When we exited the portal in the world I had set for us, Chise took in a breath of surprise when she saw the thousands of flowers and castle in the distance. I watched as her eyes grew wide, trying to capture every corner of the courtyard we stood in.

"It's so pretty, Oneesan!" She stated, awestricken.

"This is Radiant Garden," I explained to her. "It's a world filled with light."

Chise nodded. "Yeah; I can feel it. It's so warm." She stretched out her arms and ran to the center of the courtyard, then began to spin around, laughing like the innocent child she was.

I simply watched with a smile, glad to see her so lively after going through such a traumatic experience. I had been worried that she would become detached and isolated from the outside world, but those fears instantly vanished when I saw her the way she was.

"Hikari!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Leon at the top of the courtyard, his GunBlade thankfully in the holster on his back. I turned back to my sister and called out to her. "Come here for a moment, Chise."

She stopped in mid-spin and, beaming her signature smile, hurried over to me. As she approached, I heard Leon coming down to meet us.

I took Chise's hand and led her over to where Leon stood a few feet away. When we were standing in front of him, I smiled. "Leon, I'd like you to meet my sister, Chise." Looking down at said girl, I added "Chise, this is Leon, a good friend of mine."

Chise tilted her head as she looked up at the tall man, almost as though she were trying to take in every single detail. After a few moments, she smiled once more and giggled. "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Leon," she greeted holding out a hand.

Leon smiled and got to one knee before taking Chise's tiny hand and softly shaking it. "It's nice to meet you too, Chise."

Chise seemed to eye Leon's necklace, for her mouth opened in an excited grin. "Are you like the lion from Oneesan's story; the one that helps the being of light make the wishes of the children come true and bring back hope to our world?"

Leon looked up at me in confusion, but I smiled and put a finger to my lips, telling him to play along. "Yes; he's very much like the lion from the story," I replied. "He trained me so I could fight the bad guys and save you."

Chise looked at me with wide eyes. "Really?"

I nodded. "And he even has a friend who taught me magic."

If Chise's eyes grew any wider, they probably would have popped out of their sockets. "What are we waiting for then!? Let's go!" She pulled on my pant leg, wanting me to show her the way.

Leon got to his feet and brushed off the dust on his knee, then brought his eyes back to me. "King Mickey said we should expect you soon. Follow me; everyone's down at Merlin's."

When we arrived at Merlin's place, Chise froze at the door when she saw King Mickey, who was speaking with the bearded wizard.

Upon hearing us enter, Mickey stopped his conversation and turned to look at us, a smile on his face. "It's good to see you back safe and sound, Hikari."

I bowed my head. "Same here, Your Majesty." I looked down at my sister, then back at The King. "I'd like you to meet my sister, Chise. She was being well taken care of by the residents of Pixie Hollow."

"The world of fairies," Mickey said. "She was very lucky to have ended up there."

"Actually, Your Majesty, I kinda need to speak with you about that. It may not be a bad idea for Leon and the others to listen in to," I stated.

"What about me, Oneesan?" Chise questioned, looking up at me with confused eyes.

At that moment, Aerith and Kairi walked into the room, instantly spotting my sister. Aerith looked at me with soft eyes and winked. "Why don't you come with me and help get some lunch ready?" She offered.

Chise's eyes lit up the moment she saw Aerith. "You're so pretty! Are you an angel?"

The others chuckled at Chise's honest question.

Aerith smiled and walked over to Chise. She squatted down so she was eye-level with my sister. "I'm not an angel, but I can make a pretty good angel cake. Would you like to help me?"

Chise eagerly nodded.

Aerith held out her hand and led Chise out of the room. Kairi began to follow them, but Mickey called for her to stay and listen.

"Leave it to Aerith," Yuffie stated.

"At least it's not Cid doing the cooking," Leon said in a sarcastic tone.

"I heard that," said man muttered.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand, shall we?" Merlin offered.

"He's right," Mickey concurred.

They all turned to me, waiting to hear what I had to say.

I took a deep breath, then began. "My sister didn't end up at Pixie Hollow because of the Heartless. On our way here, she told me that a friend helped her escape the initial attack on our world. They went to a place called Traverse Town, where Chise's friend thought they would be safe, but the Heartless somehow found their way in. Chise's friend was captured by the Heartless, but…"

"What is it, Hikari," Kairi asked, noticing that tears were starting to form in my eyes.

I clenched my hands into fists as I tried to fight off the tears. "Chise told me… that our eldest brother saved her from the Heartless."

"Your brother?" Yuffie repeated.

I nodded.

"So then, did your brother get captured as well?" Mickey questioned.

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "He somehow found Chise and took her to Pixie Hollow, where he thought she would safe."

"He must have obtained some sort of power to travel between worlds, just like yourself," Merlin offered.

"That's what concerns me though." I let out another sigh. "My brother approached one of the residents of Pixie Hollow and gave Chise to him… The fairy said that he was wearing a black coat."

Everyone let out a gasp.

"Is your sister sure that your brother saved her?" Mickey seemed on edge. "It could have been one of the Organization members."

"No, Chise's positive it was our brother. The fairy also gave a description of the stranger that completely matches him. All evidence points to Genji, but I'm still having a hard time believing it," I explained.

"Then you're probably not gonna like what I have to report."

We all spun around to face the door, surprised when we saw a familiar red-head leaning against the frame.

"What do you mean, Lea?" I asked.

Lea rubbed the back of his head as though he felt uncomfortable. Eventually though, he stated "Master Yen Sid sent me to investigate the old Organization XIII headquarters. I didn't catch much on what they were talking about, but I noticed another body in the group." He looked at me and added "He appeared to be around your age, and he had somewhat-spiked brown hair."

I sighed once more, lowering my head. "Then it's true. Genji's working for the Organization."

After eating lunch, I asked Aerith to watch over Chise while I went out. After the news Lea had given me regarding Genji, I needed to get away.

I ended up flying over the town well into the evening. By the time I stopped flying, the sun had begun to set. I sat on a half-crumbled wall by the bailey. watching the sun sink into the horizon across from the old battlefield, a million questions filling my mind.

Was Genji being held against his will? Did Xehanhort brainwash him? What would Xehanhort want with my brother? Could Genji be the thirteenth member of the organization? Will I be able to save him from the Darkness?

These and similar questions plagued me, causing my skin to creep and my heart to feel hollow.

I had been so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn't notice that someone was beside me until they placed a styrofoam to-go box on my lap. I looked up in surprise, but relaxed when I saw that it was only Cloud. He gave the slightest of a smile and what I guessed was his version of a sympathetic look, though it almost seemed too neutral for me to tell.

"How'd you find me?" I asked him.

"I kept hearing from the townsfolk that they saw an angel flying over the city, heading for the old battlegrounds near the Heartless castle," he replied. "Aerith said you looked a little down, so she asked me to bring those to you," he added, indicating to the box.

I looked down at the box and opened it, revealing a batch of a dozen sugar cookies that were meant to look like 4-pointed stars, though half of the batch appeared more like crosses. I found myself smiling. "Aerith wasn't the only one. My sister seemed to try and make our home-world's cookies." I picked up one of the cookies that Aerith obviously made and held it up so I was looking up at the sky with it. "There's this legend all kids have come to know on my world; how a being of pure light came to our world upon a four-pointed star and shared their light with the children, dispelling the darkness that had taken hold of everyone's hearts, returning peace and tranquility to the world."

"It seems your sister sees how much you must cherish that story," Cloud stated.

I took a bite of the cookie, the taste simple yet somehow managing to cause my taste buds to tingle, letting a slight smile appear on my face. "My grandmother use to tell me that story almost every night." I swallowed the rest of the cookie, my eyes dropping down to the box once more as memories better left forgotten filled my mind, causing my smile to disappear. "My siblings probably don't remember this, but neither my grandmother nor I are related to The Kurai Family. We were just their neighbors; I had been adopted by my grandmother when I was a baby. They treated us like family, so when my grandmother suddenly became ill and passed away, they took me in and treated me as their own daughter." I hesitated for a moment before adding "My grandmother had always kept me close, not letting me stray far from her. She never gave me straight answers when I asked her about where I came from, and lately, I've had this nagging feeling that she knew about my powers, and it may be for that reason she didn't want me to leave her side. Maybe she somehow kept my powers in check, but when she died, there was no one to make sure they would bring unwanted attention. If that's true, then it's my fault the Heartless attacked my world."

Oblivious to their surroundings, a figure clad in a black coat had been hiding behind a cliff wall, listening in on Hikari and Cloud's conversation. His hands clenched into fists upon hearing the story and in his rage, summoned a Corridor of Darkness, then retreated into it, tears streaking down his face and falling to the dirt ground before the dark portal vanished.

However the conversation continued.

Cloud looked at me with concerned eyes. "Did you or your parents ever plan on telling them?"

My heart clenched at the recent memory. "I… had tried to tell my eldest brother, Genji, but we ended up getting into an argument before I could… That was just before the Heartless attacked our home."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Cloud smiling sympathetically. "We all have things we regret, Hikari. However, the only thing we can do is move forward; we can't wallow in the past wishing we can change what's already happened."

I couldn't help but smirk a little. "Seems like you speak from experience," I teased.

"Everyone has something they want to keep bottled up; I'm no exception." Cloud looked up into the darkening sky. "I thought Darkness would help me gain what I lost, but it only ended up using and manipulating me. I didn't see a way out of it until I met Sora, but even after seeing the light, I still had to fight my inner Darkness." He brought his eyes back to me. "All you Keyblade wielders seem to get into other people's business, though I will admit that that's not always a bad thing."

I don't know why, but at that moment, I found myself laughing, causing Cloud to look at me in confusion.

"What?"

Giggling between words, I replied "For someone… that everyone says… stays silent… most of the time…, you sure have been… talkative."

My laughing was cut off when I saw that Cloud actually blushed in embarrassment, but then my laughing continued, redirected at Cloud's bashful manner.

XXXXX

In The Castle That Never Was, a lone boy sat on the edge of a plain white bed, his head lowered as he held his hands in fists on his lap. The hood of his black coat was down, allowing his tears to drip onto his knuckles that were quickly turning white. The few strands of spiked, oak-brown hair that were unfortunate enough to become too close to his face were soaked in salty tears.

A Corridor of Darkness appeared at the entrance to the bedroom and a hunched man clad in the same black coat stepped out, wearing an evil grin. Somehow not making a single sound, he walked over to the bed and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, but not before changing his face to that of sympathy.

The boy looked up at the man with blood-shot emerald-green eyes. "You were right, Master," he said in a dry-croaked voice that had been weakened by his continuous crying. "I thought it couldn't be, but what you told me was true after all. Hikari was the one responsible for the loss of our world."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, my boy," the older man stated. "No one deserves to be betrayed the way you were. However, there is a bright side to all this."

The boy wiped the tears out of his eyes and shifted to that of curiosity. "What is it, Master?"

"I've found Arashi, as well as a way to save your world from the Heartless." A smirk creeped at the corner of the man's mouth from under his hood, invisible to the younger.

"Y-You have?"

"Yes, and it is very simple."

"What do I need to do, Master?"

"All you need to do-" the man crept closer and reached out towards the boy, his hand surrounded by a dark aura, and at the same time he placed his hand on the boy's chest, he finished with "-is kill your sister."