Alrighty guys. Here's Deep Space!

Also, just so y'all know. I leave on Hiatus TOMORROW - and this Hiatus will last anywhere from three to eighteen months. But fret not! This story is now entirely written (liar I still have two more chapters to finish...) so there will be several updates tonight, and then probably the last two tomorrow. BUT I WILL FINISH THIS FIC! THe rest of the series will have to wait, but... ce la vie...


Ember growled at the Jellyshades that infested this area of the Lanes. "Unversed? Out here?" Shaking her head, Ember made quick work of the brightly colored nuisances. The last of the Unversed slammed into her Rider, throwing her off course, only to be stopped abruptly as she crashed into some sort of solid object. An extremely large solid object.

Her vision went black as she skidded along a relatively flat area, Soulfire returned to its keyblade form and vanished.

When she came to, Ember was still wearing her Armor and was slumped against a pillar of some sort on the Launch Deck of a large spaceship. "Ouch…" Staggering to her feet, Ember looked around - searching for a way into the spaceship. When she was finally inside an airlock she banished her Armor and fumbled for an elixir; as soon as her head stopped throbbing and the fire in her ribs dropped to a manageable level, she summoned Soulfire and cast Cura on herself, fixing the last of her injuries.

No sooner had she completed that chore, when Unversed appeared around her. "No rest for the weary, huh?" she grumbled, starting on the monsters. Upon finding that the computer on the far side of the room controlled the gravity in said room, the fight became a lot more fun; she activated Darkness Inferno and jumped after the Unversed. Finishing up there, she turned the gravity back on and left the airlock. She wandered around for who knows how long, taking out any Unversed that crossed her path, then she noticed a roundish alien with four eyes in a prison jumpsuit sneaking down a hallway she hadn't been by yet.

A swarm of Unversed slowed her down slightly and when she finally laid her hand on the panel that opened the door at the end of the hallway she was slightly out of breath.

The door slid open to reveal a large room, but her gaze was drawn immediately to a tall man she recognized easily.

"Please don't! My friend gave me that!" Terra cried, reaching in vain for a small blue creature and his Wayfinder, then blinking in surprise at his own words.

"Friend? Are you joking?" the alien laughed. "Such concept is totally lost on 626!" Even as he said that, 626 dropped the charm and scurried away.

Terra picked the gold and orange star up gently, staring down at it. "Funny…" He mused, "This whole time I've been telling myself I want to be stronger, more independent… but the second I let my heart do the talking… I find out how little I really know myself. And how much I miss them."

"Life's funny that way."

Terra turned around sharply; "Ember." She was standing just inside the doorway. A small smile formed on his face.

"Just when we think we've figured out what we want, what we need turns out to be the exact opposite."

"Jumba, this experiment of yours," he turned back to Jumba. "Are you sure about him?"

"Maybe, in his heart, he wants friends just like the rest of us." Ember suggested, coming over to her friend.

"Impossible!" Jumba scoffed. "He has no actual feelings - only destructive instincts I have carefully chosen for him."

"And yet, he gave the Wayfinder back without a fight." The redhead pointed out.

"That means nothing! Perhaps you need another demonstration of my evil geniusness!" The alien dropped a small ball into a beaker and everyone was forced to shield their eyes from the blinding light that burst from said beaker.

Ember and Terra both summoned their Keyblades as the light faded to reveal a small yellow creature sparking with electricity. Jumba was nowhere to be seen. "You ready for this?" Ember asked and Terra scoffed.

"You doubting me?" He questioned with a grin.

Ember smirked. "Just making sure." Terra rolled his eyes at his friend and lunged towards Experiment 221, only to get hit with a bolt of lightning. "That looked like it hurt."

"Shut up, Ember."

221 was an annoying opponent, its electric attacks did a lot of damage, and it wasn't fond of holding still long enough to get hit itself. Ultimately, the hardest part of the fight was simply getting out of the way fast enough to avoid the attacks that came their way. At one point it vanished into the circuitry of a pair of cannons which then started targeting them. "I've got this, Terra!" Ember called, activating Midnight Volley and taking out the guns and leaving the man to attack 221 when it was expelled - dazed - from the cannons. The duo made quick work of 221 after that.

626 came back in while Ember was healing the two of them. "Why have you returned?" Jumba asked.

626 made a garbled sound and Terra walked forward. "Maybe he wants to know what a friend is."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Jumba sputtered.

Ember ignored him in favor of joining Terra. "Friendship isn't something that can really be explained," she told the little creature.

"When you feel it," Terra knelt so he was closer to 626's level, "you'll know it." 626 looked down, almost disappointedly.

Ember laughed slightly. "I'm Ember, and this is Terra."

"Em...bur... Ter...ra..."

"That's right." Ember nodded. "And I wouldn't worry too much about making friends. It's easier than you'd think." The little blue creature gave the approximation of a smile.

"Not if I have any say in matter!" Jumba protested. "You are only meant to think about what it is you will destroy next. Now, I fix what is wrong with you."

Even as 626 snarled defensively, an alarm began blaring. "Red Alert! Red Alert! Experiment 626 and two prisoners have escaped from the cell bay. Security, locate the fugitives immediately. Repeat: Experiment 626 and two prisoners-" 626 vanished into the air ducts and Jumba chased after him.

"We should get going - don't want to get caught." Ember started towards the door.

"Ember, wait." Terra reached for her slightly and she turned. "Can I talk to you?"

The redhead smiled softly, hearing the unspoken plea. Will you listen? "Always." he sighed in relief. "There's a room not too far from here that we can hide in for a little bit."

Terra followed her as she snuck through the hallway and opened one of the doors with her Keyblade. Slipping through the door, Terra locked it behind them with his own Keyblade. The young man turned to face his friend and saw her sitting on one of the crates that filled this room.

"What did you want to talk about?" she prodded gently, not demanding, just letting him know that she was ready to listen.

He told her a little about his experiences so far, then, "I feel like I'm being pulled in a dozen different directions and I don't know who to trust anymore…" He admitted.

"You can trust yourself." Ember answered with a small smile. "And you can trust the friendship the four of us have."

"When Aqua is running around telling me that I'm falling to Darkness?"

"Aqua's trying her best, Terra. She's just had the majority of her beliefs turned on their head, but she's trying. When she said she wanted you to stay away from the Darkness, she was really trying to tell you that she's been worried sick about you."

"She is?"

"Dark Beacon..." Ember scoffed. "You two are so blind."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The way you feel about Aqua? She feels the same way; trust me." Terra seemed speechless for a moment, a faint blush staining his cheeks. She tilted her head and changed the subject slightly. "I can get why you're mad at Aqua and Eraqus… but why are you pushing me and Ven away too?"

"I... " Terra paused, wondering the same thing. "I don't really know."

"Admitting you're wrong is half the battle." Terra scowled at her; he hated admitting he was wrong.

"So what do you suggest?" He asked. "I've seen you use Darkness in your attacks… I even accidentally went into that Command Style of yours while D-linking with you."

"Mm…. Darkness Inferno." Ember agreed. "I don't usually let people know about that one."

"But how do you do it? Eraqus has only ever scolded you about Darkness once or twice."

"I'm clever." Ember responded crisply. "And Eraqus sees things in black and white - when in reality there are so many more shades. He's wrong to think you're going Evil when all you're doing is fighting with Darkness."

Terra blinked dumbly at her. "There's a difference?"

"Between Darkness and Evil? Absolutely. Darkness cannot be destroyed… it can only be channeled." Terra was startled at hearing the same words Xehanort had told him but from Ember's mouth - they had a slightly different ring to them when she said it. "People with strong protective instincts actually tend to lean more towards Darkness, since it's a protective force itself."

"Darkness… is protective?" Terra questioned incredulously.

"Don't act so surprised, I'm sure you've noticed it too. Darkness comes easiest to you when you're protecting yourself or someone else." Terra vividly remembered the feeling of his Keyblade smashing into Braig's side and winced. She watched him knowingly. "But you do have to be careful. While Darkness and Evil are separate, they are also close to one another and sometimes it's easy to fall into the Abyss' trap."

"The Abyss?"

"Another name for Evil." Ember explained offhandedly. "I use them interchangeably, don't worry about it."

Terra opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by another alarm. "We're running out of time."

"Then this is where we part ways, huh?" She unlocked the room and the two slipped out.

"You're not going to follow me?" Terra asked, a tad surprised.

"I trust you, Terra." Ember told him. "Just promise me you'll be careful. People who can successfully use the Darkness and not fall into the Abyss are few and far between; it takes an incredible strength of - not only Heart - but Soul as well."

"And you're one of them." Terra surmised with a grin.

Ember nodded. "As far as I know I'm the only one currently alive who's succeeded; but I believe you can do it too."

Which pretty much meant that Xehanort was NOT to be trusted. Great.

They each activated their armor and stepped out of the Airlock onto the Landing Pad. "How do you 'succeed'?" Terra asked curiously

"Prove yourself against the Abyss at least twice." Ember responded simply, summoning her Rider. "The individual Trials are different for everybody." The gold and red armored girl considered her brown and gold armored friend. "And I think you may already be halfway there."

"Halfway there?!" Terra gasped.

Ember huffed a slight laugh and took off, followed closely by him, only to split up in the Lanes.

As she left him behind, Ember could swear she heard him promise. "Ember, Ven, Aqua… I'll find some way to make things right."

And she responded, somehow knowing her words would carry to him. "WE'LL make things right, Terra. You don't have to do everything alone."

Another Keychain appeared in her pouch - this one called Hyperdrive.


Next Chapter: Neverland