Disclaimer: Not mine, yay!

Chapter 11- A Memory Regained

Sora stared back at the diminishing world of Wonderland. "Riku and Kairi weren't there… Neither was the King, and now Alice is missing…" he sighed.

"What are your friends like, Sora?" Iji asked suddenly, gazing back at Wonderland as well. "I know their names, but I don't know who they are."

Sora thought out loud. "Kairi's got short red hair and pretty violet eyes. She's sweet, and always happy. She's also great to hang out with and she's really creative with arts and crafts. I love it when she smiles, and when she laughs, and when she just talks… And, Riku, well he's got silver hair and really bright aqua eyes. He's really strong too. I hardly ever beat him when we spar. He can get on my nerves sometimes, but he really is a good friend to have around. He's never afraid of anything... I miss them both…" Sora sighed again. "I remember when we were young and we'd go and hang out in the Secret Place by the waterfa-…"

Sora looked into Iji's eyes. His memory suddenly flashed back to when they were both at the Keyhole and saw that Iji's eyes had become a lifeless grey… Then his memories went further back to when he was little and he saw the same pair of eyes when he was in the Secret Place.

"Waterfa…?" asked Iji confusedly.

"I've met you before, Iji." Sora said uneasily.

"Of course we have, in our dreams." smiled the silvery-blonde haired girl.

"No, I mean… I mean seven years ago. When we were both little, I saw you in the Secret Place. You said something about the darkness in my Heart, and then you disappeared." He grabbed Iji's hand. "Do you remember, Iji?"

Iji stared into space. "It was a cave, with lots of rocks and you were about to draw on one."

"That's it Iji! Do you remember anything else? Like why you were there? What about the darkness in my Heart?"

Iji felt her heart give a sudden jump when he asked the last question. Ignoring it, Iji shook her head. "No, nothing else."

Sora grew disappointed. But at least he had gotten her to remember that much. A gloved hand sidled up to Sora's face and suddenly tugged back on his cheek.

"Owwww! What was that for?" Sora jumped up and down angrily whilst pointing at Donald.

"You gotta think happy thoughts, stupid! You're depleting our power supply!!" The duck pointed angrily at the gauge.

Dale attacked the left side of Sora's face, trying to prop it up with a broom stick. Chip attacked the other side and tried pulling it down.

"There are as many worlds as there are stars, and if you wanna live to see them all, you'd better cheer up immediately!" Donald said from the steering wheel.

"Ahyuk! We'll find them, Sora!" Goofy grinned.

"Guess you're right." beamed Sora.

He went over to Donald and wiggled his fingers.

"Hey, Donald… I wanna drive!" He grabbed the steering wheel and turned it.

"Ack!! No, Sora!!" screeched Donald as the Gummi Ship tumbled through space.

*****

Yuffie emerged from the Accessories Shop. "See ya, Mister Highwind!" She waved as she exited.

She saw the main gates open and Sora, Donald, Goofy and Iji walked in. They all looked terrible and smelt slightly burnt.

"Are you blind?!" Donald threw a tantrum. "You crashed us into a blasted meteor for crying out loud! What the hell is wrong with you!? You ain't ever touching the controls again ever!!"

Goofy looked concussed. "Ahyuk…"

"We need a bath…" commented Iji as she smelt the air.

Yuffie walked up to them.

Sora stopped and looked at her. "Uhhh… Anyways… we're back."

Yuffie blinked confusedly. "Er… Okidoke…?"

*****

"Hey cool, a cave." Sora said as he, Donald and Goofy made their way through the tunnels. They had left Iji with Yuffie so she could get cleaned up.

"So, you found the Keyhole?" asked Leon when they found him. He was drying his sweat-soaked hair with a towel. His Gunblade lay on the ground not far away.

"Yeah. Well, it was Iji really. She went all funny and then she made the Doorknob open its mouth and show us the Keyhole." Sora shrugged.

Leon rubbed his chin. "She's definitely something special, that girl. I've never heard of a being that can reveal Keyholes like she can. Ansem wrote about Keyholes though… The Heartless enter through unlocked Keyholes in able to reach the Heart of a world. They multiply and lurk within the darkness and then slowly eat away at the Heart."

"What happens next…?' asked Sora, though he was afraid of the answer.

Leon looked bleak as he said it. "The Heart of the world shatters, and then it is no more."

Donald, Goofy and Sora all gasped in shock.

Leon continued. "You see, Sora. Because the Keyblade chose you, it means you have to travel to other worlds and lock them too. Then the Heartless won't be able to infiltrate the world's Heart because Heartless can only get to the Heart of a world via an open lock."

"I'm not sure I can…" said Sora worriedly.

"I'm confident you'll succeed, Sora." Aeris wandered in with a tray of drinks. "I've prepared some barley tea for you all." She offered them around.

Leon declined, mumbling something about 'tea parties' and 'frilly dresses'.

"Oh, I've requested that Cid repair your Gummi Ship." mentioned Aeris.

Donald held up the Gummi Block that had fallen out of the Wonderland Keyhole. "We'd better get this to him too."

"Sora," Leon interrupted. "Have you been successful with Iji and her memories?"

Sora shook his head slightly. "Not really. Oh, I did get her to remember something from long ago, but I don't think it's of much help."

Leon looked grim for a second. "Keep it up. Get going and go see Cid now." Sora and the others left. Leon looked over at Aeris. "Maybe we should tell Sora about that fragment of report we have?"

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and opened it. At the top it said 'Ansem Report Supplementary 1'. The report was ripped in half, the tear going through and cutting off a sentence that read 'She was sent to serve as'…

Aeris frowned. "You think that the girl in that report is Iji, don't you, Leon?"

Leon nodded. "There's no other explanation apart from it. But what was Iji doing there? Who is she really?"