A/N: another chapter! Yay! I hope I don't make this too short. I've wanted to make a long chapter for this story. Well, let's see how it turns out. Enjoy the chappie.

Disclaimer: me no own KH…

The Risks We Take

Selphie woke up early, before everyone else. She silently got out her bed and headed into the bathroom to take a shower. She thought of everything that had happened in the past few days. The water from the showerhead ran down her body, and she got lost in her thoughts as steam began to cloud the mirror. What were her feelings towards Riku? She wasn't sure. She knew she liked him, but maybe it was something more. She was now used to the idea of Sora not liking her, besides, he had Kairi and Kairi was her best friend. She wanted them to be happy.

Selphie sighed. She was the only one who was still confused. She had no idea who these people were, or who Twilight was except for the fact that she was the one who kidnapped Kairi, and Sora and Riku didn't like her one bit. At least she would get some training in before the actual battle. She stepped out of the shower, feeling much better now that she was clean. She wondered how the people who had kidnapped Kairi were treating her.

The brunette walked over to her bed with the towel wrapped around her. Riku was still sound asleep, so she made sure to be as quiet as possible. Yuffie or Aerith had laid some clothes out for her. She had long since grown out of wearing her usual sunny, yellow dress that she used to wear on the island. She pulled on a pair of jeans that allowed her maximum movement, for which she was happy, a dark tinted green tank top, and her sneakers that she had worn yesterday. She rummaged through her bag and took out a chain necklace with a heart dangling from it, and a black beaded bracelet meant to ward away bad thoughts. As she put on her only two accessories, Riku woke up.

"Morning Riku!" she said happily. The silver haired boy rubbed his eyes of excess sleep.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked while yawning. Selphie shrugged.

"I felt like it. Now go get dressed, I'm going to go see if anyone else is up," she said, walking out of the room. Riku shrugged and went to take a shower and change. He knew it might be a while before he took another.

Kairi had just finished changing into the outfit given to her by Fayte. She really was a sweet girl, and seemed to be the only friend she would have in this place. Then again, Twilight seemed to be nice too once you got to know her, but Kairi still didn't trust her. Anyway, the outfit she was wearing consisted of a plum colored, off the shoulder shirt with long sleeves, on which was a design of a black dragon wrapping around her torso and left arm, a black skirt that went to about the middle of her calf, and thin, black leather shoes. She inspected herself in the mirror. If she were to climb anything during her escape, it would be really hard in these clothes, but she liked it anyway.

She exited her room to find Twilight waiting for her. Kairi looked down. She didn't know how she should feel towards the other woman. Should she be angry? Twilight had killed Sora's parents. Should she be sympathetic? Twilight was a slave and only did that because she wanted to live. That was human nature, her will to live. Kairi, after some thought, came to a conclusion while walking after the older woman to breakfast. She wouldn't hate her, but she wouldn't very friendly to her either.

"Hi Kairi! Hi Twilight!" Fayte said upon them entering the dinning room. She wore a yellow kimono with bright pink sakura pedals on it and it ended at her knees. On her feet were tan sandals. She had already gotten the food on the table. Pretty much every breakfast food you could think of was there. "I didn't know what you wanted so I just made everything."

"I'm…not that hungry. Maybe I'll just have an apple or something," Kairi said quietly. "Sorry for the trouble."

"Oh that's okay! Master pretty much never eats all the food so I'm used to it," Fayte replied. Kairi noticed Twilight flinched a little at the mention of her 'master'. She didn't think much of it though. The happy girl bounded over to Kairi when he sat down and put an apple down in front of her. "Here's your apple!"

"Thanks," Kairi said with a small smile. Fayte bowed low in exaggeration.

"No problem! I'm always happy to serve," she said and then bounced to her own seat to eat. Not more than a few minutes later did Twilight get up and start putting things on a tray.

"Where you goin' Twilight?" Fayte asked.

"The Caverns below where Master is. He's busy with…preparations right now and asked me to take his food down to him," Twilight replied. Kairi shuddered at that. Fayte simply nodded and didn't say anything when she saw her friend pile more than what her Master would eat onto the tray. She smiled.

"Bye!" Fayte said as the older girl left the room.

"Um…Fayte? What are the…preparations she was talking about?" Kairi asked nervously.

"Oh they're for-no! Bad Fayte! You almost went against his orders! Sorry Kai. I can't tell you. I would but I only know a little, but you wouldn't want to know really. I'm never really that much of a help," she said. Kairi smiled again at the shortened name Fayte had used. Riku and Sora and sometimes some of her other friends like Selphie would call her Kai. She wished she could see them again. She sighed and put the bare apple core on the table.

"You done?" Fayte asked, eyeing her. She nodded. Fayte clapped her hands twice and the food disappeared. "Come on. We have to go back to your room. Master says that's where we're supposed to keep you until preparations are done. Sorry if it's boring but what he says goes. I'll come by later after I'm done with my chores and stuff. Here's some stuff to draw with or something to keep you busy in the mean time."

She handed Kairi a small notepad and a small charcoal pencil. Kairi smiled but it quickly faded as she remembered something from long ago…

.:Flashback:.

"Hey Kairi! Lookie what I can do!" a small girl with blonde hair said, grinning ear to ear. She put on a look of concentration and a few minutes later an apple appeared in her hand. "See!"

"Wow! Lemme see! Is it eatable this time?" a small Kairi said, amazement in her voice.

"Yeah! I tried it earlier when I was hungry. But Twilight can do something sooooo much cooler!" the other girl said.

"I would think anything would be cooler than being able to make food Fayte," a girl with long black hair said. Fayte pouted.

"You're so mean to me! But you have such a better power than me!" she whined.

"You're lucky you have powers. I don't," Kairi said sadly.

"You will one day," Twilight said.

"Come on! Let's go see what everyone else is doing in the castle!" Fayte said happily, grabbing both the girl's hands and pulling them towards a castle up ahead.

Fayte had long since left and Kairi now sat alone on her bed. 'I…I knew them. When we were younger. At Hallow Bastion. Before I met Sora and Riku and everybody else. Why did I remember this just now?' she thought. She sighed and looked around her room. Her eyes landed on a small brown bag on a table on the other side of the room. Curiosity got the better of her and she went to go see why the bag was in her room. A note was attached to it. She ripped it off and read it.

Kairi,

Yeah, it's me. Twilight. There's some food in the bag. About two day's rations if you space it out evenly. I put a blanket and a few medicinal herbs in there too. Just in case. I'm sorry if I…offended or hurt you or Sora, or anyone actually, in any way. I really do regret killing his parents. I don't care what happens to me now, just as long as an old friend is safe. To escape, there's a small ledge next to the balcony outside your window. If you can get onto that you'll see a small door in a crevasse near you. Open that door and there'll be a stair that will lead to the base of the mountain. Or close to it. Don't open any of the doors for your own sake. Your friends shouldn't be too far from here. Travel a bit west of here and you should be able to find them. I wish you good luck.

An old friend

P.S. looks like you got the powers you wanted

Kairi's eyes widened. Twilight still remembered. Did Fayte? She didn't know. She wondered why they hadn't said anything about it before. She wanted to help them so badly, but she knew she'd have to find Sora and everybody first and then come back to get them. She just hoped nothing too bad would happen to them. She looked around one more time and saw some clothes sitting out on the bed for her with another note on it.

Hey Kai!

It's me, Fayte! I knew Twilight was gonna do something like that! Now, here's some clothes for you to change into so you'll have an easier time getting down the mountain than you would in the clothes you're in now. I wish you the best of luck on your way. Oh! And could you tell Sora I say hi? I'm a fan of his, even if he doesn't know me.

In all my hyperness glory, Fayte

Kairi smiled again and almost laughed. So neither of them had forgotten. Just her. Probably happened when she was sent from Hallow Bastion to Destiny Islands. She couldn't remember her home and now she hadn't remembered her friends. She sighed as she began to change.

The clothes that Fayte had given her fit her rather nicely. The shirt was a dark brown tank top, the pants were black and were tight against her skin but flexible enough to move comfortably in, and the shoes were brown leather boots with hardened soles that were good for walking. There was also a black cloak that she tied around her neck and she also tied a brown leather string around her neck with a charm that looked like a paopu fruit dangling from it. She pulled on the brown gloves she had found rolled up in the cloak to use to protect her hands while she climbed down the mountain. Finally she was ready and she grabbed the backpack and walked over to the balcony.

With one last look at everything, she whispered a quiet thank you and jumped to the small ledge described by Twilight in her note. She steadied herself against the stone before looking around for the door. She found it with some difficulty after digging in some brush that had grown over it. She opened it and went in. Sure enough, there was the stair case. It seemed to go on forever.

Kairi had passed about a dozen doors when she started to hear some screams. As she went further, the screams got louder and louder until they suddenly ceased as she got to the door, as if the one who screamed had sensed she was there. But no, it wasn't that. The creams of pain and agony that had once been there never returned when she moved on. Her mind started thinking of horrible things as she walked on. What could have made someone produce such an inhuman sound? She didn't want to think about it. She passed several more doorways with screams like the one before. The sounds all seemed to melt together because just as one cream died out another began to take it's place with more vigor. Finally she had to stop at one of the doors. She had to see what was happening, who it was happening to. Her mind played images in her head that it was Twilight's master torturing a poor soul that happened to stumble on the place, or even Sora or Riku or Selphie. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. No. It couldn't be them. She would meet them on her way down the mountain. Then who?

Her hand inched towards the rusted handle of the door she had stopped at. The scent of mold, mildew, dust and damp stone all reached her nose as her hand decided to take its precious time reaching for the handle. Her finger touched and a screech ripped through the once, Kairi realized, silent air. She ripped her hand away as if it had been burned and began running down the stairs to get away from the dreadful sound. She covered her ears to try and block the horrid din of the scream that was wrenched from whomever's mouth that was in there. She reached another door, but this one stood in her way of going any further. She sat down quickly and rocked her feeble self back and forth for a few minutes before realizing the sound was gone. Silence, uninterruptible silence took its place. She calmed herself, stood up, straightened her clothes out, and once again reached for the handle.

This time no screech of pain came when her finger touched or when her hand clasped around the handle fully. She pulled it open and shielded her eyes as light from the sun shined down upon her. At least she was out now. Now to go west and find Sora and the others. She shook thoughts of the screams from her head and continued on her way.

Selphie charged at Riku again, her fist ready to throw at the boy. He caught it easily and he ducked under her. She stumbled a little before regaining her composure. Her breath came out in short puffs and beads of seat had started to appear on her skin. Riku was breathing a little unevenly and was sweating, but only a little from the heat of the sun. He and Selphie had been sparring for the past hour in a clearing they came across. They had stopped for lunch but Sora, since he couldn't get any sleep the night before, had decided to take a nap. Riku suggested they train while Sora slept, deciding it was best to let him regain some of his energy.

Selphie charged again and went to throw a punch. Riku moved his hands to block it but found that she had opted for jumping onto her hands sideways and kicking him in the side. He was thrown a few feet away. He got up to see Selphie grinning to herself that she had gotten a hit in. H smiled at her.

"Good job. That should be enough for now. We should take a break before we get too exhausted," he said as he stood. Selphie nodded in agreement.

"Did that hurt?" she asked as they sat near Sora again.

"Not that much. But I'm used to it. I do think it might leave a bruise later," he told her, shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh."

They sat in silence, catching their breaths. The wind blew a cool breeze against them and they welcomed the cool air. A bush rustled somewhere. It wasn't too close to them, but it was near it the clearing, whatever it was.

"Shit! Stupid roots!" they heard someone say after a light thump was heard. Riku and Selphie looked at each other, silently agreeing they should see who it was. They walked over to the edge of the clearing they had heard the person's voice was.

"Grr…oh I wish they had given me better directions," the person said. They could now hear it was feminine. And it sounded like someone they knew. A tree still blocked their view of the girl. She sighed. "I guess this was the best the could do in their situation…I wish I could have said thank you."

Finally the girl stepped from behind the tree and all they needed to see was the auburn head of hair before recognizing her. Selphie burst from her and Riku's hiding spot and jumped on Kairi, hugging her tightly.

"Kairi! We found you! Omigosh Sora'll be soooooo happy!" she shouted. Kairi was about to scream in surprise when she heard Selphie's voice. She turned her head to see the brunette almost sobbing in her shoulder. She smiled and awkwardly returned the hug.

"Hey Selphie…could you get off of me?" she asked. Selphie scrambled off the girl.

"Sorry. I'm just so excited we found you!" she said as Riku came out too. He hugged Kairi as well, but not like Selphie had.

"Glad to see you're okay," he said.

"Hey Riku. Glad to see you two are well too…where's Sora? Isn't he with you?" Kairi asked. Selphie grabbed her arm and began to pull her to the clearing she and Riku had come from.

"Yeah. He's sleeping right now though. It'll be a nice surprise for him when he wakes up and sees you there," she said happily. They sat down by Sora who was still sleeping. Kairi smiled when she saw his peaceful face. She wondered briefly how he would react when he found out she wanted to help the woman who had kidnapped her. She snapped back to reality seeing Selphie waving her hand in front of her face.

"You okay Kai? You were kind of spacing there," she said.

"Yeah I'm fine. What did you say?" Kairi asked.

"She asked how you got away from Twilight," Riku said. She looked down at her lap sheepishly.

"Um…about that. Twilight was the one who helped me escape," she said quietly.

"What!" Selphie and Riku nearly shouted. They would have if Sora hadn't been asleep. Little did they know he was already up, and listening to their conversation. He pretended to be still asleep.

"Well you see…she actually a servant, an unwilling one too, to some guy that wants to use me for something. That's the only reason she kidnapped me. That's also the reason she killed Sora's parents. Her master is very powerful to have almost broken her spirit," Kairi told them.

"Why do you say that?" Riku asked.

"I used to know her back at Hallow Bastion. Her and a girl named Fayte who is also a servant to the same man. We were all friends but I think after I had been sent to Destiny Islands they were taken from Hallow Bastion by him a few years later when the heartless attacked that world. The only reason she's kept serving him is her will to live and be free. I…want to help her. And Fayte. Both of them helped me so I want to help them," Kairi concluded.

"I don't know how Sora's going to take this," Selphie said.

"Heh. I don't know either, but he knows the whole story now. Oh yeah. And by the way Sora. Fayte says hi. She a fan of yours," Kairi said with a small smirk. Sora stiffened and then sat up, giving her a strange look.

"How'd you know I was awake?" he asked.

"Come on Sora. You always snore a little when you're asleep. You honestly think you could fool me?" she said smugly. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Fine whatever. Glad to see you're back," he said. Kairi giggled and jumped on him, giving him a hug like Selphie had hugged her earlier.

"It's good to see you too," she said, nuzzling her head into his neck. He returned the hug. Selphie smiled and leaned over to whisper into Riku's ear.

"Aren't they so cute together?" she asked. Riku smiled too and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, sorry but it's time to break up your little lovey-dovey scene guys. We need to decide what to do next now," Selphie said. This caused the couple to blush a little as they stopped the hug.

"Well?" Sora asked.

"Well…we should go and help Kairi's friends. There's reason enough to do that," Selphie said.

"I agree," Riku said.

"I don't. I think we should get Kairi back. She's been through enough already," Sora argued.

"Sora I'm fine. I understand your not wanting to see Twilight again, but I need to help her and Fayte," Kairi said.

"I don't know…" Sora trailed off.

"If you want we can rest for today before going there," Kairi said.

"But…" Sora said, trying to come up with another reason not to go.

"It's a good idea Sora," Riku said.

"Yeah. Rest a day and then go," Selphie repeated. Kairi gave him the puppy dog eyes of doom and he finally gave in.

"Fine," he grumbled. Kairi hugged him again.

"Thanks. You don't have to talk to her and we'll rest for today. Thank you Sora," she said happily.

"Why are we resting only today?" he asked.

"So we can save them faster. I don't want to begin to think of what he would do to them if he found out it was them who helped me escape," Kairi replied, shuddering. He sighed.

"Well that makes sense. Now come on. You must be hungry. Eat now and rest. We'll go tomorrow," Sora said. He pulled out some food they had left over from lunch.

"You bitch!" he screeched. "You insolent little brat! Why did you let her go? The preparations are almost done and the red moon is coming in two days!"

He whipped Twilights back with a whip that had spikes on the end of it, ripping her skin even more. Fayte watched in horror and sorrow. She had just been beaten by her master and was now lying in a bloody, bruised heap. Her left forearm had been snapped and was lying uselessly near her head. He had whipped her too but with a regular whip. Not the one he was using on Twilight. He only ever used it on her. Along with the power restraints he had placed on her long ago. If she didn't have them on then she would have more power to resist him, but she had long since resigned to her fate. They both knew he wouldn't kill them. He still needed them.

Fayte's powers had already started to heal some of her own wounds, closing the wide-open cuts littering her body. She'd have to help Twilight too, so she held a reserve of energy for her. She cried as she watched, knowing that she'd never be able to help her friend.

They both knew the risks they had taken. They both knew what he would do. They just didn't think he'd find out so soon. Twilight let out another blood curdling scream as the whip connected with her back again.

A/N: woah…a little gory there. Um…how do you like it? Kairi's remembered her friends. Wonder what'll happen when Sora, Riku, Selphie, and Kairi all get back to the castle. Please review………please?