Sora & Aqua arrived outside the train station in Twilight Town, their armor and Keyblade Riders disappearing almost instantly. Sora looked out over the town from the balcony like overlook of the train station courtyard.

"This place hasn't changed at all. It's just as it was the last time." Sora said as Aqua looked around curiously.

"It does seem like a nice place to live. You say your Nobody lived here for a time?" Aqua asked as Sora nodded.

"Yeah. Roxas came into being here, or at least that's what Riku told me. But judging by the way my heart feels right now, I'd say he was right." Sora said as he reached into his pocket, fingering the small sphere that Roxas had given him before vanishing. He then pulled the sphere from his pocket, looking at it silently.

"Come on. We should probably ask some of the locals if there's been any unusual activity going on lately." Aqua said as Sora had an idea, pocketing the sphere again.

"I know just who to ask. Come on, I'll introduce you to Hayner, Pence, and Olette!" Sora said as he took off towards the Usual Spot with Aqua in tow. No sooner were they out of sight, did a figure clad in black with blue bandages wrapped around its head appeared from inside the station, looking around curiously. It then looked up towards the sky and a look of silent realization hit him.

"Twilight Town." He whispered before turning and heading for the underground passage ways.

Meanwhile…

Sora and Aqua reached the alleyway leading to the Usual Spot. They could hear laughter coming from inside that Sora could tell was coming from Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Sora smiled warmly as he walked towards the entrance, pushing the curtain aside to reveal the three sitting around as usual eating ice cream. Olette was the first to notice his arrival.

"Sora! You're back!" Olette exclaimed as Hayner and Pence turned towards the young Keyblade Warrior.

"Hey guys. How are things?" Sora asked as the three crowded around.

"Pretty good actually. Seifer and his gang have been laying off of us lately. And that's fine by me." Hayner said as Pence nodded.

"It's quite strange actually." Pence said.

"What's strange?" Aqua asked, catching the attention of the three.

"Who's this?" Olette asked.

"Oh, my bad. This is Aqua, she's my Keyblade Master. She's teaching me to become a true Keyblade Master like her. Aqua, this is Hayner, Pence, and Olette." Sora introduced quickly as Aqua smiled and curtsied politely. The two boys smiled and gave polite nods while Olette curtsied as well.

"It's an honor to meet you all." Aqua said.

"So is this your first time in Twilight Town?" Hayner asked, walking up beside her. Aqua nodded.

"Pretty much. I've never known about this world until a while ago. Sora brought me here." Aqua replied as Pence hurried up next to her.

"Well then allow me to give you the grand tour." Hayner said with a charming smile.

"Or maybe she would like to have the tour with someone else." Pence said with his own charming smile. Hayner scowled at his friend who scowled back. Aqua was confused, but then again, so was Sora. The two boys grabbed Aqua by the hands and led her out the door, leaving a confused Sora and an exasperated Olette.

"What's with those two?" Sora asked as Olette sighed in annoyance.

"They're just boys. They're just now discovering girls." Olette replied as they started following after them.

"You're a girl, aren't you?" Sora asked, confused. Olette was less than amused.

"Never mind. This whole mess started happening when that strange orb appeared." Olette said as Sora looked confused again.

"Orb? What orb?" He asked.

"A while ago, Hayner and Seifer had gotten into a fight again over something and Hayner was getting pretty beat up…and badly too. Seifer was going to deliver a final blow to emphasize his point but before he could, this flying orb of fire appeared and blew Seifer's struggle bat to pieces. It then started lobbing fireballs at Seifer and his whole gang. We thought it was going to start attacking us too but it just hovered there for a moment then disappeared." Olette explained as they followed the trio to the marketplace.

"Was that the only time you saw this orb?" Sora asked as Olette shook her head.

"No its not. But we're the only ones who have seen it besides Seifer and his gang. Whenever it shows up, it always starts attacking Seifer and the Disciplinary Committee. Now Seifer won't even go near us. It's kinda…I dunno, vindicating and relaxing to know that neither Hayner nor Pence have to worry about getting picked on by Seifer and Rai. Fuu's not bad. She's actually kinda nice once you get to know her…and understand what she means when she speaks." Olette explained.

"Odd. I wonder if this orb will ever reappear." Sora said as Olette shrugged.

"The only way that'll happen is if Hayner and Seifer get into another argument." Olette replied.

"Hmm." Sora pondered. By now they had side stepped the trolley and were passing the hole in the wall that led to the abandoned mansion. Aqua, Hayner, and Pence stopped as they reached the hole, or rather Aqua stopped and the other two stopped with her.

"Where does this lead?" Aqua asked.

"It leads to the old mansion. It's a mysterious place." Pence replied.

"Some say it's haunted. Others say it's just an old wives tale." Hayner added as Aqua turned to Sora as he and Olette finally caught up.

"Sora, what do you think of the place?" Aqua asked.

"It's where Roxas came into being. It's also where the passageway to the World that Never Was, err, was." Sora replied sheepishly as Aqua nodded understandingly.

"Then we should probably check it out." Aqua said as she headed through the hole in the wall.

"We'll wait here till you get back." Olette called as Sora followed after his master.

"So what was Olette telling you about back there? I could tell you were talking, just not what you were talking about." Aqua replied.

"She was telling me that there was some strange orb flying around town, protecting them against Seifer and the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee." Sora said as Aqua looked curious.

"A flying orb? Hmm. How odd." Aqua said as Sora nodded in agreement. They finally reached the gates of the Old Mansion, where they sat standing wide open.

"Hmm. So this is the Old Mansion huh? Spooky looking place." Aqua said as Sora nodded.

"Kairi's nobody, Namine, used to stay here too. So did Riku and the King. I remember that this place was where I woke up after a long dream. According to Riku, my memories had to be restored after they were so badly damaged, so he and Ansem the Wise put me in some kind of pod that would restore my memories. I think he said it took almost a year to do." Sora explained as Aqua looked up at the Old Mansion.

"I see. Perhaps we should check out the inside." Aqua said as she and Sora started walking towards the door. As they did, they could feel a sudden chill in the air, like the one they felt when Xehanort was around. They both stopped as they reached the door.

"Do you feel that?" Aqua asked as Sora nodded.

"Yeah. Xehanort's here." Sora said as they summoned their Keyblades.

"We kick down the door on three. One…two…THREE!!!" Aqua shouted as they kicked down the door. They slowly walked inside, hearing a pair of footsteps other than their own as they walked inward towards the center of the room.

"You made it." A voice echoed. It sounded like Xehanort, but the malicious tone was curiously missing. He also sounded relieved.

"Xehanort! We know you're in here! Show yourself!" Sora shouted into the room. Then a shadowy figure stumbled into the light.

"Aqua…please." The figure said pleadingly. Xehanort's face could partially be seen from within his hood but his eyes were blue instead of the villainous red and yellow.

"Hey! You've got a lot to answer for Xehanort!" Sora said angrily but Aqua cautiously stepped towards him.

"Sora…wait." She said softly as she raised her Keyblade towards Xehanort's head, gently pushing the hood down, revealing Xehanort's hair had turned a graying brown. Xehanort was acting like he was trying to stay alive as if injured. Aqua looked at Xehanort with a look of sadness.

"Is…is it really you? Is it really you, Terra?" She asked as Xehanort nodded, looking into her eyes. Sora's eyes widened, stepping backwards in shock.

"What was it she called him?" Sora asked mentally.

"It's me, Aqua. I can prove it." He winced, reaching into his left sleeve. Aqua quickly held her Keyblade in a defensive posture just in case. Xehanort instead pulled out a small, brown, and star shaped charm, matching Aqua's almost completely save for the color. Aqua looked at the charm and tears of joy started to flow from her eyes.

"Terra. It really is you." Aqua said with a smile. She moved to try and hug him but he raised his hand to keep her back.

"KEEP AWAY! I don't know how long I'm going to stay this way. He could reassert his influence any second now! I needed to see you. I needed to warn you. Xehanort is planning to-DERRRAUGH!" Terra howled in agony.

"Terra! Terra stay with me! What does Xehanort plan to do?!" Aqua asked pleadingly. Terra gripped the sides of his head in agony.

"He's trying to find King-DAAAUGH!!!" He howled. He started glowing with black and red energy, his hair changing between gray and brown rapidly. His eye colors changing between blue and the red and yellow.

"King? King Mickey? Kingdom Hearts?!" Aqua asked as Terra howled in pain again before he collapsed onto the floor, the hood falling down over his head. Aqua attempted to move to help him but Sora stopped her.

"WAIT!" Sora shouted as he pulled Aqua back by her collar.

"You should listen to your apprentice, girl." Terra said, but his tone had changed back to sounding like Xehanort. He started pulling himself up onto his feet before pulling away the robes, revealing Xehanort in his black coat and white gloves underneath. Terra had reverted to Xehanort again.

"Xehanort!" Sora growled.

"Quite the pest, our boy Terra. Never knows when to just give up." Xehanort snarled as he dangled Terra's charm by the string, looking at it in disgust. He then dropped the charm onto the ground and was about to move to crush it but was knocked back by a beam of red energy. The beam launched him into the back windows, shattering them. Sora and Aqua were stunned. They were not the ones to send the beam into Xehanort. They turned and saw the blue bandaged figure with a snarl on his face and a strange mechanical device in his hands that looked like a gun of some sort.

"XEHANORT!!!" he shouted in anger as he walked towards the blindsided Xehanort.

"YOU!" Xehanort growled as he summoned his black and thorned Keyblade. He then raised his free hand upwards towards the sky, causing a black orb to appear in his hand. He then aimed it at the sky causing the orb to shoot straight up into the clouds overhead. Aqua and Sora were watching in confusion. The bandaged man continued to approach Xehanort who snarled and disappeared in a Corridor of Darkness. The bandaged man dropped the device and attempted to chase after him but the corridor disappeared before he could reach it. Instead he conjured up his own corridor and was about to enter it when Sora and Aqua ran up.

"Hey! Wait! Who are you!?" Aqua asked the man. The man looked over his shoulder and looked at her with a curious expression.

"I am Darkness in Zero." The figure said as Aqua looked confused but Sora's eyes widened.

"Darkness in Zero…wait a minute! You mean that you're-!" Sora exclaimed but the man walked into the Corridor before it closed behind him.

"Who was that Sora?" Aqua asked as Sora looked up at her in surprise.

"If I'm correct, that was Ansem the Wise we just saw!" Sora exclaimed, earning surprised look from Aqua.

"What?! I thought you said he was dead?!" Aqua asked.

"I thought he was too. Maybe…maybe he didn't die. Maybe that device just sent him somewhere, somewhere we couldn't find him." Sora replied as Aqua shrugged.

"Well whatever the case, we-." She said but was interrupted by a violent tremor in the ground.

"What was that?!" Aqua asked.

"It came from the city!" Sora replied as they quickly started running back through and out the mansion. When they finally reached the tram way, they looked up towards the platform where the train station was, and blinked in shock.

"What is that?!" Aqua asked. There was a towering white beast clutched to the clock tower. Sora didn't recognize it but it was familiar to him. He then felt something in his pocket shaking. He reached in and pulled out the blue sphere with the XIII etched into it. It was glowing brightly and Sora tossed it into the air, where it suddenly exploded in a burst of white light. When the light faded, Roxas was standing in his Twilight Town garb, looking up at the beast.

"It's a Twilight Thorn! It's the Nobody of the Darkside Heartless!" Roxas said as he summoned his two Keyblades. They then heard a loud crash. Hayner, Pence, and Olette came running up to them from the Market Street.

"That monster's blocked the road to the train station! There are people trapped inside the station!" Olette cried.

"The underground passageways, are they still open?!" Sora asked as the three turned towards the entrance to the passage ways before turning back and nodding.

"Yeah, but be careful! There could be some cave-ins!" Pence replied as Sora and Aqua looked at each other and nodded.

"Come on Roxas, you're with us!" Sora called as Roxas followed after them. Hayner, Pence, and Olette were stunned.

"Roxas?!" They asked in unison. Nearby, a floating orb, surrounded by a ring of fire hovered in the air overhead.

"Roxas?" it asked.

…

Sora, Aqua, and Roxas hurried through the underground passageways, charging for the exit near the train station. As they ran, Sora gave Aqua a couple of unsure glances. Aqua noticed this.

"What is it Sora?!" She asked as they ran.

"A moment ago, you called Xehanort, Terra! What did you mean?!" Sora asked as Aqua gave him an exasperated look.

"You really want to talk about this now?!" Aqua asked as they dodged a piece of falling rock. Sora was going to argue but Roxas interrupted.

"Save it for later! Right now we've got a Twilight Thorn to deal with!" Roxas yelled as they emerged onto the platform. They looked up and saw the Twilight Thorn simply clutching onto the tower. Roxas quickly leapt backwards and then leapt up towards the tower, landing on the side before running upwards towards the beast. Roxas took a mean swing at the giant Nobody's hand, causing it to lose its grip and tumble towards the platform. Aqua and Sora quickly leapt away in opposite directions as the Twilight Thorn crashed into the ground headfirst. Roxas landed on the ground next to Sora as he and Aqua looked at the seemingly dead Nobody.

"Is that it?" Aqua asked. They then heard cheering from the streets below.

"Sounds like the people think you two are heroes." Roxas said as Sora shrugged.

"No, you would be the hero, Roxas. You killed it." Sora said as Roxas smirked.

"Well. Either way, you're still the he-SORA LOOK OUT!!!" Roxas shouted as the Twilight Thorn attempted to grab the Keyblade warrior but Roxas shoved him out of the way in time, instead grabbing Roxas. The giant nobody climbed up onto its feet, clutching Roxas in its awkwardly shaped hands. Roxas felt it trying to squeeze him to death but a quick wave of multicolored bolts of energy hit the creature head on.

"Put him down!" Aqua ordered as the Twilight Thorn let out a roar and attempted to crush her. Aqua simply leapt out of the way.

The battle of Twilight Town had started anew.

End Chapter 7.