Evening! After I posted "Missing the Sun," there seemed to be some interest in a continuation to the story. As it was, that drabble was meant as a prologue to a larger story, and so here it is! Enjoy!

This fic is a collaborative effort between myself, Ocean's Tale, nerdforsale, and http : / / chaosxthemailman . tumblr . com / (who does not have an ffnet account). Thank you!

oOo 0 oOo 0 oOo 0 oOo

In a small control room on a broken world, a blue-haired man knelt, examining a series of wires. Hollow Bastion's defense system looked to be in good working order, but one could never be too careful. The people of this world had only started to come trickling back recently, and the defense system was instrumental in keeping them safe. Without it, the common townsfolk would be helpless, as the man, Isa, knew all too well.

The broken world on which Isa lived had once been his home; a radiant garden of warm homes and sweeping vistas, overlooked by a majestic castle. All that had changed when the Darkness came. Isa still had nightmares about that night; he had worked in Cid's shop then, as a seventeen-year old boy. The only patrons at the time had been three children, one boy who loved looking at the gummi parts on Cid's walls, and two girls who tagged along with the boy wherever he went.

Only those three had been there with he and Cid when they barricaded the door against the pressing swarm of Heartless. Only they had made it to the completed ship in the basement of Cid's shop. Only those three and Cid would have escaped, if Isa had had his way.

"No! No, I'm staying to fight! I'm staying!"

"Are you crazy? That's suicide, Isa!"

"I don't care! Those things killed Lea! Lea—"

"Lea would want you to live! Now get in the goddamn ship!"

Cid had grabbed his shirt and thrown him bodily into the ship, or else Isa wouldn't be in Hollow Bastion that day nine years later, maintaining the mechanism that kept the townsfolk safe from the darkness that had once destroyed their lives.

Isa stood, wiping some sweat from his brow. Everything was in order, so it was time to head back to headquarters. He frowned lightly, the x-shaped scar between his eyes wrinkling as he did.

'Perhaps if we'd had these back then, things would be different,' he thought to himself. 'But...it still wouldn't have saved Lea.'

Lea...Isa paused as his stroll took him through the Bailey, looking through the hole in the wall at the castle in the distance. His best friend had died on the steps of that castle, months before the Darkness had come. Lea had been the first casualty. It had been so sudden, too; the scene was burned forever in Isa's mind. His friend, twenty feet away, calling to Isa, unaware of the darkness rising at his feet. Isa's voice, crying out a warning as the Shadows leapt. Lea's startled expression as he disappearing under a mass of black, seething bodies. Diving into that mass, trying to reach him, and white-hot agony erupting across Isa's face before his head struck the pavement and everything went black.

He had been told after the fact that the guards had been too late to save Lea. Isa would never forget that he had been too late and too weak as well. That failure haunted him, and drove him to protect the people still left behind in his own way. Isa moved on from the Bailey, considering the boy he and his comrades had only recently remembered. He wondered if that boy had managed to save his friends. Isa sincerely hoped so.

oOo 0 oOo 0 oOo 0 oOo

The boy in question wasn't so far off. Footsteps sounded as three people walked through the streets of a recovering Hollow Bastion. It had been an odd experience, returning to Hollow Bastion. For everyone else, it had been over a year since the events involving Ansem and the Princesses of Heart. But for Sora, who had been asleep that whole year, it literally felt like just yesterday that he had been fighting a possessed Riku in the ruined castle.

Riku.

Dammit. He had him. Sora had found Riku, then let him slip away into the darkness. Now he had to go hunting all over the worlds again to try and find him. And he wasn't going to let Riku get away this time, even if Sora had to slog through the realm of darkness himself to drag him back.

Sora kicked at a small chunk of rubble and sent it clattering across the road. But that was a very long way into the future. No sense worrying about it right now, not on this world. And- Sora grinned widely at this thought- especially not when he was on his way to go see his friends from Traverse Town.

Speaking of which, it looked like that Donald, Goofy and himself had just found the house Yuffie had been telling them about. Sora picked up his pace and hurried across the courtyard. He didn't even bother to knock before he rushed through the door.

Just as Sora entered the house, Isa rounded the corner, coming from the Bailey. He was just in time to see the door swinging shut behind the Keybearer. Isa blinked, then smiled softly at himself, stepping through the door just a few paces behind Sora. He shut the door quietly behind him. It seemed Squall (he would always be Squall to Isa, no matter what he insisted on calling himself since the fall of their home) was in the midst of explaining their sudden memory return to Sora. Isa stayed quiet while Squall finished his explanation; Sora didn't seem to be taking their forgetting him very well. He smirked a bit and let out a brief, amused "hmph" in response to the boy's irritation.

"If you don't talk to your friends for a year, you can't be surprised if they don't remember you. Although, I suppose you wouldn't think anyone could forget a character like you." Sora spun around, surprised. He hadn't even heard Isa come in. He gave him a wide grin.

"Hey, Isa!" he greeted with his usual cheer.

Isa nodded, then got to the crux of his thoughts.

"Did you manage to help your friends?"

Sora's face fell almost immediately "Well.. we were able to help Kairi. But Riku... We're still trying to find him." Of course, it's hard to find someone when you don't know where on any number of worlds they could possibly be. Isa scowled, and before he could stop himself, he blurted out,

"You let us know if there's anything we can do to help."

...well. That was a bit embarrassing. Aerith and Cid were giving him looks of pity, while Squall just looked awkward. There was a long, tense pause, before Squall cleared his throat and broke the silence.

"Well, before that, Sora, there's actually something we need your help with. We've got a bit of a...problem, that calls for your skill set. Why don't you go with Isa to the Bailey? He'll show you what I mean."

Isa was grateful for the excuse to escape. "I'll go on ahead, meet me there," he said to Sora, before hastily heading out the door.

There was a long moment of silence in the room after Isa left. The tension was palpable enough that even Sora could feel it. He tried to shake off the last of the awkward atmosphere; by asking about it. Because he was curious about that moment, and the only way to find out what was up with that was to ask. "So, uh, that was awkward. What was that about?"

The remaining members of the household exchanged a look. It took a bit, but Leon finally started to explain. "Isa...had a friend, years back before Hollow Bastion fell. Lea and Isa were close." Leon paused and glanced at Sora. "Probably as close as you and Riku are."

Oh, so that was it. But- "Wait, 'had'? What happened to this Lea?"

Aerith said softly. "Lea died...about a year before the darkness overran the world."

"... Oh." Sora's voice was very quiet. "How... what happened?"

"That's something you should ask Isa, not us." Cid interjected.

He did have a point. But the thought of asking about Isa's dead best friend felt... weird. What if he didn't want to talk about it? Well. He'd just have to think about it. Maybe he could ask Isa for details later. They'd have time to get reacquainted after not seeing each other for a year. Sora turned torwards the door, but only made it a few steps before Aerith spoke up.

"Wait, Sora! Before you go, we have something for you." Aerith handed the Keybearer a shiny purple card made from plastic. "Leon came up with these, and we wanted to give you one."

Sora turned the card over in his hand. One side had the pale silhouette of a castle surrounded by a uniform purple. On the other, Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member had been printed in bold white letters, with a white box underneath it where someone had written his name. A membership card? That was actually a pretty cool idea! "Hey, thanks!"

Leon just gave that half-smile of his. "You should get over to Bailey now. Isa's probably waiting."

Sora nodded, pausing barely long enough to call "See you guys later!" before he dashed out the door. Forget about asking directions.

... Wait. Where was the Bailey? Huh. Oh well. It couldn't be that hard to find. Just look for the place with the guy with the blue hair.

Needless to say, it took Sora a bit longer then expected to find the Bailey. But not by much. With the Bailey in sight, Sora hurried the last bit of the distance and slowed to a stop next to Isa. The blue-haired man had been leaning against the wall, arms crossed and looking off towards the castle, but he looked up as Sora approached. He smirked softly. Sora really was a lot like...well. Down to business.

"So. Decided to join me after all, hmm?"

"Sorry about the wait." Sora grinned sheepishly.

Isa stood up away from the wall. "I don't suppose Squall's filled you in on our mission statement?" At Sora's perplexed look, his shook his head. "Of course not. Well, I had best fill you in, then."

Isa stepped over to the window, leaning on it to gaze out. "The original name of this world was Radiant Garden. It was a rather accurate title, once. We would like to restore this world to something worthy of that name. But...there is a bit of a problem."

Isa pointed to the seething mass of darkness surrounding the castle, supressing a shudder of revulsion. "The Heartless." As he spoke the word, his voice dropped to a pitch Sora would not have heard before. It was bitter and vicious, and his eyes narrowed as he stared out at the monsters in the distance.

It was an absolute sea of Heartless. That was the only thing Sora could think of to describe what he saw around the castle, and it sent a shiver down his spine. What was so interesting, so powerful in that castle that could attract this many Heartless? On second thought, he wasn't sure that he wanted to know. But wherever there was massive amounts of Heartless was where he needed to be.

The drop in Isa's voice wasn't lost on the Keybearer. It was possible that he just hated the Heartless for making him lose his world for nine long years. But...

'As close as Riku and I, huh?'

"So, uh... What happened to Lea?"

Lea's name being brought up, and from Sora of all people, was so unexpected that Isa was left completely blindsided, his breath catching audibly in his throat. The fingers of one hand tightened into a fist against the rock sill he was leaning against, the other hand involuntarily rising to touch his scar. It took him a moment to realize Sora was still talking.

"Leon and the others told that he died, but they... they wouldn't tell me any details," Sora continued, not daring to look over and see Isa's reaction to his question. "Cid said I should ask you. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He hurriedly added on to the end.

Should Isa tell him? Cid and the others never brought Lea up around him, and he avoided the subject like the plague. But...something about Sora made people want to trust him with their problems. And he so reminded Isa of his lost friend...he made his decision.

"...it was the Heartless." he said after a long moment. He kept his gaze directed at the castle as he spoke. "We...it was sudden. He'd...gotten a bit ahead of me down the castle steps, so when they appeared, I...was too far away." He scowled, struggling to keep his voice level. "...They dragged him down before he even knew they were there. I couldn't reach him...I woke up in the hospital later, with this scar and no Lea." Isa's voice cracked on his friend's name. It had been so long since he had spoken it out loud. He wasn't sure why he was trusting Sora with this; but he guessed that was why Sora was the Keybearer.

"...At the time, we didn't know what they were or where they came from. We found out later that they came from inside the castle." His scowl deepened, and he muttered more to himself than Sora. "Ansem, that callous bastard...saying how he "felt responsible" for what happened to-...as though it wasn't his fault."

Sora listened to what Isa said with increasing distress. His friend, standing just out of reach and with nothing he could do to save him?

Riku standing on the other side of those huge, white doors with the Heartless and pure darkness bearing down on him and King Mickey. Riku, refusing to cross to the other side because he was needed on that side to help the King, no matter how much Sora pleaded. Riku, disappearing from sight as the doors closed, then faded into nothing, taking with it all traces of the King and-

Sora's hands went from resting on the sill to gripping it tightly. "... I'm sorry, Isa."

Ansem again. Nothing good ever seemed to happen when that name, that person showed up. First with Lea, then with Riku. If this was the world that Ansem was from, maybe he could finally get some answers on him.

There was a long moment of silence, as each contemplated their own thoughts. Then movement down in the canyon caught Isa's eye, snapping him out of his funk. He glanced over to see what was down there, then turned to point down at the sinuous white monsters moving towards the castle.

"That is our other problem. I don't suppose you know what those are?"

Sora leaned forward a bit to get a better look at the things Isa pointed out. Not that doing so helped much, seeing how far away the two of them were, but it didn't matter. He was still able to recognize the creatures.

"Oh, those." He looked back over at Is. "Yen Sid told me about them." Oh man. What had the old wizard said about the Nobodies? "They're called Nobodies. If a heart taken by a Heartless is strong enough, sometimes they leave behind a Nobody. Heartless monsters that can't feel emotion. But those things," he gestured at the Dusk, "aren't all that tough. It's Organization XIII we need to be careful of. They're the real danger."

A voice called out from the stairwell behind the Bailey.

"You rang?"

Isa snatched up the claymore he'd leaned against the wall behind him. A close call had taught him never to have his weapon out of reach, and he was glad for that caution now. Sora whirled on the spot and dashed out to the stairwell. He stopped suddenly just past the arch, looking around to find where exactly the voice came from.

"He's been making excellent progress, hasn't he?"

"Yes. I think this calls for a test."

Right as Sora started to make for the stairs to try and locate those voices, several Dusks appeared. They slipped by him, heading for the Bailey. Sora hesitated, torn between trying to find the voices and keeping the Nobodies from getting past the Bailey.

No, Isa could handle a few Dusks. If those voices were who Sora thought they were, he'd have to save his strength in case it came down to a fight.

"Letting your friend do the fighting for you? That's not very heroic."

Up on a square-ish chunk of stone left from some restoration project, darkness billowed up for a moment before vanishing, leaving behind a figure cloaked in black. The figure lifted his arms, and a moment later five other black-clad people appeared.

Sora glared up at them, then adjusted his posture, one hand ready to call the keyblade if he needed it. "You must be that Organization XIII I've heard so much about."

A chorus of laughter erupted from the hooded men in response to Sora's comment. But one of their numbers stayed silent.

Behind a black hood, there lay a devilish grin. There he was, the Keybearer. And the key to getting Roxas back.

"What a shame, I expected more from the Keyblade Master," a deep voice echoed from the roof tops. The hooded men were suddenly enveloped in darkness, whisking them away in an instant.

"What'd you mean by- hey!"

Before he had even finished his sentence, they were gone; hidden and carried off by that swirling darkness. Sora tensed, then dashed towards the stairs. They couldn't have gone far, right? As long as they were still nearby he could find them and confront them. End all of this right now, before anything really bad happened.

Never mind the fact that there were six of them and one of him. He'd figure something out. He had to.

Sora had to stop abruptly about halfway to the stairs to keep from running straight into the darkness that suddenly billowed up in front of him.

"Hey hey, where's the fire?" the hooded man muttered, stepping out of the darkness and into Sora's path. "Well isn't this a pleasure. The Keyblade Master, heh." He moved his hands to his hips and grinned behind his hood. There was no way this brown haired boy would be able to understand his intentions. But in this Nobody there was a flame, he was set to take back what he lost. Behind his hood, that burning smile twisted into a grimace. Pain? No he wouldn't have it, he couldn't stand tricking himself anymore.

Roxas, that name didn't sound anything like Isa. But bygones be bygones, this shell didn't have time for nostalgia. But what to do, what to do? He hadn't really thought too hard about confronting Sora, but it couldn't hurt to try.

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" he offered, trying to dig for any sign of his friend.

oOo 0 oOo 0 oOo 0 oOo

While Sora had barreled out to confront the Organization, Isa had momentarily hung back. He needed to make sure the defense system had closed the gates out of the Bailey, protecting the town. Before Isa could rejoin Sora on the landing, he found himself needing to defend the gate from an onslaught of Dusks.

He had enough reach to ward off any Nobodies easily, so he stationed himself in front of the gates, destroying any Nobody that wandered too close with a single, powerful strike. All the while he kept an ear on the conversation going on outside. Most of it was schoolyard taunting, barely worth listening to.

Then, Isa heard a phrase that made his blood run cold.

'Got it memorized?' He only knew one person who had ever said that. And that voice...it couldn't be. It couldn't.

Isa smashed through the Dusks in front of him, annihilating them utterly. He had no time to play with them. He dove forward, bursting out onto the stair landing, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew it couldn't be, but he couldn't stop himself from crying out to the lanky, hooded man.

"Lea!"