"Me?" Sora turned chalk dust pale. "Then that explains it…" His eyes glazed over with some hypnotized look.

"Explains what?" Riku asked.

"Everything…" A black tear streamed Sora's ashen face. Iya touched Sora's shoulder and her soft voice became loud and clear.

"Sora!" she bellowed. Sora's color returned but his eyes still had that sad tortured look. Iya yanked herself from Kairi's support. She clutched Sora's shoulders with a stern look. She shook him with considerable force. "Sora!" He looked at her with a stunned look. Iya's rock hard expression sharpened to a glare. Sora shook himself out the daze.

"What did you do?" Riku inquired.

"You just seem to be full of questions don't you?" Iya's voice was back to its soft empty tone. "It's just some ability I have. I can do it with anyone. It's nothing bad."

"What's going on here?" Kairi asked. "Explain Iya."

"In time, Princess, the king will tell you everything."

"The King?"

"Yes." Iya stated. A surge of power came from deep within her. She called up a gray portal in front of her. "After you."

Sora walked through first with Kairi and Riku after him. He looked around at the strange vacuum.

"It's nothing but empty space…Iya how did you…"

"Please no more questions." Iya pleaded. She looked exhausted. She forced herself to take a few more steps and out of the portal. "Come on, your friends are anxious to see you." They walked through the swirling void. Suddenly it dissolved to reveal the not yet fully restored Radiant Garden.

"It's Hollow Bastion…" Riku breathed in a tone of awe.

"Radient Garden." Everyone corrected. Riku muttered something about bring wrong and continued trailing behind them. Suddenly something within Kairi's Heart snapped. She stopped in her tracks.

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" She screamed in a sudden fury. "This is all going way to fast!"

"Kairi…just calm down…you can trust, Iya…" Sora consoled.

"What? Because of your dreams?" Kairi interrogated cruelly, but once she saw the deeply scathed look in his eyes she began apologizing profusely.

"I-it's okay you were upset…"Sora said with a frail smile. Riku managed to catch the stoic yet bewildered look on Iya's face.

"I am sorry Kairi, believe me, but I need you to trust me." Iya said calmly. Kairi nodded weakly. "Come on the king and the others are waiting."

When they reached Merlin's House, they were met by old friends. They were greeted with smiles, handshakes, hugs, and the occasional kiss on the cheek from Aerith, Tifa or Yuffie. It was a momentous occasion. Even Leon and Cloud were smiling. Despite the bliss of this reunion, Sora couldn't shake the pain and doubt in his heart.

"Guess you all are wondering why you're here." King Mickey said with his unmistakable smile.

"Wondering is an understatement." Sora spat bitterly. This earned a smack in the arm from Kairi.

"Well legend tells of three gates: Light, Nothingness and Darkness. Someone or something has opened them." King Mickey stated.

"Worlds are being violently thrown of balance. It's imperative that they are shut. Nobodies and Heartless are multiplying out of the sheer essence they are made from." Leon added.

"The people who opened these gates, they called themselves Chasers, must have phenomenal power, because as far as we know no one has been able to open the Gates except the Three Keys." Iya finished.

"Three Keys?" Sora inquired.

"We're getting to that." Iya quipped. "The Chasers are said to keep mentioning something called…um…Birth by Sleep. We don't know what that means, yet."

"But we do know that they are powerful beyond any of our imaginations." Cloud added.

"The Three Keys are the Keys to the Gates. We do not yet know how they opened them but we're close to an answer. Your Keyblades hold enormous power." Aerith said from her place on the table. "Sora, your Oblivion Keyblade is made from Darkness and only you can wield it. Riku the Way to Dawn isn't in it's true form because of your previous endeavors but don't worry it'll happen eventually."

"What about the Key to Nothingness?" Riku asked.

"We don't know who the third Key is." Yuffie said with an irritated sigh. "We have the Keychain to the Third Key. It's called the Gray Nocturne. It hasn't responded to anyone not even the king."

"So…there's no Third Key. What do we do? We can't just go world to world to see if it responds." Riku nerves were becoming visibly frayed.

"Well, I gotta feeling that the Third Key is right here in this room." The King interjected. "Gee, fellas, would you mind if I borrowed Iya for a minutes, do ya?" All eyes shifted to Iya who clueless blinked at their unreadable expressions.

"What?"

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That's all for now