Leon walked into the house with a sad look on his face. Yuffie was sitting the corner peeling an apple with a shuriken and Aerith was making tea. She turned around with tears in her eyes. "Leon! Are they…"

"Yeah…" Leon said walking into the room and sitting down. "Did I get any messages from the King?"

"No but your dignity called. It wants to know when it can come home." Yuffie said stabbing the apple violently.

"What?"

"I heard you got down on your hands and knees and begged Ansem to let them stay." She said. "You begged."

"I did not beg! I had a very uh… strongly worded discussion with him about it."

"You punched Ansem the Wise?" Yuffie yelled jumping up.

"No Yuffie, I did not punch Ansem the Wise. My definition of a strongly worded discussion is different than yours. Mine involves words believe it or not." Leon said standing up to hang up his jacket.

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"Ok, the scorpion is dead. You can come back in, Kairi!" Sora called out to her. "There are probably more scorpions out there."

Kairi instantly scrambled back in and huddled against the wall. "Ugh… I'm so hungry."

Riku smiled at her. "Well you're in luck! We're having scorpion for dinner!"

"AUGH! That's not funny Riku!" Kairi exclaimed not appreciating the joke. Riku shrugged.

"Just trying to lighten the mood. Cactus?" He asked extending the plant to her. She took it and bit into it cautiously. "Are these really ok to eat?" she asked.

"I don't know. I didn't take the 'how to survive being banished' course in Knight school."

"They have a course for that?" Sora asked.

"Sarcasm Sora, the sun is getting to you." Riku said tearing off a chunk of Cactus and chewing and swallowing.

"It's affecting your brain." Riku said chewing and sucking the juice from the cactus flesh. "First you're too scared to kill a little scorpion and now you can't distinguish sarcasm." He said laughing. Sora scowled.

"That was just an excuse to bring up that scorpion thing, wasn't it?"

"It most certainly was." Riku said picking up another cactus and biting into it. Sora scowled again and thought for a moment.

"Oh-my-gosh-there's-a-tarantula-on-your-shoulder!" Sora screamed pointing at Riku's shoulder. Riku jumped up brushing him self off while screaming: "Get it off! Get it off!"

Kairi and Sora laughed together.

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The days and nights seemed to be longer in the desert. The days were scorching hot and the nights were freezing cold. Not a pleasant combination. They days were spent marking trails so they could always find there way back to the shelter and looking for food and water. The nights were obviously spent sleeping and huddling together to keep warm. So far they had no luck on finding any food or water and it was becoming increasingly difficult to live off cacti. One night the three were huddled together in front of the fire. Kairi in the middle Riku on the left and Sora on the right. And it just so happened that Sora had insomnia. He thought he was going crazy! He had been hearing voices for the past few days, and he didn't want Riku to think he was going crazy so he had kept quiet about it.

"Sora… Sora…" Sora shifted into a position where he would be able to clamp his hands over his ears.

"I can't hear you!" He hissed.

"I know you can. Come to the oasis and I'll explain everything." The voice told him, Sora looked up and slowly slid out from underneath Kairi's weight and stood up to brush the sand off his pants. He turned around to see Kairi lean against Riku, and his hands lay across her shoulder. She buried her face into his chest and smiled. Sora shivered with jealousy. He leaned down to try to remove Riku's arms with out waking either of them up. "Let go now!" He hissed.

"Sora."

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming, I'm coming." He snarled at the voice. He picked up a armful of sticks and began to lay a path behind him so he could find his way back to the cave.

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"Augh!" Riku woke up with his arms wrapped around Kairi's shoulders. He flung her to the ground and stood up rubbing his arms.

"What the heck?" She asked from the ground.

"We were hugging!" Riku screamed. "Sora's going to kill me!" He yelled tearing at his hair. "Do you have any idea how mad he's going to be when he finds out I was hugging his girlfriend?"

Kairi crossed her arms. "Not'is geffwend."

Riku scratched his arm. "Speaking of which… where is he?" He asked. Kairi looked around.

"Oh no! Where is he? Oh no, oh no, what if the waste landers came and took him away! I don't want Sora to be his own grandfather! That can't even be possible! He would've had to have sex with his grandmother! He's only 15! He's only 15!" Kairi screamed standing up and shaking Riku by the shoulder. Riku threw her off and grabbed her shoulder and slapped her across the face.

"Kairi calm down! Did you eat those poisonous berries that Sora brought back?" He asked holding her shoulders tightly.

"I'm ok, Riku. I didn't eat the berries." Kairi said brushing him off.

"Ok, if you're sure." He said and then he pointed. "And besides he left a nice little trail for us to follow." He said. Kairi followed Riku's finger to the trail of sticks that was leading away from the cave.

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"Whoa, there is an oasis. How come we didn't find this before?" Sora asked the voice. The voice didn't respond. "Hello?" he asked.

"Who are you?"

"Huh?"

"Do you know?"

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked looking around helplessly.

"I know."

"Know what?" Sora scratched his head.

"Who you are. Don't you want to know?"

Sora looked up at the sky speckled sky. "Who are you?" The voice chuckled and Sora felt a gust of wind blow through his hair.

"That question will be answered once you find out who you are."

"Who I am? I know who I am. I'm Sora." Sora said proudly jabbing a thumb at his chest.

"But who is Sora?"

Sora shook his head confused. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said. Another gust of wind blew through his hair.

"Do you want to find out?"

Sora nodded.

"Be prepared. Are you ready?" Sora nodded. He heard a slow rumble and he turned his attention to the ground. The sand around him began to implode on itself and fall through a hole it was creating. Sora instantly began to back up and run but he wasn't exactly fast enough. He felt his legs slip down and the rest of his body wasn't far behind. He tried to scream but all that came from his open mouth was bubbles. His hands flew to his neck as if his hand could pump air into it.

"H-help." He tried to hiss. Finally he coughed and was able to breath comfortably. He glanced down past his falling feet towards a platform that was rushing up to greet him. He squeezed his eyes shut until he felt a gentle bump on his feet. He opened them to see he was standing on a circular platform with a woman in a elegant dress on it.

"Where am I?" He asked looking up.

"Welcome to your awakening."

"My awakening?" Sora asked looking around. There were several small pillars surrounding him, one had a sword and another a shield and another a staff.

"Choose, one."

Sora nodded. He walked over to the platform that held the sword. He plucked it off the pillar.

"The power of the warrior, astonishing strength and enduring courage. A sword of power and might. Is this the path you choose?"

Sora fingered the sword. Of course he wanted to be a knight which was kind of like a warrior… Sora nodded. "Yes it is." He said. The sword disappeared and Sora watched the specks of light that had come from it float towards the sky.

"Now you have to give one up. Choose wisely…"

Sora turned towards the two remaining weapons. He walked over to the staff and picked it up.

"The power of a mystic: magnificent enchantment and remarkable wisdom, a staff of wonder and ruin. Do you give up this power?"

Sora thought a moment. He nodded after a while and saw the staff disappear. The shield disappeared afterwards too, and the entire platform began to dissolve as if some one had thrown a rock down and shattered it. Sora felt the nauseous weightless feeling return as the supporting weight was tugged out from underneath his feet. He closed his eyes to make the feeling go away until he landed on his back on a similar platform. Above him was a huge beam of light.

"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes." The voice informed him.

"Huh?" Sora felt the eerie feeling like something was watching him from behind. He turned around to see his shadow dislodging it self from its position on the floor. It began to grow and deform it self. Soon it was huge, about 3 stories to be exact. Well as exact as you can get while ogling at a giant shadow and you don't really have time to measure it.

"Augh!" Sora screamed and ran for the edge. If it was a Heartless, it was the biggest one he'd ever seen.

"Why don't you fight?" The voice asked him.

"Because I don't have a chance!" Sora explained running from the giant… what ever it was.

"Use your weapon."

Sora looked up still running, "My weapon? You mean the Keyblade, don't you?"

"Use it."

Sora tried to summon it to his hands but it didn't work. "Ack! It didn't work! Help! It won't come!" He screamed desperately.

"Tell me who you are."

"I'm Sora!" He screamed.

"Who is Sora?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sora yelled dodging the giant hand as it tried to crush him.

"Who are you? Think, Sora, think. What is it that you are? What power do you have? What power is it that must be protected, that must be kept out of the enemies hands at all cost? What is it? Think!"

Sora pressed his temples with his fingers. "I don't know! I don't know!"

"Come on Sora. Think, what have you been trying to find out about for the past three weeks? Who are you?"

"Keyblade? It has something to do with the keyblade!" Sora's eyes suddenly widened with a serious Eureka moment. "Keyblade Master. That's who I am!"

"That's right. You are an opener and closer of doors." Sora looked up. "Don't let your power fall into the wrong hands. Please be careful."

Sora nodded. "Sure! Whatever you say! Just get me out of here please!" Sora screamed dodging another hand. The voice chuckled.

"All right, Keyblade Master. All right."