Twilight Town never got old to Yuki. No matter how many times she had seen the red brick roads and the trams passing by as the sunset. It was always special. Always somehow different. Standing on top of the clock tower Yuki watched her town. Her hand went to her pocket, holding the seashell she had grown so used to the weight of. Just like she was used to weight in her chest.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this."

Yuki jumped turning to see Y standing at the corner, her hand gently resting on the wall. She was smiling at Yuki though, so she supposed it was a pleasant surprise. Y walked over and sat down beside where Yuki stood.

"Y," Yuki said. "Long time no see."

"Hasn't been that long. Just since that showdown in Radiant Gardens," Y said, chuckling slightly to herself as she kicked her feet lightly. Yuki tried her best not to look at Y like she was a child. Y had seen far more than Yuki ever had. But she always retained such a child-like innocence.

"Yeah, I guess. Seems longer," Yuki said, looking back to the town.

"Everything feels longer. God, it seems like it's been years since we were all together," Y said. She chuckled again, humming under her breath. It sounded like a sad tune, but she kept her smile.

"And it's only been a few months. Maybe," Yuki said. She wasn't even sure how long had passed. Had it been months? Or only a few weeks? She hadn't really been able to keep track, and it was hard when time didn't run the same in every world. Time was hard to tell in their lives.

"Yeah," Y said. She gazed thoughtfully out over the town, kicking her feet again. She was in silent thought for a moment. "Oh, that reminds me," she said searching in her pocket.

"What?" Yuki asked, looking at Y curiously. Y pulled a picture from her pocket and looked at it with a soft smile. 

"I wanted to give you this," Y said. She held the picture out to Yuki. She tentatively took it. She gasped as she looked at the picture. It was her and Roxas. They were sitting beside each other on the clock tower, laughing about something. "I made it, from the data in the digital Twilight Town. I thought you might want it."

"Thanks," Yuki said, smiling at the picture. "Why did you make this?"

"Oh, uh, this is going to sound weird," Y said, chuckling and rubbing her neck. She looked away with her face flushed, and Yuki couldn't understand why. "But I always just kinda thought of you two together. Where one was, the other would be. You two, you had a sort of bond between your hearts."

"I thought we didn't have hearts," Yuki said quickly looking away, her face flushing a bright red.

"I think at this point we all know that's a load of crap," Y said with a chuckle as she watched Yuki look away. She remembered the same reaction many and many years ago. Yuki chuckled softly.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"I have to go," Y announced as she stood up. "DiZ has a crazy plan, and I'm not letting him do it alone." Yuki frowned, her eyes narrowing as she stared towards the forest. Her grip on the picture Y had made tightened.

"Really now?" Yuki asked.

"Trust me, I don't like the guy," Y said, she chuckled again. "But, I'm starting to get him. And man is he a genius. And if he thinks he can stop Xemnas, I'm all for it." Her eyes glazed over as she looked into the distance. And for an instant, Yuki was convinced she was older than her. Ages older.

"Be careful," Yuki said. "We'll meet you there."

"We?" Y asked in confusion.

"Yeah, Sora and X aren't far behind," Yuki answered. Y smiled brightly.

"Well, then we have no worries, do we?"

Y left without another word. Yuki staid where she stood looking at the picture in her hands. It was a shame it was the last time she would see him for a long time. Only a simple picture left to remember him by. She supposed it was better than only a seashell.

Yuki left the clock tower shortly after. Without much thought, she went to the mansion out in the forest. It was the only pathway to the other Twilight Town left, though she guessed it would be easy enough to open a new path in.

At the gates she found Sora and his friends already there, helping the group of three that lived in the town. X glanced up from where he was crouched beside Olette. He gave Yuki a slight nod when their eyes met. 

"What happened?" Sora asked as he helped Hayner to his feet.

"We came here looking for Kairi. Then those white things attacked us," Hayner explained. He had a few bruises but looked fairly unscratched for having fought with a few dusks unarmed.

"You gotta be careful!" Donald said.

"Yeah, you guys didn't have to go and do that," Sora said.

"Of course we did. Kairi's our friend, too, ya know," Hayner said, punching the ground and using that force to push himself up.

"You're right," Sora said standing as all the group managed to get to their feet. "You know, I never thought of it like that before."

"Word is, this mansion gets a lot of really strange visitors," Hayner explained looking at the mansion in front of them.

"We thought this place might be the gateway to some kind of alternate Twilight Town," Olette explained, following Hayner closer to the mansion. Yuki tilted her head to the side curiously. How had they realized there was another Twilight Town?

"What do you mean, alternate Twilight Town?" Sora asked.

"Hey, Goofy, do you think we could see that crystal of yours?" Pence asked. Goofy nodded taking out the orange munny pouch and the blue crystal inside it. He held up the small blue orb for the group to see.

"I made that pouch myself, and I still have it. So there shouldn't be two of them here," Olette explained, holding out an identical pouch. Hayner held up a trophy, four different crystals glittering at various points.

"And this is the trophy Seifer gave you. You left it behind, remember?" Hayner said. Sora nodded.

"It's the only one of its kind. Same for the crystals--red, blue, yellow, green-- only one of each color. But you've got your own!" Pence pointed out.

"So where'd you get it?" Hayner asked, turning to Sora. Sora crossed his arms, tapping his chin.

"The pouch is from the King. When he gave us munny for the train ride, he gave us the crystal too," Goofy answered. He tucked the crystal back in the pouch and slipped it into his pocket.

"But then, where did the king get it?" Pence asked.

"See? There's gotta be another town out there like this one. That would explain how the King got that pouch and crystal. Everything makes sense," Hayner said crossing his arms. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all looked at each other, confusion written across their faces.

"It...does?" Sora asked looking back at Hayner.

"They're not wrong," Yuki said. The entire group jumped turning to look at her quickly. She held up her hands quickly. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"So there is another Twilight Town," Hayner said with narrowed eyes. Yuki nodded.

"That other town must be where whatever's missing from here went!" Pence said excitedly. Yuki bit her lip. They weren't even close with that. She didn't think they were that connected. The other Twilight Town was just a mirror image and a cage.

"Like Kairi," Olette said.

"I get it!" Sora said with a nod. 

A group of Dusks appeared around them, hissing and swaying as they always did. Before Yuki could even move the Dusks were cut down by Mickey, appearing rather suddenly.

"Watch out!" Mickey warned.

Yuki drew her keyblades and joined in the fray, doing her best to keep the three Twilight Town natives out of the way. They weren't prepared for that sort of fight. Though they had apparently done well enough before. With such a large group it didn't take very long for them to defeat all the Nobodies.

"I got somethin' to tell ya," Mickey said as the battle came to an end. "I found out where Ansem is-- Ansem the wise! The real Ansem! He snuck into Organization XIII's stronghold."

"And we've figured out where Kairi is! I'm pretty sure we're right," Sora said, nodding to himself. Yuki had always noticed he did that, like confirming it to himself.

"But why'd you all come here?" Mickey asked.

"Someone gave us a clue," Sora answered> Mickey frowned, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Who?" Mickey asked.

"Well, Your Majesty, Sora thinks it mighta been Riku," Goofy said, looking at Sora cautiously. Yuki was sure Sora was right. Riku had mentioned leading Sora the right way.

"It's just a feeling I had," Sora explained.

"Well, if that's what ya think, then it's probably right," Mickey said, not looking Sora in the eye. Yuki held in her sigh. He couldn't make it much more obvious he knew something.

"You mean Riku's ok!" Sora said excitedly.

"If that's what ya think," Mickey said, still looking away. This time Yuki did sigh, putting a hand on her hip. Sora crossed his arms.

"I've waited long enough, Your Majesty! Tell me what you know!" he demanded.

"It's not for me to say," Mickey said firmly.

"But Your Majesty! Why?" Sora asked.

"I don't wanna break my promise," Mickey explained.

"You made a promise to Riku!? So he's ok! I can see him again!" Sora said excitedly jumping up. Mickey covered his mouth quickly, realizing his mistake too late.

"Sora, you should have already known that. I told I've seen Riku," Yuki pointed out calmly. Sora chuckled, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. 

"Huh? Who's Riku?" Hayner asked in confusion.

"He's my best friend," Sora explained.

"That's it!" Pence said as if lining up all of the pieces.

"Your Majesty? You got the pouch with the crystal from Riku, didn't you? And you promised not to tell, right?" Olette asked, crouching so she was eye level with the king. Mickey looked away from her nervously.

"Gosh guys," Mickey said.

"That's enough!" Donald shouted, moving the attention off of Mickey.

"Yeah. Let's go!" Sora said turning to face the mansion. "Kairi! Riku! We're on our way!"

The mansion foyer was exactly as Yuki remembered it. And she still wasn't a fan of it. She glanced around, her eyes landing where DiZ had stood when she had last spoken to him. Her expression soured. He was the reason all of this chaos had started.

"There's gotta be a computer somewhere," Mickey said, pulling Yuki from her thoughts.

"A computer," Pence said. "Do you think it's connected to that other Twilight Town?"

"It might be. And there should be a way into the Realm of Darkness there," Mickey explained calmly.

"There will be, on both counts," Yuki said without thinking. She froze when she felt everyone's eyes land on her. She glanced around at everyone slowly.

"Riku told you that, didn't he!?" Sora asked excitedly. Yuki sighed heavily.

"Sora," she began. 

"Aha! I knew it!" he said happily, not letting her get further. Riku hadn't told her that. She had been with Axel when he had created the entrance into the digital Twilight Town.

"Sora, leave her be," X said calmly. Yuki shot him a grateful look as he turned and headed up a set of stairs. "Come on, I know where the computer is."

X lead them to the library and did something that Yuki didn't catch. Whatever he did caused the floor to vanish, leaving a clear path to what was probably the basement. They found the multi-screened computer up and running. It looked they only needed to access it.

"There!" Mickey said.

"X found it!" Sora said happily.

"I've already been here," X said calmly leaning on a wall. "Y worked in this room a lot."

"How does it work?" Donald asked turning to look at X. He shrugged.

"I have no idea."

"I can handle it," pence announced sitting down in the chair. He began typing, muttering to himself as he worked. "Ok... Here we go... Ah!"

"What's wrong?" Hayner asked, leaning over the back of Pence's chair.

"I can't go any further without a password," Pence explained looking over his shoulder at the group. They all frowned looking down to the ground.

"Do ya have any idea what the password might be?" Mickey asked, looking to the group that Sora traveled with.

"Well, we only got this photo," Goofy said, holding up the picture in question.

"And the salty-sweet ice cream bar!" Donald added.

"Yeah, the one X ate," Sora agreed, glancing to X. X only shrugged again.

"It was in the box right next to the photo," Goofy explained.

"Hey, that's it! Ansem the Wise loved ice cream!" Mickey said, jumping up.

"Ok, what's the name of the flavor?" Pence asked turning back to the computer, ready to type whatever they said.

"Sea-salt," Yuki supplied. X nodded in silent agreement. Pence nodded as he typed it in.

"It worked!" He said happily. It was followed shortly by another groan. "Ah, we need another password. A backup or something." He looked at them hopefully again.

"Any clue?" X asked looking at the group.

Everyone fell silent. Yuki frowned searching her pockets for anything that would give her an idea. She pulled out the picture Y had just given her, flipping it over to look at the back. She was surprised to see words written on the back in Y's neat handwriting.

"An unbreakable connection," Yuki whispered.

"What?" X asked, his eyes rather wide.

"Nothing, Y wrote it on the back of this picture," Yuki said, showing him the picture before slipping it back in her pocket. She didn't want Sora to catch sight of it.

"Wayfinder," X said, turning to Pence. "The password is Wayfinder." Pence nodded and typed it in.

"I'm in!" He announced. He did a few things and the machine beside them buzzed to life. Yuki wasn't sure what he was doing, but he seemed to have it all figured out. Somehow.

"How'd you know that?" Sora asked.

"Y worked on this computer all the time. Wayfinders are kinda her thing," X explained with a grin. Sora nodded turning to the machine.

"Let's go!" Sora said.

"We'll be here to hold down the fort," Hayner said.

"Say hi to Kairi!" Olette added.

"You bet!" Sora said with a nod.

Using the machine they found themselves in what looked like the same room. The walls and floors looked the same. Even the machine they had come through looked identical. 

"Are we back in the same place?" Sora asked.

"Look!" Donald said, pointing toward the computer. It was smashed up, looking like someone had beat it with a blunt weapon. Yuki walked to the computer placing her hand on the computer. She could only guess it was Roxas's doing.

"This is the other Twilight Town. Roxas's Twilight Town," Sora said quietly. Yuki's head snapped toward Sora with his words. She hadn't been expecting that out of him.

"There's gotta be an entrance into the dark realm somewhere. Let's go," Mickey said. He led the way into the next hall where they were faced with a swirling portal in the corridor.

"There," Sora said.

"This is it," Mickey said.

Sora was the first to enter the portal. Yuki followed after the main group, X at her side. Inside they were in what looked something like a dark corridor. Colors swirled around them, making it hard to differentiate what any direction was.

"What is this place?" Sora asked.

"This is the inside of a dark corridor," Yuki explained calmly.

"Weird one, but yes," X said, glancing around with his hands in his pockets.

"Well, which way should we go?" Donald asked. Before Yuki could be given the chance to answer Sora stepped forward.

"Riku! Kairi!" he yelled loudly. Yuki flinched and drew her keyblades. 

They were suddenly surrounded by Nobodies. It was a group of mostly Dusks, but a few of the more dangerous varieties joined in the fray. For every one they killed, it seemed that two more took its place. They were making no headway.

"It's no use!" Sora cried out. Yuki held back her agreement as she slashed down another two Dusks. If they were Heartless it would have been over much sooner.

"Don't stop moving, or the darkness will overtake you!"

Yuki turned to see a familiar bright red-haired nobody jump in the fight. His chakrams took down an entire line of Dusks at once.

"Get goin'!" Axel ordered.

"Why?" Sora asked.

"Don't ask. Just do it!" Axel said quickly. He was swarmed by Dusks and almost knocked down. In seconds flat Yuki was across the area, throwing the Dusks off of him with her keys. X was beside her, helping Axel up as he stabbed a few stray Dusks.

"You ok?" Yuki asked not looking at him.

"Thanks, Snowy, I'm fine," Axel said with a soft smile. He sighed as he turned to Sora. "I kidnapped Kairi, but she got away from me. After that Saix caught her. He's a member of Organization XIII. Saix. Got it memorized? Now go save her!" 

Another Dusk attacked them, this time Sora blocking its hit and sending it flying back.

"Leave us alone!" Sora demanded.

Once again they were surrounded by Nobodies, fighting their way through the masses.

"I think I liked it better when they were on my side," Axel said offhandedly during the battle, his chakrams swinging in his hands.

"I might agree with you for once," X said casually. He wasn't far away, sweat dripping from his brow as he repositioned the grip he had on his daggers.

"Feeling a little regret?" Sora asked playfully.

"Nah, I can handle these punks. Watch this!" Axel said.

He threw himself at the Nobodies, his body being enveloped in fire. A bright flash of light momentarily blinded them, and when they could see again all the Nobodies were gone and Axel was on the ground. Yuki quickly dropped to Axel's side, X beside her.

"Whoa!" Sora said. He paused seeing where they were. He joined Yuki, kneeling beside Axel's slowly fading body. "You're... fading away."

"Well, that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack. You know what I mean? Not that Nobodies actually have beings...right? Anyway, I digress. Go, find Kairi. Oh, almost forgot...Sorry for what I did to her," Axel said. His voice like his body was slowly fading. Yuki felt tears well up in her eyes and her chest tighten up.

"When we find her, you can tell her that yourself," Sora insisted.

"Think I'll pass. My heart just wouldn't be in it, you know? Haven't got one," Axel said. He laughed weakly looking to Yuki and X. Tears were falling down Yuki's cheeks as she looked at him. There was blood like he had burned himself too. X was sickly pale, his eyes fixed on the blotch on Axel's chest.

"Axel, what were you trying to do?" Sora asked.

"I wanted to see Roxas," Axel admitted. "He...was the only one I liked, at least of the Nobodies... He made me feel...like I had a heart. It's kind of... funny... You make me feel... the same..." His eyes watched as tears fell from Yuki's face onto his cloak. Yuki tried her hardest to hide the tear, to hold them back. They didn't have time. But she was still losing everything. First Xion, then Roxas, now Axel, and soon enough Naminé. "Well, look who has a heart now."

"You're going to leave us too," Yuki said, her voice strangled.

"Eh, you'll be fine. Still three strong. Don't cry over a Nobody," Axel said. Yuki shook her head. Her heart hurt like it was being stabbed from all angles. Her eyes turned yellow, focusing on Axel. A gasp escaped her lips.

"The sunset...do you remember it?" Yuki asked.

"Of course," Axel said. Yuki smiled softly, sniffling.

"That's what your heart looks like," Yuki said. Axel stared at her in shock. After a moment his eyes moved over to X.

"You keep an eye on her. You're her Knight, after all," he said. X nodded, tearing his eyes away from the blood and to Yuki beside him.

"I'll watch her. Not that she needs," he said. Axel chuckled, raising his hand to summon a portal.

"Kairi's in the castle dungeon. Now go."

"Axel," Sora said as Axel faded away, returning to nothing. 

Yuki let out a sob curling into herself. Her body shook from her ragged breaths. She clenched her fist tightly, focusing on the feeling of her nails digging into her palms. She pushed herself up, breaths still shaky and uneven. Sora rested a hand on her shoulder but she brushed him off. They didn't have time. Se stepped toward the portal, looking at it with hardened eyes.

"This leads to," Sora said, his voice trailing off.

"Aw, come on! Let's get going!" Donald snapped.

Without further word, they stepped into the portal and into the enemies stronghold.