A/N: Atlantica isn't going to be as long as you may have thought. I would have extended it had it not had three chapters worth in the other fanfic. xD

Reixka's portal led her directly to the Great Hall as she had been practicing exploring Hollow Bastion on her off days. "All I have to do is unseal the keyhole and run," she reminded herself as she heard two pairs of feet running behind her.

Nalani was waving EaKaze and shouting, "I'm going to send you back where you belong!" Reixka spared her a backward glance before she ran up the steps and entered the dark depths.

"Is the keyhole really inside of there?" Elie asked no one in particular as they followed hot on Reixka's heels.

Nalani shrugged her shoulders, "Must be." Without hesitation, they jumped through the entrance of the dark depths; one thing hadn't yet changed about the Radiant Garden, and that was the condition of the top floors of the castle. Suddenly, Elie and Nalani found themselves standing in an area that was made up of different colors.

"Trippy!" Elie exclaimed eagerly.

Nalani threw a sideways glance at her. "You're a little... hyper, aren't you?" The reply was a vigorous nod. Up ahead, Reixka had already summoned Sakura dawning, a black light shooting out of its tip. "Shit! We're too late."

Reixka turned around and grinned; Nalani was instantly reminded of Stefa, "Too slow."

"I'll show you too slow." Nalani surged forward as adrenaline pumped through her veins. Instead of using magic, she knocked over Reixka by the means of her staff. "You may have beaten everyone else, but I'm different."

"Not different enough," came the smug reply as Reixka swept Nalani's feet from beneath her.

Nalani jumped, but one foot got caught and she fell to the ground. "You're too predictable; I wonder how you ever beat anyone?" She taunted before casting a Thundaga spell from her spot on the floor.

Dazed, Reixka rubbed her head and attempted to glare at her enemy. "Whoever said I beat a person? Why do you think I usually have other Organization members accompany me?"

"To babysit you," remarked Nalani with a grin.

Elie watched them with an excited expression, "Oh, oh, oh! I wanna fight!"

"Then, here!" Reixka raised her left arm and snapped, sending a large army of Heartless toward the shocked keyblade wielder. Elie regained her composure quickly, slashing skillfully at the army.

Nalani glared at Reixka. "You're annoying. What's the Organization planning?"

"To destroy the worlds, of course," The way she spoke, it could have been sarcasm, but Nalani knew Stefa, so she knew better. Nalani muttered something incoherent under her breath as she held her staff above her head. "What are you-?"

The staff emitted a glow of light as thick layers of ice began to form on it; blue light temporarily covered Nalani's body. She ran forward and hit Reixka with it. The Nobody had been expecting little more than coldness, so she screamed when she felt the staff pierce her skin through the coat. Reixka did a backflip away from Nalani and pulled up her sleeve; there was a deep welt in her skin.

She dropped the sleeve and attempted to gather herself. Nalani, in the meantime, held out her left hand. The hand began to glow blue. Reixka finally looked over at her enemy, and quickly held up Sakura Dawning. About twenty small sharp icicles flew toward her, and she managed to block a decent amount of them. "You shouldn't be able to do this stuff with your hands."

"I can do a lot with my hands." Nalani dodged Reixka's keyblade as she swung it at her numerous times. She was struck once, her arm, and only received a cut; it wasn't that bad. "You're not very skilled beneath that coat, are you?"

"Shut up!" Reixka growled, slashing her keyblade so fast that Nalani hadn't even seen it coming. The blow to her side set her off balance, at most. The image of a young brunette girl flashed into her mind. "Why can't I-?"

"Beat me?" Nalani jumped away and held up her staff one final time. About fifty small shards of ice surrounded Reixka's body, hanging in midair. Nalani brought her staff to her chest and swiped forward. "Fire!" (A/n: Not the 'fire' spell... she's telling the shards to hit Rei.)

XxxxxX

After the short lesson, Sora and the others set off below the sea to King Triton's throne room. They found a very distressed-looking king pacing there; he faced Stefa with a very unkind stare as she entered. Stefa, having never really been around the king, froze in midswim, causing Riku to bump into her. "U-uh..."

"You...!" the King roared, starting forward with his trident; Riku instantly swam in front of her, Way to Dawn in hand as they had been fighting Heartless ever since landing.

"What kind of greeting is that?" demanded Riku, not moving away from Stefa.

Sora moved to the front of the group in an attempt to diffuse the hostility. "King Triton, what's wrong?"

"Melody was attacked," he replied, still glaring at Stefa. "A keyblade wielder that bore a resemblance to Keira—"

"Stefa," mumbled the girl in question, though very quietly.

"—Attacked her in Ariel's grotto."

The group's response was the same, but there was downright outrage on Stefa's face, "What? I haven't been here for two years!" she added vehemently, a scowl on her face.

"You said a resemblance," pointed out Naminé. "What did she look like?"

"Brown and silver-streaked hair in a braid," Stefa opened her mouth to point out that her hair was blond but, she supposed, her hair did darken to a brown in the water. All the same...

Stefa tugged at her dark hair, gesturing to the streaks. "I have black streaks. Besides, I would never hurt Melody. Never."

Triton relaxed a little. "Hn, that may be, but what am I to believe? Did your evil twin do it?"

Kairi smiled a little sheepishly. "Well, actually..." The King pinched the bridge of his nose. "It was Stefa's Nobody, Reixka."

"Nobody?" echoed the King; he knew what a Nobody was, but appeared surprised that Stefa had one.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, Stefa's Nobody, who works for Organization XIII. What exactly happened?"

"They were relentless on her." Everyone thought the same thing, 'They?' "Melody told me that she thought the keyblade-wielding one was Keira. The fake one even tried to impersonate her."

"Bitch," snarled Stefa before adding, "Wait, even Melody told you it wasn't me? And yet...?"

Triton waved her off. "I thought she might be trying to protect you."

Roxas asked the burning question. "Who's 'they'?"

"A blond man and woman, though she said the man didn't do anything."

"Larxene and Demyx," mumbled Naminé.

Sora inclined his head a little. "They were probably there to keep anyone from stopping Reixka. She must have unsealed the keyhole. Thank you, King Triton, and I'm sorry."

The King pulled on his beard a little before heaving a sigh. "No, I am sorry. Melody is my... I would do anything for her. I did not mean to falsely accuse you," he added to Stefa.

She shook her head. "No, no, I understand, really. And I promise, I'll get her for what she's done. I'll destroy her, I swear." Hurting Melody was unforgiveable. What could the girl have possibly done to Reixka? Melody was innocent and didn't even know how to hold a weapon, let alone use one. There was no point in attacking her, except... "To anger me, to piss me off," she realized, mumbling under her breath.

"You're better off having her join you," noted Roxas.

"Having that... thing inside of me? Ugh." The very idea made her feel sick. There was nothing that she shared in common with Reixka. Everything about the Nobody was an off-shoot of Stefa; she was sadistic and evil, nothing like Stefa. Then, Stefa remembered the voice back in the Underworld, telling her to help Hades, to use darkness... 'But... Does that mean that I'm evil, too?'

She distantly heard the others saying goodbye before they swam out of the throne room with Sora leading. Naminé shot her a concerned glance, and Stefa quickly shook her head and smiled before the two exited the palace last.

XxxxxX

Reixka was down on one knee, panting heavily. "You're a bitch."

Though equally exhausted, Nalani continued to stand, pointing EaKaze down at the Nobody, "Takes one to know one. I'll try to make your death as painless as... No, I lied; I'll make your death as painful as possible." The staff began to glow orange, but before Nalani did anything, about five Shadows jumped on her back at the same time.

"Sucker." Reixka grinned, standing with ease, before summoning a portal. "You may have won the battle, but you haven't won the war." With the cryptic statement, she disappeared into the darkness. Nalani tried to shake the Heartless off of her, but it was proving rather difficult.

They were greedily slashing at her back, ripping into her t-shirt. And then... they were gone. Elie smiled triumphantly and blew off the tip of Dragon Fang before it disappeared. She offered Nalani a hand. "Thanks," breathed Nalani as she stood.

"You were great! You kicked her ass."

Nalani smiled a little. "Can you seal the keyhole?"

Elie shook her head. "I was... trying, but it won't work. I don't know what the problem is. Maybe I've been in the darkness too long but, even so, Riku can do it..." For a change, she actually appeared concerned.

"It's fine, don't worry. We'd better go back and warn the others, though."

Elie returned to her normally cheery disposition immediately and summoned a portal. "I'm kind of glad I can still do this."

Nalani was still smiling as she stepped into the darkness, but she felt anxious. 'There was something too cryptic about what Reixka said.'

XxxxxX

"That was... a lot less exciting than our last time here," concluded Sora from his spot in the pilot seat after they sealed Atlantica's keyhole again.

Over the transmission, he heard Stefa say, "Yeah, if I'm not nearly drowning about three or four times in one visit, it's definitely not exciting."

Roxas leaned back in his chair. "So, where to now?"

"Guys? We'd better get back to the Radiant Garden," informed Kairi in a serious voice.

Riku bent a little closer to the screen. "Why? What's going on?"

"Darkness clouds are starting to surround it - not enough that we can't get in, but enough to make me worry," admitted Kairi.

Before the screen clicked off, Riku said, "We'll meet you there."

XxX

The state of the world became quite obvious when they landed in the Marketplace to find it teeming with Heartless. "She unlocked the Radiant Garden?" She continued, in a softer voice, as the others ran forward to fight, "The next time I see her, I'll..."

"What?" A voice called from overhead. When Stefa looked up, she half-expected to see Quince's smug expression, but, instead, she found Reixka. It was a bad trade off, she decided. However, she could tell by the intense look on the Nobody's face that something had happened to her.

Amused, Stefa summoned Shadow Heart. "Who beat you up?"

"The mage," snapped Reixka with obvious embarrassment. She jumped off of the roof and stood before her Somebody.

The amusement promptly slipped off of her face as she recalled little Melody. "Reixka, what you did to Melody was low. Beating on innocent children? Is that the plan now? I'll get you for what you did! I won't let you hurt anyone else I care about!"

"So we both want to kill each other, huh? Well, here's the problem," her expression turned amused as she watched Stefa's confused one. "Without me, you'll always be less complete and less powerful. However, if I'm without you, I get everything. We both know how this should end."

"I don't think we do," she replied through pursed lips as adrenaline coursed through her veins.

Reixka shrugged, "Only one way to find out." She all but threw herself at Stefa with Sakura Dawning, which was a very foolish move indeed. Standing too close to the edge, Stefa toppled over and, since Reixka had pressed herself against her, they both fell.

That did not stop their fight in the least. "It looks like you can't escape if you don't have somewhere to summon your portal!" shouted Stefa as she resurfaced from the water, shaking her wet hair out of her face. Using one hand and her legs to move her through the water, she used the other to flail Shadow Heart at Reixka. Once she was close enough, she used her feet to tread the water and pushed Reixka under.

Kairi moved to the edge of the wall, and finding only Stefa, she asked, "Stefa, what are you doing?"

"I'm just—" Stefa's answer was cut short when Reixka resurfaced from the water and shoved Sakura Dawning into her gut, knocking out all of her air.

Reixka smirked as Stefa choked, "She's just losing, Princess, don't worry about her."

Kairi had not gotten a particularly great look at Reixka back in Halloween Town, and she found herself unable to move from the spot. "Her Nobody." She tried to imagine a scenario where Naminé hated her enough to kill her, but she couldn't. It just wasn't possible. She couldn't imagine Roxas trying to do that to Sora, either.

Stefa retaliated by slashing wildly at Reixka, landing most of the attacks since the Nobody wasn't a particularly good swimmer; a fact that surprised Stefa quite a bit. She finished off the combo by casting a Thundaga spell.

Clearly not enjoying watching Stefa's dangerous fight in the water, Kairi pointed out, "There's a ladder over here." Stefa looked to where Kairi was referring and swam toward it, leaving her slightly paralyzed Nobody to float in the water. 'That would have been useful two years ago,' she thought, 'Though I probably wouldn't have known about Sephiroth, then. Well. That's probably not true. Maleficent wanted him to kill Aerith in front of me...' She shook off the thought and memories as Kairi helped her back into the Marketplace. "Aren't you going to finish her off?"

Stefa smiled a little bitterly. "Killing is not as easy as the innocent seem to think, and besides, killing your Nobody seems kind of like killing yourself, to me." Kairi took this as something of a sign that her friend was considering what Roxas' proposed in Atlantica. "Let's go and see what's going on."

Below, in the water, Reixka shouted, "Stefa, I won't give up until you're gone! You know that I'll do what I have to. Haven't I already shown you that by attacking Melody?" Much to her chagrin, Stefa and Kairi were ignoring her and nearly gone.

XxX

"Heartless, heartless, heartless!" Elie yelled in the same fashion a jealous sister might say another sister's name out of annoyance. She slashed Dragon Fang, wiping out a group of Shadows with one swipe, "God."

Leon could honestly say that he had never seen so many Heartless in the Radiant Garden... aside from the time the world had been destroyed. His gunblade killed several Neoshadows as they jumped out of the ground as he eyed the area; there were swarms of Heartless hanging around on the rooftops of houses and even more on ground-level. Out of the corner of his eye, Cloud spotted a large portal disappearing. "I don't think Heartless are the only ones attacking," he called.

"We have to find them before they wreak more havoc than the Heartless."

From somewhere further away, a voice called, "We might be able to assist with that." Sora's voice; Leon had never thought that it would be so nice to hear that voice.

"Sora, the keyhole has been-!" Leon began, but cut himself short when the group of wielders nodded.

Roxas managed a grin, "We figured as much."

"The Organization said something about wanting a new castle before," remembered Elie from one of the many conversations in Castle Oblivion. "Maybe they want to wipe out everyone in the Radiant Garden so that they can take the castle?"

"Whatever they're planning, they aren't taking over the Radiant Garden," decided Cloud, as if him saying it made the statement true.

"How very valiant of you all," drawled Saïx from his spot atop Merlin's house. His presnece had gone undetected as he watched the group reconvene and fight. "You're foolish if you think that you can save this world when you've already failed to save two."

"Shut up!" Roxas, Naminé, Stefa, and Elie shouted at him; it was a sore spot to mention that they had lost their home worlds.

A sadistic smile appeared on Saïx's face. "Oh, did I say two? I meant four. You've failed four different worlds, but I know how you can save more from that fate."

The only ones who appeared interested were Elie, Stefa, and Sora. "What?"

"Hand over her." Saïx answered simply, pointing at Stefa. Leon held up his Gunblade and shot a warning shot at the Nobody. "Ah, is it going to be a struggle? So be it." He snapped, summoning several Large Bodies.

Cloud glanced at the wielders as Saïx dropped from the roof. "Go seal the keyhole."

"We're not leaving you to fight all of them alone!" Sora stubbornly replied as he took up a spot beside Leon. Riku looked back at the princesses, but he didn't need to say anything, for Naminé nodded in understanding and summoned a portal. Kairi entered it first, but Stefa, who was dead set on fighting Saïx, had to be pulled into the portal by Naminé.

The portal led them directly inside of the Dark Depths. "The keyhole is in this colorful place? I almost forgot after all this time," mumbled Stefa. Three separate beams of light became one as they entered the keyhole, but, inches away, the lights sparked and faded.

"That's not good," sighed Kairi, "Why can't we seal this keyhole?"

"Because it was sealed with deep darkness," answered a male voice from somewhere behind them. They turned on their heels, immediately on guard, as they found themselves face to face with a man with an eye patch and long ponytail.

Naminé acknowledged him, "Xigbar,"

He barked a laugh, "How nice to see that you're getting along so well. What a shame I've been ordered to capture the three of you."

XxX

"Do you think it was smart to send off the three of them on their own?" Cloud asked as he took a swing at Saïx with his Buster Sword. No doubt, he was recalling a less than able Keira hurling her keyblade into a tree in the Enchanted Dominion.

Roxas stabbed Oblivion into the back of a Large Body. "It better have been." Amazing how they could converse like they weren't fighting heart-thirsty animals.

Saïx smirked. "Now would be an improper time to mention Xigbar has been dispatched to capture them, I presume?" The men and Elie all stopped attacking him and stared dumbly. In fits of anger, the group attacked Saïx as a whole.

"Whoa!" Ceron said as he and Nalani stopped a few feet before the fight, having just exited the Bailey.

Nalani grinned, calling, "Do you need any more help in there or is six on one enough?" The grin slipped off her face as a gust from Saïx's claymore blew everyone away.

Ceron jumped into the fray, sword held at the ready. "I believe they need help."

"I couldn't agree more," replied Nalani as she followed.

XxX

Fighting the Freeshooter instead of the Snipe Nobodies, which the girls had grown accustomed to, was much different. He fired laser after laser at them and after being shot relentlessly or blocking to the point of no tomorrow, they were all starting to get exhausted. "Why do you have to capture all three of us?" Stefa demanded, slamming Shadow Heart against Xigbar when he took a break to reload.

"I don't, but I somehow think it might be easier that way," came the surprisingly amused reply. He shot five lasers at Stefa, knocking her away from him while Kairi stood in a defensive position in front of Naminé, who was... drawing in her sketchbook? Sure enough, the 'witch' had grabbed her pencils and sketchbook out of the bag around her waist, and she was now drawing quickly.

Stefa shot the two of them a perplexed glance, but quickly returned her attention to Xigbar as he fired more lasers at her. She held up Shadow Heart and reflected the attacks right back at him. "I guess when the going gets tough, your friends get going." Xigbar said, shrugging his shoulders, and grinning wickedly. Stefa was not to be misled; she had learned her lesson from Maleficent's brainwashing.

She cast a thundaga spell on him, but he was hardly bothered. "You're not as amazing at fighting as Marluxia led me to believe," he stated with obvious disappointment. "I don't like my fights to be easy." He blew off the top of one of his guns when something odd began to happen.

Out of absolutely nowhere, a glass casing formed around and trapped him. Naminé was standing now, holding her sketchbook up; it was a picture of what had just happened. She summoned a portal with her free hand, and the three of them fled the scene just as Xigbar freed himself.

Xigbar summoned his own portal. "Clever little sneak!"

6.22.11: I actually wasn't planning on keeping the reference to the Brady Bunch, but it was too cute to omit. :P That and an actual review mentioned it, so I felt obligated to keep it. Anyway, I obviously went pretty far with Naminé's 'abilities' as a 'witch'. Just adjusted the story as I saw fit. :P