Riku is jerked awake when the door to the room he'd been staying in slams open. His first thought was 'Where's the danger?' before 'Shit, I slept in, my mother is going to kill me' kicks in and he's sitting up in bed, rubbing at his eyes. Only, it's not his mother standing in the doorway and he's not wearing his pajamas.

Leon smirks at him before telling him, "Get up and ready, I've got good news."

Riku frowns for a bit, confused, before deciding it has to be good since he's only slept like six hours – which he's used to, but he has no time limit on how long he can sleep here, does he? – and gets out of the little bed they'd provided him.

He's shrugging on his vest when he enters the old conference room. He's not surprised to see Yuffie and Cloud there too, but there's no sign of Aerith.

"There's been another anomaly detected in the atmosphere." Cloud tells him, nodding towards the console that's lit up like a Christmas tree. Riku can't actually read any of the symbols on the screen, but he can guess what they mean.

"Anomaly? That's the word you used when I got here."

"Bingo." Yuffie chirps, "We figure Sora might have come to you instead."

"Do you know where it is?" Riku is more alert now than he remembers being for a long time.

"What am I going to do with you?" Sora sighs, squatting down next to the sleeping boy he's brought with him.

"You just sit there and sleep," he doesn't really mean anything by it, but the silence has been driving him crazy, "You really are a lazy bum, just like me."

Silence is all that greets him.

"So is Ven short for something?"

More silence is all he receives.

He sighs and gazes around. He landed on Hallow Bastion like he'd aimed for, but too far away from the city for him to make it there with Ven as dead weight.

I could try to summon that glider again, he thinks.

But then he'd be stuck trying to balance the two of them on it again and that had already ended badly once, he wasn't about to risk breaking his neck again just for convenience.

He sighs and hangs his head before standing up and looking at the blonde next to him.

"Well, we might as well get a move on."

After a bit of maneuvering, he gets the other boy on his back and he starts making his way through the canyons outside Hallow Bastion's city walls.

They're still the off-putting blue they'd been the last time he'd been here and that gives Sora a little hope. Maybe Leon and the others can watch Ven while he goes back to the Islands and apologizes to Riku and Kairi for leaving like he did.

He'd guess they're about halfway there when he gets the feeling he's not alone. He can't fight with Ven on his back but putting him down could put him in danger, especially if Heartless show up. He looks around, trying to see if there's an actual threat around, but he doesn't find one so he keeps moving, trying to get as close to Hallow Bastion as he can. That feeling just gets stronger and it has nothing to do with him getting closer to Hallow Bastion's city gates.

Once he reaches a clearing he sets Ven down so his back is facing the wall.

He doesn't have time to turn around before he hears, "Hello, Sora."

Sora spins around, Keyblade at the ready, where he find a man he's never seen before. His heart clenches painfully as he looks at the other man. He looks about his age with somewhat tanned skin, white hair, and yellow eyes. He gets the feeling this is somehow connected to the Heartless Ansem and Xemnas.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

"Oh, Sora. I'm a bit hurt that you don't remember me. We've had such fun times together, haven't we?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sora stands with his Keyblade at the ready, not quite crouched in his normal stance but ready should this weirdo make a move.

"Oh, that hurts, Sora. You don't remember? Me destroying your island home? Me possessing your childhood best friend? Not even me trying to obtain Kingdom Hearts? Though that last one was attempted twice."

Sora's quickly catches up, "That means you're Xehanort. But your heart was -"

"Consumed by darkness, yes, I know. But see, the amazing thing is; when you kill off a powerful Heartless and their Nobody, you get their recreated body. For me, it means what you see before you."

"But you're….young."

"Yes, well, this vessel was young when I possessed it. Seems his body reverted back."

His heart clenches again and he has no idea why, "You never told me what you want."

Xehanort sighs, walking around but never moving closer to Sora or Ven, "I want a lot of things, Sora. I think the more appropriate question would be 'What can you do for me?'."

"I'm not doing anything for you!" Sora yells.

"No. But you would do something for him." He points as the unconscious boy behind him.

Sora takes a risk and looks behind him for a second.

"What do you want with Ven?"

"Oh? You know his name? I suppose the bond between you two must be quite powerful. It has been ten years since you accepted his heart beside your own."

"What are you talking about?"

"His heart was shattered and what was left of it took refuge in your heart, letting him heal himself. Now that he's healed, he wants out. Did you think it was your own heart guiding you?" He chuckles, as if the thought was actually amusing.

Sora doesn't know if he should even give him a second thought. But Ansem and Xemnas had never lied, only warped the truth.

"You STILL haven't told me what you're doing here!" Sora yells instead of thinking too deeply about the merits of listening to this incarnation of Xehanort.

"I want the boy. Whole. And to do that, I need to get his heart out of you."

"Well, I've got bad news for you. If his heart really took refuge in me ten years ago, it's gone now. You should know that! I releases Kairi's heart and the hearts of the other Princesses! If his heart was there, it had to be released too!"

"No, it wasn't. The other hearts were whole and ready to be released. Ventus' heart was not and so it clung to yours while you slipped into darkness for that short period of time."

Sora stops short. Could Ven's heart really be inside him?

"And how do you plan to get his heart out of me? Kill me?"

"If necessary, yes. It could result in that. The method I had in mind was a bit…less gruesome." Sora tenses up when he reaches out his hand and summons a Keyblade.

A very familiar Keyblade at that; The Keyblade of People's Hearts. The same Keyblade he'd used to unlock Kairi's heart on his first journey. Sora feels uneasy just being in its presence. The last time, he'd barely gotten back by the grace of Kairi's light. Now that he's full of more darkness, he doesn't think it would even be possible to save him. He glances down towards his chest, where his heart lies, wondering if he's speaking the truth.

"I see we're going to have to do this the hard way, Sora. Pity. I'd hoped you'd just cooperate."

He could swear he hears his name being called and he looks up just in time to parry Xehanort's stabbing motion. He counters, putting his entire body into the swing. The gray haired man jumps back, graceful like his predecessors – successors? – and Sora has barely enough time to ready himself before he's coming after him again.

It doesn't take long for Sora to realize he can't defeat Xehanort. Not on his own. Not now. Not after months of going without any decent training.

Sora hears his name again in the distance and he knows someone is looking for him. He doesn't really think about it, he just sends out a large ball of light and, as Xehanort is dancing around it to get to him, it explodes in a pillar of light. It leaves him exposed, but help is his only chance of getting himself and Ven out of this situation alive.

"Sora, look out!" The light clears enough for Sora to see Xehanort charging at him blindly.

Sora jumps back and to the side, but he's not quick enough; the Keyblade still pierces his chest.