I hate leaving people out of the loop, so I'll tell you now. I've already made small preparations for the next game, and started drawing out some ideas. Check it out!

www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/The-other-Marie-275110266

Marie's casual wear:

www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/I-bring-you-peace-214094964?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y%2F29599925&qo=5

Chapter Twenty
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Dysfunctional family

Aura cursed to herself as she limped towards the old mansion. She hadn't realized it before, but Xaldin managed to hurt her. It wasn't serious, but he attacked her ankle, and it just hurt. She was at the entrance of the mansion, and Riku had popped out of the door. He noticed her limping, and rushed to her. She looked up at him, and grunted a bit.

"What happened?" he asked, grabbing her arm and wrapping it around his shoulders. She stopped for a moment, and took the chance to heal it with her healing spell. She couldn't heal before because she feared Xaldin was still after her, but by the time she made it to the mansion she was in the clear.

"Xaldin managed to hurt me, but it's not serious," she said, checking her leg after it was healed, "but I brought Ryan to Marie. It's a good thing I can sense when she's in danger."

"Did you see Sora?" Riku asked, concerned for his friend.

Aura shook her head; she left before she could see him. Her top priority was to bring Ryan to Marie, but she couldn't bring him while the others were busy. When she was able to sense that Belle was with Marie, Aura thought it a good opportunity to bring him so that he was at least with Belle. As she finished checking herself, Riku stood there waiting for her. "You sure you're okay?" he said.

"Just fine," she replied. She began walking past him, but as soon as she did, he pulled her closer to him. He held onto her, and Aura scoffed at him, and tried untying herself from his grasp.

"I meant if you're okay after seeing Axel. I noticed you're a bit off," he said. He let go of Aura, but she didn't move away. She looked at the floor, and closed her eyes. It wasn't fair that she had to go through so many things just because she was a Nobody, but DiZ was right when he said that they had no right to exist.

"How would you feel if you had to break the friendship you and Sora had?" she asked, not bothering to look at him, "if you're best friends, then you'd know that it takes time to recover from that."

Now it was Riku's turn to look away, since he would feel horrible if he was no longer friends with Sora. It was bad enough that he lost Marie for ten years, but Sora was his closest friend. Out of the questions he wanted to ask Aura though, he really wanted to know where she stood with Roxas. "What about Roxas?" he asked again.

This time she stuttered, and her eyes widened a bit. He noticed that every time Roxas was mentioned, it got such a reaction from her. She couldn't look up from the floor, but she needed to say something, "Well, I—wait, why am I telling you this? It's none of your business."

She started walking away from Riku, but again, he grabbed her arm, and brought her close to him. He sighed, and looked at her sympathetically, "I don't know what it is, but I care about you. I don't know if it's because you're Marie's nobody, or something else—but I want to make whatever's going on with you my business, because I care."

Aura opened her mouth, but unable to say anything. This is probably the first time anyone has ever been upfront about caring for her. There was Roxas, but he always made it subtle to the point where she couldn't really know. She still couldn't look at him, but she wanted to smile and thank him for caring—even if it was because he was friends with Marie. Anything like that makes her feel as if she was meant to exist. Riku let go of her arm, and waited for a reply—anything to know she was listening.

"If you really care, then maybe you can help me forget about Roxas," she said, looking from side to side, away from Riku. "I need to let go of the past, and the only thing stopping me from completely letting go is Roxas, so—"

Stopping her from talking any further, Riku did what had been on his teenaged mind for some time. He leaned in, and placed his lips a little too roughly on Aura's lips. He had closed his eyes, not wanting to see her furious ones staring back. The truth was Aura just stared in shock at first. As the kiss continued though, she slowly closed her eyes and oddly enough, let him continue. This was new to her, and she didn't know if he should let him continue or not. The feeling she started getting was weird, but pleasant, and wanted it to last.

ଓ
Marie

I stared at the boy—who was named Ryan—checking out the Gummi Ship. He was so intrigued and in awe at the technology, but I wasn't really happy with this. He had yet to tell us what was going on, and when he was going to tell us, the ship suddenly began moving towards Hollow Bastion. Sora stood beside me, fidgeting and getting nervous—which wasn't all that a surprise. I sighed, things just keep getting weirder.

"Say Marie…do you…do you remember everything that happened last year?" I heard Sora say unexpectedly. Yep, things were getting weirder. I crossed my arms, and leaned against one of the counters as I began to think. I could only really remember just saving the worlds and all the conversations I remember with everyone we met. Everything else in between was a blur, like what we did on the Gummi Ship, or the conversations I had with Sora.

"Um, well, just the fact that we saved the worlds and what I discovered about myself," I replied, still staring at Ryan. "Everything else is a great big blur."

"Oh." I raised my eyebrow in confusion, and finally looked at Sora. "Everything okay?" I asked.

"Oh, oh yeah! Definitely, I was just wondering," he unconvincingly said. I sighed again; I think I'm better off not asking about it any further. Besides, I was still wondering about Ryan. I decided to approach him, but as soon as I did, the ship shook, and we were landing on Hollow Bastion.

"What's going on?" he asked, panicking and looking around. I firmly held onto my chair, and then grabbed his hand to do the same. He continued to look around, but wasn't as freaked out as before.

"We're landing….hold onto the chair, it's planted to the ground," I said. Sora, Donald and Goofy all took their positions, and we watched from the window as the ship landed.

ଓ

We were stumped as to why we were brought here, so Goofy suggested we see the restoration committee. I was a little worried about bringing Ryan, since it seems like he doesn't have any fighting experience, but he was so stubborn and decided to come along anyways. Sora walked beside me with his hands behind his head, and everyone else looked around. It was silent, and it was freaking me out a bit. As we made it to the house, we saw some heartless run out of Merlin's. I gasped, and Sora was the first to enter.

Everything seemed all right, but Merlin was on the floor. Sora rushed to help him up, and asked what happened. "Well, it was I who summoned you all here, but I seemed to have used too much power. Those infernal heartless rummaged the place, but I was able to save this."

Merlin handed a book to us, and on the cover of it was Sora, me, and…

"Pooh's storybook!" I happily exclaimed. Donald took the book, and I smiled brightly. Aw man, I remember that cuddly little teddy bear! I wonder how he's doing. Merlin went off saying that he wanted to tell us something, but then he went on saying that Leon and the others needed to hear as well, and told us to wait.

"I wonder how Pooh and the others are doing," wondered Sora. Donald asked him if he wanted to find out, and opened the book. Sora looked at me, as if asking me if I wanted to go along. I really did, but…

"Why don't you go Sora, and fill me in later? I don't trust Ryan enough to stay here with Goofy and Donald," I said, sounding a bit sad. Sora looked at me, but I looked at the floor. He sighed, which was a first from him, and decided to enter the book alone.

"Cover for me, okay?" he said, looking at Goofy. He dove into the book, and magically disappeared. I looked at Donald and Goofy, who stared at the book. I looked at Ryan, and grabbed his arm as I walked out of the house.

"Where're going Marie?" asked Goofy. I stopped and looked at him, and pointed at Ryan.

"I need to have a talk with our new guest, I'll be back soon, promise." I left without them having to answer, and Ryan looked a little nervous. I really wanted some answers, like how I never knew I had an uncle and an aunt.

ଓ

"aw man, you're not going to hit me, are you?" Ryan asked, still looking nervous.

"Not unless you tell me about this 'cousin' business," I said, crossing my arms. The only thing he told me was that he was my cousin, and never went into specifics about it. I think it was about time to get those answers.

"What's there to know, we're cousins," he said, scratching his nose. I sighed again, this isn't what I meant.

"When did I have a cousin? When did I have an uncle and an aunt?" I said, waving my hands around. Ryan just walked along while chuckling to himself, and I really think now isn't the time to be laughing.

"Well, we both have two aunts and one uncle," he said, while using his fingers to count. "The mutual one is named Trinity Devon, but she passed away even before I was born, and I'm older than you."

"You are?" I asked, sounding a bit surprised. Ryan didn't look older—he kinda looked like my age, or a bit younger.

"Don't let my good-looking looks fool ya," he said, which made me roll my eyes. "I'm a year older…the same age as Riku."

"Have you seen Riku!" I asked. If he did, this would really benefit Sora. "If you did, you should tell Sora!"

"I didn't see him, I only met some girl named….ah, well I can't remember," he said, scratching his head. "But what's your fix on Sora? You guys better not be going out, since I'm also your older brother."

"what?" I asked, really freaked out now. How can he be my brother and my cousin at the same time? He shoved his hands into his pocket, and laughed aloud. He coughed a lot after laughing, which made others look at him oddly. I wonder if he's sick or something.

"The truth is, you're real parents disappeared about a month after you were born," he said. I stopped, and looked at him with a serious expression. How can my parents be dead if I was with them until I was at least three years old?

"Actually, those are my parents—your aunt and uncle. They didn't want you to know about it until you were older though, but then you disappeared, too," he said as he stopped a little further from me. I stood where I was, and looked at the ground. Could it be true? Was what he said really be true? I looked at him, although sadly, and clasped my hands together.

"Please tell me you're lying," I said—pleaded him to be right. "It can't be true, it just can't!"

"I'm sorry Marie," he said, looking away with his hands still in his pockets. "Your real surname isn't Hill…it's actually Devon, but ever since my parents adopted you, it's been Hill."

My knees began to weaken, and I couldn't even stand. I fell to the floor, and lowered my head. I tried so hard not to cry, but what I'm hearing isn't exactly good news. How could my parents have kept this secret? They're not even my parents….my…aunt and uncle. I managed to look at Ryan, and he looked back sympathetically.

"Do you know who my real parents are?" I asked, although a bit quiet. He was still able to hear though, and he looked up into the sky, as if wondering.

"I'm horrible with names, but I have pictures of them, I'll show you when we get back to the ship." He came up to me, and offered his hand. I closed my eyes for a bit, and gave my hand to him. I got up with his help, and we started walking back to Merlin's.

"If you're mad at my parents, you have every right," he said. "I'm mad at them for not telling me about it, and seriously, I found out about you through Kairi—"

"Kairi? You saw her? Is she okay?" I asked, concerned for a fellow friend. I wonder how she must be feeling, since I knew she feels something for Sora. Also, with Riku still missing, she must be really sad.

"Yeah, but she was always so distant," he said, while looking at the houses. "She is close to Sora and Riku, so I think she misses them."

"Well, I guess that's one good thing I can tell Sora," I said, while placing my hands behind my back. "He's worried sick about Riku, but I think this might help him feel a little bit better."

"Do you like him?" asked Ryan, but I lightly hit his arm out of the absurdity of that.

"N-no, I don't," I said, looking straight ahead. "He's just a friend…"

"Sure. Whatever you say, sis/cousin."

ଓ
Sora

Sora ventured into the book, and the first thing that popped up was the house of Pooh. He wondered if that small bear was home and walked towards his house. Along the way, he began to think of a few things. A lot has happened over the days, and the main thing was Marie. At first he thought she was just mad, but what Xaldin said…could that be true? Did Marie actually forget the memories she had with Sora?

He didn't really know if it was better than her being mad, since at least them she'd still remember. In reality, it explained a lot. Why she was so distant, and so awkward when he wanted to show affection…it made sense. He wasn't going to let that stop him, in fact, he was going to try and make her remember. He didn't know how, but maybe little by little he'd ask her about some things.

As he walked closer to Pooh's house, he remembered the times he had with Marie. It was this world that she let her guard down, and cried in front of him. And… It was here that he vowed to himself to be by her side. He really wished she were here, so that he could tell her. With Ryan in the picture though, Sora wasn't sure what to do. He didn't know Marie had a cousin, and by her look, neither did she. He was just as curious as Marie was, and hopefully she'd fill him in after.

He walked down the path, and noticed a little house in the corner. He looked around, until he saw a small teddy bear thinking on a log. He approached the small bear, and he looked up at Sora. "Hey Pooh bear, how ya doin'? Finding enough honey lately?"

"Why yes, in fact, I was about to do my stoutness exercises, would you like to join me, Sora?" he asked, shifting on the log. Sora laughed, and would have loved to see Marie's reaction to this. He knew she had a thing for stuff animals, and wondered about buying her one. He shook his head, and looked back at Pooh Bear.

"Sure, I'm game," he said. Pooh attempted to get off the log, but midway he froze. He questioned this, and slowly walked up to Pooh. He slowly brought his fingers towards the bear, and as soon as his fingertip touched him, he was sent flying out of the book!

As he was brought out of the book, he landed roughly on the floor. He watched as the book closed itself, and raised his eyebrow in confusion. He sat there for a moment, until he heard Donald's voice, "Sora! Hurry up!"

He turned around, and wondered what was up. He quickly got up from the floor, and started running towards the door. He saw Donald and Goofy fending off some shadows, and Sora brought out his keyblade. "Did you bring the book, Sora?" asked Goofy.

As the three of them turned around, they saw three heartless shadows running off with the book. Sora shouted at them, and Donald yelled for them to give the book back. As the three of them ran towards the heartless, Marie and Ryan popped up, with one of the heartless knocking Ryan down.

"Marie!" shouted Sora. She helped Ryan up, and he stood behind her. She was able to fight off the heartless near her, while protecting Ryan. She looked at Sora, but was distracted when another heartless popped up.

"Don't worry, I got these. Fight off the rest!" she shouted while shooting the stars from her keyblade. He noticed that she looked a bit shaken, from the way she was fighting, but as long as she was defeating them, he felt relieved. He focused on the ones in front of him, and quickly fought some of them off. They were nothing more than shadows, the lowest of the heartless chain, and were able to defeat them all quickly.

As he finished fighting off the last one, he noticed that Marie was about done as well. The last heartless she fought dropped Pooh's storybook, and all five of them went to check up on it. Sora bent down to pick it up, and asked if it was all right.

"Gawrsh, maybe you better check to see if Pooh's all right," suggested Goofy. Donald shook his head, and asked about Merlin.

"I'm sure we can come up with something," said Marie, looking at the book. "I'm also worried about Pooh."

"Alright, Marie and I will go," confirmed Sora. He looked over to Ryan, and then back at Donald and Goofy. "Take care of him while we're gone."

They both nodded, and Sora gave the book to Donald. Marie was the first to grab Sora's hand, and he looked at her. He smiled lightly, and she gave him the go. He ran towards the book, and dove into it along with Marie.

ଓ
Marie

We landed on the book, and I looked around. Everything looked like it was erased, and Sora scratched his head. "It didn't look like this when I was last here."

"Pooh's house still looks intact, let's go check it out," I said while walking towards it. Sora followed along, and we walked through the path. It was a bit quiet along the way, but then Sora began to speak.

"Say do you remember anything from here?" he said, looking at me while we walked. I placed a finger on my chin, and closed my eyes as I stopped. I thought of the things that went on here, but literally, some parts were blurred out.

"I can't…it's just a blur," I said, opening my eyes. "I just remember us helping Pooh Bear."

"Oh," he said as he looked away. He was very quiet and down, and I looked down at the floor. I sighed as I watched the floor, but then I remembered what Ryan said to me.

"…Kairi is doing well," I said, while looking at him. He turned and faced me again, and tilted his head in confusion.

"How do you know?"

"Ryan told me," I replied. "He's talked to her a few times, and he also remembers you when he was young, and how you were always with Kairi and Riku."

"I don't really remember him though, I think this is the first I've seen him," he replied. He let out a big sigh, and placed his hands behind his back and smiled. "But I sure am glad that Kairi's alright."

I began to walk backwards, and stared at Sora. He raised his eyebrow in confusion—probably cause I started walking backwards. "You know, you should really drop that 'I think of Kairi as a sister' thing. I don't think she'd like that."

ଓ
Sora

Sora didn't understand where she was going with this, so he asked her what she meant, and she just smiled while she spoke. "Well, she's my friend, too, right? I'm just saying…"

She passed a wink onto him, and he was confused. Was she…was Marie implying that he should like Kairi a little more? It was true that he had some sort of feelings for Kairi way back when he first started this journey, but then Marie appeared, and everything just rather…went into place. Plus, he still loves Marie, and he couldn't betray her. Marie was right though—he needed to think of Kairi as a friend. Maybe Marie thought that Kairi would take it too offense to be called a sister?

Marie turned around, and giggled as she jogged towards Pooh, who was visible. He ran towards both of them, and saw Pooh sitting on the log. He bent down and smiled at it. "I'm glad you're okay, Pooh."

"And I'm glad you came to visit, but you see, I was just about to begin my stout exercise," he said, wiggling his stuffed feet. Marie laughed, and Sora chuckled, hoping the same thing that happened last year wouldn't start. "Perhaps we could visit a bit later, people-I-don't-know."

"Oh…sure," Sora replied. He looked at Marie, and she shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what was up. As Pooh began his exercise, Marie smiled, and Sora began to ask Pooh another question. "So...how's piglet these days?"

"I'm not quite sure I know anyone by that name," he replied, bending down to do his exercise. Sora called his name, but Pooh was too busy doing his exercise to answer back. Sora stood straight and crossed his arms as he looked at Marie.

"Something very weird is happening here," he said. Marie grabbed her other arm, and stared at Pooh Bear. She tilted her head and wondered what was up, and suggested asking Merlin about it.

ଓ
Marie

By the time we got out of the book, we asked Merlin what happened. As it turns out, some of the pages of the book were stolen by the heartless, since it's a cherished book. It must mean something to them; otherwise, they wouldn't have gone through the trouble of stealing it.

Merlin also gave us a necklace, with the power of summoning our friends, like Mushu or Simba. That actually makes me wonder how Simba is doing, I hope he's okay. Sora suggested we move on, and we all agreed. Along the way, I thought it would be informal to tell Ryan that this was my home.

"Hey Ryan, if you wanna know, this is the place where I was taken," I said, placing my hands behind my back. "I was able to run from the guy who kidnapped me, and that's where I met Ansem the wise, the guy who treated me like his family."

"Whoa, that's a lot to take in," he said, fixing his hat. "But I'm really happy that you're safe. I can't imagine what that guy would've done if you didn't run from him."

I'm not really sure myself, and I really can't remember the guy's name. I remember the basics, and I think that's good for now, but I would really like to know everything. When that time will be, who knows? I just hope it's not too late by the time I remember. I also thought of how I was going to tell Ryan that I have powers. I mean, it sounds a little silly saying it now, but he's seen me with my keyblade, and he hasn't said anything about it yet.

"Hey, I noticed you guys fight," he said, looking at each of us. "And one of you even uses magic! How cool is that?"

Donald smirked, feeling proud and honoured, but Sora and I laughed. I guess he did notice, but I don't know how we're going to explain that Sora and I are—

"Yeah, well get this: Marie and I are Keyblade wielders! We've saved all of the worlds so far because of the blades we use!" Sora exclaimed proudly, sticking his tongue at Donald, who only crossed his arms.

"I've seen someone with those blades you guys carry…but I can't remember her name," he said, having a finger on his chin. "Eh, it'll come to me. Anyways, do you guys have any powers like he does?"

Ryan pointed at Donald, and I hesitated a bit. I don't know why I'm acting weird about it, I guess it's something you don't tell your family. Especially if you've just met him. Well, if he's cool with us fighting with weapons, I guess he'd be okay with a magic-user cousin.

"I did have the power of Kingdom Hearts, but it's been taken away," I said, looking down at my hands. "But apparently, I have my own set of powers, apart from the ones that were taken away."

"Cool! What are your powers?" he asked, getting really interested in the idea.

"Not much, all I can do is just heal and create shields," I said. I sighed; I was able to do so much more than that, but ever since my powers were taken, I've been feeling so inferior. I really wondered how long this feeling would pass, but I don't think it'll be anytime soon.

"Well, that's cool, I guess," replied Ryan. Geez, not even my own cousin thinks my powers are cool. He walked up to Donald, and started asking him questions about his powers. I had the same magic as Donald, but his were upgraded, so they looked cooler than mine. As Ryan and Donald talked amongst themselves, Sora came up to me.

"So what did you guys talk about while I was at Pooh's?" he asked. I looked over to him, and gave him a slight smile. I guess I could always count on Sora to be nice, even if he was acting weird.

"Well, it's a long story if you're into it," I said as I chuckled a bit. He smiled back, and offered his ears to listen. I nodded, and went on to tell him about the problem I had back at home.

Marie, WHAT THE $#%& ARE YOU SAYING! You'll lose Sora!

Anyways, hey guys! How was your Christmas? I had a horrible one, I ate something wrong, and I've been sick with the stomach flu and spent every minute of every hour throwing up whatever I ate. I'm okay now, and I think I lost some weight!

Shadow 1n2: Haha, yeah I'm from Guatemala and we open our presents at midnight. It saves like ten plus hours for us. I just had fun playing my XOBX and strolling around in Saints Row 3—Which I beat in less than two days. I really hope the fourth game is longer. Happy New years!

Dracula X: Happy New Years! Yeah, he has his hood on, so she can't tell. However, the voice is enough for her to know that it sounds familiar. I wonder what she'll do when she sees him without his hood?

grapejuice101: Happy New Years! Yeah, and it gets worse, Marie is playing cupid! She just might make the worst mistake she'll ever make! And yes, although it was a bitter reunion.

Captainface: Happy New Years! He got to the world through Aura's portal; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to get to Marie.

Lvl-ZeR0: Happy New Years! Haha, well here's a New Years gift! That's okay, I'm happy that you take the time to review this story, so that means a lot. Well, true, girls are a mystery. I won't lie that I get bi-polar sometimes. But if you stay out of my sight when it's the time of the month, or if I'm pissed in general, you'll find that I'm one bright and cheery woman!

Ugh, and don't say puke…

HopeReincarnated: Happy New Years! And yeah, I noticed I didn't answer it. Stella and Dante do know about Ryan, but they never met him since he was in the hospital when she was still on Destiny Islands. She doesn't know that he's with Marie at the moment, since she isn't checking up on her anymore, and she's not aware of his actions.

Ah, and well I have a friend who is diagnosed as iron-deficiency anemia, and he's usually with me when I write my stories [and he likes to sleep on my bed DX] and he also reads it. I thought it would be nice to make a character based on him. Also, I wanted to bring in another character out of surprise and to keep the readers interested. I don't know if it worked or not, but I really like Ryan's character. I don't think he'll appear much in future stories, so I think this will be his first and last story.

dracula-key: Happy New Years! Yeaaah, you'll see that a lot. Ryan is my comic-relief dude, so he'll be hitting on a lot of girls. Yuffie will be a prime victim of it. He also will be the protective brother, since he's her adopted brother and cousin at the same time.