Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, blah, blah, blah. You've heard this crap before. I DO own this fic and Orin but that's it. If you'd like to use him in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 19

As the gang traveled along the weed infested dirt road they saw nothing but rolling hills of the dark green grass they had seen since their arrival. They were unsure if they were going the right way but they had little reason to think the other way was any better than their current course. None of them said anything as they journeyed without any way of telling time in this dark land. They had suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the witch and where now wandering without direction or clue what to do next. Finally after what felt like hours of walking they came upon a felled tree lying next to the road. This was strange to the teenagers because they had not seen a tree since they came here to the Realm of Darkness. Still they decided to take advantage of their fortune and sit down on the trunk to rest their feet.

The deep silence between them masked the level of tension they each felt from the others. They knew that this was the world of the Heartless and could be attacked by endless swarms of the dread creatures at any time. Yet since Maleficent sent them here they had not seen a single one. Maybe they were lying in wait ready to ambush them along the road. But Sora and Riku both knew better than that. With the exception of Xehanort and yes, Orin the Heartless were all virtually mindless. Attacking relentlessly en mass until their numbers were reduced to nothing or faced with an overwhelmingly powerful enemy. If the Heartless where around they would've attacked by now, maybe they lived somewhere else in this world.

Out of curiosity Sora looked around at the tree he and the others sat on. It wasn't very big, probably standing only about ten feet from the base of the trunk to the top. No leaves were on any of the untrimmed limbs and the sound when Sora knocked on it suggested that it was not just dead but was starting to rot from the inside out.

The long silence that had begun since they had begun walking was shattered when Yuffie spoke, unable to bear the quiet any longer. "So... what now?"

The group turned their attention towards the ninja girl, unsure what she meant exactly.

Yuffie meanwhile disliked all the curious looks and began to think she should of waited for someone else to speak up. "I mean Sora, you said you and Riku were here before. You have any info to share?"

Sora shook his head. "Nah, I was only at the dark beach after we defeated Xemnas. What about you Riku?"

Riku looked at the other Keyblader and gave him a single shake of his own head. "I'm sorry but the answer's no. Before Diz, I mean Ansem found me I was mostly fighting with Xehanort's Heartless. I don't remember much of the terrain of this place."

Yuffie sighed, well that was the end of this conversation unless she took in another direction. "You know what I really hate about this place? The sheer lack of... well everything. Listen."

The gang strained their ears to hear what Yuffie was talking about, with the exception of the wind that would occasionally pick up once in a while they could hear nothing.

"Um, Yuffie I don't hear anything." Sora said, stating the obvious so no one else would have to.

"That's just it. There aren't any sounds like in our world. No crickets, birds, heck I can barely hear the wind when it picks up. Heck I haven't seen anything in this world but grass, stars, rock and this tree. I expected to see armies of powerful Heartless and barren wastelands, not this quiet empty grassland."

Riku nodded. "Yeah, it's real strange. Hey Sora remember after we beat Xehanort's Heartless and got a glimpse at this world?"

Sora remembered well, that was back when he thought he'd never get to see his best friend ever again. "Yeah, it was full of Shadows and Darkside Heartless. Maybe this world has its good and bad sides just like any other world we've been too."

"Maybe, but we need to find our way back to the Realm of Light. There's no telling what kind of mayhem the old witch is causing now."

It was not long before the group got moving again down the road to where ever it lead.

---

Aeris sat on the bench behind Cid, watching him type away at his computer. It had been a slow day at her flower shop so she had closed early after watering and caring for all her plants. She sighed tiredly; sitting here bored with nothing to do was something she had not planned on doing all day. Leon was busy overseeing the restoration project so she had not seen him since she opened her shop that morning. She was sure that if Cid looked back at her kicking her feet lightly and leaning back on the bench she'd remind him of Yuffie. The thought did provoke a quick giggle from the peace loving flower girl.

Cid looked back at Aeris, his trademark toothpick adorning a gentle smirk. "Somethin on yer mind Aeris?"

Aeris looked at Cid then shook her head, smiling back at him with her usual warm smile. "No Cid, I'm just a little tired."

"No, if you were tired you'd go home and lay down." Cid said skeptically as he took the toothpick out of his mouth. "What you are is bored, Yuffie does the same thing you are when she is. And let me tell you the little twerp is bored a lot since all this reconstruction started."

Aeris giggled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Yuffie can be a handful."

Cid swiveled around in his chair to face the flower girl. "Now tell ol' Cid why yer wastin yer time in here and not at your shop? Wasn't Leon giving you any company?" He ended that last remark with a playful grin.

Aeris waved off his question with one of her fingers. Although that was exactly the case (although not quite how she would word it) she didn't want Cid Highwind to stick his nose into her business. "I closed up my shop because everyone's busy with rebuilding the town and it's not like I have anyone under my employment."

"Well there you go kid, hire somebody to work under ya." Cid suggested. "Heck get Yuffie to do it, I'd like to see her on someone else's back for a change."

Aeris put a hand to her chin as thought about that. Yuffie was always complaining about working with Leon and the others to restore the town. But would she be happier working for her in her flower shop? Aeris wasn't sure, she knew Yuffie often talked about wanting to going out with Cloud to the wastelands outside of town to hunt down the few Heartless that remained after Sora and Riku defeated Xemnas. Aeris didn't think that would happen as Cloud wouldn't even take Tifa out with him (unless she forced him when she could catch him). Odds are Yuffie would be bored in her shop but given the option between manual labor and working her store the flower girl knew Yuffie would quiet down about it.

"You know, I think I'll do that." Aeris said, clapping her hands together and turning to face Cid with a smile. "I think she'd be happier working for me than Leon."

Cid was glad to hear it because when Yuffie was bored the ninja would bother him and he couldn't get anything done. She would bug him with humming and drumming her fingers until he had to get Leon to give her something else to do. For some reason that girl seemed to want to get on his bad side. Cid was enjoying his day without her one way or another.

"So where's Tifa and ol' spike head?" Cid asked. "Still out hunting down Heartless?"

Aeris rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, Leon's been complaining how those two are ducking out of helping restore the town."

Cid laughed. "I agree with him, I mean after that Orin kid left with Sora and the other kids things have been pretty quiet. I wouldn't be surprised if those two are just sitting out in the sun having picnics all day."

Aeris agreed and leaned back on the bench, but only then did she catch a glimpse of Cid's computer screen. Aeris didn't have even a fraction of Cid's computer knowledge so she thought she should point out what she saw. "Um, Cid what are all those red dots on your computer screen?"

Cid raised an eyebrow before swiveling around in his chair to see what Aeris was pointing out. To his horror the screen that had been clear since Organization Thirteen was defeated was now registering multiple incoming enemies. From this distance the readings were inconclusive as to what these intruders were but they numbered in the dozens and more were coming. Cid immediately leapt out of his chair. "Aeris I want you to stay here and keep an eye on things! I've got to tell Leon this!"

Before Aeris could ask what was going on Cid bolted out the door and off towards the reconstruction site leaving the flower girl with a puzzled expression on her face. Turning back to the computer she let out a silent prayer that this wasn't starting all over again.

---

The gang had been walking once more without knowledge of time in this 'Valley of Shadows' until they felt like they were about to go mad. The expectation of being ambushed by the Heartless was ever present yet they never heard a sound or saw anything out of place, just more grass and more dirt road. Although Yuffie was starting to complain about this the gang remained quiet, something about this world seemed to instill a melancholy feeling within them.

At last after much walking and listening to complaints and groans from the ninja Riku was about to turn and tell her off when Yuffie pointed to a spot off in the distance.

"Look guys! A town!" Yuffie exclaimed, voicing the entire group's thanks to see anything other than grass and hills.

To be continued...