Author's Note-Hey guys! After a hiatus that lasted a few months, I'm finally back and active! …Now let's just hope that I can keep that way… -smiles and sweatdrops- Um…I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Don't own Kingdom Hearts II, either. On that note, the second game rocks (Demyx and Axel are awesome! So is Roxas! …But Xigbar is annoying…in the game and in roleplays…he keeps trying to kill my characters in the roleplays heh, even though they probably deserve it half the time, but still!), however, I'm still doing this story my way as an alternate universe fanfic. I gotta admit that I was fairly shocked with the whole Nobody thing, though-my observation was almost accurate, though a little off… You'll see later, when the Dark Knights are explained. Anywho, on with the fic!

"Tam! Tam!" Sora exclaimed, pounding on the doors.

"Sora?" came Taro's voice behind him as the blonde ran up. "What's going on?"

"Tam's locked in, and I think it's with the person that's been controlling the Heartless in Traverse Town!" Sora replied.

"What?.!" Taro's amber eyes were a bit wide. "Then we've got to figure out a way to get in there! She needs our help!"

Sora nodded, then pushed on the door again.

Taro walked over and started to help, then pulled away from the other door. "Geez…you think it's locked?"

Sora shook his head. "Not sure…" he replied, leaning against the door. He suddenly lost his balance arms wheeling around before he fell back as the door opened up entirely behind him. "Whoa!" he exclaimed in surprise as he fell back. He winced slightly, but then looked up at the face above him. "Tam!"

Tam looked down at him for a moment, looking a bit troubled, then seemed to force a weak smile as she nodded. She glanced up at Taro, who hurried over.

"Tam, we're glad you're okay… What happened in there…?" Taro asked, glancing around behind her to see the place a bit torn up.

"Not much. She tried to fight me, but she was a little kid…it wasn't a very hard battle…" Tam said with a small shrug.

Sora blinked, then climbed to his feet, walking inside and looking around. "Where did she go…?" he asked.

Tam shrugged. "Dunno. When she saw that she was losing, she just…disappeared. I'm not sure where she went…" she replied.

Taro nodded, then frowned as he looked down at Tam's arm. There was a red stain on the white shirt of her school uniform, the fabric high up on the sleeve torn. "Tam, you're hurt…" he said.

Tam blinked, then looked down at her arm and covered the wound over with her hand. "It's just a flesh wound…really…" she said.

"Yeah, but…what if her daggers were poisonous?" Sora asked, glancing over. Something about the child from earlier…something about her made him worry about poisons…

Tam sighed. "It wasn't poisonous."

"But how would you know?" Taro pointed out, concern in his eyes.

"You guys…if it was poisonous, then I would probably be feeling the effects already," Tam replied. "It'll be fine. Unless…" She turned to Sora. "Hey, Sora. Could you heal this for me…?" she asked.

Sora blinked, then nodded. "Sure," he said with a faint smile. He raised his keyblade. "Heal!"

Green leaves floated around Tam, the wound shimmering with green for a moment before closing up and healing in hyperspeed.

Taro looked over at Sora and grinned a bit. "I see that you've begun to remember your magic…" he said.

Sora nodded slightly. "Yeah…" he replied as he lowered his keyblade. "Or…maybe I never forgot it at all…"

Taro shrugged. "Who knows? I'm not exactly a psychologist…" he said. He turned to Tam. "Better now?"

Tam nodded. "Yeah…" she replied. She smiled over at Sora. "Thanks…"

Sora nodded. "No problem…" he replied.

Taro seemed to think for a moment, then blinked and began going through his pockets. "Where is it…?" he muttered.

His comrades looked over at him curiously. "What are you looking for…?" Tam asked.

"That…thing…" Taro said vaguely, then blinked. "There it is…" He pulled a card from his pocket, the same that they had gotten from King Louie. Turning to Sora, he held it out to him. "Here…I think this is supposed to be yours…" he said.

Sora blinked, then smiled. "Thanks…" he said, reaching out to grab the card.

However, the card began to glow as his hand drew near, then suddenly seeped into his heart, a stream of light, before disappearing. The boy's eyes widened as he froze for a moment.

Blue. That's what he saw ahead of him. The sea…the sky… He could feel warm sand underneath his palms, and a girl with red hair and bright blue eyes that matched the sea was giggling, standing near him.

"Give me a break, Kairi…"

"Sora, you lazy bum…I knew I'd find you snoozing out here…"

Flash!

Red, purple, orange…the sky had changed, as well as what he had been lying on. It was no longer sand, but a tree instead… This red-haired girl-Kairi-was sitting next to him, and a white haired boy… Ri…Ri… Riku…oh yeah…

"If there are many other worlds out there…then why did we end up on this one?"

"I dunno…"

"Exactly… That's why we've got go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't do a thing…"

Flash!

"Sora…don't ever change…"

He sat on the dock, watching the sunset. Another day, he assumed. He looked over at Kairi, blinking.

"I just can't wait… Once we set sail…it'll be great…" the redhead said dreamily.

Flash!

"The door…has opened…"

"What…?"

He looked around. The sky…it was so dark…stormy, ominous. They were standing on the small island, he and Riku. He was worried…very worried… Why was Riku acting this way…?

"The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!"

"But what about about Kairi!"

"Kairi's coming with us! Once we leave…we may never see our parents again… But there's no turning back! We can't let fear stop us… I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

Flash!

"Kairi!"

He was in a dark cave, the secret place. Kairi, she was standing in front of the door, slowly turning to him. "Sora…"

The door suddenly burst open, throwing the girl at him. He was ready to catch her when…she went right through him. He was blown out of the cave, onto the small patch of sand, all that was left of the island, all that was left of his home. And he looked up…and saw a monster from his nightmares…

A bright light…

"Remember…you will be the one to open the door…"

"Sora! Sora!"

Sora slowly opened his eyes and blinked, finding himself on the ground, his two friends kneeling right next to him and looking concerned.

Taro gave a slight sigh of relief. "Are you okay…?"

"Yeah…what happened…?" Sora asked, sitting up and looking around, rubbing his head where it had made contact with the ground.

"No idea… I was about to ask you that. You just froze up and passed out…" Taro replied, shaking his head.

Sora blinked again, then stopped rubbing his head, eyes on the ground in front of him. "I remember…" he muttered.

Taro raised an eyebrow. "The fall…?"

"No… I remember…the islands… Destiny Islands! And Riku and Kairi, too!"

"Seriously…?" Taro asked. He grinned slightly. "All right!"

"But it's not all of my memories… At least, I don't think it is… No, I'm sure it isn't," Sora said. "But I think that card had some of my memories stored in it…"

"Like a computer chip, almost…?" Taro asked. Huh…I bet Hyotoko would be fascinated with something like that… he thought with a slight grin as he remembered his friend.

Right! His friends… They had to get going to catch up with them…!

As Sora shrugged, Taro nodded slightly. "Well, we should probably get going…" the blonde said. "If we ever hope to catch up with everybody."

Sora blinked, then nodded and grinned. He looked over at Tam, who had already gotten up and was staring into the Gizmo Shop. "Tam…?"

Tam looked over, then smiled almost uneasily. "Oh. Coming!" she said, hurrying after them.

Meanwhile, the small blonde-Machi-peeked out from around some machinery and grinned. "Don't get distracted…" she said cheerfully before disappearing into a portal of darkness.

"So, what exactly are we doing, anyway…?" Riku asked, breaking the silence of the gummi ship.

Yukiro, who was on the verge of dozing off (for not only was he bored, he was also still weak from the poison), blinked and opened his eyes, turning his head slightly to glance over at Riku. "Say what…?"

"Well, back in Cosmo Canyon, you spoke as if you had some sort of plan. But all that we've really done so far is get some help for our cause…whatever that is. That was never entirely explained either…" Riku pointed out.

Yukiro looked back up toward the ceiling, quiet for a moment as he thought. "Well…we need to keep my brother from being awakened so that the Dark Knights don't find Gaia. And we can go about this by either finding the ones that hold the fragments of his heart within their own and protecting them, or we can seek out the Dark Knights and kill them…" he finally said. "The problem with that is that we don't know where to find either party."

"We could check Destiny Islands…" Riku suggested. "They seemed to be after Kiyoshi, so I sent him there. And last I checked, the Dark Knights had set up HQ in Hollow Bastion."

"Hollow Bastion…it figures…" Yukiro murmured. He didn't want to speak of it in front of Riku…but this was starting to get complicated. He knew that they had to get rid of the Dark Knights once and for all, but he also wanted to avoid…him…as much as possible. Besides, he had made a promise that he would to Seika.

He looked over at Riku. "Do you know where the other keyblade wielders may be?"

Riku thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, not really… I don't have a clue where Sora is, and the last time I saw Taro was in Twilight Town."

Even if they did go to stop the Dark Knights and their leader, he felt that they probably should get more help. Granted, there weren't nearly as many Dark Knights as there used to be…but even so, they were still outnumbered. The smart thing to do would be at least finding the other two keyblade wielders. And yet…

"Vincent, set a course for Hollow Bastion, but make sure we stop by any other worlds on the way. That way we'll have a chance at finding some help, as well as the fragment holders," Yukiro said, glancing over at Vincent. "And if we can't find help, then we'll have to fight this battle on our own."

"You're sure that's wise?" Vincent asked, glancing over at him from the gummi controls.

Yukiro looked straight ahead, out the windshield. "The best way to stop a problem like this is to stop it at its source, and to stop it before it can get too out of hand," he said quietly. And who said he didn't learn? He had set mind, now sure of this plan and determined not to repeat his mother's mistake.

Vincent paused, then nodded. "Alright…" he said, turning back to the controls.

After that, things were quiet for a long while. Though Yukiro was still tired physically, he had reawakened in the mind. He now began to consider their plans, current and future, tossing them around in his mind. Vincent was at work operating the gummi ship. Riku, who had been on the cot, had probably gone to sleep.

Vincent seemed to notice this silence and took advantage of it after glancing back at the sleeping blind boy, then over at Yukiro. "Yukiro…" he began.

Yukiro snapped out of his thoughts, looking over at Vincent. "Hm?"

"You seem to have changed a bit after being protected with that heart shield. Who was it?"

Yukiro blinked, watching Vincent for a moment before smiling a small smile and turning his head to look straight ahead, through the windshield at the stars ahead. "It was her, Vincent. It seems that…" He placed a hand over his heart. "Seika is still with me…even after death."

Vincent blinked, then nodded, smiling a faint, rare smile, but that seemed to disappear almost as soon as it had come. "And what did she tell you…?"

The smile on Yukiro's face dissolved, being replaced with a frown. "Well…" he started. "She said that…my brother isn't the only one that we have to worry about now. She said that the former leader of the Dark Knights is back."

Vincent's look grew grim. "You're sure?"

"It's what she said…" Yukiro replied.

Vincent nodded, silent in thought. The leader of the Dark Knights…Yukiro was terrified of that man. The decision that the prince had made was bold, brave, but also very dangerous. Even if they could find help, there was a very good chance that they wouldn't win. But then, they didn't have that much of a choice, either…

He nodded. "Understood," he replied simply, knowing that with such few options, he couldn't really question orders.

Author's Note-Aw, very few reviews… Makes me sad, but I can guess I can still work with this. I gotta say thankies to my dedicated fans. –nodnod- Oh, and since I'm finally eighteen (turned eighteen on June 22, so it's a little late)...and since it's the late second year anniversary of Dark Rain… -hands reviewers b-day cake and an Kiyoshi plushie and party hats- My party ish tomorrow, so don't worry-the cake isn't old. And wow, second birthday for Dark Rain... This has gotta be the longest amount of time I've stuck to a fanfic, I think... –smiles and sweatdrops- Um…I'll try to have the next chapter out soon. Not entirely sure what 'soon' is since I've got multiple fanfics, roleplays, and school starting up next week (I think AP English is going to kill me by the end of the year), but I'll try to make it really soon instead of in a few months. Oh, whoever can guess the name of the song and band that the lyrics used for the chapter title guets a cookie! Anyways, please review! Now time to respond to the current reviews!

Kingdom Alchemist-Aw, Kiyoshi got dubbed a mini-bishi… -grin- Yeah, Machi is pretty creepy. That was definitely made official when I freaked my friend Kit out with her character in a FullMetal Alchemist roleplay one time... The sad thing is that she actually used to be a cute little kid...

Namine3419-Little kids are creepy. Believe me, I know-I have plenty of little cousins. –nodnod- As for what happens to Kiyoshi… -grins evilly and says in a singsong voice- We'll see… Anywho, glad you understand my laziness. –smiles and sweatdrops- For me, it's laziness and business. Four active (or attempting to keep active) fanfics, eight roleplays that I'm managing, two roleplays that I'm in that I'm not managing but trying to stay active in, and a roleplay guild, plus AP English summer homework… It all keeps me very busy. –swirly eyes- But yeah. Laziness ish a factor as well. –smiles and sweatdrops- I'll try to post more often, though.