Mariya is in her room when she arrives, and she sighs, lying on her bed. She just lies there. If they came looking for her, whatever, she wanted to lie down. She looks at her hand and finds the Phantoms mask still there....she sighs, stands up and goes to her closet -which was half the size of her room(which is pretty big)- and puts the Phantom's mask next to her jewelry box. She looks to her hangers and finds the dresses she wore at Opera Populaire -except for the slave costume- hanging on hangers. She finds roses on the floor.

A card drops as she picks up the roses and she picks it up. It reads. 'Never forget, you are the one who shall make my song take flight. Listen to the Music of the Night. PTO'

Mario arrives elsewhere, ending up in the gardens. However, when he does, he is a bit shocked. Everything, like the doors, is gray and frozen in place, as if someone had cast a giant Stop spell on the entire world...then again, maybe someone had.

The Nobody slowly descends from the wall, heading toward the Great Maw and passing Heartless along the way. They do not attack, however, frozen in time as is everything else on the world.

Axel appeared in Hallow Bastion outside of Merlin's house. making his way back to the Castle he realized that no one was around and that the town had a strange gray tint to it. He pulled out his cell phone and called Mario "hey I notice something back in Opera Populaire and I'm sure you'll want to hear this"

Sora and everyone else are exactly where they had been when Mario and Axel left, so the stop spell effected them as well.

Mariya sighs, and lies on her bed, not noticeing anything strange. She closes her eyes and tries to fall asleep.

Mario is silent as he looks around, noting how everything had been completely frozen. "Strange..." Mario mutters as his phone rings. Answering, he listens to Axel. "Okay, go on..." Mario mutters as he walks through Hollow Bastion, stopping at the Bailey. Looking out, he sees that the Heartless are frozen as well.

He then squints, seeing a figure moving toward the Great Maw. It was the Nobody. Wondering what he was up to, Mario quickly leaps over the wall and runs after him, weaving around an occasional frozen Heartless.

Axel walks through the casle gates "that nobody was alittle strange.Instead of moving through the darkness like other nobodies, he moved like you through doors. any thoughts to this?"

Mariya sighs, unable to sleep. She looks at her clock and see's it's not moving. She stands and goes out to her balcony, and notices everything has stopped in place. Well this would explain why there wasn't a whole army of keybladers sent to Opera Populaire....She thinks. But who stopped time in the first place?

Mario is silent for a moment. "No, I've seen him use dark portals before, but still, I do wonder why he used my doors instead for once...shortcut, perhaps?" He then pauses. "Call you back, got something to take care of." He then hangs up and continues to pursue the figure.

The figure finally arrives in the Great Maw, and in the middle of the canyon is one of the Nobody's Twilight Blades, sticking in the ground with multiple entrails of white Nobody lightning stretching out in all directions from it. This must be the epicenter from which the entire time was created. The figure approaches the Keyblade, taking it in hand.

"Wait!"

The figure pauses before turning to see Mario. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

Mario pants a little, a little exhausted from his run, before taking a moment to take in the scene. "...How...how did you manage to freeze this entire world in time?"

The Nobody is silent before chuckling. "Well, it wasn't without sacrifice."

Mario raises an eyebrow before he blinks once more. "Wait...did you...kill off some of your Nobodies?"

The figure nods. "To be precise, I sacrificed 100."

"100?!?" Mario yells out in surprise, his voice echoing in the still canyon. "Why eliminate so many just to do this?"

"I had a contract," the Nobody says. "With the Phantom. My end was to keep you from returning here, and while you might consider my actions a bit much, it was necessary." He now turns back to the Twilight Blade. "Now, if I were you, I would run. While time will resume on this world slowly but surely, those Heartless will also thaw out as well. I would rather be back in the safety of the town before then."

"No, wait-"

The Nobody ignores Mario, pulling the Twilight Blade free. A bright flash goes off as the canyon rumbles a little, the tendrils of Nobody lightning dissolving as the spell broke. The Nobody disappears inside a dark portal, and as the portal disappears, color begins to return to the world, starting at the place where the Twilight Blade was imbedded and spreading out from there.

"Oh crap!" Mario yells as he now turns around and runs, trying to stay ahead of the wave of color as it begins to advance on him, taking the Nobody's advice and running before the Heartless can unfreeze. Bolting frantically and almost for his life, he manages to run past each Heartless seconds before it is unthawed, and it only takes a few seconds afterwards for it to regain its bearings and chase after Mario. As the Heartless that begin to chase Mario increases, the wall comes into sight. With incredible quickness, Mario leaps up onto the wall, running up the wall and leaping over the side just as the wall of color reaches the town's outskirts. Safe on the Bailey, he sighs as he watches time restore throughout the town.

Haveing hung up with Mario, Axel walks into the Library in time to see time return to normal. "odd but oh well" He pulls out his cell phone and attemps to call Sora.

Xamira resumes looking threw the album, the stop spell wearing of her last.

Sora yawns. "Wierd.....anyone else feel like they've been standing in place for five months?"

Kairi shadkes her head.

Mariya see's everything return to normal, and goes back into her room.

Axel hears Sora's voice "We're back home King Sora"

Riku continues to walk down the hall to look for Sarah

Marik looks up from his book and see's Xamira reading "umm hey there"

Mario pants as he rests on the Bailey before he sighs, getting to his feet and walks toward the castle, going to turn in his report for New York and Opera Populaire.

(Riku, didn't I give you control of Sarah? If I didn't I mean to...)
"Hey." Xamira says before going back to the album. She laughs at a picture of Mariya and Axel when they first met at school. Mariya was laughing at the fact that Axel was on the ground, apparently he had tripped.

Sora turns and looks relieved. "Where's-" Sora pauses as something around his neck flashes, as well as Kairi.

"I'll go check it out." Kairi says before leaving the garden, and heading to the Bailey.

Sora smiles, watching her leave. "Anyway." He says. "Where's Mariya?"

Axel yawns "in her room" he says before sitting under a tree

Riku walks up behind sarah and puts his arms around her "hey"

Sarah smiles and and turns "hey there"

Marik closes the book and stands up making up his mind he disappears in a cloud of black smoke {Marik to Destiny Islands}

Mario spots Kairi as he heads toward the castle, giving a small wave. "Hey, Kairi. Do you know where Sora is?"

Kairi nods. "In the Garden with Axel." She says. "Was that you who climbed over the wall?"

---

Sora looks relieved. "I'm going to check on her." He says before leaving.

Mario nods. "Had an encounter with someone in the Great Maw. Friend? Not sure. Foe? Even less sure. It's a long story, though, one I will tell when I give my report."

Axel gets up and walks to the library.

Riku sits down and yawns "so Sarah what'd you do today"

Sarah shakes her head "nothing really"

Kairi nods, and begins heading back.

---

Sora enters Mariya's room, and smiles at her when she looks at him. She looked horrible. "How you feeling?" He asked, sitting on her bed..

"Like I've been drained of every single ounce of my energy." Mariya mutters.

"Want me to go get the doctor?" Sora asked. He stood when Mariya shook her head. He then headed twords the garden.

Just as he leaves, an alarm goes off. Sora auotmaticly locks Mariya's door, and runs to the dungeon wher Darren is being held. He finds him gone. "Blast it!"

{Darren to Land Of Dragons}

Mario hears the alarm from outside and mutters something before he rushes toward the castle. After flashing his necklace at the entrance to be granted access, he runs down thestsirs to the dungeon. "Sora, what's going on?" Mario asks as he enters the room.

Axel leaves and runs to the nearest lift gaining acces to the dungeon "what happene......"he stops when he see's Darren gone

Riku looks at Sarah "sorry I've gotta go"he runs and goes to the dungeon Hey Sor......"he just looks at Darrens cell

"Tron?" Sora asks.

Some static sounds and Trons voice skips. After a minute it shuts off. After a minute something beeps. "Sorry Sora, seems he interfered with my programing a little. The security alarm was busted for a moment."

"Is Darren still in Radiant Garden?" Sora asks.

"I'm afraid not, he esaped." Tron reports.

Sora rubs his head. "Alright then, Riku, go to the baracks and put all Knights on high alert, no one gets near the castle. I have a feeling he'll be back. Mario, Axel you two guard Mariya at all times. If he comes back, that's who he's coming after."

Mario nods and goes toward the rift, riding it to the floor that Mariya's room is on. He then goes to Mariya's room and stands outside the door.

Riku nods and turns to go. He pauses for a second "what about the nobodies ?"

Axel gets on the lift with with Mario and goes to Mariya's room" hey Mario hold on a minute I'm gonna go see how she's feeling, ok?"

"If Xamira and Malik want to help there welcome." Sora says, before turning. He then leaves, heading to his study.

Kairi runs into Sora. "What happened?" She asked.

"Darren escaped, keep an eye out incase he comes back." Sora says, before kissing her. He then moves on, going to his study.

---

Mariya was sound asleep when the alarm went off. She sits up for a moment and lies back down when the alarm shuts off. She sighs, trying to fall back asleep.

Mario nods and steps aside to allow Axel to enter.

Axel walks into Mariya's room "hey, how are you feeling?"

"Better, still tired, but better." Mariya says, lying on her back. "Ya know, if I remember correctly, you still owe me a date."

Axel smiles "and i suppose that dance doesn't count,huh?" He kisses her on the cheek

"Of course not. I was in a dress." Mariya says, making 'dress' sound evil. She sits up and kisses Axel's cheek. "So why did the alarm go off?"

Axel frowns "but you looked so nice in the dress" changing the subject

"I hate wearing dresses, for one. Two, your avoiding my question." Mariya says, crossing her arms.

Axel sighed " Darren escaped"

Mariya sighs. "Well, there goes going to Sunset Hill...." Mariya trails off. "I need to talk to dad."

Mariya then gets up and goes to her closet and quick fixes her hair so she didn't look like she had bed-head and left her room, before heading twords Sora's study.

Mario watches Mariya and stays some distance behind her, making sure that she would be safe.

Meanwhile, outside the castle, Bleach appears out of a dark portal, walking along the lower postern of the castle as he heads for the deep underground of the castle. If his sources were right, there was a computer lab somewhere underneath the castle where he could take care of some business.

The entrance to the corridors, is locked shut. Ther looks to be a scanner next to the door. So a Royal Knight symbol might be needed.

Bleach is silent before he sighs. He disappears into a dark portal.

Mario continues to follow Mariya closely, but as he hangs around a corner, he suddenly feels something pull against his neck. He grabs his neck as he feels something break, finding the Royal Knight crest missing. Turning, he only sees dark vapors disappear as a voice says, "Thanks..."

Back in the underground, Bleach reappears with the symbol, holding the symbol up to the scanner.

The door opens, and the corridors looks to have been recently renovated. Perhaps due to a security up-date.

Bleach does not hesitate as he proceeds down the corridor, lifting his hood to hide his face. He makes his way toward the computer room.

The door to ansems lab is missing, like they were still trying to put a new one up. Everything is dusted adn organized, the pods in the room repaired, but it looks like theres no way out but the door which Bleach came threw.

Bleach is silent as he looks around the room, seeing nothing. He sighs before he walks over and leans against a wall, wondering where to go from here.

Suddenly, the wall behind Bleach disapears. The hallway behind it leads to a door, locked, but theres a scanner behind it.

---

Mariya reaches her father's study, and knocks on the door.

"Come in." Sora says from behind the door.

Bleach gets to his feet when the wall disappears,a bit surprised, but he soon smiles and walks along the catwalk to the door, scanning the Royal Knight necklace once more.

The door opens to reveal a computer room. The other door is open, revealing another walk-way, but the door at the end has a 'Authorized Personel Only.' Sign on it. The keyboard to the computer looks like its often used, as does the strage object behind it.

Bleach, however, has found what he needs. Going over to the terminal, he begins to type as he prepares the computer for the CD.

"Halt!" Tron's voice says. "Only authorized personel are allowed to insert new data!"

---

Mariya enters her father's Study, keeping the door open. "I know you want to talk to me." She said.

"Yes, uh....Mario, could you come in please? And shut the door behind you."

Bleach is silent before he places his hands on the terminal. "If you can hear me, I have a request," he says. "I need to view some data, data of great importance that I have on a CD. However, it is too risky to check it on any terminal elsewhere. In other words, this is the safest place that I can check this data. Allow me to view this data, and perhaps I will allow you to share this data with others. It may be of great importance to more than just myself."

Mario nods and steps in, closing the door and sighing as he turns to Sora.

"As long as I can scan it for viruses." Tron's voice says.

---

Sora stands motions to two seats. Mariya sits in one, and one they were both seated he sighs. He waits a moment before starting. "Merlin has brought a few things to my attention. First, he tracked down Darren to one of the worlds surronding us. So he's either in Land of Dragons, Port Royal, Twilight Town or Atlantica. I have contacted everyone but the Land of Dragons to be on high alert for him. But if Darren attacks, I want you Mario to take Mariya to Beast's Castle until I send for you. Axel will have to fly seprate, so Darren won't know where Mariya is. He'll regroup with you once he's sure Darren isn't watching." Sora pauses, and sighs. "As for the secound matter, I'll need to know what happened in New York and Opera Populaire, Mario."

Mariya is silent the entire time, fiddling with a loose string on her shirt.

"Feel free, but unless there is one hidden in this data that I am unaware of, I doubt that you will find any," Bleach states as he now inserts the CD.

Mario nods and sets his phone on the desk. "In New York, there were some Heartless, but they were much weaker than they usually are. It turns out that they were being improperly summoned by magical methods. The Heartless issue was taken care of quickly, however, and allies in New York should keep any new Heartless at bay. It is to note, however, that before this, there were some Nobodies that appeared as well, shortly after a cloaked figure appeared at the Empire State Building. Following this, a large scale army of Nobodies attacked the city. The army was fortunately decimated and the cloaked figure retreated." Mario pauses, then continues. "In Opera Populaire, I quickly found Mariya, and whatever events happened before my arrival will have to be told by Mariya. However, after my arrival, we found ourselves unable to leave the world by any method, either tied into the affairs of the world or barred from traveling directly to any world. A character known as the Phantom of the Opera was later brought to my attention, a character who killed and injured many to get what he wanted. As time passed, the Phantom was later dealt with after his final performance. It is to note that no Heartless were spotted on the world, but some Nobodies were spotted in addition to the cloaked figure from earlier. However, he escaped before he could be pursued. The full reports on both worlds can be viewed on my phone."

Axel sighs and walks after Mario and Mariya

Sora nods, and looks threw the phone. He nods then looks at Mariya, putting the phone down.

Mariya sighs before she recounts the events that happened in Opera Populaire before Mario and Axel arrived, as well as what happened before they came down to the lair. Leaving out how she kissed the Phantom to get him to let her go.

"What if Mario hadn't been backstage Mariya? It may have been to late to get you out of there." Sora says, looking mad.

"I had a few plans up my sleeve, but who knows what would have happened if it was Christine instead of me." Mariya says.

Sora sighs. "Well, the secound matter is, Merlin told me about your new keyblade Mariya. Eternity, right?"

Mariya nods, and summons her keyblade. She hands it to Sora then, who then inspects it. The keyblade disapears. "What about it?" Mariya asks.

"Nothing, I really just wanted to see it. But I want you to be careful with it, Merlin said it might have caused you to have that feeling of being stabbed before." Sora says. "You can go Mariya."

Mariya nods before leaving. She stays put at the lift though, waiting for Mario. The door swings shut and Sora sighs. "Her heart is weaker, isn't it?"

---

"All clear." Tron says after awhile.

Mario is silent before he nods. "Yes...I don't know why, but every time she uses that Keyblade, she suddenly faints, and I can feel her heart weaken. Why this happens, only time will tell...but that doesn't mean I don't want it to stop now." Without another word, he leaves the room and goes to the lift.

Bleach nods and types a bit, pulling up some of the data. He first looks over the data pertaining to some of the unknown Heartless and Nobodies, but afterwards, he opens the journal. Instead of reading from where he left off, however, he goes to the last couple of entries. Whatever Darren's plan was, there could be some clues to what it is in the most recent entries.

Sora sighs and goes to the door. "Axel, can I talk to you for a minute?" Sora asks, holding the door open.

Mariya quickly kisses Axel before getting on the lift. The lift heads down and once it reaches the Library, she goes inside. She looks for some blank paper and starts righting a note.

Xamira meanwhile is out in the garden, sitting on the fountain. She's humming to herself while making something out of the plants.

---

As of now, I'm plotting my vengence. Mariya shall be my queen. Withing this plot came a idea, and the idea flourished. There are only two now, but if I can, I shall produce more. I am not going to risk exposing it now. They will be revealed apon my attack. I will say nothing more incase someone should find this.

Mario watches Mariya as she writes. "So what are you writing?"

Bleach is silent as he ponders. Could these two he refer to be Nobodies, he and Axel? If so, then it was obvious that they could be as disposable to Darren as he initially thought. He types some more, trying to pull up other articles.

Axel nods "umm sure, what's it about?" he walks inside

"When Darren attacks, leave as soon as you can. Go to any world but Beasts Castle.Once there, loose Darren if he followed you. Once your positive he won't see you, regroup with Mariya and Mario at Beast's Castle. That way he won't know where she is." Sora pauses and heads out. "Your dismissed...and if anyone asks where I went...I'm visting someone in Olympus."

Sora then leaves his study going down to the Gummi Hanger. He then gets in his gummiship, and after making sure Ultima was with him, he takes off.
{Sora to Olympus Coliseum}

---

There are no other journal entries.

Bleach is silent before he sighs and closes the file. He leans against the wall, trying to figure out Darren's plans to come.

Mariya finishes righting her letter. She stands, folding it and putting it in an envelope. She then seals it with a Royal Symbol sticker. She then rights a name on the front. "My will." She jokes, before going down to the Gummi Hanger. She hands the letter to Chip. "Can you send this To Atlantica?"

"No problem princess." Chip says before running off with it.

Mariya smiles before going back up to the library and pauses when she finds a photo album open, and a picture missing. "That's odd.." She mumbes.

---

On the window, which was covered with a large screen, the unfamiliar heartless appear, allong withthe unfamilair Nobody. They show the front and sie veiws of each. And a system shows key points in each.

Axel leaves the study and goes to find Mariya

Bleach is silent before he looks at the specs. He is silent, curious about these new variations of Heartless and Nobodies. He decides to read the specs more closely.

Mariya shuts the album and puts it back in it's proper place. She then sits at one of the desks. She puts her heads down, but her head shoots up when the lights flicker. "That ca't be good..." She mutters.

---

Suddenly the screen blackens. After a bit it comes on, but the Heartless and Nobody specs are gone. "Rebooting..." Tron's voice says. "Back-up generators activated."

---

Darren sighs, in the Bailey. He just finished disasembling the security for the castle. "This should be easyier now. Heartless, swarm!" He then turned to the two black-and-white cloaked figures. You two come with me to take the castle."

Bleach is silent before he sighs. "Looks like it's time." He gives a quick nod to the terminal. "Feel free to keep the change." He then disappears into a dark portal, leaving the Royal Knight symbol behind.

Mario blinks when the lights flicker. "Crap..."

Meanwhile, Bleach reappears not far from Darren. "Sorry for being late. Had some business to take care of."

"Welp, I'm gonna go pack." Mariya says before leaving the library. She goes to her room and leaves the door open while she pulls out a suit-case. She then starts packing her clothes and some other things. She then shuts the suitcase, and makes sure it would stay shut. She then sits on her bed. She takes out something from her drawer and presses a button on it. "A gummi ship will be here soon..." She mutters.

---

Darren 'hmm's. "Well you can go back to Twilight Town. I don't think you'll be needed during the battle. According to my sources Sora is out of town."

Axel walks to Mariya's and knocks on the door "ready to go?"

"Understood," Bleach says before he summons a dark portal and enters it.

{Bleach to Twilight Town}

Mario, meanwhile, is silent as he looks out the window. "Man, this is not good."

Mariya goes up to Axel and takes his hand. "Be careful. And whatever you do...don't fight Darren." She says, leaning on him. "And make sure he see's you leave."

"Princess, Darren's in the castle." Tron announces.

Mariya squeezes Axel's hand before letting go and getting her suitcase. She goes out to her balcony, and throws it into the Gummi Ship. She gets in and keeps low incase Darren should enter the garden. another gummi ship hangs behind it, waiting for Axel.

Darren makes his way to the garden, the two figures following behind.

Mario jumps in as well, slowly settling into the Gummi Ship.

Before the top shuts to the ship Mariya mouths. 'I love you' She says before the ship takes off.

{Mariya to Beast's Castle.}

{Mario to Beast's Castle}

Axel looks around noticing Darren says loud enough for him to hear but not so loud so that it still seems like a normal conversation "are you Ready to leave Mariya?"he says talking to the inside of the gummi ship he hops in and takes off

{Axel to Pride Lands}

Darren curses under his breath. His gummi ship appears beside him and he jumps in and follows Axel.

{Darren to Pride Lands}