Notes: Kairi and Mickey bashing continues (a bit) a lot here. Sorry if it irks you, but it's for the plot, so if it does bug you then I suggest you stop reading here. (enter magical BACK BUTTON theme song) and i kept forgetting they're lions a lot. gr.

Recap: "Don't worry. They've been here for a while. Without Scar, I doubt they're any threat."..."We will accept Xehanort's offer, and make it clear that we will have Kingdom Hearts first. Then we will destroy the Keyblade Masters as well as our other opposition."

/end recap

Simba listened somberly as Sora, Donald, and Goofy retold their adventure since the group had last met, Riku and Kairi filling in holes where Sora had been absent. The brunet spoke of foreign places and people Kairi and Riku could only imagine, so they mostly stayed silent. At the end of Sora's story, the lion nodded. "That explains it. The Heartless are back, Sora. I ran into some the other day in the Wastelands." Sora nodded. "They'll never leave. Not until all the darkness is gone." An uneasy silence fell then, everyone considering the paradox presented.

"Anyway, Simba?" Kairi asked politely, grabbing the attention of all (even a squeaky little mouse, which Sora winced at as the King pulled his hair to get his attention). "Yes, Kairi?" The reddish lioness cub bluffed confidence. "Why are some lions like Kovu and his mother?" Not exactly the tactful phrase she'd had in mind, but it got the question out. At her question the male sighed and shook his head. "Those lions were banished from the Pride Lands a long time ago because they supported my brother Scar when he ruled the pride. After he died, they tried to destroy the pride and take over the land, so they were banished. Now they live somewhere in the Wastelands, I think barely surviving, too proud to admit their mistakes."

"What if one did?" The young and old met eyes. Kairi was brimming with hope and innocence, Simba with skepticism and hurt. "What do you mean?" He carefully questioned. "If one of them did come back, ask to be forgiven, if he truly regretted the past, would you let him in?" They both knew she meant Kovu. Only Simba knew that wasn't happening. "I would."

The two lions in the bushes smiled, but the gleeful snarles seemed menacing on their fierce faces. "She's too pure, Xsujint. Too innocent of the real world for this journey, don't you think?" With a nod, the blue-eyed lion agreed. "She does not yet know enough to be an asset. But, knowing our Order, we'll find a way to use that." Lyrxet chuckled. "That's for sure. Hey," and here he turned his head to smile insanely at the other, "how about we teach her a bit?"

Xsujint's eyes narrowed. "No. You heard jYexrem. We don't do anything until he tells us to." Lyrxet scoffed. "You are such a kiss up, Xsujint, really. All we have to do is catch her alone and rough her up a bit." The grin had faded with the insult's rise, but now reappeared. "One more heart towards our Kingdom won't hurt." Xsujint sighed. "You want to be the one to do it? Go ahead, see what our leader says to it." Lyrxet matched his sigh and over-dramatized it. "C'mon, you know I wouldn't! Just a suggestion..."

Sora and Simba were nodding again, and the adult turned, walking in the direction his mate and daughter had left earlier. Sora and Riku traded significant glances before Sora turned and nodded to Donald and Goofy. Kairi, feeling lost, turned to stare at Riku. Without looking back, the grey-silver lion responded. "There are two enemies hiding in the grass. Don't look--" for Kairi, startled, had been about to--"but we think we can take them. With any luck, they'll give us some information."

From the grass Lyrxet chuckled lowly. "Xsujint, it seems they've found us anyway. And they want to fight. What say you, o mighty commander of Fonons?" he asked sarcastically. With an aggravated sigh, Xsujint stood a little taller and walked with the grey-furred lion out into the clearing. Each party scanned the other at first, seeming relaxed, nobody moving to summon weapon, though the small area did suffocate with the tension of battle.

Kairi felt oddly out of place and almost sick with expectation.

"So, you're the Keyblade Wielders, huh?" The lion on the group's left asked casually, a playful smile on his face as his grey fur carelessly fell as he tilted his head. "You look too young." Sora's tone was angry as he called back "You two can't be much older, and you're Nobodies!"

Xsujint was growing annoyed and a bit unsettled by the Keyblade Master's stubborness. "Lyrxet, I know you were itching for a fight, but let me take this one."

The other chuckled darkly and stepped back. "I'll enjoy the show." The Nobody approached the group as most of them prepared for battle. Sora, Donald, and Goofy had all summoned their weapons, and Riku was right behind them. Only Kairi stood uncertainly, subconsciously crouching slightly behind the more experienced fighters.

"Give up, Heros of Light." Xsujint ordered mockingly.

"Never!" Sora yelled back defiantly.

"Then I shall enjoy destroying your rebellion!" Xsujint ran forward and jumped, flipping forward to land in between the battle area. As he descended, a white glow appeared in front of him, and the Nobody called out "Slag Assault!" before slamming into the ground. The ground trembled upon impact, and a harsh rumbling filled the air before the earth itself shuddered outwards from the blow, sending a wave of solid ground forward. The party had covered their faces at the landing, and had missed the aftershock, and everyone was sent flying back.

Donald was flipped back the furthest, and fell to the earthy floor with a light thump. Goofy was turned on his back and skidded a few feet away, legs flailing in the air. Sora was pushed onto his back after resisting in vain (Mickey still insistently pulling on his hair), and Riku was kneeling near him. Kairi had let out a small yell when the attack connected and had been pushed to the left of Sora and Riku and more than a few feet back. The redhead had landed on her side, faced away from the rest of the fight.

"Kairi!" Sora called out, jumping back onto his paws and casting a worried glance at her before glaring at Xsujint and aiming his Keyblade at the enemy, shooting a thick bolt of light at the Nobody before he raced to the side of his second-best friend. Riku was up at nearly the same time and cast a quick look at the two before running forward and engaging the bigger lion.

Lyrxet had backed away early in the fight, a twisted, eager smile being broadcast at the opponents. This should be a good fight.

By now Donald and Goofy had regained their footing, and were doing all they could to help Riku fight Xsujint, but the Nobody was fast, managing to dodge most of Goofy's attacks and deflecting almost all of Donald's spells. The only one getting to him was Riku. Xsujint might have been fast, but so was Riku, and with the added distraction of Donald and Goofy, the three were getting in some heavy damage. At the first opportunity he could take, the Nobody backflipped out of the fray and tried to recover. One could now get a look at his weapon, and the combatants noticed its strange shape, resembling the sign of the Nobodies.

"The Nobody Sword, the Key of Lorelei," he answered their stares smugly. The lion lowered his head and charged at Donald, sword gripped in his mouth, blade dragging on the ground. Goofy and Riku immediately began to give chase as Donald prepared a spell, but it wasn't going to work. In a split second about three things happened: Donald finished his casting and lightning bolts rained down on the field, Riku reached the point of almost-conflict and just barely managed to dodge a strike of white, and Xsujint turned sharply to his side, bringing his blade up to catch Riku off-balance, knocking the smaller lion into the air.

"Light Spear Canon!" The Nobody called out triumphantly, spinning on his back paws to jab upwards at the diagonal, aimed at the flying Riku. Unluckily for him, Riku twisted at the last second and was able to block the strike with his own Keyblade, at the same time using that momentum to launch himself away from Xsujint, landing a few feet back in front of a frantic Goofy. The Nobody was angrily stunned at the rebuttal, staring around at the reorganized battlefield.

While Riku, Donald, and Goofy had been busy with Xsujint, Sora had rushed over to Kairi. Soon enough the girl had sat up with a groan, and Sora had hurriedly pulled her up on her paws. Dazed, she had given him a smile of thanks. Unfortunately he had taken that as a sign that she was fully okay, and gave Kairi a quick nod before running off to join the fight. She stood around for a second more, confused, before shaking her head and watching the battle in awe.

She'd only ever fought with Riku before, and then their childish spars on the Islands. But this was on a whole new level--the constant back and forth, a flash of magic every now and then, the horrible sound of blades meeting. Kairi's stomach wrenched as she felt herself frowning. The only time she had ever wanted to fight was when she had to. In The World That Never Was, she needed to get to Sora, to be by his side after a year, to fully remember him again. To keep their promise.

But this was pointless. This wasn't to save all the worlds, to stop the destruction of lives and families. It was a bunch of boys being boys. She felt a bit agitated and left out as the brown-haired boy joined his friends against the Nobody. They could fight. They beat Xemnas. They could beat anyone. So what was she there for? It was only Shadows back then, this was entirely different. She didn't want to fight, didn't want to be here. But what could she do? It was too late to back down now, their journey had already begun.

The world, more specifically the fight, hadn't waited on the girl's musings. Sora had arrived in time to see Riku recover from the impact, and the four now had the Nobody at a disadvantage. Dodging and blocking had taken its toll on Xsujint, it was obvious in the way his chest heaved with breath and his eyes darted wildly between the fighters. He couldn't quite hold his sword steady in his defensive stance against the Keyblade Masters, Mage, and Knight. To top it off, none of them were more than breathing a bit harder than normal. Xsujint growled to himself.

"Lyrxet!" It was more an order than a call for help, and the smaller lion let out a laugh before running into the fray, flipping over Sora to land right beside his comrade. "Let's go!" Was shouted by the smaller lion before he rolled to the side and Xsujint jumped high into the air, flipping and swiping at the ground with his blade, now covered in a black aura. Underneath, Lyrxet was concentrating on Xsujint as their opponents watched in apprehension.

When the sword scratched the ground, the black aura spread out and engulfed it, turning the gray earth into near-black. As Xsujint began to fall, the lion turned face-down, his sword pointed at the middle of his cooked earth. At the same time, both Nobodies shouted "Devil's Chaotic Inferno!" right before impact. The last motion on the field was Lyrxet being surrounded by an impenetrable wall of darkness before Xsujint crashed into the ground, sending huge blasts of earth in every direction at the Heros of Light.

In nearly the same instant as the ground exploded, three weapons had gone into the air, and three flashes of magic had taken effect.

When the dust kicked up from the attack had gone down and the shaking had stopped, a dome of black began to fade away, revealing Lyrxet inside. Meeting Xsujint's crazy grin, the Chaos-master let out a hollow laugh of victory. He looked around at the battlefield, or what was left of it. A huge crater marked the previously flat plain, ugly black scars from the burning earth streaking out away from Xsujint's impact point. Jags of earth jutted into the air a few feet, and two of the fighters had been blown away, the other two down and unconscious.

Donald groaned as he picked up his head. Reflect didn't work that well that time. Seeing nothing but the victoriously smiling Nobodies, a shot of panic made him jump up into flight. "Sora! Goofy! Riku!" He looked around frantically, finally spotting Goofy on his back a few feet away. "Goofy!" The white bird flapped crazily over, the memory of the Hollow Bastion incident springing to the front of his mind. He ruffled himself trying to shake the turtle into consciousness, and in a minute Goofy picked his head up and shook it, opening to unfocused eyes. "Goofy, you're ok!" The Knight let out his usual laugh. "Of course I'm okay, Donald. Like I said, I get hit on the head all the time!" Donald let out a sigh. "Get up, we gotta find Sora and Riku!" With a start, Goofy managed to turn himself over and the two looked back to the ruined battleground.

Sora picked himself up with a groan. Weird, that attack looked a lot stronger than it felt, even though it only knocked him down. Had...? His eyes scanned the area for Riku, and finally spotted the gray lion a few feet away, crouched low in the wreckage and watching the scene carefully. The two Nobodies were chatting quickly, harshly about what to do now. Xsujint seemed to not believe they were dead, and Lyrxet was ignoring him and going on about how they'd won. Sora stared at Riku again. They were in the clear, the opponents hadn't realized they were awake yet. Right now they had options, but no time to think about them.

As if sensing his gaze, Riku looked over to Sora, a serious look on his face, and nodded. Nodding back, the brunet Keyblade Master took aim and began to charge a beam of light at the duo. Still arguing, the Nobodies didn't see the beam until it had already fired, and only Xsujint was able to act fast enough, stabbing the ground with his sword and bringing up another wall of earth to block the attack.

It failed, but was able to minimize the power enough so that when it broke through, Lyrxet only took a small hit to his shoulder, falling down and rolling on the ground. He let out a deep growl and quickly recovered, spinning on his back legs to glare at Sora. "How dare you, insolent brat!" He seemed to glow black, and his paws dug into the ground.

A rumbling started in the distance, and the group all looked up and over across the Savannah. In the distance a bulky shadow was emerging, and Lyrxet let out a hollow laugh. "You lose, Heroes!" The 'whoosh' of a portal startled the group out of their gaping, and Sora turned around to see his two opponents walking calmly away. "No!" Sora tried to catch them, but by the time he was close enough, the portal was already gone. "They got away!" Sora turned around, anger burning through his body. As Riku and the others approached, the silver-maned lion shot Sora a warning look, and the brunet took a deep breath.

"Are you all okay?" Kairi asked tentatively. The battle looked fierce, but everyone was moving around well enough, so she guessed they were alright. When everyone gave a confirming nod, Riku spoke. "What is that over there?" The second original three looked over to the growing black cloud and sighed. "Well, it's in the area of the Elephant Graveyard, but it looks farther away. Maybe where we were before Simba found us?" Riku nodded thoughtfully, but Kairi frowned. "Isn't that where Kovu and his mother are?" Sora nodded. "I think so." Without a pause, the redhead continued. "I think we should go help them." More than one surprised look met her announcement. "But Kairi!" "No, Sora, think about it. They've never done anything to hurt us and if the Organization gets to them, won't they hurt them?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Sora faltered, and Riku picked up his train of thought. "Kairi, it's none of our business. If they want to work with the Nobodies, we don't have the right to interfere. And if the Organization decides to take that part of the world, then so be it. Darkness is half of everything, and worlds are no exception. I don't think we should mess with it."

Kairi was disturbed a little by his choice of words. Was darkness really half? What about her? Princess of Heart, none of the seven had any darkness in their hearts. What did that make them? But she shook her head and pushed. "But who knows? If we let the darkness take that one part, why wouldn't it want more?" A subtle glare from Riku made her stop. "Remember Kairi. Don't fear the darkness, only who's inside."

"Those Nobodies are in the darkness, Riku. I don't fear them, and I don't want to let them win." She was lying through her teeth about not being afraid, and Riku was probably the only one who could tell, but so be it. "Kairi..." Sora interrupted. "I think we should go look. Just to check it out." Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement, and Riku shook his head in defeat.

"Alright, fine. But don't expect me to be nice when it's a trap." With that, the tallest lion turned around and began walking off in the direction of the massing cloud. Sora and Kairi traded a knowing but guilty smile before following after, Donald and Goofy trailing behind. On top of a mess of chocolate brown hair, a small black mouse let out a heavy sigh and resigned himself to being only a witness in this world.

/end chapter

Review?

Next time: the conclusion of the Pride Lands and the next world awaits!