I'd ended up lying.

I'd stayed until midnight.

But it was time to leave, now.

I pushed the Gummi Block against the Dimensional Barrier, which-

Adding, multiplying.

Communication is passed along, a response. Excitement.

Another World's Heart is connected, changed irrevocably. The connection breaks soon after.

Subtracting, separating. Four Worlds feel together. Hope.

- went straight through, as always.

I sailed through the Sea of the Skies, relaxing.

A lot had happened in that World.

I spun around, shifting my form. My cloak and coat sank back into my body as I resumed my previous shape.

I wasn't heading towards the Elemental Nations. Not yet, anyway.

I was long overdue on a visit.

I entered the World, appearing in front of a door.

There was nobody around- as always.

I stepped forwards, the door opening before I could knock- as always.

"Hello, Madoka."

She smiled at me. "Hello!"

"It's been a while since we've seen each other."

"It has. Nearly two months, in fact." I sat down across from her. "Sorry about that, I got caught up in some things."

'Some things' does not even begin to describe what happened in the Digimon World.

"It's alright." She waved it off. "I can't be mad about that."

She looked at me, Heart brimming with curiosity. "Did... you seal another Keyhole, by any chance?"

I stared at her, before nodding. "I did. How could you tell?"

Her lips pursed. "I don't know, I just... get that impression."

Interesting.

"By the way..." She frowned. "Do you know any other Keyblade Wielders?"

My head tilted to the side. "No. Why do you ask?"

She bit her lip, a small pulse of worry flowing through her Heart.

And, in turn, making me worry.

"Yesterday, one came to this World."

Sayeth what?

"I don't know what he was seeking, but he encountered a Magical Girl and..." She looked away for a moment, sadness appearing in her Heart. "And stole her Soul Gem."

He did what?

"How?"

"I only became aware of it when he left this World." She looked at me. "I can still... feel her Soul Gem. I knew something was wrong when it left this World."

"Did you happen to catch his name?" I asked.

Her head tilted to the side. I caught sight of... something pulsing in her Soul.

"... Xine." She said, a few moments later.

Xine?

Not familiar with it, has an X.

Ine. Ien. Nie. Eni-

Enix.

Fucking seriously?

"He wielded the Light." Madoka continued. "And he had a Keyblade. Alice was only... she's been a Magical Girl for less than two weeks. She didn't stand a chance."

"Where did he go?"

"Ah... another World. Fairly close, but... I can't leave this World myself. And I can't send others, because-"

"Madoka, calm down." I moved around the table, bring the girl into a hug. "I will get the Soul Gem back."

Her arms wrapped around me, and I pulled her closer. "Thank you."

"Now, tell me. Where did he go?"

"Please be careful."

"Do have some faith in me, Madoka."

I leapt through the Corridors of Darkness, taking a shortcut through the Sea of the Skies.

I was heading to a World that I hadn't been to before- though that was blatantly obvious.

It was 'further' away from Madoka's World than the Digimon World, closer to the Realm of Light.

Not that I cared for that.

I was going there for the purpose of getting that girl- Alice's Soul Gem back, after all.

I wrapped myself in a coat, my Keyblade Armour hidden underneath it.

I exited the Corridor of Darkness, appearing in front of the World that Madoka had directed me too.

My eyes narrowed.

Time for business.

This World was... empty would be a good start.

I looked around, seeing nothing but barren desert landscape.

There were few Hearts here. Groups of Hearts far, far off into the distance, with three nearby- all of them in one place. One was filled with fear, another that wasn't feeling anything, and the final one filled with annoyance and curiosity.

Underground, I noted.

The room was odd.

Actually, it reminded me of a lab, crossed with a workshop. Alice's Soul Gem was suspended in the air above some sort of machine- which didn't actually seem to be doing anything at the moment.

Against the wall was a large, transparent, glass tube, a body suspended in it. Held in stasis, the Heart and Soul unchanging.

The Keyblader had been operating a computer before I'd arrived, but had sprung backwards and spun around to stare in my direction shortly after my arrival.

He was tall, I noted. His hair was brown, and swept backwards into spikes. His skin, light tanned. His body, lithe and with powerful muscles.

The Keyblade he had brandished at me was oddly plain. It had the form of a typical bit key, a long shaft with the bit at the end.

"I must ask." I stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room, staring at the other Keyblader. "That you give that Soul Gem back."

"You are a creature of Darkness." He stated. Ignoring me? "How dare you intrude upon these lands."

"I 'dare' because you took something which does not belong to you." I looked to the side, staring at the Soul Gem. "That girl's Soul Gem." I looked back at him. "Return it."

"Return it? I cannot do that." He shook his head. "It is the first thing I have found that could possibly help me."

"Help you?" I asked. "Do you not care for the Heart and Soul inside it, the being that fears you?"

"It is regrettable." He tensed. "But it is necessary. You would not understand that, pathetic creature of Darkness."

I shook my head, slowly. "I admit, there was some part of me that hoped this could be solved without violence."

I held out my hand.

My Keyblade flashed into existence a moment later, causing the other Keyblader to gasp.

This... with that Keyblade, he could kill me. There would be no room for error, here.

I pressed the pauldron hidden underneath my coat, feeling the Keyblade Armour activating.

"But, if you insist."

My form was consumed in Darkness.