Authors Note: Hey guys! So I was gonna post this yesterday, but I sorta, kinda, fell asleep while playing. Heh, heh, better late than never though, right? I have two chapters for you guys today, and more to come in the following week! Thanks to: Xxnikkigirl123xX, Wormo The Green Lantern, mysterygirl123, and XLarkaX for their reviews. (If I missed anyone, I apologize, I just switched from AOL to Google and some may have gotten lost in the shuffle.) Also, thanks to Kurina the Imiko for adding The Only Exception to her/his favorite stories list! So here we go! This chapter is a brief interlude in the actual story, but I think you'll enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable. Just Katy, Ryan, and Cassie, my OCs

POV's (After the Flashback)

"Cassie"

"Riku"

Cassie Halliday bit vigorously at her cuticles as the Gummi ship they borrowed from Cid flew itself to Disney Castle. Out of nowhere, she was overcome with a horrible feeling that something was wrong. The name Maleficent wormed it's way through her mind, leaving behind a searing pain and causing the boy who'd been sharing a part of her conscious lately to question what was wrong. She'd lied to Katy back in Hollow Bastion. Well, not lied really, she really didn't know where Riku was, he was careful never to give her a clear picture, but she'd withheld the vital information that she could communicate with him through her mind. Ever since that day…let's backtrack a bit, shall we?

Flashback

Suddenly, Cassie felt a jolt of…something rush through her. Whispers seemed to go off in her head, so many at once that she couldn't make them out. Screwing her eyes shut, she fell backwards onto the bed, faintly aware of Yuffie and Aerith calling out to her. She could see in her mind a boy with longish silver hair and deep aquamarine eyes. He was holding an odd looking blade shaped like a key. Cassie's eyes snapped open and she inhaled sharply. There was an odd weight in her lap and when she looked down, there were two key shaped blades resting in it. She made sense of the whispers just before they stopped. They were saying "Protector"

For the second time that day, Cassie felt the jolt of protectiveness. Keyblades appeared in her hands again, but they were different from before. There blades were black and had twisted handles. They looked truly evil, which was just as well. Riku was no longer himself. His being now housed darkness and Cassie could feel it seeping into her. She cried out, not wanting it to consume her as it had the older boy. She closed her eyes and thought about anything else, anything good, and anything light. The dark and the light seemed to clash within her and her eyes closed.

Without warning, Cassie started screaming. Yuffie, Leon, and Aerith had tried everything to get some sort of response out of her, but nothing had worked. Now her eyes were wide open, her pupils blown out, making her green eyes turn nearly black. Her muscles clenched and sweat dripped down her forehead as she continued to scream bloody murder, thrashing on the bed. Aerith quickly went over to try and soothe her, but narrowly missed a blow to the head. Leon pulled her back by the shoulders and shook his head.

"I don't think there's anything we can do. Whatever is happening to her, we can't stop it."

Aerith nodded sadly and they watched, powerless to do anything, as the young girl flailed helplessly in obvious pain.

"No! Don't, please! Stop. Stop. STOP!" Cassie screamed her back arching and her eyes rolling back into her head.

Then she fell still and all was silent once more.

"Is she..?" Yuffie asked, tentatively

"She's breathing." Aerith said with a sigh of relief.

Now all they could do was wait.

Cassie hadn't remembered scaring everyone to death. She was filled in on that part when she woke up a few hours later. However, she did remember meeting Riku. She didn't know where they were exactly, but it was really dark. In fact, looking back now, the only source of light was radiating off her.

Cassie was confused. She had no idea where she was, but it felt like she had sprinted to get there. She was breathing hard and her skin was clammy. She squinted in the dim light and made out the prone figure of a boy in front of her. An unexplainable feeling of panic gripped her and she ran over, kneeling down beside him.

"Are you alright?" She whispered, shaking his shoulder lightly

He jerked into consciousness, grabbing her wrist in a tight grip that made her gasp in pain.

"Who are you?" He asked, voice hoarse.

"Cassie. Are you…Riku?" She asked hesitantly

"I'm not going back to Maleficent if that's why you're here." He stated bluntly.

Cassie shuddered at the name, closing her eyes against the sudden pain in her head. When she opened them again, Riku was staring at her with a look of realization on her face.

"I had the Keyblade..."

"And it made me your Protector, yeah." Cassie finished, tucking some of her dark hair behind her ear. "Where are we?"

"The Darkness, I'm guessing."

"Behind the door?"

"Yeah."

"That sucks."

"Tell me about it."

They were silent for a few minutes before Riku spoke again.

"I'm sorry, about your friend."

"Ryan? Don't worry. He'll be fine. Katy and Sora will fix him."

"You sound so sure."

"I am."

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Riku jumped up, panic gripping him.

"No, not for this. He won't use me to hurt her." He turned to Cassie "Use your Keyblade!"

Before she could tell him she didn't know how, it appeared in her hands, and, like it had a mind of it's own, shot a beam of light that caused the darkness around them to rip open in two places. Riku ran to the one that Hollow Bastion could faintly be seen through. Before going in, he faced her again and gave her a small smile.

"Thank you. You better go while you have the chance."

Cassie shot forward and grabbed his arm.

"You'll be okay?" It came out sounding like a question.

"I'll be fine." And with that he pulled away, running through the crack, which closed behind him.

Cassie sighed and went through the other one. Sometime later she woke up in Traverse Town, Katy sitting next to her, alive and in one piece. She didn't tell her what happened. She played dumb and had been playing dumb ever since then.

End Flashback

Katy didn't know that she'd been equally interested in going to Castle Oblivion because, somehow, she new Riku was there. She didn't know if the Organization member that helped Katy didn't close the portal because he was forgetful, or if he new she needed to use it. All she did know was that she went through the portal and met up with Riku in the Castle's basement. But that's a different story. In short, she helped him work his way upstairs and when he got to where he needed to be, he opened a dark corridor for her back to Disney Castle. And the rest, as they say, is history. Ever since then, she'd been able to communicate with Riku telepathically. She assumed it was the Protector part of her adapting to the fact that she couldn't get to him. So, coming back to the present, She was currently having a fight with Riku about her "half-assed plan to save Disney Castle" in her mind, resulting in a migraine headache and bloody cuticles.

"If Maleficent's there you should be going in the opposite direction."

"I can't! Queen Minnie helped me when my world was destroyed, and when I needed to come find you. Now I need to return the favor."

"You're being stupid."

"I don't care! And quit being so concerned! I'm the Protector, not you! Jeez, worse than my mom."

"Very funny."

"It wasn't a joke. Leave me alone."

She cut of the connection, miffed that he was treating her like a five year old. Sure, she didn't have Katy's bravado, but, dammit, she wasn't helpless! She could hold her own in a fight, Yuffie had been teaching her, much to Ryan's excitement. The ship suddenly came to a jerky stop and through the window; she could see Katy, Sora, and the rest looking at the newly arrived ship confusedly. Sighing heavily, she brushed past Ryan and made her way into the hanger, biting off another chunk of skin as she did so, causing her finger to bleed.

She deserved it.

A/N: Don't worry; the actual chapter is on its way. I just have to finish writing it. So as you can probably tell, I'm thinking about doing a side story with Reverse/Rebirth, but don't get your hopes for it to be up soon. If I do write it, it won't be until sometime in October/November. So, that's that. Next chapter out in an hour, maybe two if my mom comes back from work and sees I haven't vacuumed…REVIEW!