Oh my god could it be?! After a million, trillion years (two months) is there really a new chapter?! Why yes there is! And I am so soooo super sorry about taking so long! I honestly don't even know why it did take so long. I just…never got around to it I guess. Over my little break though I sort of got all my ideas together about the rest of this story (and the sequel : D) and I've even revised my writing style, trying to make my story sound a bit more story-ish and interesting. Well I'm sorry again for the wait and hope everyone enjoys the chapter! (As I promised back at the end of the last chapter it is longer than usual!)

*Oh and a little foreshadow/reminder: When Lauren said 'Demons devour people's hearts' it wasn't an exaggeration…ok go read!

*Selphie*

Today's the big day! Today we get to go! God I've been waiting two whole days for this! That's practically my whole life!!

I raced down the hallway of the gummi ship, an excited buzz of energy. The moment my eyes had first opened that morning I had jumped out of bed and quickly gotten ready before heading out of Kairi and my room, not even bothering to check the time. Finally I reached my destination, the bright blue post-it note with a threat written in large handwriting still faithfully clinging to the door way. The note said:

Lauren (and Riku's) Room. Enter and I'll send my Dark Being on you.

I didn't even pause a moment before shoving the door open, so hard that it hit the wall to its right with a loud bang! as it made the journey its hinges designed.

*Riku*

Aaahh lazy mornings where there's nothing better to do but lie in bed and do nothing. Beautiful.

I let out a sigh of pleasure, stretching out my right arm which was draped over my girlfriend's waist. Last night we had been watching movies in her bed and had both fallen asleep at some point during The Ugly Truth…I couldn't quite remember when though. Oh well

Lauren shifted slightly before groaning and blinking awake. She turned her gaze so right eye was on me…before face planting back into her pillow.

"Does dating you mean I need to get used to stuff like this?" She asked tiredly, stifling another yawn.

"Only if you want to, if not I'll leave you alone." Heh not likely

Lauren grabbed my arm that was around her waist, her fingers trailing down it to where my fingers ran out of waist and were poised in mid-air. She gently pulled on my hand, causing my grasp on her to be tighter.

"Good night boyfriend" was all she said before closing her eyes and becoming still. Needless to say I am a very happy camper at the moment.

I closed my eyes to and laid my head back down on the pillow just above hers, slowly fading back into dreamland…

"BANG!" The door was suddenly shoved open with such force it just about ripped the door from its hinges. Lauren and I both jumped a foot in the air, Lauren getting the worst of it because once gravity took over she wasn't entirely on the bed anymore…she landed uncomfortably on the floor of our room.

"I'm ready to go shopping for my weapon!" Selphie chirped happily, completely unaware of what she had just interrupted. After a moment of silence she blinked in confusion at Lauren. "What are you doing on the ground silly?" She asked her, tilting her head to the side slightly, completely perplexed by the situation.

"What am I…What am I doing on the ground?!" Lauren practically shrieked. Oh boy, here come the fireworks…or should I say raging fires of doom.

"I'm on the ground because you came bursting into my room at the ungodly hour of five in the morning! Nobody with any common sense is even awake yet! Including the shop owners! So I don't care how ready you are-we are not leaving for another four hours!" Lauren concluded her speech by pointing a finger at Selphie and glaring. I held my breath, waiting for the chocolate haired girl to start screaming and crying, but she didn't. She just smiled.

'Sorry for interrupting you and Riku's…time" she winked coyly and skipped out of our room and down the hall.

"I don't like the way she said time" Lauren said immediately after Selphie left, picking herself up off the ground and flopping back into her own bed.

"Me neither, but it doesn't matter. Let's just go to sleep, you can chaperone the fieldtrip for crazy people after you've had a good nights rest." I pulled the blanket over her before retiring to my own bed for the remainder for the night.

*Lauren*

I yawned and stretched luxuriously as I walked down the hall. Selphie was lucky that I had forced myself to calm down (even if it had only been for the sake of getting more sleep) otherwise she would probably be dead right now. I strode into the kitchen expecting Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie all ready to go. I got what I expected…and then some. There was also Namine, Kairi, Roxas, and my very own boyfriend standing there along with the trio.

"Uhm…something tells me you guys aren't interested in new weapons…" I said, forever the public speaker, gesturing to Riku & Co.

"Well duh." My boyfriend said in a very un-boyish way.

"Well then what are you guys doing here…duh?" I couldn't resist mocking him, even if my sentence made no sense. The corners of Riku's mouth twitched up, which was like the biggest smile humanely possible when your in RikuLand and it isn't eleven in the morning yet (he ain't no morning person let me tell ya that).

"Namine and Kairi decided that our giant mobile mansion could use some remodeling, and that includes new furniture worth millions of munny. But no problem, we should just waste our money on couches and new clothes instead of…oh I don't know…stuff that may actually help us while on the run from Demons?!" Riku exploded

"Ok can I get the story from someone who is actually for this?" Mental note to self: consider giving your boyfriend a nice massage after today, he looks like he needs it…like he really needs it.

"Namine and I figured that if we are going to be living in this ship for a while- She put her hand up to prevent me from going off on another 'death is coming we can't escape it' speech. "so we figured it would be nice if this place was a bit…homier."

"Ok well I guess that makes sense, just be sure you save enough money for potions and armor and all that joyous stuff…wait, why are Riku and Roxas coming?" Sure they could pick out matching clothes on their own, which was better than the average male teenager, but that didn't make them future fashion designers or anything.

"Because someone has to carry all the heavy stuff back to the ship" Namine chimed with a light laugh. Both boys groaned and slouched over. Tidus stuck his tongue out at them and Wakka followed suit by pointing and laughing.

"Don't follow his example, Wakka. You just might die young" Roxas whispered evilly before following the girls and Riku down the ramp that led into Radiant Garden.

"Alright well guess it's our turn! Let's go get you guys some weapons"

Normally I wouldn't have bothered to fight the small clusters of Heartless that appeared on our way the main square of the town, but since Namine and Kairi were off spending money like spoiled twins I figured the extra fifty-three munny could be appreciated.

Once we finally made it to the area where all the excitement was, I made a beeline for no, not the shiny sparkling weapons store that was buh-rand new, but for the older store, that was looking like it had seen better days (which it had, trust me).

Still eyeing the other weapon store, DI trio number two (which was what I liked to call them) following behind me like hesitant little kids, not wanting to be left alone, but not knowing if they wanted to come along either. (A/N DI=Destiny Islands, and DI trio number one would be Kairi, Sora, and Riku) When I got to the front desk of the store an old man greeted me, smiling like an old friend.

"Hello Sam, I need three new weapons for these guys" I gestured with my head t the three behind me who I could hear were tinkering with something that could probably maim them.

Sam sighed, "The young never do bother with formalities do they?"

"Not a chance, we got places to be and Demons to kill" Sam raised an eyebrow

"You're still having a Demon problem?"

"If anything it's worse."

"Oh dear, are you still using the sai's I gave you?" I summoned up one half of the Keyblade in each hand in response and showed the blades to him. He smiled

"I figured you would eventually give up and start using those, after all-a Keyblade Master is just that: A Keyblade master. Not a master of any other weapon."

"I wish you had told me that sooner" I said with a smile

"It's unlike you to be traveling with anyone…let alone…people like those three." I gave a small smile

"Well things have changed…" And, as quickly as I could, I explained my predicament to him.

*Namine*

Kairi and I ran through the clothing and furniture stores like two little kids in an endless chain of candy stores. Riku and Roxas lagged behind, groaning almost every twenty seconds or so, leaning forwards slightly from the weight of the ten or more bags they were carrying.

"Come on you girls! Just a few more stops and then we can go back to the gummi ship" Kairi coached, stomping her foot impatiently. The boys gave tired smiles and the prospect of being able to stop soon and picked up their pace a bit. Kairi smiled, spun on her heel, and began walking with me to the next store.

"Yeah once we drop off all this stuff at the gummi ship we can come back out and you guys can haul furniture!" I said with a happy clap. I heard both boys groan simultaneously and me and Kairi high-fived. We passed yet another alleyway, probably the forth or fifth one, but this time I thought I saw a figure in the shadows. I stopped, having already passed by, and backed up. Nope, no one. Hmmm….

*Lauren*

"Well that's quite the predicament you have there. I'm sure you'll be ok though" Sam said in response to my tale, responding with calmness only old people had. "I'm sure you have places to be so I'll hurry up and try to find weapons for your friends that will hurt their enemies more than themselves." He said with a wheezy laugh.

"Thank you"

"Oh it's no problem helping out an old friend" He said before heading off to do Mission Impossible. I smiled to myself, thinking of when I had first met him, back when Radiant Garden was Hallow Bastion, and things were dangerous for everyone…

*Flashback*

I walked through the icy rain, my footsteps aggravating the puddles that lay on the streets. The rim of my hood was steadily dripping with the cold rain that fell from above. Zack had told me that the Keyblade was my strongest weapon and that I should always use it…

Yeah but now Zack's dead, so who cares what he thought.

I remained silent, walking steadily to my destination. This place was dangerous, and dangerous places were always the best if you were looking for something sharp, wickedly curved, and deadly.

I arrived at the rundown weapons store about five minutes later. I suppressed a chill from the cold and unforgiving rain before heading in.

The store was barely lit, probably because it was so late. Hell, the person who worked here may be sleeping for all I knew. But once I got to the front desk a man stepped up to the other side of the wood. An old man, probably in his sixties, with a balding head of white hair and a silvery-gray beard. He smiled at me, wrinkles forming around blue eyes.

"And how can I help a little lady such as yourself?" Just so that he knew I meant business, I brought forth red eyes before pulling my hood down.

"I need a weapon" Was my only explanation, and I laid down two hundred munny on the table. "That's all I have, so take it or leave it" The old man sighed and for a minute I thought he was going to tell me to leave.

"You don't choose a weapon, because a weapon chooses you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Pick something out that catches your eye, and then bring it to me." Rolling my scarlet red eyes I backed away from the desk and weaved through the rows of killing devices.

Scythes, sai's, swords, a large variety of weapons lay before me. Finally I decided on a pair of sai's, the tips lethal, the actual weapon made of silver, the handle black leather, and each of them holding a red gem at the end of the hilt. The weapon possessed a faint sense of calling, and that's what made me pick them up.

"I would like these" I said, putting them gently on the table.

"But the question is whether or not they want you." He said to me, completely serious.

"Look if you aren't going to give them to me I'll just go-

"Take them. There's a small renegade of Heartless just outside the town. If you feel comfortable fighting with those weapons, don't come back."

"What if I'm not comfortable fighting with them?"

"Then the Heartless will tear you to shreds" I snatched up the weapons and headed for the door, leaving the munny on the table along with the old man.

"I highly doubt that" I muttered

"So do I." He said, "My name is Sam by the way, and best of luck to you, Keyblade Master"

I stepped out of the store and back into the cold rain that poured from the sky like teardrops…crying for the loss of a warrior.

*End Flashback*

"I don't know how you did it Sam. You actually got these three goofballs real weapons" I admired his work, grinning.

Selphie had a long sword, more of a long-distance weapon like her jump rope had been. Wakka had two sai's along with two plate-like things with razor sharp edges that could surely slice through a Heartless. Or Demon. Tidus had a wickedly sharp scythe that was longer for far-reach attacks and a scabbard on his shoulder holding a traditional silver bladed, obsidian hilted sword.

"Be sure to practice every day with these until you get used to them!" Sam called out as they left the store.

"Whatever happened to 'the weapon picks you'?" I asked him, my hands on my hips

"That was only for you my dear. Now go safely, and guide those souls safely" He said kindly. I reached in my pocket to pull out munny for the weapons.

"It's not necessary, just consider this a gift."

"Thank you." I said before heading out after the three. I remembered the night I had met him, how I never came back, and how my sai's were securely in a small part of my jacket, covered, and waiting for the day they would pierce the supernatural skin of my killer.

On the way back to the ship I ran into Riku…literally.

"Ok guys for the last time-no swinging around your weapons until we are back on the gummi ship in the training room! You'll take out an eye…or a face." Selphie laughed giddily

"Oh calm down we know what we're do-whoa!" Just then Selphie lost her grip on her sword and it went careening straight at me. Without blinking I twisted my arm so my fingertips were facing the ground and caught it by its hilt, the blade about 3 seconds from hitting my face. I flipped the sword over so the hilt was facing her and the sword tip was aimed at my gut.

"You were saying?" Selphie laughed nervously before taking the sword back, holding it tightly. I nodded, that's better. I turned my attention away from Selphie and ran straight into Riku's back.

"Whoa!"

"Hey watch it!"

"Excuse me?!"

"Oh…heheh hey Lauren…"

"You better apologize!"

"Can I run away instead?"

"No!" Aaahh young relationships.

"Riku I can't hold this up…by myself" Roxas grunted, struggling to keep a loveseat above the ground.

"Oh shit sorry Roxas!" Riku quickly turned around and grabbed the other end of the loveseat.

"Why exactly are you and Roxas hauling furniture?" Tidus asked, skeptical

"Because Kairi and her Nobody are evil" Riku said, his eyes alight with a burning flame of anger.

He looks really hot right now

If I was my own person I'd be decapitating myself right now. How do you find Silver Haired Bastard's anger attractive?

It's so passionate…

Ok I'm not talking to you anymore

"Oh hey Kairi!"

"Hey Selphie!"

"Hey Namine"

"Hey Kairi"

"Hey Tidus"

"Hey Kairi"

"Hey Wakka!"

"Hey Selphie"

"Oh can we just get on with it?!" Riku groaned, his legs shaking and his chest pressed against the chair in an effort to keep it up. "Roxas it doesn't feel like you're even holding this up!"

"That's because I'm not" Roxas said, coming up behind him

"Oh dammit Roxas help me!"

"Do you need an ambulance?"

"Roxas! You're going to need an ambulance here in a second!" I laughed, turning around to see if anyone was staring, and realized I was facing an alleyway, not helpful. I just started to turn back when I saw someone…

"Huh?" I peered down in the alley as the figure stepped out of the shadows…Stardust. She grinned and winked at me before turning in the opposite direction and started running.

"Hey!" I sprinted after her, my blades materializing in my hands.

"Hey Lauren come back!" Riku yelled, and, if I had turned around, I would've seen him dropping the chair on top of Roxas and chasing after me. But I wasn't paying attention. My blood was flowing and adrenaline was pumping itself into my veins, combined with Fury's venom, and a bone-deep hatred for Demons. I was beyond listening now. I was out for Stardust's blood.

*Riku*

I took off after Lauren, not sure why she was running or why I was even bothering to chase her. I guess I just wanted to be sure she was ok…

I summoned my blade after noticing hers in both her hands. I sprinted down the dirty alley, trying to avoid exiled trash bags that littered the already-narrowed sides of the alleyway, making it even harder to run. Up ahead of Lauren I saw someone with black hair streaming out behind them, running with unnatural grace, making a sound that I could've sworn was laughter.

A sharp turn came up out of nowhere, catching me by surprise. All these walls look the same. I gritted my teeth when I saw a giant chain-link fence part of the way down the section of the alley. Dead end. The girl Lauren was chasing jumped over the twelve-foot fence with ease, and that's when I realized she wasn't a girl at all; she was a Demon. I snarled between my teeth, slowing down my pace slightly as I neared the fence and Lauren.

Of course my girlfriend was never one to give up easily. She leaped into the air and placed her feet against the brick wall to her left, pushing of it in an upwards-diagonal direction. She flipped in mid-air and pressed her feet against the opposite wall, repeating the motions. She pushed off in the same way, but this time she aimed at the fence. She spun around in the air as she traveled closer to the metal wall, and, arching her back just enough to pass over the rusty tips, back flipped over the fence.

I picked up my pace immediately, not wanting to be left behind. I sprinted towards an abandoned silver trashcan and jumped up, letting my feet rest on the trashcan for a fraction of a second before pushing off of it with as much lower body strength as I could muster…which was a pretty damn good amount. I started to slow down just a few inches from the fence and, in a motion which I expected looked like poetry in its moving stages, weaved my fingers loosely into the chain mesh and heaved my feet over my arms, flipping over the fence and landing hard on the ground after it, continuing to chase after Lauren. Oh yeah, I was good.

*Lauren*

Run

Faster!

Can't let her

She's getting away!

Fury and my thoughts mirrored each other's with a night and day sort of perfection. My radiant determination with her pessimism supported by demands seeping into it. I wasn't going to let Stardust get away…I couldn't break my promise that I had made to everyone the day I truly accepted the Keyblade…the day I was resurrected.

There's no time for feeling nostalgic! Get your ass moving!

Grunting, I sped up more still, hearing Riku's heavier steps a few meters behind mine, thanks to my heightened senses courtesy of Fury. I turned the corner and came to a fork in the alleyway, one way leading right, the other straight ahead. I stopped so quickly I heard Riku having to skid on the ground to keep from hitting me. He stopped a few inches short of careening into my back.

"Where…did she…go?" Riku panted, his breath angled down, so from what I could tell his hands were on his knees and he was bending over.

"You're really going to let your guard down like that?" My voice contained an icy coldness that I had never directed at Riku…not since before Atlantica. It took me a moment to realize that was because my voice was Fury's. Our voices were pretty similar, but hers sounded almost more adult-like. Like a grown person void of emotion. What a statue would sound like if statues could talk. Riku's breathing was irregular for a moment as he registered my voice change, and then stood up in a more defensive position.

"Now what?"

"Now you shut up and let me show you what incredible predators we Dark Beings can be." Looking back on this…I always hide my face in the shame of letting my emotions give way to being taken over so easily by my more predatory and blood-thirsty part. I took in a deep breath through my mouth, letting the taste roll over my tongue and drift past the fangs that had manifested in my upper jaw. I opened my blazing red eyes and snapped my head to the right, focusing…was there…yes. There was just a slightly darker tinge in the right direction, giving away the evidence that a dark creature had passed that way just recently. Without a word to Riku I started running again. I am amazed to say that he followed.

As I ran my body changed into a terrifying half-way form. Before Fury and I had had complete control over our combined emotions we called it In-Between Form. Because it was halfway between the two of us. I still had my blond hair and my own clothes, along with my slightly tanned skin. But my veins were purple, the twin points of two fangs showed themselves off, and my eyes looked like the color of blood. I was a monster, but it didn't matter, because when someone becomes a monster in order to kill an even more dangerous monster, it's justified. At least, that's what I told myself then.

Possible attack methods and strategies along with different combined attacks I could use against this creature of the dark ran through my head, Fury correcting any minor mistakes like a teacher. We were perfectly in sync with each other, a perfect team, one person. The scent of darkness suddenly erupted and I knew she was close. Then I rounded the corner and glimpsed hell.

The scene erupted before my eyes and my brain took it all in, locking the images into my memory before I could turn away, breathe, or scream. There was a man lying on the ground, maybe in his late thirties or early forties. His glasses were slightly askew, his tie draped over his shoulder, and his work suit now suffering from small dirt smudges here and there. Then there was the gaping hole in his chest, blood leaking out of the wound, pieces of I-don't-know what trailed over his clothes. A small drop of scarlet landed on his forehead, sliding down past glassy eyes they could no longer see. I looked up.

Stardust was standing over her prey, leaning forward over the body in a slightly defensive position, the same way a lion may stand over a carcass it had claimed to keep any other animals from trying to take it. In Stardust's hand was the man's heart. An oddly shaped organ that meant life rested in her left hand. She smiled cruelly at me before bringing it to her mouth. When it touched her lips it transformed into a pink, crystalline heart, which hovered in her hand. She forced it against her mouth and the thing shattered into a million glowing fragments, swirling into her body. She had eaten his heart.

"Mmmm not bad" She said before stretching and yawning, her bloody lips opening, showing off her own fangs.

I clenched my blades tightly, let out a wild scream of rage and horror, and charged at her. She stepped back against the wall, a portal opening. Ten yards…she faded into the black…five yards…it was closing…three yards…just a few more steps…zero yar-

I smashed into the stone wall at full speed, breaking my nose and fracturing my skull. Fury took these injuries into account immediately because of her rarely-used ability. I staggered backwards, dazed. Then I came to, and even through the pain, I began crying with heartbroken screams. I pounded my fists against the wall, as if somehow that damned creature would come back if I stood here long enough.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back. At first I ignored them, still hitting and kicking the wall, screaming all the while. Then I couldn't reach the wall anymore, and started to fight whoever was intervening. No sounds really registered to me, I heard a boy screaming and a high-pitched feral shrieking, but it never really registered that the insane screams were coming from me and the guy's shouts were-

"Riku" my back was pressed against the wall now, with Riku's hands firmly on my upper arms so I could no longer move them in a potentially damaging way. He was close, that way if I tried to kick him it would barely hurt. I stood there, like a doll, my eyes glassy and my body able to do nothing more than hold itself up. Riku tipped my head up and gently parted my lips with his thumb. A few drops of green healing liquid went down my throat. I felt my nose snap in to place, a few more drops of blood leaking out before it was healed, my fractured skull repairing and the bruises and cuts on my knuckles faded. I never had really noticed the pain any of those things gave me anyways.

"Let me go" The words were out before I even remembered thinking them.

"No"

"But I have to-

"She's gone." The words sank in, and I felt more pain then any of the injuries had given me. I sank to my knees, put my head in my hands, and started crying. Not just tears, but heart-wrenching sobs that shook my whole being. Riku sat down against the wall next to me and pulled me onto his lap, one arm around my waist and the other covering my face and holding my head close to him. I cried heartbrokenly for who-knows-how-long, but he stayed there with me, murmuring words of comfort into my hair that I never really heard.

Only one thing mattered-and that was that my promise had been broken.

I looked at my reflection and gasped at what I saw. I leaped away from the puddle in surprise, my mouth gaping open and ready to release a shrill scream. My mouth never did get its wish. I looked into the puddle again cautiously and saw that my appearance was normal.

"That's what you will look like if at any point you choose to use my strengths in place of your own." A voice said behind me. I turned to see my 'Dark Being' as she called herself, walking up to me calmly.

A distant part of me flinched at the thought of looking so terrifying. A shallow part of me that I had buried along with the memories of a long, long time ago. That part of me came from a world where plastic rectangles could buy dreams, and how much money you could spend in one store dominated who you were, and whoever did drugs, got divorced five times, and showed up on TV ruled the place. I shook my head defiantly

"No, I'm not like that any more" My Dark Being blinked at me.

"Considering you just died and were re-born, maybe you should consider this a new beginning, if you truly want to get rid of what weakens you. Make a promise to yourself that will keep you strong."

I thought for a moment, and, at the glimpse of an idea, turned around to look at the tower which stood behind me. I knew. My soul recognized the significance of this, even if I didn't. I summoned my Keyblade in my right hand and placed my left hand over my heart. Then I looked to the stormy skies, daring them to strike me down.

"As a Keyblade Master I hereby promise that as long as I breathe I shall never allow a single being, human or animal, to be hurt by a Demon. I will do anything and everything I can to protect people from being hurt by these creatures, even at the cost of my life." Light gathered at the end of my blade and, sealing the promise, I aimed the Keyblade into the heavens and released the light. The beam shot into the skies and, for the first time in a nonexistent world, the sun shined. Its welcoming fingers warmed the nonexistent planet for only a moment, before the clouds covered it again.

I should have seen what that meant. It meant two things. One, that even in the deepest darkness you could find light. And two, all good things ended, even the most fiercely protected of promises had to come to an end eventually. Eventually, they would break and shatter. Just like mine.

Oh my goodness it's finally done! I can't believe the chapter that took me two months is done! I'm pretty happy though to move on past this melancholy scene. Anyways thank you to anyone who bothered to stick with the story long enough to read this and I'm sorry to anyone who waited anxiously for me to hurry my butt up and get this chapter published into my story. As promised at the top of this chapter- a little more about my writing style changes: I think one of the reasons I stopped writing for a while is I felt like I wasn't putting enough into it, so I stopped and let myself sort of gather new ideas on how to write. Now I'm trying to be more descriptive and phrase things differently. I've decided to stop writing like a new author and more like the eighth grade honors English student I am : ) Well as always if anyone has a question please ask I'd be more than happy to answer, and, please review I'm anxious to see what you guys have to say after so long!

*oh and if people who are planning on reviewing if you could please comment on my new writing style (seems the same, love, its ok, hate it, whatever) I would really super appreciate it! Until next time everyone!

**Ok one more thing: at the end of the chapter that promise Lauren made is called a Keyblade Master's Promise, and is something every Keyblade Master makes when they truly accept their weapon (ex: Sora's promise was to find Riku and Kairi and defeat the Heartless) and the little bold and italic paragraph at the very end is basically just Lauren talking again, just not out loud. Ok that's all everyone!