Gasp! The last chapter? It's only taken me forever to finish this thing! Well, we can finish riding this crapy plot train now. Thanks to my small number of loyal readers for giving me the will to finish this.

And for anyone else who is coming to read this after it has been published for a few years, I've written two or three other books, and now I'm huge, I'm glad that you hopped on the bandwagon!

This chapter is basically wrap-up, for more than just the main characters. But, it wouldn't be my work if it didn't leave you with burning questions and doubts, would it? Oddly enough, there... really isn't much of that. It's really more about answers. Maybe THAT'S HOW I'M GONNA SCREW WITH YOUR MIND THIS TIME! YOU NEVER SAW THAT COMING!

Anyway, just read it.

Chapter 35: Problems, a Decision, and an Odd Goodbye

On the Shera...

Sora and Kairi's eyes snapped open at simultaneously. After a few moments of pondering just what the heck happened, they both sat up, with the white sheets that had been covering them sliding off. They glanced to the side and saw each other, sitting in beds in the Shera's medical ward. Sora was in his boxers and a white t-shirt, and Kairi was in a white camisole.

"... What..." both of them murmured, with Sora rubbing the back of his head and cringing.

"I feel like I just lost a fight..." he groaned.

"There's a reason for that."

They both looked into the corner of the room, where, not surprisingly, Jacob was sitting on a stool, with a rather intense expression on his face, as though he was contemplating the purpose of all life as we know it.

"... Noir kicked my butt, didn't he?" Sora asked.

"Quite." Jacob stood and walked towards both of them. "You know, you've been out of it for forty-eight hours, so..."

Sora and Kairi both seemed to realize at the exact same second that they needed to relieve themselves... and might have already done so once or twice.

"There are more clothes in the bathroom," Jacob said, an ever so subtle smirk on his face, as he gestured to the two rooms in the back.

After that ordeal (during which both Sora and Kairi swore never ending vengeance against Jacob), Sora came out wearing a baggy t-shirt and pants that might have been Jacob's, and Kairi was wearing blue jeans with several holes and a green tank top which were both a bit small.

Kairi saw a flicker of something in Jacob's eyes when he saw her wearing that, and perhaps a louder-than-usual echo coming from his Heart, but it was gone in less than a second.

"What happened to you?" Sora asked Kairi as the two of them sat down next to each other on a bed, with Jacob carrying his stool over to him and sitting at the foot of the bed.

"... I don't know," she replied honestly. "I just... it was like the world muted. I remember hearing some sort of music, but... then it was gone. And so was I, I guess..."

"Sora, I think you recognized what happened to you, no?" Jacob asked.

"... Well, a while ago, me and Kairi had the same dream, and at the end... well, I don't really remember it that well. He said something about lullabies... do you remember it, Kairi?"

"I remember the dream, but the details are just as lost on me as they are on you," she replied, shaking her head.

"Lullabies," Jacob started with a tone that told Sora that they were in for a really long winded discussion that would lead into something about Noir and something about Kairi's life and Hearts and bla-bla-bla-bla-bla...

Or rather, that's what he would have thought just a few weeks ago. Jacob, even though Sora was still unsure about the man's sanity, proved to know just a bit too much to be ignored.

"... Are, of course, songs that parents sing to their children," Jacob continued. "However, sometimes, once in a blue moon, somehow... It becomes enchanted."

"The song does?" Kairi asked.

"If the mother sings it right after birth, or even when the child is in the womb (for instance, if they are singing to an older child), the child's brain learns that the song means 'shut down time'. But, sometimes, it just becomes magically connected to the child. The song... it puts them out instantly, and for as long as the singer wants, pretty much. Longest time possible for subjects of your age is pretty much two days, so you hit the limit. But an infant... oh, if the mother, or another singer, wanted it... a week."

"A week asleep?" Sora asked, now somewhat intrigued.

"I'd be able to tell you more, but it wasn't one of the subjects Ansem studied very often, and thus, I didn't either." Kairi saw something flare in his eyes for a few moments as he said this, but it was gone just as quickly as all real expression she could ever make out in him.

"... How much did you study under Ansem?" Kairi asked.

"Pretty much whenever I wasn't with you, or off with my family," Jacob answered, though it was hasty, and he didn't seem to want to linger on the subject.

"What did you-"

"For some reason," Jacob cut her off, "You both have exactly the same lullaby."

"... My mother on Destiny Islands never sang something that put me out instantly," Sora said.

"Sora, if you will think back to that very same dream, you might remember that Noir said you never met you real parents."

"How do you know about all this?" Kairi demanded.

"When I was being held on the Death Star, I tried for an escape, but when I realized that I wasn't going to get out, I switched tactics and decided to help from afar. After they knocked me out, I basically found your mind, Kairi, and watched the dream until it was over."

"You can... go into my dreams?" Kairi asked.

"No. I can go into your dreams only when they are in a very weakened state. For instance, when you're sharing it with someone else. You were in that dream with Noir and Sora, so it was easy to jump in, spectate, and, thankfully, pull you both out before Noir claimed you."

"Okay, this is all making about zero sense," Sora said, standing up. "One: How can you even get into Kairi's dream in the first place, and Two: How did you know that she was dreaming?"

"Answer to question One: I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Sora wasn't sure if he should take him seriously or not, but Kairi was pretty sure that he was just messing with Sora at this point. Maybe she'd ask him later, when Sora wasn't around.

"Answer to question Two: I didn't know that she was dreaming. I know that Noir had pulled her into a dream with him."

Kairi and Sora looked at Jacob, then at each other, then at Jacob.

"What, were you, like, mind-melding with him?" Sora asked sarcastically.

"No, and I'd advise you to sit back down," Jacob said, a touch of venom in his voice.

Sora did as he was told just as Kairi said, "So, back to the topic... we were talking about..." she took a moment to retrace their steps, a process she knew Jacob must have been enjoying to watch, because he probably knew exactly where they got off topic and now he could just sit here and smirk at her.

"... The fact that we have the same lullaby!" Kairi said a bit too triumphantly, thrusting a finger in Jacob's direction in a very 'Ah-ha!' sort of way.

"And when we get there, we hit a wall."

"... What?" Sora and Kairi both asked.

"Can't tell you why you have the same lullaby," he answered simply, shrugging.

"..."

"No really, I have no idea."

"..."

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Do you think I was on Radiant Garden at some point?" Sora suddenly brainstormed.

"No way," Jacob replied. "Destiny Islands is your home. Besides, you would have had to be less than a week old for the lullaby to affect you, and you would have had no way of getting off of Radiant Garden except for a Corridor to Darkness, or King Mickey on a gummi ship."

"... So, do you think the King kidnapped me?" Sora threw out, at which Kairi both wanted to giggle at Sora's stupidity and groan at Sora's stupidity.

"I think it's a weird anomaly that we're never gonna figure out unless we get ourselves a time machine," Jacob answered. "Now, any more questions while I'm in a talky mood?"

"You have a mood for that?" Kairi asked.

"Uh-hu."

"How often do you have them?"

"About once in a blue moon."

Sora and Kairi both threw out the first questions that came to mind.

"What happened to Noir?" Sora blurted, suddenly realizing that Jacob had neglected to bring that up.

"What happened to the girl you were traveling with?" Kairi practically shouted, praying that he would answer.

Jacob glared at Kairi. "Mind your own business." He looked to Sora. "I killed him."

"... You did what now?"

"I killed him."

"... But... I thought you said he was, like, the god of Darkness and crap!"

"I did say that."

"... So, you're either tough enough to kill a god, or you lied."

"Fifty-fifty, isn't it?"

"You lied," Kairi wrapped up to save Sora the brain cells.

"Quite, your Majesty."

Sora raised an eyebrow at Jacob. "Why?"

"You mean, why did I lie? Because people tend to have more fear for something when they think that it's immortal. Or a deity."

Sora was about to say something else (probably something unintelligent, or so thought Kairi and Jacob), but Kairi cut him off. "So, if he wasn't a god, what was he?"

"A man."

Sora and Kairi both stared at him.

"But, of course, you don't think it could be that simple."

"It can't be if you're involved," Sora commented.

Jacob shook his head. "From what research I've been able to complete, and what research I've been able to mooch off of much wiser men like Mickey, I gather that Noir was a powerful servant of Darkness many eons ago."

"Eons?"

"A big row of numbers that no one knows the exact amount of, and even if they did, it would be far to big to say."

Kairi smiled. "I've never heard it put that way before."

"That's because you never asked me."

"I shouldn't have said anything..." Sora moaned in the background.

"Noir was cursed for his wrongdoings by a witch, who basically gave him internal life."

"How does that make any sense?" Sora sora asked with an exasperated tone.

"Yeah, she probably didn't think that through very well," Jacob replied.

"Get on with it!" Kairi interjected.

"She basically made him an actual slave to the Darkness, not just someone who could harness it's power. And true Darkness, you see, while fighting against Light, isn't nearly as aggressive as someone as messed up as Noir was. Noir didn't like sitting around and taking orders, so he just started doing whatever he wanted. Every single time he did his own thing he felt excruciating pain. Unfortunately, he continued to run about, and eventually the constant pain drove him insane."

"... And?" Sora asked, now very interested.

"And he basically started spreading the word that he was the god of Darkness, and that he was gonna screw everyone's lives up."

"So what you told us on the Millennium Falcon was total bull crap," Sora said.

Jacob considered it for a moment, and then said, "Yeah, pretty much."

"But if this guy is so strong, why isn't he... you know, better known?" Kairi asked. "You said that he started declaring himself a god of Darkness, so-"

"Ah, that's where I come in," Jacob said, smirking slightly. "You see, Noir hadn't really done anything big other than blow of a few worlds and such ('Not big!' Kairi gasped) until a couple of years ago, when he started being a bit more tactical. At first he toyed with the idea of taking over the universe, but apparently that didn't tickle his fancy."

"I'm almost afraid to ask... what did?" Sora questioned.

"Destroying the universe."

A day before, at Seventh Heaven...

A motorcycle streaked through Edge towards a particular bar. It screeched to a halt outside, and the driver dismounted and threw the door open.

The place was ransacked from the assault three nights ago, which Jacob and Terra apparently hadn't been bothered by enough to clean it up. Currently, no one was there, but there was a note on the bar:

"Cloud: We're all outside town on Cid's ship. Come as soon as you get back, please."

Cloud had expected to see Tifa's name at the bottom, but it was signed by Marline.

"She's learning to write just like Tifa," Cloud thought mildly as he picked up the message and got a better look at it. The penmanship was just a bit off, but otherwise, it would fool most.

He placed the message back down, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, corked up glass beaker filled with water that seemed to glow and sparkle, despite the lack of light in the bar. He put that down next to the note, too, and then reached across the bar and grabbed a huge bottle of bourbon. He opened the bottle hastily and drank even quicker. The fight was still fresh in his mind...

He had Kadaj cornered, but the bastard had jumped clear, and Cloud had followed... but then, somehow... Jenova turned him into Sephiroth...

Meaningless words had been exchanged... Sephiroth had little of interest to say, other than something about how Noir was going after Sora as they spoke... Sora could take that ass hole out, no problem. And even if he couldn't, Jacob would probably be right next to him the entire time...

Cloud had just been pierced in about every way possible. Sephiroth's sword had been stuck through places Cloud didn't even know could be stuck, and his sweater was almost heavier than he was with blood.

He could hear Sephiroth land behind him... he took one open swing at him, and leapt up and slashed straight through the bastard's chest, flying past him...

Cloud finished the bottle and tossed it at the wall, where it promptly shattered into the mess that the bar had been reduced to. He swung over the bar and started to skim through their stronger liquors.

There was a voice behind him from where he stood, barely supporting himself anymore.

"Cloud," Sephiroth said, though the sound was slowly melting away to something else. "Do you want to know what happened to you friend?"

Cloud pulled out a large, very expensive bottle of tequila, and put the bottle to his lips.

Cloud's eyes widened as the voice vanished, and another one, that was very different, but all to familiar...

"Hey... buddy..." came a voice that was pained... almost as though he had just been sliced in half. "... Maybe... it's for the best..."

"... Z-Zack?"

Cloud dropped to the floor behind the bar, the bottle that was now almost half empty missing his mouth. His arm was stinging from the stigma, but he could have cared less. What might have been tears were dripping out of his eyes, but knowing Cloud, it was probably just from the stench of his beverage.

Right?

Cloud whipped around, but he was not met with the person that he had so wanted to see for more than ten years...

"You know..." muttered Kadaj, black blood running from his waist down his legs. "What's it all for, in the end?"

The Nobody's body vanished just as Cloud fell over, blood still flowing out of his body, and began to slide down the side of the very, very tall building he had found himself on.

The bottle fell to the ground next to Cloud as he passed out, the many makeshift bandages covering his body seeping blood slowly.

Present...

"Destroying the universe?" Sora and Kairi both questioned simultaneously, Sora's tone more inquisitive, and Kairi's more... freaked out.

"He basically tried to compress everything into one tiny little spot, and... well, destroy everything. He got damn close, too."

"And you stopped him," Kairi asked in a slightly unbelieving way.

"Mostly. He basically crafted his own, tiny world in a... well, even I don't really understand it. I don't think that it was even part of the universe anymore. It was too detached. But somehow, either it broke through into reality, or it pulled everything else in. The later would make more sense at this point."

"This is making about zero sense," Sora said.

"He basically drew in the entire universe towards him. He was just going to crush everything... including himself."

"What did you do?" Kairi inquired.

"Details aren't needed for this. Let's just leave it at 'I beat him'."

"But what actually happened?" Sora demanded.

"That world he had made fell back in on itself. I managed to make it off with a bit of help from a friend of mine. Basically swooped in and snatched me out of the sky before I got sucked into a black hole."

"You mean that you went in against him alone?" Kairi asked.

"No. It's just that... well, everyone got out, that's all that matters. Just differently than me." Kairi and Sora were probably about to ask just what that meant, and who else was there, but Jacob didn't seem to want to talk about it. "I thought that I had pretty much sealed Noir away at that point, but he managed to get back out."

"... You shot him. Just before I blacked out," Sora said, remembering the gunshot and the sudden bursts of blood on either side of Noir's head.

"Yeah," Jacob said. "Noir can be stopped, but... well, not for good. What I did to him back there, it may kill him for... oh, a week, a few months, or maybe even twenty years. There's no way of knowing how that magic on him will work. Me and Mickey spent a lot of time working on how we could finish him permanently, but we've come up empty handed thus far."

"Okay, so back to my other question," Kairi said, remembering just how they had started down this train. "Why doesn't everyone know about Noir?"

Jacob smiled. "That is one of the more interesting results of my exploits. Of the worlds Noir wrecked, he only left survivors from one: Radiant Garden."

"So?" Sora and Kairi asked, both getting a little fed up with Jacob's theatrics.

Jacob grinned just a bit wider, and but Kairi didn't feel anything behind it. "When Noir was trapped, all the terror-clutched people around the galaxy ("And, mind you, not everyone knew. There were a lot of worlds in the loop, but relatively speaking-" "Get on with it!" Kairi shouted) basically forgot that he ever even existed. He was sucked right out of reality. Only people who had been drastically touched by him... who had lost their homes and loved ones, but not themselves, could still remember him. And even then, there were mostly only foggy memories, and since Noir was the reason they weren't home anymore, without him, their memories of Radiant Garden became... obscured. The few that even wound up remembering anything only had hollow memories for it..."

"Hollow Bastion," Sora finished for him.

"Indeed, Sora," Jacob said. "I was the only one who was on Noir's world up until the very, very last second, so I'm the only one in the universe who never forgot one bit of it."

"Were there other people from Radiant Garden on there?" Kairi asked, noticing how he said he was the 'only one who stayed on until the end'.

"Yeah," Jacob answered. "But no one you know."

"Are you lying?"

"What do you think?"

"Yes."

"Well, Kairi, feel free to ask anyone, but I doubt you'll get any answers to your liking."

Two days before, on the Shera...

After Jacob and Kairi had so hastily departed from Seventh Heaven, Terra had been left for several hours with Marline and Denzel. After Max and Tifa had woken up, the former had promptly taken off to make sure that things had calmed down. Tifa had taken over for the most part after that, though her wounds, especially where she had been driven into the wall, still hurt considerably. She hadn't bothered to change out of her clothes, which were either torn or bloodied. The large hole in the torso showed the massive scar where she had been run through, but she did at least cover that up by wrapping a towel around her body, and carefully avoided questions about it from Marline and Denzel, not wanted to worry or disturb either.

After Max and Squall had come back to get them and take them to the Shera, Tifa had considered staying with the kids, but Squall convinced her to bring them along. Once on the ship, Terra had promptly passed out, though no one seemed to notice. Jacob would have, but he hadn't left the medical ward since Sora, Kairi, and Yuffie had been placed there.

Merlin had decided to take Rinoa off of the sedatives and try to gain her trust, since the spell would require her cooperation. Without Noir, it would be difficult, but it was decided that she be allowed to play with Marline and Denzel so as to both keep her occupied and get her more friendly with the group. When she did wake up, she was extremely scared of everyone, especially Squall (since, you know, he makes puppies commit suicide), but after a while she had at least warmed up to the two younger kids and run off with them into the ship.

After a night on the ship, there was a small meeting called in the morning. Donald and Goofy went up to the bridge to make sure the kids didn't get up there, and other more important/dangerous rooms were locked safely.

"What now?" Max asked as the group sat down. Even though he had much less field experience than the other two Disney Castle residents on the ship, they seemed to respect him a bit more.

There was no response from those others that had gathered. It seemed that none of them (Max, Tifa, Squall, Cid, or Merlin) had thought quite that far ahead.

"Well, we did come here to get Tifa," Cid commented after a few moments of silence.

"And Cloud. Kinda," Squall droned.

Tifa's eyes widened ever so slightly. "What happened to Cloud? Where is he?"

"He ran off after Sora blew up this big-ass monster," Cid answered as he lit a cigaret. "Don't know where he is now."

"He might have gone back to the bar," Tifa said, rising up rather slowly, cringing as she did so. "I'll go check and-"

"I'll go back and look for him," Max offered, standing up. "You're in no condition to go running through the city."

"Or we could just fly there," Cid said, letting a large puff of smoke roll out of his mouth shamelessly.

Shortly, Cid went to the deck to find Donald and Goofy arguing about something or other. After dismissing the two animals, claiming that they were 'giving him a goddamn head ache', he flew the ship over the city, covering what would have taken about twenty minutes walking in ten seconds.

He hovered as low as he could over the buildings and dropped the ramp towards the street, leaving about twenty feet below him.

At the ramp, Merlin and Max quickly jumped over the edge, with Merlin's magic breaking their fall. Max didn't waste any time before running up to the door, opening it, and glancing around the ransacked building only once.

"I'll look upstairs for anyone," Merlin said, stepping past Max and rather ignoring the mess, though he probably could have cleaned it in a matter of seconds.

As Merlin went up, Max took a step towards the bar, and felt glass crunch under his foot.

He looked down, and saw the remnants of a bottle he was sure hadn't been on the floor when he left before. He went closer to the bar and picked up the small glass beaker that he was also sure hadn't been there before. He glanced over the counter.

"Merlin!"

The wizard came bounding back down the stairs as Max nimbly swung himself over the counter. Merlin knelt down next to Cloud and saw the bottle of tequila sitting next to him. "He's intoxicated!"

"... Uh, and wounded."

"That too!"

Present...

"... So, where are we going now?" Sora asked, deciding that, perhaps, they just weren't going to get any more out of Jacob today.

Kairi, however, was more persistent. "Was Rinoa there?" Kairi asked desperately. "You might as well tell me because you know that she will!"

Jacob looked slightly awkward as he leaned back and scratched his head. "Actually, I don't think she's in much of a position to tell you anything."

Kairi felt something inside her flare up.

"What happened?" she yelled, jumping up and flinging her arms outward so fast that she slapped Sora in the face, and narrowly missed Jacob, who pulled a half-Matrix on his stool and then got back up, somehow not tipping the stool over.

"If you will recall, before I put you under back in Seventh Heaven... three days ago now?... Cloud said that Rinoa was younger." He stood from his stool so that he was no longer below Kairi, but instead towered over her by several heads. If he was trying to intimidate her or just simply standing up, Kairi couldn't tell, but her expression of both worry and anger was still apparent on her face. "Noir was quite familiar with her when she was living on Radiant Garden."

"I thought you said that Noir went around telling everyone he was the bad guy," Kairi asked as they both continued to ignore Sora, who was beginning to moan something about Kairi watching where she threw her hands.

"Ah, but he didn't just blow up Radiant Garden," Jacob responded. "He wanted to have a bit of fun with it. Even though nowadays Radiant Garden is a pretty open and everyone knows about other worlds, at one point in time it was just as unknowing as Destiny Islands."

"He came in and... acted like a human?" she asked. Her angry expression was melting, and she was looking much more calm, but also concerned.

"Yeah. He was very good friends with your mother before she gave birth, and consequently, was very good friends with Rinoa. In fact, he was her godfather."

Kairi managed to mouth a questioning 'Noir?', but no sound came out.

"She loved him almost like a parent. He was on par with your mother and father. However, when you were born, and your parents became a bit preoccupied with you. You were the favorite child, even though they still loved Rinoa. Any sibling takes getting a new one badly, but Rinoa, even though she was nine at the time, still took it rather... well, let's leave it at badly."

"She went to Noir for a father," Kairi said.

"Precisely. However, one day, Noir just... vanished."

"Why? Where did he go?"

"I can't answer that. I just don't know. And I swear to you, I'm not lying. He went away just about when you turned one, and even though your parents got a little more time to spend with Rinoa, she was left pretty badly scared. Her near constant companion and guidance since she was a toddler was just gone from her life... and in exchange, she got you."

"Did she hate me?" Kairi asked, now looking almost worried.

"For a while, yes. But then, she realized that you needed someone like Noir had been for her. She decided that she would be your constant companion, and that she would never abandon you like her closed friend had done to her."

There was a long moment of silence, which, for once, Sora wasn't even tempted to break.

"When Noir came back and destroyed the world?" Kairi finally asked, somewhat gravely.

"He was more of a... behind the scenes guy at that point. When she did find out later on, yes, she hated him even more, because she saw that he had been evil all along, and that he had never loved her."

Again, there was a long moment of silence. Then, Kairi seemed to remember that they had started talking about this because Noir had magic-ed Rinoa.

Several hours before, on the Shera...

Cloud was carried into the medical wing by Merlin, who was actually cheating and using magic. The wizard had sealed up most of Cloud's wounds, but they would need to look him over more carefully to see if he had suffered any internal damage.

Merlin successfully ignored Jacob and Tifa, the former of whom did little more than look up when they entered, and the latter of whom began barraging Merlin with questions.

After Merlin had concluded that Cloud had suffered no major injuries to any organs, he departed and left Tifa to hover over his bed. She had decided to let Marline and Denzel continue to distract Rinoa and not revert their minds to Cloud.

After almost an hour of silence and virtually no movement from anyone other than the time when Tifa had almost fallen asleep in the stool Jacob had fetched for her, Cloud flinched. Tifa almost jumped, but didn't, and instead grabbed Cloud's hand. Cloud let out a soft moan that didn't sound very pained, and Tifa could only look hopeful at that point. Jacob didn't bother to look up until he heard Cloud starting to say something.

Cloud released several of those sort of clicking noises that one might when part of a letter tries to come up through your throat, but that was more that enough to excite Tifa.

"Cloud!" she said almost breathlessly, clutching his hand just a bit tighter. "Cloud, it's Tifa!... Can you hear me, Cloud?"

"... A... A... Aeri..."

Jacob got up off his stool and took a step towards the bed, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"Cloud, you're safe now..." she said horsely "... I-it's Tifa, Cloud."

"...Aeri... Aerith..."

Tifa let go of his hand, let out something like a whimper, and then jumped up and bolted out of the room, with what might have been tears falling out of her eyes.

"... Aerith... Zack... he wanted me to..." Cloud continued, his eyes still squeezed shut.

Jacob came over and sat down next to him. "What did Zack say, Cloud?"

"... He could... make her better..."

"How?"

"... The water..."

"What water, Cloud?"

But Cloud said no more.

After several minutes, Jacob decided that he would rather torture Tifa than tell her what Cloud said after she left (or, at least he would for a little while), and he instead ran off to find Max or Merlin.

The wizard was the one he found first, but his answer as to if he had seen any water at the bar wasn't exactly helpful.

"I should say that there were plenty of other liquids! The shame!"

Max was a bit more helpful.

"I thought this thing was a bit out of place," he said, reaching into his jacket and withdrawing the beaker. "But how did you know-?"

Jacob had already snatched the beaker out of Max's hands and fled the room.

Jacob burst back into the medical ward and went to Cloud's side again.

"Cloud, what does this water do?" Jacob demanded, though he didn't really expect an answer from the unconscious man.

"... Cures... stigma..."

"Cloud," Jacob said again, kneeling down next to him and looking right at the side of Cloud's face. "What is the stigma?"

"... Aerith... and... I... Edge..."

This stuff would cure what Aerith had. That was, if Cloud wasn't just dreaming something crazy as a result of the tequila.

Jacob could relate.

But he said 'and I'... did he have it?

Jacob checked his hairline, his shoulder blade, and neck: all the places Aerith had been infected. Lastly, he checked Cloud's arm, rolling up the sleeve. Sure enough, it was covered with the same blackness Aerith had been infected with.

Jacob pulled the cork out of the beaker and carefully let a singe droplet find it's way over the edge. It fell, and landed right on the deseeded skin. There was a soft, green glow, and almost instantly, the blackness vanished.

Jacob could only stare for a few moments before he realized just what this meant. He put the cork back in and bolted out of the room.

Present...

Kairi, Sora, and Jacob went through the halls searching for someone to direct them towards Marline, Denzel, and Rinoa (or perhaps, the kids themselves), despite the fact that Jacob seemed very opposed to the idea.

"I really don't know if someone as close to her as you should be put into such close proximity," Jacob continued, though neither cared very much. Perhaps they should have learned by now that what he said just might be important, huh? "She didn't even recognize Squall in the least, so you approaching her may be met with nothing, or it could cause some sort of fakey-sci-fi-paradox-thingy."

"You don't sound all that sure of yourself," Sora said, glancing over his shoulder at Jacob, who was at the rear of the group, with Kairi leading the way.

"Well I'm not, that's the thing! I've never seen this kind of magic in action before! Had I been here, I would have made sure that Squall wasn't anywhere near her when they woke her up, or anyone else for that matter!"

Kairi stopped abruptly, and Sora ran into her. After Jacob stopped just in time and Sora bounced back into him, Kairi turned on her heel and looked back at Jacob, smirking. "Seems like you're easier to get information out of than I thought."

"I don't know what-"

"Don't think I haven't been wondering!" Kairi said in an excited, almost mocking tone. "After you put me out with that Tifa comment, and after I passed out when Cloud said that he knew me... I had been guessing, but now I know..."

She got right up in Jacob's face (not exactly, as she was standing on her toes and her eyes still only got to his shoulders) and said, "Rinoa and I knew some of the others when we lived on Radiant Garden, didn't we?"

"That seems logical."

"Ah-ha! Of course you don't admit- Did you just say what I think I might have heard you say?"

Jacob shrugged. "I think your idea makes sense. Feel free to go about asking everyone on the ship if they knew you when you were younger."

Kairi dropped back down to her normal hight and backed up a bit, as if she wanted to look him over once or twice and try to read him. "... You mean that?"

"Sure."

Only a few hours ago now...

After Jacob's miraculous discovery, they decided to head back to Radiant Garden and cure Aerith. After Jacob managed to track down Tifa, she hastily, but clumsily, dried her eyes and attempted to pretend she hadn't just been crying as he asked her more about the stigma. She explained that a large chunk of the world had been infected, and then Jacob began to ponder if the Rebellion would perhaps have the ability to reproduce the liquid on a massive scale.

Jacob managed to convince Squall to fly the Mabrik behind them, with P.J. aboard.

About two hours into the fourteen-hour transit, after Jacob had returned to his duty of hiding in the corner of the medical ward, Yuffie woke up. Jacob felt her presence, but when she didn't rise, he respected her enough not to approach her. When she did after several minutes, she walked to the bathroom, came back out, and left the room to find out where she was, without more than a glance at any of the other sleeping figures. Apparently, either she ignored or didn't notice Jacob, who moved nothing more than his eyes as she went about the room.

Jacob only had to wait a little longer before Cloud stirred as well. He lay there for quite a bit longer than Yuffie, but after a while, he reached over and clutched his arm.

"It's gone."

"Yes, it is," Jacob said, still not moving.

Cloud sat up, looking directly at Jacob with the same cold, glaring eyes he always carried about with him unless he was in the company of Tifa, Marline, and Denzel. "You didn't waste that stuff on me, did you?"

"Only a drop," Jacob replied, not even looking directly at Cloud, but rather at the patch of floor he had been trying to burn a hole through with his gaze for the last two days. "You weren't exactly around, and I wanted to see if it worked."

"How did you know-?"

"You talk in your sleep. Didn't Tifa ever tell you?"

"We've never slept together."

Jacob looked up at him. "Because you're just 'not that kind of person' or because-"

"Shut up," came Cloud's two favorite words.

Jacob considered a sarcastic grin, but he didn't really feel like grinning right now anyway. It would be a waste of effort at this point. Plus, it just wasn't what Cloud needed.

"Did you see Zack?" Jacob asked.

Cloud seemed hesitant to reply.

"You said that he had asked you to take care of Aerith. But, you said her name before you said anything else."

Cloud gave Jacob a very 'so?' look.

"Tifa only heard that part. After she had sat next to you for ages."

Something deep in Cloud's cold eyes looked mortified.

"Where-?"

"She ran out, crying."

Cloud's head fell into his hands.

"You could just go and talk to her," Jacob suggested.

"I... what would I say?" Cloud asked, looking up at him.

"You two have been living together for two weeks and some change. Does she care about Marline and Denzel?"

"Yeah, I gue-"

"Does she care about you?"

"I don't kn-"

"Did Barret show any signs of wanting Marline back any time soon?"

"That's not fair, she's his kid!"

"How long have you been taking care of them now, Cloud?"

"..."

"Cloud?"

"... A... a couple of months... Or so..."

"Go in there and say that you think Marline and Denzel really need people to take care of them. And then say that you think that you two would fit the bill. Even after Marline goes back to her father, you two would still have Denzel, right?"

"Denzel!" Cloud exclaimed, jumping out of the bed. "He had the stigma! He needs-"

Jacob stood and held up the beaker. "You're going to talk with Tifa first."

Cloud looked from Jacob's face, to the beaker, and back to Jacob's face.

"You, Cloud Strife, are going to go find Tifa Lockheart and tell her that you think that you two should continue to be parent figures to Marline and Denzel."

Cloud glanced at the door. "... Do you know where she is?"

"Do you know your way around the ship?"

"... Yeah."

"Because you came aboard to see Aerith."

"... Yeah."

"And Tifa?"

"... It was harder to catch her asleep."

Present...

Kairi had split up from Sora and Jacob, and, unbeknowns to her, Jacob had split away from Sora, leaving Sora standing very lonely-ish in the middle of a hallway until Donald came sauntering along and invited him back to his room where he, Goofy, Max, and Cid had been about to commence in a game of poker.

"I've never played," Sora had replied.

"Goofy'll explain it to you, then."

"Goofy?"

"He's... er... very good at poker."

Elsewhere...

Jacob happened upon two particular rooms which were within a hallway or so of each other, and both contained to rather interesting cases. The first door was closed, but Jacob could feel two presences inside, and could also see simply by looking at the door that the lights were out inside.

Resisting the urge to enter, he went to the door down the hall, which was just slightly agar. He could hear what might have been very quiet sobbing coming from inside.

He pushed the door open to find one of the many bare spare bedrooms that could be found riddled about the Shera. Yuffie was curled up on a bed, her head towards the window, outside of which countless stars were shooting past every passing second.

"Hey," Jacob said as he closed the door behind him. Yuffie's crying suddenly stopped, but in exchange, she made absolutely no noise.

Jacob then asked that very obvious question that all of us find ourselves asking a person who is clearly not okay at some point in our lives.

"You doing okay?"

"... No."

Jacob took a step closer to the bed. "What's the problem?"

"... I think I might have loved someone."

"You think?"

"I don't know what love feels like."

Jacob came right up next the the bed and leaned against the wall. "I think that love is a difficult emotion to categorize. It feels different for everyone out there. Depends on who's feeling it, and who they're feeling it for. That simple."

"But how can you tell? It could just as easily be so many other emotions."

Jacob smiled as he sat down on the bed next to her and looked down at her tear-covered face, which still gazed somewhat blankly out the window. "Because it's always the one that you can't understand, can't express, and can't name."

"... I think I can name it."

"Really? How do you name it?"

"Riku."

Jacob managed to get an arm under Yuffie and sit her up. He hugged her like he had known her for a very long time, and for all you know, he just might have. But then again, even if he hadn't known her, anyone could see that this was about what she needed.

"Jacob?" she asked after several minutes of silence.

"Yeah, little miss Great Ninja?"

"I... I forget. What was yours called?"

Elsewhere...

Kairi had entered the bridge, where she finally found the three children gazing out at the universe, with Terra tiredly overseeing from the above platform. Kairi walked up behind her, and Terra jumped a bit when she noticed the girl's arrival.

"You... you startled me," Terra murmured, not looking Kairi in the eyes, but instead down at her shoes.

"Sorry," Kairi said honestly before looking away from Terra's bowed head and down at the kids. Her eyes snagged on Rinoa for a few moments, but Kairi managed to pull herself back to reality. "So, you've been watching them?"

"Yes," Terra said hastily, looking back up. "Being around them... even when I'm not interacting with them... It feels weird. A bit like what it feels like to be around Jacob, but... different.

Kairi realized that Terra probably had very different feelings about Jacob than she herself felt.

"You like him?" Kairi asked carefully, glancing at Terra out the corner of her eye.

"... I... I don't know much about those sorts of things," she said awkwardly, with a bit of a humorless laugh accompanying the words.

"... Yeah, Jacob..." Kairi said. "He's a strange guy."

"He is?"

"Well, I guess that's just opinion."

"O-opinion?"

Kairi turned her head totally towards Terra. "You do know what that is, right?"

"O-of course!" Terra replied, flustered. "I just don't have very many of my own, you see. Opinions, that is."

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "I can see why Jacob's so interested in her," Kairi thought to herself. "She's a walking experiment on the mind and Heart."

"You're a bit weird, too," Kairi giggled, looking back down at the kids.

"Is that bad?" Terra asked, now extremely concerned.

"Not at all," Kairi said, turning back at her and smiling. "I've never met someone with amnesia, so I guess I don't really know what you should be acting like."

That wasn't exactly true. She had met herself, even though she couldn't very well remember those first few weeks on Destiny Islands. She had been told that she had been in shock most of the time. So, she supposed that Terra was taking it better than she had.

Then again, Terra was also twelve years older than Kairi had been at the time.

"I'm gonna go down and talk with the kids," Kairi told Terra, leaving the blond to her thoughts as she descended down to the glass wrap-around.

"Hey, Kairi!" Marline greeted her instantly when she came down. Kairi was sure that the girl had noticed her arrival before, but the girl had been polite enough not to interrupt Kairi's conversation with Terra.

"Hey Marline," Kairi said, smiling down at her. "What were you guys doing?"

"Just watching the stars," Marline replied. She turned and pointed towards Rinoa, who had shyly backed away a bit when Kairi had come down to join them. "Have you met Rinoa yet?"

"Can't say I have," Kairi replied half-honestly, looking at her yet-to-be-sister. She stepped around Marline and approached Rinoa, getting down on her knees. Rinoa looked as though she wanted to bolt, but Marline came to her side and held her shoulder reassuringly. Denzel watched on with a somewhat detached feeling.

"H-hello," the five-year-old said timidly.

"Hi," Kairi replied with a smile. "My name's Kairi. And Marline said yours was Rinoa."

"Uh-hu," she replied. "I'm from Radiant Garden."

"Radiant Garden?" Kairi asked, giggling. "Then however did you get out here?"

"My uncle Noir brought me out on a trip," she replied. "I don't really remember how we got out to that cliff... he said that it was a surprise for me, and he had brought me while I was sleeping."

"Do you know where Noir is now?" Kairi asked, trying to sound as sweet as she could with that name coming out of her mouth.

"The men who woke me up said that they were friends of his, and that Noir was busy," Rinoa answered. She looked around quickly, and then motioned for Kairi to come closer. The red-head complied, and Rinoa whispered, "I'm not sure I trust them. I think they might be kidnapping me."

"Kidnapping you?" Kairi gasped. "Whatever makes you think that?"

"I'm not sure, but that always seems to happen to Princesses in the stories," Rinoa replied.

Kairi couldn't help but laugh inwardly. "She was a real princess, wasn't she? Kinda ignorant, but still... I don't really know. I wonder if I was like this... if I changed to more of... well, what I was... after I lost my memories..."

"Well, just so that you know, I'm a princess too," Kairi told her in an equally hushed voice.

"You are?" both Rinoa and Marline asked simultaneously, since neither knew that she actually was.

"Uh-hu. And I think that if both of us are on here together, the just might have kidnapped us."

Rinoa gasped, though Marline quickly caught on. "You know, I'm a princess too," she put in. "From the kingdom of Seventh Heaven."

"Really?" Rinoa asked. "Is that far from Radiant Garden?"

"Oh, very," Marline replied. "But, I'm not sure where we are now."

"I think that we might be in space," Kairi said.

The three of them looked out at the stars whizzing by the ship.

"... But, I thought that might have just been magic, or an illusion," Rinoa said. "I've read about those before."

"No, I think that we're being taken to another world."

There was a very long silence.

"... But... I didn't think that other worlds were real," Rinoa whispered, even hoarser than they had been.

"Well, I think that they might be," Kairi said.

"I think that Denzel might be from another world," Marline said. She motioned for Denzel to come over, who had been feeling quite left out, while at the same time reminding himself that he was a boy and didn't play princess. After a few seconds of contemplation, he came over and joined the group.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Are you from another world?" Marline asked, giving him a small wink that was more like a blink than a wink.

"Yes, of course," Denzel answered, deciding that he might as well play along until he could figure out just what it was that they had been whispering about.

"He must be a prince," Kairi suggested. Denzel was slightly afraid that he would get pulled into this as either a knight or a prince, but he decided that, if it would free him from his boredom, he would participate in just about any activity at this point.

"Yes, I'm the prince of Sector Six," he answered. "Could you girls please get me up to speed as to what is happening here?"

And so they went on, hatching plans to escape from the kidnappers, with Terra watching on, wondering what it would have felt like to join in, but afraid to get any closer.

At the same time, on Radiant Garden...

Dr. Cid stood overlooking the command room of the Resistance's bace, with a somewhat absent expression on his face as someone or another read him a report that basicly said everything was the same as it had been when someone else had read him the same report six hours ago.

"Ah, and we receved a message from the Shera, sir," said the man, arriving at the only part that would intrest Cid.

He looked at the man who had been reading to him. "The message?"

"They were returning to Radiant Garden. They sent the message about five hours ago, and the transit takes about fourteen hours total."

"... Thank you, that will be all," Dr. Cid said, before turning and leaving the room.

In the streets...

Zidane and Stitch jumped from roof to roof, with Zidane bending down so low that his nose was almost touching the ground, yet he still continued to run alongside the blue-furred ball of death. As they came close to the open plaza in which they had duked out with Stormtroopers alongside Jacob, they stopped, and Zidane went prone on the shackled roof they found themselves on.

They could see a girl of fifteen or so going up to the entrence of the base, the door to which was guarded by several Rebel soldiers weilding laser rifles.

"What are they saying?" Zidane asked his partner in crime. Stitch rose up just a bit, but not enough to be noticed, and lifted up an ear.

"State your buisness," one of the guards said in a very monotonus tone, as though he already knew exactly why she was there.

"I'm here to see the prisoner."

"You know where to find him," the guard said, not bothering to give her a pass key, since she already had one from her many visits to Fox, and, before they departed, Sora and Kairi, though the three had spent most of their time topside.

Stitch lowered his ear as she went inside. "She to see Fox again. Ih. Ih."

"What's her deal with that guy...?" Zidane wondered in whisper. Stitch shrugged next to him, and Zidane shrugged as well, and then they both rolled off the roof and into the back of a truck, after which they jumped out into an alley, unseen to all.

Inside...

Emily walked into the cell, and was met, as expected, with large iron bars and a man who's back was turned to her. He was sitting down, indian style, and apparently uninterested in whoever it was that had come to visit her.

"... Fox?"

He turned his head toward her, and though he was still wearing his armor (without all weaponry and modifications, of course), his helment was off, reveiling a shaved head and a large, ugly scar that seemed to ripple down the left side of his face and then spike off around his eye in several different directions. One direction went to his nose, which was subsequently missing a left nostral. Another went towards his ear, where he had lost his lobe.

"Hey, Emily," he said in a somewhat gloomy voice. "Why are you back here?"

"I... I just... wanted someone to talk to."

"Aren't Sora and Kairi back yet?"

"... I can't tell you that. They said that I couldn't-"

"It's fine, it's fine..." he groaned, turning away. "I get it. When you're around, I forget that I'm behind bars..."

"... That other soldier..." Emily started. "... Well, I haven't wanted to ask it, but... are you a double agent?"

"..."

"I mean, you're locked up in here, but I was thinking, maybe you just haven't met with people high up enough in the Rebellion-"

"I'm not a double agent, Emily"

There was a long pause, and Emily was sure that the people listening in on the conversation were glad that she had gotten that out of him for them. She hated that, but...

"So... you're with the Empire?"

"I work for the Empire. That doesn't mean I like my job."

"B-but..." she stammered out. "Can't you just... quit?"

"Never heard of a contract, have you kid?"

Again, there was a long silence.

"Fox-"

The door to the room was thrown open, and two men came in and grabbed Emily by her arms, like they always did. "Your time's up. Get out of here."

They dragged her out, and threw her uncaringly onto the floor outside the room, and slammed the door to Fox's cell shut.

Elsewhere on Radiant Garden...

The cliffs had been cleared away on either side of the castle, and now that they were able to get power back up again, Chip and Dale were prepared to try and hover out of the Great Maw. Several of the men who had lead the 'excavation' were opposed to the idea, and wanted to try and straighten the castle and then try and lift off, but Chip and Dale were convinced that they were good enough at piloting the massive craft that they could maneuver it out without wasting the time and resources that would be required to straighten the castle.

To few people's surprise, they managed to lift the castle into the air slightly, twist and turn a bit, and get out of the Maw just about, but not quite, perfectly straight. The went over to the flat, baron purple landscape to the side and landed properly.

King Mickey and Queen Minnie observed to proceedings from the wall surrounding Radiant Garden.

"You ready to go home?" Minnie asked him, giving his hand a little squeeze.

"Well, considering the fact that I'd been suffering from cabin fever inside my own castle, maybe we should go somewhere else for a while."

Minnie looked at him inquisitively. "But everyone will need you there when they're settling back in on Disney Castle-"

"Well, I suppose," Mickey replied. "But the Rebellion is gonna have to clear out any Imperial presence there first, and it could be a few weeks before everyone is ready to start that little venture."

"Mickey," Minnie sighed. "We're not going on vacation." Mickey opened his mouth to say something about that, but Minnie cut him off. "I know that you like the open road, and wondering about, but... you have a duty, you know."

There was a long pause between the two of them, before Mickey said, "I know that. But..."

Minnie decided that it was time to shut him up, and kissed him. It wasn't more than a second or so long, but when they drew back, Minnie said, "We'll figure it out. Together."

Elsewhere...

The room was dark. There was a grated floor, under which there were glowing red lights, but they had been dimmed considerably. The walls and ceiling were black, as was the very futuristic looking door.

Two very futuristic looking people were sitting at a very futuristic looking table, and one was standing next to it. All three were covered in armor, and all three seemed to be having a staring contest.

Except, of course, for the fact that it's very easy to cheat at a staring contest when one is wearing a helmet, since, obviously, your opponent cannot see your eyes.

"Agent Texas," Captain Sienex said, addressing the armored woman sitting across from him. "What have you to say for yourself?"

"You didn't send me in with enough men," Tex replied sarcastically, her arms crossed.

"We sent you in with half the damn marine force for that sector!" Sienex yelled. "I don't care if you're just a sarcastic bastard, I'm not going to take anything that has anything to do with manpower as an excuse! And I doubt that Lord Vader is either!"

Tex's helmet moved lazily towards the man in black, who was towering far above them. "I noticed that you're the one who sent me on this mission in the first place, and yet you haven't said anything."

Vader's deep voice filled the room. "I've no use for an instrument so blunt and emotion ruled as you," he said. "The Director of Project Freelancer will be most displeased that his favorite subject failed at a simple kidnapping."

"So what?" Tex asked. "Plenty of agents have gotten screwed worse that me before-"

"But you are the exceptional," Vader cut her off. "You are the best. That's why I called you for this job specifically. I suppose that Washington will just take over as top agent over there after this."

"Look, what the hell do you care?" Tex demanded, a chord having obviously been struck. "Just let me go back and get burned, then!"

"Ah, but we're here to save you from that terrible fate, sweetheart," Sienex said. "Since you aren't in much of a position to go back to your former workplace, Vader and I were wondering if... you might join a little troupe?"

Tex shifted in her chair, looking back to the captain. "... What kind of troupe?"

"A group of the best in the Imperial army," Sienex replied. "We recently lost several throwaways on a very short-notice mission, and two high-rollers. We are planning on... closing the group up a bit."

Tex shifted again. "Meaning?"

"An elite force of the best high-rollers from the Empire," Sienex answered simply. "You'd be a... liaison of sorts from Project Freelancer."

"But, what will the Director-"

"I have already informed him that I was very pleased with your work," Vader came in. "And have informed him that the Emperor himself has requested that you continue to serve under me."

"Is that bull?"

"The Emperor respects my decisions."

"Do we have a deal?" Sienex asked, leaning across the table a bit and holding out his hand.

Tex looked between the hand and Vader, then back again, and shook it.

"You will be receiving orders in a few day's time," Sienex said, releasing her and drawing back. "Someone will be outside to direct you to your accommodations."

Tex stood, nodded at Sienex, and then at Vader, and turned and walked out the door.

"Do you think that we should really punish Dice by taking away the Omega A.I.?" Sienex asked as soon as the door was sealed.

"I'm sure that it was what made him behave so erratically," Vader replied simply. "I believe that Tex will be the perfect recipient."

"Yeah," Sienex chuckled. "They both like to blow shit up, and they're both bat-shit insane."

Lord Vader did not find this humorous.

"You should know that General Kefka has been wanting to see you rather badly," Vader said after several moments of silence that were probably only awkward for Sienex.

"Kefka, sir?" Sienex asked, standing up. "Why would he be looking for me?"

"He was the one who requested that you obtain the Esper while on the Radiant Garden raid," Vader replied.

"She was the reason we didn't make off with any of them," Sienex grumbled.

"He left her behind after his successful invasion of Radiant Garden, and... he very much wants her back."

"Can't you control him, sir?"

"... The Emperor likes him, unfortunately," Vader replied, some sting and distain in his voice. "He always seems to have an interest in those who are..."

"Completely (R-Rated)ing mental?"

"That's close enough."

Somewhere in the deep, dark, empty recesses of the galaxy...

Drifting about in the blackened space was a castle that we haven't heard about for several chapters now, containing characters that we also haven't heard about for several chapters now. Does that make them unimportant? I think not!

Several of the villains had gathered for a sort of 'variety night', during which they all exhibited some of their abilities, and perhaps even taught the basics to the others. Kaa gave instruction on the basics of rhythm and patters that enslaved the mind (which several of the more magic-apt villains caught onto rather quickly), Hades gave a few simple fire magic lessons and some very simple spells that could bring inanimate objects (such as dead people) to life, Captain Hook demonstrated some swordplay (which failed to impress many of the others).

Some of the newer villains also demonstrated their abilities. A young man with odd hair displayed several technological weapons off (no one really cared much), a strange half-human half-something else showed off some magic (none of which worked properly and got her booed off the stage), a large creature that looked a bit like a scorpion-human hybrid with no stinger showed off some acrobatics and lying capabilities (even a villain with magic that could detect lies couldn't figure him out), and several others.

Maleficent did not attend, for recently all she had received from the villains was slander for 'waiting for the right moment to strike' and 'letting Noir do all the work'. Part of her knew that they were all correct, and that she should just stop stalling. Another part of her wanted to strike them all down with lightning bolts, resurrect them, and make them all bow down to her for questioning her authority.

But truly, what excuse could she hold on to? Now that Noir was gone, if she didn't start putting her agents to better use, they might just walk out on her. Sure, she had some of them looking for things, and building relationships, and camping out locations, and running experiments, but she knew that if they didn't see some action very soon that she was done for.

She waved her hand over her crystal ball, which had just been showing the villain's meeting. It changed, and showed the Shera streaking through space.

"I'll watch a little longer," she told herself. "I'll have a plan in the next twenty-four hours, and they will accept it."

She hoped.

On the Shera...

Kairi spent the last several hours playing with the girls, with Terra always looming in the background, wherever they went. At several times Kairi had been tempted to invite her over, but she wasn't sure if Terra would understand her words. Rinoa was extremely scared of her, but Kairi managed to convince her that Terra was just another prisoner, and not a guard, but she was not feeling well. Kairi wasn't sure if Rinoa believed her, but either way, Rinoa was still rather intimidated by the extremely shy and witless girl.

Later, Kairi managed to sneak away for a few fleeting moments to ask how much longer they had on the ship.

"About eight hours," replied Merlin, who just happened to be the first person she could reach. "Have you been... building a relationship with Rinoa?"

"Yeah," Kairi replied. "It's really weird... will she remember any of it when we get he back to normal?"

"She'll remember it running tandem with her real memories," Merlin replied, "Which means they'll most likely be fuzzy."

"Well, I really feel like I'm gaining some insight on her," Kairi said, clearly excited. "It's like I'm getting back the time with her that I don't remember!"

"What have you been doing?" Merlin asked.

"... Well, playing princesses, really," she replied in a somewhat embarrassed tone. "... She thinks that she's been kidnapped."

"And this is an idea that she came up with all on her own?"

"... A little?" she suggested.

"Kairi..."

"I thought it would be a good way to gain her trust!" Kairi insisted. "Look, she's gonna miss me any moment, and there's another question that I want to ask you."

"Which is?"

"Do you have any way that you could... I don't know, put us in an illusion of sorts? So it looks like we've escaped?"

Merlin pondered for a few moments, then snapped his fingers. "In ten minutes, there will be a book on the deck of the ship. Open it when the kids are close to you. Okay? Oh, and by the way, time moves much slower while you're in there. An hour is more like two or three. Okay?"

"... Uh-"

But Merlin had already poofed away to retrieve Winnie-the-Pooh's story book.

Elsewhere...

Yuffie had passed out about an hour ago under Jacob's watchful eyes, but not under his listening-ful ears, which were trying to listen down the hall for any noise from the room he was sure was Cloud's and Tifa's. Not a whisper, but then again, he was a ways away, and their door was shut.

Jacob took another glance at Yuffie before he stepped out, sliding the door shut as silently as he could. He walked down the hall much more silently, because he was very good at walking down hallways silently.

He came to the door and listened very carefully, which happened to be another thing he was very good at.

Nothing. Jacob thought that he could hear fait whispering, but nothing more than that, and he couldn't make any of it out.

He turned and walked back to Yuffie's room just as silently as before. She entered, and found that Yuffie was waking. She sat up, stretched, then seemed to remember life, and promptly looked like she wanted to shoot herself. She looked up at Jacob, who quickly positioned himself to make it look as if he hadn't moved.

"Have you been staring at me this whole time?" Yuffie asked.

"... Kinda."

She gave a very subtle laugh. "That's a little creepy, Jacob..."

Jacob came over and sat at the foot of her bed. "Hey Yuffie, would it bother you too much to tell me a bit about Riku?" He already knew the answer. He always was good and delving into people's Hearts... that, and he had some phycological training.

"... No, I don't suppose it would..." Yuffie said. She looked directly into his eyes. "... He... he was..." Yuffie suddenly felt herself at a loss for words. She had never felt for a man like she had for Riku, so what had suddenly come over her?

"I know what it's like," Jacob said comfortingly. "You love someone, but... you don't even know why."

"What was it like for you? With her?"

Jacob shook his head. "I couldn't put words to it for the longest time. When I knew her I couldn't, after she was gone, I didn't even want to think about her, so I didn't try, but now..." A faint smile found it's way onto his face. "... She could flow into you like water. She could find her way deep down into all the cracks, and see right through you, and understand exactly what you were thinking. And yet, you liked it. Because the water filling up those cracks felt good. It was warm, and gentle, and it was still naive enough to not always look for the right things, but that was what you loved about it."

"She... she really was naive. She never knew where she was, or where she was going, or what she was doing... but she had dreams, things she wanted to accomplish, even if she hadn't gotten to the first step yet. But I loved that. It was the opposite of everything that I had thought about life, and I... I was fascinated with it. Much later I realized it was because she had lived a pretty sheltered life, and... well, I kind of stripped that away from her all at once."

"Did you feel guilty?" Yuffie asked him.

"A bit. But, the feeling was a bit clouded by the anger and frustration that came when I had to do what I did to save her, and still lost her."

"... Have you seen her again since then?" Yuffie questioned.

"I went back once, about a year afterwards. I waited until she was asleep to try and see her, but I still couldn't get anywhere near her."

A long pause.

"... So, she's just as dead to you as Riku is to me?"

"It's never easy, Yuffie. Don't expect it to be."

Again, silence.

"I don't even know if he loved me back."

"Yuffie, I never even got a second of face time with the guy," Jacob said, shrugging at her from the other side of the bed. "I'm not that good."

"I know, I know..." she bowed her head, "... I just..."

"It may sound cold, Yuffie," Jacob put in. "But, perhaps, there's a bit of good that came out of this."

She looked up, eyes that had been tearful suddenly burning with rage. "A BIT OF GOOD? HOW THE HELL CAN YOU SAY THAT?"

"Now you don't have to worry about him not returning the emotions-"

"I DON'T (R-Rated)ING CARE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed, throwing herself at him. Jacob jumped up, and Yuffie, who was normally controlled and skillful, flew past him in a furious rage.

Jacob backed up towards the door as she got back up and charged him. "OF COURSE HE LOVED ME! NOT LIKE YOU'VE EVER LOVED ANYONE, YOU BASTARD! GET OUT NOW!"

Jacob backed out of the door and closed it just as Yuffie hurled herself at him. He backed up against the wall outside and stared at the door, though she made no further attempt to follow him. He could hear screaming like a wild animal coming from the other side, and her fists banging against the door, before the blows subsided and all he could hear was mortified sobbing. Jacob could just picture her rolling around on the ground, kicking about madly, and screeching as though she was demon possessed.

He had experience with these things.

Elsewhere on the ship...

Sora had decided that Goofy probably wasn't as good at poker as Donald, Max and Cid assured Sora he was (he caught on after he lost for the fifteenth time), and had departed in search of Kairi. He came across Merlin, who was carrying about him the air that suggested that he had just done something that would been seen in the eyes of others as very trivial, and yet he thought himself very clever for it.

"Merlin, you've got your nose in the air," Sora said.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, have you seen Kairi and the other kids?"

Merlin's look of insult vanished after a moment, again replaced with his smugness. "Miss Kairi requested an illusion of sorts for she, Terra, and the children and Rinoa to play in. I did better though. I didn't get her an illusion. I got her a whole world!"

"Excuse me?" Sora asked, not exactly following.

"Oh, you know, my dear boy," Merlin said. "That story book which you ventured into."

"Pooh's book?" Sora asked. "Where are they?"

"I took the book back to my room. Hopefully, when they're ready to come out, Rinoa will be ready to be turned back into her normal self."

Sora couldn't think of anything he would rather do than spend an extended period of time in the Hundred-Acer-Wood with all the friends who lived there, and Kairi.

"If anyone asks where I am, you don't know," Sora ordered, bolting off for Merlin's room. Merlin gave him a look that said 'don't impose on me in such ways!' before Sora called back, "It was a great idea, Merlin!" at which the wizard smiled and continued to walk down the hall.

In Tifa's room...

The lights were out, and if it weren't for the stars flashing by, the room would have been completely black. Even the stars did not provide much light, though, but neither of the two people in the room seemed to mind.

"... Tifa..."

"Yes, Cloud?"

"I... I want to..."

"Yes?"

"... Apologize."

"For?"

"Where should I start?"

"I don't care."

Cloud shivered. "I'm sorry that I said Aerith's name when I was knocked out. You didn't need that."

"You already apologized for that, silly," she giggled.

"I'm sorry that I left you behind to chase Sephiroth," Cloud said.

Tifa let out a little gasp, though it wasn't caused by his words. "... That's okay," she said. Were there any more light in the room, one would see that she was blushing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to touch-"

"It's okay, Cloud."

A long pause, where shadows could be seen moving about in the darkness.

"... I'm sorry that... I hid from you. With the kids. I should have brought you with me. Every day, I thought, 'Tifa would love it here', and then I scolded myself for some reason. Why did I do that, Tifa?"

"... Maybe... You didn't want me there?"

"... I think... it was because... I felt guilty for avoiding you for so long. Shame."

"Really?" Tifa asked, her shadow's arm moving as though she was tossing away an article of clothing.

"... Tifa, I-"

"Shut up. I forgive you," she said. One shadow could be seen shoving the other shadow off of the bed they were on and onto the floor, at which point the shover shadow got on top of the other. "You said that you wanted us to keep this family going. Together."

"Yes."

"What about when Barret wants Marline back?"

"She'll visit."

"And when Denzel moves out?"

"He'll visit."

"Really?"

"It'll be fun while it lasts."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Absolutely?"

"... Are you going to get off of me?"

There was a pause again, where neither of the shadows moved.

"Cloud, do you really want us to be a family?"

"Yes. The kids and each of us."

"Each of us?"

"... Yeah?"

"Cloud, will the two of us still be a family after they leave?"

Again, silence.

"Tifa, I-"

"I love you, Cloud."

"... I know. I've always known."

"I haven't. Not until you were gone for a long time did I understand what the feeling was."

"..."

"Cloud, do you love me?"

"..."

"Cloud-"

"Yes. I love you."

"... You... you mean it?"

"..."

The top shadow lowered slowly, it's long hair falling down over the other shadow's head.

"I know I love you, Cloud Strife."

"... I love you too, Ti-"

Something stifled the bottom shadow's speech, and it's arms reached up around the other shadow and pulled it in so that it was laying on top of him, their bare chests pressed against each other's.

Down the hall...

Yuffie lay on the ground, her eyes squeezed shut as tight as they would go, and yet tears still managed to make their way out, running down her face. She had long since stopped screaming and kicking and rolling about in a fit of rage, and was now far to exhausted to do anything but lay in a puddle of her own sweat and tears.

She heard someone walking up next to her. She opened her eyes and saw a boy with white hair standing over her.

"Yuffie?"

"Yeah, Riku?"

"What are you doing?"

"... Mourning you."

"Why?"

"Because you're dead."

"But I'm right here."

"GOD DAMN IT!" she screamed, jumping up. "I TOLD YOU A MILLION TIMES ALREADY, YOU'RE DEAD! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"But Yuffie," he said, brushing the miniature Jar-Jar off his shoulder as the window burst open and sand began to blow in. "I thought you loved me?"

"OF COURSE I DO! BUT YOU'RE NOT RIKU! RIKU GOT BLOWN TO HELL!"

"But I'm right here," he said as sand began to whip up like a tornado around the two of them, with Riku's hair billowing about. "Nothing has hurt me, and I won't ever let anything hurt you."

"YOU CAN'T HELP ME, BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT REALLY HERE!" Yuffie yelled. She had already told him again and again that he wasn't real, but he didn't seem to care...

"Yuffie, if I wasn't real, I wouldn't be able to do this."

She felt his arm reach an just a bit longer than it should have been able to and wrap itself around her, pulling her in. She put up a feeble bit of resistance as she stared into his eyes, and then closed them as their lips met again, and this time it was not short, but long, and deep, and... and...

Fake...

"NO!" she yelled, breaking away and landing not in snow instead of sand. "You're not real, Riku! And I don't believe in you!"

"Yuffie-"

"La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la..." she sang, sticking her fingers in her ears and closing her eyes. "I can't hear you!"

"Yes you can," his voice came, cutting perfectly through her barrier. "Yuffie, please come to me."

Yuffie felt her hands fall to her sides pathetically and her lips stop moving, only hanging open lamely. Her eyes were barely open, and her head lolled backwards. "... No... I... Riku, you're not..." She had all at once felt incredibly weak, and she couldn't resist when she felt arms move under her knees and her torso...

She felt herself lifted into the air, her arms hanging down, and her head resting against something warm.

"I am real, Yuffie."

"... You... you're not..." she breathed, her lips barely moving.

"I am real, Yuffie."

"... No..." She could feel blood dripping down on her face and clothes.

"I am real, Yuffie."

"... Can't be..." Something wet pressed against her lips.

"Yes, I can be."

"..."

"Yuffie?"

The Great Ninja Yuffie had fallen asleep, where dreams awaited, perhaps different from her hallucination filled reality, perhaps not.

Several hours later...

The Shera docked at Radiant Garden, to a rather large reception committee of both citizens from the town and Disney Castle, and members of the Rebel Alliance and the Resistance.

The Mabrik docked shortly after, with Squall disembarking with a look that said 'I'm even more annoyed and pissed off than I usually am, and someone is damn lucky that I haven't killed them'. Cid came out of the Shera to join him, though he was much happier, and may or may not have had a bottle of beer or so. Jacob came down moments after with the water, and the three departed for the headquarters. The crowd disbursed, save for Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and several others, who waited for a few moments until Donald, Goofy, Max and P.J. all disembarked. P.J. asked how Yuffie was doing, and since none of the three had seen her, he considered going aboard to see her, but then realized that he didn't really know her all that well, and probably shouldn't even try, as he would most likely make things worse.

"Yeah, you never did have much luck with women, no matter what you were doing with them," Max pointed out.

Aboard the Shera, Merlin decided to pull Sora and Kairi out of the book for a bit of a status check. They had been inside for almost seventeen hours, and it was about three o' clock inside the book.

"Yes, she trusts us, but no, we haven't told her that she's not her real age," Kairi said.

"And when exactly were you planning on telling her this?" Merlin asked. "She needs to be aware of what's going on, and be ready to cooperate!"

"We know, we know!" Sora insisted. "We're just having fun is all."

"Well!" Merlin got out.

"... Look, can't we just have a little more time in there?" Kairi asked. "Please?"

"Yeah, and besides, I'm kinda tired," Sora said, yawning and stretching to prove his point. "... My internal clock is all off now."

Merlin looked very angry for a few moments before he caved. "Fine. You can have... Well, I don't know. You can have a bit longer in there, but if Squall comes back and demands that Rinoa be turned back, they you're going to break the news to her, right then and there. Got it?"

"Got it," Sora and Kairi replied with tones that suggested that they didn't entirely 'got it'. They went back into the book, after which Merlin stormed off to do something or other, muttering things about how incredibly young and stupid those two were.

Outside...

Zidane and Stitch sat atop a roof near where the ships had landed, observing anyone who came and went. However, now that people had stopped coming and going, there wasn't much to do.

"Come on buddy, let's go and raid that hot chick's house down on Light Road for some panties."

"No!" Stitch insisted, though his tone suggested that he was slightly torn. "Me gotta see spiky head!"

"Stitch. Buddy. We're not gonna go onto that ship."

"Ih! Spiky head!"

"... Blugh, fine. But can I at least get into some swanky duds?"

"You no have any."

"I'm a thief, aren't I?"

"Kinda."

"Kinda? You've got to be kidding me!"

"No."

"Come here, you little..."

And so began a chase across the roofs of Radiant Garden which resulted in many bruises and broken bones from loose shackles on the roofs falling off onto innocent passerby.

In the base...

"Our scientists say that they think they can replicate the liquid," Princess Leia reported to Squall, Jacob and Cid. "Though they aren't entirely sure if it will be completely successful. Where did you get it?"

"From what I gathered, nowhere," Jacob said unhelpfully.

"Excuse me?"

"Beyond. It came from beyond," Cid put in, clearly enjoying himself.

"... Right." Leia paused. "You'll get back whatever of the original is left, just in case the clone doesn't work properly. By the way, my offer for you to join with the Rebellion still stands. Are you interested?"

The three glanced at each other. "Might be," Jacob said. "But we'll have to talk with individual members of our team, of course."

"Of course," Leia replied. "But what about you three."

"I'm staying here," Squall droned, in a very 'that's final, bitch' voice.

"I was considering it," Cid said, "Taking into account that I can bring my ship along."

"So long as you don't find any better craft among our fleet, Captain Cid," Leia replied.

"Ha!" Cid burst out a bit too loudly.

"I can bring back a list of everyone who'll be joining up," Jacob said. "But I already know who you want."

"Do you think he'll join?" Leia asked.

"Fairly. Feel free to get your hopes up, but nothing's concrete."

"Concrete is concrete," Cid said.

"Shut the hell up, Cid."

A few hours later...

Sora, Kairi, Terra, Marline, Denzel, and Rinoa all came out of the book, with Kairi having explained to Rinoa that she believed that the kidnappers had preformed a spell on her to send her back in time. Sora would force the kidnapper's magician to fix the problem. Rinoa said goodbye, and then Merlin and Sora went into Merlin's room together, with Sora holding Merlin at sword point.

"You lot really are bad liars," Merlin muttered as the door closed.

Terra managed to slip away, something churning in her mind unsettlingly.

She scoured the ship until she found just the man she was looking for in Jacob, who had come back to his room after his meeting with Leia, despite the fact that he hasn't been there the entire trip, and had instead been standing outside of Yuffie's door. Not that she knew any of that, but even if she had, it wouldn't have effected anything.

"Yes, Terra?" he asked, turning in his swivel chair away from his desk, finishing typing something into his phone and then putting it away in one of his pockets.

"... I... I felt something I didn't recognize earlier."

"An emotion?"

"Yes. It... it made me feel warm inside, and I wanted to move, and jump around, and do all sorts of stuff that shouldn't matter, and doesn't do anything productive, but I didn't care, and I felt like... my mouth was... it was fighting with me, like it wanted to move and curl."

"When did this happen?"

"I was in this book with Kairi and Sora and the kids. They were all messing around with the people who live in the book, and they all... they all..."

"Fun, Terra?"

"Yeah."

"You wanted to join them?"

"... I think so."

"I'm not sure exactly what you are, Terra," Jacob said. "And I'm not sure how long it will take to figure that out. But, most Espers don't look half as human as you do, and you're... well, you're human as human can be." She stared at him blankly. "Well, you've still got Esper abilities, and... Well, Terra, Espers can't fell emotion like humans can. Some can't feel at all. But you..."

He stood and walked towards her. "You've got emotions, even if you don't understand them, and don't feel them all the time. They're confusing you, but I think that you'll understand them with time. Terra, don't think that you're human, but I don't think that you're an Esper, either."

She continued to stare at him, but there was something a bit scared in her eyes now. "W-what do you think I am?"

"I have no idea. A half-Esper, half-human? Doubtful, but possible. A new species all together, engineered by the Empire it's self?"

Terra wasn't sure if she should be disturbed by Jacob's hypotheses or not. "I don't think that they made me. I told you that Cloud knew me for a little while, and he told me that I was kidnapped as a baby."

"... Then the Empire must have known what you were, all the same," Jacob said. "They might have known you were something different, but told everyone that you were an Esper. Or..." He glanced at her. "This is hopeless. Here, I promise you: The next time we're in an Imperial base, I'll try and find out all I can about you."

"... You promise?" she asked, a bit confused. Why would he promise such a thing to her?

"I promise," Jacob said. "And Terra?" he said. She nodded. "Next time you feel it coming, let your mouth curl. Jump up and down. I... I think it'll help."

Elsewhere on the ship...

Marline and Denzel were quite shocked with the older Rinoa, even though they knew it was coming. Kairi had promptly hurled herself around her sister, at which Rinoa had fallen over under the sudden weight. When asked if she remembered anything that had happened, she answered that the last thing she remembered was Noir holding her. When Merlin suggested to look for any strange, out of place memories from when she was five, she found those of the time she had recently spent with them, only they were old memories, and a bit fuzzy, and not helped by the fact that her real memories from that time kept butting in and confusing her.

Squall came down to see her and they both vanished, and soon Cid's voice could be heard, summoning everyone to the deck.

Once Sora, Kairi, Terra, Merlin, Tifa, Cloud, Marline and Denzel were gathered (though the last three weren't required, and Tifa was giggling madly for some reason, and Cloud was smiling ever so subtly) Cid and Jacob asked:

"Who wants to join the Rebel Alliance?"

Everyone (Other than the two kids and Cloud, obviously) had been thinking about it, and just about everyone had their answers.

"I will," Sora said moments after the question was popped.

"I will, too," Kairi said.

There was a long pause, during which no one so much as made a sound, until:

"I-I will," Terra said, stepping up next to Sora and Kairi. Jacob flashed her a grin, before he was promptly distracted.

"We will!"

"Neva nalla gwesta, suckers!"

Jacob turned to see Zidane standing in the door. Stitch sitting on his shoulder, the little blue imp cackling madly as he often did.

"What in sam hell are you supposed to be?" Cid asked.

"I'm the guy who'll blow your mind," Zidane rhymed shamelessly, stepping out of the door and out onto the pilot's platform, past Cid and Jacob, down the stairs, and to the rest of the group.

"Okay, that was helpful..." Cid muttered, a very tired and exasperated look on his face.

"No one else?" Jacob asked.

"... Cloud and I were going back with Marline and Denzel," Tifa said.

"I'm going back to my house and forgetting about all this nonsense," Merlin said simply.

"We need to ask Max," Jacob said.

"What about Yuffie?" Cid questioned him.

"... I don't think she's coming."

"... Oh. Okay."

Merlin volunteered to zap away to Disney Castle and retrieve Max, which he promptly did. They were back in a few minutes, and Max had an answer.

"I'm sorry guys, but no."

"What?" Sora asked.

"My dad and Donald aren't gonna come either. We're gonna stay behind and defend Disney Castle. I mean, after we liberate it, of course. We'll be fighting the Empire in our own way." Max blushed. "Plus... I've got a girl friend who's already pissed at me for being gone so long."

"You do what you feel is right," Jacob said. He looked down at Sora, Kairi, Terra, Zidane, and Stitch. "I've been informed that the Rebellion is moving out in about one week. So get ready, because me and Cid'll be flying this thing out with them." He looked up at the Tifa, and then at Merlin, and then at Max. "I've got to be somewhere. See you." With that, he turned, and walked off the deck.

Shortly...

Sora and Kairi stayed behind on the deck, not really having anywhere else to go. They both stared uncaringly out of the window at the city, though they were at ground level, so there was nothing impressive about the view.

"... Kairi?" Sora asked, looking at her.

"Mmm?"

"How long do you think we'll be gone?"

"Well, you are the Keybearer. I'm sure that if we really wanted out, we could pull a few strings..."

Sora gave a half-hearted laugh. "Listen, I-"

"Psst!"

They both turned around and saw Yuffie standing on top of the deck.

"Psst!" she hissed again, though she already had their attention.

"What is it?" Sora asked her in a normal voice.

"I thought you guys would want your stuff back before I took off."

"... Excuse me?" they both asked.

"You know, all the stuff that you guys left on the Mabrik when Riku baled on you."

"No, we meant... take off?" Sora asked.

"Oh! Right! Hey, can you guys keep that on the down low?" she asked. "Now come on, I'm not gonna unload all this crap myself, you know!"

Sora and Kairi threw each other glances, then walked up towards her. They walked through the ship, down the ramp, and over the the small blue and white craft parked next to them. Yuffie opened the back and stepped in, followed by Sora and Kairi. She must have already gotten to work, because two piles of clothes for each of them were stacked up next to each other.

"I just need your help finding all the odds and ends, you know," she said.

About a half an hour later, Sora and Kairi were fairly certain that they had all their stuff, and unloaded it out onto the pavement.

"Oh, almost forgot," Yuffie said, running back inside. She came back out with a large envelope, which she opened carefully. "Riku told me that he had letters to some people in this here. I guess he must have revised them every so often, to keep with the times, you know? Kinda paranoid, though, thinking that he's gonna die like that. Ha ha!"

"... Yuffie, are you okay?" Sora asked.

"Huh? Oh, fine," she replied, waving a hand at him diesmisvly as she looked at the name on the first letter. "This is for Kairi," she said, handing it to the red-head. "... King Mickey," she said, pulling that one out and handing it to Kairi as well. "... Aaaaaaaand, Sora," she finished, pulling out another letter, handing it to the male. "Well, I must be off!" she said, closing the envelope quickly as though she had something to hide. "I might see you all again some day!" she said happily, going up the ramp and waving back at them.

"Yuffie!" Kairi yelled. She turned around just as the ramp started to close. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know!" the ninja replied happily just as the ramp shut. Sora and Kairi stepped back to the save distance where they had put their stuff down, and watched as the ship lifted off, hovered, and then shot off into the sky. They continued to follow it until it was no more than a speck in space, and then it was too gone to be seen.

"Hey, Sora?" Kairi said.

"Yeah?"

"She took Riku's things with her."

To Mickey:

You came into my life when I really needed you in my life. You saved my life a good number of times, and I'm sure that I still owe you a few. If you're reading this, then it looks like you missed a beat or two, but hopefully you were home, with your wife, and Donald and Goofy.

I'm writing this draft while in the past: Yuffie, P.J. and I were pulled into a worm hole in time and space. If you're reading this, I probably died then, and somehow you found it. You'll never cease to amaze me.

I just want you to know that without you, I would have never made it as far as I did, and I would have never found myself like I did. I was a lost soul, and my Heart was filled with Darkness; but you fixed that. You truly are amazing, Mickey, and I'm honored that you would consider me so close that you request I call you by your first name.

It was an honor,

Riku

To Kairi:

Kairi, you really were an odd girl. You know that, don't you? But you intrigued me, and you alerted me to the fact that there were other worlds out there. Maybe, if it wasn't for you, Sora would have never saved the universe. No, I know that without you, he wouldn't have.

Kairi, I don't want you to worry about me, whatever has happened to me. I do want you to worry about Sora, though; don't let him go crazy. If whatever it was was strong enough to kill me, then Sora will probably lose himself trying to get revenge. Don't let him do that to himself.

I'm not sure what else I can put to words, for often emotions don't have words that apply to them. I can say, Kairi, that I am sure that I loved you for a long part of my life. However, even when I was young, I was tinted, and my initial interest in you grew into more of a lust, and it should have never been that. Allow me one final request: tell Sora what you really think of him. You and he were meant for each other more than we ever were.

Wishing you the best,

Riku

To Sora:

Goodness, you're a moron.

Sora, just so that you know, there were never any hard feelings between either of us as to the Keyblade. I lost my chance, and you got it. Either the Keyblade made the wrong choice, or I did. Perhaps both. Either way, there is no sense in worrying about what has past, as there is no way to change it now.

I am dead... a funny thought, to think that you'll be reading this after I'm dead. Speaking of me being dead, Sora, as a sort of last request, do this: Don't go after whatever/whoever killed me. Sora, no offense, but if it took me out, it just isn't worth the risk. I'm not worth your life at this point. You're a Keybearer, Sora, and even if neither of us understands the true meaning of that statement, I'm sure it's much more important that either of us have come to understand. I can feel it.

Lastly, Sora, please, please don't be such a moron. Kairi... don't think of it as you would be betraying me now that I'm dead, because you wouldn't be. I didn't think of her in a romantic way. I thought I did for a while, but now I understand what I felt. Please Sora, don't let her get away from you. You two have loved each other since you found her washed up on that beach. And I know she loves you.

Thanks for all the memories, your best friend,

Riku

To Yuffie:

Yuffie, I'm not exactly sure where to begin with you. This is my first ever draft on you, and I'm surprised to find myself here writing it. I don't know how to describe you, Yuffie, because it seems like you're something different every time I turn around. I still don't understand what you see in me; I'm not all that attractive, I'm kind of a bitch, and I'm pretty sure that you've figured out by now that I'm not just 'playing hard to get'. And yet you keep coming.

I know I didn't like you or your advances at first, and I'm pretty sure I still don't like your advances as I sit here and write this. However, I'm not so sure about you anymore. Something about the way you keep trying either shows that you're extremely stupid, or have something so strong in your Heart that you simply can't over come it. I don't believe that love is always returned. After all, we don't live in a fairy tale. However, I have yet to find words to explain how I feel about you. You make me feel calm, despite the fact that you yourself are crazy. Whenever you smile at me, and whenever you're big, deep eyes look into mine, something in me jumps. I'm sure that it's stronger with you, and probably with other people, and I'm also sure that everyone feels love differently, but I've a pretty good idea of what this is.

Actually, I need to correct myself. I've been saying IS, and such, haven't I? I should be saying WAS, since I'm dead. That's a really strange concept, you know? If you probably weren't mourning me right now, I'm sure you'd find that funny. In fact, as I sit here and write this, I kind of want to come and get you and suggest the idea just to see what you think of it. When you laugh, that's another thing that makes me feel that way. I like the feeling. I like it a lot, Yuffie.

I LIKED that feeling, Yuffie. I'm dead, after all. I don't want you to mourn me. I would never forgive myself, and probably kill myself for a second time, if I had any reason to believe that I took the happy, hyper, fantastic, incomparable, ecstatic, lovesick Great Ninja Yuffie out of the galaxy.

Your almost lover,

Riku

"Jacob?" Kairi asked.

"Yes?"

"Whatever did you do with Bliss of Heart? You know, that thing of Noir's that changed people's Hearts, and only one could exist at a time, yata-yata-yata?"

Jacob grinned. "Well, since you've probably worked out that all that stuff about the gods telling he he couldn't was a load of bull crap, and Noir really couldn't build another one..."

"Yeah..."

"I destroyed it."

Kairi smiled back. "That's just like you."

"You're getting to know me again, Kairi."

End Book One.

In the spirit of Inception (if you haven't seen it, SEE IT!), I'll leave it up to you to decide if Yuffie's letter was real or if she hallucinated it.

Disclaimer: Don't own the Director of Project Freelancer, or the Omega A.I.. Both are from Red Vs. Blue with Agent Tex, made by Rooster Teeth. Also, Kefka is from FF VI.

So, now that that's out of the way, I'll leave you all to your thoughts. Please review. I'd love to hear what you think of all this.

I'd like to thank a few people, starting with Trev Dawg, with whom I had many theory and idea based conversations. Also NinjaSheik, my first reader ever. Lastly, natcat5, the obsessive fangirl I always wanted. (Kidding!) Also, my small number of other readers, whom I hope continue to read.

Watch out for the upcoming sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Fate of Heart.

Until then,

Lord Fortune