Author's Note: Okay I am pissed! I've been trying to upload crap for this story all damned week and now it finally works! Blast it all and confound it!

"Your dreams child?"

Mim's voice was no longer the harsh tone it had been, it had resumed that gentle timber Roxas remembered first hearing from her lips when they'd met. Namine let Roxas guide her to a chair and took her seat, breathing heavily as she composed herself.

"There was something, dark, hidden in the castle; beneath everything else."

Merlin nodded, "Xehanort's laboratory and archives, but that was sealed when he was thrown out."

"Hush old goat," Mim said reproachfully. "Go on dear."

"When we defeated Xehanort, something woke up, something in the twilight. It became Xehnort's vessel and saved him."

Sora caught Roxas' eye curiously, something in the twilight? What was that supposed to mean? Neither boy could find an answer so they waited for Namine to continue.

"The twilight found the King, and Xehanort killed him and took his place. The King is now a shell for Xehanort and the castle is now his lair."

"Lair for what I wonder," murmured Merlin.

Namine looked up sadly, "a second heart of his own creation."

Mim's breath drew sharply in a hiss. "That damned fool is going to destroy the entire world in his lust for power. Not just the kingdom, the entire world will die if he succeeds in fabricating the second heart."

Merlin nodded quietly. "Indeed, a world cannot have two hearts; they will compete with each other, and eventually destroy everything, leaving nothing but empty space."

"Wait, so the reason all the Heartless are here is because Xehanort has a second world heart?" Sora asked in bewilderment.

"So to speak," Merlin said, "it is not a true heart; it is artificially generated though I don't know how. I knew that Xehanort had theorized of such things; however I did not know that he had progressed far enough to make it feasible."

"And with this second heart, the Heartless will be running rampant while the true world heart is left to defend itself against its usurper; leaving Xehanort in control of them yet again." Mim said tartly, "the man is completely insane if he thinks he can control forces like these."

Namine was shivering, Roxas wrapped his arms around her and she clung to him like she was drowning and he was a scrap of drift wood.

"What can we do?" He asked.

"Isn't it obvious," Riku said, finally speaking from the corner where he stood with Sora and Kairi. "We destroy the second heart."

Mim nodded, "the boy is right, but that means we have to get to the heart first, and we must remember," she looked to the still distraught Paine. "That Xehanort and this man in red, who I assume is the twilight Namine spoke of, were able to kill Sephiroth. The keybearers were lucky before to catch him by surprise, this time he will be better prepared. I fear we are going to lose many more lives before this is finally ended."

Roxas felt Namine's grip tighten and he held her closer, looking over at Sora to find that his cousin was doing the same with Kairi, and looking at him as well. They had the same helpless expressions on their faces.

Sora sat on the shore quietly tossing rocks out into the lake, the big pliodon basked on the ground close by. Sora reached up and stroked Red's head gently. The big bird warbled affectionately and stuck his head under Sora's arm. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the footsteps behind him, he jumped as something big and heavy draped over his shoulders.

He looked up; Leon was smiling gently at him.

"You forgot this."

Sora looked at his father's coat, his eyes began to water and he pulled it close around himself, Red squawked and pulled his head out of the sudden blackness, shaking his head indignantly.

Leon sat down next to him and put an arm around him, pulling him close.

"Hey, what are those for?"

"He was there the entire time Leon, alone, waiting for us all those years just so he could try to make sure we had normal lives. Now look what's happened," he closed his eyes and leaned against his brother, feeling the familiar curves and warmth that he knew so well. "Did he give all that for nothing?"

Leon was tight lipped as he sighed. "I think he did what he thought was best. Even if it wasn't what was right."

Sora shrank slightly. "You're still mad at him."

Leon shrugged. "It's nothing; I just don't understand how he could have left us and Mom like that. Even if the King had asked him to watch over Xehanort; how could he just leave his family behind?"

Sora nodded. "I think he was sad that he didn't get to see you too."

Leon was silent for a long time. "I don't know what I would have done if I had seen him. I might have just punched him."

Sora smiled, snuggling into the over-large coat, Leon and Cloud had stopped by Mim's house before coming to Merlin's looking for Sora and Roxas. Leon had found the coat lying in Kairi's room and had brought it with him knowing that it meant a great deal to Sora, even if Leon himself hadn't forgiven their father.

"That would have been weird; Dad was pretty good I wonder if you could have hit him."

Leon scowled and wrapped Sora's head in a lock, ruffling his hair. "I'd beat that old geezer into the dust and you know it." He said with a laugh.

"What are you doing to Sora Leon?"

They turned to see Kairi, Leon smiled and picked himself up. "Nothing at all, I'll leave you two alone."

As he walked off Kairi sat down besides Sora, the pliodon opened one massive gold eye and stared at this latest newcomer for a moment before pushing back into the water lazily and vanishing beneath the water.

"I think I offended him." Kairi said with a giggle.

"It's a girl."

Kairi's smile widened, "jealousy?"

"Probably," Sora said with a laugh.

"Everything will work out Sora, you'll see."

He nodded, wrapping the coat around both of them, Red chirped and shifted so they could lean back on him like a cushion.

"I hope so Kairi, it all seems so hopeless right now. The King is gone, Xehanort is back and controls the Heartless; all we have is what Namine has told us and the bits and pieces everyone who was fighting told us."

"You feel guilty about last night don't you."

He nodded. "Everyone was fighting, some people even died, and we still have to face Xehanort again. It's just insane…I guess the good thing is that once we destroy the second heart we'll bring everyone back."

Kairi looked down at the ground. "You didn't hear then."

"Hear what?" Sora asked with a frown.

Now Kairi's eyes filled with tears. "No one is coming back Sora." She managed to choke out.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, why wasn't anyone coming back? It had worked before, why not again?

"The heart was unsealed before, that's why everyone was able to come back when we resealed it. The heart is sealed now, so there is no way to bring them back. Grandmother and Merlin were talking about it with Paine and the others. Telling them that Sephiroth was gone fo—"

She began to really cry then; Sora had enough presence of mind to hold her close despite his own sudden leaden heart. If they died this time around, no one would be able to bring them back? They would die for real this time, some already had he knew. He began to think of everyone, no one knew where Cid, Yuna, and Rikku were, Aerith had been with Zack and the other members of Zack's squad and they were now here, Laguna was still unaccounted for but his family was safe here with Merlin. The King was dead, Sephiroth was dead, and no one had seen Maleficent since this had all started; what scared him the most was that those were only the people he knew. There were thousands of people living in Hollow Bastion. How many had lost their lives already?

His chest felt very heavy suddenly, and he pulled Kairi close to himself as they leaned back against Red, seeking what comfort he could with her.

"It'll be alright Kairi," he said, though in his heart he wasn't certain that it would be.

"This is insane." Mim said flatly.

"What choice do we have?" Zack spat back.

"You're suggesting we all simply rush the castle ruins and hope we survive inside them long enough to find the artificial heart and destroy it before Xehanort can stop us. It's insane."

"Again, what choice do we have?" Cloud said calmly, leaning against the wall.

They were all assembled around Merlin's table, the room that was normally so cluttered was unusually clean, Merlin had been forced to tidy up significantly in light of all the guests he was entertaining.

Namine spoke up quietly from her chair. "There has got to be a better way than simply attacking him. Couldn't we try to sneak in? He can't possibly be aware of everything."

"The Heartless are everywhere in the city," Leon said simply, Rinoa was besides him and they were holding hands tightly. "And they get thicker the closer to the castle you get; I doubt we could sneak in without being spotted by at least one."

Before the discussion could continue, there was a fluttering at the door, Maleficent's raven flew in and alighted on the table, hopping over to Merlin and cackling at him noisily. Everyone fell silent as Merlin listened calmly to the bird's croaks and caws calmly, nodding every so often. When the raven finally finished it began preening itself patiently as Merlin stroked his beard thoughtfully.

Finally Mim grew impatient. "What is it you old goat?"

Merlin smiled, his eyes twinkling. "It seems we have a stroke of luck. Maleficent is inside the castle."

"How is that lucky?" Roxas asked. "She could be killed!"

"Yes, but it gives us an easy way into the castle, using her as an anchor we can sustain a continuous portal from our position to hers quite easily; granted Mim and I will have to remain here to ensure that the portal is stable." He looked around at the assembled party. "However it should allow those of you willing to go to gain entrance into the castle ruins without soliciting any Heartless reactions initially. Of course once they realize where you are it will be another matter entirely."

There was silence as everyone absorbed what had just been said, after what seemed like an eternity Paine stepped forwards.

"I'm going, those monsters killed my husband."

Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo clustered in around her.

"If Mother is going we're coming with her." Kadaj said assertively, his brothers nodded.

Riku shrugged, standing with his cousins and aunt. "Well I was the one who said we have to destroy the heart, so I'm coming too."

"So are we." Said Zack grimly, Cloud, Tifa, and Leon all nodded agreement.

"Well," Sora said with a smile. "I'm not letting Leon go without coming with him."

"I'm going with Sora." Kairi said, Mim looked like she wanted to protest but remained silent.

Roxas looked at Namine nervously, taking a deep breath as she grasped his hand reassuringly. "We're coming too."

Merlin chuckled. "Well I suppose we don't need to ask for volunteers after all."

Mim nodded, looking worried. "Is anyone else concerned about this?"

Zack shrugged. "We beat Xehanort once with a much smaller force, we'll be fine."

Rinoa was kissing Leon fiercely, when they broke the kiss she was glaring. "This is twice now; you'd better come back again."

"Don't worry," Cloud said, "he can't die while Sora still needs looking after."

"Hey I'm not a baby." Sora said in annoyance.

"You're still clinging to that coat like a blanket aren't you?" Riku asked with a smirk.

There were a series of chuckles from others in the room, but then Kairi stepped to his defense. "Oh leave him alone Riku, it's all he has from his Dad after all."

Tifa leaned over and hugged Sora from behind who blushed as his head was squeezed against her chest. "Yeah, leave my little brothers alone. You mess with either of them and you'll have me to deal with."

Sora felt something hard against his arm and looked down at Tifa's hand with a frown; there was a simple band of interlaced gold and silver around her finger.

He looked at Cloud. "When did you get that?"

Cloud's face was a little red as he shrugged, "the store was on fire and it would have been a waste….."

"You stole it!" Roxas exclaimed in horror as his brother trailed off.

Tifa giggled, smiling at Roxas as she continued to lean on Sora. "That just makes it more exciting."

"Uh Tifa," Leon said with a smirk. "I think you're going to absorb Sora into your chest if you keep that up."

Tifa looked down at Sora and winked. "I'm sure he likes it."

Sora's face turned a deeper shade of red and a chorus of laughter answered his discomfort. At least, he thought to himself, everyone could still laugh despite the disaster they were facing, maybe there was still hope after all.