The big chapter is here! Really this chapter is pretty big. The next few chapters are going to be explaining this chapter! I got an above average amount of reviews for the last chapter (Thank you everyone) And I got five questions (from the same person…that's ok though!) Ok so here we go:

Young Gun Kid- Can Sora hold more then one Keyblade without going into any of his Drive forms?

Me- Probably not in this book…maybe at the climax and probably in the sequel.

YGK-Will Sora and Roxas do a drive together or a super powerful move maybe even with Riku?

Me-*Shrug* if people want me to.

YGK-can Lauren use the ice keychain and make it into a Keyblade?

Me-Nope. It's made strictly for freezing people to death slowly.

YGK-Where did Fury go?!

Me-If I had to guess I'd say she's in the Realm of Darkness sulking because Lauren and Silver Haired Bastard are dating.

YGK-Will you make a fight between Riku and Axel vs. Sora and Roxas?

Me-If people want me to!

Ok now for the chapter!

*Riku*

"Come on you gotta wake up! We are landing at Beast's Castle in twenty minutes!"

"No leave me alone" I groaned, feebly attempting to brush away a pair of insistent hands. I heard a girl sigh in exasperation. You know how to get me up, come on go ahead…

"Damn you Riku" the girl groaned and a moment later I felt someone's lips press gently against mine. I did my best not to ruin the kiss by smiling and kissed her back softly, gently putting my hand against the back of her head, feeling her soft blond hair. After a moment the lips pulled back and I opened my eyes up halfway.

"Good morning sweetheart" I said with a yawn. Lauren looked at me and raised an eyebrow

"Sweetheart? Excuse me?" she asked, surprised by my terminology. I just grinned and got out of bed, stretching my arms out and yawning again. My moment was cut short as a huge bump rattled the ship and caused me to fall back onto my bed, Lauren tumbling forward and landing on me.

"Well aren't we a little forward" I asked her, smirking at her look of discomfort

"You're a real jerk you know that?" She asked before getting up. She had said it while smiling though so I knew she meant it in the most affectionate way possible.

*Kairi*

Well I definitely wouldn't want to live here. I shivered and zipped up my dark blue jacket, as we all headed up towards the giant castle. The world was forever dark and cold, with a light sprinkle of rain. One of the Princesses of Heart lived here though, much to my surprise. I couldn't imagine living in a place like this. Lauren, who was walking next to me, paused for a moment and glanced over her shoulder at the gate we had entered in through.

Sora had landed us in the woods so we had had to walk for maybe ten minutes through the woods before we found this castle. So far I had heard six wolves howl. Finally we made it up to another tall gate which Sora shoved open casually, leading us into a dark courtyard with gruesome looking statues at its edges. Suddenly I heard the sound of stone breaking and the statues had taken on a Heartless form. I quickly summoned my blade as a flying Heartless with its feet molded together came flying at me wielding a large axe.

I ducked under his attack but before I could bring up my blade to attack him Lauren jumped in the air and flipped before bringing her blade down on the Heartless, slicing it in half with ease. Now why can't I fight like that? Lauren and I worked together the rest of the time, not that I particularly liked the strategy but hey, whatever kept my heart in my chest. Once the six or so Heartless were gone Riku, who was now at the head of the group, gestured us forward but before we could walk very far, maybe fifty more Heartless appeared, blocking our way. Lauren came up in front of us without a word and began to phase.

Her hair changed to match the black sky and her clothes changed into a shredded shirt and a black tank top. A white wing and a black wing sprouted out of her back. The rest of the changes I couldn't see. Lastly, she summoned up her deadly black sword in a small flash of blue and black lightning. She positioned herself in a fighting stance but before she could even attack a single Heartless they began vanishing, disappearing into small puffs of smoke as they teleported to another world.

"Well what the hell was that all about" Riku had a way with words, as always. Lauren-now-Fury looked back and winked.

"Heartless know that meeting me is death. I am a famous Dark Being after all" Fury said. She turned around and began to change back with each step. By the time we reached the doors of the castle Lauren was back again. She knocked on the castle door lightly a few times and we all waited. She looked back at the door and tapped it again experimentally with her knuckle before punching her hand into the door as hard as she could. The sound echoed throughout the courtyard but still no one answered.

"Well that was rude" Roxas remarked

"Here I got this! I have been breaking down doors much longer than any of you have" Axel said, walking through the small crowd of us to the front.

"I beg to differ" Lauren muttered, but she stepped out of the way so Axel could attempt to knock this door down. Who knew Riku's Nobody was so stupid? Lauren glanced at me and laughed and I realized that she had probably caught that stray thought of mine. Axel to a few steps back from the door before charging at it…just as it was opened by a girl with chocolate brown eyes, dark brown hair, and was wearing a beautiful yellow dress. Unfortunately she became the victim of Axel's attack and was knocked down by him with a scream.

"Help it's the Organization!" she screamed and I was fairly surprised. I hadn't expected her to know anything about the Organization. Axel was too perplexed by her appearance to be of much help.

"Well hello there beautiful" Axel said with a wink. Riku came up and pulled Axel off of the poor girl.

"Don't worry we aren't here to attack you! Axel's an ex-member of the Organization. We destroyed them but he survived because he's my Nobody" Riku explained. The girl had her hand over her heart and was breathing fast.

"So the Organization is gone?" Ok so maybe she is still a little behind

"Maybe I can help with this" Sora said, stepping his way up to front."You remember me, right Belle?" Sora asked and I saw Belle's eyes widen as she began to recognize the boy in front of her.

"Oh Sora it's so good to see you again! I'm so glad you have come back for a visit!" Belle exclaimed, pulling Sora into a big hug. The guys' eyes were full of envy all except for Riku, who had been tamed by a quick glare from Lauren. He pretended to be completely oblivious to the scene in front of him and acted like he wasn't dying from jealously of his best friend. Acted is the keyword. Selphie shot me panicked look and I just waved it off, this girl was like ten years older than him so I didn't have anything to worry about…right?!

Once Belle had released Sora he took an exaggerated breath that Belle laughed at before gesturing us in. The castle was much warmer on the inside than the out side, in more ways than one. I pulled off my jacket and looked around. The large room had magnificent maroon carpeting lining the way towards a grand staircase that split off in two different directions. To the right and left of the room were different doors leading into other rooms. One in particular on the right caught my eye because the doors were open and an orangish light was leaking out of it. If I had to guess I would say there was a fire in that room. Up above us were three large chandeliers that were spread out among the room so no place was shadowed.

"Wow this place has really changed!" Sora exclaimed, looking around.

"Well I did do a little remodeling since you were here" Belle said with a smile. "I'm sure the Prince would be delighted to see you all! Come I think he's in the ballroom" Belle said with a smile I didn't quite understand.

"Wait…you said Prince…so that means…" Sora took off running towards the ballroom while everyone else's gazes focused on Belle. Mine was out of confusion but I doubt that was why the guys were looking at her.

"A long time ago the Prince was greedy and selfish, and only cared about himself. One night, in the middle of a storm an old woman came to his door and begged that she should be allowed to stay with him that night until the storm ceased. But the Prince cruelly refused her and sent her away. The old women transformed into a young and mighty Enchantress and changed the Prince into a terrible Beast. She said that only when he could love and be loved in return would he transform back into the prince he used to be. But, he was given a time limit. The Enchantress gave him an enchanted rose and said he only had until the last pedal falls to find love. Otherwise he would be stuck as a Beast forever. His servants were also transformed into inanimate objects that could walk and talk. Like tea cups or clocks. But now everyone has been changed back!" she finished happily.

"Because you two both love each other" I said quietly. She nodded before gesturing us forward.

"Come, I'm sure he will want to meet all of you." And with that we headed down the hallway.

*Sora*

I stopped my conversation with the Prince and turned around when I heard the door open. All of my friends, lead by Belle, came into the ballroom and gawked at its splendor. It was a beautiful room with expensive carpets and curtains everywhere and a gigantic chandelier in the center of the room, sending light through the entire room.

I saw Riku's eyes widen at the Prince's appearance and realized that they had already met…Uh-oh.

Riku sort of stayed to the back of group and lagged behind a bit, doing his best to concentrate on anything other than the Prince. He didn't have much of a chance though when everyone came up to meet him. Everyone introduced themselves and the Prince likewise with joy and patience that I had never known him to have.

"And what's your name?" he asked to the one person who hadn't introduced himself.

"My name's…Riku" Riku said, looking up at the Prince and seeming small and confused. The Prince's eyes darkened at the mention of Riku's name.

"So you're Riku. Well since you are a friend of Sora's I figured I would meet you eventually" His tone was not friendly.

"I'm sorry for everything that I've done to you and to Belle. I'm not going to try to make up an excuse for why I did it because I knew exactly what I was doing at the time and I didn't care. But believe me, there isn't a day that goes by when I don't wish I could take back everything I had done. To you and to Belle and to anyone else I hurt. I truly am sorry" Riku said, hanging his head. I don't think I had ever heard him say anything so sincere.

"But you do have an excuse" Lauren said quietly, but everyone turned to her since it had been silent. "You were possessed, by Xehanort's Heartless and didn't know what you were doing…" her voice sounded distant, but everyone was transfixed by it. The Prince seemed hypnotized by her voice and was slowly nodding his head in agreement. Suddenly Lauren's head snapped up to hold a gaze with me.

"I've had about enough of this!" she yelled before sprinting towards the doors out of the ballroom. She stopped at them and turned back to us. "Don't follow me" she said before slipping out of the room.

"I don't remember you ever mentioning her" the Prince said

"Yeah she's new to the group. But she has a good sense of when things are wrong and something's really been bothering her. You stay here with Belle!" Then we all headed after Lauren.

*Roxas*

Lauren was just leaving the castle as we all entered the opening room.

"What the hell…" I had never known Lauren to act like this. I looked over at Axel and he shrugged. Riku was already halfway to the door and we all sprinted after him. Lauren was nowhere to be found in the courtyard so we had no choice but to keep going. We all sprinted to the gates of the castle, marking the end of the Prince's estate. The gates had been opened cruelly; one was off its hinges and was lying in the mud.

"Your girlfriend has quite the attitude" Tidus murmured to Riku.

"I have an attitude too. One you don't want to mess with" Riku said, glaring down at Tidus. He backed up a bit and after a moment between them Kairi started forward, signaling us all to follow. I caught a glimpse of Lauren in the woods once which said that at least we were going in the right direction. After maybe another fifteen to twenty minutes of running we reached a flat plain. It was brighter here, the amount of light you get on a cloudy day that never does bring rain.

"I told you not to follow me!" A voice exclaimed from behind us. I turned around to see Lauren and Fury standing side by side. Lauren looked scared while Fury just looked annoyed. "Now we might all be in trouble" Lauren grabbed Fury's hand and they became one person. "I'm serious this time-don't follow me" Lauren said before running out further into the clearing. None of us moved because she stayed with in our range of sight.

Nobody think of Fury okay? Just shove her out of your mind right now.

I looked around to see if anyone else had heard that message and the expressions on everyone else's faces said that they did. Suddenly a high-pitched shriek of laughter was heard.

"Oh I'm so lucky today! The high and noble girl brought friends! Oh this is great!" The voice sounded almost child-like, but there was a threat hidden in it. And something about the voice gave me chills. A bolt of black lightning struck the world and in the blink of an eye it was gone and a…creature stood where the lightning had struck. Lauren leapt back and summoned up her blades. The creature smiled at her with a terrible gleam in its eyes.

"What do you want?" Lauren snarled

"I'm afraid I've been given awful orders to kill your friends and devour their hearts. All because you refused to die when you were supposed to," The creature, which looked and sounded like a girl, pretended to wipe away a tear.

*Lauren*

Aw shit. If I survive this I'm in big trouble. Riku will probably rip me to shreds. "Did I forget to mention that I died? Oops my bad"

"Are you a Dark Being" Roxas no! Ugh Roxas you just killed us all! I couldn't blame him though. She looked almost exactly like Fury except her eyes were a deep shade of violet and she had a black tank top on that ended maybe an inch above her belly button and a pair of super short black shorts. I wouldn't have taken her seriously if it wasn't for the black and red torture device hooked to the side of her shorts. It was an Assassin's Whip. She was trained and paid to kill those who threatened her…well species, if that's what they were.

"No. I'm much better. See we have personalities, while Dark Beings are just kind of there. And my eyes only turned red when I'm pissed off." The abomination of nature said. "My name's Stardust by the way" My eyes widened

"I know your partner" Stardust looked at me sharply, her eyes turning red. Oh way to go Lauren. Piss off the She-Devil!

"Knew. Until you killed her!" She shouted. A large black orb gathered at the end of her hand and she swung her hand out towards me, the orb leaving her hand. I quickly ducked and was surprised as it shot into the air before plummeting back to the ground, right in the middle of the forest. Blackness shot up the trees and coated them. A minute later the darkness evaporated and all that was left was a barren wasteland. I could see our ship plainly now, maybe a mile away.

"I hate trees" Stardust said with a sigh. What the hell?

"I'm not letting you near my friends" I told her, blocking her path. Her eyes narrowed

"Well then I guess you'll just have to do instead" She was a blur as she lunged forward and slashed her black nails against my cheek before flipping back to her previous spot. My cheek felt hot and I felt something warm slide down the side of my face.

"I forgot how fast you bitches were" I said, wiping the blood off my cheek with the back of my hand.

Stardust summoned up another small black orb and shot it into the ground. The black seeped into the ground, turning it black. It spread out into a perfect circle of a pretty large size. Then the darkness shot up to create a force field around us, sealing off anyway I could've used to escape. I heard the others run up and stop a few feet from the edge of the force field. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Riku hold a hand up to it carefully, but as soon as his hand touched it he went flying back like he had been electrocuted. I turned towards him just as Stardust lunged for me.

I turned towards her and bent backwards like I was doing the limbo. Stardust's hand shot past me just an inch above my head. I put my hands on the ground and kicked feet up, hitting her in the stomach. She went flying backwards and as she flipped over she brought her finger tips to the ground before pulling back suddenly. She landed easily but the motion had pulled at the darkness in the ground and it was headed straight for me, the ground heaving itself up in deadly spikes. I spun around, blue energy gathering at the end of my blade and once the black spikes were close enough I released it and watched as it destroyed the darkness.

Stardust's eyes widened and she pulled the whip off her shorts and snapped it against the force field, where the two colliding forces created a firework show. She then ran towards me and shot the whip out. I blocked it with the Ultima Weapon but the whip wrapped around my blade and pulled me towards Stardust. Instead of being dragged I sprinted towards her and once we were about a foot apart I jumped over her, causing her whip to go over her shoulder. I spun my blade around once and the whip responded by wrapping around its owner's throat.

If it was possible to choke her kind believe me I would've. But they unfortunately didn't breathe so that strategy wouldn't work. Instead I cast a lightning spell at the whip and the lightning coursed through the whip, shocking Stardust. She shrieked and collapsed to her knees. She put her hand on the ground and faded into the darkness. Wait is that it?!

I couldn't remember what it looked like for them to die but that had seemed pretty final. The force field faded and I quickly headed towards my friends, my blades vanishing from my hands. They were just standing in shock at what they had just seen. Suddenly a hand wrapped around my throat and pulled me back. I felt a body behind me and gasped for breath as the hand tightened.

"Cool trick huh?" Stardust snarled in my ear. "Now here's how this is going to work-I'm going to sink my fangs into your throat, you'll die, I'll devour your heart, and then I'll kill your friends one by one."

"Stardust! Remember your place!" Another voice screeched from behind her, sounding painfully high-pitched as their kind often does. I heard Stardust turn towards the voice and I summoned up my Keyblades before stabbing them into the body behind me. Stardust gasped and let go of me before staggering backwards. I turned around to the Keyblades both stabbed into the middle part of her body, where her stomach would be if she was human. The Keyblades vanished and appeared back in my hands, the ends dripping with the venom that replaced Stardust's blood. Purple venom dripped out of Stardust's body and evaporated in a puff of steam when it came into contact with the ground, like acid.

"Its going to take a lot more than that to kill me" She said with a smile before turning to two other members of her kind who were coming towards the two of us. "Thanks a lot Nightshade" she said sarcastically to one of them.

"Oh boo-hoo" Nightshade replied and her partner laughed quietly. They both had blue streaks in their hair which stated their position. While Stardust's red streaks said she was an assassin, their blue streaks said they were spies.

"Ok take your pick, you can have three of them" The other said, gesturing towards my friends. Stardust looked them over before pointing to three of them.

"The silver haired guy, the petite blond, and the idiot who thinks I'm a Dark Being" All three of them laughed at Roxas' stupidity.

"Your all idiots if you think you're getting any of my friends" I said before stabbing my blades into the ground. The darkness swarmed them and built up in the blades, turning them black but not destroying them. I put my hands on the hilts of the blades and forced the darkness to do my will. A large force field shot up between me and the three heart-eaters.

"Go back and heal yourself" Nightshade said to Stardust before turning to her partner. "Midnight please tell me you didn't forget to bring-

"Of course I did…didn't. I have them here!" Midnight pulled out a small black pouch and dumped the contents into her hand, giving half of them to Nightshade. Each of them held four small glass balls with what looked like smoke in the middle of them. The smoke was churning restlessly, making it look almost alive. Oh God no, please not those. Nightshades ran her fingers lightly over her four orbs and smiled at me through the force field. I backed up until I was even with my friends.

"What are those things?!" Sora whispered urgently in my ear. He was obviously taking this one obstacle at a time.

"I think they are Shadow Dogs" I whispered back, hoping I was wrong.

"They are very well-trained don't worry! It only hurts a lot when they tear you apart and they will bring your hearts back to us so we can take of them!" Nightshade laughed evilly before her and Midnight tossed the eight black orbs over the force field.

"They are impossible to defeat because they are made of shadow" I whispered to Sora

"What do we do?" Sora asked as they plummeted to the ground. They landed and the glass casing shattered, releasing eight shadows into the ground.

"Run!" I screamed and we all took off sprinting towards the ship.

*Riku*

As I sprinted I caught a glimpse of one of the so-called Shadow Dogs beside me. It leaped up from the ground and my eyes drank in the horrible appearance. It was about the size of a minivan with sharp black claws against a gray body. Its red eyes glared at me and huge white fangs manifested themselves as the thing snarled at me. Most of its body was covered in what looked like yellow and white armor, leaving only its face, its paws, and maybe its stomach revealed. I certainly wasn't going to be the one to check. Once it came in contact with the ground again it sank back into the dirt, becoming a black shadow once more. It dropped back with the others and I sprinted harder. Lauren came up beside me.

"Give me a hand up." She said. I looked at her

"What?!"

"Now!" she said before jumping in front of me. I spun around so I was facing the Shadow Dogs and cupped my hands together. Lauren's foot landed in my hands and I projected her up into the air. For the second time that day blue energy gathered at the end of her blade and just as four of the dogs leaped at me she released the energy. When the blue wave hit the dogs they evaporated into shadows and sunk into the ground as small clumps. I watched for a moment, perplexed, as the shadows slowly pieced themselves back together.

"Come on!" Lauren landed and sprinted towards me, grabbing my hand as she passed and jerking me towards the gummi ship, which was maybe a fourth of a mile away.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and shot a jet of light at the ship, causing the ramp up to the ship to open slowly. I ran faster. I could tell the Shadow Dogs were getting closer. Even though they were just shadows at the moment their footsteps seemed to vibrate the ground under my feet, getting stronger and stronger.

Finally my feet hit the ramp and I grabbed Lauren's hand, helping her up the ramp which closed behind us, since we were the last ones. Sora ran to the controls and shot us off while Lauren opened a huge portal above us. Everything was dark for a moment before we came out the other end of the portal and then we were suspended in an empty gray abyss.

"Where are we?!" Sora exclaimed, turning towards Lauren. Everyone waited, breathing hard, for Lauren's response.

"We are in the Realm of Nothingness. We should be safe here while I explain myself. The realm is huge and I don't think they will think to look for us here." Everyone started shouting questions at once.

"Hey quiet!" I yelled. "Nobody is going to find out anything if we keep yelling. One at a time"

"Are Belle and the Prince going to be ok?!" Kairi asked frantically. Lauren nodded

"They were after me specifically."

"What were those things?" I asked voicing the question we all wanted to know. We had all formed a semi-circle around Lauren and she looked down and took a deep breath before looking up at us.

"Those things are called Demons."

Duh duh duuuuhhhh! Confused? Excited? Enjoyed the action-packed chapter?! As I said before- the next few chapters explain this chapter. They will also explain Lauren's life before this chapter (I spoiled the story AGAIN! Ugh) I'll update soon! Of course I have to plan out the next few chapters carefully so there aren't any gaps in the story line…I'll get back to you guys (Review please)