Saiyoku yawned, stretching her arms up wide before flipping on her bedside lamp. What a night… Stupid dream kept waking me up… what time is it anyway? She looked at the clock. 12:17 P.M.… What!? She jumped up out of bed and pulled on her clothes, shaking her head hard as a form of 'brushing' her hair. She poked her head out of the room, looking around for any signs of Riku being up.

The kitchen was empty… literally, empty. They couldn't afford to stock up on food, and besides, they didn't stay here constantly.

"Riku?" She called, feeling bad since she overslept. The door to his bedroom was open as well. She peered inside, the room empty as well. She sighed, "Huh… guess he went out for a bit." She jumped onto the couch, sprawled out, yawning again.

"Good afternoon," Riku said as he stepped through the door, making Saiyoku roll her eyes. Just as she was getting comfortable too…

"Good afternoon to you too. And where did you happen to go on this fine Monday noon?" She said, jokingly making her voice sound elegant.

"I went to see what happened to Kairi," his voice and expression became grim, "She's gone. Axel took her. I have no idea what happened to her after that."

"What?" She said in mock horror. Good riddance. You can keep her.

"Yeah. What he wants with her, I don't know."

"You don't sound as worried as I thought you'd be. What are you thinking?" Saiyoku sat up, still spread out on the couch. She cocked her head and raised an eyebrow, curious.

"Sora will find her. The Organization is after him, so if Kairi's with the Organization, he'll end up finding her again. It saves us the trouble."

"Good plan."

They were silent for a while, Riku leaning against the kitchen table casually. Saiyoku took a deep breath and leaned back again, relaxing greatly. The silence was broken not long after, "What was your dream about this time?"

"Huh? How'd you know about it?"

"You have huge bags under your eyes. Its quite obvious you barely got any sleep."

"Okay, so I had another dream. Big deal. It was about the three of them, battling against that Vanitas guy and another man named Master Xehanort. They were in a huge craggy desert area filled with Keyblades. They were all rusty too, like they'd been there forever. Ventus was frozen externally as well, so I don't know what happened after that. That's when I woke up. It repeated again the next time, and the next time. It was like I was supposed to get something out of it, but I can't figure it out."

"Maybe it has to do with that Xehanort guy you mentioned," he offered, automatically knowing who 'the three of them' were.

"I don't know…"

"I have a favor to ask of you…"

"What's that?"

--

"Looks like I've got a lot of explainin' to do," Mickey said, folding his arms. Donald and Goofy straightened up in a form of salute while Sora scratched his head.

"We're listening, Your Majesty!" Donald said, but Sora interrupted, "Okay… but first, I've got a question…"

Leon appeared in the doorway to Ansem's computer room, "Hey, isn't Tron waiting for you guys?"

The three companions looked at Mickey, back to Leon and then back to Mickey again, unsure of what to do.

"Don't worry, I'm not goin' anywhere. If those Heartless attack, I'll stand here and fight with everybody here." The King explained, reassuring Sora.

"Yeah… we will, too."

"Then let's talk more later."

"That's a promise!" Donald said, and his King nodded, "I'll see ya when you get back."

The three turned and followed Leon out of the room, leaving the King alone. He looked around the room and spotted Saiyoku leaning against the wall, as if she had been there the whole time.

"Saiyoku?" He asked, and she looked up, putting her finger to her lips.

"Shh, Mickey, we don't want to let Sora know I'm here. Anyway, it's been a while."

"What are ya doin' here?"

"Riku wants to ask you for a favor."

"Why didn't he come here himself?"

"'Cause Sora's here. He's doing all he possibly can to not let Sora find out what happened to him. Which is what brings me to what Riku wants to ask you to do. Can you not let Sora know that Riku and I are okay? Please, just avoid the subject if that's all you can do."

"Why do ya want Sora to be completely oblivious of you two?"

"Because, if Sora knows that we're okay, then he'll try to come after us more, now that his faith in us being here has been renewed. If he forgets about us, then he can focus on taking out the Organization. Also, Riku doesn't want him to find us. He's afraid of what Sora'll think, though I'm completely against the idea. Riku can be such a moron sometimes…"

The King stayed silent, his tail twitching back and forth underneath his Organization cloak.

"Please Your Majesty, you have no idea how important this is for Riku."

Mickey sighed, "Alright. I guess I owe ya guys one. Odds are I would've never made it out of the Realm of Darkness without you two."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He held out his hand, and Saiyoku crossed the room, grabbing his hand and shaking it. Leon walked in the room at the exact same time.

"Huh? The Organization?" Leon narrowed his eyes.

Saiyoku laughed, "Is Sora in that Computer world-thingy?"

"Why should I tell you anything?"

"Hm… because you know me? If you haven't noticed, Mickey's wearing the same cloak I am, but you didn't mistake him for an Organization member."

He looked harder. Saiyoku could just imagine the little light bulb flicker 'on' when he recognized her, "…Saiyoku?"

"Congrats on figuring that out. It's been a year, and we only knew each other for a short time before I just vanished. I give you props for that."

"How did you…?"

"Escape? Vanish? What? C'mon, finish your sentence," she said teasingly, and Leon shook his head, "Where did you go?"

"Realm of Darkness. Met up with the King. Speaking of which, now that you know that I'm alive… you have to make the same promise His Majesty did. You can't let Sora know that I'm perfectly fine. Got it?"

"But why?"

"'Cause I said so. Just promise so I can get back to where I need to be." Saiyoku tapped her foot impatiently.

"Alright, fine."

"Thanks. See ya!" A portal closed over Saiyoku instantly, disappearing from sight. She didn't feel like heading over to the Land of Dragons just yet, so she reappeared on one of the cliffs in the Great Maw. Thousands of Heartless were moving through the ravine, probably millions.

"What are we going to do about this, Riku?" She muttered to herself, "Are we gonna help out, or are we gonna play it safe and sit back and watch?"

--

Dang it, where is she? She should be here by now… Riku paced back and forth in the snow unconsciously, going over the same tracks he had made over and over again. He ran a hand through his hair nervously. He didn't understand why this bothered him so much, but… she just wasn't here like they'd planned…

"Dang it!" He said, a Dark portal closing around him, reappearing behind her, "Saiyoku! Where the heck were you?"

"Um, right here?"

"You know what I mean. How come you didn't come back right away?"

"'Cause I didn't want to. Besides, the King promised. Sora won't find out. And right now, Sora's the least of our problems. Take a look at that." She pointed down to the ravine beneath them, where thousands of Heartless were trampling the ground, headed in all directions. Some even climbed up to the cliffs and were headed toward Saiyoku and Riku.

"What the…?"

"Yep. This… this is what the Organization is after. You notice? With this many Heartless, you'd think there'd be Nobodies too. But no, the Organization doesn't want them fighting. They want us, the Keyblade bearers, to take all of them out so they can collect the hearts. It was so obvious if you think about it. Why else would they send Roxas on missions to rid the worlds of Heartless?"

"You'd think it would be that easy to figure out… So, what are we gonna do?" He asked, wanting to know her opinion.

"You really had to ask? Fight, of course. Why should we run? Everyone else is fighting, even the King himself. Why run away when we have the chance and the ability to help everyone?"

Riku looked out at the sea of Heartless, "Alright. You have a point."

"Okay then. I'll head this way and take care of any Heartless over there." Saiyoku ran back towards the Bailey before Riku could say anything else. She drew Rising Dawn and took down at least twenty Heartless before they seemed scarcer up on the cliff. She knew more would be headed her way soon though.

Beneath her… was Sora, Donald, and Goofy headed the opposite direction. Saiyoku peered over the edge while she had the chance, but was startled when a Dark portal revealed the blonde guy from the Organization that had been talking to Axel. Demyx, or so she remembered.

As soon as he saw Sora and his friends, he stuttered, scared, but calmed himself quickly, "Hey, you guys are looking lively." His voice echoed inside the huge open space of whatever was left of the once beautiful Hollow Bastion.

"Scram!"

"Didn't we catch you messing around in the Underworld? How'd a wimp like you get into Organization XIII?"

Demyx gasped and stepped back a few steps hesitantly, holding up his hands like he was trying to protect himself.

"I bet you can't even fight." Sora said, and Donald added, "Yeah, but we can!"

The blonde regained his confidence and wagged his finger at them, frowning, "You shouldn't judge anyone by appearance."

The three companions pulled out their weapons and took their stances, sending a stunned Nobody backwards with fright. He turned around after a few steps and tapped his head, "Oh… I told them they were sending the wrong guy… Saïx just never listens. It's always, 'It's for the Organization' this and 'Do as your told' that. Can't a guy ever get some piece of mind and play his sitar?"

Saiyoku crouched down and continued watching, finding the Organization member's antics amusing. Sora just seemed confused, "Who is this kook?"

"Remember, the Organization's made up of Nobodies." Goofy reminded him, and Sora nodded, "Right—no hearts!"

Demyx glanced behind him at this at this statement, "Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad…"

Donald pointed at him, criticizing him, "You can't trick us!"

Demyx faced forward again before flipping around, a decided look on his face while he pointed at them, his expression showing scorn, "Silence, traitor."

Now Sora became utterly confused. Traitor? He didn't even know who the Organization's leader was. Who the heck was Demyx talking to?

"Hmph, Sora, you still don't know about Roxas, huh?" Saiyoku muttered to herself, quickly flipping around and taking out a Heartless that had attempted to sneak up on her before turning back to watch. Demyx was holding up a huge bubble of water in his raised hand. It broke and formed into a huge sitar that was apparently his weapon. He flipped it around and took his stance, pointing out at Sora; he was grinning smugly from ear to ear as if it was a weapon to fear.

Saiyoku stifled her laughs as much as she could without letting them hear. The battle that ensued was hilarious to her. Not really any real fighting, just some water splashes over here, and some water bombs over there. The only thing she could really find harmful was the water nymphs that Demyx summoned.

Eventually, the battle ended, Saiyoku having taken care of a few Heartless as well. Demyx fell to his knees, his sitar bursting back into water and dissolving in his hand. He looked at where it had once been and freaked out, standing up and putting his hands on either side of his head, only to fall back down to his knees in defeat.

"NO WAY!" He yelled, his sonorous voice echoing around the castle ruins. His figure began to dissipate into Nothingness until there was nothing left of the blonde haired Nobody to even tell he was there in the first place.

"Anyone from the Organization who'd like to be next?" Sora threatened, but Donald scolded him, "Hey, Sora! Don't antagonize them!"

Goofy agreed, "Yeah, we gotta go help our friends out first."

Sora put a hand behind his head, lowering his Keyblade, "Oh. Sorry."

"Then let's go!" Donald exclaimed, and he and Goofy stepped forward to join Sora when the King's voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Aha! There you are!" Mickey stood at the base of the steps, angry. He joined the three recalcitrant companions and folded his arms, staring them down. They bowed their heads and waited for their punishment, but the King sighed and softened, "You sure have lotsa friends to help."

The three stood up straight while the King continued, "So, I guess we better all pull together and finish this battle for good!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy said in unison, hands at their sides in salute. Saiyoku heard a strange mechanical noise beside her as they said this, and she turned to see a Surveillance Robot Heartless floating beside her. She swung at it and missed, but it jerked from side to side and shot its twin laser attack, missing Saiyoku but hitting the edge of the cliff beside her. She took it out as it recoiled, but watched in horror as the huge crumbling rocks went flying towards the King.

Goofy managed to see it in time and yelled, "Look out!" as he pushed the King out of the way, getting hit square in the head with the heavy boulder and sliding against the ground headfirst into the other side of the cliff wall. He lay motionless while Sora and Donald sprinted to his side, calling out his name.

The King shook his head in disbelief while Donald shook Goofy's still body, "Hey! You're the King's captain! You gotta get up!"

Saiyoku backed away, her hand on her mouth, "No…" She glanced at her Keyblade and looked away, "Was that… my fault?" She shook her head hard, wanting to say she was sorry, but unable to do so, she ran off to find Riku.