Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I DO own the OCs. If you'd like to use them in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 9

Once they landed the Highwind near the train station and helped Yuffie out, who was now laying on the floor of the station praying that her ship-sickness would pass soon.

"You guys wait here, I'll be back!" Sora said as he bolted down the street and out of sight. Leaving his friends baffled and confused by this sudden abandonment.

"Where's he going?" Yuffie asked, having never been to Twilight town before.

Kairi shrugged. "I don't know. But I'd guess he's going to go talk to the Hayner, Pence, and Olette."

"Who?" Yuffie asked, turning to give the island girl a curious look.

"They're a group of kids our age who live here in Twilight town." Kairi said. "I met them when the Organization tried to kidnap me before."

Orin nodded. "Can you tell me about the Organization?"

Riku stepped forward. He'd fill Orin in on this one. "Okay, but first do you know how Heartless are created?"

Orin opened his mouth to say he did however a split second before that he realized he didn't. "Not really Riku..."

Riku took a breath, this was going to take a while. "Heartless are created in a few ways. When a person gives in to their inner darkness they can be turned into a Heartless. These are generally more powerful then the other kinds of Heartless. Heartless can also be created when other Heartless steal people's hearts, and from what Ansem's notes told us there was a way to mass produce them some way. It's best that that last way is not known or else someone could repeat it."

"Go on." Orin said, "So are these Organization guys Heartless that were mass produced?"

"No. You see when a Heartless is created from a person with a strong sense of self a Nobody is created. A Nobody isn't like a Heartless, they can think and plan ahead and are physically more powerful then a Heartless but they have fewer numbers."

"So the Organization was full of Nobodies?" Orin guessed.

Riku nodded. "You're half right, they were all Nobodies, people with no hearts and no emotions, although they liked to act like they had both. They claimed that they wanted to create Kingdom Hearts so they could become whole. Thankfully their leader failed to fulfill that goal."

"Okay... But what's Kingdom Hearts?" Orin asked, he didn't mean to sound like he was just asking questions to bug Riku but he really didn't know all this stuff.

Riku groaned mentally, Sora owed him a pizza for leaving him to explain all this stuff. "I'm not sure really... Ansem said it's the Heart of all worlds, while at the same time it was like a door between the worlds of darkness and light... I can't give you a definite answer."

Orin thought about that for a little while. "You think that could've been the door that brought me to that gloomy beach after I woke up?"

Riku scratched his chin for a second. Kingdom Hearts had proven that it wasn't an ordinary door. It very well could've appeared and brought Orin to the Realm of darkness but why would it do that? There had to be more to this than what already known. "It could have been." Riku said in a defeated tone, letting Orin know that he had absolutely no idea.

Riku sat down on the steps of the train station entrance and sighed. This little adventure was getting way too strange. Normally he and Sora would've been seen ten times or more Heartless then they have and they haven't seen any Nobodies.

Yuffie sat down on the steps not far from Riku. She was glad someone had explained it to her without her having to ask a single question. She let out a relaxed breath and leaned back against the steps as if they were a couch. Although Yuffie wished she was sitting on something that comfortable.

Orin turned to look at Yuffie. "So Yuffie did... you ever meet my father? Jerrad Penwheel?" His yellow eyes showed a great deal hope that she'd says she did.

Unfortunately Yuffie shook her head. "I think I heard his name once or twice when I was younger but I don't remember ever meeting him. It was a long time ago."

"Anything at all?" Orin pleaded, silently praying that the ninja girl would know something. "Do you have any memory of me?"

Again Yuffie shook her head. "I'm sorry Orin. But what I told you back in Hallow bastion is all I know."

"Whoa now that's something you don't see everyday!" Pence blurted out as Sora returned with the other members of the Twilight town trio.

Orin gritted his teeth but he couldn't help but mutter; "And it's not everyday we see a small planet wearing a sweatband."

Pence cocked his head, thankfully for Orin he hadn't heard what Orin had said. "Huh?"

Orin sighed in relief and shook his head. "Nothing, just watch the remarks please."

Pence agreed and looked over at Sora. "So Sora did you ever find your friend?"

Sora smiled and nodded as he motioned to Riku. "Yeah, this is Riku, my best friend from Destiny islands."

Olette whistled. "He's cute."

Riku coughed in slight embarrassment at Olette's remark about him. "It's uh, nice to meet you all."

"So what brings you back here Sora?" Hayner asked, giving the Keyblade's chosen a skeptical look. "Are those things back in town?"

"No, have you seen any?" Sora asked.

Hayner looked at Olette and Pence, silently asking them if they had seen anything. But both Pence and Olette shook their heads in a negative answer.

"I guess we haven't had anything since we went into the mansion." Hayner said.

"Good." Kairi said with a sigh of relief. "We're here to check on the computer in the mansion for our friend Orin."

After retelling how they had met Orin one more time the group headed to the mansion. On the way the trio from Twilight town asked Sora, Riku, and Kairi mundane questions like how things were, about what they found when they went to The world that never was and if it was all over between them and the Organization.

As they opened the doors they found the mansion was the same as it had been last they had been there. Dusty, messy, and inhabited by no one, and thankfully 'no one' meant no Nobodies. After navigating the stairways they found the computer room was also like it was when they left.

Pence hopped into the chair in front of the computer and typed away. In a matter of seconds the screens throughout the small computer room flicked on and showed what seemed to be statistics on Sora during his time in that pod in the back room at the end of the hallway.

"Okay guys, what shall we look up?" Pence asked, "More stuff about the Organization?"

"No, we're here for Orin's sake. Can you look for something on him?" Sora asked politely.

"Sure. I'll just do a search..." Pence typed in Orin's name and hit enter. However nothing came up. "I'm not seeing anything guys."

Orin sighed. "All this way for nothing..."

"Don't give up so easily Orin. Pence, try searching for 'Penwheel'." Riku said. "Maybe there's something under Orin's last name."

Pence nodded and did as Riku suggested. This time a single file was found. "Hey I found something!"

That perked things up, everyone crowded around Pence to get a better look.

"It looks like a video file... Should I play it?" Pence asked, but when he looked back at the others and saw the death glares from Orin, Yuffie, and Kairi he wisely decided to take that as a yes.

Upon clicking on it all the screens in the room changed to show the image of Ansem the wise. He wasn't wearing the outfit he wore when he masqueraded as Diz but the lab coat of a scientist.

"Live journal entry 42, I am sad to report that my prized students have been practicing perverse experiments with hearts. Regardless that I told them expressly to abandon all research in the matter. I am also sad to report that my dear friend Jerrad Penwheel was attacked by these creatures my former assistant Xehanort named 'Heartless'. Jerrad was a good friend and I will miss him greatly." Ansem shook his head in memory of his lost friend and employee. "Another reason why I must put this to an end. I will make one last attempt to get my assistants to end this and give themselves over to judgment for what they have done for the sake of our former friendship. Hopefully they will stop and there will be no need for me to be forced to do something I may regret later. End journal entry."

With that the image of Ansem the wise disappeared from the screen. Pence began to type on the keyboard some more. However he quickly quit after a large red sign appeared on the screen.

"What's wrong Pence?" Kairi asked.

Pence typed on the keyboard for a few seconds before giving up. "All the files are locked. I must've tripped some sort of security protocol because it's asking for a password."

"Try 'Sea salt ice cream'." Sora said. "That's what the password worked last time."

Pence remembered that from the last time they used this computer and typed it in only to get a red screen that read 'Access denied'. "It's not working, and I think all the other files have just been deleted or hidden because I can't even find them anymore."

Orin punched the wall and cursed loudly, only to retract his hand a few seconds later to rub clenched fist with his other hand. "Sorry guys."

Yuffie patted Orin on the back and gave him a cheerful smile, but this optimistic look was only skin deep. Yuffie had no idea what to do in a situation like this, she knew nothing of computers. If Cid was here maybe he could figure this thing out in no time...

Riku shook his head, he felt Orin's response was understandable. "Are you sure you can't open the files?" He asked as he moved over to Pence.

Pence nodded slowly as he swiveled the chair back to face the gang. "Yeah, but the only way to get the file now would be to type in the password which we don't have."

Yuffie decided now was the right time to voice her thoughts. They needed someone technical and she knew who would love to take a look at this system. "You think we could bring Cid here?"

"That's a great idea Yuffie but you think he'd drop what he's doing and come here with us?" Kairi asked. Kairi knew Cid was a very busy man and might have to turn them down.

"I think he would. I mean if this computer was really used by Ansem, the real Ansem he'd drop everything to get a look at the data in it." Yuffie said as enthusiastically as always. "And I think we'd all like to see more of these journal entries."

Orin gave a small meek smile, he was grateful that these people were willing to help him find out the information he needed. But Orin's smile faded once he remembered he may not like what he finds.

"Then back to Hallow bastion it is." Riku said casually as he turned to the three residents of Twilight town. "We'll be back later you guys."

The gang said their good byes to Hayner, Pence, and Olette before they made their way back to the Gummi ship. With any luck Cid would come with them and give them a hand at cracking the code to the mansion's computer.

Yuffie groaned and prayed that this would all be over soon. She was starting to hope that the ship would break down so she could get a break from her space sickness. The other thing she hoped was that no one would offer her anything to eat until they got to Hallow bastion. Otherwise there was going to be a mess for the boys to clean up.

---

A large raven landed on the balcony of the highest tower of Radiant garden's castle and let out a loud raspy caw.

"Have you news for me my pet?" A sinister voice asked from the shadows of the tower.

The raven cawed and croaked a few more times before sitting silently on the balcony.

"Well what did he say?" A second burly voice asked.

"He says he saw a child of the Heartless." Out of the shadows of the tower walked the dreaded witch Maleficent in all the worlds few others had been defeated by the Keyblade wielder and survived to tell the tale. She and Pete had survived the fall of The world that never was and the army of Heartless therein and escaped to recover their strength in the dilapidated ruins of this castle.

"A what?" Pete asked, clueless as usual.

"I believe this news may be worth my attention. This may explain why the Heartless have become so active." The witch then turned her gaze to Pete. "Go and bring him to me."

"Why? What use could this kid be? What if he's some sort of uncontrollable monster?" Pete whined, showing just how cowardly he was even though he was bigger then Maleficent.

"Nothing is completely uncontrollable my dear Pete. And to answer your question, if the Heartless are indeed searching for this child then perhaps we can use him to control the Heartless."

Pete crossed his arms and thought on this. "Hmm... That sounds like a good plan Maleficent."

"Of course it is you fool. Now go." Maleficent spat as she opened a corridor of darkness, Pete's constant babbling was getting on her nerves. "Bring me the child if you can. I will be searching the worlds for... more fitting accommodations for one of my status."

With that the witch disappeared in a wreath of green and black flames.

"Hey wait!" Pete called to her, even though she was long gone by now. "What if the kid's dangerous...?"

Pete received no answer other than an annoyed croak from Maleficent's pet raven.

"Oh what do you know?" Pete shot back at the bird.

To be continued...

A/N: Yay reviews 3