*I don't own ANY of the Kingdom Hearts characters, Final Fantasy VII characters, or Final Fantasy VIII characters. I only own Katie and her cat, Venitas.

Katie let out a long sigh and rested her head on her hand as she waited. Her other arm was in a sling and had bandages wrapped tightly on her leg. Cloud was in very bad shape and everyone was working on him to get his stomach to stop bleeding. Katie was all alone. Katie unhooked Terra's Wayfinder off of her belt and blankly stared at the charm, she slowly clutched it. Her eyes were hidden under a shroud of silver hair. Katie got up from the bed she was sitting on and hooked the Wayfinder back on her belt. Katie took off her sling and grabbed paper and a pen. She scribbled down a note then walked up to the door and opened it slowly, revealing the outside. Katie took in a deep breath and walked outside; her cat trotted next to her and meowed at her. Katie looked down at her cat and shook her head. "...Goodbye, Venitas..." She walked away from Merlin's House. As she got up the stairs that led to the Bailey, she looked over her shoulder. Merlin's House looked small. Katie reached into her pocket and pulled out a long black ribbon, she tied it over her eyes. She turned around and looked over her shoulder one last time; she walked on through the Bailey.

Sora let out a relieved sigh as they walked back to Merlin's House. "Glad we finally make Cloud's stomach stop bleeding."

Kairi asked Riku, "He'll be okay now, right?"

"I think so. He lost a lot of blood though so it'll take a while to gain it all back. After that, Cloud will be back to normal." Riku answered. He let out a long sigh, "Was it a good idea to leave Katie alone at Merlin's?"

"Dude, she was asleep." Lea told him. "After what just happened, she's gotta be exhausted from fighting. I bet she's still asleep."

Riku shook his head. "Something wasn't right about her when we got her and Cloud. She was awfully quiet and wouldn't talk to me when I talked to her. She didn't even talk when Leon asked her what happened and tended her wounds."

"She witnessed a murder, Riku." Sora told him. "I'd stay quiet too if I saw something like that."

Repliku stopped and turned to Sora. "Riku's right. Katie is acting very weird...that girl has too many deaths in her life."

"Her family..." Kairi sighed.

"And Aerith..." Lea added

"Not to mention that Xehanort wants her as a vessel." Sora added.

Riku reached for the door's handle. Over his shoulder, he said, "We need to be there for her. Help her get through this." The Keyblade Wielders nodded in agreement. Riku opened and stepped inside. "Katie, we're back." No response. Riku looked at the bed where Katie was when they left, his eyes widened. She wasn't there. "Katie?" Riku called in the house, his voice echoed. "Katie?!" He looked around the house in panic.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked as soon as he stepped in.

Riku saw a yellow note in the corner of his eye. He snatched it and read the note. "...She's not here."

"What?!" the Keyblade Wielders exclaimed.

Riku turned around and showed them the note. They stared at the single word that was on the note: "Goodbye". Riku crumpled the note and put it in his pocket. "I knew that leaving her here all by herself was a bad idea..."

"We have to find her! She can't be far!" Kairi said confidently.

"Where would she be though?" Sora asked.

Lea thought for a second and said out loud, "Maybe she went to the church?"

Repliku shook his head no. "No, I know Katie. She wouldn't go there when there's a large crowd of people, she doesn't like crowded spaces. Why do you think she prefers the country more than a city?"

"So where else would she be?" Kairi wondered.

Sora scratched the back of his head and went into deep thought. His thinking got interrupted by a meow. He looked down when he felt something bating on his leg; it was Katie's cat, Venitas. "Not now, Venitas. We're trying to figure out where your master went at the moment." Venitas meowed at him again and trotted at the door. He paced in the doorway and meowed again. Sora stared at the cat in confusion. "What's wrong with you? If you need to go to the bathroom just go ahead and go." Venitas let out what sounded like a frustrated huff and trotted at the brunette. At Sora's feet, Venitas meowed at him a bit louder. Sora picked up the cat and scratched behind its ears. "There. Is that what you wanted? Some attention?" Venitas let out a hiss and jumped out of Sora's arms; he clamped his teeth on Sora's shoe and tugged on it. "Hey!" Sora yelled. "Stop it!"

Kairi picked up the cat and asked it, "What's wrong with you?" She let out a surprised yelp when Venitas turned into a puff of smoke, Kairi dropped the cat to the floor. As soon as it hit the ground, a Flood Unversed with a leather red collar around its neck showed up.

"What the?!" Lea exclaimed, "Katie's cat is an Unversed?! That's messed up!"

"Wait a minute…Katie carries Vanitas' heart, right?" Repliku asked, the group nodded. "So…if that's true and Katie's cat is an Unversed, wouldn't be able to find Katie because it's likely that she could control them also?"

"That makes sense…" Riku kneeled down so he was eye level with the Unversed. "Can you lead us to Katie, Venitas?" The Flood nodded and rushed out of the house, the Keyblade Wielders followed the tamed Unversed to the Bailey. It finally struck Riku, "She's heading for the castle."

"Why?" Sora asked. "Why would she go there?"

Riku shrugged. "I have no idea…but that note said 'goodbye'. I think she's losing her battle with the Darkness and doesn't want us to get hurt…" Then it hit him. "She blames herself for Aerith's death! C'mon, we have to get to that castle. Venitas, go back to Merlin's. We'll make sure we get Katie back." The Flood Unversed hesitated then nodded, with a puff of smoke, it returned to a black and yellow gold-eyed cat and trotted away. Riku started his way to the castle. "Let's get to Katie before she does something hasty."

Katie stared at Ansem's Computer and tapped the screen. The password screen popped up. Katie looked down to the keyboard and typed as each password box popped up, 'Another. Xehanort. Braig. Dilan. Even. Aeleus. Ienzo.' A low whir sounded behind Katie, she turned around to watch the floor open to reveal a staircase. Katie started down the staircase and the lights of the secret passage turned on to her approach. A long white corridor aligned by doors came to view. A memory that wasn't Katie's popped in her head, it told her to go to the door that mattered the most, the one at the end of the hall. Katie walked down the corridor and didn't stop at any of the doors, her eyes focused on the door at the end of the hall. It opened to Katie's approach. Katie stepped into a large grey room that had white luminous chains run along the floor and up the walls, each chain stopped at the Nobody symbol. In the center of the room was a large white thrown. Katie approached it and peeked her head around the throne, no one was there. She clicked her tongue and then something caught the corner of her eye. Katie turned her head to see a dark purple and grey armored figure laid down on the floor, near it was a light purple and grey Keyblade that leaned against the wall. Katie approached the armor and almost touched it until she heard quick footsteps behind her. She turned around to face the Keyblade Wielders.

"Katie, what are you doing down here? What is this place?" Repliku asked her. Katie didn't answer him. "Come on, Katie. We're your friends, you can trust us." Katie stayed silent.

Riku approached her slowly. "Katie, I know that you went through some bad stuff in the past few hours…but it's alright. We're here for you." Katie looked at the floor and stayed silent.

"What's the matter, Katie?" Sora asked her, his eyes widened. "…Y-You don't believe us…?" Katie let out a small, quiet sigh and turned away from them. He looked around Katie and saw the armor. "What's that?"

Kairi gasped at the Keyblade. "I know that Keyblade! Where have I seen it…? It's on the tip of my tongue!" A fuzzy memory flashed before her eyes. "Oh! I saw it when I was very little! A woman with short blue hair wielded it to protect me!"

"Blue hair?" Riku repeated. "That's Aqua! Katie, you found Aqua's armor!" Katie showed no joy, her blank expression stayed. She knelt down and touched the armor; she jumped back when Darkness burst from the armor. "Katie, get away from that!" Riku yelled. But it was too late; Katie got engulfed by Darkness and disappeared. The Darkness seeped on the grey floor towards the Keyblade Wielders and swirled upwards to their feet, making them stay put. They jerked down and sunk into the Darkness, fighting it only made them sink faster. In the matter of seconds, the room was empty.

Riku groaned as he opened his eyes and slowly got up. His eyes widened at the sight that was before. He knew this place, it haunted his dreams. "…The Dark Realm…"

"Dark Realm?" Sora repeated.

Riku turned around to face the Keyblade Wielders and frowned. "Where's Katie?"

"She's not here!" Kairi yelped. "I don't think she got transported along with us because everyone except her is here. She disappeared first. Who knows where she is?!"

A voice in the darkness made the Keyblade Wielders freeze, "Who's there?" A tall woman came into view from the darkness. She looked like she was in her early twenties and had light blue short hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a black and blue, high-collared halter top, two pink intersecting belts over her chest, and black shorts. On the two pink belts was a silver heart emblem. She also wore a small, segmented piece of armor on each of her upper arms. She had what appear to be black stockings which reach to about halfway up her thighs, leaving a small area of bare skin on her upper thighs. Two strips of blue cloth that drape over either side of her hips, along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around her waist, draped in the same manner. Her shoes were pointed, armored, silver boots with a sharp hook on the outer side of each. She wielded a Keyblade, making the Keyblade wielders wield theirs also. Suddenly, the woman's eyes widened and she dismissed her weapon. She approached Sora hesitantly. "Sora…? Is that really you…?"

"Have we met?" Sora asked.

The woman nodded. "Yes, you were very young. My name is Aqua."

"Aqua?!" the Keyblade Wielders repeated in shock.

Katie opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by Darkness. "…H-Hello…?" She called into the Darkness, no one responded to her voice. She was all alone. She slowly turned around when she felt that something was quite right. She gasped at the sight. Behind her was a very large dull gold castle that had towers that pointed in every which direction, ending with a pointy teal witches hat. In some places, the castle was decorated by creepy large gargoyles and giant eerie stain glass window panes. Right in front of her was Castle Oblivion.

Man, I'm so sorry that I keep ending them as cliff hangers you guys! DX It's just that when I can't think anymore to write, I just call it good and just leave it as a chapter...I hope you understand. ^-^ Anyways, a GIANT snow storm is heading towards where I live and there is a 97% chance that I'll lose power all the way to Tuesday & plus I really need to plan out the next chapters so I won't update for awhile...DX

Fun Fact!: Katie's theme (And I have many of these choices but I'm going with this one) is "So Far Away" by: Staind. Light of a Darkened Heart's theme is "Bad Harmony!" by Michiri (Reicheru Charin).

Bless your face. And if you sneezed while reading this KH fanfic then bless you. Peace off. BOOP!

THANK YOU FOR THE 110+ REVIEWS, EVERYBODY! :D :D :D :D :D