Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

Ch.51 A Good-Luck Charm

Yuffie walked casually through the First District, humming and holding her shuriken held loosely in her hands. It was her turn to take a patrol of the town and get rid of any Heartless acting up, along with helping any of the townspeople that needed it. But thankfully it looked like none of that was needed tonight. The town was as clear as the sky overhead, where stars twinkled and shined like diamonds. Yuffie snicked. "Looks like I got the easy night," she said, taking a moment to sit on top of the roof of the accessory shop. She looked up at the sky and wondered if she, Leon and the others would ever be able to make it back to their home world. Leon had told her that was Maleficent was gone, maybe. She hoped so.

Before she could go any deeper into her thoughts she saw a speck of light flash in the sky, brighter than the stars. She looked up curiously, and to her shock saw a dark corridor appear right in the middle of the sky. Instantly she jumped to her feet and held her throwing star tightly, ready to fight if needed. But instead of Heartless, what came out of the corridor was a Gummi Ship. It was smoking and looked like it had just been flying through an asteroid belt- it had that many dents. It was flying towards the ground at breakneck speed, and she saw that based on its current angle of descent it would crash... right into her! She shouted and leaped forward, landing in front of the accessory shop while the Gummi Ship shot down and crashed behind it.

She ran around the building and saw that it hadn't exploded, but it was crashed against the door to the Second District while blowing sparks everywhere. Slowly she approached the wrecked vehicle, when suddenly an arm, a human arm, rose from the other side of the ship. It grabbed a rail along the top and pulled, its owner turning out to be me, who climbing onto the top of the ship. "Dexal?" she asked. I smiled and waved at her, saying "Hey, Yuffie! Long time no see!" She mutely nodded and I jumped down and patted the top of the dome of bridge, saying "Hey guys! It's safe to come out now!" The dome opened with a hiss and I saw that inside were Sora, Donald, Goofy and another girl with red hair. All of them groaned, and Donald said "That was your idea of how to get us out of there? Really?"

I shrugged. "Well, we happened to have been under fire when I came up with it, so any working idea sounded good at the time," I said. "Hey, at least we all made it here in one piece!" Goofy pointed out. Donald merely grumbled and jumped out, landing on the ground. Sora did the same and helped the red-haired girl out. As he did she tripped and she shouted, wrapping her arms around him so she wouldn't fall. I blinked and frowned; she had landed squarely on the pavement. She shouldn't have tripped. While Sora was blushing and stammering out apologies, I looked behind them to see Dexal smirking while a current of wind spun around the tip of his index finger. He saw me and placed that finger to his lips. I nodded, and said "I'm guessing you guys have got a lot to talk about?"

"You could say that," Sora said, disengaging from the girl. "Well, I'll get Cid to take your ship and start fixing it. In the meantime, let's all go the hideout and we can talk there," Yuffie said, and we all nodded.

Later, after hearing curse upon curse from Cid over the unholy amount of wreckage to a fine ship he was forced to repair, and after making it to the small house, we were all situated inside. I sat at the table along with Aerith, Sora, and Donald, while Goofy, Yuffie, Kairi and Leon stood in front of the walls or, in Leon's case, leaning against it. "Tell us everything that happened," he said. The four of us nodded and did just that. We talked about everything, from Sora losing the Keyblade and getting it back, to Maleficent being defeated, to Riku being possessed by Ansem, to the Keyhole being opened, and ending Sora sacrificing his heart to free Kairi's and then in turn reviving him. Once we were all done the others were silent for a moment, until Leon said "So, the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole..."

"No wonder there have been more and more Heartless everywhere," Aerith commented. "The only way to stop it is-" she began. "I know. Seal the Keyhole, right?" Sora asked. "Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed," Leon said. I looked at him. "Well, we can't just sit here and do nothing. We've got a friend back there!" I said. He nodded. "That's right. You have one more friend to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts- just like the Keyhole you saw. Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed," Leon said. Then he smiled, and added "Don't worry, Sora, Dexal. If anyone can save your friend, the two of you can."

At that we nodded, and we left to go find Cid. He was still the First District, lying on his back underneath the Gummi Ship and muttering obscenities. I smirked at his colorful language, and said "Hey, Cid!" "What?!" he yelled from underneath the ship. So he was still irritated at us for wrecking such a good piece of spacecraft. "We need to get back to Hollow Bastion. How soon can you get the ship fixed?" I asked. He stopped before going resuming the repairs, saying "It ain't getting this thing fixed that's the problem." I frowned, and Sora echoed my thoughts by saying "What do you mean?" "You had a personal experience with the number of Heartless that are pouring into the pathways. They're multiplying by the minute- by the time this thing gets back out there there'll be enough that they just eat you guys up," he said.

"Then, what can we do?" Kairi asked. He paused again, and sighed before coming out from underneath the Gummi Ship. Rubbing his hands on his shirt, he said "Pretty simple, really. You gotta go around them instead of goin' through 'em. Just install a new Navigation Gummi, and take a new route." "A new Gummi? Where are we gonna find that?" I asked. Cid sighed again, and said "Well, I did hide one in the secret waterway. When I came here nine years ago, I stored it there in case I needed it." Then he snorted and smiled, saying "Never thought a kid would be the one to use it! But I'll let you have it so long as you go and get it yourself. Just check out that mural of the sun." Sora nodded and said "Thanks," before walking off.

We entered the Second District and moved to the side alley, going through the opening to the waterway that Sora, Donald and Goofy had forced open. Once we found the mural I placed a hand against it, and the pattern of the sun glowed brightly. From that light a Navigation Gummi fell out, and I picked it up. "Success!" I called. "A-hyuck! Now we can use that new route and get to Hollow Bastion!" Goofy said. E began to go back but saw that Kairi was lingering behind. I looked at Sora, and jerked my head back at her. He looked and nodded, and I said "Hey Donald, Goofy. Let's go on ahead." Donald looked confused, but agreed all the same. I went to follow then for a short time while Sora walked over to Kairi, but halfway back I smirked and stopped, casting Vanish on myself.

Now that I was invisible I started to quietly walk back, making sure as to not create any splashes in the water. Why was I doing this? Even back on the islands I could see how close Sora and Kairi were. I knew that Sora wouldn't have gone all this way to save Kairi if she hadn't meant something to him. Now that they were talking alone, this would be a golden opportunity to see if I was right. Sure it might be a little rude, but hey. If I ever managed to find someone and Sora and Kairi thought to spy on me, I'd be sure to not get mad at them in return. Either way, I moved behind a rock nearest them and crouched, staying hidden just in case the spell suddenly wore off. Kairi was looking at sun mural, and said "A light at the end of the tunnel..." "Oh yeah. You;re grandma's story, right?" Sora asked.

She looked at him, surprised, and said "That's right. We were together." "You know something that's funny? I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along. We're finally together, Kairi. Now, it's time to get Riku back," he said. Kairi nodded. "Do think it's ever be the same between the four of us again? Now that Riku's lost his..." she began, somewhat sad. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, when I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember? I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things- my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me. But then I heard your voice, your voice. You brought me back," he said. "I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn't," she told him.

I smiled from behind the rock; so I had been right. It was then that Sora gasped, and pounded his hand with his fist. "That's it! Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within," he said. Then he chuckled and said "I guess it's more than just a fairy tale." "Well, let's go!" Kairi said, smiling. To both of our surprise he shook his head. "You can't go," he said. Kairi frowned, asking "Why not?" "Because it's way too dangerous," Sora told her. "Come on, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone," she countered. "Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not along anymore. Right?" Sora asked. "I can't help?" she asked. "You kind of be in my way," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

Kairi was silent for a moment, before nodding. "Okay. You win," she said. But the she grabbed his hand, and placed something in it. I gasped; it was a star made of thalassa shells. I remember that she had been working on that while we built the raft. I pulled out my Wayfinder, and looked at the two good-luck charms. Aqua had made one for herself, Terra, Ventus and me the day before the Mark of Mastery exams. They were supposed to ensure that we always found our way back to each other. "Take this. It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me," Kairi said, putting her hands on her hips for that last part. "Don't worry. I will," Sora assured her. "Promise?" she asked. "Promise," he replied. Kairi smiled, and said "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."

Sora smiled, and suddenly his Keyblade appeared. It shined before changing shape, becoming a brand new form: the Oathkeeper. I gasped at that and they both froze, looking in my direction. Quickly I cast Teleport and vanished, reappearing halfway down the tunnel. Before they could suspect anything I called "Hey guys! Let's go!" "Uh, sorry!" I heard Sora called. A few seconds later they both emerged, and I saw Sora put the good-luck charm in his pocket. "Ready to get back Riku?" I asked. Sora smiled and nodded, while Kairi said "Good luck, you two." We went back to the First District and saw that Cid had finished repairing the ship- that guy really was a mechanical genius. We gave him the Navigation Gummi and he installed it, and with that we flew back into the space between world, heading for Hollow Bastion.

Kairi is now safe and sound, and Sora has the infamous Oathkeeper! Can he use it to lock the Keyhole and, after that, join with Dexal in finding a way to save Riku?

Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, eh will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)