Disclaimer: I, the person who is writing under the name of Karin Starsen, am NOT stealing these characters. I am NOT stealing a story line, and I am most defiantly NOT stealing their creative worlds and creations. All of this does NOT belong to me… I am simply using there great creation to write my interpretation of a story. But I will NOT have anyone steal from ME either… thank you.

Authors note:

Thank you for the wonderful reviews. I know that everything is confusing right now, but I think I have everything pretty set out in my mind, so things should START running a little bit smoother. The beginning of this chapter is going to explain how Lulu died, but… I don't think I'm going to stray on that thought for long. Please tell me if I make spelling errors. Thank you! ((I'm more likely to update with more reviews!))

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Lulu sighed as she watched the boy run off towards the gate. She turned and glared at everyone staring behind her. Nosy people.

"There is nothing wrong here, you may all move along now," she said icily.

The people's eyes strayed off to other places as they quickly shuffled along. Lulu walked slowly down the street in the direction of her house.

Poor child. He was so young when he died… Well, he isn't technically dead. But his brother died? Poor kid… she thought with another sigh. No chance for his mother to watch him grow up.

Lulu looked down at her empty arms. She often wondered why she was there. She knew how she had died, but she knew how utterly unfair it was. I never even got to… she thought.

"Lulu!"

She didn't turn around, because she knew he would catch up to her anyway. She would have smiled, but she wasn't in the mood.

"Hello Lulu. How are you today?" Asked Chappu, walking up next to her. He put his arm around her shoulder, and she surprisingly didn't shrug it off. She took a deep breath and leaned into his side a she walked, causing them to be off balance for only a moment.

"Well," she answered bluntly. "And you?"

"Good, good…"

There was silence, and Chappu knew that something was bothering her. "Lulu… what's wrong?"

She shut her house door behind her and Chappu turned around to face her inside. She was crying. He quickly ran forward and hugged her.

"I saved him, Chappu… I saved my own child… But I never got to see if he made it home. I won't be able to watch him grow up. I don't even know if he ran away or not!"

"Lulu!" he said rubbing her back to calm her. "Lulu… you saved his life. He will always remember you for that. He may not go home, but he will grow up with you in his life always. When you sacrificed yourself to give him one last shot at the black demon, you saved him Lulu. And your heart is still with him."

"I know…" Lulu said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I can still feel my heart beat with his sometimes. I just don't think it's supposed to, Chappu… I feel like I'm not all gone, and I feel him there. But I can't see him. What is wrong?"

"Nothing… that is just how much you love your son, Lulu. That's just how much you care."

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"And this is one of the many bakeries," Aeris said with yet another cheery smile. "We don't have to eat, but we often enjoy doing things from the real world every now and then."

"You mean Spira, right?" said Paine.

Aeris gave them a confused look for a moment, then something seemed to click in her head and she smiled her average smile again. "Oh! You're all from Spira… You see… Spira is not the entire… the entire planet," she said, obviously struggling with her explanation. "Spira is only a part of the planet. A continent."

"What!" all three girls chimed.

"Spira is the home of all the dead people in the universe. Only the people of spira can know about the farplane… or there would be great havoc amongst the worlds of the universe. So the pyriflies create an invisible border. Nothing can go into Spira, and nothing is allowed to come out."

The girls were shocked.

"But… but…" Yuna stammered.

"We were sheltered all of our lives! There were millions of more people out there!" Rikku cried out.

Paine was expressionless, and didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry if this is bad news to you," Aeris said pleasantly. "But there really isn't anything you can do about it. You should just except it and let is be what is."

The girls calmed down and nodded.

"So… can you show us where we are supposed to stay?" asked Yuna politely.

"Sure!"

Aeris turned around and walked cheerfully down the crowded street. Yuna, Rikku and Paine followed with a million thoughts buzzing through their heads. Than how did that black fiend get into Spira? They all thought simultaneously, but kept their thoughts to themselves.

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Riku sat crookedly on a silver chair while Xander sat with his feet stretched out on the couch. Riku shook his head and rested it in his hands, with his elbows on his knees.

"So you're saying that Penny was attacked by a heartless?" Riku asked Xander for a final time.

"I don't know! It was huge, and black and it had a hole where it's heart should be. I figured it was a heartless."

"That explains what I saw…" said Riku. "The door has slowly been opening! This isn't good… what planet were you on?"

"We were back on destiny island. I was gathering some coconuts when I heard sister scream. I ran to the backside of the island, and I didn't see her anywhere. Instead there was a massive heartless. I tried to attack it with my chain whip. Nobody goes around without weapons anymore, Kairi told us not to."

Riku couldn't help but smile at the use of his friends name, but it vanished when the thought occurred to him that she was stuck on the island with heartless.

"… but the heartless was far too large, and far too strong for me. I tried Riku, really I did… but…"

"That's okay Xander. But how do you know that Penny is alright?"

"I don't. I just figured that she was because she didn't appear there with me. And I didn't want to worry right away. I haven't seen you in a year Riku… I would ask how you've been, but I'm not so sure that that is an appropriate question at the moment," Xander said with a sideways smile.

Riku chuckled a bit. "As you can see, I'm only mostly dead. Which means I'm slightly alive," he said. (SC: Yes, I did get that from a movie.)

"How does that work anyway?"

"I'm not quite sure. I suppose since I'm stuck in Kingdom Hearts, I'm not really supposed to be alive or else the heartless there would kill me. One day I'm going to have to choose if I want to live or stay here."

"Choose to live," Xander said bluntly.

"What!" Riku said, sitting up shocked. "Why would you say that!"

"I couldn't take care of Penny… I don't want to leave her alone. You still have a chance to protect her, so please… go do it. Besides, I'm here to take care of your house while you're gone," Xander said. He always knew the perfect time to crack a joke. Riku chuckled.

"You're right Xander. It wouldn't be fair to her if I stayed here."