Disclaimer: Not mine.

Sora grinned, nodding, resting his Keyblade on his shoulder, "That's the power of the Keyblade," he beamed.

Elena blinked, "What just happened?"

Reno patted her head, "I'll tell you later."

Riku sighed, as interesting as this whole situation was; he was ready to move on. He had a headache, his side was still sore, and he was tired.

"Sora, we should get moving."

Sora turned to glance at him, frowning slightly, and then nodded, "Okay." He turned back to the others, who turned to face the two.

"Sorry we couldn't be more help to you all."

Relena shook her head, smiling, "You've been a great help."

Quatre nodded in agreement, "Yes, thank you for your assistance today."

Sora grinned and Riku nodded.

The two nation leaders held out their hands, and the two Keyblade Masters reached out to take them. Sora gasped as the second his hand touched Relena's they both began to glow, he turned wide eyes to meet her equally surprised eyes. He sensed a great deal of power emanating from her. He glanced to the left to see what Riku thought, and was shocked to see the same thing was happening with him and Quatre. Riku, however, seemed to be controlling his surprise better. Or maybe the blindfold just disguised it. He released Relena's hand and took a step back as Riku did the same.

"What just happened," Sora asked Riku in an undertone.

"I'm not sure…"

But the surprises weren't over yet. Both Keyblade Masters jumped in surprise as their weapons appeared unbidden in their hands. Seemingly of their own accord, the Keyblades then raised, pointing to the two hearts of the people they'd just touched.

"Riku! What's going on?" The wind was picking up, and an intense light burst from the Keyblades.

The others were shouting too, but Quatre and Relena couldn't move. Heero was pulling out his gun, Trowa was doing the same.

"I don't know Sora, but it's best to let the Keyblades do what they will," shouted Riku.

With his words, the light from the Keyblades burst towards Quatre and Relena, and the light emanating from the two hearts flew to meet it. A beam of light connected the Keyblades and the hearts, and slowly, the light pulled away from the hearts, moving towards the Keyblade Masters.

Riku and Sora couldn't hear anything, they were surrounded in light. The guardians and friends of the two important figures didn't move for fear of hurting their friends. Riku noted that there was something in the light at the end of his Keyblade. The light receded and he reached out his free hand towards the light automatically. Sora did the same. The light gave one final flash and disappeared.

The Keyblade Masters blinked dazedly, their faces blank and unaware. Quatre and Relena on the other hand regained control of their bodies and jumped backwards into their friends. Quatre placed a hand over his heart in surprise, and Relena was just staring at the two boys.

Heero had his gun drawn and was aiming at Sora. Trowa had his gun trained on Riku, and Wu Fei, Duo, Reno, and Elena also had their weapons drawn.

"What the hell just happened?" yelled Duo.

"What game are you playing?" demanded Wu Fei.

The two boys didn't answer; they seemed to be in some sort of trance. Relena blinked, and then placed herself between the others and the boys, "No, wait, they didn't hurt us."

Quatre nodded, stepping up next to her, "They didn't know what was happening either."

"They could be acting," pointed out Elena.

Both shook their heads, "The heart does not lie."

This statement was punctuated with the sound of two bodies hitting the ground. They all turned to stare, and saw both of the so-called Keyblade Masters sprawled out on the ground.

Riku groaned as consciousness crept up on him. His head hurt so badly he was tempted to rip it off. He tuned his senses and was startled to note several people hovering over him.

"Um… I think he's coming to."

"How can you tell? He's got a blindfold on."

"No, I think Sora's waking up too."

Unwillingly releasing a groan that proved he was conscious, Riku sat up, "What happened?"

He noted Sora sitting up next to him, "Ugh, my head."

Sora groggily raised his head; he couldn't remember how he'd gotten on the ground. Quite suddenly, he found himself looking down the barrel of a gun and woke up real fast, "Whoa!"

Riku's head snapped to look at Sora, and was startled to note Heero had a gun pointed at his best friend's face, and repeated Sora's sentiment, "Whoa!"

"Heero! No!" Relena rushed forward, wrenching Heero's gun from his hands. Heero, for his part, looked almost disappointed.

Sora shook his head, "Um, could someone fill me in? What's going on?"

They all stared at him, "You… don't remember?" Duo asked.

Both Masters blinked, glanced at each other, and shook their heads.

"I… I remember light," Riku said suddenly. Something in his mind clicked.

"Wait," Sora said, "Me too. But Riku, if it was light…"

"My head should have exploded or something…" Riku muttered, raising a hand to his aching head. But as his hand reached his temple, he realized that something was in his hand. Almost without thinking, he ripped off his blindfold and stared at the object in his hand.

Sora shouted in surprise, "Riku, what're you do-?" he trailed off as he realized Riku wasn't screaming in pain, even though they were sitting in direct sunlight and the sun was still high in the sky.

Riku blinked in surprise, "I… I can see…" He turned to Sora, and, for the first time either of them could remember in two years, since the incident with the Chaser, Riku could clearly see Sora's face, not hidden in the shadows of darkness, not his aura, but his full face. And Sora could clearly see Riku's eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before Riku broke the silence, "You actually look your age. By your attitude, I'd assumed you still looked like you were fifteen."

Sora's face took on an indignant expression, "Hey!" But he couldn't be angry because Riku was laughing, laughing the first real laugh Sora could remember hearing from him in nearly a year, laughing in the way only Riku could. And Sora was laughing too.

The others said nothing as the two strange boys laughed, but waited patiently for them to calm down. Riku was feeling almost… giddy, something he wasn't sure he'd ever felt before. But he was the first to remember where they were and what had happened. He glanced down at the object in his left hand. It was some kind of crystal, or perhaps a jewel. Sora looked at it, then opened his own fist, revealing an identical item.

"What are they?" Sora asked.

Riku shook his head, and closed his eyes, accessing what Sora called his 'Heart's Eye'. In his othersight, the crystal in his hand was completely light, and it was giving off an aura of power. He let his othersight go and opened his eyes, "It's like some kind of… crystallized light. But, I don't understand what it's from, or what it's for."

Sora examined his more closely, "They came from their hearts. They must have very strong hearts." He looked up at the confused group of people surrounding them, meeting the eyes of Quatre and Relena, "You both have pure hearts, and those hearts draw people to you." It was not a question, but a statement.

Riku was nodding in agreement, "These pieces were not originally part of your hearts, but my guess is that your hearts attracted them."

Riku was then startled to note that his headache was gone, he was still tired and sore everywhere else, but his head was clear. He again raised a hand to his eyes, smiling slightly.

Relena watched him thoughtfully, "Your eyes, what was wrong with them?"

Riku's face took on a closed look, and it seemed to Relena that he wished she had not asked, but even as she opened her mouth to apologize, he spoke, "Two years ago, I fought someone who had attempted to steal my Keyblade. My opponent, who proclaimed himself a Chaser, was strong, and to defeat him, I had to delve into the powers of darkness that I had been cut off from. The resulting release of power cast me into shadow, and even though the rest of my body recovered, my eyes were permanently affected by the darkness. The light burned them, and I was as good as blind in full light. In the last month, it had been improving, in the shadows of the evening and night; I could remove the blindfold without pain. But in daylight, it was impossible."

Relena only looked more confused at this explanation, but she said nothing else. These young men spoke of magic and light and dark, things she had never thought existed. Heero, too, seemed skeptical, but still, there was no denying what they had witnessed that day. All in all, she was very confused.

Sora and Riku exchanged glances. It was time to go, they both knew it. This encounter, while it proved that something was indeed happening, had only raised more questions. The return of the Heartless, these odd shards of light, they were new mysteries that they needed to investigate, because they were sure that Kairi's disappearance was linked.

"Well," Sora grinned, "It's been cool meeting you, I hope everything works out, but we gotta get moving."

Riku nodded, and raised a hand in farewell, then turned and began to walk to the nearest palace wall. He had never been one for goodbyes.

Sora grinned at the group of people and Relena stepped forward, "On behalf of my people, I thank you for the assistance you provided us today."

"Just doing our jobs," grinned Sora, putting his hands behind his head, "It's what we do."

They nodded, and Sora shook their hands and said his goodbyes. The sun was setting as he walked over to Riku, who was waiting by the nearest wall. He turned and waved goodbye one last time, and both boys leapt straight up to the top of the wall, and disappeared over the other side.

Duo blinked, "How did they just jump over that wall…?"

The others shook their heads and shrugged, and Relena turned back to the palace, "Well, it seems that I have a country to take care of," she commented. They nodded, there would be a lot of work in the coming days and weeks.

"Master Quatre! Master Quatre!" The deep voice interrupted their thoughts.

Quatre turned in concern, "Rashid, what's wrong?"

The tall man skidded to a stop, pausing only to bow respectfully before continuing, "It's Maken, Queen Sadora-!"

Quatre and Relena's hearts clenched. Quatre seized Rashid's hand, "What Rashid? What about Sadora?"

"Maken has fallen, and Sadora… she may be dead."

Relena swayed and was steadied by Heero's strong arms. Quatre swallowed hard, "When did this happen?"

"Over a week ago, sir."

"A WEEK! Why, how, what, why were we not informed? How could we not have known this?" Quatre stuttered in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Master Quatre, it seems it all happened very fast, it does not seem that anyone escaped to tell of what happened. And I believe Sanq's Parliament was withholding information as well."

Relena composed herself, "What of the Guardians?"

Rashid shook his head.

"Heaven help us."

A/N: Is anybody reading this by any chance?

No?

ok