CHAPTER IX

Play This Game Over Again

(NOTE)

How eventful those last two chapters were, huh? So, don't think of that as a sign that the fanfiction will end soon; they still have to unlock a few worlds to make it to The World That Never Was. In fact, I think I'm going to introduce an OC this chapter. Stay... er... tuned!

Charity: Seldom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts. I'll bet she wishes she did, though. She doesn't own it's plot, either, or even one of the OC's! How stupid!

Me: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whose side are you on?

Charity: Are you sure I can't go live with Igor Lollipop now?

Me:Sigh: I own my OC's and my plot.

(/NOTE)

"Larxene's gone." Much to Vexen and Anton's surprise, Calypso was not angry. In fact, she seemed to be laughing inwardly, "I knew that fool could never take out my other half. Even though she's my weaker half as well."

Vexen looked around. He showed no expression as to what he was thinking, but it was probably something along the lines of 'damn, we're fucked', or, 'killing the rest of the Organization members was quite the idea, Sherlock.'

"Actually," Calypso said as if she read his mind, "I figured to give them a quick and easy ride back into the darkness, where Charity would have made it linger. If Larxene, one of our strongest Organization members couldn't destroy even Charity's little friend, then surely nobody in this room could do the same."

"What happens now?" asked Anton, his hands behind his head.

"We are, obviously, no longer an Organization. I have, however, managed to call in one more recruits. He is strong; very strong. This one might actually stand a chance against that strong-hearted girl." With a wave of her hand, the boy appeared on Demyx's chair..

Just his presence looked amazing. Messy black hair with purple and blue highlights donned his head. Although his face was angular, it somehow resembled that of a young child, although he was obviously late in his teens and experienced. He had a strong looking body, and he held two keyblades, one in each hand.

The keyblade in his left hand was a blood red down the arm with occasional swirls of dark purple that resembled the gravity attack spurting from it. The top of the keyblade was jagged, and almost looked like a rose stem with thorns jutting out from the side of it. Written down the arm were the words: "Balance, without her world, is nothing."

The keyblade in his right hand, however, was a beautiful mint green, with similar, yet softer swirls of purple running down the sides, but lighter. When it hit the top of the keyblade, it looked like a cartoon rendition of clouds, a light blue mixed in with the sea green. Along the arm were the words: "Balance; Without her, world is nothing."

Calypso grinned, "This wielder's name is Yasuyo. His Keyblades are similar to Savior of Balance in property, but not quite. They give the wielder the powers of a Nobody, and advanced magic. Besides that, Yasuyo himself is simply a very strong fighter. I challenged him to a duel before I asked him to come with us, and he nearly beat me. Nearly."

The boy simply smirked.

"With that, you may all retreat back. Charity and the others must still unlock at least three worlds before they can even dream of making it through the darkness here. We will let them alone for one world, and wait for the chain to hit the ground." At that, Vexen, Anton and Yasuyo made their way out of the room.

When Yasuyo stopped at his room, Anton stopped as well.

"You're on my side." Anton grinned at the boy.

Yasuyo smiled back. "You'll go back where you belong." he nodded at the boy. As he retreated for his room, Anton went to his as well.

xxxxx

"I understand. Don't worry." Hayner told his girlfriend as he held her hands in his. "You once felt things for him, and he didn't know that we were together when he woke up."

Nessa shook her head; she couldn't look him in the eyes. "But I still felt things for him. I still do." she told him regretfully.

"This may seem like I'm trying to make up answers to feel better about this, but honestly," Hayner started, "I think you felt an obligation to him."

Nessa nodded. "I think you're right."

"Now," Hayner smiled brightly. He wasn't used to being so mature and enthusiastic, "go back and find Charity's Heartless so you can restore your world. I've decided; if you do, when you do, I'm going there with you." He turned to look at Olette, Odol, and Pence's shocked faces, "You three, too, right?" he asked them.

"Unh?" asked Odol. He then looked back at where his house was, and nodded. "I'll bring my family, too!"

"No, no family." Hayner shook his head, "We're all going to start over there. Got it?" he asked them. Of course, Hayner being the unspoken leader of the group, got a bunch of nods and many enthusiastic words.

"That means a lot." Nessa wiped something from under her eye, "Thank you."

"Anything." Hayner kissed her on the cheek, and she bade him good-bye along with Charity as they made their way onto the Gummi Ship.

The ride was definitely quieter without Quince. Apparently, Sora had decided for the group that they weren't going to rest in Hollow Bastion, and they were going to go directly onto the next world, which was the familiar Beast's Castle.

The group only had too much of an experience in this castle, especially when Estelle, the leader of the Light wielders during the keyblade war, had switched Beast and Belle's personalities. She never switched them back.

"We're here," Sora groaned, stepping outside of the Gummi Ship, "I think the castle has gotten... pinker." Surrounding the castle were pink drapes and half of it was being painted pink at the very second by the paintbrushes themselves.

"Estelle... definitely didn't switch their personalities back." Charity decided aloud.

"Let's just go seal the keyhole." Riku shook his head, the brightness of the pink causing him to look down at his own feet.

"On second thought," Sora stuttered, "I'll go seal the keyhole. I know where it is, it will take me two minutes. You all stay here and... protect the Gummi Ship from pink Heartless."

Charity scowled, but sat down on the ground by the Gummi Ship as Sora rushed into the castle with Kingdom Key in hand. Riku and Nessa slid down next to her, and Kairi and Broden just leaned against the Gummi Ship.

xxxxx

Estelle and Parker had long since left to go to see the library in another world. Axel decided to stop asking why exactly they were researching it, because he knew Estelle's answer would be a bunch of bull. He sat down at the table, and looked at the other two.

"I think I liked being a Nobody better," he told them, "you could transport yourself wherever your nonexistent heart desires."

"We could always just take—!" Naminé was interrupted by a 'yoo-hoo' in their direction. Tifa stood at the door to the library and smiled at the three.

"You made it out of there!" she smiled at them.

"And we're Somebodies now." Roxas added, slapping himself on the hand unnecessarily and saying 'ow' to express the pain he was feeling.

"How'd you manage that?" she asked them.

Naminé shook her head, and put her hands together, "We'll tell you on the ride back to Hollow Bastion?" she suggested. Axel and Roxas nodded; no longer were they stuck on an island with no way of making it off.

As promised, on the ride there, Naminé explained everything to Tifa.

"Well, that was stupid," she mentioned, "making all of the hearts ahead of time. But it definitely seems like a Charity-like thing to do, so you did a good job at that, Naminé." Naminé supposed that she meant making her memories and abilities similar to Charity's.

"Even though Charity's tough and she'll be hard to fight," Axel brought up, "we've seen Charity battle, and if Calypso is similar in her battling ways, then she'll be predictable."

Roxas nodded. He had a point. Tifa landed the ship right back in front of Hollow Bastion. The first one to rush out of the house and greet the three was none other than Merlin.

"Oh... no." was all Roxas could muster out before Merlin grabbed his hands and started dancing along with him while singing a very inappropriate rendition of Simple and Clean. "Let... go!" Roxas told him, trying his best to pull his hands away.

Merlin let go on his own and stuck out his hands palm down, and screamed at the top of his lungs. Five seconds later, he began the macarina.

"Let's go inside... now..." Naminé urged Roxas, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him inside of the house. When Tifa made it in with Axel, they locked the door behind them, although they did not even hear Merlin try to enter the house.

"Axel?" asked Cloud, who was sitting on the couch. Leon walked in along with Aerith; they both seemed delighted to see him and Roxas.

"There's a lot to tell you." Axel told them.

xxxxx

"Leave it to this to happen the second Sora leaves." Charity complained. A giant, dragon Heartless appeared in front of them, and they all readied their weapons. Charity took a second glance at the dragon; it wasn't attacking. Why? "Wait!" Charity told Nessa.

"What?" Nessa asked, who had been charging to attack.

"It's Camel!" Charity said happily, walking up to the Heartless Dragon they had somehow managed to tame back at the Land of Dragons. She stroked its head, and it closed its sapphire eyes, making some strange purring noise.

"...Camel?" asked Broden, confused, dropping his gunblade.

"It's the dragon that brought us to see Estelle when we were in Land of Dragons, Nessa, Quince, and I." Charity told him. Nessa went up to the dragon and began patting it on the back.

"It's more of Charity's dragon, really, she was the first one to ride it." Nessa told them.

"You... tamed it?" asked Riku. He shook his head. "What's the Universe of Kingdom Hearts coming to?" surely the only friendly Heartless he had ever seen was a White Mushroom. This was probably a White Heartless.

"What's this?" asked Charity. Hanging half-way out of Camel's mouth was a letter signed in very curly handwriting. She took it gently from Camel and read it aloud:

Charity and Company,

I'm safe. You don't know me yet nor will you recognize me when you see me. I will have to fight at the risk of being exposed, but know that I'm a friend. I cannot sign my name as she might see this. Don't worry, she has no real accomplices anymore.

"What?" asked Charity almost immediately after writing the letter.

"Well, obviously Camel didn't write it." Broden proposed.

"No shit, Sherlock." Nessa rolled her eyes.

"Maybe it's someone who's working under Calypso." Riku suggested, who stood by his idea that Calypso was commanding Anton as well.

"It said that he or she's safe. So does that mean that the next... unrecognizable person we fight, we should just fight but know that they're safe? How does that make sense?" asked Nessa.

"Well, whoever it is, if they're on our side, it probably means that they wouldn't fight us to the death anyway, so we'd end up killing them or we'd end up leaving the fight at a stalemate. You're right, it doesn't make sense." Charity brought up.

"It's probably just a fair warning." Riku shrugged. Charity nodded, and stuck the paper in her pocket to look at later in case she needed to.

"What're we gonna do with Camel?" asked Nessa.

Charity shrugged, "We could take him back to Hollow Bastion."

"No, no, no," came Sora's voice. He had apparently been standing there for a good five minutes, "We're not taking a dragon back to Hollow Bastion. No way. Not safe." He looked over at Kairi, who had just been watching the whole time; apparently she had fallen in love with the dragon because she gave Sora the puppy eyes.

Sora grunted and said, "We'll take the Gummi Ship, you ride the dragon."

xxxxx

"Oh my, oh my!" Merlin cooed as Charity landed the dragon right in front of Merlin's house. He stopped mid-macarina just to go up and see the dragon.

"Dun touch Camel." Charity warned the crazy old man as he walked up to their dragon.

"What took you so long in there anyway?" Kairi asked Sora when they walked out of the Gummi Ship, "You said you'd take two minutes."

"I didn't realize that Beast was so dead set on making me a tea cozy for my feet. He had to take measurements..." Sora shivered at the very thought of it.

"There's enough room for you behind the house, I'm thinking." Charity cooed to the dragon, ignoring Merlin by any means possible as it followed her to the back of the house, "And you can fly around whenever you want, and we'll feed you when you're hungry... like the kitten I always wanted!" she smiled.

When they all walked in the house, they were certainly surprised to see Axel, Roxas, and Naminé all sitting at the couch, telling their story to the committee.

xxxxx

"A keychain that lets your keyblade multiply itself." Vexen said to Calypso, "Where did you come up with something like that?" he asked.

"It just came to me," she remarked, "although I can't find another use for it besides destroying the rest of the Organization." She mumbled something about 'operation: drop the deadweight.'

"Where did you find that boy? Yasuyo?" asked Vexen.

Calypso cocked her head to the side, "The Realm of Light, if that's what you're wondering. He came from a world called Jewel's Grove."

"So he wasn't in the Realm of Darkness." Vexen inquired. "Interesting. And yet he acquired two keyblades of balance that gives him powers of a Nobody? They certainly aren't what they seem."

"Are you suggesting something about his loyalty?" Calypso asked Vexen while she continued to write out statistics. She had been working on something that was so secret she refused to tell Anton, Vexen, or even her new Yasuyo.

xxxxx

"But I accidentally picked up a couple of Ansem's reports that Calypso had with her." Naminé remarked, pulling out a couple of sheets of paper she had folded up and put under the strap of her sundress.

"I knew that Anton would be working for Calypso." Riku murmured.

"What do they say?" asked Sora, taking the reports from Naminé, who really wished that her dress had pockets.

After scanning it for a few seconds, Sora read a portion aloud to the group, "A certain keyblade can separate the Nobody from the Heartless in a rare case that they combine after leaving their original Somebody, and this keyblade is the Ultima Weapon, a very rare keychain-based blade... That's it!" Sora shouted. He handed the report back to Naminé, and ran out of the room and into his down the hallway.

"So the Ultima Weapon can separate them! But we can't do that until we get her to restore Azure Daybreak." Charity nodded.

"How long has Sora had that keychain without using it?" asked Riku.

"ABRACABRA DABRA DACK!" shouted Merlin angrily as he stomped through the house.

"On second thought... let's... skip that night off." Roxas decided.

Author's Note: That was a bit uneventful, I realize, but it makes up for the last two chapters that were kind of mind-blowing. Just a few more chapters to go! See you next.