To a young boy so far from home, the world can be a scary place. Even a child as smart and mature as Ienzo couldn't help but want to run and hide in his mother's skirts when faced with the darkness that is the unknown. But the child couldn't. His mother was dead.

Ienzo didn't want to be there. He really didn't want to be there but he had to. His father had secured him an apprenticeship under an old friend. Ansem was suppose to be one of the best scientist in the world and Ienzo should be honored. The gesture was flattering, but truth be told he would rather be home taking care of his brothers, but his father had taken him aside and asked him to do this in a desperate voice that forced the boy to consent.

He had come to Radiant Garden just after breakfast to meet this renown 'Master' Ansem. While waiting in the kitchen he saw an amusing sight:

A young man of about twenty with baggy pants and messy brown hair was standing at the stove trying to make something kin to an omelet. The egg was runny in some places and horribly bunt in others.

Ienzo stood watching for a few seconds before he was noticed.

"Who are you?" The man asked, slightly curious.

"I'm Ienzo." The child replied, frowning slightly at the man's slight smile.

"The new apprentice, I should have known." He said with a light laugh, yet something about the way it was said made Ienzo uncomfortable, or perhaps it was just his nerves.

"Well sir, I have introduced myself, could you not extend the same courtesy?" Ienzo said, taking to heart his father's parting advice. Kensal had warned his youngest son to keep on his toes for he was going to be surrounded by some of the brightest minds in all the worlds.

"I'm Terra." He said, taking his eyes away from his food to greet the child properly.

"Are you one of Ansem's other apprentices?" Ienzo asked, trying to scope out the competition. Terra just laughed as he put the dilapidated omelet on a plate.

"No, not in the way you're thinking of it." He said as he sat down to his meal.

"A bit of advice," Terra said after trying to get a bite of food and having it fall through the prongs of his fork. "never sleep in. Meals are at eight, twelve and six and if you're even a minute late you're not allowed to eat with the rest of them."

Something told Ienzo that this was one bit of advice that Terra himself had yet to learn to follow.

In an uncharacteristic gesture of pity, Ienzo grabbed the plate from in front of Terra and preceded to dispose of it's contents.

"What did you do that for? I was going to eat that!!" Ienzo didn't dignify that with a response. Ignoring Terra's dejected look, he went to the fridge and got out eggs, cheese, peppers and a few other ingredients.

"This is heaven." Terra said five minutes latter, through a mouthful of omelet.

Ienzo couldn't help but smile.

"If you think that's good wait until you try my pickles."

Radiant Garden had become almost unrecognizable in the months Sora had been away. The boarded windows and patch job roofs had disappeared and in their place was a bustling, beautiful town. The only sign of the world's previous problems was the half refurbished castle in the distance.

Mickey walked to the center of town, along with Riku, Kairi and Sora. Leon should be at Merlin's house, and if he fond him, they could find Ansem. If they could find Ansem they could ask him about the keyblade war.

"Hey when did you get back?" Leon asked when he saw when he opened the door. It had been months since the friends had seen each other, and believe it or not Leon had missed the little twerp.

"Ah, Leon how's the restoration committee been doing?" Sora asked as he saw his old friend.

"Same as always. So who is this?" Leon asked even though he already knew. Sora introduced his friends. After a few moments' pleasantries, Mickey decided it was time to cut to the chase.

"We're looking for Ansem, do you know where he is?" The mouse asked.

Leon rubbed his chin for a few seconds before responding.

"Ansem, huh? He should be in his study working with Tron, I think. If you're going that way I'll walk with you." He offered.

Leon couldn't help but notice Kairi looking around in wonder, and he gave a little smile.

"It's been a lot of work to get this place back on back to what it was." He explained to the red head.

"So this is what it looked like before?" She asked.

"Pretty much."

Kairi looked away in thought.

"You know, I was born here, but we moved away when I was little so I don't remember anything." She said still looking away.

Leon gave Kairi a hard look for a second and then recognition flashed in his eyes.

"T-" He begin to say but stopped when Mickey 'accidentally' stepped on his foot. It was clear that the mouse wanted him to shut up. Leon could tell that for some reason this was to be kept secret. That wouldn't work. Not this secret. Not now.

"Things happen." Luckily the girl never noticed his stumble.

If Kairi was who Leon thought she was, then could it truly be a coincidence that Sora was chosen to be the keyblade master? And if it was intentional then why wasn't Kairi, herself, chosen? Perhaps the fact that she had put so much faith in Sora was the answer.

Leon was brought out of his musing when they reached the lab.

"Hello my friends. So I imagine you have been brought up to date on our situation." Ansem asked when he saw his friends in the doorway.

"Yea, but we still have a bunch of question." Sora answered.

"Ansem, can I talk to you alone for a moment?" The King interrupted.

The white haired man just stared at Mickey for a second, and seeing in his eyes that it was important, consented.

"Feel free to get Tron to answer your questions, if he is able." He instructed before following Mickey into the study.

The moment Mickey was sure no one had followed them or could over hear, he shut the hidden door to the lab tightly. Taking a deep breath he reached up his left sleeve and pulled out the letter.

"Izzy asked me to give you this." He said simply.

The mouse watched as Ansem unsealed and read the letter. He watched as tears fell from the old man's face. He leaned back against the wall and slowly slide down until he was sitting on the floor.

"So Kairi's…" He begin.

"Yes, she is." He concurred.

"This is twice I've failed." He whispered, not really caring if he were heard.

"Aw Ansem, you didn't fail. You did what you thought was best, same as Terra would have done. Just because you made a few mistakes doesn't mean you failed. Just keep your head up." Mickey said trying to cheer him up.

The truth was that Ansem had made some big mistakes in the past, but he shouldn't feel guilty. He was a good person, no matter what any one said or thought.

"Izzy gave her the ring Terra made." Ansem said after collecting himself for a moment.

"Well, that will help." The King said, more to fill the silence then anything.

"The one thing I can't grasp is: how did Terra know that she was going to get messed up in all this?" His voice was soft and confused, like a child asking about the wonders of the world.

Mickey thought for a moment, and choosing his words very carefully, replied.

"Becausemaybe Terra choose her for this."

"What?" Ansem asked, in a voice half way between a whisper and a yell.

"Terra's job as a Chaser was to chose who got the Keyblades. He is the only one that could see into the hearts of people so he could tell if they could handle the responsibility." Mickey explained.

"I didn't know that. Terra was always very secretive about what he did with the Chasers. If that were true then how now, after ten years?" Ansem asked.

"I don't know… I don't know." The King answered quietly, shaking his head slowly from side to side.

"Well my old friend, let us stop dwelling in the past and get back to the world of the living." Ansem suggested.

Mickey complied without complaint.

At the same time Sora, Riku, and Kairi were putting Tron's search engines to the test. Typing in Chasers, Keyblade war, and Thanroe, had gotten no results and it was beginning to get frustrating. Ansem was supposed to know more about this then any one. Shouldn't at least something be on the computer?

Sora took a step back from the terminal and crossed his arms. He was thinking about what to do next, and then an idea came to him. The keyblade master ran back to the computer and tried a forth keyword.

"Terra" brought up hundreds of files, most of them pictures. The first folder was full of pictures of a bright smiling young man, hardly older then twenty. Most of these also had Ansem or a dark haired teenager, with dark, calculating eyes. Riku knew those eyes all too well.

"Zexion." He snarled, not noticing that Ansem and the king had returned.

"Actually, then he was known as Ienzo." The old man said, nearly causing Riku to jump.

"He was my youngest apprentice, and the only one Terra truly took a likening to. That is what made his betrayal all the more painful." He continued.

"But DiZ, how did you know Terra? Were you a Chaser to?" Riku asked, accidentally using his old name.

The question shocked Ansem. He gave Mickey a slightly harsh look.

"You didn't tell them?" He asked.

"I didn't exactly have a chance." The mini monarch explained ashamedly.

Ansem sighed, and begin to open on old wound that had yet to fully heal.

"Terra was my son."

There was a moments awkward silence as if no one wanted to say anything incase it was offensive. Finally Sora decided to throw caution to the wind and go after the answers they were looking for.

"What did you mean about your apprentice?"

"Terra had the ability to simply look at some one and know what was in their heart. He wouldn't spend time with people if he sensed too much darkness in them or if they had a weak will. But Ienzo was like a brother to him, so I assumed he was trustworthy." It was easy to see that this was a painful subject but their was something Kairi fealty she had to say.

"Do you think Terra was wrong, or do you think maybe Ienzo had a reason for siding with Xehanort?" She asked.

The question left Ansem godsmacked. In the five years since Ienzo had cast aside his heart Ansem had never thought about why. All he had thought about in the five years since was how much it had hurt him rather then Ienzo himself.

"I hadn't really thought about it." Ansem admitted quietly. But now that he thought about it, he realized that Ienzo probably did have a reason. A good reason. That was just the way the kid was.

"Do you think this has anything to do with Organization XIII's return?" Sora asked.

"What are you talking about?" Ansem exclaimed, alarmed.

Sora, Riku and Kairi looked at him with an odd mix of confusion and skepticism. Wasn't the Organization's return what he and the king had been talking about?

"Organization XIII is back. I don't know how they did it and it's been driving me crazy. I sent Donald and Goofy to see what Master Yen Sid knows. We're going to meet up later."

Ansem's mind was spinning. Thanroe was back along with the Organization. Izzy's letter. Terra had found some way to issue Keyblades from beyond the gave and he was having second thoughts about Ienzo. The old man desperately needed an aspirin.

Through his headache, Terra's voice came ringing clearer then his own conscious ever could. You need to trust your own heart. If it says to trust some one then do it, if not then don't. You're too much of a scientist; learn to think with your heart and not your head once in a while.

"I have an idea that might get us some answers, but it may be dangerous."

Aero had sat in the exact same position in the exact same spot every day for ten years. The very thought that soon she would be able to move had her hyper. She wanted to dance and sing and run, but she couldn't not yet. Soon. Very soon.

In all this excitement she had never noticed Blaze's return.

"So you never did tell me the entire plain." He commented dryly.

"I never intended to." Aero replied, not so clearly joking.

"Why am I not surprised?" The shadow said, shaking his head slowly from side to side. Aero loved control. Not that he blamed her. If Blaze had not been able to even move his eyes he would try to hold on to every iota of control possible, just like she was doing.

"Speaking of the plain, how are we doing?" The Oracle asked.

"We're ready." That was all the reply she needed.

"Good. The spell will have to be preformed tonight or tomorrow night.

"Just think Blaze, soon we'll be out of here and then we can release our friends and finish what we started!" She was getting a little too excited but it was okay. She deserved it.

"We just have to make sure there is a Gummi path open." He reminded her, not that it was needed.

"I'm two steps ahead of you. It's ready." Said Aero.

"Let's not mess this up." Blaze whispered, before calling the shadows once again. He knew that if they failed this time then they wouldn't get another chance. Ever.

So what did you think? Can I please have more then one review for this chapter? Not even my best friend would even review.

P.S. this is the last chapter in which I'm going to go on about who Kairi is for a while. You may already be able to guess. If you got an idea let me know.

Just remember: the shiny purple button never hurt anyone.