Hey guys. WilyGryphon here, your number 1 source for Kingdom Hearts: Destiny Vault story updates. Coming out more consistently than Union X.

I am still calling for suggestions on stories to follow for future worlds to appear. I will not spoil what I plan on including, though pre-established characters and elements should make a number of them obvious, but I would like to see whatever you can think of. I will accept suggestions for worlds based on Disney movies (animated or live-action) as well as Disney-owned properties, including movies and TV shows not limited to Disney Afternoon cartoons. I will also accept ideas for worlds based on Square Enix titles, including Final Fantasy games but not necessarily limited to that. However, before anyone brings up the years-old argument, I have no intention to integrate Star Wars into the story, as I do not believe that it would fit into the current state of the KH canon. Please, let me know what worlds you would like me to cover in this story and what sort of storyline I should build around these worlds.

Defender 31415: I am aware of how Xion is supposed to be spelled. Thanks anyway. I have also gone onto the Wiki and seen how the Japanese writing for her name is directly romanized... I just thought I would make the joke considering I established that Sora hears and reads Twilight Town's language in Japanese.

Chapter 70

Dive to the Cards

As the hours had gone by, the nine of them decided to call it a day. Hayner, Pence and Olette showed the others to a hotel, where the six visitors decided to check in for the night. They ended up renting out two separate suites next to each other, with Sora, Riku and Kairi in one room and Mickey, Donald and Goofy in the other. Soon, they had turned off the lights and gone to sleep.

Sora's dream began with him standing on the surface of an ocean. Moments later, he dropped through and started sinking, soon tumbling until he was upside-down while still descending. Eventually, the water faded into a void and his fall began to slow. Something caused him to slowly turn back around until he was going in a feet-first direction. Looking down, he saw a circular platform embedded with stained-glass pieces. The main focus of the artwork depicted his own sleeping form, wearing the clothes that had granted him Drive power during his previous adventure. Seven circles sat in a larger circle toward the top of the image, though three of them were obscured by Sora's body. The uncovered circles depicted Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy's faces.

Sora landed softly on his feet, standing on the stained-glass image of his shoes. He saw another boy standing directly across from him. They boy, who appeared to be the same age as him, wore a black coat not unlike Lea and Isa's. His face drew similarities to Sora's own, though his spiky hair was different; the hairdo was tamer than Sora's and it appeared to be more dirty blond than brown.

Sora and the other boy both walked toward the center. A table and two chairs appeared in the middle of the station. They pulled their respective chairs out and sat down. The other boy pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket and removed a rubber band holding them together. He began to shuffle the deck, rearranging the cards in a practiced manner.

"So, Sora, how's your adventure going?" the boy asked as he began dealing the cards.

"We're having fun. Aside from watching three of our friends die, though two of them came back," Sora told his other half. Or was it 'other two-thirds'? No one ever really explained how important the 'soul' was.

"I see. Any luck figuring out what the bad guys are looking for?" Roxas asked as he finished passing the cards around. They each had ten cards. Roxas put the remaining cards in the middle and flipped the first one over beside it.

Sora shook his head. He took a card from the pile and discarded one from his hand. "We have an idea on what to look for, but we have no idea how it's all supposed to fit together. And, of course, nobody actually wants to tell us anything."

Roxas snickered. "Welcome to my world," he retorted. He drew Sora's discarded card and laid down a run of 3, 4, and 5 hearts, then discarded a Jack of Clubs. "You know how I left the Organization because of all the secrets."

"And the lack of trust, even from your best friend. And the manipulations. And because Saïx was a total jerkwad," Sora added. "Did I miss anything?"

Roxas shrugged. "I don't think so."

"You know, maybe you should come along to help us with our pitch: don't tell us what we need to know to help you, and we'll just give up on the universe," Sora joked. He drew a new card, laid down a meld of three Kings, and discarded a card.

Roxas laughed. "That might get you somewhere."

They fell silent and continued playing for a few turns, adding to and creating runs and melds.

"So, we met Hayner, Pence and Olette today," Sora said.

Roxas nodded without answering. He drew a new card and slipped another one from his hand into Sora's run.

Sora noticed that his Nobody was nervous. "You don't want to talk to them?" he asked.

Roxas sighed. "They're not the gang I know. They don't know me."

"That doesn't mean they can't," Sora countered. "Hayner even said he'd like to meet you."

There was a brief silence before Roxas replied. "But I'm deep inside you. We joined back together. What will happen to you if… and how would we separate?"

"We can figure that part out. And you stepped out to talk to me and Naminé just fine."

"But what if—"

"Roxas," Sora interrupted.

"Huh?"

"You're dodging the question."

Roxas was taken aback. "What?"

"Don't you want to meet them?"

There was a brief moment of silence. Roxas sighed. "I don't know. I guess I'm not sure I can really…" Roxas trailed off, not sure what to say.

"You're afraid to try?"

Roxas was surprised. "What? You think I could?"

"Ansem seemed to think it could work. Or Naminé, maybe, considering how… standoffish Ansem was as DiZ. Maybe she saw you meet the real 'them' the first couple times and that gave her the idea to make them your friends in the virtual world. She probably figured that if you had a fully-developed heart then and you got to meet them a few more times, you'd be fast friends"

"Maybe that's how she saw it then. But that was before… Now…"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "You're afraid to try to make friends?" he surmised. "Since Axel kept secrets from you and drove you away, and since you thought you could be friends with Hayner, Pence and Olette only to find that it was all an illusion, you're afraid that any attempt at friendship will fail."

After a moment, Roxas nodded. "I guess so."

Sora looked into his eyes solemnly, before giving him a smile. "I think you can manage," he said. "After all, I'm your friend, right?"

Roxas was mildly surprised. He allowed himself a small smile and offered a soft nod. "Yeah, I guess."

Sora drew a fresh card from the deck and analyzed his hand. "Or, maybe not anymore," he joked as he showed Roxas his hand, added three cards to a run, and discarded his last card, thereby winning the game.

Roxas let his jaw drop in mock horror. "Wow, talk about heartless!" Roxas quipped. They both started laughing.

"Well, at least I never had mine sitting in a jar of dirt!" Sora retorted.

Roxas appeared confused. "Pardon?"

Sora caught himself. "Oh, right. Well, the last couple days, we helped Captain Jack try to get ahold of the heart of Davy Jones to get Jones and his Kraken to stop hunting Jack," he recounted. "Jones had his actual heart locked away in a chest, and Jack was trying to get it as leverage, since killing the heart would kill Jones himself.

"How'd that go?" Roxas asked, curious.

Sora frowned and looked down. "It didn't work out."

"Sorry," Roxas said sympathetically. After a sorrowful pause, Roxas started to wonder something. "So, is there a difference between losing your heart and whatever was going on with Davy Jones?"

Sora nodded. "It wasn't like the glowing orb/spiritual heart. It was the blood-pumping organ. But he apparently thought there wasn't a difference."

"You mean that he thought removing his beating heart would leave him without having to deal with emotions?"

Sora nodded. "Of course, someone should have told him that it doesn't actually work in the long-term, even if he got it right the first time." He gathered up all of the cards and started re-shuffling them.

Roxas laughed. "You think Xemnas and Xigbar knew?" he asked.

Sora shrugged. "Xemnas probably figured it out at some point. And if anyone else was in on it, it would be Xigbar." He dealt the cards out and flipped another card to create the discard pile.

"Yeah. He seemed to know way more about Xemnas' plans than he was letting on."

"He seemed to think Xemnas, or rather Xehanort, had something else planned after we beat them, at least as a backup."

Roxas made his first turn. "You think Xehanort came back like the others?"

"One would assume. But you'd think we'd have caught wind of something. Hopefully, Leon and the others will have found something out by the time we see them again."

"We'll see, I guess."

They played a few turns. While they played, Sora thought back to what he had seen while getting ice cream earlier that day.

"Say, Roxas?"

"Hmm?"

"Does the name 'Shion' mean anything to you?"

Roxas thought hard about the question. The name did not ring any bells, but something tugged at him when he thought of the strange name.

He shook his head. "I… can't say that it does. Sorry," he answered. "Why do you ask?"

Sora shrugged. "I just saw the name somewhere today. I was just curious," he replied.

They let the topic drop, and continued to play for the rest of the night.