"Now, where'd these two come from? Never saw them on the ship. Did you find them on me ship, Jimbo?" Silver asked, pointing to Saiyoku and Riku, but Jim shook his head, "No. Let them go. They have nothing to do with this."

"Oh, is that so? Well, we'll let them go, that's fer sure… we'll let them go to Davy Jones' locker! Blast them to bits. I've got to open that map." Silver instructed his crew, and several of them grabbed their proton guns and charged them.

"Riku… this would be really good time to open a portal…" Saiyoku said through gritted teeth while he just looked at her in disbelief, "Why me? You can do it too you know. Besides, I thought you wanted to help these people!"

"Have you forgotten? My cloak was destroyed. I can't open a portal now. You know very well that I can't use much of my Dark powers unless I'm wearing that thing because I'm more in the Light than you are. Anyway, I know what I said, but we'll come back when they aren't surrounded by pirates, okay? Now open one!" She hissed.

"Alright, alright. Just make sure you don't knock one in with us. That won't be good."

"Right."

"Fire at will, boys!" Silver shouted, still trying to open the little golden ball; his crew raised their guns and aimed. Saiyoku stood up and kicked behind her at the alien behind her, knocking it back into the hole they had come through.

"Saiyoku, what are you doing!?" Riku shouted, but she stepped in front of him as the shots were fired. The blasts hit her everywhere, but she stood still, "Riku, open the dang portal already! I didn't do this for nothing, I did it so you could open the portal, dang it!"

He regained his composure and opened it, Saiyoku jumping in after him and shutting it behind her. She collapsed to her knees next to him and stripped herself of her jacket so she could see her shoulders and neck. There were a few burn marks from the proton lasers, but thankfully, they seemed to be a bit immune to the weapons in that world as usual. It didn't surprise her that she wasn't bleeding. They never did, not once. It wouldn't matter even if they ran themselves through with their own Keyblades: there still wouldn't be any blood.

"Argh, why did you do that? You just got hurt." Riku scolded her; she glared at him, "Right, because I was supposed to just sit there while both of us got shot. Better just me than both of us. Besides, I was already injured from that steam coming from those pipes. Dang that stupid alien. We need to go back to the Mansion and get me a new Nobody coat. Do you mind?"

"Wha—? No, of course I don't, but why are you so worried about that? If I were you, I'd be more worried about those burns than of your clothing."

"Heh, it's no big deal. It's just a few burns."

"You know, you don't have to be so masochistic all the time. You can be weak sometimes; it's okay to feel helpless. Sometimes that's the best thing; you need to learn to let people care about you more."

"Huh? Where did this come from? Are you feeling okay?" Saiyoku reached up and felt his forehead, but he just groaned, "Forget it. And in all honesty, you're the one who needs to be taken care of…"

"Alright, alright. But, really, it's no big deal," Saiyoku stood up and grabbed her jacket, "It's only a few burns here and there and—argh…" She gritted her teeth and held her forehead.

"Hey, you should start listening to me more often. You really did do it this time…"

"Is it just me, or is the room spinning?"

"Don't go unconscious on me now. At least wait until we get to the Mansion," Riku reached for her shoulder, but she fell before he could grab her, "Agh! Saiyoku…" He picked her up and sighed, "Well, I suppose I can forgive you for this, since it doesn't happen often…"

He carried her out of Betwixt and Between into the Mansion, where he set her down against the wall of the Computer Room; he left her there while he went to go get her a new Organization coat. When he came back, he did what he could to the burns and to the one on her forehead that had caused her dizziness: it was deep enough to have caused internal damage. It was amazing to him that she hadn't realized that she had been hit there.

"You really don't care what happens to you, do you? Wish I could say the same…" He murmured, sitting next to her. He brushed aside a strand of her hair that had fallen in her face and sighed, "What am I supposed to do until you wake up? This is becoming ridiculously annoying… I'm getting sick of staying hidden, but it's for Sora's sake… and yours…"

--

Saiyoku sat up and groaned, holding her head, "Uh, where… am I? Huh? Riku? Riku!" She looked around to find herself on a huge rock formation, a blue heart shaped moon above her surrounded by clouds. "Could that be… could that be Kingdom Hearts!?" In front of her were Terra and Master Xehanort, who was kneeling before the brown-haired teen, a look of defeat on his face. A huge explosion shook the rock face; Master Xehanort looked to the sky and pointed to a huge beam of light behind Terra, a smile growing on his face. He was saying something, but no sound came from his mouth.

They both looked at the huge beam as Xehanort got to his feet, picked up his Keyblade and impaled himself, light pouring from his chest as his heart was released.

"No!" Saiyoku yelled, and tried to stop him by pulling the Keyblade from his hands, but she went right through him, "What? Am I… just an illusion? Or are they the illusion?"

But his heart did not disappear; instead, it stayed above Xehanort and did as its master willed: entered Terra's body. He tried to resist by putting on his armor, but it did nothing. Xehanort disappeared while Terra's helmet fell off, the rest of his armor falling apart... but Terra didn't look like Terra. Rather, he had silver hair and cat-like yellow eyes.

"No… no way… is that…?" Saiyoku backed away, remembering seeing the picture of the same man in Ansem's study, "Terra… is he Ansem? I can't believe it… Terra became Ansem because of Master Xehanort! And… he kind of looks like Xemnas too."

"Are you afraid?" A voice asked behind her, and she spun on her heels, seeing an image of Terra.

"What the—? Terra? But, isn't that you? Wait, why should I even talk to you!? You caused all the worlds to fall into Darkness! It was you! How could you! You had a world of your own! You—mphhh!" His hand covered her mouth. The vision melted away, leaving her and Terra—whose image became whole—alone in Darkness.

"You don't understand so let me explain. Master Xehanort's heart entered my body. He took control of me and I lost part of my heart as I battled him inside. Eventually, I lost. My memory was wiped, and the first thing I said as I came to was the name 'Xehanort'. That became my new alias as I began an apprenticeship with a man named Ansem the Wise. You know him as DiZ."

"DiZ is really Ansem!?" Saiyoku pulled off his hand, but he put it back to silence her again.

"No, he's Ansem the Wise. He took me in and I studied the workings of the heart, my interest in it was fueled by Master Xehanort's thirst for knowledge. I began to be absorbed by my work, but Ansem the Wise wanted me to stop doing my research. I disobeyed him and rallied his other apprentices: most of them are in the Organization now. Dilan, Aeleus, Even, Ienzo, and Braig became Xaldin, Lexaeus, Vexen, Zexion, and Xigbar in Organization XIII along with my own Nobody: Xemnas.

"Eventually, I was able to cast Ansem the Wise to a world he called Zero Dimension, and from thence he called himself DiZ, or Darkness in Zero. I continued my research, took Ansem the Wise's name, and pulled the world once known as Radiant Garden into Darkness, the inhabitants thrust into different worlds. You know some of them as well. One of them was Kairi, the princess of that world. She was sent to your world, while some of the inhabitants that were unable to escape became Heartless and Nobodies. Two of them joined the Organization: Lea and Isa became Axel and Saïx."

"And what's the point on you telling me all this?"

"For you to understand what's happening to you, what happened in the past, and what will happen in the future."

"Are you telling me you can see into the future?"

"No. Now, can I continue? Or are you going to ask more questions?"

"Just hurry it up…"

"That's the me in you."

'What?"

"Nothing. Now, after the world collapsed, I myself was pulled back into the Darkness. I became a Heartless and a Nobody as is natural, and my Heartless continued calling himself Ansem. My Nobody formed the Organization, and here I am, forever haunting you inside your head."

"'Scuse me?"

"Just kidding. But now that you know what happened to me, it's time for you to see what happened to Ventus during our final battle with Xehanort and Vanitas."

The Darkness became brightened by a large circular platform with a stained glass floor. Ventus was standing in the center while a boy wearing the same thing Vanitas had been wearing and holding a double Keyblade floated down to the ground.

"What… is that?" Saiyoku asked, and Terra responded, "The X-Blade. It was formed by Ventus and Vanitas' reunion. They are the same person."

Vanitas raised the X-Blade, and only then did Saiyoku realize the boy's true face.

"S-Sora? Sora, is that you!?"

"That's not your friend. That is still Vanitas."

"But…"

"Look. His hair is black, while Sora's is brown. His eyes are yellow while Sora's are blue. Those are the two major differences that you can see other than a change in clothing. But, I suppose you would be able to tell that Sora has a happier and carefree demeanor than Vanitas, who is the Dark part of Ventus' heart."

Vanitas lowered the Keyblade threateningly, but Ventus merely shook his head as if he knew Vanitas was missing something important but blatantly obvious. He summoned his own Keyblade and took his stance. The Sora look-a-like made a strange face that could've been from him laughing. They both continued speaking inaudibly, but it wasn't long before they took their stances and began to fight. Terra smiled as the scene faded, "You know what happens next. They fight; the thing that's important, though, is what happens after that."

Ventus was floating in midair, in a stance that showed he had just struck down Vanitas. His enemy was flying backward, seemingly caught in slow motion as he desperately reached for the X-Blade that had fallen from his hand. He fell below as the double Keyblade lit up and shattered into thousands of pieces, Ventus' Keyblade doing the same.

Vanitas continued falling, changing to light and fading away, being absorbed into the black platform and enlightening it, Ventus falling among the light and disappearing the same way, his heart leaving him.

"What? No! Ventus!" Saiyoku screamed, but a light tap on the shoulder caught her attention. Ventus stood next to her.

"Ven! What—how—you were just—"

"Saiyoku, relax. You just saw what happened around eleven years ago. It's over and done with. End of story."

"Eleven years ago? Never would've guessed. So, are you going to tell me what happened to you, like Terra?"

"Yep. Now, after I lost my heart, it wasn't long before someone reached out to me. A little boy who looked a lot like Vanitas—"

"Sora! Sora reached out to you?"

Ven laughed, "Yes, it was Sora. He talked to me when I was surrounded by Darkness, kept the Light around me. I explained to him that I had to sleep again. He asked if I was sad, but I only asked him if I could join his heart inside him. He said that if it would make me happy, then yes. My heart went to sleep inside him, and I have stayed dormant inside him. Roxas looks a lot like me, but I am unsure why. Maybe it's because of the bond that Sora and I share. Anyway, when my heart was released, a part of it was separated. It sought to be whole again, and so it joined together with another broken heart inside Kingdom Hearts. That fragment was part of Terra's heart. Kingdom Hearts used its power to fill in the gap, and together, they all became one.

"The heart became a new being, and it lived its own life in a world, completely unbeknownst of what it was or where it had come from."

"Do you understand now, Saiyoku? Do you understand what happened to us? What happened to that heart?" Terra asked, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"The heart lived as its own being… what world did it live in?" She asked, and the two boys laughed a bit before becoming very serious. Ventus looked at her sadly, "Destiny Islands."