Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

I'm back, finally. I know it's been a long time, and you guys deserve an explanation as to why. But rather than go into some long-winded speech, I figured I'd give you a somewhat comical depiction of the struggles I've been facing. So here we go.

Imagine me, hunched down inside an old WWI trench, desperately firing rounds labeled 'effort' at an unseen enemy. However, the enemy laughs, and approaches my hiding place. Each footstep causes the ground to shake, until it eventually stands over me and blots out the sun.

It's a giant monster, one whose appearance is constantly changing, but each form has one thing in common. Each one has the word "Life" written on its forehead. Life laughs, and points at me. "Just give it up, feeble human! No matter how much effort you give, you will never find the time to write fanfiction! I made sure of it!"

I wonder what Life means, and then see a set of missiles fall from the sky. There are several of them, each bearing names such as "homework", "job", "family" and "getting decent sleep", to name a few. I look at Life in exasperation. "Oh, come on! I really want to do stuff that I enjoy! I like writing fanfiction, and I have so many ideas for my stories! How am I supposed to write if I have all this hitting me?!"

Life laughs at my anger. "That's the whole point! Your life outside of writing will consume the time you leave aside for fanfiction, until it takes you months to get one chapter done! Until you get your degree, this is your fate! HA!" it cackles.

I look on helplessly at Life's barrage hits me, and the scene fades to black.

So, yeah. It's not that I don't want to write. I really, really do. I just have zero time for it nowadays. I know my academic advisor warned me that this semester was going to be particularly work-heavy, but damn did I not believe her until now. (At least I listened when she told me not to take Thermodynamics on top everything else.) But now I've had my fill of venting, and will thus get right to chapter.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 33: The Other Side

The moment Sora and the others exited Hollow Bastion, they entered the Tenth Floor's exit hall. But waiting for them was another person in a black coat, though they had yet to meet this one. He was on older man with blonde-ish hair and green eyes. He also wore very superior expression, as if they were beneath him.

Instantly taking a dislike to the guy, Sora demanded "And who are you?!"

The man smirked. "My name is Vexen. I have come with the purpose of collecting your debt, Sora," he declared.

That statement confused more than one of them, prompting Goofy to ask "A debt? Sora, did you borrow something from this guy or something?"

"Come on. Of course, I haven't," Sora replied.

But then Vexen said "On the contrary, you do. You owe me for the reunion you had with the ones who once called you friends." Sora thought about that for a moment, before he stiffened in shock. Seeing that he understood, Vexen said "Yes, I'm the one who arranged your meeting with Dexal, and who brought Riku back to you."

While one half of that statement was a lie—Vexen knew he couldn't control Dexal if he tried—the other half was true, and would definitely serve to aggravate Sora. It worked, as evidenced by Sora saying "Then that means… that you're the one who's controlling them! Where are they?!"

Vexen scoffed. "There's no need for you to know where Riku or Dexal are. After all…" he began, before raising his arm. The air temperature around him began dropping drastically, what water vapor there was condescending and then freezing. Until, with a swirl of ice, a blue spikes shield appeared in Vexen's grasp. "…That information is of no use to the dead," he finished.

Sora summoned his Keyblade in response, while Donald and Goofy turned into cards that Sora immediately picked up. Vexen wasted no time and called "Blizzara!" before conjuring a chunk of ice and firing it at him.

He rolled out of the way and cast Firaga in response, hitting Vexen with a massive fireball. Or at least, he would have, had the blonde not raised his shield and blocked the attack. Then he shot forward and swung his shield to hit Sora with the spikes on it.

Sora blocked spikes, but then was forced back when a spike of ice suddenly erupted from the ground. That opening gave Vexen the time he needed to cast Blizzara again, but the spell was again avoided. Using his Goofy card, he called "Let's go!" and the Royal Knight appeared.

"Come on!" Goofy called, before hitting Vexen from behind with his own shield. The blonde cried out in pain and was sent up into the air, where Sora nailed him with an overhead blow to the chest, sending him back down. Vexen was quick to get back up and back away, gathering his strength.

Knowing to not let him, Sora then called "Sonic Blade!" and shot forward fast enough to leave afterimages behind him. Vexen couldn't block in time, and was hit over and over again as Sora rushed at him from either side repeatedly. At the last hit, Sora grinned before hitting Vexen right in the knee, causing a loud crack to issue throughout the hall.

"AAGH!" he screamed, falling to one knee. But before Sora could capitalize, he yelled "I think you need to Freeze!" His shield flashed, and Sora had just enough time to fell the temperature dropped once again before he was frozen solid, stuck in a block of ice. Now having a precious few seconds to recover, Vexen pulled an Elixir from his pocket and drank it, healing the damage done to his knee.

Then, with that taken care of, he ran at Sora and willed the ice block to shatter. Sora gasped as he was freed, but then that air was knocked out of him when Vexen slammed his shield into the brunette's stomach. Then, he followed it up with another spike of ice from the ground, one that Sora barely avoided as he staggered back.

Like the Keyblade wielder, Vexen tried to press his advantage, but Sora managed to get enough distance between them to throw his Kingdom Key, hitting Vexen hard enough to leave him stunned for a moment. While the blonde was down, Sora grabbed another Goofy card that had appeared, before raising both it and his Donald card.

Both appeared, and Donald said, "Let's see who you like this!" Goofy placed his shield over his head and let Sora and Donald use him as a battering ram, the three calling as one "Wild Crush!"

Vexen recovered just in time to see the trio rush at him, and he held up his shield to block it. Not that it did him any good this time, as he was literally bowled over by the force of the attack and then trampled. Sora and Donald quickly turned around and came at him again, and Vexen was once more slammed into regardless of his shield.

Vexen gritted his teeth, and he yelled "I've had enough out of you!" He then placed one hand against the ground, flash-freezing in and creating a layer of slippery ice. Sora nearly lost his balance, and Vexen kept it up by coating the bottom half of his shield in ice. The ice then grew, until it formed a massive blade. With his improvised weapon now complete, he rushed at Sora and swung wildly.

Sora managed to block the first blow, but a simple push from Vexen had him skidding back across the ground until his back hit a stone column. Then he swung again, nearly taking off Sora head had he not ducked. Vexen swung his leg and kicked Sora in the chin, forcing him to straighten back up in time to receive a long cut across the chest.

The Keyblade wielder cried out, the pain of the cut magnified by how cold the ice blade had been. But he fought through the pain, and looked to see Vexen leaping into the air from a downward slash. Quickly, Sora pulled out a Stop card and two Attack cards, and called "Lethal Frame!"

All at once, time itself seemed to slow down, and Vexen went still n the middle of the air. Before the spell could wear off, Sora ran forward and hit the blonde almost a dozen times, as well as pulling his shield out of his grasp.

Then time returned to normal, and Vexen fell back down as the pain from every hit struck him at once. Sora held both the shield and his Keyblade up high, before declaring "This is it, Vexen!" Then he slammed the shield against the ground, shattering the ice blade and creating a shockwave. That shockwave knocked Vexen off-balance, and Sora coated his Keyblade in fire before throwing it one more time.

It hit Vexen dead-on, both bruising and burning him, and Vexen gave one more shout before falling to the ground.

With the fight now finished, Donald and Goofy reappeared, weapons at the ready. Slowly, Vexen got back to his feet and recalled his shield before dismissing it. "As I expected. Just as Dexal proved, you Keyblade masters aren't the kind to die easily," he said.

Sora scowled. "As if I'd ever lost to someone like you!" he countered.

But Vexen merely regained that superior smirk of his. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. Or did you not even notice?" he asked. When Sora didn't respond, he said "While you and I fought, I was looking into your memories. And when I did, I found this."

Vexen reached into his pocket and pulled out a World card, though it was one that Sora had never seen before. From this distance, Sora could make out the shape of a clocktower, a golden sunset, and a town. "This card is made of all the memories that are locked away… in the other side of your heart," he said, and threw the card at Sora.

He caught it, and Vexen immediately escaped through a dark corridor.

Dexal stared at the crystal ball, completely floored by what Vexen had just done. Axel and Marluxia were shocked as well. Out of all the things that Vexen could have done right then, revealing the existence of Twilight Town was not what they had expected.

Larxene was shocked as well, but she managed to voice her frustration. "Are… you… KIDDING ME?!" she roared, and threw a set of knives behind her. The knives hit a wall and unleashed an explosion of electricity, nearly blowing a hole in the wall.

Dexal sighed. Seriously, he could have given Sora a card to a different world, any different world. But the last thing they needed right now was for the Keyblade wielder to find out about Roxas. And that could very well happen if he went to the exact same world where his Nobody had been born!

Axel, however, got over his shock pretty quickly, and leaned over to Marluxia. "You know, if Sora finds out the truth, it could seriously engender the Organization's plans," he pointed out.

The pinkette nodded, not taking his eyes off the crystal ball. "I trust you know what you need to do."

"Actually, I don't have a clue; my mind's all dazed right now. Perhaps it would be easier if you could spell it out for me and Dexal," Axel flippantly replied. Dexal looked up at him and frowned. What was he playing at?

Marluxia looked at both of them, making sure that they were paying attention. "We have just witnessed Vexen blatantly commit treason against our Organization. For this, he must be destroyed. Eliminate the traitor," he declared.

Dexal's eyes widened. So that's what Axel was doing. With those words, both of them now had full authority to strike down anyone who tried to betray the Organization. And soon enough, although he didn't know that they knew, that would include Marluxia himself.

Slowly smiling, he said "Consider it done."

Axel nodded, adding "No taking that back later," before they both left.

Once they made it to the entrance hall for the Eleventh Floor, Sora puled out his newly acquired card. Jiminy took a close look at it, going over Vexen's words. "A card made from memories from your heart's 'other side'. What does that even mean?' he thought aloud.

Sora shrugged. "We'll know eventually. This is the only World card we have left, after all," he said.

Donald and Goofy both nodded, and Sora held the card up to the door. As usual, there was the card dispersing into bits of light, and the door opening to let more light shine through. Only this time, the light seemed… brighter… than with the previous worlds, enough that Sora nearly had to cover his eyes as he walked through.

When he opened his eyes, he was immediately in awe of his surroundings. The group appeared to have entered the middle of some kind of market in the middle of a town, said market being huge and containing several shops. A set of tracks went around the shops, built into the stonework itself. Also, it was unset in town, rendering all the buildings and ground in shades of red, golden and brown. It was… beautiful.

"Gawrsh, this place sure is nice. Where are we, Sora?" Goofy asked.

The brunette shook his head. "To be honest, I have no idea. I don't think I've ever been here before," he replied.

"Neither have I," Donald added.

Jiminy jumped up and down, getting their attention. "Now, hold on! That can't be right. Up to this point, all the worlds we've gone to have been places that are from Sora's memories. There's no reason that this should be any different," he argued.

Sira shrugged. "I suppose you're right. But I still don't remember this place," he stated.

Jiminy looked away. "This is just terrible. We've gone so far in this castle, all our memories are almost completely gone," he said sadly.

Donald and Goofy also lowered their heads. True enough, it was getting harder and harder to remember things as time went by. And what was worse, they weren't even remembering anything new. They were doing a lot of losing, but no finding.

Eventually, Sora managed to pick himself back up. "Trust me, we'll be okay. Take a look at this," he said, and reached into his pocket. What he pulled out was the good luck harm he had, the one from Naminé. "There's a special memory I have that involves this. One night, when Naminé and I were just kids, there was a meteor shower. I thought it was awesome, but Naminé was scared."

"'What are we going to do it a meteor hits the islands?' she asked me. So, I told her 'If a shooting star comes towards us, I'll knock it all the way back into space!' while swinging one of the toy swords we had lying around. When I said this, Naminé stopped crying, and smiled at me. She said 'Yeah. If it's you, Sora, I'll be okay,' and then she showed me this charm. She said that shed had since she was a baby."

Goofy smiled. "And then she gave it to you? Aww…" he said.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. She said that it would protect me too. That's when I promised her that, from the day forward, I would protect her," he said.

Unbeknownst to any them, an image of Naminé appeared behind Sora when he said that. Although, this Naminé was older, the same age as him. And instead of happy, she appeared sad. "Sora, I'm so sorry. All of this is because of me."

Then the image faded, and Sora continued "But one day, she and her family had to move, and leave the islands. And after that… I just forgot about here. I really let her down…"

Now he was the one hanging his head in despair. The others shared looks, before Donald said "Then we just have to find her, so that you can keep your promise!"

Sora looked up at them, and saw that they were smiling at him. After a moment, he smiled as well, and nodded. "Yeah. I can still keep my promise if we find her. Let's go," he said.

And that end's this chapter. For those of you that played the game, you know exactly which fight is coming next, and the scene that occurs afterwards. So look forward to that, and anything else that I might have up my sleeve.

Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)