Sora and Aqua followed the sound of the organ back into the mansion. Laaurim, Ludro, Professor Von Drake, Fang, and Vincent were walking down the central corridor between the stairs where the music seemed to be its loudest. Aqua and Sora followed after them and entered into a large and majestic ballroom. On the wall opposite the double doors into the ballroom was a large lit hearth between countless plain glass windows that reached almost to the ceiling. To the right were the doors to the kitchen and a storage room that held things like a long dinner table. On the opposite wall however was the source of the music. A towering wall covered with row upon row of metal pipes, letting out a hollow and metal creaking sound underneath the music for some reason. Aqua and Sora both looked and saw, much to their surprise, that the organ was playing itself. The keys on the keyboard moving in perfect sync with the rhythm.

"How is it doing that?" Sora asked over the music but Aqua remained silent, nudging Sora with her elbow as she pointed up towards the top of the centermost and tallest row of pipes. At the top was a large metal face with empty black eyes and a mouth that was just as empty, the face moving slightly with a blissful expression as it remained engrossed within the music it played. It finally reached a high note and finished when it heard the sound of someone clapping.

"Bravo! Bravo! Encore!" Medy cheered excitedly, eliciting a chuckle from the organ.

"Medy, you approve?" The Organ asked (with a voice sounding like Tim Curry).

"Forte, please, we have guests." Laaurim said, earning an annoyed glare from the organ that then noticed Sora and Aqua and smiled warmly.

"Enchanté. I am Maestro Forte. Your humble servant." Forte (Beauty & the Beast 2: Enchanted Christmas) greeted and bowed, his pipes creaking and groaning as he moved.

"I'm Sora."

"Aqua."

"Where did you come from?" Sora asked as Forte chuckled.

"Ah, that is a question you would have to direct towards the Master." Forte replied with a smile and a chuckle.

"Forte was here before most of us. He was here long before the Master arrived. There are plenty of rumors as to his arrival but none of them have yet to be proven." Laaurim explained.

"When is this Master of yours supposed to return, anyway?" Aqua asked, crossing her arms.

"Once the Master's scouring of the city is done. The Heartless have made things quite difficult for the Master as of late." Forte replied.

"I can probably agree with him on that. I saw a Behemoth Type Heartless out there." Sora said as Aqua's eyes widened.

"A Behemoth type? Did you destroy it?" Aqua asked.

"He didn't have to. The Master destroyed it for him. I watched the whole thing." Vincent replied.

"Umm…" Aqua said as she looked at him curiously.

"Vincent." He replied, predicting her question.

"Oh, we never introduced ourselves to you, did we?" Vanille asked.

"She's Oerba Dia Vanille and Oerba Yun Fang. Call her Vanille and call me Fang." Fang said with a smirk.

"Oerba? Are you two related?" Sora asked curiously.

"We come from the same village but other than that we aren't related." Vanille replied.

"Neither of us are from Sublime, though." Fang added.

"Then how did you get here?" Aqua asked curiously.

"Our world was destroyed almost a year ago, by the Sisterhood of Seven when they started their campaign to plunge the worlds into Darkness." Vanille replied, earning confused looks from Sora and Aqua.

"The Sisterhood of Seven? Who are they?" Sora asked. Now they were the ones receiving confused looks.

"You call yourselves Masters and yet you don't even know who the Sisterhood of Seven is?" Nixe asked from the doorway.

"We're kinda new around here." Aqua said with an innocent shrug.

"The worlds we come from are…very far away." Sora added.

"Then allow us to explain it for you." Laaurim said but Ludro quickly slid up in front of him.

"Oh, please, let me tell this story!" Ludro said as Nixe agreed with a frantic nod.

"Oh please let Ludro tell the story! He tells such amazing tales!" Nixe pleaded.

"He does have a penchant for making the stories sound better." Arlene said as Laaurim conceded and bowed out of the conversation.

"It was long ago, about ten to eleven years ago when it all began. A woman known as the First Sister, or simply known as First, appeared and grew a distain for the light. She began a campaign to steal the hearts of people for some unknown reason, using a creature created by the good Professor here, to do so since she lacked the ability to steal hearts on her own." Ludro said as Prof. Von Drake interrupted.

"I did not intentionally create that thing! It was an accident! I should never have tried creating that blasted overgrown ink blot!" Von Drake groaned.

"Ink blot?" Sora asked curiously.

"The Phantom Blot, a creature that is made of solid black ink and with a heart just as black and vile. According to the Professor, he was trying to create a special magic ink that could create whatever the heart's desire. Apparently the process resulted in the creation of the Phantom Blot which now runs amok under the command of the First Sister." Ludro explained as Sora motioned to wait.

"Uh, would this, Phantom Blot, happen to be a big black ooze monster with green or yellow eyes?" Sora asked as Ludro and half the others blinked in surprise.

"You've seen it? When?" Laaurim asked curiously.

"On my homeworld! It kidnapped a friend of mine!" Sora answered.

"Now why in the worlds would the Phantom Blot kidnap someone? He usually just takes their heart and flees. That's been his modus operandi for almost a decade!" Prof. Von Drake said as he scratched his head.

"From the sounds of things, the kidnapping was probably not his idea. You said yourself that he works for this First Sister character." Aqua said.

"The Sisterhood of Seven would have no interest in kidnapping someone. Unless…there's something special about this person." Forte asked, leaning forward with a curious gaze.

"Well, she's the Nobody of a Princess of Heart if you know what that is." Aqua said as the group except for Vincent and Prof. Von Drake looked at each other with confused expressions.

"The Princesses of Heart, young women from different worlds, each with a heart of pure light that repels the Darkness around them. Such hearts can be used to create a Keyblade that will unlock Kingdom Hearts itself." Vincent explained.

"But the Nobody of a Princess of Heart? Why go after the Nobody? Was the Princess herself unavailable or too heavily guarded, or…" Arlene asked confused.

"Better question is, how does said Nobody exist?" Prof. Von Drake asked curiously.

"It's a long story." Sora mumbled, flashing back to when he had lost his Heart on his first adventure.

"Actually, Kairi was there when she was kidnapped. Her Nobody had rejoined with her, and the Phantom Blot ripped her from the girl's heart." Aqua explained, surprising the others.

"It ripped her from the girl's heart? Da~ng!" Nixe said in shock.

"So then how did you come to be here? Did you track the Phantom Blot here?" Laaurim asked but Aqua shook her head.

"We were directed here by another Keyblade Master, one far wiser than Sora or I combined. He believes the kidnapper came here or to one of the surrounding worlds here." Aqua explained.

"We're from some pretty far away worlds." Sora added.

"You do have that tourist air to you." Ludro said as Arlene chuckled.

"Just don't try any of your scams on them, conman, because they'll take you down if you do." Arlene said, punching Ludro in the shoulder. They then heard the sound of closing doors from the front.

"Ah, that would be the master." Forte said with a chuckle.

"I'd like to check in with your Master before we do anything else. Let him know we're here." Aqua said as Nixe smiled and stepped up towards them.

"Follow me, I'll introduce you." Nixe said as she and Laaurim led the two Keyblade Masters back through the corridor and back into the library. They heard the distinct sound of someone snoring as they approached. They entered the library and sure enough, there was a figure in a blue robe with gold lining and a hood up over their head, resting on their arms.

"Should we wake her?" Nixe asked as Laaurim shook his head.

"No, let the Master rest. We'll introduce these two to her in the morning. It's time we all got to bed ourselves, actually." Laaurim said as they turned and left the library, Laaurim turning off the lights before closing the door behind them. They then noticed Vincent approaching.

"Regular guard shift?" he asked as Laaurim nodded.

"Yes. I shall show our guests to the guest chambers." Laaurim replied as Vanille entered.

"Come on, Nixe." Vanille said as she headed up the stairs. Nixe stretched and yawned before following after her.

"Sure, okay. Goodnight Master Sora, Master Aqua." Nixe said as she followed Vanille up the stairs and down the hallway to the left while Laaurim led Sora and Aqua up the stairs and down the hall to the right. They followed him for a time until finally he stopped outside of a room and opened the door.

"Master Aqua, I believe you will find this room to your liking." Laaurim said as Aqua walked inside. It was a well furnished room. A queen sized bed on a fanciful oak frame, a marble top dresser and makeup table, a small table with two sitting chairs, and a door leading into a private bathroom.

"It's perfect, thank you." Aqua said as Laaurim smiled and nodded.

"Very well then. Goodnight, Master Aqua." Laaurim said as he turned and opened a door across from Aqua's room, revealing a room that was almost exactly the same only reversed in arrangement.

"I hope this suits you as well, Master Sora." Laaurim said as Sora walked in.

"Thanks, this'll do fine. It's actually better than my room at home." Sora said as he turned towards Laaurim.

"I'm pleased to hear that, Master Sora. If there's anything you need during the night, do not hesitate to ask. I'm in room eleven just down the hall here. Arlene is in room twelve although be warned that disturbing her might be hazardous to your health. Ludro is in room ten, and Medy is in room nine, though you might have to physically go in and shake him to wake him up. He sleeps with his headphones on. Fang and Vanille share room thirteen on the other side of the house, Nixe is in room five, the Master is in room one, Professor Von Drake is in the lab in the basement and Vincent…well let's just say he sleeps in his own…special way." Laaurim explained.

"Thanks Marluxia-er-I mean Laaurim." Sora said as Laaurim nodded with a smile and closed the door.

Elsewhere…

"This is what we have to worry about? Oh come on! Like those two are a problem!" a young man's voice echoed from the shadows of a darkened chamber. In the center of the chamber was a glowing white sphere that showed Sora and Aqua as they walked through the city from earlier.

"Are they to become my new pray?" a deep bass voice asked.

"They are the targets of the Sisterhood of Seven, and we are to answer their call to action." A gravelly and menacing voice said, silencing the others in an instant.

"The Sisterhood? They're the ones who called us here?" another voice asked curiously.

"Yes. They command us to draw out these two new Keyblade Wielders." The gravelly voice said, a pair of glowing red eyes with cat like slits piercing the darkness.

"Draw them out? Why not just destroy them out right?" the young man's voice asked.

"Because First believes that they might be useful. I can see her plan quite clearly, and perhaps they could be useful to our plans as well." The gravelly voice replied.

"Right. Let's do the job and finish it tonight!" a woman's voice said as the others voiced their agreement.

"Oh yes, let's get it over with. I'm not getting any younger you know." Another woman's voice said.

"And we shall. We need only be patient." The gravelly voice said before the image shifted to something else.

"Now I believe you may recognize this one." The gravelly voice said.

"He seems familiar." the other voice said.

"Then the Sisterhood leaves him to you…let us hope that you are… lucky." The gravelly voice said.

"Leave him to me." The other voice said as a yellow-green pair of eyes appeared.

"That boy! He followed me!" the slimy voice of the Phantom Blot gurgled.

"Then you should have been more careful, fool. Nevertheless, our spy will keep an eye on them, and make sure that there is a reason for them to do exactly what we need them to do." The gravelly voice said with a chuckle.

The following morning…

"Hurry, we don't want our guests going hungry now do we?" Fang ordered as she, Vanille, and Arlene scurried to set a long dining table in the center of the ballroom as Forte sat in his usual spot watching and playing a gloomy waltz-like tune.

"You could be more useful you know! Why don't you just set the table or something!" Arlene shouted over the music which promptly stopped.

"Well, I think I might! I'll just pick myself up and…oh! Good heavens! Look!" Forte gasped in mock horror as he emphasized one of his biggest disadvantages as he jerked forward a little, "I'm BOLTED to the WALL!"

"Then play something, I dunno, happy or something!" Fang argued as Arlene groaned.

"No, no happy music first thing in the morning. There are people who just should be slapped for being happy first thing in the morning." Arlene grumbled.

"Oh come on, Arlene, you don't really mean that?" Vanille asked with a smile. Arlene's eye twitched at the comment.

"Case and point, Vanille. Case. And. Point." Arlene mumbled as Sora and Aqua both walked into the ballroom with Nixe, Ludro, Medy, and Laaurim close behind.

"Wow, where did the table come from?" Sora asked curiously.

"It's stored in a closet when not being used. It's rolled out for mealtimes." Laaurim said as he pulled out Aqua's chair for her, to the left of the chair at the head of the table. Sora sat down across from her while Nixe sat down next to him. Laaurim took his seat next to Aqua while Ludro sat next to him. Arlene sat down next to Nixe, then it was Vanille with Fang sitting across from her, then next to Vanille was Medy while two additional seats remained empty, minus the empty chair at the head of the table.

"So when are we going to meet this elusive Master?" Aqua asked. Almost as if on cue, the sound of a yawn was heard. They all turned to see the hooded figure from the night before standing in the doorway. The robe definitely looked slept in. The figure groaned and rolled its right arm in its socket as if working out a kink as it trudged sleepily towards the table. Laaurim instinctively pulled out the chair for the Master.

"Did you rest well, Master?" Laaurim asked but was greeted by a tired sniffle.

"Ask me again after I've had my coffee." A woman's voice replied, her right hand disappearing inside her hood to rub her still unseen forehead. She then looked up at the table full of people. They were all quiet, anxious to see how the Master would react to the two Keyblade Wielders on either side of her.

"Morning everyone." She said tiredly.

"Morning Master." Nixe greeted happily. The others gave an acknowledging nod as Prof. Von Drake entered from the kitchen with a self-propelled tea cart with a steaming hot pot of coffee on it.

"Ah, bless you Professor." The Master said as she quickly snatched a mug off the cart.

"Master, I do not mean to interrupt, but we have guests. If you would merely look up?" Laaurim asked as the Master happened to glance up towards Sora.

"Oh…you're the kid that nearly lost his heart to a Behemoth Heartless last night." The Master said as Sora crossed his arms with a scowl. Nixe was giggling at this.

"And you call yourself a Master." She giggled.

"Shut up, she was the one who destroyed it." Sora grumbled.

"You've sure got gall to go up against a Heartless like that unarmed. Lucky for you, I admire gall. What's your name kid?" the Master asked, sipping her coffee.

"Master Sora of the Keyblade." Sora replied, causing the Master to do a quick spit take over her right shoulder.

"Say what?!" She asked as she turned back around. Sora shrugged and summoned his Keyblade.

"Well-well-well. It's been a long time since I've seen another Keyblade Master in these parts." The Master said as Sora dismissed his Keyblade and reclined slightly with his hands behind his head.

"Let alone two Keyblade Masters." Sora replied. There was a curious pause, Aqua sitting straight up in her seat in a dignified pose, while the Master looked at Sora curiously. She acted like she didn't even see Aqua for some reason.

"Two Keyblade Masters?" the Master asked. Sora glanced at Aqua who shrugged, before looking at the Master again.

"Yes, two. What are you blind?" Sora asked. Nixe's eyes widened and she shrank down into her chair along with half the table. The Master calmly reached for her hood and pulled it back revealing a beautiful woman in her early thirties with long dark brown hair that reached the base of her neck and curled inward. Her right eye was green but her left eye was covered by a black eye patch with a vertical, jagged scar appearing from underneath the top and bottom of the eye patch.

"As a matter of fact, you're half right." The woman replied with a narrow eyed smirk as Sora turned white as a sheet and also shrank into his chair. Forte innocently started playing a short funeral dirge.

"You'll have to forgive my former Apprentice. He's still young." Aqua said as the Master nodded.

"That he is. I imagine he-…" the Master said as she turned towards Aqua but froze the second she laid eye on her. Her eye widened and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Is something wrong, Master?" Laaurim asked curiously as the Master looked Aqua over very carefully.

"It cannot be…after all these years…can it really be you? What is your name?" The Master asked.

"I'm Master Aqua. Formerly Apprenticed to the late Master-…" Aqua said but was interrupted by the Master who finished her sentence.

"…-Master Eraqus. It is you. Yet you haven't aged a day since I last saw you." The Master said as she stood up slowly and pulled her robe open a little, revealing a black-purple sleeveless shirt, similar to Aqua's, with crisscrossing purple straps across her chest. In the center of the straps was a golden Mark of Mastery badge similar to the ones on Aqua, Terra, and Ven. She wore a dark purple hakama over a pair of boots similar to Aqua's only without the two jagged hooks and the pointed toes.

"I'm sorry? Have we met?" Aqua asked curiously as the Master knelt in close to her.

"You don't recognize your old friend, after all these years?" the Master asked as Aqua looked at her carefully.

"You do seem…familiar." Aqua said as the Master smiled, a tear running down from her covered eye.

"Aqua, it's me…your old pal…"

"…Si'Lea."

End Chapter 6.

Forte is from Beauty and the Beast, the Enchanted Christmas and the Phantom Blot is a long standing Disney character but this Phantom Blot is more of a nod towards his portrayal in the Wii game "Epic Mickey." I am aware that in Epic Mickey, he's known as Shadow Blot but his original and most commonly known name is Phantom Blot. Therefore I'm sticking with Phantom Blot (besides I think it sounds better than Shadow Blot).