Authors Note: I intend to have every other chapter from Xion's point of view, unless I add someone else's along the way, such as Vanitas's. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Please read and Review :)

Thanks so much for your help Mystics Apprentice!

Chapter Five: Through the Time Portal

"Did you say that Xehanort has taken her?" Ienzo asked me once I had finished explaining what had happened (with some help from Riku and Ven. Aqua had remained oddly silent while we were speaking). "You are sure that it was not Xemnas?"

"Yes! I'm completely sure!" I told him, nodding frantically. "He was a really old man!"

I was getting a little exasperated with Ienzo now; he had remained looking doubtful the entire time that we'd been explaining all this to him.

I crossed my arms and waited for Ienzo to respond, who was staring at the floor as if he could see straight through it. Then I noticed that Riku had taken a step forward so that he was now standing right beside me.

"Listen," Riku started, glaring at Ienzo through narrowed eyes. "I don't know what you're thinking or planning right now…but, that was Xehanort back there. Mickey showed me a photo of him before."

"Do you believe us now?" I asked Ienzo irritably. "We have to go and find her—right away!"

Ienzo finally looked up and nodded in agreement.

"What?"

I glanced back over my shoulder to find Even, who was tromping up the stairs towards where we were gathered at Ienzo's doorway. On our way back, we had caught up with him just as he had been entering his room, having only had breakfast.

"Who do we have to find?" Even demanded.

I glared at the scientist; he just had this way of getting on my very last nerve!

"Kairi," Riku told him when I had failed to respond immediately. "A man named Xehanort has taken Kairi."

Even was now standing right beside me, his arms crossed in a similar fashion to mine.

"Who is this 'Xehanort?'" he asked us, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "And what would anyone want with Kairi?"

I sighed. "Xehanort said that he wanted me and Riku to find her, but I don't know why… Unless he wants to get me and Riku to do something for him."

"Interesting… But who is he?" Even repeated.

"I do not believe that you would know whom he is as of yet," Ienzo told him. "Xehanort is a Keyblade Master, whom is seeking the power of Kingdom Hearts to bring the worlds as we know them into utter ruin. Xehanort believes that in doing so he will be bringing the worlds back together as one."

"Then we definitely can't help him," I thought aloud, a frown creasing my forehead. "But we do have to find Kairi—as soon as we can!"

"We need to come up with the best solution possible," Ienzo told me. "Then I do believe that we should go and find her, yes."

Riku shifted restlessly beside me.

"How long do you think that'll take?" Riku asked Ienzo. "I will not let that old man hurt Kairi!"

"It should not take very long," Ienzo assured him. "First we need to conclude a way to open one of the time portals, otherwise we will not be capable of getting anywhere."

"Well then, I'm going to leave you all to figure it out," Even informed us while heading down the hall towards his room.

"Wait," Ienzo called after him. "I will need your help figuring out how to reopen the portal."

Ienzo turned to look at Riku and me.

"Could you show me the exact location that Xehanort departed from?"

I blinked and thought back to where we had been. I was pretty sure that I remembered about where it was. Before I could answer, Ventus nodded.

"Yeah," he told Ienzo. "I'm pretty sure that we can find it again."

"Very well, then. Lead the way," Ienzo told him. He and Ventus began to make their way towards the stairs.

"Sora? Riku? Do either of you want to come?" Ventus asked us, his hand resting on the stairs' railing. "Aqua?"

"Yeah, I'll come," Riku replied, joined him and Ienzo by the stairs.

I nodded and headed over there as well. Once I had reached them I glanced back at Aqua, who hadn't made a motion to join whatsoever.

"No, I'll just—" Aqua paused, her bright-blue eyes worried. "I'm just going to go tell Terra what happened."

She then turned around and headed down the hallway.

"Okay, good idea!" Ventus called after her.

…

We arrived at the spot a short while later. Riku, Ventus and I were pacing around trying to pinpoint exactly where it had been that Xehanort vanished. On our ninth round, Riku paused in a certain spot a ways away from me, and glanced back at Ienzo.

"It was right here," Riku informed him. "I remember because Xehanort had been just slightly to the right of that postal box."

I frowned at the spot that Riku was standing as I followed Ienzo and Even over there. I wasn't sure how Riku had noticed that; I hadn't even realized that there was a mailbox over there!

"All right," Ienzo said, bending down to place the palm of his hand on the hard surface. "You three should go and get something to eat. Even and I will try to discern how to open the portal."

Even scowled as he crouched down beside the steel-haired teen.

"I never agreed to help you with this," I heard him tell Ienzo irritably. "It isn't polite to order people around that are older than yourself—"

"Do you or do you not wish to open this portal and explore other eras?" Ienzo interjected.

"Well…of course I do," Even told him. "I just don't like being bossed around by people who are younger then myself."

"I was quite certain that you would wish to help," Ienzo told him, as he flicked his wrist and a regular portal appeared directly before him. "If you do not want to, then please do what you like."

Even seemed to think better of arguing and instead glared at the rapidly disappearing portal.

"Hey, Sora!"

I quickly turned around. Riku and Ventus were standing at the corner of the street waiting for me. I glanced back over my shoulder to where Even was still crouching down, and Ienzo was now pacing in circles around the spot.

"I'll see you later guys!" I told them. I offered them a wave before turning around to run and catch up with Riku and Ven.

…

Riku, Ventus, Terra, Aqua and I were sitting around a round, medium-sized table in a corner of a packed restaurant. Apparently this was where all the people in town were; all crammed in this one teeny, tiny restaurant.

The three of us had decided to go back to the inn and pick up Terra and Aqua. And, so far, our only topic choice for discussion had been 'Xehanort.' I guess the old man had been their master's best friend or something, and they were all shocked that he could actually want Kingdom Hearts' power. Terra had gone as far as to insist up and down that we had to be mistaken. Though I think that Aqua and Ven had finally managed to convince him that there was at least a possibility he was up to no good.

I looked up in surprise as someone at our table started gagging and coughing.

"Careful Ven," Terra told him teasingly as he whacked him on the back.

"Ugh," Ventus muttered, eyes streaming as he examined his coffee in disgust. "What did they put in this? It tastes—awful!"

Terra chuckled and ate a bite of his pancakes (they had been out of waffles, which he had tried to order first). I found it a little funny that all five of us had ordered pancakes. Well…maybe not, I mean who wouldn't like pancakes? They were Kairi's favorite as well…

Terra had also ordered coffee, though I noticed that he carefully avoided it after what Ventus had said.

"So," Terra started, turning to face me. "I hear that you and Riku can both wield the Keyblade… Is that true?"

I nodded with a huge grin, causing Terra to beam at me.

"Cool! Ventus, Aqua and me can as well," Terra told me. "And Aqua here had just became a Keyblade master before we got zapped off here."

I looked at Aqua in surprise; I hadn't guessed that any of them were able to use the Keyblade, but a Keyblade Master, wow!

"That's so cool!" I told them, grinning from ear-to-ear. "How exactly do you become a Keyblade Master though? Is there some kind of test that you have to pass?"

"Not always," Aqua replied. "Normally your master will just deem you one when he thinks you're ready. Though our master decided to do a test for us."

"Then did you take the test too, Terra?" I asked curiously. Gauging by the look on their faces I was guessing that I shouldn't have asked.

"Yeah—I did," Terra informed me, avoiding the gaze of everyone at the table and stirring the coffee that I was pretty sure he wouldn't drink. "I'm just—eh, not good enough to pass yet."

After that we all sat in silence, until Terra took a sip of his coffee. He made an extremely odd noise in his throat and then quickly excused himself from the table.

"I warned you!" Ventus called after him, laughing before turning to look at Riku then at me. "What's the name of your guy's master?"

"We don't have a master," Riku told him, catching my eye; he looked slightly worried, though I couldn't imagine why. "We kind of just taught ourselves."

"Really?" Ventus asked, his eyes widening in surprise. "You don't have a master?"

I shook my head and took another bite out of my pancakes.

"What's the name of your master?" Riku asked. "Do the three of you all have the same one?"

"Yeah, his name is Master Eraqus," Ventus told us. "He's really great."

We all sat and ate the rest of our food in silence. Just as we finished paying our waiter, Terra finally came back and joined us again.

"Okay, we all set to go then?" Terra asked us while we all rose from the table.

"Yep!" Ventus told him, before handing him a box. "Here, we put the rest of your food in a to-go box."

…

Riku and I were back in our room at the inn. My silver-haired friend was leaning against the wall by the closet door, and was once again looking at his phone. Gauging by the look he wore on his face and his continuous sighing, I was guessing that it still wasn't working very well.

We were waiting for any news from Ienzo, who promised to tell us right away if he figured anything out about the time portal, but I wasn't expecting to hear anything right away. When we had stopped off on our way back from the restaurant to see how it was going, they hadn't seemed to have made any progress whatsoever. Even was quickly growing tired of working on it; when we had last seen him he had been sitting on the edge of the paved sidewalk, driving Ienzo so crazy that he had been practically begging the scientist to leave. Ienzo had made it sound like just a polite suggestion, but even after stating this, Even had still decided to stay. He'd been saying that Ienzo wouldn't be able to figure anything out without his help. So we all had left a very exasperated-looking Ienzo to figure out how to open the time portal, with the help of the mad scientist. I had felt a little bad about leaving Ienzo there with him, but I doubted that I would be of any help anyway. I had absolutely no patience for Even.

I glanced over at Riku as he let out a particularly loud sigh. He was still looking at his phone, though at the moment he really looked as though he would like to just throw it—but he didn't. My guess would be that he realized he would probably regret it after he did so, and had decided against it.

I sighed as well, before reaching down and pulling one of my Mickey Mouse slippers off my foot. I laid back down, my head hanging slightly off the side of my bed, and started tossing my Mickey Mouse slipper up in the air and catching it before it hit the bed. I was getting pretty tired of waiting here and doing nothing to rescue Kairi.

"Sora?" Riku asked as he walked over to me (I was still tossing my slipper around). "What are you doing?"

I glanced up at him. Couldn't he tell without asking? I was playing catch with my slipper!

"Nothing," I told him. "I'm just waiting for news on the portal, same as you. Any luck with your phone?"

Riku shook his head, plopping down on the bed by my feet. He was now staring at the door, as though willing Ienzo to come through it.

Just then I heard a knock at the door, and Isa's voice calling through it.

"It's Lea and me, can we come in?"

"Sure," I answered, resuming the throwing of my slipper.

They both came in, leaving the door ajar behind them.

"I heard about your friend," Lea told us, sitting on the floor by the bed. "I'm really sorry that the old coot took her."

I laughed; that sounded pretty funny, but it did fit him well enough.

"Thanks; I'm sure that we'll be able to find her soon," I told him. I then changed the subject and asked, "So…do you know anything about Organization XIII?"

Lea frowned thoughtfully for a moment.

"No, I can't say that I do," he told me. "What is it? Is that where you think the old man took Kairi?"

"I heard Ienzo and Marluxia discussing that organization yesterday. They mentioned something called a 'Nobody,' which didn't make any since to me. It had sounded as if they were in this Organization…" Isa told me. "Which wouldn't be a good thing, right?"

I looked at Isa. I was a little surprised that he had caught all of that; he must have been listening very closely to what they were saying.

"What's a Nobody?" Lea asked curiously.

"Oh, umm… A Nobody is—" I fell silent, glancing at Riku for help. I wasn't sure how much I should tell them. I mean, if they ever found out that they became Nobodies themselves when they were older…

I glanced back at Isa; he wore a look of curiosity on his face. Riku was watching them as well, apparently wondering the same thing that I was.

"Well," Riku started, looking back and forth between the two friends. "Nobodies are beings of neither light nor darkness. They have no hearts, meaning they don't feel any emotions. They all want something called Kingdom Hearts because they…think that it'll give them back the piece of themselves that they lost."

Lea was looking at the ground thoughtfully, but my eyes widened when I saw the expression on Isa's face. He looked horrified! But why? Unless… He somehow already knew that he was going to become one?

"Huh, that's strange," Lea said, frowning slightly. "I guess I feel a little sorry for them though. I mean, who would like not being able to feel happy or excited?"

Lea didn't seem to be that bothered by Riku's explanation on what Nobodies were. I glanced back at Isa again; his expression had cleared, though he still looked rather pale.

"Hey, it's time for lunch!" Lea exclaimed, tapping the watch he wore around his wrist. "You guys want to come with Isa and me to get some chow?"

"Nah," Riku told him, once again pulling out his phone from his back pocket. "We had sort of a brunch not too long ago, I'm not hungry yet. Are you, Sora?"

I shook my head; I was still pretty full from breakfast.

"Thanks though," I told them. I slipped my Mickey Mouse slipper back on my foot for good, deciding that I was finally bored of my toss and catch game.

"Oh, and by the way, Sora… You might want to get some different clothes. I don't think anyone here knows who Mickey Mouse is," Lea told me.

"I'm not going to get different clothes until I find something somewhat decent to wear!" I informed him, crossing my arms and scowling. "Wait—you know Mickey?"

"Eh, no," Lea told me while scratching the back of his head. "This umm, 'duck'—well, his name's Scrooge McDuck. Anyway, he told us that he had met Mickey before. He also said he's that duck on your shirt's— Donald I think his name was?—Well, he said that he's his uncle."

"Cool," I told him. "I've met Scrooge before."

Lea smiled and left the room, leaving the door open for Isa to follow. The blue-haired teen paused in the doorway, looking back and forth between Riku and me.

"So, Nobodies can't feel—anything?" Isa asked us, looking upset.

Riku nodded, glancing up at him.

Isa looked down at his shoes. "I—I heard Marluxia say that Lea and me become Nobodies… Was he telling the truth?"

I opened my mouth to say something nice to him, but he cut me off.

"Never mind," he told me heading out of the door at Lea calling his name. "I don't really want to know—bye."

I sighed taking off my slipper once more, tossing it, though I guessed that I had aimed wrong, because it landed pass my outstretched hand and hit the floor.

…

"Sora," someone whispered.

I lifted my pillow and stuck it over my head. No one, and mean no one was going to wake me up from this dream! I was finally visiting Santa again!

"Sora!" the person repeated, taking the pillow off of my head and shaking me. "You need to get up, Even and I just managed to open the time portal!"

That did it for me; I was wide awake now. I sat up and looked at Ienzo, who was standing by my bed. From the rays of the early morning light shining in from around our curtains, I could just barely make out Riku standing up behind Ienzo. Gauging by the light streaming in, it had to be really early!

"Hurry!" Ienzo told me, as I slowly swung my legs out of bed. "I don't know how long it is going to remain open. It was already fading as I left!"

I jumped up hurriedly, and then got down on all fours and felt around my bed for my slippers. At last I found them half under the bed. I put them on my feet and quickly stood up to head for the door, which Riku had already gone through.

Outside in the hall I found that almost everyone else was already up. I felt someone tap my shoulder as I quickly strode down the hall. It was Lea.

"Do you know where we're going?" he asked me, yawning widely.

I was about to answer him on my way down the stairs, but Demyx beat me to it.

"To another time period!" Demyx informed him excitedly. "Isn't that great? Maybe this one will have a hot shower!"

Lea had started to respond, but I didn't stop to hear what he had to say. I had spotted Riku rushing out the front door of the inn, and I ran to try and catch up with him.

Riku was running towards the place where Even and Ienzo had been working on the portal. I didn't manage to catch up with him until he had slowed down to a stop upon reaching Even.

"No, you can't go through there yet!" I heard Even tell Riku. "If someone goes through it'll just close faster. You have to wait until everyone else gets here!"

I glanced at the portal; it was growing rather faint. A little alarmed now, I started looking around for the rest of the people. I spotted them heading towards us from a little ways away still.

"They aren't exactly sure how they opened the portal the first time, and Ienzo doesn't know if he can reopen the same portal more then once," Riku informed me. "So we have to go through this portal."

I nodded in agreement, just as everyone else reached us.

"So… Do we just go through?" Isa asked Ienzo uncertainly.

"Yes," Ienzo replied. "As soon as Sora, Riku and Even get through."

I looked at him in surprise; why send Even with us?

"Come on, Sora," Riku told me pulling on my arm. "We better hurry."

I quickly followed Riku and Even through the portal, the latter seeming quite eager to go through. Once we had reached it I heard Ienzo dishing out more orders.

When we had stepped into the portal I felt the familiar dizzying sensation from before as everything swam in front of my eyes. Then it was as though I had fallen from a great height, and my feet had fallen out from under me.

I didn't pass out this time! That was good! I slowly got to my feet; once I started to feel a little steady on them I opened my eyes and looked around. I let out a gasp just as several more people rushed through the portal.

"Uhh… This is great and all," I heard Demyx say from behind me. "But where's the bathtub?"