Suna and the others rushed to the tower and toward Elsie’s screams. They ran into the tower weapons drawn, “Elsie?” the candles had been completely blown out leaving them all in darkness.

“Thunder!” Dewey called out, the flame found each individual candle. Standing before them was the cloaked Xemnas, with a short pudgy character standing at his side looking rather nervous struggling to hold onto a large book. Max and Dewey lowered their weapons for a moment,

“PJ, what are you doing with Xemnas?’ Max asked.

“Hi Max.” PJ said avoiding his gaze, he fumbled with the book but regained his balance.

“You know him?” Kaylic asked.

“He’s my best friend.” Max said with hurt in his voice. Suna wanted to ask further questions about PJ but felt that the Xemnas issue was more important. She glanced around but saw no sign of Cornelius or Elsie.

“Where’s Elsie and Cornelius?”

Xemnas chuckled, “Hello to you too Suna.” He said in his smooth voice.

“Where are they!” Suna boldly took a step forward, “If you hurt them-“

“Are you going to threaten me Suna?” he said with amusment, “With only a key as your weapon? And what you’re misfit friends, an apprentice mage and knight. And…” he paused and chuckled a little, “Well, you’re just useless aren’t you?” he noted to Kaylic. Kaylic flushed red and clenched his fists tightly together.

“We can take down the likes of you!” Dewey spat jabbing his staff in Xemnas’s direction.

Xemnas let out a heavy sigh, “You talk big but I’m afraid you aren’t ready to fight me just yet. I only came for this.” He said indicating the book in PJ’s arms. After looking at it a second time Suna realized it was the book Cornelius had read from.

“Oh and the old man.” Xemnas paused, “Now that I have what I came for, I’ll just be leaving. Hope to see you around Suna, give my regards to your parents…oh forgive me.” He added with a mocking laugh.

Suna’s breathing became heavy, rage began to build inside her, “Xemnas!” she cried and ran toward him keyblade raised.

“Suna!” Kaylic reached out to grab her arm but she escaped his grasp. Xemnas and PJ vanished just as Suna swung the keyblade, Xemnas’s laughter echoed throughout the tower for several long moments after his departure. Suna fell to her knees and remained there, Dewey and Max walked up behind her. Kaylic remained where he was and hung his head, out of the corner of his eye he could have sworn he saw a pile of books and scrolls move. With closer examination he could make out an arm, “Guys over here!” he ran over ad began throwing books and scrolls aside. Elsie slowly pushed herself up off the ground and held her head. Dewey joined Kaylic in assisting her to stand upright.

“Elsie are okay?”

“Yeah I’m alright. He threw me into the shelf and the books fell on me.” She shook her head clear and brushed off the helping hands of Dewey and Kaylic. “They were after the book.” she gasped.

“And they took both that and Cornelius.” Dewey said.

Elsie gasped glancing around just noticing her master’s absence. “No!” her voice broke. “You have to go after them!” Elsie pleaded.

“First off you have to tell us what the Cauldron of Light is, no lies this time.” Suna had gotten to her feet; she and Max joined the others. She was glad to see Elsie was unharmed, it meant that she could still help them find the Cauldron. Elsie looked around at all of them nervously, she heaved a sigh and nodded.

“I don’t know everything, but I may know enough to know why Xemnas is after it. The Cauldron of Light has the power to bring the worlds together, and in turn Kingdom Hearts can be opened again.”

“But you said that was only half of the power.” Max noted. “What is the other half?”

“Most scholars aren’t exactly sure, but I believe…well Cornelius believes that the Cauldron also has the power to turn back time.”

Max and Dewey blinked, “That’s all? We thought it was going to be something like make someone invincible.”

“Turning back the fabric of time if a powerful tool.” Elsie said coldly, “It is a power no one should have.”

“What exactly is the Cauldron of Light? An actual cauldron filled with light or is that a metaphor for something else like a gem, a rod of power, or what?” Max asked with a shrug.

“Not what but who.” Everyone was taken aback by this answer; Kaylic opened his mouth to speak first.

“Wait, the Cauldron of Light is a person?”

“Many believe.” Elsie added. “Why do you think the Keyblade master died after destroying the Cauldron of Light?”

“He was the Cauldron.” Suna muttered, she figured it out for the most part but she didn’t fully understand was… ”How can a person be the one who kept the worlds together?”

“A person isn’t born with the power of the Cauldron, it chooses them.”

“Again this is all in theory correct?” Dewey interjected, to which Elsie gave a nod.

“The last thing I know about the Cauldron of Light, is that it has existed this entire time, within different people. The powers have never been activated, sadly I cannot tell you how to activate them. That is one piece of information that my master never shared with me.”

“If Xemnas has the book and Cornelius—“ Dewey began,

“Then he’ll know how to activate the powers!” Max finished. They all looked at Suna, as if expecting her to tell them what to do. She turned around and avoided their eyes, she didn’t speak for a moment. Something didn’t fit with the story told by Leon. Xemnas had Kingdom Hearts in his grasp once before, he had collected enough hearts to open the door. The question was, why wouldn’t he do it again? Why try and find the Cauldron of Light? Nothing made sense, and to make matters worse Suna could still feel the stares of her comrades stinging into her back. They were still expecting her to say something; she swallowed and spun around to face them.

“What are you all standing here staring at me for? We have to find Xemnas and stop him.”

They all cracked a smile and nodded, Dewey and Max saluted her. Suna rolled her eyes and said her thanks and good-bye to Elsie. For the time being she ignored these obvious plot holes in Xemnas’s plan. They had to save Cornelius. The rest of them bid farewell to Elsie and headed off for the Gummi Ship.