Oh guys! Please forgive me! I am so sorry everyone! I will update this as soon as possible! i ahve just been to busy trying to write other things! I am a thousand times sorry!

Chapter Three: Preparing for the Journey

The following hour, Riku hadn't gotten any answers from Aurithia or Arkath so he let it drop. They were now huddled in Merlin's house, which Merlin had fixed up after the break in. Riku's mind had wandered again as he thought about the events that had happened just a few hours before. Sora, his best friend, had become someone that Riku didn't really know. Sora's heart had plunged into darkness, and with him being the Keyblade wielder, it had changed him. Riku wasn't sure about many things at the moment. He knew for certain that Sora was back to being Sora, but was the darkness really gone?

He stared off into space as he thought about how he had opened himself up to darkness. Sora's experience had been totally different. Riku had become a puppet, he had let Ansem take over him, but in the end, Sora defeated Ansem, which helped Riku escape and he had become Sora's friend. But he had been sealed in Kingdom Hearts until he found a way out. Riku sighed heavily, the adventure wasn't over and now they had a new companion: Aurithia.

Riku wasn't sure what he thought about her yet either. He knew that he liked her in a way, but he still had that strange feeling that she wasn't human. It bugged him, but he didn't dare ask her anything because he might offend her. "Hey Riku, we're leaving in thirty minutes, you'd better hope that you're prepared. From what Aurithia is saying, it sounds pretty bad."

Riku looked up at Sora's voice and groaned inwardly, closing his eyes. Wasn't he aloud to rest any? His answer was given to him by Kairi, who responded, "And don't even thinking about going to sleep! We still need some supplies."

Riku's eyes shot open and he sighed again and nodded. He stood up from where he had been sitting and turned to Leon, "Hey Leon, you know where we can find a moogle anywhere?"

Leon glanced at Riku and said, "It might still be in the market place, you can go look but it could be hiding from the battle."

Riku nodded and headed for the doorway and walked out. The door had been busted door by Merlin and had yet to be replaced. As Riku walked outside, he saw the destruction the Nobodies and Organization XIII had caused. The walls and a few houses were broken and crumpled. He had to watch his step so that he didn't fall over anything as he stumbled down towards the market place. He yawned, feeling tired, but Riku was determined to stay awake.

He reached the market place within a matter of seconds and took in the destruction. The place where the moogle usually stayed was destroyed. "There's no moogle here…" Riku sighed and continued on through the rubble, looking for the little ball of fluff with a red pompom on its head. Riku spotted a little movements towards a broken cart that had smashed fruit all around it. It had once been a fruit but now Riku could see that it was a hiding place for the moogle.

"Um…moogle…are you under there?" Riku asked, unsure of how he should address a moogle.

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Sephiroth stood in the remains of Hollow Bastion, looking down on Merlin's house with anger. One of these days, he would be sure Cloud surrender to the darkness. His mako green eyes flashed as he hovered in the air for a moment and then vanished. Cloud had been searching for him for three years now, but had been unsuccessful to find him. Sephiroth, though, had caused destruction every time Cloud had gotten closer and closer to finding him. It was fun to watch Cloud struggle against the hardships that Sephiroth gave him.

Holding his Masamune, Sephiroth wondered what would Cloud do if he killed that girl…Aerith? Was that her name? Probably. Sephiroth knew exactly what would happen: Cloud would want to kill him even more. He grinned wickedly at that. Sephiroth would never perish by Cloud's blade or anyone else's.

He vanished after that, an evil plan forming in his mind.

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Riku didn't see any moogle anywhere, so what had been under there? He blinked, thinking that he should crawl under the rubble, but suddenly he jumped at a voice, "Kupo! Are you looking for me, kupo?"

Riku hit his head on the wood as he back away from the rubble and turned to look at the little flying moogle standing in front of him. Riku nodded, "Uh, yeah…I need some supplies."

"Kupo, you're out of luck. My stuff is in all this rubble, kupo," the moogle explained. Moogle looked at Riku and then, fluttering it's wings, glided away. Riku sighed heavily and shook his head. Oh well.

He headed back to Merlin's and found Leon and Cloud talking with one another, while Yuffie and Aerith (Aeris) were talking about something. Sora and Kairi were playing go-fish, and Axel, Arkath, and Aurithia were looking at something. They looked up when Riku came in. "The moogle lost all of his supplies."

Everyone sighed and shook their heads like Riku had done earlier. "I guess we can just get some rest now and then leave and get supplies along the way." Sora spoke up. Kairi looked at him sharply, but she did not speak. They needed supplies, but she guessed, there was no way of getting it now…Riku, on the other hand, seemed to agree with Sora on that. He was tired!

&

Meanwhile, unknown to everyone else, a shadow lurked in the corners of Hollow Bastion, his red eyes flashing with anger. His plan had been destroyed! He grabbed Moogle as it came by, picking up things looking for its supplies. "KUPO!" the moogle squealed as it was picked up by it's pompom. "Kupo LET GO!"

The man rolled his eyes at the moogle and opened a dark portal and stepped into it and vanished. This moogle could be of some use to him if Riku, Sora, and Kairi were looking for some supplies…

&

(Please, no questions about this. I couldn't help myself-okay?)

A man with crimson red eyes glared at the stone ground beneath his feet. He had long since noticed that a battle had gone on here, and by the looks of it-no one had died because there was no blood. He found that very strange as he picked his way through the rubble. His red cape trailed behind him as he looked up. Cloud was around here somewhere…

His red cape trailed along the ground, and his metal claw glinted in the sunlight. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of a motor bike. He stopped in front of it and stood deathly still, listening intently. He could hear Cloud's voice, he seemed to be talking with someone. He found out that Cloud was in a house. He stepped up to the door without the slightest care, he opened the door and what shocked him was that as soon as he opened the door, a girl jumped at him, yelling, "Vinnie!"

Heh-heh. I couldn't resist the urge to put him in here! It was too tempting! (I've been searching for things about FINAL FANTASY VII: CIRISIS CORE & DIRGE OF CERBERUS for a while now and that is why-I'm obsessed with FFVII now...heh-heh