I honestly thought it would have taken me at least another week to finish this chapter due to all my school work. I was wrong. Before I even knew it, I was looking at 5000 words. Not bad. Anyway, next chapter we actually get more worlds, but let me give you a hint as to what they'll be in this chapter.


Chapter 56

The New Approach

The positive and cheerful mood that had manifested at the birthday party was to be short-lived. Sora adopted an emotionless face as he, Riku, Kairi and Luna stood opposite Yen Sid though inwardly he disdained the sorcerer for smashing what peace he and the others had had over the last few weeks. He knew that peace couldn't have lasted forever, but even so, to spend if only a full month without having to worry about the Heartless or any other threat…

Standing next to the sorcerer was Neuge looking as normal as she did at any point before yesterday's party. The awkward and shy teenage girl that they had witnessed had now been replaced by a serious and rather peeved woman. Sora wasn't exactly sure what had caused her to have such an expression on her face but he was sure he was about to find out judging also from Yen Sid's grave look.

"We Keyblade wielders are said to be the guardians of the space in-between the worlds, not interfering with events within the worlds but those from the outside who would dare to threaten those events. With this said, there is no easy decision to make here. Our search for Alice so far has been fruitless, and I fear that time may be running out. The fog that has spread throughout some of the worlds has been increasing and the scope of which I am able to see the stars has consequently decreased because of this. Furthermore, Riku has told me that interrogating Kefka has given us no clues to go on whatsoever even with the truth serum."

"To be fair, it still is in its experimental stages. We should give Even and Ienzo some time to make it more potent," Riku said.

"And how long will that take?" When Riku could provide no answer, Yen Sid continued. "While I do not doubt a scientist's expertise in his given field, I feel it is time that we start preparing for the worst case scenario."

"The worst case scenario? So what, give up on Alice because she's already-"

"Sora," Neuge cut him off. "Just listen."

Yen Sid watched as Sora opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it and looked to the floor instead. He then continued.

"I will take full responsibility for what is to occur here. Sora and Luna… this is a mission of the utmost importance, one that Neuge has asked me to leave to you. I'll start with the background. There is an ancient ritual once known among Keyblade wielders that was eventually lost to time itself. It was forbidden by all, only to be used when the world faced its greatest perils. Our mission down the generations has always been to protect the hearts of pure light, but if even one was to be extinguished, we would most likely be looking at the end of all the worlds. It is my belief that when a person with a pure heart dies naturally, that heart, rather than going to Kingdom Hearts, is instead reincarnated as a newborn heart, and takes on its next host." Yen Sid paused to look at Kairi here who seemed to be putting on her bravest face, perhaps one that was too brave and possibly even fake. "If the natural cycle is disturbed, that is, if that heart is somehow corrupted or even that its host's death is unnatural in some way, then that light is extinguished for good. Now that is just a theory. It is unprovable because it hasn't happened yet, but the conduct of many Keyblade wielders down the line most certainly proves that there is a reason to continue to keep the Princesses of Heart safe."

"Get to the point," Neuge said. Sora silently thanked her for saying something that he desperately wanted to say.

"Yes, well, in situations such as these, there is something called the purification process. As the name itself suggests, it is used to separate the darkness and light in a person's heart. Xehanort used it to split Ventus' heart in two in hopes that he would be able to have his light and dark clash with one another."

"Wait a second. This isn't going where I think it's going, is it? Are you… are you suggesting that we perform this purification process on someone?" Kairi asked. Sora didn't even need to look up to somehow feel Yen Sid's nod.

"So that's it then? Let's play Xehanort now, why don't we? And while we're at it, why don't we try to create the χ-blade while we're at it? Are you serious? I can't believe you're even suggesting we do something like this. No. I'm not doing it," Sora refused. He turned to leave and was almost to the door when he was stopped yet again by Neuge.

"I am telling you, Sora, listen. This isn't any easier for me either, in fact, I'm flat out against the idea-"

"Then you won't mind me leaving. How can anyone listen to this, it's ridiculous!" Sora said.

"It is. I'm sorry, I can't agree with this either and this is coming from a Princess of Heart," Kairi said. "I wouldn't want anyone to have this. Shouldn't we have all discussed this before coming to a decision?"

"Why? He knew we would have all said no," Sora said before looking at Yen Sid directly. "And we can't have that now, can we?"

"Did you know this was going to happen?" Luna asked Neuge.

"I only found out today that he'd decided this but… he has brought it up before," Neuge replied quite absently. She seemed have taken an interest in the window behind Yen Sid's chair from which a decent view of the castle could be seen. Sora was under the plausible assumption that Neuge was looking out of the window in order to hide her guilt of having not mentioned this to them. While it wasn't entirely her fault, he could help but be a little angry with her.

"Yes, the decision was made without Neuge's input, and without any of yours for that matter and for that I deeply apologize. However, all we can do now is move forward and that means not being afraid to take risks. Luna and Sora, your next mission will be to track down a suitable candidate and bring her to me. I trust you both to make the best decision when it comes to picking them."

"But not enough to not just spring this on us all of a sudden," Sora murmured under his breath.

"Right, you can't just ask us to do this so suddenly. And what about Alice? It's as Sora said. I feel like we're just abandoning her by doing this. Why concentrate on finding someone else when we could be looking for her?" Luna said.

"We aren't necessarily giving up on her. This is where Riku, Kairi and the others come in. We're pooling in the rest of our resources to find her. That includes me," Neuge said.

"You too, Neuge?"

Neuge nodded. "Well, it's not necessarily going to be as focused on finding Alice as the rest are but King Mickey and I have decided to go after KRONOS in order to hopefully give you guys some room to breathe. If anything, we can at least stall them with the list of names that the assassin gave us. Moira's Crescent too, if we can figure out where they are."

"I want to know something. You haven't told us this, and I think I know why. What happens if the purification process is unsuccessful?"

Yen Sid nodded and kept his mouth closed for a few good seconds, probably because there was no easy way to say it. If the sorcerer was supposed to be bringing forward a convincing case, he was failing, and it wasn't even that. There was no case to bring forward because he had decided of his own accord to do this.

"It is a risk, I admit that, but it is a far lesser one than doing nothing at all and allowing KRONOS to get their way. I promise you that this is only a precaution. We will not actually carry out the process unless I am entirely sure about Alice's situation, but we must be prepared and that means not leaving it until the last minute," he eventually said, though choosing the avoid eye contact with the group, looking down instead at his table.

"So, in other words, we shouldn't lose priority over finding Alice then? If we find her first then this whole thing is off the table?" Riku asked to make certain of what he was hearing.

"As I said, Sora and Luna will attempt to search for a suitable candidate while the others are to concentrate on finding Alice," Yen Sid answered.

Sora relaxed slightly at this and a small smile formed. The idea of potentially sacrificing someone just to keep the world safe didn't sit right with Sora, but Yen Sid had given them an extended window of time. Despite their mission, they had plenty of opportunity to look for Alice instead. If that was the case then he would go under Yen Sid and Neuge's belief that he was setting out to look for Alice's successor. It would have been a conniving plan if he wasn't also sure that at least Neuge was betting on the same thing.

"Fine, we'll do it. Can I leave now?" Sora asked mustering as much a tranquil voice as he possibly could. Yen Sid had only half nodded before Sora had averted his gaze and left the room. He waited for the door to close behind him and then leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, practicing his regular breathing exercises. No matter how crazy his life was right now, he had to approach it rationally and with a calm, cool and collected mind. If he wanted Neuge's training to start meaning something, he had to start by suppressing whatever instinctive impulses arose within him when faced with situations such as what had happened in that room.

The soft clicking followed by screeching of the door opening again caused him to open his eyes and look in its direction to see Luna, a frown on her face as their eyes met.

"It'll be okay, Luna. We need to believe in Alice," Sora said.

"That's not it. It's something that's been on my mind but… I can't say it here. Do you mind coming with me?"

"Er, okay," Sora said. If it wasn't their new mission that had Luna concerned, then he had no idea what could be worse. He followed her into the living room, which had been thoroughly cleaned out earlier in the morning, and out into the borough. She seemed at first to be leading him to the hotel but suddenly stopped near the park just outside it and cupped her hands.

"Promise you won't be mad at me when I say this?" she asked of him.

If Sora was to hold onto his earlier commitment than all he really could say was, "Of course I won't."

"Right, well, I've been doing my best lately to think of some way to keep you safe and I- I- there's no easy way to say this so I'll just come out with it. I think we should accept Moira's Crescent's offer," Luna said, closing her eyes shut while she had uttered the sentence.

Rather than being angry like she had probably suspected, Sora was in fact rather impressed if not a little amused. It forced him to consider the possibility of working with Moira's Crescent once again. It was one that he hadn't really considered all too much but had left it open on the table in case Luna had wanted it. While he didn't have a favourable opinion of them, even ignoring that, it was pretty much impossible now.

"Luna, I'm not sure that's a good idea. You know they would never let me out of their sights if I decided to join them. I probably wouldn't even be able to go to the bathroom without them looking my way. They don't trust me and now I'm being told I have to find a suitable candidate to become a Princess of Heart? Do you really think they'll let me or you do something like that? If I were them, I wouldn't let it happen, I'm completely against doing anything that Xehanort's done and there's absolutely no guarantee it will work. Terra and Aqua could probably tell you more but when they met Ven, he could barely speak a word. His mind was shattered because Xehanort had taken the darkness from him. That's what might happen if we go through with this, or not. It might be even worse than that."

"Yeah I know, this purification thing complicates everything which is why I'm hoping we can find Alice first. Are you sure there isn't any way for this to work?" Luna asked.

"It's as you said. There's no point in making a truce with them unless Alice is safe. We also have to keep the other princesses safe and they'll also probably want to know where we're keeping them which I'm not so sure is a good idea. The less people know the better. Kefka being kept here is also a pretty big risk we're taking. I don't think there's any information we'll be able to get out of him, truth serum or not," Sora said.

"Then keeping the Princesses of Heart here can't be safe. We're keeping them where all of us Keyblade wielders are stationed but by doing that, we're making it incredibly obvious where they are as well," Luna said.

"Right. If only there was a way we could keep them safe without having them near us…" Sora trailed off as soon as a sudden inspiration struck him. The idea hit him as hard as the newspaper did by accident when Sora was eleven and the paper boy was doing his rounds one morning. The idea was so ingenious, so shrewd, so simple even, that he couldn't help but grin broadly at this plan of his.

"Oh dear, what's going on in that head of yours now?" Luna asked. No doubt she must have thought that he had gone completely mad for he started chuckling.

"Oh, nothing. Say, do you know where Mulan is?" he asked. As much as he wanted to tell her this plan, he couldn't. If he told her then she would know and if something bad were to go wrong then she would be implicated as his accomplice or would know doubt testify to also having come up with the plan in order to reduce Sora's punishment. He was taking a big risk with this and he would rather not get her in trouble for his actions. This was something he had to do alone, and there was really only one other person he could ask for help here.

"Well, she should be around the hotel somewhere with the other princesses. I think Donald, Goofy and Max were also asked to help protect them along with her. Why?" Luna answered.

So that makes four people then. Hopefully, they'll go along with this, Sora thought before stretching.

"Luna, whatever happens next, you trust me, right?" Sora asked.

"Of course I do," Luna said.

"Then don't ask what I'm about to do. If my theory is right, you'll probably find out sooner or later anyway. Anyway, I need to head back to Merlin's, I forgot something there," Sora said. He didn't exactly forget anything but there was something he needed.

"Alright, I won't ask. Not that I don't have something up my sleeve either," Luna insinuated with roguish smile.

"Really, like what?" Sora asked.

"Sora, you trust me, right?"

"I… fair enough," Sora said with a grin.


Astra wondered to herself what could be so possibly important enough that it warranted waking her up at five in the morning. She couldn't stop rubbing her eyes and she had only just noticed that she was walking down the hall in her pajamas. This had led to her panicking for a few seconds but fortunately upon arriving at the meeting room, she found that some of her peers were not any less scantily clad with the exception of Alfonso who seemed strangely alert and energetic for some reason.

"Do you know what's going on?" Astra asked the closest person to her, who was Jill.

"Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that Alfonso called for a meeting. If this turns out to be a waste of time I'll have Jack peck his eyes out," Jill answered, clearly unamused by having been woken up so early.

"Yeah, I hope I'll be there to watch," Astra agreed, letting out a yawn. They soon entered the room and took seats around the room. The last one in the room was Kohle, who walked to the front of the room with such a taxing and painful effort that it seemed like he had aged significantly from Astra's point of view. He wearily took his place at the top of the table and glanced at Alfonso before nodding.

"A change in circumstances has arisen, a significant one that warranted taking you out of your beds this early in the morning," Alfonso began with a small smile.

"I'd certainly hope so otherwise I would hunt you to the far reaches of the universe just to gut you like a fish," Desiree said.

"Not today, I'm afraid. During my investigation yesterday into the doors at the factory, I came across a box wrapped in a red bow next to one of them. On it was also a tag addressed to Moira's Crescent."
"Wait, so there just happened to be a suspicious package just lying on the ground with our group's name on it?" Lysander asked. "Alfonso, man, I thought you were better than that."

"Are you going to keep mouthing off or will you let me finish?"

"He's right though. I mean, it could have been a bomb or something. KA-BOOM!" Salome yelled suddenly, causing everyone in the room to jump up from their seat.

"I admit my curiosity got the better of me, though it could have just as easily been a bomb. No, it's something else. Decisive, non-rebuttable proof. Behold with your own eyes," Alfonso said. He slid a holographic disc across the table and relaxed in his seat as it reached the middle of the table and burst to life. A dull leaden-blue image flickered and illuminated the dimly lit room. Despite the image's color making it somewhat difficult to point out the details, they weren't particularly needed. It was clear as day what the video depicted, and it shocked everyone to the core.

The video ended and Astra rubbed her eyes in disbelief. She would probably have painted it as her just being tired if she hadn't recognized that spiky hair and that Keyblade being distinctive traits of a certain someone she knew. However, the most surprising thing was what he had done—something she would never have expected him to do.

"Did he just… those children… No, this has to be a mistake," Astra was the first to express, and even more surprised that she was defending him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see any of that though I have the feeling that whatever was shown wasn't particularly good?" Rhea asked.

"Well, unless you consider killing children to be a good thing, then no, no it wasn't," Alfonso answered.

"That's awful. Who would do such a thing?" Rhea asked.

"You must have some idea. You've been defending him this whole time after all. Your white knight."

"Sora? That can't be right. Check it again." Rhea suddenly seemed a lot more alert than most in the room and was leaning out of her chair.

"We can check it as many times as you want us to but that doesn't change the fact that these eyes won't see anything else but the truth. Kohle, the evidence stands for itself, I say we hold a new vote as soon as possible," Alfonso suggested with more energy than Astra had given the bookworm credit for.

"It would be incredibly premature to do something like that. All new evidence submitted should be given its due evaluation, need I point that out to you," Rhea countered. "Also, Lysander and Salome raise a good point. I'd be incredibly weary of the source of this 'present'. Someone wanted us to find this. It stands to reason then that the person who left this for us has an ulterior motive. Rather than rushing into a new vote, I'd like to call for an investigation into the origins of this video."

"You're joking, right? If you were able to see this video, you would know that the footage could not be faked," Alfonso said.

"If I could see the footage, I bet I would be able to find more wrong in it than you," Rhea said.

"Yeah, me and the other seven of us here," Alfonso said with a shake of his head.

"You don't speak for all of us though, Fonnie, especially when you picked up a suspicious package like a kid accepting gifts from strangers. Your judgment isn't exactly the most trustworthy at the moment," Salome pointed out. She then smiled at Alfonso's scowl before continuing, "I think we should do as Rhea suggested here. I mean, the proof looks definitive to me but Ray-Ray's seen things before that I haven't so who's to say she won't find something wrong with it?"

As much as Salome was probably right about this, and Astra could vouch for her that Rhea was very perceptive which made her a highly valuable asset in intelligence gathering, there was just one big problem. No amount of perceptiveness would allow Rhea to be able to evaluate a silent video.

Apparently having recognized this problem, Rhea sat back in her seat. "It's true that that the burden would fall on the accuser to disprove the evidence. I don't believe it's not rebuttable but I have no way of being able to look at the evidence, so I choose to have Astra do it in my stead."

"I'm sorry, say whaaaa…" Astra could feel her words trail off. If Rhea had been serious then Astra didn't know what to say. Like Salome, she also hadn't seen anything to suggest that there was anything wrong in what she saw.

"Don't worry. I'll help you, of course. I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out together," Rhea told her with a smile full of determination. Could she truly be so sure that they would be able to find something? Maybe it was as Alfonso said. Maybe Rhea just really wanted to believe that there was a solution to this other than fighting, even if it meant going against the odds.

"Alright, I'll help," Astra said, deciding to go against her brain on this issue.

"Then we'll abide by our normal rules of giving evidence its due consideration. It really should only take a day anyway. We'll report back here after breakfast tomorrow with Astra and Rhea's conclusion. You can all go back to your beds now. Sorry for waking you all up at an hour you're not used to but I'm sure you understand," Kohle said before nodding his head.

Everyone except for Rhea, Astra and Alfonso stood up from their seats and left the room. When the murmurs that echoed down the hall had finally subsided, Alfonso slowly rose from his chair and walked past Rhea without even looking at her. He stopped at the door and finally looked at them.

"You know, I'm not so foolish as to have woken you out of bed simply because of sheer excitement. I did do my research and nothing came up that would suggest to me that the footage was fake. So, you can try-"

"Oh, you bet we will," Astra challenged him with a wanton smug smile that it must have felt to Alfonso as if she were mocking him. Really, she had just wanted to portray her and Rhea in a position of confidence, one that she felt she was sorely lacking. Alfonso did his trademark adjustment of his glasses before leaving the room.

"Do you really think we can do this? Alfonso's a meticulous guy. He would have checked every individual frame for something wrong," Astra said, taking up the holographic disc from the table. She moved her finger around its smooth shape and held it up to look at Rhea through the donut hole in the center.

"Not this time. Usually Alfonso is rather objective but this time he's on a side and he's going to try and prove that by any means. It also means he's likely to overlook certain things because of it. We'll find those points and blow them up if we have to," Rhea said, before yawning.

Astra chuckled. "Not right now we won't. Come on, I'll help you up."


Of all the places he had to visit before leaving for his new mission, Sora hated himself for even thinking to the visit Kefka one more time. Still, it was a necessary pain to endure if he wanted to find something out from Kefka. The clown had thick skin, there was no doubt about that, but Sora had come prepared with something up his sleeve. He only really needed one answer anyway.

He soon arrived at Kefka's door and slammed the back of his hand against it. The sound created an echo that reverberated down the halls, but the only people who could hear it were Sora and Kefka. Kefka snapped out of his trance like state and looked at Sora. The pale makeup on his face was peeling away to reveal color behind it but otherwise he looked as demented as ever if not even more so.

"Why, if it isn't Sora. Did you miss me? Oh, I get it! You want me to go after another one of your friends, don't you? I'll give you the choice of picking. Riku? Luna? Or maybe I should stick with Kairi until I've finished the job. What do you say?"

"I say you need to shut up and answer my questions. Tell me where KRONOS is," Sora said.

"Was that a question or an order? It's like day and night with you people, not that I can tell the difference. I've been stuck in for goodness knows how long. Can I at least get a window?"

"You probably don't know since you were blindfolded before you were brought here but you're pretty far down below street level. There are no windows," Sora said. Seeing as how he could stand to be within distance of Kefka, he decided it was best to hurry up his questions. "What is Atlantis?"

"Oho, oho, oho, oho… you don't get to ask that question. You've been doing your investigation work though, poking your nose into other people's business where it doesn't belong. I admire that in a man."

"You can thank Riku and Kairi actually. Anyway, since you're probably not going to answer any of questions I'm just here to tell you that you and your band of criminals have no chance of winning, not while I'm around. As long as Radiant Garden and the princesses are under my protection, you can try all you like but I will always be one step ahead of you. Is that clear?"

"You know, I don't usually take well to being threatened. It makes me angry, and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry," Kefka said.

"Or what? You'll turn into a big green guy?" Sora asked. He looked angrily at Kefka for a second, and then that expression turned into a small smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Kefka asked.

"What, I thought you liked jokes? Anyway, I just couldn't help but notice that you didn't even react when I told you that the princesses were here. It's almost like you already knew," Sora answered. Seeing the uncomfortable look on Kefka's face, Sora knew he had him right where he wanted him.

"Oh. The princesses are here?"

"You can drop the act… or maybe I'm just overlooking things. You know what? I have an overactive imagination. Well, nice seeing you," Sora said and with a wave of his hand he took off back down the long hallway. He could hear his name being called after again and again to come back but Sora ignored him and closed the door of the dungeons with a smile on his face.

So then Sora had been able to pick up on something that Kefka's interrogators hadn't. Kefka had probably already known that they had gathered the Princesses of Heart in one location, either because he and KRONOS had deduced this or even worse and it was something Sora didn't want to think about.

A spy? Is it possible? I don't want to start suspecting everyone but can I really let this go? Sora thought, leaning his head against the door. He couldn't dismiss the idea from his head no matter how hard he tried. It would have explained how Freya had known that Kairi was in Radiant Garden again to go after her and it seemed like something KRONOS would do, just like Moira's Crescent had once done with the two who had killed Abraxas and Desiree trying to poison him. He didn't want to doubt. He shouldn't have to.

"I hate this," Sora murmured into his arm. A hand tapped his right shoulder and he turned to meet the figure before grabbing her arms. "Yeul? Is that you?"

"Sora, you're hurting me!"

It was only when she said that that Sora could see that it was not in fact Yeul who had somehow risen from the dead, but Namine he was grasping so tightly. He let go quickly and looked down to check if her arms were alright. After assessing and being satisfied with their condition, Sora looked up to meet her eyes.

"Sorry, I thought you were-"

"Yeul, I know. Do you always see her when you look at me?" Namine asked.

"I… for a while now. You have to understand that it's not like I choose to do this. It's always you and I'm not sure why. Probably because of your seer powers but it's… still so messed up. If I call you Yeul ever again, feel free to slap me."

"I couldn't do that," Namine said but let out a giggle regardless.

"So, why are you here? You came all the way down here just to follow me?" Sora asked.

"I was wondering where you were going. I assume you talked to Kefka? Did you find anything out?" Namine asked.

Sora considered answering truthfully for a moment. Were he to do so then Namine would no doubt want to help. He supposed he could have her keeping tabs on anyone suspicious but it would also put her in a grave amount of danger, something he wouldn't dare risk. Considering she could also see the future, were his enemies to get word or even the slightest hint to her nature, then that alone would make her a target. He hadn't even dared to try and test Kefka on whether he knew about Namine either.

"Nope. As quiet as always," Sora lied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Are you sure? You know you can always tell me if there's something wrong," Namine said.

"Not this time. Namine, I want you to do something for me. It's not safe for you here. I don't trust Kefka and if KRONOS knew he was here and knew that you inherited Yeul's powers… I can't risk that. You need to go back to Twilight Town-"

"I can't!" Namine cried out with an urgency that stunned Sora. Then she said more calmly, "I can't be alone again. All I ever did was sit in that white room, drawing every day. I'm trying to make friends here. I can't stop now and I can't leave all of you when there's such an imminent danger ahead."

"But you can make friends in Twilight Town. What about Hayner, Pence and Olette? You can even go to school with them if you want," Sora said.

"I'll be alright. Besides, Yen Sid needs to know when I have my visions so he can act accordingly," Namine said but Sora shook his head.

"Oh, screw him!" He said it with such anger that it surprised even himself, let alone Namine. He blamed it on feelings of frustration piling up but there was also something else. "Sorry. It's just… he's asked us to do something that is rather immoral, and I don't know how to approach it exactly. I've been so angry with him lately. He prioritized finding Alice over Luna when she was still stuck in the Realm of Darkness and now he's telling me to prioritize something else over Alice."

"Do you hate him?" Namine asked.

"That… is a rather strong word. I certainly detest him at the moment. I just don't want to do this for the rest of my life, Namine. I don't want this to be who I am. It's just something I've been thinking about, but I can see a point of no return where once I cross it, I'll never be able to turn back," Sora said. "I want to ask you something. If I ever stopped using the Keyblade… if I ever stopped saving the worlds, would you hate me for it?"

"Nothing lasts forever, right? Why would I hate you?"

"Because it would be a purely selfish reason," Sora said. "I know that's not something you're used to."

"No, it wouldn't be. But that doesn't make it wrong either. I'm trying to change too. It's those speckles of happiness that you have to reach out for, otherwise you never know when you'll get the opportunity to catch them again," Namine said with a smile that reminded him very much of Kairi for that instant, but only the instant, because he didn't want to compare Namine to anyone. She was her own person, and Sora could only hope to find that strength she possessed and become his own person too.