Upon arriving in the golden metropolis Sora and his friends were met with a strange sight. It was if they had stepped into a giant painting. Some of the places were normal, nothing wrong at all. But in other areas the world seemed "distorted", swirled in ever moving vortex whirlpools. And something else that didn't settle with them was that there was not a single soul insight.

"Sora, are you sure we've been to this place before?" Donald looked up at his friend, his once cocky visage now overcome with worry.

Sora took a look at his surroundings; indeed, this place seemed different from any other place they had been to, but at the same time.. it was chillingly familiar to him.

"I, I'm not too sure Donald, I mean, it seems like I've been here before, but… something isn't adding up."

So the four stood there, in the middle of the calamity that they'd wandered into. As they continued to make their way through the world Jiminy broke the silence.

"I think it would be best if we were to just find the door and get out of here before something even worse happens. Those vortexes look like bad news.."

They nodded in agreement and soon their walking turned into a full sprint through the city. Fear begin to grip their hearts, not only was the world messed up, but the fear of the shadow that Jiminy had seen fueled their yearn to get out of there. Who knew what could happen if they stayed around?

Sora then let out a yell of surprise and fear as a vortex appeared in front of him. He skidded to a halt and almost fell with his force into the danger. Goofy and Donald helped Sora get his bearing and looked at the newly formed hazard.

"Gawrsh…" Goofy said with a whisper, "watch where you go Sora.."

"But, that vortex appeared outta nowhere.." Sora retorted, "there was nothing I could do."

"Then that settles it," Jiminy stated, "Maybe the world was incorrectly transferred from your mind into the world card we used."

"Wak! But how could have that happened!" Donald gave out a holler at the disturbing idea.

"Well, the man in the cloak said that to find is to loose and to loose is to find. We guessed he was talking about our memories. Perhaps when Soras memories were put into the card he was short of a few to make the whole world"

"That explains the vortexes." Sora said, looking over his shoulder nervously.

"Well Sora, what do you make of it?" Goofy asked his long time friend.

"I just want to get out of here and save everyone else."

"Then it's decided."

And once again they made off in a run, a very cautious run.

It watched from atop a building. It's blazing red eyes locked onto the keybearer and his teammates. When it saw Sora almost fall into the vortex it clicked its claws in jovial excitement, only to be disappointed when it saw Sora regain his balance and save his life. Its mechanical jaw irritably snapped a few times as it began to crawl down the building and landed upon the sand. It stabilized itself with its tail and glared at Sora as he ran off. It wasn't strong enough yet, it would still have to wait in hiding until it could tear the youth limb from limb.

But something haunted it, even though it had taunted the Riku Replica, it did not know its actual heritage. What was it that created it? Was it Soras jumbled memories? His hatred for the old it? The old it? Why did that thought cross his mind? What was wrong with it? Nothing's wrong it told itself. Nothing's wrong at all, just wait for the Keybearer and the Unknowns, just wait for them and kill them! Kill them! But, why did it WANT to kill them? Another strange thought crossed its mind. Why? In its insane glee it wiped the thought away. The answer was simple.

It would wait.

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Lorenzo phased into the realm where Larxene had hid herself away in. Her golden eyes fell upon the distraught blonde in an instant, for she was merely hunched up in a corner.

"And why have you decided to imitate a hermit crab Larxene?" Lorenzo said with a hidden smirk.

The Unknown glared up at the hybrid and snapped back.

"You want to find out the hard way you TOY!" She spat out; "You're lucky that I went easy on you!"

Lorenzo kept her grin as she walked across the marble floor and kneeled next to Larxene.

"I only want to talk."

"What if I don't want to listen?"

"I'll still talk."

Flustered at the stubbornness of her clone Larxene only wanted to teleport away to further avoid the thorn in her side. But Lorenzo grabbed hold of her shoulder firmly, her nails almost cutting the fabric of Larxenes cloak.

"Vexen has told me that you and Marluxia plan to overthrow the Organization with the help of Sora, am I right?"

Larxene remained silent and Lorenzos grin only widened.

"I take that as a yes, but, what makes you think you can? You'll have to deal with all of us, and Axel, he knows of the plan too, and judging by what Vexen has told me about him, we won't follow through with his worlds, in the end, Axel will be your downfall."

"What do you know!"

"If you forget, I am technically you, therefore I know of what you have done or what you are planning. I say it's a rather fascinating gift."

Larxenes eyes turned cold as ice at Lorenzos statement. She brought a knife wielding hand up and slashed Lorenzo across the face. To her horror Lorenzo only blinked. Her grin only diminished. But she showed no signs of pain or wincing.

"That was very rude of you Larxene. Do I have to be forceful when I talk to you?"

And with that Lorenzo grabbed both of Larxenes wrists and pinned her up against the wall. Golden hued eyes met distressed emerald eyes.

"Get OFF!"

"I'm afraid I can't Larxene, Vexen sent me to get you back."

"Then take me back if that's what you want!"

"Not like that, we want you with the Organization, not with a narcissistic man who thinks he can throw this guild over and have himself rule. You know as well as I do that Marluxia will most likely do away with you once he reaches power. It's like they say, once someone climbs to the top of the world they forget about the ladder that they used to get there."

"You made that up"

"So?"

There was silence between the two. Larxene squirmed a bit at Lorenzos grip but continued to remain silent. For awhile the only thing that was heard was the breaths by the two unknowns. Larxene then broke the silence with a snap.

"If I come with you promise me one thing then you damn monster."

"And what is that?"

"If you do kill Marluxia, and I help you, I want a higher rank within the Organization, you got that?"

Lorenzos lips once again twisted into a gleeful smile.

"I'm sure that Vexen can arrange something, after all, he has ties to the superior…"

Lorenzo released her grip upon Larxenes wrists and pulled away. Larxenes glare only softened slightly.

"You're quite smug aren't you?"

"I'm made of three people who are usually full of themselves, of course I am."

Lorenzo had to endure yet another knife swipe as the two disappeared to converse with Vexen.

Namine in the meantime was using her powers to the best of her ability to heal the bruises and cuts that Riku Replica had received.

"You saw the shadow didn't you?"

"Yes," Riku Replica said with a strained voice, "Its eyes were a blazing red, much like the figure that you've drawn recently."

"I was afraid of that…"

Namine looked down at the drawing pad solemnly as she continued to aid Riku Replica. It was both a blessing and a curse to be born as a witch. She could use her powers for good, but Marluxia discovered her ability to warp memories and here she was now. If there was only a way that she could get out of there with Sora and the others…

Her train of thought was cut off however as Vexen walked into the room. His eyes lit up as he saw Riku Replica leaning on Namines chair, trying to ease his wounds.

"So where have you been?" Vexen said with an agitated tone.

"None of your business" Riku Replica shot back, not caring that he was aggravating his creator.

"Why you! - What makes you think that I won't simple disassemble you for saying that?"

"Because," Namine came back with something she knew would make Vexens skin crawl, "he has seen the shadow that you dreamt about Vexen."

The color seemed to fade from Vexens face. The creature that he had seen in his dreams, it was real? And to see such a fine experiment of his get trashed up by it too. He knew that Lorenzo would have to be used to deal with three things now. Marluxia, Sora, and.. the Shadow, whatever it was.

"Tell me Namine, what more do you know about this, shadow?"