It seems like I created some confusion last time. Riku and Xion are just friends and their interactions in the previous chapter (and this one) were written as friendship. And while I've teased Roxas and Xion before, nothing is really coming of that either. Romance isn't really a factor in the Remember the Tides series.

Chapter 33: Return to Disney Castle

They were in the castle library as Riku went over his story. King Mickey sat in the tall wooden chair, though he was practically standing as he leaned over his desk and listened intently to every word that came out of Riku's mouth. His tail twitched agitatedly and every now and then a frown would form at the corner of his mouth. Gears were turning inside the King's head all throughout the story.

As for everyone else, they sat on white chairs that had been brought in from the gardens by enchanted walking brooms. Donald and Goofy sat at the sides of the King's desk, teacups in their hands though largely forgotten as they, too, were engrossed in the tale. Xion sat with Kairi and Sora by the fireplace, which had been turned on at the slightest hint of Riku feeling unwell or chilled for fear of the darkness coming to grasp him; an unfounded fear with the Cornerstone of Light, but it calmed the nerves nonetheless. Xion had brought her feet onto the chair and pulled her knees up to her chest, while Kairi and Sora leaned forward, paying just as much attention as King Mickey, if not more so.

As for Riku himself, his chair was turned around; he sat backwards, facing its back and with his crossed arms resting atop it. Occasionally as he spoke he'd lean back, taking the chair with him and lifting two of the four legs off the ground. His eyes constantly darted around the room during their time there. He seemed to be taking in every little detail of his surroundings.

"…and that's when these guys found me at Bald Mountain."

Everyone was silent when Riku finally came to a stop. Xion heard Sora take a deep breath and watched him out of the corner of her eye as he leaned back in his seat and run a hand over his face. Goofy took a sip of his tea, a thoughtful look on his face behind the porcelain cup. The King's frown was back and Xion could practically see the wheels spinning behind his eyes as he started shuffling through papers on his desk. The silence was oppressive, and Xion could tell Riku wanted somebody to say something—anything—about what had happened to him.

She wasn't sure herself what to think. Riku had just spent months—longer than that, since Castle Oblivion really—fighting a being inside of him who threatened to destroy everything he ever was. What was there to say to that? Nobody else in this room, whatever tragedies they had endured, had experienced something like that. Even Xion herself, while fighting against what she was during her time in Organization XIII, never had to deal with split personalities or being taken over by what was essentially a parasite.

Well… No, that wasn't entirely true, was it?

Xemnas had taken control of Xion before. It had been just once, but it gave her some idea of what Riku was going through. More than anyone else anyway, even if it wasn't exact. That day, at the Altar of Naught atop the Castle That Never Was, she had lost all sense of self and become a puppet—a puppet for Xehanort, fittingly enough, just as Riku had. Despite the fire nearby, Xion suppressed a shiver and rubbed her bare arms. That experience had not been a pleasant one, even if events following it had pushed it to the back of her mind. Back in the present, Riku was still watching everyone, his jaw set and his brow furrowed. He was growing impatient. Xion opened her mouth to speak, but another spoke first.

"Gosh, it sounds to me like you've had an awfully hard journey since we split up, Riku." The King leaned back in his seat and shook his head. "I told ya last time we met to let me help you. Maybe then none of this would have happened to ya."

Riku chuckled and shook his head, a smile on his face that revealed relief. "How long has it been since that day in the woods? Wow…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Thanks, Mickey, but it was probably all for the best. It was hard, I'm not going to lie. It really was. But in the end I think facing Ansem alone was something I had to do." He looked them all in the eyes one by one, Xion included. "Because it was the chance encounter with all of you and the desire to save you from Braig that helped me put an end to him."

The King smiled. "Well, when ya put it that way…"

From atop the King's desk, Jiminy Cricket let out a hum of concern. "Something wrong, Jiminy?" Donald asked as he set his teacup down next to the little chronicler.

Jiminy scratched his head under his hat. "I was going over the chapter about Riku's trip to Wasteland, and I just can't get my mind off of those monsters he encountered. They don't sound anything like Heartless or Nobodies."

Riku shook his head. "They weren't. They fed on negativity, and they had a strange emblem on them that I couldn't identify."

Immediately and without warning, Mickey let out a gasp and practically jumped out of his seat. "Riku, could ya describe that emblem? Very carefully. I need ya to tell me exactly what it looked like."

Confusion crossed over Riku's face, but he nodded. "Sure."

The King glanced around. "I want—no, need—somebody to draw this." His gaze lingered on everybody in the room for a few seconds at a time, until Kairi shifted awkwardly in her seat and slowly raised her hand.

"I-I can draw, Your Majesty. At least, a little bit. Naminé's been teaching me."

"Perfect!" Mickey quickly grabbed a pen and blank sheet of paper from his desk and scurried over to the redheaded girl. "Here. Pay very close attention, understand? This is very important." While Kairi nodded in affirmation, Xion and Sora glanced at each other in confusion. The King seemed awfully concerned; did he have some idea of what those things were?

Riku looked up at the ceiling with narrowed eyes as he dug through his memories. Kairi held her pen and paper ready. "It was…heart-shaped, I guess. Vaguely, anyway. But, I dunno, angular? Like the outline making up the heart was made out of triangles or diamonds, or something. The top parts, outside the curves of the heart, were jagged spikes. And the bottom outlines extended beyond the heart shape, crossing over each other to form an X."

An uneasy feeling came over Xion as she listened to Riku's description, accompanied by a nagging familiarity. It churned in her gut, like a nervous tick that just wouldn't go away. Anxiety, almost. The only conclusion she could come to was that she must have seen that very same symbol somewhere before, but where? Ugh, thinking about it almost made her want to throw up. That wasn't a good sign. What did her subconscious associate it with that it made her sick—no, absolutely disgusted?

There was only vague recognition on the faces of the others; nobody seemed to be reacting as dramatically to this mental image as Xion was. Well, that wasn't entirely true. King Mickey's expression was getting progressively darker as the minutes went by, going from concern, to worry, to at some points outright horror. He clearly recognized what Riku was describing more than anybody else, and the look on his face was not calming Xion's nerves.

Riku chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry, I'm not very good at describing it.

Kairi shook her head as her pen moved across the paper. "No, I think I've got it…" She paused, and concern crossed over her features. "Wait a minute, this is…" Setting the pen down, Kairi silently, with a surprised look on her face, turned the paper around to show everybody her drawing. "This is the symbol on that monster we fought at Edward's village, isn't it?"

"Hey, you're right!" Sora said. "So, that was the same kind of thing that Riku fought in Wasteland?"

"Hmm, and it sounds like Vanitas is behind 'em," Goofy added.

"Kairi?" King Mickey turned to her, an unvoiced question in his eyes. Kairi watched the little king before registering what he wanted and nodded, handing over the sketch. King Mickey took it with shaking hands, his fingers crumpling the edges of the paper.

"I had hoped I was wrong…" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"You… You know what these things are?" Xion asked. And maybe why it's making me so nauseous?

"Yes." The King's hands fell to his side and the paper slipped from his grip, fluttering to the floor. "This symbol… The monsters it belongs to, the monsters you fellas fought, are called Unversed. They were around when my three friends and I fought Master Xehanort over a decade ago." He shook his head. "I haven't seen 'em since then. They were gone."

Riku leaned forward slightly. "Mickey, are these Unversed things dangerous? They didn't seem very distinguishable from Heartless to me."

Another shake of his head. "On a larger scale, no, they're not more dangerous than the Heartless. They can't plunge worlds into darkness or steal peoples' hearts." Kairi and Sora exchanged glances that seemed to say 'that doesn't seem so bad.' "The thing is though…Unversed kill." Their faces immediately fell. "They work up their victims' emotions, which in turn makes 'em grow stronger, and then they attack. It…It isn't pretty.

Xion pulled her legs closer and rested her head on her knees. Images of blurry, fractured white Unversed emblems on black flashed through her mind. She was beginning to sweat and squeezed her eyes tight, but they didn't go away. It was getting hard to breathe; this was just like her last week in Twilight Town all over again. Where? Where, where had she seen it before? Why was it making her ready to throw up? Why did that symbol—it wasn't the Unversed themselves, it was that symbol—horrify her so much?

"And that's not the worst part," King Mickey continued with a heavy voice. "The Unversed are just a symptom of the bigger problem—Vanitas. He doesn't just lead 'em, he makes 'em. And if there are so many, of so many different varieties, then Vanitas is a lot stronger than I had thought. This is bad; half of the χ-blade is already ready to fuse, so now all they have to do is wait for Xion to get stronger!"

Xion let out a gasp and suddenly the scattered figments in her head coalesced, the blurry image coming into focus. Vanitas, Vanitas, Vanitas. The boy's name echoed through her mind as a spike drove itself into her chest. Ven's heart was reacting to his dark half, but there was more to it than that; this was her reacting. Memories rushed to the surface of an evening in a dark alley in Twilight Town. She perfectly recalled the bricks pressed up against her back as she was pinned to the poster-covered wall by her wrists. She could feel the rough, leather-clad hands running along her body, at her waist, at her chest, as the crackling lightning pulled on her heard with absolute clarity his voice as he whispered into her ear, and the image of a pitch black mask with a while heart emblem emblazoned on the front was carved into her mind's eye.

"…ion?"

"…on!

"Xion!"

The voices catapulted Xion back to the present. She gasped and her eyes snapped open, her feet dropping from their rest on the char and landing on the tiled floor with an echoing clatter. Feeling the sweat coating her forehead and dripping down her face and the back of her neck, Xion slowly looked around. Her breath, frantic, slowed down alongside her lowering heart rate. Everyone was staring at her with concern, from Jiminy to Riku.

"Xion? You okay?" Sora asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Xion was about to shrug it off, but more memories of that last week in Twilight Town came back to her. Hiding everything back then had eaten away at her, had dragged her physical health down along with her mental state. That had been a mistake, and she didn't intend to repeat it.

"I-I-" Xion ran a hand through her hair and swallowed to wet her mouth. Her body was still shaking, but at least she didn't feel like she was about to vomit at a moment's notice anymore. "The-The logo. The Unversed emblem. It's on Vanitas's mask too."

Sora glanced at Donald and Goofy, who turned to each other and shrugged. "I guess it is?" Sora replied. "But I mean, if he made the Unversed then doesn't that make sense?"

Xion stared down at her hands in her lap. "I guess so…"

They didn't let it go from there, though. Xion could practically feel everyone's worried stares as she continued to stare down at her hands, curling and uncurling her fingers. Footsteps on the tiled floor approached her and she glanced up to see the King with a frown on his face.

"Xion, you've seemed awfully freaked out since we started talkin' about this, and me mentioning Vanitas hasn't helped." Xion averted her gaze from the little king and stared at her feet, but Mickey didn't stop. "What's this all about?"

B-Bump, B-Bump. Xion could practically hear her heartbeat as she took a deep breath once again. All eyes were on her, and as she had already decided, locking her problems inside her head was not the way to handle things. Bringing a hand up to her chest, Xion clutched at the white cloth of her shirt. The chain of Stitch's summon charm shook slightly from the movement, its quiet jingling the only sound in the library as everyone remained silent.

"Vanitas is… Ven's heart is reacting to him, I think. Violently too."

King Mickey gave a solemn nod. "I had a feeling that would happen."

Riku quirked an eyebrow. "Ven?" Right… He wasn't up to date on that.

"We'll tell you later, Riku," Donald said. "Right now, Xion—is Ven's heart calming down?"

Xion bit her lip. "Yes, but…there's more to it than that. It's not all on Ven." She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat while the others watched her in confusion. A flicker of understanding crossed Sora's features; he had witnessed one encounter Xion had with Vanitas in Twilight Town, but not everything. "I ran into Vanitas a few times when—when he and Braig had captured me." Riku's eyebrows shot up again, but he kept quiet. "The first one was something…I'd really rather not remember. And then later, he almost killed Roxas." She tightened her grip on her shirt. "Vanitas is a monster. I will do anything—anything—to make him disappear…if I can get past this subconscious reaction to him. And I'm not so sure I can."

Sora's hand was still on her shoulder, but now she felt Kairi join him. "We're with you the whole way, Xion," the redhead said. "You're not going in there alone."

"Right!" Goofy said with an agreeable smile. "Why, if a friend needs us to be there, we'll be there!" Xion sniffed and rubbed at her face, then stared down at her palms with a bit of surprise. She hadn't even realized she had been crying.

"Thanks, guys. You're right; I won't ever be facing him on my own." A small smirk found its way across her lips. "Besides, isn't that what we were just pushing on Riku for?"

Riku smiled. "Right? A bit hypocritical there, Xion."

Xion giggled. "I guess I'm guilty of that, huh?"

But their conversation wasn't over yet. King Mickey walked back to his desk while rubbing his chin in thought and staring down at the floor. His tail once again flicked back and forth in agitation.

"Something wrong, Your Majesty?" Jiminy asked.

Mickey glanced at the cricket and shook his head. "It's Vanitas again. Beyond just the Unversed, I'm very concerned about what he's planning with the Keyholes."

"What do you mean?"

Riku answered for the King. "…You're talking about when I found him at Wasteland, aren't you? At the Keyhole, with his Keyblade aimed at it?"

Mickey nodded. "What was Vanitas plannin' that required a Keyhole? It was already locked. Do ya think…? Could it be…he was gonna unlock it again?" A dark atmosphere descended on the room and Xion felt a chill run up her spine. Unlocking Keyholes? What purpose was there for that? The Heartless were on Maleficent's side, not Vanitas and Braig's. The King shook his head. "I might just be jumpin' to conclusions, but let's all keep an eye on the sky at night, okay?"

"That sounds good to me," Riku agreed with a nod. "And now, how about catching me up on what happened? Like who's this 'Ven' guy you keep mentioning, and what's all this about Xion being kidnapped?"

Sora grinned and rested his hands behind his head. "I guess you are kinda in the dark, huh? We've heard your story, so it's only fair."

Riku smirked. "Now you're getting it."

Xion stood up, pushing her chair back several inches. Riku glanced at her with concern, but she waved it off. "I'm going tog et some fresh air to take my mind off things. I'll be back later, okay?"

Sora nodded with a bit of disappointment. "Sure, Xion. Take your time, but don't wander too far."

Xion opened the large wooden doors and leaned against the frame for a moment. "Right, can't stay separated for long. Don't worry Sora, I know."

Sora grinned. "Just making sure."

With a final wave farewell to the group, the wooden doors to the library shut behind her. Xion took a deep breath and began walking down the carpeted, open-air colonnade. It was empty save for a trio of brooms marching out of the giant pair of doors that led to the audience chamber, who promptly turned a corner and made their way down to the Gummi garage.

As Xion walked she ran her hand along the rail separating the colonnade from the courtyard garden in the middle of the castle. Her eyes wandered over the carefully-trimmed hedges and watched the flowers sway in the light breeze. Plenty of sunshine was heading her way as colorful birds chirped and flew above the greenery, singing a song. A little bluebird fluttered down on Xion's shoulder and whistled a short tune. Xion smiled and ran a hand down its bright feathers before it flew off to join its friends. Really, it was a pretty wonderful day. She was glad she hadn't sat in the room the entire time.

An idea popped into Xion's head, and she looked around to make sure nobody was watching. The brooms were out of sight and no one else was present. Taking the initiative, she climbed up onto the railing and then hopped off the other side, landing on the soft grass of the courtyard. Save for the aforementioned birds, it seemed just as empty—at first. As Xion moved around the large hedge that led into the Gummi garage, she heard cheers and playful shouts. Poking her head around the corner, Xion gasped lightly in surprise at the sight on the other side.

Six figures—three of them familiar to her—were kicking a soccer ball back and forth. No…upon closer inspection, she knew five of the people there, but somehow there were three of one person. The red chicken—Panchito Romero Miguel…what was it?—well, Panchito was screaming loudly, firing off his pistols into the sky as his teammate in a red hoodie scored a goal. That was Max, if she wasn't mistaken—Goofy's son who she had accidentally spied on during her last visit. She didn't recognize the third member of their team in an indigo shirt, but he was rather large. The opposing team, meanwhile, was made up entirely of one green parrot. José Carioca was somehow in three places at once and facing the others completely on his own.

As Xion watched their game continue, a kick from Panchito and Max's third teammate failed to connect. He fell back onto the grass and the ball went flying clear away from the goal on José's side of their makeshift field—right toward Xion, in fact. She ducked a moment before the ball would have slammed right into her forehead and heard the rush of the wind as it flew over her. Straightening back up, Xion watched one of the three Josés run after the lost ball. Max, meanwhile, ran over to his fallen friend and helped him up.

"Oh geeze, are you okay Peej?" Max asked as he grabbed his friend's arm.

One of the two remaining Josés clicked his tongue and leaned on his umbrella. "That's why you leave futebol to the experts, dear PJ!" He smiled, showing he was just joking, and lit a cigar.

"I'm fine," PJ said while rubbing his head. "I just hope we didn't hit that girl."

"'Girl'?" Panchito, Max, and both Josés echoed. The three of them turned their head and Xion waved a hello.

"Hey, guys—"

"Well!" Panchito shouted, running over to Xion and quickly taking her hand in both of his. He shook up and down rapidly, and Xion felt like her whole body was moving with her hand. "Son of a gun, Señorita Xion! It is a pleasure to see you again in Disney Castle; I had not known you had returned!"

The third José came back with the soccer ball and dropped it on the ground, then promptly disappeared—the second José along with them. The original José moved up from his umbrella, removed the cigar from his mouth and walked over to the two of them.

"Xion! Then is Donald with you as well?"

"He's in the library with the others," Xion said.

Behind José and Panchito, Max perked up. "Others? You mean my dad's home?" Xion was about to respond, but bit her tongue. It wouldn't do to let them know she knew Max was Goofy's kid; that'd be giving away that she had eavesdropped on a family moment, even if accidentally. Luckily, Max seemed to take her hesitation for confusion. "Oh, I'm Max—Goofy's kid. And this is my friend, PJ, he's…uh…"

PJ sighed heavily. "Let's get it over with, Max. I'm Pete's son. We've, uh, heard a lot about you, Xion." Xion stared at him in surprise. She had heard Max mention him last time, and the family resemblance was certainly there, but…he just acted nothing like Pete! Admittedly she had seen PJ for all of five minutes, but still. There was nothing similar about the way they talked, the way they moved, or their tone of voice.

"W-Well," she said after overcoming the initial shock. "It's nice to meet you, PJ. And, um, yes, Max; Goofy is in the library too. They're all catching our friend Riku up on what's happened."

"Lots of stuff, I imagine," José said. "King Mickey has been spending every day looking over journals, records, and reports."

Panchito nodded solemnly. "Sí, amigo. Sometimes I wish we could do something to help. But Xion, why aren't you in there too?"

Xion shrugged. "I just needed a break for the time being."

José grinned and leaned on his umbrella again. Taking a deep breath on his cigar, he let the smoke out before speaking. "So, if you need a break, why not play futebol with us, eh?"

Max rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, i-it's not really soccer. We're sort of just kicking the ball around."

Xion chuckled and nodded. "I think that sounds fun! Action's a great stress reliever."

Panchito laughed. "That it is! Now, let's see; uno, dos, tres, cuatro…" He counted under his breath, looking at the others around him. "José!"

"Yes, sou!" The parrot responded. Instantly there was three more of him standing by one of the goals. "Xion! You join their team, while my companions and I will play on the other!"

Xion stared at José, then to the three duplicates on the makeshift field, then back to José. "How do you do that?" There was no smoke or summoning effect, and they weren't Nobodies or Heartless pretending to be him.

"Hm?" José responded, not quite paying attention as he puffed on his cigar. He looked back at Xion, then glanced at his copies, and smiled. "Oh, Xion. Don't worry! It is simple, my friend; just a little black magic!" With a snap of his fingers José was suddenly an inch tall, without any fanfare or effects to signify it. Then, placing a finger in his beak and blowing, he was back to full size. "Acredite se quiser. Believe it or not, it is very simple!" he said with a chuckle.

Xion shrugged. She could live with that, she supposed. Not like she hadn't seen magic plenty of times before, though it was still weird how instantaneous it was. Nonetheless, she moved over to the ball sitting on the grass and picked it up. "So, who wants to—" A loud bang from Panchito's direction interrupted her question, as he fired his pistol at the ball and knocked it out of her grip. Immediately one of the José duplicates ran over and kicked it to another. Panchito let out another ear-splitting scream and charged after the parrot. The game was on.

Max took the lead, kicking his foot out and sliding along the grass to steal the ball from José. Rolling it along the earth with the side of his food, he kicked it out toward PJ. The large boy flinched as the ball came flying toward him, but in doing so bounced it off in another direction with his forehead.

"I've got it!" Xion shouted, jumping up into the air and preparing to kick it toward the goal. Before she could, however, two Josés jumped up from behind and separated her from the ball. The one on the left slammed his head into the ball and knocked it away from Xion, allowing the one on the right to run after it and kick it once more. With a clear shot, the ball went flying into the goal and the four Josés cheered unanimously.

Panchito clicked his tongue and picked up the ball for the next round. Tossing it up into the sky put it out of the Josés' reach, and Max followed up on Panchito's move by climbing hedges and jumping gaps until he reached the target.

"Peej, it's yours!" Max called, spinning around and kicking the ball to the grass. PJ was prepared this time and swung his foot out—albeit awkwardly—as all four Josés ran at him. The all went flying toward Xion once more, and she brought her leg up to kick it down with the back of her ankle, bringing it to a stop on the ground. Two of the Josés moved away from PJ and toward Xion, hoping to interrupt her shot at the goal. Instead, however, Xion glanced over her shoulder and saw a jumping red figure waving his arms. Spinning around on one foot, Xion kicked the ball away from the goal.

"¡Caramba!" Panchito laughed loudly and caught the ball on the rim of his sombrero. Shifting around underneath, they watched as he balanced the spinning ball while it orbited around the point in the center of his hat.

"Not so fast, my friend!" The original José called out as the four of them converged on Panchito. Panchito, however, gave a gracious bow that dropped the ball to the ground, and then vanished—he appeared to sink into the ground, leaving only his sombrero behind as he and the ball disappeared beneath it. But his loud, signature scream came from the center hedge in the courtyard, and the players glanced up to see Panchito resting one foot atop the ball.

"Max, my boy!" The rooster called, kicking the ball toward Goofy's son. José jumped up, attempting to block the pass, but the ball flew overhead and Max caught it as it landed near a flowerbed. He glanced around the field, watching the locations of the others. Xion and PJ were both within distance to pass, and both had a good shot at the goal. José, however, wasn't going to let him get by without a fight. All four of the parrots cut their way between Max and his teammates.

"Max! Max, I'm open!" PJ called, running left to get around the blockade and waving his arms above him.

"What's it going to be, eh?" The four Josés asked together with grins on their faces. "You're not planning on besting us at futebol are you?"

Max glanced between the parrots. PJ continued to run back and forth, while Xion stood her ground. She looked to her left, where Panchito had moved to guard their own goal; at least if José did get the ball he wouldn't immediately score. Max's gazed flickered on Xion for an instant longer than just glancing over would require, then he barreled forward, kicking the ball along as he ran right toward José's blockade—and right through it. The parrots fell to the grass, but recovered quickly and assaulted Max from the side.

Xion moved quick and took the ball from Max, kicking it away from the crowd with the side of her boot and then continuing down the field. The Josés had left Max behind and were gaining on her now, taking up any opening she had for a clear shot. Xion looked to her right.

"PJ!"

The ball flew over the grass, and right toward the large boy. He pulled back his leg and then brought it forward with force, falling onto his back in the process but rocketing the ball into José's goal.

"Haha!" Panchito cheered as he tossed his sombrero into the sky and fired off his pistols. "Viva la Fútbol!"

The game continued like that for some time, and though their team scored a few more goals in the end Xion discovered that José was ridiculously good at the game; or, well, at this 'not-quite soccer'. By the time Xion had to take a rest he had nearly double the score of their team. She sat now on the grass, her back against the hedge in the center of the courtyard, as Max and PJ talked about school and Panchito and José spoke together of some old adventures they went on with Donald.

Movement up in the colonnade caught Xion's attention, specifically some familiar silver-white hair. Climbing up to her feet, Xion waved goodbye to the others for the time being.

"You'll come back, right?" Max asked.

"Of course! We'll all play again on my next visit."

Climbing up the steps to the open corridor, Xion found just the person she had suspected leaning against the railing and looking out over the courtyard.

"And how long have you been here?" she asked Riku while walking up with her hands behind her back.

"I watched the last few minutes of your game," he responded. He turned around so it was now his back that rested on the railing and turned his head to face Xion. "Looked like fun."

Xion smiled and brushed some of her hair behind her ear. "You should have joined in. It sure calmed me down a lot."

Riku chuckled but shook his head. "Nah. I did consider it, though." He paused for a moment, thinking something over before speaking again. "How are you feeling? Not too worn out, are you?"

"Huh?" Xion asked with a tilt of her head.

"Sora told me how you guys rely on each other. That you have to stick close together, I mean."

"Oh. Well, the library's only over there." She motioned to the door. "I'm a bit tired but that's just from running around I guess."

"Heh." Riku smiled, but the expression looked strained. He was thinking again. "I do have…one more question to ask you."

"Ask away."

"Have you been avoiding me?"

Xion froze. He'd noticed? She laughed awkwardly, and behind her back rubbed her arm. "I…" Her face was heating up. "I figured you'd want to spend time with your friends…"

It was Riku's turn to be confused now. "Well sure. But that includes you, you know."

Riku jumped slightly, then felt a smile join the blush on her face. "I guess it does, doesn't it? Sorry about that, I was being kind of stupid." She glanced aside, averting her gaze for a moment before her eyes flickered back to Riku. "Though I do want to know, what was with your flip-flopping opinion?"

"Hm?"

"On the Highwind. You couldn't seem to decide if you wanted me to join you guys or go take a nap."

"Ah." Riku rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, his own embarrassed blush creeping onto his cheeks. "I just want to stay on everybody's good side. I screwed up a lot, you know? Pushed people away. I don't want to make a mistake like that again."

Xion smirked. "Just staying on everyone's good side, huh? That's not something girls like to hear," she teased. Awkward laughter came from the two of them, loud enough to echo down the empty colonnade but not loud enough for the others in the library or courtyard to hear.

"It feels…really good to laugh after all this," Riku admitted softly.

"Yeah," Xion said with a nod. "I can relate." She shifted around, staring at her feet. The conversation had grown cold now, with neither she nor Riku really having a lot left to say. But she didn't want things to just stop right then either. This was nice, and she wanted to keep the moment going.

An idea clicked in her head. "Hey." Riku turned to her again with a questioning look on his face. "You wanna go see if the kitchen has any cake?"

The questioning look turned to confusion, but after a moment the light of recognition appeared in Riku's eyes. His face softened as he smiled. "Sure, Xion. I'd love to."

"Great!" Xion turned around, her hands still behind her back. She looked back over her shoulder and grinned. "But if we have to pay the chefs for it, you're buying."

x-x-x

Utter blackness.

The shadows surrounded him, eating away at him; not at his body, but his heart, soul, and very existence. The creeping black had consumed him long ago, tossing aside his sense of self and all that made him who he was. How long had he been here? Irrelevant. Time had no meaning—he was always here, since time immemorial. There was nothing in all the worlds that mattered one bit, all of reality was just this, this world of darkness. The shadows expanded out in every direction for eternity. Once, he recalled faintly through the dense fog surrounding his mind, there had been a light here as well, a light that had held against the encroaching darkness. But no more.

Then, a sound broke through the fog and brought him out of the void. His eyes flickered open and slowly but surely a sense of self came back, pulled out there by familiarity; familiarity, and a burning hatred that grew in his core, the ashes of rage reignited. A voice spoke, two simple words, with an enormous amount of weight behind them—the weight of time itself. Decades upon decades had eaten away at the voice, leaving it withered, broken, and scratchy. Darkness had added a feral edge to it, a warning that the voice held something truly evil just beneath it and could snap at any moment.

Two simple words.

"Hello, Terra."