Last time found Kairi once again forced to suffer, this time in order to save one of her friends and let another die. Yet Kairi found a loophole in DiDe's game and saved everyone. DiDe then unleashed her full power against our heroes in a cataclysmic battle to the finish, yet our heroes triumphed over the digital demon, with Kairi delivering the final blow. With Hell House deleted from ALO, Kairi and her friends returned to the real world. But that wasn't the end for Kazuto and Asuna, not by a long shot. 'Nuff said, on with the show!

Chapter 10: Real World Climax

Asuna was already at the site when Kazuto arrived in a nondescript car driven by a nondescript man. Kazuto looked around and saw a seemingly empty office building that was closed for renovations, while in front of the building were several more cars and a van, while Samantha waited just outside the front door.

"Before either of you rush in and do anything rash," said Samantha as she walked up to Kazuto and Asuna, "you need to know that the Rapture survivors are awake and receiving what's left of the medication they brought with them."

"That's good to know," said Asuna, "but what will happen to them now that there's no more?"

"We did save some to try and synthesize more," said Samantha, "but…"

Just then Kazuto heard the familiar sound of his motorcycle. He turned around and saw Suguha on said bike, pulling up to the building.

"Onisan!" exclaimed Suguha irately as she got off the bike, unslinging her Shinai from her back, "you left me on that mountain alone with all those fairies!"

"Not now, Sugu!" said Kazuto. He then looked at Samantha, "you were saying?"

"Don't brush me off, Onisan!" said Suguha irately as she walked up to her adopted brother, brandishing her bamboo sword threateningly, "do you know how awkward a position you put me in? I had to promise to email all those Sylphs, Salamanders and Cait Siths and everyone else with a full explanation of what happened in Hell House. Do you know how long that's going to take me to email all those people?"

"Just write one email," said a young woman in her early 20's who looked like a younger version of Samantha except for her dirty blond hair tied in a short braid and wore heavy glasses. "Then email all your friends at once. If they're on your contact list, you can send it to them at once."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," said Suguha in a deflated but relieved tone as she lowered her Shinai, "thanks…uh…"

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Samantha, "this is my daughter and graduate assistance, Karen."

"We've met before," said Karen Armitage to Kazuto and Asuna.

"We have? When?" Asuna asked.

"That can wait," said Kauzto, "what about Kairi?"

"Yeah, what about Kairi?" asked Asuna.

"Did you get her out yet?" Suguha asked.

"Uh…that's the problem I mentioned over the phone," said Samantha in a highly agitated tone. "You'd better come with me. And don't ask why; it'll be better if you see for yourselves."

Fearing the worst, Kazuto, Asuna and Suguha followed Samantha and Karen through the building entrance and up the elevator several floors.

"Foundation X bought the building and used the renovations as a cover for their operations," said Karen as they exited the elevator and found themselves in the first of several lab rooms, "they had their own portable generators, water reclamation systems and just about everything else they needed to be self sufficient."

"We might never have gotten wise of their plans if it weren't for you and your fellow gamers," said Samantha as they made their way through the labs. But then they stopped outside one room where several EMT's were checking on Chrissie and the other Rapture survivors.

"Chrissie!" shouted Asuna.

"Is that you…Asuna?" Chrissie asked as she walked out of the room, "wow, you look…uh…"

"Human?" Asuna asked as she smiled, "it's the small ears, right?"

"I was saying you looked nice," said Chrissie, "and you too, Kirito."

"It's Kazuto in the real world," said Kazuto, "and this is my sister, Suguha."

"You know me as Leafa," said Suguha, "how do I look compared to my other self?"

"Less raunchy," said Chrissie as she looked at Suguha's lesser yet still considerable figure, "but still beautiful. I'm sorry, I'm still taking in this time period. Remember, my friends and I are from 1960 and this is 2025."

"Well, what'd you expect of the future?" Asuna asked, "everyone riding around in hover cars, eating dehydrated meals the size of pills and everything else done with the push of buttons?"

"It's really not that different than the world I read about before the founding of Rapture," said Chrissie, "yes, the technology's way beyond what I imagined, but the people are still people. I'm just glad you never had a nuclear war as Andrew Ryan feared would happen."

"We still have nukes, but the people responsible for them are more responsible than they were a few decades ago," said Karen, "at least I hope they are."

"What about Joshua and the others?" Kazuto asked.

"They're still feeling the effects of that one dose of normal EVE," said Chrissie, "but the doctors here, they've doled out all but the last of our special EVE and the others are felling much better, except for Travis. He had so much normal EVE…but we're all still hoping he'll snap out of it." She then pulled out from her pocket a single syringe half full of the special EVE, "this is all that's left of what Dr. Tenenbaum made for us. I just hope your scientists can make more without having to revert to what we in Rapture did to make EVE in the first place."

"I hope so too," said Asuna, "now, where's Kairi."

"That's what we need to show you," said Samantha, "this way please."

She lead Kazuto, Asuna and Suguha to the main lab, stopping outside the closed doorway, "now, whatever you see in there, I want your word of honor that you won't do anything stupid."

"Define stupid," said Suguha.

"Just don't overreact," said Karen, "Kairi's life may depend on what we all do next." With that she opened the door, revealing several of Samantha's colleagues standing around the computer stations, while half a dozen of the special ops had their weapons aimed at Sugō Nobuyuki, whom was calmly standing in the room with his right fist raised and clutching a metal object.

"Ah, my beloved Titania!" said a joyfully deranged Sugō as he saw Asuna, "at last, you've come to stand with your Oberon!"

"You son of a bitch!" shouted an outraged Asuna as she tried to rush at and attack Sugō, only to be restrained by Kazuto and Suguha, "I'm going to skin you alive and sew it back on inside out!"

"Oh, but if you do that," said Sugō in a taunting manner as he opened his fist slightly, revealing a remote detonator, "if you do that, I'll be forced to let go of this."

"He's rigged an electromagnetic pulse generator right into the main computer servers," said Samantha, "we've got experts trying to disarm the device but he booby trapped it."

"While that remote is a dead man switch," said Karen, "he so much as twitches in the wrong way and the servers are fried."

"So he wipes out a lot of data," said Suguha, "just tackle him already!"

"Or shoot him in the head!" snapped Asuna.

"We do that and Kairi's as good as dead!" said Samantha irately.

At that Asuna did a double take, "what? How? Why?"

"It's him," said Karen as she glared at the smugly smiling Sugō, "by the time we secured the digitizing device in the next room, he had programmed the system to store Kairi's data in a memory buffer, while also setting up a lockout program. When Kairi attempted to activate the rematerialization program, her data was trapped in the buffer when it should have gone to the digitizer. We tried to get to her data but we were locked out of the system."

"He's encrypted the system with a highly complex password that'll take days to break," said Samantha, "and we have some of the best decrypting specialists in the world."

"Which just goes to prove that I am the superior scientific genius," said Sugō, "superior to the so called defenders of the human race, the oh-so brave Night Scholars. You should stick to chasing ghosts and monsters under the bed."

"We've faced things that would drive you out of your already twisted mind," said Karen, "and what you've done; teaming up with Foundation X to continue your sick mind control experiments! Forcing Kairi into those vile games with DiDe and now threatening to erase her with that EMP device, who the hell do you think you are!?"

"A god among mortals!" said Sugō as he raised the detonator, "one that will not be denied his just dues!"

"And what is it that you want, Sugō?" Kazuto asked calmly, though his hands trembled with a burning need to strangle the delusional psychopath before him.

"Funny thing you should ask that, Kirito," said Sugō, "for you have one of the things I desire most, which I'll get too soon enough. First of all, I wish for a full pardon for whatever alleged crimes I've committed."

"Alleged?" asked an exasperated Suguha, "you trapped and tormented the minds of three hundred innocent people! You imprisoned Asuna's mind so you could live out your sick fairytale fantasy! You tried to rape her in the real world!"

"I did no such thing!" snapped Sugō, "I would never have touched her that way, not until we exchanged wedding vows that is."

"I still can't believe my father agreed to such a ridiculous idea!" said Asuna, "if he knew just how evil you were, what you wanted to do to me, he'd have killed you with his bare hands!"

"Then it's a good thing your father is such an imbecile," said Sugō, at which Asuna again tried to rush at and attack him, only to be held back by Kazuto, Suguha and now Karen.

"You were listing your demands," said Samantha in a businesslike manner, "you've already asked for a pardon. What else?"

"I wish for transportation out of Japan to a non-extradition country," said Sugō, "I hear Cuba's nice this time of year, so is Dubai, Bhutan wouldn't be a bad choice either."

"I'll see to getting a jet fueled," said Samantha, "and I'll call about a bulletproof limo with a full mini bar."

"How can you even think about negotiating with this monster?!" exclaimed Asuna.

"It's either that or let Kairi be derezzed," said Karen.

"What did you say?" Kazuto asked as he looked at Karen.

"Never mind," said Karen. She then looked at Sugō, "is there anything else? Money? How much to buy back Kairi's life?"

"I have more than enough currency stashed away where the law can't touch it," said Sugō, "what I want can't be assigned a monetary value."

"Then what do you want?" Asuna asked.

"You know what I want, my dearest Tatiana," said Sugō, "a king is only half a king without a queen by his side."

"Over my dead body," said Kazuto as he pulled Asuna back a pace and stood in front of her, "I'll die before I let you touch her again!"

"As much as I'd love to see you dead, Kirito," said Sugō, "and believe me, nothing would make me happier, well, almost nothing. I want your in-game wife to be my real world bride, and together, we shall take on the world and make it bow down before us!"

"You fucking psycho!" shouted Chrissie as she walked into the world, both her hands crackling with electricity, "I'm going to do what Ben Franklin once tried to do to a turkey!"

"Go ahead and try to kill me," said Sugō, "if you value Kairi's life so little, then go ahead, use your fantastic powers to take my life."

"That won't be necessary," said a voice from the doorway. There stood a man in his early 40's with balding, slightly graying brown hair, glasses in front of brown eyes and leaning heavily on an arm crutch.

"Oh, Andrew," said a relieved Samantha, "thank goodness you made it. Kazuto, Asuna, this is Andrew Carpenter, one of the best operatives in The Night Scholars, and also one of my oldest, dearest friends."

"And someone who's inspired me to greater and grander things," said Karen, "but that's another story. Where's Jill?"

"She'll be along soon," said the alternate Andrew Carpenter as he limped into the room on his arm crutch, "she has one small errand to take care of, which is good because I'd rather not have her see what I do with the filth." He then looked at Kazuto, Asuna and Suguha, "nice to meet you all in the flesh, Kirito, Asuna, Leafa."

"How do you know…wait…Xenophon?" Kazuto asked, "is that…is that you?"

"Again, in the flesh," said Andrew.

"I thought you said you were in a wheelchair," said Asuna.

"I said I was in a wheelchair for seven years," said Andrew, "I had my legs amputated at the knee seven and a half years ago on a mission, long story. Six months ago I had finally got around to getting fitted for prosthetic legs. I can walk, more or less."

"Well, what are you doing here in Japan?" Kazuto asked.

"I live here in Japan," said Andrew, "I have dual citizenship and own a house in Aoyama. When Samantha called and told me that some ALO players had stumbled upon a Foundation X plot, I just knew that you guys were the ones I met in The Town of Beginnings."

"Well, aren't you perceptive," said Sugō in a demeaning manner, "but it makes no difference. I will erase Kairi if my demands aren't met."

"I'm not here to negotiate with a delusional, psychotic waste of human life," said Andrew coldly, "and don't waste my time with your lies about being a god. You want people to worship you, start a cult."

"You dare…!" snapped Sugō.

"I dare because I can," said an irate Andrew, "and don't look at me like that, Kazuto, you too, Asuna, I know what I'm doing."

"What you're doing is upsetting the maniac who holds Kairi's life in his hands," said Kazuto.

"I know, but he won't push the button," said Andrew, "and he knows he won't. If he does, he loses any and all bargaining chips in his favor and is pretty much as good as dead. On the other hand, he knows we'll never give him what he wants, so what we've got here is a bit of a standoff."

"You think so little of your new god," said Sugō.

"I'm happy with the old one, thank you very much," said Andrew irately, "believe me, I got enough of religion every time my mother dragged me to temple on Friday nights, sometimes Saturday morning, I really hated that, going to temple and missing my cartoons. God, I miss the 20th century, they really knew how to make Saturday morning cartoons then. Nowadays nine out of ten cartoons on the air are pure shit, but that's just my opinion."

"You're attempt to appeal to my humanity is futile!" exclaimed Sugō, "I am beyond human compassion! If you had any wits at all, you'd fall on your knees and beg for mercy!"

At that Andrew sighed and placed his head in his palm, "you know what's really sad? I've seen a lot of men and women claiming to be gods and demand that we mortals worship them. Sometimes they did have real powers; some mystical, some created by science, while others were mere tricksters who maintained their hold over their followers with stage magic and illusions.

"No matter the would-be god, they all have two things in common; they're all loonier than Daffy Duck, and they all fail, just as you'll fail, Sugō Nobuyuki."

"I will succeed!" exclaimed Sugō, "I will rule over the minds of the entire world!"

"I knew someone who tried to be the god of his own world," said Andrew, "for a while he had everything he wanted, and then lost it, but that's another story. My point is that you're as mortal as the rest of us, and while some mortals are gifted, sometimes in more ways than one. But you, you're just a sad, pathetic thief who had to resort to stealing his material from a true genius."

"A genius who saved your life," said Kazuto, "the same man who wound up causing a lot of pain and suffering. If Kayaba Akihiko had any successes, is was you, Andrew."

"K-K-KAYABA!" exclaimed Sugō, "you dare mention him in my presence!"

"Why not?" Anderw, "despite his crimes, he came closer to becoming a god than you ever will."

"I'll show you who's a god or not!" shouted Sugō, "for I have the ultimate power! The power of LIVE and DEATH!" he then raised the detonator and pressed the button.

"NO!" shouted Asuna, Kazuto and Suguha.

But after a few seconds everyone realized that nothing happened.

"We should be in the dark," said Karen, "that EMP device is strong enough to short out everything electrical in five kilometers."

"What is this!?" exclaimed Sugō as he looked at the detonator and pressed the button again, then again and again, "why won't it work!?"

"Sorry it took so long," said Andrew as he cleaned his glasses, "but I had to stall for time while Jill deactivated the EMP device. I could have taken care of it in a heartbeat, but she insisted I deal with you myself."

It was then that Jill Carpenter ran into the room, "sorry it took so long, everyone," said Jill, "that device was a rather tough nut to crack."

"I told you I could have taken care of it," said Andrew, "but you just had to try it yourself."

"I know you," said Asuna as she looked at Jill, "you're Jill Sparrow! Four time world champion fencer and two time Olympic gold medalist for Great Brittan."

"And half psychotic myself," said Jill, "but that was a long ago. Anyway, the EMP device has been deactivated; we just need to break the encryption on the main computer."

"Which would go a lot better if someone would simply cooperate and stop wasting everyone's time," said Samantha as she looked at Sugō.

"I'll never tell you the password!" said Sugō defiantly as he tossed the useless detonator on the ground, then pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Kazuto, "not while I can still get away."

"You want to kill Kirito-kun," said Asuna as she got in front of Kazuto with her arms spread, shielding him from the madman's aim, "you'll have to kill me first!"

"As if mere bullets can harm you, my beloved Tatiana," said Sugō, "we're immortal fairies, remember?"

"You just said you were a god, now you're a fairy," said Karen, "you're more messed up than Charlie Sheen, Miley Cyrus and Mel Gibson put together, and that's saying something."

"Silence!" shouted Sugō, "don't you ever disrespect me like that! I am your king! I am your GOD! I AM…!"

That's as far as Sugō got before Suguha rushed in and whacked him on the wrist with her Shinai, forcing the madman to drop the pistol. Sugō blinked in confusion, then gasped and cried out in pain, clutching his assaulted wrist. He then looked at Suguha with disbelief, "you…you dare strike the omnipotent King Oberon!"

Suguha then hit him again, this time on the head with enough to knock him to the ground where he lay there, breathing but unmoving.

"I thought he'd never shut up," said Suguha irately as she kicked the pistol away from the unconscious lunatic.

"Not that I'm glad that you did that, Sugu," said Kazuto, "but we needed him to give us the password."

"It'll take us days to work out the encryption," said Karen, "longer maybe."

"Then we'll make him tell us the password," said Chrissie as she walked up to the unconscious Sugō and nudged him with her shoe, "wake up. I said wake up!" she then knelt down and began slapping him across the face, "wake up, you son of a bitch!"

"I'm not doctor, but I don't think he's really unconscious," said Jill.

"More like catatonic," said Andrew as he bent down and examined Sugō, "we shattered his world and now he's retreated into himself where the outside world can't hurt him. He could be like this for the rest of his life."

"Oh, that's just great," said an exasperated Chrissie, "now we'll never get the password out of him! Kairi's gonna be stuck in that memory thing for who knows how long?"

"We may not have to wait that long," said Asuna in a thoughtful manner as she walked up to the main computer terminal, "after all that's happened, Sugō was still obsessed with me. Maybe that obsession is the key to Kairi's salvation." She then began typing and after a few keystrokes hit ENTER. Instantly, the red lockout window with the words ACCESS DENIED…IMPUT PASSWORD…was replaced by a green window with the words ACCESS GRANTED.

"What'd you do?!" an astonished Karen asked.

"What was the password?" Samantha asked.

"What he always saw me as," said Asuna, "the queen to match his king."

"'Tatiana,' of course," sighed Karen, "I should have known. The man's clearly obsessed with Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' I should have known, some detective I am."

"I think you're a great detective, Beatrice," said Kazuto in a knowing manner.

At that Karen blinked in surprise, then smiled in acknowledgement, "how'd you figure that out?"

"It's obvious that you two are above average geniuses," said Kazuto, "you look a lot like your avatar, and you both used the same word; 'derezzed.'"

"I knew I shouldn't have let you make my daughter watch those old movies," said Samantha at Andrew.

"Hey, she wanted to watch," said Andrew, "is it my fault that she asserted her independence and desire to start out on her own?"

"What's that now?" Samantha asked.

"I want to have my own life, mom," said Karen irately, as if venting years of pent up frustration she only know had the nerve to let lose, "I don't want to be a carbon copy of you!"

"Carbon copy? What are you talking about?" Samantha asked.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about, mother!" snapped Karen, "you've been grooming me my whole life to take over as head librarian at M.U.'s Arkham campus, and to lead The Night Scholars! That's not what I want to do with my life!"

"I thought you wanted to be the next head librarian!" said Samantha, "to carry on the family tradition!"

"Well, I don't!" snapped Karen, "and I'm sick and tired of you acting like I have no say in the matter! It's my life; I'll live it how I see fit!"

"Now I get it, the reason why you and Dr. Armitage have such a strained relationship," said Kairi as she stood at the doorway.

"KAIRI!" exclaimed Asuna as she rushed to the doorway and hugged her.

"Nice to finally see you for real," said Kairi as she hugged back.

"When did you get back to the real world?" Kazuto asked.

"Just now," said Kairi, "why, what'd I miss?"

"A lot," said Suguha, "nice to see you for real too."

"Same here," said Kairi as she and Suguha hugged, then she hugged Karen, "You too, Beatrice."

"It's Karen here, and thanks for standing up for me."

"Well," said Samantha, "if it's your damn life, why don't you tell me what you want to do with it?"

"I want to be a writer," said Karen.

"A writer?" asked Samantha in a disbelieving tone, "that's what you want to do with your life?"

"Yes, I want to be a writer," said Karen, "specifically a mystery novelist. I've got dozens of ideas for stories based on my experiences in Victorian Noir. I figured on creating a series about my character, Beatrice Lancaster, Steampunk P.I."

"And I suppose you expect to simply walk away from your responsibilities as a Night Scholar?" asked Samantha.

"I never said I wanted to give up being a Night Scholar," said Karen, "I just don't want to be the next leader, that's all. And I still don't want to be the next head librarian. Give the job to Klaus Baudelaire, he'd love that."

"You have the Baudelaires on this world?" Kairi asked, "wait, Andrew? Jill?"

"You must be familiar with one or more set of our alternates," said Jill.

"Uh-huh," said Kairi. She then looked at the catatonic Sugō, "is that him? Is he the monster responsible for this whole mess?"

"He can't hurt you or anyone else," said Samantha, "nor will he hurt anyone ever again. He's going back to prison where he belongs. I don't know how we'll explain it to the authorities how we have him or about the impostor in his cell. Then again, we Night Scholars are used to lying to the authorities, for the right reasons that is."

Just then one of the Night Scholars ran up to and whispered something into Samantha's ear, "what's this now? Oh dear, that's not good at all."

"What's not good?" Kairi asked.

"It's about your friends, your fellow survivors from your underwater city," said Samantha to Chrissie, "they're not at all well."

"They're still in withdraw from the special EVE," said Chrissie. She then swayed and nearly fell over, "and I'm feeling pretty shitty myself!"

Kairi caught Chrissie before she hit the floor, "thanks," said Chrissie, "I'm glad I didn't do that when that psycho was awake."

"You were bluffing?" Kairi asked.

"Pretty much," said Chrissie, "even after getting some of the special EVE, I doubt I could have blasted the prick," she then pulled out the half full syringe of the special EVE, "this is all that's left."

"It could take weeks to fully analyze and synthesize a substitute," said Karen, "the Foundation X scientists, they did some work on it but took the data with them when they fled."

"I thought this was the future!" snapped Chrissie, "that science had advanced enough to produce near miracles!"

"Hey, we're good, but not miracle workers," said Karen, "and why aren't you as sick as the others?"

"How the fuck should I know?!" spat Chrissie, "I'm no scientist! I'm just a girl who's been thrown into a nightmare of a journey, whose friends are suffering and possibly dying!"

"The Moogles," said Kairi, "if they can't synthesize the special EVE in record time, no one can."

"Who or what are Moogles?" Karen asked.

"Long story," said Kairi. She then looked at Chrissie, "if we're going to save you and the others, we have to go to my world now, and I mean now!"

"You're leaving already?" Suguha asked, "but…we just met for real."

"I know," said Kairi, "and I'd love nothing more than to say and get to know you and the others better and to explore your world. But my friends need help only my world can provide. Besides, I still have to find Sora and the others."

"Then this really is goodbye," said Kazuto.

"It looks that way," said Kairi. She then glared at Samantha, "unless you wish to detain my friends and I, in which you'll find that I'm not to be trifled with!"

"I'd be a poor defender of reason and justice if I tried," said Samantha. She then looked at her colleagues, "get the Rapture survivors ready to go now, and by now I mean five minutes ago!"

"Wow, your mom's something," said an impressed Suguha to Karen.

"You should see her on Thanksgiving and Christmas," said Karen, "talk about a slave driver."

It was then that Joshua, Rachael, Calvin, Lisa and Travis were brought into the room, the first four showing signs of severe drug withdraw and anxiety, while Travis looked eerily calm, as if he were ignoring the whole situation.

"Hi, Kairi," said a visibly trembling Rachael as she wiped some sweat from her brow before it dripped into her eyes.

"You look terrible," said Kairi.

"I feel terrible," said Rachael. She then gave a disturbingly cheerful smile, "but soon I'll be back in the garden!" she then laughed heartily.

"Ignore her, she's lost her marbles," said Joshua. He then looked around warily, then leaned close to whisper in Kairi's ear and giggled, "I should know, I stole them when she wasn't looking."

"Uh, yeah," said a disturbed Kairi, "look, we're going to my world now and, I hope, you'll get the help you need there."

"Aw, thank's Auntie Em," said Lisa, "you're not such a bad fellow after all."

"Yeah, you should go now," said Kazuto. "Hopefully before one of them decides to get violent."

"Yeah," said Kairi. She then summoned her Keyblade, much to the surprise of Samantha, Andrew, Jill and the other Night Scholars. Kairi then used her Keyblade to open a portal.

"You sure this thing's safe?" Chrissie asked cautiously as she looked at the portal.

"I've been using them with Sora and the others for a long time," said Kairi, "They're safe, more or less."

"Works for me!" said Calvin eagerly as he ran into the portal, followed by Lisa, while Rachael and Joshua had to be helped through by Karen. Travis simply walked in.

"This is it," said Kairi to Kazuto and Asuna, "thank you for everything. If I can I'll come back someday."

"Or we can come visit you sometime," said Asuna, "and maybe figure out how to help you fight Columbina and Darklight."

"That'd be great," said Kairi. She then hugged Asuna and Kazuto again, before she and Chrissie walked through the portal, which closed up after them.

"Well, this is definitely one for the archives," said Samantha, "what a debriefing this'll make when we get back home."

"Do you think we'll really see them again?" Suguha asked.

"I sincerely hope so," said Karen, "for Kirito's sake. Kairi still has his coat."

"My god, you're right!" exclaimed Kazuto, "Kairi was wearing my Coat of Midnight!"

"She was!" exclaimed Asuna, "I can't believe I didn't notice!"

"But how?" Kazuto asked, "how was she able to bring an item from the game into the real world?"

"Whatever it was that allowed her to conjure up fairy dust by willing it to be," said Karen, "that allowed your coat to fit her as if it were tailor made for her. She's gifted."

"Just like you two," said Samantha to Kazuto and Asuna, then looked at Suguha, "whereas you, young lady, have your own gifts, in more ways than one."

"Uh…thanks," said a slightly uncomfortable Suguha as she struggled to hide her rather pronounced figure.

"She means you're like us, freaks endowed with superpowers," said Jill, "I can sense oncoming danger to myself and those around me and anticipate how to overcome that danger, while my husband can sense any mechanical fault in a machine and know how to repair that fault."

"Don't forget my best-selling line of cookbooks," said Andrew.

"You write cookbooks?" Asuna asked, "which ones?"

"You wouldn't know that I wrote them," said Andrew, "I had bribe my agent and publisher to use a pseudonym. I really don't like being famous."

"My point," said Samantha to Suguha, "is that The Night Scholars can help identify your abilities and bring out their full potential, and possibly guarantee a full college education in the process."

"We haven't even decided if we want to attend Miskatonic University," said Kazuto, "but…if you guys can help us find a way to help Kairi and her friends, then…"

"We'll talk about your future education and employment later," said Samantha, then looked at Karen, "and your potential writing career later. Right now we have to stop Columbina from carrying out her plan to smash twelve Keyholes and create the Sampo."

"How do you know about that?" Kazuto asked.

"A little bird told me on the way here," said Samantha as she pulled out an envelope that held several pages of a letter, "a little bird by the name of Alegra Wells, of whom I'm sure you'll get to know soon enough, Kiriyaga Kazuto."

…Radiant Garden…

"Don't freaking move!" shouted Yuna as she held her pistols less than a meter from Rachael's eyes, while Rikku, Paine, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Hayner, Pence and Olette, held their weapons ready in front of Joshua, Calvin, Lisa and Travis. The Rapture survivors had just emerged in a portal in one of the many rooms of the castle, the same room where Yuna and the others were resting.

"Guys, either I've really lost it, or we're back in the game," said Rachael as she looked at Yuna with concerned and amused eyes, "because there's another fairy in front of me!" she then laughed.

"I'm not a fairy!" said Yuna irately, "I just happen to be small and can fly!"

"Now tell us who you are and where you came from before we beat the truth out of you!" said Tidus.

"What he said!" agreed Pence.

"Betcha they're spies from Columbina," said Paine.

"Well, I spy something with my little eye," said Liza in a singsong voice, "something that begins with 'B.'"

"Well I see a ball," said Calvin as he looked at Wakka, "does he expect us to be afraid of a ball?"

"Man, if you knew what a Blitz Ball could to do your head, you would be scared!" said Wakka irately.

"Okay, so they're not very good spies," said Paine.

"Let's take them out before they try something," said Rikku as she prepared to throw a grenade, "and before The King shows up and starts asking unnecessary questions."

"Oh, there's a king here?" Rachael asked, "goodness! I don't have anything to wear! And I must look a fright! Someone get me a mirror so I can straighten my hair and powder my nose!"

"And they're crazy spies to boot," said Paine.

It was then that Chrissie and Kairi emerged from the portal, which closed up after them.

"Wow, what a trip," said Chrissie, "so, are we there yet?"

"Yeah, we're here," said Kairi as she looked at Selphie and the others, all of them looking at her with astonished eyes. "What? Is there something on my face? Do I have something in my teeth?"

"Is…is that really you, Kairi?" a startled Selphie asked.

"Maybe she's an impostor sent by Columbina," said Tidus, "or an evil clone!"

"Like Kiraxi!" said Olette, "quick! Someone ask her something only the real Kairi would know?"

"What were you, Sora and Riku gonna call your raft?" Wakka asked.

"Dude, everyone knows about the raft!" said Tidus.

"Alright then, how about this?" Selphie asked as she walked up Kairi, "how many Paopu fruit did we eat that one New Years?"

"Paopu fruit doesn't grow during winter," said Kairi, "and I only ate it once with Sora and the others; it was terrible."

"That's the Kairi we know and love!" exclaimed Selphie as she embraced Kairi, while Tidus and the others all talked excitedly.

It was then that King Mickey, Leon and Quistis ran into the room, "what's all the hooha!?" exclaimed The King.

"Your Majesty! Kairi's back!" shouted Olette.

"And she brought some friends," said Hayner.

"Guys, are you seeing a giant, talking mouse?" Calvin asked in a frightened tone.

"Don't worry, he's a very good friend," said Kairi. She then walked up to King Mickey and bowed, "your Majesty, I'm back. This is Chrissie and her friends from Rapture."

"Uh…how do you do…sir?" asked an unsure Chrissie, "Oh! Right!" she then pulled out the half dose of the special EVE, "my friends and I need this drug, without it we'll go hopelessly insane."

"It's a long story, your majesty," said Kairi in an urgent tone, "but it's vital that they get that drug. Their lives and sanity depend on it, not to mention the safety of the others."

"Believe me, if we don't get more of that special EVE soon," said Chrissie, "my friends and I could start trying to kill everyone we see."

"Then we'd better make sure you get your medication," said King Mickey. He then took the syringe and handed it to Leon, "get that to Ansem and the Moogles. Tell them to synthesize as much of it as they can right away."

"Roger!" said Leon. With that he and Quistis hurried out of the room.

But then Quistis came back, dragging Leon with him, "almost forgot, welcome back, Kairi."

"It's good to be back," said Kairi, "thanks."

"What about Sora and the others?" King Mickey asked as Leon and Quistis left for real.

"I don't know," said Kairi, "they're out there, lost somewhere in time and space. But I know, I feel," she then held her hands over her heart, "that they're still alive."

"We'll find them," said King Mickey, "somehow we'll find them. But we've got another problem to deal with."

"Columbina and Darklight," said Kairi, "I've got a lot to tell you and the others about them. But have they done? How much damage did they do?"

"We'll talk about it when everyone's together," said King Mickey. He then looked Hayner, Pence and Olette, "I want a general meeting of everyone in the main library in three hours," he then looked at Tidus, Wakka, Selphie and the Gullwings, "and get our new friends to the infirmary, most of them look like they're ready to keel over."

"Keel over? I couldn't be on a more even keel," said Liza as she, Calvin, Joshua, Rachael, Travis and Chrissie, were lead out of the room, "it's you guys who look ready to capsize."

"They'll be alright," said King Mickey to Kairi, "and so will you after you've had a chance to rest."

"I feel like I could sleep for a week," said Kairi, "but I'll be at the meeting. What I've got to tell you and the others changes everything."

"I'm sure it will," said King Mickey as Kairi walked towards the doorway, "and Kairi, welcome home."

"It's good to be home," said Kairi.

The End of Chapter 10

It's not over yet, fellow readers and writers, so stay tuned!