Okay, this is my first story, so you can give me constructive criticism, but please don't flame me.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story (except Falcon) all the rest belong to Square Enix and Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy.
'I can't...not now...for now I still have to stay here. But I'll go as soon as I get a chance, okay? And if I can stay with you, I'll come to your door, and you'll know it's me. But for now, just wait, and I'll find a way...soon...' Falcon sighed as she remembered the exact words Axel had said to her. She hadn't expected to remember them so clearly, but they were stuck in her mind like glue.
'I wonder what he's doing now," she thought, and looked at the keyblade he had given her right before he left: Bond of Flame.
'It's my gift to you, use it if you want.'
'Well, it may not be the best keyblade, certainly not as good as Fenrir, but hey, it'll do. Besides, it just wouldn't do this keyblade justice to let it sit in a corner and collect dust.' At least, that was what she told herself. She wouldn't admit it, but the reason why she insisted on using it was because Axel gave it to her, 'besides, it's not like Sora's gonna be using it, so I might as well. He's obsessed with that one that Kairi gave him: Oathkeeper I think. And he always lugs around Oblivion too.' For the tenth time that morning, she glanced at the clock: 6:10, still early. It was winter, and the air was cold, even under the thick blankets. She shivered, 'man, it's freezing... time passes slowly in the morning when you're lying in bed and can't go back to sleep.' She turned her gaze back to the ceiling and stared at it until sleep overtook her again.
A few hours later she woke again, and checked the clock: 8:00 sharp. Time to get going. She tossed the covers off her bed and half-climbed, half-fell out of the bed. She groped her way along the wall for the light switch and winced in pain as the blinding light flooded the room. Then came the much-expected knock at the door.
"Are you awake yet, sleepy-head?" Yuffie's hyper voice called through the wood. It happened every morning. Falcon grumbled an irritated "yeah...", the expected reply, and Yuffie walked away down the hall. Falcon, still half-dazed, rummaged through her closet, and threw on the first thing she found, which happened to be a pair of black slightly flowy silk/velvet pants, and a black shirt with red sleeves that had dragons going down the arms. After dragging a brush through her long black hair (that had red streaks in it), she walked down the stairs, stretching her black dragon wings while she was at it. Despite being only 15, she was already a profound fighter, partly because she was a demon, partly because she was trained by Yuffie, Squall, Rinoa, Tifa, Riku, Sora, and Cloud in the ways of physical fighting, and Aerith and Donald in magic. Also, she had been trained by the members of Organization XIII for a long time.
"Hey..." she mumbled as she trudged into the kitchen where Aerith was making breakfast.
"Good morning Falcon," Aerith said, "care for breakfast?" So while Falcon devoured her bacon, Squall and Cloud returned from outside, no doubt after a long rigorous training session.
"Morning Falcon," they said, and she nodded in return, her mouth too filled with food to reply. When she finished eating, she turned to them.
"You guys didn't bring me along?" she asked.
"You were asleep," Squall replied, sitting down and gulping down a glass of water, "we figured it wouldn't have been wise to wake you."
Falcon nodded and smiled, "you figured right." She was remembering the last time Yuffie tried to wake her up, and Falcon had thrown the pillow at her with so much force that Yuffie had fallen to the ground. Falcon then had turned around and mumbled a grumpy; "leave me alone..." and Yuffie had never tried that again.
"You could've always just gotten Shiro to wake me up," Falcon said, referring to her pet wolf. He was a white wolf, and well trained in the aspects of fighting. He also seemed to be able to understand the human language.
"True..." Squall agreed, "but we feared for his safety." Falcon smiled at his little joke, and then they heard someone coming down the stairs. It was Rinoa and Tifa.
"Are Sora and Riku still asleep?" Falcon asked the two of them as they entered, yawning, into the kitchen, grabbed a cup of water each, gulped it down, and nodded.
"Sound asleep," Tifa said, "I was gonna throw something at him, but then...I thought better of it." Falcon nodded.
"Good choice."
"Where's Angelo?" she asked Rinoa, who shook her head.
"Still asleep, as usual. You know he doesn't wake up until noon or something," she replied. Angelo was Rinoa's dog, also trained in the ways of fighting, "Shiro?"
Falcon shrugged, "who knows. Probably out in the woods hunting or something."
Tifa grimaced, "and you let him do that?"
Falcon smiled, "I do. I don't know about you humans..."
"So, any sign of him yet?" Cloud changed the subject, his voice barely audible, naturally. Everyone knew whom he was talking about.
Falcon shook her head, "no. You know if that were the case, I would've told you first thing. Besides, he wouldn't tell me if he was coming, he likes to surprise me."
"Only you would know..." Squall sighed.
Falcon turned her gaze to him, her bright emerald eyes boring into him, "I've known him for 10 years, I would think so."
"Were you in Organization XIII ever since you were born?" Rinoa asked.
Falcon nodded, "you know I was born Namine. I've been there ever since."
"Born Namine?" Aerith suddenly asked, joining in the conversation, "what do you mean?"
"I've never told you?" Falcon asked, "I thought I told everyone. Okay, I'll let you in. For Organization XIII, there is always a Namine. That's the name of the girl who is the main power source of the Organization. When Namine dies, a girl is born at the exact same moment, and that girl becomes the new Namine as soon as she meets the Organization."
"So...you're real name is Namine?" Aerith asked.
Falcon sighed, "that name brings back memories, both good and bad. I prefer to be called Falcon, just as my parents named me."
"How does the Organization know that the new girl is Namine if they never saw her before?" Tifa asked, chomping down on a sandwich.
"I guess they just do," Falcon replied, "they just...know. As soon as they lay eyes on her, they know. And then they take her away, and she becomes their power source."
"Power source..." Rinoa muttered, "that means the Organization can't survive without their Namine, right?"
"Only if Namine dies," Falcon said, "because Namine is the only one among the Organization that has a heart, they draw their power from her."
"That's why the Organization is still alive, even without your support," Tifa said, "you have to die in order for them to be destroyed."
"Even if I die, a new Namine will be born at the exact second," Falcon explained, "so you see...the Organization can never really die."
"But you're still part of the Organization?" Yuffie asked.
"I am," Falcon replied, "when and if I die, I will fade away into shadow like they do, even though I have a heart. I am still a member of Organization XIII, no matter how far I run."
"Well, we've known you for this long, and we're not about to let you go, not without a fight," Rinoa said, high-fiving Falcon. She smiled and nodded. Besides Axel, Rinoa had always been Falcon's best friend. The only time they fought was when Rinoa had got together with Squall, who Falcon had loved with all her heart. She had gotten over it though, or so she told herself. In reality, her love for him was just dormant, lying just under the surface of detection. The only person who could tell this was Squall himself, who knew Falcon's love for him wasn't gone. In truth, though he loved Rinoa, he needed Falcon just as much, she was a part of him, just like Rinoa was, and if either of them left, he just couldn't imagine that...
"Didn't he say he would come soon though?" Tifa asked.
"Organization XIII is hard to get away from, believe me. I only managed to escape with my life," Falcon said, "thanks to Axel...and Roxas."
"And that's where we found you," Yuffie said, "not too long ago, two years maybe?"
Falcon nodded, "yup, 'cause humans age twice as slowly as we do. And 'cause I stop aging at 15, I'll never get any older than I am now."
"How did you get into the Organization anyway?" Rinoa asked, 'you said you ran away because you didn't like their motives. How come you didn't run earlier?"
"I felt I was safe," Falcon said, "I was only nine when I was first taken in. All I cared was that I had someplace safe to stay. I was already an orphan as it was; my parents died a year earlier. And my initiation as Namine...I remember it so clearly..."
Flashback
"Are you sure it's not gonna hurt?" a 10 year old Falcon asked Axel as they, along with Roxas, walked together up to the Altar of Naught.
"It won't, I promise," Axel replied, shaking his head.
"Yeah, you really don't feel anything," Roxas agreed, his slightly spiky dirty blonde hair beginning to sway in the light breeze.
"You're the most important member of the Organization, you know?" Axel said, "you're gonna be Namine."
"What's that?" Falcon asked, "What do I have to do?"
"Really, you just have to listen to what our boss: Xemnas, tells you. You'll be trained to fight for yourself, and we're gonna need you, 'cause you're the only one of us who actually has a heart," Roxas said.
"So...basically I'm just being used by the Organization because I have a heart?" Falcon asked, "you're gonna draw power from me, aren't you?"
"For a ten year old, you sure can analyze things," Roxas said.
"Comes from being a demon," Falcon replied proudly, spreading her wings.
"We're not going to draw power from you, but Saix and the others might," Axel said, "they're worse than we are. Especially Saix, if he sees something he can use, he will, and without a second thought, got it memorized?"
"Yeah, but I still think it's unfair that they get to draw power from me just because I have a heart, is that what all Namines do?" Falcon asked, her bright green eyes searching them for the answer.
"Yeah, one after the other, there is a lot in this Organization that's unfair," Axel said, "I've lived with it for a while."
"Hurry up, Axel! Roxas! We're not going to wait forever!" Xemnas's voice called from above. Instantly the three of them broke into a run. Up on the altar, seemingly supported by nothing, the glow of the moon shone onto the 11 other members of the Organization.
"Took you guys long enough," Xigbar said.
"Sorry," Axel apologized, "our bad."
"Let's begin the initiation," Xemnas said, turning around and walking out to the outer edge of the circle. The members of the Organization were arranged in a circle with Falcon in the middle. Axel and Roxas gave Falcon a last thumbs up before the initiation began. Xemnas muttered a few words, and a black shadow aura began to glow around each person. With the moonlight, the shadow auras combined together in the center of the circle right above Falcon's head. A light began to glow around her, and the mass of shadow above her head sent tendrils of darkness down, spiraling and interlocking all around her. When the shadows dispersed, Falcon was still there, but bore a now different aura, the aura of the Organization. In her hand, she held the Fenrir keyblade.
"A keyblade?!" Xemnas exclaimed, "you're a keyblade master?"
"I guess so," Falcon replied, shrugging. Everyone was amazed, and yet very happy. A keyblade master was their new Namine, Organization XII would be undefeatable.
"I deem your new name, Namine," Xemnas said, thus completing the initiation. Instantly everyone crowded around Falcon, questioning her about the keyblade and asking all kinds of things, like how she became its master, and did she know? With a thrust, Falcon took Fenrir and threw it to the ground, where it clattered and spun several meters before stopping, the air was silent.
"All this talk of being the keyblade master and all that is making it seem like your expectations of me are to empower the Organization, which I will not stand for. You keep saying how because of this, the Organization will be great, but what about me? It's like you don't care about me!" Falcon cried, her eyes blazing. No one said anything for a second, Axel and Roxas gulped worriedly, glancing at Xemnas; he could be very unpredictable in his replies.
Xemnas stepped forward, "we do care about you, Namine. We're just saying that having a keyblade wielder as our new Namine is a great step forward for us. You too, shall reap the benefits of this."
Now Falcon seemed to calm a bit, though her eyes were still blazing. With a flash of light, the Fenrir returned to her hand, and she looked at it, examining it, as if this one sword would determine her fate.