Saiyoku tugged on Riku's sleeve, whining, "C'mon, Riku. I want to show you all the worlds where we change! Like Halloween Town and Pride Lands! It's so cool, and I wanna see what you look like. Please!"

"No."

"But why not?"

"Because, we can't just waltz into other worlds like it's no big deal. This isn't a vacation."

"No one is gonna realize we're from another world. We change to look like them. Sora does it all the time, can't we please go?"

"I said no."

"Fine. Then I'll go by myself." She spun around and stalked out of the Arabian room. The heat was killing her… it was much worse than Destiny Islands in the summer, and not only that, but they were wearing their clothes plus the black pants, elbow length gloves, boots, and Organization cloak on top of it.

Riku chased after her and grabbed her by the forearm. He shook his head, but she wrenched her arm out of his grip and sighed, "You're not my dad, so don't tell me what I can and can't do." Her voice was cold, a contrast to the blazing heat that beat against their bodies. Riku sighed, "I guess there's no stopping you…"

"Glad you see it my way." She smiled and immediately opened a Dark Portal, "We're off to Halloween Town!"

"Great…" He moaned as she dragged him along into Betwixt and Between. As soon as it closed behind them, she pulled off her Organization cloak, pants, boots, and gloves. She set them down and motioned for Riku to take his off, "Why?"

"Because you won't change unless you take them off. I've already been to Halloween Town before, and I only changed in my head because the rest of me was covered in this stuff. So, take it off."

He groaned, but obliged, Saiyoku opening another portal in the mean time. She pulled him through and looked around, making sure there wasn't anybody there… most especially Sora. But then she remembered that he was in Port Royal, so there was no big deal.

When she stepped all the way through, she could feel her fangs grow again, her hair become feathers, and her fingers become clawed. Her eyes changed to the vibrant orange and cat-like slits and the area around her eyes become shadowed. Her clothes just changed to black and silver, nothing much, but the collar around her jacket fanned out like bat wings and her belt buckles now consisted of numerous Halloween-ish items, such as a jack-o'-lantern and a bat.

Behind her grew large black raven wings that matched her hair, and her shoes changed from black boots to feathers and clawed feet. She smiled devilishly at Riku with an 'I-told-you-so' look in her eyes, "See? Isn't cool? I've only seen what happens to my face, but I like what I'm seeing. I wonder…" She stretched her wings to the total wingspan and a strange expression twisted on her face, "Man, that for some reason feels SO good. Like I haven't opened them in so long… weird. See? I told you it was cool. Now get out here." Saiyoku folded her wings against her back again and pulled Riku out of the Dark Portal.

His hair immediately darkened, from the flashy silver hair to a dull dark gray. His pupils didn't change to slits, but his eyes went blood red, more like month old blood, but still very beautiful. A long crescent scar circled from right above his left eye to down and around, ending about mid-cheek. His teeth grew pointed, just slightly longer than Saiyoku's own fangs.

His clothes faded, morphing to the natural Halloween Town colors, and grew torn, tears here and there while other patches held them together. His shoes changed to pointed black cloth boots that wrapped around his feet and up to his knees. His hands were clawed and his collars changed to skin-like bat wings like Saiyoku's collar. Connected to his shoulder blades were long leathery wings that resembled that on his Way to the Dawn Keyblade. The black, red, and deep purple extensions had an even longer wing span than Saiyoku, and her eyes pointedly showed that she was slightly jealous.

Riku took a look at himself before sighing, "Have I amused you long enough?"

"Don't tell me that you don't think it's cool! You have wings like I do …I wonder if we can fly with these things… They're big enough…" She stretched her raven wings out in full, but Riku glared at her, signaling for her to close them and tuck them against her back. He did so as he glared.

"You ruin my fun all the time… you're so strict now. What happened?"

"Ansem happened. I don't look like myself to me. You see me for what I really am, but I still see myself as Ansem. Whatever you think I look like, it isn't what I see myself as now. I'm still him. I didn't change."

"Aww, but you should see yourself! You've got these cool wings like me, well, except yours are more like they're made of skin, and then you have fangs and this really cool scar and all sorts of stuff!"

"Wish I could see… but c'mon, we need to go before someone sees us."

"Fine, since you didn't change, you stand out more. Let's go…" She pulled him back into the still gaping portal and shook her head as one of the feathers dropped to the floor. She pulled on her Nobody cloak and the rest of her items while Riku did the same. "Well, I guess this trip is over…"

"Trip? What trip? I told you that we weren't on vacation, so we need to focus more."

"…on what? Sora's doing fine; I don't see what you're so worried about. I don't even get why we have to watch him all the time… It's really boring and unnecessary. Sure, we can help him out every once in a while, but that doesn't mean that we have to follow him around!" She crossed her arms, scowling.

Riku sighed, "I know that you don't like it, but keeping the Organization away from him is what we're trying to do. They never know we're there thanks to these things," he tugged on his coat, "but why I think we need to watch him all the time is not because I think he can't handle it on his own, but because the Organization is going to go after Roxas. If we keep the Organization away, the less chance of them awakening Roxas and then we'll have a huge problem with Sora."

"But Roxas left the Organization. He's not gonna want to go back, is he? I'm sure he's happy that he met his original self and is still alive and not fading into Darkness. Why would he go back?"

"You never know. Sometimes… people change their mind about things that they think they already decided a long time ago…" He slid past her, but she grabbed his shoulder roughly and glanced behind her, "You're referring to yourself, aren't you? Just because you don't like Roxas… which by the way I am very surprised… but, just because you don't like him doesn't mean that you can say what you want about him. He's Sora's Nobody. He changed his mind. Does Sora change his mind about that kind of stuff?"

"No, bu—"

Saiyoku covered his mouth with her hand as she sighed, "Riku, do yourself a favor, and SHUT UP."

--

"Explain to me again why we are in this Godforsaken desert?" Saiyoku asked no one in particular, dying of heat underneath the cloak, "Can we go back to that Halloween Town/Christmas Town? Please? It was snowing there, somewhere I'd rather be in after this heat."

She was relaxing on the edge of one of the commoner's roofs, hands behind head and her coat sprawled open to cool her off. She muttered to herself since Riku was busy finding out Sora's coordinates. He kept going on about how they needed to watch Sora to keep the Organization away, but if he hadn't noticed by now… not a single one has shown their face while they were watching. On the other hand, Sora had probably already encountered some of them, so what was the point? He could take care of himself. He did so before, and he can do it again.

"Agrabah! We made it!" Donald's voice pierced the hot air, and Saiyoku immediately sat up from the roof. Great… another excuse for us to stay here… oh good-y. She zipped up her coat and backed up a bit, just in case they decided to look up.

"Gawrsh, I wonder how Aladdin 'n' Jasmine are doin'?" Goofy said as he walked through a tunnel with Sora.

"Hey, maybe Riku and Saiyoku're with them!" Sora offered enthusiastically, and Saiyoku had trouble stifling her laughs, "Sora, you have no idea…"

"Yeah, and the King!" Goofy agreed, hoping to see Mickey around sometime. Suddenly, a big red parrot passed by Saiyoku's head, making her freeze so the bird wouldn't notice her. It dropped down a bit so it could see the three travelers down below.

"Keep dreaming, you two," Donald shook a finger at them, but Sora smiled, "C'mon, Donald. You were thinking the same thing."

"No, I wasn't!"

The parrot followed behind them at a safe distance, but unluckily for the bird, Goofy turned around to see it.

"Uh oh, it's uh… um… It's Iago!" Goofy shouted, his companions stopping dead in their tracks. Sora spun around, Keyblade already in hand, while Donald pulled out his staff. The bird flapped right in front of them shouting, "Wait! You got me all wrong!"

Donald responded, but Saiyoku missed it when she pieced together the scene, "Did that bird just… talk? Hm, well, I suppose it really shouldn't surprise me."

She turned around to find Riku standing behind her, scaring her just as badly as though he had spoken to her, "My gosh Riku, would you cut that out! Jeez, I hate it when you do that and you know it!"

"I know. I just like your reaction every time. It's hilarious."

She kicked him in the shin for that one, but turned her attention to the travelers and the bird. Riku bent over, holding his shin and grimacing in pain. Note to self… don't say stupid things like that. Why the heck do I say those things? It only causes me pain…

"So, how did you convince him to come here?"

"Huh? Oh, easy. Just give off the 'Riku and Saiyoku're here' vibe." He said jokingly, thankful that it at least lightened her mood. She hated this place, and she had every right. I mean, this place is a freaking desert. Still, I suppose I should let her pick where to go next, since I've made her do everything so far. Hmm… yeah, I guess I'll let her make a few extra choices. Sora's voice interrupted his thoughts, "So. Free as a bird, huh?" Irony is not what I'm looking for… Riku thought, and decided to listen with Saiyoku.

"Have fun!" Donald shouted at Iago, but Goofy added, "Gawrsh, fellas. He looks pretty sad."

The parrot perked up and flew over, landing in Goofy's hands, "I wanna apologize to Aladdin and Jasmine. Could you guys maybe put in a good word for me?"

"Sure, we can do that, can't we?" He looked at Sora and Donald for reassurance. They both had untrusting skeptical expressions, which didn't help Iago feel very good about his chances. None of the three companions noticed the Arabian Heartless brandishing swords to the side until Iago flew up yelling, "Watch out!"

"Oh boy." Riku said, but Saiyoku grinned, "He's fine. He can handle some Heartless."

Sora and pals drew their weapons, surrounded by the Heartless. As the spiky head took out the Heartless, more just kept popping up, big and small alike. Pretty soon, they were back where they started.

"Argh, where are they all coming from?" Sora groaned, the Heartless closing in.

Riku turned to Saiyoku in mock imitation, "'He's fine. He can handle some Heartless.'"

"Oh shut the heck up."

A huge commotion drew their attention back to Sora and the group, where Iago was panicking and running into stuff all over the place, the Heartless being either distracted or blocked by whatever he did. Sora took the chance and pointed to the alleyway to their side, "This way!" They took off, Iago screaming and flying every which direction while following them.

Saiyoku scratched her head, "I still can't wrap my mind around the talking bird."

"We live in a universe where Nobodies, Heartless, Darkness, and different worlds exist, and where Sora's other friends are a talking dog and a duck, the king is a mouse, and you can change forms in specific worlds. Yet you CAN'T wrap your mind around the fact that there is a talking parrot?" Riku asked her, skeptical. She shrugged, "I don't get it either, but it's really freaking me out. Birds shouldn't talk."

"I question the inner workings of your mind… There's something wrong with you…" Riku muttered, but he received a nice whack to the back of his head as Saiyoku passed him to follow the travelers. He instantly regretted adding the last sentence, shaking his head at himself. And the idiocy continues… Note to self, 'note to self's don't work.