Let's see if any of my readers can figure out who the newest characters in this chapter are at the bottom.

I'll give five brownie points to whoever can figure it out first.

Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Constructive (polite) reviews are welcome.

I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.

Read, leave a review, but no flames allowed.

Chapter 9: Riku, Maleficent, and Keyhole

Along the way through the town, it has been noticed that the Heartless are certainly getting more active as of late; but then again, they had to do whatever they could to help Traverse Town escape the problem with the black fiends. It certainly left them wondering how they're going to find this world's keyhole, or where on earth it could be for that matter. Maybe there's someone within the districts who would know where to start looking for such an important thing?

"You know…there is something I have to wonder about. Many of the people we have met are well aware of the dangers the Heartless pose, and I understand it quite well," Luna wondered, "But still…how are we going to be able to help Traverse Town if we don't know whether or not there is a keyhole here? Could there be someone who might know where it is?"

"I don't know. That hasn't crossed my mind, to be honest," Sora confessed with his hands behind his head.

But then, when it was least expected, a Heartless showed up out of almost completely nowhere and was about to make an advance on the party when – at another unexpected moment – something quickly slashed it out of existence. That was Luna and Sora got a surprise when the both of them saw who had just arrived to see them.

"There you both are. What's going on?"

Yep. The person who showed up to eliminate the single Heartless was none other than Riku. Both youngsters were shocked and relieved to find one of their friends after much dread and heartbreak they went through at the beginning.

"Riku…!" Sora exclaimed in shock. Before anyone knew it, he reached out and played with Riku's face until he was stopped.

"Hey, hey, cut it out," Riku chuckled lightly.

"We're not dreaming, right?" Sora asked, trying to make sense of everything.

"I hope not," Riku said with another chuckle, "Took me forever to find you two."

Sora turned to Luna, realizing that she hadn't done anything. "Luna, don't you wanna tell him you've missed him? We've found him, so say something!"

Luna, during all this, was initially struck dumb at finally seeing one of the close friends she had missed very much. But once Sora asked her if she had anything to say to Riku after being separated as long as they have, she instinctively ran over and hugged Riku tightly like she had been deprived of him for far too long.

"Riku…! I'm so glad you're okay," Luna said excitedly, "I was afraid that…Well, I don't know. I feared the worst after the horrible nightmare on the island!"

"I'm just glad you're alright, Luna. You nearly had me worried about your well-being since being separated, more so when you nearly drowned in the jungle," Riku admitted as he hugged her back.

That caught Sora's attention quickly. "Wait, what? You nearly drowned? Luna, what's he talking about?"

"Oh…I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Luna admitted guiltily, "When we were careening towards the jungle, I ended up falling into a lagoon and almost drowned…and then I woke up in the camp with Jane looking after me."

Donald gave Sora a bit of a death glare after Luna clarified what went on previously when they had crash-landed into Deep Jungle, which made the poor boy turn pale from knowing that he unintentionally caused Luna's fall in the first place.

But then, Sora was the first to realize something: even though Riku has finally been found, where was their other friend?

However, Luna beat him to it when she asked out of realization, "Wait…something's wrong. Where's Kairi?"

Riku was perplexed at this. "Isn't she with either of you?"

Both shook her heads sadly, knowing that neither of them has seen her since the horror on the island.

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island, too," Riku assured them. He then turned to look around the district. "We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us, too."

When she heard all this, Luna couldn't help wondering what was going on with Riku. She had always known that he wanted to leave the island and see the outside, but she noticed in his tone that he seemed a bit too excited that he was finally able to leave his home and didn't sound too keen on returning for a good long while. Unbeknownst to her, though, Medea was also developing her own hint of suspicion on what might be churning within his mind; but unlike Luna, Medea's thoughts are filled with doubts on the silver-haired boy's honesty.

But Riku didn't notice as he continued to speak. "We'll all be together soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this –"

As this was happening, two Heartless showed up and were about to go after Riku when – when he least expected it – Sora struck one down with his Keyblade while Luna summoned a Shadow Hand to eliminate the other one. This made Riku turn around in surprise at what the two did just now.

Then, Sora gave a playful smirk as he heaved his blade on his shoulder. "Leave it to who?"

"Don't worry, Riku. We took care of the things," Luna said reassuringly.

The shock was obvious on their friend. "Sora, Luna, what did you…"

"We've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help," Sora said, indicating their other partners.

Riku gave their other friends a dark look. "Who are they?"

"They are two friends I used to know years ago," Luna explained, "and Sora just got to know them. They are very nice, I promise you."

Donald cleared his throat and was about to make introductions. "My name is –"

"We've visited many places and worlds, looking for you," Sora interrupted excitedly.

"And Kairi," Luna added.

Although Riku did give Luna a small smile when she mentioned Kairi, he still gave Sora the dark look in his gaze. She didn't understand what was going on with him. Was he jealous?

"Really? Well, what do you know?" Riku questioned. "I never would've guessed."

"Oh, and guess what? Sora's the Keyblade master and Luna's actually a Shadow Mage," Goofy said as he pats their shoulders.

"Who'd have thought it?" Donald commented.

"I sure as hell already knew about the latter," Medea muttered loud enough to be heard.

That irked Sora a bit. "What's that mean?"

"So, this is called a Keyblade?"

Everyone turned back to Riku and – much to the surprise of Sora and Luna – it was seen that he was holding the Kingdom Key, examining it like it was a rare masterpiece in contrast to the common weaponry. But the one thing that baffled the two was how he was able to take a look at it without the blade disappearing from his hands.

"Hey! Give it back," Sora demanded.

He tried to reach to get it back, but Riku moved back as he looked at the blade one more time. Then, after having enough of it, he tossed it back nonchalantly.

"Catch."

Albeit clumsily, Sora was able to grasp the Keyblade back into his own hands and held it tighter as though he doesn't want to lose it.

Then, Riku turned over to Luna and softened up a little. "What about you, Luna? What else do you have in your shadowy repertoire?"

Luna turned toward her Guardian. "Medea, could you come here, please?" At her request, Medea walked over to her master so that Riku could see her up close. "This is Medea, my Shadow Guardian. She's watched over me through most of my journey when I was but a little girl. She may be a bit crude with her words and short-tempered, but she's a very good person once you get to know her."

"Yeah, Luna wouldn't even be here now if I hadn't lent a hand back then," Medea boasted.

When Riku examined Medea, there was a different impression crossing through him; but unlike with the Keyblade in Sora's possession, his face showed a rather perplexed feeling with what to make of Medea. If anyone knew any better, it'd be suspected that he didn't have the faintest clue what to make of Luna's Shadow Guardian…at least, not at the moment.

"Quite an oddball, but I suppose she's useful," he commented afterwards.

Medea raised a brow at that. "Excuse me?"

"So, you're coming with us, right?" Sora asked, "We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'till you see it!"

"No! He can't come!" Donald objected.

Sora got angry at that. "What?"

"Forget it!" the duck protested.

Luna was having none of it either. "But Donald, he's our friend! We've been looking everywhere for him and Kairi. Please, at least let him stay with either me or Sora. That'd be a relief for us."

"I don't care!" Donald refused.

Medea growled in irritation. "Look, duck! Just because you got a damn ship and you guys drive the piece of junk doesn't mean you make all the decisions around here!"

"He's gone," Goofy interrupted their argument.

Sora and Luna turned to find that Riku had suddenly vanished. This made Sora start to worry, and Luna began to feel very upset about all of this.

"Riku?" Sora called out. When he realized that his friend was nowhere to be found, he hung his head in disappointment.

On Luna's part, when she realized that she had just lost Riku again after all the trouble she went through to find him, fell to her knees and began to cry bitterly.

Sora saw this, and turned to Donald with a frown. "Nice going."

Then, Medea turned toward Donald, her face showing a strong urge to punish someone for their mishap. "I…am going…to kill you…YOU SELFISH DUCK!"

In an instant, Medea lunged out towards Donald with murder obviously seen in her eyes and her claws ready to tear apart the first thing they can get their hands on. When Donald realized that he was the target for serious pain, he panicked and began to run for dear life while he was being chased around by the vengeful Shadow Guardian.

While this was going on, Sora just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh, well. At least he's okay. And who knows? We might run into Kairi soon, too." Then, he turned to Luna and touched her gently. "Don't worry, Luna. We'll see him again. Maybe when we find both of them, we can find a way to be together for real. If we have to, I can force Donald to let them come with us."

Luna looked up with teary eyes. "Are you sure, Sora…?"

"Of course I'm sure. I've never been wrong about that yet, haven't I?" Sora said, cheering her up.

Moved by the idea, Luna got up and nodded in agreement. "Yes…I suppose you're right, Sora. We have to bring the both of them back to us. I want Riku and Kairi to be Medea's friend, too. I think they'd like her once they get past her quirks."

Her spiky friend gave her a silly grin. "See? That's the spirit, Luna! C'mon, let's keep going through town, huh?"

Of course, before continuing on their way, Luna had to calm Medea down before she could ever get her hands on Donald and Sora and Goofy had to warn him not to take her guardian's temper too lightly.

Just as they had come out of the place where they had crossed paths with Riku, the party got a bit of a surprise when one of their friends showed up, apparently looking for them. To their surprise, it was Larsa who came to see them personally; but what surprised them even more was that another person accompanied him along the way.

In this case, the new face was an individual wearing a suit of highly decorated plate armor from head to toe with a long black cape and a horned helmet in which obscured his face from prying eyes.

"Luna, Sora, is everything alright thus far? Have you found the keyhole?" Larsa asked.

"No, we haven't found the keyhole to this town. We did find Riku, though, but he disappeared as quickly as he came," Sora replied.

"We still haven't found Kairi, though…" Luna added sadly.

The armored warrior shook his head. "Just as I thought: more lost souls who are left on their own. I've heard that a boy with a keyblade and a girl with powers beyond our ken had arrived, but…to think that boy is the one who carries it."

Donald looked at the armored stranger suspiciously. "And just who are you?"

"This is Gabranth, my bodyguard. He has been watching over me for years," Larsa explained, "and has been of help to us repelling the Heartless as much as possible."

That caught Luna's attention as she connected the dots and regained memories of the new face she previously knew. "Gabranth…? What did you go through? Are you hiding something under that helmet?"

Despite her question, she could see that Gabranth turned his head away slightly, as though he had unfortunate things that he didn't want to discuss about.

"So, Larsa, did you come looking for us?" Sora asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Larsa replied, "Leon and the others have something important to discuss with you. They're at the small house at the third district."

"Why do I have a feeling that whatever the subject is will not be a pleasant discussion for the faint of heart?" Medea questioned with suspicion.

With Larsa and Gabranth's guidance, they were able to meet up with the rest of their comrades to find out what was up. But when they got there, it was quickly noticed that there was a very intensely dark cloud hovering over everyone's heads; this unnerved the party a bit since they didn't have any idea what was going on.

"…Um…Why is everyone…?" Sora was at a loss for words.

"Is everything alright? What's the matter?" Luna asked them.

Cid was the first to speak up. "You guys ever hear of Maleficent? I hear she's in town."

"Not to mention making a lot more trouble than we already are in," Zidane added bitterly.

Sora got confused at this. "Male – who? Who is she?"

"A witch, man! She's a witch!" Yuffie growled bitterly. "We lost our world because of her!"

"She's the reason this town is full of Heartless," Leon added, "Don't take her lightly."

"She's been using the Heartless for years," Aerith explained sadly, "One day; a swarm of Heartless took over our world. That was nine years ago."

"I got out of that mess and came with here these guys, even the ones who lived in the castle," Cid added, pointing at their other comrades.

The moment Luna heard the name of the witch involved in these dark times, her face hardened with extreme bitterness as her eyes gave a very cold, dark look. Medea quickly noticed this, and had an idea on what she's thinking regarding that name.

Seymour noticed this, and asked carefully, "Is that wretched name familiar to you, Luna?"

"Yes…it is. I know who Maleficent is. I've met her before…" Luna answered icily, "She did terrible things years before. She did bad things to my brother…she tried to do harm to an innocent person…and she tried to mock us with her foolish talk of the darkness like she thinks the dark is everything, when she is nothing but an arrogant weakling who knows nothing!"

Donald was stunned at the terrible things he heard. "That's awful!"

"If you think that is awful, funny little quack, then you'd be surprised who else would be considered a villain on crack," Shantotto commented.

"But that's not all. Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem," Leon brought up another matter. "He dedicated his life to studying the Heartless."

"Yeah, he was quite the busy guy, what with leading an entire kingdom and doing whatever it took to keep things from going wrong," Zidane added.

"His report should tell us how to get rid of the Heartless," Cid said, hoping for a miracle.

"Oh, really? Then where the hell is this report?" Medea asked.

Leon shook his head. "We don't know. It got scattered when our world was destroyed."

Oddly, nobody noticed that Luna had a faintly puzzled look on her face when she heard the name 'Ansem' as though she should know what it is (but didn't have a clue where). But then again, the only ones who had an awareness of her mindset were Larsa, Shantotto, Seymour and Gabranth; their knowing looks gave indications that they know something the rest of the group didn't. The question is, what is it?

"One way or another, I am sure Maleficent has most of the pages," Larsa confessed, continuing to play along.

"That doesn't help things one bit," Medea commented in frustration.

"But we still don't know where Traverse Town's keyhole could possibly be," Luna brought up, "Is there any potential clue as to where we could look?"

Aerith seemed to contemplate on it, and then had one idea on her. "Well, I've been thinking about the bell in the Second District, the one above the gizmo shop. But it's boarded up, and no one can go there."

"Heck, go check it out. Ring it three times to see if anything happens," Zidane encouraged them.

"Cool! We'll go take a look at it," Sora said eagerly as he was about to lead the party out the door.

"Wait a moment."

Luna and Sora stopped a moment to find Seymour stand up with Alex in his hands. Was there something they missed?

"If it's not too much trouble, may I go with you? You probably don't know where the bell would be, so allow me to guide you there," Seymour offered.

Luna looked toward Sora, and she could easily tell that he was quite surprised that someone would want to come along with them. But then again, given how they still don't entirely know the ins and outs of the whole town, what's the harm in having someone to guide them towards something that might be important and could solve the puzzle on stopping the Heartless.

"Alright, Seymour, you can come with us," Luna agreed willingly. She turned to Goofy. "Are you okay with it?"

"Gawrsh, I don't see why not," Goofy replied jovially.

It was pretty clear to Sora that she didn't want to talk with Donald for a while because of what had happened earlier. Since there was nothing he could do about that right now, it was best to just roll with it until they can talk about it later.

"Seymour, is it alright if I ask you something?"

After it was agreed upon that a guide would be very appreciative in the long run, the group allowed Seymour to lead them to the location of the gizmo shop where the bell could possibly be.

Of course, after hearing about the tragic events that happened to their new friends and what brought forth their refuge in Traverse Town, Luna couldn't help feeling sorry for them as evil forces have caused so much pain to those who really didn't deserve to suffer so badly. Still, she couldn't help wondering if she was missing something after all that she had heard from them; not to mention, she wished she knew what happened to other people who have experienced these horrific disasters.

Seymour turned to Luna with a curious look. "What is it, Luna?"

"Can you tell me how Alex was able to escape being lost along with his home world?" Luna asked. "How did he get here?"

The half-blood sorcerer took a breath before he explained what he could. "Most of our group doesn't know about it, but the reason he was able to barely escape his world was because I was there. The professor sent me to warn other worlds of the dangers by the hands of the Heartless, but – most unfortunately – everywhere I went, numbers of worlds were disappearing left and right. When I arrived at his world, the poor child was being sorted among other transformed boys to be either illegally sold to harsh places or to be taken back to who knows where, but were nonetheless treated so cruelly." He paused. "When the Heartless began to overrun the carnival and its inhabitants, Alexander was the only child I was able to rescue from being swallowed into the abyssal shadows and bring to Traverse Town for his protection. We do what we can to look after him, but the poor child will undoubtedly require a family to properly take care of him."

Luna lowered her head sadly at the information. "That's terrible…to be all alone like that."

"I am quite certain there are other refugees who have also experienced such things when they came here," Seymour confessed solemnly.

Just then, Sora interrupted them when he said, "Hey, I think I can see where the bell might just be! We'll go on ahead and take care of things up there. Think you wait down here until you get any signs of something happening, Luna?"

"I'll be alright, Sora. You go on ahead," Luna said reassuringly, "I'll wait here, don't worry."

While Sora took Donald and Goofy to look for the bell so they can ring it as per the given instructions, Luna waited on the ground until she got indications that they did it.

"Will the Heartless stop coming when that keyhole's found?" Alex asked suddenly.

Luna turned toward the child and smiled softly. "Of course they will, Alex. Nobody wants those monsters bothering them for too long. Once Sora and I deal with the threats, you'll have nothing to worry about."

After a few minutes of waiting, Luna heard the sound of the bell ringing three times from above, which meant that Sora had found it and rang it as they were supposed to. But then, she heard the sound of something stony shifting around from somewhere in the vicinity; promptly, she turned around to find that the stone cube that was nestled behind the gorgeously crafted fountain had turned and revealed a keyhole right in front of where a mural would've been. That meant only one thing for them…

Luna hastily turned back and called out, "Sora! There's the keyhole!"

"I see it! Hang on, we'll be right down!" her friend answered from above as he starting to make his way down.

Unfortunately, after Sora and company had arrived and joined Luna to inspect the keyhole in the fountain, the party already got themselves a problem on their hands – and it had to be a Heartless they were way too familiar with…

Medea groaned when she saw it. "Dammit! Not that thing again!"

"Didn't we already fight the flying pieces of armor the last time we were here?" Sora complained.

Luna had other worries on her mind. "Seymour, you'd better get out of here, quickly!"

Once it was sure that nobody was going to get caught in the crossfire, Luna and Sora were able to keep their focus on fighting another round with the Guard Armor. Aside from a few new tricks, it was a bit easier to take down than the first time they dealt with it.

As soon as the pieces fell, Donald got suspicious about this. "That was too easy…"

"Really? Shouldn't it be gone by now?" Goofy wondered.

That was when the party got a big surprise that none of them were too well prepared for: the pieces of the Guard Armor got back up after that beating it went through, but then it abruptly changed its positioning in which the feet acted as arms and arms acted as the legs; not only that, but the helmet changed drastically to give off a more menacing look to it.

"Oh, great, so now that thing's gonna try and handle things the opposite way, isn't it?" Medea deadpanned with a growl.

"I suppose there's no way out of it, isn't there?" Luna sighed in disappointment.

From there, the fight with the Opposite Armor (very intuitive name) was a bit of a bigger challenge than they thought it would be. However, they took the smart route by having select members dealing with certain parts of the armor: Goofy maintained defenses against the wildly swinging feet that would try to pound them while Sora and Medea worked their efforts on taking out the main body and the hands down below (though sometimes Sora mixed it up with a few rounds of spells that he had practiced with Donald on the gummi ship); Luna concentrated on using her Shadow Hands to shoot out magic spells against the head until it could no longer keep its stability.

After some trials and tribulations, the monstrous hunk of armor finally clattered onto the ground and vanished into nothing until a heart appeared and flew away freely. Now all that had to be done was lock the keyhole.

"Go ahead, Sora. You do your part," Luna said as she caught her breath.

As usual, Sora held his keyblade out, and a beam of light shot out; then, a locking sound came out and the keyhole, with its role accomplished, disappeared, never to be disturbed by anything ever again.

Seymour arrived on scene afterwards, relieved to find the town was finally free from the Heartless threat. "Excellent job, all of you. Traverse Town will surely be able to rest in peace now that the Heartless have been driven out of this place."

"But I feel rather tired after all that we went through," Luna admitted, feeling a bit of weakness in her legs.

"Then we'd better find a place to sleep until we're ready to travel again," Sora agreed, rubbing his arms as though they'd gotten sore from overexertion.

In a unanimous agreement, everyone settled on the idea of staying at the inn for the night before preparing for their next journey and seeing what other worlds they can find. It was quite refreshing to be able to rest before delving into potentially dangerous territories, especially since – most surprisingly – they were able to get a rather great deal to get places to sleep (most likely because the innkeeper was very glad to be able to keep the business without any Heartless bothering anyone anymore).

After a well-earned rest, they were ready to keep on going through their journey to search for other worlds that need saving. But first, it was agreed that it would be in their best interest to stock up on potions, ethers, and a few other things as well as the necessary food materials they could bring along so that they can have proper meals during their travels across the roads to the worlds. Luna handled the grocery shopping with Medea while Sora and Goofy were handling the battle-required remedies and Donald was checking up on the gummi ship to find out whether it was ready to go.

However, on their way to the gummi ship, both ladies got themselves a bit of a strange scene when they saw what seemed like two childlike dolls walking around the streets. The boy doll – in a frilled long-sleeve shirt with a read vest, blue pants, white breeches and brown shoes – was searching every nook and cranny of the streets, while the girl doll – wearing a bright red flounced dress and brown shoes, and a red ribbon in her curled hair – merely looked around with her glassy eyes as though trying to find a sign of something familiar. After a few moments of scouting around the entire area, the two joined back together, and shook heads sadly at each other before moving on to another part of the district.

Luna couldn't help but wonder what she was seeing a few moments ago. She had seen her share of strange things and people, but nothing at this level. Who – or what – were those peculiar individuals?

"Medea, what do you suppose those poor things are looking for?" Luna questioned out of curiosity.

"Heck if I know. But, man, those two were just…weird. Hell, they didn't even say a word throughout the whole damn thing," Medea replied, "Not to mention, something about them didn't seem…human."

Luna contemplated on that, wondering what they could be and what they wanted. It was certain that they weren't Heartless; they already made sure those things no longer pestered Traverse Town. Perhaps if she met them again, she might find out more about them and learn about what their objective is.

"I suppose investigating them will have to wait," Luna said as she started to keep moving, "We'd better hurry back to the gummi ship and get ready to leave."

"Yeah, well, if that duck tries to do anything funny, I am gonna hunt him down until he swears that he'd quit acting like he's the boss," Medea said, her grudge still evident.

"Now, Medea, I know you're mad at Donald, but please don't kill him," Luna warned her, "If he does anything wrong or stupid, you can yell at him all you want. But don't do anything murderous to him please?"

Medea sighed. "Alright, alright, if you insist."