Author's note: My oh my, it's time to update already xD. I'm so excited to post these next few chapters; they were my favorite to write and contain some of my best writing and story-telling. You just wait—you'll see why I'm so excited. ;3 Can't wait to read what you guys think of it! Thanks to Crescentrax, Ravlia, SSBTMM, Crystal4458, and Naivette for reviewing the last chapter, by the way (;

I was hoping to post this yesterday afternoon, but the site wouldn't let me log in. =/ But here it is now! Alright, I'll stop babbling. Enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen: Gone

Riku

This wasn't the first time Riku had such a sinking feeling in his stomach. The first time that he really felt this terrible was when he was spying on Steph and her dad in Twilight Town a little over a week ago. Not only did he feel sick that she went against her word and saw him, but he was worried sick when her dad realized that they were being watched and managed to shake him off their trail.

Now, the situation was like that but so much worse. Now he had no clue where Steph was at all. All that he could assume as that she was with her father.

"This is my fault," Queen Andrea said. She was currently pacing her office, the same room she and Riku met in countless times the past week. She had been even more of a mess than before when she found out that Steph escaped the castle and went to seek her father on her own. The two of them still had no clue how she managed to escape. All that they knew was that it happened sometime within the past twelve hours. It was morning now, and the last time Riku saw Steph was a little after dinner that previous night. When he returned from meeting the Queen, it was late. He only glanced at her bed and saw either her or pillows under the sheets and assumed she was asleep there.

You say it's your fault, but it's really mine, Riku thought as he leaned against the wall. I'm the one who went against her in the first place. Telling you the way I had to get back at her for not trusting me was a mistake. Now she doesn't trust me at all. What was he supposed to do now? He wanted to chase after her, but he didn't know where she went. She left no clues behind. Not a single one.

"If I had only listened to what she was trying to say," Andrea continued, shaking her head. You're not the only one who's wishing that. I'd give anything just to have her here….Riku was incredibly ticked off, but that anger was mostly directed at himself. He ignored her. Chased her away. Chased her off so she ran into a dangerous situation on her own.

Or maybe she wasn't on her own. That was where his other thought came in. Steph wasn't the only person who was missing from the castle. Gregory also disappeared sometime yesterday. Was it coincidence that he vanished the same day Steph made her escape? Riku didn't think so. Gregory was an accomplice, and if he had Steph alone, he'd probably hurt her somehow. Riku would never trust that traitor, even if Steph trusted him with her life. He didn't like that at all. The only person he wanted Steph trusting completely was him, because he'd never purposely let her down. He just…He screwed up a lot lately by not listening to her. Losing her trust was one of many errors on his side.

Oh, what he'd do to take it back.

A knock on the door interrupted him. "Come in," Steph's mom called.

Gregory's nephew, Nathaniel, entered.

"Your Majesty," he greeted calmly, dipping his head faintly in respect to the queen before he looked to the other young man in the room. "Riku. You two wanted to see me?"

"Yes, shut the door, please," Andrea said. She was being polite despite her concerns, but Riku wasn't going to be. He was in charge of keeping Steph here; obviously he failed in that task. He wouldn't fail in bringing her back. He'd get information from Nathaniel to chase Steph down and protect her. And cherish her like he was supposed to in the first place.

Nathaniel shut the door. That was when Riku spoke up from his seat. "Where's your uncle?"

The teen blinked as if he was oblivious of a problem. "He's on vacation. He said that he had permission from you, Your Majesty."

Riku looked to the queen who was shaking her head. "I don't remember that at all."

"Where did he go?" Riku asked.

"I'm not sure exactly," Nathaniel said as he shifted his gaze to the ground. "His travel plans got changed at the last minute."

"You don't know where your uncle is on vacation? Right…" the Keyblader said skeptically, giving Nathaniel a look. When he didn't say anything in response, Riku pressed him further. "Look Nathaniel," he stated, pushing himself up and slowly stalking towards the teen that was about his size. "I'm sure you know exactly what's going on. Why we called you here. Why we don't believe that your uncle's on vacation."

"No?" Nathaniel said dumbly, not stepping away when Riku stopped right in front of him. But it was obvious he was lying. He knew something more than what he was saying.

"Oh, well then allow me to enlighten you," Riku offered lowly. "Steph's gone missing the same day as Gregory. She trusts him with her life, so if they're both gone, they're together. And you're left here to cover their tracks. Does that sound accurate? Ring a bell at all?"

"No…"

"Nathaniel," Andrea said with a sigh. She was suddenly right next to the two boys, ignoring Riku's glare directed at Nathaniel as she spoke to the young man. "We need to know where they are, for Steph's safety."

"I wish I could help, but I can't. I don't know where they are."

"But you know they're together?" Riku asked, catching onto how he said "they" instead of keeping them separate. That implied they were traveling with each other. Nathaniel seemed to catch onto his error too late. Yes, they were definitely together. "How much do you know?"

"Nothing."

"I don't want to have to do anything to you, Nathaniel," Queen Andrea said quietly. "But this is my only daughter we're talking about. I lost her once already; isn't that enough?"

How could that response not soften Nathaniel up? Riku already felt bad enough for Queen Andrea. Despite her harsh treatment of Steph this past week, she wasn't a bad mother. In fact, she realized early on that treating Steph this way was a huge error. But she couldn't bring herself to apologize; then she'd break down in front of the daughter she needed to be strong for. If Terry was alive and in the Darkness, Steph would run off into a dangerous situation. Andrea's greatest fear was that her husband was already lost. She didn't want to lose her daughter as well, which was why she tried to keep her locked up, safe. But her actions chased her away instead.

"I'm sorry," Nathaniel said, bringing Riku away from his current thoughts and back to the moment. "I don't know where they are. …They purposely didn't tell me."

"So they did leave together?" Riku stated. They must have. "You helped them escape, didn't you?" The teen across from him was silent once again. "Nathaniel, I swear-"

"Do you know how much trouble you're in for defying me?" the queen asked Nathaniel. The interruption silenced Riku. "Even if I didn't want to, there's the law that I have to uphold."

"I know. My uncle and I both knew what we were getting into."

Riku glanced at Queen Andrea. She seemed to be debating on what to do with him. She believed that Nathaniel and Gregory were both great people, but Riku wasn't convinced. Gregory had a hand in Steph's kidnapping before and Nathaniel liked flirting with her to tick Riku off. Neither of them were good in Riku's eyes. But it didn't matter what he thought.

"Nathaniel…I need you to have your things packed within twenty four hours and leave the castle," Steph's mom finally decided. Riku gave her a startled look as his hands naturally curled into fists. That was it? That was all the punishment he was getting for being an accomplice to helping Steph escape?

Obviously he was willing to accept the lightest punishment. "I'll get on it right away," Nathaniel said quietly. He dipped his head faintly in respect and then turned around to leave. In silence, he exited the room and left Riku alone with the queen once again.

"That's all you're going to do to him?" he said as soon as the teen was gone.

"Yes, that's all I'm going to do. He's a good kid, whether you believe it to be true or not." Instead of giving Riku the chance to interrupt, she continued speaking. "We need to focus on tracking down Steph and Gregory. It should be easier to track down the two of them rather than just one missing person."

"I can smell his Darkness a mile away," Riku said lowly. He hated Gregory. Could anybody really turn away from the Darkness completely and serve the Light when they still fed the Darkness in their heart? Riku knew a lot about Darkness, so he didn't think it was possible. He believed Gregory would either switch back to serving dark lords (if he wasn't already) or continue to serve the Darkness like he was secretly doing now. Either way, he was a doomed man. And so was Nathaniel since he was in the family.

"Riku?"

"Huh?" he said dumbly. Did he miss something?

"Will you go look for them?" the queen asked, speaking as if she already asked the question. It wasn't one that she really needed to ask, though. The answer was so obvious to Riku that he answered with absolute confidence in himself.

"Of course, Your Majesty. I'll not only search for them, but I'll find Steph and bring her home. I swear I won't let anyone hurt her."

But it didn't matter what he would "let" happen or not. Some things just happened.

*…*…*…*…*…*

Steph

Running away from home wasn't easy in any aspect. Not only was it difficult to formulate a plan that would actually work, but executing it was nearly impossible. Nathaniel was key to making it happen. I wondered what was going on with him right now, but I couldn't focus on him. Nathaniel insisted that he knew what he was getting into when he helped me escape. Gregory, too. While Nathaniel lingered in the castle to cover the night-time escape, Gregory accompanied me on my journey to track down my dad. We had only been gone about twelve hours on our search. Twelve hours and no sign of my dad.

I wasn't surprised, though. My dad never revealed himself when there was somebody else around. And I didn't think that he was watching over me right now, since we weren't in Twilight Town. There wasn't any "we" right now; I was currently without Gregory. We both knew how this plan would have to work. As soon as Riku realized that I was missing, he'd follow the only clue that he had: Gregory's sent. If Gregory could lead him on a wild goose chase and buy me some time, I'd have a better chance of finding my dad. So Gregory was doing that right now while I was in another world to take care of a personal matter.

I was at Disney Castle.

This wasn't my real destination, though. I needed King Mickey's help to get there. I was going to face Sorceress Isabella on my own and get the answers I had sought for so long. I would face my fear of her and deal with the rage that built up inside of me. Today, I would get revenge and make sure that justice was served for all that Isabella did to me.

Was it dangerous to go in alone? Absolutely. Did I care? Not anymore.

I did feel a little guilty for lying to King Mickey about my reason for being here, though. I had no choice but to tell him that there was something suspicious in Twilight Town that he needed to check out right away. I told him Riku was waiting there for him but my boyfriend insisted that I stay in Disney Castle to be away from the danger. He immediately bought the story and left me alone as he hurried off to "assist Riku." It didn't matter what happened once he realized there wasn't any danger. By then, I would be done with Isabella and gone again. I'd have to deal with the consequences of my actions after I rediscovered my dad.

"C'mon, there's got to be something here," I mumbled to myself as I searched the drawers in Mickey's desk. I had to find an item that would allow me to go to the Realm Between so that I could face Isabella.

There was something in the bottom drawer, something that made me stop my frantic searching. It looked like it was the same material as Riku's Gummi ship, but it was shaped like a star and would fit into the palm of my hand. The glow from it was unnaturally bright, mystifying. I reached for it and pulled it out of the drawer before I could stop myself. What is it…? I held it up to the light as I stared at it. Suddenly, the light got brighter and brighter. This wasn't because of the ceiling lights.

In panic, I squeezed my eyes shut and felt the star shard teleport me somewhere else against my will.

Where ever I landed, I was standing solidly on my own two feet. Nothing was within arm's reach for me to lean on, which was alright, since I didn't need anything to keep my balance. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked at the star shard in my hand. It was still glowing, but it was a soft glow now. It seemed like I was going to stare here for at least a little while. But where was here? And how did the star shard bring me here without me doing anything? I looked around and surveyed the area. My eyes widened and my heart pounded because of the area that I immediately recognized. This void where nothing existed…Where the sky was blue and green and silence naturally lingered in the air…The place where dark powers were bound by this realm.

This was the Realm Between. And in front of me was the person who was trapped here by Mickey, Riku, and Sora.

"I wasn't expecting you to come, daughter," Isabella said. She was unreadable at this moment, even to me. Maybe I grew up ignorant to her being a selfish witch, but I knew how to read her mannerisms. I knew the tick in her eye that came whenever she was mad, or the sly smile that started forming on her lips whenever she had a clever idea. There was also a glow in her eye that I occasionally saw, though this glow wasn't a bright glow that revealed happiness. It revealed a hunger within her. Hunger for power, most of the time. Or somebody's misery to feed off of. Most of the time, the misery was mine. "Why are you here?"

"I found him," I managed to say. My voice was more choked than I wanted, but stern all the same. "I found my father."

"Oh, you mean the man I married," she said, feigning concern or ignorance. Maybe both. "How is he?"

"Fine. He's alive, isn't he? Even after you tried to get rid of him, he's still here." But I wasn't just speaking about him physically being alive. He was alive in my memories. I could recall him in my childhood.

"It didn't matter whether he was dead or alive, just gone," Isabella said absently, waving a hand through the air. I felt rage building up in my veins.

"I'm not just talking about him physically," I declared. "I remember him, Isabella. The memories that you suppressed are brought back to the surface again."

"Yes, I know."

I blinked in surprise.

The witch laughed. "That was the point all along, dear. I don't care that you found my husband; I care that you searched and recalled your childhood. It's messed up, isn't it? You're so screwed up because of everything I've done that there's no hope of redemption." I didn't speak, mouth agape as her eyes sparked. "You're still so naïve, though. You won't even admit to the change within your heart. You have to realize by now that the darkness has crept in because of all this."

I didn't admit to it, but I felt it. The lust for revenge, the coldness, everything. Hate and bitterness, sorrow and the wish to be in solitude. I wasn't on the path to the Light anymore."…So what if it has?" I managed after a minute.

Again, a shrill laugh left her lips. "The line has blurred, hasn't it? The Light and the Darkness aren't so easy to tell apart now. Is it alright to take a dark path for a light ending? Or to take the path of Light for your own selfish, dark purposes? It's all about where your heart is. And yours is swimming in Darkness."

"It is not," I said weakly, shaking my head as I turned away. "I'm not…that terrible. I'm following a dark path, but I'm not…"

"Not what?" she prodded. "Not…like me?"

The thought hadn't even surfaced in my mind, but… "I'll never, ever be like you," I whispered hoarsely.

Isabella only smiled. "You already are."

I heard a noise behind me, so I suddenly spun around on my feet. I wasn't prepared for what I saw, because in the back of my mind, I thought that maybe Riku managed to track me down and arrive here. Or King Mickey saw through my lies and was here to drag me out of this realm. Or Gregory somehow managed to get here and check up on me. Instead, another entity stood directly in front of me. It was myself. Me, with Isabella's cold dark eyes and stature. Everything else was just like me, as if I was looking in a mirror.

"You can't deny it," the copy said lowly, smiling softly in wickedness as she approached me. "When you look into my eyes, you see yourself. Where you've fallen."

"You're lying…" I stuttered as I backed away. It wasn't true!

"Stop being so naïve and accept the Darkness that's rising in your heart. You're already walking the path of one in Darkness, so why don't you simply put your heart into it? You'll have even more success in your endeavors."

I scoffed, stopping where I was and shaking my head. "You're wrong," I said more calmly. These were lies I could easily deflect. "The only 'success' will belong to Isabella. She's the one who wants me to turn to shadow, not me. I'm not like that." I shifted my gaze to the sorceress. "Every person stumbles sometimes. They walk down a path that they aren't destined for and get lost. But eventually, I'll find a crossroad. I'll get back on the path to Light and leave you behind in the dust."

"Strong words," Isabella stated, unconvinced. "But meaningless. I'll continue to influence your life long after the day that I'm gone forever. I'll live on inside of you."

That brought up the reason why I was here. While holding the Star Shard in my left hand, I flexed my right and summoned the sword I hadn't used in months. "You know, you're probably right," I said lowly as I pointed the weapon at her. "You will influence me after you're gone. But eventually your effect will wear off. There'll come a day where I don't think of you at all. I'll make that day come more quickly by getting rid of you now." …I'll kill you.

Isabella didn't flinch in any way. "Kill me now and your path will be set for certain. The Light won't take you back after you murder somebody."

I scoffed without giving up my position. "You really don't know anything, do you?" I asked. I thought this over already, clearly. "If the Light doesn't take back people who kill others, how do my friends Sora and Riku still walk in the Light? They've killed to save others before."

"You just answered your own question," the witch said smoothly. "They kill to save. Why are you killing? I'm no threat to your realm; I'm trapped here, in case you didn't notice. You want to kill to satisfy your own lust for revenge."

"And Riku and Sora didn't fight to get revenge?" I challenged.

"Perhaps that was a motive. But they kill to protect above all else. You already know as much."

As much as I hated to admit it, she had a point. Did that mean I couldn't kill her? If I did, there was no turning back. Was I willing to make that move? Was I willing to risk it all just to see her dead?

"You're all talk," Isabella laughed, sensing my thoughts. "You don't have the guts to actually follow through." The witch started walking towards me calmly despite my outstretched arm, the sword staying trained on her as she approached. What was she doing now? She stepped to my side and set a hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes as she spoke softly. "Don't you see that you've already thrown it all away? There will be no way to regain your relationship with any of your family or your friends. You've betrayed them by turning away from the Light."

Get your hand off me, witch, I mentally growled. But I didn't move for some reason. Maybe because there was just a little bit of truth in her words.

"Stop this nonsense," she whispered in a voice as smooth as silk. "You're not going to kill me, so don't even pretend. You wouldn't kill your own mother."

"You're not my mother!" I suddenly snapped. While I didn't swing my sword at her, I did back out from underneath her hand. I took several steps back and felt my back come against another figure. Myself.

"Listen to her," the clone insisted quietly, smiling softly at me.

"I won't! You…You're not even real!" I finally realized. "You're just an illusion, created by this realm. I'm not afraid of you."

"But you are afraid of becoming me. That's good enough for me."

"Shut up!" I swung my sword at the figure and she vanished before my eyes. That only confirmed that she really was something that I created in my mind. Or rather, something that the realm created. I still remembered what Riku told me a long time ago: this realm would create illusions if a heart was vulnerable to them because of strong emotions. And unfortunately, that defined me at this current moment. In the background, I could practically hear Isabella snicker at my rash show of emotions. Quickly, I lifted my eyes to her and gritted my teeth. "You will pay for all you've done," I promised lowly.

"Then make me pay, daughter. Kill me here and now."