Xion, Sora, and Imra flew through the air together - while Ven was on his Glider (Ven was carrying Chirithy).

They flew over the snowy landscape, going past trees and hills covered in ice and snow.

They passed by a mountain, and then they all stopped in the air.

"Woooah..." Sora gaped, peering down at the ground ahead of them.

Stretching out below them was a huge...crater? A wide, sunken pit of frozen dirt, filled with a lake of ice on the bottom. The crater was...probably as big as Radiant Garden? The whole city, in its walls.

Xion peered around the edge of the crater, at the sharp cliffs of dirt.

She gasped in the cold as she saw a figure standing out against the white and blue colors!

They were standing on the very edge of the cliff, facing the inside of the crater. The big, long drop down into it if they just took one more step...

"Is that...Kairi?" Xion breathed. It was easy to see the head of red hair on the snow.

"Not her," Sora said instantly. "But - yeah. It must be...whoever's using her appearance. Come on!"

Sora darted down and low, heading straight for the figure at the cliff.

Xion flew after him, summoning her Keyblade as she did.

Imra flew after her, and Ven brought up the rear.

The three of them flew nearer and nearer. Lower and lower. The closer they got, the more Xion saw that it was Kairi. Or at least someone who looked like her...

Was it someone like...herself? Another - Replica?

But who could do that besides Even? And why would they...?

For the same reason Xemnas had made Xion? And Kana? To have a living weapon - a tool to command, and send out into the worlds to do their work for them?

They landed in the snow, only a few feet away from the back of the girl who looked like Kairi.

The snow crunched under their feet. Especially when Imra landed heavily.

Ven reverted his Glider and dropped down a few feet, landing hard. He stepped forward with his Keyblade flashing to life. Chirithy hopped down off of him into the snow.

Sora summoned his last, moving forward too. He opened his mouth, closed it. Then raised a hand to the girl's back... "Hey!" he called out uncertainly. "We- we know you're not Kairi - obviously she can't use darkness - but...just who are you?"

The girl let out an audible breath in the cold, dead silence that carried on the air.

She turned around to face them.

And she did look exactly like Kairi, in Xion's last memories of her!

The same clothes, the same hair, all the same scars...

Xion stared at the image of her sister.

The other girl looked back at her - at them all - without surprise or warmth or anything. She blinked at them, just looking at them. She looked at Ven, and then down at Chirithy, a flicker of curiosity or interest there - but then it was gone.

"Look, whoever you are, if you're here looking for that Ultima Weapon-" Sora started.

"I was going to look for it - but you all came here and interrupted me," the girl finally spoke. In Kairi's voice. But...it still didn't sound like her. It was like with- Imra's sister, from earlier. It was just...wrong. Different. "But, I suppose if we are all here now, why waste the opportunity?"

"What?" Sora said, confused. "What do you mean, oppor-"

The girl looked down at herself, tugging at her clothes. "How do humans fight like this...?" She waved a hand over her front, and her body rippled with darkness. Her clothes changed to something different. It now looked like what Riku had worn before - and Vanitas - except it was dark purple, with silver lines on it. The half skirt hanging down the backside of her body was a lot longer, and was also tattered and torn up. Especially on the ends of it. It was also purple and black, with streaks down it like melted ice cream or dripping paint. The girl looked herself over, raising her hands and flexing her fingers inside fingerless gloves. She raised a hand up to her face, covering it...then she breathed out, and lowered her hand again a moment later.

Xion gasped.

The scars on Kairi's face - the big one down the side, from her ear to her chin - were glowing purple now, like they were cracks and energy was trying to get out of her through them. Her eyes were also not Kairi's usual blue - but a deep, almost glowing purple color!

"That's better now, don't you think?" the girl spoke, tilting her head and giving a smile for the first time. But the smile, like the rest of her, just looked wrong.

"Who- what are you?" Sora stammered, stepping backwards.

The girl gazed at him. "I am True Darkness - but you can call me simply...Darkness."

"True...Darkness...?" Ven gaped. Then he clenched his jaw, a glare on his face now. "Then you're the one Yen Sid warned us all about! You're like Vanitas."

The girl...Darkness...looked at Ven. "The boy from the Book of Prophecy - the one fated to travel into the future...and carry one of us with him. Vanitas? Is that what it's calling itself now?"

"Why do you look like Kairi?" Sora demanded. "Did you do something to her?! Out with it!"

The girl shook her head slowly. "I didn't do anything to her; I have simply inhabited her empty body."

"What? But, then...you've been sneaking around - spying on us all! Why? Why did you take her body? What do you want?"

"We want the Ultima Weapon."

"Now it's 'we'?" Ven said. "How many of you even are there...? Are you working with Vanitas?"

Again, the girl shook her head. "While I would like to see my fellow True Darknesses again, I haven't come across any of them in this era yet. Nor the one that now calls itself Vanitas."

"Why would you just tell us that?" Sora spoke. "If you're even telling us the truth."

"Because it doesn't matter to us, either way," said the girl. Her eyes turned to Sora, and then they glowed a brighter purple. A dark aura flowed out of her, and she vanished into a strange mist. Then, the mist swirled in front of Sora, and she was standing there in front of him.

Sora jumped back, raising his Keyblade to her.

She strode forward still, raising a hand with a dark aura to grab his weapon. She yanked him forward and he smacked right into her, then stumbled back again. Her hand stayed on his weapon, while her free hand flew up in a blur to...touch his cheek? Her purple eyes swirled, tendrils of dark energy escaping the edges of her eyes where tears would normally come from. "Interesting."

"What're you even-" Sora stammered, his eyes wide now.

Darkness vanished in a flicker of air, reappearing a dozen feet back from them all. She looked down at her hand, using the other to touch and caress at her palm. Her lips frowned. "What a strange feeling. This body seems reluctant to harm you."

Sora blinked at her. "What...?"

Darkness let her hand fall to her side, curling her fingers: a dark bladed weapon appeared in her hand. It was long and thick, colored deep purple, with streaks of red running down the blade's length. The guard had a purple heart shape with three small, purple, glowing crystals set into it. It looked like it should have been heavy, but the girl lifted it up in front of her without any effort, looking it up and down. She smiled, then slashed it down to hold it at her side, away from her body. Her eyes found Sora again.

"I think I'd like to test that. It is an unexpected variable, and it needs accounting for," she stated flatly.

"Hey, wait, we don't have to fight! Can't we just talk-" Sora began.

Darkness flashed forward in a blur, dark energy trailing behind her. She stopped in front of Sora and raised her weapon high - then swung it down for his left shoulder!

Sora dodged and rolled out of the way, coming up and raising his weapon to guard.

Darkness straightened, turning her head to him.

Ven leapt for Darkness at the same time Xion did.

"HEY, WAIT!" Sora exclaimed, shocked.

Two barrier walls of dark crystal shimmered on either side of her, blocking Ven and Xion's weapons with bursts of sparks!

Darkness looked to her left, then right. "Were you actually going to destroy the Princess's body?" she said, in a voice of mild surprise. "Perhaps I misjudged you after all..."

Xion pulled her weapon back, stepping away with a gasp. She sucked in a deep breath, her shoulders shaking. She backpedaled and shook her head firmly.

Ven hesitated longer, but then he stepped away and lowered his weapon - but he still kept glaring at Darkness, his lips pressed tight together. He let out a shaking breath of cold air, visible.

"We can't hurt her!" Sora pleaded, narrowing his eyes at Ven and Xion, looking between them as he stepped forward. "What's wrong with you guys?!"

"You feel deeply for this body," Darkness spoke, looking solely to Sora. Like she hadn't just been attacked at all? "I can feel it. Your emotions. Your Heart. It is so small, so weak...taking you for a new host would be easily done. I could drown you - or...wrap you around my finger. Couldn't I?"

"W-what?"

Darkness closed her eyes, tilting her head back. "Yes...there it is. That was the feeling..." she breathed. She opened her eyes, lowering her head again. "You desire her. A dull, ordinary, weak little boy from a nowhere island who wants to be with a princess."

"Uuuuhhh, I don't like where this is going - canwejustfightactually?" Sora spilled out.

"Why be with a princess when you could have a queen?" Darkness spoke on, ignoring him. She raised a hand in front of her, then gestured at herself. Dark energy rippled from head to toe, and a purple light flashed from her chest. When it faded, her appearance had changed!

It was still...Kairi...but she was a lot taller, and had longer red hair hanging down her back and shoulders, and she was wearing this long purple dress with a slit in the side that went up to her hip, and she just looked... She looked older, that was what it was - right? She looked more like...like Elrena's or Skuld's ages, maybe? Xion wasn't sure.

"Okay, that's enough!" Sora yelled, slashing his Keyblade and aiming it at Darkness. "You're just sick is what you are! Stop using Kairi like this!"

"Why would you deny your own desires?" Darkness said, tilting her head at him, looking confused and strange. A light flashed again, and then the image was gone. She looked like Kairi again as Xion knew her.

"I don't- desire her, I care about her! She's my best friend!" Sora exclaimed fiercely. "And I won't let anyone use her!"

"What are you going to do to stop me? None of you can defeat me in combat, and even if you did, that would only destroy the body of this girl you 'care for.'"

Sora clenched his fist, looking down at his feet.

"It doesn't matter to me," Darkness went on absently, raising a hand to trail a fingernail down over a glowing purple scar. "I have a Keyblade to search for here; begone with you."

She vanished in a cloud of darkness again.

Xion looked all around herself, tensed and shaking.

Imra shot up into the air on green jets of energy, floating high. Her head turned this way and that - then she froze, staring down into the crater. She raised an arm to point. "She's down there now."

Xion ran to the edge of the cliff, with Sora and Ven. Chirithy stumbled forward in the snow, huffing and puffing, before she jumped up and seized onto the back of Ven's leg.

"You've really grown, haven't you?" Chirithy spoke up to Ven. "I don't remember you being so hyperactive! I'm happy for you, of course, but it sure makes it hard to keep up with you now..."

Ven looked down at her, looking amused and confused both. He gave a small grin and bent down to lift Chirithy up in his arms again. "Why don't you go someplace safe for now?" he said, his grin fading to seriousness. "This doesn't seem like the best environment for you, and I don't wanna risk you getting hurt after we just found each other again..."

"But I don't want to be away from you after we just found each other again!" Chirithy protested. "If something happens again and I never get to see you again..."

"It'll be okay - I've got my friends with me," Ven said quietly, but firmly. "And, hey, I pulled through last time, didn't I?"

"Yeaaah, buuuut-"

Ven shook his head. "Please - Chirithy. Just...go to Land of Departure. My home. You can tell my Master I sent you - that you're a really good, really old friend of mine. Just hang out there with him until I call you back again, okay? When it's safe again."

Chirithy gazed up at him. Then she sighed, nodding. "Okay...but you call me back as soon as you can, alright!"

"Hey - I promise. Ya won't have to wait as long as last time!"

Chirithy gave another nod, and then she vanished in smoke.

Ven sighed, then gave his Keyblade a twirl and looked down over the edge of the cliff, down into the huge crater's bottom. He looked to Sora, and Xion, and then up to Imra. "Okay...are we ready?"

"Ready for what? We can't hurt her - I won't! Kairi still has to come back, she still needs her body!" Sora said fiercely.

"I didn't mean destroy her!" Ven said quickly, raising his hand and looking apologetic. "I just meant - you know - try and trap her? Knock her out or somethin'? Get her with a good Sleep or Bind spell? And then maybe we can find a way to get that thing out of there."

"Oh...yeah. Right..." Sora relented. "Sorry."

"It's alright. I get it."

"I'm ready," Xion stated.

"Me too," came Imra's answer, as she came gliding down to land next to Xion.

"Okay, then let's...do it," Sora said, raising a fist.

Xion nodded, and they jumped down into the crater together.

Ven slid down the curved, steep side, all the way to the bottom, jumping out on a blast of wind magic.

Xion, Sora and Imra just flew their way down to land at the bottom with him.

They raced across the ice together, toward Darkness.

Darkness looked up and turned her head. "Oh. You're doing this," she spoke, casual. Like she still didn't care. Like they weren't a danger to her. "If you insist..." A dark aura grew around her body, with tendrils of energy floating off of her.

Xion leapt forward with a yell, swinging her blade for the girl!

Darkness lifted her head, and a dark barrier shimmered in front of her, blocking Xion's attack in mid air.

Sora darted around her left, thrusting out a hand of ice magic to cast Blizzard.

Imra flew around the girl's right, then burst forward and just...hugged her. Wrapping her arms around her tightly.

Darkness disappeared in a burst of purple darkness; Sora's Blizzard struck Imra in the chest and ice began to grow over her chest and arms.

Darkness reappeared a few feet away, letting out a high sigh.

Ven aimed his Keyblade out at her, yelling: "Sleep!"

Darkness looked at him. Her dark aura rippled faster and grew larger for a moment, blasting away the swirling blue magic around her from Ven's spell.

Ven stared at her, his weapon lowering slightly. "Huh..?!"

"Did you-" Darkness began.

A green light flew out from the side - and a green ring of energy was bursting to life around Darkness's body, trapping her arms at her sides. Imra darted forward, her fist drawn back, and then slammed it into the side of Darkness's head!

Darkness took the hit, her head tilting to the side several inches. Then she blinked, and her gaze flickered to Imra. "Ow," she said flatly. Then the dark aura exploded around her, sending Imra, Xion, Sora, and Venall flying away from her. Darkness vanished in a dark cloud, reappearing behind Ven even as he went skidding backwards on the ice. She raised a hand and sent out a huge, swirling beam of darkness at his back!

It hit Ven, launching him forward through the air. He flipped and twisted - then he hit the ground, sliding and rolling on the ice. His Keyblade fell out of his hand and slid away.

"NO - VEN!" Sora was yelling. Screaming...

Xion gasped where she lay on the ground, trying to get up again...

Sora somehow did get up again, and raced forward, his Keyblade raised. He stumbled a little, but he kept going.

Darkness looked at him. She raised her hand, and that sword from before appeared in her grasp. She brought it up and blocked Sora without effort. Her eyes blinked, and then she gave a small smile.

"What's..so...funny?" Sora demanded, gritting his teeth and trying to press his weapon against hers with shaking arms. It barely moved an inch.

"I think this body is enjoying this."

Xion heaved a breath, casting a Cure on herself and climbing to her feet again. It only helped a little. "You...mean...like an or-"

Darkness's aura exploded as she suddenly shoved her sword out at Sora. A dark trail of energy flew outward with the motion, lifting Sora up and carrying him over a dozen feet high into the air.

Sora sailed high...and then came falling back down to land hard on his side. His intricate white and blue Keyblade came flying down, stabbing itself into the ice next to him - and then it vanished.

"Sora?" Xion gasped, staring at him.

Imra flew at Darkness from behind-

Darkness turned, raising an arm, and stopped Imra in her tracks with a hand on her chest. Darkness narrowed her eyes, and dark energy exploded outward in orange and red light, sending Imra flying back again. Imra slid back on the ice, flat on her back, her chest burning and dented...

Darkness suddenly vanished in a flicker of air - and then reappeared in front of Xion!

Xion slashed her weapon on instinct!

Darkness's body swirled strangely, and Xion's weapon passed through her completely. Her weapon arm came swinging upward in a blur-

And Xion felt pain explode in her stomach.

Pain...warmth...burning...

Her whole body trembled, as she tried to look down at herself.

Darkness pulled her weapon back again, and Xion saw a burning hole in her stomach that had darkness coming off of it...

Oh. That's probably not good... she thought distantly. She fell backwards and landed on the ice. She didn't really feel it...

Xion turned her head, trying to look to Sora...Imra...Ven...

They were all still...on the ground, like her...

Not moving either...

Were they...?

Was she...?

Fading away...?

But...she hadn't even gotten to...have her first..."period" yet...

Well...oh well? She'd been...scared of it anyways... And she wouldn't have known what to do about it...without...

Kairi...

Xion's eyes closed on their own, as the familiar feeling of sleepiness washed over her...

"XION!" a clear, loud voice cut through the darkness.

Suddenly a light shined in the dark, through even her eyelids - even in the bright, snowy daylight.

Xion pushed away at the sleepy feelings, trying to force her eyes back open. She squinted against the sudden lights, her head pounding, her chest burning...and looked up at...

A tall, muscular man's back, with long brown hair...and a familiar, wide, powerful Keyblade at his side.

"Master...Terra?" she whispered faintly.

He turned his head, and he smiled at her over a shoulder. His free hand lifted at his side, and a green aura shrouded it. Then, the same thing happened to Xion's body.

"Everything is going to be all right now - I promise you."

Terra raised his hand, curled it into a fist, and smacked it against his shoulder armor. Light flashed around him, and his armor appeared, with his helmet and full, billowing cape in the frozen breeze.