A/N: And here is chapter 6! :) Sorry for the delay! The next two to three chapters are gonna be big, so be expecting them sometime next week! Without further adu, enjoy Chapter 6: The Shadow

Terra and Aqua stood up and bolted up the stairs as fast as possible. The queen and Daisy quickly followed. I stood up and started walking towards the stairs. That was impressive, I said to myself. I can't believe the queen was able to completely heal me so easily.

"You shouldn't be surprised," Cosmos said, materializing to my right. I looked at her, my expression asking my question. "She draws her power from that."

I looked at the direction she was pointing. I stopped and stared. "The Cornerstone of Light…"

"Legend states," Chaos began, appearing to my left, "the Cornerstone is a very tiny fraction of a lost world that resided in the very center of the Realm of Light."

"Really?" I asked.

"Well, that's just a legend," Cosmos said. "No one is sure whether it is real or not." Maybe it was the way she said it or just my imagination, but I had a feeling both she and Chaos knew more about the Cornerstone than they were really letting on.

I decided not to ask.

"Get a move on, already!" Chaos said, very impatiently. "The king and Sora are waiting!"

"Oh, crap!" I mumbled. I had almost forgotten about them. I looked towards the stairs, and that's when I saw it: someone was flying through the air.

"RIKU!" several people shouted from above. I ran towards him, barely catching him before he hit the ground.

Sure enough, after we had slid back a few feet, I saw really was Riku. He had a cut above his left eye; blood was oozing down his face. He also had blood in his hair, from another cut, and his right hand looked broken. Luckily, they weren't anything serious.

"D…damn…" he mumbled, before passing out.

"Well, that's one down," a very annoying voice laughed.

I raced up the stairs, summoning Chaos and Cosmos. "By any chance, can I use that Soul Fuse technique again?"

It won't be possible for another 12 to 24 hours, Cosmos said.

"I'm going up against Vanitas, so I'm gonna need some kind of power boost." Now was definitely not the time to not have any power. "What about earlier, during my awakening?"

There was silence. You talking about combining the blades together? I sent a psychic nod. Well…

But there was no time. As soon as I reached the last step, I saw my target. With his back facing me, I ran towards him. My surroundings seemed to vanish; I had no interest in anything else but defeating him.

I swung Chaos at him, going right to left. Vanitas must have sensed me, cause he blocked my attack. That's when my opening came: I lunged at him with Cosmos, hoping that would work. However, Vanitas was much quicker than I was. He dodged with ease, jumped back a few feet, and started laughing.

"Did you honestly think that would work?" He continued to laugh. "I'm no fool! It'll take a lot more than that to take me down."

"Then I'll just have to bring a lot more to the table," I said. I paralleled my blades. "Twin Dragons!"

A vortex of light and darkness began surrounding my blades. Soon, the two vortexes joined and my blades became one.

I had no time to waste. From what I could tell, I had about five minutes, if that, max. I shot a beam of purple light out from my blade. As the beam of light was five feet from Vanitas, I stopped it with my left hand and the beam split into ten different spheres of light. I smiled as I closed my hand, commanding the energy spheres to strike Vanitas.

The attack struck him, dead on. However, he just smiled. Then, his body began to fade. "Nice try," he smiled.

I felt my blade repel itself, and the one became two. I doubled over. Not only had that taken a lot of energy out of me, but I noticed my stamina was completely drained. I will not pass out… I continued to say over and over again. Then, I passed out.

Well, kinda… I "woke up" a little bit later, but instead of being within the castle, I was in my living room. A giant entertainment center, compelled of two towers, a TV stand and TV between the two towers, a top piece that connected the towers, was on the north wall. In the middle of the room were the sofa, an arm chair and an ottoman, and two lamps on both sides of the sofa. On the left wall were a couch and a small table. Behind me was a giant bookcase, a glass cabinet on the left, and a baker's rack with picture frames on the right.

The walls were a gray color, completely bare except for the empty picture frames. No pictures in the picture frames on the baker's rack, either. There were no doors. The TV screen was half black and half white.

"Where in the world am I?" I asked. There was an echo in my voice.

"This is your mind, silly!" a familiar voice explained. I looked to my right to see Cosmos.

"This is the most inner most part of your mind, where balance is kept." I looked to my right to see Chaos.

"…How did I get here, Cosmos? …Chaos?" I asked.

Cosmos just smiled as she sat down, on my right, next to me on the sofa. Chaos took the arm chair.

"Babe, who is 'Cosmos'?"

"And who the hell is 'Chaos'?"

It was then I realized. At first glance, they looked like Cosmos and Chaos. However, that is when I saw the differences.

"Alexia?" I asked. She nodded.

"Zane?" He nodded.

I couldn't believe it, the two most important people in my life were standing right before me and I didn't even notice it was them. I looked down. "Sorry…"

"Don't worry about it, okay?" Alexia said, smiling. "You've got a lot on your mind."

Zane shook his head. "You worry too much, man. Relax, okay?"

I took a deep breath and then released. "What's going on?"

"Straight to business, as usual…" Zane mumbled. Alexia threw a pillow at him.

"Your heart, soul, and mind are not in sync," she answered.

"And so you two are here because…" I drifted off. I now knew exactly why they were here. "…because whenever I'm around you two, I'm always at ease…" They both smiled. And I smiled back. I began remembering all the great time we had together. As I did, the empty picture frames began to glow. My memories began playing in them.

"We always had great times together, didn't we? No matter what we did: hanging with friends, cuddling on the couch, or just being with each other." Alexia said. Memories of the two of us on our first date, our first kiss, the first time I said "I love you," appeared in the picture frames on the wall.

Zane stood up and looked at one of the picture frames. "Remember this one?" he asked, pointing to one of the frames on the baker's rack. "We use to pretend to be warriors. We'd take old mops and brooms, cut off the heads, then use electrical tape to make the handle." He was smiling.

I stood up, followed by Alexia. "Yeah, we all had some great times," I said. After taking a few steps forward, I turned around to face them. "Remembering the times we spent together always puts me at ease."

"We know," they said, together.

I hadn't really noticed it at first, but now it was entirely clear. The entire situation with Vanitas and the Keyblades had caused me to become unstable. That's why I attacked Vanitas irrationally... I said to myself. I haven't been myself lately, since this whole thing started. I looked back up. "Thanks."

They both nodded and smiled. "Just remember, that's all you gotta do," they said, simultaneously. I nodded. And then, they faded.

I woke up shortly after my encounter with Alexia and Zane. I feel more at peace, was my first thought. I sat up, noticing I was on a hospital-like bed. I looked around at my surroundings. The room was a sky blue. There was a desk on the right next to my bed; on it was my jacked, gloves, and other accessories. On the floor, next to the desk, were my boots. Surrounding my bed was a sheet, like those you see at hospitals. The only difference: this one was very thin and see-through.

I looked over to my left after hearing a faint noise. I couldn't believe who it was: Riku. He was lying on a bed, which looked exactly like mine. There was even a desk on the right side. He was breathing kinda heavily. I noticed the cut over his eye had been bandaged up. His right hand had also been bandaged up. It all started coming back to me, everything that had happened.

"Ah, you're awake!" an excited voice bellowed.

I turned to my right, noticing a door in the corner of the room; in walked Aqua and, to my surprise, Kairi.

"How are you feeling?" Aqua asked. She came over and sat down in a chair next to the bed. Kairi walked over to Riku and sat down in a chair next to him.

"Alright. You?" I asked, in return.

She smiled. "Not too bad." She turned and looked at the door. "You gonna coming in?"

I looked at the doorway and saw Terra leaning against it. I hadn't even noticed him, and yet I was facing that way the whole time. He's good…

He walked in and up to my bed. Instead of the 'Hey, how are you?' that I was expecting, he said, "You're nuts."

It took me a few seconds to comprehend what he had said. Wha…?

"Terra!" Aqua scolded. "That's no way to greet someone who brought you back!"

Terra shook his head. "He didn't bring me back, his Keyblades did," he retaliated. Aqua was quiet. "Also, the way you took out that Shadow was just luck. You have no skill when it comes to the Keyblade. If it wasn't for their power, you'd be dead."

I didn't know what to say. Part of me wanted to slug him, but the other half could see where he was coming from. True, it was mainly the Keyblades power; however… I had to have some skill… I kept telling myself that, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew he was right.

Suddenly, Aqua stood up. The chair flipped backwards. Kairi looked in our direction. "Hallway, now." From the tone of her voice I could tell she was pissed.

As she and Terra walked out, I swung back around and sighed. I lay back down, closed my eyes, and began thinking of my friends.

"Ummm...Xander?" a gentle voice called my name. I looked over to see Kairi standing right outside the curtain. "I want to thank you for catching Riku. If you hadn't…" She had tears in her eyes.

"Don't mention it," I said. "How is he?"

She looked back at him. "The queen said he had no major injuries, other than his busted right hand. But, with her healing magic, he should be good as new in about a day or so."

"Can I ask a question, Kairi?" I asked.

She looked kinda confused. She had never introduced herself to me. "How did you…?"

I froze; it hadn't even occurred to me. Crap… I thought, how the hell am I gonna explain this?

But lady luck was on my side. Right after she asked me how I knew, Aqua walked back in. "I see you two are introducing yourselves?"

"We are," I answered. "Xander."

"Kairi," was all she said.

"Now then," Aqua cleared her throat, "Xander, think you can stand?" I swung around and got out of bed. "Excellent! Put your boots on, then you and Kairi meet me in the study."

We both nodded, and then Aqua left. After I had my boots on and Kairi made sure Riku was comfortable, we left the room and headed to the study.

"You never did answer my question," Kairi remarked.

I knew if she looked me in the eyes, more than likely, she would be able to tell I was lying. "I heard the queen mention your name," I answered. I did my best to avoid eye contact by keeping my focus forward.

"I see…" she trailed off. "You wanted to ask me a question?"

I thought for a moment. "Yeah, I did," I said. "What's a 'Shadow'?"

Kairi was quiet for a moment. "…what are you talking about?"

"Didn't you hear Aqua and Terra's conversation?"

She shook her head. "No, sorry. Those curtains are specially designed so that sound anywhere from low to medium volume cannot be heard. When the chair hit the ground earlier, I heard only a slight noise," she replied. "And, also, no one can see inside the curtains, but people can see out them."

"Interesting…" I trailed off. Those would be useful back home.

Get your head out of the gutter! shouted an annoyed Cosmos. Chaos just laughed.

"About time, Kairi!" someone joked.

I looked up to see none other than Sora. I couldn't believe it was really him, but sure enough it was.

"How's Riku?" he asked.

"He's getting better," Kairi said. "His hand seems to be healing nicely."

"That's great!" Sora exclaimed. "He'll be back on his feet in no time!"

I looked at the two of them just standing there and couldn't help but think of Alexia. Sora had such a crush on Kairi and they were about the same age as Alexia and I were when we finally admitted it to one another.

"Hurry up, you three!" Aqua commended. We looked in her direction to see her standing in front of the door. We headed that way as quickly as possible and into the study.

Ever seen those movies where the hero walks in and there is this really, eerie quiet, like everyone was expecting you? Well, that's what I walked into. The room had been completely put back together; you couldn't even tell there was a fight in here. The king was sitting at his desk; his queen on his right, Donald and Goofy on his left. Terra was standing on the other side of the desk.

"So, you're finally awake," the king said, breaking the silence.

However, my attention wasn't on the king. I was more focused on the room behind the book case. The room still seemed to be sealed off, however the bookcase door had been pushed back, somehow. Inside, I could see computers; but, what was on the computers surprised me the most: me. It was from a distance, but I could see my picture on one of the monitors.

"You were…monitoring me?" I asked. The king looked down. "Vanitas mentioned something about you having data on me…"

"I made a promise to someone, so I can't give you the specifics. But, yes, I've been monitoring you. Ever since the 'incident'," the king informed.

"'Incident'?" I questioned. I was trying to remember, but nothing jogged my memory.

"You were about ten," the king said. He studied me carefully. "You don't remember, do you?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't. I can't remember anything that happened to me when I was ten that would be considered an 'incident'."

The king looked behind him, and then sighed. "I'd show you, but Vanitas has sealed us out."

"Who are your connections in my world?" I bluntly asked.

The king shook his head. "I made a promise not to reveal who he, she, or they are," the king answered. "I'm sorry, Xander."

I didn't know what to say. I was shocked.

"So, why are we here?" Sora asked.

The king cleared his throat. "We're here to stop Vanitas and save Ventus," he began. "Thanks to Xander, both Terra and Aqua have been rescued and restored to their original selves. Now, we must stop Vanitas, by reuniting the fractured pieces of his heart properly with Vanitas and then sealing them within Ven's body."

"However," Terra added, "It isn't going to be that easy. Vanitas has obtained a new power, something that has made him even stronger than he originally was. He was able to knock Riku pretty far, as well as bust up his hand. And that was only his Shadow. Who knows what he is capable of now."

"We were lucky that Xander was able to destroy his Shadow, otherwise I don't know if we would have been able to beat it," Aqua put in. Terra didn't seem pleased, but he didn't say anything.

"So, where do we go from here?" Sora asked.

"Castle Oblivion," I said. Everyone looked at me. "Ven's in one of the rooms at Castle Oblivion."

Aqua looked speechless. Terra's eyes widened. Both Sora and Kairi looked confused. The king, however, didn't seem phased.

"That makes sense," a voice from the doorway spoke up. There in the doorframe, barley standing, stood Riku. He was leaning against the doorframe for support. Sora made an attempt to help, but he waved him away. "That's what Organization XIII was looking for."

"That's right," Terra said. "My memories as Xemnas are very faint, but I do remember something about a room—"

"Chamber," I corrected. Terra gave me a strange look. "You're talking about the Chamber of Repose, where you'd go as Xemnas to try and regain your memories."

Everyone seemed shocked, except for the king. And I knew the next question before it was asked. "It's kinda hard to explain how I know…"

"And right now, it isn't that important." The king laced his fingers and rested his chin on the back of his hands. "Right now, we need to be focusing on rescuing Ven."

"So, we're going to Castle Oblivion?" Sora asked.

Terra walked over to the far wall and placed his hand on it. A corridor opened. "We're going to Castle Oblivion."