A/N: Sorry, I actually finished writing this chapter about two weeks ago. The Type-2 error with the story editing prevented me from posting it. But I took a little bit of that time to edit it some. I like the way it came out.

Kingdom Hearts and all associated characters are not my property. I'm not slandering anyone, I'm just offering my take. Scram, lawsuit pansies.

There's nothing to fear... Keep telling yourself that.

Sora was not in the right state of mind right now. Naminé had just said something he wasn't too sure he was comfortable with. As a matter of fact, though, he wasn't even sure what the concept meant. "Love," by his definition, was something so beyond foreign to him that he wasn't sure he knew what it was. Kairi was, in fact, the closest thing he had to "love," in his honest opinion.

Why should Naminé, then, be so different? He couldn't get that lingering thought out of his head. Something about this whole mess was true: he did understand what Naminé was going through somehow. But he had bigger fish to fry, and he wasn't sure that allowing himself to get this close to Naminé would allow him to do it right. Xion, after all, was not exactly on the far end of the spectrum from either Naminé or Kairi. He had already bore witness to Kairi's death, and that wasn't an isolated incident. Sora was a man with undeniable trauma in his unfortunate past. If he was falling for Naminé, he knew it would have to wait until after Xion was defeated and the mental scarring left behind by yet another incarnation of Kairi dying by his hand had faded somewhat.

More troublesome than even that, though, was his inevitable decision to leave Donald and Goofy behind. He had originally secretly intended to come back for them, but he wasn't sure that was a good idea anymore. Donald had changed. He was desensitized by Sora's apparent betrayal, but he was even more grief-stricken by the idea that he betrayed Sora. Goofy seemed to be doing a decent job keeping him in line, but he was also torn apart by the idea from the very beginning. It was apparent that, while Goofy was ready and able to make amends, Donald was too busy beating himself up. If Sora were to take Goofy with him, he'd be leaving Queen Minnie with a demoralized wizard, one whose ability to protect the Castle would have been significantly diminished and definitely not enough to withstand any members of either the Council of Light or Xehanort's group. Worse yet, if he were to take Donald with him, he wouldn't have been of any use to either of them, likely getting himself into even bigger trouble on the road. And there was no way in hell he would ever think of taking both, especially considering all of the damage that had been done in the three seconds he turned his back to accomplish any of his other goals. Even if they weren't enough to fully protect the Castle, they would have to be enough to at least fend off any attackers until Sora could clean up.

Or perhaps Sora was being selfish. He did, on some level, want to be alone with Naminé. If she was right – if she did truly love him – then he wanted to be by her side, no matter what. Sora wasn't sure what love was, either, but he knew that this wasn't something Naminé would joke about.

"We're gonna be there in a few minutes," Sora said to Naminé, shaking her a little bit. "You might want to get up now."

After Sora's emotional outburst, both he and Naminé were tired. Sora, being the gentleman that he is, allowed her to sleep, even offering his coat as a blanket.

"...huh... Whoa! Look at that! Did it always look like this...?"

Naminé and Sora both appeared to be somewhat shocked by this rendition of the World that Never Was. On his last visit here, Sora saw nothing but dark, dreary hues of blue and black set over a concrete jungle, complete with disgruntled citizens and anything else that might attack him without batting an eye or any other form of a moment's notice. The city now looked like a Mardi Gras festival met with a wedding; bright lights and white overtones on all the buildings, as if the entire place was engulfed in a festival.

Sora landed the ship and pulled his Keyblade out, cautiously looking around him for anything that might jump out at him and attack either him or Naminé.

"Hey, Sora!" a very loud, obnoxious voice shouted at him.

Sora narrowly avoided slashing at his friend Yuffie as he finally let down his guard for five seconds to sheathe his sword. She ran toward him at top speed, waving at him even after getting within three feet of his face, almost as if she had never heard of the term "courtesy" before.

"Hey, Yuffie," he replied, his voice noticeably less enthusiastic than hers.

"What the hell are you doing here? Goin' off and not contacting any of us for a whole year... You got a whole lot of nerve showing up now, when we were just throwing a good-riddance party!" she joked.

Sora looked around nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Just kidding!" Yuffie said with a chuckle. She lightly punched Sora in the shoulder. "But seriously. What are you doing here, of all places? You do know, You-Know-Who really isn't gonna be happy to see you."

Sora now held a questioning look on his face. "You-Know-Who?"

"Spiky! He's held a grudge ever since you beat him in that tournament thingy. Hey, fancy sword, speaking of which! Where'd you get that? And... WHO'S THAT!"

Yuffie pointed at Naminé, an anxious smile permeating her face.

"Yuffie... First off, calm down. Second, the sword's not new. It's just doing something I never knew it could before. Finally, this is Naminé. She's been accompanying me recently." Sora sighed, exasperated.

Yuffie's expression suddenly changed. Her smile turned into a nervous frown. "Is this... the same Naminé you told us about?"

Sora held a stern expression. "Yes."

Sora had told Yuffie and the rest of her crew about Kairi and her Nobody in the past. Yuffie took a second to put two and two together, but she eventually understood what this meant for Sora.

"Oh my god, Sora... I'm so sorry..."

Sora looked up at the central castle. "I'm hunting down Xion. She killed King Mickey and she took Kairi's heart from her dead body. That's all I came here for. I'll leave you guys in peace when that's done."

Yuffie's expression turned sour. "That's really all you came here for? Jerk."

"Hey. I didn't know you guys were here, anyway. What happened to Radiant Garden?" Sora asked.

"The Council of Light took it back, so we're nomads again." Yuffie glared in the direction of that star. "Sora... Something's not right with them. Can I ask you for a favor?"

"You want me to check up on them too." Sora glared at the star himself. "Don't worry, I already had that in mind. Too many things aren't making enough sense. It just doesn't add up. Why didn't they protect Kairi? They should have been able to track her. She was, after all, a Princess."

Naminé interrupted. "Sora, don't forget... We don't know that anymore. The Crest of Conspiracy was missing by the time Kairi actually died."

Yuffie gasped. "Wait... How long have you been around?"

"Since before Sora found her... and Xehanort."

Yuffie looked as if she was about to ask more questions, but Sora flagged her down.

"We'll just go up, kill it, and come back down."

Yuffie was suddenly startled by Sora's lack of emotion towards Xion. "Even if she's Kairi's Heartless... she's still a part of Kairi. Doesn't that bother you, in the least?"

Sora stopped. "Wait... what did you say?"

Leon stepped out from behind another building. "Yeah. She's Kairi's Heartless, alright."

"How-

"Let's just say Kairi hasn't been Princess for a while," he remarked. "For a while, as in, 'we think she may not have been the Princess at all.' But we're not sure of what exactly happened, and the way you present the situation, we don't know what to make of it."

Sora stared at him for a moment. "You think she's never been the Princess?"

"Either that, or she wasn't pure, starting with the very second she got into your body."

Sora pulled out the thalassa shell charm that Kairi gave him. "It doesn't matter now. I made an oath. I intend to keep it."

"I'm surprised that's not on your Keyblade," Leon said. He had a habit of saying things with the specific intent of pissing people off, but this time he actually seemed genuinely concerned. "Did something happen?"

Sora pulled out his Keyblade again. "No, I just prefer to use this one. It feels more natural." The blade truly was light as a feather. Sora briefly showed off some sword acrobatics with it before showing Leon what exactly it looked like.

"Shiny much. You plan on keeping a low profile with that thing?"

"No. They know I'm coming. At this point, I'm kinda hoping that's a good enough scare tactic."

Sora nodded in Leon's direction, then in Yuffie's.

"You want any backup?" Yuffie asked, readying her blades.

"No, thanks," he replied. "If you want in on the next kill, sure. But Xion's mine. This is revenge."

Sora stepped past them both, holding Naminé by the hand as he walked toward the castle.

"He's grown up," Leon said, exchanging a quick glance with Yuffie.

"Well, we all have, you know. Time didn't stop," she replied.

Leon put a hand around the handle of his Gunblade. "It did, at one point... I just sometimes find myself losing touch of where it picked back up."

"He's actually kinda handsome... She's lucky." Yuffie looked over at Leon. "Unlike a certain spiky-headed blonde with a bad attitude we both know..."

Sora kicked down the door to the castle. Nobodies swarmed him, but he was more than ready to deal with every single one that came his way.

"Ragnarok!" he shouted, unleashing an aerial flurry of swings before finally launching a series of explosive beams of light at his enemies. He managed to kill all but three of the Nobodies in the room.

"Careful, Terra! They're Organization XIII members!" he thought he could hear Naminé shout to him.

"Organization XIII? No... I killed them all."

"Remember who they are, Terra!"

"Wait... Who's Terra?" Sora muttered to himself for a moment. "Xion! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I safeguarded it. The Council of Light was after it."

Sora sliced through the three anonymous Organization members with ease, then proceeded to chase Xion through the building.

"Ter... wait... You're not Terra! You have no right to this heart, you dirty Council sympathizer! Get away from me!"

Sora dashed in front of her and blindsided her with a leg sweep, then caught her and shook her violently. "Get a grip, dammit! What happened to the Council, Xion? Tell me!"

Xion stared Sora point-blank in the face now. She couldn't get away, no matter how hard she tried.

Naminé grabbed the heart from Xion's hands. "Sora... This heart... It's not Kairi's. It's got a receptacle for the Crest of Conspiracy in it, but it's complete other than that... Who is she guarding?"

Xion glared at Naminé. "You..."

Sora punched Xion in the face. "You dare touch her, and I swear I will send you to whatever God you wish. Answer my fucking question and leave Naminé out of this."

Xion held a puzzled look on her face. "You've... been protecting her all this time? She's the one I've been protecting... But why are we on the same side, then?"

Something about Xion's comment made Sora uncomfortable. He let her go and propped her back up. "What are you talking about, Xion? I never took any sides... I'm just trying to make sense of all this."

Xion looked around the room a little bit more. "Are you... are you sure they're not watching us?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Sora reassured her. "Now, will you tell me what's going on?"

"No. You'll have to earn that right."

Xion charged at Sora, her Keyblade in hand. Sora took the defensive for a moment, though not before a Supreme Light appeared between herself and Sora, just in time to punch her into a wall.

"Strike Raid!" Sora shouted, simultaneously unsheathing his Keyblade and throwing it at the Broken's other arm as it went in for a second strike at Xion, cutting it off before it had a chance and redirecting its attention toward Sora.

"...Sora? What the hell are you doing? I don't need your sympathy, you asshole!" Xion stumbled back to her feet, jumped up, and came down on the Broken's other arm, chopping it off as well. "See? Now it's defenseless. I didn't need your help."

"Xion, don't underestimate these things... They're not like the Heartless."

She ignored his warning and continued chopping it up until its left arm regenerated, caught her, and threw her against the wall again. Her Keyblade went flying into the air.

"Shit... Naminé, be careful."

Sora caught the Keyblade in midair and dodged around the Broken until he found Xion in the crater, pressed against the wall with enough force to break a few bones.

Nevertheless, when Sora grabbed her arm, she slapped his hand away and jumped out of the crater herself. "I refuse to work with you," she said, staring him down.

Sora held his Keyblade in her way. "You don't have a choice anymore."

As he said that, he caught Xion's Keyblade in his other hand.

Xion tried to break free, but she was severely injured.

"Care to join me now?" he asked, extending his arm, with her Keyblade in hand, back to her reach.

"Dammit... You win." Xion took it from him, then placed her forearm in his hand. "Help me out, will you."

"Naminé, Cure her."

"Got it," she replied. "Heal!"

Xion was surrounded in a green light adorned with falling leaves and golden bells for a moment, while Sora took the initiative and helped her out of the crater.

"Gimme a boost."

Xion lowered her hands and locked them together, allowing Sora to step up and use them as a platform. She then threw him up into the air, allowing him to backflip over the creature's head and drag the Keyblade down the length of his spine.

The Broken keeled over, allowing Xion to jump onto its back and start mauling it. As soon as it started regenerating, Sora jumped back onto its back, and stabbed it in the glowing purple weak spot in its right half.

Xion lost her balance for a moment, the Broken dying and deteriorating underneath her feet. Sora caught her and jumped off its back, stabbing into the wall with his Keyblade and dragging it down to the floor below.

"It's dead. Now, work with me here, Xion. I need to know what happened to Kairi's heart, especially now that there's a Crest of Conspiracy out there somewhere, missing its heart and in serious danger of being jacked by an asshole named Xehanort."

Xion looked puzzled for a moment. "Xehanort? As in, the current King of Darkness Xehanort? He's the one after the Crest?"

"I don't know who the hell he is. But what did you mean when you said 'Remember who they are?' I know I'm not Terra, but..."

Xion understood immediately what was going on. "Shit... Okay. I can help you. But..."

Sora stared at her for a moment.

Xion leaned in, as if to tell a secret. "Organization XIII was made up of ex-Council members. They're all dead."

Sora couldn't believe his ears. "What... what do you mean?"
"Xehanort was originally the leader of the Council... but he got greedy and tried to steal the Crest of Chaos from Ansem the Wise. When Ansem died, it was Xehanort's Heartless that stole it from Ansem's heart while it was on its way up to Kingdom Hearts. Now he's after the Crest of Conspiracy."

Sora was angry. He couldn't believe a word Xion was saying, even if it was the truth. "Why are you bullshitting me, Xion? Who are you trying to protect? What are you trying to protect?"

"Sora... Without both light and darkness, the heart can't stand up on its own, unless it has the Crest of Conspiracy or the Crest of Chaos. But you can only get that title by being your party's respective leader. That's why a Prince of Darkness and a Princess of Light have to get together. It keeps the balance of power in check indefinitely. If Xehanort's plan succeeds, he'll be the overlord of the universe... There will be no balance, and the entire universe will rip itself apart."

"Does Xehanort know this?"

"Who knows. He's a madman as it is, and he always has been. That's why he killed all of the members of the Council, and had so many of them rebelling against him when his Nobody was in charge of Organization XIII."

Sora was shocked. "How long has this been going on? And what does this mean for us?"

"Well, it's been going on since before you were born... I really was hoping that you were Terra, for that reason. Nobody knows where the original three Keyblade Masters went. They were supposed to protect us, in this sort of emergency. But now..."

"Now we've got a deranged madman who's got control over one of the people who has a Crest of Chaos. And I'm not about to kill him, not if there's another way to go about killing Xehanort, at least."

"So where is it? The Crest of Conspiracy? Kairi told me you had it."

"You spoke to Kairi...?"

"Yes. That's why I took her heart when she died. She gave her life of her own free will."

Sora was devastated upon hearing this revelation. "Why... why did she choose to die?"

"The Council of Light is granted a certain amount of control over the Princess. They are allowed to keep in contact with her, and otherwise keep tabs on her. But they have to be given this right from the very beginning, by the Princess herself."

"So... Kairi gave her life so that they couldn't find the Crest of Conspiracy..."

"And by the time she died, she no longer had it, and she was the last person who knew where it was. That rendered Xehanort's plan useless as well. And it'll be in vain unless you give it to me."

"Whoa, hold on." Sora glared at Xion. "Why would I give it to you? You were just working with him. Xehanort, I mean. Even if I knew where it was..."

"And what if I told you that the heart I stole from Kingdom Hearts is the only one that can make use of it? What if I told you that I stole that heart in order to make sure it was kept out of his hands?"

Sora thought about this for a moment. "Then show it to me. When the next Princess is born, I want to be right next to her... I want to protect her. That's the least I can do..."

Xion understood this. She took the heart from her coat and gave it to Sora. Then, she started fading away.

"Xion!" he shouted.

"This was my purpose, Sora. I'm done now." She shed a single tear. "I want you to know... that there's an infinite, unstoppable love for you in that heart. It's so much stronger than anything I've ever seen or felt..."

Sora dropped to his knees.

"You know what to do, Sora."

Those words echoed in his head for a moment. Sora got up, and turned to face Naminé. "This is yours, I believe."

The Oathkeeper chain in his breast pocket started glowing profusely. Sora took it out, allowing it to fuse to the heart and become one with Naminé.

Xion nodded at both of them, before completely fading away into the darkness.

With a blinding flash, Naminé's new heart was completed, and entered her body. Sora embraced her, his resolve strengthened beyond anything he could have imagined just minutes before.

Thank you... Xion.

A/N: The wait for the next one is gonna be a while. Expect fluff. Action scenes tend to tire me out, because they require a lot more description than I'm normally willing to give.

Anyway, RnR! Hope you enjoyed it! And again, sorry about the big wait time on this one. I'm meticulous.