He was back in the circle.

He….Ren looked up to see the desk and its occupants were back. They were both smiling proudly at him.

"Congratulations, trickster," Igor said. "It seems you have unlocked the potential within you. Now your journey can truly begin. Our benefactor and I have very high hopes for you."

"I'm so glad you heard my voice," Lavenza chimed in.

This wasn't like last time though. This time, Ren was much more aware of himself, and what he wanted. And what he wanted more than anything else at this point was answers. After everything he had been through, he figured he deserved that much. "So then," he started, "Who is this benefactor? And why me? I've been feeling so strange and wrong lately, ever since I first came here. And this keyblade….my home was just destroyed. I want answers."

"Fair enough," Igor said. "I will answer what I can." The keyblade is a weapon of the heart, only those with a strong heart and deep resolve are able to use one. It also changes shape to match its user, as I'm sure you know." Ren thought of Ryuji's skeleton blade and Ann's heart blade. "Some rare users are called Wild Cards. They have the ability to use multiple blades, with different strengths and weaknesses. You are one of those people. That was why you were chosen."

Ren's mind reeled from the thought. The idea that he was someone special was….pretty foreign, to be honest. The quiet kid with no sense of humor never got picked to go on some great journey. This was beyond weird, and honestly, he wasn't sure he was up for it.

"Oh, and do not worry. You will not be alone in this journey," Igor continued. "While the nature of the worlds and this place prevent you from coming to this place often, I am sending help to where you are now. I believe you will find him quite useful. And will will give you a gift from myself as well."

He waved his hand, and as he did so Ren felt pressure build briefly behind his eyes, before fading away. He blinked. "What was that?"

Igor smiled. "I call it the third eye. It will allow you to see what cannot normally be seen. Do try it out when you get the chance. Now it seems our time is running short."

Ren felt a pull, dragging him away from the two strange people. Lavenza smiled at him as she faded away. "I hope to see you soon, trickster!"

"Wait, what about-" But they were gone, and he was waking up.

Four figures walked through Traverse Town. Although their pace could be seen as leisurely, on closer inspection there was urgency in their steps.

One was a walking, talking, duck, decked in blue and looking extremely annoyed. A staff swung by his side, and his eyes darted around, as though looking for the chance to use it. The second was a dog dressed in green, who seemed far calmer than his partner. He carried a shield on one of his arms, but it hung limply by his side, like he wasn't expecting a fight. The third was a cricket, perched on the dog's shoulder, a small notebook in his hand. The fourth figure was just a regular dog, sniffing around at his own pace.

"Now, where would a wildcard go?" The duck, whose name was Donald, said. "Goofy! You seen anything yet?"

"Uh, nope," Goofy shrugged his shoulders, jostling Jiminy Cricket. "The king said we should talk to that Leon guy though! Come on, let's do that!" He followed the much more dog-like dog, who was starting to sniff around the corner. He looked around to see Donald waddling in the other direction. "Hey, Where are you going?"

"Come on! This way!" Donald motioned in the direction he was walking.

"But maybe we should-"

"What do you know ya big palooka? Come on!" Goofy hesitated, before reluctantly jogging to catch up with his companion.

"Come on, Pluto! We're goin' this way now." The dog hesitated, sniffing around the corner, but quickly followed.

"Hey, wake up! You need to wake up!"

Ren groaned and slowly opened his eyes. On top of him was a black and white cat with intelligent blue eyes, staring down at him impatiently. He pushed himself up against the wall and the cat jumped off. "Good, you're awake. I was getting worried there." The cat inclined its head. "My name's Morgana. I was sent by my master to assist you."

"Master?" Ren frowned. "Do….you mean Igor?" The cat - Morgana - nodded.

"Yeah, that's him! My job is to give you info about different worlds, and guide you through using your keyblades. Oh yeah, and I can do this." He hunched into a crouching position. "Open your left hand."

Extremely confused, and in no mood to argue with a talking cat, Ren did so. Morgana leaped at him, and he braced himself for impact. Instead, Morgana changed shape in mid air, and what landed in his hand was another keyblade. It was different from the one he had summoned earlier. It had a silver handle with a "Z" on it. The rest was shaped like a blade, black and silver with a hint of blue and yellow. Instead of teeth like the others had, on one side it curved inward in places, forming an intricate design.

"Wow," Ren breathed, because that was honestly really cool.

"I know, right?" Morgana spoke. Even though he didn't have a mouth in this form, the words seemed to reverberate from him. "And you can still summon your other keyblade in your right hand." Sure enough, he concentrated, and there it was.

A groan near him made him look up. Next to him, Ryuji and Ann were pushing themselves to their feet. Ryuji glanced over at Ren and his eyes widened.

"Dude! You have a second one!?" Ren nodded. He opened his hands, and Arsene disappeared while Morgana turned back into cat form.

"Hello! My name is Morgana. My master sent me to watch over you guys." The two blonds startled and jumped back.

"It's a cat! It can talk!" Ryuji yelped. Morgana glared at him.

"I can talk! I'm right here! And I'm a he, not an it!"

"Sorry Morgana," Ann said softly. "It's just, this is really confusing. Yesterday we were at home making a raft and then something destroyed our entire world and now we're…." She looked around, "In some dingy alleyway behind some barrels and boxes in a place we've never been before, so it's all pretty new and confusing."

Ren almost thought Morgana would snap at her too, but the cat simply paused for a moment, then said: "It's alright ma'am, I can definitely understand why this would be confusing. I can tell you whatever you need to know." Ren thought about asking who his "benefactor" was, but considering Igor and Lavenza's avoidance of the subject, he doubted he'd get anything. So instead he asked where they were.

"Oh, we're in traverse town," Morgana said. "It's sort of an in-between world, where people whose worlds have been destroyed end up." The three keyblade wielders exchanged excited glances; maybe someone they knew was here!

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Ryuji grinned. Let's go!" Ren noticed that the cat had managed to keep attention away from who his "master" was, but said nothing. Morgana jumped upwards, using some type of wind magic to push himself onto Ren's shoulder, and they walked out of the alley, and into some sort of square, where a few people were milling around.

"I still can't believe it," Ann breathed. "We're really in another world!"

"We should go talk to some of these people," Ryuji suggested. "Maybe they have some info we could use to find everyone else." They all quickly agreed, and walked into the square together.

The first person they talked to wasn't even a person at all, but a strange small creature with a red balloon on its head. "The First District is the only safe place, kupo," it told them. They exchanged glances.

"I don't like the sound of that," Ann said.

Ren nodded. "We must be in the First District now."

"We are." Morgana flicked his tail. "There are three districts, but the other two have heartless running all around them. You guys do know what heartless are, right?"

Ryuji shrugged. "Uh, sort of? We all kinda knew the term once we got our keyblades, and that it means those creepy dark monsters that showed up out of nowhere, but that's about it. So what do you know about them?"

"I'll explain later." For a normal sized cat, Ren noted, he wasn't too heavy on his shoulder. That was nice and all, but if Morgana was going to stay there, Ren would need to find a bag of some sort.

Ryuji didn't like that answer. "Well, why can't you just explain now? Isn't that your job or something?" Morgana glared, and Ann butted in before a fight could break out.

"Come on guys, let's just talk to more people," she said placatingly. Unfortunately, no one else in the square seemed to have anything interesting or informative to say. Eventually, they decided to try the accessory shop right off the square.

The bell rung as they walked in. There was a blond man at the counter, and another, far more familiar man, sitting on a couch in the corner. "Hey there, how can I….aw, it's just a couple of kids," The man grumbled. Ren wasn't paying attention to him, however.

"Boss?!" He exclaimed. Ann and Ryuji whipped around to face Sojiro, who stared at them like he'd seen a ghost.

The shop owner raised an eyebrow. "Friends of yours?" Sojiro shook his head slowly. His receding hair was unkempt, and his clothes rumpled, crinkles covering his face from the stress.

"No - no they're kids from my world, I saw one of them two days ago - was it two days ago? - but you're okay! Is Futaba here? Is she with you?" Ren stepped back from the rapid fire questions being asked. He'd never seen Sojiro in such a state, it was somewhat unnerving. But of course, Sojiro was worried about his daughter. That made sense. He wondered if she was that red haired girl from back at the beach.

"No," He answered. "We haven't seen anyone else yet but you. We just woke up here. Sorry." The older man deflated, sagging back down into the couch. He buried his head in his hands.

Ann hesitantly spoke up. "I….don't suppose you've seen anyone else either?" Sojiro shook his head.

"No, I haven't." He looked up at them. "I was closing up shop when everything happened. First the storms, then that weird orb in the sky….everything started tearing apart, piece by piece. And those strange creatures - they came for us. I watched them tear people apart, all I could do was run. I made it home to find Futaba was missing! She - She can't be gone! I have to find her!"

Ren ached for the man. Even if they never really got along, he couldn't imagine what Sojiro must be going through. Even if Ren was trapped here as well, at least he had Ann and Ryuji by his side. Losing them might've destroyed him.

"I wouldn't really know, 'cause I've never met her, but does Futaba have long red hair, glasses, and a green jacket?" Ryuji asked. Right, he must've thought the same thing, that the girl they didn't know on the island was Futaba. Sojiro perked up.

"So you have seen her then!" Ryuji shook his head.

"Sorry, not since our world dissolved. We were on the clubhouse island with a bunch of other kids when it happened. She was there too, I remember. We all got separated though."

"But if we ended up here, maybe Futaba and the others did too!" Ann chimed in. "We'll go look around! I'm sure we'll find her!"

"You might want to rethink that," The shop owner spoke up suddenly. "The Second and Third Districts are crawling with heartless. You guys are newbies here, and if you're not careful, you'll be torn apart."

"They're not exactly newbies, though," Morgana piped up. "Well, they are, but not in the way you think." He nodded at Ren, who got the hint and summoned Arsene. Ann and Ryuji followed suit.

Sojiro shot backwards. "Talking cat! And the troublemakers have weapons!"

The shop owner was less fazed. "Eh, you'll see weirder. This is Traverse Town, after all."

"No kidding." Ryuji sent away his keyblade. "By the way, gramps, what's your name? I don't want to keep calling you gramps in my head." Ann elbowed him in the side. "What? It's true!" The shop owner scowled.

"The name's Cid. And I'm not that old!"

"Sorry about him." Ann twirled her hair around her finger. "Anyways, we should be off looking for our friends now. Don't worry Boss, we'll find Futaba! Even if we have to search all the worlds to do it!"

"Lady Ann is right!" Ren raised an eyebrow at Morgana, because "Lady Ann"? Really? "We'll do whatever we can to ensure your daughter's safety. That's what being a keyblade wielder is all about!"

Sojiro looked taken aback at their kind and optimistic words, and let out a rare smile. "Thank you, then. ….Be safe, kids. Promise."

"Right," Ren said.

Cid rubbed his nose and grinned at them. "And if you ever need any help, come to me. I'll look out for you."

Going into the Second District was like having a rude awakening.

The first thing Ryuji noticed was the man running towards them in terror, tripping and falling to the ground. The man laid there convulsing, before some heart shaped something came out of his body, which dissolved into black mist. The heart turned dark and mutated into another heartless, one that stood upright and had a helmet on.

Ryuji stared blankly where the man had just been. Had….had he just watched someone die? Right in front of him? He - he should have done something! But what could he have done!?

"Oh gods," Ann whispered. Ryuji was very inclined to agree with her. The next thing they knew, they were surrounded by heartless.

Morgana leaped off of Ren's shoulder and into his hand, transforming into his keyblade form as he did so. While Ryuji was off the opinion that Morgana was kinda annoying, that was, admittedly, pretty cool. Ren dropped into a stance and held his keyblades at the ready. Ryuji summoned Captain Kid and did the same. He swung, feeling the satisfaction of contact on the weird creatures that destroyed his home. (And his mom, but he wasn't thinking about that. He wasn't.)

There was no time to contemplate though. As soon as they had taken out all the heartless, more showed up to take their place. "Just run!" Morgana called out, an order they immediately complied with.

"Well," Ren huffed as they went. "At least we got munny from it." Ryuji and Ann stared at him in shock.

"You got munny? Ann repeated.

"...Yes. A good amount."

"Seeing as heartless are made from the disembodied hearts of people whose worlds are falling or have fallen to darkness, maybe that was the money they had on them before, you know," Morgana suggested.

That….was a horrifying thought. "Is it okay to take it then?" Ann asked.

Ren hesitated. "Well. They're not using it anymore, so…."

"DUDE!"

Ren winced. "Sorry, didn't mean it that way. That came out wrong." They reached some sort of workshop and ran inside, slamming the door behind them. Ryuji let out a breath of relief.

It was short-lived, though. More heartless rose out of the ground. Ryuji glared at them "What the hell? They just keep coming!"

The other side was no better. "Even more! Do these things know when to quit?" Ann fired a massive Agi at them. "I'm so sick of this!" They found their way over to a hotel on the other side of the massive street. Lucky, there seemed to be no heartless inside.

Ren jingled the doors as he went. They were all locked. "Of course," Ryuji muttered under his breath. They reached the end of the hall.

Ann grabbed the last door. "It's unlocked!" Feeling a surge of hope, Ryuji jumped forward and swung it wide open to reveal….that it lead back outside. Heartless swarmed them once again.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

Ann slammed the door shut behind her and sunk to the floor, chest burning. The heartless here made those on the islands look nice! Not that they were too hard to beat individually or anything, but there were so many of them!

"I - uh - I need a break," She heaved. "I'm….not used to this." Ryuji leaned against the wall and let out a deep, shaky breath.

"Me too man. I haven't run this much in ages!"

"Puppies make up for it." Ann looked over to see Ren kneeling down and petting a Dalmatian dog, who looked very happy to see him. Morgana yowled and leaped away.

"No! No that doesn't make up for it! What are you doing Ren?" He hissed and leaned away as the other dog in the room approached him. Ann chuckled as she walked over to join in the petting. As she leaned down, she noticed a note in the dog's collar.

"Hey, check this out!" She unfolded it. "99 puppies were lost amid the chaos of their world's destruction. Find them in various worlds." She lowered the paper. "That's horrible! Those poor puppies!"

"No kidding." Ryuji leaned over to read it. "Ninety-nine is a lot of dogs! We gotta help them!"

Morgana frowned. "That's strange. Usually when a world is lost, its survivors end up here. But those dogs were scattered all about the worlds. I didn't know that could happen."

Ren met her and Ryuji's eyes. "Our friends could be scattered across worlds as well."

Ann paled. That must've happened! That was why they couldn't find anyone else. She shuddered to think what kind of possibly horrible worlds her friends could have been sent to. She almost didn't want to imagine.

Ryuji clenched his fists. "Well then, we gotta go find them! We'll figure out a way to go to other worlds, and we'll look for them!"

"Right." They would find everyone. Ann was sure of it!

"Let's get back to the first district," Ren told them. "There's nothing left for us to find here."

Ren walked out of Cid's shop, taking in a breath of fresh air. He needed a moment to think for himself. Inside, Ann and Ryuji were busy telling Sojiro what they had discovered, and the possibility that Futaba was in another world. He would have joined in, but Sojiro probably still didn't like him, and after all that had happened, he needed a moment to himself.

"Being out alone is dangerous, you know. You should have brought one of the others with you." Or mostly to himself, anyways.

"I have you, Morgana," he said dryly. "Isn't that enough for at least a few minutes?" Morgana flicked his tail, and huffed, out of disapproval or pride from a stroked ego, Ren didn't know.

"I'm supposed to help keep you safe, you know," the cat chastised. "I can't do that if you just go around where you can easily be killed. Do you have a death wish or something?" Well, if that wasn't insulting. Ren was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, thank you very much.

"They'll come at you out of nowhere." Ren startled and spun around, keyblade at the ready. From his shoulder, Morgana hissed at the one who had snuck up on them.

"And they'll keep on coming at you." The speaker was a man with long spiky brown hair past his shoulders and steel grey eyes, a small scar running in between them. He was wearing a short leather jacket, white shirt, and a silver necklace with a cross and a bird on it. Belts criss crossed over dark pants. "As long as you continue to wield a keyblade." The man frowned. "But why? Why would they chose some kid like you? There must have been some better option."

"What are you talking about?" Ren asked him.

"Never mind." He stepped forward and held out his hand. "Now, let's see that keyblade." Ren stepped back into a fighting stance. There was no way he was just handing Arsene over to some stranger.

Morgana glared at the man. "As if! Ren was chosen, this is his keyblade! Go away!"

"Alright then." The man pulled out his own weapon. It seemed to be a cross between a gun and a sword. "Have it your way."

He charged. Ren leapt to meet him.

Then he shot backwards as the man swiped with his blade, nearly cutting him in half. Get some distance. He ran, the other ambling after him at his own pace. Ren found out why when a massive firebolt was sent his way. He rolled to the side, but cried out in pain as the fire singed his arm.

"Hang on!" Morgana concentrated, and green energy surrounded the burn spot, cooling it down until the wound was gone completely. Not that there was any time for relief, as the man had caught up to him. Morgana quickly transformed, and Ren brought his keyblades up to meet the other's sword.

The stranger paused and took a step back. "Two? That's unusual. What does this mean?" But Ren wasn't going to just sit there and give him the chance to strike again. He could feel Morgana's power blowing through him, and called upon a new spell. Garu!. Wind whipped up around him, and the man was pushed back. He rushed forward and started swinging.

The man quickly regained his balance, parrying Ren's thrusts. He swung at Ren's side, and the dark haired boy brought Morgana up just in time to meet him. Quickly, quicker than probably should have been possible, the other man brought his blade away and turned it around, thrusting forward. Ren barely had time to try and dodge before the butt of the sword slammed into his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying backwards. He hit hard against the stone ground as pain shot through his body. He struggled to get to his feet as the man approached once again.

"Hey, you found it. Nice going, Leon." Ren froze. He and the man, whose name he assumed was Leon, both turned to see a girl with short dark hair and a yellow scarf walking towards them with a smile.

"Still," Leon said, as they both stared down at Ren, who looked back uncomfortably. Morgana untransformed and jumped in front of him, hackles raised. "Looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse."

It was at that moment when Ryuji and Ann burst through the door to Cid's shop, keyblades at the ready. "Hey asshole!" Ryuji shouted. "Back off our friend!"

Ann gripped her keyblade tightly. "We'll fight you if we have to!"

"Oh wow," the girl said. "There are more of them. Is this really like last time?"

"Looks like it." The man turned to Ren, then to the others. "My name is Leon. This is Yuffie. Come with us if you want to live, or at least get some answers."

Leon studied the three new keyblade wielders with no small amount of skepticism. To be honest, they didn't really seem like the worlds saving type.

There was the girl, Ann. Wavy blonde hair pulled into a low side ponytail, and sharp blue eyes. She had a red leather jacket over a red sweatshirt, with a plain white shirt underneath and dark leggings. Her keyblade was away, but she was looking at him wearily.

And the blond boy, Ryuji. Yellow t-shirt with bright patterns on it, red bandanna, blue jeans. He had his keyblade out, and was glaring at Leon and Yuffie with open suspicion.

Then there was the boy Leon had fought. Unlike the others, he could possibly see Ren as a defender of worlds. Messy dark hair, unbuttoned and collared sleeveless jacket, red plaid shirt, dark jeans. The cat-to-keyblade thing sat in his lap. To Leon's surprise, Ren wasn't as on guard as the others, still weary, but mainly curious. Good. Leon was sure that he was the new wildcard, and he needed the kid to listen.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after your keyblades," Yuffie told them. "Well, really it's your hearts they want, because you can wield those keyblades. That's why so many were swarming you, they were tracking you through your weapons."

"Not that that taking them away will conceal your heart for long," Leon added.

"But why?" Ann asked. He noticed the girl's hands were trembling. "What makes us so special? It's not like someone gave our keyblades to us, we summoned them in a time of need. So what's special about them?" Leon decided not to point out that randomly summoning a keyblade didn't just happen. There was a lot to get through, and these kids probably shouldn't get more put on their shoulders than necessary.

He sighed. "Because it seems you three are the chosen ones. But why….well. I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"Wait, are you for real? We're some sort of chosen ones? What does that even mean? Not that it doesn't sound pretty cool or anything."

"Shut up, Ryuji," The cat hissed. "He's gonna tell you more, so just be quiet for once, okay? Can you do that?"

"Why you-"

"Stop it," Ren snapped at both of them. "We all want info, don't we? Arguing will get us nowhere." They both looked at him with surprise, then looked away, ashamed. Interesting.

Leon continued. "As I'm sure you're aware by now, there are many other worlds out there, besides this town and the one you came from. Usually they aren't connected, but when they are, it means terrible, universe-ending things are usually afoot. Last time it was the crawling chaos." He paused and took a deep breath. Leon was young when it happened, but he remembered it well. It had been the most terrifying time in his entire life. Even this didn't hold a candle to what he had once gone through.

He continued. "Back then, a great evil had tried to destroy all the worlds. Twenty keyblade wielders rose up to stop it, and ultimately banished it for good."

Yuffie nodded along. She wasn't quite old enough to totally remember that time, but as a similarly affected world, she knew of the backlash it had on the worlds in general. "This time, it's the heartless. They seek out the darkness in people's hearts."

"And everyone has darkness in their heart," Leon finished. "Eventually, they consume and destroy the worlds they invade. We call it the Fall."

"But you guys have the keys!" Yuffie piped up. "The heartless are afraid of keyblades."

"So it seems you three have been chosen to combat this next threat, along with whoever else out there also has been given a keyblade."

"We didn't ask for this," Ann said softly. She stared down at the bedsheets and clenched them in her fists. Yuffie put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Keyblades choose their masters," Yuffie assured her. "And yours chose you."

Leon waved the whole thing off. "So, tough luck."

Ryuji snorted. "Wow. You're a real nice guy, aren't ya? Acting so mighty and cool. Maybe lay off, we've just been through a lot of shit."

"Oh yeah? Well guess what?" He pointed at himself. "So have I. So has Yuffie, so has everyone else here. You're not special."

"And yet I don't see Yuffie brushing away other people's feelings," Ren said quietly. Leon froze, and looked at the kid. He had intense eyes, and a completely serious expression. "We'll do what we have to because we want to find our friends. But give us a moment to rest; we've been going non-stop since our world was destroyed in front of us. You've had some time to cope after your world was gone, let us have some time as well."

Leon hesitated. Sure, he was frustrated that the fate of the worlds lay in some inexperienced kid's hands. But they had just gone through a lot. "...Fine. Just an hour though. The Fall waits for no one."

"Hey, I've heard the keyblade can open all sorts of locks. You should try it!" Yuffie swung her legs from her position on the bed. Ren nodded in thanks for the information.

The room in and of itself wasn't so bad, if a bit plain. It had yellow wallpaper, a wooden table and chairs, and a tall dresser. It was strange, to think that there could be heartless waiting just outside to try and take their hearts. He tried not to dwell on it too much.

On the table was a locked chest (Ryuji had tried to open it upon coming here, discovering its "locked" status). Ren could try out Yuffie's info on it. He walked up to the chest and tapped it twice with his keyblade. Sure enough, it opened easily. He reached in to check its contents and pulled out some sort of elixir.

"Dude, that's so cool!" Ryuji eyed the potion with interest. "I've gotta try that."

"Technically that's considered stealing," Leon pointed out dryly.

"You did beat up Ren and force us to come here and listen to you mock us," Ann shot back. "I'd call it compensation." Morgana snickered. Ren smiled at her, which was returned. (Okay, so maybe he just had a weird urge to pocket all items he found, including ones from the heartless. He was fine though, he totally wasn't losing himself again or becoming a kleptomaniac. Absolutely not.)

"Yes well, time's up." Leon stood up straight and walked away from the wall he was slouching on. "Sooner or later, the heartless will find you three, so you'd best prepare yourselves."

"There are four of us you know," Morgana snapped. Leon ignored him.

"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

"Other visitors?" Ann asked, eyes wide. "Are they from our world? Do we know them?"

"No, they're-" As he spoke, a orb of dark mist sprung up inside the room, and a soldier-like heartless like the one who had come from the dying man appeared in the room.

Leon drew his gunsword. "Yuffie, go!" She sprinted out of the room, flinging the door wide open behind her. "You three, let's go!" He kicked the heartless in the chest, sending it flying out the window, then jumped out of it himself.

They looked at each other. "Okay, even if I don't like him, I'll admit he has some style." Morgana conceded. They raced after him.

When they met at the bottom, Leon shouted: "Don't bother with these small fry! Find the leader!" He ran ahead of them.

Ryuji winced. "These guys are small fry?"

"Looks like it," Morgana sighed. "But they aren't really too tough, they're only a real problem in large numbers. The leader shouldn't be too bad then, right?"

"WRONG! THAT WAS VERY, VERY WRONG!" Ryuji dodged another attempt by the heartless leader to pound him into oblivion. Ren observed their advisory. The thing was huge, with five unattached sections to it: Arms, legs, and torso. It moved them all around in different directions, making hitting the thing much harder. To make matters worse, they were being swamped by normal heartless on the side.

"Try and get hits on the leader!" Ren called to his friends. "I'll take the small ones out and join you!" He listened to the calls of affirmation, and swung Morgana and Arsene around in his hands.

"Ren, above you!" The keyblade-cat called out. He looked up just in time to see two figures falling from the sky. Panicked, he tried to move, but the others slammed into him before he could get that far.

Groaning on the ground, the three pulled themselves up. One was a walking duck in blue robes, the other a walking dog in green clothes. They were both staring at his keys. Well. Ren had seen weirder at this point. More importantly, the heartless mooks were coming straight at them.

Ren sidestepped a coming heartless soldier and cut it clean in half with Arsene, then blew another back with a Garu. A different soldier tried to jump him, but before it could land, the dog blocked it with his shield, sending it flying backwards. The duck sent a fireball from his wand, and it vanished.

After that, things were quick work. With the added help of the two newcomers, as well as Morgana's healing prowess, the soldiers were made short work of, and the four rejoined the fight against the leader. Ryuji and Ann seemed to be holding their own, but it was obvious they needed help.

"Who're they?" Ryuji called out to him.

"Dunno, they fell on top of me," Ren replied. "Everyone, pick a different limb to work on!" The five sprung into action. The strange not-so-animals slammed into the legs over and over again, while Ryuji and Ann sliced through the arms. Ren took the torso, Alternating between strikes with Arsene and Morgana and shooting it with Ehiyas and Garus. One by one, the limbs fell, until Ren struck the final blow on the torso. Mini explosions covered the much smaller, but still hovering, body.

Then it started rattling rapidly, and its head fell off. From inside, a glowing heart emerged, floated upwards and disappeared. The rest of the body vanished in a swirl of light.

Where it once stood, a knight on a red horse remained. The five lifted their weapons, ready to fight again, but the knight didn't draw any sort of weapon or make any move to harm them. Instead, he looked intently at Ren. And Ren….and he….

"Well, young one? Do you have the strength to wield my power?" It asked him in a deep voice. Of course he could. This was what he was supposed to do, after all.

"Yes. I do," He said. The knight nodded.

"Then I am Berith. And now I shall be your blade." He recalled Arsene as Berith turned into a ball of light and sped towards his hand. Then the light extended, becoming a new keyblade. This one had a wide red shaft and a rusty silver handle, the "hooves" of the horse becoming the teeth. He gave a few experimental swings and stowed it away, Turning back, he saw Ann and the two strangers staring at him in what looked like awe.

"Renren," Ryuji said softly. He looked to find his friend's face full of concern. "Renren, it's happening again."

It….he….oh gods, not again. Ren's eyes widened and he stepped back in shock. He noticed Leon and Yuffie had reached them as well, looking at him with approval.

He found he didn't like it at all.

"So, you were looking for me?" Ren asked. He looked taken aback, and Ann didn't blame him. Actually, she kicked herself for not noticing he was blanking out again. She'd never normally say this, but thank the gods for Ryuji. It was just, Ren was usually so quiet and expressionless, it was hard to tell when something was wrong! Ann resolved to get better at reading her friend.

"Well, all three of you, really," Goofy amended.

"But mostly you," Donald said. He seemed like the more short tempered and blunt of the two.

"They too have been seeking the wielder of the keyblade," Leon clarified. Ann felt a flash of annoyance, because seriously? Leon had run ahead to find the heartless leader, but hadn't shown up until the battle was over. What a jerk.

Hey, why don't you come with us?" Goofy gestured to all three of them. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

Ann's heart raced. Did she hear that right? She was sure she did! Then that meant….

She stepped forward. "If we come with you, will you help us find our friends? They're scattered across different worlds. We've been looking all over here, but can't find any of them."

Donald nodded quickly. "Of course!" Goofy turned to him, and they started talking more quietly.

"Alright!" Ryuji punched the air. Ann glanced at him, then leaned over to Ren.

"Why do I get the feeling they're trying to dupe us somehow?" She muttered. "People giving assurances and then talking quietly to themselves generally preludes some kind of dupe."

The corners of Ren's mouth turned downward. "That….makes sense, I guess. Then we'll keep an eye out."

Leon stepped forward. "You guys should go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends. Ryuji shot him a burning glare.

"You can't be telling us to do anything, seeing as you've pretty much done nothing." He turned his gaze on Donald and Goofy. "And you two don't try anything with us! Or we'll steal your vessel and find our friends on our own!"

"Well we can't do that now, since Ryuji put them on high alert," Morgana muttered from Ren's shoulder. Ann sighed and shrugged, because that was Ryuji for you.

Donald glared. "Hey! Maybe we'll just leave you on some random world if you're going to act like that!"

This was going to be a long trip.

"Well well well. This is certainly an interesting group." A tall, green skinned woman muttered, watching the six interact through her own personal spell. "And they could prove quite useful. Yes, they'll do nicely."

Especially the wildcard. Oh, how she wanted to get her hands on him. Philemon's interference into the child's mind and behavior had seemed most troublesome at first, but it was turning into something she could certainly play in her favor. The butterfly had certainly grown overconfident with the permanent destruction of his arch-nemesis, throwing new wildcards at problems left and right. And now that the other three had failed in their own disastrous ways, he was exerting much more influence on the poor new boy.

Perhaps Philemon's intentions were completely noble. After all, she wanted the Fall gone as much as anyone else. There was nothing to conquer if there was nothing left, after all. But he was going about it the wrong way, destroying his newest weapon in the process. The child was already starting to break. And that was where she could come in.

Not that she needed him for her plans, of course. But wouldn't it be so nice, to have two wildcards at her beck and call?

Yes, things were progressing splendidly. Now all Maleficent had to do was wait.

Keyblade's gained: Morgana/Zorro, Berith

Arcana gained: Magician, Hierophant, Tower, Sun

Special thanks to Coral the Leviathan for reviewing! You were right about meeting Morgana this chapter, and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come!

So this chapter's a bit longer than the first three. Hopefully more chapters will be this length or more in the future.

In the original KH game, Sora is knocked unconscious by Leon. The reason Ren wasn't was because of his second keyblade and Morgana's healing powers, which let him hold on just long enough for Yuffie and his friends to find them.

Also, I'm thinking of making the Disney villains a bit more relevant in this universe. Maleficent at least. Honestly they felt kinda wasted in the games.

Hope you enjoyed, and please review!