Welcome to Balance: Nightfall. We've entered the world of KH3D and it'll be fun. Ghost is going to be the main feature for this one, so sorry to all of you Twilight fans you'll see her but most likely not until we get closer to the end. To all of my readers that have followed me from B:DL you guys are wonderful. To all of the new readers you should probably go to my profile and actual read Balance: Darkness and Light. Otherwise you might be a bit confused. Anyways on to the good stuff.

I don't own KH3D in any sense. I only own Ghost and Twi.

Chapter 1: To Begin a New Adventure

Coffee, how had I ever survived before without it?

I leaned back against the counter with a sigh, mug in hand, and staring out the window that overlooked Radiant Garden. Axel and I had bought a house, it wasn't like between the two of us we didn't have enough money, and started living together. We had separate rooms of course because that would have been far too fast of a move in our still rather new relationship. It was a comfortable life though and we had quickly fallen into a semblance of a routine. Axel had even gotten a job with the Restoration Committee and helped out where he could while I took on Hunts for any monsters that were causing problems. Let's just say that Radiant Garden was a lot bigger than any of the games had shown. I had had things explained about how I had gotten here and while it had caused me to be extremely…irritable, it had come with its own upside.

Creepy Disembodied Voice had sent a gift, which had included Birth By Sleep and Re: Coded, very helpful to know the back-story and it did explain some things. It also gave me ample ability to tease Axel. He had been absolutely adorable as a child.

I blinked and shook off the rambling thoughts; those seem to happen more in the morning and smiled quietly as the red head himself walked into the room. The tattoos on his face were fading, slowly but surely, and I wasn't entirely sure what that meant but I wasn't too concerned. He felt balanced so I highly doubted he would be going poof on me anytime soon. As usual in the morning we were silent, neither of us were really morning people despite being early-risers by force of habit. He pressed an affectionate kiss to my cheek, grabbed the mug of coffee I had prepared for him, and headed out to work.

I had the day off, no hunts, no meetings, nothing but glorious time to laze as I had just finished a job late last night, not even getting home until sometime early in the morning. A finger tapped against the mug in my hand, I had been getting restless lately though. Ever since I had finished BBS my mind had been pouring over the details that I had noticed, my mind fixating on certain aspects…little details that I had never really noticed before. I need to go talk to Merlin; there had been something beyond anything else that I had noticed in the series. I finished off my coffee and placed the mug in the sink, I would wash it later. A frown played along my lips as I grabbed my coat, black leather with white stripes wrapped around the elbows and shoulders, throwing it on over the black tank top as I headed to the door. Locking it behind me I contemplated whether or not Merlin would be busy arguing with Cid or if he would actually be working for once. Either way I would still find him at the house that he had occupied ever since I had been there. Past the marketplace on the way to the Castle, maybe he would know the answer to my question or at the very least where to start looking for the answers.

"I'm telling you Merlin, there's something weird about it and all I'm asking you is to take a look. I mean it's not exactly a common letter or anything so for there to be a boatload of 'X's everywhere you look it has to mean something."

"My dear I'm sure it doesn't mean anything…" assured the wizard as he bustled about his home, throwing the obligatory and customary scowl at Cid who was still working at the large computer and pretending to not be blatantly eavesdropping on everything that was being said. "It could just be a fashion statement by young people these days." I rolled my eyes.

"Trust me Merlin, it's not a fashion statement to mix up the letters of your name and then throw in an 'X' just for the hell of it, especially when it's a bad guy doing the naming. I mean, hell, there's a reason the saying is 'X marks the spot'." Noting that the wizard still seemed reluctant I sighed through the nose and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I loved the dear wizard and would often take hunts for him when he needed certain materials for his work but sometimes he could be exasperatingly obtuse. There was only one way to deal with a wizard when they were acting like this. "Merlin, if you don't want to do the research that's fine. I'll just go and ask Yen Sid, what's going on. "The bearded wizard in blue drew himself up, even as Cid snorted looking as innocent as possible when Merlin shot a glare his way, and huffed.

"Fine, I shall look into your concern but I doubt it will come of anything." Blue eyes gleamed with triumph and my smirk took a decidedly smug tilt as I got what I wanted. The old man pouted playfully, knowing he had just been played but couldn't really complain about it. Wizards and their pride, sometimes it made things too easy. It was either their pride or curiosity that would be their downfall and for Merlin, well let's just say he really hated being upstaged by Yen Sid sometimes. Speaking of Yen Sid… a letter formed out of sparkling golden motes of light, Yen Sid's seal easily spotted. I snagged the letter out of mid-air before it could fall to the ground, a frown marring my face. The old man wouldn't be contacting me out of the blue like this if it wasn't important. My eyebrows furrowed slightly as I read through it. It was a summons. He wanted me at his tower as soon as possible and…I heaved a sigh, I was not at all surprised that it had something to do with Sora. Well, the boy had lasted six months without any trouble. I rolled up the letter and tucked it into a pocket before turning to Yuffie who was currently bugging Cid.

"Hey, Yuf. Where'd Leon send Axel today?" The hyperactive ninja, she had gotten a better handle on her energy too from the stories that Cid told, grinned and jerked her thumb towards the Castle.

"He finally got a chance to get into the computer room, why?"

"I got a summons from Yen Sid. I need to head to Twilight Town. You let him know when he stops in?" I explained, holding up the letter. I was also going to make a quick stop to the World that Never Was, I usually made my way there every once in a while to check up on the headstones to make sure that our remaining Nobodies were still alive.

It would be a five minute trip, if that, so I doubted it would mean anything detrimental to Sora. The boy was tough; he had lasted through a lot of things. The ninja gave an easy nod. She could be forgetful about a lot of things but the exuberant ninja was a very reliable messenger.

"Sure thing! Not a problem." I smirked and waved over my shoulder as I head out the door, after all I had to go back to my house and load out for a long term mission. You never really knew what sort of trouble you were going to get into with Sora.

Combat boots replaced the gym shoes I had been wearing, a combat knife secured in a boot hilt. Dark brown cargo pants replaced the jeans and the large pockets, now that I had finally figured out hyperspace, were filled with any of the supplies that I would need. The tank I was wearing was still black but it was made of a heavier material that would help deflect or weather any attacks that came my way. There was, of course, another two knife holsters on either of my forearm with the silver and red cuff carefully worked into the right hand one so it wouldn't get in the way. The cuff had changed in the past couple of days as if it knew that trouble would be occurring soon, the silver darkened and the red that had been a bright crimson, turned dark to the color of freshly spilt blood. It was something I had noticed, as if in reflection of my powers I had turned darker as well my hair now a light ashy brown instead of the sandy blond it once had been. I threw my hair into a loose ponytail; a few strands hanging around my face, and turned on my heel grabbing my coat and putting it on, shaking my arms to make sure the sleeves wouldn't get caught on the knives.

I scribbled a hasty note explaining the situation to Axel and left it on the counter just in case he came home instead of heading back to the Committee headquarters at the end of the day. Letting out a slow breath it was the work of a moment to slip into the darkness once again, connecting to the world that I wanted and stepping into the stark white and grey halls of the Castle that Never Was. It was a familiar room that I had landed in.

The Proof of Existence.

My eyes scanned the room, the stones unlit and dull. A muscle in my jaw twitched. All of the stones were unlit. Xigbar had died; I wasn't all that surprised by that so it came off as a dull shock but for Axel and Demyx's stones to be unlit. Something had happened, either since regaining their heart or whatever it was that we had done to them made it so that they didn't register with the stones any more or in the past two hours or so that I hadn't seen Axel he had gotten himself killed. If the fire elemental managed to get himself killed in the interim of time that I had last seen him, I would somehow manage to resurrect him and kill him myself. Still…there was nothing I could do about it. I had put off meeting with Yen Sid as long as I was going to risk it, especially if Sora was on the line. I would trust Axel to be alright and Twilight would watch over Demyx. Glancing back at the stones with narrowed eyes I slid back into the darkness.

It was easier now than it had been before when I had travelled with Sora. I had thought that to travel between the worlds I would have to create a portal and traverse the halls every time and I did if I wanted to drag another along with me. When it was just me though, it was far easier. Darkness was a part of life, there would always be shadows no matter where you went and for me it was simply a matter of feeling out those shadows. So even if the roads between worlds were closed I would always be able to travel between them. It was a humbling experience and at first completely disorienting to be able to reach out and feel a connection with hundreds of worlds. I would never truly be alone ever again because all I would have to ever do was reach and there would always be something or someone there. It had taken me a little while to figure out how to traverse these pathways, even longer to aim correctly so I didn't step out over a cliff, and even longer so that I wouldn't stumble like an idiot every time I exited but it had been well worth it. I wasn't confident enough with the skill to be able to work it into my combat style but someday maybe.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in a vain attempt to stave off the frustration that was building up. "So let me get this straight, you sent the idiots out on this exam to become Masters of the Keyblade and specifically to these 'Sleeping Worlds' so that they could fix them. These worlds are also supposed to be closed off to all outsiders but somehow Ursula managed to break in and attack the boys, utterly destroying any of the protections you had placed around them. Now damn near anyone can break in and you think that people are going to take advantage of this to attack the boys or use them for nefarious purposes. And you want me to search all of these worlds and find Sora so that I can watch over him but I can't interfere with the exam. Have I got that summed up right?" Yen Sid deftly ignored the irritation that hedged into disrespect, he could understand the frustration when it came to those two and if it hadn't been for the obvious fondness in which I had referred to them he would have said something about me insulting them.

"That is an accurate, if crude, summation of the situation." stated the wizard, an air of regality about him that usually demanded respect. I wasn't in the mood to acquiesce to anyone's silent demands though even as I huffed a wry laugh. Those two could never stay out of trouble.

"You know there are two of them and knowing them they had to have been split apart. I can't watch over them both at the same time. I'm good but even I can't be in two places at once." Yen Sid nodded slowly, he did a great many things slowly.

"I shall be summoning Cydney here soon and briefing her on the situation."

'Don't know why you didn't just do so all at once.' I thought while resisting the urge to roll my eyes even as he continued.

"I shall send her to guard Riku, while leaving Sora in your capable hands." I nodded.

"Got it. Overview of the enemies we'll be facing?" The wizard waved a hand over his desk and with a small flash of light brought the holograms forth. The creatures there were rather adorable; one was so adorable it looked like it would puke rainbows and sunshine. I crouched down before the wizard's desk to get a better view.

"These are called Dream Eaters; they are the darkness of the worlds that have not been connected by the Heartless or Nobodies." I glanced up abruptly, my eyes narrowed.

"No Heartless and Nobodies?" Yen Sid shook his head.

"No. The Nightmares…" he waved a hand to the darker one on the left, "eat dreams and plant nightmares. While the Spirits…" he waved a hand at the rainbows and sunshine one, "…eat nightmares." I took a good look memorizing the different sigil each one bore. The Nightmare's sort of reminded me of the Heartless if I was honest about it but still.

"Ascetically I think I prefer the Nightmare." I glanced up and suppressed a smirk at the rather annoyed look Yen Sid was subtly shooting at me, after all it would be beneath him to glare at anyone other than his former apprentice, glower at most. Thinking of sigils though, I sobered and drew up to my full height, a slight frown marring my face. Noting the change in demeanor the old man dropped the glower and raised an eyebrow expectantly. "I've already got Merlin looking into this for me but an extra pair of eyes would help, plus you've probably got access to resources he doesn't. Could you look into any sigils or symbols or marks that look like an 'X' 'cause there have been a hell of a lot of 'X's lately and it keeps showing up specifically on the bad guys or if someone is turned slash possessed." Yen Sid nodded, my shoulders relaxing slightly released from the tension that had built up there. "Thanks."

"If I find anything I shall contact you." The 'somehow' went unsaid. Most likely once I headed out to the Sleeping Realms I would be cut off from any sort of contact. I huffed a sigh; at least they would be aware of anything connected to those 'X's in the meantime I should probably go. I should go…that's a very Shepard thing to say.

"Any suggestions on where I should look first or should I just guess?" That got a bit of a smile out of the dower man as he folded his hands on his lap.

"Traverse Town would be a good starting point. Can you find the location for such a place?" My eyes glazed over slightly as I reached for the familiar, in mind, town. Hm, feels odd. Almost like there was two of it. Well, it was a good enough starting point, if I was lucky I would end up on the side that Sora was on and not Riku. Don't get me wrong I like the boy but Riku was far more able to look after himself for longer periods of time. Sora was a capable fighter but his judgment needed a bit of work still which is where I came in. I would be the cynic to Sora's optimism and Twilight would be the optimist to Riku's cynicism. Besides I could just imagine what travelling with Riku would be like for someone like me. Long periods of silence would not surprise me in the least. Twilight would be a better companion for the silver haired boy.

"Yeah, I've got it. I'll see you around Yen Sid." I turned around sending a wave over my shoulder even as the shadows moved up to claim me, dragging me to the next world. I always knew that things would be interesting after meeting Sora and maybe a new adventure was exactly what I needed.

After all I had been feeling restless lately.