Cameos:

Yunita from Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light

Episode Two:

Dwarf Woodlands

or

The Queen's Revenge

The Lindblum

-The Realm of Darkness-

"So, that's the plan?" Cid asked the two warriors. Kairi and Lea had traveled to Cid's private chambers in the ship after resting momentarily. He had summoned Kairi and Lea to tell him everything they could. Lightning had only called him with the basics, and gave no additional information.

"Yeah, basically. Pretty fool proof, huh?" Lea asked, with a sarcastic smirk.

"You're mission sounds like a valiant one. Lightning says she owes you, and seeing as how I owe her, by that logic I owe you as well. I'll take you wherever you'd like. After all, you're not the only ones trying to save this realm," Cid stated. "We're all working to get out. Some longer than others, with the awkward time flux here. It can feel like only a day, give or take, and it could have been anywhere from a second or a hundred years in the Realm of Light. None of us know."

"That's why the two of us have to try and clear things as soon as possible," Kairi said. "We have to be as quick as possible because Xehanort can strike at any moment. We're running on borrowed time, if even that."

"Then, what ever you wish is my command to hand out to the others," Cid replied. "Now, if you two would like, you can go rest in the chambers my men sleep in. We have spares."

"We appreciate the offer, but-" Lea began to say, but Cid shushed him with a motion of his hands.

"You two look exhausted. I promise that we won't allow someone to let you oversleep. But you do need rest. That's an order. So long as you're on this ship, I'm your commander, understand?"

The two both nodded, realizing that Cid only wanted good things for the two. Kairi and Lea left shortly after finishing their conversation with the Brigadier General, and met one of Cid's men. The man took them to their individual rooms where they could stay, and departed soon after. Both warriors decided it was for the best if they rested, and then continued on into the next world.

?

-The Realm of Darkness-

Kairi felt odd. She opened her eyes, and found herself lying in a bed of roses. Her body felt frail and puny. She rubbed her eyes and began to stand, feeling groggy. Unfortunately, she didn't know where she was. She moved toward the center of the square garden she had fallen asleep in, and it looked to be in the middle of a market place.

'Wait,' she began to think. 'This... this is... Radiant Garden. But how am I here? And why does it look so... different?'

"Kairi!" a elderly woman's voice boomed. Kairi spun around and saw an older woman coming toward her.

"Grandma!" a girl's voice replied. Kairi saw a little girl run out from under her with short red hair. She suddenly realized that the little girl was her - a four year old version of herself. This couldn't be real – it had to be a hallucination or one of her lost childhood memories.

She remembered going to rest after Cid had told Lea and her about the rooms; she hadn't intended on sleeping, but both Lea and Cid insisted on it; she believed Lea was simply being lazy and wanted to procrastinate.

"Where have you been?" the elder woman asked the young Kairi. Kairi was in awe, and nearly on the verge of tears. Even though she couldn't completely remember the woman clearly, she still knew in her heart who the woman was and what she had meant to her.

"I was just playing, grandma!" the young Kairi beamed up at the elder woman. Kairi's Grandmother smiled, yet looked exhausted all the same.

"That's good dearie. Was it with those two nice boys again? I can't seem to recall their names at the moment, but... oh well. We should start heading home. After all, it's getting late."

As the two began to leave, Kairi grabbed her grandma's hand and skipped along happily.

"When are mom and daddy coming back? They've been gone for nearly three days!" Kairi exclaimed, not seeming too concerned, but her grandmother immediately changed her composure and stiffened.

"They're working, dearie. In the castle, on a big, secret mission."

"I hope they come home soon. I want to tell them about the boy I met the other day! The other kids couldn't see him, and they were really mean about it... but I know he was there!"

"Well, as I've told you child, you're different. Some kids just don't understand that, but there's nothing wrong with being different," her grandmother reassured her.

"That's what the boy in the mask said!" Kairi smiled. "He said I was different from all the kids, and that my heart was full of nothing but light. He was really weird, but he had this really cool outfit, and-!"

Suddenly, the memory began to slip away from Kairi, and everything around her began to fade to black.

"No!" she shouted, trying to run forward as if it would bring the memory back, but nothing happened - she couldn't even move. The darkness began to take her again, and she could feel someone shaking her.

"Kairi," Lea's muffled voice echoed in the dream. "Wake up."

As the dream slipped away and her eyes began to open, Kairi swore for a single moment that she saw someone in the darkness with her.

She thought she saw Namine.

Dwarf Woodlands

-The Realm of Darkness-

Even with the strange invasion of the Heartless Snow White wasn't bothered. Her life still felt like a perfect, happy ending. She told her husband of what happened with the evil witch named Maleficent, an evil man named Xehanort, and the boy named Sora who helped save her with his friends.

The dwarves still lived out on the outskirts of the town at their own choice. Snow White invited them to live in the castle with her and the Prince, but they hadn't stayed longer than the first few months. Once they realized she was safe and happy, they were content to return to their lives and visit every few days.

Unfortunately, Snow White couldn't shake a strange feeling she had. Something more dangerous seemed to be looking through at her. It was like reliving the event with Maleficent.

And the dream she had... She couldn't shake it. Something dark was coming, darker than how her world had transformed since it fell. The pure-heart girl realized immediately she needed to warn the King. If only he hadn't gone to another Kingdom on a diplomatic mission.

It wasn't until she spun back around that she realized what old, familiar face was looming before her.

"You are call yourself Queen? You dare act as if this Kingdom is yours to command?" the evil Queen screamed. Snow White couldn't believe it - the woman was alive.

"You- I thought you-" Snow White began to mutter, but the Evil Queen waved her hand toward Snow White, and the girl's mouth was enveloped by a spell of silence.

"Darkness can never be destroyed. I am back to claim what is mine, what was taken from me. I shall start with you, after all, you're supposed to be dead! You never can trust a witch to do things for you these days," the Evil Queen muttered. "Now, come with me."

The Queen reached her hand out to grab Snow White, but Snow White jumped back and began to scream.

"Shut up!" the Queen screamed back and moved forward again, but this time, Snow White held her hands out toward the Queen, a released a small, repelling aura of light to push the Queen backward. "Ugh!"

As the Queen fell back, Snow White could hear footsteps approaching.

"Snow White! Are you okay!?" she heard one of the soldiers call out. He appeared from around the corner, with several guards.

"Looks like you're safe... for now. I'll be back, Your Majesty," the Evil Queen announced venomously, and disappeared into a portal of darkness.

Kairi was hesitant about using the Teleport. Lea told her if Cid used it, it had to be safe. She also knew landing the Lindblum would have been hazardous and caused a panic, so this was safer. Still, the idea was unflattering to the girl.

Lea and Kairi arrived in the world through a small flash of light, landing on the ground of a forest. The Teleport had done it's job, but Kairi was sure she felt queasy all of a sudden.

"Hey, you okay?" Lea asked Kairi.

"Yeah, I just need a second," Kairi muttered back, hunched over and trying not to vomit. She tried to regain her breath and calm done.

"You're not used to that kind of travel, are you? It's like using a Corridor. It's not much different. In fact, it's safer."

"I think I prefer the Gummi Ship approach Donald and Goofy usually do," Kairi replied as she regained herself. She stood up with pride, and shook off the chills she had going through her. "I'm not a fan of instantaneous travel. I still remember how sick I felt after using Namine's portal from The World That Never Was to my home... Anyway, let's go."

Kairi and Lea looked around the dark forest they were in. Kairi had hoped, despite being in the Realm of Darkness, there might be a nice, colorful world with happy rainbows and ponies.

She realized how idiotic she'd been to dream of that.

"This forest is creepy, with a capital K," Kairi said aloud. "Cid says this world is called 'Dwarf Woodlands.' Wonder why..."

"I think I might have been here before. It seems a little familiar," Lea began to say.

"You were in the Realm of Darkness before?" Kairi asked, baffled. "Why?"

"Xem- I mean, Xehanort sent us on recon missions. I went to a lot of worlds, on missions for him and Saix, when we were on the same side against Xehanort. This could have been one of them. The name doesn't sound familiar, but the landscape definitely feels like it..."

"Alright, well then, lead the way," Kairi commanded.

"I'm not even sure if I've been here, you can't seriously expect me to know where I'm going!" Lea exclaimed.

"Fine then, I'll lead, you follow," Kairi replied, and began to move forward. Lea rolled his eyes and followed after her.

"Not like we haven't been doing that already. Lead the way, m'lady," Lea snickered.

The two warriors proceeded through the woods, not letting their guard down. Both knew that the deeper they traveled into the Realm of Darkness, the stronger the Heartless would become.

Lea wasn't worried; when he had first awoken from returning to his true form, his powers had felt foreign and took some minor adjusting. Now he was slowly getting back to his seasoned warrior ways, and with the addition of his Keyblade. He was still getting used to that too, but that's why he fought with his Keyblade and one of his chakrams.

He wondered how Roxas would react if he saw him now, wielding a Keyblade and fighting to save the world.

'How weird that I'm trying to save the worlds,' Lea thought to himself.

'You're doing what's right,' Lea heard a voice echo through his head - a girl's.

"What did you say, Kairi?" Lea asked his companion. She was marching ahead of him, and she stopped.

"I didn't say anything," she said, turning her head toward him. They both shared a quizzical expression, confused for different reasons.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure, Lea. Come on, we don't have time to horse around. We're lucky we haven't encountered any Heartless yet. I don't want to suddenly-"

A horde of Shadows surrounded the duo.

"Of course," Kairi muttered aloud with a bitter tone.

Both warriors summoned their weapons in their hands, and put their backs to each other.

"Let's make things interesting," Lea started. "I bet there's about thirty of them. First one to slay sixteen wins."

"This isn't a game," Kairi replied, appalled.

"'Said the loser,'" Lea mocked. He immediately ran forward and ambushed the Heartless.

The two warriors hacked and slashed their way through the predators who now turned prey. Kairi was starting to become more graceful with her fighting style, slowly easing into the technique of using both hands with a Keyblade. She knew when Sora saw her fighting he'd make fun of her for wanting a secure grip, but this was comfortable for her, and if there's one thing she knew about fighting, it was that you needed to be comfortable with your weapon. That didn't mean you could be lazy, however.

They each sliced through their prey, vanquishing all the Heartless with relative ease.

"Well, looks like you won," Lea said, with a bummed expression.

"What?" Kairi asked, confused.

"Guess you must have gotten a few more of mine, since I only got twelve."

"You're still going on about that? Either way, I didn't get more than that myself. You sure you counted right?"

"What? Huh, guess we must have scared some of them off then."

"I've never seen Heartless get scared before..." Kairi replied. A strange chill crept its way down her neck. "Hold on, something doesn't-"

"You two!" a voice shouted from around them. Men began to emerge from behind trees, surrounding them, all in armor and wielding swords. Some of the men moved out of the way as a woman with walked towards the pair. She had gray long hair tied in a ponytail with a single bang hunched over her face.

"I am Yunita, the Head Knight of this Kingdom," The woman began to say. Kairi and Lea realized that the girl couldn't be older than sixteen, maybe seventeen, which was bewildering since she was supposed to be the 'Head Knight'. "I haven't seen you two before, and the Queen of this Kingdom was just attacked by a violent witch. We're taking you in as suspects."

"I'm sorry, but you can't just do that," Kairi replied. "We've given you no reason to take us as prisoners."

"This Kingdom doesn't get visitors," Yunita replied. "It's odd that at the same time that Witch attacks and we go pursuing her that you two appear. For all we know, you two could be the Witch in disguise."

"She's got a point," Lea replied to Kairi.

"So you're just gonna let her take us in?" Kairi was in disbelief, and refused to be anyone's prisoner again. Her incident with Saix was enough to hold her for a lifetime.

"Just play along," he whispered to her. "If anything goes south, we'll break out. I'm sure we can handle these grunts. Other than the girl, they all look pretty easy."

"..." Kairi didn't respond. She simply dismissed her blade, as did Lea. She placed her arms forward, awaiting Yunita to cuff her.

"What are you doing?" Yunita replied, confused.

"Well, I'm complying. Aren't you gonna cuff me? After all, I'm a prisoner."

Yunita simply turned away and began to walk off. Two men approached Kairi and Lea with rope, and bound their hands behind their backs. They motioned the duo forward to follow Yunita as the rest of the posse surrounded them in the shape of a circle to ensure they couldn't escape easily.

"Great idea, Lea," Kairi said sarcastically.

"Sheesh, you talk too much," Lea replied with a playful tone. Unfortunately, Kairi wasn't in the mood for jokes, so she kicked him in the shin.

"Oww!"

After what felt like forever, the duo realized they were being led to a castle, and as Lea set his eyes on it, he immediately stopped moving. Kairi noticed this and turned to look at him, as the other warriors pushed him forward. He shook out of the spell he was under and returned to walking alongside Kairi.

"What was that just now?" Kairi whispered to him.

"So now you want to talk?"

"Lea, stop playing around. Your face practically exploded as soon as you set your eyes on the castle. Why? You have been here, haven't you?"

"Relax, would ya? I just got distracted."

"If this comes back to nip us in the butt, don't come crying for my help."

Lea didn't reply, to Kairi took her attention off of him and toward whoever lived in this castle. She wasn't sure, but as she got closer and closer, there was a strange feeling that was surging through her, a familiar one. Kairi couldn't place what it was.

"Who lives here?" Kairi asked Yunita.

"The King and the Queen, of course," Yunita replied.

"I meant names," Kairi replied.

Yunita looked like she was about to respond, but a loud crash disrupted the conversation.

"What was that?" one of the guards questioned.

"The Queen!" Yunita yelled. "Men, inside, now! We need to protect the Queen!"

"What about the prisoners?" a guardsmen asked, but when Yunita looked over at Lea and Kairi, she saw that Lea had torn out of his cuffs and had diminished Kairi's as well.

"Don't worry, we'll handle this!" Lea smirked, and Kairi pulled away from him as soon as possible. They each summoned their keyblades and rushed into the castle without a moment's hesitation, leaving Yunita and her squad in a temporary confusion. Yunita immediately shook the thoughts away, and had her men charge after Kairi and Lea toward the noise.

As Kairi and Lea entered the castle, they heard a scream bellow from high in the tower, and charged after it. Yunita and her men were following right behind the duo. They ran past confused workers and servants of the castle, following where the noise had emitted, and soon reached the top of the tower. They saw the door of a room hanging upon, and a servant woman was standing there and yelling.

"Your Highness, you must get away from them immediately!" shouted the woman.

"There's a big misunderstanding here!" a gentle voice spoke from in the room, and Kairi swore that the voice was eerily familiar.

The duo didn't waste any time waiting. They charged past the servant woman into the room, Keyblades held in their hands, and were greeted by the site of seven dwarfs surrounding a single woman, and stopped. Kairi immediately recognized the woman - she was Snow White. Lea stiffened when he saw the girl. Yunita pushed past the duo into the room, but stopped just as she saw the same sight that had greeted the two heroes.

"Your Majesty," Yunita began, addressing Snow White, "what is going on?"

"These men are my friends," Snow White began. "When they heard about the Queen attacking me, they immediately rushed over to make sure that I was safe. They're old friends of mine."

"We didn't mean any harm," Doc began. "But nobody would let us through to see Snow White, so we snuck in and found her ourselves."

"Some security you have here," Kairi huffed. Yunita began to redden in the face, and turned to her men.

"Boys, if these dwarfs were able to slip by our security, I want this place inspected immediately! Next time, it might be the Evil Queen, and if something happens to our Queen, we may as well go down with her!"

The men immediately fleed and began to inspect the castle, leaving only Yunita, Kairi, Lea, Snow White and the seven men in the room. The duo dismissed their weapons, seeing no use to attack the seven men.

"I didn't mean to cause alarm, truly," Snow White said to Yunita. "I wish to have these men remain here, however. They're family, and only want to keep me safe."

"Alright then, I will have accommodations made for them immediately," Yunita began.

"We're fine with taking up one room, we'll be no more trouble than that," Doc stated. "All we need is seven beds, that way we can all sleep peacefully."

"Speak for yourself," Grumpy muttered.

Snow White smiled, happy to see such familiar faces again. She barely realized that there were other people in the room besides the men and Yunita.

"Oh my, how impolite of me! I wasn't aware that there was other company!" Snow White began, walking towards them, but stopped with a halt once her eyes met Kairi's. "You..." she began to whisper, her thoughts coming together. "I know you... You're one of the other Princesses. I can see it in your heart. You must be Kairi!" she exclaimed.

"Yes. It's an honor to finally meet you," Kairi replied.

"Your Majesty, you know these prisoners?" Yunita questioned, motioning towards the duo.

"Prisoners... Oh my, Yunita, you can't arrest them! Kairi is a friend of mine! And you certainly can't arrest her friend, they too will be my guests," Snow White replied.

"He's not my friend," Kairi muttered under her breath.

After Kairi explained to Snow White and Yunita why they were in their world, with no help from the strangely quiet Lea, the room fell silent for a few moments before someone finally spoke up.

"Well, I cannot say I have met this 'Aqua', but you are always welcome to take rest and see our land, Kairi," Snow began. "After all, it's the least I can do, after everything you and your friends have done to help the worlds! Maybe someone else around here will know what has happened."

"Thank you, Snow," Kairi replied. "Since Aqua isn't here, I'd say we'd move on, but… it appears you have some troubles of your own going on. I want to help."

Lea suddenly jolted up, as if he had just realized the following conversation they were having was, in fact, happening.

"Really? You mean you'll help us with stop the Queen?" Snow White asked, hope rising in her voice. Yunita looked at Kairi, examining her curiously, wondering if the girl could truly be of assistance.

"Of course. That's what Sora and Riku would do," Kairi stated. "I won't leave until I'm sure that you and everyone here are fine."

"If that is the case, then I will gladly accept your offer!" Snow White replied in a giddy fashion, and began to get up. "No one knows the land better than Yunita, so I'll have her escort you."

"M'lady!" Yunita began, alarmed. "If I leave the castle, who will guard you? I cannot abandon my position here with you."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. My friends, the one who arrived here, they'll take care of me. The King should be back soon as well, and I'm sure with everyone surrounding me the way they have been, I'll be fine. It's hard for me to even get a second of alone time, so don't worry."

Yunita shared a look of dread on her face, but closed her eyes and nodded.

"As you wish then, Your Majesty. I will accompany the two Keyblade wielders on their quest to stop the false Queen."

"Thank you," Snow White replied to Yunita.

Lea, who had been shaken up ever since Kairi mentioned staying another moment in this Kingdom, finally decided to speak up, not liking the way this was proceeding.

"Kairi," Lea started, "I think we need to have a little chat first."

"About what?" Kairi replied, a bitter tone stuck in her throat. The man hadn't said an entire word until now, and he was now questioning her over her decision to help everyone here. What was his problem?

"Yunita, let's go," Snow White said, motioning for the warrior to follow her outside of the room. "I shall let the guards know about your impending journey. Once the two of you have finished talking, find Yunita, and she shall tell you how best to proceed."

As the two left the room and shut the door behind them, Lea shot up from his chair and glared at Kairi. She followed suit.

"I don't know what your problem is, Lea, but I'm helping these people. We can't just leave because Aqua isn't here. We have to help them."

"All we'll be doing is wasting time, Kairi. We can't even do anything with the Keyhole until we find Aqua, remember? A Keyblade of light and darkness is required to release a world here from the depths of darkness. Let them handle the problems of this world. Haven't you ever heard the rules of not interfering with a world?"

"Funny, considering you're the guy who was in an Organization that went out of their way to impose misery on others. I'm not leaving these people to fend themselves against some queen who wants to kill Snow White."

Lea sighed, and began to walk away from Kairi. He stopped, looking at the window of the room, not so much at the view but to focus his mind. He began to pace around the room, lost in thought, and for the first time, Kairi wondered if something was wrong with Lea.

"Ever since we got here… Ever since we came to the castle, you've been acting weirdly. You haven't made any quips at anyone's expense, you said nothing during my explanation of our mission here, and now you want to finish up quickly and leave. Tell me, what did you do here? You recognized this place, so what is it?"

Lea didn't respond to Kairi, but she saw a slight quiver in his demeanor. There was something else at work here, and she wanted to know what. She, however, decided it was better to figure it out later, when they – or she, judging from his attitude – saved the Kingdom.

"Look, I'm going to help Snow White. You can either come with me, or wait here, but the Evil Queen sounds like a powerful foe. As much as I hate to admit it, I need your help," Kairi said, and then began to leave the room. As she began her descent down the stairs, she heard Lea emerge from the room, and so the two proceeded down together.

Yunita lead the party that included herself and the two Keyblade wielders outside of the castle and toward the woods where the duo had first arrived before. They were to head to another castle on the other side of the woods, which was where the Evil Queen had once resided.

Kairi could sense something was not right with Lea. Whatever Lea's reservation regarding this world, Kairi decided she would not let them get in the way of her mission. She did share Lea's attitude of wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. At least then she wouldn't have to deal with having him around, and she could finally, finally be back with Sora and Riku.

She missed them, and ever since the day before they were going to be heading out on the raft on their magical journey, when this all began, she hadn't felt like the three of them had truly been together. She found herself continuously repeating that there was only one more journey in the way of them all coming back together, but the more and more time they spent away from one another, the more it felt like she would never truly be back with them the way things used to be.

This time, though, she would fight. And that at least helped her feel better, because she had always been relegated to staying behind each time trouble had arrived.

As the three warriors continued through the forest, they noticed the further they got in, the less the trees glowed with a healthy color, and the more grey and dark they appeared.

"Looks like we're getting closer to the castle," Lea said. "Then again, that is just a guess, but this 'Queen' sounds pretty cliché, so the dead plants aren't really that big of a surprise to me."

"Yunita," Kairi began, ignoring Lea, "how long have you been working for Snow? I don't mean to pry, but you two seem pretty close, which is nice to hear, since Snow could use someone like you, after what happened with her and the other Princesses of Heart."

"I started shortly after her Majesty returned. I was a highly ranked warrior when The Queen was here, and when she returned, it was decided that I was the most qualified to protect her from ever falling into harm's way again. The King beat himself up over what had happened, but mostly he was upset that he himself wasn't as mighty of a warrior as he wanted to be, and that he couldn't protect Snow like I could," Yunita stated.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked.

"I'm like the two of you – I can use magic in addition to my strength. In this world, magic isn't very common. The only people to possess it who reside here are the Evil Queen, me, and Snow, though she doesn't quite understand how to work her's.

"After the Evil Queen, she wanted to destroy Snow White's light because she believed she was truly the 'fairest' of them all. Now, it seems, she has come back somehow for revenge. We all thought her to be dead. The animals of the forest chased her off a cliff. It turns out that may have been just a ruse to distract us for the time being."

"But all of this happened before Snow disappeared, right?" Kairi asked. "If it did, then I wonder why the Queen waited so long to counterattack. I know time runs differently in worlds, but it doesn't make sense. It's almost like something was holding her back."

"We believed that the Evil Queen was waiting for an opening, for something that would work in her favor. Our world is in the Realm of Darkness. Her Majesty has told only a select few, but it is evident, due to the change in our world."

Lea suddenly stopped walking, his eyes looking hollow and empty. Yunita heard the sharp change in the man's pace, and turned to face him. Kairi did the same.

"What is it? Do you hear something?" Yunita asked. She began to reach for her blade, looking around them.

"No," Lea muttered, "nothing is wrong. Let's keep going."

"What is it with you?" Kairi questioned exasperated, fed up with this silent routine. "I have had it with you moping around. Just come out with whatever it is already!"

"There's nothing wrong, just drop it," Lea replied, continuing on the path that Yunita was leading them down. "Let's just go already, we're wasting our time as it is."

"Don't you walk away!" Kairi yelled, chasing after him. She summoned Destiny's Embrace in her right hand, pushed Lea against a tree, and held the Keyblade at his throat. Her frustration was getting the better of her, and she was letting her anger and her distaste for Lea cloud her judgement. "I want to know, right here and right now! What is going on!"

"Kairi, calm down!" Yunita shouted, catching up with them and grabbing Kairi's right arm, attempting to seize Kairi's movement of attacking Lea further. "Whatever your reasons for not liking this man, he is still a part of our group, and a part of saving the worlds down here. Don't act so rash!"

"You have no idea what this guy caused me, Yunita," Kairi replied back. "He owes me answers, and right now, I'm going to get them."

"Heh, you sound just like him right now," Lea mumbled to himself, lost in thought.

"This is not the way to go about it, Kairi!" Yunita said, and shoved Kairi away from Lea. Kairi hadn't expected the woman to be so strong, so she fell onto the ground, shocked momentarily. Lea still had no emotion on his face. Yunita had had enough of this situation. "You want your answers, you'll get them, but you promised Her Majesty, and the Kingdom, that you would help us. Whatever Lea has done to you, it cannot be bad enough to cause a fight here."

Kairi, finally coming to her senses, sighed and stood back up. She dismissed her Keyblade and looked at Lea, apologetic, but still upset.

"You're right," Kairi said, turning her gaze back to Yunita. "Whatever it is, it can wait."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that!" a familiar voice boomed overhead in the woods. The trees in the woods began to shake greatly, and a wind was roaring through. The voice rattled something in Lea, as a look of recognition shook off the zombiefied look he had mere seconds before.

A dark portal emerged a few feet in front of the group, and so Yunita retrieved her sword and the two Keyblade wielders summoned their respective weapons. A man in an Organization XIII coat emerged, and Kairi rolled her eyes.

"Great, another one of you. What do you guys want? If we're supposed to duke it out in some big Keyblade War, why is it that we keep having interference on trying to bring our friends back? I thought you'd want us to actually have the required number of lights," Kairi yelled over the rustling wind. The wind began to calm, and the man in the black coat merely laughed at her words.

"My, what a lively one you are! You remind me of a certain little blonde haired girl…" the man's voice began to trail off, and as he spoke those words, Kairi felt a strange pain in her head. She fell down onto her knees, and held her head as the pain began to grow.

'Him-'

"Wha-?" Kairi mumbled, a strange tugging feeling taking over her.

"Well, it appears my words may have been just too much for the girl to handle – the question is, which one of the girls is the one truly suffering?" the man mused.

"Kairi, snap out of it!" Yunita yelled, kneeling and trying to get through to Kairi. "He's just playing mind games. You can't let him get to you."

"I should've expected to see you around sooner or later," Lea began, stepping in front of the two, holding his Keyblade in one hand, and summoning a chakram in the other. "You always were a great lap dog, weren't you, Even?"

The man started laughing once again, and removed his hood, revealing the familiar face.

"I prefer to go by 'Vexen' now, Axel," Vexen replied, stretching out Lea's Nobody name with a large distaste. "I'm surprised to see you actually possess the capabilities of wielding a Keyblade, especially after everything you have done."

"'Axel'?" Yunita mumbled, a memory stirring within herself.

"Would you look at that? It seems I struck a chord in the young lady's memory! That name does sound rather familiar, doesn't it, dearie?"

"Shut up." Kairi replied back to Vexen with a bitter tone, standing back up and aiming the teeth of her Keyblade at him. "All of you Organization members just want to cause mischief to throw us off the path. Maybe it's time you got knocked down a peg!"

With that, Kairi struck a pose similar to Sora's, and then ran forward at the man, holding her Keyblade out to ram into the man.

"Let's see just what power you have then!" Vexen replied, summoning Frozen Pride into his right hand and grinning madly.

"Dammit," Lea muttered under his breath and ran after Kairi into battle.

Kairi swung her Keyblade at the man, who countered with a block from his shield. She smirked, knowing that he would do such a move, and brought her left leg up and kneed him in the ribs. Vexen scowled and crumpled on the ground, losing his balance and clouded by pain. Kairi quickly flung the Keyblade down toward him in a stabbing fashion, but Vexen recovered enough to block the attack with his free hand using a Blizzard spell, shielding himself temporarily and flinging the girl backwards.

Vexen jumped back, fully recovering himself, just as Lea came charging forward, throwing his chakram at the man. Vexen blocked it with his shield, tossing it away, and began summoning icicle pillars and sending them down Lea's path. Lea summoned his own pillars of flames, destroying and melting each icicle pillar standing in his way, and jumped over Vexen. Lea landed softly on the ground and struck Vexen from behind with the blunt end of his Keyblade. Vexen had been too slow to move away in time, and felt himself falling forward.

The ice wielder quickly summoned a large icicle platform from below to catch himself before he fell, and had the platform float away and use as a levitating device away from the wielders as he recovered.

"You'll have to do better than that, Lea," Vexen taunted. "I would have expected a little more punch from the man who was known to sink worlds into darkness.

Vexen started up his rampant laughter once again as Kairi rose from the ground, recovered from his last assault. As she took in Vexen's power, an idea suddenly came to her. She raced over to Lea.

"Hey," she whispered, "if I distract him, can you destroy that flying ice chunk?"

"Which one?" Lea chuckled, and then regained a serious composure. "Yeah. What's your plan?" Lea asked, surprised by her request and curious.

"Just follow my lead!" Kairi replied back, and then charged towards Vexen, her Keyblade extended forward.

"Right away, Princess," Lea replied practically to himself, and stabbed his Keyblade into the ground. In his free hand he summoned a chakram and threw them into the air, telepathically controlling them to surround his body. "One firestorm comin' up."

Vexen sent a volley of shards of ice towards Kairi, and she smacked each one away with her Keyblade. The man scowled, and started to summon pillars of ice from the ground to stop Kairi in her tracks. The female warrior dodged each as they emerged from the ground, and destroyed them with energy blasts of light from her free hand. When Kairi finally reached Vexen, she launched herself upward and stabbed her Keyblade into his platform, trying to climb aboard.

"You fool! Get off now, little girl!" Vexen shouted with a displeased expression, and began to move around the levitating ice platform to shake her off. She refused to loosen her hold.

'Hurry up, Axel!' she thought to herself, gripping the Keyblade with all her strength, trying to stay on.

Lea's body began to be surrounded by flames as the two chakrams spun around him, and soon pillars of fire emerged around his flaming body. He propelled his body towards Vexen and Kairi, a large surging fire following behind him.

"Move outta the way, Kairi!" Lea shouted over the roaring fire surge.

Kairi heard him and immediately broke her Keyblade out of the platform and fell to the floor. Immediately following her landing, she dodge rolled herself away as Lea came barreling through.

"What the-!" Vexen yelled, suddenly aware to Lea's tornado of flames, but had no way to dodge it in time.

"Burn, baby!" Lea shouted as the flames began to envelop Vexen and his contraption, melting away the platform and tossing Vexen through the air. Kairi saw the man beginning to fall, and quickly took aim at him with her Keyblade, focusing intently on the descending ice man.

"Wind!" she shouted, and a rather nice size gust of wind began to envelop the man, keeping him trapped in midair in a swirling Aero vortex.

The flames and chakrams faded away from Lea's body as he slowly began to fall back toward the ground. After landing, he turned back around and saw Vexen trapped in Kairi's Aero spell. He caught Kairi's eye contact, and as each looked at each other, they nodded their heads in sync and charged forward, Lea calling forth his Keyblade back into his hand. The two rushed forward from opposite sides, Keyblades extended, and leaped into the air as they each slashed Vexen with their Keyblades, forming the shape of an X.

Vexen's body hit the ground front first with a hard thud, and the two Keyblade wielders gently landed back on the ground. The duo then started walking towards Vexen, still holding their Keyblades in their hands.

The man slowly began to regain control in his body, and he carefully began to turn himself over onto his back.

"Alright, Vexen, looks like it's the end of the line for you," Lea stated, no amusement present in his face.

"What were you doing here?" Kairi asked, hovering her blade over Vexen's throat. Lea simply watched.

"'Spare time' for the plot to thicken, of course," Vexen replied, a chuckle escaping his throat that shortly turned into a coughing fit. "Tell me, Lea, why did you choose to come back to this awfully dread world?"

"What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, curious.

"Lea has quite a history with this world, and who knows how many others, from his time in the Organization," Vexen replied. "Care to walk down memory lane, Lea?"

"That's enough!" Lea replied, digging his shoe into Vexen's throat, causing the man to choke and his body to shake. Vexen grabbed Lea's foot and tried to pry it off, short gasps of air emerging from his throat as he struggled.

"Axel!" Kairi yelled, shocked, and tried to pull Lea off. "We need him alive, he can answer ur questions! There has to be a reason why they are down here!"

"Then we'll ask the next one!" Lea responded angrily.

"Blizzara!" Vexen muffled out, throwing his left hand in the air and aiming it at the sky.
The two Keyblade warriors felt the ground beginning to shake with a tremendous power, and pillars of ice shot up from the ground around Vexen. Lea and Kairi fell back, trying to avoid the sharp pillars of ice, and scooted away as soon as they could. Once Vexen was completely surrounded, he stood back up with a humorous expression and stared straight at Lea, smirking. The ice pillars each shattered, and Vexen was swallowed by a dark portal, leaving nothing but the two Keyblade warriors and Yunita, who stood off to the side the entire time. The woods returned to their quiet tone.

"Who was that again?" Kairi asked, standing back up and dusting herself off.

"Vexen, or I should say Even," Lea uttered as he began to stand up as well. "He was one of the many scientists Xehanort took under his wing when Ansem refused to let them continue experimenting on hearts. Other than Xehanort and Vexen, there were four of them. When I woke up from coming back in our home world, Ienzo and Aeleus were fully recovered, while Even and Dilan were having trouble waking up, and Isa and Braig were nowhere to be seen. If Even is with Xehanort once again, it's safe to say Dilan is too, since they both disappeared shortly after I left the world to find Mickey."

"But then that would mean there were eight scientists, including you, by what you just told me," Kairi replied back. "Not six, as you tried to claim."

"Isa and I weren't scientists."

"Then what were you and Isa doing there?" Kairi asked. "You all had the same home world, and all were Nobodies, right? The first Nobodies. So then how did you and Isa get tangled up in that?"

"Isa had always had a gift of sensing things, and he knew something was amiss in the castle. Long story short, we were curious about what was going on. It cost us a lot more than either of us wanted, or were willing, to pay."

"Xehanort must still have a hold on him then. Riku told me about how Xehanort was going about making his 'true' Organization. But why was he down here? Why were any of them down here? If they want us to have 'Seven Guardians of Light', shouldn't us rescuing Aqua be a goal we all share?" Kairi wondered.

"Something tells me that they're not happy about me being down here, or even being around in general," Lea began. "I'm not part of their plans, and despite their little time travel plan, they can't see the future. I'm a Wild Card."

"I remember now…," Yunita began to say, suddenly reminding the others of her presence.

"You," Kairi began, anger building up in her as she marched her way toward the Knight. "What were you doing just standing here! We were attacked and you just sat on the sidelines and did nothing."

"It was you…" Yunita continued, mumbling to herself, completely oblivious to what Kairi was saying. As she looked up and made eye contact with Lea, her eyes began to spring alive with hate. "You were the one!" Yunita yelled, drawing her blade and running towards Lea.

"What-?!" Lea stuttered, surprised by the Knight's attitude.

Kairi immediately stood in Yunita's way, and swung Yunita's blade back with her Keyblade.

"Yunita, you need to stop! What're you doing!?" Kairi protested.

"Get out of my way, Kairi! I thought you said the man caused you pain!" Yunita yelled back, and tried to move past Kairi, but Kairi held her blade out and caused Yunita to stand still. "Didn't you want him gone?"

"What I want doesn't matter, it's like you said, I need him for my mission. Why do you suddenly have a problem with him? At least he helped me get rid of Vexen!"

"Because he's the one who sent this world here!" Yunita yelled desperately and Kairi grew still.

"He… what?" Kairi asked. She wasn't sure that she heard Yunita right. Kairi wasn't Lea's biggest fan, and while she hadn't forgiven him for anything he had caused her, Yunita had made her understand that she did need him for this mission. If what Yunita said was true – if Lea was really responsible for sending this world here – it would give her an entirely different view of the man. What would Axel have gained from sending this world to the Realm of Darkness?

"Yunita, I think you're confused. Axel didn't-"

"She's right," Lea interrupted.

By this point, each of the three were silent and left in a state of awe for different reasons. The woods had never seemed quite so silent.

Finally, Lea began to speak up once again.

"It was a long time ago," he started. "It wasn't that long ago for this world, but each world runs on a different level of time, especially in different realms.

"The Organization, the first one, had just been formed. Isa and I weren't supposed to have been there at the fall of Radiant Garden when Xehanort turned everyone into Heartless, but he caught us and turned us too, so we became Nobodies.

"Nobody trusted us – after all, we were known back in our home world as trouble makers. We weren't meant to be a part of the experiment. They wanted to turn us into Dusks, the lowest form of a Nobody. Of course, this was before Nobodies even had names, before the organization had a name.

"Xemnas gave us one task, and if we passed it, we would join the Organization. It was the only option Isa and I had. We didn't want to die, and we were still looking for a friend of our's after the fall."

"So, Xemnas told you to send this world to the Realm of Darkness? Why?" Kairi asked.

"Neither of us knew that was what was going to happen. We were told to bring Heartless into this world by opening its Keyhole, and that if we did that, we would be welcomed in as official members."

"You can only open or close a Keyhole using a Keyblade," Kairi argued. "Neither of you nor Isa were able to wield a Keyblade, so how would you open up the Keyhole?"

"That's what we wanted to know," Lea continued. "We were sure we were being set up, that it was a mission we were supposed to fail. The two of us thought about running… that was when Xigbar, Braig's Nobody, gave us a Keyblade. There were rumors that when Xehanort arrived that a woman's Keyblade and a woman's armor were with him. It was that same blade Xigbar gave to us.

"We came here, and despite the fact that the Keyblade shouldn't have worked, that we couldn't wield one or use it, it still opened the Keyhole. The world's Keyhole opened, and it began the world's descent into darkness. And it was all part of Xemnas' plan somehow. We learned later on he gave the blade to Xigbar to give to us, and he's the one who took it back. We were welcomed in, but it was Xehanort's plan all along."

"And that's supposed to be an excuse?!" Yunita yelled. "Everything that has happened here was your fault! This whole time, I know boys were responsible, but I was certain it was the Evil Queen's lackeys. I heard them – you and your friend – in the forest once. I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"How could you?" Kairi whispered, at a loss of what to say. She couldn't even look the man in the eyes.

"Nothing I can say can excuse what I did. I was younger when it happened, and I was weak… We both were. But I'm willing to make it right. I'm going to help send this world back t the Realm of Light, and I'll help protect your Queen," Lea said to yunita, a grim expression on his face. "I can't offer you anything more than that –at least, not until this journey is over, and I've brought him back."

"He's right Yunita," Kairi began, putting her hands on Yunita's shoulders. "I get that you're angry, but right now, we need to go after the Evil Queen and make sure that Snow White is protected, remember?"

"Fine," Yunita replied, shaking Kairi's hold off of her and putting away her blade. "I'll escort you two to the Evil Queen and aid you inbattle, but once it has ended, you-," she said directly toward Lea, but refusing to look him in the eye, "-will see Her Majesty, and you will tell her what you have done. She will choose then what to do to you, and mission or not, the Queen's will is absolute."

"Alright," Lea replied.

Yunita began walking away from the two then, presumably continuing onward to the Evil Queen's Castle. Kairi looked at Lea, unsure of how she felt about the man. Looking at him, his confident attitude and quick-wit lost, she began to think of Riku, and how similar Lea's story sounded compared to Riku's. It wasn't enough to excuse his crimes or what he had done to her, but it was a start.

Kairi followed after Yunita, not looking back to see if Lea was following, but confident he wouldn't fall too far behind.

The campaign to the Evil Queen's Castle hadn't been much of a hassle. The warriors had encountered Heartless along the way, battling their way through the hordes quickly.

Kairi realized how much easier fighting was beginning to feel to her. It made her drive and determination much stronger knowing that she was slowly but surely becoming more powerful. She wondered how long it would be before she could be as strong as Riku and Sora, or ay least wield as Lea did. His magic was much stronger than his skill with his Keyblade, but he had more experience and control over it then she did. For that she did admire him.

Once they reached the Castle, Yunita said they needed to head for the Evil Queen's lair, for that was where she would be. Kairi wondered why the Evil Queen would wait for them there to assault her rather than get the surprise on them in the castle, but she didn't question it further. From Sora and Riku's stories of their travels, it appeared many of the villains had been naïve or too confident in their own strength. Neither had helped the villains at the end of the day.

It seemed, however, that Kairi had been right to question such a thought, because when they reached the Evil Queen's lair, it was empty. No one was there, and when they searched the rest of the castle for her, not a soul was in sight.

"I thought you said she would be here," Kairi stated once they returned to the front of the castle from searching through every nook and cranny. The Evil Queen was truly nowhere to be found.

"It doesn't make sense, this is her castle. Where else could she be? She'd never set foot outside of the castle…" Yunita began, lost in thought. "Unless-"

"I'm afraid your 'Queen' is in a different castle," a man's voice boomed overhead the heroes with a smug undertone. A dark portal emerged a few feet ahead of the warriors, and a man with olive skin emerged from it. He was wearing outlandish clothes; dark maroon pants with an undertaker tailcoat to match with, a purple vest beneath it and red cummerbund, a black top hat with a purple feather sticking out and red cloth draped around it and a white skull with crossbones above the cloth, and a maroon cane with a large purple ball at the top resting underneath his right hand.

Kairi knew immediately when she saw him that he wasn't of this world. The three warriors summoned their weapons instinctively.

"Now wait just a minute there. I am not here to fight," the man stated, a grin draped across his face. "My name is Doctor Facilier, and I'm simply a man passing through. I came to warn you that the Queen has already left to go after Snow White once and for all."

"The Queen!" Yunita shouted, dread taking over her face. "We don't have time for this! We must hurry back to the Kingdom immediately, before anything happens!"

"Yes, you better… who knows what that nasty hag has up her sleeve," Dr. Facilier replied, the ghost of a smile on his face. He began to disappear into a portal of darkness, and the warriors quickly raced off back to the castle to save Snow White.

The road seemed longer on the way back, despite their increased haste. Everyone was worrying about the Kingdom, especially Yunita. She knew she should have never left her Queen, and with every second that passed, she regretted the decision further and further. What was going to happen now that she was gone?

Heartless were accumulating from all around the warriors, as if they were trying to interrupt the party's pursuit and distract them. The warriors only fought the creatures that were in the way and continued forward.

Finally, they reached the Kingdom and saw many of the soldiers fighting Heartless. The warriors jumped in to aid the soldiers.

"No, Yunita, ignore us, we can take care of ourselves!" shouted one of the soldiers. "You have to go inside and rescue the Queen!"

"But…" Yunita tried to argue, honestly torn between staying with her soldiers or going after the Evil Queen.

"Please, Lord Yunita, you must go at once!"

Yunita turned toward the two Keyblade wielders who looked just as conflicted as she did, but she understood this was something she needed to do.

"Come on!" Yunita said to them. "Let's go!"

In the castle, the Evil Queen had finally had Snow White right where she wanted her. Snow White had been waiting for the Evil Queen in the parlor. The seven dwarves had all tried to protect her, but the Evil Queen had blown them all away with a flick of her wrist. The Evil Queen smiled triumphantly as she stared at Snow White.

"It appears my luck is changing… You decided to be the hero and come to me, haven't you, my dear Snow White?" the Evil Queen asked rhetorically with malice.

"I don't know what I ever did to make you hate me so much, but if you truly want me, then take me," Snow White said, now standing a few feet away from the Evil Queen. "Leave my Kingdom and my friends alone."

"How touching… do you wish to know why I hunted you for so long? That light of yours… it casts a shadow over my own, and so you bewitch people into believing that you are the fairest of them all," the Evil Queen rambled on, and grabbed Snow White's chin in her hand, squeezing her harshly. "I'm afraid that you will have to die, my Queen."

"No!" Yunita shouted from the corridor as she, Kairi and Lea came charging in. The three warriors had their weapons in hand and were ready to attack.

"Oh my, the warriors. Perhaps taking your lives before I take Snow's will make her crumble." The Evil Queen began to cackle.

"N-no!" Snow White pleaded, trying to stop the Evil Queen, but the Evil Queen shoved Snow White away as she did with the dwarves, and Snow White hit the wall with a hard thud and fell unconscious.

"Snow!" Yunita shouted.

"Don't worry, she'll be joining you very soon," the Evil Queen replied with a large scowl, and began to wave her hands in the air. "Heartless, I command thee, hasten to my side immediately!" She then conjured an apple into her hand and tossed it upward with all her strength.

"An apple? What's that gonna do?" Kairi asked.

A group of shadows suddenly appeared in the parlor and leaped into the air, swarming around the apple. The swarm began to change shape, forming a large apple. Two large yellow eyes appeared on the apple, and a menacing mouth tore open, howling and showing sharp, jagged teeth. Eight legs emerged as well, grey and dried like dead roots. The Heartless landed on the ground with a loud crash, and howled once again as the Evil Queen smiled at them.

"You just had to go and ask, didn't you?" Lea complained, directing his comment at Kairi.

"Yunita, Lea, you take out the apple. I'll handle the Evil Queen, got it?" Kairi asked with a demanding tone.

"You think you can handle it?" Lea asked, no hint of a mocking tone. He was truly concerned.

"Let's go!" Kairi answered, charging forward with her Keyblade outward. The two followed behind her.

"Go forth, my Heartless!" the Evil Queen cried, and the Heartless began charging its way forward toward the three warriors.

The Heartless swung one of its legs toward Kairi like a whip, but she countered by batting it away with her blade. She dove underneath the Heartless, not bothering to let it try to stop her. She jumped back up once she got out from underneath the monster, and charged forward toward the Evil Queen.

"Ha, another Princess who thinks she can challenge me?! You shall share the same fate as Snow White!" the Evil Queen yelled swinging her arms around in the air and summoning a large cloud of darkness above herself.

"I'm done being the damsel in distress. It ends here!" Kairi yelled back, and the Evil Queen grin fell into an angry scowl.

"You'll regret ever setting foot in my Kingdom, Keyblade wielder!" the Evil Queen shouted back.

Immediately, she began to send a volley of dark energy orbs toward Kairi from the cloud above her. Kairi let an orb of light energy begin to surround her free hand and charged forward, countering the darkness with a swing of her blade and an orb of light released from her hand.

Lea and Yunita moved swiftly in attempts to dodge the Heartless' leg whips, but neither could seem to get in a solid strike with their blades because the Heartless was too fast. Lea silently cursed Kairi for being the speedier of the three and not being here to help.

"It's too fast!" Yunita yelled to Lea, caught up in the heat of battle to remember her contempt for the man beside her. "At this rate, we're never going to get in any attacks."

"You said you know magic, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then looks like we're gonna have to use some spells!"

Yunita nodded in agreement with Lea, closed her eyes, to and began to murmur to herself. A clear blue light temporarily wrapped itself around her and Lea, who looked at her suspiciously.

"For a boost," Yunita stated with no care in her voice, and turned back to the Heartless.

"Burn, baby!" Lea shouted as he thrust forward several Fira spells at the Heartless, causing it to bellow out in pain.

"You found its weakness! Good!" Yunita shouted, and followed Lea's lead with her own Firaga spells.

As the two continued casting, the Heartless began to shake tremendously, like it was having a panic attack. Without hesitation, it thrust its roots into the parlor's floor underground, and began to thrust its body back and forth toward the warriors like a ball attached to a rubber string, bouncing back and forth.

"Watch out!" Lea yelled, dashing out of the way quickly.

Yunita blocked the attack quickly by casting a Protect spell. She then aimed her sword toward the Heartless, following its quick movements, murmuring under her breath.

"Stopga!" she shouted, and the Heartless ceased movement as a transparent clock appeared above it, with the clock hands stuck. "Now, attack!"

Lea didn't wait for further instructions. He stabbed his Keyblade into ground and summoned his chakrams in each hand. He tossed them up in the air, spinning then around his body, telepathically, and called forth flames to surround his body.

"Yahhh!" he shouted loudly as flame pillars began to engorge his body. As soon as the attack was ready he quickly zoomed forward toward the Heartless with a surge of fire surrounding him. "Take this!" he shouted, and as he made contact, the Stopga spell ended on the Heartless, but it was too late for it to move out of the way. Lea's flames engulfed the Heartless' body and burned away its legs first. It howled one last time as the rest of its body began to be swallowed by the flames and fade away into darkness.

Kairi had pushed herself forward close enough to reach the Evil Queen, and held her Keyblade in the air with both hands as a light surrounded the two.

"Faith!" she shouted, and engulfed the Evil Queen in a pool of light, destroying her dark cloud and sending the Evil Queen flying. She landed on the ground harshly, and was too exhausted to get back up and fight back. Kairi stood over the Evil Queen, pointing her Keyblade right in the women's face.

"Go ahead, do it! Send me into darkness! I will continue to come back each time until Snow White's heart is mine!" the Evil Queen shouted angrily.

"Wouldn't that be a treat?" a familiar man's voice called from above, and the two women looked up to see Dr. Facilier on the floor above.

"Y-you!" the Evil Queen stuttered, surprised by his presence.

"I'm afraid your contract with us is done," Dr. Facilier said to the Evil Queen with his dark grin on his face. "Your role has been fulfilled."

"N-no, you can't! I must live!"

"Maleficent sends her regards."

At those words, the Evil Queen's body began cracking and falling apart as she slowly faded away into crystals of light.

"What did you do?!" Kairi shouted. "And why did Maleficent send you down here?!"

"I didn't do anything, Princess. Perhaps you should be more careful with who you touch your light with."

Kairi subconsciously backed up, faltering from the man's words. Had she really…? Was she responsible for the Evil Queen fading away? She… She had killed someone.

Lost in thought, Kairi took her eyes off the man for a second, and when she looked back up, he was gone, a dark portal disappearing.

"Kairi!" Lea shouted as he and Yunita raced over to her side. "What happened? Where's the Evil Queen?"

"I… I…" Kairi tried to speak but she couldn't. She was at a loss for words. It took Lea only a second to put the pieces together.

"Hey, don't worry. The Evil Queen was evil, remember? There's nothing you could have done. At the end of the day, you saved Snow White, just remember that."

"Your Majesty!" Yunita shouted, seeing Snow White awaken and stand back up. The seven dwarves were all around her, hugging her and making sure she was okay. Snow White was happy to see that all her friends were doing okay as well.

Snow White had called for Yunita to bring Kairi and Lea back to her chambers once everyone had been taken care of in the Castle. The two Keyblade warriors stepped into the room, both in a gloomy mood. Yunita closed the door and took a seat next to Snow White, and so the two wielders sat across from the duo.

"To start off, I must say how grateful I am to the both of you for saving our Kingdom. Without you two, the Queen would have hurt everyone here, and our world truly would have been lost.

"Kairi, I know how you feel about what happened to the Queen, but there really was nothing you could do. You didn't know that she would fade away, and neither did she – it appears that she may have been in league with Maleficent, but Maleficent sent that man to take away whatever advantage the Queen had. I'm sad about how things had to end, but remember, all our hearts return to Kingdom Hearts."

"Yeah," Kairi muttered.

"I saw how strong you were out there, and I've decided that I want to be strong like you as well. I don't want to be a hindrance on my Kingdom. If I try hard enough, maybe I could even keep the Heartless away from the Kingdom. I'm not a fighter, but maybe I can use my light to keep out the darkness.

"Now, as for you," Snow White continued, directing her vision toward Lea. Kairi's head immediately shot up.

"Look, Sno- Your Majesty, I know what you must think of Axel, but-"

"Kairi," Snow White interrupted. "There is nothing you can say to change my decision. Yunita told me everything."

"But…" Kairi started, but she couldn't think of what to say.

"It's alright, Kairi," Lea said. "I can take it."

"Kairi, Lea," Snow White began, "from now on, the two of you will always be welcome in our Kingdom!"

Silence.

The two Keyblade wielders were in complete disbelief, and exchanged glances at each other, like the other might have an idea of what had just happened.

"You're serious?" Lea asked, stunned.

Snow White and Yunita both nodded.

"I don't approve of what you did, because you put everyone in this Kingdom in jeopardy by sending us here. Still, you returned and helped save us, even if you hadn't meant to ever set foot here again on purpose. After talking with Yunita thoroughly, she agrees with me. You are clearly trying to redeem yourself by taking on such a grand task. Despite everything, we both forgive you."

"Her Majesty warned me that if I let myself be taken over by my hate and anger, that I would be giving way for darkness in my heart. The right thing do is forgive, after all, you helped save our world."

"And for that, we are grateful," Snow White finished. "We put our whole faith in the two of you to save us."

Kairi and Lea suddenly felt a lot lighter and smiled. They both thanked Snow White and Yunita, and began to leave.

"I don't get it…" Kairi muttered aloud as they walked side by side through the parlor.

"'Get' what?" Lea replied, clearly confused.

"The Queen – we know she was one of Maleficent's, so then why did Maleficent send one of her own soldiers to get rid of her?"

"Maybe she was conspiring against Maleficent. Either that, or the old witch wanted to get rid of her because she was weak. Who knows. But I do agree, something doesn't add up," Lea agreed.

"Maleficent and Xehanort… Both of them are down here. But why? Neither of them are trying to stop us from finding Aqua or helping the people in the worlds. In a way, it seems like Maleficent was trying to help us, and Xehanort is trying to distract us."

"Something is up. We need to keep our guard up, because whatever they are planning, it cannot be good," Lea replied.

"Yeah," Kairi agreed, and then stopped moving. She was lost in thought.

"What is it? You figure it out?" Lea asked.

"You remember what Snow White said, right? You know, about 'forgiveness' and not letting anger cloud your heart… She's right," Kairi said, and looked directly at Lea. "When I found out you were back, that you were alive, I remembered everything you did to me, and how you used me to get to Sora."

"Kairi-"

"Let me finish," she pleaded. "I understand why you did it. If I had been in your shoes, and I had lost Sora, I'm not sure what I would have done. It doesn't make what you did right or justifiable, but I understand. And I forgive you. For everything. From here on out, I want us to be a team. I want us to start off with a fresh start."

"Wow," Lea replied, amazed. "I wasn't expecting that. I guess everybody wants to give me a second chance today, huh?"

"I mean it, Ax- Lea," Kairi replied.

"I think that's the first time you've called me by my real name."

"Well, get used to it. We're a team now! But, there are some conditions."

"What's that?"

"Sora told me once that the ship he, Donald and Goofy used could only work so long as they all remained happy and smiled. So, let's keep that tradition. Even when things start getting tough… If we do something we didn't mean, or if we end up somewhere we never thought we'd be… Let's get through it smiling. Alright?"

Lea began to smile, running his hand through his hair.

"Alright then, it's a promise."

As the two felt a new kinship among one another, a bright light suddenly emitted from one of the walls of the castle. When they looked at what had caused it, they saw a Keyhole on the wall. Immediately, their Keyblades appeared at their hands without any summoning.

"That's- But… Master Yen Sid said that in order to save a world, we'd need you and Aqua," Kairi said confused.

"Actually, he said a Keyblade of light and a Keyblade of darkness would be needed. Looks like you've got the Darkness since Yen Sid said mine was the Light. Kinda ironic, huh?"

Kairi chuckled.

"Yeah… I guess so," she replied, and then turned her attention back to the Keyhole with a determined look on her face. "Let's do this!"

Lea nodded his head in agreement, and the two lifted their Keyblades up at the Keyhole simultaneously and released a beam of light straight into it. The Keyhole began to glo very bright, and the heroes were swallowed by the blinding light.

Traverse Town

-The Realm of Sleep-

Donald and Goofy arrived in the realm with relative ease thanks to Merlin, but being in the world, with no sign of life anywhere was making the pair grow anxious.

"Well, Sora has to be around here somewhere," Goofy said, scratching his head. "Kinda reminds ya of old times, doesn't it, Donald? Aw-yuck!"

"Something doesn't feel right..." Donald muttered. Goofy realized it as well, but neither wanted to say it out loud. There wasn't a single sound of any life, but they both felt it; they were being watched.

"Mm. Let's find Sora and get out of here. Wouldn't want to keep our friends waiting now," Goofy replied. The duo walked hesitantly through the first district, looking around anxiously and wielding their weapons.

Meanwhile, in the shadows, a being in a black cloak was watching and disappeared soon after.