Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters except my own. (Xiro and Roza)

Phantom

Chapter one- Proposition

The sun sat low in the in the crimson and violet sky as it did so continuously every day. While still in the same position, the time on the big clock tower in the center of the city read 4:37 pm. And it was during this time, a tall woman with dark lavender hair and dark blue eyes and thick glasses, a white blouse, denim jeans and dark blue boots and was crouching quietly behind a bush.

"Hmm…" she said quietly, writing furiously down in a notebook. "Their numbers have increased."

As the woman continued to take notes, the dusks feverishly danced around the open field before her, taunting and slashing jeeringly at the small group of heartless than were crowded together in the center of the group of dusks.

The woman bit down on her eraser as fumed at the clusters. "This isn't good. Yesterday there were only 4 Nobodies and maybe one or heartless." She whispered to herself, "But now…there are at least 8 to 10 of each. Their numbers are growing…The question is why"

The woman leaned further forward to get a better glimpse of the creatures but her shin crunched against a twig, and gasped as it caught the attention of the heartless and the dusks. "Shit..!" she muttered as she gathered her things and stood up, turning on her heel and bolting in the opposite direction away from the group. She turned her head only once to look back to see if the creatures were following behind her. To her dismay, they were.

The woman picked up her pace as she ran left into a large thicket of trees, where grabbed hold of one of the lower branches, pulled herself up and hoisted her body upwards into the tree and began to climb up higher into the tree, out of the way of the dusks and heartless hot on her tail.

As she rested on one of the higher branches to catch her breath, she looked down to examine the Dusks and Heartless below her. Fortunately for the woman, they did not seem to know where it was she had vanished to. The woman, breathing a quiet sigh of relief, leaned back further back against the tree as the creatures disappeared from her view. As she closed her eyes, her notebook tumbled suddenly from her bag. As it landed with a thud, the woman looked down, her eyes wide with anxiety as the group below her looked at the notebook that had fallen from the tree to the ground. Slowly but surely, the Heartless and the Dusks glanced upwards at the woman as she made ready to move higher. As the creatures on the ground below began to climb, the woman heard a serious of slashes and loud thudding noises from beneath her.

'What in the world…?' She thought as she looked down. As she did so, the crowed of Dusks and Heartless had vanished, leaving nothing but a few clouds of black smoke and a tall figure wearing a black, hooded cloak.

"You can come down now Madam. I assure you, it is now quite safe." The hooded figure spoke up to her.

The woman looked down at the person quizzically as she cautiously made her way down the tree. 'I may not know who this guy is but…he did save me. I guess it couldn't hurt to at least thank him,' she thought as her feet finally met the ground.

As the woman reached down to pick up her notebook, the man beat her to it and examined the cover.

"I thank you for the rescue," she said, "But I wish to have my notebook back please."

"Oh yes, do forgive me miss Roza Meyer."

The woman froze slightly as she snatched the notebook from his hand. He had read her name off the cover. That was enough to indicate that he was the nosy type. "Again, as much as I appreciate the rescue, I would appreciate it if you didn't stick your nose where it doesn't belong."

The man chuckled as he slowly pulled his hood off to reveal his face. "I do apologize my lady. I meant no offense." He said, smiling softly.

Roza blinked as her mouth fell open slightly, gazing over the man's features; his short blond hair, his square jaw, his thin blond mustache and blond beard and piercing blue eyes. All made Roza speechless as she continued stare at him.

The man smirked as he bowed his head to Roza. "Allow me to introduce myself milady; My name is Luxord." He said, twirling a playing card in his fingers.

Roza nodded her head as she continued to stare quietly at Luxord.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his smirk growing.

"What…? Oh yes! Sorry, just spaced out for a moment." She said, blushing slightly. "It has been quite a day for me. Nothing really new to be honest, but rough all the same."

"I can imagine." He replied.

After a moment of slight awkward silence, Roza spoke again. "Well, if you excuse me, I really must be going," she turned and began to walk in the opposite direction of Luxord. "It was a great plea-"

Before she could continue, a second hooded man appeared before her.

"Well, now, don't think you think you owe him a little something for, oh I don't know, saving your life?" He stated bluntly, with a hint of playfulness in his voice.

Roza stopped as she looked at the seconded hooded man before her, scrunching her nose an furrowing her eye brows in slight irritation. "As much as I do appreciate the help, I really must be on my way. Perhaps I can pay you back another time…"

"Oh come now, don't you think Luxord here deserves at least a favor from you?" He inquired.

Roza went quiet for a moment as she turned her head back to Luxord, who was flipping a card between his fingers as he smiled back at her. "If it isn't too much trouble," he said, "And don't worry your pretty little head. It isn't anything bad. It's just a simple favor. A proposition if you will."

"Proposition", she asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah," The other man said, pulling his hood down as well. "But be sure to get it memorized, because we won't give you too much to think about it."

Roza turned her head back to the other man; He had fiery red, spiked hair, piercing, light green eyes and two dark purple, upside down tear drops underneath each eye.

Taking a moment to think, Roza inhaled, turned her head back to Luxord and let out a small sigh. "Well I guess it couldn't hurt. What exactly is this proposition of yours?"

Luxord twirled his card off of the top of his hand and back into his palm with the deck he had in it. He then slid the deck into the sleeve of his jacket and looked Roza dead in the eyes, all playfulness vanishing from his face and being replaced with seriousness. "Well Miss Meyer. You may not know of us, but me, my associate here-" The other man interrupted.

"The name is Axel sweetheart. Got it memorized?" He smirked as Roza turned her head back to the redhead again, tapping his finger against the side of his head.

"Yes…well our organization has heard a great deal about you and the studies you partake in." Roza slowly turned her head back to Luxord as he continued. "We know you study the heart, the Heartless, Nobodies, and the world of Kingdom Hearts."

Roza bit her lip, feeling a slight shiver run up her neck. "How do you know all that?"

"Our organization has been doing a great deal of studying of its own. We know what it is you do/ Your studies have peaked our leader's interest and he would greatly appreciate it if you would consider joining our organization." Axel explained to Roza, whose eyes were filled with slight confusion.

"Well, first of all, what is the name of your organization?" she asked.

"Organization XII." Axel said.

"And what exactly is it that Organization XIII does that you need my help?"

"Well, our leader, Xemnas, wishes to reach a world known as Kingdom Hearts. I am sure you have heard of it." Luxord said.

"Yes…" Roza replied. "I know if it. It is a world where all the hearts of the world go after they have been released by the Heartless. But that is about all I know. I know nothing of how to get there."

Axel chuckled as he moved around Roza and stood next to Luxord "Oh, no need to worry about that. We are more interested in your studies of the Nobodies and the Heartless"

"And why is that?"

"It has to do with your "Replicate and rewrite and replace", experiment" Luxord explained.

Roza's eyes widened in disbelief. 'No one except me knows about that project. How in the hell do these guys know? Or a better question might be, how long in the hell have these people been watching me?' "What exactly do you want with that silly little experiment? I don't have the means to perform it…"

Luxord and Axel looked to each other and then back to Roza before Luxord spoke.

"That is the beauty of it, Miss Meyer. Our organization will see to it personally that you get everything you need to make this experiment of yours a reality!"

Roza tapped her finger against her chin for a moment in thought. "Why do I sense a nasty catch in all of this?"

Luxord chuckled. "Not nasty at all my dear. All we ask is that you keep documentation of all the results of your experiment and report it all to our leader."

"Got it memorized, chickie?" Axel chimed, tauntingly.

Roza glared at Axel for a moment before turning her face back to Luxord again. "I will admit…I am rather intrigued. So long I have wished to bring my project full circle. But to trust the task to group of unknown and cloaked strangers…well you should be able to see that from my position, this all sounds extremely suspicious."

"She does have a point Luxord" Axel said, looking over to him, a small smirk on his face.

Luxord rolled his eyes at Axel. "You know, you are not helping matters one bit."

"It ain't in my job description to make your job or that of the other members easy!" Axel exclaimed, busting up laughing.

"Twit..!" Luxord sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Roza could not help but let out a small giggle, which reverted the attention of the two men back to her.

"Well," Luxord started, "Am I to assume that your laugh has possibly put you in a better mood in trusting us?"

Roza smiled and shook her head. "As skeptical as I am about this, I don't think I have much of a choice in this matter. I mean, you did rescue me, and now there is a chance my experiment will be given the opportunity to be realized. I have to say, as little as I know of you, no one said there was never any risk when it comes to achieving your goals…"

"So…?" Axel asked.

"Oh why the fuck not? I ain't getting any younger! Count me in!" She exclaimed, smiling broadly, reaching out to shake Luxord's hand.

A large but slightly sinister smile grew on Luxord's face as he turned to Axel, who smirked back at him.

"Glad to see why have a deal!" He said, clutching Roza's hand and shaking it firmly. "My lady."

End of chapter one:

Well took me a while but I am quite happy with the turn out! :D Tell me what you think!