A/N: Yes, I know it's been a long time since the last update. I have no excuse. I have revised some of the old chapters (mostly, I just got rid of that squicky love triangle I'd created) so now I can focus on Riku and Amaya again! Yay! I know I should be begging your forgiveness, not asking favors, but if any of you happen to drop by one or three of my oneshots, I would be oh-so-happy! Of course, I'm happy just to have you here, so don't feel obligated by any means.

Chapter 14

Kairi walked back in (yes, still looking like a multi-colored burrito) and gasped, "Riku! You made her cry! What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! She just . . ."

"It's not his fault," Amaya said brokenly, and pushed herself away from me. I frowned. Away was not good. "I just . . .I saw things in my dreams, and I started blubbering. My own stupid fault. Really, Riku was comforting me."

Then Kairi smiled a little mischievously, "Oh, sure. Comforting you," she winked, "I gotcha. If you wanted some alone time you could have just told me so. I know how it is."

Amaya looked absolutely mortified, but I just stepped in smoothly, "Oh, yeah, you know Kairi. As if you and Sora actually do anything anyway."

Now it was Kairi's turn to blush and be embarrassed. Heh heh, score one for the Riku!

I didn't really have much time to revel in it, though, because then Merlin and Leon walked in, reminding me that we had serious stuff going on here. The whole reason we'd been worried about Amaya in the first place, right.

I jumped out of the chair and let Merlin sit in it, where he immediately took one of Amaya's hands in both of his, "How are you feeling my dear?"

She took a shuddering breath, " . . .Okay, I guess."

His eyes immediately strayed to her neck, where a chain very obviously wasn't. His eyebrows furrowed, "Where is your necklace?"

"On the table," she pointed with her free hand, "I . . .well, you'll think me absolutely ridiculous . . ."

"Anything that might be a lead would be welcomed right now, no matter how strange it may sound."

"Well . . ." she looked at him helplessly, "I think the necklace may have caused it. Or rather, the stone I had set in the necklace. I was having all sorts of horrible dreams . . ."

He nodded, "That's actually not so strange, Amaya. People have been known to have dreams, or see illusions, when carrying a summon gem. Sora experienced many waking dreams when Kairi hid her heart within his."

"He did?" Kairi asked, surprised.

Merlin turned, "Yes, indeed. He told me later how he thought he might have been going crazy, because he kept seeing you everywhere. He must have been picking up on your thoughts and feelings. Which," he turned back to Amaya, "Is what is probably happening with this summon gem. But because this particular spirit is angry, the dreams and visions would, naturally, be negative in nature."

"That's another thing . . ." Amaya tapped her thumb on the back of Merlin's hand contemplatively, "I thought I was seeing memories, not just dreams."

"That's entirely possible," Merlin agreed.

"But some of them . . .couldn't have belonged to the summon. Some of them must have belonged to other people."

Merlin sat further forward in his chair, "Tell us everything, my dear."

"I . . .I . . ." she covered her face with her free hand and started a new round of sobs, "I cannot! If I told you . . .you wouldn't . . .you couldn't . . .!"

"Whose memories did you see, Amaya? Someone you know?"

"Yes. Yes," she nodded, still crying. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hug her and just keep hugging her until the tears stopped, or leave the room. Like I said before, I'm not real comfortable with tears. In the end, I did nothing.

"Just bits and pieces. Most of it doesn't make any sense. There are some memories, with P—with Ansem in them. And some of other people."

"Is it possible for a summon to absorb the memories of those it comes into contact with?" Merlin wondered aloud.

"Oh! And," she sniffed, "I've been having other dreams. Not just tonight."

My eyes must have bugged out of my head, "You had other dreams? When? Why didn't you tell us?"

She shrugged, "I didn't think much of them at the time. I can't remember most of what went on anyway. I know there was a man and a woman, both in black. I couldn't see the man's face."

My heart sank in my chest when she said that. She didn't know that the man in black was Ansem. It was just as well that she couldn't remember what they were talking about; she wouldn't have liked it.

"But I did want to ask you something, Riku," she continued, as if she'd said nothing out of the ordinary.

"Me? What is it?"

"Do you remember when I got that?" She pointed at the necklace on the table.

Okay, now I was really getting worried, "Today, Amaya. You and Leon went to buy it earlier today."

"No," she shook her head, "We bought the necklace today, but the stone I had before. I just can't remember how long before. Did I have it when I met you?"

I shook my head, "If you did, you didn't mention it. Today was the first time I'd heard anything about it."

"Then when did I get it?" Amaya said half to herself, staring off into nothing as she tried to find the moment in her brain when she'd found the stone.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Leon asked Yuffie.

Her eyes widened, " . . .No . . ."

"That stone?"

"What stone?"

"The one you found next to Amaya."

"Yuffie." Amaya said.

"Yuffie?" Everyone said at once, doing a classic double-take at Amaya.

She looked up at us and nodded, "Yes. Yuffie said she'd found the stone on the ground beside me when we'd teleported. Leon and Aerith assumed it was mine, but I'd never seen it before. I kept it anyway, thinking it might be yours," she pointed at me, "And I could return it to you, but by the next morning I'd forgotten all about returning it. It had already felt like I'd had it forever."

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, "But it couldn't have originated here in Traverse. Things don't originate here; they come from other places. Everyone, and everything."

Amaya laughed, "Well, that can't be so! This is a world, too, after all. There must have been something here!"

"Actually," Merlin tapped on Amaya's hand with his own, "this wasn't originally a world."

"It was just another asteroid floating through Interspace, until Merlin found a place where magic and spirits naturally gathered. Now with every person that comes into Traverse Town, a tiny bit of their world comes with it, until it's the sprawling city you see now."

"So everything, except that one asteroid, came from another world?"

"Yes, and that asteroid couldn't have carried that stone."

"Why not?"

"Because my house is built on top of that original asteroid. One would assume that I, or certainly the Fairy Godmother, when she joined us, would have come across it, had it been there."

"Oh." Amaya answered quietly.

"You really have no clue where it came from?" I asked.

She looked straight at me, "No."

Merlin released Amaya's hands and started pacing the floor. Kairi sank back onto her bed. Leon leaned against the wall, near the door. Amaya kept her eyes trained on her fingers, aimlessly twisting around each other. I just stood there, feeling really out of place and stupid. This rock was bad, that much was clear. The fact that it held Ansem's memories, and that it was found near me, was beginning to make things look bad.

It felt like my heart was sinking down into my toes, and it was taking my stomach right along with it. I just wanted to scream. Are you stupid? A little voice said in my head. Did you really think it was going to be this easy? Did you really think you could just go back to your friends like nothing happened?

"The Heart of Worlds." Merlin suddenly said. Everyone just stared at him, but he paid no attention and started pacing faster.

"The Heart of Worlds was Sora's destination, where he was to defeat Ansem, close the door, and restore balance to the worlds, correct?" He didn't wait for anyone to answer before continuing, "What happened to the Heart of Worlds after the door was closed?"

"It disappeared," Kairi answered from the bed. "It dissolved into little pieces of worlds, and things went back to where they belonged."

"But, a summon gem, in essence, does not belong anywhere, because its world has been destroyed. You said yourself, Kairi, that the worlds were not properly restored."

"So, a being with no place to return to has to return here, just as everyone else does."

"Wait, that can't be right," I started, "The Heart of Worlds disappeared a while before Amaya and I got here. Why did it appear the same time as us?"

It was quiet. Merlin took off his hat and raked his fingers through his thinning hair. Kairi screwed her mouth up to one side in her typical "thinking" pose. Leon didn't move, which, I was learning, was also typical. Then Amaya spoke.

"It stayed in the Void."

"What was that, my dear?" Merlin replaced his hat.

"It . . .couldn't come here, because its world isn't destroyed, because it doesn't belong to any one world. It belongs to all the worlds, both those still existing and the ones that have been destroyed. So it stayed in Interspace, until it ran into . . .someone . . ." she trailed off.

Merlin went very still. "I think . . ." he began, "You should tell me everything you saw."

I looked up at Merlin. The soft, grandfatherly look he'd had before was gone, replaced with something harder. He didn't seem angry, at least from what I could tell, but he certainly wasn't going to take any nonsense.

"I . . .could we speak about it alone? I'm sorry everyone," I turned to everyone's shocked faces, "But some of the things in the dreams were . . .it might be better to have an objective listener," I finished lamely.

" . . .Whatever you say." Leon walked out the door.

"Umm . . .I'll just move onto the couch or something," Kairi picked up her pillow and shuffled down the hallway.

Riku just looked at me for a while. He opened his mouth once, then shut it again. He walked out and closed the door behind him.

Now I was alone with Merlin. I took a deep breath. "I'm . . .not quite sure where to start."

He regained a little bit of that grandfatherly look as he sat back in the chair, "I'm told that it is often easiest to tell a story chronologically, starting at the beginning and working forward."

I smiled.

Ice Dagger: Well, she may very well be daft. She is my OC after all. (Like mother like daughter) Amaya: What? I thought Mama died! A28: (sweatdrop) That's not what I meant, Amaya.

Riku of Darkness: Wow . . .and it never ceases to be breath taking to read your reviews. No one ever praises me like you do! (gives her another basket of goodies)

TigerKiss: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but I'm still keeping my promise!

BlackPaintedWhite: It's supposed to be a little difficult to tell who is talking, because both Riku and Amaya are seeing a lot of the same things. And, actually, I think all of us have that little bit of selfishness in us; different circumstances bring it out of us.

Kayari: Ooh! New reader! Yay! Hopefully I didn't scare you off with the long break between updates.

Extra Special Thank Yous to Angel Gunner Lenne, Avye, Devilgirl57, Doomboy2000, Etsu Mura, EyeoftheTigerKissoftheDragon, Ice Dagger, Riku of Darkness, and The Dr. for putting this fic on their Favorite Stories Lists!

TwilightGirl: Sorry you have trouble with the POV changes. . .I have gotten comments on them, but the choppy scene breaks are such a big part of my style (don't I sound egotistical? Like I have a style!) that I have a hard time knowing how to fix them . . .they're actually supposed to be a little confusing, but I don't want them to detract from the story. Anyone have any suggestions?

Whatever: I don't think you're a crazed lunatic, I know the feeling! That's why I feel so bad about not updating this for so long. Hopefully you came back . . .if you have, be ready for the long haul, 'cause this thing probably has another ten chapters or so hidden in it.

Kenmun: Yes . . .I rather enjoyed that image myself. (Throws away all Riku's PJs) You're sleeping in boxers forever! Mwa ha ha ha!

Another Extra Special Thank You to Ice Dagger, TigerKiss, and Riku of Darkness for putting me on your Favorite Authors Lists! (starts crying) I love you all so much!

One More Extra Note: Also thanks for all the people who hit chapter 13 without reviewing. I'd love to hear your input, but just knowing you made it all the way to chapter 13 without giving up means you must like the story at least a little, right? Review this time!