A.N: Ok folks! So as promised, this chapter has been updated in one to two weeks time. Hurray! So, I won't say much in the beginning and let you guys and gals read. Enjoy.

Roxas slowly opens his eyes to meet a world in which everything is simply a blur. He quickly rubs his eyes to reorient himself, and then he slowly gets up from… bed? Roxas's eyes open wider, and he looks around his surroundings. Around him are three white curtains that drape down to the ground, creating a small cell just for Roxas.

"What?... Where the hell am I?" Roxas asks himself as he pulls the thin wool blanket off of him and swings his legs over the side of the bed. He rubs his eyes to try and alleviate the weight on his eyelids, which he fails to do so, and he lets out a sigh. He pulls towards the edge of the bed, his bare feet make contact with the floor, and he gets up, reaching high above his heads to try and stretch his body.

"E-excuse me… A-are you feeling better?" Roxas turns around, and is met by a girl sitting on a chair right next to the bed. This girl however is no simple girl. She is around 5'5", a little above Roxas's shoulders, and is one of the most beautiful girls that he has ever met in his life up to this point. The girl's skin is almost as pale as a silver moon, which he considers absolutely divine, and her rich blue eyes are intoxicating to look at. She seems to be a little on the skinny side, simply wearing a very plain white dress that goes down to her knees, but Roxas doesn't mind it at all. Rather, he finds it that much more attractive: sometimes simple is better. Then he notices the blonde hair.

"Wait… Your hair… I think I saw it before I passed out," Roxas says closing his eyes and tapping the side of his head with his finger, trying to recall the memory of what happened before he passed out. "Lets see… Well, we got up this morning, had to sprint over to the school, took a test… Wait! The test! Ah crap, I gotta go find Sora! Oh man, he better not have screwed up. Ah, shit, what if we-" he is interrupted when he hears the girl giggling at the sight that is unfolding in front of her.

'Nice going smart one. One hell of a first impression. She probably thinks you're crazy as fuck now,' Roxas thinks to himself, giving himself a mental slap across the face.

"Hey, are you ok? Your face just… changed…" Roxas quickly escapes from his mind, and gives a nervous chuckle himself, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. So, I think now would be a pretty good time to introduce ourselves?" Roxas asks. He opens the drapes around him and walks over to the doorway of what is probably the infirmary of the school. He then looks down to see that he is somehow wearing a new clean school uniform. He turns his head quickly and points to himself. "Uh… Did you… possibly…" The girl cocks her head to the right, a questioning frown on her face. She looks at where he's pointing, but doesn't really understand what he is trying to get at.

"Y-you know… I noticed I have some new clothes on… S-so I was simply wondering if… You know..." Roxas's sentence trails off into a very quiet mumble, and the girl quickly picks up on what he's trying to say. Roxas knows that he himself is blushing like mad, but the blush on the girl's face in front of him makes her whole head look like a ripe strawberry.

"I-I… Uh, I mean, y-you were pretty d-dirty. I-I didn't m-mean anything b-b-bad by it! I s-swear that I d-d-didn't look! I didn't even touch! Oh god, this is so embarrassing," the girl says, covering her eyes with both her hands, trying to test the saying of, "If I can't see you, you can't see me."

"Uh, but you did change my clothes, right? I mean, it's totally ok if you did, I was just… Wondering," Roxas states matter of factly, even though his face betrays his voice and tone. The girl then starts to quickly walk towards Roxas, paying little heed to her surroundings.

"W-wait! It's really not what you might think! I was just trying to help out! Oh god, I must look like such a pervert. Please, I really didn't do anything that wou- Ah!" the girl's right foot steps on top of a fallen pill container that was lying there, oh so conveniently, causing her to fall forward. Roxas reacts quickly to this, and gets in front of her to catch her. However, Roxas's recovering body still isn't prepared for the full force of the falling girl, causing Roxas to fall backwards with the girl in his arms.

Pak

Roxas's back flats out, his head hitting the ground from the whiplash causing him to close his eyes from the pain. He lets out a low groan, indicating the pain that is now present on his back and the back of his head. However, when he opens his eyes, he notices that his face is a little too close to someone else's. No, little too close would be an understatement because there is maybe around one to two centimeters between the tip of their noses. If Roxas thought that the girl's face was red before, he was flat out wrong because the girl's face right now is probably a couple shades darker than the one he saw before. She was indeed on top of Roxas, her body bearing down on top of his. Certain areas touching certain areas.

'Ok Roxas, play it off like no big deal. Come on, don't blow this man,' Roxas thinks to himself.

"So, your name?" Roxas asks, now undergoing some intense eye contact with the girl that is now invading his personal bubble. It takes a moment for what he says to register to his brain, and once he notices, he winces and turns his head away from what he believes is his absolutely mind boggling stupidity. 'Really Roxas? Her name?! You asked for her name again and now? Oh god, what an idiot.' He thinks to himself again, and gives himself another mental slap.

"Naminé," Roxas turns his head back to Naminé, only this time, for some strange reason, both of their heads now seem to be even close to each other if that is even possible. Her eyes now have his full attention, and for some reason, both of their heads continue to close the small gap they have, millimeter by millimeter. "Naminé's the name," Naminé whispers now, their lips so close that one could barely put one's index finger in between.

"Well, Naminé, looks like someone's getting really comfy with the new guy. Quite literally. Look, look, she's on top of him. Looks like she even made the first move, very unusual for the shy girl," the new voice causes both couples' heads to move away from each other to see the unintended visitors at the door.

"K-Kairi!" Naminé yells in surprise as she quickly picks herself off of Roxas's body and dusts off her white dress, and offers a hand to help Roxas gets up. Roxas accepts the hand, and he himself gets up to dust off the back of his pants and rub the back of his aching head.

"Well well well, would ya look at that. Not even here for more than three hours and you're already all chummy with a girl. I always knew you had it in you Roxas," Roxas simply shakes his head. He looks at Sora and at the girl named Kairi right next to him who… for some reason is very similar to Naminé. However, her skin tone is a little bit tanner, and instead of blonde hair, her hair is deep auburn.

"Shut up Sora. You're the one to talk, aren't you?" Roxas says giving a smirk back, but his brother was always good with hiding his true emotions, and now is not an exception for Sora's secret mastery. However, prodding him now would only lead to more turmoil, so Roxas doesn't push the matter on any more. Instead, he decides to touch on the hot topic that hasn't been brought up yet.

"So… Sora… The test?" Roxas asks, not even asking the question in a full sentence, his heart rating starting to increase. Sora looks over at Roxas, lowers his head. Roxas's heart sinks, making him release another sigh today. "Look, Sora, it's ok… We'll just ha-"

"We got in!" Sora yells with such brilliant exuberance that it makes Roxas take a couple steps back from the sheer power. Roxas is silent at first, the three words sinking into his stomach, then he lets out a nervous chuckle.

"We got in?"

"We got in."

"We got in?!"

"Hell yeah we got in!"

"Yes! We got in!" Roxas yells at the top of his lungs, running towards Sora and giving him a bear hug. Sora simply replies in the same manner, returning the monster of a hug that Roxas is giving. Roxas is the first to release the hug, and nods towards Sora. "We came this far, no going back now right?" Sora simply gives a smirk.

"What kind of question is that Roxas? We're heading for the top now," Sora says as he lightly punches his brother's shoulders.

"Sorry to break your little Bromance moment here, but we should really get going. We have to show you around, and then in the evening, we have to get you ready to take your Proficiency Exam," Kairi says as she walks over to the door and opens it.

"What's this proficiency exam you're talking about Kairi?" Sora asks as he walks out first, Roxas Naminé following him, and eventually Kairi walks out and closes the door.

"The Proficiency Exam is simply a tool that tells us how powerful someone is and how much potential that someone has in the future. Now, don't go and treat it as if it's a simple test. It's going to test your limits to some extent, so I recommended that you boys get a little rest before tomorrow. Naminé and I will come escort you two over to the testing room at 10 A.M. That sound good?" Kairi asks as they continue down the hallway. Roxas and Sora share a look, and both shrug at what Kairi just said.

"Well, it's not like we can actually say no to this," Sora says slowing down to get by Kairi's side. Kairi gives a slight chuckle and nods to this.

"Yeah, it's sort of mandatory. But it does help decide what classes you take, and most importantly, your Rank in this school," Kairi says matter of factly.

"Uh, mind me asking what you mean by 'Rank'?" Roxas asks as they finally exit the school building and start walking towards.

"Your Rank is basically a simple number that helps distinguish your abilities compared to others. Destiny's Mark holds around 2000 students, so there are 2000 ranks. Rank 1 being the highest rank possible, meaning you are the strongest student in the school, and rank 2000 being the exact opposite: the lowest of all of us," Naminé says as they eventually reach a small park that is behind the school. They all decide to take a seat on a couple of benches, Roxas and Naminé on one, Kairi and Sora on another.

"Is there a way to raise your rank, or decrease it?" Sora asks. Roxas just hopes that he isn't going to use this information to get himself injured on the first couple days of school.

"There are a couple ways to rank up or down. One is pretty simple, take on school missions. As you know, the darkness is slowly becoming more and more powerful. It's one of the main reasons Destiny's Mark was created. The school offers jobs, and completing those jobs to a certain extent gives you rewards such as money, items, and quite possibly, a rank up," Kairi says.

"Another way is to duel someone of a different rank. If you really wanted to, you could battle someone of a higher rank, and if you win, their rank will switch with your rank. There are certain rules to dueling, but that can be explained later you know?" Naminé states this time.

"Lastly, just wait. The Proficiency Exam is taken bi-annually, and basically, your rank is probably going to go up if you pay attention in school and do what you're supposed to. Of course, this is probably the least efficient way to raise your ranks," Kairi states the final option. Sora nods his head as he absorbs the information given to him. Sora then looks over to Roxas, who is also absorbing the information in, but unlike Sora, Roxas is trying to create the very plan that they would need. Kairi then looks down at her watch and gets up from the bench.

"Ok, so, it's around two o'clock in the afternoon now. I know that Naminé and I are supposed to help you look around, but you're big boys and we have homework and shit to accomplish. So do whatever you want. I guess you could go back to your apartment, but in the end, it's your time now," Kairi said with a smile. Sora simply nods again to this, and he himself gets off the bench.

"Fine by me. I need a nap anyways. What about you Roxas?" Sora asks Roxas. Roxas is broken from his train of thought. He quickly shakes his head to reorient himself to where he is right now.

"Well, I'd still like to know some of the school more, so I guess I'll walk around the campus a little bit. It'll be nice to know where I'm supposed to be heading when I actually do come here to take classes," Roxas says with a smile. Once he says that, Kairi and Sora both send a quick glance over to Naminé who, feels the force of their eyes pushing down on her. Roxas simply doesn't notice, and turns his head to see Naminé and asks, "What about you Naminé?"

"I-I… Uh…" The stares of Kairi and Sora soon become evil sadistic stares, smirks showing on both of their faces that are burning through Naminé's defence mechanisms set up against peer pressure. Naminé slowly starts to blush as well, and soon enough, she lowers her head and lets out a defeated sigh and says, "I could help you tour the school more in depth if you wanted to Roxas."

"Really? That'd be great!" Roxas says with happy enthusiasm. Sora and Kairi both give each other a smirk and start to walk off to leave the future blonde couples to do… What future blond couples do. Once they are some distance away from Roxas and Naminé, Sora gives a quick glances towards Kairi.

"So, Kairi, not to sound hostile or anything, but what rank are you?" Sora asks Kairi. Kairi taps her chin, thinking about when she took her Proficiency Exam around two weeks ago when school actually started.

"Well, if I remember correctly, I am around rank 1354. For a freshman, that basically means I'm almost as strong as what the middle ranking sophomore would be," Kairi points out simply. Sora's mouth almost drops, almost the keyword here. He keeps his composure, and nods his head slowly. Kairi looks over to Sora, and gives a small giggle. Sora simply raises an eyebrow to question her behavior.

"Hahaha, sorry Sora. It's just that you're like an open book. I can read what you're feeling like a mile away," Kairi says with a slight smile. Sora's eye open a little wider, and he lets out a sigh to show his defeat.

"Sorry Kairi. It's just that I have to reach the top no matter what," Sora says clenching his own fist. He then quickly looks at Kairi with a grin and says, "Just a stupid personal reason is all. But I'm going to get there no matter the price. I might sound like a little naive brat that has no idea what he's getting into. However…" Sora then looks up at the sky, the endless blue sky. He puts his hand up, opening it as wide as he possibly can. He then clenches his fist again, trying to grasp at something in that vast space in front of him. He then lets the hand drop to his side, giving Kairi a look of determination and say, "It's just something that I can't give up on. Not until I give it everything I have to offer... and more." He then looks away, silence hanging in the air.

'She probably thinks like I'm an idiot. A narcissistic bastard who is only out for power and fame. Who wouldn't?' Sora thinks to himself as he waits for a response.

"You know Sora… I think this will be a very interesting Proficiency Exam," surprised, Sora whips his head around to Kairi. Instead of the disappointed, disgusted look that he assumed would be there, there is a genuine, heart-felt smile on her face. The smile of a goddess that seems to just say, "It's all ok." That's when he cracks, the smile breaks his walls. So quickly, so easily, Sora is at lost for words. All he can do is blush and keep staring deep into her eyes. Then Kairi's cellphone goes off, causing their little moment to be broken.

"Yeah… Yeah he's here… Wait, are you sure? Right now?... Ok… Yeah I'll bring him over," Kairi then takes the cell phone off her ear and clicks the end button. Sora looks at Kairi, raising an eyebrow to question what the phone call was about, assuming that it is about him.

"Sora, you're going to have to come with me."

"Well Sora, we sort of had to schedule your Proficiency Exam a little early because the Headmaster wanted to see it personally. No pressure. So, any questions?" Yuffie asks Sora. Sora looks at Yuffie, then back at Kairi, then back at Yuffie, then back at Kairi, and then looks at Yuffie.

"Why are you here?" Sora asks crossing his arms. Yuffie simply giggles, jumping over to Kairi and giving her a very scandalous hug, putting her arms around Kairi's waist, while staying afloat with her MS, puts her head on Kairi's shoulders, her mouth very close to Kairi's neck. She gives a smirk towards Sora.

"Oh, you know. Gotta get my daily dose of Kairi. I didn't come here for you Sora, don't worry. I like my men with dignity and pride," Yuffie says, gently stroking the side of Kairi's face with the back of her hand. Kairi's face lights up red from embarrassment from Yuffie's touch, while Sora's face lights up from Yuffie's insult.

"Anyways Sora. Before we get your Proficiency Exam underway, we need to see if you can unlock your level-1 MS," Yuffie says getting off of Kairi and walking over to the entrance to the building that they were supposed to meet at. It seems to be an apartment complex, around fifteen stories tall, and red bricks compiled on top of each other to create the walls of the rather bland building.

"So what are we doing here?" Sora asks as he follows Yuffie towards the door. Yuffie simple ignores his question, and instead of opening the front door, she turns at the last second and begins to walk down the side of the building. Sora looks at Kairi, pointing at Yuffie as if she is joking with them right now, but Kairi gives him a nervous smile and follows Yuffie. Sora simply shakes his head and follows as well. They eventually reach the corner, and right before Yuffie turns the corner, she stops.

"Yeah, Merlin, we're here! Take down your annoying… invisible… shield thing. I don't even remember how you do it, but we have to come in," Yuffie says talking to what seems like empty space. Before Sora can ask Yuffie if her mentality is there at all, a small house appears out of thin air right next to the apartment. The house is a little run down, the windows grey with dust, the yellow paint on the exterior slowly fading away, the shingles on the roof slowly falling apart, and the doors seem to have large scratch marks leaving deep imprints on the wooden door in the front. The beaten down door then opens wide to introduce an old man to the big ol' smiling sun.

"Oh! Oh my! Someone has got to turn that blasted light off!" the old man yells, covering his eyes. The old man seems to be around his late 60s to early 70s. He is a bit on the short side, but that is probably because of his hunched back. He's a rather pale fellow, his arms and legs showing from what seems to be a blue robe are almost like sticks. He is also wearing glasses, a pointed blue conical hat, and not to mention his monster of a beard that seems to reach his ankles.

"Why am I here again?" Sora whispers over to Kairi, still looking at the man that seems to be undergoing a battle with the sun.

"Because he's the one that's going to help unlock your level-1 MS," Yuffie states matter of factly. Sora's interest peaks a little bit.

"Now how is this man, that hasn't seen the sun in ages apparently, going to help me get that?" Sora asks, crossing his arms with a slight smirk on his face. Yuffie lets out a sigh and turns around with a slight frown on her face.

"You know, sometimes I wonder why the hell I still haven't kicked her face to smithereens yet. If you must know, this is Merlin," Yuffie says, putting her hand up towards Merlin, who is now not even there anymore. Sora does all he can to make sure that he does not laugh at Yuffie's epic failure.

"Come on inside! You young fellows make yourselves at home. I'll be with you in just one moment!" Merlin yells from somewhere inside the house. Yuffie walks straight in shaking her head, then Kairi, and lastly Sora enters the house, closing the door behind him. When Sora turns around, he is met with a dimly lit room with books piled on top of each other, books scattered around the ground, and books on top of tables. The furniture is barely recognizable because of all the books surround the place.

"Oh my god… I've entered book worm heaven," Sora says as he is quite impressed with the amount of books the old man has piled up throughout the countless years that he's been alive. He then follows Yuffie into another room which is set up with a table four chairs, a small candle lamp on top of the table to illuminate the room, and again, books stacks tall enough to reach the ceiling covering the room.

"Ah yes, these days this old man has nothing to do except just that. Read. Anyways, Sora Strife, this meeting isn't to talk about what an old man like me does on his free time, but more about you. I was told to help you unlock your level-1," Merlin says, taking a sip of his tea that was not there before. Sora takes a seat as well, and with a flick of Merlin's hand, a can of coke appears in front of Sora. Merlin smiles and says, "Assuming you would prefer those soft drinks than tea." Sora nods, opening the can, and taking a sip.

"Ok, so before we get started, a formal introduction is probably a good idea. My name is Merlin. Merlin the Magician. It's a pleasure to meet you Sora," Merlin says, taking another sip of his tea.

"The pleasure's actually all mine. The name's Sora, as you already seem to know. So… Uh… Sorry to sound ignorant and rude, but what do you do? You know, other than reading books. Yuffie makes you out to be some guy, but I'm not seeing anything other than some magic," Sora asks not holding back. Yuffie smacks her forehead from frustration, and before she can say anything to Sora, Merlin starts to crack up, almost letting go of his tea cup that's in his hand right now.

"Oh ho ho ho, this is indeed an interesting day. It's refreshing to not be known. Well Sora, as you can see now, I am simply a man stuck in his studies. The outside world has no more interests for a man like me Sora. I've seen the world and what it has to offer, but you have not. Simply think of me as… a guide," Merlin says with a sad smile, memories seemingly coming and going.

"B-but Merlin! You're not going to tell him that you're the-"

"Ah ah ah Yuffie. It would be better if he doesn't know. But from the looks of things, even if we were to tell him, Sora here probably wouldn't give a toot. So keep that blabbering mouth shut," Merlin says frowning, escaping from his thoughts. There is a moment of silence before Yuffie growls slightly and rests her chin on the table. Merlin shakes his head, then looks over to Sora another time and says, "So Sora, lets get your M.S started."

"Wait, before we continue. Can you go into M.S a little more? Yuffie explained it earlier today, but I still don't quite understand it yet," Sora says crossing his arms and leaning back on his chair. Merlin nods to Sora's request and clears his throat.

"Well Sora, as Yuffie probably put it, M.S an acronym for Materialized Spirit. And as she probably also explained to some extent, the Materialized Spirit is a technique, well, more like a doorway, for a part of your spirit to materialize into our world," Merlin states. He gets up from his seat, walks over to a stack of books, and takes a book from the middle of the stack without the twenty book stack somehow crumbling. He walks back over to the table and opens the book. The two page spread is yellow with age, the edges missing pieces of paper, and on the right side of the pages, it is covered with writings of a different that is beyond recognizable to the teenagers. Merlin gives a slight chuckle of amusement at the children's confusion, but then points his index finger to the left page.

"I want to focus on this picture to help you get a better understanding of an M.S Sora. The M.S's main source of power is one's soul, as one can imagine, but the soul as a whole was and still is something unimaginable, something incalculable; our human minds cannot come close to comprehending the power a single soul holds. And because of that, many thought that the power to control one's soul was unthinkable, almost god like," Merlin says, pointing to a picture where a circle of light is held high above in the sky, beyond the reach of the people on the ground reaching for it.

"Wait, then how does the M.S exist?" Sora asks, scratching his head, becoming even more confused. Merlin flips the page.

"Yes, but humans are rather funny creatures don't you think so? We hear of the impossible, yet we still strive for that impossibility. And because of that, and through years of research, scientists and magicians that were working together came to an extraordinary realization: the soul has multiple layers. Because we were able to make that endless power into something we can somewhat calculate, we can take some of it and control it," Merlin says pointing to four circles that are all concentric to each other, each circle getting smaller as it goes to the middle. Merlin then puts his finger down on the outer layer of the picture and says, "And that brings us to you Sora. This is what we are here to help you with today: your level-1 M.S." Merlin then closes the book, moving it to the side of the table. Sora's head seems to be throbbing with the information that was just thrown in his face in the past 2 minutes, but he understands the general gist of the whole thing.

"Ok Merlin. What do I have to do?" Sora asks. Merlin smiles and gets off his chair.

"Come with me."

"Come lay down Sora," Merlin says, pointing to a small twin sized bed in the new room that everyone moved to. It isn't any different than the room before, however, this one is a little bit smaller, and instead of a table in the middle, there is the bed. Sora walks on over, gets on the bed, and quickly lies down, putting his hands behind his head to act as a pillow.

"Ok… So you never really mentioned this, but what does the level-1 M.S allow me to do?" Sora asks, staring into the ceiling.

"The level-1 M.S allows your spirit to give you the power to have very high attunement with a certain element of this world," Merlin says. He then points to Yuffie and says, "As your brother Roxas experienced, Yuffie's level-1 M.S gives her the ability to control the air."

"Wait, but isn't magic already a thing? Why is this level-1 M.S so important then?" Sora asks, getting up from his position and looking at Merlin.

"Yes, it is true that everyone can use magic such as Fire and Firaga, or Thunder and Thundaga. However, the level-1 M.S is a little different. The level-1 M.S works off of power given by your outer layer spirit. That outer layer spirit is the basis of your personality Sora" Merlin says.

"Ok, so where are you going with this?" Sora asks, his head starting to hurt a little more from all this information.

"In other words, and to put it simply, your personality has some kind of attunement with a specific element Sora. And once your level-1 M.S is unlocked, allowing you to gain affinity with that element… You'll see the difference between it and the spells that are available to all today," Merlin says. Sora simply nods, and lies back down on the bed. Merlin then takes out a vial filled with purple liquid, pops the cork cap off, and gives it to Sora.

"Now Sora, to unlock your level-1 M.S, it's not too difficult, but there is a small test that you have to go through. That drink will allow you to enter into a phase to complete the test for your level-1 M.S. I cannot tell you what the test will be like because for every person it is different. All I can tell you is good luck," Merlin says. Sora looks at the vial nervously, a loud gulp coming from his throat. He takes in a deep breath, and quickly downs the liquid in the vial. Soon, everything starts to get hazy, and his eyes become heavier and heavier with each passing second. Then his eyes close as he is then met by darkness.

"Where… Where am I?" Sora asks, but is met by silence. He feels his feet are on some kind ground, so he is standing on top of something. However, the darkness is giving him a hard time orienting himself to the new environment that he still knows nothing about. He takes in a deep breath to try and keep his composure, but for some reason, this feeling of panic is stirring slightly inside his stomach.

Utter Darkness

"Welcome Sora Strife." Sora turns his head to the source of the voice, but he once again sees nothing.

Utter Darkness

"Who's there?" Sora asks to the unknown owner of the voice.

Utter Darkness

"Who are you, Sora Strife?"

Utter Darkness

"W-what are you talking about?"

Utter Darkness

"What are you, Sora Strife?"

Utter Darkness

"Look here, jus-"

"What do you see Sora Strife?"

"Utter darkness," Sora says without even knowing. He quickly catches himself, and once what he says registers inside his head, the panic in his stomach grows even stronger. Gnawing. Ripping. Kicking. Literally. Sora kneels, his hands over the pain on his stomach.

"Are you afraid Sora Strife?" Sora is simply in too much pain to respond to the voice.

"You are afraid Sora Strife. For what reason? You know it yourself more than anyone."

"Stop…"

"You are weak."

"No!"

"You are powerless."

"You bitch…"

"You. Have. Nothing."

"What do you want?!" Sora yells into the darkness. There is another moment of silence.

"I want nothing, yet I want everything. You, Sora Strife. What do you want? You want power. Yes I know. You want power, yet you are in this dark place. This dark, dark place, with nothing you can do to get out. I can give you power Sora Strife, if you take my offer."

"What's this… Ugh… Fabulous offer you gotta give, huh?" Sora responds with sarcasm to the voice, the pain in his stomach increasing with every second that passes.

"Become part of the darkness. Spread the darkness. Be the darkness. The darkness can present you with powers beyond your wildest imagination. Join me, and I will give you power." This time, there is a moment of silence from Sora. His head is bent, knees still on the ground, but his hands slowly go from his stomach to his sides. Then, a small chuckle escapes from Sora, which eventually grows to a full out laugh.

"What is so funny Sora Strife?"

"Hahaha… You know, this entire situation reminds me of something. A long time ago, my mother used to tell me a story. You probably know of it too. Hell who hasn't. The story of Pandora's Box," Sora says, getting off his knees and sits with his legs straight and his arms behind him. Just mentioning the story eases the pain in Sora's stomach, so he continues.

"Pandora's Box. The bitch couldn't hold her curiosity and had to open that box. All that darkness, all the bad things in our lives today, they all just poured out of that small box. Along with one other thing. That one other thing came out too."

"What is that 'thing' Sora Strife?" Sora gives the silence a moment. A moment to register the things he is trying to say. He takes in a deep breath, and then lets it out, closing his eyes.

"Hope… That last thing out of that box was Hope for people like her… For people just like me. This whole situation. Me joining the academy. Me unlocking my M.S. Me meeting you…" Sora stops for a second, letting the silence float in the air; letting his words travel through the darkness. Then he chuckles and says, "Hey I don't know what you are. I don't give a shit about who you are either. But I'm gonna decline that offer with all your 'darkness' business. Instead, I'm gonna bet everything on something else."

"What is that 'thing' Sora Strife?"

"The strongest yet weakest weapon that all human beings have: Hope," Sora says. Then, a large beam of light shoots down from above, covering Sora. The beam of light makes the pain in Sora's stomach disappear, and starts to make Sora feel very drowsy.

"If 'Hope' is your answer Sora Strife, then you will become 'Hope'."

"Hell yeah I will… And I'll teach you… A lesson… Eventually…" And with that Sora enters into a slumber, slowly being lifted up by the light.

"Hope Sora Strife… Hope. For that is all you can do."

A.N: Ok! So, hope that lil' romance part in the beginning was done somewhat well ( ;) ), and overall, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to have the next chapter up in a week or two. But once again, please review! It can be critiques about how I write or the story plot, just a small comment saying you enjoyed or didn't enjoy, or if you see a simple grammar error or spelling mistake, point it out. It makes a difference guys. Anyways, thanks for taking your time to read this update, and hope you all have a great day. TheCraziestOfAll signing out.