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"Kairi!" Selphie shouted. All seemed to be going well with Kairi's plan of action. Selphie had been sure they would be able to get out of there, but then a different kind of yellow eyed monster had shown up. Kairi had actually sworn when she saw it, and then Selphie knew it was bad because Kairi never cursed...not EVER!

Kairi recognized it from when she had been in the castle at Hollow Bastion. It was small and airborne. It wore a blue robe and yellow hat, and it eyes glowed yellow just like the shadows. They used magic attacks and she knew nothing about magic. They assaulted with a sort of ice-based attack and she had no idea how defend herself, or Selphie, from it.

She tried to attack, taking an aggressive initiative, but the creatures moved to fast and high for her to reach. She dodged and ducked the icy magic, pulling Selphie along with her. Kairi knew she wouldn't be able to keep up for much longer.

And finally, she was hit. She had pushed Selphie aside and taken a hit cast intentionally for her friend. The attack left a freezing cold sensation throughout her body. It wouldn't have been so bad if she reacted quicker and stood up faster. But she was too slow, and then she was hit again and again, and again. Her Keyblade lay on the ground, too far for her to reach.

Kairi put out your hand! You can summon it again! Naminé was shouting frantically for her other half to push on. But Kairi was in shock. It was too much for her to handle all at once. Her mind couldn't keep with all that was happening.

Come on Kairi! You can do this, you can!

"I can't…" Kairi whispered, still lying on the ground.

Selphie looked at her friend as she struggled to get up. "Do something Selphie!" She muttered to herself, looking around for anything that could be of use. What can I do…?

At the sight of the fallen Keyweilder, the dark creatures began to surround them again and Selphie's heart pounded. What can I do?! Kairi still could not stand and she had no idea how to use that weapon…

She looked up in time to see the flying blue creature prepare another icy blast. As another flash of ice just grazed her skin, Selphie was reminded of something. That tingly cold sensation brought something back. It was a word that had been buried deep inside her mind, far away from everything her life was familiar with now. 'Blizzara…' she thought. And that word sparked the memory of another. 'Fire…Fira…'

"Fira…" She whispered out loud. A slight orange glow flickered in her palms. She was amazed. …Where is this…? No, try it again…

Instinctively, she put her palms together and shouted. "FIRA!" The glow grew brighter and flames that appeared from her hands shot toward the flying creatures.

Selphie couldn't stop her own jaw from dropping. She had no idea that she was capable of such power. Did I just…do that?

Kairi was still on the ground but her head was raised, staring at Selphie in disbelief. But there were still heartless swarming around and she couldn't afford to waste anymore time gaping stupidly. So, she began to pick herself up; she still felt weakened from being hit so many times, so she was moving slower then she meant to.

More of the flying heartless swarmed toward Kairi and she dropped back to her knees to dodge their attack. She was inwardly yelling at herself. Why are you so useless?! Naminé continued to cheer her on, but Kairi ignored her; she felt like she didn't deserve it. And then, Selphie was there. She had jumped in front of her, eager to pay her back for when Kairi had took a hit for her.

"FIRA!" Selphie shouted sending more heartless backwards. "FIRA!" She shouted again. She felt slightly annoyed by her repetitive course of action, but it was all she remembered.

"FI—!" Selphie was cut off, as Kairi pulled her to the side, allowing them both to miss an assault by mere inches. Selphie was ready to turn around and shout her new favourite word, when a blur of spiky brown hair had jumped in front them. He swung his weapon and destroyed four of the little monsters all at once.

"You girls alright?" Sora asked sternly, turning to look at them.

Kairi nodded, but Selphie shook her head. "Kairi's hurt." Selphie mumbled.

Kairi glared at her. "I'm fine!" She said, and then turned to Sora. "Just finish them already!"

"Done." Sora said confidently. And he was off. Swinging his Keyblade in all different directions, so fast that all Kairi's eyes could register was a speeding blur. His feet finally touched the ground, but they only stayed there for about three seconds. He jumped effortlessly into the air whacking the heartless that had been too unreachable for Kairi to hit.

Selphie was watching Riku swing his weapon, which by now, she had noticed was another key, just like the weapon both Kairi and Sora used. He swung at the squirming creatures with such force and skill, Selphie immediately felt less impressed with her own newly discovered strength. Her eyes shifted toward someone else. Leon…

Leon sliced through the creatures with brilliant execution, never missing a target. His weapon was not a key, but a rather large blade with a trigger attached to it. She noticed that with every couple of hits, the blade emitted a small explosion. It was some sort of …blade-gun…no, gun-blade. It seemed so familiar to her somehow.

Finally, the creatures that had threatened Selphie and Kairi were all gone. Save for a few crickets, heavy breathing, and the distant sound of the ocean waves splashing against the shore, it was silent.

Selphie broke the silence, unable to contain her astonishment. "Woah…what the hell was that?!" She was looking at Riku, Sora, and Kairi who were avoiding her gaze. The three just looked at each other in confusion, searching for the best way to go about answering her question.

"Oh, don't act like you're more confused than me, you three knew how to handle them… this wasn't the first time you've seen them, was it?" Selphie looked at her three friends accusingly, finger pointed.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Hey, I saw you fighting them off too, Selphie. Since when can you do magic?"

Sora crossed his arms and looked at Selphie matching Riku's smirk. Ha! We're not the only ones with secrets! Sora thought.

"Ugh, I don't know! S—Since now!" Selphie said, putting her hands on her hips.

As he watched them argue, Leon thought back to the Selphie he used to know, and the Selphie that was standing before him. He knew, without a doubt, that they were one in the same. Magic had always been her specialty. It didn't surprise him too much that she remembered a spell or two to deal with the Heartless, even if she had no recollection of anything else.

"But never mind me, you guys kicked it!" Selphie exclaimed. "Riku, Sora, I knew you guys were good, but I didn't think it was possible to move that fast! And Kairi, I couldn't believe it when you started fighting them off! You have some skills!"

Kairi forced herself to smile, but she couldn't keep it there for too long. If Selphie was trying to make her feel better, it wasn't working. She didn't think she had any skills at all. She had felt so awkward when she was fighting, she could barely swing her blade properly. I couldn't even get through the shadow Heartless on my own…

The moment Kairi had realized she could summon her Keyblade, she thought that it would solve everything. She thought she wouldn't need Sora or Riku to come bale her out…again. She had told herself that she was ready to fight back. After all, she was able to wield a Keyblade…that had to mean she had some sort of strength within her. But no, not only did Sora, Riku, and Leon come to her rescue, but Selphie did too.

She was barely listening now, but Selphie was still talking "…and where did those key thingies come from? Because Kairi's just came out of nowhere…"

Kairi's body still felt sore from the battle. It was a huge effort for her to stand, but she didn't want any of them to know that. She wanted to be strong, but she felt so weak, tired and upset. Finally, her knees gave in, and they buckled inwardly.

"Kairi!" Sora caught her before she hit the ground. Kairi was grateful to be in his capable arms, but at the same she was angry with him. She wanted to hold herself up, and not always have to rely on Sora to catch her.

"Kairi, what's wrong?" Riku said, rushing to her other side.

She just sighed, she didn't want to complain in front of them.

Kairi, just tell them you're hurt! They're here to help! Naminé reasoned, but Kairi frowned. I'm fine…I can take care of myself…I don't need to be saved all the time.

"Oh my god, Kairi…" Selphie looked really worried and decided to explain. "She took a lot of hits from the Blizzara spell."

Sora's concerned face relaxed somewhat. He knew what to do. He laid her gently on the ground. "Heal!" He yelled.

She felt a soothing sensation run through her body, and then the pain slowly ebbed away.

"Thanks…" Kairi mumbled quietly, trying to not let her disappointment show.

"Now, can someone please give me an explanation?" Selphie begged, she put her hands together as if she were praying for an answer.

"They're called heartless." Leon said. It was the first time Leon spoke since battle. Sora nearly forgot he had been standing there. "And clearly, they've spread faster than we anticipated…"

Sora looked at him incredulously. "But Leon, I locked the keyhole in this world. How is that possible?!"

"That's one of the problems we've encountered." Leon seemed to be looking at all four teens in the eyes, just to show them how serious the situation was. "The keyholes are still locked but it's as if they are stronger than that now. They've been acting erratic, wreaking havoc amongst various worlds. We don't know what's causing this, but we thought we had more time to get to you three."

Riku crossed his arms in annoyance. "Then let's not waste anymore time! Let's go figure out how to take care of this problem."

Sora was thinking about how easy his home world had succumbed to the heartless the first time. It was never like other worlds. Destiny Island was a peaceful place and the majority of its inhabitants knew nothing about fighting. "But, we can't just leave the island like this. Who's going to defend it from the heartless? We have to do something."

Leon nodded. Though he agreed with Sora, the current circumstances at hand contained so many blanks that he wasn't sure how to go about guarding their world. His mission was simply to get Sora, Riku and Kairi off the islands, before the heartless picked up their aura. Get them off the island, that's all. That is what he'd been told.

But he knew too well that missions were not always as simple as they were made to be. Sometimes you had to make the judgment call. He'd learned that. He learned it from her…

Leon turned his head away from them for a moment as thoughts of his past ran through his mind. But he quickly composed himself and faced the four teens. "Got anything in mind?"

"Well, we know where the keyhole is." Riku stated. "Let's see if Sora can lock it again."

"Go," Leon said. " Take care of it."

"How do you know it will work?" Sora asked. He doubted that the same action would make much of difference if the Heartless were as strong as Leon said they were.

"You guys each have those gigantic key thingies…" Selphie cut in. "One of them is bound to work"

Riku looked at her. "You make things sound so simple."

"Yeah, it's easy to simplify things when you don't know what your talking about."

Kairi laughed, "Oh Selphie…" She felt cheered up already. Sora and Riku laughed too.

Leon just crossed his arms. "Okay, go, take care of it. Make sure you're on your guard, and the three of you," He was looking and Sora, Riku and Kairi, "Make sure you're back on this beach as soon as possible. I'm going to help Yuffie and we can prepare the ship for an even sooner take off."

Sora nodded. The four teens turned and set course for the task set out for them. When they were out of earshot, Leon spoke in a quiet tone. "Take care of yourself Selphie…"

Sora, Riku and Kairi led the way to the small rowboats that would take them to their favourite hangout spot.

It was a small island off the coast of mainland. All four of them were familiar with the place; it had been their playground since they were very young. It was filled with luscious tropical foliage, including a popular favourite, the papuo tree, and there were wooden paths and clubhouses built close to the tiny island's shores. It served as their own special paradise.

It had felt strange for them to be rowing at night. Sora was reminded of the night he had woken up and seen that strange purple cloud in the sky, the night the darkness had swallowed his whole world. Kairi was thinking about the night she had returned to her home, after Sora had defeated the Ansem imposter. She remembered it as the only time she would row back alone, without Sora or Riku. She glanced at Sora, who was in the same boat as her. He was doing all the rowing but he still caught her gaze. She smiled and he smiled back.

Riku was sharing a boat with Selphie, and though he sat instinctively near the paddles so he could do the rowing, the brunette had insisted that she do the job. He sighed and let her win, not feeling up to arguing with her. She didn't have to come with them; after all there was no reason for her to get involved. Even with her apparent magic abilities, Riku had never known Selphie as a fighter, a stubborn arguer maybe, but not a physical fighter. Still, after what had just happened, he knew it wouldn't be easy to tell Selphie to just look the other way. Besides, it wasn't safe for her to walk home by herself. So there she was, on the way to the island with them.

As soon as they stepped onto the sand, a couple of heartless had shown up. Sora quickly swiped at few with his Keyblade and Selphie had taken care of the others with her Fira spell.

Sora frowned. They were very low level heartless and it didn't take much to destroy them, but the heartless always seemed to progress in strength. He wondered what the hell was going on outside of their world.

"Let's hurry." Riku said severely.

"So, where are we going?" Selphie asked, trying to keep up.

"You'll see." Kairi said. She had never told her about her and Sora's secret place.

They sprinted up the wooden bridge, all the while Sora and Riku kept whacking heartless, and shooting spells at them too. They were quick, making sure not to waste time on unnecessary fights. Sora reached the entrance to the cave first, and immediately went down on all fours to make his way into the crawlspace. Riku followed, struggling to fit in the cave that he had nearly outgrown.

Selphie cocked her head. "We need to go in there? But…it'll be dark." She didn't much care for enclosed spaces, especially dark ones. She stared in the whole Sora and Riku had just crawled in biting her lip with uncertainty.

Kairi shrugged. That kind of darkness scared her a lot less these days, and even with their current situation, she loved this cave, she could never be afraid of it. "Its not so bad, you could wait out here if you want." Kairi said, before turning around and entering the crawl space.

There was a pause. "Screw that!" Selphie followed her friend into the cave.

Selphie was the only one who was unfamiliar with the cave. Stepping out of the tiny entrance path, she was surprised to find a remarkably spacious area. It was weird how it seemed lighter than it should amongst the surrounding stonewalls. She felt a certain warmth in this place, and though she didn't understand it, she knew that it made the place special.

There were drawings scattered all over the walls. They looked very similar to Kairi's old drawing style: choppy and childish. She placed a hand on one of the drawings. She wasn't too surprised when she realized it was of Kairi and Sora, sharing a papou fruits. She laughed. "You guys are too cute."

Kairi and Sora both blushed, but Riku just crossed his arms. "Focus guys, focus."

Sora shook off his embarrassment and put on a stern face. He stretched out his Keyblade, just as he had done once before. Then, it emerged: an oversized keyhole fit for an oversized key. But to Sora's absolute shock, the hole did not lead to heart of light like it was supposed. Inside the keyhole was dark, with blackish purple colours churning in motion.

Selphie was done being surprised at this point, but as looks of fear and confusion took over her friend's expressions, she knew that this was apparently not good. "Umm is…that…bad?" She mumbled.

"Why is it dark?!" Kairi cried.

Riku shook his head. "That can't be good…"

Sora stared at it stupidly. How can the Keyhole be dark…? Has the heart of our world already been taken by the heartless?

No, don't be stupid. Roxas seemed to be acting as the voice of reason. If that were true then everything would be consumed by it…

"Then what the hell is going on?!" Sora screamed to no one in particular. The keyhole remained where it was, dark shades of purple and black swirling together. It wasn't locking, and it wasn't going away either.

Selphie looked from Sora to Riku, and to Kairi. They were panicking. But the next course of action seemed so obvious to her. Why aren't they doing anything?!

"What do we do?" Kairi asked desperately.

"Try another one!" Selphie said with her hands in the air.

"What?" Sora didn't register what she had said. His mind was still panicking.

"Your keys!" Selphie said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You have 3 keys, try another one, or…I don't know, try them at the same time."

Duh! Roxas teased his nobody.

Sora snapped out of it, fully aware now that there would be plenty of new challenges ahead and he couldn't continue to react like he just had. He stretched out his arm, aiming the Keyblade at the keyhole once more. Kairi and Riku were by his side following his action.

White light from Kairi's Keyblade penetrated through the dark swirls in the keyhole. Riku's Key seemed to be pulling at the darkness to leave the keyhole. And just like always, the yellow glow from Sora's Keyblade went straight through the middle of the keyhole. It happened for about a minute and then all was quiet again.

Selphie was amazed for the fourth or fifth time that night. She just shook her head. "You know what, I'm not even going to say anything this time…"

Kairi laughed, turning to face her. "See…I told you it was hard to explain."

Hope you liked! Feedback please! Reviews are like cookies :D Next Chapter Sora is met with an interesting surprise .. teehee