A/N: WARNING! This chapter contains a slight amount of spoilers from the Kingdom Hearts manga. Read at your own risk!! Also, all anti- SoraxKairi and anti- RikuxYuffie fanatics are advised to cease reading this fiction and seek out other stories.

Chapter 13: Broken

Left…

Left…

Left…

Right…

Left…

Hmm… looks like another dead end…Again….

Zack scratches his head as he gradually came to realize that he was totally and utterly lost in the maze of hallways that make up the expansive Hollow Bastion castle. It was early afternoon in Radiant Garden and already Zack was causing problems for himself.

Maybe I should've just stayed in my room like Zero suggested, thought Zack. Speaking of which, where the heck is that girl?

Earlier that morning, Zack had woken up to an empty guest room. On Zero's very wise suggestion, he had showered and gotten his clothes washed by the resident workers. She later told him to stay in his room until Cid or Yuffie came to fetch him, but he was too impatient to wait for either one of them. After a few squats to relieve some of his built-up energy, Zack came bounding out into the hallway with sword on back and began wandering through the corridors. It never occurred to him that he would get lost until his stomach practically roared at him for breakfast, which he had yet to have. During his little adventure, he went through many doors, most of which went to rooms that were either still under construction or contained one or two Heartless. Those with Heartless he quickly dispatched the little creatures, although those rooms tend to not fare well in the process.

I'll just say that the Heartless did it, thought Zack with a nervous grin. The huge slash marks on the walls can't be that noticeable, right?

Technically, when one gets lost, one should stay in one place until a search party has determined the location of the lost one. However, Zack decides that he would be found eventually anyways so staying in one spot in a place like this was not going to get him anywhere, literally. Spying another door, he turns the knob and goes through without a second thought.

On the other side of the door, Zack came face to face with books upon hundreds of books.

Finally, he thought with a sigh. An actual room!

And it wasn't just any room in the castle; it was the one and only library, its bookcases nearly filled to the brim with dozens of volumes of possibly every piece of text ever written. It looked like it was in the process of being reorganized, since there were stacks upon stacks of books on the floor and the scattered tables and chairs.

"Hello!" shouted Zack from what appears to be the second floor balcony of the place which overlooked the first floor. "Is anyone here? I'm kind of lost."

Soon after shouting, he hears shuffling noises that came from down below. Scanning quickly, he discovers a set of stairs to his right and makes his way down the carpeted steps towards the noise.

"Is there someone here?" he shouts again.

"Yes! Yes, there is!"

From the sound of the voice, it seems there was a woman somewhere nearby. Slowly and carefully, Zack navigates his way through the stacks of books and seemingly wayward wooden bookcases in search of the source of the voice.

"Is that you, Leon?" shouted the voice.

"No, no, it's one of the guests," replied Zack, a slight chuckle in his voice as he almost trips over a 10-centimeter thick encyclopedia. "A guest that got too curious for his own good."

"Oh!" responded the voice, seemingly understanding of his situation. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Yeah, I don't think so," replied Zack, nearly knocking over a stack of novels. "I'm not staying here for long."

"That's a real shame," said the voice. "It's really nice here."

"So I see," grunted Zack as he leapt over a table. Turning a corner, he almost crashes right into a woman with long brown hair and the most beautiful emerald eyes any living soul could ever possess.

"Oh!" exclaimed the woman in surprise, bringing a hand up to her mouth as her other arm clutched a couple of books. "You've found me at last, I see."

"Yeah…" replied Zack, apparently transfixed on the woman.

"Hi, I'm Aerith," the woman holds out her free hand in greeting. "Aerith Gainsborough."

"I'm… Zack…Fair…" uttered Zack as he takes the woman's hand and shakes it in greeting. "Aerith, huh? That's a nice name."

Aerith lets out a small giggle. "So is Zack Fair."

"Yeah, I'm not too fond of my last name," chuckles Zack. "My creator must've had the time of his life having me born into a family with Fair as their last name."

"I think Fair suits you just fine," said Aerith with a smile.

"So, anyways," said Zack, really wanting to change the subject to anything other than the ridiculousness of his last name. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just reorganizing the library so that people would find things a little easier," answered Aerith. "We transferred the books here pretty quickly so we didn't have time to sort them out properly."

"And you're doing this all by yourself?" wondered Zack, raising an eyebrow questionably.

"Oh goodness, no!" chuckles Aerith. "There are others doing this besides me. I'm just in charge of a couple of sections, that's all."

"I see," said Zack. "Well, would you mind me helping out a bit?"

"Of course not," replied Aerith, smiling sweetly. "The more the merrier!"

Grinning happily, Zack went to set his sword leaning against a nearby empty wall and began sorting through a stack of books. Not soon after he started did Aerith notice his monstrous weapon.

"Oh, that's Cloud's sword, isn't it?" she wondered.

"You know Cloud, too?" responded Zack as he turned to look at her.

Aerith nods in affirmation. "He left a while back, though. I haven't seen him since, him and Tifa."

"Tifa was here, too?" Zack's heart nearly leapt to his throat. "I didn't realize so many friends from my world managed to survive."

"Cloud and Tifa are from your world?" said Aerith, sliding a book onto a shelf.

"Yeah," answered Zack in disbelief, taking a book and putting it in its proper place on another shelf. "Our homeworld… it wasn't the greatest, but it was… still home, you know? We all were born and raised there and everything."

"I think everyone has a special connection to their homeworld," spoke Aerith, picking up three books from a stack. "I was born and raised in Radiant Garden. When the darkness came and took over my world, Cid rescued Leon, Yuffie, and me and brought us all to a place called Traverse Town. I can't begin to describe the joy we felt when we reclaimed Radiant Garden after Sora dispelled the darkness from here."

"Wow," breathed Zack upon hearing her story. "That kid is really something, isn't he? I never figured he could have that power when I first saw him."

"He is the Keyblade Master, after all," Aerith declared with a smile.

Carefully handling a thick book, Zack lays a solemn hand on it before placing it on its proper place on a shelf. "I wonder if I can do the same for my world."

"Sora saved many worlds in the past," said Aerith. "I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help save yours."

"Yeah…" said Zack in a low voice that was close to a whisper as memories of the places he'd been to on his homeworld began surfacing in his mind.

Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by a low, rumbling growl. A blush invaded his face as he quickly covers his stomach with one hand. Behind him, Aerith lets out a giggle and puts down a stack of books.

"Heh, sorry," apologized Zack nervously, turning around to face the woman. "I never got to eat breakfast."

"Well we can't have you collapsing on the library floor," said Aerith, crossing her arms loosely. "It'd be pretty troublesome for Leon and Cid to have to drag you out through the valley of books to the apothecary."

"I wouldn't want that," chuckles Zack with a grin.

"Follow me," said Aerith, holding out her hand. "I'll take you to the dining hall. It's almost lunchtime anyhow so we might as well break here for now."

Nodding in agreement, Zack puts the Buster Sword back on his back and follows the woman out of the library. As the two of them maneuvered through the tall bookcases, up on the second floor balcony stood Zero, silently watching. She closes her eyes to sigh in relief and turns around to disappear through the door.

--

Riku carefully turned the knob of the room and slowly opened the door in case his friends were still sleeping. When he finally entered the well-lit room, everybody was gone except for Sora who sat on the bottom bed of his bunk seemingly lost in his thoughts. Riku has known the boy his entire life and usually when Sora is seriously lost in thought like that, it meant trouble. He approaches his friend cautiously, not wanting to surprise him.

"Sora?"

No response.

"Are you allright?" wondered Riku. "You're kind of creeping me out, sitting there in one place all quiet like that."

A few minutes passed before the boy in question finally responded.

"She was crying in her sleep, Riku," said Sora, sounding more depressed than he should. "She cried in her sleep, and she still won't tell me what happened on the Gummi Ship."

Riku scratches his head, unsure of what to say to his best friend.

"Give her time," he tells him after some thought. "She's been through a lot."

"I feel so helpless," groaned Sora, hanging his head and gazing downward at the floor. "I want to help her, but I don't know how. I feel so frustrated at myself."

"There's no point worrying about things that are out of your control," responds Riku, crossing his arms and leaning against the bunk bed frame. "You just have to do what you can and hope for the best."

Things quieted down again, which bothered Riku quite a bit. He was used to silence, but not when around the usually upbeat Sora who's always got something to chatter about. He couldn't stand it.

"So, where are everyone?" he asks in an effort to keep the silence to a minimum.

"Donald and Goofy went back to their world with King Mickey," answered Sora flatly. "Kairi and Zero left with a while ago to get breakfast." With that he fell quiet again, mostly because he didn't want to talk anymore and partly because he didn't know what happened with Leon and Zack, whom have both disappeared on their own accord without him knowing.

Riku lets out an exasperated sigh upon hearing the melancholy tone in his friend's voice. That was it, he had to do something. He rolls his eyes, feeling a mixture of surprise and awkwardness that befell one who unexpectedly lost a bet that he was sure he'd win. He couldn't believe that the day has finally come when he had to be the one to cheer Sora up of all people when it's usually the other way around. Somewhere, Lady Fate is having the time of her life as she watches this irony unfold.

"R-Riku?! What—!"

Riku had roughly grabbed the back collar of Sora's hoodie and was now dragging the boy away from the bed and towards the door. Using his free left hand, Riku flings open the door, switches the lights off, and shuts the door behind them as soon as they were out. With one thrust, he pushes Sora into the middle of the carpeted, sunlit corridor. The younger teenage boy stumbled a bit before he found his footing and turns to look at his friend with a look of utter disbelief on his face at what just happened.

"Look, I'm not about to stand there and watch you turn into another me," said Riku, placing a hand on his hip. "No matter what you or I do, Kairi is not going to tell us anything until she's ready to. You might as well forget about it and just wait until she comes around. In the meantime, we still have the Chasers to worry about, on top of finding your heart. "

Sora simply hangs his head and looks down at his shoes as his best friend's words sank in deeply. Why can't he ever get a break? He was the Keyblade Master, for crying out loud. He knew well that his duty was to save the worlds from the threat of the Heartless, but he is still a kid, a teenager going through a very difficult time in his life. With that kind of responsibility, it's a wonder how he could stay sane throughout this whole venture. He needed a break badly, even if it's only for a day. He was still human, after all.

A punch on the arm shook him out of his stupor and he looks up face Riku once again.

"C'mon," he tells Sora. "Let's go get some food in us. No sense fighting the Heartless and the Chasers on an empty stomach, right?"

Sora lets out a defeated sigh before he finally responds dejectedly. "Yeah…"

Together, the two of them head for the nearest lift that would lead them to the lower level of the castle where the new dining hall was located. As they walked along the hallway, they spot Rift drifting towards them with Yuffie leading the blind girl by the arm. In one brief moment, Riku and Yuffie's eyes met, both smiling inwardly as the two pairs passed by each other towards opposite directions.

Minutes later, Riku and Sora enter the lift and began their descent. As the lightweight yet strong structure navigates its way towards its destination, Riku suddenly got a feeling that eyes were on him. Turning to his right, he sees Sora staring at him in a manner that demanded answers. In the blink of an eye, the brown-haired teenager had changed his demeanor without notice.

"What?" was all Riku managed to utter once he realizes his friend was no longer brooding.

In a matter of nanoseconds, Sora's flat-lined lips morphed into a smug smile, causing Riku's heart to shoot up into this throat.

Does he know…?

"So…" said Sora, his smile morphing halfway into a grin, sending a chill down Riku's spine. "You like Yuffie."

Instantaneously all the color in Riku's face drained away. He was so sure Sora hadn't been paying attention when they passed by Yuffie and Rift. Their split-second gazes weren't that obvious, were they?

"What?" choked Riku, hoping to deter Sora from whatever thoughts the boy was thinking.

"Oh, come on, Riku," responds Sora, rolling his eyes. "I may be slow at times, but I'm not stupid. I saw what was going on. 'Eyes don't lie,' remember?"

Yep, the old Sora was back and boy he was back with a vengeance. Riku began to wonder if he was better off leaving Sora in his brooding stupor. Darn the goodness of his own heart.

"So what if I do?" uttered Riku, putting his hands into his pockets.

"Nothing, really," replied Sora, interlocking his fingers behind his head. "I'm just… surprised, that's all. I mean, Yuffie? Not that I have anything against her—she's cool and everything—but you and her?"

Riku lets out a sigh. "It's a long story."

Sora looks around him at the lift they're in and raises an eyebrow at his best friend. "Well, if you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly breaking the sound barrier in this thing. I've seen snails move faster than these lifts."

Riku glances around him and realizes that Sora was right. However, he really didn't want to let Sora know how he came to meet Yuffie. That meant having to delve into the past, a past involving a particular year in which Sora was put into a deep slumber by a girl name Naminé. That would only lead to more questions about Sora's slumber that Riku did not feel it was his place to answer.

"I can't tell you now," he tells Sora.

"Why?" wondered the younger teenager.

"I have my reasons," Riku replies simply. "I'll tell you when the time's right."

Sora cocks his head to one side as he tries to make sense of what Riku said.

"Why are you acting like it's some sort of secret mission deal?" asks Sora, feeling slightly irritated. "I just want to know how you and Yuffie met and stuff."

"I just can't tell you now," sighs Riku.

"Fine," exasperated Sora. "It's just a simple question."

No, it's not, Sora. You have no idea.

A/N: Will this be the last we'll see of Zero? Will Kairi ever tell Sora what happened on the Gummi Ship? And why am I asking you the questions when I know the answers? Keep reading Final Conflict to find out! :D