Afterdeath

Author's note: It's been a hard week. I wanted to get this up sooner, but I couldn't even work on it. I'm not sick or anything, I'm just having trouble focusing on stuff. I probably need to clean my house or something so I'll feel better. Things are getting cluttered, and that always makes things harder for me.

But anyway, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 8

Sora grimly battled the heartless, bouncing off the walls and spinning around posts the way he'd learned during his ill-fated Trial of Mastery. Wiping out the heartless only got easier and easier the longer he was at it. Unfortunately, it was the only thing that was getting easier…

He couldn't stop worrying about Kairi. What if Mickey wasn't fast enough to save her? What if Donald's magic and Goofy's protection weren't enough? If she wouldn't go home, Sora should at least have stayed by her side, to keep her safe. Sure she had a keyblade, but that didn't guarantee safely. It wasn't enough for Riku…

"Hey!"

Sora abruptly stumbled to a halt, stopped by a keyblade held longways in front of his face. "W-what?"

"You can't just run off like that!" Aqua snapped at him. "What if you were ambushed? We're a team and you have to think like a team!"

"But, I'm fine," Sora protested.

"This time," Aqua growled. "You've been fighting solo too long. You're too used to it. You can't take your companions' safety for granted, or your own!" Aqua jabbed her keyblade off to the side to point to Ventus. "Ven got swarmed by heartless. He could have used a hand. And where we you? Nowhere in sight! He's not at full strength yet! And neither am I. You are supposed to be here to back us up! We're not supposed to be the ones running after you, trying to keep up!"

Sora hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry…" he said.

"Don't be sorry," Aqua snapped. "We don't have time for sorry. Just do better. Keep Ven or me within sight, at all times. Got it?"

"Yes… yes, Master Aqua." Sora flushed in embarrassment.

"Good." Aqua stalked back over to Ventus, verified that he was doing sufficiently well, then waved at Sora. "This courtyard seems clear now. You've been here before, so lead the way. But don't run too far ahead!"

"Yes, Master Aqua," Sora replied meekly, then dashed up to the castle gates to Beast's Castle.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Vanitas found Larxene inside the Castle Never Was dining room. She was luckily sufficiently distracted with her food to not see her stalker. Vanitas was getting much better at doing the transfer subtly. He only had to summon his keyblade and point it in Larxene's general direction. With a blast of will, Vanitas sent Riku flying across the invisible chains to his next target.

Larxene's dive was surprisingly empty. Riku panicked briefly, thinking that he must have missed. But eventually, here and there he spotted ghostly images of a girl with blond hair. There were no other clues to her past. Then the exit portal came up and Riku slipped through.

He found himself in a laboratory, not unlike Vexen's. Riku had not expected that. But this one was full of small tubes, vials, and boxes with confusing labels. More of a chemistry science than Vexen's biological science? Riku wasn't certain. But the owner of the lab clearly liked things neat, orderly, and precise. And the owner was nowhere in sight.

Riku wandered the hallway outside the laboratory, checking all the doors. He found several more laboratories just like the first. Then he found a massive library, and spent a fair amount of time looking between the shelves. There still was no one around. Riku was getting concerned.

Is she avoiding me? Riku wondered. It was a strong possibility. But if I can't find her avatar, how can I get to the lower portions of her heart…?

Riku spent more time wandering. It felt like ages, but was likely no more than an hour. He still failed to locate another being. Just rooms full of knowledge or research. And time was running out. Assuming Vanitas actually could wait a full two hours…

The avatar isn't actually her heart, Riku mused. It's just a representation that lets her interact with memories, or visitors in her heart. The avatar is probably more of the mind than the heart, actually. Everything around Riku – the rooms, the books – were all Larxene's heart. So with that logic, Riku didn't actually need the avatar in order to unlock a path.

With nothing else to try, Riku summoned his keyblade and mentally searched for a connection in this space to Larxene's deeper heart. It took several minutes of searching, but he finally thought he'd found what he needed. Riku willed the keyhole into existence and then unlocked it.

Riku fell into another dive. He was descending much faster, and the space was littered with images. The pictures went by too quickly to be seen. Riku only got glimpses of a woman with long blond hair, in a variety of places with other people.

Then Riku landed, and he knew he was in the right place. It was the same scene as before, but it reeked of darkness. Mold – or maybe darkness itself – covered all the walls of the laboratory. The open beakers contained dark liquids that reeked of corruption. Riku opened his awareness and once again found the path that led him to Xehanort's heart. He followed the road through the laboratory and into a corrupted version of the massive library. And there he found Larxene.

She looked… beautiful. It was odd – she was dressed plainly, with no makeup or adornment. Her hair was pulled back in a long, unremarkable ponytail. But there was a radiance in her face that her nobody was lacking. She looked alive and surprisingly pure. She wasn't quite a princess of heart, but she was really, really close. No wonder Xehanort had targeted her.

And she looked terrified. She recoiled from Riku. "How did you find me here?" she shrieked. "Please, don't hurt me!" She bolted from him and hid behind a bookcase. "Leave me alone! I've done nothing to you!"

"I don't want to hurt you." Riku tried to approach her slowly.

"No! Stay away!" Larxene's somebody dashed away further into the library.

Riku gave up any thoughts of pursuit. She was too frightened to reason with. Riku felt bad for her, but he remembered that he was in Vanitas's form. How could he possibly convince her that he was trustworthy? Instead, he turned aside and continued following the invisible path to where Xehanort's heart lurked. He stepped through a bookshelf and the library wall itself, and found himself once again in a void outside. And there, once again, the creepy old man was waiting for him.

The battle was harder than the last few had been. This Xehanort was clearly stronger, and nearly got the best of Riku a couple of times. He had gotten complacent from his other battles. Riku cast healing magic on himself and soldiered on, at last succeeding in making the old man crumple to the ground.

After sealing the parasitical heart to sleep, Riku took a moment to try to find Larxene's somebody, but she was nowhere in sight. He knew he needed to get back to Vanitas, but he just felt really, really bad about leaving the woman in such a terrified state. He hadn't even gotten the chance to explain his plan to her – to let her know that she was now free. Well… mostly free.

But Riku finally gave up. It couldn't be helped. Once Xehanort was defeated for good, they would have plenty of time to help the former vessels recover and readjust to life. Riku drew his keyblade and summoned a path to lead back up to the upper part of Larxene's heart.

The only thing he took with him was a name – the name he had seen written on many of the beakers and documents arranged neatly in the labs.

Arleen.

X-X-X-X-X-X

In only a day, Xehanort had captured three of the seven princesses of heart. Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice had all been taken. Aurora had remained, only by virtue of Maleficent surprisingly coming to her defense. Apparently the evil fairy still considered Organization Thirteen her enemies. Meanwhile, Sora had arrived in time to help Prince Adam (formerly the Beast) and the castle staff defend Belle. Kairi and Mickey had helped fight off the assault in Agrabah. And Sora, Aqua, and Ventus had traveled to a new world where the Organization had evidently been targeting both a young queen and her sister princess.

That last discovery had generated much discussion. It called into question one of their fundamental assumptions: that there were only seven princesses of heart.

"There is a prophecy that Xehanort seems to be drawing many assumptions from," Yen Sid explained. "The prophecy speaks of thirteen darknesses and seven lights being necessary to recreate the X-Blade. It was Xehanort who originally put the idea of seeking the seven lights – the princesses of heart – into Maleficent's mind. But I have never come across any evidence that suggests the number of pure hearts is limited to seven."

"So there could easily be more. One of the young women on the new world could be another princess of heart," Aqua mused.

"Yes, precisely."

"So Xehanort doesn't need to kidnap me this time," Kairi said slowly. "And he doesn't need to stick to the worlds we're familiar with. He could find a completely new set of seven pure hearts."

That realization brought down a heavy silence on the group.

"Wow. That really makes all our efforts feel futile, doesn't it?" Ventus muttered.

"We've gotta keep trying anyway," Mickey said emphatically. "As long as there's still anything we can do, we have to keep going!"

"Maybe it's time to consider contingency plans," Dilan suggested coldly. "What will we do if Xehanort does succeed in kidnapping seven of these pure princesses."

Sora protested automatically, but Yen Sid grimly agreed. "Xehanort has multiple layers of plans in place. We must do the same. Merlin and I will try to seek more guidance in visions of the future, but… we must not rely on visions alone. I believe we have had some victories over Xehanort because he relied too much on what he could see… and he did not give sufficient thought to what he could not see."

"How can you know what you can't see?" Sora asked, puzzled.

"Exactly my point," Yen Sid replied, which did nothing for Sora's confusion.

"How's Lea doing?" Kairi asked, noting the red-head's continued absence.

"He is nearly recovered," Yen Sid assured her. "He should be up and about by tomorrow. The good fairies have been overseeing his final… cosmetic treatments."

"You should have left him bald," Dilan snickered. "Serves him right for pulling a stunt like that!"

"If he does it again, the fairies may be less forgiving," Yen Sid said, with a half smile. He then changed modes back to fully serious. "Now, let us turn to our attention to our final matter of importance. How is the development of the data bodies proceeding?"

The question was mostly directed to Ienzo, who had volunteered himself for the project. His familiarity with the work of Ansem the Wise, Even, and Vexen was an asset to the new task. "The bodies are completed and appear to be stable. We placed them in sleeping pods and have been running our final tests. I believe… we can proceed with the next phase any time."

"Make your final preparations," Yen Sid commanded. "We don't have time to waste. These three individuals may be able to give us an advantage in countering Xehanort's plans."

"How long do you believe we have left… before Xehanort makes his move?" Aeleus inquired.

Yen Sid closed his eyes and shook his head. "At the speed at which he is proceeding? Days at most. I fear it may be less. We must proceed with all haste."

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Heeeey, Vanitas…" Demyx walked into Vanitas's room with his hands held up defensively. "Don't attack me please."

"What do you want?" Vanitas snarled. He'd been resting in a chair – he couldn't really sleep, so he saw no reason to use the bed.

"I just, um… since you're out of the loop, you might want to know… Xehanort is collecting princesses now," Demyx told him in a drawn-out ramble.

"Princesses?" Vanitas almost snapped out "why should I care?" but then he realized what such news really meant. "Princesses of Heart, you mean?"

"Yeah, that's it! He's got several of them, locked in the dungeons." Demyx rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That's all. Just thought you'd want to know."

(You should thank him for the information,) Riku prompted into Vanitas's mind.

Vanitas responded to his permanent heart-house guest with a snarl. To Demyx he said, awkwardly, "Your information is… useful. I… appreciate it."

Demyx laughed awkwardly. "Um, don't mention it… I'll just be going now." He backed out the doorway, and then fled down the hall.

(Good enough,) Riku told Vanitas in approval.

(I don't see why it matters,) Vanitas groused back at him.

(It makes him more willing to give us help in the future.)

(I don't need his help! I don't need anybody's help!)

Riku made no reply. The silence made Vanitas just as angry as if Riku had pointed out Vanitas's hypocrisy.

Vanitas was afraid that Riku was getting to understand him too well, to the point where he could see right through all of his posturing and bluffing. To see what Vanitas was actually feeling. The thought terrified him.

And at the same time, it was what Vanitas desperately wanted. To be seen, to be understood. But Riku wasn't the one that Vanitas wanted to do the understanding. Vanitas wanted Ventus. He wanted his other half – the part of him that was able to feel and comprehend emotions like hope, trust, and love… And maybe once Vanitas was a complete being again, he could finally understand the mysterious bond of friendship – that strange thing that tied Ventus to his companions, and Riku to his. That contradictory state of being that made a person simultaneously weak and strong. Something that Vanitas had only experienced as an outsider observing others. Xehanort didn't believe in friendship. He identified it as a source of weakness, and so discarded it. Xehanort had no tolerance for any sort of weakness.

(I think I want to go after Marluxia next,) Riku spoke up casually. (If you're rested enough now.)

"I'm fine," Vanitas snapped back at Riku, belatedly realizing that he'd said it aloud. He mentally kicked himself for the slip up. He really wasn't feeling well, but he wasn't going to tell Riku that. Riku was oozing with sympathy enough as it was; Vanitas couldn't handle any more.

Vanitas made a fist. His hand trembled slightly. He took a deep breath and tried again. His hand was steady now. Even with Riku's support, he was still fading. Vanitas wondered if this was happening to Ventus, too, or if it was just him. Was it because he was a being of artificial darkness, or because he had too little heart of his own?

Too many questions. Zero answers.

Vanitas made a dark portal that landed him directly on top of Marluxia's greenhouse. He didn't want a confrontation, but he couldn't afford to waste time. Once Xehanort had seven pure lights, he was going to summon the X-Blade – whether the keybearers were present or not. Although the crazy old man did love his theatrics, Vanitas wouldn't count on him delaying his plan just for the sake of summoning an audience.

Vanitas spotted the pink-haired vessel tending to some flowers or something in one of the central chambers. Vanitas summoned and aimed his keyblade through the glass ceiling that he stood on. (Don't screw up!) Vanitas told Riku by way of encouragement, and then he sent the boy's heart on its flight.

As soon as he guessed Riku must have made it, Vanitas summoned another dark corridor and departed. He really couldn't afford a fight with Marluxia right now. He felt disturbingly certain that, if it came to it, he'd lose. Maybe some more rest would help him. He could even try the bed this time.

Riku would be safe enough where he was until Vanitas could return for him.

x-x-x

As Riku plummeted down through the vertical corridor into Marluxia's heart, he was doing some quick thinking. This dive would land him in the uppermost layer of the heart – which thus far had never been the correct place for him to be. He would definitely still need to go deeper to reach Xehanort's heart. Which raised the question – was there any reason that he should stop in the upper layer first?

With the first few of the seekers, the upper layer had allowed him a chance to interact and get acquainted with their avatars first. And even gain their help. But the last few had been uncooperative. It seemed likely to be a pattern. The vessels who still behaved the most human had the most cooperative inner avatars. But those vessels who acted the most remorselessly villainous… had unstable avatars. And the original person they had been might have even opted to knowingly serve Xehanort. Maybe it would be for the best if Riku stopped trying to explain his plan to them.

But Riku still intended to do his part to free them from Xehanort's control. They deserved the chance to make the right choice. And besides, it might help add some confusion to Xehanort's side during the final battle.

So when the red exit portal came up below Riku, he dodged to the side to avoid it.

The dive didn't like that. The void Riku floated within tried to cast him out entirely. He was forced to summon his keyblade, and very very quickly seek the connection to Marluxia's heart. He felt like he was wrestling with a hurricane to get the keyhole to appear and unlock, but finally he managed it and began plummeting again, faster than before.

Marluxia's lower dive was choked with heartless. Probably not a good sign. Riku was forced to use magic along with his keyblade to clear them out of his way quickly enough. He took a few hits anyway. Nothing serious… but he only had his magic to heal himself with. He had no mentally-created potions or ethers to fall back on.

At last Riku exited the dive and found himself back on solid ground, in a spot thankfully clear of heartless. He was able to catch his breath and cast a healing spell on himself to ease his weariness.

He couldn't linger, however. The place he had landed in appeared to be a world in the act of being torn apart by darkness.

The sky and ground were equally dark. The few remnants of buildings were in pieces – the rest of them were slowly being pulled into a whirlpool of darkness in the sky. The wind shrieked and the ground groaned as it cracked and crumbled. But whatever people had lived in this place were already gone.

Riku opened his senses to seek for Xehanort – to his dismay, the alien heart seemed to be residing directly in the direction of the worst destruction. Of course, it made sense – the fall of this world had probably been Xehanort's fault.

"Ven! Ven! You're still okay!"

Riku turned in surprise to see a young man running at him. His clothes were tattered and his hair covered in dust and debris. The lighting was poor, but his hair did look faintly pink.

Young Marluxia actually grabbed Riku… in a hug. "Whatever he told you, it's not my fault! I didn't want this to happen!" He released Riku and then tried to tug him by his hand. "Come on! We've got to get out of here!"

Riku resisted the pull. "Sorry, I can't leave yet. I've got something I need to do first."

Marluxia dropped Riku's hand and backed away. He stared at him in horror. "No… you're not Ventus. You're the monster!" Marluxia raised his hand and summoned a keyblade – a keyblade?! "Die, monster!"

And with that, Riku ended up in a desperate fight for his life against young Marluxia, who had a keyblade for some reason. And he was actually pretty good. He kept using magic-attack combos that Riku had never seen before. Marluxia had clearly been trained to use that weapon. But how and when?! Riku wasn't used to fighting other keybearers. He had to resort to every trick he had – slipping through the shadows to dodge quickly, shielding and deflecting as often as he could, and tossing out dark firagas as often as he could manage.

At least, Marluxia slumped to the ground, unconscious. Riku dropped down next to him, utterly exhausted. And he still had Xehanort to deal with. Riku grimaced. He was briefly tempted to seal Marluxia to sleep first, to ensure he wouldn't be interrupted… but that was likely to go badly in the long run. After all, this was the part of Marluxia that he wanted in control. Riku couldn't really fault the man for wanting to kill Vanitas. It was pretty reasonable, after all.

Once Riku had recovered enough strength to cast magic again, he opted for a powerful sleep spell on Marluxia instead of healing himself. Once he felt more assured that Marluxia wouldn't be bothering him for a while, Riku lay down and entered his sleep-like state for a few minutes. It really helped. After a bit, he was ready to cast curaga on himself. After a few minutes more, he felt his strength recovered enough to move on. Xehanort was still waiting, after all. He needed to defeat the old man and seal his heart before Marluxia woke up and tried to kill him again.

Riku stood slowly and then began cautiously moving toward the invisible ribbon of a trail that would lead him to Xehanort's heart. Once on the path, Riku didn't dare depart from it. Chunks of building larger than his head were flying around now. The world's destruction had been moving slower than life, but the closer Riku got to Xehanort, the more it was speeding up to real time.

Fortunately, this narrow path protected him from the destruction. A large chunk of a building flew right through Riku's body. He shuddered even though he felt nothing from it. The ground below him warped and cracked and finally broke away completely. The remnants of this world were sucked up into the dark whirlpool and vanished. Riku was walking on nothing, surrounded by nothing. Riku remembered, with guilt, that Sora had watched their own home destroyed like this. Riku had been long gone when it had happened and so had never watched the destruction of a world before.

Riku realized, with a pang, that Marluxia had likely seen his own world torn apart and swallowed by darkness. It seemed too terrible of a thing to wish on anyone. Riku himself hadn't destroyed his own world on purpose. He'd only wished to leave – he didn't know what the consequences would be of opening the door.

As Riku reached Xehanort's heart, the void transitioned into a dark, ruined tower. It looked identical to the one he had seen first in Vanitas's heart. Riku suspected it was not by coincidence.

Xehanort landed a sharp blow on Riku before he noticed him. But Riku countered with a quick strike, and followed up with dark firaga. Xehanort stumbled back, giving Riku a chance to heal before charging ahead for a multiple keyblade strike on the old man.

Oddly enough, this Xehanort succumbed quickly. Riku was grateful for that – he was still tired from fighting Marluxia – but he was starting to question the difference in battles between hearts. Riku sealed Xehanort first, the settled down on the stone floor to rest and think.

What did it mean that some of Xehanort's avatars were stronger than others? Had some been in place longer, and had lost strength with time? Or would the opposite be true – the longer the parasite heart was in place, the stronger it became?

Xehanort seemed to like conserving strength. Most of the time, when he sent his vessels on missions, it was singly. Sora had told Riku that he had only fought the Organization members one at a time. It was less common to even see multiple at once. Of course, Xehanort had sent all of them after Riku, but that had been an exception. They had known that Riku had a history of thwarting the Organization…

So maybe it made sense that Xehanort only made his heart copies as strong as they needed to be. Those vessels who were more likely to try to fight back would be inflicted with stronger Xehanort avatars. And those who were less likely to fight – those who had given up hope, perhaps – they were given a weaker jailer. It seemed possible, at any rate. From what Riku could recall, most of the Xehanorts had been at a similar strength. Only Vexen's and Marluxia's had been noticeably weaker, and Larxene's noticeably stronger. Xehanort had blackmailed Vexen with Ienzo, and so Vexen had not been offering any resistance. Marluxia had seen his world destroyed, probably by Xehanort. That would likely be enough to make anyone lose hope of fighting back. And Larxene… well, Riku didn't know enough about her to make any real guesses. But if she had enough natural power to compare to a princess of heart, that would surely make her more capable of fighting back against Xehanort. And so, she would need a stronger Xehanort to hold her back.

Riku stood up quickly. Time was passing. Marluxia would reawaken soon, and he needed to get back to Vanitas. He could rest more later. He summoned his keyblade and opened the path to launch himself back upward. He was more than ready to get out of this heart.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"I remember this place!" Sora exclaimed, gazing around the white chamber in wonder. "I woke up, and apparently a year had passed, and everyone at home had forgotten about me!"

"Yeah, that was pretty strange," Kairi mused, giving him a nudge. "I guess it must have been once you got all your memories back that I finally started remembering you."

"Yeah… Uh, sorry about not going back to Destiny Islands with you like I had promised," Sora said sheepishly. He still hadn't said anything about his argument with Kairi.

"It's fine. I know you couldn't leave Riku behind," Kairi said with a smile. She hadn't brought up their argument either. It was easier for now to pretend it hadn't happened. But she still felt on edge around Sora because of it.

"Come on! Less yapping!" Lea said, gesturing flamboyantly at the three giant egg pods set up in the white chamber. "We've got people waiting on you!"

"Right." Sora summoned the Key to Return Hearts and approached the first pod. He gave the pod a tap with the keyblade, and it blossomed open like a flower bud. Inside floated a young man who looked so much like Ventus and yet wasn't. "Here we go, Roxas," Sora said softly. "I hope you're ready for this." Sora pointed the tip of the keyblade to his chest and – considerably quicker than the last time – withdrew a golden, shining orb. Roxas's heart. Despite how brief his life had been, his heart still looked as bright and whole as any other. Sora gently raised the keyblade to Roxas's chest and pushed the heart in. The orb melted in like it belonged there, and Roxas's body slowly floated downward until it was standing. Then his knees buckled, but Lea was right there to steady him. Sora stepped back to give Lea space. It was a bemusing feeling to Sora – to finally, truly have his nobody in front of him. Aside from the mental battle and a few ghostly images, Sora had never been able to properly meet Roxas.

Roxas's eyes opened and he took in the scene. He noticed the red hair almost immediately. "Axel… you're here."

"I promised you, didn't I? I'd always be here to bring you back." Lea was grinning widely. He didn't bother correcting Roxas on his name. "I have to keep my promises."

Roxas jabbed Lea in the chest and said warningly, "If you ever set yourself on fire again, I will kill you."

Lea laughed ruefully. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to worry you…"

"That's twice now I've watched you do it!" Roxas snapped. "I'm serious! Enough is enough, you dope!" Roxas gave him a tight hug. "No more dying. It's not allowed. Got it memorized?"

Everyone laughed at that, except Lea. "It's not cool anymore when everyone is saying it," he complained. But then he joined in the next round of ensuing laughter.

"Okay, next one," Sora said, moving to the second pod while Lea was working on helping Roxas shakily walk over. Sora opened the second pod, and gazed briefly on the dark-haired girl levitating within. "I'm sorry I don't remember you at all, Xion," Sora murmured softly. Then with his special key, he repeated the procedure of withdrawing Xion's heart and transferring it to the girl's new body.

Xion awoke quickly, with a startled gasp. Lea and Roxas were right on hand to steady her. "Roxas! Axel! You're back! We're all back!" She started to cry. "I couldn't believe it could happen! That we could really all be back together again!"

"I can't believe I forgot you!" Lea said, giving her a hug. "I hope you can forgive me!"

Sora smiled and stepped aside to let the trio have their happy reunion. It panged his heart to see it, the three of them together. Him, Kairi, and Riku… Riku should have been here too, to see it. It was only thanks to Riku that they had been reminded of Xion at all. Even after Riku had encountered her in Sora's heart, he still hadn't been able to recall her name. But when he asked Lea about her, their attempts to remember between them had been enough to start reconnecting the memories about her that had been torn away when she had ceased to be.

Now there was just one nobody left to revive. Sora tapped the egg, and it bloomed open to reveal Naminé wearing her trademark white dress and her long blond hair that was so different from Kairi's.

"You still need to apologize to her, you know," a feminine voice whispered in Sora's ear.

He spun to see who had spoken, but no one was there. "What was that…?"

"What was what?" asked Kairi.

"Nevermind," Sora said with a forced grin. "Are you ready for this?"

"Yes. It's time for Naminé to have her own life." Kairi walked up to the pod, beside Sora. "I'm ready."

With some reluctance, Sora raised the keyblade and touched it to Kairi's chest. He was a lot more worried about performing this procedure on someone besides himself. Sora had actually begged Yen Sid earlier to transfer Naminé himself, but he had declined. Not everyone had the power to use this keyblade, he said. The fact that Sora had so many hearts sheltered inside his own was proof of his ability to use it. He was the only one who was guaranteed to be able to make it work.

So, with no small amount of worry, Sora opened his heart to Kairi's, focusing until he could detect two hearts within his friend. He couldn't tell which one to retrieve. But as with Ventus and the others, one heart seemed to reach toward the key while the other pulled away. Sora carefully hooked the closer heart with the key, and drew it out.

Kairi let out a little squeal, which made Sora momentarily panic – but he soon realized it was just her reaction of awe at seeing Naminé's heart. "It's so pretty," Kairi said, looking on in wonder. She reached out to touch it, then thought better of it. "We shouldn't keep her waiting any longer."

Sora agreed. He approached the sleeping girl and carefully transferred the heart to her chest. Naminé's blue eyes opened almost immediately. She looked down at Sora and Kairi and smiled fondly. She seemingly controlled her own descent to the ground and stood without any sign of weakness, unlike the other two nobodies who needed support. "It's good to be back," she told them, in a very familiar voice.

"It's good to see you again," Kairi agreed. "Thank you again for all your help before!"

"You're welcome." Naminé smiled easily. "I hope I can be a help in your current challenges, too."

"Have you been able to see everything that's been happening?" Kairi asked.

"Yes." Naminé nodded. "I hope you don't mind I've been watching."

Sora squirmed inwardly at the thought of Naminé being privy to his argument with Kairi. He said nothing of it, though, and instead asked, "How do your powers work? Can you tell if Riku is okay?"

Naminé bit her lip. "Riku is… not okay. His heart was separated from his body. Normally I would be able to trace his heart, but it's been… shrouded, somehow."

"But… he isn't dead?" Sora persisted.

"He's not dead," Naminé confirmed. "I'm sure of that much, at least."

"Thank you, Naminé!" Sora gave her a spontaneous hug, which surprised her. "I'm so glad to know that! At least… we can get Riku back."

Naminé tentatively returned the hug, like she was uncertain of how the process worked. "I'll do whatever I can to help."

"I know you will, Naminé!" Kairi joined in the hug from outside, grabbing Sora with one arm and Naminé with the other. "No matter what happens next, we're all going to stick together!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

End note: I just need to say that I don't have anything against Sora. I really do like him! But based on my understanding of his character, it seemed to make sense that he'd run into some trouble with the others with his attitude of "I can protect everyone and I will do it all by myself!" And uh… his personality is also inspired a bit by my play style. I pretty much ignore Donald and Goofy. If they help me, great, if not… oh well. And I never heal them. They die a lot. I guess I play Sora as a big jerk? Haha, oops. :)

But anyway, Sora is very protective of Kairi. And I figure that losing Riku would make Sora even more anxious to keep Kairi safe at all costs. But Kairi wouldn't like that. She's got her own keyblade, after all! And she wants to avenge Riku, too. So… inevitable conflict there. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually. ;)