Star awoke in her bed at the inn, startled. She'd had a terrible dream…Brandon was lying on the floor…unconscious…or worse. She'd wept, leaning over him, until finally she heard a horrible laugh. A creature of shadow was triumphantly floating above them, with shadow spilling from a huge door shaped like a keyhole.

"You freak! What have you done to him? Oh, Brandon, are you okay?"

"His heart is gone to darkness, child. There is nothing you can do for him now."

She shook him softly. "C'mon, Brandon…wake up…please wake up…please…I…"

Then she'd woken up. What did that mean? Was it just a dream? It seemed so real…

Kairi walked in, concerned. "You were making a lot of noise in your sleep…is something wrong?"

"It's…nothing, I guess. Just a bad dream."

"I understand. Sometimes dreams can seem so real. Sometimes dreams can BE so real."

"I just don't know what to do…I want to see him again so much…"

"Do you have feelings for this boy?"

"Well…I'm not sure…"

"You just want to see him again because maybe that'll help you find out if you do?"

"I really don't know."

"That's understandable, Star. Just remember that once you've fulfilled your destiny, you can be together, and your world will return to normal."

"How do you know that for sure?"

"I can't know for sure. But it's happened before, and all the worlds returned. There's no reason to believe that they won't now."

"You're right. I should get some rest."

"Yeah. You've got a big day of training ahead of you. Rest up."

Star's head slowly sank into her pillow and she drifted back to sleep.

Brandon caught up with the little pink creature. He still held the sword of the knight he'd defeated. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd done it. Perhaps it was instinct. That had to be it. Instinct and adrenaline. After all he couldn't have gotten that strong and proficient at swordplay that quickly otherwise, right?

The creature muttered some sort of unintelligible drivel again. He really wished he could understand what this creature was saying…but there was no way to understand it without it speaking English, which it obviously couldn't do. After much struggle, the creature did say something that Brandon thought he understood.

"Mai………nim………..ko-i-bi…."

Mai nim ko-i-bi? May naim koibi? My…name…Kirby! That's what it was saying! It was telling him its name!

"Very nice to meet you, Kirby," said Brandon, trying to return the kind gesture. "My name is Brandon."

However, Kirby didn't seem to be able to struggle out any more English. Brandon sighed. Well, perhaps it was a miracle in and of itself simply that the creature had managed to say that much.

Kirby stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, looking out at the stars. Kirby sighed. Looking up, Brandon finally noticed why Kirby was so upset. The stars were…disappearing. Why would the stars be disappearing?

Kirby tried sadly to blurt out more English. "Dooah….Ki….hawl…"

Door? Keyhole? What was he getting at? Was whatever he was talking about the cause of the disappearing stars? Maybe if Brandon found that out, he'd be closer to finding Star.

"Kirby, are you saying you know what's causing this? Can you take me to this door…this Keyhole?"

Kirby nodded and ran off into the distance. Brandon struggled to remain close behind.