Inside the Gummiship cockpit, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy sit together, looking at the piece of paper they had gotten from Agrabah.

"Umm Sora?" Mickey asked, knowing full well that there wasn't any form of auto piolet on the Gummiship, something Chip and Dale had been trying to fix. "Who's flying the ship?"

Sora laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, still leaning on Riku's side, and Kairi gave him a look from across Riku's lap. "Sora," she said warningly, and Sora looked away.

"Let's move on, shall we?" He replied instead and even Riku gave Sora a look as he scrubbed away the last of his tears. Honestly, what had he been thinking? He was supposed to be the strong one. The one to protect Sora and Kairi.

Jiminy realizes that they got a piece of Ansem's report.

But did they get the real report, Axel wondered, thinking back to his last days alive, to the secret he had seen, thought about, and then got confirmed after his heart was dust in the wind. Or did they find the one that Xehanort wrote posing as his master?

"Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge."

Naminé and Roxas both made faces when they realized that they were going have to listen to the words of the man who had taken so much from them. Naminé especially. She had listened to that man monologue enough during her year trying to restore Sora's memories.

"And that knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that."

Projecting much? Roxas thought with a scoff, crossing his arms and looking away. Xion, seeing Roxas's discomfort, reached out a hand and grasped one of Roxas's, squeezing it tightly. She was glad that she almost never had to encounter the man, barely enough to hear him speak more than a few words. Of course, during those words, he had both demeaned her and blamed her, so she wasn't upset about never meeting him properly.

Axel's arm came down and held Roxas close. He was here now, with them. Not trapped inside of DiZ's virtual reality, not being forced into dying for someone else's sake.

"But although I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand."

Naminé bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from vocalizing any of the thoughts that passed through her head. These were the man's notes that he had written to himself. How egotistical do you have to be to compliment yourself while writing it?

"I believe that darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure."

"Well, yes and no," Both Kairi and Ven said at the same time, blinking in shock at the harmony of their voices and giving each other looks.

"I'm a Princess of Heart, so of course I said that, but… why did you?" Kairi asked, getting the urge to look at the boy's heart, using her Princess of Heart™ powers that she still fully didn't know. But that would be an invasion of privacy.

"I… don't have darkness in my heart either," Ven confessed after a second, looking down at his hands.

"How?" Kairi wondered, perking up at the thought of someone like her. Even better that he was also a Keyblade Wielder. "You're not a Princess."

Vanitas barked out a laugh, throwing his head back, and Ven turned, giving the boy a look.

"Well, all my darkness was stripped away by a Keyblade Master and turned into him," he replied, gesturing to the still snickering Keyblade Wielder. Kairi's eyes widened, as did Sora's, and Riku watched in interest. The three former Organization 13 members weren't as affected, with the exclusion of the oldest.

"Is that even possible?" Sora wondered, eyes moving to look at Vanitas, who twitched uncomfortably under his gaze.

"Apparently," Ven responded, and Kairi hummed, thinking something over in her head.

"We've got to compare notes after this," she told him. "See what it's like."

Ven smiled at her. "Deal." Aqua and Terra exchanged smiles. They were glad Ven was managing to talk and make friends with others his age.

"Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times."

"So, I suppose final confirmation that Heartless did in fact exist when we were around," Aqua mused, propping her chin up with one hand. "We just didn't see them."

"Darkness… Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so?"

"Isn't it because of emotions?" Terra asked, recalling both what Master Eraqus and Xehanort would tell him. "Dark emotions feed the darkness inside us."

"What's a dark emotion?" Xion asked and Terra grimaced.

"Anger, fear, ambition, power hungriness, sadness," he replied, and several faces were made across the room.

"I hate to tell you this, Terra," Axel said, an easy-going tone in his voice. "But that just sounds like emotions that are a part of life." Terra blinked in surprise, staring at the former Organization member, speechless.

"As the ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness…"

"How about you don't," Axel muttered to himself. "How about you don't throw our world into darkness?" Face flashed through his head. His grandmother, the woman who sold him ice cream every weekend. The postman, his sister. All gone forever because of what Ansem "the Wise" did.

Kairi looked away, having heard Axel's remark. Was it true? Had Ansem really thrown their world to the darkness, taking her family and home away from her?

"It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is."

"It's the Keyblade Wielder's duty," Aqua corrected, eyebrows furrowing. She didn't like the way the paper was going, didn't like what it seemed like Ansem the Wise did.

And that brought up another thing.

Riku and Sora had said that they had fought someone called Ansem. But earlier, DiZ had been called Ansem as well and they seemed to be at different points in time. Probably? She would have to ask later.

"I have conducted the following experiments:

-Extract the darkness from a person's heart.

-Cultivate darkness in a pure heart."

"That sounds…" Sora trailed off, not wanting to think about it. Because he had seen the effects that darkness had on people. And Ansem had done that to people willingly?

Axel closed his eyes, arms tightening around the teenagers on either side of him and trying to not think about… it.

People laid on in cages in rows, screaming or begging for release.

Darkness flickering at the corner of each hallway, the beasts that would slam against glass windows or tear themselves apart.

The young girl in the dark cage, star earrings and missing memories, smiling every time he and Isa snuck in and told her about the sky or flowers. She had especially likes learning about dandelions.

"The experiments caused the test subjects' hearts to collapse, even the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are."

"You murdered people?" Kairi breathed out, thoroughly taken aback. She had never met DiZ, hadn't ever gotten the chance, but she had hoped to one day see him, to meet the person who had ran her world. Now, she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

Mickey closed his eyes, trying not to think of his old friend. He knew Ansem had done some things, both before and after becoming DiZ, things that no one should be proud of, but… hearing it for the first time, hearing in detail what he had actually done… it made him question everything. Had it ever been a good idea to befriend Ansem? To give him proof that the outside worlds actually existed? Had he made it worse for everyone in Radiant Garden?

Mickey's eyes slid to Axel, who wasn't looking at anyone. Had Axel been affected by it? With a shiver, Mickey realized he had never learned how Axel became a Nobody.

"My treatment yielded no signs of recovery. It wouldn't do to let the people of this world see such a terrible sight, so I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle."

As the report went on, paling faces and the feeling of nausea were spreading through the room. Aqua had a hand pressed to her mouth, cold shivers wracking her body as she thought about it.

He and Isa sprinting down the hallway, darkness leaping at every corner.

Tera was frozen, memories flashing in front of his eyes, Xehanort's mocking laughter echoing in his ears as he tried to prevent him from hurting those people, trying desperately to take back control, trying to block out each sob and scream.

Hands scrabbling on the lock to the girl's cell, bleeding from the fingertips as they tried to break it.

Sora and Kairi found themselves curling closer to Riku, shock and fear bleeding through each of them. The man… had just… experimented on people, and then locked them away. Left them to die.

"Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight. Creatures that seemed born of darkness…"

Ven felt sick, trying not to let his imagination run wild. Had that happened to him? Had he been screaming as Xehanort ripped the darkness out of his heart, trying to hold onto it? He knew he had nearly died. How close had he come?

The echoing shouts, the snarling creatures. The girl slammed on the bars of the door, trying to break it from her side.

Vanitas closed his eyes tightly, trying to stop his memories. Memories of getting thrown into the darkness by Master Xehanort, beasts snarling and ripping at him until he learned to fight back, learned to fight through the pain.

In his cupped hands, a miniscule Flood appeared, looking around the room with big red eyes.

Desperate words, empty comforts as he and Isa tried everything to get through. Something was happening, they could tell. Master Ansem was gone, the other apprentices, besides Ienzo, seeming to know why. Even hadn't let Ienzo see them that morning, their first warning, and then everything had happened.

"What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those whose hearts were lost?"

Naminé curled into herself, pulling her knees up to her chest and fighting the urge to cover her ears with her hands. She didn't want to hear this; she didn't want to. She had seen enough of it in the few glimpses she had gotten of Vexen's and Lexaeus's memories, the more traumatic side from Zexion's and Axel's.

What was going on? Where were the beasts coming from? Was 'Ri okay? Was she safe?

Mickey looked down, not attempting to stop the tears that were trickling down his cheeks. Should he have met Ansem, or shouldn't he? The man was already doing these experiments before he had ever come, but… Did I make it worse?

The girl's words, the light in her hand, the shape it created. "Take it, open the lock."

"One thing I am certain of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion."

The feeling in his hand after he touched it. Isa's hopeful expression as he watched on. Could he free her?

"I must conduct further research."

We're getting out of here. Aiming the light forward, letting it start to take form.

"They still need a name. Those who lack hearts… I will call them that Heartless."

The door banging open. The girl screaming. Magic bouncing off the walls, smacking both him and Isa to the ground. The girl's shouts, accusing and violent. Clamor, accompanied by the sound of something hitting metal bars, and the shouting from the girl cutting off abruptly. Slipping into unconsciousness as a man advanced on him, white hair and a calm expression, hands clasped behind his back.

"Axel?" Roxas asked, poking him in the side and Axel startled, violently, looking down at the boy who looked up at him.

His face flickered from Roxas's to Isa's, pinned against the wall by the creature, to the girl's, folded in the corners of the cell, resigned to her life in the dark.

"Axel, are you okay?" Roxas asked again, worrying flickering through him as the older man continued to stare blankly at him. He didn't know… What was going on? Xion shifted from the other side of Axel, gazing at the man in concern as well.

"I'm fine," the man eventually said, the words seemingly ripped from his throat, if the roughness of them was anything to go by. His arm tightened minusculey around Roxas and if it were anyone else, Roxas would be worried. Be taken aback and feeling confined. But it was Axel. The man who had taught him, and later Xion, to live, to exist. But at the same time…

"I'm okay," Axel said again, blinking several times and trying to shove the memories back, into the depths of his mind where they belonged. In the beginning, there was no point thinking about them. The girl was probably dead, he and Isa were as well. Their only hope for returning to humans being the same people who did it to them. And after, it became too painful. His friend was dead, his sister was dead, his grandmother, everyone who he had ever known, except Isa, was gone. How was he supposed to think about them?

And soon, it no longer bothered him. Who cared how he became a Nobody? The others were stuck as he was. Who cared that his family was gone? There was nothing he could have done to stop it. And they would hate you. Who cared that Isa was drifting farther and farther away? They had started this to try and find the girl, to try and find X, but she was dead, he had accepted that. If Isa cared more about that than him, then he wouldn't try to change it. There was no point.

"Promise?" Xion asked, hand resting on his arm, and he turned and smiled at her, trying to make sure not a hint of his emotions, that weren't positive, showed on his face.

"I promise," he responded, and she gazed back at him. Axel… wouldn't lie to her, right? Not after all the trouble it had caused before.

Mickey watched the former Organization 13 members closely, wiping away the last of his tears. Perhaps he would need to keep an eye on Axel as well as the kids. There was no way none of them had no trauma at all.

Sora contemplates the concept of the Heartless and Goofy realizes it's like what Leon told him, how the Heartless seek out the darkness in people's hearts.

Sora felt slightly sick as he watched his younger self simply brush off what he had read in the report. How had he not realized the implications of what Ansem had done? How had he not realized that Ansem had sentenced people to death because of sheer curiosity?

Donald reminds them that Leon said to be careful and Jiminy says that there must be more of the report somewhere.

None of them knew if they wanted to read any more of it, if it was going to be more of the same hair-raising, apathetic experimentation.

Carefully, Vanitas squashed the Flood between his hands until it dissipated, shaking off the stab of pain that went through him when he did so. It was bearable if the other option was getting caught. He didn't need another thing to remind the other people in the room how non-human he was.

Donald says they've got to find the rest of it and Goofy wonders if Mickey had read it.

No, Mickey thought. Because if I had, I don't know if I would have been able to fight of the Heartless that would have come for my heart then.

Donald suddenly notices something outside the Gummiship and the four of them race to the cockpit, looking out.

"What now?" Kairi asked, a hint of fear in her voice and Sora blew out a breath when he realized what was coming next. He was glad that Kairi and he were on either side of Riku, because he was certain the older boy was going to need comfort after this.

Goofy realizes it's a giant whale and the whale swims through the Ocean Between, sending the Gummiship spinning as it passes.

"There's a whale in the Ocean Between?" Ven exclaimed, sounding both horrified and excited and Vanitas gave his other half a look. That was not something to be happy about.

"What's a whale?" Xion whispered her question to Axel, who was watching the screen with big eyes.

"A sea creature," Axel responded. "Usually found in oceans. Not in space."

"Are they usually that big?" Roxas asked, suddenly rethinking going to the beach with Xion. If there was something like that in the ocean…

"No," Axel stated and both Roxas and Xion relaxed. "They're usually much, much smaller."

Jiminy calls it "Monstro" and Sora asks if he knows it. Jiminy confirms he does.

"I think Monstro is from Jiminy's world," Sora explained, thinking back to conversations with the small cricket. "When the world fell to darkness, Monstro ended up in the Ocean Between."

"Why couldn't it have fallen to darkness like everyone else?" Roxas grumbled, giving the whale a side look. For some reason, he really did not like that thing.

Donald attempts to pilot the Gummiship away from Monstro, but the Gummiship is eaten by the whale.

"Sora!" Kairi yelped, accompanied by the sound of multiple gasps/intakes of breath. "You got eaten?!"

"Um, yes?" Sora answered, seeing no way out of answering the question. In-between them, Riku had gone stiff, recognizing what was coming next.

Kairi narrowed her eyes at him. "Only once?" Sora continued, rubbing the back of his head, and Kairi's expression didn't wane. "I won't do it again?" A beat later, she nodded once sharply, and leaned back into the couch, relaxing slightly. Something not copied by the two boys on the couch with.

The screen filters back into viewing, showing Destiny Islands.

"What?" Terra wondered. Why were they back there?

Riku and Sora both softened slightly at seeing their home. It had been so long, even more so for Riku. Kairi smiled upon seeing it. She still missed it and she had only been gone for a couple weeks.

"Why are we seeing Happy Islands?" Vanitas asked, raising an eyebrow. Both Sora and Kairi gave him a look for the name, but Roxas stifled the snicker that had almost escaped him at Vanitas's remark.

"I don't know," Riku replied. Destiny Islands was still lost to the darkness, thanks to you, during this time. Why were they seeing it?

A younger Sora and Riku are standing in front of a waterfall. Sora says he saw it.

"Oh," Sora said blankly, staring at the tiny four-year-old version of him. Riku blinked in slight surprise, gazing at the five-year-old him.

"Tiny Sora!" Kairi gasped out, literal stars appearing in her eyes as she sat up and stared at the little version of her best friend. Similarly, both Aqua and Terra were remembering their interactions with the small versions of the heroes that sat near them.

Mickey was smiling. Riku was adorable.

Both Roxas and Vanitas were holding back laughs they doubted would be taken well by the group. But honestly, the young kids just looked like tiny, shrunken versions of Sora and Riku. Which, yes, they both knew objectively how children worked, despite neither of them ever being one, twelve didn't count to Vanitas, but at the same time, they didn't realize it was so literal.

Axel raised an eyebrow, trying to brush off the small hurt in his chest. Clearly he wasn't completely recovered from the earlier… incident. They were just the same age that 'Ri had been when she died. She had been as small as them.

Young Riku asks if Sora's certain he didn't just hear it and Sora asks what the difference is. He's certain there's a huge monster.

"Oh," Riku breathed out, remembering this. This was when he and Sora went into their Secret Place for the first time. The first time he ever told Sora about his want to go outside the islands, spurred on by the memory of the stranger on the beach from months ago.

Though, Riku's eyes slid over to Terra. Might not be a stranger anymore. If that had been real. But how could it have been fake or imagined?

Riku supposes there is a monster, he asks Sora if he thinks they could catch it.

"How do the two of you not change?" Kairi ground out good-naturedly, rubbing her hands down her face. "I swear, the only thing that's changed from then to now is your clothes style, and that's a barely, and your ability to hold the Keyblade."

Again, maybe, Riku mused, doing his best to focus on the screen and not the Keyblade Wielder sitting near him. Maybe.

Sora says that he and Riku can do anything.

"And I still believe that," Sora murmured, more for Riku than anything, leaning on the older boy's side. "I mean it."

Riku didn't respond, looking away and trying to shove away the tears that had started to bubble again. He needed to get a hold of himself.

Sora asks if Riku can hear it growling and they both look into a dark cave behind the waterfall.

All of the watchers recognized the cave from before, when Destiny Islands fell. Both when Sora confronted the cloaked stranger and when he attempted to save Kari when the darkness was creeping in.

Riku says they've got to be careful and the two of them sneak into the cave.

"If you guys think there is a monster in there, why are you going in?" Xion asked, watching the small versions of the two Keyblade Wielders go into the cave.

"Because we were little kids who wanted an adventure," Sora explained with a one-shouldered shrug.

After looking around the place, Riku realizes that the noise is just the wind echoing around the cavern.

"Well, that was a letdown," Kairi murmured.

"Yeah, imagine getting that as a five-year-old," Sora replied.

Sora wishes that it had been a monster before noticing something in the back of the cave.

Several people, mostly the experienced Keyblade Wielders, narrowed their eyes as they watched. The last time either of the boys had been in the cave, nothing good had happened. Also, there was just something… off about the cave. Something… ethereal.

Aqua was reminded that the cave had held the door that had blown Kairi into Sora. Perhaps that had something to do with it.

The two of them walk over, revealing the still sealed door.

I wonder if that's the Keyhole, Aqua wondered, thinking back to the other Keyholes she had seen. It would make sense.

Riku realizes it's a door but there's no way to open it.

The three Islanders grimaced as they remembered when it finally did open. When Riku opened it.

Sora asks if that's really all that's in the cave and Riku asks if he's surprised in a place such as the Destiny Islands.

Riku looked away at his younger self's words. He didn't… completely mean it as a child, but he was bored. Already, as a five-year-old, he wanted to get out, wanted to see the world. He just didn't realize what that would entail.

Riku tells Sora that they should leave the Islands where they're older, go out and explore.

"And we did," Sora said quietly, leaning on Riku's shoulder. Not the way they thought they would, not at all, but they had still made it off. And Sora didn't know if he would ever truly regret it.

As the two of them walk off, they mention a girl at the Mayor's house.

Kairi smiled at the small mention of her. So, this would have been just after she arrived in the meteor shower.

The wind howls again, slowly turning into a low rumble, which wakes Sora up.

The happy feeling that had taken over the room diminished when the watchers remembered what had happened before the flashback. Sora had just gotten eaten by Monstro.

Riku blinked. That had just implied… that Sora had been dreaming of him. But wouldn't he be dreaming of Kairi? He had been searching for her, he cared deeply about her. Why wasn't he thinking about her?

Sora stands up, seeing Donald and Goofy standing and looking up, Goofy holding his shield about his head.

"What's going on?" Roxas asked, seeing Donald and Goofy both looking up.

"Pinocchio was throwing things at them," Sora explained, getting several looks of confusion aimed at him. Riku flinched when the boy's name was mentioned. He remembered what he did.

Sora asks where they are and Jiminy says they have to be inside Monstro and the Gummiship had to be somewhere in there as well.

"How did you get out?" Xion asked, eyes going to Sora. The boy smiled.

"We got him to sneeze," he responded.

A treasure chest suddenly comes flying down and nearly hits Sora. A second one bounces off Goofy's shield.

"Man, how strong is this kid?" Ven questioned, having seen those treasure chests before. And to just casually throw them?

Donald asks who's up there and Pinocchio says that it's me.

"Specific," Vanitas snickered under his breath.

Jiminy realizes that it's Pinocchio and runs to him, Sora, Donald, and Goofy following.

"Wait, that's a kid," Aqua muttered. "How'd he get there?"

"He and his father also got swallowed by the beast," Sora explained. "We helped them get out."

With no help from me, Riku thought.

Goofy and Donald realize he looks like a wooden puppet.

"He got spelled to come alive," Sora said, already seeing the questioning looks that were being thrown around the room.

Xion couldn't help the tiniest flinch that went through her when the word puppet got said and Axel gave her a look of concern, only relaxing slightly when she gave him a small smile.

Jiminy asks Pinocchio what he's doing there, and Pinocchio says that he's playing hide and seek. Jiminy says that he can't believe it, that he's been worried sick about Pinocchio, only to get cut off.

"Did… Did that child's nose just grow?" Axel asked, raising a single eyebrow at the screen.

"I think it's part of the magic," Sora explained, trying to think back. There hadn't been too much explanation but he had heard some things.

Jiminy realizes that Pinocchio was lying and reminds him that lying only grows until it's plain to see.

Oh, several people thought, watching Pinocchio's nose shrink again as he promised to not lie again. Magic that was literal.

Jiminy says he needs to in order to become a real boy. Jiminy reminds him that he promised Geppetto.

"Geppetto is his father?" Aqua asked, shooting an asking look to Sora, who nodded.

Pinocchio remembers Geppetto and runs off, with Jiminy telling the others to follow.

Riku carefully regulated his breathing, debating the pros and cons of trying to slip his hands out of his friends' grips. He knew what came next. This was the moment. The moment when he fully turned against Sora. Would the others still even want to be around him when they saw him like that?

As they head after him, Sora asks Jiminy who Pinocchio is and Jiminy replies that he's from the same world that Jiminy is and they lived together.

Mickey smiled at the screen. He was glad that Jiminy managed to find someone else from his world. He knew it had weighed heavily on the small cricket when he realized he was the only one to make it to Disneytown. Hopefully, they would be able to stay in contact with Jiminy after all this happened.

There was a wreck of a ship in the main area of the whale and the Gummiship was next to it. Pinocchio ran up to the old man, who was looking at several Gummi blocks.

"Gummi blocks?" Mickey wondered and Sora nodded.

"Geppetto was working on making a ship for him and Pinocchio to escape," he replied, part of his brain carefully reminding him what happened next. He held onto Riku's hand tighter. He hoped the older boy would be okay after seeing it. He knew how much it weighed on him. It was clear.

Geppetto asks Pinocchio where he's been, and Sora and the others arrive. Geppetto realizes that Monstro swallowed their ship too.

"That seems to be a common occurrence," Terra noted with sadness, looking at all the other wrecks in Monstro's belly.

As Sora and Geppetto talk, Pinocchio gets distracted by something and walks off.

Kairi narrowed her eyes at the screen, not being the only one to do so. That looked like… Had that been Riku? But what was he doing in Monstro? How had even gotten there? Taking another second, she focused on the older boy sitting next to her, now able to feel the tension that was rippling through him. This was going to be painful to watch, wasn't it?

Terra winced, looking down. He had seen the tension that was radiating off Riku in waves, trying to block out his own memories that came to his mind. The fight with Aqua, the words exchanged. He had a feeling it might be the same here.

Sora introduces himself and the others and Geppetto introduces himself, moving to introduce Pinocchio, only to realize he was missing.

Riku looked away. It had been so easy to lure the boy away, to put in him a situation to nearly lose his heart. Everything had been… easy, but in the worst way.

The others realize that Jiminy's gone as well and the three of them run after them.

Riku took in a deep breath.

The three of them end up in a colorful area with several different sized pillars and spot Pinocchio with Jiminy riding in his hat.

Sora shot a look at Riku, knowing what came next. It's fine, he told himself. None of the others had a bad reaction to the last time Riku showed up. And I won't let them get mad at Riku, I won't.

Jiminy says that he was worried when Pinocchio walked off and he didn't know what to do. He leaps to Sora's shoulder.

Distantly, Roxas wondered how Jiminy was able to move so fast when he was so small. But from what Sora had said earlier, he had no clue as well.

Sora tells Pinocchio that they should go back and Goofy says that Geppetto is worried about him.

Riku was almost mouthing the words along with the screen under his breath. He had gone through this memory enough, along with all the others, during the year asleep as he tried to desperately remember what scraps of Sora he could.

Sora tells Pinocchio that this was no time for games. From above them, Riku mentions that Sora always used to like games.

Riku flinched at his own younger voice. He hadn't… he hadn't meant to…

Sora looks up to see Riku standing on one of the pillars, looking down at him. He asks if Sora's too cool for them now that he has the Keyblade.

Aqua narrowed her eyes at the screen, multiple alarms going off in her head. Already, the clear change in Riku was heartbreakingly visible. Before, when he showed up in Traverse Town, he was clearly worried about Sora and happy to be with him again, even with everything that he had been told and done.

But now, most of the light was gone from within Riku's eyes and his words were sharp and scathing, meant to hurt instead of reassure.

Terra looked away, unable to look at the image of the young boy. Had he done this? All those years ago, he confirmed Riku's theory of outside worlds. He gave the young boy the Keyblade, even though he had yet to hold one. Had he doomed the young boy to repeat his mistakes? Riku's light was bright, brighter than anything he had ever seen. He only wanted to help. But had he made it worse?

Kairi sucked in a breath at seeing Riku standing there. Before, in Traverse Town, she had thought about what she had been told, that Riku had fought with Sora, and thought it absurd. It was so obvious that Riku cared about Sora, they were best friends after all. But now, as much as it hurt her, she could see it. She had known Riku for as long as she had known Sora. She knew how to read him. He was aggressive, the only time she had ever seen him like that was when a bully wouldn't leave Sora alone back when they were eleven and Riku ended up getting in a physical fight with the boy.

She hadn't ever thought she would see that expression directed at Sora.

Mickey winced, eyes moving to Riku, who had gone still and silent in the embrace of his friends. He had heard it all from Riku during the times they spent together. When Riku couldn't do anything, too entrenched in memories of his mistakes. He had sat with the boy and listened, unjudging of him, listened as he told him everything he had done. It hurt him, and he knew it hurt Riku more, to see it in person, but it would pass. And Riku was a different person now. Everyone would see that.

Vanitas raised an eyebrow at the boy. It was so clear that he had fallen into the dark. Not that much, but enough that it was visible to the other, even through a screen. So, what had happened? How had he leapt from the darkness back into the light? And why was it only Riku who got that chance?

Naminé blinked, not as surprised as most of them. She had seen this memory, had implanted it in the Replica's head, except with herself in Kairi's place. She had played with it, twisting it and breaking it apart. So, she knew the emotions that had gone through Riku's head during this time, before she changed them for the Replica. She knew the hurt and pain Riku was going through, thinking that Sora had replaced him just like with Kairi. Knew the arrogance and pride that rushed through his veins. The part of him that wanted to prove to Sora that he could do it, without him. To prove to Sora that Sora needed him.

The former Organization members watched slightly apathetically. It wasn't that they didn't care, they just didn't have the same connection as the others did. They knew, objectively, that Riku and Sora had been enemies once upon a time, but they didn't really connect the same way the others did.

Riku looked away, closing his eyes. He sounded so… proud and smug and arrogant and-

Sora tugged on Riku's hand, pulling the older boy's attention to him. Once he had it, he smiled at him, leaning deeper into Riku's side. Riku was different now, he was his friend, he best friend. Simply seeing something from the past wouldn't change that.

Sora asks Riku what he's doing there and Riku leaps down to Pinocchio's side, saying he's playing with Pinocchio.

Riku felt sick, remembering all the emotions that were going through him. The urge to prove it to Sora, to make him regret leaving him behind. He didn't care he was going to hurt Sora, he wanted to hurt Sora.

Sora says that Riku knows what he means and asks if Riku found Kairi.

Kairi smiled at the boy across the couch from her and refused to let go of Riku's hand. She knew that he would need comfort after this.

Riku says that maybe if Sora catches them, he'll tell him, before running off with Pinocchio.

None of the watchers said anything, feeling like anything they said would be wrong.

Sora runs after him before being stopped by Donald, who questions why Riku was there in the first place, saying that he has a bad feeling about it.

The one time I will ever agree with him, Riku thought.

Sora says they have to follow them or they might never see Pinocchio or Riku again. The three of them run after Riku.

Oh Sora, Riku thought. Still worrying about me? Even when I didn't deserve it.

Riku stops for a second in a corner.

"Where's Pinocchio?" Axel asked, distinctly remembering Riku running off with the puppet turned boy.

"He ran off," Riku answered stiffly, not looking at anyone.

Appearing behind him, Maleficent asks why Riku still cares about Sora, telling Riku that Sora has deserted him for the Keyblade and his new companions.

Sora turned to face Riku again, sitting back to do so, but Riku was already speaking.

"I know that's not true, Sora," he told the younger boy. "I know those were just lies she was telling me."

Sora frowned at him before reaching up and grasping Riku's face by his cheeks, making the older boy look at him in the eyes.

"And don't forget it," he told Riku seriously. "You are irreplaceable. You're my best friend. I couldn't live without you." Message given, he let go of Riku's face and settled back into a sitting position. Missing the blush that had spread across Riku's face before being quickly banished.

From his couch, Axel raised an eyebrow and wondered how Sora hadn't realized that Riku had a crush on him yet, not when it was blaringly obvious.

Riku says he doesn't care about Sora and that he was just messing with him.

"I don't mean that," Riku said, voice quiet, and Sora's eyes moved up to his.

"I know," he responded with a smile. "You could never." Riku couldn't help it but smile back.

Maleficent warns him to be careful of the darkness in his heart, that the Heartless prey upon it.

Believe me, I know, Riku thought. I know better than most. He could feel his darkness even now, balanced in perfect harmony inside his heart. Ready to be called upon if he needed it. But it felt nothing like the darkness from that first month and he couldn't be happier about it.

Riku tells her to mind her own business as Maleficent leaves.

Riku couldn't imagine saying that to Maleficent now, if she was still alive. Not after everything.

Vanitas couldn't imagine saying that to Master Xehanort.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy run after Pinocchio, who passes under Riku standing on a pillar. Sora spots him.

Riku felt the slight good feelings that had built in him vanish.

Sora asks what Riku is thinking and if he knows what he's doing.

Yes, but I didn't care, Riku thought.

Riku says he was about to ask Sora the same question and tells Sora that he only seems interested in running around and showing off his Keyblade. He asks Sora if he even wants to save Kairi.

Kairi flinched at the reminder that while all this was going on, she was peacefully sleeping within Sora's heart, unable to help or do anything. A unfortunately common trend.

Sora says that he does, looking down at the Keyblade.

And Sora had meant that. But he also had seen all the other worlds, seen what they were going through. He had the ability to help them, he couldn't just not. He had to help them and while he had never left his goal of finding Kairi, he also was trying to save those worlds.

A scream sounds through the air and both Riku and Sora run over, seeing Pinocchio trapped in the jaws of a Heartless. Riku asks Sora if he's up for it.

"Oh, so you're helping him now?" Vanitas asked, aiming his remark at Riku. "Your manipulation knows no bounds. I applaud you." The darkness wielding boy got a glare from Sora, Riku, Ven, and Aqua for that remark, but he couldn't find it in him to care. Why did Riku get this chance? When he had done everything wrong? He had chosen this darkness, chose to fall. So why did everyone choose to give him chance after chance?

Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy fight the Heartless until it spits out Pinocchio.

Riku shivered as he saw his younger self wielding Soul Eater so easily. That sword was nothing but pain and darkness incarnate and while he would recognize that his Keyblade took a lot of inspiration from it, which made sense, the sword being a crucial part of his development, it still made himself sick to see it. He hated that blade, and he was certain he would never wield it again.

Riku jumps into the pit of darkness Pinocchio falls through and Sora follows him.

Kairi was tempted to scold both of them for leaping into pits of darkness, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be well received.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy end up back on the ship with Geppetto, who is calling out to Pinocchio, who is caught, unconscious, in Riku's grasp.

Riku looked away. Pinocchio had just been another, another thing for him to do to get Kairi back. It had balanced out, in his darkness infested mind. He didn't know any of them personally, he wouldn't be affected by them. The only thing that mattered was getting Kairi back and proving it to Sora.

Riku tells Geppetto that he has unfinished business with the puppet and Geppetto says that Pinocchio isn't a puppet, but his son.

Riku winced. Perhaps he should go track down Geppetto and Pinocchio. Apologize to them.

Riku says that he's unusual and that not many puppets have hearts.

Xion closed her eyes, trying not to let memories, particularly bad ones, get to her. It was just… the way they were throwing around the word… it reminded her of Saix and the Organization. She leaned deeper into Axel's side, feeling the older man's arm tighten around her in response to her distress.

Riku says that Pinocchio might be able to help someone else who has lost their heart. Sora asks if he's talking about Kairi.

Both Riku and Sora shivered slightly as they remembered Kairi's lifeless body, nothing more than an empty doll, on the pirate ship. Sora understood Riku's drive to get her heart back but he didn't understand why Riku had gone to such lengths to do it.

Kairi, not for the first time, wished she could have done something. Done something more from inside Sora's heart than sometimes give him random hallucinations and give him a dream that one time.

Riku asks if Sora cares before walking away. Sora races after him.

I care, Sora thought. I care about everyone. I have to save everyone.

Pinocchio is sitting against the wall, motionless, while Riku watches. Sora and the others run into the room.

This is it, Riku thought. The final nail in the coffin. The moment I fell… for good.

Sora tells Riku to let Pinocchio go and Riku says that Pinocchio holds the key to saving Kairi.

"I don't want anyone to get hurt," Kairi said firmly, finally speaking up. "Even if this was the only way to save me, I never wanted anyone to get hurt. Regardless of if I knew them or not." She looked to Riku and Sora, giving them a smile. "Ever."

"I know, Kairi," Riku told her softly. "I know."

Riku offers to join forces with Sora to save her, saying that he and Sora can do anything.

And I still believe that, Sora thought.

Maybe we can again, Riku thought.

Sora raises the Keyblade to fight, causing Riku's eyes to widen slightly.

And there it was. The moment that had Riku falling into the darkness firmly. The anger and pain that were fuel to him until it burned out when Sora stabbed himself in the heart. This moment.

When Sora chose another over him. Explicitly and without hesitation.

Aqua closed her eyes, resting her forehead on her clasped hands. Stars, why? Why these two? These kids, these teenagers, these friends. The two boys who knew nothing but happiness and their little corner of the world. Why them? Why did the world look at them and say "you two will be the saviors, the heroes, the hurting." Why them?

Because Terra, Ven, and I were gone. Because we weren't there to take the burden. Because we allowed ourselves to be split and betrayed, falling to the darkness that we could not fight.

Mickey sighed, having heard about this memory almost the most. The moment when Riku fully fell to the darkness from the betrayal of his closest friend. No, the betrayal of the boy he loved.

None of the others could say anything. Even if it had never been for as noble a goal, they had all turned their weapon on a friend before.

Axel couldn't look down at Roxas.

Terra refused to look anywhere but forward.

Xion remembered the armor that had surrounded her when she fought Roxas, when she had forced the boy she… cared about, to fight her to the death.

Naminé's ears rang with the screams of the boy she had rewritten.

It was silent in the watching room.

Riku asks Sora if he would fight him over a puppet. Sora says that Pinocchio isn't just a puppet and that he has a heart and it's telling Sora that letting Riku have Pinocchio is wrong.

And Sora was right, Riku thought. Like he always was.

Jiminy runs over to Pinocchio, who weakly says he's not going to make it, before being proven wrong by his nose.

No one could laugh. Not with the atmosphere in the room.

Riku tells Sora that he leaves him no choice and the Heartless from before falls between them. Riku escapes through a dark portal.

Axel raised an eyebrow, not being the only one to do so, both Roxas and Xion shifting at his sides. That was… incredibly dangerous was Riku to do without the proper garments. Unless it wasn't the same as a Dark Corridor, but it seemed similar. Which meant it couldn't have been good for what light that remained in Riku's heart.

Cynically, Axel wondered if that's why Maleficent taught Riku to make them. As another small thing that was draining Riku of his light.

Sora fights the Heartless until it disappears, and the heart leaves its body.

Aqua made a note of that, having seen the same thing several times. Fight the Heartless until the heart leaves. If it doesn't, the Heartless is still alive.

Sora calls out for Riku.

Still looking for you, even after all you did, Riku's mind told him. What have you ever done to deserve that loyalty? Riku didn't have an answer.

The area around them begins to shake and the three of them ran back to the wrecks, meeting Jiminy.

"What's going on?" Kairi asked, worry in her voice, and Sora cracked the smallest smile.

"Monstro decided it doesn't like us in its belly anymore."

Jiminy tells Sora that Geppetto and Pinocchio got in their own ship, which Geppetto had built. The four of them get in the Gummiship.

Riku couldn't help the smallest twitch of his lips. He was glad that Pinocchio and Geppetto got out okay.

Monstro sneezes and the Gummiship gets thrown out of its mouth, hurtling through space.

"We're okay, Kairi," Sora said, knowing that she'd be worried. "Just a little bruised."

The screen goes dark.

Aqua knew, she knew she should say something. Try to talk to Riku, try to figure out how to help him, try to figure out what drove him to fall to the darkness and the actions he had taken but she couldn't. She was still attempting to deal with the fact that these were children who were dealing with this crisis of the worlds and she was trying to keep the memories of fighting the possessed Terra out of her head. It would do her no good to dwell on it.

Terra sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep his dark thoughts and emotions away. It would do no good if he fell back to the darkness now. Looking out of the corner of his eyes, he wondered if Aqua was going to say something, being the young responsible adult she was, but she said nothing, still staring off into space in front of her. He knew he should say something, but… it would just be incredibly hypocritical of him and who was he to give advice any way, someone who had been manipulated so badly that he ended up body snatched. Who was he to try and help? Aqua was always the better one.

Vanitas looked away from the room at large with a small growl, doing his best not to summon another Flood. Riku had done that, he had chosen to fight Sora, chosen to do all those things. And yet… he had been forgiven.

How was that fair?

Then again, the world was never fair. He knew that well.

As the room seemed to realize they weren't going to say anything and started the screen again, Sora took in a deep breath, holding Riku's hand tighter. They were together now. They were here and he wasn't ever losing Riku again. He wouldn't allow it.