"YOU WHAT?"

"I finished my explanation, so, uh, now I'm just gonna Go!" Xigbar chuckled nervously, pointing to the door and then rushing towards it. The enraged Superior before him beat him to it, smoldering the surfer dude's eyes with his gaze of utmost rage and severity.

"You're telling me that you and your drunken subordinates introduced a traitor and his other, the very other that sent all of us to our pitiful deaths, into our organization?" Xemnas hissed dangerously, giving the poor Freeshooter a nice, good shower for the day. With a blank expression, Xigbar robotically moved his arm to his face, wiped the saliva off of his chin and cheeks (all the while Xemnas stood frozen in the same position five inches from his face, seething), and then let his arm fall. With an "ahem", he responded.

"Yes." He replied blankly. Stroking his forehead, Xemnas tried to calm himself and moved away from the surfer dude and to the desk in the room, convulsing slightly.

With a big, heavy, hard sigh, he sat himself down, placing his chin on his hands and glaring holes into the wall across the room.

Xigbar decided to do his brave deed for the day.

"You know… it's all over. That whole… Kingdom Hearts thing. We're free. Of the nothingness." Xigbar began faintly, staring at the wall across from him. Xemnas didn't move or even flinch, but his eyes were glittering with thoughts.

"We have all we've worked so hard for. Now, we can move on to bigger and better goals. Continue our studies of the heart… and perhaps… keep our humanity this time around." Xigbar hissed the word humanity as if it was lethal, but his words were subtle all the same.

"Demyx…" Xemnas muttered, eyes flicking across the room.

Demyx stood at the door. He had just run up to the doorway with exuberance and glee, and now had a curious, oblivious look on his face. This was the same as always, as he looked the room over.

"What is this place? Whose desk is that?" Demyx asked, motioning to the area around him and then nodding to the desk, placing his hands on his hips. Xigbar smiled faintly with remembrance.

"This is the abandoned study of Ansem the Wise. This is his old desk. The room is now vacant." Xemnas whispered his voice, tone, and face never changing. Xigbar sighed contently as Demyx blinked. None of that had meant anything to the water user.

"Well, goodnight, Xigbar! Goodnight, Superior." Demyx waved happily to his friend the Freeshooter, and gave a polite, curt nod to his superior. And with that, he was gone.

"What was the point of that?" Xemnas muttered. As usual, he found the boy's antics confusing and unneeded. But now… something else was there as well. Amusement? But amusement in the way that… you would laugh with someone. Laughing at their weird antics and caring all the same.

But he didn't care. Of course not. That was impossible.

"I wonder what the kids are doing. And Luxord, course. Where are they now, you think?" Xigbar questioned, leaning against the doorframe and looking to Xemnas.

"They've been gone for two days." He continued when he got no response. "Could something have happened with them and Saix in the void?"

Xemnas still made no response. His mind was swimming in questions of his own.

What was happening to him?

At this point, Xigbar decided to move towards the door as Xemnas began clutching his hair and pulling it in frustration. Items in the room, sitting on bookshelves, were beginning to shake.

Xiggy made a break for it as Xemnas began growling. He hadn't done his brave deed for today; that covered at least half of next month.

Once the Freeshooter was gone, Xemnas leapt up out of his seat, slamming his hands onto the desk as he shouted.

"What's happening to me?"

I AM THE NARRATOR!

And this is Axel.

Annoying woman. You're giving me a migraine…

Shut it, spiky.

Anyway, it has been two days since Saix, Sora, Roxas, and Luxord met Riku in the dark. What has happened to them? Where are they? What will they do? How will they get out? Where am I going with this? Why am I going with this? What's your sign?

Do you ever shut up?

No. Not really.

Kill me now.

Really?

No!

Sora sighed, yawning and stretching his hands. His poor, tired feet were burning, his legs getting sore, and his mind bored out of… well, his mind.

"Are we there yet?" Sora complained for the tenth time in the last twenty minutes.

"NO!" Roxas and Riku yelled, clearly agitated. Everyone was tired and annoyed.

"How long have we been walking in this direction?" Saix mumbled, annoyed.

"Two days." Luxord proclaimed with disappointment. He had hoped he could've been in bed by now.

"Two days?" The young key keeper screeched. He hadn't eaten, slept, or even sat down in two days? Not to mention bathing, but that was in the back of his mind.

"Silence. I'm trying to sustain my sanity." Saix glowered.

"What was that riddle again?" Roxas asked eager to figure it out and get out.

"Follow the Way to Dawn and over the tide. At the end of the day you'll see the Sun is on your side."

"Two days have ended. Nothing's happened!" Sora complained, interjecting. Riku ignored him and continued.

"Through the mist of hate and despair, you'll find Sunrise awaiting you there." He finished, yawning out the end part.

"Sunrise awaiting us is something to do with Saix and that girl. Probably the item she gave him, too." Roxas stated, thinking.

"The Way to Dawn is Riku, or his weapon, or something like that." Sora pondered.

"Which leaves 'over the tide', the 'sun', and the 'mist'. What are those?" Luxord questioned the group. Sora shrugged, thinking.

"You got anything to say Saix?" Riku asked. The blue haired man had been silent most of the walk, except for his sarcasm, but now he was in deep thought.

"What did your girlfriend give you?" Luxord questioned. That earned a glare from Saix.

"I cannot remember what she gave me. I barely remember who she was to me. I only remember… her importance." Saix's eyes flickered back to the ground as he fell silent again.

"Well, the first part is following the Way to Dawn, so…" Riku looked down at his weapon and hoisted it up, pointing it straight up. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then another moment. Then another.

"Nice job. When's the signal come in? Reading anything?" Sora asked playfully, referring to Riku as if he were a radio tower. With a glare, Riku dropped his arm again, mad that it didn't work.

"Well, that did a whole lot." Luxord sighed, stroking his hair.

Roxas was silent this entire time. Deep in thought, he didn't realize Saix had stopped walking in front of him, and he walked right into the Luna Diviner.

"Saix?" Roxas questioned, backing up and looking up to the blue haired man. Saix looked shocked, staring straight ahead, eyes wide.

"Do you see that?" Saix whispered his words barely audible. Roxas side stepped him to look ahead. No one else had heard the diviner.

Eyes piercing the bleak blackness, Roxas looked ahead to see a door. It was small, white, and far away, but otherwise looked like a normal bedroom door. Roxas turned to Sora and nudged him, pointing to the door.

"You guys see that?" Roxas asked. Sora looked ahead and nodded. Luxord stepped up, and replied with a positive answer.

"See what?" Riku asked. Sora chuckled and looked ahead.

"The door. See it?" He asked, pointing to it. Riku followed his hand to look ahead, but he still didn't see anything.

"You really don't see anything?" Sora asked, curious. Riku nodded, scanning the darkness, but seeing nothing.

"It might have something to do with the riddle." Luxord pondered aloud. No one responded.

Riku stepped ahead towards the door he couldn't see, letting the key guide him. Sora watched patiently, wondering if this was too easy…

Suddenly, a huge geyser burst forth ahead of Riku, towering above the group, hissing and steamy loudly. Riku, glancing this way and that, searched for the origin of the noise.

"Riku!" Sora leapt ahead and knocked Riku away just before the water crashed down on him. The white haired boy sat up, disgusted, glaring at Sora.

"What was that for!" He questioned angrily. Sora blinked.

"You don't see it?" Sora asked. Riku calmed down, confused.

"See what?"

"Duck!" At that moment, Luxord summoned his cards and three sped across the blackness to the two boys as the scalding water splashed towards them. It gave Sora enough time to grab Riku's hand and leap up, gliding above the scene. Letting go, Riku began gliding as well.

"I'll hang back here. Luxord!" Riku called to the man, who looked up to him. "Come with me! I need you to lead me to the door." With a nod, the man leapt onto one of his cards, flying up to the teenager. The two flew off towards a different area, fighting the over powering water all the while. It was spreading, growing, and widening.

"What do you think this is?" Roxas called, looking over to Sora. The brown haired boy looked around, summoning his key.

"How do you fight scalding water is what I want to know!" Sora called back. A burst of water flowed between the two, and Roxas leapt away. He ran right into another burst, and screamed as it burnt his arm and the black sleeve burned away.

"Roxas!"

"Fool." Saix muttered, looking to the ground. Sora turned to him.

"Can't you at least act like you're on our team?" He yelled angrily. Surprised, Saix looked to him.

"I spoke of myself." Saix murmured. Sora's eyes softened.

"You can't fight the tide." Saix began talking to himself. "You simply…"

"You have to go with the tide, Sai!" giggle "That's how you must live life. Going with the flow, following nature… simply going with the tide. Isn't that what you once told me, big brother?"

Saix shook his head of the foggy memory and looked up to Sora.

"Leap into the geyser!" He called determined. Sora blinked.

"What? Are you insane?" His look hardened. "Or are you just trying to get me killed? Are you?" He proclaimed, accusingly. Saix shook his head.

"I understand; you don't trust me. So I will follow through!" He called, and with that, the man leapt into the sweltering water. Sora called his name, shocked.

"I understand; you don't trust me."

Sora looked across the way to Roxas. He was clutching his arm, but he heard the conversation. With a curt nod to Sora, he looked ahead and leapt in.

"Roxas!" Sora called. Were these guys nuts?

With a sigh, Sora looked up. Riku and Luxord were floating above, Riku looking a bit angry, perhaps at himself. And then, just like that, a giant wave took them both under.

"No!" Sora called. He was the only one left.

Just as Sora looked ahead, the water was quickly rolling towards him, and with a curt sigh, he let himself fall under.

Sputtering and spitting, Sora crashed up through the surface, shaking his head to dry his hair and blinking profusely. The water felt cool, cold, even freezing almost.

Sora stood straight up, looking around, to see he was on a beach. But this beach was odd. The sand was silver colored, the foliage looked… weird. It was as if a silver substance had crashed over them, a silver wave, and frozen automatically, leaving odd formations of icy sculptures. The water was clear blue, and the sand beneath was hard, like scales. It looked like a bunch of silver scales under the water.

So much for the treasure being in Twilight Town.

"Sora?" Someone called. Turning to his left, Sora watched Riku and Luxord run up to him. Roxas wasn't far behind.

"Where's Saix?" Sora asked, a bit saddened that he hadn't trusted him at first.

"Here." Sora turned to see Saix sitting in the water, legs apart, his arms on his knees and his head hanging between them. He looked up through soaked, sodden hair, eyes glistening with the watery beads.

(Oh, sexy)

With a short sigh, Sora walked up to the man and extended his hand to him. Saix look at him like he was a foreign life form, but Sora just smiled and kept his hand raised.

"Is this a form of apology?" Saix questioned. Sora shrugged.

"I guess so." He sighed slightly, a kind smile on his lips.

Saix looked to Sora's gloved hand. Without a word, he took hold of the boy's open palm, and pulled himself up. Roxas grinned.

"How'd you know what to do?" Riku asked. Saix smiled slightly, but only slightly. It was so small, no one noticed.

"Momentary inspiration." He replied simply, and with that, he walked past the others, out into the silvery water.

Sora looked to Luxord, who shrugged, to Roxas, who grinned, and Riku, who was smirking as if he had just watched the impossible happen. Because the impossible had just happened.

And unbeknownst to anyone, deep inside a heart piece of brooding curiosity, the emotion "Trust" began to grow.