Sora walked down the halls of the castle. All that his mind thought of was Kairi. He worried greatly about her. She was in the hands of the enemy and Sora's worst foe. The notion was like poison to Sora. He could not bear the thought, nor could he abandon it. Fortunately, for him, Merlin appeared before him in a poof of pale blue smoke.
"Ah, Sora, you're here", Merlin said. "I wanted to talk to you. I can tell that you are not well. I had to repeat Riku's condition to you in the counsel."
"Oh, that's right, man, I'm stupid", said Sora.
"Was you absentmindedness due to Kairi's misfortune?" Merlin inquired.
"Yeah, I guess", replied Sora.
"Well, I thought so" Merlin commented. "That is why I did not make your self-proclaimed stupidity known. I was not about to embarrass you before everyone."
"Thanks", Sora simply put. "Do you think there is a way to save Kairi?"
"I'm afraid that I have no such answer", Merlin grieved. "But we should keep our hopes high."
"Yeah, well, I'm going to see what everyone else is up to", Sora stated.
"Farewell, then", Merlin said and he disappeared in the smoke of blue.
Sora walked for several minutes, navigating his way through the many corridors of the royal home. He knew it all well from his days fighting here a year ago and the day before. He found someone that he did not expect, Roxas.
"Hey, Roxas, you missed our meeting", he said.
"Oh, well I was just seeing Naminé", answered Roxas.
"Is she okay?" asked Sora.
"She'll be better, but she is resting now", Roxas said.
"Oh, you seemed really concerned, you know", Sora inferred.
"Yeah, I am", spoke Roxas. "She and I are alike. She understands what it's like to be a Nobody."
"Yeah, but I can't help but feel concerned for her too", confessed Sora. "It's like she's a long time friend of mine."
"Yes, you met her before", Merlin said.
"WHAT!" Sora exclaimed in shock.
"Yes, but that is irrelevant right now", Merlin explained. "Now, for an answer on the Master of Keyblade, you might want to see Yen Sid about it; he might know. Go find Dack and then you both go to the Postern."
Sora nodded in appreciation and sped off to find Dack.
----------------------------------------
Dack and Aerith trotted slowly through the corridors, holding hands.
"Why did you leave?" Aerith asked.
"I'm sorry, I had to", Dack said.
"You couldn't have at least told me first?" she stung.
Dack cringed and then said, "I couldn't afford to. My errand had to be a secret…if the Organization found out about you—"
"But I was worried", she stung again.
"I'm sorry, but I had to. I needed to keep you safe. What would you have done if you were in my place?" he asked desperately.
"I would have found time to inform you, Dack" she replied.
"An AMU survivor has little time as it is," Dack rebutted. "Listen, can we go and discuss this in a place more private?"
"What about your place?" Aerith asked.
"It got damaged in the battle", he confessed. "The Heartless destroyed it."
"I saw you there, fighting with them", Dack said. "I wanted to be there and help and to keep you safe, but I had to lay low."
"Dack, I want to ask you something", she said. "Do you know what happened to Cloud?"
"Why?" Dack asked.
"You said that you followed Sora; did you see what happened?" she replied.
"He disappeared in a flash of light", he told her. "I don't know where to find him. Aerith, I know how worried you are but—"
"No you don't", she snapped. "I am worried about Cloud. He vanished like you did, but at least he told me why! I know that he wanted to see me off properly because he cared. What do you care about more, me or some mission that's just in your head?"
"What do you want me to do?" Dack asked, now angered. "Listen, I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you during all this, but I haven't thought about you any less."
Aerith peered deeply into his eyes. They seemed like vast springs of emotion and pain. She frowned, but slightly, to avoid slurring what she would say to him next.
"Dack—" she began, but was interrupted because at that moment, Sora came running in full haste to see Dack. Dack immediately relinquished her hand and faced Sora.
"Dack, we need you", he said.
"Okay, Sora…Aerith, I'm sorry", Dack said as he walked away.
Sora led Dack to the Postern. As he arrived, Cid was waiting for them with a crew of men and a ship hovering behind them.
"We're gonna round up our fleet, Sora", Cid grumbled. "You can go with yer pals here."
The gummi ship came into view with Donald, Goofy, and the King in the cockpit. Sora and Dack beamed into it and appeared right next to Goofy. Donald set the controls and the ship took off into the skies.
"Who's ready to see Twilight Town?" Donald cheerfully asked.
-----------------------------------
Drazen discussed his plans with the top military officials. Maleficent watched carefully, intrigued, but not eager to speak. She already knew the actions that would take place. There was a large, square table before them all. It projected a hologram of the world and the neighboring one, specifically Radiant Garden.
"When will your forces be organized, Arcson?" inquired Drazen.
"No more than two days, My Lord", he replied.
"What about you?" Drazen asked.
Maleficent smiled as he asked this to each commander. Once all of them confirmed his inquisitions, he dismissed them. He approached her and sat by her in the throne next to her.
"Your Heartless should not be in the fleet assault."
This remark both surprised and upset Maleficent.
"Why?" she asked.
"They failed to stop Minnie, Sora, and the former king" he replied curtly.
"My Heartless are the reason that our coup d'etat even worked!" thundered Maleficent. "You are an ungrateful and helpless worm! You would be nowhere without me!"
Green flames of darkness roared around her. She raised her staff and she glowed with a malignant radiance. The room became darker and large, mangled thorns swept around the throne room creating a wall forged from evil, thriving vortices. Drazen reveal a second surprise to Maleficent as his expression remained not faltered. She was enraged further by his audacity.
"SINK INTO THE DARK OBLIVION!" she echoed as she sent a force of darkness at Drazen to smite him.
The blast halted where Drazen stood for a moment and then was flung away and exploded as it crashed into a vast wall. To her surprise, Maleficent had not harmed Drazen. He stood there, brandishing a broad shield. Upon further inspection, she saw that it was gray and silver with carvings the shaped out wings, vines, and four appendages along the rim that appeared to be miniature handles showing a similar shape to that of a teacup's handle. Each handle had embedded in it a red gem and in the center of the shield was the image of a keyhole.
This stunned and disturbed Maleficent.
"Is that the Shield of…" she began to ask.
"I thought we had a mutual agreement", spat out Drazen as he interrupted her.
"How true" she agreed. "And I would not want to be a liar, my dear Drazen."
The green flames that remained gathered in the center of the throne room, expanded in a line, and dissected the room, the castle, and the entire world.
"You stay on your half and I will stay on mine," she said as she left.
-------------------------------------------------
They quickly arrived in Twilight Town and disembarked. Sora fathomed the joy of seeing Hayner and the gang, but he knew there was no time. They all hastily ran to the train station and boarded the ghost train. Sora took his seat close to the rear of the train while Donald and Goofy sat up front to gaze at the sights. Dack remained standing with his arm resting against a pole.
"Dack, I want to ask you something," said Sora.
"What is it?" mumbled Dack.
"How do you know Aerith?" asked Sora.
"After Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness was defeated, I came to Hollow Bastion. As you know, I am a devoted AMU unit. I was in search of the cause of all the mayhem and chaos that had erupted from Maleficent and the Heartless. I knew that Ansem the Wise would have a large amount if information about who was causing this and other vital clues. I myself had hoped to find the Ansem Reports to see if he knew anything important."
"You met her there?" inquired Sora.
"Yeah, we did," Dack said.
"We?" Sora asked again.
"My former partner and I," Dack resumed. "We both were looking for the Ansem Report as a team, actually. We went to the library and he searched the lower floor of the room while I took the stairs. We had not seen anyone in the castle. Everyone was outside in the town rebuilding. I was very surprised to find her there, searching through the books."
"That must have been just after I saved the World from Ansem," Sora said.
"Yeah, and I was disappointed to hear she gave the Ansem Reports that remained there away," Dack said.
"Well, wouldn't you have left then since there was no point in it?" Sora asked.
"No, there was still more to discover in the hidden rooms of the castle," replied Dack. I helped her and the rest of the committee find most of the hidden sections within a few weeks and I left soon."
"Where did you go?" Sora questioned. "The worlds were separated after that."
"Actually, it took a long time for many of the worlds to return to normal and become separate," Dack corrected. "The bridge to Twilight Town and Hollow Bastion remain open so I went there. I met Ansem the Wise under the guise of DiZ. He asked my partner and I to do him a favor in exchange for the information that we wanted. His terms were that we infiltrate the Organization's stronghold and then we receive our information."
"If it were me, then I wouldn't have, not with all of them around at once," Sora griped. "But did you do what he wanted?"
"Yes, but there is no time to talk about this anymore," answered Dack. "We are at Yen Sid's tower now."
The ghost train came to a stop and the four of them got off and approached the entrance. Dack pushed it open and they began scaling the stairs and entered the first portal. The room it contained was empty and they continued out and onto the stair case and encountered nothing on the entire climb up to Yen Sid's study. That was the problem, nothing, because as they reached that point, they realized that no one was there.
"Where is he?" asked Dack in awe.
Dack dashed into the wardrobe room and found no one.
"He's not here."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy were both surprised at this too. They all sighed in unison and paused for a moment until Goofy looked at Yen Sid's desk in anticipation.
"Hey, maybe he left us a note to read," Goofy said.
Goofy approached the desk and looked intently.
"Hmmm…there it is, I found it!" he cheered.
"Let me see it!" Donald screeched as he stole it from Goofy's hand.
Donald began to read it.
To Whom It May Concern:
I expect King Mickey or Sora to be the only ones concerned, but I am no longer in attendance as Maleficent has revived and she spawned in this tower, very much alive!
"Let me see it, Donald," Sora said as he took it. "You are not good at reading things."
"But I was using that," whined Donald
"You took it from Goofy", argued Sora.
"Yeah—But—OHHH!" Donald cried.
Sora finished reading the letter aloud.
To keep the fairies safe and myself, I evacuated us to Traverse Town, which has somehow returned to existence. I may not be there for long and if you need me, then expect to find another notice.
Yours truly,
Master Yen Sid
"Well, I guess we'd better get moving" Dack said from the staircase.
"Hey, wait up!" Sora shouted.