"You don't have to," Asahi assured him. "Kairi and I will be fine."

He sighed. "Okay, I guess you probably could."

Asahi and Kairi both squealed, and high-fived each other. Sora and Riku exchanged a glance, and had to fight to keep from cracking up.

"Be ready," Donald advised. "They will attack us when we get off the ship!"

Riku quickly summoned Kairi's keyblade, and then his own. Sora grabbed his out of thin air as Asahi watched the whole spectacle in awe.

"I don't have a weapon," Asahi reminded Riku.

"Let's all go to the armory," Goofy suggested. "If we can get there, Asahi will be able to use a sword."

Riku and Sora nodded. "Lead the way," Riku murmured.

Donald and Goofy were first off the ship. Donald had been right—the dusks began to attack them right away. Asahi stuck close by Kairi as Sora and Riku sliced their way through countless enemies. As she watched the whole scene, Riku was absolutely blowing her mind—how someone so cool and collected could become so fierce when he was fighting was a complete mystery to her. There was one thing she could say for sure—she didn't ever want to meet Riku in a dark alley if he had that keyblade with him.

When they at last reached the armory, Asahi breathed a sigh of relief. She was tired of watching everyone else have all the fun. Riku and Sora were both panting, and Kairi's face was pink with exhaustion. Donald and Goofy weren't kidding when they said the castle was under attack—it was completely, totally overrun.

Donald found two shorter swords for Asahi to use. "Perfect," she said, sheathing one of the swords. "These are just like what I use!"

Riku raised an eyebrow. "You have weapons?"

She smiled a little. "Yup, the King has them in his study." She strapped the belts around her waist, and drew her swords. "Okay, ready."

Riku sidled up to her as they walked out of the armory. "You know… if you need anything… just yell," he told her softly.

She smiled a little. "Riku. I'll be fine."

"Okay—I mean, I know… I just thought—"

"Relax," Asahi advised, still smiling. "I'm great at fighting, you'll see."

"Of course you are," Riku managed to choke out. Cheeks flushing with embarrassment, he tightened his grip on his keyblade and rushed back out into the hall, ready to take out his feelings on some nobodies.

Asahi followed him, and immediately attacked the nearest nobody. It felt good to be fighting again—after all, between the time she had been locked up and the time that she had spent on the island, she hadn't fought for quite awhile.

As Riku watched her, he found it extremely difficult to keep focused on his own fighting. The way she swung her swords was somehow graceful and yet tough at the same time. She took out nobodies at about the same rate as he and Sora, which was impressive. He suddenly realized she was right—there was absolutely no reason to worry about her.

They fought their way down the hallway from the armory towards the library, and took another break once they got there. "There's so many," Kairi huffed, pulling her hair back and tying it with a rubber band.

Sora eyed her sadly. "You really don't have to do this, Kairi," he said, draping his arm over her shoulders and pulling her into a half-hug. "Rest for awhile, okay?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm okay… I just didn't think there would be so many."

"Well, we're almost to the throne room," Goofy informed them. "Once we're there, we can use the corner stone to destroy them all."

"We have to be careful, it'll be the hardest room to get into," Riku said, "I'm sure of it."

"Wait… if we can use the cornerstone, why didn't you guys just do that in the first place!" Sora wailed, thinking back to how close he had been to actually telling Kairi how he felt back on the beach.

Donald gave him a weird look. "We were just coming back from business in Twilight Town, and the girls were waiting in the gummi hangar, cornered by nobodies. They were in the courtyard, and had no chance to get up to the throne room. They can't fight, remember?"

Sora's shoulders slumped forward, and he didn't reply. If only these stupid nobodies had better timing, he thought to himself.

After their short rest, they rushed back out into the hallway to take out some more enemies. Asahi pulled out her swords and stabbed both into a dusk's head. It screeched in pain. She ripped them out and twirled around, slicing off several heads in the process. Everyone was giving it their absolute all, and, slowly but surely, they made their way down the hallway.

As they got closer to the throne room, they found out pretty quickly that Riku had been absolutely 100 percent correct. The nobodies were no longer simple dusks—samurai, dancers, gamblers, and sorcerers were all lurking, causing several casualties. Nothing, thankfully, was unable to be cured by a simple spell, usually performed by Riku or Donald.

After what felt like an eternity of endless nobodies, the door to the throne room was, at last, in sight. Unfortunately, a wall of samurai blocked their entrance—everyone braced themselves for one last fight. As Asahi parried a potentially lethal blow from one of them, another sliced her across her back, leaving a straight, red cut. She felt the blood rush to her head, but kept fighting. As it started to trickle down her back, Riku noticed.

He yelled something she didn't hear—most likely her name—and quickly disposed of the Samurai he was fighting to help her. He took out the one that had injured her in a matter of seconds. Before long, they were all gone, and everyone rushed into the throne room to avoid another wave of nobodies.

As Goofy, Donald, Sora, and Kairi all were working on the corner stone, Riku was fawning over Asahi. He forced her to sit on the ground while he healed her massive cut. "Man, this is pretty deep," he said, voice quivering a little with worry.

Asahi shut her eyes, feeling his warm hands dull the stinging pain on her back. "Thank you so much," she said gratefully.

"It's no problem," Riku assured her, still healing the cut. "I was worried for a minute there."

She looked over her shoulder at him, and smiled a little. "Thanks."

He smiled back at her. "It's my pleasure."

When Goofy at last got the corner stone working, he wiped out all of the nobodies in the entire castle. With that pressing matter taken care of, they could all take a nice long rest, and discuss who in the world might possibly have done this.

"They wouldn't attack for no reason," Riku pointed out, watching Asahi to make sure she was okay.

"Quit it, I'm fine," she told him, reading his mind. "I agree with Riku… but with Xemnas gone, who would just randomly order them to attack the castle?"

"Life is just confusing," Sora sighed. "We definitely should look into this, though, to prevent another attack on somewhere else."

"I think we should split up and look around, see if anyone's here…" Riku suggested. "Donald, Goofy, why don't you guys go and get Minnie and Daisy, and we'll look around and see if we can find anything."

Donald and Goofy agreed, and headed back down towards the gummi hangar. "Sora, you and Kairi check that way," Riku pointed down the hall. "Asahi and I will go this way."

"Meet back in an hour," Sora called after Riku and Asahi. "C'mon, Kairi, let's go!"

As Riku and Asahi silently made their way down the hallway, weapons drawn, she kept catching him watching her—entirely annoying and unnecessary. Why couldn't he just get over the fact that she was absolutely fine?

They checked every room in that hallway, and then moved down a floor to check that one. When they had at last reached a musty old study on the ground floor, Riku spoke.

"Don't think there's anything here," he whispered. "I wonder if Sora and Kairi are having better luck."

Asahi looked thoughtful. "This doesn't make sense… random attacks like, never happen, especially not ones this bad."

"Oh, this wasn't random at all," came a strange voice.

Riku grabbed Asahi and slid an arm around her waist. He whirled around, scanning the whole room. "Where are you? Show yourself!" he demanded.

"You can let your little girlfriend go, I'm not gonna hurt her," the voice said, almost mockingly. Suddenly, Riku saw him—standing in the corner of the old study was a man in a familiar looking black coat—one that Riku had seen all members of a certain organization wear.

"Not again," he groaned under his breath, raising his keyblade. "Asahi, get back!"

Uhhh ohhh... what in the world is going on here? Read chapter 8, coming soon, to find out! Review if you'd like!

Thanks for reading,

Lulala