OH GOSH...you guys really don't want me to kill off Axel, don't you?

Axel: So you're not?

Me: I never said that.

Axel:...So you are?

Me: I never said that either.

Sora: Man, this is confusing!

Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom Hearts (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 68

"But why'd you all come here?" the King asked as he stared at them.

"Someone gave us a clue." Sora answered. But the King looked even more confused. "Who?"

"Well, your Majesty, Sora thinks it mighta been Riku." Goofy answered. Sora and Donald nodded.

"It's just a feeling I had." he explained. The King nodded in understanding.

"Welp, if that's what ya think, then it's probably right." he spoke mysteriously. Sora grinned, somehow discerning some hidden meaning behind the King's words. "You mean Riku's okay!" the King shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"If that's what ya think…" Sora narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, glaring at the King.

"I've waited long enough, your Majesty! Tell me what you know!" he demanded. As this was going on, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Kyrie, and Demyx all looked at each other, confused on what was going on. But the King turned away.

"It's not for me to say."

"But your Majesty! Why?" Sora demanded. The King sighed. "I don't wanna break my promise."

"You made a promise to Riku!" Sora exclaimed, making the King gasp and cover his mouth. "So he's okay! I can see him again!" Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Demyx looked at each other in confusion.

"Huh? Who's Riku?" Hayner asked. Sora grinned as he turned to them.

"My best friend." he answered. Pence nodded. "That's IT!"

"Your Majesty? You got that pouch with the crystal from Riku, didn't you? And you promised not to tell, right?" Olette interrogated. The King blushed and looked away, scratching the back of his head.

"Gosh guys…"

"That's enough!" Donald exclaimed. They sighed and nodded before Sora turned to the gate.

"Yeah. Let's go!" he paused for a moment. "Kairi! Riku! We're on our way!" he mumbled under his breath. With that they started for the mansion, Demyx and Kyrie being the last to follow as Kyrie pulled out her notebook. After writing something, she tugged on his arm and handed him the notebook.

Demyx, where's Axel? I thought he was with you.

"Oh, Ax? Well, uh…he's got some stuff to do. He'll catch up with us later." he answered. Kyrie narrowed her eyes but didn't pry. Demyx was lying to her about something, but she didn't know what.

"But why would he lie to me? What's really going on?" she thought as she walked. Sora and Goofy quickly opened the doors to the mansion and ushered everyone inside. Once they were inside, they looked around.

"There's gotta be a computer somewhere. There should be a way into the Realm of Darkness there." the King spoke as he looked around. Sora turned to him.

"Riku told you that, didn't he!" he accused. The King looked around uncomfortably.

"Please, Sora. I made a promise." Sora smirked. "Aha! I knew it!"

"Hey! Stop pestering the King!" Donald ordered. Kyrie knew right away where to go, and started walking, leaving the others to stare at her in confusion as she walked up the stairs. Pausing, she waved for them to follow. Following after her, they walked into some sort of study and were surprised that there were stairs. Walking down the stairs, they made their way into the basement.

"Hey, how does she know so much about this place?" she heard Hayner whisper from behind her.

"I don't know. Maybe she's been here before." she heard Olette answer. But the girl rolled her eyes and kept walking, leading them right into the basement computer room. The King smiled.

"There!" he exclaimed as he pointed. Sora smiled. "We found it! Thanks, Kyrie!" Sora exclaimed as he, Donald, Goofy, and the King ran to it. The girl blushed a little and giggled silently, with Demyx ruffling her hair as she did so.

"Yeah, good work!" he added. Then they turned their attention towards the computer.

"How does it work?" Donald asked. The rest of the group shrugged their shoulders.

"I dunno. Maybe we-"

"I can handle it." Pence offered, making Demyx pout as he crossed his arms. Kyrie patted his arm sympathetically as the boy sat at the computer, looking over the screens and keys. "Okay…here we go…ah!"

"What's wrong?"

"I can't go any further without a password." Pence explained. The King cocked his head to the side as he looked at the screen.

"Do ya have any idea what the password might be?" he asked. Sora placed a hand against his chin as he thought about it. After a moment, Goofy pulled out the photograph.

"Well, we only got this photo…"

"And the salty-sweet ice cream bar!" Donald added. Kyrie gasped, she knew what kind of ice cream they were talking about. Sea-Salt ice cream. The ice cream the child in her dreams ate with her grandfather, and the ice cream she, Axel, Roxas, and Xion ate together.

"Yeah, the one Donald ate up." Sora remembered. "It was in the box next to the photo." Goofy explained. The King brightened at this.

"Hey, that's it! Ansem the Wise loved ice cream!" he exclaimed. Pence nodded as he turned to the computer.

"Okay, what's the name of the flavor?" he asked. Before anyone could move, Kyrie was at the computer, using the keys to type in the name of the ice cream. "I know it's Sea-Salt ice cream. Grandfather always ate them when he appeared in my dreams, so it has to be it." she thought as she typed.

"Kyrie, what are you-" the computer made a sound as she entered the password, Pence looking over her shoulder as she did so. "It worked!" he exclaimed as a beam came down and hovered in some sort of teleporter. The group blinked at the girl as she stepped away, turning her attention to the beam of light.

"Kyrie…how did you know…?" Sora asked, but the girl shook her head. Now was not the time to be asking questions. The boy nodded in understanding as he, Kyrie, Donald, Goofy, and the King stood in front of the beam. Demyx quickly joined them, earning confused looks before Sora turned to them.

"Let's go!"

"We'll be here to hold down the fort." Hayner assured them. Olette nodded.

"Say hi to Kairi!" she added. They nodded in agreement. "You bet!" Sora assured them. With that, they got into the teleporter and disappeared.

-Digital Twilight town, Computer room-

"Are we back in the same place?" Sora asked as they stepped out, seemingly to appear in the same room.

"I don't think so. It wouldn't make any sense if we did." Demyx pointed out. Looking around, they noticed that the computer was destroyed, completely different from the other Twilight town. Sora was quiet for a moment.

"This is the other Twilight town. Roxas's Twilight town." he murmured. Kyrie was silent as she stared at the destroyed computer. She could clearly see Roxas as he slammed his keyblade into the screens and keys, destroying it in a fit of rage.

"Roxas…"

"There's gotta be an entrance into the dark realm somewhere. Let's split up." the King spoke calmly as he looked around. With that, he ran into the other room, the other's running after him as he did so. When they got into the next room, they spotted a multi-colored orb with a dark outline in the corner of the room. "There."

"This is it." the King added as he walked into it. Looking back at each other, the others nodded and stepped through as well, following him. The group stepped into the realm of Betwixt and Between, looking around as the nobody insignia covered the walls and floors of the realm.

"What is this place?" Sora asked as he looked around.

"This is Betwixt and Between, this place leads to our world." Demyx explained. They turned to him and nodded.

"Well, which way should we go?" Donald asked. Demyx was quiet for a moment, before pointing a head of them.

"I think you keep going straight. Sooner or later, we'll reach the Dark city. And from there, we can go to the castle." he answered. Sora, Donald, and Goofy deadpanned before sighing, making Kyrie giggle silently. But Sora turned his attention ahead of him as he ran forward a few steps.

"Riku! Kairi!" he called desperately. But his voice only reverberated, disheartening him when no one called back. Kyrie placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, when suddenly, dozens of dusks and assassins appeared, surrounding them.

"Ah! An ambush!" Demyx exclaimed as he summoned his sitar. Kyrie growled and nodded as she summoned her keyblades, Sora and the others summoning their weapons as well.

"I guess Xemnas is trying to take us out with numbers. This isn't going to be easy." Kyrie thought as she rushed in, upper-cutting a dusk before it could strike. With that the fight began, with the group trying to take out the nobodies as they swarmed. But the more they fought, the more seemed to show up. Sora growled as he jumped back, regrouping with the others as the swarm surrounded them.

"It's no use!" Sora exclaimed. But a voice called out to them, making Kyrie gasp.

"Don't stop moving, or the darkness will overtake you!"

"Axel!" Kyrie rejoiced as said pyro appeared, taking out a few dusks with his chakrams. He looked at them. "Get goin'!" he ordered. But Sora looked at him in confusion.

"Why?"

"Don't ask. Just do it!" he ordered. But a dusk ambushed him, knocking him to the ground. Kyrie gasped as she, Demyx, and Sora ran in, knocking the dusks away from the fallen man as Kyrie tried to help him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked worriedly. The man shook his head in aggravation.

"I kidnapped Kairi, but she got away from me. After that, Saix caught her. He's a member of Organization XIII. Saix. Got it memorized? Now go save her!" he explained. Kyrie looked at him worriedly as she tried to support him, when a dusk appeared from behind Sora. The boy turned, cutting it down before looking back at the couple.

"Leave us alone!" he cried as the two got to their feet. Axel quickly summoned his chakrams while Kyrie summoned her keyblades, the group working together as they fought off the horde of nobodies. Axel and Kyrie mostly stuck together, and the two tag-teamed on every dusk and assassin that was dumb enough to come their way.

"Kyrie, here comes one!" Axel cried as he sent an assassin right at her. She nodded and jumped, using both keyblades to split it in half as it dissipated.

"Dance water, dance!" Demyx cried as he assisted Donald and Goofy, who were having a hard time because the dusks were slippery and unpredictable, unlike the heartless. But the dusks and assassins kept coming, cornering Sora, Kyrie and Axel as they stood back-to-back.

"I think I liked it better when they were on my side." Axel joked as he looked back at the two. Sora smirked as he looked at the man.

"Feeling a little…regret?" he asked snidely. Axle chuckled softly.

"Nah…I can handle these punks. Watch this!" with that he jumped, Demyx turning to them as his eyes widened.

"No, Axel! Don't do it, you're-"

DUN DUN DUN~~! The dreaded moment has arrived, will Axel fade, or will Kyrie be able to save him? And will Sora stop being so naive? Well-

Sora: Hey! I am not naive!

Me: ...Stay tuned to find out! And please, review!