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

www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/Trinity-Possisble-KH3-outfit-277896384?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y%2F25702087&qo=6

www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/Line-art-Aura-for-KH-3D-277116064?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y%2F25702087&qo=12

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-Three
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When the world goes opposite

Sora walked towards the entrance of the Olympus Coliseum, and noticed Hercules walking outside. They both smiled and ran towards each other, with Hercules high fiving Sora. "You on another adventure?" he asked the three males.

"Yeah, tracking down some friends, taking out some heartless," replied Sora, waving it off as if it were nothing special. "You know, the usual."

"Junior heroes, always busy," cheered Hercules, who shook hands with the rest of the gang. Hercules offered them to go inside the coliseum resting room, while they talked about their past adventures. He also told Sora that Marie and her cousin where already there. Sora sighed in relief knowing that Marie was able to get her cousin safe. He had noticed that she was trying hard just to keep him safe, and he knew of all the problems she had when she was younger. Well, not all of her problems, but he knew that she was kidnapped and taken away from her real family. He was shocked to hear that her real mother and father were missing, while Ryan's family adopted her.

As they walked into the room, however, Sora immediately noticed something wrong. Ryan was snoring on a pedestal, but Marie was nowhere in sight. He gasped, and looked around the room, hoping to see Marie sleeping as well, or wandering around the room. When he could tell she was nowhere, he turned around to Hercules and the others.

"Marie isn't here," he said, sounding as frantic as ever. Every time she disappeared, Sora couldn't help but worry. Hercules looked around, and scratched the back of his head. Donald and Goofy attempted to wake Ryan, but he was sleeping like a rock.

As soon as Sora was about to say something, a short figure appeared from the hallway that lead to the arena. It was Marie, and she came back smiling. Sora sighed in relief, and walked up to her. "Where did you go?" he asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to see the crowd, they're really roaring out there, huh?" she replied while chuckling. Sora smiled lightly, and they all huddled close to each other. As Sora and the others began to talk among each other, Marie had a slight smirk on her face, one that looked villainous.

Sora talked about their encounter with Hades, explaining that the underworld had a draining effect on them. Hercules mentioned a stone that helped prevent that—the curse of the underworld, and Sora asked if they could use it. Hercules agreed, but told them that Hades was no stroll in the park to take on alone, so he offered them to train with Phil.

"Awesome! I really want to get my work-out!" Marie exclaimed enthusiastically. Sora gave her a weird look, and wondered when she suddenly became interested in training with phil. As he recalled, she very much hated the idea of training and fighting in general. She only fought to protect and help, but fighting for fun was not for her.

He shook his head, and agreed with Marie. They walked through the corridors that lead to the training room, and Sora kept glancing over to Marie. There was something different about her, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Maybe she did something with her hair, or maybe she freshened up. He just couldn't tell.

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Marie

I crossed my arms, and tapped my foot on the ground. Whoever created this trick, or prank, was sure going to get it. I looked around and noticed I wasn't too far from the exit, so I walked as I headed back to the entrance. When I was close to the exit, I heard the noise of shuffling feet. I looked around to see if anyone was there, and I hoped it wasn't Hades.

A dark portal appeared in front of my eyes, and out appeared a man dressed in a black cloak. I gasped, and quickly took out my keyblade. The man looked like he was hesitating, but that didn't make my lower my guard. He grumbled some words, and lowered his head—and then he suddenly took out his weapon...which is a guitar? Maybe this person is a bard or something.

"If you come with me, we won't have to fight!" his voice sounded as if it was trying hard to be macho and in control. I raised my eyebrow at this, seriously. I didn't falter, and I was even getting ready to cast a spell. He yelped, and when I cast the spell, he jumped out of the way. Well, at least he's nimble—I'll give him that much.

"What would make you think I'd come along merrily?" I asked. Seriously, though, it would take some serious convincing for me to tag along. "You're the enemy!"

The man laughed, and I was starting to realize that he was the same man who we saw earlier. I lifted my keyblade, and when he spoke, I was suddenly caught off-guard.

"What about your childhood friends back at Hollow Bastion? You know, the red head and the one with blue hair?" he chuckled and I looked away. Who was he talking about….my childhood friends? Aqua…? I couldn't help but stand here and think who they were, and when I looked back at the man, a big splash of his spells attacked me.

I was thrown to the ground because of the impact, and I groaned in pain. For someone so hesitant to fight, he sure was strong! I couldn't even see his face, since it was covered by that darn hood of his. As I tried getting up, I was hit with another wave of his spell attacks. I looked up, and noticed that his spells weren't even spells—they were bodies of water! I was being slapped around by water, and it was not cool! I quickly got up, and the man was going to fire another round of his water friends. I manage to dodge them, and I had to retreat to get away. I ran deeper within the cave, since the guy was blocking the entrance, and I had to hide for the time being.

As I ran further in the cave, I noticed the guy stopped chasing after me, in fact, I think he disappeared. I sighed, and proceeded to the entrance. As I walked further in, the area started getting darker. I literally blinked, and I was transported even further into the darn cave.

What the heck! I just want to get out of here already.

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Stella and Dante

Stella had been sleeping a lot lately, and for some reason, she was getting tired frequently. She sighed, and lied down on the pod. Not having to worry about something was boring, and Stella didn't do boring. She closed her eyes, and started feeling drowsy again. She sighed, and decided to get up.

She walked over to the main control room, and the screen was planted on a sleeping boy. Stella gasped lightly, and quickly ran to turn off the screen.

"I thought we weren't going to watch over Marie," she said, looking away from her husband but clearly mad. Dante was sitting down, and didn't look away from the screen. He was speechless, and opened his mouth to try to say something. Instead, he got up, and started walking away. Stella kissed her teeth, and grabbed Dante's hand, bringing him back into the conversation. "What is wrong with you?" she said, a little too angry.

"Ryan, he..," he could barely finish the sentence, and he looked away as he sighed. "He was talking to the big guy, and he mentioned that his parents are Eli and Leah. He's Marie's cousin...my nephew."

He looked over to his wife, and glared with uncertain hate. "And what's worse is that you knew. My wife, who supposedly, is supposed to be honest with me."

"Don't put the blame on me," she said, feeling guilty. Although true, she knew about Ryan's birth, she was just as surprise to know about his activities with Marie. Being pregnant for Stella was an unpleasant adventure, since her husband went out and fought against evil. With the help of her mother, Dante was able to fight their enemy, but the results were dastardly. He was never around when Eli told Stella that he and Leah had another child. Heck, Marie wasn't even born on Destiny Islands. "With everything going on, I only had my focus on you and Marie—"

"So does that mean everyone we care about means nothing!" he shouted, sounding even more angry and regretful. "You know, sometimes I wonder what my life would've been if I hadn't met you."

Stella froze, and her heart felt like it stopped. Never once did Dante ever yell at her, and never once did he question his love for her. This was something new to her, and she wasn't sure how to handle it. Should she get angry, or try to calm him down? It was tough for her, since it involved the only person who truly understood her. However, he continued, "maybe Trinity would still be alive. Maybe I wouldn't be here and maybe I'd be a father to a child who wasn't so damn far away!"

"D-Dante…," was all Stella could say. She was pretty much on the verge of tears, but her pride and stubbornness prevented her from doing so. Instead, her anger got the best of her. "You know what? You had the chance to back out, but you never took it! Therefore, it's your fault for sticking around! As much as I love you, I never forced you into going anywhere with me!"

"And guess what? I regret it all!" he shouted back, with an almost visible vein appearing from his forehead. "Thinking back on it all, I sacrificed so much. I sacrificed my sister, my own blood just so that I could be with you, and I regret it! I sacrificed my life by staying in this…hell of a place! And most of all, I sacrificed the chance to be a father. My daughter is running around, risking her life, because we're in here! If you hadn't made contact with her that day, she'd be at home living the life I want for my children!"

Stella was trying hard not to cry, and she took a deep breath. She glared at Dante, and stomped out into a secluded area. Dante only stared, and he punched the wall as he shouted. "Run away! That's all you do! You never do anything that will harm you because you're always making others do that!"

As soon as she entered into a tight-lock room, she slapped her back against the wall, and started to cry uncontrollably. It could be said that everything that happened was her fault, but she really wanted to think that she helped saved the world. She never wanted to harm anyone, but she couldn't help it. Stella was in every way like her daughter—scared and unsure of what to do with herself.

…Yeesh.

Well, it was bound to happen. Being with someone for what, ten years? Can make then coco. The question now is what will Dante do? If they manage to escape Kingdom Hearts, will he still be with Stella? Or will he be like his own father and leave the family to fend on their own? Only time will tell.

Shadow 1n2:

Oh man, I would so use it in the fight in Hollow Bastion, and I think it would suit the situation I have for that scene! XD Yeah, I mean you can put both of them together because Marie has that, "I need to help everyone" thing that Yuna has, and in ffx-2 Yuna jumps into trouble. Marie sometimes does, but only when she feels personally obliged to it. I noticed that, too, and now that I think on it I think Lea was a guy who did "dirty work" for Xemnas. I wanna know how the others came in, too! Whoa, I didn't know there was a new men in black movie, lol. Ew, and bio! I hate bio, but I do love astronomy.

grapejuice101:

Well, I don't want to make it that easy, but she does appreciate him little by little. And well, it's a failed kidnapping, since Demyx kinda sucks at fighting. We gotta worry about the imposter!

Dracula X:

I do and I don't. It's really confusing for me, lol. But basically, I'm just waiting to see if it's true. I'm more of a sceptic. They do have one, but it won't be revealed until way later on. I'm thinking of calling it, "hearts unlocked." And I'm still thinking of an attack, lol.

Captainface:

He'll be fine…I hope, and something tells me that Yuffie will be involved…and not only will you see his form, he'll be strutting his stuff. 'Cause he's so hot that if you touch him your fingertips start sizzlin'. -_-

starlightmint72:

He'll be triggering a lot of things, but the one thing he won't be a trigger for until the very end I think is the identity of Stella. He will remember Aura's name, but her name alone won't mean much to Marie until later on.

TheEpicBlueNinja:

Thanks! Let's see, I pronounce it the French way, so it would be 'Maree' lol. I wanted to just name her Claire, but then I scraped the idea lol. XD

dracula-key:

Actually, that will be Marie's power field. She sees that she sucks at physical fights, so she'll sooner or later dub herself a white mage or cleric or something to that extent. Yep, to be precise it's wild cherries that are considered natural remedy herbs to help regulate iron deficiency. It also helps with colds. I make sure I look up my sources and information before I write anything, just so I don't have people telling me otherwise.

Lvl-ZeR0:

Thank youuu! And well, I eat chocolates that time so it doesn't matter. I'm technically not allowed to eat chocolate though, since it's supposedly bad for my eczema. I wonder that, too…I'm going to say yes, though! XD

guitarqueen136:

Wow, I'm surprised and happy to see that you remember that! XD although that would be a good idea, Atlantica is filled with funny stuff, especially Marie being pissy about the fact that she has no boobs. Thank you so much for reading!