X leaned against the wall of the gummi ship, his arms crossed as he watched Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He hadn't realized how much he had missed this ship, even if it was so slow and Donald and Sora were always fighting about who got to drive and there was nothing to do except play card games while they traveled. It was a peace X wasn't used to, but one that set him more at ease than he could remember being in a very long time. While he had been with Y he had found his mind wandering to what Sora was up to, even sending Heartless to check up on the keyblade wielder.

"A photo and some ice cream? Hmm. Wonder if they're some sorta clue. And who woulda left 'em for us, anyway?" Goofy said, pulling X out of his reminiscing. 

"Riku?" Sora suggested.

"Ya think?" Goofy asked.

"How'd you draw that conclusion?" X asked. Sora turned in his chair to look at X. He looked at him for just a moment before answering.

"Just this feeling I got," Sora said, smiling brightly at X. X only raised an eyebrow, hoping for more explanation. There had to be a reason Sora took so long to answer. Sora offered no more explanation though, just turning back to face the direction their ship was going.

"Look! We're almost there!" Donald said, pointing to Mulan's world, The Land of Dragons according to Jiminey.

"Hey, what if the Heartless are back again? I can't use the keyblade- that would only help the Organization," Sora said, his shoulders slumping as he looked at the world. He was frowning his eyes seeming to stare past the world.

"But Sora, I think you have to use it. If we don't fight 'em, the Heartless'll keep on hurtin' folks," Goofy said. X nodded in agreement as Sora looked over at them.

"Goofy's right. As I said before, we just have to find another way to stop them," X said. He offered Sora a small smile, which the brunette returned as they landed the gummi ship. They stood in the burnt remains of the village they had been supposed to protect. X frowned glancing around. Strange place to land.

"I wonder how everybody's doin'?" Goofy asked as he looked around.

"Look!" Donald said, pointing toward the edge of the village. Toward the mountain's summit. Standing in the snow was a figure in a black coat. X tensed as he took note of the coat, small details were usually all the clues they could get to identify the member until a fight started. It came as a surprise when the cloaked figure took off running up the mountain.

"Wait!" Sora yelled following him.

"Sora!"

Sora paused just long enough to turn and see who had yelled. Mulan ran up to join them, panting heavily.

"Mulan, hey. No time to talk. We gotta catch that guy!" Sora said, pointing where the man had disappeared.

"I'm following him, too!" Mulan said, not stopping as she headed up the mountain. The group exchanged a look before following her.

"Then let's go!" Donald said. X rolled his eyes, the remark was late but it wasn't worth making a remark. 

They followed the cloaked figure up to the summit where he appeared to disappear. X frowned as he looked around. Had they been led into an ambush? It was odd, if it was a member of Organization shouldn't they have been attacked by now? Why were they running? Which member was it anyway? 

"Looks like he got away," Mulan said with a sigh, turning to look at the group.

"How come you're after somebody from Organization XIII?" Goofy asked. Mulan tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"What is that?" she asked.

"The guy in black," Sora explained.

"One of the bad guys!" Donald added, jumping up a little like he often did when talking. X assumed he didn't want to be overlooked.

"I knew it! There's a rumor in the Imperial City about a spy in black, lurking in the mountains. I'd been up here tracking him, but when you arrived I lost him," Mulan explained. Sora grinned nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry!" Goofy said.

"Don't apologize, Mulan said without a pause. "But I do wonder where he went." She looked around the summit. It was such an open space, disappearing would be a hard trick to pull off. She gasped suddenly.

The group turned quickly to see what had surprised her. At the top of the mountain, there was a swarm of the same Heartless as the last time they had been there. X held back a groan. It was such a large group, he didn't have the energy for this.

"Again?" Donald complained.

"X, can you do something?" Sora asked, glancing at X. X shook his head, summoning his daggers to his hands.

"No, I mean, maybe," X admitted. If he wanted to use all his energy he could probably get rid of them all. It would be difficult since he was only a knight. "But it's honestly easier just to kill them."

"Ok, first things first!" Sora said, drawing his keyblade.

The good thing about these Heartless was they were easy to kill. It took only one hit to release the hearts they held captive. Soon the sky was filled with pink hearts and the Heartless were gone. Sora was a bit away from the rest of the group, staring at something that wasn't there anymore.

"Are you ok, Sora?" Donald asked.

"Did ya get 'im?" Goofy asked. X was momentarily confused but brushed it off. He had probably just failed to notice the cloaked figure reappearing during the fight. And apparently getting away again too.

"Oh- he's gone," Sora said, coming out of his thinking. His hands crossed behind his head as he looked at Donald.

"What!? You lost him?" Donald said.

"Easy Donald, not like you caught him," X said with a chuckle. Donald glared at him, but X didn't pay him much mind. What could he really do?

"Anyway. What now?" Sora asked looking around.

"I think that we better get rid of all the Heartless first," Goofy suggested. He jumped a little his hand going to cover his mouth as he glanced down at X. "Well, most of them." X sighed heavily.

"You all can relax. You don't have to specify every time. I think we get the picture. I am an exception. It doesn't need to be constantly stated," X said calmly. Mulan tilted her head to the side, but no one offered to explain it to her.

"Sorry, it's just so weird to think. You seem so normal," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head as he looked down at the snow nervously.

"How did ya lose your heart anyway?" Goofy asked. X frowned, thinking back to the day in the forest. The Neoshadow that had sought him out. It wasn't hard to know. It had been sent.

"Neoshadow took it. It's kinda a long story how that all happened, I'll tell you guys when we have the time," X said, rubbing the back of his head. 

"Promise?" Sora asked.

"Promise," X agreed.

They were distracted by a rumble that shook the entire mountain. X frowned, trying to locate the source of the sound. The others looked around similarly.

"What was that?" Mulan asked. No one could give her an answer. She pursed her lips together and turned back to the village. "Come on, we better get off the mountain."

"Ok," Sora agreed.

They began to pick their way down the mountain, careful not to fall on the snow. They weren't far from the summit when a roar filled the air, shaking the ground. The entire mountain shook as a Heartless much like a dragon broke free from the snow. It roared again before flying toward the city.

"It's heading for the city! We've got to warn Shang!" Mulan said.

With no prompting, they took off running. It seemed like an impossible task. Beat a dragon that could fly to a city that was miles away. But they seemed to manage it. Arriving at the city with no sign of the Heartless causing terror. Three soldiers that they had trained with were in the courtyard looking unsurprised.

"Huh? Everything's fine," Sora said as he looked around.

"Well, now, look who decided to show up," one of the soldiers said. He was the shorter one who had started the fight with Sora and Donald.

"What? Is that a problem?" Donald asked.

"Nah!" The tall thin soldier said.

"We're just glad you're not in black cloaks," the, uh, large soldier said.

"You saw him?" Mulan asked.

"Yeah- he's in the palace," the first soldier said dismissively. X stared at him in disbelief.

"And you guys are just standing here?" X asked.

"To the palace, hurry!" Mulan said.

They ran to the palace doors, Sora not stopping until he was banging on the door with his fist. Donald and Goofy joined him while X stood back looking over the front of the palace looking for some kind of entrance they could use.

"Open up!" Sora yelled.

"Over here!" Mulan called. She was standing beside one of the pillars. It took only seconds for them to realize what she meant. Sora ran to the pillar and began climbing up it with ease, all his days on the island showing. Donald and Goofy followed him up, X trailing after them with ease.

Inside the palace, they found a hooded figure in front of the doors to the throne room. It took only a moment for X to realize it was a different person than the one they had seen previously.

"Wait!" Mulan yelled. The figure stopped, slowly turning to face them his hands up beside him. Sora took a step toward the figure.

"Riku?" Sora asked. The figure chuckled and took off his hood, showing dark hair streaked with silver. X groaned in annoyance. It had to be Xigbar, of all other members.

"No. Never heard of him," Xigbar said with a grin that stretched the scars on his face.

"Lying," X said calmly. Sora jumped turning to look at him. The Organization had kept track of Sora for so long, it would be impossible for them to not know who Riku was.

"Says the liar," Xigbar shot back. 

"No one asked you, Xigbar," X said calmly. Xigbar smirked and snapped his fingers, summoning a group of Nobodies to him. X groaned again drawing his daggers as the others prepared to fight.

Fighting the Nobodies took all the attention the group had. They like Xigbar himself had a tendency to warp around the area, disappearing before they could be hit only to shoot at you from across the room. It was fortunate it didn't take long for them to be beaten. During the fight however it seemed Xigbar had sneaked away.

"Guess it wasn't Riku," Goofy said.

"That was a different one than we saw earlier. Shoulders on the coat had some differences," X said, putting his daggers away again. He received a strange look from Sora, but he didn't bother explaining himself. 

"Sorry, Sora. I can't stay. I'm worried about Shang," Mulan said, pulling their attention back to the situation at hand.

"Oh! Right!" Sora said.

They entered the throne room finding Shang and the Emperor seeming too calm, considering the palace had just been invaded.

"Your Excellency! Shang! Something terrible has happened! We saw a huge monster fly out of the mountains towards the city," Mulan said, not wasting a second. The emperor nodded solemnly, looking to Shang. 

"Ahh. So it is as the young man said. Isn't that right, Captain?" he said. Shang nodded, a sour look on his face.

"Y-yes, Your Excellency," he agreed.

"You see, a young stranger visited us not long ago. The Captain fought the visitor, but was quickly defeated," the Emperor explained turning back to them calmly.

"To my dishonor," Shang agreed.

"It seems that young man was the one in black that I have heard whispers about," the Emperor continued, ignoring the sourness that was radiating off of Shang. The captain apparently didn't take well to being beaten.

"Did he mention the name Riku?" Sora asked tentatively. 

"He didn't offer his name. He was rather rude," the Emperor said. Sora practically jumped for joy, smiling happily.

"Rude? Then it was Riku!" he said.

"Riku's in the Organization?" Donald asked in confusion. X held back a chuckle. They were seeming to forget their own king had worn the coat. Though he supposed Riku wasn't as easy to explain away. The king had been hiding.

"Gwarsh," Goofy said.

"The Imposter," X said suddenly, the thoughts connecting in his head. He hadn't paid that much attention to the Imposter, it wasn't his problem. But someone had fought him and lost. It was Roxas, right? He shook his head and noticed he was getting strange looks from the others again. He brushed them off mouthing later. They didn't have time.

"But why would he come here?" Mulan asked. Before she could get an answer a rumble shook the palace, send the group standing off balance. "I'll check outside," Mulan said.

"Mulan!" Shang said. Mulan stopped to look at him with a stern expression.

"Shang—guard the Emperor! I'll be fine with them!" Mulan said.

"That's right!" Sora said, nodding in agreement.

"Indeed. That is true: We need not worry while you protect us," the Emperor said.

"Hurry!" Donald yelled as they ran out to the courtyard.

Outside they found themselves face to face with the Heartless dragon. It circled above them giving almost no opportunity to attack it. Sora eventually managed to use the aero left behind by the dragon to jump on to its back and bring it down to where the others could hit it. It didn't take long for the pattern to take hold and the dragon fell.

They returned to the palace, meeting the Emperor and Shang again. Everyone had been unharmed, and minimal damage had been caused to the courtyard.

"Once again, you have served China well. It would please me to reward you," the Emperor said calmly. X frowned glancing to the others. Donald had a glint in his eyes that couldn't mean anything good. "What is it that you wish?" the Emperor asked.

"Well, you say a guy in black came to see you. What did he say?" Sora asked.

"That is all you request?" the Emperor asked. Donald tried to speak up, but X kicked him lightly before he could. 

"Yes," Sora said with a nod.

"Dragons have crossed our land and left a great web of paths. These dragons wield much power, and they are the source of many gifts to both man and nature. But it would seem someone of evil intent disturbed one of our dragons, and transformed it into what you call a Heatless. It is my belief that this young man came to warn me of that danger. Then, I could alert and prepare my troops," the Emperor explained. His ever calm demeanor didn't change as he spoke, keeping his gaze even as he told the story. X was surprised to hear dragons were normal.

"Did you?" Sora asked. The Emperor chuckled.

"I was about to, but he told me the situation had changed," he said.

"He said four "wise guys" had arrived, and they would take care of things," Shang said, grinning slightly as he looked at the group. X himself held back a chuckle. It seemed like Riku did know what was going on.

"That's gotta be Riku!" Sora said, jumping in excitement.

"But what's he doin' hangin' out with Organization XIII?" Goofy asked.

"He's not," X said calmly. The group turned their attention to him. "The cloak hides him from the Nobodies. He's been nothing but trouble for a while now."

"At least I know he's ok. That's good enough," Sora said nodding to himself.

"Yeah, that's good," Donald agreed. X smiled and nodded. It seemed their bond was just as unbreakable as the last sets was. He hoped that was a good sign.