The ship lands and Sora carries Mariya off an hands her to a guard "Take her to her room, take it easy, she's had a long day."

When the guards are gone, Sora grabs Darren's shackles and drags him don to the dungeon. When the cell is secure, he leaves, leaving three guards to watch him. He finds Kairi in the libary and kisses her. "She's safe, in bed, she fell asleep on the ride home. She might have some broken ribs." He then continued to tell her what happened, starting with his discovery.

---

Mariya woke a bit after the guard put her in bed and sat up, wincing a little. She looked around and saw her room, so she as back home, she sighed. In te morning she'd have to talk with her father.

Soon, the gummi ship with Riku and Mario lands.

Riku steps out of the gummi ship and looks at Mario. "Come," he says before he walks into the castle.

Mario is silent before he follows, a bit tired but not wanting to fall asleep yet.

Soon, Riku stops outside of the library doors. He then looks at Mario. "Wait here," he says before entering the library. Once inside, he walks over to Sora. "What should we do with the boy?"

Mario, meanwhile, sighs as he sits down in the entry hall outside, drawing circles on the floor with his finger.

"Show him to one of the guest rooms, but just keep an eye on him, and don't leave him alone with Mariya." Sora says after he finishes telling Kairi what happened.

"Oh Sora, go easy on him, he helped save Mariya." Kairi says, before sighing.

"I can't Kairi, I can't trust everyone after Axel betrayed us." Sora says, before pausing. "Expecitally how he hurt Mariya by doing so."

Riku nods and then leaves to take Mario to one of the guest rooms.

Five minutes later, Mario is settled in one of the guest rooms. He is silent as he carefully checks the room, making sure that there aren't any cameras or anything. Feeling secure, he lies down in the bed and soon falls asleep. With his mind slipping into dreams, however, his concentration fades, and he reverts to his Heartless form as he sleeps.

Sora leaves Kairi and the libary. He goes up to the rooms and finds the one Mario is in and slowly opens the door. He's shocked when he finds a heartles, looking much like Mario, in the bed, "Heartless!" He shouts and ultima appears in his hand and goes to attack the heartless.

When Sora yells out, Mario is woken and startled badly by the yell. He jumps up out of the bed, smashing through the ceiling with his head and hanging there for a moment. Finally, he slips out of the hole he made, grabbing the ceiling light as he falls and now hanging from that. He looks very dazed from crashing into the ceiling, but when he finally shakes his head and snaps out of it, he looks at Sora with a bit of anger. "Hey, it's a bit rude to burst in on someone when they are sleeping," he yells, his voice sounding deep yet familiar.

"Mario?" Sora asks, keeping his guard up, Kairi runs in, holding her keyblade.

She puts up her guard as well, but also wondering how a heartless got into the castle.

"Of course it's me!" Heartless Mario retorts, dropping back down to the bed. "Why in the world do you think-" He then cuts off as he takes a moment to look himself over. "...Oh...right...erm, could I wait until morning to explain? It is a bit late..."

"You can explain on your way to the dungeon." Sora says when his keyblade disapears, he pauses. "Come peacefully." He says, taking his arm, firm but gentle.

Kairi lowers her keyblade and nods, making sure Sora didn't see, like she was warning him of the consequences.

Heartless Mario locks eyes with Sora for a moment before sighing, closing his eyes as he suddenly summons not one but two Shadow Blades. Just when it looks like he will attack, he spins the two Keyblades around so that the hilts are facing Sora. "Very well, though I think that you'll agree in that everyone would feel safer if I was disarmed."

Kairi nods, her keyblade disapearing. She taks the keyblades and leaves.

Sora then lets go of Mario, and leaves the room, but waits for Mario to follow, watching his every move.

Mario gets up, walking behind Sora with his arms behind his head as if reclining while standing. "So...where should I begin?"

"Where are you from and are there others?" Sora asks, walking down the hallway. He keeps an eye on Mario.

---

Mariya wakes up, having had a bad dream. She sighs and goes out of her room and walks to the kitchen, where she startts making tea and hears something. She gets ready to attack, but relaxes when she see's Riku threw the kitchen's door window.

Mario sighs as he looks toward the ceiling. "If you haven't been able to tell from my earlier clothing style, I grew up in the Destiny Islands, but to be honest, that is only where I grew up. As for where I am from, I have no idea, but as my mother told me, I appeared on this planet when I was just an infant. As for others like me, I have no idea, but I highly doubt it. All I really know is that I had these powers when I was found by my adoptive mother. Whether I was born with these powers or if they were given to me as a toddler is beyond my knowledge."

---

Riku steps into the kitchen and looks at Mariya, watching her for a moment before speaking. "Are you alright, princess?"

Sora nodded and went down a few flights of stairs before talking again once insight of a cell. "I'm sorry, but until I can trust you, this is how it has to be." He says, opening the cell door.

---

"I had a nightmare, tea always calms me down." Mariya said before the teapot whistled, making her jump. She sighed, going over to the cabinets and finding a jar of honey. She poured the tea in a cup before adding some honey. "Help ourself if you want any." She says beflore taking a sip.

"And I fully understand the purpose of your decision," Mario says as he steps inside, sitting down on the bed. He then lies down on the cot, looking like he's preparing to go back to sleep once things were done for tonight.

---

Riku is silent as he shakes his head. "No thank you," he says. After a few minutes, he closes his eyes and speaks. "Mariya, I'm here to tell you that you are no longer allowed to see that boy Mario until your father says so."

Sora nods, and shuts the cell door, someting clicks and something shimmers over all the exits of the cell. Footsteps decend down the hall.

"Well, what did you do?" Darren's voice asks, coming from the cell next to Mario's.

---

Mariya puts down her cup and chokes a bit on her tea. She swallows and blinks. "What? Why?" She asks, looking at him.

Mario only sighs as he tries to fall back asleep. "I existed."

---

"He's a Heartless, Mariya," Riku says, turning to look at her. "Your father caught him in the guest room and is locking him up now as we speak."

"Hmmm, that seems rather harsh." Darren says before laughing.

---

Mariya's eyes widen. She now realized that heartless in traverse Town was Mario. She sighed and finished her tea before leaving he kitchen. She goes around the castle, trying to find her father.

"Not really," Mario says, trying to get comfortable. "After all, he is looking out for the safety of his family and friends. Wanting to eliminate a possible threat is a understandable reason."

"Threat?" Darren asks. "What threat can you possibly pose to them?"

---

Mariya finds her father in his study. She pushes down the book he's reading. "I know Mario is a heartless, but give him a chance Dad, I know he's good."

Sora sighed. "I do't know Mariya, I don't trust him alone with you, and I'm not going to tell the guards, they have enough to deal with."

"Then tell Riku to watch us. There has to be some way for him to prove he's good."

"Hmm, I'll see, get some sleep." Sora says.

Mariya sighed and left the study and went to her room. Where she soon fell asleep.

"I think that you'd be surprised what I can do to my enemies," Mario says as he finally goes to sleep.

The next morning Mariya gets up and goes to the dining room where some warm breakfast is waiting for her. She eats it slowly, not really looking forward to today.

Sora comes in adn smiles. "Good morning. You'll be happy to know Merlin discovered a new world today."

"And why does that make me happy?" Mariya asked.

"Because, if Riku can go with, Mario will have a chance to prove himself." Sora said with a smile.

Meanwhile, down in the cell, Heartless Mario continues to sleep. However, as the sun rises, a cloud of shadows suddenly envelops him, parting to reveal Mario as a human again.

After Sora finishes eating, he walks off and goes to find Riku. Mariya leaves and goes to th guarden and see's her mother sittng on a bench. She sits next to her, and they talk.

Sora walks into the Library, and remembers way back when he first entered this place.

Riku is on the second floor of the library, looking through the books as he tries to find something.

Sora goes up to the secound floor of the library and see's Riku. "Any luck?" He asks.

Riku looks at Sora and shakes his head. "Whatever that boy is, there's absolutely nothing about it in here," Riku states. "This isn't even mentioned in Ansem's Report. What we have here is something that no one has ever seen before."

"Hmm, I see. Well I take over from here. I want you to take Mariya and Mario to this new world Merlin found. He says it's called Alageasia or something."

Riku nods. "I understand, but Sora, do you really think that it's safe to allow him near Mariya? Although I'll be there, would it be safe enough to have that boy there as well?"

"Well I checked around and everyone is acounted for and unharmed, and Mariya is unharmed from spening two days being around him. I think it's safe enough." Sora says, taking a book from the shelf. he goes to the desk in between two book shelves. He puts the book on the desk and sighs. "Besides, who has ever beaten you Riku?"

"Aside from you?" Riku says with a small chuckle. "Very well, but I will contact you if I need help." He then leaves Sora to go fetch Mario from the dungeon.

Sora nods, and looks under the book when it seems to high up. Underneith was the family photo album. He sighs, putting the book aside and looking threw the photo's, back when Mariya was happy, when everything was peaceful.

Mariya leaves the garden and goes to the gummi hanger and smiles and see's Chip and Dale were fixing up her ship. She asks them if they could upgrade her weapons, she doesn't know what the trip to this place will be like.

After a few minutes, Riku enters the gummi hangar, Mario following behind him.

"So why am I coming along?" Mario asks, yawning a little. He obviously had just been woken up.

"You've been given a chance to earn our trust," Riku states, "so if I were you, I wouldn't blow it."

"Alright, that much I understand," Mario responds. "But what is this world that we're going to visit?"

"It's called Alalgasia acording to Merlin." Mariya says, coming up to them. "Chip and Dale are finishing up upgrading my gummi ship.

Chip runs up to Mariya and says. "All done princess, enjoy your trip."

Mariya nods and takkes out a bag of nuts from her pocket. She gives it to Chip and runs off, the bag on his back.

Mariya goes in her gummi ship and sets her gummi ship to find the shortest path to the new world.

Riku looks at Mario. "Once again, you're coming with me," he says.

Mario sighs. "Very well."

Soon, Riku's gummi ship takes off for the new world.

{Mario & Riku to Alageasia}

Mariya sighs, and follows Riku's gummi ship.

{Mariya to Alageasia}