Chapter 7

Sora, Riku, and Kairi bid Leon and the others farewell the next morning. Joining up with Donald and Goofy, who had been out early getting supplies, they waited for Zidane.

The thief walked up, anticipation obvious in his eyes.

"Hey, Zidane!" Sora called. "Are you coming in the Highwind?" Zidane shook his head.

"Nah…I wouldn't want to slow you down. Besides, I've got my own ship; I can watch your back if anything comes up." Zidane walked over to a smaller, ruby red gummi ship.

"Lead the way."

A short while later, Sora landed in Twilight Town. Zidane's ship came immediately after. Sora looked around, sighing contentedly.

"I like how it's always sunset here...come on, Vivi should be in the Sandlot with Seifer and his friends." Sora led the group down to the Sandlot. As predicted, the group was there. Vivi looked up suddenly.

"Oh. Hi, Mr. Sora." He said. Suddenly he saw Zidane. His eyes went very wide. Zidane stepped forward, but both of them stood mute.

"…Z-Zidane? Is that really you?" Vivi asked, his voice shaking.

"Vivi…" Zidane said, finding it equally hard to speak. With a sudden cry of forgotten joy, the tiny mage ran forward and embraced his friend.

"I knew I wasn't the only one!"

A few moments later, Zidane sat on a bench, catching up with the boy.

"So…this is where you woke up when Gaia cease to be?" He asked, looking around.

"Y-yeah…I saw a really big light, and I walked towards it. Then Seifer and his friends found me asleep in the Sandlot…and they said I could hang around with them until you or the others came for me…" Vivi replied. He noticed Zidane's downcast eyes.

"Am…Am I the only one you've found? Have you seen Eiko and the others?"

"No…" Zidane said, but his expression brightened. "But we're sure to find them again, I know it!" Vivi nodded.

Sora went over to Seifer.

"Hey, Seifer…has there been anything weird going on lately?"

"You mean outsiders coming around? No." Sora thanked the group, and he set off with his friends.

"Zidane?" Vivi finally asked.

"Hm?"

"…I want to come with you and your friends. I wanna look for everyone too." Zidane smiled, giving Vivi a thumbs-up.

"Just like old times."

Sora felt something very odd going on in this place…finally, he went to investigate the Haunted House.

The gates were blasted off their hinges. The Keyblade, in Oathkeeper form, appeared in Sora's hand. He looked around warily…there were signs of a large struggle recently…the victor proceeded into the house…

"Guys, be careful…I think we might get attacked." Riku nodded. As Sora stepped forward, he suddenly saw a huge flash.

When his eyes cleared, he was still where he was before…only now the colors of the world were inverted…like the negative of a photo. Riku and everyone else was the same, and frozen in time.

"What is this?" Sora heard movement. He turned in time to see a huge knight stride from the mansion into the clearing.

The man was wearing black armor all over, and his helmet was like the head of a Jackal. A ragged red cape was on his back.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"…" A huge Keyblade, resembling a Tulwar with a Lion's head attached to form the key shape, appeared in the man's hands. Sora got into an attacking position.

"What's going on?"

"…" The man moved with speed that did not match his size. Sora was barely able to lift Oathkeeper as a guard.

Even a glancing blow from the knight was like a thousand sledgehammers crashing down on the sword. Sora jumped back, ready to continue the fight. The man charged again…

Sora had been bracing himself for a while before he realized there was no blow to defend against. He opened his eyes to see the knight transfixed by a gleaming silver saber. A man in an Organization XIII jacket was holding it. The knight gave a rattling gasp, and fell to the ground, dead.

"Who are you? WHAT'S GOING ON?" Sora shouted. First a man had come at him with a keyblade, and now this?

The cloaked man shook his head. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly the world reverted to normal. There was no hooded man or armored corpse.

"…Sora?" Kairi asked uncertainly.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Are you…all right? You sortra…blurred there for a minute…"

"…It's nothing. Come on."

As the group entered the house, the man in red sat in a nearby tree, watching them. Another man, wearing a sky blue and black cloak, sat next to him.

"Did you see that?" The man in red asked.

"Yeah…what was that?" His companion responded. "I thought the Leader said the Organization was kaput."

"I wonder…" The man said, his voice suspicious.

"Oh, come on! You can't think that one of them SURVIVED! Even if Sora didn't finish 'em off, the Nonexistent World went kaboom when Xemnas lost."

"That wouldn't have finished off all the Nobodies…and has anyone told you that you talk way too much?"

"Story of my life," the man in blue said disinterestedly. "God knows YOU say it often enough."

"And yet you never change."

"Nice." The man said, somewhat sourly. "We got a job to do. You can lecture me later." The man in red growled.

"Listen! We might have been teamed up for this, but I'm in charge. Got it memorized?" He jumped off the tree, and teleported. The other man sighed.

"Geez…what a grouch…he's even starting to talk like him…" And with that, vanished as well.

In a distant realm, in the dead of night, a horrifying rend opened in the sky. From it many armored men and woman appeared.

"Someone knows we're here."

"It might be that our rivals saw fit to inform someone of our prescence...no matter. We will be victorious...we just need to find the right allies..."