"What do you mean, she's gone?" asked Karen, standing adruptly from the chair.

Riku looked miserably at Karen, before turning his head, swallowing deeply and saying "...she jumped."

Karen yelled "No!" to his face. "What do you mean, jumped!?"

"She jumped... off the wall in the postern."

With a weak cry, Karen fainted. Sora ran over to her, as Riku whispered "I did what I could. I tried. I really did."

Riku slumped down to his knees and stared at the floor, loathe to tell his friends the rest of the story.

The dark aura, the attack and the vanishing.

But they all thought she was dead...

~

Emi felt nothing but the hands on her shoulders. She saw nothing.

She heard only the sound of two breaths, in sync with each other, and the low, monotonous voice in her ear.

"Hello, princess," said the voice, the fingers tracing a line down her jaw from behind.

Emi swallowed, but it was hard. Her mouth fell open and she took a small breath in.

She opened her hand and tried to summon her Keyblade.

No good.

A laugh from behind her. The hands fell from her shoulder and face, and she heard the sound of whipping cloaks and a low chuckle. She spun, trying to follow the sounds in the pitch dark.

"That Keyblade is no good here, princess," said the voice, once again behind her.

Emi spun, her breath coming in ragged bursts now. Ragged, panicked bursts.

"Who are you!?" she screamed, wanting to hit this man who seemed to mocking her.

"Who are you?! Why am I here!?"

"You don't remember?" asked the voice. Footsteps coming closer until she could feel the man's cold breath on her face. Fingers brushed her arm, and there was a tap on her neck, just below the hollow in the throat.

A flash of light and suddenly.... Emi was a totally different person.

She remembered. The rush of power she got from letting even the smallest amount of darkness infiltrate her soul.

"You could have so much more," assured the voice.

Emi's eyes, a different color even though it couldn't be seen, turned upwards, trying to find a face to match the voice. "Tell me who you are," she growled. The panic in her scream before was gone, to be replaced by pure hatred brought on by the lack of any light in her heart.

A chuckle. "That's much better. You fighter stronger when you are angry, don't you, princess?"

"Stop calling me princess or I'll make you stop," threatened Emi.

"With what? You can't summon your keyblade here. At least, not the keyblades your Daddy gave you. Oh no... I programmed those myself. You have to have an anchor, be holding something in your hand before you could summon those... not that you could summon those blades of light in here. Would you like something more fitting?"

"I would like for you to stop spouting nonsense and tell me where I am. I also want you to tell me how you know my father, what I'm doing here."

Suddenly, hands curling around hers. Fingers intertwining. She thought she'd blinked, but she wasn't sure in the dark.

But they were somewhere new now, and she could see a little better.

~

Karen's eyes fluttered open and before she was even lucid she said "Gotta...find her... still alive..."

Sora wasn't sure what to do, leaning over the barely conscious Karen.

Riku was leaning against the wall, hiding his face against the wood.

Sora looked to him. "We should go and try to...find her... maybe she survived?"

Riku swallowed. "Maybe," he said, but he meant "I doubt it."

Karen made a pathetic noise and turned her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks. It broke Sora's heart and so he said "I can't leave her alone. Riku, you and Yuffie and Leon go look for her."

Riku somehow moved from the wall and walked to the door. Yuffie looked up at Sora and said "Do I just leave the box?"

"Yeah. We shouldn't open it. Not now," answered Sora. Yuffie nodded and hopped up, sprinting to catch up with Leon and Riku.

When they were outside, Leon looked to Riku. "You lied," he said. "You can't possibly think she's still alive. We're just looking for a body aren't we?"

"Yeah," said Riku, not meeting Leon's eyes. Leon squinted at him and shifted his weight. "You're still lying about something," he said lowly. "I can hear it in your voice. You're lying, or else you aren't telling us something?"

Riku opened his mouth to speak but the words weren't coming.

"She just...." he said slowly, grasping for word. "She just gave up."

Leon patted Riku's shoulder and turned to go. Yuffie gave him a gentle smile, trying to bring some light to his face.

Nothing was going to make him forget what he'd seen, though. And he wished he could turn back time and say something else.

"I'm so stupid," he mumurmed to himself, closing his eyes.

It had stopped raining.

~

Emi squinted at the man and said "You look familiar."

"I should," chuckled the man. His hand tightened around her possessivley.

He studied her silently for a moment.

Emi swallowed as he stared her down, wishing for something large and heavy to weigh down her hands.

He grabbed her face and tilted it up. She looked fiercely at him.

She wasn't scared.

"With your eyes this color, you look more like him than your skank of a mother," said the man thoughtfully, stroking Emi's jawline with the side of his thumb.

At any other time, this probably would've set Emi off, but she was already so deeply rooted in anger that she let the insult to her dead mother roll right off of her.

"You always looked more like her. Ansem's young, pretty trophy wife. I never liked Saila, ever," rambled the man, still holding Emi's chin.

Emi grabbed his wrist to jerk him away, but he was a lot stronger than her.

The man smirked.

"Princess Emiline Soleil DesCoteaux of Radiant Garden. You gave up. Welcome to the World of Darkness."

"Well, that answers one question. Now..." she said, smirking as well. "Answer my others. Who are you?"

The man flat out grinned then, and his straight white teeth looked strange next to his darker skin.

The grin looked strange anyway on a face that radiated an evil darkness Emi couldn't quite comprehend.

The man lifted a hand and pressed dark fingers against Emi's forhead.

There was a deafening popping, cracking noise and Emi's head felt as if it was being squeezed in a vice.

She screamed and slid to her knees.

Images flashed across her mind, like one of those old-fashioned projectors in hyperspeed.

The popping noise was gone, only to be replace by a high pitched keening.

"MAKE IT STOP!" she wailed. She was crying now, it hurt. It was overwhelming. She saw things she didn't remember, but as soon as she witnessed it it popped into place audibly. Every time there was a new image, and that happened every few seconds, there was a crack and a pop in her ears.

She was screaming now, on her back. The man had one black boot on her abdomen, but wasn't applying much pressure. He towered over her as she writhed in pain and confusion.

Finally, the images slowed down, the popping stopped and the keening faded. Her head was still throbbing, but as she opened her eyes, she was once again a new person. The old Emi, the Emi with some light was no longer exsistent. Now, Emi stared up at the man who had her pinned down, and grinned manically, her newly yellowed eyes gleaming.

"You'll notice, that besides unlocking all of the memories of your past, I also let you in on a few of my secrets," said the man in an arrogant but monotonous voice. He lifted his boot and Emi sat halfway up as the man back up.

Emi's eyes gleamed with the same evil as his did. They were the same shade of yellow now.

The man helped her up and Emi looked at him. "Xehanort," she said, simply. "My father's apprentice."

The man shook his head, snow white hair falling over a broad shoulder.

Behind him, out of the shadows beyond the white marbled floor stepped ten others in the same black robes as the white haired man in front of Emi.

~

Leon and Yuffie looked over the edge of the Postern wall.

Riku stayed far away from the edge, silent.

"I don't see anything," said Yuffie.

Riku piped up. "You won't."

Leon glared it Riku. There it was. The thing he was holding back.

Leon pointed at Riku. "Tell me. Now," he said simply.

Riku took a shuddering breath, letting the dry summer wind dry the tears in his eyes before they spilled over.

"Before she jumped... she..."

"Go on."

"...she gave up. She gave her heart over to the darkness. Just like me... and it's all my fault."

"Oh, crap," said Yuffie, looking up at Leon worriedly.

Leon was quick to get to the answers.

"Why is your fault?" he asked.

"I told her. About her father. And the explosion."

Leon grasped Riku's shoulders and shook him.

"That wasn't your fault. She deserved to know the truth. What he have to worry about now is the fact that she's now in the darkness. We have to find her and bring her back."

"I know, I know. I just didn't want Karen to know.... you know?"

"You'll have to tell her sometime. And Sora, too," said Yuffie.

"I KNOW," snapped Riku. He slammed his palm against the wall and gritted his teeth.

"Might as well go ahead and get it over with. We need to search for her," said Yuffie.

Leon nodded and he and Yuffie started to run back to Merlin's house.

They noticed Riku had stayed behind, looking over the wall, but they didn't call to him.

Yuffie tried to turn and get him but Leon held her back with a hand and a gentle shake of the head. And then they carried on, back to the house.

Riku heaved a sigh, not out of melancholy but out of the fact he could hardly breathe.

He'd hardly known Emi for three weeks. but she'd grown on him and he felt guilty for having a part in what she'd done. For witnessing it and not trying harder to stop it. Why had he been so afraid?

The weight of that guilt weighed about as much as obese elephant on his chest, and he couldn't shake it.

He would only be able to shake it if he found Emi, aplogized and brought her back.

"But how..." he moaned, rubbing his temples. A gentle, dry breeze blew and with his eyes closed, he could almost believe he was back home at Destiny Islands.

Only the roaring of the ocean was missing.

~

Emi took a few rapid steps backward, snatching her hand out of the one that had helped her up.

She held that hand up in front of her chest, hand slightly crooked as if she were holding something.

The man chuckled again. "I told you. Your keyblades are data based, you must have something in your hands to anchor the data in order to summon the blades."

That didn't stop Emi from waiting for the familiar feeling in her hands, as if she were grasping anticapation itself, the weight that seemed to suck the strength from her in the split second before the smooth metal flashed into her hands.

Sora and Riku had taught her all they could in the three weeks they had to train. She thought herself somewhat skilled with the blade, and her mind she thought she could take all eleven of the cloaked figures down, need be. Especially with this NEW power running through her veins. She relished the rush of energy she got everytime her heart beat now.

"Have you figured it out yet, princess?" asked the white-haired man. "Do you know who I am?"

Emi racked her brain. What had they told her? She remembered nothing. She balked when she realized that with every second that past, her heart was racing faster and it was harder to conjure up memories of her friends. Karen, Sora... Riku... their faces were getting blurry in her mind's eye.

All she knew now was this power.

The man seemed to know her thoughts.

"What are you going to do with yourself now, princess? Now that your friends are becoming only whisps soon to be washed away in a wave of hatred. Now that you have this power building up in you. What are you going to do?"

He walked towards her, reaching again for the hand that Emi still held in anticapation for the blade.

The man took the hand, spread out her fingers and brought the palm to his lips.

He kissed the palm of her hand with more gentleness than Emi expected from him and then he looked at her with hooded eyes and a sleepy smirk.

In a split second, Emi felt the anticapation of the blade in her hand. Her heart raced with some sort of emotion that resembled joy, but it was more like surprise. The blade jumped into her hand with a flash of gold and silver light. No data, no numbers or symbols. This was a REAL keyblade.

Emi's eyes flickered to the man. She was confused. "Why?" she asked.

She turned the blade over, bending her wrist. The shaft, handle and hand guard were made out of a heavy metal, she guessed iron. It had an almost translucent, matte finish. The shaft was deep purple and the hand guard was bright green. The small part jutting off the edge of shaft resembled a butterfly, the edges curling in on themselves against the shaft.

"Because, princess, you'll need proper weapons if you are going to help me," he said.

Emi sighed. "Help you? With what?"

The blade dissapeared.

Behind him, all but one of the cloaked figures faded into a dark portal. The smallest stayed, observing them under the darkness of the hood. The white haired man put a hand on Emi's face.

"With anything I want," he said emotionlessly.

And with those words, he pressed his lips against Emi's.

Emi's eyes went wide and flickered over to the last hooded figure standing behind them.

He, too, was now dissapearing into a dark portal leaving Emi alone with the white haired man.

The man's other hand curled around Emi's waist, and with an unexpected roughness, he dug his fingers into her waist and the side of her face.

Pain. Intense pain flared through her. A scream rose in her throat but she couldn't move. Instead, when the man backed away, she crumpled to the floor, writhing again in pain. This time silently because it hurt so bad she couldn't comprehend speech or screaming.

The man grinned manically then. "Now then, princess... what are you going to do?"

Emi's breath exploded into her lungs every few seconds.

"Kill..... the... key... kill... the keyhole.... kill them both," she gasped, her hands clawing at the hard marbled floor.

"Good," cooed the man. "Now... who am I?"

"Xem...nas," Emi gasped again. Her voice cracked and a scream finally escaped her tight chest.

~

Karen awoke from her fainting spell and heard the ran pattering on the roof. Sora was watching her gently, standing next to Aerith. The others were no where to be seen. "Where is everyone?" said Karen quietly, without hardly moving. Sora sighed and said "They went out looking.They should be back soon."

Just then, the door to the house opened and a thouroughly soaked Leon and Yuffie walked in quietly. Merlin ran over with blankets for the two of them and Yuffie sneezed pitifully. Leon looked over at Karen, who was now sitting up, watching them with hopeful eyes.

Leon shook his head. Karen wasn't sure what to do, how to handle this. So she just slipped back down onto the bed and crawled under the covers until the only thing visible was the top of her head.

"Karen, Karen, come out, please," said Sora, tugging on the blanket and trying to laugh. Karen didn't laugh and she didn't come out.

Leon shook his head again and said "Sora, just stop for a second, let her absorb it for a while okay. Come over here, we need to talk privately.

Sora looked at Karen over his shoulder as her walked over to where Leon was standing.

Yuffie was off trying to warm herself by the stove and Aerith was chatting idly with her.

"What's up?" asked Sora to Leon. Leon motioned for Sora to lean in close and he said "Riku didn't tell us the whole story."

Sora was confused. He furrowed his brow and said "Well, what did he leave out?"

"Emi gave her heart over the the darkness," answered Leon bluntly.

Sora wilted. "Not good. We have to go find her!" he cried.

Karen peeked from under the covers and Leon shushed Sora.

"I know, I know. We have to find her and bring her back here. Who knows what she's up to?"

"How are we going to find her? Any ideas on where she is?" asked Sora.

Leon shook his head. "I can only guess either she's slinking around Hollow Bastion looking for us or she's in the World of Darkness."

"Okay," said Sora, looking confident. "We'll split up and search the town."
"What if she's not here?" asked Leon. Sora gave Leon a defiant look. "Then I guess we'll have to search the World of Darkness. Karen is my friend, and I'm going to help her find Emi. I got help from all you guys when I was in her situation, and I'm going to try and do the same for Karen. Because she can't do it alone."

Karen, under the covers, was thinking fast, her mind racing.

~

Riku was still at the Postern wall, getting rained on.

He could think of only one solution to going and finding Emi. He knew exactly where she was.

The World of Darkness. He just knew HE had to go there and find her. Could he still open a portal?

No. He remembered that one time last year, in The World that Never Was, when he tried to open a portal to bring them home.

He couldn't. Namine had to help.

If only Namine were here now. If only His Highness, King Mickey were here.

"It would be really great if you could show up now, King," muttered Riku, rain sliding down the back of his neck. "I'm tired of playing these games. And I don't know what to do."

"Riku! Riiiiikuuuu!" called a voice. It was Sora, obviously.

Riku straightened up from the wall, cupped his hands around his mouth and called back "I'm over here!"

He waited for the distant voice and footsteps to catch up as he mulled over what seemed to be his only choice.

He, too, would have to give his heart to the shadows once again. In order to go the world of darkness and look for Emi. So he could apologize and bring her back to Karen.

But he didn't want to get hooked on the power of the shadows again. He already made that mistake once.

~

Emi's clothes were in a neatly folded pile on a small chair next to a small bed.

This room was only an illusion. No one in this world was in need of rooms or anything like that.

Around her, the room dissolved along with her clothes, leaving her standing once again on the dark marbled floor, surrounded by approaching shadow.

She wore the same black robe as the man in front of her. Xemnas.

"It really does suit you," he murmured, brushing dark fingers against Emi's jaw.

Emi looked at him with soft adoration and smirked.

"When do I begin training?" she asked, closing her eyes and relishing the touch.

Behind them, a dark portal opened and the smallest cloaked figure from before stepped out, sweeping off his hood.

"Ahh, Zexion," said Xemnas, turning slowly.

"I'm here to begin the Princess's training, Master," said Zexion quietly.

Emi grasped Xemnas's arm. "I thought you were training me."

"I believe that Zexion's skills would be more to your taste and benefit, my dear," said Xemnas.

Emi's hands tightened on the black leather sleeve.