Authors Note: This chapter was fun to write. I hope everyone likes it! Please review :D

Thanks for Beta'ing it Mystics Apprentice!

Chapter Nine: Proposition

Well, this world was a bit larger then I had expected. It looked as though we had only covered a short distance in the hour and a half that we'd been out. And as long as we'd been out, we, sadly, hadn't found anything that was very interesting.

But now it looked as though we might have finally, maybe come across something! Before us stood a different cottage, one not too far from David's. Did someone beside the scientist's brother live here?

A slight frown furrowed the brows of the steel-haired Cloaked Schemer. "Should we see who lives in this cottage?" Ienzo asked, thoughtfully observing the small structure. "Or should we perhaps continue on?"

"Hmm…" I said, crossing my arms while I debated it. "We might as well check. Who knows, they might even know something about Kairi."

"That's true," Riku said somewhat doubtfully. "Let's go see."

The cottage that now stood before us appeared smaller then David's. It was backed up against a large slope with no trees anywhere in sight.

Riku paused briefly at the door before reaching out a hand and knocking upon it. We stood there, waiting for minutes on end for someone to come and answer it. After no one came, Lea shrugged and we all turned and started to walk away. Just as we stepped off the front steps, however, the door opened.

An aged man stood there, staring at us curiously. He wore glasses, had hair that was almost as white as snow, and stood slightly hunched over while leaning upon a walking stick.

No one spoke for several moments. I guess we were not quite sure on what to say, or who should speak first. I finally decided to break the silence.

"Hi!" I greeted, grinning broadly. "I'm Sora! We, uh…all just wanted to ask you a few things."

The man removed his glasses and studied me for a moment. I shuffled my feet, unsure of what else to say. The man probably didn't know anything about Kairi anyway; he most likely hadn't even heard of her.

"Do you live here?" Ienzo asked, breaking up the silence.

"…Yes," the man answered slowly, a slight frown creasing his already wrinkled face. "But I don't think any of you do."

"Yeah, you're kinda right there," Lea said, scratching the back of his head. "We're from a loooong way away from here!"

"I see," the man answered, a faint smile finally stretching the corners of his mouth. "Perhaps you had all better come inside."

"Thank you," Ienzo said, smiling in return.

The man stepped back, opening the door wider so that we all could step inside. The cottage was slightly more rundown then David's, or at least that was my first impression, it could've just been the lack of color.

The man strode over to a chair near the middle of the room and sat down.

"Please, have a seat," he offered, gesturing around at a couple of other chairs near a table in his kitchen area.

We all looked at each other, but no one made any motion to sit down on any of them. So I decided to walk over to the man and plop down on the floor in front of his chair. I didn't really want to be involved in a fight over a couple of chairs; that would be just plain silly. If they all wanted to, then I'd just let them be.

A second later both Riku and Lea had sat down on the floor near me, Ven and Isa joining us shortly thereafter.

"No, Aqua," I heard Terra mutter under his breath. "Just take the seat!"

After that Terra pushed Aqua down in the chair by her shoulders, before coming over to join the rest of us, leaving Ienzo the last chair. Once he sat down we all turned back to face the cottage owner. I raised an eyebrow as the man, who had looked amused up till that point, began laughing. He fell silent quickly, though, and smiled at me.

"So you're Sora, correct?" he asked. I nodded, and he went on. "Well? What are the rest of your names? I'm Peter."

The rest of my companions introduced themselves, Lea inserting his signature line of "got it memorized?" at the end of his long intro.

"So, what was it you were wanting to ask me?" Peter asked, looking at each of us in turn.

"Well, we were wondering if you had seen a girl. She's a friend of ours, and we think she might've passed through here," I said.

"She has auburn hair, blue eyes, is about his age," Riku said, gesturing towards me. "Have you seen anyone like that?"

The man shook his head. "No, sorry. I actually haven't seen anyone other than the five who came here with me, since, well—since I got here."

"Oh," I muttered quietly. I dropped my gaze to the floor. Perhaps they really hadn't come through this world. That or nobody had seen them, which was a possibility.

"Have you possibly seen an old man, then?" Aqua inquired.

With that, the man once again broke into laughter.

"My dear girl," the man began. "I see several old men every day, myself included."

"We mean a different one that didn't come here with you," Ventus broke in. "He has no hair, is dressed sorta odd, and walks hunched over."

Peter shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I haven't."

"So, you're here with David?" Ienzo clarified. The man nodded in response. "Where was it that you came here from?"

"A world named Radiant Garden," Peter told us.

"Are you a scientist?" Isa asked curiously, tilting his head slightly to one side.

The man smiled. "Yes, I am. I worked with Lord Ansem."

"I thought so," Ienzo said. "I was an apprentice of his at one time. However, I was nowhere near as good as his others."

"Who are his apprentices now?" Peter asked.

"I believe you know of them," Ienzo said. "Their names are Even, Dilan, Braig, Aeleus and myself, Ienzo."

"Yes, you're the only one of them that I don't already know about," Peter told us. He then turned and studied Isa for a moment. "And you and your flame-haired friend over there are two teens from Radiant Garden who have a knack for breaking into castles that are carefully guarded, am I right?"

Lea and Isa glanced at each other, clearly at a loss of what to say to this. Though gauging by the look on their faces, my guess would be that they had indeed broken into the castle at least once.

"Well, about that," Lea began, nervously running his fingers through his hair. "We actually—umm…"

"Won't be doing it again," Isa finished for him, shooting him a slightly agitated glance.

Ienzo slowly rose from his chair. "Well, we really do need to be going. We should be returning to David's house shortly."

Aqua also stood up, walking over to stand beside Ienzo.

"Oh…all right," Peter replied. "I think I'll be coming as well. I need to speak to David, anyway."

We left the cottage and then began heading towards the tiny cottage. The walk back went by entirely uneventful, with no one speaking very much. The sun was barely peaking through parted clouds, offering very little warmth in the dreadfully cold weather. Fresh snow hadn't fallen for quite some time, so at least the pathways weren't all slick and we didn't have to trudge through snow.

Once we got to the door Ienzo pulled it open and stood back, allowing the rest of us to pass through. Everyone did so, Riku and I being the last ones. Several people glanced up upon our arrival. It looked like they were now eating lunch, or perhaps it was still breakfast time, I really wasn't sure.

"Hiya!" Braig greeted, grinning as he held up a sandwich. "You might want to make yourself a sandwich before they're all gone!"

"Yeah, sounds good!" Lea agreed, rubbing his hands together. He and Isa then went over to one of the counters and immediately got to work. Ventus, Terra and Aqua followed and stood waiting behind the other two.

"I wonder where they went…" Riku muttered.

I honestly had no idea. Now, there weren't only many worlds to look through, but many time periods as well. Honestly…she could've been anywhere.

I glanced over at David, who was now speaking with Peter. He had kicked Even out of his seat, which left him standing nearby.

"Do you think they know a way out of here?" I heard Peter ask his fellow scientist softly.

"They do seem to have some ideas," David responded. "Maybe we can all figure something out."

Peter nodded, shifting his walking stick to his other hand and stealing a glance towards the opposite end of the room.

I glanced over towards Riku again. He was no longer standing beside me, and had gone over to join the others by the counter. I decided to walk on over and wait my turn, too. Once Aqua had finally walked away, the two of us began making our own sandwiches. We both ended up making bologna ones, which had always been my favorite. Riku liked them too, but probably not as much me. Then again, there really wasn't a whole lot to choose from out of the food David brought out.

We both stood there and ate, since there really wasn't a whole lot left to sit on. Even the floor was crowded by that point. I didn't remain standing there for long, though, and instead took what I had left of my sandwich to stand over by the table, which was where the vast majority had gathered.

"So, you don't have any immediate course of action?" Peter asked Ienzo as I walked up.

Ienzo sat stirring his probably quite cold tea.

"No," he replied after a moment. "Well, I suppose we could try to open a time portal again…"

"We could probably manage to do it," Even said, his expression thoughtful.

Ienzo nodded, taking a sip of his tea.

"So, we might actually be able to get out of here," Peter said happily. David nodded, his own expression almost equaling Peter's joyful one.

…

An entire day had passed, and no one had come up with any wonderful idea to get us out of this world so far. Not long ago the scientists and Ienzo had gone out to try to find a good place to open a time portal.

David had given us an old chessboard, so now Riku and Terra were playing against each other. It was honestly quite entertaining to watch, as they both were pretty close to tied. Pretty much everyone was watching, probably because there wasn't anything else to do, unless someone wanted to go join the scientists in trying to find a good place to open a time portal. Which, I'll be honest, didn't sound like a whole lot of fun.

I wasn't a very good chess player. Whenever I had played against Riku or Kairi I always lost. The only time that I had actually managed to win was when I had played against Wakka; I had been so happy. Now whenever Riku and Kairi played against each other, it was harder to discern the outcome. But usually Riku would come out the victor.

I went back to watching their game. They were still pretty close to tied, but it looked like Riku was slightly in the lead. It was hard to say for sure, though. Chess kind of worked like that.

Right then the front door to the cottage opened and Ienzo stepped in, followed closely by the other three scientists. Even, his brother and Peter all sat down at the table. Ienzo, however, began pacing the cottage, a deep frown upon his face.

He paused beside the bed, his scowl deepening as he gazed along it.

"Why did I not notice it before?" he asked himself.

I looked at him, tilting my head to the side out of confusion. I got the answer to my question almost immediately. Ienzo held out the palm of his hand, a frown upon his face. A few sparks of darkness appeared not far in front of him. He then let out a sigh, and held out his hand again. That time a dark portal appeared.

"I think, we have a way out of here now," Ienzo said, turning back to look at the trio by the table. David and Even both leapt to their feet, and then headed over to Ienzo. Riku glanced up, as did Terra briefly. He then moved one of the chess pieces.

"Check mate," Terra announced, straightening out and stretching.

Riku glanced back at the board, his mouth gaping. "What happened? How did you do that?"

"It was simple, I just…" Terra then broke off. His hand paused over the chessboard, as he shot a glance towards the portal.

"We—We can actually leave now?" David asked incredulously, his eyes lighting up.

"Yes, it does appear so," Ienzo responded, a smile upon his face. "Someone has previously left through this portal. It should take us directly to wherever they went. I'm surprised that I still managed to open it though…I'm no longer a being of nothingness."

"Well, should we go then?" Marluxia asked impatiently.

Ienzo opened his mouth to speak, but David spoke instead.

"Hang on, we can't leave yet," David said. "Let me round up the rest of the people who're here with us. It will only take a second."

Ienzo nodded. "That's fine."

David headed for the door at a run before disappearing out it. Riku then stood up, as did most everyone else, myself included. Maybe we would find Kairi now!

Ventus walked up to me, and stood staring into the depths of the portal.

"I wonder where this one'll lead to…" he asked no one in particular.

"Who knows," I said. "It's only going to take us to a different world though."

"Yeah," Ven agreed. He then glanced over at me and smiled. "Maybe it'll take us to wherever your friend is."

"I hope so," I replied, returning the smile.

True to David's word he didn't take long in returning. With him he brought four other people, most looking a great deal older then himself.

"Okay then, I'll be right there," David said. He then turned around and headed around his house. He carried a bag in his hand; I think he was packing up some of his belongings. Only a few minutes passed before he came back over, his bag slung over his shoulder.

"I'm ready," David told him.

Riku walked up to me, and then we both moved forward to stand beside the slate-haired teen. Ventus went back to join Terra and Aqua.

Ienzo stepped back from the portal. "Sora and Riku, would you care to go through first?"

"Sure," I agreed with a nod, which caused some of my bangs to get in my eyes. I then stepped forward, Riku right behind me, into the portal.

Everyone else joined us shortly thereafter. Ienzo stepped into the front, frowning at several different directions that we could choose to go.

"I think perhaps we should go straight," Ienzo offered, looking over at me.

I shrugged. "Sure."

So, we walked off, down the dark corridor with weird patterns swimming around on the walls and underneath our feet.

We hadn't been walking for too long when Ienzo paused beside a door, one that would lead to some other world. Ienzo then turned back to look between Riku and I.

"Through here seems nice," Ienzo said gesturing back at the opening. "Is that all right?"

I nodded in agreement. All of my companions and I then went through.

I stepped out into a small open area with large cliffs on either side me. Directly in front of us stood another portal, this one of a lighter color than the ones leading to the corridors of darkness.

"That's a time portal," I said, staring deep into it. I glanced at Riku, and then Ienzo. "Should we go through it?"

"I think so," Ienzo responded, frowning ever so slightly. "Would you and Riku like to go first again?"

"Okay," I replied, as I glanced briefly at Riku before proceeding. Riku nodded, and we both stepped in. I shut my eyes, remembering how I usually felt upon going through one of these portals—it was never pleasant.

Once we'd stopped transporting I stumbled out of the portal, determined to remain on my feet this time. I didn't though, and instead fell to my knees.

"I wonder who lives in this castle?" I heard Riku ask from somewhere nearby. "I'm not sure why…but it makes me think of Maleficent. I sure hope she doesn't live here."

I opened my eyes and looked up. Riku was walking towards me, the hard ground crunching under his feet. He held out a hand upon reaching me, which I gladly accepted and sprung to my feet. Just at that moment someone else came through that portal and barreled into me, causing me to fall to the ground once again.

"Sorry!" It was David. He then got up and straightened out.

I stood up as well and stretched. Ugh, he had really hurt my back!

Several others then came through the portal. Two remained standing while Even was on all fours like some strange puppy or something. Ienzo was the last to immerge from the portal and join us.

"Well, do we head towards that castle now?" Lea asked while brushing off his capris.

"I think we should," Ienzo replied, nodding.

Riku continued to stare at the large building before us. "I don't think anyone who would be on our side lives here."

"Me neither," Aqua agreed, her blue eyes holding some concern as she too gazed upon the castle. Her friend, Terra, briefly glanced at Ienzo. He then made his way towards the large building in long, meaningful strides.

"Lets go see," he urged. I followed him and, gauging by all the crunching I heard, it sounded as though everyone else was, too.

It didn't take us long to reach the front of the massive building. I began to make a motion towards the door when Terra halted us abruptly. He glanced around at everyone.

"Are we going through the front door, or the side one?" he asked.

"I'd say the front," Lea said quickly. "Normally people think to go through the side door because no one would suspect it, right? But I think people do it so often now that someone would automatically suspect it, so it would be a better idea to go through the front one."

"However, Lea, if you use that same logic and turn it around," Ienzo replied smiling. "Then it could be a better idea to go from the side one."

Lea scowled, as he crossed his arms and looked straight ahead at the castle.

"I say we listen to the 'sneaking-into-the-castle' expert," Peter said, a teasing glint in his eye.

Lea shot him a sideways glance until he realized that Peter was only joking and his scowl deepened.

"We'll go in from the side," Ienzo said, his expression becoming unreadable.

"No, don't you think we should go in from the front?" Braig countered quickly. "I mean—Lea did have a point!"

Ienzo glanced at Braig and frowned. "No, I think the side is more advisable."

Braig looked thoroughly unhappy, but I couldn't guess why. Ienzo seemed to think we had ended the debate and trailed off along the side of the building.

"I really do think Lea had a point Ienzo, don't you?" Braig asked, running to catch up to him. He then began walking backwards right in front of the steel-haired teen.

Ienzo came to a halt. For once he looked slightly angry.

"No Braig, I don't think so," Ienzo said with a glare. "I think that we all should go through the side door…unless of course you know of a particular reason that we shouldn't?"

"Eh, no…I just thought, that…" Braig trailed off, as Ienzo walked around him towards the door once more.

Was something funny going on? Why was Braig so desperate to go through the front, and Ienzo so adamant that we didn't? Oh well; he probably just decided that he wanted to be difficult.

We stepped into a dark corridor. I really couldn't make much of anything out. I could barely make out the outline of Riku beside me, and at times I found myself following the sounds of their footsteps rather than their actual figures. We moved down a small hall that stood before us, and then turned into another equally dark corridor with small steps leading down.

After my companions and I had been walking for quite sometime, we turned through a door and stepped into somewhere I literally couldn't make anything out. It seemed like some sort of really large room…

I squinted into the darkness. It looked like there was some sort of barred room right in front of me. I frowned as I tried harder to make out the insides. Wait a sec! We were down in a dungeon area!

"Okay, so…" I heard Lea say, only I couldn't make him out to be sure, though. "Do we just turn around and go back up?"

"No," Ienzo said. "Let's look around in here first."

That being said, we began walking around the dark prison cells. I had no idea who was in the lead, but Ienzo's voice had come from in front of me.

"Who's there?"

I jumped. Who'd said that? It wasn't anyone one of us… Wait…could it be?

"Kairi?" I asked excitedly. Which direction had she come from? I wasn't positive, but it had sounded like Kairi.

"Sora? Is that you?" I heard her ask again. I quickly walked in the direction of her voice.

"Yep! Riku's here, too," I replied.

I found her, finally, in one of the last prison cells I searched. A little bit of light was streaming into her cell, so I could make out her form ever so slightly.

Riku walked up. "Kairi! Are you okay?"

The redhead moved towards us, wrapping one of her slim, pallid hands around a cold iron bar. "Yeah, I'm fine," Kairi assured us.

"Hang on a sec, we'll get you out of there," Riku said. He then bent down and began looking for the lock to her cell.

I bent down as well to help him look. We found it, and I pulled out my Keyblade. Riku stepped back out of my way as I pointed it at the lock.

"Don't!" Kairi said quickly.

What was she talking about? The Keyblade looked like it was opening the lock—wait…no, it didn't.

I was thrown off of my feet and back into the wall behind me. I hit the wall with sheer force, and stayed there briefly before I fell back to the cold, hard floor below me. I remained on the floor for a moment stunned, then I slowly got to my feet.

"Sora? You okay?" Riku asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

To be honest, I was slightly shaken up, though no real damage had come to me. "Y—yeah, I'm fine."

I went back to stand beside Riku once again. I frowned. How were we supposed to get her out? It's not like we had the key to her cell.

"Let me see it."

Terra walked up to us and bent down to look at the lock.

I stepped back to watch him. He pulled a regular key out of his pocket and began fiddling with the lock. A few minutes later he managed to slide the door open.

"How'd you do that?" I asked curiously.

"My master taught me how," Terra explained, pocketing his key. "I'll show you some other time."

"All right then, perhaps we should leave," Ienzo suggested. "We have Kairi now. Xehanort is most likely nearby."

"Good idea," Riku agreed.

I looked over at Kairi and grinned, throwing my hands back behind my head.

"I'm glad you're okay," I said. For some reason I was drawing a blank on what to say, that being the only thing I could think of. "I…uh, was worried."

"Yeah," Riku agreed. "Did Xehanort hurt you somehow?"

Kairi shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Thanks for coming to find me! I just hope we can get out of here alright. Xehanort wanted to use you both for something."

I frowned; he had said that. But if he had wanted to, then…why wasn't he there trying to catch us?

"Come on, let's go," Terra said, walking towards the stairs we had come from.

The three of us (Riku, Kairi and I) began to walk back the way we had come, trailing after Terra as I couldn't really make out much else in there, even with my eyes used to the dark. We walked back along the corridors, and then made our way to the side door. I came to halt. Something suddenly dawned on me—

"Hey, do you think Xehanort's the one destroying the worlds?" I asked.

Everyone else came to a halt in front of me, most turning around to face me.

"It would make sense," Riku said after a moment, his turquoise eyes thoughtful.

Ienzo strolled to the door and pulled it open. "Perhaps, though I don't think we should try attacking him just yet."

"Why not?" I asked curiously. "I mean, there's only one of him against all of us!"

"Well…" Ienzo fell silent, completely lost for words, which was unusual for him. When he started a sentence he almost always ended it.

Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me backwards.

I glanced up in alarm. Xehanort! The old man had found us! He kept a hold of my upper arm as he jerked me back one more time before flinging me forward. I gasped, stumbling forward into Kairi. Once I had regained my footing I glanced back at Xehanort.

I was about to say something, but then a voice other than my own came out.

"Master Xehanort? What are you doing?" I heard Terra demand from somewhere not too far in front of me.

Xehanort glanced at him, his mouth quirking into a twisted smile.

"Why hello there, Terra!" he greeted. "I'm quite relived to be seeing you here. You see, I'm in need of some help, and perhaps you can help me convince Sora and Riku here that I am not a bad person."

Terra remained silent. I couldn't see him, but I was curious as to what his expression was.

"Master! Why are you doing this?" It was Aqua, and she didn't sound like she really believed him.

"Well, Aqua, I'm trying to do something good," Xehanort explained. "You, as a Keyblade wielder, must know that all the worlds were once together as one. I'm only trying to obtain that once again. I have a plan, one that may require a bit of assistance. Please Terra, Aqua, Riku, and …most especially, Sora: help me obtain this goal!"

I stared at him. If he was anything like Xemnas, then somewhere mixed in all that was getting Kingdom Hearts. Which meant that there was no way I was going to help him!

"How would you go about doing this?" Terra demanded.

"I have a few ideas, which I am willing to discuss with all of you," Xehanort said. "So, Terra, Sora? What'll it be? Will you help me towards this wonderful goal?"

I studied the ground for a moment, waiting to see if Terra was going to say anything. When he failed to respond right away, I looked up into Xehanort's wrinkled, aged face, which had gone through a dark portal too many.

"No way! You aren't doing this to help anyone but yourself!" I yelled, glaring at him.

"Heh, did you honestly think we would fall for that?" Riku asked.

"Terra?" Xehanort asked, a scowl upon his face as he glanced past Riku and I to the brunet. "Will you help me?"

"I—" Terra began. I stood on tiptoe to try and see him amidst all the people. He was staring at the floor, his hands clenched tightly along his sides.

"Terra! Don't be fooled!" Aqua said, moving to stand in front of him. "Our Master had known that he might not be on our side any longer. You can't trust him!"

Terra finally glanced up, looking at Xehanort. "No, I—I don't know quite what you're after, but you're acting awfully strange…Master."

"I see… Is this your final answer, then? Sora? Terra?" Xehanort asked, now looked thoroughly displeased.

"We're not going to help you!" I told him.

"All right, then. I see you all just need some more time to think about it," Xehanort said. He then looked at Ienzo, his scowl deepening. "I see you are doing well Ienzo. You are helping Sora… I simply must ask you: why?"

However, he didn't seem to really expect a reply. For next thing I knew he was in front of me, seeming to have used some manner of teleportation.

"Good-bye, I trust I will be seeing you all again quite soon," Xehanort said, his twisted smile returning. He then opened a dark corridor—or was that one leading to the Lanes Between? I wasn't sure anymore.

"Hey!" Riku yelled suddenly. I briefly wondered why, but then I realized Xehanort had a hold of Kairi again!

"No! Let her go!" I yelled, pulling out my Keyblade and charging him without a moment's delay. He was not going to have Kairi again!

Xehanort lifted his Keyblade, bringing it up to clash with mine. I kept going at him, determined to get to Kairi this time. A moment later I noticed Riku beside me; he was going to help. Yet somehow even with the two of us Xehanort was able to deflect us.

I brought my Keyblade up once again to try and get at him from a new angle. I found myself being knocked back into a wall and, much like last time, Riku had been thrown back beside me. In front of us Xehanort opened a portal, still keeping a tight grip on Kairi's arm.

"Well, I think I'll be going now," Xehanort said. "You all just need some time to think about things a little longer. Farewell, Terra…Sora."