PAIN, PAIN, OH PAIN

TWO WEEKS TILL TRACK OUT! u

Ahem. Anyway, I suspect that the series will end soon. And as it ends, chapter by chapter, I will give you little tastes of the sequel. Yes! A sequel is in the works! Today, the little taste shall be this:

"This is just great." Sora sighed, stroking his hair. Kairi chuckled at his unease.

"You've fought monsters and darkness, but facing your parents frightens you?" She asked.

"Hell yes." He said, laughing. Riku raised his hand.

"Second that." The three broke into laughter.

As the laughter died down, Kairi sighed contently and looked out the back window of the gummi ship.

"Even if it's only for a short time…" She sighed. "I will miss Radiant Garden."

TO THE STORY!

"So you're telling me…" Leon began. "That two teenage girls manage to sneak past you and onto the race track after hours, because the guard was napping?" He seemed to be trying to keep it together as best he could.

As soon as Cloud had finished telling everyone about what he had learned from Morpheus' memories, everyone realized that two members of the RGRC were missing. Not only that, but Yuna's guns and Yuffie's ninja weapons were missing. There was only one conclusion.

Namine and Kairi had headed to the door at the race track on their own.

After assuming this, the group sped down to the track, leaving some behind incase the two girls showed up.

"I can't believe this! Why would they run off?" Riku demanded as Leon talked to the guard.

"I don't know." Cloud muttered.

"They must have had a reason." Tifa insisted.

"I'm gonna kill em." Roxas muttered deeply worried.

Leon stalked back to the group, very disturbed.

"We aren't allowed down there." Sora gawked.

"Not even…?" Leon shook his head. "What do we do now?" Sora complained, highly disturbed that he couldn't find either of the girls.

"We must let them do as they wish."

Auron strode up to the group, collected as always, acting as if he knew this would happen. "They have unlocked the door with the only key, the crown necklace Xemnas gave to Kairi, and the door has locked behind them. All we can do is wait."

"Wait?" Demyx complained. Auron smirked.

"Well… we don't have to necessarily wait." He chuckled.

The group began heading back to the hotel room, Auron in the lead. He was giving orders.

"We leave now. Tomorrow, we rest. The day after tomorrow, the end begins."

"The end?" Xigbar muttered questioningly.

"We will go to the World That Never Was and face Hinode head on. We will dive into the mystery at its source."

"But you know everything!" Sora accused as they paced the stairs. Auron laughed.

"Do I wish I did." They stalked down the hall, the large group creating large noise. A few people stuck their heads out of their doorways. Xigbar walked by one such man and elbowed him painfully in the head, pushing him back into his room.

"Don't stick your noise in other affairs." He muttered dangerously as the group turned to go up another staircase.

Finally coming to their room, Auron sauntered in. Aerith leapt up when the door opened, and Cid turned. The others all perked up.

"Hurry. Make hast!" Auron grinned as if he was having the best time of his life. "Death is on our heels!"

"I don't like this place." Kairi sighed, clutching the kunai knife in her hand so tightly that she was cutting the circulation in her hand off. Namine tried to sooth her as the climbed the dark staircase.

"Calm yourself. We'll be alright." Kairi nodded, a bit calmer, and put the weapon hand down at her side. For the moment, they were safe.

Kairi wasn't sure what made her leap up in the middle of the night and go to Namine. She thought it was the dream. But she knew they had to go alone; they couldn't risk it. Okay, she knew why she was doing this; what Kairi didn't know was why she was trusting to a dream.

This dream had haunted her for a while; Sora running off with the others into battle, leaving her behind, and never coming back. Falling in battle. Dying.

Suppressing a shiver down her spine, Kairi tried to ignore the stairs. These stairs were the very ones in her dream on which Sora's dead body was sprawled. The poor girl was shaking with those memories.

The room was just a tall tower with a huge spiraling staircase filling the empty void. The silence was infecting; Namine was as badly shaken as Kairi, but she was better at hiding it.

And so it went for what seemed like hours. A staircase, a long never ending staircase…

"NO!" Everyone shouted.

"Man, one bad ride, and I'm expelled from the driver's seat." Xigbar muttered.

With the gummi ship loaded, everyone was getting on and trying to decide who would drive.

"I'll drive." Leon said. Paine sighed happily.

"A sane person. Good". Yuffie agreed, and Leon was voted driver.

"Party pooper." Xigbar muttered. He strapped himself in the back with Paine.

"You didn't call me." Xigbar heard in his ear. He chuckled nervously as Paine's sharp nails dug into his arm.

"Was kinda busy crying over the dead guy?" Xemnas snorted. Xigbar began loosing his confidence.

"Damn…" Demyx laughed. "I've never seen Xigbar tremble. I like Paine!" Everyone laughed. Even Paine and Xigbar, the former deciding to let the latter off easy.

In the front Leon smirked.

"Everyone buckle up for Air Lion!" He cackled, and shoved the throttle. The ship burst forward like a rocket, and everyone screamed when the man took a very sharp upward turned. Xigbar cackled.

"I KNEW I LIKED THAT GUY!" He laughed merrily. Paine scoffed.

"I SHOULD'VE KNOWN THAT HE WASN'T SANE!" She corrected herself.

The two were holding hands.

Namine and Kairi finally came to a landing, but still ahead of it were many stairs. Was there no end to the height of the tower?

"What are we supposed to find in here?" Namine sighed. Kairi shrugged tiredly.

"Not sure. I just…" She faltered. "I knew Sora couldn't come. He wouldn't come back."

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?" Kairi shook her head profusely.

"It wasn't! I know it wasn't!" She tried to convince herself. "It wasn't just a dream."

Namine patted her shoulder kindly.

"Not all dreams are real." Namine sighed.

"I know. I should've known." Kairi sobbed dryly. Namine leaned forward.

"You know, when you and I were apart during that short time, I could still feel you in my heart. And when Sora came to save me at the castle, I felt what you felt for him. You care for him deeply, deeper than you care for any other. And if trusting a dream on a whim for his safety is a sin… then you can tally that into your love for him. Trying to protect your love isn't a mistake, whether the danger was real or not." Namine comforted.

Wiping a tear from her eye, Kairi smiled.

"Thanks, Namine."

Thank Namine.

"When do the stairs end?" Kairi chuckled painfully as they walked on. Namine shrugged.

"I hope it ends soon. I may not make it to the end…" She muttered.

"Hey?" Kairi pulled on Namine's arm. "What's that?"

A light was high above them and coming toward them quite fast like…

"Duck!" Kairi cried, pulling Namine down by her arm. The two girls cowered when the light fluttered above them, but no pain came to them.

Kairi opened her eyes. Namine was standing again.

"Don't worry." Namine smiled, extending her hand. "Don't be afraid of the light."

Nodding, Kairi took Namine's hand and stood before the bright light.

"Who are you?" Kairi, princess of light, called. For a moment all was silent.

"I am Mari."

Sora stumbled off the gummi ship holding his stomach.

"I can't believe Leon did that." He sighed trying to keep the contents of his stomach in his stomach.

"I can't believe we let him do that." Riku sighed, falling on his back on the stone floor. Roxas walked out smiling.

"I can't believe we're home." He smirked.

And there it was on the horizon… Castle Radiant Garden.

"You… are good." Xigbar laughed, leaning on Leon as he walked out. Leon laughed.

"I've heard you weren't bad yourself." The two shared a laugh at the others expenses.

"I say we kill both of you and be done with it!" Yuffie complained. "Oh, if I had my shuriken!" She sighed.

Leon smiled. "Things might be easier around the castle with Yuffie unarmed." Yuffie glared playfully as everyone laughed.

As the large group strode up to the castle, the King walked out.

"I trust things were in order while we were gone?" Cloud asked. Mickey smiled.

"No problems but a few Heartless. Ever since the Organization's come here, the enemies have been few and far between." He grinned.

Demyx smirked. "We're good luck magnets!"

As he walked by, Saix shoved Demyx and the water boy ended up in a puddle of mud face first.

"Mari?" Namine asked. The light faded.

A girl was in the light, floating in the air off the staircase, with long bluish black hair and deep eyes. She nodded.

"I'm one of the Dream Catchers. Where you sent by Lady Moon?" Mari asked.

"Tsuki?" Kairi asked. "Yes. She sent us." Mari grinned.

"Mommy's okay." She sniffled, a tear tracing her cheek. Collecting herself, Mari stretched her hand out.

"Come on." She beckoned. "I'll take you to the gate."

Leon walked into Lord Ansem's office. It was still in disarray, but he preferred using it that way. That way, it felt like it was still Lord Ansem's, and not his.

Only a day, and the true adventure begins. Leon sighed and stroked his hair. He was tired, but ready for it to be over. Ready… for the group to be whole.

Suddenly, Leon noticed something on his desk. It was a sealed envelope. It was rather heavy, and once he opened it, a small letter and something else fell out. The something else rolled off the desk and fell to the floor with a clank. Leon unfolded the letter.

Our sleep is wavering again. Hinode becomes restless. Hurry to Memory's Skyscraper!

DC Tsukikage

With confusion, he stuck the letter in his pocket and stepped around the desk. There on the floor was the item from the envelope.

It was wrapped in paper. Bending down, Leon unwrapped it. The paper was a diagram, with the Hinode Sunrise keyblade keychain draw on it, and a line drawn from the keychain to a doorway, and to a certain part of the door that looked like the keychain would fit into it.

The thing that the paper had wrapped around fit into Leon's palm. It was rough and made of stone; it was a large locket. Opening it, dust flew out.

The picture had three people: One of a young girl with shimmering blonde hair, one with dark hair and eyes, and a boy in the middle.

Panna, Diluviare, and Morpheus.