AN: LA LA...LA LA LA LA...MOTHA****ERS LOL. xD Been listening to the DDD soundtrack to get into the mood of the story arc. Plus rewatching DDD cutscenes. :D Have a new chapter!

End of AN!

"So, after everything that happened in Daybreak Town, setting up Scala Ad Caelum, rescuing some of your Dandelion friends from here - this Realm of Sleep, or Unchained Realm, whatever - and after starting a family-"

"Yes?"

"-you died at the age of twenty-seven because of some crazy infighting, and ever since then, your Heart's been just...wandering the worlds, real or 'sleeping?'" Kairi finished studiously.

"Sounds about right, yeah," the boy nodded. "Sometimes I go back to the Graveyard, but mostly I'm here in these worlds. It's a lot easier for me to keep existing here than out there. Plus, I guess I've always had a special connection with this place."

"Then why do you look sixteen?!" Kairi exclaimed. "Are you trying to be a creep or something?"

The boy looked incredibly sheepish, his face turning pink. He looked away, reaching up to scratch his scraggly silver hair. "Hey, it wasn't exactly my choice, alright? When my Heart first came back to this place, I realized dreams and wishes take bodily form here - Hearts can take on a form again, even on their own. And mine chose this appearance for me. I don't know what to tell you except that I guess I've always been young at Heart?" he concluded, with an embarrassed shrug, raising his gloved hands in the air. "I wasn't exactly that old when I passed on, you know?"

Kairi gazed at him, hard. Then she sighed, waving a hand. "Fine - I'll believe you. Just don't try anything funny. The last guy I was alone with in a dream world - well, he didn't do anything weird either, but...ugh. This isn't my ideal life situation!"

"It's not exactly mine, either," Ephemer said, subdued.

Kairi hesitated. "...Okay, that's fair."

Ephemer grinned, then turned away, his eyes scanning Second District.

"What are you looking for?" Kairi asked.

"Just those friends I told you about," Ephemer replied. "Though, it's always nearly impossible to tell which of them is actually one of my friends, or just a naturally occurring Spirit..."

"Right - the Dandelion wielders who...escaped the Data World, entered into this Realm of Sleep, and took refuge inside the bodies of their Dream Eater companions who turned into animals, and-"

"Hey, I thought you believed me."

"Hey - still trying to wrap my head around it all. I figure if I say it all out loud, it'll help speed up the process," Kairi retorted.

Ephemer glanced at her. He laughed. "That's fair."

"How exactly did you save those other Dandelions in the past? I mean, if you're expecting to get help from me and my friends to save the rest of them now?" Kairi went on.

"Well, I need Keyblade Wielders who can identify them all consistently, then help free their Hearts, and then wake those Hearts up by making them remember themselves again - which should cause their bodies to reform around them, because-"

"Because dreams and wishes take form here?"

"Right. And then, more importantly, they're going to need a path out of here, back to the real world. That's why I need people from the outside. I need people capable of getting in here and back out again, otherwise...well..." Ephemer gestured at her, looking sympathetic.

"They'll just be stuck here like I am, endlessly living out their days in a place where time doesn't seem to matter, set upon by endless hordes of evil yet cute monsters," Kairi finished.

"Yeah. I can't really do anything for them like this, even with this form of my own," Ephemer said ruefully. "No Keyblade anymore. And the path I used when I was alive is long gone."

"Right, your Keyblade was destroyed in the whole uprising thing."

"Sadly, yes. I'd still have it if I hadn't taken that last hit, but...there was no way I couldn't have," Ephemer said, serious and quiet now. "Not when they were going for my kids."

"I'm sorry," Kairi said softly, looking the boy in the eyes. The young man. She saw it, the age, the experience, for the first time, in that moment. In his eyes. On his face.

"It's alright," Ephemer replied. He gave a small, self-deprecating grin. "I've always been too cocky, I guess. Astrid was always on me about that...I should have listened. But hey, she kicked some real ass for it afterward - enough for both of us. I'd never seen her like that before. It was-" He stopped, looking at her again. "Anyways...we should get you some Spirit companions of your own. You won't last long here without 'em. They're protectors and guides through these worlds."

"Okay," Kairi said. "How do we do that?"

"Well, you're going to need to collect some Dream Pieces - Figments, Fancies, etc - and then you'll meld them together and-"

"Get my own cutie patootie of a Dream Eater," Kairi said, not ashamed of how high her voice went in that moment. Not. At. All.

Ephemer smiled, nodding. "They are pretty cute, aren't they? They're loyal, too. And powerful, if you bond with them properly - spend enough time with them."

"So where do we find these Dream Pieces?" Kairi asked quickly.

"Oh, you can find them around," Ephemer replied, gesturing vaguely. "But sometimes they also drop from Nightmares when you destroy them."

"I haven't seen anything come out of them, and I've beaten a lot of them by now," Kairi refuted.

"Well, you wouldn't, would you? Unless they'd already taken the Dream Pieces from other Dream Eaters, or devoured enough good dreams from people or world's Hearts..."

"So they store them inside themselves, like the Heartless do with Hearts?"

"I guess?" Ephemer shrugged.

"Okay. So we should find the biggest, baddest Nightmare, beat the crap out of it, and see what falls out."

Ephemer stared at her. He grinned. "I think I'm going to like you, Kairi."

Kairi stared back at him.

"You sorta remind me of one of my daughters," Ephemer added, in a half murmur, his gaze falling.

Kairi sighed. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Come on. Let's find that big, bad Nightmare for you. I know how to draw them out - but it's not really something I usually recommend..."

"Oh, we're doing this."

"Unfortunately..."

Why were they doing this, again?!

Oh, that's right, because Kairi was an idiot.

She flipped up over the Keeba Tiger as it lunged for her, slashings its claws.

She struck with her Keyblade, getting a glancing blow and landing behind it.

She cast out with triple Fira blasts, that homed in and struck the Nightmare true.

The Nightmare raised its head and roared, and a large field of Gravity Magic came down over Kairi. She felt like she had the weight of a boulder on her backside. She could barely stand straight, let alone think of jumping or dodging anymore.

"Hey, heads up!" Ephemer called out from the sidelines, raising a hand of blue and pink energy and narrowing his eyes in concentration. A small gold orb appeared in the air, with three white energy ropes attached to it, which connected to a larger, swirling mass of gold energy. The golden orb drifted backwards, stretching the energy ropes out...and then it was suddenly let loose with a snap, like a- a slingshot. The large golden orb flew forward in an arc, coming down to land squarely on top of the Keeba Tiger. It exploded in fiery orange light on impact!

The Keeba Tiger staggered, colorful wisps of energy trailing off of it - but then it righted itself and whipped around to glare at Ephemer.

"Awww, come on!" Ephemer exclaimed, panic on his face. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you?"

A puff of smoke appeared next to Ephemer, and then a big, fat, blue and white cat Dream Eater with yellow star eyes appeared, bouncing up and down on its squishy belly and-

Ephemer threw out his arm, calling out, "Go for it, Pragma!"

The Dream Eater - Spirit, not Nightmare, wasn't it? - bounced and hopped its way forward quicker than Kairi would have thought, then twirled and did a huge leap up high into the air. It came back down to slam into the Keeba Tiger, causing a shockwave of energy to ripple out around them. The Keeba Tiger opened its mouth and sent out a blast of Dark Firaga; the Spirit squished its whole body down almost flat on the ground, avoiding the attack before just- popping back up again like an inflating balloon!

The attacks seemed to have lifted the Gravity field off of Kairi's body! She ran forward, casting out several magical blasts of ice, striking the Keeba Tiger in the side! She slid toward it across the ground on momentum and created a barrier dome - then exploded it outward on purpose.

The Tiger was knocked to the side, off-balance. The Spirit wrapped itself in glowing energy and jumped at it, headbutting it fiercely! Then, the Spirit followed it up by lifting up off the ground by its twirling little tail and proceeding to spin like a top, casting off energy.

The Tiger stumbled under its relentless attacks - and then it poofed out of existence, leaving strange, swirling trinkets behind.

Kairi sighed with relief, starting forward and gazing down at the Spirit creature. It hopped around to look at her, extending a little tongue and whining at her. She bent down, reaching out a hand- and froze as she felt the familiar sensation.

This creature, like the Nightmares-

"It's...darkness," she said, pulling her hand back and straightening. She stepped away, looking at Ephemer.

The Spirit whined again, dropping its head and lowering itself to the ground.

Ephemer came walking over, not hesitating to drop down and wrap his arms around the creature's midsection. He grinned up at Kairi. "Let me guess - not the biggest fan of darkness? I get it; most people aren't. I was a little afraid at first, too, you know...but then I saw that actions speak louder than anything else about them. They're just animals, you know? They can't help being what they are. It's their nature. But what they do...they've destroyed themselves just to keep me and my friends safe before. They showed us the way through these worlds, at first, and showed us the way back out again, way back when."

Kairi frowned, that discomfort still worming around in her Heart. She watched the creature nuzzle into Ephemer's body, its starry eyes glowing... She took a step forward, slowly, cautiously lowering herself to her knees. She stared the creature in the face - still getting blasted with that cold feeling. That part of her screaming warning. Do not approach. Destroy. She breathed in sharply, then reached out her hand, placing it atop the creature's head.

It blinked up at her, tilting its head to rub against her palm.

"So what- is this thing called?" Kairi asked shakily, her eyes fixed to its face still.

"Oh, she's a Meow Wow," Ephemer said casually.

Kairi looked at him. She choked on a hard suppressed giggle. "Seriously?"

"Hey, I didn't name them," Ephemer responded, laughing himself.

"Then who did?" Kairi said.

Ephemer hesitated. He shrugged. "I've never been too sure. I only got the names from the Chirithies, once they'd turned back to normal, too."

"Okay." Kairi smiled somewhat. She took another breath, and started to rub and pat at the Meow Wow's cheek. "I've fought giant blue pandas before, too."

"Kooma Pandas."

"What about purple bats?"

"Those were Komory Bats."

Kairi gazed down at the Spirit, patting and scratching at its- her ears now. She looked to the swirling, sparkling glass-like objects on the ground nearby. "Are those Dream Pieces?"

Ephemer nodded. "Yup."

Kairi pulled her hand away from the Spirit, and went to pick up the objects. "Let's do this then - however it works!"

"Alright. You're going to want to focus, and then just kind of..." Ephemer began.