Author's Note-Sorry about the long wait. The cold has been dropping students in school like flies, and it was only a matter of time before it got me, too. I'm feeling better than I was (at least now I have my voice back), but I still feel a little crummy. And on top of that, I have to recite a monologue on Monday in front of my whole drama class from Catholic Schoolgirls. It's bad enough I have a short-term memory, but worse if I have to go up in front of an audience. The main reason I'm taking this class (now that we've got a new teacher that is nowhere near as good as our old one), is so that I could learn more about drama and become a voice actor (as a side job from being an author). Plus I've been lazy. Plus my stupid math teacher ish giving us so much homework that I barely have the time if any to complete the homework in my other subjects. And many other excuses. But bah, I prolly still am sick. I'm rambling. Oh, DemonSurfer, in response to your last review, yes, Taro is Aoshi's nephew. And if you look at Taro, Sakura, Kiyoshi, and Hyotoko, you'll see that they are, in fact, all related to Kenshin characters (except for Taro's and Sakura and Kiyoshi's mothers.) Anyways, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. –puts lawyer repellent on all entrances to the house.- Anyways, now that I've finished my endless rambling, here's the next chapter.

"You called?" Chaos asked, taking a quick glance around the library, then resting his gaze again on the two men before him.

Silence continued to stare out the library window, or at least the window's glass design. His face, as always, was shadowed, so only one eye glowed at the ornate glass sections. Chaos had never seen Silence's face, but that mattered not. Another bent on death and destruction? Sure, he'll support that. And if anyone gave him any trouble, hey, he could take care of himself.

Their leader, the man in red (though Chaos refused to accept this man his leader), turned to him.

"Chaos, you have been traveling the worlds; have you seen any other Non-Existent?" he asked.

Chaos raised an eyebrow. "Which one? Because Winterfall is-"

"I know where she is. Silence and I did organize the missions, after all. No, we're talking about Takani."

"Takani? You mean that Hyotoko boy I brought here the other day?" Chaos asked.

"Yes."

"No, I have not. He's left?"

"Yes."

"Was it an attempt of escape?" Chaos asked.

"Perhaps."

"No," Silence said, not even turning to face them. "Hyotoko is an inquisitive young boy, and he is bound to his word to save Sakura. He has not completely broken his allegiance with us, if at all."

"How do you know all of this?" the man in red demanded.

Silence smiled. "Just trust my word. I am not your advisor for nothing, after all."

"…I suppose that's true. Now, on another tone of business, what worlds are working for us now?"

"A few new ones, some old. The former worlds are hesitant to help. Jafar must help, he is bound by his lamp to do so. Hades on the other hand is undecided. The call for power is strong, but for now he is resisting." Chaos replied.

"The gods never do anything for themselves." Silence said a bit disdainfully. "Tell him I will send him a warrior to fight for him. One that is more than capable to capture Sora and the dual wielder."

"Just who is this warrior that you have in mind?" the man in red asked.

Silence walked over to one of the bookshelves and selected a book, then turned to a certain page that illustrated a man with a red coat, tanned skin, and black (though graying) hair. He set the open book down on the desk, before Chaos and the man in red. "Him."

-

"Wake up. We're here." Vincent said.

Yukiro sat up in the cot he had been sleeping in. He rubbed some sleep from one eye. "How long have I been asleep…?" he asked.

"Seven hours."

"I see…" Yukiro said. He looked around. "So, we're really here?"

"Yep. This is definitely Cosmo Canyon." Barret replied.

"Home," Red said.

Yukiro stood up and looked around. High above in the canyon wall they had landed next to, he saw a town. "Up there, huh?"

"Yeah." Red XIII confirmed with a nod. "Grandfather should be up in the observatory." He jumped out as the door opened and started up to the top. The others followed.

"Nanaki, is that you?" A man at the gate exclaimed in near-disbelief.

"Yes," Red replied happily.

"Come on in!" The man said, stepping aside. Red ran into the town. The others started to follow, but the man blocked their path. "Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

Before the others could reply, Red ran back over. "They're with me," he said. "Let them in."

The man smiled. "Well, I guess any friend of Nanaki's is a friend of Cosmo Canyon. Come in," he said, allowing them inside.

As the others walked inside, they looked around at the peaceful village surroundings. The houses and buildings were built to join with and into the red earth wall and there was a campfire blazing nearby, even though it was still daylight. "C'mon!" Red called, running into a nearby shop. Everyone followed, going higher into the building/canyon wall until they finally emerged, climbing up a ladder and out of a hole in the ground.

Before them, on the top of the plateau, there was a decently-sized observatory. They followed the large cat inside to see a little old man with a long white beard, clad in purple. "Hoo hoo hoo, I see you've brought friends, Nanaki," the man laughed.

"You must be Bugenhagen," Yukiro said. "I'm Yukiro."

"Yukiro… That is the name of the prince of light and the former kingdom of Gaia, if I am not mistaken." Bugenhagen said.

Yukiro's eyes widened slightly. "How did you…"

"Hoo hoo. I have not spent my many years doing nothing." Bugenhagen said.

"I see…" Yukiro said. Now he had the feeling that this man was more sagacious than he had made him out to be.

"We're looking for the keyhole of this world," Riku said, speaking up for the first time. "We were hoping you would know where it was."

"The keyhole?" Bugenhagen asked.

"Yeah. We want to put a barrier over it to protect it until it can be sealed." Yukiro explained.

"I see… Well before I show you where the keyhole is, let me show all of you something. Follow me." Bugenhagen replied, walking into a room with a thick, steel door.

The others curiously followed. The room was dark and small. "What is this?" Barret asked, trying to see through the darkness. Bugenhagen pulled a lever and suddenly the floor was rising. The room was lit by space, the stars and suns and planets of heaven.

"Is this…the universe…?" Yukiro asked in awe.

"Only a small part," Bugenhagen replied.

Riku, oddly enough, could see the worlds as well, only differently. Large balls of light, though most were tainted with just a little bit of darkness. More concerning, there were some that were really dim, the light heavy from the burden of darkness, and some that were just complete spheres of shadow.

"Five hundred years ago, there were three kingdoms. One of darkness, one of light, and one of both." Bugenhagen said.

"Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Gaia, and Kingdom of the Cosmos. Of course, back then, the third kingdom was better known as Kingdom Twilight." Yukiro listed, specifying the names of the kingdoms.

"Yes. There are the elements of balance, and then there is the balance itself. The planets that were in Kingdom Hearts's region were doomed to darkness. The planets in Kingdom Gaia's region were blessed with light. The planets in the Kingdom Twilight's region were much like most of the planets now, a mixture of the light and the dark." Bugenhagen explained. "Rulers of Kingdom Hearts would be dark, rulers of Kingdom Gaia was always light, and rulers of Kingdom Twilight would have a balance of light and dark in their hearts. That was tradition."

"Tradition… Then why was it that the king of Gaia turned to darkness?" Yukiro demanded.

"Because he had never been born from light in the first place," Bugenhagen replied.

Yukiro's eyes widened a bit. He turned to look at Vincent. "Is this true…?"

Vincent nodded slowly. "Every ten years, the rulers of the three kingdoms would meet. It would help in maintaining peace and stability throughout the universe. It was there that your father and mother met. At the time, your mother was the queen of Kingdom Gaia and your father was the king of Kingdom Hearts. When they married, your uncle, your father's brother, ruled Kingdom Hearts while your father left for Gaia."

"Wait, hang on. If Kingdom Hearts was darkness, why did it become light for a few moments when Sora was there?" Riku asked.

"Who is the current ruler of Hollow Bastion?" Vincent asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Hollow Bastion was the world that the royal family of Kingdom Hearts usually resided. When Gaia was sealed, no doubt Kingdom Hearts was as well. After that, the royal family's power probably receded to eventually rule over that one world."

"Oh… Well…the current ruler of Hollow Bastion should be Kairi, but the actual one in charge is…or was…someone else. I can't remember who, though." Riku replied.

"And what is Kairi?"

"Kairi? She was a Princess of Heart… She had a pure heart, one that would be on the side of light." Riku said.

"Then Kingdom Hearts would probably mimic the intensity of light and darkness depending on the ruler, if she was nearby. Rightfully, she should be the ruler of Kingdom Hearts and all the worlds within its region, not just Hollow Bastion. Of course…her being of light when ruler of darkness… She is an anomaly." Vincent said.

Riku glared at him. "Are you calling Kairi a freak?" he demanded.

"Of course not. Just…a break in tradition." Vincent amended.

"Uh huh…" Riku said dryly, giving him a bit of a peeved look.

"Point is, she was light, and because of her being light, Kingdom Hearts was for awhile, as well." Red interrupted, not wanting to put up with an argument between the two.

Riku paused, then nodded. "Yeah… But one more thing. I thought I heard that Kingdom Hearts was the heart of all worlds or something like that..."

"You heard wrong." Vincent said. "It is only the heart of all the worlds in the region of Kingdom Hearts. Either way, the fact remains that the king of Gaia is dark and the queen is light."

"So…I'm an abomination?" Yukiro asked quietly. "Gaia is light. The prince of it should not be half darkness. Maybe I was never meant to be born…"

"Twins are an odd thing. Perhaps your genotype is the same as your father, but your phenotype is not. You and your brother should be one person, but a balance was found even then. You are the prince and the incarnation of light. Your brother is of darkness, the prince and incarnation of it entirely." Vincent explained. "It's a biological mystery. We barely understood it ourselves. All we know was that one was pure of dark and one was pure of light. A prophecy from the mystic Brigit confirmed that theory. That two children would be born, two princes. One would be of darkness and the other would be of light. The light would be overthrown by darkness within the next generation."

"Is that why she was exiled? For telling a stupid prophecy?" Yukiro demanded.

"She was exiled because your father would have killed her if she wasn't." Vincent replied. "Like Sir Auron and Roxie, she was 'helping' your father. She was a spy. But unlike them, she wasn't working for your mother."

Yukiro frowned. "What…?" he asked. "Then whom was she working for? My father?"

"Neither," Vincent said. "While she was a citizen of Gaia, she had been born in the Twilight Kingdom. She was a spy of Queen Astrid and King Kyanite, Princess Seika's parents. When your father wanted to start using your brother in his experiments, Brigit disagreed. The king was afraid that she would threaten to tell the public about what he was doing. It worried us as well. So, Sir Auron exiled her back to Kingdom Twilight."

"Oh…" Yukiro said.

"The threat of darkness taking over everything has arisen once more, I see." Bugenhagen said.

"Bugenhagen. What happed to all the worlds when Gaia was sealed?" Vincent asked. "Did they all change like this one? Or did most of them stay the same?"

"They did what most leaderless worlds would do," Bugenhagen said. "They panicked. For a while, the Twilight Kingdom tried to manage all the worlds. But there were so many. And five hundred years is a long time. Queen Astrid died soon after Princess Seika was sealed into Gaia, and most likely the cause of death was grief. King Kyanite lived for a few decades of loneliness, and well…eventually he died, too. Kingdom Twilight was then leaderless. Knights and close friends tried to take over for him, but apparently nobody was suited well enough for the job. Bonds broke and enemies were formed. Tensions ran so high that the worlds gradually began to withdraw and turn to isolationism. Project Shinra was the last world of all to do so, which is one of the reasons that explains why our technology is more so advanced than most. It took less than five hundred years of each planet with their own solitude to eventually forget."

The worlds, not just a few, but now all of them, started to be tinged with darkness. "No longer is an entire world pure, just as no person can be pure. The worlds have found mostly balance," Bugenhagen said.

"Does it work?" Vincent asked.

Bugenhagen smiled. "Most of the time," he said. "But now darkness is beginning to endanger that. If it does not corrupt the people of the world, then the world will be destroyed. Neither are good options."

Yukiro nodded and glanced around at all of the worlds. Despite the time that had passed, he still recognized them all. A bit absently, he wondered if Vincent did, too.

"These are the current statuses of all the planets, right?" Riku asked. "Where's Destiny Islands?"

"Right over there, I believe." Bugenhagen said, pointing to one of the worlds. "It's quite curious, though. This world was shining brighter than I've seen it all year a couple of days ago and now it's grown dimmer than ever."

Riku frowned. Kairi… he thought.

"Our world has suffered much abuse throughout the ages, but should the heart of it suffer being tainted by darkness, it will disappear. We should hurry to the keyhole now. Follow me." Bugenhagen said, lowering the platform and walking out. Everyone followed.

Author's Note-… -grumbles something about stupid PS2 memory cards with certain near-complete FF7 games on it- If I screwed up the layout of Cosmo Canyon, sorry about that. It's been a long while since I've played and I can't find the memory card. Anyways, yeah…sorry for taking a long time posting, but at least I made this chapter a bit longer than usual. I'm hoping I'll recover soon from this crummy cold. Um…just to say ahead of time, by the way, I wouldn't expect any chapters out before Monday and possibly Tuesday. I'm stressing out about this monologue thing and while I'm getting some parts of the rough draft written here and there in my other classes, I'm not getting a whole lot done after school. However, I do think that luckily, when this monologue performance is over, we will start learning about ancient theatre history instead of performing. Then I'll be able to focus more on Dark Rain again. For those who have waited patiently, thank you. I'll try to have the next chapter posted as soon as possible. Wish me luck. Ja ne!