"Kairi !What did you do to her!?" Riku shouted as he ran over to the unconscious girl propped up against the pillar next to the man.

"The darkness shows mercy to no one, the heartless are only creatures of habit and stealing the light of those with hearts..." Kadaj commented as he studied the girl.

"The Heartless?" Riku questioned as he gently ran the back of his hand across her cheek in an attempt to rouse the girl.

"Spawns of darkness that lack the warmth of a heart and so they steal whatever light they can. Though her heart was stolen, her empty shell remains," the unknown man answered.

Riku scowled as he looked up at the unknown man and studied his features. His form was cloaked in a black trench coat but the man towered over Riku. Ebony long hair mixed with muted tones of purples and grays. The man's eyes gave Riku pause, as they were similar to the eyes he had seen in his dreams, similar to the eyes of the creatures on Destiny Island. The difference was the deep purple that lined the iris.

"How do we get her heart back?" Riku asked as he stood and faced the man.

"What about your friends?" Kadaj asked his tone almost as if he made a tune out of the question.

"How do you know about my friends?" Riku glared at Kadaj who had a Cheshire cat like grin plastered on his face.

"I told you, I can hear the immediate desires of those who have been in the darkness,"Kadaj replied. Riku huffed and turned to the silent man adjacent to him.

"You're so quick to assume that I can help you,"

"If you weren't able to help me you wouldn't be here," Riku began. "What do you want from me?"

The unknown man gave Riku a small smile and kept his attention focused on the white haired teen as Kadaj chuckled as he exited from the room.

"You can call me Sin, and you are correct in your judgement that I can help you find your friend, regain your friend's heart," Sin began as his eyes focused on something behind Riku.

"A quid pro quo...the beginning of every deal,"

Riku turned to the source of the voice, behind him a scantily clad person was perched casually against the back wall.

"Kuja..." Sin sighed displeased at their sudden appearance.

"I heard a deal was in order and came to witness this grand deal," Kuja replied with a coy smirk.

"Why are you here Kuja, our conversation does not include you," Sin retorted, Kuja tsked and began towards the two.

"Oh but it should...but I will relent," Kuja began. "Loz and Yazoo have come into contact with the keyblade master but…"

"But?" Sin urged them to continue, Kuja held up two fingers and interlinked them together.

"There are two keyblade wielders,"

"Are they your problem? These keyblade wielders?" Riku asked.

"You are smarter than you seem," Kuja commented, Riku glared at the seemingly older white haired man.

"You said that you can help me find my friends if I help you...right?" Riku turned his attention to the dark haired man and then to Kairi lifelessly against the pillar.

"That is correct," Sin replied as he glared at Kuja and focused back on Riku.

"What do you need me to do?"

Bathed in darkness, Mitsu felt as if she had been dropped into a pool of darkness and had begun to sink down to the bottom, to her fate. As she seemed to descend into the cold depths she felt a tinge of warmth that blossomed in her chest and spread to her limbs as if to rouse her from her cold slumber. Slowly, Mitsu opened her eyes as she turned to focus on the light she descended to.

As she continued downward she noticed a circular platform made of stain glass laid underneath her. A woman with long ebony hair that cascaded over her shoulders was painted in the center of the circular platform. Her eyes closed, arms crossed over her waist and around her were profiles of people around her. Before Mitsu could determine who the people were around the woman she landed gently onto the platform.

"Where am I?" she asked out loud looking around to see nothing but darkness. As she took a step, a surge of energy permeated from her step and to the edges of the platform, Mitsu halted in her step and focused on what seemed to be glass stairs that had begun to materialize at the other end of the platform. Hesitantly, she took another step as she looked around and headed to the stairs and with no hesitation she began to ascend the stairs.

Are you ready?

A hushed whisper circled around Mitsu and forced her to stop in mid-step as she looked behind her to see if someone had suddenly appeared, there was no one.

She tried to look ahead to see if there was someone above her but the stairs obstructed her view and decided to continue.

Maybe we'll have a chance at stopping him.

Another whisper seemed to fly past her as she continued, this time a male, as she continued more voices wrapped themselves around her or flew past her.

We can't let this continue…We've lost so many people to this war

We have to stop this!

This is where it ends!

As Mitsu stepped on the last stairs to the upper circular platform, she realized how muted the colors were in this platform compared to the vibrant and energetic colors of the previous platform. As she made her way further on to the platform she realized the voices had stopped and soon blackness had begun to bubble around her, again the same black creatures that attacked her on Destiny Island and also on the streets of Traverse Town had appeared.

Her body moved as if it was a habit she had known for years, she held out her hand and the same key shaped weapon appeared in her hand.

"What—" Mitsu started.

Your instincts are what guides you

On instinct, Mitsu held out her hand and in it the same key shaped weapon appeared in her hand, her boy dodged the swipes from the creatures that lunged at her and retaliated with her own strikes the met their mark and destroyed the creatures. Surprised and confused, Mitsu looked to where the last creature dissipated into black energy before she looked at the weapon in her hand. The weapon was shaped like a giant key much like the one that she had when she was attacked in Traverse Town.

"...we're all lost from one another and the weird key shaped weapons…"

Mitsu remember how Riku had confided in her about the dreams he had, he mentioned weird key shaped weapons

"Was it really a dream Riku?" Mitsu questioned quietly. They were indeed lost and the strange key shaped weapon in her hand made her doubt the dreams she and Riku had. Pulled from her thoughts Mitsu turned her focus to another set of glass stairs that had materialized on the edge of the platform. Although confused, she ran to the stairs and to the unknown above her.

Where is she?

She's not here!

What have you done with her!

You do not need to worry about her she is out of our way to the new beginning

NO!

You can't do this!

NO! This-! This wasn't supposed to happen!

She wasn't supposed to-!

Did I fail...Master?

Mitsu quickly ascended the stairs the whispers surrounded her again but held a sense of urgency, guilt and in search of someone missing. Mitsu stepped on the muted purple and nearly blackened platform, in the middle of this platform, a white throne like chair covered in chains some made of a white and and some that were made of pure obsidian wrapped around it. Hesitantly, Mitsu approached the throne and saw a person tightly bound by the chains, it was a woman.

Fearless, Mitsu stopped in front of the nameless woman and began to look over her, she seemed to be unconscious as she slumped forward. Her dark obsidian hair cascaded over her shoulder, her exposed tanned skin was littered with cracks that diffused a dim gold light. Pieces of black and white clothing were exposed from underneath the nearly destroyed armor.

Around her neck Mitsu saw an emblem that looked familiar to her.

"You must be...the one they are talking about..." Mitsu began as she continued to study the woman. She had pieced together the voices and the story that they told her and came to believe that they spoke about the woman in front of her.

"But...Who are you?"

"You two have been through a lot," Cid nodded solemnly.

"Yeah...but we still need to find our friends...once we're done resting we'll probably go exploring to see if they are in this town," Sora nodded as he looked to Mitsu who had recently stirred from her unexpected fainting spell.

"You alright Mitsu? You fainted on us," Sora questioned as he went over to the girl resting on the small sofa.

"I fainted? I'm sorry...I've just been feeling really fatigued..." Mitsu trailed off as she sat up and rubbed her temples.

"It's ok...are you feeling better now?" Sora asked and looked worriedly at the girl.

"I'm fine," Mitsu nodded and gave the younger teen a reassuring smile, Sora nodded.

"To think that you two are keyblade wielders…" Leon trailed off.

"So straight to the point," Cid chuckled.

"I want to know why they were chosen…you would think they would choose someone more capable than two teenagers," Leon replied arrogantly. "Not to mention, someone who is able to wield two keyblades appears out of nowhere,"

"Wow Leon, you sound like a big baby," Yuffi began. "Mom, why does she get two," the young girl laughed, Leon scoffed.

"That old legend...I'm surprised that you know anything about that Leon...especially since you're from another world," Cid sighed. Mitsu and Sora saw the dark-haired man tense at the mention of him being from another world.

"Yes, well there's a thing called research," Leon replied.

"A keyblade master that wields two key blades, one of light and one of dark, prevented the fall of Kingdom Hearts...or so the legends goes," Yue began. "I don't know the rest so please don't ask,"

"Yeap, that's the short part of it, but most of it has been lost...even I don't remember most of it," Cid commented.

"One keyblade of light...one keyblade of dark..." Mitsu said quietly as she remembered her dreams and the appearance of the keyblades.

"So are you saying that Mitsu is a legend?" Sora asked his eyes shone with curiosity as he looked between Yue and Mitsu.

"I'm just a confused girl that's it," Mitsu replied and waved off the younger teen's curiosity. Yue crossed his arms and grimaced at the two teens, Cid sighed heavily.

"With the appearance of keyblades...you know what that means right?" Yue sighed.

"Already ahead of you," Cid muttered as he headed towards the door.

"They are coming," Yue said as he stood up.

"Whose coming?" Mitsu and Sora asked, curious of who was to come. Yue remained silent as he looked further out the window. Sora and Mitsu looked at each other worriedly.

"Should we be worried? Who are they?" the two asked together.

"The King's men. I didn't think they would come so quickly," Leon replied.

"Ok so then we should be worried…right?" Sora asked.

"They aren't bad...sometimes just questionable depending on who arrives," Cid sighed.

"So...we're gonna go look for our friends...right Sora?" Mitsu said as she stood and began to pull the teen from the shop.

"What-" Sora began.

"RIGHT? Sora?" Mitsu repeated.

"Oh..yeah! We'll be back," Sora said as he was pushed out of the shop, Mitsu smiled and closed the door behind them.

"Well that's two less problems we have to worry about…" Yue sighed.

"They maybe keyblade wielders but they are still children," Cid commented as he leaned on the counter.

"I didn't know you were such a softy for children Cid," Yuffi commented, Cid scoffed.

"I just know how it feels to be lost in a different world that's all. Don't you go try to make me into a softy," Cid replied, the girl smirked.

"I still find it interesting that there are suddenly two keyblade wielders here," Leon began.

"You mean you're interested in knowing why you weren't chosen," Yue remarked. Leon glanced at the dark haired man across from him.

"Ok you two...especially you Yue relax. Things happen for a reason right? Though we may not be keyblade wielders we are still special in our own ways," Yuffi began. You worried about them?" Yue asked as he sat on a stool, his back towards the counter.

"What's done is done. As long as they do what they're supposed to, I don't care," Leon replied.

Yue silently studied Leon, he knew the man had exhausted all of the resources he could find about the keyblades and how one would obtain one. When he first arrived at Traverse Town he was distraught and desperate to find his way back to him world, back to Balamb. With the sudden appearance of keyblade wielders and the stinging fact that he was not chosen to wield it must have been devastating to him.

"Yuffie, let's go get Aerith," Leon said as he stood and headed to the exit of the shop.

"Alright," Yuffie stood and followed.

"You two be safe out there," Cid said as he watched Leon and Yuffie exit his shop. "Are you going to go after them?"

"I wasn't planning on it," Yue replied casually. Cid crossed his arms and frowned at the young man, Yue glanced over his shoulder and sighed.

Lost in her thoughts, Mitsu thought back to the woman she had seen in her dream and to the new information about being a keyblade wielder. She had her questions about what this meant for her and Sora but she didn't want to be overwhelmed again. Hours prior, she was lost and alone and now Sora was at her side as they wandered Traverse Town in hopes of gathering any information on Riku and Kairi who were still missing.

"Hey, Sora-" Mitsu started and realized he had stopped a few feet back. "Sora?"

"I... thought I lost both of you when you sank into the darkness…" Sora trailed off. "I...I'm just so glad that you're here and safe," Sora gave the older teen a melancholic look, Mitsu sighed in relief and went to hug the teen, Sora eagerly hugged back.

"I'm glad too," Mitsu said softly as she pulled back from the hug. "The last thing I remember is Riku holding out his hand…I don't remember anything else…" Mitsu trailed off as she attempted to remember the events that unfolded on Destiny Island.

"I hope that they are ok...Riku and Kairi..." Sora said as he looked up to the darkened sky. They had no idea where Riku and Kairi were and it seemed as if there was no sign of them in Traverse Town.

"Sora…" Mitsu began and placed her hands on his shoulders, Sora looked at the girl confused.

"We are going to find them ok? We have to, they're our friends and we can't leave them like this. Besides I need to know...what's going on with Riku," Mitsu said with a smile. Sora chuckled and nodded.

"Of course we're gonna find them...I'm just worried is all," Sora replied with a goofy smile.

"Me too but don't let that bring you down, alright?" Mitsu smiled.

"Yes, Mom," Sora smirked.

"I will not hesitate to beat you up in the middle of the street Sora," Mitsu threatened.

"L-Let's see if we can find anything about where they could be," Sora began and turned to see Heartless had formed around them.

"These things, do they ever give up?" Mitsu huffed as she looked at the heartless that surrounded them. Completely surrounded the two teens backed up into each other until their backs touched.

"I bet I'm a better keyblade wielder than you are," Sora teased.

"You're already talking trash," Mitsu scoffed.

"Well...I'm staking my claim before you can," Sora replied.

"Says the person that lost to Riku six times and I won on my first try," Mitsu replied.

"Your second try and he only let you win because he likes you," Sora scoffed.

"I-Is that what he said? "Mitsu blushed "Or are you joking around?"

"I dunno...you're gonna have to ask him when we find him," Sora smirked.

"You little punk. I'll show you I can beat him regardless," Mitsu huffed.

"I'll take you up on that deal," Sora laughed as his keyblade appeared in his hand. Mitsu smiled as her own keyblade appeared in her hand.