A/N: Oh. Em. Gee. I am so happy. I have two new reviewers and it seems like more people are starting to like my story. This makes me sooo happy considering that I figured no one would like it. xP So, now I have a short story. I finally got to watch Advent Children yesterday, and afterwards I was just "so proud" of Cloud, I guess, that I went downstairs and played my KH II. Silly me, I thought I could beat Sephiroth at my low level. xDD Now, let's see who our mysterious visitor is.

Disclaimer - Don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Sora could not believe his eyes and, judging by the wild stares around the room, he guessed the others could not, either. Standing in the doorway was a tall man in an Organization XIII coat with red hair so spiky that it looked lethal to the touch. Unfortunately for the visitor, there were only a handful of people in the room who realized he was not evil: Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Riku. The floorboards squeaked as Cloud and Leon both jumped out of their seats, unsheathing their weapons. Axel immediately raised his hands in defense. "Hey, hey, hey! I come in peace."

"Yeah! Axel helped us out before," quacked Donald in an attempt to diffuse the hostility.

"Speaking of which, Axel, how are you alive?" demanded Sora, his eyes still staring at the Nobody with disbelief. In the back of his mind, he could hear Roxas cheering with relief.

Axel nodded as he rubbed the back of his head. "That's a good question, and it's not the only weird thing; I feel like I actually have a heart now."

"What?"

Riku began, slowly, "If Axel came back to life because he somehow regained his heart, then what about the rest of the Organization?" An uneasy silence filled the table.

'I wish I could say the same...' groaned Roxas, though Sora reminded him that he was, at least, reunited with his original body.

Keira, who had been looking from one person to the other since Axel's appearance with a face full of confusion, frowned. "What Organization?" The others glanced at each other, unsure of how to explain to her.

Sora had the perfect idea. "You were part of the Organization after all, Axel. Explain away."

"Then explain about the others," added Riku.

XxX

After Axel had finished his explanation about the Organization, Keira held her head. "This is so hard to comprehend," she mumbled, Aerith patting her head when she dropped it to the table.

"My thoughts are that maybe the rest of the Organization members haven't been revived," said Axel, "At least not Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Larxene, and Marluxia. But from what I've heard whispered about Maleficent, it seems pretty likely she'll try to give the others hearts."

"Like Xemnas," chorused Riku and Sora. Axel nodded his agreement.

Goofy was in awe. "Gawrsh, Axel, your heart must have not disappeared for a while."

"But it still doesn't make sense," argued Riku. "He faded away. If his heart was still out there, wouldn't it have come back to him, or something?"

King Mickey sighed. "Welp, seems we don't know as much about hearts and existence as we thought we did, fellas." This particular bit of news was stressful, considering that Maleficent would jump at the opportunity to revive the Organization; not because she particularly needed their help, but because they would serve as an excellent distraction.

"Are you going to help our side, Axel?" asked Kairi in a quiet voice. She was beyond ready to forgive him for what he had done, considering it had all been for the sake of getting his best friend back. Kairi knew she would act irrationally if something happened to Sora or Riku.

"Well," he began with a significant glance at Keira, who still had her head on the table, "What's been going on here lately?"Sora, Leon and the others filled him in on what he needed to know. "A war, huh?" He was much more comfortable, sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on the table. "This just proves that I'm probably right about the others being revived." He glanced back at Keira. "And a princess of both sides to boot; I really did miss out on some good stuff."

"But first things first," Tifa broke in. "We should go to that Traverse Town to see what's going on there."

"Which leads us back to our original problem: we can't all fit in both Gummi ships at once," stated Riku with a shake of his head, and everyone's attention returned to Axel.

Yuffie grinned. "Say, Axel, you can't still use those portals, can you?"

"I guess I probably still can. Ah, so you want me on your side so I can play chauffeur, eh?"

"Not necessarily," Kairi replied, sticking her tongue out, "I'm sure Naminé can still summon a portal..."

Axel smirked. "That's right. Naminé and Roxas coincidentally have Somebodies who are in love with each other." His grin became more pronounced when blushes appeared on Sora and Kairi's cheeks.

'I know what he's talking about with you and Kairi, but... What's he hinting at?' asked Roxas, sounding completely embarrassed.

Sora rolled his eyes, blushing still, and Riku immediately knew he was speaking with Roxas. 'I wonder.'

Leon, the undisputed leader of the Radiant Garden, remarked, "How about we make sure that we all have to go, first? After that, we can get ready."

"We all are going. Except Merlin; he should watch the kids," replied Kairi with a surprising amount of force.

King Mickey stood from his place at the table. "Let's get done what we have to, fellas, and meet back here in two hours." He paused at the door and added, "And, Princess, go back to your room; you'll find three ladies waiting for you." Keira raised her head at long last, feeling a little nervous about what she was going to find in her room as she dragged her feet up the stairs. Her head was still reeling from the bout of yesterday's news, and the new knowledge did nothing to relieve the pain.

XxX

"What do you think we should be expecting at Traverse Town?" asked Cloud as he swung his Buster sword, while Leon parried the blow. The two of them were in the Bailey, getting some extra practice in before leaving since the others were taking care of getting together supplies.

Leon pushed away the other blade. "If I remember the surprises Traverse Town threw at us the first time, I'd have to say anything and everything."

XxX

When Keira returned to her room, she found it occupied by three small fairies, which was nothing like what she had expected. "Oh, my, so this is the newly discovered princess!" One of the fairies, dressed in a green gown, remarked with awe. The teenager smiled nervously and did something she never thought she'd do in her entire life: she curtsied.

The women appeared touched by the gesture. "And a respectful dear, too," smiled the fairy in red, Flora. "Now, my dear, the King has told us all about you. He says that you will probably need a new outfit for your journey."

"I'm glad to see that two princesses are going to be fighting against that evil Maleficent." The last fairy in blue, Merryweather, cheered. "It's about time."

"Indeed it is," agreed Flora as she surveyed Keira. "Don't be afraid dear, come closer." She steadily closed the distance between her and the fairies. The women considered the girl before them. "Now then, you'll need dresses, of course, which we've already done and put in your closet." Keira smiled faintly; she'd always wanted to wear a princess dress when she was a little girl, but, what with her fighting, she did not see much of a need. Of course, she did not mention this; she had no problem with wearing the dresses around in her free time. "And now you need a new outfit. Something red will do well." With the flick of Flora's wand, Keira was wearing a long red tube top, red skirt and knee-high red boots. Her arms were covered up to her elbows by white arm warmers with red ribbons. Around her neck was a red bandanna. Keira glanced at herself in the mirror, unable to decide if she looked like she had been covered in blood or red paint.

Fauna smiled delicately. "That outfit is perfect, Flora!" she commented, "But there's just one teensy problem." She flicked her wand next and everything that had been red on Keira was now green. "There, much better!"

"Ah, ah, ah, ladies, we all know that outfit is not fit for a princess." Merryweather shook her head and flicked her wand, turning Keira's clothes blue. "Perfect!"

"Blue? Merryweather are you-?"

"Green is a much better color."

"Keira looks beautiful in blue," insisted Merryweather.

Flora was far from convinced. "No, no. I think red would be better." At once, the fairies were glaring at each other. All three of them held out their wands and flicked them at once, causing Keira's outfit to change dramatically. The bandanna disappeared; her tube top became black with a black and white divided heart on the front and a red rose on the back, the pleated skirt softened to a pure white, and her boots became black leather with a blue shoelace on one and a green one on the other. The ribbons on her gloves turned black and her hair was tied back with a red ribbon.

'This is what I'm talking about,' she thought as she admired her reflection with a smile. "I love my outfit; it's beautiful. Thank you so much."

Fauna sighed with longing. "Ah, she's almost as fair as our dear Aurora."

"Now then, dear, you have some preparing to do," reminded Flora. "Go on." The other three joined her in calling, "Goodbye, Princess!" as she left the room.

As Keira returned downstairs, she glanced down at the silver chain clenched in her hand. She had enough of a mind to take it off before the fairies experimented with her outfit, fortunately for her. The light reflected off of the surface of the black mirror-like necklace. "Hello, there." Merlin's voice startled her, and she looked up from her precious memento, the only reminder she had of her home. He was examining, but not quite reading, a book and appeared to be the only one in the house.

"Say, Merlin?"

"Hmm?"

Her cheeks flushed as she mumbled, "How do you use magic?" It was a question that had been eating at her since day one when Aerith healed her. Knowing that Sora, Riku and even Kairi were particularly gifted at magic only made her want to learn even more.

Merlin's book closed with an audible snap as he smiled at her. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd ask," he admitted as he stood and pulled out his wand. "The best way to use magic is to feel the element you're using. Or envisioning something the magic's element is associated with. The more experienced you are with magic, the more you can do with it. Now, let's start with fire." She nodded to show her understanding as she followed him up to the stone isle. With a flick of his wand, one of the plates began to hover in midair. "Close your eyes and think about a fire burning. Feel the fire pulsing and flowing through your veins. Become one with the fire. Now, open your eyes and try to hit this plate by surrounding it with fire."

Her eyes flew open as Shadow Heart flashed into existence. She could feel the fire flowing through her body, and she could picture it pulsing from the tip of her blade. "Fire!" A small flame escaped from the tip of her blade and shattered the plate with ease.

Merlin clapped. "Bravo! I assumed your fire would be in a ring, but it seemed you were able to condense it. Good! Have you worked with magic before?" he added with curiosity.

A sheepish smile appeared on her face. "Back home I liked to use fire, I think."

Merlin chuckled. "Well, that's all I've to teach you for now. For any other element you want to use, just imagine it flowing through you in the same way. Aerith may be able to teach you the cure spell."

"Thanks a lot, Merlin." Keira shouldered Shadow Heart, distantly making out Merlin's voice say, "Anytime, my dear." As she stepped outside, a rush of adrenaline flowed through her. It might have been excitement that she had advanced her skillset further. Either way, she ran with the rush, grabbing a windowsill and hurling herself atop a rooftop. Grinning, she thought of what Cloud would say... But such humorous thoughts were driven from her mind as a white creature appeared before her.

The creature was indescribable, but it somehow looked similar to a human, only in a grotesque way; it looked more like someone's failed attempt at creating a human. The creature took large steps, its body twisting in unusual ways as it walked toward her. She could only stare at it in horror, it was so terrible looking. Several more of the same creatures appeared with the first, and she made to stab at the one nearest her, failing to notice one circling her feet, a big mistake.

Her body filled with white hot pain as the creature around her feet knocked her upwards and repeatedly hit her body. She let out a small cry as her body hit the roof across from the one she'd just been on. When she stood, there were even more of the white things thrusting their way toward her. In front of the creatures, she noticed, was a pair of feet (and tiny head) creeping toward her. "What the hell!" Instead of trying to fight the foreign creatures, she hopped off of the roof, landing on the pavement that led to the Bailey.

Upon noticing Cloud and Leon in the Bailey, she promptly hid herself behind the former. "What's wrong?" Cloud glanced down at her, confused by her antics, noticing her body quivering with fear. Before she had the opportunity to answer, the creatures entered the Bailey.

"Damn Nobodies," cursed Leon as he and Cloud ran forward to take them out. For them, it seemed to be an easy feat, and the creatures were gone in an instant. The Nobodies were, after all, only Dusks and Creepers. Keira ran her index finger along the side of her left arm, smearing blood on it in the process.

Keira hissed in pain before asking, "Those are Nobodies? I thought Axel was a Nobody?"

"He could've done a better job at explaining," mumbled Cloud with unconcealed distaste. "Those were Dusks and Creepers. They're the weakest types of Nobodies. They don't have a human form because their wills weren't very strong when they became Heartless."

Keira scowled, more or less at herself, as she stopped the blood flow with her arm warmer. "They're a lot stronger than Heartless."

Although he should have, most likely, appeared exasperated, Leon looked completely calm. "That's because Nobodies plan before they attack, unlike Heartless, who attack on instinct," he explained. "Axel's assumption must have been right; I'm going to go find the King." With those as his parting words, the Gunblade wielder hopped down onto the lower level and disappeared in the direction of the castle.

Cloud closed the space between himself and Keira. "Stay with me, and we'll go find Aerith." She nodded, silently, and followed him as they moved in the direction opposite of Leon. Not too long after that, they found themselves passing through a crystal fissure and entering the Great Maw. Since it was now summer, the Maw was covered by green grass and many flowers; Cloud wasn't surprised to find Aerith in the center of the large field. "Aerith," She looked up from her spot on the ground, observing the wounded girl, and ran to join them.

Upon reaching Keira, she muttered a few words and the familiar green tendrils embraced the teenager, curing her wound. "That might be a good spell for you to learn. The next time you or someone else is hurt, imagine healing power running through you. Imagine the bright, calming feeling, and you should be able to use cure." Keira nodded her head in thanks.

Aerith drew to her full height, eyes boring into Cloud's. "What do I need to know?" she asked, guessing Keira's wounds had to do with something relevant to current events.

"Maleficent's found a way to gain power over Nobodies; we were just attacked by them," he informed her before turning away. "We should probably head back to the house so we can leave for Traverse Town as soon as possible."

"Right," agreed Aerith before glancing back at Keira, who appeared worried. "We'll be okay, come on."

XxX

Two hours later, as promised, everyone reunited at Merlin's house, awaiting their departure. Cid restored Sora's ship with ease, and, as it turned out, Axel could still utilize portals; it might have not been the best thing, but it was fortunate for the group. They would divide themselves between Axel and the two ships. The Nobodies were indeed a problem, but, until they were sure that none of the powerful Organization members had been revived, there was nothing for them to get too excited about.

"I'll take Roxas and Naminé," offered Axel. Presently, the group was trying to figure out who would go where. Keira scratched the back of her head, unsure of what he meant.

Kairi and Sora, however, did. "Hey!"

"I'll go with," decided Riku.

Keira joined them as well. "Me too; I don't like flying that much," she added in response to the strange looks she was receiving. "If my feet are flat on the ground, then I'm happy."

Axel grinned. "That just about does it for me," he said as he looked to the others. Cloud made to join Axel and the others, but Tifa grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Flying's not all that bad. Besides, with Cid being pilot, what could go wrong?"

XxxxxX

"What's wrong with you? Can you not see those meteors?" exclaimed Yuffie, the most nervous anyone had ever seen her, as she hovered over Cid's shoulder. She, Cloud, and Tifa were in one ship with Cid as pilot while Donald piloted the other ship with Goofy, Mickey, Leon, and Aerith.

Tifa smiled nervously, "I guess Cid isn't that good of a pilot." Her nails sank into the arm of her chair. "It couldn't get any worse, could it?"

Yes, it could. A loud beeping sounded and the ship's light turned red as a computerized voice informed them: "Warning, warning. Total damage has been taken; crashing at nearest world."

Yuffie's nails sank into Cid's arm. "CID!" She was barely fighting the urge to throttle him, what with him being the pilot. Given that the ship no longer needed to be piloted, she was starting to have second thoughts.

"'Least the nearest world's Traverse Town," grinned Cid as Yuffie and Tifa slapped their foreheads.

Cloud was both highly entertained and highly disappointed, though his expression showed neither. "Cid, you realize that we're going to crash in Traverse Town, right?"

Cid's grin slipped off of his face. "Ah, right. Well, hang on tight," he said with the utmost seriousness as Yuffie jumped into Tifa's lap and held her tight.

Tifa scowled. "How can a man who creates strong ships not know how to fly them?"

XxX

Leon shook his head as he watched the other ship hurl toward Traverse Town. "There they go."

Donald clicked his tongue with disapproval. "Leon, I thought Cid was a Gummi expert?" he quacked, gently steering Highwind toward Traverse Town as if to prove his superiority over Cid.

"He is an expert," began Aerith, "At building and fixing them," finished Leon with his head in his hand as their ship landed in the first district.

XxX

"So, Keyblade Master, where are we?" asked Axel as he gazed around at the area the portal had led them to. They were standing on an isle in the middle of murky water; it looked like they were inside of a particularly large cave as the walls were textured and dark gray. Several stones led away from the isle and towards the only exit.

Sora took in the appearance of the all-too familiar area. "I think we're... Agh," he mumbled, tapping his forehead as his memory failed him. "This is where the Mystical House, Merlin's house, used to be." He glanced around at the fragments of wood and brick littering the ground. "But I guess something happened to it after Merlin left. Anyway, if we use those stones, we'll be in the third district."

Axel eyed the dark water with deep dislike. "There's no catch, right?" Sora nodded. "You better not be lying, got it memorized?" Just as he was about to jump onto the first stone, it moved, and Axel whirled around. "Lying twerp!"

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Oops, I forgot they moved," stated Sora with a sheepish smile. "It's not that hard, anyway." He was about to jump on the first stone when a loud growl rumbled.

"What was that?" whimpered Kairi, eyes sweeping the area.

Way to Dawn flashed into Riku's hand. "Don't know but something tells me we better get ready to fight." The others followed suit, Sora summoning Oblivion, Kairi summoning Radiant Destiny (A/N: Her keyblade from KH II), Keira summoning Shadow Heart, and Axel summoning his chakrams. The growling sounded again, growing louder and louder.

The water exploded as a gigantic white creature burst from its depths. 'I know what that is! That's the Twilight Thorn; I suggest you guys be careful.' Roxas spoke so seriously that Sora actually believed him. "Roxas said that this is a Twilight Thorn; I guess he battled it before," he added as he tightened his grip on Oblivion.

Axel nodded gravely. "I remember Saïx talking about that thing like it was his kid, and it still didn't kill Roxas," he added with a satisfactory smile. "But it has been a while, and if it's been living here, then it's probably a lot stronger. Ready?" To show Axel just how ready, Sora charged forward and leapt into the air, swinging Oblivion downward.

Riku watched a hint of amusement. "Sora, you realize that if you miss, you're going to fall into the water, right?" Once Sora struck Twilight Thorn with ease, sticking his tongue out in a very childish fashion at his best friend; Keira was instantly reminded of Nalani.

When Sora's body began to fall, he realized that he had celebrated too soon. "Damn gravity." He plunged about thirty feet below into the water.

"That's gonna hurt," remarked Axel, grinning slyly, as he prepared to attack as well.

Keira felt uncertain. "Axel? Are you sure that you can fight that thing if it's dripping wet?"

He chuckled as he jumped into the air. "My fire can go through anything, kid." Fire engulfed the chakrams before he hurled them at the Twilight Thorn.

Riku shot a glance behind him, at Keira and Kairi. "Ready for your first real fight?" he asked them, and it just dawned upon Keira that Kairi had never truly fought before, either. They appeared equally apprehensive but, after sharing a glance, nervous smiles appeared on their faces.

"We can do it," decided Kairi. "Hey, Riku, can you give me a lift?" He grinned at her thinking as she backed up and ran at him. As she approached him, he grabbed her - moving so fast that he was, once again, a blur to Keira - and hurled her into the air.

Riku turned toward her next. "Need a lift?" Her heart was beating so hard against her chest that she thought it might be like the scene out of Alien. She attempted to swallow her fear as she nodded. "Here goes nothing." He took her wrists into his hands and, as gently as possible, made her airborne. She slashed at the air a few times to gain altitude but, when it was not enough, she grabbed the only thing she could reach: the Nobody's shoulder.

"Perfect!" From her spot, she was able to hack away at the creature's head with ease. Between all of the hits it was receiving elsewhere and the attack on its head, Twilight Thorn was beginning to get extremely irked. Irked... but not injured. It held out its two hands and shot out tendrils of light and darkness, summoning lesser Nobodies in the process.

"Crap," she heard Axel growl as he was attacked by several airborne Creepers at once and plunged into the water. She took another shot at Twilight Thorn's head, deciding to test out her fire magic. Thanks in large part to the glow of the flame, Keira was finally noticed and sent plunging into the water, feeling quite sure, as she fell, that she had never felt so excited and terrified at the same time.

XxX

"Looks like I'll be fixin' 'er up again," sighed Cid as he climbed out of the crashed ship. Cloud climbed out behind him and pulled out the women.

"Where are we?" asked Tifa, gazing up at the buildings and down at her feet; they were standing in a stream of some sort.

Memories briefly overcame Yuffie. "We must be in the alley." In the split second after she spoke, she seemed to have heard something no one else did, for she bolted down the stream, kicking up water as she moved. "Follow me!" The others shrugged at each other before hurrying off after her, only to pause a few feet later where she was kicking at bars. The stream certainly appeared to go further, but the bars hindered them from wherever Yuffie wanted to go. She showed her displeasure by repeatedly kicking the metal.

Understandably concerned, Cloud began to offer his help. "Yuffie, do you want me to-?" He was cut off as she delivered a blow with her shuriken. His eyes widened as she knocked the bars apart, "Never mind."

When the water became so deep that they had to swim, Tifa asked, "Where are we going?" It was dark at first, gradually lightening until Yuffie could recognize the familiar surroundings.

She gasped, "The secret waterway!" A grin adorned her lips as water became shallow once more and they could walk.

"Why'd you bring us-?" Several loud splashes, deep growls, and screams masked the remainder of his sentence. "Holy fuck, what the hell was that?"

Yuffie did not seem to be concerned by the noises or the anxiety of her companions. "Follow me." She charged up a small staircase with a hovering platform.

"Why is it that whenever she says that, we're led to dark places?" murmured Tifa, grudgingly following the others. Yuffie jumped on the platform and signaled for the others to do the same. As soon as Tifa jumped up, the platform lifted and they found themselves standing on an isle with dark surroundings. Tifa sighed, "Always the dark." (A/n: Just a tidbit of comic relief. :D)

"What the hell?" exclaimed Yuffie upon noticing the Twilight Thorn and Kairi on the shore, clutching her sides and panting heavily, her eyes screwed up tight.

The group surged forward as one. "Kairi!" they called as they approached her. "Kairi, where are the others?" asked Cloud; the princess pointed to the water and he nodded in understanding.

"They were jumping at that thing in the water...? Is that very... smart?" wondered Tifa.

A smile returned to Yuffie's face. "I don't think that Sora or Axel have enough brains to know what smart is," she replied with a shake of her head as she pulled Kairi away from the water.

"It's not nice to insult people when they're not around." Axel's voice boomed as he and Sora climbed out of the water, both of them sopping wet.

Cloud noticed that the group was missing two people. "Where are Riku and Keira?" he asked as he searched the water for any sight of the two surfacing, but it was much too dark to see.

Sora stepped beside him. "They... didn't come up yet?"

XxX

At one point in her life, Keira knew she had enjoyed the water. She was not sure if she loved it as much as she had as a child, but the fact that she felt her lungs were about to explode was starting to make her detest both water and swimming. Even worse than running out of air, she had discovered twisted and grotesque-type Nobodies that were supposed to look like merpeople. (A/n: I just made these up.) She also seemed to continuously meet a shark Heartless that liked nothing more than to bite her, hide, return and bite her some more; her arm was covered in cuts and teeth marks. 'Stupid Nobodies, stupid Heartless. I want to go back home where the scariest thing I have to worry about is my final exams.'

Keira swiped Shadow Heart at the incoming merpeople Nobodies before kicking off the floor of the lake. As her left arm surfaced, a searing pain spread through her leg; she looked down to see a spear sticking in her calf. Fighting the urge to turn around and destroy the Nobody that had stabbed her, she forced her injured leg to wildly kick her to the surface. Coughing and sputtering water, her head bopped above the surface and she inhaled as much air as humanly possible.

The first thing that Keira noticed were the blurs on the island, but the next thing was much more wonderful: her leg stopped hurting. In fact, it felt like she had never been stabbed in the first place. Keira glanced downward to see Riku, who also looked like he needed air, attacking the Nobody that had attacked her; she guessed, as she looked at her completely healed arm, that he had cast a cure spell on her. As his body began to drift downward, she plunged back into the water. Her hand seized his and she pulled tightly until she was able to bring them both above water.

"Geez, you sure weigh a lot, Riku," she said in what would have been a teasing way had she not been panting as she towed Riku behind her. Judging by what her water and dirt-covered eyes could see, they had reinforcements waiting for them. She mustered a smile as someone pulled them back onto the landmass. Rolling onto her back, she coughed out water and gulped air. Before she could see who had helped, Twilight Thorn decided it did not particularly enjoy being ignored and caught everyone's attention by sending another wave of energy at the isle.

'Reverse your body in the air!' The soft, delicate, and sweet voice of a girl spoke. Though it was not a voice she recognized - none of the girls she knew had such a soft voice - Keira obeyed it and flipped her body in midair. She was relatively surprised to find her body moving against gravity for even a few seconds. 'Do that every time a beam is sent at you.' The voice told her as she collapsed back onto the island.

'Who was that?' wondered Keira, though she did not have much time to dwell. "Look sharp!" Axel's voice cut into her thoughts, and she quickly jumped up in time to dodge another attack from the Nobody.

"Get out of your own world and let's go," ordered Riku, neither harshly nor not kindly either as he pulled her to her feet. "Ready to be thrown again?" His hand had not released hers and, despite herself, she felt a small blush color her cheeks. Even as her thoughts screamed that she did not want to fall back into the water, she nodded and he sent her flying toward Twilight Thorn's head. In the blink of an eye, Kairi was next to her. Without thinking or knowing why she did it, Keira grabbed Kairi's hand though, distantly, she heard the soft voice speaking to her again.

"Ready?"

Kairi inhaled a steadying breath. "One," she counted. "Two... Three!" They exclaimed, putting their keyblades together so that a white light, with black circling it, surrounded them. They held out their keyblades, and the white and black light shot at the Twilight Thorn, causing it to screech and flip backwards. The light intensified for a few seconds and then disappeared completely.

Yuffie smiled from her spot on the island, shuriken in hand. "Nice!"

Sora took a few steps forward. "Riku!" Said boy joined his best friend quickly, knowing all too well by his tone what is was he wanted. The two of them leapt into the air as they began Eternal Session. Together they slashed at the Nobody ferociously for about a minute and then joined back to back.

"Is that all you got?" Riku smirked as they stabbed the Twilight Thorn repeatedly, pulling apart while they did separate combos. Just as quickly as they had broken apart, the two rejoined back to back and began to shoot some type of magic from the tips of their fingers. "I'll take him," Riku arrogantly remarked as Way to Dawn and Oblivion became engulfed in light. Once again, they stabbed at the Nobody until something new happened: magical swords surrounded them and began to attack in sync with their keyblades. Oblivion and Way to Dawn were hurled into the air as Riku cried, "We're not gonna lose at all!" At the same time, Sora cried, "Light!"

Kairi and Keira turned their heads from where they were in mid-fall as Oblivion and Way to Dawn issued a blinding light. They glanced back at each other with grins, and Keira found herself extremely satisfied that she was on Sora and Riku's side as she plunged into the water. "Riku," called Sora.

"Time's up," answered Riku with one of his rare, genuine grins, pounding Sora's fist shortly before they disappeared below the water.

A/N: 6.4.09 - This was an annoying chapter to edit. Dx At one point, I called Keira her original name, Kat. Betcha you guys were confused. Sorry. x.x'

Old stuff - Why, yes, I did have to add Sora and Riku's limit because it is just so freaking cool. It's my favorite in the whole game. Haha. I felt that we had a need for Axel to be back. And I have some plans for other nobodies, too. Well, only if I come up with a good idea, not 'Roxas, Naminé and Organization Thirteen came back because I said so.' I tried to be as clever as I could with how Axel came back, and I know it's near impossible so don't flame me about that. Oh, yeah. One more thing. I realize that my punctuation sucks. I've always been bad at it. I'm only a freshman, give me a break. Dx I'm working on it, so no comments on that either, please? See you next chapter!