Hemisphere (REMAKE! Updated February 14, 2011)

[classy_cat18]

Okay, I figured that it would be better if I went in another direction with my KH fic since, well, I had only two readers that I knew of. This fic won't be related to the games' storyline but will have the characters. I hope this version will go better. Oh, and try out the links in the chapter titles to get a better feel of the atmosphere.

Prelude – Innocent Sorrow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxqil4su2pI)

He had been watching the girl all day. The same blank look as she sat in the middle of her bedroom, staring at her toes as she flexed them. She could’ve been thinking about what doll she was going to play with next, or what would she have as her snack for the day.

It was as if she hadn’t killed his wife yesterday.

His beautiful wife, who never yelled at the girl, who never raised her hand against her, was now wrapped in a white sheet and lying in the laundry room. Even then she had a peaceful smile on her face.

And as the man leered at the girl from the doorway, his mind raced.

Why did the girl do that to his wife?

Why didn’t his wife try to defend herself?

Why did she smile as the girl strangled her with the jump rope?

“Why?” he whispered, not aware that his last thought was spoken.

The girl finally took her attention off her toes and looked up at the man, her eyes wide and innocent. Yes, an innocent shade of yellow. “Why what, sir?” she asked softly.

He clenched his teeth. That girl – no, monster – had stopped calling him Daddy. The day she stopped calling his wife Mommy was…

“Why are you standing there, sir?” the girl inquired.

He refused to acknowledge the fact that the girl was related to him in any way, just like she was doing to him now. “What are you?” he blurted out angrily.

She smiled and opened her mouth like she knew the answer, then closed it and went back to looking at her toes. “I dunno.”

“You’re a monster,” he answered for her. She seemed unfazed by it. “You killed Mommy!”

“She’s not Mommy. Not anymore.”

“Why?”

“The bond must be severed.” Her tone was even and stony. “It must be completely severed.”

“Okay, so you’ve severed it. Now what?”

“It must be completely severed,” she repeated in a harsher tone.

He unconsciously backed up several steps, hitting the back wall. The girl no longer sounded like his eight-year-old daughter, but a demon. “But why? We conceived you, gave birth to you!”

“Yes, and now your job is done.” She stood up, her pink pajamas contrasting her new self. “It’s time to completely sever the bond.”

The man laughed bitterly and slid to the floor. The fight in him was starting to die out. “We fed you and clothed you. We put a roof over your head!”

“Don’t mistake me for some helpless child.”

Knowing that nothing would get through to her at this point, he was left with two options. He could escape. As far as he knew, the girl still had a child’s body and he could easily outrun her.

Or he could kill her.

Yes, he’d kill her.

If anyone was going to sever the bond, it was not going to be him.

“Sir.”

He snapped out of his thoughts abruptly to find her standing over him, the jump rope in her hands. “There will be no negotiation. The bond must be severed.”

One last spark of energy ignited in the man at hearing those words. He scrambled away from her, on all fours at first, towards the kitchen. He needed something to defend himself with! He didn’t look back at the girl, who just stood there and watched him. He frantically searched the silverware until he found a steak knife. “I’m not going to just let you kill me!” he proclaimed boldly.

She stared at him unemotionally and slowly walked towards him. Surprisingly, she stopped halfway and turned her head to the laundry room. Part of the white sheet was in her view. She got closer to get a look at the wrapped up body, ignoring the man. The woman’s face was invisible to her, but she knew that she was wearing the same smile that she wore in her last moments of life. Then she noticed something lying on the sheet: a simple golden necklace, clean and shining.

The man inched towards the girl with the knife clenched in his hand. The girl seemed to ignore him completely. She picked up and studied the necklace, her eyes full of life for the first time since last week. “I haven’t seen her wear this,” she told the man without looking at him.

He swallowed hard. She actually sounded more like the child he used to know. The grip on the knife loosened but was not lost. “It was for her daughter,” he replied weakly.

“Then why was it here on her body?”

“Because her daughter’s not here anymore.” Now he sounded like the unemotional one.

The girl stayed silent for a long time, just staring at the necklace. The man stayed where he was, ready to retaliate should she attack. After an eternity of silence, the jump rope fell to the floor. The girl’s body shook as she tried to release a tear that didn’t come. “Mommy…” she whispered.

The man gasped and dropped his knife in shock. “Nia?”

The girl looked in his eyes in response to his name, with eyes full of fear. “I don’t know what to do!”

Tears ran down the man’s face and held out his arms to hug her. The anger and fear were all gone. His daughter was back! “I’m here, Nia. Daddy’s here!”

“NO!” She stumbled back and glared at him. “Don’t call me that! I’m not your daughter! You’re not my father!” She pointed at the body. “She’s not my mother!”

“But—“

“I’m not human anymore!” She ran past him and out the front door, the necklace still in her hand. The man stayed where he was. She had forgotten about severing the bond.

Girl’s POV

It was too weird. It was so cold outside, and there was snow everywhere, but I didn’t really feel cold. Or was it that I felt cold but it didn’t bother me? I wasn’t wearing shoes but it didn’t bother me.

Why did I kill that woman?

Why didn’t I kill that man?

Who was I?

What was I?

I needed to think!

I stopped to do that, in the middle of the park across the street from the house. I didn’t feel so tired. My senses were so dull. It was like I wasn’t all there.

I didn’t even notice that I wasn’t alone in the snow covered field. That proved that I wasn’t all there, if I didn’t notice a man wearing a black cloak and standing in the middle of a snowy field.

The cloaked man (or boy since he was kind of short) stood a few feet from me. “If you’re running away from home, you should try running a little further than across the street. And dress a little warmer, or at least get some shoes.”

I stared at him, just a little annoyed. He was being too calm about this. “I’m not running away.”

“Yes, you are. You’re running away from your problem.” He pointed to the house. “The problem that you left alive.”

My butt hit the snow like his declaration had physically hit me. Did he know about this? “Do I have to kill him?”

“The connection must be severed completely.”

He knew! So was he here to help me? Or to punish me?

“I don’t know what I am anymore. I feel like a different person, something not human. But I also feel like the old me, you know? Like I’m in the middle.”

“It’s a natural part of development, but you wouldn’t have been feeling this pain and confusion if you’ve had severed the bond.” He squatted so that he was more level with me. “You’ve already passed the point of no return. There’s no use trying to back out now.”

I covered my ears, hoping that he would just go away and leave me alone. “Stop it. Stop it! I don’t even know what’s going on!”

“Of course. This sort of thing doesn’t exist in your world.” His footsteps crunched as he walked to my side and squatted again. “You were never human.”

I hugged myself. That hurt me a little.

“You were born human-like, by human parents. You were indiscernible from other human babies, form or behavior. But as time passed…” He put a hand over my heart. “You lost this, little by little.”

“My heart?”

“Your emotions and human morals, or symbolic heart. You’ve noticed this, haven’t you? When was the last time you laughed or cried?”

I looked at my bare feet. I couldn’t remember. “When will I lose it completely?”

“When you completely sever the bond. To sever the bond means to sever the last thing that makes you human, your human parents. The link between your heart and theirs.” He pulled my arm away from my chest and looked at the necklace that I still held. “But you don’t want to do that.”

“It was so easy to do that. But earlier, I started to remember that woman and how nice she was to me. She didn’t fight, even when I killed her. She knew, didn’t she?”

“Yes. A mother truly knows her child. She wasn’t from here, so she knew things like you existed. But you must understand.” He took the necklace from me. “Those people mean nothing to you. They were just your path to the world of the living.”

“No. No, they weren’t!” I snatched the necklace from him and stood up. “I don’t know about that man, but that woman loved me! She knew what I was and she still loved me! I don’t want to think of her that way! She’s my mommy!”

I hadn’t seen his face yet, and he probably wasn’t going to show it to me. But I still wanted to see his face as he chuckled. “How old are you?”

“Eight.”

“And yet you sound like an immature adult. Your mind really has matured, but you’re still human in a way.”

I felt my face warm up but I was sure I wasn’t blushing. “Being human isn’t bad.”

He shrugged and stood up. “I’ve been wasting time here, human monster, so I’ll just give you the options and go. The first is to go back to that house and sever the bond like you were supposed to do.”

“No way!” I shouted immediately.

“I knew you were going to say that. Pity. I really didn’t want you to have any more trouble. The second is to leave him alive and come with me. The bond won’t be permanently severed but you’ll be too far away for it to matter. That way you won’t have to shed any more precious blood.” He finished that last sentence as if he was annoyed by it.

I seriously considered taking that option, but something stopped me. “I can’t leave him. He might’ve tried to kill me, but he still cares about me.”

The cloaked boy sighed and rubbed the back of his hood. “So I really did have to go to option number three,” he said to himself. “Guess I owe him ten bucks.”

“Who are you talking about? And what’s option three?”

He reached in his wide sleeve and pulled out a glass tube filled with black ink and a small paintbrush. “I seal you.” He chuckled again when my eyes widened. “I’m not sealing you to anything. I’m sealing you yourself. I’ll stop the changes from happening.”

“I’ll keep my heart?” I asked in excitement.

“What’s left of it. The seal won’t be seen by normal humans. It won’t rub off or wash off. So will you take this option?”

I nodded, feeling a muted happiness. “So how do you seal me?”

“Just let me work.” He opened the vial and dipped the brush in the ink. Then he silently started painting on my neck. I shivered at the sensation; I could still kind of get ticklish. I stood still as he painted some kind of pattern around my neck. “There. Don’t worry if you don’t feel anything. You’re not supposed to. While you’re sealed, it may be a good idea to start talking like a normal human kid, just to save you the trouble of being labeled a nerd.”

“Thank you. Um…” I fidgeted around, trying to sort out all the questions I had for him. “Are you like me?”

“Not telling,” he answered nonchalantly.

I puffed my cheeks. “What were you here to do?”

"My job was to kill you, if you got out of hand during or after the murder of your parents.

Not surprising. I am a murderer right now. “If I’m that dangerous, then why did you give me the chance to live here?”

He put his arms on his hips and leaned forward. “I guess I didn’t want you to be sad. But at the same time, I was hoping that you would accept what you were and prove my friend wrong. It makes my job much simpler when human ideals aren’t in the way.”

“I have so much to ask you, like what I am exactly.”

“Why are you so concerned? You want to be human anyway.”

“Can I at least know your name?”

He nodded. “It’s Roxas.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What kind of a name is that?”

“Holy crap, you got a lot of questions. Look, if you’re that curious about everything, come with me.” He held out a gloved hand.

I frowned. “No thanks. I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. See ya, kid.” He turned his back to me. “By the way, what’s your name?”

I smirked. “It’s Nia.”

He didn’t have a snarky comment for that. “I like that name. You should keep it.”

“Thank you, I will.” I ran back to my house to face my father.

Third Person POV

The boy watched her go in the house before groaning loudly. What a stupid thing to do! I'll never hear the end of this! And the boss is going to kill me if he finds out I let her live on this world!

The cocky voice that he heard didn't make his mood any better. "So you lost the bet. Again."

Roxas yelled in frustration and whirled around to face his mysterious partner who was clothed in a similar outfit. "Dammit, Axel! Don't rub my face in it!"

"You knew you were going to lose. They never want to get up and leave what they've known all their life. That's why we usually drag them back with us." He removed his hood and ran a hand through his red hair. "And you had to make that girl's life worse."

"The seal will work."

"For ten years, tops. Even less if the kid experiences some kind of trauma. Then the boss'll find out, freak out, and send us back here to kill her because she transformed fully and couldn't control herself."

"Tch." They stood together in the playground a little longer, Axel whistling while he scooped up some snow and started shaping it in a snowball. Then Roxas spoke again. "She looked a lot like Kaori. The boss will be even more disappointed that we didn't get her."

"Yeah, Kaori was a good friend of his." More silence. "You get to tell him that we didn't get her."

"It was partly your mission too!"

"Yeah, but you insisted that I stay back and let you handle her. Which worked out fantastically, by the way."

"Stop rubbing it in!" I kicked his leg and walked off. "Such a dumbass!"

"You're in one of your moods again. Wanna stop for ice cream?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"Not yet." The older male smirked and threw the snowball he was holding, smacking the back of Roxas' hood. He ignored the blond's angry expression and smirked in satisfaction. "Okay, now I'm ready."

[PancaKe]

Slightly confusing, mainly because I didn't really get what you were referring to in your introductory speel about characters from games or something... But interesting start. I like :)

Just be careful when switching POV to make sure each POV has a strong narrative voice. It's just your writing style, but they all did seem a bit similar, just focusing on the obvious feelings they were having. Maybe it'd be good to see them become more indepth as the story goes on :-)

[classy_cat18]

First Movement – The Beginning is the End is the Beginning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxM4EbN9lMY)

Present day...

I can feel my heartbeat. It’s dull and lifeless, not like my dad’s heart. Like it lost its life.

My heart is dying…

“Nia?”

I opened my eyes. “Hm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I always felt uncomfortable when at the doctor’s office. It doesn’t matter if they’re the same gender or not; it always feels like they’re looking at you through a microscope.

He nodded and turned to the man next to him. “Everything looks fine, Mr. Hawthorne.”

Dad looked at my doctor with a questioning look. “When my daughter stopped growing and aging four years ago, I thought something completely different,” my father said through clenched teeth. “But every year, you say the same thing. This is not fine! I can’t even take her to public school because everyone treats her like a freak!”

“But I am a freak,” I said softly.

He put a hand on my head. “Not now, Nia.” Then he returned to complaining to the doctor. “Her breasts are still budding!”

I groaned and hid my face behind my hands. Not my fault my body decided to hit puberty late.

Dr. Hicks tried his best to stay calm although I knew he was freaking out on the inside. “Look, there are no health problems. She’s as healthy as a normal…” He took another look at me. “Thirteen-year-old girl. Maybe fourteen.”

“I’m supposed to be seventeen,” I corrected.

“Not now, Nia!” the two of them said together.

“What about her voice? Most of the time, she can’t talk above a whisper,” Dad said.

“It’s just a precaution,” I told him. “You know what happened the last time I yelled.”

“That was just a coincidence. That glass was old.” His voice was stern, but he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

“No, it was brand new and…” I closed my mouth as soon as my voice started to get louder.

His fists clenched. “There is nothing wrong with you.”

“Stop contradicting yourself!” I yelled.

My father held his head and hissed in pain. Dr. Hicks shot a look to his glass cotton ball container, which now contained a few cracks. I bit my lip and winced as a burning rose in my throat.

It had happened again. Whenever I did something as simple as raise my voice to someone, it physically caused both of us pain. Then I would be unable to talk effectively for a while. Sometimes it only affected that person, but my voice has a way of being unfocused. Like my general feeling of bitterness at the world. It was the reason my dad jumped at the first chance of getting a plasma screen. And plastic cups.

I kept quiet until the doctor’s visit was over and we were in the car. My fingers ran over the tattoo around my neck. It had not done its job; my body was still going through weird changes. At least I wasn’t on the verge of killing anyone yet. “What’s the point?” I asked quietly.

Dad broke out of his stupor. “What do you mean?”

“I have never needed a doctor. I’ve never gotten sick, not even from chicken pox. All kids at least have chicken pox!” My voice kept low but harsh. “I even spent a week with my dotted cousin, just to test myself. Nothing!”

“We just need to make sure nothing else goes wrong.”

“Then we’re getting the wrong thing examined. Maybe you should just ship me to the nuthouse right now.”

There was a screech as Dad suddenly slammed on the brakes. I lurched forward in my seat. “Get out,” he commanded.

There was no arguing. I got out of the car and let him drive off without me. Dad never wanted to remember that day. Every time it seemed like a conversation was going towards there, he would make me leave the table, room, house, car, or whatever. As far as he was concerned, Mom didn’t even exist. The only evidence she was ever around was the gold chain that hung around my neck.

The snow crunched under my sneakers as I shifted around. Funny. In the middle of September and there was snow on the ground. It was typical when one lived in Winter Town, when it was snowy winter most of the year, except for a two-month long thaw.

“What will I do today?” I asked myself out loud. I was home schooled so there was no rush to classes. Dad was driving to work. The first thing that came to mind was getting breakfast, and I just a couple blocks away from a good diner.

I finally got out of the middle of the street when a car slowed down and the driver honked its horn. The driver, a middle-aged man, rolled down the window. He opened his mouth wide, most likely to curse me for being empty-headed, but took a good look at me and made a shooing gesture with his hand.

“Sumimasen,” I replied dully. Of course he wouldn’t understand what I said; that was the point. It was my way of keeping disconnected. The man shrugged and drove off without asking for an explanation.

People have a strangely acute sense of weirdness. Some will just shrug it off and let live. Others will hone in on it, magnify it, point it out in a loud voice, and declare you a pariah. There are a lot of the latter in grade school.

Being a pariah wasn’t so bad. The few interactions I did have with other humans other than Dad were awkward, which just annoyed me. But I didn’t blame them. I was disconnected from all humans except my dad, and even that was only a partial connection. It was just how I was. I’d accepted it.

But I don’t accept this empty feeling inside, or my dying heart. Is this what that boy was talking about years ago? Is it too late for me? What do I do now? There was a dull pang of pain. I couldn’t even cry anymore.

Ting ting…

I stiffened as I was brought back to reality and quickly turned my head to the source of metal tapping together.

Everything went into slow motion…I was met with a familiar black cloak walking past me. I held my breath as the figure kept walking, ignoring me as he sang quietly.


“Is it bright where you are?
Have the people changed?
Does it make you happy, you’re so strange…”

My voice wouldn’t work. Why couldn’t I call out to him? My feet were glued to the sidewalk as he kept going. He was about my height, but I still didn’t get a good look at him. I knew, however, that he was the same boy from years ago. How? He must be the same height as when we met! Is it just short or…did he stop aging?

“Roxas…” I said too quietly for him to hear. My feet finally started moving and I followed him, putting a few feet from the two of us. He paid no attention to me but his singing got louder.


“And in your darkest hour
I hold secrets flame…”

The song was familiar to me too, since I’ve heard it on the radio. Something in me stirred, and I instinctively finished the chorus with him.


“We can watch the world devoured in its pain.”

The cloaked figure stopped upon hearing me join in but didn’t immediately turn around. We both kept quiet, blocking out everything else in the world. Finally the boy turned to the street, his head low. “Depressing song, huh?” he asked.

His question took me by surprise. I couldn’t find a response so I just shrugged. A puff of foggy breath escaped his hood before he laughed pleasantly, another thing that surprised me. He seemed different than before. Maybe he didn’t know who I was. Or he probably wasn’t Roxas. “You don’t remember me, do you?” he inquired.

I gasped. So he was Roxas, and he did remember me. “Roxas,” I answered quietly.

“That’s right.” He finally removed his hood with hands clothed in leather gloves, giving me another moment of surprise. Blond hair up in spikes, striking blue eyes, and a young face. Not a face that you would associate with being emo. Then again, his eyes looked so sad.

I shook my head clear of my thoughts. Why am I still here? Years ago he was here to either kill me or abduct me! I should’ve run away right from the start! I took a step back from him but that was all my body was willing to do. It was like there was some kind of attraction to him; otherwise I wouldn’t have followed him so willingly. People didn’t have that effect on me; I usually didn’t want to have anything to do with them.

“It’s so cold,” he commented. “Can we get out of this air and talk?”

No! Just walk away! I opened my mouth but no words came out. I wasn’t much of a talker. This was a kind of fear I haven’t felt in years, and didn’t think I would feel again.

Roxas sighed and got closer to me. “Are you scared?” He sounded sad when he said this. “You look terrified. Come on.” He gently took his gloved hand in mine and tugged.

Bum bum

“My heart!” I hissed as I yanked my hand away from him. What was once dull and almost lifeless had instantly beat so loudly I could feel it, and was certain that Roxas heard it. Although it sounded exaggerated, that was the most I got out of my heart in a long time.

Roxas blinked in confusion but kept his hand out. “Something wrong?” When I shook my head in denial, he laughed again. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

I put my hands behind my back. There was so much to ask him, but I didn’t know whether or not to stay away. I was both scared and intrigued by him. “What’s with you?” I said shakily.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he assured me. “Come on.”

I shouldn’t have stayed there, but I slowly calmed down and held out my hand. He gently grasped it again. “How about some breakfast? My treat.” There wasn’t any protest from me, since I was too busy with my loud heartbeat.

As he guided me to the diner I was going to for breakfast, I couldn’t help but feel like we were a couple. A romantic couple. That thought had me yank my hand back again in embarrassment, making Roxas stop again. “I’m not scared,” I quickly told him. “I just wanted my hand back.”

For a moment, Roxas looked disappointed. Then he shrugged and opened the door for me. I led him to a booth at the far end of the diner, waiting for him to sit down first. Even though it meant facing him, which would probably be uncomfortable for both of us, I sat on the other side of the table.

A waitress came to get our orders, avoiding eye contact with us as we told them to her. She’s looking out the window. She’s scared of us. My eyes followed her as she went to the kitchen.

Roxas waited for her to leave before speaking. “Sometimes you never do get used to it,” he told me solemnly.

“Hm?” My gaze snapped back to Roxas’ eyes then quickly diverted.

“The way they go out of their way to avoid our attention. I’m okay with it, but you haven’t been around as long as I have.”

“Why are you here?” I blurted out harshly. My mouth worked before my mind could stop it, but they both agreed that they wanted answers. I was angry that he would act as if he was so casual about this while I was terrified, like our last meeting didn’t happen.

He looked at me with those sad eyes, and I briefly felt guilt. “There are a few things I need to do here.”

“Like what?”

“I have to meet a couple of people.”

“Who?”

“None of your business.” His voice hinted at his slight amusement.

“What’s with you?”

“Pleading the fifth now.”

I groaned and glared at him. “I don’t get you!” I shouted. The heads of the few people in the diner lowered in pain. Once more pain burned in my throat.

Roxas stood up and looked over at the man sitting behind him, then at the window. At a long crack that wasn’t there before. “Maybe we should get off this topic,” he said seriously.

The waitress came back then with our food and drink, bacon and scrambled eggs for both of us. I took a gulp of my orange juice and sighed as the liquid soothed my throat. “I’m just so confused. Just who are you?” I pleaded.

Roxas held his fork an inch from his mouth. “I’m new to this, the whole…friendly thing. I was just experimenting. Physical contact was freaking you out, joking around with you was frustrating you, and I knew being serious was going to scare you.”

I understood what he meant, since I was the same way around people. So he is like me. Do I still want to know more? Maybe I should ask. The questions never got out; I was still afraid of his answers. We just ate in silence, then left after paying.

Again I was unconsciously following him in the direction of my house, my footprints fitting in his. Roxas had his hood up but had his head held high this time. “This is the way to your apartment, right?” he asked.

“We moved,” I answered. “But my house is this way.”

He stopped and let me take the lead. I listened close to the sound of his footsteps, pausing when they stopped. We were now across the street from the park where we met. “It hasn’t changed at all,” he mused.

“Yeah.” I started back to walking. I wanted to stay away from there at all costs.

My companion caught up as I walked around the corner and stood in front of my new home. “This is where you live?”

“Yeah.”

A hand roughly grabbed my arm, making me gasp and struggle a little. My heartbeat came back louder and faster than ever. “I came to collect you,” he said darkly.

“What?” My fear came back full force, and the unfamiliar feeling made it worse. “Let me go!”

He winced from my painful voice but held on. “The seal isn’t working.”

“That’s not a problem!” I pulled harder, but that only made his grip tighten.

“Yes, it is. You’ve stopped aging, your heart is dying, and your powers are developing. You’ll soon feel the need to sever the bond between you and your father.”

“No! I can still live here! I can fight it!”

His grip got even tighter, and I sank to my knees in pain. “I’ll be here at midnight to get you. And if I need to use force, I will.”

There was a new pain as he released me and walked away, this time in my heart. My heart, once comatose, had now let me release the first tears I had shed in nine years.

[Crystal Tears]

I like your Roxas better than the games.

Just thought you should know ♥

The song was appropriate in my mind, yes, very fitting in a sort of odd way. It’s sad that she hadn’t cried in nine years, and I’m interested to see her parting with her father, as apparently Roxas is going to make her, whether she likes it or not.

This I like.

>>; I’m a bad person; I’m hoping she severs the connection between her and her father. Because I think it’ll be so very fun to read *is horrible, and probably shot*

But I like dark moments in fics and what-not. :3

I liked this chapter, I enjoyed that there wasn’t any “Roxas POV” or other title. I find that ruins the flow of the story a bit.

All in all, good job ♥

[classy_cat18]

Another chapter up! Okay, a note before starting: I chose this song because it seems so fitting. The background sound that don't seem to make sense is actually "You cannot escape" in Japanese backwards. Plus the song that the woman sings in the chapter is also in the song. It means "Miss, come to where my hands clap."

Second Movement: Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKV195eXg7I)

This was a nightmare. What was worse was the fact that I couldn’t wake up from it. My own house didn’t feel like a safe place anymore. So it’s come to this. This time there’s no getting out of it, not unless I think of a way.

I was curled up on the living room couch and staring at the blank TV screen. Dad always put the remote somewhere I couldn’t find it, and I didn’t have the will to get up and change the channel manually. It was just me and my thoughts. Plans were running through my head about how to get out of it.

I could run away. He didn’t know where I lived, after all. If I can find somewhere to hide, just for one night, it would throw him off. That plan sounded good, but there was a chink in the plan.

“He knew where I was the first time I met him,” I told myself. “He knew who I was.” If he could find that out, maybe there was some way to track me. After all, he wouldn’t threaten me and then leave without thinking that I would try to escape. There was no way he had that much trust in me.

My eyes darted to the telephone on the coffee table in front of me. Maybe I could call for help. It’s enough of an emergency to get the police involved. I grabbed the phone and held it up to my ear only for my hope to shatter.

The phone line was dead.

The phone fell to the floor as I let it go. Roxas had that base covered. And after thirty minutes of searching, I found that I couldn’t find my cell phone either. “This is hopeless,” I whimpered.

The situation was draining my energy, so I wobbled back to the couch and collapsed on it. It felt like I fell asleep as soon as I felt the impact.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I stirred and opened my eyes to a completely different scene. Why was I outside? And far away from home? It wasn’t cold snow under my body, but warm dirt and grass. Leafy shields shielded most of the sunlight. And I heard the chirping of some kind of insect all around me.

“Onee-san, kochira te no naru hou e…”

Clap clap

I quickly sat up at the sound of singing. It sounded familiar.

“Onee-san, kochira te no naru hoe e…”

Clap clap clap clap

It couldn’t be!

After getting up and following the clapping, I got my answer.

“Okaa-san…” I said breathlessly.

She was sitting on a hollow log in a small clearing, looking serene as the sun shone on her face. The strange thing was that she wasn’t wearing traditional Western clothing, but a formal kimono with a butterfly design.

“Okaa-san!” I called out to the woman.

Mom smiled at my voice and held out her arms. “You found me,” she said pleasantly.

As much as I wanted to run and hug her, I knew none of this was real. “It can’t be. You’re dead.”

She kept her smile although she put her arms down. “Yes, I am.”

The insects’ cries grew louder, almost hurting my ears. “Where are we?”

“I guess it is my place of eternal rest. Despite the cries of the cicadas, it’s quite peaceful.”

Eternal… Tears escaped my eyes again. I leaned against a tree before my legs could give out from under me. “Is this a dream? Or am I dead?”

“You’re just here on a temporary visit. There’s no need to worry; you are unable to stay here long.”

I hid my face from her. “I put you here.”

“Oh no.” She stood up and quickly yet gracefully strolled across the clearing to me. She still seemed so much taller than me. “I thank you for this. I don’t remember ever being this peaceful during my life.”

I looked up at her kind eyes, still not understanding. “What do you mean? Weren’t you happy with me and Dad?”

“There’s no doubt that you were the best thing that ever happened to me.” She gently stroked my hair. “But I had lived far too long. I was ready for my life to end.”

“Too long? But you looked so young, unless…” I tightened my hold on her loose sleeve. “You’re like me too.”

“That’s right. I truly believed that you could’ve lived without knowing that side of you, but even I eventually found that to be wishful thinking.” She held me close. “You must accept your fate.”

“No…” I tore myself away from her. “I can’t do that! I’m human!”

“You’re not human. Stop living in denial.”

“Stop pretending to be my mother! My mother would never tell me to just accept this fate! She would try to protect me!”

The cicadas suddenly stopped chirping, leaving the forest quiet. The woman narrowed her eyes at me. “You cannot escape.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“NO!” Instead of pushing away the woman, I pushed myself off the couch. I was only on my back for a few seconds before I sprang up. “I’m not letting him get me!”

I only packed my backpack with the essentials, and then put my emergency funds in my wallet. “He can hunt me if he wants,” I grumbled to myself as I ran down the stairs. The front door was just feet away…

Clap clap

“Onee-san, kochira te no naru hoe e…”

My hand stopped an inch from the doorknob. My eyes stayed glued on it. Someone else was in the house.

And it wasn’t Dad or Roxas.

“My my, is the little bird flying away so soon?” a female’s voice chimed. The voice seemed to freeze my spine.

Heels clicked on the floor as the stranger walked behind me. I still didn’t look around even as she ran a finger down my back. “L-leave me alone,” I stammered pathetically.

She just laughed cruelly and yanked my head back by the hair. A sharp cry tore from my throat. “Turn around and face me, little bird.”

I gulped and waited for her to let my hair go before turning to face her, although I kept my head down. She was wearing the same leather cloak as Roxas, but her boots had high heels. My eyes didn’t go higher than her chest. “How long were you in here?” I asked her.

She growled and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look in her face. Her thin fingers felt like they were going to pierce my skin, even though they were in leather gloves. “Long enough to hear your pretty little song. Did your mommy teach it to you?”

I struggled to get away from her but her hold tightened. How could this woman, who didn’t look like she had much muscle on her, be so strong? “I used to play the game with her and Dad,” I finally admitted. Then my tired look turned to a glare. “Wait, why am I explaining this to you? I’m not obligated to answer your questions!”

She was too quick to react. Her hand lashed out and smacked my cheek hard enough to knock me to the floor. The blow stung more than it should’ve. Then she pressed down on my side with her heel, laughing when I whimpered in pain. “You’re not obligated to mouth off to me,” she growled. “Unlike Roxas, I don’t bother with the whole friendly act.”

I lay still, not wanting to anger her further. But I couldn’t help but notice that the lights flickered for a brief moment. “You know him. I bet he sent you to make sure I don’t try anything.”

“So you do have a brain in that head of yours!” She took her foot off my body but I stayed on the floor and rolled onto my back. My eyes traveled to her antennae hair. Were these guys into weird hairstyles or what? “I’d have to admit that I was tempted to let you go, just to hunt you down again. It’s always fun to see the fear and confusion of my prey as they try to escape!”

My anger for her grew, another unknown feeling that took me by surprise. “Well, then maybe I should stay here just to piss you off.”

She pulled another quick move, and I cried out in pain as her foot struck my side. My anger vanished and was slowly replaced by fear. If this was the person Roxas sent to watch over me, who was watching over this psycho? Who will watch the Watchmen? I thought bitterly.

“How interesting,” she mused as she circled my prone form. “So close to your transformation, yet so much emotion in your eyes. It’s hard to believe you’re about to lose your heart.” She nudged my side with the sharp toe of her boot and kneeled so she could whisper in her ear. “But you know, they say your heart beats the hardest when it’s about to die.” Her grin grew into something the Cheshire Cat would be proud of.

As she said that, my head pounded until the sound filled my ears. I rolled onto my other side and covered my ears as I whimpered pitifully. It almost hurts. I can’t take this much longer! I ignored another kick to the side. “Please leave me alone. I won’t run, I promise.”

“‘I won’t run, I promise!’” she mimicked mockingly. “You really are pathetic! You’re the person Roxas wanted to get personally? Do you really mean that much to him?”

“What are you talking about? Why can’t any of you just explain this?”

“You’re already a big baby. If I just told you everything, you’ll just cry and cry.” This prompted more tears to flow from my eyes. “But maybe it’ll help break your little heart faster.”

“I don’t want my heart to break!” I cried out. My throat burned from my accidental attack, but the woman seemed unaffected. I sat up and faced her with as much courage as I could. My voice lowered to a whisper. “What are you? Why did you intrude in my life and play around with me? I’m not a threat to you. Are you concerned about what I might do to other people?”

“Hmph! We don’t care about humans. You can do whatever you want to them. You and me…we’re monsters. The only purpose they are to us…is as food.” Her tongue slowly slid across her lips.

My heart thumped loudly again, but this time it wouldn’t stop. “Food? What do you mean?”

She ignored my response. “What we’re afraid of is what you may do to us in the future. Despite what you say now, we’re not taking any risks.”

“But—“ I stopped my protest when we both heard the sounds of the door unlocking. And we were just a foot away from it. “Otou-san…”

The psychotic woman’s grin got more devious but she stayed quiet. The doorknob had not moved yet. Did Dad hear this woman talking? What is she planning?

She looked down at me. “The bond must be severed completely,” she whispered.

I gasped. She was planning on killing him. “RUN AWAY!”

Instantly I felt an unfamiliar, excruciating pain. It started in my foot and quickly rushed throughout the rest of my body. I screamed bloody murder and clawed at the floor. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but that was two seconds too many. When I found the strength to roll over and glare at her, I saw sparks flying from her. Electricity? My body was covered with electrical burns.

The woman cackled and knocked on the door. “Ojii-san! You’ll come in if you want your daughter to live!” she yelled.

No, don’t come in. I’m not worth it. Either she’ll kill you or I will. Just run so neither of us will. Don’t…

The doorknob slowly turned, and the door swung over to reveal my scared father. He immediately noticed the mysterious woman, who pointed down at me. “Nia…” Dad said softly.

“Leave here, otou-san,” I said softly. “She’s a maniac.”

The woman yanked my father in the house by the collar of his shirt. “Do you really want your father to end up like yourself?” she asked me.

I looked down at my burned arms and shook my head. After a closer look, I could see the burns slowly shrinking. They were healing. The pain was slowly diminishing too. If I don’t get Dad away from here, he’ll end up a lot worse than me. I grunted in pain as I finally got to my feet and faced my attacker and her newest victim.

Dad understandably looked confused, looking from me to the woman and back to me. “Nia, do you know her?” he asked me.

“No,” I replied immediately.

“Does it matter?” the woman said with a smirk. “The one you should be worried about is your dear daughter.”

“What’s going on?” Dad demanded. His eyes widened as he looked into mine. “You couldn’t be…”

I looked away in shame. It didn’t matter if I was planning to kill him or not. I knew he wasn’t going to survive while the woman was here.

Dad’s breathing got harsher until he yelled out in frustration. “How could you do this to your own father? I took care of you, even after what you did to your mother!”

The stranger cackled and shoved him away. “Do you think she cares? Look at her! She’s probably plotting your demise right now!”

I didn’t try to deny it. There was this nagging voice in the back of my brain that thought this whole thing was getting pretty annoying. This woman’s laughing is giving me a headache and Dad isn’t making it better. Just take the nearest blunt object, knock the woman out, and hit that whining bastard in the right spot—

“STOP IT!” I screamed out, covering my ears in an attempt to block out the voice as well as stop my head from ringing. My mind had started to revert to a state it hadn’t been in since the attempted murder of my father.

The cocking of a handgun chased that voice away.

Dad had somehow gotten his gun, probably even had it in his car and brought it with him in the house. Whatever the case, he had it out and was pointing it at me. At me. “I won’t die by your hands,” he told me through gritted teeth.

My fear and anger had been fading in and out for the last few minutes. Right then, I wasn’t feeling as scared as I should’ve been. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought of killing me before. I calmly looked at the gun, ignoring my burning throat and wondering if everything would be better if I would let him shoot me. “Otou-san, you don’t have to do this,” I said to him slowly.

The woman giggled and sat on the back of the sofa, clearly amused. “Of course he has to do it. It’s rather simple. Either you kill him, or he kills you. Don’t you think it’s natural that he would choose survival?”

“Stay out of this,” I warned her. Once more the lights flickered as she glared at me, and I instinctively took a step back from her. There was no way I was ending up like Mace Windu.

She smirked and continued flapping her gums. “Go ahead, ojii-san. She’s not even making a move to escape. Or do you want to end up like your lovely wife? Strangled with her daughter’s jump rope—“

How does she know that?

“By her own daughter?”

The finger on the trigger started to squeeze.

“Was it too much trouble to stash that body, ojii-san?”

I licked my lips, aching to say something that would save my skin.

“How could you even think that she would leave you alone after that? After all, she’s still changing.”

“ENOUGH!” Dad bellowed. The gun that was pointed at me was finally fired.

BLAM!

A small hole…

Between the eyes…

Of the crazy woman.

Dad immediately threw his gun through the nearest window and bolted out the front door, knocking me over in the process. I made no move to stop him. The man was just trying to save himself from being killed by his own daughter. I sat up and looked back at the body of the shot woman.

She was still standing.

Her head was bent back from the impact of the bullet, but it was like she was paused in mid-fall. Just as I was getting up to get out of the house, I heard something that chilled my whole body.

“Heheheheh…” The “dead” body shook slightly from laughter. My eyes widened so much that they threatened to pop out of their sockets. My bottom lip quivered with fear. I couldn’t control my heartbeat, which felt like it was too much to bear.

She finally righted herself and looked at me with an unbelievably wide grin. The bullet hole was still there, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore. In fact, it was quickly closing. “You’re still alive?” I hoarsely asked in disbelief. “It was a headshot.”

“You don’t get it yet, do you?” she chuckled as she scraped away the dried blood.

“There’s nothing to get because you haven’t really told me anything.”

She shrugged and walked towards the door. “You and I are no longer human. To humans, we’re either invisible and forgotten or feared and hated. We are Nobodies. As Nobodies, pitiful human things no longer matter to us. Like age, sickness or injury.”

“I will never be like you!” I sprang to my feet and ran for the door, only to have the feet swept from under me. She stood over my fallen body and stretched out a hand. Electricity crackled in the palm and formed into a knife-like shape. When the light disappeared, she was holding a couple of small kunai knives that were still sparking with electricity.

The look that she gave me was one of pure evil, very unlike Roxas. “I know where he’s headed. Do you want to know?” she asked me sweetly.

“Don’t harm him,” I warned shakily.

In a quick movement I couldn’t see, she embedded the knife in my right shoulder. I screamed in pain as loudly as my sore throat would allow me. “He’s going to the snowy field where you first met Roxas. Take your time. I’ll make sure he doesn’t go anywhere else.”

“How would you know…” I screamed again as she threw another the second knife into my other shoulder. She giggled again and left the house, leaving me bleeding on the floor.

I didn’t make any moves right away, but as soon as the pain started to subside, I reached for the knife in my right shoulder. A small shock kept me from doing any more. “Dammit,” I panted. “Will I die here? Was this Roxas’ plan all along? Maybe now my heart will be at peace.”

“Nia?”

I gasped and strained my eyes upward to se Roxas looking down at me. Surprise, relief and anger all coursed through me. “Why are you doing this to me?” I blurted out angrily, not knowing a better question for him. My voice was so gone that nothing was being affected.

He blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“That woman! You left her here to watch over me and look what happened! My father’s terrified, and she’s probably gone to kill him!”

He was reaching for one of the kunai knives in my body, but then his hand paused. “What woman?”

“Your partner, dammit!”

His eyes narrowed. “I came here alone,” he growled as he yanked out the knife in my right shoulder, wincing from the cry of pain that came from me.

My anger got stronger. “You lie! She knew about you! Aah!” He had pulled out the other knife without effort. There was no blood gushing out, although it was still bleeding slowly.

“Do you know where they are?”

“She said he went to the snowy field where we met.” He bent down to help me up but I rolled away from him. “Don’t touch me!”

His gaze softened. “You need help.”

I made no move to stop the tears from falling. “Death is more desirable. At first, I felt almost nothing. Now, I can’t stop from feeling. I can’t control it. I don’t know which is scarier, but at least when I wasn’t feeling anything I had control. But you came along…” His eyes widened. “You took away my control. You changed everything. It’s all your fault!”

“You can’t pin this on me,” he said sadly.

I groaned. He did have a point, but I was in no mood for rationality. Blaming him made some part of me feel better. “Yes, I can. Don’t try to help me.”

He sighed and took a few steps back, watching me as I struggled to my feet. Moving my arms and shoulders didn’t help with the pain at all. I stumbled out the door and down to the sidewalk, then looked back to see that Roxas was calmly following me. I just gave him a look of disdain and continued to the snowy field.

It wasn’t hard to spot a figure wearing black and a dark-skinned figure standing in a field of white.

Dad had a look of defeat, his head hung as he kneeled in front of the cloaked woman. The woman had one hand on his head and both eyes on me and Roxas. “So you came after all,” she told me with a neutral expression. “Didn’t think you had the strength.”

I glanced at the blood that was dripping on the snow. My wounds weren’t healing yet, and my strength was starting to drain. “Let my father go,” I commanded.

She sneered. “Oh? And who’s going to stop me? You’d probably faint halfway here.” She looked at Roxas. “I know my partner isn’t going to stop me.”

Roxas looked her over with anger. “I don’t know you,” he seethed.

The woman feigned shock. “Of course you do! I’m Larxene!”

“Like I said, I don’t know you. Now let the man go. None of his blood needs to be spilled.”

Once more that wicked grin was on her face. “Are you really going to stop me?”

I studied Roxas’ face. He glanced at me for a brief second then looked away, guilt written all over his young face. “No.”

“No?” I repeated in surprise.

He grunted. “I can’t.”

Larxene cackled again. “See, little songbird? We’re not heroes. You might as well just sit back and enjoy the show.” She tightened her hand on Dad’s head. Sparks danced down her arm.

“No!”

She didn’t hesitate.

The scream that my father gave as thousands of volts of electricity surged through him gave me as much pain as the wounds. Yet, I didn’t take a step from where I stood. I just watched Dad shake and scream, then fall silent as his the life disappeared from his eyes.

All three of us were still, my whole being strangely numb. Larxene huffed and shoved the smoking body into the snow. “I wanted to torture him longer. But who knows what’ll come along to ruin your fun?” she said brightly. Black smoke rose from the ground around her and wrapped her in a cocoon before dissipating, taking her with it.

I stared at Dad’s body, as well as the brown grass it revealed as it melted away the snow.

Waited for my heart to die…

But it didn’t.

The heartbeat got even quicker. Something burned within my body until it threatened to explode.

It was anger. Unbridled anger.

And it needed a target.

“You…” I snarled at Roxas.

Roxas was unaffected. “You didn’t want my help,” he said seriously.

“You could’ve helped anyway!” I yelled through the pain. My voice was a little stronger.

He looked down, his guilt seemingly real. “I couldn’t. We couldn’t have any witnesses. We can vanish without a trace, but he can’t. Besides, his inner pain is gone now.”

“I…” Every second our eyes stayed on each other, my anger grew. His kind face just sickened me now. I couldn’t control the urge to strangle him or whatever I could do to kill him. “I HATE YOU!”

He moved before I could, swiftly running up, grabbing my arm, and yanking me into his arms. All the anger in me vanished and was replaced by confusion, and maybe even comfort. “If hating me will keep your heart beating, then go ahead.” I stiffened in his hold. “I don’t hate you.”

“Yes, you do. Why would you make me go through all of this?” I sobbed.

He sighed and rested his forehead against mine. “It was inevitable.”

The rest of my energy seeped out of me so quickly that it was like it was being sucked out. I made no move to get out of his arms, too tired to even hate him. My eyes drooped and finally closed.

“Sleep.”

[Kurosakura]

;~; Larxene's such a bitch!

Anyways, I love your writing style, there were so many ups and downs, and Roxas is just co cute. XD I'm not sure what to say, I just woke up. ~__~

[Crystal Tears]

Wowzers, I approve of this chapter.

I liked Larxene, and how she mocks things and is just evil. I could visualize her killing Nia's father in the snowy field perfectly, and the smoke and burnt grass was a good touch to the scene.

You're Roxas character continues to grow on me, though I think he should man up and try to stop Larxene next time. I don't care if they need a lack of witnesses or not, he shouldn't be such a coward.

Nia's heart is still beating and alive! I'm glad it is, I don't want her to lose her heart to those bastards. XP

[classy_cat18]

Whoo! Finally done! I really hope this one is good. I kept getting new ideas as I wrote this chapter. I also used some Japanese so...

Doushite - Why?
Urusai - Shut up!
Hanase - Let go of me!
Shirinai - I don't know

Third Movement -- (I Hate) Everything About You

After floating through a thick, dark sea of unconsciousness, my mind and body started to wake. Sounds, smells…

And pain.

Immense pain.

Unbearable pain!

My body felt like it was on fire! Every joint ached! Everything that entered my ears seemed to attack me! And there was one steady sound that hammered my brain! I curled up on my side as much as possible, my hands over my ears. I wanted so much to scream for everything to SHUT UP!

But the only thing that came out of my mouth was a pathetic wheeze. My voice was gone. Shot to hell. And my neck felt like a noose was tightening around it, squeezing it every time I even opened my mouth. I tried again and again, rolling on my knees so I was hunched over. The steady banging sound wouldn’t stop!

Why wouldn’t it stop?

Anger and anguish filled me. I couldn’t scream, so I was reduced to quiet sobbing. Fresh tears rolled down tracks of dried ones from earlier. The banging sound was now the only thing I could hear. What is it? My hand rested over my pounding chest.

My heart! That terrible sound was my own heartbeat!

“Stop it!” I mouthed as I started clawing at my bandaged chest. Maybe if I dug enough, if I could just reach it, I could make it stop!

“STOP!” A voice pierced through the sound of my heartbeat. Two…no, four hands were on me quickly. Two on my sides, trying to roll me over. There were another two trying to pry my hands away from my chest.

“Darn it, she’s trying to claw out her heart!” That voice was unfamiliar.

“You can’t even pull her hands away? She’s drawing blood!”

I gasped. Roxas! Everything that happened that day up until I blacked out came rushing back, including my feeling of hatred.

“She’s being unpredictable!” the first voice shouted, filling my head. I shifted slightly and balled up a fist to punch who I hoped was Roxas. “There, she’s moving!”

WHACK!

With a speed I didn’t know I was capable of, I had flipped over and let my fist fly.

Roxas was unharmed. The other guy wasn’t.

The other blond, older than Roxas, rocked back and held his nose. “Aah, ah thonk eht’s blehding,” he said in a weird tone.

Roxas sighed and patted his shoulder. “Give it a second. It’ll heal.”

I was momentarily stunned by my mistake, but recovered and threw a second punch. Unfortunately, Roxas saw it coming and calmly caught it in his hand. “Don’t stress yourself. You’re already sick,” he told me.

I can’t be sick. I’m never sick! But then the adrenaline stopped flowing, and I remembered how painful it felt without the anger. What’s going on? Why now?

Roxas let go of my hand. I finally noticed that he wasn’t wearing his gloves or cloak. He raised one of his pale hands to touch my forehead. The moment skin touched skin, I flinched and whimpered. Even his touch was too much! It was like being poked by an exposed electrical wire.

“Please.”

As if I was under a spell, I instinctively froze at the sound of his voice. Was he pleading? “Please,” he continued. “Please don’t panic. I promise we’ll explain soon. We won’t hurt you. Just please…”

“STOP SAYING THAT!” I tried to push out of my mouth, only getting a faint wheeze followed by dry coughing. The invisible noose squeezed me to the point that I almost couldn’t breathe. But I still tried to form another sentence. “I…hate you.”

Although my eyes were closed, I could hear him sigh and get off the bed. Now his tone was serious and stony. “In case you were wondering, you’re suffering from heart sickness. It’s something that Nobodies tend to get when their bonds are severed but their heart doesn’t die. What you’re feeling is the pain of loneliness, sorrow, anger, and hate. For you, it’s the most you’ve ever felt in your whole life, and your once-dead heart is overwhelmed. Your first instinct was to get rid of the source of your pain.”

I looked at him for a second in confusion, then down to my bloody fingers and the scars on my chest. I had even clawed a hole through the fresh T-shirt I was wearing. My heart? I tried to dig out my own heart?

“Some of your abilities as a Nobody have shut down for a while because of it,” Roxas continued. “This includes your accelerated healing. As a result, you could’ve killed yourself.”

The other guy in the room switched from foot to foot in anxiety, staying in the room when Roxas left. After an uncomfortable silence, he looked at me shyly. “Man, I hate it when he’s like that. He’s like an adult. Did you have to bring him down?” he asked me meekly.

Even if my voice wasn’t gone, I wouldn’t have answered him. I didn’t care about Roxas, or myself right now. My father was gone, and I somehow knew that I was nowhere near home. There was no reason for me to even live, and it was because of Roxas. I pointed to the door, signaling that I wanted him out too.

“You’re not making this easy,” he complained with a childish pout. “Hadn’t you ever thought that you were hurting him by fighting him like this?”

I blocked his voice out by covering my ears. I don’t care! I just want everything to go back to the way it was!

He stayed where he was, until I uncovered my ears. “I’ll be right back. Stay in bed!” he told me brightly, and he quickly walked out the room. However, he left the door open.

Now that the distractions had left, I could take in my surroundings. The room they had put me in was simple with subtle colors. There wasn’t a bright color anywhere. I looked down at my hands while they rested on the light blue comforter. The blood on my fingertips was so red, it really stood out among the pale surroundings. My skin was also darker than I thought. Why was everything so…vivid? Had my eyes gotten sensitive? It might’ve been the case. There wasn’t a light on in my room, just a little sunlight streaming from a nearby window. Even that wasn’t very bright, so it might’ve been an overcast day.

I was trapped; there was no doubt about that. No idea where I was, exactly who those people were, and what they wanted from me. There was no chance of escape, and I didn’t feel like trying. There was nothing to return to anyway. I was still aching all over, getting very hungry and was still tired.

So why wasn’t I crying?

I was feeling calm for someone who had been kidnapped. Maybe it was because I wasn’t dead yet. So far, Roxas and his friend hadn’t done anything to suggest I was here for torture. Unless they wanted their victim to be in top condition before starting said torture.

Well, I’m not going to find out by staying in this bed. I slowly peeled the covers off myself, revealing a pair of light pink pajama pants. Hopefully there’s a girl here that had changed me. One foot was lightly lowered onto the carpet, followed by the other. My joints still ached a little from the movement, but it hurt less the more I moved.

Normal light blue carpet, not too plush or flat. There was a little stumbling and shuffling at first, like a clumsy Frankenstein monster. I still forced my knees to work with me as I walked to the lone window and pulled back the shades. It was overcast outside, but the window was also tinted. The whole room was probably designed to help recovery from heart sickness, if sensory overload was one of the symptoms.

“I can’t believe you did that!”

I jumped at the loud sound of the strange blond’s voice. It had been so quiet that I thought that no one was within earshot. My feet were carrying me out the room and into the empty hall before I knew it. I paused while trying to figure out which way to go next, the sound of things being moved drawing me to a nearby open door.

“Shut up, Demyx!” I heard Roxas hiss harshly. “Don’t you think I’ve heard enough from the boss?”

Boss?

“No!” Demyx answered, just as loud as before. “You’ve been so bipolar lately it scares me!”

“Demyx, everything scares you. Thunder scares you. The Twilight Zone scares you.”

“I am not scared of thunder!”

“And TTZ?”

“No comment.”

I rolled my eyes. That blond was a real idiot.

“But why?” I stiffened when Demyx started talking again. “Why didn’t you save that man?”

My fists clenched tightly. He was talking about my dad now. This was my chance to find out.

Roxas’ voice got glacial. “I couldn’t bring myself to save someone that I didn’t care about.”

My eyes widened at his statement. It was the same as driving a dagger through my heart. Didn’t care about? That’s why he let him die? Is this the same Roxas who saved me? I hugged myself tightly, trying to keep myself from falling apart. Sobs ripped out my mouth. “Otou-san,” I cried softly.

Roxas lied.

That bastard lied to me.

He was perfectly capable of saving my dad. He just didn’t want to.

“Nia?”

I looked up at Roxas, the flaring emotions coming back full force. “Teme!” I croaked.

“Get back in—“

I didn’t let him finish, pushing myself away from the wall and launching myself at him. We both crashed into the opposite wall. Roxas made no move to defend himself yet, allowing me to wrap both my hands around his neck.

“Nia!” the guy called Demyx called out, staying still although I was trying to strangle his friend.

“Your seal,” Roxas said.

I had forgotten about the seal that he had put around me, that restricted the use of my powers and caused me pain every time I managed to use it. But the invisible noose around my neck had tightened even more. Was something happening to the seal? Never mind that! Roxas must pay!

“You let Otou-san die,” I whimpered so quietly that I could hardly hear myself. “You didn’t care at all! Doushite? Why didn’t you do anything?”

“I don’t care about humans,” he answered seriously. “Only my own kind. And I knew the two of you wouldn’t have been able to live together for long before one of you died.”

“You lie!” My grip tightened slightly, despite the seal choking me.

“You know it’s the truth.”

“It’s all a lie! I loved otou-san…”


“How could you do this to your own father?”

“And he loved me…”


“I won’t die by your hands.”

My protests were momentarily silenced by coughs. I wasn’t trying to convince Roxas anymore, just talking to myself. And with each thing I said, my grip got looser until I let go of him altogether. My voice was gone again, but the tears wouldn’t stop.

It had started to sink in. If Larxene hadn’t have been there to annoy my father, he really would have killed me. Or tried to, at least. Was he capable of killing me?

Demyx, who strangely had stayed back during my attack on Roxas, now stepped in and put a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, back to bed,” he told me.

The contact put me on edge again, and I stepped away from him. I don’t feel like putting up with their fake kindness. I just want to…damn, what’s left for me? But I was getting tired; my legs would give out at any second.

“Bring her to me, Demyx.” The new voice had all of us turn our heads to the end of the hall. Another cloaked figure stood there, taller and much more muscular than all of us.

Looks like the boss to me.

“But sir—“ Demyx started.

“No arguments,” the brick wall quickly replied with a deep and booming voice. He didn’t sound angry, but it made the blond jump.

Before Demyx could say anything to me, I had stood and started to walk towards the cloaked man. The hall emptied into a large, circular sitting room filled with plush furniture. I actually stopped to take it all in, from the luxurious Persian rug to the elegant chandelier hanging from the high ceiling.

“Come along,” the stranger said patiently but still sounding intimidating. He marched to an almost hidden staircase that followed the curve of the wall as it sank through the floor, then waited for me to catch up.

It was hard to walk this much without wobbling, and my heavy breathing seemed to echo in the room. I tried to hold my breath, feeling like the man would get irritated by my weak state. “You haven’t been given your medicine?” he asked me. I gave my head a shake, still unable to speak. “I see.” He didn’t say any more.

Strange. When I first got here, I didn’t want anything to do with my captors. And now my head was starting to buzz with questions. Why do they like wearing their hoods up indoors?

The staircase led to another circular room, with clean white walls that almost blinded me had it not been for the dim lighting. Two doors and another hallway now faced us. The stranger led me to the door on the right and gently knocked on it. “I’ve brought her,” he said.

“Let me speak to her in private,” a soft male voice said on the other side.

The stranger opened the door and stepped aside, looking down at me. “Go in,” he told me. I was in a position that I could look under the hood. Stony blue eyes looked back, belonging to a face with strong features. I must’ve been staring, because he grunted and nudged me in the room.

The new room resembled a college professor’s office, only bigger. There were shelves of books lining the walls, and also on stacks in one of the nearest corners. A chalkboard stood nearby, blank and washed. Right in front of me, on the far side of the room, was a large oak desk. A boy about my age sat in front of it, with gray-blue hair covering one side of his face and wearing the black cloak I was getting used to seeing. This kid couldn’t be the boss!

And yet, there was still a sense of authority around him. But I didn’t like the way he stared at me, as if his eyes were taking me apart and studying each piece. “Has she taken her medicine, Lexaeus?” he asked the tall man behind me.

“No.”

He sighed sadly. “It’s bad manners to hide your face around our guest.”

Lexaeus nodded and removed his hood, revealing his ginger colored spikes. “Is there anything else you need?”

“That will be all. You may return to your previous activities.”

He nodded again and left, closing the door behind him. I was now left with the blue haired youth, standing awkwardly in the middle of his large study. I felt like a child that had been sent to the principal’s office without knowing what he or she did wrong. The boy stood and walked around his desk. “You’re trembling. I have made some tea for the two of us.” He gestured to a small table with two chairs near me, a tea set already prepared for us.

At first I didn’t move. This didn’t help the situation, just made the boy seem like the youngest James Bond villain. All he was missing was a cat to pet while sneering at me. But the boy had moved silently while I was looking down at my feet until he was close enough to reach out and lift my chin with a finger. “I don’t think you want to collapse in the middle of my study,” he whispered.

I quickly turned away from him and sat at the table, feeling a blush creep across my face. He sat across from me and poured tea into the two porcelain teacups. “It’s just a simple orange pekoe,” he informed me. He looked up at me again and smiled slightly. “That seal must be bothering you. I would prefer that this conversation not be one-sided.”

My throat was relieved the second he waved his hand in front of me. I rubbed the seal on my neck and sighed in relief. “Thank you,” I said in a hoarse voice.

“It’s no problem at all.” He chuckled. “I am Zexion, and the gentleman that led you here is Lexaeus.”

“I’m Nia Hawthorne,” I returned while wondering why I was being so polite.

“You are.” He dropped a few sugar cubes in each cup and gave one cup to me. “I swear you look so much like dear Kaori-chan.”

The cup in my hand stopped just short of my lips. Kaori was…

“H-how do you know my mom?” I questioned shakily.

His small smile grew. “That’s not for you to know right now. But my, those brown eyes of yours have been through a lot lately. They’re red and puffy, but they still look like hers.”

The tension in the room grew. He was using my mother as a lure, to get me interested in whatever he wanted from me. “Why are you still talking about her?”

“Just random musings, I guess. I wanted to banter a little.” He took a sip out of his own cup. “She was a fascinating creature.”

I sighed and finally took a sip. The tea was pretty good; a bit of honey might’ve been mixed in with it. Whatever it was helped soothe my throat. “So…” I said with hesitation. “What can you talk to me about?”

Zexion chuckled again and kept his eyes on his cup at first. “This is your new home, Nia-chan, so I wanted to let you know that you can make yourself comfortable here.”

The idea still perturbed me although not as much as first. “I have to live here?”

“Where else would you go?”

“Back to Winter Town—“

“To who?” he interrupted sharply.

I flinched. “Someone will take me in.”

His eyes snapped to mine again, and I was trapped in his gaze. “You will be arrested for murder, little songbird.”

I gasped. Murder? But…well, no one else could’ve done it…

“Then let me get arrested! I don’t see what use you have for me!”

“Neither do I plan to let you know at the moment. To be honest, we don’t know ourselves. But Kaori did, and that’s why we are keeping you safe.”

I bit my lip and fought back the tears. I was being held here alive against my will, and I didn’t even know why! “Hey, wait.” I looked at the delicate teacups. There wasn’t a single crack in them, even after I had yelled in anger. “My power isn’t working. Is this from heart sickness?”

“No. See, some powers like your accelerated healing abilities are shut off. This is the phase where most Nobodies, not able to withstand their hearts, commit suicide. But their offensive abilities tend to go haywire because they are influenced by their emotions.” He put a hand on the side of his neck. “The seal that Roxas gave you disappeared after you collapsed back in Winter Town, so I had to give you a new one to deal with your wildly fluctuating powers. But unlike the last seal, I can change its form so it’s more like a filter. Your voice goes through but your power doesn’t.”

“Why didn’t you do that earlier?”

“Using the filter is risky. If I allow you to speak freely, you have the chance to break through it. Also, I don’t know the full extent of your powers. All that I’ve gathered is that they’re based on your voice, so I restrained it.”

I stayed silent. He did have the right to keep his windows and teacups safe. He took in my troubled expression and sighed. “You are safe here,” he reassured me.

“I don’t believe you.”

“You are with your own kind,” he told me calmly.

“Who are either heartless and cold or psychotic and sadistic,” I said in a louder voice.

“Like your father was any different.”

“My father loved me!”


BANG

I yelped in surprise as the sound of my father’s gun rang through my mind again, then flung the teacup from my hand which shattered as it hit the wall. The rest of the tea splashed onto the floor. Strangely, Zexion didn’t even flinch. “Tell me, Nia-chan. What did your father do after you killed your mother?”

My breath hitched. He was standing behind me with that knife—

“Shut up!” I yelled.

“Stay with us.”

“I’d rather kill myself!”

“But what about Roxas?”

My fists clenched. Roxas’ face flashed in my mind, looking at me with his sad blue eyes. It temporarily calmed me, but my anger flared again. “What about him?” I said coldly as I looked up.

Roxas met my gaze, with that same sad look that I had pictured him with. I screamed and fell back into my chair hard enough to knock it backwards to the floor. “Nia?” he called out with a concerned voice.

My eyes darted wildly around the room. Where was Zexion? He was standing right where Roxas appeared! It isn’t Roxas, I told myself. Remember, you’re dealing with beings with powers. Zexion could have some power to transform.

Roxas (or Zexion) crouched beside me and leaned in close. My body heated up rapidly starting at the face and traveling downward. “Don’t leave me,” he pleaded.

I quickly rolled away from the fallen chair but still chose to sit on the floor while resting on my elbows. The same words repeated in my brain like a broken record. It’s not Roxas, it’s not Roxas, it’s not Roxas…

“I’m sorry about the way I behaved before,” he continued as he crawled toward me. “But I can be your family now. I can love you like your parents never could.”

I shook my head wildly and dragged my body backwards. My body ached too much for me to get up and run away, so I was stuck on the floor with him. “It’s not Roxas, it’s not Roxas, it’s not Roxas…” I repeated out loud.

“Your body must be in so much pain. I’ll carry you upstairs and prepare a soothing bath for you, then let you sleep in my room.”

“Go away, go away, go away…” I whimpered. I had backed myself into a corner while he was still getting closer.

“We can curl up close, just like two lovers.”

I closed my eyes in an attempt to shut myself off from the phony. “Urusai! Urusai, urusai, urusai!”

“Open your eyes,” he commanded.

Like a trained fool, I followed his command on cue, gasping at how close he was now. I could feel his breath on my face. “Why are you so afraid of me?” he innocently asked.

My mouth worked but no words came out. It was impossible! I knew he wasn’t Roxas. His voice not only had a sharp edge unlike the Roxas I knew, but also sounded like another voice was with it. Zexion’s voice. His eyes weren’t kind, but cold and calculating. He was nothing like him, but I was still naturally reacting like he was the real deal!

“You’re not Roxas!” I growled angrily.

The doppelganger slowly let his mouth stretch into a smirk. “Of course not. But that doesn’t matter, does it?” He roughly grabbed my chin. “As long as I look and sound like him, you’re still affected. Every look he sends your way, every word he speaks to you, every touch he gives you is enough to send a shock to your system. It’s so fascinating!”

“Hanase!” I cried out.

“But I can’t help it. I’ve been dreaming about you for years, longing to be with you.” He chuckled. “Just like I heard him say two weeks ago. I wonder. Did he mean that in a platonic sense?” He leaned in even closer and whispered in my ear. “Or were his hormones out of control?”

I felt something warm clamp down on my earlobe: his teeth. A squeak escaped my lips. He tugged and sucked lightly. My eyes widened, and the female part of my brain started computing what was happening. Oh god, he has me cornered in his study. Don’t tell me he wants to—

He chuckled again and let go of my ear. “I’m not going that far. Now don’t give me that angry face. Some part of you must be enjoying this.”

“You’re using that form for your sadistic pleasures!” I pushed against his chest with both hands but he wouldn’t budge. There was no heartbeat that I could detect. “He isn’t…” I caught myself mid-sentence. Was I defending him?

He narrowed his eyes. “Go on.”

“He isn’t like this,” I said slowly.

“How do you know that? Some boys can pull of an incredible innocent act until they get what they want. Some girls can do that too.”

I started to tremble. No, I’m not like that! I’m not what he says!

“Put your hands down,” he commanded.

My body obeyed while my mind protested. Damn! Why can’t I fight him?

He gave me a cruel smirk. “The bond is stronger than I thought.”

“Stop messing with me!” I tried to raise my arms again but they were too stiff to even move an inch. There was only one way to get him off, and it was going to be painful. The anger I had been feeling felt like a heat in my stomach. After some deep breathing, it rose to my lungs. Zexion said that there was a way I could force my powers through the filter. He also said that my powers were probably influenced by my emotions. If I just push it out with my loudest voice I could—

“Silence.”

The invisible noose instantly tightened to the point of choking. NO!

“Trying to fight me, are you? That seal will see that attacking me with your voice is impossible, Kaori-chan.”

This boy is obsessed with my mother! Something is seriously wrong with him! I froze as he leaned in even closer. My eyes zeroed in on his puckered lips. Huh?

There was a white mist escaping fake Roxas’ mouth. I accidentally sucked in a breath along with a bit of that mist. It had the pleasant taste of wintergreen, as well as a hint of orange pekoe. It was strange; I had never paid attention to taste before. But my tongue picked apart the delicious taste of the strange mist.

Fake Roxas blinked in confusion. “You’re being peaceful.”

“So hungry,” I heard myself whine, my voice far away. “I need it.”

“Need what?”

My head suddenly jerked forward and crashed our lips together. I was craving more of that taste; I couldn’t stop myself! It satisfied my hunger and eased my pain like the best medicine! His mouth opened slightly, and I grabbed my prize. The taste flowed into my mouth like a liquid, and it was followed by a solid lump with a more explosive taste that I held in my mouth.

Fake Roxas’ eyes shot wide open, and he tore away from me and went back to his desk. He panted heavily and gave me a furious look. His mouth moved as if he was yelling at me.

But nothing came out.

We looked at each other with bewilderment, neither of us saying anything. Well, I was quiet because I was holding something in my mouth, but I had no idea why he was being quiet for once.

But he looked like he was trying to talk, but was unable to.

Did I…

No way. It was impossible.

“Yo, Zexion!”

The two of us jumped and jerked our heads to the door. Someone else had come down here. Fake Roxas’ body flickered and changed back to Zexion, then the blue-haired bastard walked towards me with anger in his eyes. I gulped and accidentally swallowed the lump so I could shout for help. “Help me!” I cried out, somehow able to bypass the seal.

Zexion stopped just a few inches away from me, his jaw practically on the floor.

I sounded just like him.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the door flew open. The new guy burst in, definitely thinking that it was Zexion who cried for help. I yelped in his friend’s voice, and his jaw dropped too. Neither of them moved, but I sprang to my feet with renewed strength.

The new guy was tall. Not as tall as Lexaeus, but still tall by my standards. He had a slender hourglass figure that was accented by his cloak. And his face…

Green eyes that almost glittered like a cat’s.

Spiky hair in a fire engine red.

The redhead finally recovered and pointed at me. “Who are you?” he demanded.

I kept my mouth shut at first, and he took a step toward me. Rather than answering him, I ran for the door but was easily caught by him. He held me by the waist. The closeness made me panic even more, but the guy’s surprising strength made restraining me easy. “What did you do to him?” he asked me angrily.

“Shiranai!” I replied angrily.

“You don’t know? You had better figure out fast!”

“No! He deserved what he got!”

He growled and harshly lifted me off the ground, applying pressure to my stomach. I felt a wave of nausea wash over me, so I stopped struggling to get the stranger to stop. However, it didn’t stop me from coughing up what came up my throat. A glowing white orb escaped and floated back to Zexion, who opened his mouth and swallowed it.

“Ew!” the redhead exclaimed as he let me go and let me drop to the floor. All the aches and pains came back, meaning I couldn’t get back up. “What did she spit out?”

“My voice,” Zexion replied calmly.

I groaned and forced my body to work, leaning against the wall as soon as I was on my feet. Zexion waved his hand again, switching the seal into a filter again. “You are free to go, Nia-chan,” Zexion told me with a small smile.

I was too angry to think straight, but I knew better than to try to attack him. My feet only took me right outside his door before giving out. A painful wail rang out and alerted someone to my side. I couldn’t see them until they picked me up and held me bridal style. It was the blond from earlier, Demyx. “You look even worse than before,” he mumbled.

The redhead walked out and closed the door behind him. “Something tells me our boss went overboard,” he told Demyx. “Take her upstairs, give her the medicine, and keep her cool and calm.”

Demyx helplessly looked down at me. “Um…okay. Axel?”

The redhead raised his eyebrows. “Hm?”

“What about Roxas?” I flinched at the sound of that name.

“Thankfully he’s out of the mansion. If he finds out about this, he’ll go batshit insane.”

“So keep my mouth shut?”

“You can do that right?”

Demyx blushed and chuckled weakly. “Yeah.”

Axel grabbed his sleeve. “Be careful with her. I think she eats voices.”

Even as he said that, I saw a white mist escape through Demyx’s lips.

[Roy Karrde]

Alright really not used to giving feed back but here goes

Opening
Word to the wise DO NOT READ THE OPENING DURING A THUNDERSTORM! I have to say it is completely engrossing so far, but then again that comes with your writing style. I am also glad I have been on a Kingdom Hearts kick and just finished 358/2 and KH 2 a few months ago, it was so much easier to place their voices with the dialogue.

Chapter 1
Hey loli girl! Gotta say Nia reminds me a bit of the main character from Petite Princess Yucie...did I just admit to watching that anime? Loving the little hints that seem to connect it to the KH universe, Winter Town, it seems unique but at the same time fitting. Interesting realization of Nia that she and Roxas looked like a couple, and I wonder if her powers do develop further. I have to say I do not like her father, yes she did a horrible thing as a child, but he seems so detached. Also what a great cliffhanger at the end of Chapter 1.

Chapter 2
Wow what a amazing chapter, I do have to echo the hate for Larxene, but I also have to hate on her father, he may have been playing a trick but I get the feeling he truly wanted to kill his daughter for a moment, and after he shot Larxene he just runs past his daughter to leave her. He seemed to have absolutely no love for his daughter anymore, and with that he seemed like such a unsympathetic character. Roxas on the other hand is becoming a bit more well rounded and sympathetic, it should be interesting to see what develops of that, a friendship? Or maybe more?

Chapter 3
Okay first I do have to say awesome bit with the eating voices, with everything in the Kingdom Hearts universe it does just flow so naturally. I do wonder if she does become part of the organization will her name get rearranged and a X added? And what is the connection with her mother? Does she have feelings for Roxas? I have to say the part with Fake Roxas seemed to sensual and yet so amazing, as if foreshadowing the future for both of them, I dunno maybe it is just the romantic in me. I can't wait until you finish the next chapter as you have really peeked my interest!

[classy_cat18]

Fourth Movement – Naraku no Hana (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk3Nmu8Kq6Y)

Third Person POV

One week earlier…

He was fine with tainted morals. As far as he was concerned, his self-righteousness had gone out the window the minute he killed his parents. He had no right to be anyone’s judge and jury.

So he found it strangely funny that some of his “jobs” concerned the assassination of other people with tainted morals. Criminals that had escaped legal means of punishment. Murderers. Rapists. Corrupt politicians. Twisted businessmen. He didn’t ask many questions on the targets. Just popped in, carried out the deed, and then popped out. It was these missions that were worth the most money, because the people paying him were rich and powerful.

Too much blood, he thought to himself as he surveyed the mess. Despite his weapon of choice, twin samurai swords, the slayings were usually clean. The blood would’ve been concentrated in one spot. But the victim this time was a resilient coward that refused to stop flailing, from the time his right eye was speared while he was screaming in his kitchen, to the end where he crawled to the shower and got stabbed in the back. The blood trailed wherever he ran and also was smeared on the walls.

The assassin didn’t worry about anything else. The rational part of himself was locked away in a closet of his own making, a convenient skill he used whenever he was going to do something that he wasn’t proud of. However, he did have trouble with letting it out once it was locked. He could stare at the one big blood stain on the carpet for the rest of the night, and everyone would be safer with letting him do so.

When he was in this state, only his killer instincts were active. A song drifted through his head, and his lips moved silently to accompany it.

Saa wasuremashou sono mirai ga
Mata chinurarete yuku nante
Namanurui kaze toguro wo maitara
Sore ga tabun aizu


Come now, let us forget that our future will
once again be splattered with blood.
When the mild wind coils around you,
that is surely a sign

The sound of soft footsteps and steady breathing alerted him to an intruder. The song in his head abruptly stopped. Intruders weren’t allowed to witness. Without even considering who it was, the assassin threw his sword in her direction. The intruder merely gasped with surprise and stepped to the side, only getting a bloody scratch on her left cheek.

The shock died down quickly though, and she walked back to retrieve his sword. She held the blade in one hand, and wiped the blood from the rapidly healing cut with her other. “My my, you really are heartless when you carry out these missions,” the woman said casually. There was even a bit of humor in her voice. “You didn’t even care it was me.”

It was more of an issue of not recognizing her. Anyone that stepped in attacking distance was in danger of being injured or killed, until he got back to his senses. But the woman knew that, and blew on a small whistle that she kept in her pocket. The young assassin immediately snapped his head up at her. “Larxene,” he groaned.

“Nice to have you back, Roxas.” She giggled and ran her hand over the drying blood on the wall, admiring the bright color in contrast to the white wall. “I see that you had a runner this time.”

The blond narrowed his eyes. “You know I don’t like discussing these things after they’re done. I can’t even remember what happened.”

“That’s not true. I’ve heard about the nightmares.”

“And which of my colleagues told you that?”

“It’s…a…secret,” she sang slowly as she lowered herself on the plush couch. “Aww, why can’t the Organization let us keep the spoils of our little wars? This condo looks so swanky!”

“You should know why. An important man is killed, and a day later someone eagerly buys the place he died in? Sounds suspicious.” It could’ve been mistaken as light banter with a friend, but Roxas held nothing but contempt for his teammate.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m here?” Larxene inquired.

“I don’t have to. You love seeing the aftermath.”

“Yes, you’re as impressive as Number Eight. But that’s not why I’m here.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her cloak and held it out for him. “You’re to finish that job.”

He stiffened, taking a long time to take the paper from her. It was a picture of a medium-skinned girl with shoulder-length hair and her mother’s eyes. “Nia?”

Larxene got serious for a moment. “You’re not allowed another failure, unlucky Thirteen.” It was her nickname for him. “You will bring her in.”

“I will bring her in,” he echoed dully.

“Hmmm? Is Roxas going through another emo phase? What could he be thinking? ‘Nia-chan won’t want to come here! We’re horrible people! I murder and walk around with blood on my face!’” She cackled harshly, the tone of her laugh and words piercing Roxas’ ears. It quickly drove him over the edge. Before she could continue her taunts, his other blade thrust forward and pierced her heart, cutting her laugh short. Blood squirted out and hit his already bloody face, narrowly missing his left eye. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and her body slumped.

I hate that she’s right. He took one sword from her hand but kept the other one in her body. Her eyes stayed half-closed and glazed over, but he wasn’t affected in the least. The normal swords that he wielded couldn’t kill her. “That stopped being funny long ago, Larxene,” he growled.

The body blinked and stretched out on the couch, back to her lively self. “But really, how are you going to get her here? You can’t let her stay there. Not only will the Organization go after your hide, but some goody-two-shoes will go after hers. Maybe… her own father will.”

He harshly yanked out the sword in her chest and wiped the blood on her black cloak. “I’ll come up with something, even if I have to lie.”

“But she’ll hate you so much!” she exclaimed with fake horror.

“Then let her hate me. And you had better not interfere, nymph!” he lashed out at her.

She pouted. The only thing that was keeping her safe was her rank; otherwise his attack would’ve been serious. “You’re as cruel as me, Thirteen.”

“I’m only doing this under contract, and my brothers don’t need to know anything about this. As soon as the job is terminated, I’ll come out clean.” He wiped the blood off his sword with a nearby handkerchief. “I’ll clean myself…Kaori-neechan…”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Present day, Nia’s POV…

Demyx turned out to be pretty strong despite his appearance. He managed to carry me upstairs quickly, while talking almost nonstop. “This is not what I was suspecting to do today. I mean, you were out for three days, Nia-chan. I didn’t think that you would cause so much trouble as soon as you woke up. Now my whole schedule’s blown. Not that I have much of a schedule. It’s either sleep all day, practice all day, or stay out all day. Zexion says I need a job but we’re loaded enough as it is.”

Holy hell, will he ever shut up?

He stopped in a new hallway and looked around helplessly. “What was I supposed to be doing now?”

I was too tired to roll my eyes. His bizarre train of thought had completely derailed. If he didn’t put me down now, I would get comfortable with being carried. I was already starting to feel… safer, but I didn’t want to discard my anger towards them yet. “Put me down,” I moaned, eager to get away from him now that a little bit of my strength had returned.

He nodded and went back to the room I had awakened in, setting me on the foot of the bed. I turned myself around so that I didn’t have to face him. Even though I had slept for three days (if what Zexion said was correct), I still felt tired. My hunger wasn’t as severe as it should be, but only because of my exhaustion. And it felt like my skin had three layers of dirt on it. Not to mention my fever, body aches, near inability to talk…

“Nia-chan?” Demyx gently shook my shoulder, causing me to jump in surprise. He wasn’t wearing gloves either, and my shirt wasn’t enough to protect me from the shock. “Sorry. I got your medicine right here. Don’t worry; it acts pretty fast.”

I took the little yellow capsule and glass of water from him, not realizing that he had left the room and come back without even my noticing it. He probably had talked then too. There was a slight pause as I wondered if it was poison, then decided that they could’ve killed me at the start. As I swallowed the pill, I allowed myself to make eye contact with him for a few seconds. Another pair of blue eyes, more childlike than Roxas. He had his forehead creased in genuine worry. A flicker of soft emotion was felt in my heart. “I’m sorry for what Zexion might have done to you,” he told me gently. “He’s pretty heartless, even for our kind. Everything has to be an experiment for him. What did he do to you?”

My throat closed by just the thought of it. He violated me. He invaded my personal space! And it was just an experiment to him? For what? To see how long it would take for me to break? The more I stewed over it, the more I curled into myself, sitting back and hugging my knees. My hands curled into fists.

Demyx roughly jerked my hands from me. I yelped and pulled them back, having felt skin-on-skin that time. I had dug my nails in so deep in my palms that they were drawing blood. “Didn’t you feel that?” he asked me in shock. I honestly shook my head. “Shoot, that’s going to take a while to heal.”

Why did it feel so weird to be touched? I knew that he wasn’t trying to hurt me like Zexion or Larxene, but even with a nice guy like Demyx I couldn’t stand the feel of his skin. Why wasn’t he affected like me?

The bed dipped; Demyx had sat down so that we were now side-to-side. He had gone from talkative to strangely silent. In fact, his voice startled me even though my senses were on alert. “Does it still hurt?”

I tilted my head up from my light brown feet. “What?”

“My touch. It still hurts, right?”

“What?” He knew?

“It’s like an electric shock that travels straight to the heart, or a burn that slowly gets hotter until you feel like your skin will peel off. Either way, it’s unbearable to touch or be touched.” He leaned against me. “We’re like that sometimes too. That’s what the cloak and gloves we wear are for, so we don’t have to worry about touching strangers.”

That makes sense. The effect lessens with gloves.

His eyes and voice suddenly brightened. A big grin spread from ear to ear. “Wanna see my power?”

I instinctively jumped at the change of his mood. He was better than Zexion, but his unpredictable personality was a shock to the system every time! I was unable to respond at first, and when I did it was just a slight nod of the head.

“Cool, cool! But I can’t use my weapon or I’ll wreck stuff again.” He laughed at my widened eyes.

What can he do that could be so destructive?

“You drank all your water so I’ll just have to get more.” But he stayed still and held out a hand. Water droplets started to appear in thin air around his hand, some of them absorbing others and growing. Then the same thing happened all around us. The room was quickly filled with floating drops of water.

I was speechless. The whole thing looked like a dream frozen in mid-moment. Just to confirm, I lightly touched one of the droplets and pulled back a wet finger. Is his power control over water? He didn’t even need to leave the room for it; he just pulled water vapor out of the air and condensed it!

“If you haven’t guessed already, I have control of water,” Demyx confirmed. He slowly closed his open hand into a fist. The water droplets drew together and absorbed each other until a softball-sized globe of water was formed. “It took me a while to get this amount of control. It’s easier with my weapon, but the power is so great that I can’t use it in a little room like this.”

I was focused on the water ball, watching Demyx bounce it from one hand to the other. It rippled and jiggled but stayed in one piece. Watching it was sort of relaxing. “Amazing,” I whispered.

Demyx smirked and stopped moving his hand, then flicked all the fingers on that hand in a blooming gesture. The ball of water burst back into water droplets and disappeared, probably gone back to being water molecules in the air. “I hope you stay, Nia-chan. Then I can show you a lot more.”

The request sounded friendly, maybe even affectionate. He wanted me here, just to hang out. He didn’t want anything from me. It made me warm, and I hadn’t felt this much warmth… ever. It started in my stomach and then traveled to my face. Oh no, could I be blushing? Not just a slight blush either.

“Nia-chan?” He started to lean in to get a closer look, but I turned my head away from him. “Are you feeling sick again?”

I shook my head. I was feeling surprisingly well but the stupid blush just wouldn’t go away! He can’t see this! It’s too embarrassing! I need a distraction!

Then I got stupid enough to look in his eyes when he leaned in again. Those blue eyes. My heart did something…weird. I think it’s getting brighter!

“Are you—“

“Water!” I interrupted roughly. “Glass of water.” I faked a cough, and it was convincing enough to get him running out the room with my glass.

With a sigh of relief, I looked around for something I could use as a mirror. My legs had gained enough strength to let me walk around the room without much difficulty. Luckily I found one on the other side of the nearby closet door. The blush was finally fading along with the warmth I felt from it. What in the world made me do that? Was it the medicine? Is it my heart? I don’t get it! If I’m not feeling angry or depressed, then it’s this? Don’t tell me I was blushing at his looks!

“Well, he was kinda cute,” my lips said before my brain could think it over. Then the sudden realization of what I had said washed over me like a waterfall of doom.

WHAT THE HELL AM I TURNING INTO!? The blush returned full force, but this time I just let it stay on there why I studied myself further.

My straight black hair had grown about four inches over only three days. First it was barely shoulder length, but now it was starting to grow down my back. I had kept it short to distinguish myself from my statuesque mother, Kaori. It probably reminded the others of that woman.

Another change was my eye color. At first glance it seemed like my normal brown, but a closer look revealed that it had taken a different shade of brown. When I tilted my head to the side and back a little, I could see that it was really red. This has happened once before, when I had killed my mother and tried to kill Otou-san. But weren’t my eyes yellow then? Why are they different now? Why am I transforming anyway?

“Will I transform even more?” I asked my reflection. All those questions only succeeded in giving me a headache so I sat on the bed.

I was stuck here. It would not have been so bad if it weren’t for Zexion. The sadistic bastard was also the boss and it seemed that he was going to get away with what he did. How was I supposed to be able to stay here?

A sharp knock interrupted me. “Need to come in.”

I stiffened. It wasn’t Demyx, but the redhead. Axel. He didn’t wait for an answer, slowly opening the door and walking in the room. Although not wearing the black cloak that some of the others were wearing, he was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, and even had black leather gloves. He stayed near the wall, and we studied each other. His serious face, piercing gaze…

That hair... I just want to touch it to see if it’s real. Oh crap, I’m doing it again!

He didn’t miss my blush, but at least he had the decency to not laugh at it. “You’re not the only girl who’s done that around me,” he commented with a smirk. My mind could not put together a comeback, so I had to settle with glaring at him. “My name is Axel. I’m acting leader of this little pack of psychos, so you report to me.”

My eyebrows creased in confusion. What happened to Zexion?

As if he was psychic, he answered that question. “Zexion’s only here as a researcher. We had expected that he would be unable to handle this job, so he has been ordered to keep his distance whenever possible. That, and I had recently received a promotion of sorts.”

We? I got the courage to ask him, “Who… what… how… why?”

Okay, so it wasn’t much of a question. But I didn’t know where to begin.

Axel chuckled (even his voice was cute, a tiny part of my female brain mused). “Too much information? Maybe if I spoon-fed you a little at a time then you could get it better. Then again, there’s a lot to tell you.”

That headache grew in intensity, and I grabbed my head and moaned in pain. I didn’t even want to be there!

“I know you don’t want to be here,” he said seriously. I looked up at him in surprise. “You feel like crap and it just seems to get worse. But it’ll get better, okay?”

Once again my mind dueled itself. Don’t believe him. They just want something from you.

He kneeled in front of me so that he was looking up at me. I had to close my eyes to avoid meeting his gaze. His voice got soft. “I’ll get rid of that seal for starters, okay? It doesn’t work for someone with your power.” When he didn’t get a response, he let out a quiet sigh. “Being stubborn won’t help you feel better. In fact, it’s making you feel worse.”

No response from me. He very carefully took my hand, ignoring my flinch, and tugged. “No answer? Okay. Warm bath, dinner, and then we’ll talk.”

“Forget it,” I hissed as I yanked my hand back. I dared to open my eyes to give him a defiant look.

He was smirking. And that smirk was slowly growing into a wide grin that was hiding something beneath. Those green eyes almost glowed with mischief. “I’m not giving you a choice this time, Missy.”

Before I could draw back, he had grabbed my left forearm and easily yanked me off the bed. The motion was so fast and sudden that all I could do was gasp harshly as I was thrown over his shoulder. My reflection clearly showed another bright blush on my face. “L-let me go,” I stammered.

“Forget it. You wouldn’t walk on your own, and I’m an impatient guy.” He smoothly rose to his feet and walked out into the hall. Where Demyx happened to be standing.

Right then I could’ve given anything to turn invisible just so Demyx wouldn’t get to look at my butt, which was turned to him.

And I have to stare at Axel’s butt to avoid anyone seeing my blush. I tried my hardest to not dwell on that thought.

“She didn’t give you any trouble?” Demyx asked Axel curiously.

“She’s over my shoulder,” the redhead answered. “What do you think?”

“Well, I just wanted to ask since I didn’t hear any sounds of pain or anything breaking from the room. She’s not even struggling.”

Axel chuckled, which irritated me further. “What can I say? Ladies love me.”

I let myself groan at that. “Quiet, you,” Axel scolded. Then he did something that he should’ve been killed for.

He pinched my butt.

I did this weird sound that sounded like a gasp and a squeak together. My captor waited until he had both of my legs trapped before he laughed louder. Unable to kick him, I pounded on his back with both fists. However, he was unaffected. “If you keep doing that, I’ll have to bathe you myself.”

That had the desired effect of getting me to stop. He sounded like he wants it! That… that…

“Pervert,” I whimpered out loud.

“Oh boy,” Demyx moaned. “Just leave her alone, Axel. You know you wouldn’t be able to do that around Roxas.”

And I need to go, I growled mentally as three days of not peeing finally came to bite me in the ass.

“Fine, fine.” He walked around Demyx and through an open door, leading to a small bathroom. He finally set me on the toilet seat and pointed to a stack of cloth. “Towel, washcloth.” He pointed to a set of pajamas next to it. “We were able to eyeball your size of pajamas and grab a change of clothes, but you’ll have to get more clothes tomorrow.” Then he pulled back the curtain in front of the bathroom. The tub was already filled with water and a small amount of bubbles. “Soap, shampoo, conditioner. I trust that you will clean yourself and not try to drown yourself. You had better be smelling like the Destiny Islands when you walk out of here.”

I was taken back by his tone, serious compared to the almost lecherous tone he had a minute ago. Then he smirked and winked at me. Get out, you pervert!

He left, and I waited until I heard his fading footsteps before using the toilet, and then undressing and getting into the tub. The water was heated enough to warm without burning, and smelled so nice. That was when I noticed that, like my vision and touch, my sense of smell had sharpened in some way. It was like someone removed invisible corks from my nostrils. For the first time in forever, I felt really relaxed. Everything was quiet, even my thoughts.

I didn’t want to admit it, but as annoying as Axel was, he had succeeded in getting my mind away from my current worries. It felt good to get off my circular train of thought. With my exhaustion and anxiety washing away, I could feel hunger start to sink in.

Don’t trust them, my stubborn side told me.

“Shut up,” I muttered in response. I wasn’t going to get any answers if I didn’t trust them a little.

After washing myself from head to toe, I dried myself and wrapped a towel around my hair. Axel neglected to give me anything else to dry it. The pajamas were slightly baggy but stayed on. With a held breath I walked out.

“Looking cute there. Yeah, I definitely prefer your hair up.”

This time I didn’t even bother trying to hide my blush, but I had to settle for looking at his chest. “Shuddup,” I retorted lamely.

“Look me in the eye and I’ll consider.” I didn’t want to risk that, considering where my mind took me when I wasn’t thinking about my problems. He chuckled and slowly unwrapped the towel from my head. “Keep still.”

I lowered my head, expecting him to touch me when I felt the heat from his body. He’s getting warmer…

A strange heat emanated from his hand. My hair felt lighter and drier the more he moved it. When he cooled down, I ran a hair through it and gasped. He had completely dried it using the heat from his body. Now I had an idea of what his power was.

Staying quiet, he next traced a line around my neck. Something wet was smeared on my skin. When he had completed the ring, the tension I felt from the seal earlier disappeared altogether. “That takes care of that pesky seal,” he told me.

I nodded, not feeling like thanking him. Instead my stomach growled loudly to remind both of us that dinner was in the plans. A moment of silence passed between us but I could still feel Axel’s smirk. “Hungry, are we?”

I nodded slightly. Now I couldn’t even see a good reason why to resist. He put a hand on my back and guided me down the hall. Back into the circular room, to a doorway cut into the curve of the wall. There I saw a large kitchen, with black and white everywhere, from the tiles to the counters and appliances. Axel pulled out a chair for me to sit in. “Today’s dinner is a simple tomato soup with optional crackers, with a green salad on the side. Drinks include water, fruit juice, milk, and bottled soda since I’m feeling generous today.”

My face didn’t show it but I was floored by this change of personality. Serious, then caring, then perverted, then back to caring again? It was like Demyx was acting earlier. Come to think of it, Roxas was like that back at Winter Town. Roxas said that he didn’t know how to act around me. Maybe they’re all experimenting; girls can get pretty emotional.

“So?” Axel’s voice rang out again.

I looked up at him in confusion, remembering to keep my gaze below the eyes. He had his hands on his hips and waiting on some kind of answer. “So what?”

“Crackers? No crackers? Juice? Milk?”

“Um…” Why was it so uncomfortable to answer such a casual question? “Yeah, crackers. And some of that soda.”

“You look pretty depressed for someone about to be fed. Don’t like tomato soup?” He set down a big bowl filled with the liquid, as well as a small packet of soup crackers and a cold glass bottle. The label said it was orange-tangerine flavored, from some unknown brand. “You might want to take it easy with this stuff. You’re a newbie, so even soup will blow you away.”

I drew my hand away from the spoon. “What do you mean?”

“It’s your first time eating since your heart rebooted. You might have noticed looking through your new eyes, and your skin being more sensitive than usual.”

I did notice that, but it’s still just soup. I scooped up my first spoon and blew away the steam before sipping slowly. The taste…

The taste…

Axel looked up in amusement and mild surprise, that smirk back on his face. “How’s it taste, newbie?” he asked me.

It can’t be. It’s just soup! The taste was explosive. I could swear I could taste every ingredient in there even if I didn’t know what they were! “Wh-what is in this?” I stammered.

“Basic ingredients, although I did add in spices for extra taste. Blew you away, didn’t it?” He set down another bowl with various greens and croutons. “A heart is needed to experience life. Without one, everything’s gray.”

I nodded in agreement. For the first time ever, having a heart gave me real pleasure. I dumped my soup crackers in the bowl before eating more. The warm feeling from the soup built up in my stomach and spread outwards.

“Slow down or you’ll choke,” the redhead warned as he passed me into the circular room. “Demyx! Soup’s on!”

The blond barreled into the kitchen and almost crashed into Axel. “Food! Awww, salad? Where’s the stuff for grilled cheese?”

“Shut up and eat the salad!” Axel growled before giving him a swift kick in the backside. “Be grateful I’m feeding your leeching ass at all!”

I paused long enough to see this change in atmosphere. Now he’s acting like a parent, or at least like a bossy older sibling. It’s like I’m looking at a real family.

Demyx pouted, an interesting thing to see considering how old he looked and what he was. “What are you looking at?” he demanded, looking nowhere near angry.

I silently went back to eating. Axel ruffled my hair with a gloved hand and laughed at my futile attempt to push his hand away. “At least you appreciate my cooking. That’s why you’re getting dessert and he’s not.”

He’s not a little kid, you know.

Demyx shoved him and got his food, then sat across from me. “Like I care. Need salad dressing, Nii-chan?”

I gulped hard. My eyes widened in horror. Nii-chan? Is that his nickname for me or something? Does he know what it means? Judging by the clueless look on his face, the answer was obviously “no”.

Oh, but Axel was fully aware of it. That Cheshire grin was back on his face, but it took him a while to explode in laughter. “Nii-chan! That’s sooooo cute!” he crowed.

My cheeks burned with embarrassment but I snatched the bottle of Italian dressing from Demyx and kept eating, too hungry to do anything about it except wish for the earth to swallow me when I was done. Fortunately Demyx was just as embarrassed. “What’s wrong with Nii-chan?” he helplessly asked me. “You’re like my sister, you know!”

“It sounds like you’re calling her your older brother. ‘Sister’ is nee-chan,” Axel explained in between giggles.

Sister. I was a sister?

“We’re siblings?” I whispered to no one in particular.

“That’s what the Organization is about,” Axel explained once his laughter had died down. “It’s not as sinister as we make it out to be. Our main purpose is to gather our fellow Nobodies and give them the important things they need. A safe home, with people who understand them. Understanding of what they are. And something to live for. It’s a brotherhood.”

Brotherhood, huh? That actually sounds good. My bowls were empty before I knew it. I was pretty hungry. The soda was saved for last, and it was enjoyed as much as the rest of the meal.

BA-BUMP

The sudden hard thudding in my chest was painful enough to make me choke on my last swallow. I quickly got up from my seat and clutched my heart in pain. Wh-what’s going on? As if that wasn’t enough, my left middle finger started to feel like something was restricting painfully around it.

“Nia!” Axel and Demyx shouted together. Axel caught me before I could fall to the ground.

Am I having a heart attack? Is my finger supposed to feel like this? I looked down at it and gasped.


Red string

“A red string?” I mouthed. Something was on the other end of it too, and every time it tugged, I felt another pang of pain. There was some kind of energy traveling down the string, a dark mist that hurt my finger even more. And it was threatening to consume my whole arm.

Somehow I knew. It’s not my pain I’m feeling.

“Nia, what’s wrong? What are you looking at?” Axel asked me.

“Y-you don’t see it?” I asked him. “You don’t see the red string around my finger? Or this energy?”

“No, I don’t see it!” But he was looking pretty panicked. “Demyx!”

The other Nobody looked really freaked out. “Dude, I feel something. You don’t think—“

Axel’s face contorted into a mix of anger and fear. His hold on me tightened. “Roxas… he didn’t!”

Meanwhile the cold feeling of the darkness was crawling up my arm, and I was weakly swatting at it. “Go away! Go away!” I panted.

The sound of the front door slamming alarmed us. Footsteps thundered into the circular room. “ZEXION!” Roxas’ voice roared.

“Dude, he found out!” Demyx told Axel shakily. The fiery Nobody let go of me and walked out the kitchen. I instinctively clutched Demyx’s shirt for safety. “I was hoping he wouldn’t do this again! It’s like he’s psychic or something!”

I gathered the courage to let go of the lifeline. Why are they so afraid of him finding out?

Something else traveled down the string: feelings of anger. Fear. Desperation.

“What did he do?” I heard Roxas yell from the circular room. “What did that bastard do to her?”

There were grunts and shouts, signs that they were scuffling. “Lemme see her!” Roxas cried out. “NIA!”

The red string tightened even more around my finger. Tears fell effortlessly from my eyes, more evidence of the pain. It was like I was crying for him. I have to end this pain, for me as well as him. Against all mental warnings, I carefully left Demyx’s side and went to the doorway. There stood a wide-eyed, panting Nobody, eyes still searching for my attacker. His black robes looked slightly torn from something.

Nukedashitette nukedashitette
Kanashi sugiru unmei kara
Anata wa naraku no hana ja nai
Sonna basho de
Sakanaide sakanaide
Karame torarete ikanaide
Otomo naku tobikau toki no kakera


Saying run away, saying run away
From your far too tragic destiny
You are not a flower from Hell
In a place like that
Do not bloom, do not bloom
Don't get seized and taken away
The silently fluttering shards of time

“Nia—“ Roxas started. He took one step toward me.

“I’m fine,” I interjected. “He didn’t hurt me.”

He rushed forward and pulled me into a tight hug. I tried to manage a small smile. “It’s nothing.”

“What do you mean?” he asked me angrily. The hug started to get unbearable. “He touched you!”

Roxas couldn’t see Axel walk up and give him a swift punch to the side of the head. The blond grunted and sagged in my arms. Axel picked him up by the collar of his cloak. “Demyx, stay with Nia for a while. I gotta talk to our little brother,” the redhead instructed the older blond.

The pain was gone, but now I had to deal with the confusion. Hardly any of my questions had been answered, and I had more questions building up.

And the red string of fate was still there, no longer painful but still pulsing with some kind of feeling. In the back of my mind, I could hear Roxas’ voice. I think it’s calling me.

“Don’t let me get taken… by the darkness.”

[Roy Karrde]

What a amazing chapter, I cannot tell you how much I love the opening, such a great way to open it and so worth the wait. I love how you rationalize why they wear gloves, and the touching. Nia re experiencing everything for the first time is interesting and I have so many questions about the red string! Dont make me come to your house again to bug you about writing the next chapter!

[classy_cat18]

As a Valentine's Day present for my faithful readers, I have for you update! Scattered Lights fans will get their present hopefully tomorrow! *blows kisses*

Fifth Movement – New World (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKIM4AeU3ik)

I had refused to let go of Demyx until he put a hand on my head, reminding me that I was clinging to him. I quickly let go and sank to the hardwood floor. “What… what happened?” I asked breathlessly.

Demyx groaned. “Roxas has a kind of link with you. If you’re in big enough trouble, he can sense it.”

That answered some of it, but that wasn’t what bothered me. “I mean what was going on with that…” I couldn’t put it in words so I used whatever popped in my head. “Energy.”

He stiffened as his frown grew a little more. “That’s what happens when he tries to use his powers for bad stuff.”

My body chilled at the thought of it. “Bad stuff?”

“Assassinations.”


BUM BUM

I clenched my chest as my heart thumped hard for a second. “You guys kill people?”

“Not all of us. Only some of us are supposed to take missions like that. Axel’s the number one to go to.”

No way. That redhead, who didn’t look serious enough to take on those missions, as the number one? Then again, the way he switches moods so quickly makes it impossible to figure him out. He might really be the perfect one to go to.

Now the brotherhood Axel was talking about didn’t sound so nice. “Why would we need to kill anyone?”

“We don’t need to. We take jobs that other people give us because they don’t want to dirty their own hands. Axel’s perfect because he can do it with zero guilt, since all of his targets are bad people anyway.”

Great, I was stuck with a bunch of assassins. Another chill ran through my body as I glanced at the goofy blond. “How about you?”

“Me? No! I’m no good at it! I do recon whenever it’s needed. Otherwise I’m a complete freeloader!” He said that with a huge grin on his face, like he was so proud of it. I stopped myself in mid-facepalm only to get another look at his eyes.


So blue…

I got back to questioning him. “What will you have me do?”

“No idea, but I’m pretty sure that Roxas won’t let the Organization use you for anything dangerous. Probably have you do housework here, like your mom did sometimes.”

That I didn’t mind. I just couldn’t imagine myself fighting and I did housework back at Winter Town all the time.

We fell silent again, my body feeling sluggish after all that went on. Three days. They said I was asleep for three days after I collapsed in Winter Town. Why was I still tired? Maybe it’s just lack of energy. I hadn’t eaten in that time and I had a rough time after I woke up.

And I had dreamed during those three days, of life back in Winter Town. Only instead of being home schooled, I was in high school with kids that I met in elementary school. It felt so real that I thought the whole mess with Larxene and Roxas was the dream.

And the fact that it felt real made the surrealistic parts of the dream scary.

Every thing was black, white, and gray. Sounds were muffled and indistinguishable. Food was nothing but a lump of gray glop. And no one had a face, not even my dad. At the end of the dream, I looked in a mirror and…


End of dream

Even though it felt so fake, I thought it was real. It was, in my current opinion, a nightmare.

A sudden pain in my abdomen derailed my train of thoughts. At the same time, Demyx snapped his head to me. Without thinking, I rushed to the bathroom and locked the door behind me.

I was so stupid. I kept ignoring the signs because I thought it was part of the heart sickness.

But the small red spot on my underwear said otherwise.

Someone banged on the door. “Nia-chan! Is everything alright?” Demyx yelled from the other side.

I only have it about four times a year, so of course I don’t think of it that often. I through the cabinet open but there was no medicine or anything that could help with my problem. Idiot, you’re the only girl here. What makes you think they carry stuff like that?

My face was red again as I opened the door enough to stick my head out before Demyx could leave. It was impossible to tell him while looking at any part of it. “Um…”

“Are you hurt?” he blurted out.

I shook my head. Four words. I only needed to say four words, but it was so difficult to spit them out!

“Then what’s going on? You looked like you were hurting!”

“Period,” I mouthed.

“Huh?”

“I’m… having it,” I tried to clarify in a soft voice.

“Having what?”

My face and neck were burning. Tears were coming again. “It.”

“What?” His voice was getting high-pitched with panic again.

“My period!” I hissed while forcing myself to look at him, although it was still loud enough to give Demyx pain.

More silence. His jaw dropped. Okaa-san used to live here so hopefully he would figure out what I meant. He did, once his gears started moving again.

“Holy ssssssugar honey iced tea,” he whimpered. I cocked an eyebrow while figuring out what he meant.

He started flailing his arms in a cartoonish way. “Crap crap crap crap crap! I gotta get Axel! Don’t leave that room!” He took off down the hallway toward the stairs to the basement.

I pulled my head back in the bathroom and locked the door again. Some mess I got into. Stuck with a bunch of shady people, and not one woman in the bunch. “Sugar honey iced tea?” I asked myself. “Sugar honey iced… oh.”

Third Person POV

The basement area contained a lot more than Zexion’s quarters. Another large room was used for practice; the walls were both very resistant to magic and soundproof. Both were good with “talking it out”.

Roxas wasn’t listening to reason at first, so his mentor resorted to burning all of his energy first and then talking it out. But then he found himself “talking it out” while burning all of Roxas’ energy.

The younger Nobody was now leaning against the wall, his energy not the only thing that was burned. His chest heaved as he caught his breath and healed his injuries. “Good thing he didn’t use his weapons,” he muttered to himself. “But why couldn’t I use mine?”

Axel hadn’t even broken a sweat, but he was a lot calmer than he was before. He stood on the opposite side of the room and stared at Roxas. “You scared Nia,” the redhead stated.

“You said that already,” Roxas replied. “I’m sorry. I let myself lose control again.”

“I could see that by your sloppy fighting. Usually we’re both on the floor and gasping for air.”

Roxas nodded and fanned himself. The air was still heavy from the rise in temperature and it was getting too much for him. Finally he tossed aside his ruined black cloak and shirt. “Did you lose control too? My burns are still healing.”

Axel chuckled. “You know I have to, for anything to get through that thick skull of yours.” Roxas laughed along with him.

The heartwarming moment was abruptly stopped when the door flew open and hit the back of Axel’s head. The young man glared at Demyx. “Knock first, will ya?” he yelled.

“PERIOD!” Demyx shrieked.

That one word was all they needed. Roxas silently stood up and grabbed his cloak. “We should’ve seen this coming,” Axel sighed. “Kaori was temperamental when she was…”

“Floating on the crimson tide?” the water wielder finished.

He nodded and scratched his head. “And it might actually explain Zexion’s change in behavior. Remember when he wouldn’t even leave his room during those three or four days?”

“He didn’t leave because Kaori would seal him in his room,” Roxas clarified. “It’s why he had his own food supply down here.”

Axel snickered. He was the one who had to remind Kaori that Zexion had no bathroom in there. “Remember when her eyes would have two different colors? One brown, one yellow?”

“Like Nia-chan right now?” Demyx cut in.

“Huh?”

“Only it’s one reddish-brown, one yellow.”

“Oh boy. At least it’s temporary.” Axel glanced back at Roxas. “Please tell me you got something to help her while you were in Winter Town.”

Roxas nodded slightly and teleported in a cloud of black smoke. The remaining two people looked at each other. “So she can have babies too,” Demyx confirmed quietly. “You told me that Nobodies can’t do that.”

“We didn’t know anything about Kaori. But just like her, Nia is now off limits to the old guys.” A puff of smoke escaped his nostrils as he looked at his teammate with a hard stare.

Nia’s POV

The feeling of something dripping out was growing. I know it sounds gross, but that’s why I didn’t want to tell any guy, let alone one who acts like a kid. To make things worse, I was staring at my reflection in the mirror and wondering why my left eye was now yellow. Just when I was unlocking the door to peek outside, someone knocked. “It’s Roxas,” a voice said from the hallway.

I kept my hand on the doorknob still. Last time I saw him, he was a little unbalanced. But he sounded calm now, and there was no pain like earlier. I opened the door for him, not looking at him at first. “Did Demyx tell you?”

When I finally tried to make eye contact with him, my heart pounded again. He wasn’t wearing any top, and there were a few small bruises and burns on his torso and face. And wrapped all around his body was a tattoo of gold and silver chains as if he was bound.


Gold…silver…he’s in color…

“Did you hear me?”

I blushed and looked up at his blue eyes. “Uh-uh,” I squeaked.

He held out a familiar box of tampons and a box of Midol. “I found these in your drawers while taking out some clothes for you back in Winter Town.” He dropped it as well as a clean pair of underwear in my hands and promptly left the room.

I just settled for putting on one of the tampons and changing underwear, then stashing the rest in the cabinet after swallowing a Midol. “Done,” I announced as I walked out.

Roxas nodded and shifted from one foot to the other. He spent a minute doing this while working his mouth like a fish out of water. “Um, well, you need anything else?” he spit out.

“No, I’m fine.”

“You’re talking more.”

“Huh?” Oh yeah, I was giving everyone the cold shoulder for the longest time. But I wanted answers to questions that had begun filling my mind. My eyes darted to the tattoos again. “What’s with those chains?”

“Your mom made them, to seal my powers.”

Demyx’s words made a lot more sense. Those chains were like the seal that I had. “Why would Okaa-san seal them? You need them for whatever you do in the Organization.”

He sighed and fidgeted more. “I’m not supposed to use my powers for those guys at all, especially not for killing. It negatively affects them.”

“What is your power?”

“Um… I have light-based powers. Like the others, they’re versatile.”

But that wasn’t light I saw leaking out of him. It was more like black smoke. “So when your powers get corrupted, it’s more like—“

“Miasma. That’s what Axel described it as one time.” He rubbed his own shoulder. “It fits, doesn’t it? How it would threaten to swallow and poison you.”

That’s exactly what it was. It used the thread that connected us to get to me. Roxas lowered his head and mumbled something inaudible. “What was that?” I asked.

“Nothing!” he replied a little too loudly and high-pitched. “Uh… I’m sorry!” He bowed deeply.

“Okay,” I replied.

He shot back up, seemingly very shocked. “That’s it? You’re not angry at me?”

That confused me too. Maybe it was the medicine, or maybe it was because he had been going through a lot too. I made him worry. Who knows how often he’s like this? How good is the link between us? How far does it stretch? Then my lips twitched a little, giving him a small smile.

“Wh-what?” he asked me shakily.

“I figured it out. I’m too curious to be angry right now.” Questions kept streaming into my head. Questions about my new companions, about my new home, about everything. Anger wouldn’t give me answers. “If I keep snapping at you, I won’t get my answers any quicker.”

He grinned. “You’re smiling.”

“Yeah, and?” Like it wasn’t a big deal.

“How often do you do that? A real one, not the fake one you gave me when I was scaring you.”

I didn’t have an answer for that. How often do I smile or laugh?

“What else do you want to know about?”

“Where am I?” That was one question that I had thought about, probably even asked, but never got a proper response for.

“We’re on another world from yours. Like another Earth, but with a lot of differences. But on another plane of existence, another dimension.” He blushed a little and held out his open hand to me. “Do you want to go outside?”

Outside? I haven’t even thought of going outside, probably because I assumed that there was nothing special about it. But now the fact that I was on a new world made it so interesting. “Yeah.”

I still didn’t take his hand. His gloves were in shreds and I was hesitant in touching bare skin. Besides, I wasn’t a little kid. After an awkward moment, he pulled his hand back. “Do you like holding my hand?” I asked in an unintentionally cold voice.

He laughed nervously. “No, just that…”

“That what?”

He blushed again. “You’re like a little sister… and that’s what big brothers do, right?” He averted his eyes and laughed again.

Disbelief flashed, then a slight annoyance. Big brother complex. Perfect. “I’m seventeen, not seven.”

“I’m over seventy,” he said with a smirk. “Old enough to be your grandpa.”

And it keeps getting better. This time I facepalmed.

We went back to the circular sitting room, where the windows showed that the sun was down and the overhead chandelier was lit. Axel was back upstairs and lounging in one of the chairs. “Taking Missy out for some fresh air? While she’s wearing her cute PJs?” I glared at him and my new nickname. “Oooh, you can just forget about your special treat.”

My glare disappeared. “What special treat?”

“The one you get after you complete your special initiation.” He gave me a wide, toothy grin. “Scare away the human that has sneaked into our yard!”

“Huh?”

Roxas growled. “Someone’s trespassing? Why didn’t you tell anyone earlier?”

The redhead rolled his eyes. “Because this one caught me off guard. You’d think after you ran after the last one with your swords, they would’ve taken the hint. Besides, it’s Missy’s turn.”

“Don’t call me Missy,” I snapped.

“Make me.”

I couldn’t stop it. “You… you… NITWIT!”

Axel winced in pain even as he glanced at the large window. “Not a scratch. How interesting.”

It was interesting but I had other questions. “Why would they trespass? How did you know they were here? How am I supposed to scare them?”

“So many questions! Like a little kid, this one!” He took out a piece of folded paper and handed it to me. “Tips from the master.”

“Instructions?” I unfolded the paper and read:


How to Deter Unwanted Human Intruders
1. Show no fear.
2. Show no emotion at all.
3. Speak in a condescending tone. They are ants. We are demons.
4. Don’t be afraid to use threats.
5. Demand for offerings are optional.

“There’s more.” I read the name at the bottom. “Demyx?”

“Yeah, he wrote this. He got it from me.” He showed another silly grin. “If you’re going outside, at least put on some clothes. They’re on the bed you were sleeping in.”

I don’t know why I even took on that stupid assignment, but I really wanted to know what his treat was even if it was something idiotic. I changed into the jeans and T-shirt that were lying on the bed and ran back to the sitting room.

“Okay, you’re almost ready,” Axel continued before tossing my sneakers to me. Roxas caught and handed them to me. “Go get ‘im, champ!”

Roxas led the way to the front door, a wooden one with vine-like shapes carved into it, and opened the door to the night air. This was it. My first steps outside. I walked down the front steps onto solid dirt that formed a circle in front of the mansion and trailed down a hill in a narrow road. The clearing around the mansion was surrounded by budding trees. It’s almost spring here. Wish I had a cloak like the others; it’s a little chilly.

“Does Axel know where the intruder is?” I asked Roxas as we started walking down the dirt road.

He hushed me. “You need to be quiet so you can hear him.”

I glanced at him again. There was enough moonlight to show his smirk. “You’re enjoying this,” I whispered. This must be like cowtipping to them.

“Shh. I can hear him.”

I listened closely. Sure enough, I heard footsteps and even a voice. Whoever decided to trespass wasn’t very good at it. Roxas stopped and gestured for me to keep going. “Try to sneak up on him,” he advised.

I nodded and stepped off the dirt road, following the voice. It didn’t show any sign of noticing me, and soon I could hear with the boy was saying.

“Oh man, why did I choose to do this? I’m not going to get outta this alive. There won’t even be a body to bury or cremate! They’re going to eat it all and pick their teeth with my rib bones!”

I stopped momentarily. What did this guy think we were?

He was walking towards me, and now I could see him. He looked about high school age. The moron was even carrying a flashlight to show where he was. A messenger bag hung from his shoulder. He definitely wasn’t trying to stay hidden. “I think now is a good time to show myself,” I muttered.

The light shone on me, forcing me to blink and shield my eyes for a second. The intruder yelped and moved the light. There was a thump; he had thrown the thing away in fear! My lips curved upwards in another smile. This is a little fun.

You’d think he would run, but he stayed there. Your typical horror movie victim. “You’re trespassing, human,” I told him in my boldest voice. It wasn’t even scary; I sounded like a feminine girl even when I was angry. Good thing my power made up for it.

Despite my not-at-all intimidating presence, the kid fell to his knees shielded his face with his arms. “Forgive me, O Great Demon!” he cried out. “I beg of you to spare my life!”

“Demon?” A ticklish sensation rose in my throat. I almost laughed at him.

“Demon, ghost, goddess, witch, whatever you are! I beg of you to spare my life!”

He didn’t even know what I was supposed to be.

I could’ve just told him to leave and never return but no one told me that I couldn’t question him. First I picked up his flashlight and pointed it at him. Brown hair, average height, scrawny build. Not a threat at all. “State your name,” I commanded while remembering the instructions.

“A-Asano! K-K-Keigo Asano!” he answered without moving. Funny how he didn’t mention why a demon would ask for a lowly human’s name.

“And why have you come here, human?” I didn’t have to refer to him by his name.

His voice got even squeakier. “On a dare! I didn’t want to do it but the others said they’ve done it too!”

That was why the others have had to chase humans out. They were probably all kids. “Why?”

“Because we’re foolish virgins!”

“Eh?” I covered my mouth in embarrassment. Don’t break the image, stupid!

“If they have done it too, then why are they foolish enough to do it again and again?” I demanded in a louder voice.

“We’re sorry!” There were sobbing noises while he shook in fear.

“THIS IS SACRED GROUND!” I gasped and covered my mouth again. I had gotten carried away, but there were no visible signs of pain from Keigo.

My powers must be affected by my mood. Fake anger, no pain.

Keigo did scream when I took a step forward. “DON’T KILL ME!”

I was also allowed to threaten. “Maybe I should hang your corpse where everyone can see! That would be more effective!”

“D-DON’T KILL ME!” He sat up and rummaged through the bag he brought with him. “H-How about an offering?”

Offerings are optional. I nodded slightly.

With a shaky grin, he pulled out a chocolate bar. Feeling tired of this charade, I cocked my head to the side. “A candy bar?”

As if sensing my curiosity, he grinned and brightened. “Gourmet chocolate! Y-You c-can’t get this nearby! I have to take the bus to Twilight Town to buy it! It’s all yours! It’s much more enjoyable than me! I’m lousy as a meal and as a virgin sacrifice!”

What the hell? I facepalmed again, which wasn’t likely a demonic thing to do.

“Not enough?” he questioned, sounding scared again. “It’s all I got!”

I snatched it from him. It was supposed to be a simple task, to scare him into running away. Keigo was too stupid and scared to even do that! I was bored with him now. “Don’t ever come here again,” I warned.

“KEIGOOOO!” a voice bellowed.

The two of us gasped and turned our heads downhill. A friend?

Rushing footsteps and heavy breathing. I moved my flashlight from Keigo to the source of the sound, dropping it in surprise when I found it.


Orange

Orange hair and a fierce look that was the complete opposite of Keigo’s. I stayed where I was, not sure if I was supposed to scare him away too.

Keigo looked back too. “ICHIGOOOOO!” he cried out joyfully.

“Ichigo?” I repeated quietly.

The new guy stopped on the other side of Keigo, his amber eyes and my mismatched ones meeting for an instant. That was when any courage I had dissipated. He’s not afraid of me at all. He might even attack.

Keigo clung to his leg, sobbing again although this time in relief. “Ichigo! You came to save me from the demon!” Then he got on his knees and stuck a finger in my face. “You’re in sooo much trouble!”

At first Ichigo was silent, but I caught his right eye twitching. Then like a flash—

WHACK!

His leg shot out and connected with the back of Keigo’s head. Both Keigo and I yelped, the former’s head slamming into the ground. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU DUMBASS?” Ichigo yelled while grinding said idiot’s head further into the dirt using the same foot he kicked him with.

I was too surprised to do anything besides watch these two. He attacked the idiot first?

The orange-haired kid only got off of him when the muffled sounds started. Keigo took a sharp breath of air before speaking again. “I said I had to! My sister lost something over the fence and she’d kill me if I didn’t get it back!”

I raised an eyebrow. I thought it was on a dare.

Ichigo’s glare intensified until I swore it would burn a hole in Keigo’s head. “Did you get it?”

“Uhh… yeah, but this demon stole it from me!” He pointed to the chocolate bar in my hand.

I could only gape in shock. That little liar! Once again, Ichigo’s attention was on me. Against my better judgement, I hid the “offering” behind my back and looked up at him in defiance. “He gave it to me,” I countered in a soft voice. Now I couldn’t be demonic to save my life.

He looked back down in Keigo. “Is she right?”

“No!” the liar replied.

“You liar!” I accused.

He whimpered and covered his ears, which was strange since I wasn’t even that loud that time. Ichigo also showed signs of a little pain. “Get out of here,” Ichigo told Keigo in a “that’s final” voice.

The coward got up and started heading downhill. “Exorcise the demon!” he shouted over his shoulder.

Now it was just me and Ichigo. No sign of the other Nobodies. Maybe it was a sign that he was no threat. I gathered my courage and spoke to him again. “Human—“

BONK!

“OW!”

Right after the first word, he had smacked the top of my head with his fist! I fell on my knees and whimpered pathetically while rubbing my sore spot. This guy definitely isn’t like his friend! He’s probably too stupid to know who I am!

“Didn’t I tell you guys to cut that crap?” Ichigo shouted at me. “Do you know how annoying it is to save stupid kids like Keigo during school nights?”

I froze in realization. He’s done this before? HE KNOWS ABOUT US?

“That hurt!” was what I said instead.

“Good, it was supposed to!” Without warning he scooped me up and put me in a headlock so he could grind his fist in my scalp. “Apologize right now!”

I refused to! My hands clawed at him in a futile attempt to be released. “Axel told me to do this!” I defended. “How was I supposed to know it was wrong?”

“Great, the bastard must be taping the whole damn thing!” He started dragging me in the direction of the mansion. “I’ll have to kick his ass this time! Yours too, Roxas!”

“Roxas?”

Out the corner of my eye I could see the blond walk out of the shadows, wearing his black cloak. This time he was carrying something in his hand. A sword?

“We’ll stop scaring those morons when you stop letting them trespass,” Roxas said scathingly.

“They wouldn’t be trespassing if you’d stop being so secretive!” Ichigo retaliated.

“Oh sure, like immortal heartless beings can fit in so well. Now let Nia go.”

“Nia, huh?” He let me go and ruffled my hair, snorting when I slapped his hand away. “It’d take an idiot like Keigo to think someone like her is a demon, especially with her wearing casual clothes.”

I looked down at my white shirt and blue jeans. “Demons can’t go casual?” I questioned.

“You look pretty young,” he said to me. “What are you, twelve?”

“I’m seventeen,” I corrected through gritted teeth.

“You look as old as my twin sisters and they’re twelve.”

“I stopped aging, okay?” I groaned when he flicked my forehead. “Stop that! I’m not a child!”

“If you don’t want people to treat you like a child then don’t accept chocolate as a bribe, O Great Demon.”

Was he here the whole time? I ignored Roxas’ chuckle and threw the candy bar at Ichigo, who easily caught it. “There, take it.”

He tossed it back. “Lighten up, I was just kidding.” Then he gave me a half-smile. “I was starting to think that female Nobodies didn’t exist.”

“Don’t you have homework to do?” Roxas interjected before I could ask any questions. His hold on the sword tightened.

The carrot-top was unfazed. “Already finished. Think you could call Axel out here for me?”

“I’m not your errand boy!” He grabbed my hand and pulled me to his side. “And he’s already on his way down here!”

A bright flash diverted my attention from the arguing duo. At first I thought that it was Keigo’s flashlight but that thing was still lying on the ground and shining light in another direction. Axel was walking down the dirt road, pushing along something big.

“A motorcycle?” I mouthed as I got closer to look at it. A sleek black one, with a seat big enough for two. Two helmets were being balanced on the seat.

Axel saluted to Ichigo. “Yo!”

Ichigo snorted. “Figures you’d be heading out when I want to talk to you.”

“If it’s about the dirty e-mail, I can explain that.”

The boy instantly turned a bright pink as he sputtered half-words. “Dir… y-you…”

“Ha!” I quickly fell silent again. It sounded so weird coming out of me, but I couldn’t keep it down and started laughing again. “This world is crazy! OW!” I rubbed my head after Ichigo smacked me again. “You’re taking advantage of my healing factor, aren’t you?”

“Is this your way of introducing me to the new member?” my attacker asked Axel. “I’m supposed to believe that Keigo just happened to decide to sneak in during her first day here?”

“She’s been sleeping here for the last three days,” the redhead clarified. “And yeah, you are supposed to believe that.”

Truth or not, I never did find out what happened.

“Whatever. I got the other e-mail you sent me. He said he’s able to see Nia whenever you’re ready.”

Who’s ‘he’? And why does he want to see me?

“After the rest meets with her, which is in two days. So the day after that.” He smirked and motioned me to come over. “But right now, we were going for a little joyride.”

I glanced at the motorcycle. I had seen a few in Winter Town but only during the warmer months. The strange thing is that it sounded quieter than them, and it was lacking an exhaust pipe. What wasn’t strange was that it had one of those covered basket things attached to the back end of the seat.

“Don’t do any crazy stunts while you’re out,” Ichigo warned before ruffling my hair again. This time I just stood still while getting a good look at his hair. It didn’t seem to be possible to have a color like that without some kind of dye.

“You’re so colorful,” I whispered as I vocalized my thoughts.

His eyebrows shot up. “What did you say?”

I yelped and hid my face with one of the helmets sitting on the motorcycle seat. Axel chuckled and patted my shoulder. “Yeah, he’s a pretty colorful guy. You can talk to him another time, okay?”

That was okay with me. He had more of a connection with the Organization than I thought, which didn’t coincide with the legend about us. Feared and mysterious. But Ichigo wasn’t afraid of us and sounded pretty familiar with Axel. Unlike Roxas, who was standing nearby with a faraway look on his face like he was tuning the whole thing out. “I guess I’ll talk to you later,” I told Ichigo.

Axel waved and climbed aboard the cycle. “I’m pretty sure you’ve never ridden one of these,” he told me before putting on the black helmet, keeping the visor up. I shook my head to confirm it. He waited for me to put on the other helmet and then adjusted the straps. It was different from his, more like one would wear while wearing a scooter.

It took strategy to safely swing my leg over the seat without falling off or getting anything caught. The vehicle rocked a little, prompting me to wrap my arms around his waist. With one last look at Ichigo and Roxas, I tapped the driver’s side to tell him I was ready.

The cycle steadily rolled down the hill toward an iron gate that was part of a brick wall parameter, trees lying on the other side of the road. I could see Axel’s hand pressing a button, and the gate swung open automatically. “Cool,” I commented.

He revved up the engine, a soft hum or purr unlike the roar I was familiar with. Then we took off, and I had to scream.

The acceleration… from 0 to who knows how fast almost instantly! I almost flew off the seat and I would’ve if I hadn’t held on! To make things scarier, the road outside the gate was a t-section so we had to do a ninety-degree turn! And it curved along the circular brick wall so we were leaning! Everything was a blur at first but I wouldn’t have seen anything anyway because my eyes were closed! That jerk probably did that on purpose!

We slowed down to a stop. Axel tugged on my hands until I let go of him. Since we weren’t moving I could get a good look at where we were now. It was a small rural town, with virtually no traffic and a few dim streetlights. The road that we were on went straight ahead, with buildings lining it. It resembled towns that you’d run across in Japan. It’s peaceful and quiet. I wonder where’s the school?

A rev of the engines had me hanging onto Axel again, but this time he started slow. This showed that the previous time was on purpose. I kept my head still and looked down one side of the road. The cars looked pretty old, sorta like from the sixties, not to mention small as well. There weren’t a lot parked either. They made the motorcycle stand out.

We stayed at a low speed until we came to the end of the road, and I was surprised to see that it also had a gate even though it was wide open. And the whole town looked like it was surrounded by a stone wall that was about twenty or thirty feet high.

Axel started to speed up. There was nothing outside the outer wall. It was just a wide open field with no trees. An endless starry sky stretched to all sides. Overhead shone the bright crescent moon. And if my ears heard things right, there was even a train nearby.

This world was amazing. The sights, the sounds, the colors, the people. They were all colorful. In my dream, everyone including me were the exact opposite. All the same.

Now I feel like someone has put me on a canvas and started painting colors on me. I smiled and tightened my hold on Axel, wanting to tell him to go faster. This is an entirely new world. I want to know all the colors.

[Roy Karrde]

Awesome job with taking things outside and bringing more life to the world. I love how you used the cross world theme of Kingdom Hearts to bring Bleach in. I wonder will we see any more animes possibly fit in? Due to Nia's age you would almost think Card Captor Sakura would be somewhere in here!

And seriously "Holy ssssssugar honey iced tea" is freaking awesome, right up there with "Mother Puss Bucket". I may have to start using it xD