- Chapter 16 -

Departure

Radiant Garden, Castle

As the gang regrouped in the main meeting room, Sora and Riku both realized something. They turned to West as they all sat down.

"West, I just remembered," Riku said as they sat down. "Aqua wasn't alone at the Dark Margin, was she? Didn't you say that Ansem the Wise was there, too?"

West thought for a minute, then nodded, and the residents of Radiant Garden who were in the room all gasped.

"Ansem the Wise is alive?" Aerith asked, taken aback, while Mickey face-palmed.

"That's right! West did say that!" the mouse king declared. "I was so focused on Aqua that I didn't really pay much attention to that detail!"

"But how is that possible?" Kairi asked. "We were there in the World That Never Was. We saw Ansem die."

Leon looked at her, confused. "Mind filling the rest of us in?"

Sora, Riku, and Mickey told them of what had happened during the final assault on the Castle That Never Was. Ansem had designed a special machine, the Kingdom Hearts Encoder, with the intent to transform Organization XIII's Kingdom Hearts into data and prevent it from hurting anyone else. However, the machine overloaded, and they all believed that Ansem had perished in the subsequent blast.

"Guess you were wrong," Nixe said when the story concluded. West looked at Riku.

"Ansem told me that you helped him the year before he got trapped in the dark realm," she said. "He even said that you mentioned me once."

Riku nodded.

"Okay, so we know one thing," said Max. "Aqua's trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and so is Ansem the Wise."

"But how are we gonna get them out?" Hikari asked.

"Master Yen Sid!" Sï'Lea exclaimed suddenly. The others turned to her. "We should go talk to Master Yen Sid. He'll know what to do."

"Who?" Tifa asked.

"King Mickey and Sï'Lea trained under Master Yen Sid together," Donald explained. "Everything they know about magic and the Keyblade, they learned from him."

"Sounds like one tough customer," Cid remarked.

"He is," said Goofy. "Well, we should probably get going, then."

Lea turned to Leon and the others. "You hear or see anything to do with Maleficent or Xehanort, make sure to let us know." Leon nodded.

Sora and his group stood and turned to leave.

"Wait," Tifa said suddenly. Sora stopped. "Sora, I need to ask you to do me a favor."

Sora nodded, curious. "Sure, what do you need?"

"If you see Cloud out there, could you ask him to come back home? Denzel and I really miss him."

Sora smiled. "Of course." Tifa nodded in appreciation, and Sora turned back to the others.

"Well, see you all soon," he said. After the others said their goodbyes, they filed back into the Gummi Ship, which Cid had relocated to the hangar, and shot off into the Lanes Between.

Author's Note:

Yeah, I know it's a bit short, but whatever.

I remembered that I forgot to have the others realize that Ansem was with Aqua back when West told her story, so I put a nod to it here. I also realize that I forgot to have Even and Ienzo (or Vexen and Zexion, whichever you prefer) appear; let's just say that they're busy in the lab at this time.

Tifa's request to Sora is yet another idea borrowed from PrismRain13.

Please R&R. Until next time...