Chapter 4

Sora was preoccupied with talking to Kairi the whole time. He would tell Kairi every little story she'd missed, and occasionally,she would cruise up to the side of the ship and wave through the window. Of course, Sora would press his face to the window when she did that. She giggled. Sometimes it was so easy to make Sora happy. Soon,they arrived at Beast's Castle.

A roar erupted from within the castle walls. Kairi waited for the others to come outside from the ship before going inside to investigate."Hello?",she called. No one answered. "This is creepy",she thought. She went upstairs past the foyer and into the study. There, the Beast lay on the ground,unconscious. She ran to him and shook him gently."Beast? Are you okay? Can you hear me?", said Kairi. Beast's eyes flew open and he grabbed Kairi by the neck."Who are you and what are you doing in my home???", he roared at her."Let her go, Beast. That's my friend I told you about. This is Kairi",said Sora.

Beast released her."My apologies. I thought you were part of that group that took away Belle." Kairi eyes momentarily flashed in anger as she remembered the prison."Organization XIII?", she asked."How did you know them?",Beast asked,mystified. "Let's just say I've had a recent encounter with them.",she growled. An encounter was an understatement. Assault was a better term. She smirked."Maybe we can help you find her.", she said.

"That would be great", said Beast.

"Now, let's go back and find her. I think I can track her using one of her possessions."

"You can use her handkerchief I found"

"Alright. Hand it over."

(Kairi concentrates as the piece of cloth becomes surrounded by a white Aura and begins to float in the air.)

"Follow the handkerchief. It will lead you to Belle."

Kairi begins to walk down the stairs, eyes still closed. Sora grabs her arm. "I can still see,Sora. You don't have to hold my hand." Sora blushes, but still holds on to her arm. As they make their way across the parlor, a bunch of Heartless surround them. A figure steps from the shadows. " I see you've escaped,Kairi.",says a familiar voice. Kairi's eyes burst open, and the cloth falls to the floor. Her hands begin to glow with white Aura."Huh. Not a very warm welcome. Oh well,The boss has BIG plans for you, so I'd suggest you come quietly.", says Axel. "Never!",she shouts.

"Very well, have it your way,then." Axel disappears in those black holes,and a giant Heartless appears out of nowhere. "Get back to the ship!", Kairi yells. "No way! I am not leaving you!", says Sora. Donald, Goofy, and Beast stay where they are. "And we're not leaving without Sora!", they scream.

They all fight the giant Heartless,and as the Heartless dies,it falls on one of the pillars holding the room up. As the room begins to collapse,one of the Heartless jumps on Kairi as she runs. The Heartless plunges its hand into Kairi's chest. It pulls out Kairi's heart and starts running away. Kairi screams once and collapses to the floor. Sora turns around and runs back inside the collapsing room. "Where are you going, the ship is THIS way," Donald yells."Aw, he'll get out in time. Let's just get back to the ship.",says Goofy.

Sora runs to Kairi in the center of the room. He gently lifts Kairi's face up. She opens her eyes slowly. She is already beginning to disintegrate very slowly. She sees the pain in Sora's eyes and tears stream down her eyes. He's crying too. "I'll come back to you, I promise.", she says. Then she presses her lips to his as hard as she can manage,their tears mixing. For once, the world is frozen in that beautiful moment. But it doesn't last for long. Soon,Kairi disappears in a cloud of glowing particles. Sora can't stop the tears flowing from his eyes. Impatient Donald runs in and pulls Sora out of the collapsing room.

As they watch the Beast's retreating figure, Donald becomes impatient with Sora. "Stop crying already!!! She said she was gonna come back, didn't she??? Besides, we can't start the ship because you won't stop crying! Most likely, Kairi won't be here when she comes back. We need the Gummi ship so we can go see her, wherever she is." Sora looked at Donald with red eyes. "Why is it always that whenever I see her, something bad happens?" But he finally stopped crying and the ship started up.

Chapter 5

Kairi was swimming, no, floating was a little more accurate, in neverending darkness. She started to forget little things, like her childhood. But she couldn't forget what just happened to her. And she couldn't stop crying. As she continued crying,she started remembering again. The grief and love in both Sora's and Kairi's hearts was so much for each other that Kairi started to glow,and soon she ended up somewhere VERY cold. She sat up, and it was snowing. She was wearing a long, red velvet coat with big, black buttons and a fluffy white collar. She also wore a long-sleeve red dress with black leggings. Silk gloves as white as the snow around her covered her hands, red velvet boots covered her feet, and she wore a very Santa-Clause like hat.

She stood up, and her head was spinning so much that she almost fell over again. A big, green gloved hand caught her hand. "Whoa there, you almost fell over there, Kairi. Are you okay." The voice was not familiar."How do you know my name?", she asked. "Why, I know everyone's name. I'm Santa Clause." She looked at him. He was very fat, with a thick white beard, and he was wearing clothes similar to hers. He smiled at her. "You look cold. Why not come back with me to the North Pole to warm up, and I'll answer your questions?" Kairi was still unsure whether to trust this guy or not. He sensed that."Alright, you can follow me there the North Pole instead of riding with me." She still couldn't speak, and so she nodded.

An hour later,Kairi was asleep in one of the many spare bedrooms Santa Clause has in his cabin. The front door opened and Kairi woke up. There was a tray of milk and cookies beside her bed. She sighed. Mrs. Clause had a bad habit of making cookies whenever there was someone over at their cabin aside from her and her husband. Skeleton Jack walked in with bravado. He looked at Kairi and smiled the creepiest smile you could ever imagine, and yet, it was strangely warm. "You must be a friend of Sandy Claws here. I'm Jack." Kairi shivered in her boots, but she smiled back at him. "Hi. My name's Kairi. Nice to meet ya." Recognition lit up the skeleton's face. "By any chance, do you know a boy named Sora?" Kairi gasped. "You know him too???"

Chapter 6

Sora looked around in the familiar spooky town of Halloweentown. They were all in halloween costumes, and were overwhelmed with fighting Heartless. They finally made their way to the mad scientist's lab. Skeleton Jack greeted them at the door and quickly pulled them inside. "We heard about all the Heartless in town,and we came to help." Skeleton Jack smiled. "Thanks, but that's already being taken care of." Sora was confused,but then he heard singing outside. It was very faint, yet he could make out the words:

Don't turn away

Don't try to hide

Don't close your eyes

Don't turn out the light

Meanwhile, Kairi was dressed in a purple witch's costume with black boots and with a skirt that went a little above the knees at the front to halfway down her calves in the back. A thin, black rope tied the transparent purple robe together over the long, black dress. With a witches' hat (purple) and blood-red nails, she was very hauntingly beautiful. As for her hoverboard, it transformed into an elaborate witches' broom. She concentrated very hard,and thought of all the memories that made her happy. Two balls of light erupted from her hands. One, she put in a mini cauldron she was carrying around. The other she held in her hand. With the other hand, she aimed it at the bristles on her broom.

She funneled the energy from the ball of light into her other hand and out. As she flew, she sang the words to bring the heartless out. The bristles of the broom broke down the energy so that it "snowed" happiness. The Heartless began to chant something she couldn't understand, and began to follow her like zombies. She flew through the forest, and opened up one of the trees and turned it into a gateway that led to their Heartless world. She threw the ball inside, and all the Heartless ran after it.

The skeleton head communicator with its hair tied to the cauldron, began to cackle,and then it began to speak in Jack's voice."Kairi, how are doing with those Heartless?" She severed the skeleton's hair and spoke in the skeleton's ear. "I just lured the last of them away,and I'm going to set a protective barrier around Halloweentown." Jack laughed through the skeleton head. "Okay, but when you're done, come to the mad scientist's lab. There is a surprise waiting for you." Kairi smiled."Alright, but afterward, YOU have to come to Town Square. There, a surprise will be waiting for you." The skeleton cackled. Kairi bonded the hair she cut off the skeleton head back on the skeleton. Once all the Heartless entered the tree,she quickly sealed it. Then she flew to Town Square. Among all the pumpkins, she picked the largest of them and made it ten times bigger. Then she made a Jack-o-lantern out of it and created a glass column. She put the column inside the pumpkin and the ball of light she harbored inside of her mini cauldron inside the column. She put the lid on top of the pumpkin and stood back to admire her work.

Finally, as Kairi entered the lab, it was empty. "Hello?", she called. No answer. Skeleton Jack stepped from the shadows in an attempt to scare her. "Nice try, Jack, but you didn't scare me this time." Jack laughed. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was warm,but she wasn't fooled. "Okay, Jack, but you're kinda overdoing it." Jack's grin grew and grew. "Kairi, I'm over HERE!", he said. Kairi looked to her left, and there was Skeleton Jack with a big grin on his face. The Professor was too short, and Sally's hand would be cold. "Boo",a familiar voice whispered in her ear. "Aaarrgh", she screamed, and jumped 5 feet in the air.(She was holding on to her broom.)Sora burst into laughter underneath her."Sora!!", she screamed. He held out his arms, expecting a hug, apparently. Kairi took her broom and hit him on the head. He groaned and rubbed his head."Don't scare me like that!", she yelled. He smiled apologetically. She smiled and ran to give him a hug. They spun in place as Donald and Goofy came from their hiding places. This hug felt different than any other hug. It felt just,more,well...she didn't know what words would describe this feeling. It felt like part of her had been brought back to life. They released each other, but still hung on to one hand."Aw,Jack. Your present was a LOT better than mine was.",she giggled. She felt real giddy, just because Sora was here, with her."Well, we won't know until we see yours.", said Jack. Kairi waved one hand over her broom, and it fastened into the charm on her necklace. As they made their way to Town Square, Sora released the hand he was holding and put it around Kairi's waist. Blood flooded her cheeks, and she glanced at Sora. Through the black makeup on his face, she could see he was blushing too. Kairi smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder. As they saw the giant Jack-o-lantern in the square,they all gasped, except for Kairi.