"Guys, are you okay?!" Kairi asked as she and Sora were helped up. They panted tiredly, the escape from Sora's data being quite arduous thanks to the bugs.

"You're the one who's universe is collapsing in on itself!" Daisy reminded her with a tight tug up. "Sora, what's going on?!"

"There must be one bug left, the one that's been controlling them!" Sora said sharply, dusting himself off before making a fist. "With it still around, the path home won't open for you…"

"So if we destroy it-"

"No, you guys have to stay here where the gate'll opens up. When the journal resets, it'll no doubt try to delete anything that doesn't belong." Sora told them. "It has to be Kairi and me."

Kairi nodded in understanding. She and Sora had to be able to take this thing out since only they would be able to live on in the datascape. The others wouldn't be able to, including… "Hades and Horace, they're still in here!"

"Ah, that's right!" Clarabelle gasped. "We can't leave them here!"

"We can't leave Horace." Daisy agreed, crossing her arms. "But what about Hades? He's been manipulating Horace and Sora, getting in our way every chance he gets, not to mention hurting everybody-!"

"Daisy." Minnie cut in, taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze.

There was a short silence before the duck gave a sigh in defeat. "I know, I know... It wouldn't be right to leave anyone behind."

"Mm." Kairi nodded in agreement. She looked to Sora. "Should we get going?"

"Yeah but… we'll have to say goodbye first."

"Goodbye?" Clarabelle asked in confusion, seeing his sad face. "You're acting like we won't see you again, we'll still be with you even when we're outside the journal!"

"That's what's bugging me. Once you're out-" Sora winced as the ground shook. "and the bugs are all gone, the journal will be reset to how it was before. Including me and Kairi. The journal doesn't have any recollection of our journey here, so we'll forget everything." He trailed off, the hopeless of the situation was deafening.

Tink gave a chime and Minnie nodded. "Right, we could just write what happened in the journal!"

"That would only tell me and Kairi the journey happened, we won't be able to remember the feelings or any specific moments we had. It basically like telling a second-hand story, we wouldn't truly remember anything."

The group went silent after that.

Kairi frowned. She'd had such a life-changing journey and met such wonderful friends, but it wouldn't mean anything once the journal was reset… "I guess… that's just how it goes since we're data."

"But that's not fair!" Daisy insisted. "All the stuff you guys did for us, the friendships we made, it all matters!"

They group-hugged.

"It'll be okay." Kairi whispered, seeing tears in Clarabelle and Daisy's eyes. "You have the other Kairi…"

"We've already told you you're not the same!" Daisy cried.

"You're an entirely different person to us, and that person will be gone once the journal's reset- It's just not fair!" Clarabelle blubbered, hugging the girl.

"Thanks, girls." She smiled. She'd only wanted to make them feel better. The thought that just one Kairi got to stay with her friends made her feel better.

"Sora, thanks for all your help, we wouldn't have gotten this far without you. I wish we didn't have to-"

"Why are you talking so fancy?" Sora asked in surprise. He gave his usual smile, unable to resist the urge to tease her a bit. "I'm a royal diplomat or something."

"Hehe, right." Minnie wiped away some tears. "It's just… you're already so mature, just as much as the real Sora, and he's much older than you. Made me want to be a grown-up too."

"You take that back, I'm no grown-up!" Sora pouted very much like a child. As if to prove it, he began making silly faces. "Bleh, see? Not a grown-up at all! So you can just be normal."

Minnie hugged him goodbye. "I'll miss you so much, Sora.."

Kairi and Sora didn't really know where to start looking for the source of the bugs, it was quite lucky that its voice rang through the entire datascape.

Is this world even real at all…? What about me? Am I real? Do I have a heart?

They stopped in their tracks.

"That sounds like…" Sora's eyes widened.

The voice sounded familiar to Kairi, sure. But not to the point she could recognize it. She'd heard it so often and yet… "Sora, who is it?"

Sora placed a finger to his lips as they heard the voice again.

I'm lost in the darkness… Without a body, without a heart… I don't want to be alone.

They followed the voice deeper into the darkness until they saw a faint blue glow in the distance.

"Is that the source?" Sora asked himself, squinting to see.

Kairi gasped in shock as they got closer, recognizing the two they'd been searching for, Hades and Horace. They were surrounded by bugs, just barely able to keep going. They'd been at this for a while.

That's why… That's why the glitches need to consume more. I'll grow stronger and stronger the more darkness they give me, and the people consumed will be with me forever…Friend or foe, I'll swallow you whole!

Kairi gave a yell, slicing through the bugs in front of Horace while Sora helped Hades blast the rest away with fire.

"Champ, sunspot, what're you doing here?!" Hades growled in annoyance.

"We're here to save you two!" Kairi exclaimed. "

The god looked utterly confused, scrunching up his nose. Even his hair seemed to lose some of its vigor. "Come again?"

"The datascape's about to collapse and we wanted to be sure you got out alright." Sora rephrased, tugging his hand. "Come on, let's go!"

"We've been nothing but cruel to you guys." Horace piped up. "… And you still want to save us?"

"I'm going to ignore the sentiment since you clearly got your codes scrambled up in this darkness. Besides, we don't need help from-!"

I will consume every world… I will become the sky that connects us all, then I'll never be alone again!

The two were suddenly gone after a giant arm smashed down.

The kids gasped before looking up to see a Darkside, one of the first enemies the other Kairi had faced.

Kairi could feel a sense of connection with the monster as it glared down at her. She thought for a moment before realization hit. The one who started hurting their worlds all so she'd never be alone. Only one person could ever have such a selfish motive, Kairi thought to herself before looking back. "The source of the bugs… It's me, isn't it?"

The world rumbled again, causing them to hold onto each other for balance.

Sora nodded quickly. "In a way! That's your Heartless."

"How did this happen?" Kairi asked, dodging a swing from the monster as Sora ran along the other arm.

"A long time ago, the real Kairi lost her heart. The journal recorded that moment just like every other one, of course. The only problem was, the journal didn't have a way to fix it!" Sora called, stabbing his sword into the beast's shoulder.

Kairi took the distraction as an opportunity to attack the center of the Heartless' hollow chest.

"The real world had real light that was able to push the darkness away but here in data, there was no such thing as real light. So, instead of being destroyed, your heartless must've just kept growing!"

"Stooop!" The monster shrieked in Kairi's voice. Sora was knocked off balance and hit the ground hard. The Heartless glared at him. "Stop fighting, join me in the darkness, Sora! You'll become a part of me too!"

"NO!"

Kairi covered her mouth in horror, staring at the spot Sora had once been after the Heartless had seemingly crushed him. She glared back at her darkness which'd now taken on her form. "You monster!"

The two clashed with equal yells as the dark one summoned three unfamiliar keyblades to fight along with her own. Little did she know, these keyblades belonged to those hidden in the other Kairi's heart, a secret even the journal didn't know. Someone else had introduced them.

"The real Kairi's the monster!" The heartless called as she crossed Naminé's keyblades to guard her. "Her missing memories are the whole reason we're in such pain!"

Kairi had no idea what she was talking about, missing memories. She wasn't focused on Kairi from outside the journal, all she cared about now was saving the datascape! "Why are you doing this?!"

"Because I've been alone in the darkness all this time! The real Kairi was saved, what about me?! Why don't I get to stay connected to everyone if I'm in the darkness?!"

"Because you never had true light to bring you back…" Kairi realized, remembering what Sora had said before.

"It doesn't exist, not here! Nothing here is true!"

"No, you're wrong." Kairi smiled, placing a hand to her chest and feeling her beating heart. "I'm real, meaning the light I gained from my connections to my friends is too…!"

The dark Kairi blinked in surprise as Kairi's heart began to glow, engulfing her in a bright light. "So… now I'm real too… It feels… nice."

Kairi smiled as the dark world faded and she was returned back to Hollow Bastion to find the others had left, just as they said they would. They were home.

"Outta the way, sunspot."

Kairi turned in surprise to see Hades and Horace walk past her to the gateway. "Hades! Horace! You're okay! Then does that mean…?!"

"We fought our way out together? Yeah, unfortunately." Sora grinned, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Sora!"

The two embraced happily while Hades rolled his eyes. "Not saying I give a hoot about either of you, but at least you two know not to leave a god stranded."

"Is that a thank you?" Sora grinned.

"No, just means I don't want this datascape after all." Hades shrugged nonchalantly. "I prefer inflicting pain on my true enemies, not some data decoys like you stiffs… Well, ciao!"

Kairi was a bit surprised he'd given up so easily. Had he really just gotten bored of the place or was it a reward since Sora saved them? She'd never know.

As light engulfed the world, she grabbed Sora's hand.

"Ready to go home?"

"Ready."

Minnie and the others found themselves back in the true library, knowing it was when they saw the data Riku wasn't there. The chipmunks had celebrated their return while Hades and Horrace snuck away in the distraction.

"They did it." Minnie sighed in relief. They looked to the screens to find the journal back to normal, every page filled and the mysterious messages finally gone, aside from the one. "Thank Roxas…"

"Oh, right!" Clarabelle gasped. "We never did figure out what that meant!"

"And we can't exactly ask Kairi again, she doesn't remember anything."

As if to emphasize the point, she switched the screens over to Destiny Islands, finding the trio sitting peacefully at their favorite spot.

"It's just not fair." Daisy sighed. "They won't even remember us…"

They suddenly heard laughter from the journal as Kairi, Sora and Riku glanced up at the sky.

"Hello, everyone! How's it feel to be home?" Kairi beamed.

"Kairi!" They all gasped in shock, fighting to be the closest to the monitor.

"You remember us!" Minnie smiled.

"She's not the only one!" Sora grinned.

Riku crossed his arms with a laugh. "And I still don't know much about what you're going on about, but I guess I'll play along now that I know it's real. You two had a whole adventure without me!"

"But how could you remember? Clarabelle wondered aloud.

"When Sora found the data in his other partition that was separate from the journal, he figured if we made backups of our memories and stored them there, they might make it through the reset!" Kairi explained.

Sora scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry we didn't tell you, we didn't want to get your hopes up in case it didn't work."

"This is wonderful!" Clarabelle gushed, practically hugging the monitor itself. "I'm so happy!"

"Me too." Kairi giggled.

"Wait, since Sora already holds the journal's data… we're going to need someone to protect him and the datascape itself. Who knows what'll happen if you all got into the wrong hands?" Minnie realized. "I think we'll need a guardian."

"You know I'm on it!" Kairi called. "I'll protect Sora and the datascape with my life! Plus, this way, maybe I can help you guys in the future if you run into any other data problems!"

"Uh, forgetting someone?" Riku playfully poked her in the shoulder.

"Kairi gets to be captain of us data guards since she went through the most." Sora declared. "But…"

"Okay, okay, we'll guard it together!" Kairi laughed.

Sora's eyes suddenly widened in shock before he glanced over to the secret place. "Whoa…"

"Sora? What's wrong?" Kairi and Riku were both at his side in an instant when they sensed he was distracted.

"A new world just opened up here in the journal. Almost like the extra data was just waiting to be added on once we got rid of the bugs." Sora mumbled mainly to himself.

"Extra data that doesn't belong… Just like the message!" Minnie gasped. "That world must be from the page telling us to thank Roxas!"

"Who's Roxas?" Kairi asked in confusion as the trio headed down to the secret place where the entrance was.

"Exactly!" The trio and Tink chorused, startling the children.

The door with the singular keyhole glowed with a mysterious white light.

"Want me to check it out? It is my job as a guardian of the data!" Kairi volunteered.

"Oh, would you? We'd very much appreciate it!" Minnie smiled.

"Sure thing!" Kairi grinned. She then looked back to the boys and saw their worried faces. "…"

Riku placed his hands on his hips. "Kairi.."

"I know you don't need our help but…." Sora placed his hands behind his head as if waiting for her to ask.

Kairi gave a sigh, placing a hand to her heart. "No, I can't put you two at risk again, I don't think my heart could handle it… and it was my promise alone to help them and-"

"Just don't get in too much trouble." Riku smirked.

"Yeah!" Sora added. "Otherwise Riku and I are gonna go in there after you and start bugging you more then the bugs about it!"

"Thanks." Kairi smiled.

The three group-hugged.

Kairi turned to the door, ready to face the new world. "Mysterious message, prepare to be solved!"