Reaching chappie 20 is a momentous occasion. Be proud :) This is actually more like a 19 and a half ('cause it's short), but HEY! That's perfectly alright. Off we go!

Chapter 20: Broken Glass

Skye and Riku, each now fully clothed, listened intently to Sora and Kairi's story. The other Rebels stayed wary of the visitors, until Skye and Riku, in turn, related to them what had happened when they went back to the Islands. Kairi and Sora were now looking expectantly at Skye.

"So, are you going to explain what's going on?" Kairi asked eagerly.

"In the morning." Jade cut in. Everyone looked at her, mildly surprised. "It's late and we're all still recovering from last night." She explained before turning on her heel and walking out. Lodi nodded.

"Riku and Skye, you'll show them to the guest quarters?" He asked. Skye nodded, and slowly but surely, everyone else filed out. Skye and Riku lead the four others out of the room and towards the guest quarters.

"When did the Heartless numbers explode?" Skye asked, pondering what it could mean.

"Ummm... I dunno, probably about a day ago now..." Sora answered.

"I guess it would have been last night here." Kairi agreed. Riku opened the door and showed them in. Skye stayed quiet and thoughtful while he pointed out the parts of the apartment. When they left, Riku wrapped an arm around Skye, looking worriedly down at her.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Skye sighed.

"I guess. I just can't figure out what would have triggered so many Heartless. I mean, Dax is dead, that would decrease their numbers, if anything..." They reached their room and Skye wandered into the bathroom to brush her teeth before going off to bed again. Riku flopped down on the couch, waiting for her to be finished in the bathroom. Skye was standing in front of the sink, with her thoughts still on the problem at hand. She washed her mouth out and stared hard into the mirror. Why, why, why? Dax is dead! I killed him myself! Her thoughts returned to the moment. The water. The fire. Suddenly her eyes went wide. It can't be...she thought desperately.

Riku had his eyes closed on the couch, and was beginning to wonder what Skye could possibly be doing that was taking so long in the bathroom. She wasn't making any noise. He grinned and scolded himself silently for being so gutter-minded when he came up with his own ideas. Further moments passed... and then came the sound of Skye cursing loudly, followed immediately by a loud smashing sound. Riku started, surprised, and scrambled to his feet, running into the bathroom as quickly as he could. Skye was sitting on the floor, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. The mirror was broken and pieces were scattered all around her on the floor, and she was cradling her right hand with her left, blood running down the back of her hand from her cut knuckles. Riku dropped to his knees without thinking, cringing as a piece of glass cut through his jeans and into his knee. He ignored it, sitting down next to her, pulling her into his lap and cradling her carefully. She leaned limply against him, sobbing into his shoulder.

"What happened?" He asked gently. She didn't answer, only cried harder. "Come on, we need to get you to the infirmaries." He added, but she wouldn't move. "Skye..." He pulled a length of toilet paper of the roll and wrapped her bleeding hand with it, creating a make-shift bandage until he could get her to the infirmaries. Once that was finished, he pulled the small piece of glass out of his knee with a cringe and inspected the cut. It wasn't deep; it would have been much worse if he hadn't been wearing jeans. "Tell me what happened..." He whispered.

"It's my fault." She sobbed. He blinked.

"What? You mean the mirror? I don't care about the mirror: are you okay?" He answered, confused. She just shook her head, fresh tears emerging. "Skye, please, tell me what's wrong..."

They sat there for almost two hours, while he tried to coax an explanation out of her and she cried herself out. She caught sight of her injury, and saw that the toilet paper was soaked through.

"Infirmary?" She suggested quitely, her voice worn from sobbing.

"Come on." Riku answered, helping her to her feet. They walked down to the infirmaries together and got her properly cleaned up. Now, with her hand wrapped in real gauze, Riku tried again.

"What happened?"

"I...punched the mirror." She answered quietly. He stared at her. That was the last thing he'd ever expected her to do. Sure, her injuries had looked like those of someone who had hit glass, but it was so out of character... mind you, so was her shouting a string of loud profanities.

"Why? What's wrong?" He asked, even more worried than before. She just shook her head.

"In the morning." She said, trying to walk by him. He caught her arm.

"It is the morning." He replied, pointing to the window. The first rays of sunlight were showing themselves on the horizon. She shook her head again.

"After I get some more sleep." She said, a little forcefully.

"Skye, I've been up all night with you. I sat with you for two hours in the bathroom and I get no sleep now because of it. I deserve an explanation!" He demanded. He could tell that, even if Skye didn't want to tell him, he was right, so she couldn't not. There was a long silence.

"I...I had to save the village, right?" She asked. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"What? Of course... oh, you're not still upset about not getting everyone out before the wave, are you?"

"No. Well, a little, but that's not what this is about."

"Then what is it about?"

"I...I guess I'm thoughtless, and it's ruined everything." She answered forlornly. "I don't want everyone to hate me for what happened... I was just trying to save the villagers..."

"Well what happened?" Riku asked, getting impatient.

"I burned Dax. To death." Skye said slowly.

"...so you feel guilty about it...?" He asked, confused. She shook her head.

"I...I only want to have to say this once. Let's get everyone else first."

Minutes later, Skye was standing before everyone; Riku, Lodi, Jade, Venus, Mars, Gaden, Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy. She cleared her throat.

"When I was fighting Dax, I injured him severely. When that happened, he poured all his magic into the tidal wave, so much that it would have killed him. He knew he was going to die, and he knew that I'd never be able to fight it off if he put that much power into it. I knew that too, so I tried to stopped his magic by killing him. I took the wall of fire down, and I put all my power into killing Dax. I burned him to death. It didn't work the way I planned, but that's not what's at hand here. Dax died of fire. That's why the number of Heartless skyrocketed. I made Dax into the sacrifice that he had wanted me to be. Ansem is back, and...and it's my fault..."

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Review! And not many more chapters left after this... wowie! Sorry it's so short, by the way :P