The Road to Dawn
By Ariana Aislinn
Chapter 20: Into the World of Twilight

This chapter is up pretty quickly for two reasons. One, I had two snow days in a row and didn't have to go in to work, and two, I was impatient and didn't wait for one of my beta readers to be available to check it over. :P However, I am pretty happy with it, and I read it over to check for mistakes and I don't think I see any. (crosses fingers) So I hope there won't be any problems, but as always, please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Standard disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix and Disney, not me.

The two figures tumbled out of the swirling vortex into a wide entry hall. The mist in front of Kairi's eyes that Roxas had called a duskcloak seemed to fall away, dissolving into the dust that covered the floor. Kairi shook her head and blinked, taking in the sight of dust-covered debris, broken statues, and damaged pillars. In front of her, a wide stairway rose up to the second floor of the building, and straight ahead was a large, glass window, through which sunlight streamed, forming hazy beams of light in the dust-strewn air of the mansion.

A black-gloved hand reached out to Kairi, and she blinked dazedly at the man standing before her. He was tall, very tall, and wrapped in red and black robes with strange symbols on them. His face was swathed in crimson bandages so she could not make out his features, except for two glowing, golden eyes that seemed oddly familiar. She shivered slightly, but she took the proffered hand and climbed to her feet. The man released her, placing his hand on her shoulder to help her steady herself, then turned to Kairi's companion, who had already gotten to his feet and was dusting himself off. "Were there any problems, Roxas?"

The kid shook his head. "Nope. Thanks for keeping the portal open for us, DiZ. Hopefully we're safe from Darkside now…even if he can guess where we've gone, he'll have a hard enough time getting to us here."

The older man nodded. "I certainly hope so. Remember, though, it is just as imperative that you continue to evade their grasp as it is for Kairi." He turned to Kairi then, and she took an involuntary step back. He seemed to take no offense, however, and carefully took Kairi's hand, bowing over it slightly. "Greetings, Kairi. It is a pleasure to see you again."

She furrowed her brow, perplexed. "…Again?"

The man chuckled, releasing her hand and straightening. "You would not remember, of course. Please, call me DiZ, and welcome to my home."

Kairi surveyed the room doubtfully. "You live here?"

Roxas laughed, clasping his hands behind his head. "Doesn't look like much, does it? DiZ finds it useful if people think the place is abandoned, so he hasn't cleaned up since the attack."

"Attack?"

"Now, now, Roxas. Please don't confuse our guest. There are many tales for you to hear, Kairi, and many of them are quite long and complicated, but there is no need to begin just yet. The important thing is that you and Roxas are safe, for now."

Kairi took a deep breath, steadying herself and trying to stabilize the thoughts that tumbled chaotically through her head. "So, you brought me here to keep me safe from the Organization, right? Where am I, exactly?"

"You're in Twilight Town, my hometown," Roxas told her. "You might call it the central world in the Twilight World."

"Twilight World…?"

Roxas laughed. "Sorry, like DiZ said, there's a lot to explain. First let's get you settled. I think DiZ has had a room cleaned up for you on the second floor. It'll do for a little while, at least. DiZ, should I take her up there?"

The other man nodded. "If you would. When you are properly settled, Kairi, I would like you to rejoin me in the banquet hall. There is much to discuss, and although I would prefer to give you time to relax, it is time we do not have." He turned to the blond boy. "After showing Kairi to her room, you'd better head home, Roxas. I'd prefer your friends didn't come looking for you here."

"Gotcha. Don't want anyone snooping around the mansion, I know." Roxas nodded. "This way, Kairi!"

He took her hand, pulling her along toward the stairs. Kairi glanced back at DiZ, who merely nodded benignly and stood in the middle of the entry hall, composed and patient. With a shrug, Kairi turned and followed Roxas, allowing him to lead her upstairs.

"Don't let DiZ bother you," Roxas was saying. "He's a mysterious guy, but he's very wise, and he's on our side."

Kairi frowned. "Forgive me, but I'm not even positive that you're on my side. After all, you did say Axel sent you."

To her mild surprise, he laughed. "Yeah, it would be a little hard to trust me, wouldn't it?" He turned his head to smile warmly at her. "But we've got reason to be friends. We met once, long ago. I was too young to remember much, but I do remember you were very small yourself, and very scared. I remember wishing I could figure out a way to make you feel braver. You don't remember it - it's one of the things that must have been erased, I'm guessing. Besides, it's hard to remember things when you're that young. Just trust me that you've been here before, and despite all that happened back then, we're both working for the same thing - the protection of all the worlds, and the return of the Light."

Kairi nodded slowly. "I guess I'll take your word for it. There's just…so much to take in."

Roxas shrugged, reaching the top of the stairs and leading her down a hallway. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry, DiZ will explain it to you when you're ready. You won't be here forever, but while you are here, we're hoping you can learn some of the things that DiZ knows. He'll help you with your magic, too."

"Oh yeah, magic." Kairi sighed. "There's just…so much left to learn! I've barely started, and I can't really do anything at all yet." She chewed her lip. "Axel wanted me to learn magic, too."

"Yeah, Axel…" Roxas sighed as well. "That's a subject I'm not even going to try to get into. Hopefully DiZ will be able to explain it better than I will. Let's just say that I think in this case, Axel's right about your magic…but you'd be wise to take everything he says and does with a grain of salt. You'll see why, eventually." He brightened. "Here we are, your room." He pushed open a door just a little way down the hall, leading Kairi inside. The curtains were pushed back and the window was open slightly, letting in some fresh air. The place had been given a good dusting, and it appeared to have been swept. Fresh linens were on the bed, and a soft, clean rug had been placed on the hardwood floor. Dust still lingered on some surfaces and floated in the air, but it was obvious her host had done the best he could. "If it's all right, DiZ would like you to join him for meals. There's nothing fancy, I'm afraid - he doesn't have any servants anymore. I run errands for him now and then, getting groceries and the like, but we have to be careful to avoid suspicion."

Kairi sat on the bed. "Why doesn't he have any servants? And why doesn't he want anyone to know he lives here?"

Roxas sighed, scrubbing his spiky hair with one hand. "Well…DiZ probably won't tell you any of this himself, and I'm not sure he'd want me to tell you, but let's just say that something happened here, long ago. Twilight Town was nearly destroyed, and although it's mostly recovered since then, DiZ still feels responsible for letting it happen. Most people at the time thought he died in the attack. In fact, he nearly did. We've carried on without him, but while the town recovered, he's been secretly studying and exploring, using his knowledge and his magic to find out exactly what happened here. He knows a lot, and he intends to put it right. He's taught me to use my own powers, and he's helped me deal with my own…uh…" Roxas shrugged. "It's hard to explain, but something happened to me in the attack, something bad. Not an injury, but DiZ helps me keep it under control, at the same time that he helps me with my powers. I've been using those powers to help him, to visit other worlds and find stuff out for him."

"But…who is DiZ, then?"

"Oh! Didn't I say?" Roxas grinned. "DiZ used to be our king, back when we were attacked. Now that everyone thinks he's dead, we have a mayor - my friend Olette's dad. But the king of Twilight Town traditionally has access to all our ancient secrets and history, and that's been lost to most of us now. Most people here just try to get from one day to the next, now, and they keep to themselves, pretty much. Not me." He shook his head. "I want to do something to help. So that's one of the reasons I work for DiZ."

Kairi rubbed her temples. "Why does he call himself DiZ? That seems a pretty strange name."

Roxas shrugged. "Eh, a couple reasons. I've been coming around here since I was a kid, when I first saw someone's shadow moving around upstairs. DiZ befriended me and started to teach me, but I was still pretty young and not good at watching my tongue. He gave me the name DiZ instead of his real name, in case I accidentally let slip where I was. I did a couple of times, but my parents thought it was some kind of game or imaginary friend, and they ignored it. They ignored a lot of things in those days." He sighed, then brightened again, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking on his heels. "Anyway, I also think DiZ changed his name to separate himself from the leader who failed to protect his people in the attack. Back then he was known as Lord Dumos il Zenden."

Kairi nodded with a faint smile. "I know someone with a similar problem. He changed his name too, and for much the same reason. But…" She frowned at Roxas. "You're telling me an awful lot for someone you just met."

"Heh, I guess I am." Roxas shrugged again. "But like I said…I guess I feel like it's okay because I remember you from when we met before, even though we were really little. And…I'll be honest, you're the first person I've ever been able to tell the truth since I met DiZ." He looked at her sadly with those bright blue eyes. "I've never been able to tell anyone else about DiZ, or what I remembered from the attack - no one wanted to talk about it. I guess I'm just hoping that we can be friends, because I have friends, sure, but no one I can tell everything to. You know, everything, not holding anything back." He laughed. "Not that you're ready to hear everything yet, and I'm sure you're sick of me talking your ear off. Look, I gotta go anyway. I'm supposed to meet my friends for lunch, and they're going to wonder if I'm late again."

"But wait!" Kairi protested as he started to turn toward the door. She reached out a hand as if to grab his shirt and stop him. "There's still so many questions I have left to ask…"

Roxas turned to grin at her. "All in good time. Like I said, DiZ will answer a lot of them for you, and he'll be better at it than me, trust me. Besides, I'll be back!" He reached over and squeezed her hand, then headed to the door. "Take care, Kairi…and don't worry. You're with friends now. Even if you don't believe anything else I've said, believe that, would ya?" He gave her a casual salute of sorts and walked out the door, waving back at her. "See ya later!"

Kairi watched him walk down the hall, then fell backward with a sigh. Her head hit the pillow with a thwump, sending a thin billow of dust into the air. She wrinkled her nose and sneezed slightly.

Well, there was one good thing about being here, even if there did seem to be way too much information for her to process and take in. If what Roxas said was true, Kairi would be able to learn what she needed to know in order to take action and help her friends. I want to do something to help Sora and the others. I want to make a difference, she sighed inwardly to herself. She set her mouth in a determined line. This time, I'll fight. I won't sit idly by and watch everything I love be torn away from me. I'm going to protect what's important.

I know this chapter is a bit short, but that's because I started writing it and it ending up getting so very long, I split it into two. Chapter 21 will be up very shortly because of this. I'm breaking formula and not jumping to a new character every two chapters. My choice of characters for each chapter will be much more plot-based from now on, because I know exactly how it's all going to play out from here till the end of the story. That doesn't mean we're anywhere near the end, though! Another thing - I realize that Roxas here is quite a bit different than he was in KH2. If you'll recall, I'm making this story very much AU, using CoM as a jumping off point, and sometimes the characters change into something radically different, whether I intended it or not. Anyway, next chapter will be up quite soon. In the meantime, read, review, enjoy!