"Riku, are you sure you want to let Kairi do this?" King Mickey asked looking up at his silver-haired friend.

"Shouldn't you be asking Kairi that? Mickey this was her choice, I think she is pretty sure." Riku looked down at the mouse, and then over his red- headed friend Kairi. "You feel still feel comfortable with this, don't you Kai?"

"Yes Riku, I'm sure. I don't want you all to have to protect me forever; I want to be able to defend myself when I need to. And I want to help you and Sora." She looked back at Riku defiantly. Then at King Mickey and Master Yen Sid and said, "I thought I proved I could do this in The World That Never Was, when Riku handed me my Keyblade and I fought off some Heartless."

The gray haired master looked at her from his chair and said, "Yes, Kairi, you did prove yourself, but there is more to becoming a Keyblade master than killing a few Heartless. Your determination may not be enough when you have to face a real person and hurt them, your kind nature will keep you from hurting them. For this reason, I cannot let you become a Keyblade master." Kairi stood there, mouth agape staring at the old master, she felt angry and hurt, but deep down she knew he was right, but she wasn't going to let him know it.

She began to say something but was interrupted by another red-head who had snuck in when he heard what they had been discussing. "Lighten up Master I think she can handle it. She fought back fairly well when I captured her, granted it didn't do much, but with the right training, it could have." Kairi looked wide-eyed at the red-head who entered the room, she did recognize him.

"You! You were the Nobody who kidnapped me! What are you doing here Axel?" Kairi asked as she still looked at him shocked he was even there. She subconsciously noticed he didn't have those purple tattoos under his eyes anymore and that he was wearing jeans and a white tank top with a sleeveless red vest over it, and a yellow and brown checkered scarf hanging from his left front pocket. Even with these changes, she couldn't deny that it was him.

"Axel? No my name is Lea, Got it memorized?" he said pressing is finger to his temple, much like he had when Kairi had first met him, "And as to what I am doing here, well the same thing you are, training to become a Keyblade master."

"Wh-what? Lea? But you just said you were the one who had captured me, why is your name different, and what happened to the tattoos under your eyes?" Kairi was getting more confused as the red-head just stared at her then began to speak again.

"Well, you realized my tattoos were gone, I'm so flattered Princess. Axel was my Nobody's name, I'm Lea, I'm a Somebody again, I have my heart back." Lea continued to speak calmly as Kairi continued to stare at him confused.

Kairi decided to gather her thoughts before speaking again. Just as she was about to say something Riku spoke, "Axe-Er, Lea, maybe you should wait back in the training room, we'll explain to Kairi what you're doing here." Lea looked like he wanted to protest, but started to retreat anyways.

"Wait! No if I'm going to find out, wouldn't it be better to hear from him?" Everyone stared at Kairi a little shocked as she said this; she was even a bit surprised. Riku turned to her and asked, "Well are you sure Kai? His story sorta works its way into mine and Sora's, so I was just going to tell you when I was telling you about our Mark of Mastery."

Kairi thought about that, and then looked at Lea and she noticed that he looked a little disappointed he couldn't tell his own part of the story. Wait, why do I care? Shouldn't I hate him; he kidnapped me and tried to hurt Sora. But maybe he had a good reason, maybe I'II ask him. "Well why don't you let him stay and tell his part when you come to it?" Riku didn't look so shocked when she said this, he knew Kairi always trying to make people happy. She had obviously seen the disappointed look on his face.

"Alright that's fair, why don't we all go sit outside and start catching you up then?" As he said this, he started walking out. He was followed by Kairi, Lea, King Mickey, and Donald and Goofy, who had been sitting silently watching the exchange.

As they left to go outside, Master Yen Sid couldn't help but wonder why Kairi wasn't very angry at Lea. Oh well, he thought, maybe she is just easy to forgive.