Time to update already? Where does the time go? Well, no matter the case, here is an EXTREMELY exciting chapter for you guys. Again, one of my favorites.

Thanks to Mezwantzyvs, ElitePeach64, Aimlesshadow and Naivette for reviewing the last one, hope you all (and the other readers lurking) can drop me another quick review)[/endbegging]

Chapter Fifteen: Head on Collision

Riku

"Riku, would you PLEASE tell me what's going on?" Kairi hissed in his ear. She hadn't given him much peace ever since they were alone, and they had only been alone five minutes top. They were camped out on the top of one of the buildings in Twilight Town, the roof flat so they could walk around on it. Neither of them were walking though; they were staying low and watching the center of the marketplace court where Gregory stood. Steph could come out at any time to meet him, and when she did, Riku would be there to make sure she didn't run off again.

"Kairi-" he started as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did she have to be so pushy?

"Now, Riku. I noticed the death glare you gave me when Gregory was around, so I waited till now. Tell me what's up."

He sighed, glancing over at her briefly before he looked back to the man who was casually leaning against a building. "Long story short, Steph recently discovered that her dad's alive. She lived most of her life thinking he was dead."

"Oh my…That's terrible," the redhead whispered.

"She and I worked on tracking him down, but when we finally found him, he reeked of Darkness. So I smothered Steph with protection to keep her away from him, but then she ran off on her own to rediscover him. And I was stupid enough to think Gregory was with her. When I found him, he said he was just a decoy. But now I'll use him as bait to draw Steph out. She has to be here somewhere…"

"Are you sure that's wise, Riku?" Kairi asked softly, gazing at him with soft blue eyes.

Instead of giving a confident answer like he normally would have, the young man shook his head. "I don't know anything anymore, Kairi," he said quietly. "All I know is that I really care about her, and if she keeps being reckless like this, she'll get hurt. I need to do something to change the direction this is going."

"Any plans on how to fix this?" she asked as she knelt down beside her best friend. She set a hand on his shoulder supportively, her gaze unwavering as she kept her voice low. "You always have a plan on how to fix problems…"

"And lately, those plans have made things worse," Riku said lowly. He lifted a hand and ran it through his short hair, shaking his head as well. "I think I'm done with the plans. From now on, I just need to follow my heart."

The last sentence brought a small smile upon Kairi's face. "It'll never lead you astray," she assured him softly, squeezing his shoulder before she looked back down at Gregory. He was still the only person there; Steph hadn't shown up yet. Maybe she wasn't even there. No, she was—Riku's gut didn't lead him astray often. He was still a little ticked that he was duped so easily. And now, Gregory had to meet Steph in a public place. This truly was a brilliant plan, much better than any plan that Riku had come up with lately to keep her safe. That would change when he saw her next. Of course he would scold her for being reckless, but he would also give her a hug and kiss her and swear to never chase her off again. She did need his protection though, and he would give it. Just more subtly.

Beside him, Kairi kept her eyes out over the area. Regulars of Twilight Town passed by, living their ordinary lives with no idea that there was something more going on here. And they wouldn't know as long as Riku had his way; once Gregory was with Steph, he'd lead her out of the crowd to Riku. Nobody would know that anything was wrong. Until that time, though, he had to be patient. Steph would come out of hiding soon enough.

Steph

"No sign of Kairi anywhere," I said as I walked down the steep hill by the train station. "She wasn't at the station or at the beach."

"I know," Sora stated as he walked a few feet ahead of me. For the fifth time since we landed on the world, he lifted a hand and ran it through his hair in frustration. "I hope she landed here. It was hard to tell by looking if it was here or Radiant Garden…" He paused, glancing around the area and debating about going to Hayner's usual spot. But then he shook his head as if to chase off the idea. "There are still more places to check out; let's head to the marketplace."

I hummed and nodded, following behind him as we headed towards our destination. We hadn't been on this world long, and we wouldn't be here much longer as long as Sora had a say in it. He was worried about Kairi, even if she was capable of fighting. With that thought in mind, I spoke my mind. "I'm sorry for bringing this on you guys."

Sora shook his head, waving it off with his hand. "Don't worry about it," he said as he glanced over his shoulder at me. As always, there was a smile on his face. "Friends always get each other in trouble. And out of it." His sweet words brought a smile to my lips. He could be a real goof sometimes, but he was sincere and sweet. I could see why Kairi adored him so much.

The two of us descended the hill into the marketplace, the bus passing by us as we entered the semi-crowded area. Right up ahead, I could see the shop where I used to work. It was so weird to be back here again; these days, it felt more like home than Cadia did. And speaking of Cadia…I stopped walking suddenly, seeing a person from that world standing up ahead. Gregory was leaning against a building casually, not facing my direction.

When he noticed that I stopped, Sora paused as well. "What's wrong?"

"Gregory's here," I said softly, keeping my focus on him. "He's not supposed to be here yet."

"So…what does that mean?"

"Something must be wrong; I should go talk to him." But Kairi…I felt guilty, so I wanted to search for her too.

"Do what you have to do," Sora said as he read my mind. "I'll search the rest of town. Gregory could be here because of your dad."

Right, Dad. I need to get on track with that; time is short. "Okay, I'll catch up with you soon," I said to Sora, giving him a nod in farewell. He gave me a similar gesture before I started off in a jog towards Gregory. When I was closer to him, I noticed him lift his gaze and take note of my presence. His unreadable expression did nothing to comfort me.

"Gregory. Hey," I said in greeting, though this obviously wasn't going to be a casual conversation. He wasn't supposed to be here; he was supposed to be going to other worlds.

"Your Majesty," he greeted with a small nod. He still wasn't giving me any guidance about what was going on by his tone or expression.

"What's wrong?"

"It's something we need to discuss in private," he said lowly. His hand found my upper arm and he started leading me away from the scene, towards the area where Riku was planning on intercepting me. I remained blindly ignorant, following Gregory while only worrying about whatever brought him here. Did he hear news of something going on in Cadia? Did he hear anything about my dad? Or maybe something was wrong with Riku…

I wouldn't find out any time soon, because all of a sudden, there was something else we needed to worry about. A loud crashing sound reverberated throughout the area, a screeching following it. I tore my arm out of Gregory's and lifted my hands to my ears, covering them and squeezing my eyes shut. What was that?

The unearthly scream ended a few seconds later, so I timidly opened my eyes to try and see what caused the commotion. My ears still rang as I looked around, though I didn't have to look long to see the problem. Heartless. Tons of them.

The earth was practically black with the swarm of shadows that were flooding into the marketplace. Around me, people screamed in fear and fled to find shelter. They knew how to fight but they knew that this wasn't a fight that they could win. Right now, I wasn't so certain I could win it either. But fleeing wasn't a choice; Gregory and I were already surrounded. "Looks like we have no choice," I murmured both to myself and Gregory. It was time to fight.

"We'll have our hands full, that's for certain," he said lowly. His back was pressed against mine as he summoned his sword, his green eyes glaring at the shadows that were surrounding us.

"Just a few shadows. They're the weakest out there. But I wonder why they're swarming here…" It was so completely random.

"No time to wonder about that," Gregory responded shortly. "Besides, I think we have another problem."

Why? What's wrong? I thought to ask. I didn't find my voice quickly enough to ask, and within a few seconds I discovered the answer for myself. The large stomps alerted me to a larger threat. Literally larger. My bright blue eyes darted over the area as I searched for the source. Then it appeared.

A Darkside.

"Oh, this is just terrific," I mumbled sarcastically. Regardless, I summoned my sword into my grasp and held it firmly by my side. If my mother knew about this, she'd scold me for not using a bow and arrow. I hardly cared what she thought about my fighting techniques though; this battle would be too harsh for just a bow and arrow. We would be fighting for our lives.

The Heartless charged in towards the two of us and the fight began.

Riku

"Riku, left!"

The young man spun to his left, slashing the Heartless that nearly reached him. Stupid, he mentally swore, eyes narrowed as the Neoshadow faded into the air. The fight was lasting too long. The longer this went on, the more nervous he became about Steph. She had been fighting alongside Gregory for a while now and was doing alright, but Riku wanted nothing more than to join her. He couldn't though; he was busy protecting Kairi.

"Go join Steph, Riku!" Kairi hissed, swinging her Keyblade at an enemy. "You're more of a liability to both of us here."

"That's a lie," he panted. Kairi was a good fighter, but she couldn't stand her own here without him. If anything happened to her, Sora would kill him. Little did he know that Sora was here in Twilight Town as well, fighting his own battles to try and get to Steph. The Heartless weren't letting up in the slightest; if anything, they were getting harder. Riku was a "pro"; he could handle all these enemies. But he didn't have that same faith in Kairi and Steph; they weren't so experienced with the Heartless.

"Whenever I get the chance, I can try and make a run for it."

"There's no escape."

"I'll make one."

"Kairi, it's not that simple!" Riku boomed.

"Riku!"

"Gah." He grunted, taking a small step back when a Heartless scratched at his chest. He briefly lifted a hand to his chest, eyes shutting briefly before he opened them again and killed the beast. Instead of him killing it, though, he only wounded it. It was Kairi who unleashed a powerful spell and finished many of the Heartless that were surrounding them on the rooftop. And despite the power of that spell, Kairi still had enough energy to cast a healing spell on Riku.

"Right now, I think you just need to get out of here. You're going to get hurt if you keep fighting like this."

"And others will get hurt if I don't," he said lowly. "There's no escape here Kairi. We both fight."

"Fine, but we need a plan. We need to either stand our ground here or come up with a better idea on how to reach Steph. The Heartless are especially concentrated in her area."

"I know that," Riku said bitterly. "Why do you think I'm such a nervous mess?" He chucked his Keyblade at a Heartless going for Kairi while she was slashing at another one, aggravation in his expression. This was getting old. And he felt pathetic letting Kairi take charge here; he was the natural leader, not her. He was falling short once again in his life.

Suddenly, Kairi gasped. "Riku, look!"

He did look where Kairi was looking. And then he saw the person that was leaping the different balconies to reach their roof. "Mickey," he gasped. What was he doing here? After a few more skillful leaps, Mickey landed on their roof and unleashed a powerful wind. All of the Heartless flew off the roof and onto the ground below, most dying from the impact.

Never before did King Mickey look so glorious. He came at a good time. If he hadn't come to help them, Riku was sure he would have suffered a lot more battle wounds than he had earlier.

"Riku, there you are! I've been lookin' all over for ya!" Mickey said, wiping his brow as he took a few steps forward.

"You were looking for me?" he asked in confusion. Why?

"Yeah, I heard there was trouble in Twilight Town, so I came running. I know who the source of the Heartless is but I don't know how to beat 'em," the mouse king explained.

"Is it Gregory?" Riku asked lowly.

King Mickey blinked, as if the idea never occurred to him. "No. It's worse than that. Isabella's here!"

Riku's eyes widened considerably, and for a brief moment, it felt as if somebody had a grip on his heart because of the tension."What?"

"That's Steph's kidnapper, right? Wasn't she supposed to be locked up?" Kairi asked.

"Yes, and yes," Mickey responded to Kairi. "I don't know how she managed to escape, but she did. She's here and causing chaos; I ran into her less than ten minutes ago and tried to subdue her, but she got away. I can't follow her scent like you could Riku, so I've been trying to get to you for a while."

"The Darkness here is too thick for me to pick up on any one scent," Riku stated as he shook his head. "And if Isabella's here, that means Steph's in worse danger. We need to get down to her and pull all our forces back before the Heartless overcome us."

"What's Steph doin' here anyway?" Mickey asked as he glanced from Kairi to Riku. "I told her to stay in Disney Castle…"

Wait, what? the Keyblader thought. "She was at Disney Castle?"

"Yeah…" Mickey said, his voice expressing confusion and caution. "She said that you sent her there."

"I didn't."

"I figured that by now. Riku…what's going on?"

Riku was silent for a few moments, trying to answer the same question. Steph was at Disney Castle and the Islands? What was the order of the events? And why did she say that Riku sent her to the King for help?

"Now's not really a good story-time, don't you guys agree?" a new voice said.

Upon turning around, the three Keybladers felt a wave of relief wash over them at the sight of their friend. "Sora!" Kairi squealed, running over to him and wrapping an arm around him. Even if the fighting was on a temporary hiatus for the four on the rooftop, all of them still held a Keyblade in one of their hands. It was for this reason that when Sora also embraced Kairi, he only wrapped one arm around her. "You okay?" she murmured into his shoulder.

"Yup, I'm good. You?"

"Yeah."

"When did you get here? I've been searching all over for you…" Sora asked, running his hand over Kairi's back as he gazed down at his beloved.

"I wound up in Radiant Garden and ran into Riku. He brought me here because he thought Steph would be here."

"I brought her here because I thought you would be here. I thought this world was the one the star shard took you to."

"Wait a sec, you have a star shard?" Mickey's voice intervened.

Slowly, Kairi withdrew from Sora's embrace and nodded to the King. "Steph had it first, but she handed it over to me when she came to the Islands," the redhead explained. "But as soon as I held it, it transported me to another world."

"I thought you guys agreed this wasn't a good time to catch up," Riku stated. "Should have known Sora would go against his own advice, since he's such a chatterbox."

"Sorry, Riku," Sora said sheepishly, smiling faintly despite the circumstances.

"Are you guys coming with me or not? We need to get to Steph before the Heartless overtake her."

"And Gregory too," Kairi added in concern for the other man.

Riku was silent. But he knew that Kairi was right in one way: they needed to save Gregory as well.

In this fight, they needed all the help that they could get.

Steph

Sweat trickled down my brow as I shot a Fire spell at one of the Neoshadows, a heavy breath leaving my lips as my shoulders slumped in exhaustion. I had no idea how long Gregory and I were battling these monsters, but it didn't look like the fight was ending any time soon. There must have been somebody very dark in the world for the Heartless to come out full force like this. I just didn't know how bad it was, and if I did, I probably would have freaked out. I just saw Isabella, after all. I would have been worried that I was the one who released her from her prison if I knew the truth.

"Your Majesty," Gregory panted, casting a shield around the two of us so that we could have just a moment's rest. "We cannot face them any longer, we need to find a way out of this pit."

"There's no way we can," I stated hoarsely. We were absolutely surrounded. If I had the star shard, I would have tried to use that to get us out of here, but I didn't even have that. Unless we got some help, then we were screwed. Period.

The Heartless grew in number since this fight started at least an hour ago. A straight hour of fighting against enemies that kept on becoming stronger in numbers and in force was extremely hard, especially with the position that we were in. If we could just get some distance, I could volley off a bunch of arrows and keep them away from us while Gregory utilized his magical abilities. But first we had to escape this circle we were in, and I couldn't' see that happening anytime soon. We're so deep in trouble.

A Keyblade I didn't recognize came flying through the area, spinning as if it were a boomerang as it destroyed the circle of Heartless closest to me and Gregory. Because of this, Gregory let his shield fade and he got back on the offensive to keep the enemies away from us. While he did that, though, I couldn't help but look around for the source of the Keyblade. And then I saw him.

Dad.

My dad, Terry, jumped down from a nearby building and stood right by me. He caught his Keyblade in his grasp and held it firmly by his side as he glared at either Gregory or the Heartless. "Dad?" I said hoarsely. He looked to me, his expression unreadable. "You…you do have a Keyblade," I managed. He said that he didn't before.

He looked down at the bulky weapon in his hand for a moment, nodding faintly. "Yeah, I guess I do."

While the gap between me and the Heartless was greater, I finally switched from my sword to my bow and fired off shots. Fortunately for me, the bow and arrow set both held magical properties. Not only was there magic behind each attack but I also never ran out of arrows in my stock. I planned on using these factors to my advantage; I needed to keep the Heartless away and I needed to talk to my dad. "What's going on, Dad?" I asked as he shot magic at an enemy. "Where are the Heartless coming from?"

"Why don't you ask your friend over there?" Terry said lowly, nodding his head towards Gregory.

"W-what?"

"It's not him," another voice said from above us. Gasping, I lifted my gaze to the bright sky and saw four figures standing on the edge of a roof. All of them were people I didn't expect to see, but there they were. Riku, Sora, Kairi, and King Mickey. My boyfriend was the first to jump down and he was sure to land an equal distance from both me and my father, who he still didn't trust. "Mickey ran into the source herself, but she got away."

"Mickey?" Terry said in confusion. His bright blue eyes landed on the mouse, who jumped down right then with Sora and Kairi. He stared at the King in silence while the King stared back at him, the two of them seemingly unsure of what to do with the other person's presence. How did they know each other anyway?

Sora and Kairi both ran off to fight in the battle, buying the lingering four of us some time to speak. After a moment, Mickey shook off his thoughts and stepped closer to me. "We gotta get you out of here, before she gets to you."

"What? Who? Who's coming?"

"Isabella."

If my exhaustion wasn't already making me feel faint, that news did. "W-what?" I asked weakly. Isabella? She couldn't be here…she was still imprisoned in the Realm Between. Mickey was mistaken.

"She's here and causing all this mayhem, but I dunno why," the King continued without noticing my stunned and worried expression. "I ran into her myself; I'm not mistaken."

"Why is Isabella still alive?" Terry fumed from beside me, setting a hand on my shoulder to keep me steady. Riku stiffened in his spot a few feet away but did nothing to push my dad away. "You should have killed her when you had the chance."

"We thought she'd be worth more alive, in case anything happened. And it did, since Steph didn't get her powers. Something you still have to answer for, Terry," Riku said lowly.

"Riku, don't do this right now!" I hissed.

"If Isabella's really here, you've got bigger concerns than your issues with me," Terry added.

To my right, I saw a great number of Heartless vanishing. I couldn't help but look over and see that Sora and Kairi defeated all of the Heartless in their area. And to my left, the rest of the Heartless suddenly vanished despite how Gregory couldn't have possibly defeated all of them on his own.

Sora looked around the whole area like the rest of us, speaking up first. "We did it. We won!"

"We only won because Isabella wanted us to," Riku said lowly.

"Why would she want that?" I asked in confusion.

"Because," Terry stated, keeping a tight hand on my shoulder as he pointed his Keyblade at my boyfriend. "She knows that now we'll turn against each other."

"What? No!" I cried in desperation. They couldn't!

"Exactly," Riku said, pointing his weapon at Terry and ignoring me. "You're not getting away this time."

"And this time, you're not getting near my daughter," my dad responded lowly. "I'm not letting her out of my sight now that Isabella's around. That has to be your fault; you should have killed her! Steph's safety comes before anything else."

"I know that!" Riku hissed. "We kept her alive for that reason. We wanted to be sure she didn't do anything to permanently damage Steph, and she did. We tried using her to fix the problem and she led us to you."

"Are you calling me damaged?" I couldn't help but inquire, my eyes wide from surprise as I gazed at Riku. He finally gave me a second glance, his eyes softening.

He didn't have time to respond before my dad jumped in. "This is why she can't be with you. You can't treat her right and you can't protect her!"

"I'm afraid I have to disagree," a voice to the left said. I glanced over along with all the other spectators, seeing Gregory approaching the group. "Riku did a fine job protecting her majesty from Olaf, Tristan, and Isabella in the past."

"And from you, I take it," Terry said lowly.

"That's something I still do today," Riku stated, eyebrows furrowing as he pointed his Keyblade at Gregory. The man took a step back in surprise, lifting his hands faintly in surrender. He was just sticking up for Riku and now he was at the tip of his blade. Typical Riku.

"Well, what do you know, we finally agree on something," Terry said as he too pointed his weapon at Gregory. That was the final straw for me.

"Would you guys knock it off?" I cried. "This is pointless!"

My voice was unheard, yet again. In my fury, I slipped out from my father's grasp and started off on my own. They didn't chase me; they didn't try to bring me back. Instead they kept on bickering on their own.

So ridiculous! I fumed. All that they could focus on was fighting with each other. Was this even a fight to protect me anymore, or was it just a chance for them all to bicker and uphold their own prejudices? Dad and Riku both believed Gregory was a traitor, but they were wrong. And they believed that I needed to be smothered with protection, but I didn't. I could watch after myself just fine.

I needed to prove it somehow, to them and to me. How could I do it? Face Isabella on my own? Actually kill her this time? That was what I'd try to do. First I had to find her.

But she found me first. The Darkness was around me before I even realized what it was. The air was heavy and suffocating as I found myself in a back alley, all alone and far away from anyone I could ask help from. "Isabella," I whispered weakly. But then I found my voice. "Isabella, come out and fight me!" Don't take the easy way and just subdue me with this suffocation.

Isabella didn't listen to my hoarse cry. Another, softer one left my lips as I sank down to my knees. "S-stop…"

The only thing that "stopped" was my ability to stay conscious. I lost my grip on reality and succumbed to Isabella's overwhelming spell.