I've got a surprise for you guys!

I'll be taking the month of November off from all unnecessary screentime, so that means I won't be updating during that month, so as a treat, you guys get weekly updates for the remainder of October to tide you over.

Enjoy!

Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!

Chapter 4: Strides

"And this is the library." Ven glanced down at Chirithy who sat in his arms. "There's a ton of stuff here on Keyblade wielders of old. I don't spend lots of time here, to be honest. I like to go out and do stuff. Not sit and read. That's more Terra's thing."

"It's really nice." Chirithy hopped onto a table and looked around. "This whole castle is amazingly lovely. I'm happy that you get to live in a place like this."

There he went again.

All morning, Chirithy kept saying stuff about how happy Ven was to have all these things.

"Chirithy, how long ago did you know me?"

…

"So, where else is there to show me in the castle?"

"Chirithy? Why won't you answer me?"

The cat-like creature sighed. "Ven, you're my best friend, and I've known you for a long time. And, I don't want to hurt you, but please, don't ask me about the past. I know you're curious, but… some things are better left forgotten."

Better left forgotten?

The boy's stomach sank.

He couldn't remember anything before waking up in the Keyblade Graveyard to find Master Xehanort.

Chirithy must know what happened before, but wouldn't say it.

Did-

Did something bad happen?

Still, he wanted to know... maybe. But maybe now wasn't the best time to press Chirithy on it.

"Well, ok. I'll take you outside and show you the training grounds. It's absolutely beautiful out there."

"Sounds great!"

Aqua stiffened as she mixed something for breakfast.

Something in the back of her mind called to her.

"Terra, can you mix this for a moment?"

"Sure." He took it from her. "Everything alright?"

"I'm not sure." Following the feeling at the back of her mind, she walked to the main throne room. The crystal behind the central throne pulsed.

Calling to her.

Placing her hand on it, an image appeared in her vision.

"Master Yen Sid?"

"Master Aqua," the old wizard smiled, "a pleasure to see you again. I hope things have been good and restful for yourself, Terra, and Ventus."

"They have. And we never got to thank you for coming to our aid in that massive hoard of Heartless."

"It was no trouble at all." The old man's eyes glimmered. She wondered how long it had been since he'd gotten to assist in combat like that. "And I hoping to speak to you about an idea that King Mickey proposed long ago, and at the time I said it would not be possible, but I believe it could be now."

"What is it?"

"A coalition between worlds. Not all of them, but a select few that already are somewhat aware of or intertwined with other worlds. As the only group of formally trained Keyblade wielders, would you be willing to not only aid in this endeavor but be part of it and act as the main peacekeeping group?"

A coalition?

She'd been told about the world order since she started training, so the thought of worlds working together like that seemed so strange.

But as she thought, it wasn't too farfetched.

Radiant Garden's leadership knew of other worlds.

Disney Town's did too.

And there were probably other worlds during the time she was gone that learned of other worlds too.

"I like that idea." She smiled. "I hadn't really considered worlds working together openly, but I could see it having a lot of benefits. We would have to choose the worlds carefully though, so as to not upset the balance there too much."

He nodded. "I have a few worlds in mind already. I will discuss this with Mickey as well and when we have a good idea of the worlds we want to bring in, I will personally reach out to their leadership."

"What other worlds were you considering?"

"Radiant Garden, Disney Town, a world you are probably not aware of called Traverse Town, and the Destiny Islands."

Those were all good choices. "What about the world that Axel, Roxas, and Xion went to live on? I don't remember the name, but there were people there that knew of other worlds."

"Hmm," the wizard stroked his beard, "Twilight Town is another possibility. I will speak to King Mickey, and I will let you know what worlds we choose and who respond to my invitation to join the coalition."

"I'll tell Ven and Terra about the idea."

"Thank you, Master Aqua."

"Thank you, Master."

Aqua walked back to the kitchen, taking the bowl back from Terra who looked at her curiously. "What was that about?"

She poured the now mixed batter into a muffin tin. "Master Yen Sid called. He wanted to talk about something. I'll explain it to you and Ven over breakfast, as it has to do with all of us."

"Is it a good thing or not?"

"I think it's good." She put the pan in the oven. "Do you mind chopping some vegetables for omelets?"

"Not at all."

The smells of breakfast eventually drew Ven and Chirithy to the kitchen. The cat-like creature almost seemed to float on the air with the smells of food.

"Do you like blackberry muffins and omelets, Chirithy?"

"I love muffins! And lots of food."

Ven giggled. "How can I help?"

"If you want to get drinks ready, that would be very helpful."

The boy nodded. "Do you two still like tea?"

"Yep."

"Chirithy, what do you want?"

"Coffee would be good if you have some. If not, just milk."

"We can do coffee."

A few minutes later, the four of them sat down. Three at the table and one on the table.

As they ate, Aqua looked up. "I got a message from Master Yen Sid. He wanted to talk about an idea for a coalition between worlds."

"Aren't the worlds supposed to stay separate?"

"Yes," she smiled, "but he was talking about a few specific worlds that already know about other worlds. I personally like the idea. He wants us to be part of that, acting as the main peacekeepers of the coalition since we're the only truly formally trained Keyblade wielders. I assume the others would be either on standby, or we could do some training with them."

Terra took a bite of his omelet. "You know, it sounds like a good idea to me too. The worlds could learn so much from each other."

Chirithy piped up. "The worlds were all one long ago. Maybe it's good that they begin to work together again."

"You know some history."

"I do."

Terra looked at the little creature. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

Chirithy finished off his little cup of coffee before standing up. "I don't mind at all. I'm a Spirit. A Dream Eater."

Ven grinned. "I read about those in the stuff Jiminy sent us! You're a Spirit?"

"Lift up my cape."

Ven did, revealing a pink and yellow symbol on Chirithy's back.

"See."

"Wow."

Ven smiled softly. "Were you helping me dream good things while I was asleep for so long?"

"Of course I was." Chirithy walked to Ven, purring as the boy pet him.

Terra and Aqua smiled. Their sudden little guest seemed to brighten Ven's already high spirits just by being close to him.

Later, Terra sat on the balcony in the library, a book in hand.

He loved to spend time here, just leaving the real world behind as he dove into a book.

His concentration broke as the gummi phone he'd received from Mickey on the gummi ship began to ring.

Pushing the button, he smiled as Riku's face appeared. "Hi, Riku."

"Hey, Terra. How are you feeling?"

"Much better. We've had a few days to settle in, and it's been very nice."

"I'm glad." The boy smiled. "Hey, I was wondering, in a few days or so, would you guys like to come to the islands? I think we all deserve a celebration."

Terra's eyes widened. "Of course! We'd love to. Do you think Sora and Kairi will be back by then?"

"I don't know, but if we held off celebrating even a little for them, they'd be annoyed at us, so we can celebrate again when they get back."

"Sounds great!"

"Awesome! See you then."

"See you."

Terra smiled.

That would be such a fun day!

But, when that day arrived… how wrong he was.

"This place is just as beautiful as I remember." Ven sighed, looking out over the ocean.

Aqua closed her eyes, feeling the sun on her face.

She'd escaped the Realm of Darkness to arrive here.

This paradise.

"Hi there!" Mickey, Donald, and Goofy approached. "Did you get here first?"

"We did." Terra nodded.

Goofy looked at the tall young man. "How are you feelin', Terra?"

"Really good. It's nice to be back home with my friends. And we were able to take some time to mourn Master Eraqus."

"That's good.

Another gummi ship landed on the beach, and Axel exited followed by Roxas, Xion, and three other kids: a boy with scraggly blond hair, a girl with brown hair, and a boy with spiked black hair. They saw them on the screen back at Radiant Garden.

"Hey!" Ven waved.

Goofy smiled. "Hayner, Pence, Olette, good to see you."

Ok, so that was their names.

After them stepped out a man with blue hair. Ven gasped. "Isa…"

"We'll I'll be." Jiminy hopped up onto Mickey's shoulder. "Isa wasn't it?"

He was in the Organization. Aqua glanced down at Ven who seemed to recognize him. Ven did meet Axel before, so maybe he met Isa too.

"That's right." The blue haired man smiled.

"He's back too. And he's been staying with us." Axel grinned.

Aqua narrowed her eyes a little. She took some time to read about what Axel wrote on Isa in the phones. He sounded like he'd treated Roxas and Xion quite poorly in the Organization.

But he was living with them.

"Ven," Isa pulled a frisbee out of a bag, "want to play a few matches with us?"

"Sure!" The boy ran to Isa and Axel as they stepped away, hoping to not hit anyone in the head with the frisbee.

Aqua walked to Roxas and Xion who stood alone, looking around. "How are you two settling in?"

"Pretty well."

Xion smiled softly. "The people in Twilight Town are so kind to us. A bunch of them came over and helped us fix up our house."

"Really?"

Pulling out his phone, Roxas showed her a photo of a bedroom with lots of shelves and bookshelves. "Yeah! This is my room. I'm planning to fill the shelves with tons of stuff. Not sure what yet."

Mickey and Terra came over to look at the photo too. "That looks so nice. Do you have a picture of your room, Xion?"

"Yeah." She showed a picture of a room with a pretty four-poster bed.

"That's really pretty. Are you happy with it?"

"I am. It feels so warm and safe."

"I'm glad."

"And what about Isa?" The king glanced over at the man, holding the same guarded expression Aqua felt. "How do you two feel about him staying with you?"

Aqua and Terra glanced between themselves and the king. If Isa was not being nice to these kids, they'd take care of it.

"We're a little wary, but he's really nice to us." Roxas softly said.

"Yeah, he feels really guilty about how he treated us, and he's trying to make up for it however he can." The raven-haired girl fiddled with the ruffles on her skirt a little. "Actually, we had to go to Radiant Garden and get some paperwork for some legal thing, and he was named my guardian. It was my choice."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Roxas nodded. "Axel is my guardian now too. Apparently, we needed some paperwork to go to school or something like that. I don't really understand it."

"Paperwork is always a bit confusing." Jiminy hopped from the king's shoulder over to Xion's hands. "But we're very happy to see you two doing well."

"Thank you!"

A shadow passed over them as another gummi ship came to land.

"Riku's here!"

Everyone paused as the ship landed and Riku stepped out. "Hi everyone!"

"Riku! Good to see you!"

"Hey!"

"There's someone else here too." Turning back to the ship Riku smiled warmly. "There's no need to be nervous."

"I know." Came a soft voice.

Stepping out of the ship came a girl with flaxen blonde hair and indigo eyes wearing a white dress.

"NAMINÉ!"

Terra gasped.

He'd never seen her before but…

He knew her. She'd called out to his heart.

Helped him rescue his friends.

He owed her greatly.

"When did this happen!?"

"About three days ago." Riku glanced back at her.

As Xion went to talk to Naminé Riku walked over to where Mickey stood with Aqua, Terra, and Roxas. "Hey there."

"Hi."

Roxas glanced over at the girl. "Why didn't anyone say anything to us about her waking up?"

"We were coming here anyway, so it just worked out." Riku turned back to look at her. "Crazy thing… Ansem said they were still reconstructing her heart, and they would have a hard time finishing without Kairi. But then she just woke up. Heart and all."

"What!?"

"Yeah. They were just as shocked, but she's here now."

Terra glanced at the girl, a hand touching his heart. "She was… Kairi's Nobody, right?"

"Yep."

"So, I guess that's more proof that Kairi will be alright."

"I think so too." Riku glanced over at Roxas. "How are you?"

"Doing good."

"Listen, I never apologized for attacking you before… I'm really sorry for everything I did."

Roxas smirked. "It's ok… though I'm still a bit annoyed at you cheating."

"Cheating!?"

"Using darkness just because you're losing? I'd call that cheating."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Care for a rematch then?"

"Now?"

"Not fighting, but how Sora and I used to settle things. A race."

"Sounds good."

Terra's inner competitive nature bubbled up in seconds. "Can you cut me in on that?"

"Sure."

Riku pointed. "We start at the bridge, run to the pier and run back to the hut. First one there wins."

Mickey and Aqua glanced at each other with a smile. "We'll be referees."

"Sounds good!"

The three boys jogged to the bridge.

Ready and waiting.

"Ready? GO!"

They thundered across the sand.

Roxas and Riku both pulled ahead early.

Terra had never been fast. But that didn't matter. This was fun.

Aqua and Mickey cheered them on as they ran. As they hit the pier, Terra skidded to a stop and turned back toward the finish line.

Riku was way in the lead now.

Home field advantage.

And he crossed the finish line first.

"Great job!" Aqua cheered. "All of you."

Roxas panted as Aqua approached him. "Great job!" Terra placed a hand on the boy's shoulder as Aqua approached. "You're pretty quick. You and Ven should race sometime."

"Is he pretty fast."

"Oh yeah." The young woman giggled. "We've always had a hard time keeping up with him."

Terra chuckled as he looked up.

And he saw Riku… staring out at the paopu tree.

He followed Riku's gaze.

Two people, sitting on the tree.

Everyone seemed to notice.

Everything stopped.

Sora and Kairi.

In the setting sun, they sat together.

But-

Sora's image faded away.

Vanishing before their eyes, leaving Kairi… alone.

No one spoke.

No one moved.

What… just happened?

Oh yeah, we're going through this pain again.

Sorry.

Though, remember, weekly updates for this month!

Hope you enjoyed.