Holly took one last glance behind as the portal closed off Castle Oblivion behind them. Then she looked forward and saw a pinprick of light ahead. "Okay, let's head for the light at the end of the tunnel," Holly said, pointing with her Neutrino.

"I wish you wouldn't put it like that," Mulch said, cautiously looking around. He lightly passed a hand over the Corridor wall, if you could call it that, next to him. He could tell from the feel of it, from the way it drained the warmth from his hand, that he would not be able to climb it. Which meant no digging as well more than likely. The sooner they were out of here the better.

About halfway through the tunnel, Holly stopped. Mulch bounced off her back. "Why'd you stop?" he asked, getting up off the floor and rubbing his nose.

"There," Holly said pointing with her Neutrino towards the floor. "It's blacker than the rest of the floor."

Mulch leaned forward and squinted. "Are you sure you're not just seeing things?" he asked. The blackness suddenly pulled forward and lashed forward towards him. Mulch felt Holly's hand on his shoulder and shoving him back before it could hit him.

As the blackness rose, Holly fired a few shots at it. It staggered slightly but kept pulling up. Holly watched with growing horror as she realized this thing was actually taller than she was. It looked sort of like the Heartless they had fought earlier. But this thing was not cute and rotund like those had been. This looked like an adult version. The two antennae were much longer now, and it's body was long and sleek. The fingers on the hands came down to vicious points. Points that were now swinging straight towards Holly. She fired off two more shots before rolling to the side.

Coming up, she aimed her Neutrino square at the back of the Heartless and fired a steady shot into his back. "Come on, come on," she muttered.

Mulch was preparing to launch himself at the Heartless Holly was firing at when he noticed another pool of black on black moving behind Holly and then pulling up...

Changing direction, Mulch charged towards Holly. Ignoring her look of surprise, he let loose with an explosive blast of flatulence and lowered his head, hitting the new Heartless square in its chest and sending it staggering backwards.

Holly gave a glance backwards and realized there were more pools of darkness moving towards them quickly. A quick glance forward caused her to jump back as the first Heartless had made a swipe at her face. These are smarter than the other Heartless Holly thought as she saw the black pools methodically trying to move behind both her and Mulch. They couldn't win this fight. Not like this. She flocked on her wings. "Hold on Diggums," she said, hovering into the air. She pulled a sharp U-turn in the air and dove back for him.

"Hold on to what?" Mulch asked, as Holly grabbed him.

Holly grunted and wrapped her arms around Mulch, lifting off and flying on a beeline for the light ahead of them. "So, what, you don't just look like a bowling ball, you ate one too?" she asked, as she felt her grip on him slip slightly. Her flight path wavered as she tried to keep them both aloft.

"Less talking more flying," Mulch said, looking back to the Heartless that were pursuing them. "Persistent, I'll give them that."

With a final burst of speed, Holly and Mulch flew through the light, the portal closing behind them. Holly immediately began to decelerate, which was a good thing, since she was headed straight for a wall. She pulled desperately and just managed to skim up the wall instead of ramming into it.

"I think I'd like to get down now," Mulch said, staring at the wall that was mere centimeters from his nose.

"You and me both," Holly said, as they lowered back to the ground. She put Mulch down and then flipped the wings back off. She leaned against the wall and breathed for a moment. "Talk about a difficulty curve," she said, pulling out her Neutrino and looking at it. "We didn't even take down one of those things."

"All the more reason to find, Roxas," Mulch said, walking around the room. "Hopefully keyblades work better against these things than Neutrinos." As he walked around the room he noted colored circles on the floor. Above the circles on the wall were nameplates. "Agrabah, Wonderland, Traverse Town," Mulch read out loud. He stopped in front of a deep red circle. "Hollow Bastion. Guess this is the one we're taking," he said, pointing at it with his thumb.

"Roxas first," Holly said, looking around the corner. She motioned with her hand. "It's clear. Let's go."

Holly and Mulch quietly crept down the hall. It dead-ended into a T, with the corridor in front of them stretching to the right and left.

"Split up or stay together?" Mulch queried, looking both ways down the corridor.

"Stay together," Holly said firmly. "We're in unknown hostile territory. If one of us got in trouble, we wouldn't be able to call for help."

"Well, if both of us get in trouble we won't be calling for help either," Mulch said, with a grin.

Holly glared at him and he held up his hands. "Yes, yes, I understand what you're saying. No Scooby-Dooing for us."

"Scooby whating?" Holly said, stepping out into the corridor. She hesitated for a moment and then headed right.

"Nothing," Mulch said, following her. He felt better now that he was on solid ground. Not that this ground was made for tunneling either, but at least touching it didn't sap the warmth from his limbs.

The sound of voices came from up around the bend. Holly and Mulch looked at each other and then back down the corridor. There was nowhere to hide. Mulch pointed to the ceiling. "Up," he mouthed.

Holly nodded and flicked on her wings. "You don't have time to climb," she said quietly, crouching down.

Mulch sighed. "I hate flying," he said, clambering onto her back.

Grunting , Holly pushed herself up, the engines helping her lift Mulch's weight. Silently she hovered at the ceiling as two black cloaked figures came around the bend up ahead. Don't look up, don't look up, she thought.

"So, he just fell asleep? And won't wake up?" the one with black hair and an eye-patch across one eye asked. He laughed. "So much for Xemnas' plan to build a better Keyblade master."

"There's what's her name," the other one said. He had a mound of blond hair on his head and was carrying what looked like a gaudily colored metal guitar. "She can use the Keyblade."

"Eh," the first one said. "She's even more of a cold fish than Roxas was. If you can even call her a she." And then the two turned another bend and were gone.

Holly and Mulch came to the floor again. "Well, that's great," Mulch said, hopping off her back. "The guy we're looking for is incapacitated."

"Let's find him anyway. Maybe I can wake him, like I did with Artemis's mom," Holly said, quietly walking forward again. She had to admit, this news dismayed her, though. If they couldn't wake up Roxas she didn't know what they were going to do about Axel's heart. Though those two had been talking about someone else who could use a Keyblade. Maybe they could find her, whoever she was.

Coming to another fork in the road, Holly looked left and right again.

"Hey," Mulch said, pointing up at the wall. "I think these are rooms. Those look like names by the doors."

Holly looked where he was pointing and saw the name Xigbar next to the closed door. "Okay, let's try it," Holly said, walking down the corridor. Scanning ahead, she tried to look for any open doors that might have people inside them who might peak out. She didn't see any.

Mulch was trotting ahead, already having completed his own scan. He stopped by one door and pushed on it experimentally.

"Roxas's room?" Holly asked, coming up beside.

"Nah, Axel's," Mulch said, with a wicked grin. "I want to see what he has in here."

"Mulch," Holly said, half sighing, half groaning. She grabbed his arm and pulled. "Come on, the less time we spend here the better."

"Fine," Mulch said, relenting. He made a note to himself to slip away if possible and break into the room though.

At the end of the corridor they found Roxas's room. Holly pushed on the door but it was locked. She turned to Mulch. "Your specialty I believe," she said, gesturing at the door.

"Darn right it is," Mulch said, pulling a piece of hair out of his scalp. Almost instantly it hardened as he bent it into the shape he want. He slid it into the lock on the door and began to turn it. After a few moments, the door popped open. And that's how the professionals do it," Mulch said, sticking the hair in a pocket in case he needed it again.

Cautiously, Holly pushed the door open. Neutrino at the ready, she stepped in. She made a quick survey of the room. A small desk with a lamp and what looked like a book on it. A bed with young blond-haired kid lying on it, asleep. Nothing else. No knick knacks, no other furniture.

Mulch followed her in and closed the door behind her. "Can you wake him up?" he asked.

"I don't know," Holly said, climbing up on the bed. Carefully, she stepped over Roxas's sleeping form. Clasped in his hands was a very large key. It had a yellow handle, and off the handle hung what looked like a normal-sized key-chain that ended in a Mickey Mouse head shape. Tentatively she touched his forehead and closed her eyes. She probed him gently with her magic, trying to find what had caused his sudden slumber. She shook her head after a moment. "I don't know what's caused this sleep." She stood up straight again, turning to Mulch. "And I don't think I can wake him."

Suddenly her eyes widened, and she quickly brought her Neutrino up again. "Mulch," she said sharply, turn around and back away from the door.

In front of the still closed door still stood a small black cloaked figure, who looked like they might have been a little smaller than Roxas. The figure held out a hand. There was a flash of light, and then, in the hand was a Key like the one Roxas held in his sleep.

"The other Keyblade user!" Holly exclaimed to herself. "Hello," she said tentatively. Before she could say anything else, the figure had leapt at her in a blur of motion. Holly shot the Neutrino, but the shot went wild and missed. She dove backward, landing on Roxas, and the Keyblade whizzed through the air where she had been standing seconds before. She could see the figure turning blindingly fast, arcing the Key down towards her again.

Holly didn't think, she just reacted. Her hands grasped the Key Roxas held and ripped it from his hands, dropping her Neutrino. She felt a surge of power jolt through her, but she only barely registered it as she brought the Key up to block the one headed for her head. The Keys clashed and locked in midair. For a moment they struggled, and then Holly lashed out with her right leg and kicked the figure off her.

The black cloaked figure fell backwards and Holly leapt up, Key still in hand, and charged forward. The figure dove to the side and pointed the Key at Holly. "Ice," Holly heard a voice quietly say, and the Key pointed at her spat out a shard of ice. Holly slashed at it with the Keyblade in her hand and it shattered into a million pieces.

"Who are you?" she asked, standing in a defensive position, Keyblade at the ready.

"Memories," Holly thought she heard the figure say, as the figure charged again. Holly held her ground, and sidestepped at the last second, swinging her Key into the figure's legs.

With a small oomph the black cloaked figure landed and the hood slid back. She, for it was a she, looked up. For a moment, Holly had a glimpse of black hair and blue eyes before the hood was pulled over her head again. "Why are you attacking us?" Holly asked, Key still at the ready.

"Roxas," the black cloaked figure said quietly.

"Whoa, whoa," Mulch said, finally jumping into the fray. He held up his hands. "Hey, listen, we're here to help Roxas. Axel sent us."

The figure looked from Holly to Mulch. "Axel?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes at Castle Oblivion," he said, with his most winning smile.

"I was trying to wake Roxas up, when you came in," Holly said.

The figure began to relax now.

"What's you name?" Mulch asked, stepping towards her.

The figure backed up a little. "Name?"

"Yeah, what are you called?"

Silence for a moment. "Xion," the answer came.

"Well, Xion, I'm Mulch and this is Holly. Axel told us to find Roxas so he could help us with something."

Xion said nothing.

Holly walked forward now too, lowering the Key. "I don't know what's wrong with Roxas," she said.
"My magic can't wake him. But, if you let us leave and don't tell anyone, I'll come back after we've got what Axel needs and I'll wake him up."

Xion looked up at Roxas. "Okay," she said, quietly.

Holly frowned. "We still need a Keyblade user, though."

Mulch raised an eyebrow. "And what do you think you were just doing there? Making bread?"

Holly looked down at the Key in her hands, surprised it was still there. It felt slightly warm. More than that, it felt right. Almost as if the thing was alive and it knew it was in good hands. She looked up at Xion, who was looking down at the Key in Holly's hands. "Do you mind if I borrow this?" she asked. "Use it until I come back to wake up Roxas?"

There was silence again for a long moment. And then finally, Xion nodded. "Okay," she said again, quietly.

"Thank you, Xion," Holly said, reaching out a hand to her. "I promise I'll come back."

Xion hesitated and then reached out a hand of her own. Holly grasped and shook it, smiling.

Mulch took this moment to quietly slip out the door and back down the corridor. He really did want to see what was in Axel's room. Pulling the hair out of his pocket, he reached up to the lock. "Alright, pretty boy, let's see what secrets you've got." Mulch felt something solid thwack his head. Looking up, he saw the Keyblade held above him.

"Let's go," Holly said, poking him with the Key. When Mulch turned around, she handed him her Neutrino and holster. "Here, you might as well use this while I've got this thing."

"Don't know what I'll do with it," Mulch said, putting the holster on. "If it makes you feel better though." Then, quietly as they had infiltrated, Holly and Mulch headed back to the portal room, while Xion stood silently in Roxas's door, watching them go.