Disclaimer: Not mine, yay!

Chapter 14- Trouble in TraverseTown

"Yuffie-chan appears!" The ninja cried out as she slammed the door open to the vacant house.

Nobody reacted. Instead Aeris, Cid and Leon were sitting at a small table looking miserable. Iji was still back at the hotel.

"Er… kinda gloomy in here don't cha think?" Sora whispered.

"Maleficent's in town." said Leon grimly.

"Wha?" replied Yuffie, snapping into serious mode.

She joined them at the table and started to look as miserable as them. Donald, Goofy and Sora all shrugged at each other.

Yuffie noticed. "She's a witch, one of the worst sorts. It's cause of her that our homeworld got shattered."

Cid continued for her. "Ran us off the planet with a full-blown infestation, she did. Bein' the kindly gent that I am, I took pity 'n these three and grabbed them by the diapers on the way offworld. We eventually ended up here in this town."

"Maleficent seems to show a certain interest in Ansem's report." Aeris explained. "As the data recorded within has the most extensive documentation of the Heartless known to exist. We can only assume that she intends to employ the knowledge in it for evil. Though we cannot yet determine her motive, the pages that have fallen to her seem to be numerous." Sora and the others looked shocked.

"In that case," said Sora confidently. "All we gotta do is find the rest of the pages. We can stop her, right?"

Cid jumped up and slapped Sora on the back. Sora scrunched his fingers up and twitched. "Yer Gummi Ship is in abso-blasting-lutely prefect condition! Go get 'em tiger!!"

'For some odd reason, I feel like we're being used…' thought Sora as he continued to twitch from the searing pain.

A clanging sound came from outside and Sora stopped twitching.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Sounded like it came from the Bell Tower." said Aeris as she looked outside.

"You guys should go check it out." suggested Leon.

'Yep, definitely being used…' thought Sora.

*****

"Now we gotta go look at some stupid bell thing!" Sora complained. He swung open the doors to the Second District and walked up the passageway.

"Gwash, its awfully quiet here." commented Goofy.

"Yeah…" agreed Donald.

Sora laughed. "Hey, maybe the Heartless have learnt to leave us alone."

The trio rounded the corner and stopped dead in their tracks.

*****

Iji rubbed her wet hair dry and placed it into a ponytail. Out of the blue, the room started shaking as a loud clanging sound came from outside and echoed throughout the room. Iji dropped her brush. Her eyes clouded over and became a misty grey. Slowly she walked out the door and out into the Second District. Gracefully, she jumped off the high walkway and floated down until she was standing in front of the mural fountain.

"Reveal yourself, Keyhole…" she whispered and raised a hand.

The mural groaned as it spun around to a scene with butterflies on it. The butterflies faded and a Keyhole shone brightly. Behind her, the Reverse Guard Armour approached with an outstretched hand.

"Iji!!" Sora slid under the body of the Heartless and deflected its armoured claws back. "Guys! Keep it busy while I get Iji away from here!"

"Right behind you buddy!" shouted Goofy. He and Donald started to hit it backwards.

"Come on, Iji, it's not safe!" Sora pulled on Iji's hand, but she seemed glued to the ground.

Iji stared straight ahead. "I cannot leave, Keyblade Master. This Keyhole wants to hide from this enemy. Please… defeat the Heartless so that you may seal it."

"But…" Sora started to protest. He knew it was hopeless though. He stole a look into her grey eyes before he dropped her hand and ran into the fray.

*****

"So this world had a Keyhole, too." Leon rubbed his temples. "And Iji revealed it again, but had no idea she did. This is getting a little out of hand it seems."

"Yeah…" Sora laid his head on the table and sighed uneasily. He had gotten Donald and Goofy to escort her back to her room after he locked the Keyhole, but not without her asking a lot of questions first. She had snapped out of it afterwards and Sora and the group had chosen not to tell her what had happened.

"Aw, come on, Sora. She's tough. She can protect herself." Yuffie folded her arms.

"No! She can't!" retorted Sora in a burst of anger, kicking his chair over as he jumped up. "You weren't there! You didn't see what happened! She just stood there in the middle of the battlefield and hardly even flinched when the Heartless nearly fell on top of her! If we hadn't of walked in at that second, Iji could have been hurt seriously bad!"

"Whoa, Sora, chill!" Yuffie had a worried expression on her face.

"I can't let her come with me next time. It's just too dangerous for her." Sora slammed the door shut as he ran out.

*****

"Sora!! Wait for me!" shouted Iji as she ran after the Keyblade Master. She had her Star Cutters in hand.

"Sorry kiddo, yer grounded." Cid grabbed onto the back of Iji's white wing and pulled her up.

Sora saw her and walked back. "I'm sorry Iji, but I don't want you to be in danger. I'm sure we can find the rest of the Keyholes without you."

He grabbed her hand and stared into her eyes, making sure she understood. Iji looked away from his gaze after the initial shock.

"Fine, Sora." she murmured and walked back towards the hotel.

"I don't think that was really the best idea, Sora." commented Leon to Sora quietly. "She can help you locate the other Keyholes."

"It's not that." Sora replied. "I… I just don't want her to get hurt or anything. Like you said, she's special."

Leon turned to leave. "Well, Sora, it's your choice."

Sora chewed his lip. 'It's also because there's something about her… I can't let her get harmed or disappear like Kairi.' He thought and left through the main gates.

*****

Maleficent watched the unfolding incident in amusement. "Child, I have something which may interest you."

Riku approached the vision and watched intently.

"It seems Sora has a fixation for abandoning his friends, that poor, poor girl." The witch said in disgust. "Don't you wish you could do something for her, child? Don't you wish you could soothe her pain?"

Riku nodded and walked into the darkness. Maleficent gave a sly smile.

*****

Iji ran into her room at the hotel, tears ran down her cheeks. "Why can't I go with you Sora? I wish I could help you!"

"Sora seems to drop his friends a lot these days." said a voice from the doorway leading out onto the balcony. A silver-haired teen leaned on the frame.

"You're Riku," Iji could tell by the mysterious aqua eyes. "Sora told me about you. You're a friend of his."

"Not anymore actually." Riku frowned. "He left me too."

"We're the same then." observed Iji.

Riku sat down on the bed next to Iji. "You never told me your name."

"I'm-I'm Iji." whispered the girl.

Riku gazed into her two differently coloured eyes. "You wish to be able to help Sora don't you, Iji?"

Iji nodded.

"What if I told you I know someone who could help you with your wish?"

"Really? Someone… wants to help me?" exclaimed Iji.

"Yep, but she's not on this world unfortunately. She's far away." Riku pointed out the window to the stars.

"I don't mind. I'll do anything to help Sora." Iji jumped up.

Riku smiled. "I'm glad."

He rose as well and snatched up a tissue from the bedside table. He gently wiped Iji's tears away with it.

Iji stared into the silver-haired boy's eyes. Sora had never been nice to her like this Riku was. Her heart skipped a beat and she placed a hand on her chest. What was that feeling she felt…?

"Are you coming, Iji?" asked Riku, he put a leg up on the balcony railing and offered a hand. He smiled and beckoned her.

Iji put her hand in his and was whisked away to another world.

*****

"Iji, I've got some more barley-… Iji?" Aeris dropped the tray when she saw the room was empty. The brunette searched the balcony and the alley below. "Iji! Iji!"

"What's wrong, Aeris?" called Leon from the balcony a few doors down from Iji's room.

"It's Iji! She's missing!" replied Aeris.

Leon leapt over to Iji's room and looked inside. He noticed two places in the neat bed that looked like they had been sat on.

"Someone else was here…" he mumbled and looked out into the sky. He knew Iji was no longer in Traverse Town.