A.N.

(Answering reviews… sorta)

Trust me, I never stole the 'Spira is part of earth things' because I've never read your stories before! I always just thought that… well Spira couldn't be the whole world! They traveled way too fast! And this isn't supposed to have a lot of romance in it, it's not supposed be that kind of story. But it's building up… Tidus is coming! (That's why I said he died on Riku's part when he found out his brother died!)

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Paine and Chappu were walking through the streets, holding hands. It was another glorious day in the farplain, and the two lovers were breathing in the crisp air, and soaking in the soft sunshine.

"Hey!"

The two looked up to see a blonde boy waving from within the crowd. He seemed to be standing on his toes, trying to see over the crowd. Lulu chuckled. Same old Tidus…

"Hey!" Chappu said, waving in return. The two headed towards him. Though they were alike, Lulu was still surprised by how much Chappu and Tidus had gotten along. They were close to best friends.

They were now next to each other, and they saw the look on Tidus's face. They couldn't tell if he was sad, or excited. But he defiantly had something important to say.

"What's wrong?" Lulu asked with concern.

"Have you two checked your memboras lately?" he asked.

Lulu and Chappu looked at each other, they hadn't. "No… not lately. Why?"

"I checked mine this morning," he said, sounding a little bit worried. "Yuna and Rikku! They're… grey!"

She was shocked. "Grey!" she exclaimed. "But… but why? She's so young! How could this happen? Both of them? I wonder if Paine is alright too…"

"Paine?" Tidus asked, confused.

"You'll meet her someday," Lulu said.

"I just hope that 'someday' isn't today," Chappu added. He didn't know Paine either, but he still didn't want anyone else dieing. "Why don't we go check your Membora, Lulu?"

Lulu nodded. "Okay," she said in her normal, emotionless tone. "Let's hope that what Tidus saw was just his eyes playing tricks on him."

The three walked towards Lulu's street, all with silent acceptance of each other. Lulu doubted that Tidus would lie, or run out to find them rashly. He must of looked at the picture hundreds of times before coming to find them, and Memboras never lie. So this is your fate? she asked Yuna in her mind. To die this young, both of you, was not a natural death.

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"KAIRI!" yelled a very ecstatic Penny. "Oh gosh! You're here! I can't believe it!"

The silver haired girl literally jumped onto Kairi, causing her to fall over. Geez! She's like a dog! Kairi giggled.

"Gosh! What did you feed her!" Kairi asked sarcastically, giving her friend a hug. Penny stood, then helped her up. "I'm so glad you're okay, Penny. But I'm afraid you've been dragged into something much larger than you think."

"Psh," Penny said dismissivly. "I heard the stories, from you of course. Things can't be that worse, can they?"

Kairi was just silent, and Jem looked to the floor. There was another boy in the room. He looked exactly like Jem! Except his hair was a dark, dark blue and he wore a lot of white clothing. On the way there, Jem had told her that his name was Venbar, or just Ven for short.

"Is it worse," Penny asked. She quieted down a lot, knowing that the mood in the room was serious. Kairi hated seeing her like this. Penny was an extremely hyper girl, always happy and always playing or joking around. But when the mood got serious, she did too. In a way, she was a bit like Riku.

"It's worse Penny. But you can't let that get you down. Last time I had to stand by and watch as Sora saved the universe, and me. Now, I think it's our turn to take part."

"You knew Sora?" Jem asked excitedly. Kairi nodded. "Wow! He's like, a legend, on my world now. He saved us, when we were all powerless to help him. My brother and I devoted our lives to training, and now… look where it got us." He gestured around the hotel room. "We're here, and still alive. If you are going to fight this evil, please, let us help you."

Penny smiled, happy again. "Yes Kairi! We can trust these guys, they helped me out! I think they'd be useful. But they could use a little more training against me," she winked at Kairi. Kairi giggled again.

"I heard, Penny. Well, let's see what we can teach them. Maybe they can teach us something, by the look of their clothing I'm guessing that they are magic fighters."

Ven nodded, and Jem proved it by snapping his fingers to create a small bolt of lighting that jumped to his shoulder, then disappeared. The newly founded group of teenagers walked out of the hotel room to go in the back ally. Practice would begin, but their training would have to be quick because their new adventure would start sooner than they thought.

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Riku and Xander sat outside of the city near a silver watered brook. They wanted to be alone, so they could think, and hardly anyone ever left the city. They both suspected that the heartless were back, and renewing their wrath upon the worlds.

"If there was only someway that I could warn Sora… but I don't even know where he is!" Riku said in frustration.

"All I know is that he left to search for you, and for king Mickey. But none of us on the island really had a clue as to where he was searching."

Riku splashed his hand through the water. "I feel so dumb! I can't do anything to help them… because half of me is stuck here… if only I knew how to leave this place, then maybe I could find Penny. Xander, what are we going to do?"

"I think that for now," Xander said, "we will have to wait and see what happens. We shouldn't worry ourselves, for now we should just keep checking your Membora to see if it will give us any clue as to what is happening."

Riku didn't say anything, but he knew it was the right decision. His brother was sort of the black sheep of the family. Sure, he had the trademark hair, but he acted differently. He had such intellect, it surpassed both Penny and Riku's. Even his parents. But it was often helpful, so nobody excluded him, and nobody teased him. He was still very much a part of the family.

Riku looked at his brother as a thought hit him. I wonder what they thought of me… Penny and Xander. I wonder what they thought of me after they found out I had helped the darkness. That I had been completely consumed by the darkness, and taken away. I had helped steal the princesses, and Xander still accepts me. I almost killed Sora! I wonder what they all think of me still…